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diff --git a/old/11228-8.txt b/old/11228-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7826db2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11228-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10141 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Marrow of Tradition, by Charles W. Chesnutt + +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: The Marrow of Tradition + +Author: Charles W. Chesnutt + +Release Date: February 22, 2004 [EBook #11228] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MARROW OF TRADITION *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Bill Walker and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +THE MARROW OF TRADITION + +by Charles W. Chestnutt +1901 + + + + +CONTENTS + +I. At Break of Day +II. The Christening Party +III. The Editor at Work +IV. Theodore Felix +V. A Journey Southward +VI. Janet +VII. The Operation +VIII. The Campaign drags +IX. A White Man's "Nigger" +X. Delamere Plays a Trump +XI. The Baby and the Bird +XII. Another Southern Product +XIII. The Cakewalk +XIV. The Maunderings of Old Mrs. Ochiltree +XV. Mrs. Carteret Seeks an Explanation +XVI. Ellis Takes a Trick +XVII. The Social Aspirations of Captain McBane +XVIII. Sandy Sees His Own Ha'nt +XIX. A Midnight Walk +XX. A Shocking Crime +XXI. The Necessity of an Example +XXII. How Not to Prevent a Lynching +XXIII. Belleview +XXIV. Two Southern Gentlemen +XXV. The Honor of a Family +XXVI. The Discomfort of Ellis +XXVII. The Vagaries of the Higher Law +XXVIII. In Season and Out +XXIX. Mutterings of the Storm +XXX. The Missing Papers +XXXI. The Shadow of a Dream +XXXII. The Storm breaks +XXXIII. Into the Lion's Jaws +XXXIV. The Valley of the Shadow +XXXV. "Mine Enemy, O Mine Enemy!" +XXXVI. Fiat Justitia +XXXVII. The Sisters + + + + + +The Marrow of Tradition + +I like you and your book, ingenious Hone! + In whose capacious all-embracing leaves + The very marrow of tradition's shown. + +--CHARLES LAMB +_To the Editor of the Every-Day Book_ + + + + +I + + +AT BREAK OF DAY + +"Stay here beside her, major. I shall not he needed for an hour yet. +Meanwhile I'll go downstairs and snatch a bit of sleep, or talk to old +Jane." + +The night was hot and sultry. Though the windows of the chamber were +wide open, and the muslin curtains looped back, not a breath of air was +stirring. Only the shrill chirp of the cicada and the muffled croaking +of the frogs in some distant marsh broke the night silence. The heavy +scent of magnolias, overpowering even the strong smell of drugs in the +sickroom, suggested death and funeral wreaths, sorrow and tears, the +long home, the last sleep. The major shivered with apprehension as the +slender hand which he held in his own contracted nervously and in a +spasm of pain clutched his fingers with a viselike grip. + +Major Carteret, though dressed in brown linen, had thrown off his coat +for greater comfort. The stifling heat, in spite of the palm-leaf fan +which he plied mechanically, was scarcely less oppressive than his own +thoughts. Long ago, while yet a mere boy in years, he had come back from +Appomattox to find his family, one of the oldest and proudest in the +state, hopelessly impoverished by the war,--even their ancestral home +swallowed up in the common ruin. His elder brother had sacrificed his +life on the bloody altar of the lost cause, and his father, broken and +chagrined, died not many years later, leaving the major the last of his +line. He had tried in various pursuits to gain a foothold in the new +life, but with indifferent success until he won the hand of Olivia +Merkell, whom he had seen grow from a small girl to glorious womanhood. +With her money he had founded the Morning Chronicle, which he had made +the leading organ of his party and the most influential paper in the +State. The fine old house in which they lived was hers. In this very +room she had first drawn the breath of life; it had been their nuptial +chamber; and here, too, within a few hours, she might die, for it seemed +impossible that one could long endure such frightful agony and live. + +One cloud alone had marred the otherwise perfect serenity of their +happiness. Olivia was childless. To have children to perpetuate the name +of which he was so proud, to write it still higher on the roll of +honor, had been his dearest hope. His disappointment had been +proportionately keen. A few months ago this dead hope had revived, and +altered the whole aspect of their lives. But as time went on, his wife's +age had begun to tell upon her, until even Dr. Price, the most cheerful +and optimistic of physicians, had warned him, while hoping for the best, +to be prepared for the worst. To add to the danger, Mrs. Carteret had +only this day suffered from a nervous shock, which, it was feared, had +hastened by several weeks the expected event. + +Dr. Price went downstairs to the library, where a dim light was +burning. An old black woman, dressed in a gingham frock, with a red +bandana handkerchief coiled around her head by way of turban, was seated +by an open window. She rose and curtsied as the doctor entered and +dropped into a willow rocking-chair near her own. + +"How did this happen, Jane?" he asked in a subdued voice, adding, with +assumed severity, "You ought to have taken better care of your +mistress." + +"Now look a-hyuh, Doctuh Price," returned the old woman in an unctuous +whisper, "you don' wanter come talkin' none er yo' foolishness 'bout my +not takin' keer er Mis' 'Livy. _She_ never would 'a' said sech a thing! +Seven er eight mont's ago, w'en she sent fer me, I says ter her, says +I:-- + +"'Lawd, Lawd, honey! You don' tell me dat after all dese long w'ary +years er waitin' de good Lawd is done heared yo' prayer an' is gwine ter +sen' you de chile you be'n wantin' so long an' so bad? Bless his holy +name! Will I come an' nuss yo' baby? Why, honey, I nussed you, an' +nussed yo' mammy thoo her las' sickness, an' laid her out w'en she died. +I wouldn' _let_ nobody e'se nuss yo' baby; an' mo'over, I'm gwine ter +come an' nuss you too. You're young side er me, Mis' 'Livy, but you're +ove'ly ole ter be havin' yo' fus' baby, an' you'll need somebody roun', +honey, w'at knows all 'bout de fam'ly, an' deir ways an' deir +weaknesses, an' I don' know who dat'd be ef it wa'n't me.' + +"''Deed, Mammy Jane,' says she, 'dere ain' nobody e'se I'd have but you. +You kin come ez soon ez you wanter an' stay ez long ez you mineter.' + +"An hyuh I is, an' hyuh I'm gwine ter stay. Fer Mis' 'Livy is my ole +mist'ess's daughter, an' my ole mist'ess wuz good ter me, an' dey ain' +none er her folks gwine ter suffer ef ole Jane kin he'p it." + +"Your loyalty does you credit, Jane," observed the doctor; "but you +haven't told me yet what happened to Mrs. Carteret to-day. Did the horse +run away, or did she see something that frightened her?" + +"No, suh, de hoss didn' git skeered at nothin', but Mis' 'Livy did see +somethin', er somebody; an' it wa'n't no fault er mine ner her'n +neither,--it goes fu'ther back, suh, fu'ther dan dis day er dis year. +Does you 'member de time w'en my ole mist'ess, Mis' 'Livy upstairs's +mammy, died? No? Well, you wuz prob'ly 'way ter school den, studyin' ter +be a doctuh. But I'll tell you all erbout it. + +"Wen my ole mist'ess, Mis' 'Liz'beth Merkell,--an' a good mist'ess she +wuz,--tuck sick fer de las' time, her sister Polly--ole Mis' Polly +Ochiltree w'at is now--come ter de house ter he'p nuss her. Mis' 'Livy +upstairs yander wuz erbout six years ole den, de sweetes' little angel +you ever laid eyes on; an' on her dyin' bed Mis' 'Liz'beth ax' Mis' +Polly fer ter stay hyuh an' take keer er her chile, an' Mis' Polly she +promise'. She wuz a widder fer de secon' time, an' didn' have no +child'en, an' could jes' as well come as not. + +"But dere wuz trouble after de fune'al, an' it happen' right hyuh in dis +lib'ary. Mars Sam wuz settin' by de table, w'en Mis' Polly come +downstairs, slow an' solemn, an' stood dere in de middle er de flo', all +in black, till Mars Sam sot a cheer fer her. + +"'Well, Samuel,' says she, 'now dat we've done all we can fer po' +'Liz'beth, it only 'mains fer us ter consider Olivia's future.' + +"Mars Sam nodded his head, but didn' say nothin'. + +"'I don' need ter tell you,' says she,' dat I am willin' ter carry out +de wishes er my dead sister, an' sac'ifice my own comfo't, an' make +myse'f yo' housekeeper an' yo' child's nuss, fer my dear sister's sake. +It wuz her dyin' wish, an' on it I will ac', ef it is also yo'n.' + +"Mars Sam didn' want Mis' Polly ter come, suh; fur he didn' like Mis' +Polly. He wuz skeered er Miss Polly." + +"I don't wonder," yawned the doctor, "if she was anything like she is +now." + +"Wuss, suh, fer she wuz younger, an' stronger. She always would have her +say, no matter 'bout what, an' her own way, no matter who 'posed her. +She had already be'n in de house fer a week, an' Mars Sam knowed ef she +once come ter stay, she'd be de mist'ess of eve'ybody in it an' him +too. But w'at could he do but say yas? + +"'Den it is unde'stood, is it,' says Mis' Polly, w'en he had spoke, 'dat +I am ter take cha'ge er de house?' + +"'All right, Polly,' says Mars Sam, wid a deep sigh. + +"Mis' Polly 'lowed he wuz sighin' fer my po' dead mist'ess, fer she didn' +have no idee er his feelin's to'ds her,--she alluz did 'low dat all +de gent'emen wuz in love wid 'er. + +"'You won' fin' much ter do,' Mars Sam went on, 'fer Julia is a good +housekeeper, an' kin ten' ter mos' eve'ything, under yo' d'rections.' + +"Mis' Polly stiffen' up like a ramrod. 'It mus' be unde'stood, Samuel,' +says she, 'dat w'en I 'sumes cha'ge er yo' house, dere ain' gwine ter be +no 'vided 'sponsibility; an' as fer dis Julia, me an' her couldn' git +'long tergether nohow. Ef I stays, Julia goes.' + +"Wen Mars Sam beared dat, he felt better, an' 'mence' ter pick up his +courage. Mis' Polly had showed her ban' too plain. My mist'ess hadn' +got col' yit, an' Mis' Polly, who'd be'n a widder fer two years dis +las' time, wuz already fig'rin' on takin' her place fer good, an' she +did n! want no other woman roun' de house dat Mars Sam might take a' +intrus' in. + +"'My dear Polly,' says Mars Sam, quite determine', 'I couldn' possibly +sen' Julia 'way. Fac' is, I couldn' git 'long widout Julia. She'd be'n +runnin' dis house like clockwo'k befo' you come, an' I likes her ways. +My dear, dead 'Liz'beth sot a heap er sto' by Julia, an' I'm gwine ter +keep her here fer 'Liz'beth's sake.' + +"Mis' Polly's eyes flash' fire. + +"'Ah,' says she,' I see--I see! You perfers her housekeepin' ter mine, +indeed! Dat is a fine way ter talk ter a lady! An' a heap er rispec' you +is got fer de mem'ry er my po' dead sister!' + +"Mars Sam knowed w'at she 'lowed she seed wa'n't so; but he didn' let +on, fer it only made him de safer. He wuz willin' fer her ter 'magine w'at +she please', jes' so long ez she kep' out er his house an' let him +alone. + +"'No, Polly,' says he, gittin' bolder ez she got madder, 'dere ain' no +use talkin'. Nothin' in de worl' would make me part wid Julia.' + +"Mis' Polly she r'ared an' she pitch', but Mars Sam helt on like grim +death. Mis' Polly wouldn' give in neither, an' so she fin'lly went +away. Dey made some kind er 'rangement afterwa'ds, an' Miss Polly tuck +Mis' 'Livy ter her own house. Mars Sam paid her bo'd an' 'lowed Mis' +Polly somethin' fer takin' keer er her." + +"And Julia stayed?" + +"Julia stayed, suh, an' a couple er years later her chile wuz bawn, +right here in dis house." + +"But you said," observed the doctor, "that Mrs. Ochiltree was in error +about Julia." + +"Yas, suh, so she wuz, w'en my ole mist'ess died. But dis wuz two years +after,--an' w'at has ter be has ter be. Julia had a easy time; she had a +black gal ter wait on her, a buggy to ride in, an' eve'ything she +wanted. Eve'ybody s'posed Mars Sam would give her a house an' lot, er +leave her somethin' in his will. But he died suddenly, and didn' leave +no will, an' Mis' Polly got herse'f 'pinted gyardeen ter young Mis' +'Livy, an' driv Julia an' her young un out er de house, an' lived here +in dis house wid Mis' 'Livy till Mis' 'Livy ma'ied Majah Carteret." + +"And what became of Julia?" asked Dr. Price. + +Such relations, the doctor knew very well, had been all too common in +the old slavery days, and not a few of them had been projected into the +new era. Sins, like snakes, die hard. The habits and customs of a people +were not to be changed in a day, nor by the stroke of a pen. As family +physician, and father confessor by brevet, Dr. Price had looked upon +more than one hidden skeleton; and no one in town had had better +opportunities than old Jane for learning the undercurrents in the lives +of the old families. + +"Well," resumed Jane, "eve'ybody s'posed, after w'at had happen', dat +Julia'd keep on livin' easy, fer she wuz young an' good-lookin'. But +she didn'. She tried ter make a livin' sewin', but Mis' Polly wouldn' +let de bes' w'ite folks hire her. Den she tuck up washin', but didn' do +no better at dat; an' bimeby she got so discourage' dat she ma'ied a +shif'less yaller man, an' died er consumption soon after,--an' wuz +'bout ez well off, fer dis man couldn' hardly feed her nohow." + +"And the child?" + +"One er de No'the'n w'ite lady teachers at de mission school tuck a +likin' ter little Janet, an' put her thoo school, an' den sent her off +ter de No'th fer ter study ter be a school teacher. W'en she come back, +'stead er teachin' she ma'ied ole Adam Miller's son." + +"The rich stevedore's son, Dr. Miller?" + +"Yas, suh, dat's de man,--you knows 'im. Dis yer boy wuz jes' gwine +'way fer ter study ter be a doctuh, an' he ma'ied dis Janet, an' tuck +her 'way wid 'im. Dey went off ter Europe, er Irope, er Orope, er +somewhere er 'nother, 'way off yander, an' come back here las' year an' +sta'ted dis yer horspital an' school fer ter train de black gals fer +nusses." + +"He's a very good doctor, Jane, and is doing a useful work. Your +chapter of family history is quite interesting,--I knew part of it +before, in a general way; but you haven't yet told me what brought on +Mrs. Carteret's trouble." + +"I'm jes' comin' ter dat dis minute, suh,--w'at I be'n tellin' you is +all a part of it. Dis yer Janet, w'at's Mis' 'Livy's half-sister, is ez +much like her ez ef dey wuz twins. Folks sometimes takes 'em fer one +ernudder,--I s'pose it tickles Janet mos' ter death, but it do make Mis' +'Livy rippin'. An' den 'way back yander jes' after de wah, w'en de ole +Carteret mansion had ter be sol', Adam Miller bought it, an' dis yer +Janet an' her husban' is be'n livin' in it ever sence ole Adam died, +'bout a year ago; an' dat makes de majah mad, 'ca'se he don' wanter see +cullud folks livin' in de ole fam'ly mansion w'at he wuz bawn in. An' +mo'over, an' dat's de wust of all, w'iles Mis' 'Livy ain' had no +child'en befo', dis yer sister er her'n is got a fine-lookin' little +yaller boy, w'at favors de fam'ly so dat ef Mis' 'Livy'd see de chile +anywhere, it'd mos' break her heart fer ter think 'bout her not havin' +no child'en herse'f. So ter-day, w'en Mis' 'Livy wuz out ridin' an' met +dis yer Janet wid her boy, an' w'en Mis' 'Livy got ter studyin' 'bout +her own chances, an' how she mought not come thoo safe, she jes' had a +fit er hysterics right dere in de buggy. She wuz mos' home, an' William +got her here, an' you knows de res'." + +Major Carteret, from the head of the stairs, called the doctor +anxiously. + +"You had better come along up now, Jane," said the doctor. + +For two long hours they fought back the grim spectre that stood by the +bedside. The child was born at dawn. Both mother and child, the doctor +said, would live. + +"Bless its 'ittle hea't!" exclaimed Mammy Jane, as she held up the tiny +mite, which bore as much resemblance to mature humanity as might be +expected of an infant which had for only a few minutes drawn the breath +of life. "Bless its 'ittle hea't! it's de we'y spit an' image er its +pappy!" + +The doctor smiled. The major laughed aloud. Jane's unconscious +witticism, or conscious flattery, whichever it might be, was a welcome +diversion from the tense strain of the last few hours. + +"Be that as it may," said Dr. Price cheerfully, "and I'll not dispute +it, the child is a very fine boy,--a very fine boy, indeed! Take care of +it, major," he added with a touch of solemnity, "for your wife can never +bear another." + +With the child's first cry a refreshing breeze from the distant ocean +cooled the hot air of the chamber; the heavy odor of the magnolias, with +its mortuary suggestiveness, gave place to the scent of rose and lilac +and honeysuckle. The birds in the garden were singing lustily. + +All these sweet and pleasant things found an echo in the major's heart. +He stood by the window, and looking toward the rising sun, breathed a +silent prayer of thanksgiving. All nature seemed to rejoice in sympathy +with his happiness at the fruition of this long-deferred hope, and to +predict for this wonderful child a bright and glorious future. + +Old Mammy Jane, however, was not entirely at ease concerning the child. +She had discovered, under its left ear, a small mole, which led her to +fear that the child was born for bad luck. Had the baby been black, or +yellow, or poor-white, Jane would unhesitatingly have named, as his +ultimate fate, a not uncommon form of taking off, usually resultant upon +the infraction of certain laws, or, in these swift modern days, upon too +violent a departure from established social customs. It was manifestly +impossible that a child of such high quality as the grandson of her old +mistress should die by judicial strangulation; but nevertheless the +warning was a serious thing, and not to be lightly disregarded. + +Not wishing to be considered as a prophet of evil omen, Jane kept her +own counsel in regard to this significant discovery. But later, after +the child was several days old, she filled a small vial with water in +which the infant had been washed, and took it to a certain wise old +black woman, who lived on the farther edge of the town and was well +known to be versed in witchcraft and conjuration. The conjure woman +added to the contents of the bottle a bit of calamus root, and one of +the cervical vertebrae from the skeleton of a black cat, with several +other mysterious ingredients, the nature of which she did not disclose. +Following instructions given her, Aunt Jane buried the bottle in +Carteret's back yard, one night during the full moon, as a good-luck +charm to ward off evil from the little grandson of her dear mistress, so +long since dead and gone to heaven. + + + + +II + + +THE CHRISTENING PARTY + +They named the Carteret baby Theodore Felix. Theodore was a family name, +and had been borne by the eldest son for several generations, the major +himself being a second son. Having thus given the child two beautiful +names, replete with religious and sentimental significance, they called +him--"Dodie." + +The baby was christened some six weeks after its birth, by which time +Mrs. Carteret was able to be out. Old Mammy Jane, who had been brought +up in the church, but who, like some better informed people in all ages, +found religion not inconsistent with a strong vein of superstition, felt +her fears for the baby's future much relieved when the rector had made +the sign of the cross and sprinkled little Dodie with the water from the +carved marble font, which had come from England in the reign of King +Charles the Martyr, as the ill-fated son of James I. was known to St. +Andrew's. Upon this special occasion Mammy Jane had been provided with a +seat downstairs among the white people, to her own intense satisfaction, +and to the secret envy of a small colored attendance in the gallery, to +whom she was ostentatiously pointed out by her grandson Jerry, porter at +the Morning Chronicle office, who sat among them in the front row. + +On the following Monday evening the major gave a christening party in +honor of this important event. Owing to Mrs. Carteret's still delicate +health, only a small number of intimate friends and family connections +were invited to attend. These were the rector of St. Andrew's; old Mrs. +Polly Ochiltree, the godmother; old Mr. Delamere, a distant relative and +also one of the sponsors; and his grandson, Tom Delamere. The major had +also invited Lee Ellis, his young city editor, for whom he had a great +liking apart from his business value, and who was a frequent visitor at +the house. These, with the family itself, which consisted of the major, +his wife, and his half-sister, Clara Pemberton, a young woman of about +eighteen, made up the eight persons for whom covers were laid. + +Ellis was the first to arrive, a tall, loose-limbed young man, with a +slightly freckled face, hair verging on auburn, a firm chin, and honest +gray eyes. He had come half an hour early, and was left alone for a few +minutes in the parlor, a spacious, high-ceilinged room, with large +windows, and fitted up in excellent taste, with stately reminiscences of +a past generation. The walls were hung with figured paper. The ceiling +was whitewashed, and decorated in the middle with a plaster +centre-piece, from which hung a massive chandelier sparkling with +prismatic rays from a hundred crystal pendants. There was a handsome +mantel, set with terra-cotta tiles, on which fauns and satyrs, nymphs +and dryads, disported themselves in idyllic abandon. The furniture was +old, and in keeping with the room. + +At seven o'clock a carriage drove up, from which alighted an elderly +gentleman, with white hair and mustache, and bowed somewhat with years. +Short of breath and painfully weak in the legs, he was assisted from the +carriage by a colored man, apparently about forty years old, to whom +short side-whiskers and spectacles imparted an air of sobriety. This +attendant gave his arm respectfully to the old gentleman, who leaned +upon it heavily, but with as little appearance of dependence as +possible. The servant, assuming a similar unconsciousness of the weight +resting upon his arm, assisted the old gentleman carefully up the steps. + +"I'm all right now, Sandy," whispered the gentleman as soon as his feet +were planted firmly on the piazza. "You may come back for me at nine +o'clock." + +Having taken his hand from his servant's arm, he advanced to meet a lady +who stood in the door awaiting him, a tall, elderly woman, gaunt and +angular of frame, with a mottled face, and high cheekbones partially +covered by bands of hair entirely too black and abundant for a person of +her age, if one might judge from the lines of her mouth, which are +rarely deceptive in such matters. + +"Perhaps you'd better not send your man away, Mr. Delamere," observed +the lady, in a high shrill voice, which grated upon the old gentleman's +ears. He was slightly hard of hearing, but, like most deaf people, +resented being screamed at. "You might need him before nine o'clock. One +never knows what may happen after one has had the second stroke. And +moreover, our butler has fallen down the back steps--negroes are so +careless!--and sprained his ankle so that he can't stand. I'd like to +have Sandy stay and wait on the table in Peter's place, if you don't +mind." + +"I thank you, Mrs. Ochiltree, for your solicitude," replied Mr. +Delamere, with a shade of annoyance in his voice, "but my health is very +good just at present, and I do not anticipate any catastrophe which will +require my servant's presence before I am ready to go home. But I have +no doubt, madam," he continued, with a courteous inclination, "that +Sandy will be pleased to serve you, if you desire it, to the best of his +poor knowledge." + +"I shill be honored, ma'am," assented Sandy, with a bow even deeper than +his master's, "only I'm 'feared I ain't rightly dressed fer ter wait on +table. I wuz only goin' ter pra'r-meetin', an' so I didn' put on my +bes' clo's. Ef Mis' Ochiltree ain' gwine ter need me fer de nex' fifteen +minutes, I kin ride back home in de ca'ige an' dress myse'f suitable fer +de occasion, suh." + +"If you think you'll wait on the table any better," said Mrs. +Ochiltree, "you may go along and change your clothes; but hurry back, +for it is seven now, and dinner will soon be served." + +Sandy retired with a bow. While descending the steps to the carriage, +which had waited for him, he came face to face with a young man just +entering the house. + +"Am I in time for dinner, Sandy?" asked the newcomer. + +"Yas, Mistuh Tom, you're in plenty er time. Dinner won't be ready till +_I_ git back, which won' be fer fifteen minutes er so yit." + +Throwing away the cigarette which he held between his fingers, the young +man crossed the piazza with a light step, and after a preliminary knock, +for an answer to which he did not wait, entered the house with the air +of one thoroughly at home. The lights in the parlor had been lit, and +Ellis, who sat talking to Major Carteret when the newcomer entered, +covered him with a jealous glance. + +Slender and of medium height, with a small head of almost perfect +contour, a symmetrical face, dark almost to swarthiness, black eyes, +which moved somewhat restlessly, curly hair of raven tint, a slight +mustache, small hands and feet, and fashionable attire, Tom Delamere, +the grandson of the old gentleman who had already arrived, was easily +the handsomest young man in Wellington. But no discriminating observer +would have characterized his beauty as manly. It conveyed no impression +of strength, but did possess a certain element, feline rather than +feminine, which subtly negatived the idea of manliness. + +He gave his hand to the major, nodded curtly to Ellis, saluted his +grandfather respectfully, and inquired for the ladies. + +"Olivia is dressing for dinner," replied the major; "Mrs. Ochiltree is +in the kitchen, struggling with the servants. Clara--Ah, here she comes +now!" + +Ellis, whose senses were preternaturally acute where Clara was +concerned, was already looking toward the hall and was the first to see +her. Clad in an evening gown of simple white, to the close-fitting +corsage of which she had fastened a bunch of pink roses, she was to +Ellis a dazzling apparition. To him her erect and well-moulded form was +the embodiment of symmetry, her voice sweet music, her movements the +perfection of grace; and it scarcely needed a lover's imagination to +read in her fair countenance a pure heart and a high spirit,--the +truthfulness that scorns a lie, the pride which is not haughtiness. +There were suggestive depths of tenderness, too, in the curl of her lip, +the droop of her long lashes, the glance of her blue eyes,--depths that +Ellis had long since divined, though he had never yet explored them. She +gave Ellis a friendly nod as she came in, but for the smile with which +she greeted Delamere, Ellis would have given all that he +possessed,--not a great deal, it is true, but what could a man do more? + +"You are the last one, Tom," she said reproachfully. "Mr. Ellis has been +here half an hour." + +Delamere threw a glance at Ellis which was not exactly friendly. Why +should this fellow always be on hand to emphasize his own shortcomings? + +"The rector is not here," answered Tom triumphantly. "You see I am not +the last." + +"The rector," replied Clara, "was called out of town at six o'clock this +evening, to visit a dying man, and so cannot be here. You are the last, +Tom, and Mr. Ellis was the first." + +Ellis was ruefully aware that this comparison in his favor was the only +visible advantage that he had gained from his early arrival. He had not +seen Miss Pemberton a moment sooner by reason of it. There had been a +certain satisfaction in being in the same house with her, but Delamere +had arrived in time to share or, more correctly, to monopolize, the +sunshine of her presence. + +Delamere gave a plausible excuse which won Clara's pardon and another +enchanting smile, which pierced Ellis like a dagger. He knew very well +that Delamere's excuse was a lie. Ellis himself had been ready as early +as six o'clock, but judging this to be too early, had stopped in at the +Clarendon Club for half an hour, to look over the magazines. While +coming out he had glanced into the card-room, where he had seen his +rival deep in a game of cards, from which Delamere had evidently not +been able to tear himself until the last moment. He had accounted for +his lateness by a story quite inconsistent with these facts. + +The two young people walked over to a window on the opposite side of +the large room, where they stood talking to one another in low tones. +The major had left the room for a moment. Old Mr. Delamere, who was +watching his grandson and Clara with an indulgent smile, proceeded to +rub salt into Ellis's wounds. + +"They make a handsome couple," he observed. "I remember well when her +mother, in her youth an ideally beautiful woman, of an excellent family, +married Daniel Pemberton, who was not of so good a family, but had made +money. The major, who was only a very young man then, disapproved of the +match; he considered that his mother, although a widow and nearly forty, +was marrying beneath her. But he has been a good brother to Clara, and a +careful guardian of her estate. Ah, young gentleman, you cannot +appreciate, except in imagination, what it means, to one standing on the +brink of eternity, to feel sure that he will live on in his children and +his children's children!" + +Ellis was appreciating at that moment what it meant, in cold blood, with +no effort of the imagination, to see the girl whom he loved absorbed +completely in another man. She had looked at him only once since Tom +Delamere had entered the room, and then merely to use him as a spur with +which to prick his favored rival. + +"Yes, sir," he returned mechanically, "Miss Clara is a beautiful young +lady." + +"And Tom is a good boy--a fine boy," returned the old gentleman. "I am +very well pleased with Tom, and shall be entirely happy when I see them +married." + +Ellis could not echo this sentiment. The very thought of this marriage +made him miserable. He had always understood that the engagement was +merely tentative, a sort of family understanding, subject to +confirmation after Delamere should have attained his majority, which was +still a year off, and when the major should think Clara old enough to +marry. Ellis saw Delamere with the eye of a jealous rival, and judged +him mercilessly,--whether correctly or not the sequel will show. He did +not at all believe that Tom Delamere would make a fit husband for Clara +Pemberton; but his opinion would have had no weight,--he could hardly +have expressed it without showing his own interest. Moreover, there was +no element of the sneak in Lee Ellis's make-up. The very fact that he +might profit by the other's discomfiture left Delamere secure, so far as +he could be affected by anything that Ellis might say. But Ellis did not +shrink from a fair fight, and though in this one the odds were heavily +against him, yet so long as this engagement remained indefinite, so +long, indeed, as the object of his love was still unwed, he would not +cease to hope. Such a sacrifice as this marriage clearly belonged in the +catalogue of impossibilities. Ellis had not lived long enough to learn +that impossibilities are merely things of which we have not learned, or +which we do not wish to happen. + +Sandy returned at the end of a quarter of an hour, and dinner was +announced. Mr. Delamere led the way to the dining-room with Mrs. +Ochiltree. Tom followed with Clara. The major went to the head of the +stairs and came down with Mrs. Carteret upon his arm, her beauty +rendered more delicate by the pallor of her countenance and more +complete by the happiness with which it glowed. Ellis went in alone. In +the rector's absence it was practically a family party which sat down, +with the exception of Ellis, who, as we have seen, would willingly have +placed himself in the same category. + +The table was tastefully decorated with flowers, which grew about the +house in lavish profusion. In warm climates nature adorns herself with +true feminine vanity. + +"What a beautiful table!" exclaimed Tom, before they were seated. + +"The decorations are mine," said Clara proudly. "I cut the flowers and +arranged them all myself." + +"Which accounts for the admirable effect," rejoined Tom with a bow, +before Ellis, to whom the same thought had occurred, was able to express +himself. He had always counted himself the least envious of men, but for +this occasion he coveted Tom Delamere's readiness. + +"The beauty of the flowers," observed old Mr. Delamere, with sententious +gallantry, "is reflected upon all around them. It is a handsome +company." + +Mrs. Ochiltree beamed upon the table with a dry smile. + +"I don't perceive any effect that it has upon you or me," she said; "And +as for the young people, 'Handsome is as handsome does.' If Tom here, +for instance, were as good as he looks"-- + +"You flatter me, Aunt Polly," Tom broke in hastily, anticipating the +crack of the whip; he was familiar with his aunt's conversational +idiosyncrasies. + +"If you are as good as you look," continued the old lady, with a cunning +but indulgent smile, "some one has been slandering you." + +"Thanks, Aunt Polly! Now you don't flatter me." + +"There is Mr. Ellis," Mrs. Ochiltree went on, "who is not half so +good-looking, but is steady as a clock, I dare say." + +"Now, Aunt Polly," interposed Mrs. Carteret, "let the gentlemen alone." + +"She doesn't mean half what she says," continued Mrs. Carteret +apologetically, "and only talks that way to people whom she likes." + +Tom threw Mrs. Carteret a grateful glance. He had been apprehensive, +with the sensitiveness of youth, lest his old great-aunt should make a +fool of him before Clara's family. Nor had he relished the comparison +with Ellis, who was out of place, anyway, in this family party. He had +never liked the fellow, who was too much of a plodder and a prig to make +a suitable associate for a whole-souled, generous-hearted young +gentleman. He tolerated him as a visitor at Carteret's and as a member +of the Clarendon Club, but that was all. + +"Mrs. Ochiltree has a characteristic way of disguising her feelings," +observed old Mr. Delamere, with a touch of sarcasm. + +Ellis had merely flushed and felt uncomfortable at the reference to +himself. The compliment to his character hardly offset the reflection +upon his looks. He knew he was not exactly handsome, but it was not +pleasant to have the fact emphasized in the presence of the girl he +loved; he would like at least fair play, and judgment upon the subject +left to the young lady. + +Mrs. Ochiltree was quietly enjoying herself. In early life she had been +accustomed to impale fools on epigrams, like flies on pins, to see them +wriggle. But with advancing years she had lost in some measure the +faculty of nice discrimination,--it was pleasant to see her victims +squirm, whether they were fools or friends. Even one's friends, she +argued, were not always wise, and were sometimes the better for being +told the truth. At her niece's table she felt at liberty to speak her +mind, which she invariably did, with a frankness that sometimes bordered +on brutality. She had long ago outgrown the period where ambition or +passion, or its partners, envy and hatred, were springs of action in her +life, and simply retained a mild enjoyment in the exercise of an old +habit, with no active malice whatever. The ruling passion merely grew +stronger as the restraining faculties decreased in vigor. + +A diversion was created at this point by the appearance of old Mammy +Jane, dressed in a calico frock, with clean white neckerchief and apron, +carrying the wonderful baby in honor of whose naming this feast had been +given. Though only six weeks old, the little Theodore had grown rapidly, +and Mammy Jane declared was already quite large for his age, and +displayed signs of an unusually precocious intelligence. He was passed +around the table and duly admired. Clara thought his hair was fine. +Ellis inquired about his teeth. Tom put his finger in the baby's fist to +test his grip. Old Mr. Delamere was unable to decide as yet whether he +favored most his father or his mother. The object of these attentions +endured them patiently for several minutes, and then protested with a +vocal vigor which led to his being taken promptly back upstairs. +Whatever fate might be in store for him, he manifested no sign of weak +lungs. + +"Sandy," said Mrs. Carteret when the baby had retired, "pass that tray +standing upon the side table, so that we may all see the presents." + +Mr. Delamere had brought a silver spoon, and Tom a napkin ring. Ellis +had sent a silver watch; it was a little premature, he admitted, but +the boy would grow to it, and could use it to play with in the mean +time. It had a glass back, so that he might see the wheels go round. +Mrs. Ochiltree's present was an old and yellow ivory rattle, with a +handle which the child could bite while teething, and a knob screwed on +at the end to prevent the handle from slipping through the baby's hand. + +"I saw that in your cedar chest, Aunt Polly," said Clara, "when I was a +little girl, and you used to pull the chest out from under your bed to +get me a dime." + +"You kept the rattle in the right-hand corner of the chest," said Tom, +"in the box with the red silk purse, from which you took the gold piece +you gave me every Christmas." + +A smile shone on Mrs. Ochiltree's severe features at this appreciation, +like a ray of sunlight on a snowbank. + +"Aunt Polly's chest is like the widow's cruse," said Mrs. Carteret, +"which was never empty." + +"Or Fortunatus's purse, which was always full," added old Mr. Delamere, +who read the Latin poets, and whose allusions were apt to be classical +rather than scriptural. + +"It will last me while I live," said Mrs. Ochiltree, adding cautiously, +"but there'll not be a great deal left. It won't take much to support +an old woman for twenty years." + +Mr. Delamere's man Sandy had been waiting upon the table with the +decorum of a trained butler, and a gravity all his own. He had changed +his suit of plain gray for a long blue coat with brass buttons, which +dated back to the fashion of a former generation, with which he wore a +pair of plaid trousers of strikingly modern cut and pattern. With his +whiskers, his spectacles, and his solemn air of responsibility, he would +have presented, to one unfamiliar with the negro type, an amusingly +impressive appearance. But there was nothing incongruous about Sandy to +this company, except perhaps to Tom Delamere, who possessed a keen eye +for contrasts and always regarded Sandy, in that particular rig, as a +very comical darkey. + +"Is it quite prudent, Mrs. Ochiltree," suggested the major at a moment +when Sandy, having set down the tray, had left the room for a little +while, "to mention, in the presence of the servants, that you keep money +in the house?" + +"I beg your pardon, major," observed old Mr. Delamere, with a touch of +stiffness. "The only servant in hearing of the conversation has been my +own; and Sandy is as honest as any man in Wellington." + +"You mean, sir," replied Carteret, with a smile, "as honest as any negro +in Wellington." + +"I make no exceptions, major," returned the old gentleman, with +emphasis. "I would trust Sandy with my life,--he saved it once at the +risk of his own." + +"No doubt," mused the major, "the negro is capable of a certain doglike +fidelity,--I make the comparison in a kindly sense,--a certain personal +devotion which is admirable in itself, and fits him eminently for a +servile career. I should imagine, however, that one could more safely +trust his life with a negro than his portable property." + +"Very clever, major! I read your paper, and know that your feeling is +hostile toward the negro, but"-- + +The major made a gesture of dissent, but remained courteously silent +until Mr. Delamere had finished. + +"For my part," the old gentleman went on, "I think they have done very +well, considering what they started from, and their limited +opportunities. There was Adam Miller, for instance, who left a +comfortable estate. His son George carries on the business, and the +younger boy, William, is a good doctor and stands well with his +profession. His hospital is a good thing, and if my estate were clear, I +should like to do something for it." + +"You are mistaken, sir, in imagining me hostile to the negro," explained +Carteret. "On the contrary, I am friendly to his best interests. I give +him employment; I pay taxes for schools to educate him, and for +court-houses and jails to keep him in order. I merely object to being +governed by an inferior and servile race." + +Mrs. Carteret's face wore a tired expression. This question was her +husband's hobby, and therefore her own nightmare. Moreover, she had her +personal grievance against the negro race, and the names mentioned by +old Mr. Delamere had brought it vividly before her mind. She had no +desire to mar the harmony of the occasion by the discussion of a +distasteful subject. + +Mr. Delamere, glancing at his hostess, read something of this thought, +and refused the challenge to further argument. + +"I do not believe, major," he said, "that Olivia relishes the topic. I +merely wish to say that Sandy is an exception to any rule which you may +formulate in derogation of the negro. Sandy is a gentleman in ebony!" + +Tom could scarcely preserve his gravity at this characterization of old +Sandy, with his ridiculous air of importance, his long blue coat, and +his loud plaid trousers. That suit would make a great costume for a +masquerade. He would borrow it some time,--there was nothing in the +world like it. + +"Well, Mr. Delamere," returned the major good-humoredly, "no doubt Sandy +is an exceptionally good negro,--he might well be, for he has had the +benefit of your example all his life,--and we know that he is a faithful +servant. But nevertheless, if I were Mrs. Ochiltree, I should put my +money in the bank. Not all negroes are as honest as Sandy, and an +elderly lady might not prove a match for a burly black burglar." + +"Thank you, major," retorted Mrs. Ochiltree, with spirit, "I'm not yet +too old to take care of myself. That cedar chest has been my bank for +forty years, and I shall not change my habits at my age." + +At this moment Sandy reëntered the room. Carteret made a warning +gesture, which Mrs. Ochiltree chose not to notice. + +"I've proved a match for two husbands, and am not afraid of any man +that walks the earth, black or white, by day or night. I have a +revolver, and know how to use it. Whoever attempts to rob me will do so +at his peril." + +After dinner Clara played the piano and sang duets with Tom Delamere. At +nine o'clock Mr. Delamere's carriage came for him, and he went away +accompanied by Sandy. Under cover of the darkness the old gentleman +leaned on his servant's arm with frank dependence, and Sandy lifted him +into the carriage with every mark of devotion. + +Ellis had already excused himself to go to the office and look over the +late proofs for the morning paper. Tom remained a few minutes longer +than his grandfather, and upon taking his leave went round to the +Clarendon Club, where he spent an hour or two in the card-room with a +couple of congenial friends. Luck seemed to favor him, and he went home +at midnight with a comfortable balance of winnings. He was fond of +excitement, and found a great deal of it in cards. To lose was only less +exciting than to win. Of late he had developed into a very successful +player,--so successful, indeed, that several members of the club +generally found excuses to avoid participating in a game where he made +one. + + + + +III + + +THE EDITOR AT WORK + +To go back a little, for several days after his child's birth Major +Carteret's chief interest in life had been confined to the four walls of +the chamber where his pale wife lay upon her bed of pain, and those of +the adjoining room where an old black woman crooned lovingly over a +little white infant. A new element had been added to the major's +consciousness, broadening the scope and deepening the strength of his +affections. He did not love Olivia the less, for maternity had crowned +her wifehood with an added glory; but side by side with this old and +tried attachment was a new passion, stirring up dormant hopes and +kindling new desires. His regret had been more than personal at the +thought that with himself an old name should be lost to the State; and +now all the old pride of race, class, and family welled up anew, and +swelled and quickened the current of his life. + +Upon the major's first appearance at the office, which took place the +second day after the child's birth, he opened a box of cigars in honor +of the event. The word had been passed around by Ellis, and the whole +office force, including reporters, compositors, and pressmen, came in to +congratulate the major and smoke at his expense. Even Jerry, the colored +porter,--Mammy Jane's grandson and therefore a protégé of the +family,--presented himself among the rest, or rather, after the rest. +The major shook hands with them all except Jerry, though he acknowledged +the porter's congratulations with a kind nod and put a good cigar into +his outstretched palm, for which Jerry thanked him without manifesting +any consciousness of the omission. He was quite aware that under +ordinary circumstances the major would not have shaken hands with white +workingmen, to say nothing of negroes; and he had merely hoped that in +the pleasurable distraction of the moment the major might also overlook +the distinction of color. Jerry's hope had been shattered, though not +rudely; for the major had spoken pleasantly and the cigar was a good +one. Mr. Ellis had once shaken hands with Jerry,--but Mr. Ellis was a +young man, whose Quaker father had never owned any slaves, and he could +not be expected to have as much pride as one of the best "quality," +whose families had possessed land and negroes for time out of mind. On +the whole, Jerry preferred the careless nod of the editor-in-chief to +the more familiar greeting of the subaltern. + +Having finished this pleasant ceremony, which left him with a +comfortable sense of his new dignity, the major turned to his desk. It +had been much neglected during the week, and more than one matter +claimed his attention; but as typical of the new trend of his thoughts, +the first subject he took up was one bearing upon the future of his son. +Quite obviously the career of a Carteret must not be left to chance,--it +must be planned and worked out with a due sense of the value of good +blood. + +There lay upon his desk a letter from a well-known promoter, offering +the major an investment which promised large returns, though several +years must elapse before the enterprise could be put upon a paying +basis. The element of time, however, was not immediately important. The +Morning Chronicle provided him an ample income. The money available for +this investment was part of his wife's patrimony. It was invested in a +local cotton mill, which was paying ten per cent., but this was a +beggarly return compared with the immense profits promised by the +offered investment,--profits which would enable his son, upon reaching +manhood, to take a place in the world commensurate with the dignity of +his ancestors, one of whom, only a few generations removed, had owned an +estate of ninety thousand acres of land and six thousand slaves. + +This letter having been disposed of by an answer accepting the offer, +the major took up his pen to write an editorial. Public affairs in the +state were not going to his satisfaction. At the last state election his +own party, after an almost unbroken rule of twenty years, had been +defeated by the so-called "Fusion" ticket, a combination of Republicans +and Populists. A clean sweep had been made of the offices in the state, +which were now filled by new men. Many of the smaller places had gone to +colored men, their people having voted almost solidly for the Fusion +ticket. In spite of the fact that the population of Wellington was two +thirds colored, this state of things was gall and wormwood to the +defeated party, of which the Morning Chronicle was the acknowledged +organ. Major Carteret shared this feeling. Only this very morning, while +passing the city hall, on his way to the office, he had seen the steps +of that noble building disfigured by a fringe of job-hunting negroes, +for all the world--to use a local simile--like a string of buzzards +sitting on a rail, awaiting their opportunity to batten upon the +helpless corpse of a moribund city. + +Taking for his theme the unfitness of the negro to participate in +government,--an unfitness due to his limited education, his lack of +experience, his criminal tendencies, and more especially to his hopeless +mental and physical inferiority to the white race,--the major had +demonstrated, it seemed to him clearly enough, that the ballot in the +hands of the negro was a menace to the commonwealth. He had argued, with +entire conviction, that the white and black races could never attain +social and political harmony by commingling their blood; he had proved +by several historical parallels that no two unassimilable races could +ever live together except in the relation of superior and inferior; and +he was just dipping his gold pen into the ink to indite his conclusions +from the premises thus established, when Jerry, the porter, announced +two visitors. + +"Gin'l Belmont an' Cap'n McBane would like ter see you, suh." + +"Show them in, Jerry." + +The man who entered first upon this invitation was a dapper little +gentleman with light-blue eyes and a Vandyke beard. He wore a frock +coat, patent leather shoes, and a Panama hat. There were crow's-feet +about his eyes, which twinkled with a hard and, at times, humorous +shrewdness. He had sloping shoulders, small hands and feet, and walked +with the leisurely step characteristic of those who have been reared +under hot suns. + +Carteret gave his hand cordially to the gentleman thus described. + +"How do you do, Captain McBane," he said, turning to the second visitor. + +The individual thus addressed was strikingly different in appearance +from his companion. His broad shoulders, burly form, square jaw, and +heavy chin betokened strength, energy, and unscrupulousness. With the +exception of a small, bristling mustache, his face was clean shaven, +with here and there a speck of dried blood due to a carelessly or +unskillfully handled razor. A single deep-set gray eye was shadowed by a +beetling brow, over which a crop of coarse black hair, slightly streaked +with gray, fell almost low enough to mingle with his black, bushy +eyebrows. His coat had not been brushed for several days, if one might +judge from the accumulation of dandruff upon the collar, and his +shirt-front, in the middle of which blazed a showy diamond, was +plentifully stained with tobacco juice. He wore a large slouch hat, +which, upon entering the office, he removed and held in his hand. + +Having greeted this person with an unconscious but quite perceptible +diminution of the warmth with which he had welcomed the other, the major +looked around the room for seats for his visitors, and perceiving only +one chair, piled with exchanges, and a broken stool propped against the +wall, pushed a button, which rang a bell in the hall, summoning the +colored porter to his presence. + +"Jerry," said the editor when his servant appeared, "bring a couple of +chairs for these gentlemen." + +While they stood waiting, the visitors congratulated the major on the +birth of his child, which had been announced in the Morning Chronicle, +and which the prominence of the family made in some degree a matter of +public interest. + +"And now that you have a son, major," remarked the gentleman first +described, as he lit one of the major's cigars, "you'll be all the more +interested in doing something to make this town fit to live in, which is +what we came up to talk about. Things are in an awful condition! A negro +justice of the peace has opened an office on Market Street, and only +yesterday summoned a white man to appear before him. Negro lawyers get +most of the business in the criminal court. Last evening a group of +young white ladies, going quietly along the street arm-in-arm, were +forced off the sidewalk by a crowd of negro girls. Coming down the +street just now, I saw a spectacle of social equality and negro +domination that made my blood boil with indignation,--a white and a +black convict, chained together, crossing the city in charge of a negro +officer! We cannot stand that sort of thing, Carteret,--it is the last +straw! Something must be done, and that quickly!" + +The major thrilled with responsive emotion. There was something +prophetic in this opportune visit. The matter was not only in his own +thoughts, but in the air; it was the spontaneous revulsion of white men +against the rule of an inferior race. These were the very men, above all +others in the town, to join him in a movement to change these degrading +conditions. + +General Belmont, the smaller of the two, was a man of good family, a +lawyer by profession, and took an active part in state and local +politics. Aristocratic by birth and instinct, and a former owner of +slaves, his conception of the obligations and rights of his caste was +nevertheless somewhat lower than that of the narrower but more sincere +Carteret. In serious affairs Carteret desired the approval of his +conscience, even if he had to trick that docile organ into +acquiescence. This was not difficult to do in politics, for he believed +in the divine right of white men and gentlemen, as his ancestors had +believed in and died for the divine right of kings. General Belmont was +not without a gentleman's distaste for meanness, but he permitted no +fine scruples to stand in the way of success. He had once been minister, +under a Democratic administration, to a small Central American state. +Political rivals had characterized him as a tricky demagogue, which may +of course have been a libel. He had an amiable disposition, possessed +the gift of eloquence, and was a prime social favorite. + +Captain George McBane had sprung from the poor-white class, to which, +even more than to the slaves, the abolition of slavery had opened the +door of opportunity. No longer overshadowed by a slaveholding caste, +some of this class had rapidly pushed themselves forward. Some had made +honorable records. Others, foremost in negro-baiting and election +frauds, had done the dirty work of politics, as their fathers had done +that of slavery, seeking their reward at first in minor offices,--for +which men of gentler breeding did not care,--until their ambition began +to reach out for higher honors. + +Of this class McBane--whose captaincy, by the way, was merely a polite +fiction--had been one of the most successful. He had held, until +recently, as the reward of questionable political services, a contract +with the State for its convict labor, from which in a few years he had +realized a fortune. But the methods which made his contract profitable +had not commended themselves to humane people, and charges of cruelty +and worse had been preferred against him. He was rich enough to escape +serious consequences from the investigation which followed, but when the +Fusion ticket carried the state he lost his contract, and the system of +convict labor was abolished. Since then McBane had devoted himself to +politics: he was ambitious for greater wealth, for office, and for +social recognition. A man of few words and self-engrossed, he seldom +spoke of his aspirations except where speech might favor them, +preferring to seek his ends by secret "deals" and combinations rather +than to challenge criticism and provoke rivalry by more open methods. + +At sight, therefore, of these two men, with whose careers and characters +he was entirely familiar, Carteret felt sweep over his mind the +conviction that now was the time and these the instruments with which to +undertake the redemption of the state from the evil fate which had +befallen it. + +Jerry, the porter, who had gone downstairs to the counting-room to find +two whole chairs, now entered with one in each hand. He set a chair for +the general, who gave him an amiable nod, to which Jerry responded with +a bow and a scrape. Captain McBane made no acknowledgment, but fixed +Jerry so fiercely with his single eye that upon placing the chair Jerry +made his escape from the room as rapidly as possible. + +"I don' like dat Cap'n McBane," he muttered, upon reaching the hall. +"Dey says he got dat eye knock' out tryin' ter whip a cullud 'oman, when +he wuz a boy, an' dat he ain' never had no use fer niggers +sence,--'cep'n' fer what he could make outen 'em wid his convic' labor +contrac's. His daddy wuz a' overseer befo' 'im, an' it come nachul fer +him ter be a nigger-driver. I don' want dat one eye er his'n restin' on +me no longer 'n I kin he'p, an' I don' know how I'm gwine ter like dis +job ef he's gwine ter be comin' roun' here. He ain' nothin' but po' +w'ite trash nohow; but Lawd! Lawd! look at de money he's got,--livin' +at de hotel, wearin' di'mon's, an' colloguin' wid de bes' quality er dis +town! 'Pears ter me de bottom rail is gittin' mighty close ter de top. +Well, I s'pose it all comes f'm bein' w'ite. I wush ter Gawd I wuz +w'ite!" + +After this fervent aspiration, having nothing else to do for the time +being, except to remain within call, and having caught a few words of +the conversation as he went in with the chairs, Jerry, who possessed a +certain amount of curiosity, placed close to the wall the broken stool +upon which he sat while waiting in the hall, and applied his ear to a +hole in the plastering of the hallway. There was a similar defect in the +inner wall, between the same two pieces of studding, and while this +inner opening was not exactly opposite the outer, Jerry was enabled, +through the two, to catch in a more or less fragmentary way what was +going on within. + +He could hear the major, now and then, use the word "negro," and +McBane's deep voice was quite audible when he referred, it seemed to +Jerry with alarming frequency, to "the damned niggers," while the +general's suave tones now and then pronounced the word "niggro,"--a sort +of compromise between ethnology and the vernacular. That the gentlemen +were talking politics seemed quite likely, for gentlemen generally +talked politics when they met at the Chronicle office. Jerry could hear +the words "vote," "franchise," "eliminate," "constitution," and other +expressions which marked the general tenor of the talk, though he could +not follow it all,--partly because he could not hear everything +distinctly, and partly because of certain limitations which nature had +placed in the way of Jerry's understanding anything very difficult or +abstruse. + +He had gathered enough, however, to realize, in a vague way, that +something serious was on foot, involving his own race, when a bell +sounded over his head, at which he sprang up hastily and entered the +room where the gentlemen were talking. + +"Jerry," said the major, "wait on Captain McBane." + +"Yas, suh," responded Jerry, turning toward the captain, whose eye he +carefully avoided meeting directly. + +"Take that half a dollar, boy," ordered McBane, "an' go 'cross the +street to Mr. Sykes's, and tell him to send me three whiskies. Bring +back the change, and make has'e." + +The captain tossed the half dollar at Jerry, who, looking to one side, +of course missed it. He picked the money up, however, and backed out of +the room. Jerry did not like Captain McBane, to begin with, and it was +clear that the captain was no gentleman, or he would not have thrown the +money at him. Considering the source, Jerry might have overlooked this +discourtesy had it not been coupled with the remark about the change, +which seemed to him in very poor taste. + +Returning in a few minutes with three glasses on a tray, he passed them +round, handed Captain McBane his change, and retired to the hall. + +"Gentlemen," exclaimed the captain, lifting his glass, "I propose a +toast: 'No nigger domination.'" + +"Amen!" said the others, and three glasses were solemnly drained. + +"Major," observed the general, smacking his lips, "_I_ should like to +use Jerry for a moment, if you will permit me." + +Jerry appeared promptly at the sound of the bell. He had remained +conveniently near,--calls of this sort were apt to come in sequence. + +"Jerry," said the general, handing Jerry half a dollar, "go over to Mr. +Brown's,--I get my liquor there,--and tell them to send me three glasses +of my special mixture. And, Jerry,--you may keep the change!" + +"Thank y', gin'l, thank y', marster," replied Jerry, with unctuous +gratitude, bending almost double as he backed out of the room. + +"Dat's a gent'eman, a rale ole-time gent'eman," he said to himself when +he had closed the door. "But dere's somethin' gwine on in dere,--dere +sho' is! 'No nigger damnation!' Dat soun's all right,--I'm sho' dere +ain' no nigger I knows w'at wants damnation, do' dere's lots of 'em w'at +deserves it; but ef dat one-eyed Cap'n McBane got anything ter do wid +it, w'atever it is, it don' mean no good fer de niggers,--damnation'd +be better fer 'em dan dat Cap'n McBane! He looks at a nigger lack he +could jes' eat 'im alive." + +"This mixture, gentlemen," observed the general when Jerry had returned +with the glasses, "was originally compounded by no less a person than +the great John C. Calhoun himself, who confided the recipe to my father +over the convivial board. In this nectar of the gods, gentlemen, I drink +with you to 'White Supremacy!'" + +"White Supremacy everywhere!" added McBane with fervor. + +"Now and forever!" concluded Carteret solemnly. + +When the visitors, half an hour later, had taken their departure, +Carteret, inspired by the theme, and in less degree by the famous +mixture of the immortal Calhoun, turned to his desk and finished, at a +white heat, his famous editorial in which he sounded the tocsin of a new +crusade. + +At noon, when the editor, having laid down his pen, was leaving the +office, he passed Jerry in the hall without a word or a nod. The major +wore a rapt look, which Jerry observed with a vague uneasiness. + +"He looks jes' lack he wuz walkin' in his sleep," muttered Jerry +uneasily. "Dere's somethin' up, sho 's you bawn! 'No nigger damnation!' +Anybody'd 'low dey wuz all gwine ter heaven; but I knows better! W'en a +passel er w'ite folks gits ter talkin' 'bout de niggers lack dem in +yander, it's mo' lackly dey're gwine ter ketch somethin' e'se dan +heaven! I got ter keep my eyes open an' keep up wid w'at's happenin'. Ef +dere's gwine ter be anudder flood 'roun' here, I wants ter git in de +ark wid de w'ite folks,--I may haf ter be anudder Ham, an' sta't de +cullud race all over ag'in." + + + + +IV + + +THEODORE FELIX + +The young heir of the Carterets had thriven apace, and at six months old +was, according to Mammy Jane, whose experience qualified her to speak +with authority, the largest, finest, smartest, and altogether most +remarkable baby that had ever lived in Wellington. Mammy Jane had +recently suffered from an attack of inflammatory rheumatism, as the +result of which she had returned to her own home. She nevertheless came +now and then to see Mrs. Carteret. A younger nurse had been procured to +take her place, but it was understood that Jane would come whenever she +might be needed. + +"You really mean that about Dodie, do you, Mammy Jane?" asked the +delighted mother, who never tired of hearing her own opinion confirmed +concerning this wonderful child, which had come to her like an angel +from heaven. + +"Does I mean it!" exclaimed Mammy Jane, with a tone and an expression +which spoke volumes of reproach. "Now, Mis' 'Livy, what is I ever +uttered er said er spoke er done dat would make you s'pose I could tell +you a lie 'bout yo' own chile?" + +"No, Mammy Jane, I'm sure you wouldn't." + +"'Deed, ma'am, I'm tellin' you de Lawd's truf. I don' haf ter tell no +lies ner strain no p'ints 'bout my ole mist'ess's gran'chile. Dis yer +boy is de ve'y spit an' image er yo' brother, young Mars Alick, w'at +died w'en he wuz 'bout eight mont's ole, w'iles I wuz laid off havin' a +baby er my own, an' couldn' be roun' ter look after 'im. An' dis chile +is a rale quality chile, he is,--I never seed a baby wid sech fine hair +fer his age, ner sech blue eyes, ner sech a grip, ner sech a heft. W'y, +dat chile mus' weigh 'bout twenty-fo' poun's, an' he not but six mont's +ole. Does dat gal w'at does de nussin' w'iles I'm gone ten' ter dis +chile right, Mis' 'Livy?" + +"She does fairly well, Mammy Jane, but I could hardly expect her to love +the baby as you do. There's no one like you, Mammy Jane." + +"'Deed dere ain't, honey; you is talkin' de gospel truf now! None er +dese yer young folks ain' got de trainin' my ole mist'ess give me. Dese +yer new-fangle' schools don' l'arn 'em nothin' ter compare wid it. I'm +jes' gwine ter give dat gal a piece er my min', befo' I go, so she'll +ten' ter dis chile right." + +The nurse came in shortly afterwards, a neat-looking brown girl, dressed +in a clean calico gown, with a nurse's cap and apron. + +"Look a-here, gal," said Mammy Jane sternly, "I wants you ter understan' +dat you got ter take good keer er dis chile; fer I nussed his mammy +dere, an' his gran'mammy befo' 'im, an' you is got a priv'lege dat mos' +lackly you don' 'preciate. I wants you to 'member, in yo' incomin's an' +outgoin's, dat I got my eye on you, an' am gwine ter see dat you does +yo' wo'k right." + +"Do you need me for anything, ma'am?" asked the young nurse, who had +stood before Mrs. Carteret, giving Mammy Jane a mere passing glance, and +listening impassively to her harangue. The nurse belonged to the +younger generation of colored people. She had graduated from the mission +school, and had received some instruction in Dr. Miller's class for +nurses. Standing, like most young people of her race, on the border line +between two irreconcilable states of life, she had neither the +picturesqueness of the slave, nor the unconscious dignity of those of +whom freedom has been the immemorial birthright; she was in what might +be called the chip-on-the-shoulder stage, through which races as well as +individuals must pass in climbing the ladder of life,--not an +interesting, at least not an agreeable stage, but an inevitable one, and +for that reason entitled to a paragraph in a story of Southern life, +which, with its as yet imperfect blending of old with new, of race with +race, of slavery with freedom, is like no other life under the sun. + +Had this old woman, who had no authority over her, been a little more +polite, or a little less offensive, the nurse might have returned her a +pleasant answer. These old-time negroes, she said to herself, made her +sick with their slavering over the white folks, who, she supposed, +favored them and made much of them because they had once belonged to +them,--much the same reason why they fondled their cats and dogs. For +her own part, they gave her nothing but her wages, and small wages at +that, and she owed them nothing more than equivalent service. It was +purely a matter of business; she sold her time for their money. There +was no question of love between them. + +Receiving a negative answer from Mrs. Carteret, she left the room +without a word, ignoring Mammy Jane completely, and leaving that +venerable relic of ante-bellum times gasping in helpless astonishment. + +"Well, I nevuh!" she ejaculated, as soon as she could get her breath, +"ef dat ain' de beatinis' pe'fo'mance I ever seed er heared of! Dese yer +young niggers ain' got de manners dey wuz bawned wid! I don' know w'at +dey're comin' to, w'en dey ain' got no mo' rispec' fer ole age--I don' +know--I don' know!" + +"Now what are you croaking about, Jane?" asked Major Carteret, who came +into the room and took the child into his arms. + +Mammy Jane hobbled to her feet and bobbed a curtsy. She was never +lacking in respect to white people of proper quality; but Major +Carteret, the quintessence of aristocracy, called out all her reserves +of deference. The major was always kind and considerate to these old +family retainers, brought up in the feudal atmosphere now so rapidly +passing away. Mammy Jane loved Mrs. Carteret; toward the major she +entertained a feeling bordering upon awe. + +"Well, Jane," returned the major sadly, when the old nurse had related +her grievance, "the old times have vanished, the old ties have been +ruptured. The old relations of dependence and loyal obedience on the +part of the colored people, the responsibility of protection and +kindness upon that of the whites, have passed away forever. The young +negroes are too self-assertive. Education is spoiling them, Jane; they +have been badly taught. They are not content with their station in life. +Some time they will overstep the mark. The white people are patient, but +there is a limit to their endurance." + +"Dat's w'at I tells dese young niggers," groaned Mammy Jane, with a +portentous shake of her turbaned head, "w'en I hears 'em gwine on wid +deir foolishniss; but dey don' min' me. Dey 'lows dey knows mo' d'n I +does, 'ca'se dey be'n l'arnt ter look in a book. But, pshuh! my ole +mist'ess showed me mo' d'n dem niggers 'll l'arn in a thousan' years! I +'s fetch' my gran'son' Jerry up ter be 'umble, an' keep in 'is place. +An' I tells dese other niggers dat ef dey'd do de same, an' not crowd +de w'ite folks, dey'd git ernuff ter eat, an' live out deir days in +peace an' comfo't. But dey don' min' me--dey don' min' me!" + +"If all the colored people were like you and Jerry, Jane," rejoined the +major kindly, "there would never be any trouble. You have friends upon +whom, in time of need, you can rely implicitly for protection and +succor. You served your mistress faithfully before the war; you remained +by her when the other negroes were running hither and thither like sheep +without a shepherd; and you have transferred your allegiance to my wife +and her child. We think a great deal of you, Jane." + +"Yes, indeed, Mammy Jane," assented Mrs. Carteret, with sincere +affection, glancing with moist eyes from the child in her husband's arms +to the old nurse, whose dark face was glowing with happiness at these +expressions of appreciation, "you shall never want so long as we have +anything. We would share our last crust with you." + +"Thank y', Mis' 'Livy," said Jane with reciprocal emotion, "I knows who +my frien's is, an' I ain' gwine ter let nothin' worry me. But fer de +Lawd's sake, Mars Philip, gimme dat chile, an' lemme pat 'im on de back, +er he'll choke hisse'f ter death!" + +The old nurse had been the first to observe that little Dodie, for some +reason, was gasping for breath. Catching the child from the major's +arms, she patted it on the back, and shook it gently. After a moment of +this treatment, the child ceased to gasp, but still breathed heavily, +with a strange, whistling noise. + +"Oh, my child!" exclaimed the mother, in great alarm, taking the baby in +her own arms, "what can be the matter with him, Mammy Jane?" + +"Fer de Lawd's sake, ma'am, I don' know, 'less he's swallered +somethin'; an' he ain' had nothin' in his han's but de rattle Mis' Polly +give 'im." + +Mrs. Carteret caught up the ivory rattle, which hung suspended by a +ribbon from the baby's neck. + +"He has swallowed the little piece off the end of the handle," she +cried, turning pale with fear, "and it has lodged in his throat. +Telephone Dr. Price to come immediately, Philip, before my baby chokes +to death! Oh, my baby, my precious baby!" + +An anxious half hour passed, during which the child lay quiet, except +for its labored breathing. The suspense was relieved by the arrival of +Dr. Price, who examined the child carefully. + +"It's a curious accident," he announced at the close of his inspection. +"So far as I can discover, the piece of ivory has been drawn into the +trachea, or windpipe, and has lodged in the mouth of the right bronchus. +I'll try to get it out without an operation, but I can't guarantee the +result." + +At the end of another half hour Dr. Price announced his inability to +remove the obstruction without resorting to more serious measures. + +"I do not see," he declared, "how an operation can be avoided." + +"Will it be dangerous?" inquired the major anxiously, while Mrs. +Carteret shivered at the thought. + +"It will be necessary to cut into his throat from the outside. All such +operations are more or less dangerous, especially on small children. If +this were some other child, I might undertake the operation unassisted; +but I know how you value this one, major, and I should prefer to share +the responsibility with a specialist." + +"Is there one in town?" asked the major. + +"No, but we can get one from out of town." + +"Send for the best one in the country," said the major, "who can be got +here in time. Spare no expense, Dr. Price. We value this child above any +earthly thing." + +"The best is the safest," replied Dr. Price. "I will send for Dr. Burns, +of Philadelphia, the best surgeon in that line in America. If he can +start at once, he can reach here in sixteen or eighteen hours, and the +case can wait even longer, if inflammation does not set in." + +The message was dispatched forthwith. By rare good fortune the eminent +specialist was able to start within an hour or two after the receipt of +Dr. Price's telegram. Meanwhile the baby remained restless and uneasy, +the doctor spending most of his time by its side. Mrs. Carteret, who had +never been quite strong since the child's birth, was a prey to the most +agonizing apprehensions. + +Mammy Jane, while not presuming to question the opinion of Dr. Price, +and not wishing to add to her mistress's distress, was secretly +oppressed by forebodings which she was unable to shake off. The child +was born for bad luck. The mole under its ear, just at the point where +the hangman's knot would strike, had foreshadowed dire misfortune. She +had already observed several little things which had rendered her +vaguely anxious. + +For instance, upon one occasion, on entering the room where the baby had +been left alone, asleep in his crib, she had met a strange cat hurrying +from the nursery, and, upon examining closely the pillow upon which the +child lay, had found a depression which had undoubtedly been due to the +weight of the cat's body. The child was restless and uneasy, and Jane +had ever since believed that the cat had been sucking little Dodie's +breath, with what might have been fatal results had she not appeared +just in the nick of time. + +This untimely accident of the rattle, a fatality for which no one could +be held responsible, had confirmed the unlucky omen. Jane's duties in +the nursery did not permit her to visit her friend the conjure woman; +but she did find time to go out in the back yard at dusk, and to dig up +the charm which she had planted there. It had protected the child so +far; but perhaps its potency had become exhausted. She picked up the +bottle, shook it vigorously, and then laid it back, with the other side +up. Refilling the hole, she made a cross over the top with the thumb of +her left hand, and walked three times around it. + +What this strange symbolism meant, or whence it derived its origin, Aunt +Jane did not know. The cross was there, and the Trinity, though Jane was +scarcely conscious of these, at this moment, as religious emblems. But +she hoped, on general principles, that this performance would strengthen +the charm and restore little Dodie's luck. It certainly had its moral +effect upon Jane's own mind, for she was able to sleep better, and +contrived to impress Mrs. Carteret with her own hopefulness. + + + + +V + + +A JOURNEY SOUTHWARD + +As the south-bound train was leaving the station at Philadelphia, a +gentleman took his seat in the single sleeping-car attached to the +train, and proceeded to make himself comfortable. He hung up his hat and +opened his newspaper, in which he remained absorbed for a quarter of an +hour. When the train had left the city behind, he threw the paper aside, +and looked around at the other occupants of the car. One of these, who +had been on the car since it had left New York, rose from his seat upon +perceiving the other's glance, and came down the aisle. + +"How do you do, Dr. Burns?" he said, stopping beside the seat of the +Philadelphia passenger. + +The gentleman looked up at the speaker with an air of surprise, which, +after the first keen, incisive glance, gave place to an expression of +cordial recognition. + +"Why, it's Miller!" he exclaimed, rising and giving the other his hand, +"William Miller--Dr. Miller, of course. Sit down, Miller, and tell me +all about yourself,--what you're doing, where you've been, and where +you're going. I'm delighted to meet you, and to see you looking so +well--and so prosperous." + +"I deserve no credit for either, sir," returned the other, as he took +the proffered seat, "for I inherited both health and prosperity. It is a +fortunate chance that permits me to meet you." + +The two acquaintances, thus opportunely thrown together so that they +might while away in conversation the tedium of their journey, +represented very different and yet very similar types of manhood. A +celebrated traveler, after many years spent in barbarous or savage +lands, has said that among all varieties of mankind the similarities are +vastly more important and fundamental than the differences. Looking at +these two men with the American eye, the differences would perhaps be +the more striking, or at least the more immediately apparent, for the +first was white and the second black, or, more correctly speaking, +brown; it was even a light brown, but both his swarthy complexion and +his curly hair revealed what has been described in the laws of some of +our states as a "visible admixture" of African blood. + +Having disposed of this difference, and having observed that the white +man was perhaps fifty years of age and the other not more than thirty, +it may be said that they were both tall and sturdy, both well dressed, +the white man with perhaps a little more distinction; both seemed from +their faces and their manners to be men of culture and accustomed to the +society of cultivated people. They were both handsome men, the elder +representing a fine type of Anglo-Saxon, as the term is used in speaking +of our composite white population; while the mulatto's erect form, broad +shoulders, clear eyes, fine teeth, and pleasingly moulded features +showed nowhere any sign of that degeneration which the pessimist so +sadly maintains is the inevitable heritage of mixed races. + +As to their personal relations, it has already appeared that they were +members of the same profession. In past years they had been teacher and +pupil. Dr. Alvin Burns was professor in the famous medical college +where Miller had attended lectures. The professor had taken an interest +in his only colored pupil, to whom he had been attracted by his +earnestness of purpose, his evident talent, and his excellent manners +and fine physique. It was in part due to Dr. Burns's friendship that +Miller had won a scholarship which had enabled him, without drawing too +heavily upon his father's resources, to spend in Europe, studying in the +hospitals of Paris and Vienna, the two most delightful years of his +life. The same influence had strengthened his natural inclination toward +operative surgery, in which Dr. Burns was a distinguished specialist of +national reputation. + +Miller's father, Adam Miller, had been a thrifty colored man, the son of +a slave, who, in the olden time, had bought himself with money which he +had earned and saved, over and above what he had paid his master for his +time. Adam Miller had inherited his father's thrift, as well as his +trade, which was that of a stevedore, or contractor for the loading and +unloading of vessels at the port of Wellington. In the flush turpentine +days following a few years after the civil war, he had made money. His +savings, shrewdly invested, had by constant accessions become a +competence. He had brought up his eldest son to the trade; the other he +had given a professional education, in the proud hope that his children +or his grandchildren might be gentlemen in the town where their +ancestors had once been slaves. + +Upon his father's death, shortly after Dr. Miller's return from Europe, +and a year or two before the date at which this story opens, he had +promptly spent part of his inheritance in founding a hospital, to which +was to be added a training school for nurses, and in time perhaps a +medical college and a school of pharmacy. He had been strongly tempted +to leave the South, and seek a home for his family and a career for +himself in the freer North, where race antagonism was less keen, or at +least less oppressive, or in Europe, where he had never found his color +work to his disadvantage. But his people had needed him, and he had +wished to help them, and had sought by means of this institution to +contribute to their uplifting. As he now informed Dr. Burns, he was +returning from New York, where he had been in order to purchase +equipment for his new hospital, which would soon be ready for the +reception of patients. + +"How much I can accomplish I do not know," said Miller, "but I'll do +what I can. There are eight or nine million of us, and it will take a +great deal of learning of all kinds to leaven that lump." + +"It is a great problem, Miller, the future of your race," returned the +other, "a tremendously interesting problem. It is a serial story which +we are all reading, and which grows in vital interest with each +successive installment. It is not only your problem, but ours. Your race +must come up or drag ours down." + +"We shall come up," declared Miller; "slowly and painfully, perhaps, but +we shall win our way. If our race had made as much progress everywhere +as they have made in Wellington, the problem would be well on the way +toward solution." + +"Wellington?" exclaimed Dr. Burns. "That's where I'm going. A Dr. Price, +of Wellington, has sent for me to perform an operation on a child's +throat. Do you know Dr. Price?" + +"Quite well," replied Miller, "he is a friend of mine." + +"So much the better. I shall want you to assist me. I read in the +Medical Gazette, the other day, an account of a very interesting +operation of yours. I felt proud to number you among my pupils. It was a +remarkable case--a rare case. I must certainly have you with me in this +one." + +"I shall be delighted, sir," returned Miller, "if it is agreeable to all +concerned." + +Several hours were passed in pleasant conversation while the train sped +rapidly southward. They were already far down in Virginia, and had +stopped at a station beyond Richmond, when the conductor entered the +car. + +"All passengers," he announced, "will please transfer to the day coaches +ahead. The sleeper has a hot box, and must be switched off here." + +Dr. Burns and Miller obeyed the order, the former leading the way into +the coach immediately in front of the sleeping-car. + +"Let's sit here, Miller," he said, having selected a seat near the rear +of the car and deposited his suitcase in a rack. "It's on the shady +side." + +Miller stood a moment hesitatingly, but finally took the seat indicated, +and a few minutes later the journey was again resumed. + +When the train conductor made his round after leaving the station, he +paused at the seat occupied by the two doctors, glanced interrogatively +at Miller, and then spoke to Dr. Burns, who sat in the end of the seat +nearest the aisle. + +"This man is with you?" he asked, indicating Miller with a slight side +movement of his head, and a keen glance in his direction. + +"Certainly," replied Dr. Burns curtly, and with some surprise. "Don't +you see that he is?" + +The conductor passed on. Miller paid no apparent attention to this +little interlude, though no syllable had escaped him. He resumed the +conversation where it had been broken off, but nevertheless followed +with his eyes the conductor, who stopped at a seat near the forward end +of the car, and engaged in conversation with a man whom Miller had not +hitherto noticed. + +As this passenger turned his head and looked back toward Miller, the +latter saw a broad-shouldered, burly white man, and recognized in his +square-cut jaw, his coarse, firm mouth, and the single gray eye with +which he swept Miller for an instant with a scornful glance, a +well-known character of Wellington, with whom the reader has already +made acquaintance in these pages. Captain McBane wore a frock coat and a +slouch hat; several buttons of his vest were unbuttoned, and his +solitaire diamond blazed in his soiled shirt-front like the headlight of +a locomotive. + +The conductor in his turn looked back at Miller, and retraced his steps. +Miller braced himself for what he feared was coming, though he had +hoped, on account of his friend's presence, that it might be avoided. + +"Excuse me, sir," said the conductor, addressing Dr. Burns, "but did I +understand you to say that this man was your servant?" + +"No, indeed!" replied Dr. Burns indignantly. "The gentleman is not my +servant, nor anybody's servant, but is my friend. But, by the way, since +we are on the subject, may I ask what affair it is of yours?" + +"It's very much my affair," returned the conductor, somewhat nettled at +this questioning of his authority. "I'm sorry to part _friends_, but the +law of Virginia does not permit colored passengers to ride in the white +cars. You'll have to go forward to the next coach," he added, addressing +Miller this time. + +"I have paid my fare on the sleeping-car, where the separate-car law +does not apply," remonstrated Miller. + +"I can't help that. You can doubtless get your money back from the +sleeping-car company. But this is a day coach, and is distinctly marked +'White,' as you must have seen before you sat down here. The sign is put +there for that purpose." + +He indicated a large card neatly framed and hung at the end of the car, +containing the legend, "White," in letters about a foot long, painted in +white upon a dark background, typical, one might suppose, of the +distinction thereby indicated. + +"You shall not stir a step, Miller," exclaimed Dr. Burns wrathfully. +"This is an outrage upon a citizen of a free country. You shall stay +right here." + +"I'm sorry to discommode you," returned the conductor, "but there's no +use kicking. It's the law of Virginia, and I am bound by it as well as +you. I have already come near losing my place because of not enforcing +it, and I can take no more such chances, since I have a family to +support." + +"And my friend has his rights to maintain," returned Dr. Burns with +determination. "There is a vital principle at stake in the matter." + +"Really, sir," argued the conductor, who was a man of peace and not fond +of controversy, "there's no use talking--he absolutely cannot ride in +this car." + +"How can you prevent it?" asked Dr. Burns, lapsing into the +argumentative stage. + +"The law gives me the right to remove him by force. I can call on the +train crew to assist me, or on the other passengers. If I should choose +to put him off the train entirely, in the middle of a swamp, he would +have no redress--the law so provides. If I did not wish to use force, I +could simply switch this car off at the next siding, transfer the white +passengers to another, and leave you and your friend in possession until +you were arrested and fined or imprisoned." + +"What he says is absolutely true, doctor," interposed Miller at this +point. "It is the law, and we are powerless to resist it. If we made any +trouble, it would merely delay your journey and imperil a life at the +other end. I'll go into the other car." + +"You shall not go alone," said Dr. Burns stoutly, rising in his turn. "A +place that is too good for you is not good enough for me. I will sit +wherever you do." + +"I'm sorry again," said the conductor, who had quite recovered his +equanimity, and calmly conscious of his power, could scarcely restrain +an amused smile; "I dislike to interfere, but white passengers are not +permitted to ride in the colored car." + +"This is an outrage," declared Dr. Burns, "a d----d outrage! You are +curtailing the rights, not only of colored people, but of white men as +well. I shall sit where I please!" + +"I warn you, sir," rejoined the conductor, hardening again, "that the +law will be enforced. The beauty of the system lies in its strict +impartiality--it applies to both races alike." + +"And is equally infamous in both cases," declared Dr. Burns. "I shall +immediately take steps"-- + +"Never mind, doctor," interrupted Miller, soothingly, "it's only for a +little while. I'll reach my destination just as surely in the other car, +and we can't help it, anyway. I'll see you again at Wellington." + +Dr. Burns, finding resistance futile, at length acquiesced and made way +for Miller to pass him. + +The colored doctor took up his valise and crossed the platform to the +car ahead. It was an old car, with faded upholstery, from which the +stuffing projected here and there through torn places. Apparently the +floor had not been swept for several days. The dust lay thick upon the +window sills, and the water-cooler, from which he essayed to get a +drink, was filled with stale water which had made no recent acquaintance +with ice. There was no other passenger in the car, and Miller occupied +himself in making a rough calculation of what it would cost the Southern +railroads to haul a whole car for every colored passenger. It was +expensive, to say the least; it would be cheaper, and quite as +considerate of their feelings, to make the negroes walk. + +The car was conspicuously labeled at either end with large cards, +similar to those in the other car, except that they bore the word +"Colored" in black letters upon a white background. The author of this +piece of legislation had contrived, with an ingenuity worthy of a better +cause, that not merely should the passengers be separated by the color +line, but that the reason for this division should be kept constantly in +mind. Lest a white man should forget that he was white,--not a very +likely contingency,--these cards would keep him constantly admonished of +the fact; should a colored person endeavor, for a moment, to lose sight +of his disability, these staring signs would remind him continually that +between him and the rest of mankind not of his own color, there was by +law a great gulf fixed. + +Having composed himself, Miller had opened a newspaper, and was deep in +an editorial which set forth in glowing language the inestimable +advantages which would follow to certain recently acquired islands by +the introduction of American liberty, when the rear door of the car +opened to give entrance to Captain George McBane, who took a seat near +the door and lit a cigar. Miller knew him quite well by sight and by +reputation, and detested him as heartily. He represented the aggressive, +offensive element among the white people of the New South, who made it +hard for a negro to maintain his self-respect or to enjoy even the +rights conceded to colored men by Southern laws. McBane had undoubtedly +identified him to the conductor in the other car. Miller had no desire +to thrust himself upon the society of white people, which, indeed, to +one who had traveled so much and so far, was no novelty; but he very +naturally resented being at this late day--the law had been in operation +only a few months--branded and tagged and set apart from the rest of +mankind upon the public highways, like an unclean thing. Nevertheless, +he preferred even this to the exclusive society of Captain George +McBane. + +"Porter," he demanded of the colored train attaché who passed through +the car a moment later, "is this a smoking car for white men?" + +"No, suh," replied the porter, "but they comes in here sometimes, when +they ain' no cullud ladies on the kyar." + +"Well, I have paid first-class fare, and I object to that man's smoking +in here. You tell him to go out." + +"I'll tell the conductor, suh," returned the porter in a low tone. "I +'d jus' as soon talk ter the devil as ter that man." + +The white man had spread himself over two seats, and was smoking +vigorously, from time to time spitting carelessly in the aisle, when the +conductor entered the compartment. + +"Captain," said Miller, "this car is plainly marked 'Colored.' I have +paid first-class fare, and I object to riding in a smoking car." + +"All right," returned the conductor, frowning irritably. "I'll speak to +him." + +He walked over to the white passenger, with whom he was evidently +acquainted, since he addressed him by name. + +"Captain McBane," he said, "it's against the law for you to ride in the +nigger car." + +"Who are you talkin' to?" returned the other. "I'll ride where I damn +please." + +"Yes, sir, but the colored passenger objects. I'm afraid I'll have to +ask you to go into the smoking-car." + +"The hell you say!" rejoined McBane. "I'll leave this car when I get +good and ready, and that won't be till I've finished this cigar. See?" + +He was as good as his word. The conductor escaped from the car before +Miller had time for further expostulation. Finally McBane, having thrown +the stump of his cigar into the aisle and added to the floor a finishing +touch in the way of expectoration, rose and went back into the white +car. + +Left alone in his questionable glory, Miller buried himself again in his +newspaper, from which he did not look up until the engine stopped at a +tank station to take water. + +As the train came to a standstill, a huge negro, covered thickly with +dust, crawled off one of the rear trucks unobserved, and ran round the +rear end of the car to a watering-trough by a neighboring well. Moved +either by extreme thirst or by the fear that his time might be too short +to permit him to draw a bucket of water, he threw himself down by the +trough, drank long and deep, and plunging his head into the water, shook +himself like a wet dog, and crept furtively back to his dangerous perch. + +Miller, who had seen this man from the car window, had noticed a very +singular thing. As the dusty tramp passed the rear coach, he cast toward +it a glance of intense ferocity. Up to that moment the man's face, which +Miller had recognized under its grimy coating, had been that of an +ordinarily good-natured, somewhat reckless, pleasure-loving negro, at +present rather the worse for wear. The change that now came over it +suggested a concentrated hatred almost uncanny in its murderousness. +With awakened curiosity Miller followed the direction of the negro's +glance, and saw that it rested upon a window where Captain McBane sat +looking out. When Miller looked back, the negro had disappeared. + +At the next station a Chinaman, of the ordinary laundry type, boarded +the train, and took his seat in the white car without objection. At +another point a colored nurse found a place with her mistress. + +"White people," said Miller to himself, who had seen these passengers +from the window, "do not object to the negro as a servant. As the +traditional negro,--the servant,--he is welcomed; as an equal, he is +repudiated." + +Miller was something of a philosopher. He had long ago had the +conclusion forced upon him that an educated man of his race, in order to +live comfortably in the United States, must be either a philosopher or +a fool; and since he wished to be happy, and was not exactly a fool, he +had cultivated philosophy. By and by he saw a white man, with a dog, +enter the rear coach. Miller wondered whether the dog would be allowed +to ride with his master, and if not, what disposition would be made of +him. He was a handsome dog, and Miller, who was fond of animals, would +not have objected to the company of a dog, as a dog. He was nevertheless +conscious of a queer sensation when he saw the porter take the dog by +the collar and start in his own direction, and felt consciously relieved +when the canine passenger was taken on past him into the baggage-car +ahead. Miller's hand was hanging over the arm of his seat, and the dog, +an intelligent shepherd, licked it as he passed. Miller was not entirely +sure that he would not have liked the porter to leave the dog there; he +was a friendly dog, and seemed inclined to be sociable. + +Toward evening the train drew up at a station where quite a party of +farm laborers, fresh from their daily toil, swarmed out from the +conspicuously labeled colored waiting-room, and into the car with +Miller. They were a jolly, good-natured crowd, and, free from the +embarrassing presence of white people, proceeded to enjoy themselves +after their own fashion. Here an amorous fellow sat with his arm around +a buxom girl's waist. A musically inclined individual--his talents did +not go far beyond inclination--produced a mouth-organ and struck up a +tune, to which a limber-legged boy danced in the aisle. They were noisy, +loquacious, happy, dirty, and malodorous. For a while Miller was amused +and pleased. They were his people, and he felt a certain expansive +warmth toward them in spite of their obvious shortcomings. By and by, +however, the air became too close, and he went out upon the platform. +For the sake of the democratic ideal, which meant so much to his race, +he might have endured the affliction. He could easily imagine that +people of refinement, with the power in their hands, might be tempted to +strain the democratic ideal in order to avoid such contact; but +personally, and apart from the mere matter of racial sympathy, these +people were just as offensive to him as to the whites in the other end +of the train. Surely, if a classification of passengers on trains was at +all desirable, it might be made upon some more logical and considerate +basis than a mere arbitrary, tactless, and, by the very nature of +things, brutal drawing of a color line. It was a veritable bed of +Procrustes, this standard which the whites had set for the negroes. +Those who grew above it must have their heads cut off, figuratively +speaking,--must be forced back to the level assigned to their race; +those who fell beneath the standard set had their necks stretched, +literally enough, as the ghastly record in the daily papers gave +conclusive evidence. + +Miller breathed more freely when the lively crowd got off at the next +station, after a short ride. Moreover, he had a light heart, a +conscience void of offense, and was only thirty years old. His +philosophy had become somewhat jaded on this journey, but he pulled it +together for a final effort. Was it not, after all, a wise provision of +nature that had given to a race, destined to a long servitude and a slow +emergence therefrom, a cheerfulness of spirit which enabled them to +catch pleasure on the wing, and endure with equanimity the ills that +seemed inevitable? The ability to live and thrive under adverse +circumstances is the surest guaranty of the future. The race which at +the last shall inherit the earth--the residuary legatee of +civilization--will be the race which remains longest upon it. The negro +was here before the Anglo-Saxon was evolved, and his thick lips and +heavy-lidded eyes looked out from the inscrutable face of the Sphinx +across the sands of Egypt while yet the ancestors of those who now +oppress him were living in caves, practicing human sacrifice, and +painting themselves with woad--and the negro is here yet. + +"'Blessed are the meek,'" quoted Miller at the end of these consoling +reflections, "'for they shall inherit the earth.' If this be true, the +negro may yet come into his estate, for meekness seems to be set apart +as his portion." + +The journey came to an end just as the sun had sunk into the west. + +Simultaneously with Miller's exit from the train, a great black figure +crawled off the trucks of the rear car, on the side opposite the station +platform. Stretching and shaking himself with a free gesture, the black +man, seeing himself unobserved, moved somewhat stiffly round the end of +the car to the station platform. + +"'Fo de Lawd!" he muttered, "ef I hadn' had a cha'm' life, I'd 'a' +never got here on dat ticket, an' dat's a fac'--it sho' am! I kind er +'lowed I wuz gone a dozen times, ez it wuz. But I got my job ter do in +dis worl', an' I knows I ain' gwine ter die 'tel I've 'complished it. I +jes' want one mo' look at dat man, an' den I'll haf ter git somethin' +ter eat; fer two raw turnips in twelve hours is slim pickin's fer a man +er my size!" + + + + +VI + + +JANET + +As the train drew up at the station platform, Dr. Price came forward +from the white waiting-room, and stood expectantly by the door of the +white coach. Miller, having left his car, came down the platform in time +to intercept Burns as he left the train, and to introduce him to Dr. +Price. + +"My carriage is in waiting," said Dr. Price. "I should have liked to +have you at my own house, but my wife is out of town. We have a good +hotel, however, and you will doubtless find it more convenient." + +"You are very kind, Dr. Price. Miller, won't you come up and dine with +me?" + +"Thank you, no," said Miller, "I am expected at home. My wife and child +are waiting for me in the buggy yonder by the platform." + +"Oh, very well; of course you must go; but don't forget our appointment. +Let's see, Dr. Price, I can eat and get ready in half an hour--that will +make it"-- + +"I have asked several of the local physicians to be present at eight +o'clock," said Dr. Price. "The case can safely wait until then." + +"Very well, Miller, be on hand at eight. I shall expect you without +fail. Where shall he come, Dr. Price?" + +"To the residence of Major Philip Carteret, on Vine Street." + +"I have invited Dr. Miller to be present and assist in the operation," +Dr. Burns continued, as they drove toward the hotel. "He was a favorite +pupil of mine, and is a credit to the profession. I presume you saw his +article in the Medical Gazette?" + +"Yes, and I assisted him in the case," returned Dr. Price. "It was a +colored lad, one of his patients, and he called me in to help him. He is +a capable man, and very much liked by the white physicians." + +Miller's wife and child were waiting for him in fluttering anticipation. +He kissed them both as he climbed into the buggy. + +"We came at four o'clock," said Mrs. Miller, a handsome young woman, who +might be anywhere between twenty-five and thirty, and whose complexion, +in the twilight, was not distinguishable from that of a white person, +"but the train was late two hours, they said. We came back at six, and +have been waiting ever since." + +"Yes, papa," piped the child, a little boy of six or seven, who sat +between them, "and I am very hungry." + +Miller felt very much elated as he drove homeward through the twilight. +By his side sat the two persons whom he loved best in all the world. His +affairs were prosperous. Upon opening his office in the city, he had +been received by the members of his own profession with a cordiality +generally frank, and in no case much reserved. The colored population of +the city was large, but in the main poor, and the white physicians were +not unwilling to share this unprofitable practice with a colored doctor +worthy of confidence. In the intervals of the work upon his hospital, he +had built up a considerable practice among his own people; but except in +the case of some poor unfortunate whose pride had been lost in poverty +or sin, no white patient had ever called upon him for treatment. He knew +very well the measure of his powers,--a liberal education had given him +opportunity to compare himself with other men,--and was secretly +conscious that in point of skill and knowledge he did not suffer by +comparison with any other physician in the town. He liked to believe +that the race antagonism which hampered his progress and that of his +people was a mere temporary thing, the outcome of former conditions, and +bound to disappear in time, and that when a colored man should +demonstrate to the community in which he lived that he possessed +character and power, that community would find a way in which to enlist +his services for the public good. + +He had already made himself useful, and had received many kind words and +other marks of appreciation. He was now offered a further confirmation +of his theory: having recognized his skill, the white people were now +ready to take advantage of it. Any lurking doubt he may have felt when +first invited by Dr. Burns to participate in the operation, had been +dispelled by Dr. Price's prompt acquiescence. + +On the way homeward Miller told his wife of this appointment. She was +greatly interested; she was herself a mother, with an only child. +Moreover, there was a stronger impulse than mere humanity to draw her +toward the stricken mother. Janet had a tender heart, and could have +loved this white sister, her sole living relative of whom she knew. All +her life long she had yearned for a kind word, a nod, a smile, the least +thing that imagination might have twisted into a recognition of the tie +between them. But it had never come. + +And yet Janet was not angry. She was of a forgiving temper; she could +never bear malice. She was educated, had read many books, and +appreciated to the full the social forces arrayed against any such +recognition as she had dreamed of. Of the two barriers between them a +man might have forgiven the one; a woman would not be likely to overlook +either the bar sinister or the difference of race, even to the slight +extent of a silent recognition. Blood is thicker than water, but, if it +flow too far from conventional channels, may turn to gall and wormwood. +Nevertheless, when the heart speaks, reason falls into the background, +and Janet would have worshiped this sister, even afar off, had she +received even the slightest encouragement. So strong was this weakness +that she had been angry with herself for her lack of pride, or even of a +decent self-respect. It was, she sometimes thought, the heritage of her +mother's race, and she was ashamed of it as part of the taint of +slavery. She had never acknowledged, even to her husband, from whom she +concealed nothing else, her secret thoughts upon this lifelong sorrow. +This silent grief was nature's penalty, or society's revenge, for +whatever heritage of beauty or intellect or personal charm had come to +her with her father's blood. For she had received no other inheritance. +Her sister was rich by right of her birth; if Janet had been fortunate, +her good fortune had not been due to any provision made for her by her +white father. + +She knew quite well how passionately, for many years, her proud sister +had longed and prayed in vain for the child which had at length brought +joy into her household, and she could feel, by sympathy, all the +sickening suspense with which the child's parents must await the result +of this dangerous operation. + +"O Will," she adjured her husband anxiously, when he had told her of the +engagement, "you must be very careful. Think of the child's poor mother! +Think of our own dear child, and what it would mean to lose him!" + + + + +VII + + +THE OPERATION + +Dr. Price was not entirely at ease in his mind as the two doctors drove +rapidly from the hotel to Major Carteret's. Himself a liberal man, from +his point of view, he saw no reason why a colored doctor might not +operate upon a white male child,--there are fine distinctions in the +application of the color line,--but several other physicians had been +invited, some of whom were men of old-fashioned notions, who might not +relish such an innovation. + +This, however, was but a small difficulty compared with what might be +feared from Major Carteret himself. For he knew Carteret's unrelenting +hostility to anything that savored of recognition of the negro as the +equal of white men. It was traditional in Wellington that no colored +person had ever entered the front door of the Carteret residence, and +that the luckless individual who once presented himself there upon +alleged business and resented being ordered to the back door had been +unceremoniously thrown over the piazza railing into a rather thorny +clump of rosebushes below. If Miller were going as a servant, to hold a +basin or a sponge, there would be no difficulty; but as a surgeon--well, +he wouldn't borrow trouble. Under the circumstances the major might +yield a point. + +But as they neared the house the major's unyielding disposition loomed +up formidably. Perhaps if the matter were properly presented to Dr. +Burns, he might consent to withdraw the invitation. It was not yet too, +late to send Miller a note. + +"By the way, Dr. Burns," he said, "I'm very friendly to Dr. Miller, and +should personally like to have him with us to-night. But--I ought to +have told you this before, but I couldn't very well do so, on such +short notice, in Miller's presence--we are a conservative people, and +our local customs are not very flexible. We jog along in much the same +old way our fathers did. I'm not at all sure that Major Carteret or the +other gentlemen would consent to the presence of a negro doctor." + +"I think you misjudge your own people," returned Dr. Burns, "they are +broader than you think. We have our prejudices against the negro at the +North, but we do not let them stand in the way of anything that _we_ +want. At any rate, it is too late now, and I will accept the +responsibility. If the question is raised, I will attend to it. When I +am performing an operation I must be _aut Caesar, aut nullus_." + +Dr. Price was not reassured, but he had done his duty and felt the +reward of virtue. If there should be trouble, he would not be +responsible. Moreover, there was a large fee at stake, and Dr. Burns was +not likely to prove too obdurate. + +They were soon at Carteret's, where they found assembled the several +physicians invited by Dr. Price. These were successively introduced as +Drs. Dudley, Hooper, and Ashe, all of whom were gentlemen of good +standing, socially and in their profession, and considered it a high +privilege to witness so delicate an operation at the hands of so eminent +a member of their profession. + +Major Carteret entered the room and was duly presented to the famous +specialist. Carteret's anxious look lightened somewhat at sight of the +array of talent present. It suggested, of course, the gravity of the +impending event, but gave assurance of all the skill and care which +science could afford. + +Dr. Burns was shown to the nursery, from which he returned in five +minutes. + +"The case is ready," he announced. "Are the gentlemen all present?" + +"I believe so," answered Dr. Price quickly. + +Miller had not yet arrived. Perhaps, thought Dr. Price, a happy +accident, or some imperative call, had detained him. This would be +fortunate indeed. Dr. Burns's square jaw had a very determined look. It +would be a pity if any acrimonious discussion should arise on the eve of +a delicate operation. If the clock on the mantel would only move faster, +the question might never come up. + +"I don't see Dr. Miller," observed Dr. Burns, looking around the room. +"I asked him to come at eight. There are ten minutes yet." + +Major Carteret looked up with a sudden frown. + +"May I ask to whom you refer?" he inquired, in an ominous tone. + +The other gentlemen showed signs of interest, not to say emotion. Dr. +Price smiled quizzically. + +"Dr. Miller, of your city. He was one of my favorite pupils. He is also +a graduate of the Vienna hospitals, and a surgeon of unusual skill. I +have asked him to assist in the operation." + +Every eye was turned toward Carteret, whose crimsoned face had set in a +look of grim determination. + +"The person to whom you refer is a negro, I believe?" he said. + +"He is a colored man, certainly," returned Dr. Burns, "though one would +never think of his color after knowing him well." + +"I do not know, sir," returned Carteret, with an effort at self-control, +"what the customs of Philadelphia or Vienna may be; but in the South we +do not call negro doctors to attend white patients. I could not permit a +negro to enter my house upon such an errand." + +"I am here, sir," replied Dr. Burns with spirit, "to perform a certain +operation. Since I assume the responsibility, the case must be under my +entire control. Otherwise I cannot operate." + +"Gentlemen," interposed Dr. Price, smoothly, "I beg of you both--this is +a matter for calm discussion, and any asperity is to be deplored. The +life at stake here should not be imperiled by any consideration of minor +importance." + +"Your humanity does you credit, sir," retorted Dr. Burns. "But other +matters, too, are important. I have invited this gentleman here. My +professional honor is involved, and I merely invoke my rights to +maintain it. It is a matter of principle, which ought not to give way to +a mere prejudice." + +"That also states the case for Major Carteret," rejoined Dr. Price, +suavely. "He has certain principles,--call them prejudices, if you +like,--certain inflexible rules of conduct by which he regulates his +life. One of these, which he shares with us all in some degree, forbids +the recognition of the negro as a social equal." + +"I do not know what Miller's social value may be," replied Dr. Burns, +stoutly, "or whether you gain or lose by your attitude toward him. I +have invited him here in a strictly professional capacity, with which +his color is not at all concerned." + +"Dr. Burns does not quite appreciate Major Carteret's point of view," +said Dr. Price. "This is not with him an unimportant matter, or a mere +question of prejudice, or even of personal taste. It is a sacred +principle, lying at the very root of our social order, involving the +purity and prestige of our race. You Northern gentlemen do not quite +appreciate our situation; if you lived here a year or two you would act +as we do. Of course," he added, diplomatically, "if there were no +alternative--if Dr. Burns were willing to put Dr. Miller's presence on +the ground of imperative necessity"-- + +"I do nothing of the kind, sir," retorted Dr. Burns with some heat. "I +have not come all the way from Philadelphia to undertake an operation +which I cannot perform without the aid of some particular physician. I +merely stand upon my professional rights." + +Carteret was deeply agitated. The operation must not be deferred; his +child's life might be endangered by delay. If the negro's presence were +indispensable he would even submit to it, though in order to avoid so +painful a necessity, he would rather humble himself to the Northern +doctor. The latter course involved merely a personal sacrifice--the +former a vital principle. Perhaps there was another way of escape. +Miller's presence could not but be distasteful to Mrs. Carteret for +other reasons. Miller's wife was the living evidence of a painful +episode in Mrs. Carteret's family, which the doctor's presence would +inevitably recall. Once before, Mrs. Carteret's life had been endangered +by encountering, at a time of great nervous strain, this ill-born +sister and her child. She was even now upon the verge of collapse at the +prospect of her child's suffering, and should be protected from the +intrusion of any idea which might add to her distress. + +"Dr. Burns," he said, with the suave courtesy which was part of his +inheritance, "I beg your pardon for my heat, and throw myself upon your +magnanimity, as between white men"-- + +"I am a gentleman, sir, before I am a white man," interposed Dr. Burns, +slightly mollified, however, by Carteret's change of manner. + +"The terms should be synonymous," Carteret could not refrain from +saying. "As between white men, and gentlemen, I say to you, frankly, +that there are vital, personal reasons, apart from Dr. Miller's color, +why his presence in this house would be distasteful. With this +statement, sir, I throw myself upon your mercy. My child's life is worth +more to me than any earthly thing, and I must be governed by your +decision." + +Dr. Burns was plainly wavering. The clock moved with provoking slowness. +Miller would be there in five minutes. + +"May I speak with you privately a moment, doctor?" asked Dr. Price. + +They withdrew from the room and were engaged in conversation for a few +moments. Dr. Burns finally yielded. + +"I shall nevertheless feel humiliated when I meet Miller again," he +said, "but of course if there is a personal question involved, that +alters the situation. Had it been merely a matter of color, I should +have maintained my position. As things stand, I wash my hands of the +whole affair, so far as Miller is concerned, like Pontius Pilate--yes, +indeed, sir, I feel very much like that individual." + +"I'll explain the matter to Miller," returned Dr. Price, amiably, "and +make it all right with him. We Southern people understand the negroes +better than you do, sir. Why should we not? They have been constantly +under our interested observation for several hundred years. You feel +this vastly more than Miller will. He knows the feeling of the white +people, and is accustomed to it. He wishes to live and do business here, +and is quite too shrewd to antagonize his neighbors or come where he is +not wanted. He is in fact too much of a gentleman to do so." + +"I shall leave the explanation to you entirely," rejoined Dr. Burns, as +they reëntered the other room. + +Carteret led the way to the nursery, where the operation was to take +place. Dr. Price lingered for a moment. Miller was not likely to be +behind the hour, if he came at all, and it would be well to head him off +before the operation began. + +Scarcely had the rest left the room when the doorbell sounded, and a +servant announced Dr. Miller. + +Dr. Price stepped into the hall and met Miller face to face. + +He had meant to state the situation to Miller frankly, but now that the +moment had come he wavered. He was a fine physician, but he shrank from +strenuous responsibilities. It had been easy to theorize about the +negro; it was more difficult to look this man in the eyes--whom at this +moment he felt to be as essentially a gentleman as himself--and tell him +the humiliating truth. + +As a physician his method was to ease pain--he would rather take the +risk of losing a patient from the use of an anaesthetic than from the +shock of an operation. He liked Miller, wished him well, and would not +wittingly wound his feelings. He really thought him too much of a +gentleman for the town, in view of the restrictions with which he must +inevitably be hampered. There was something melancholy, to a cultivated +mind, about a sensitive, educated man who happened to be off color. Such +a person was a sort of social misfit, an odd quantity, educated out of +his own class, with no possible hope of entrance into that above it. He +felt quite sure that if he had been in Miller's place, he would never +have settled in the South--he would have moved to Europe, or to the West +Indies, or some Central or South American state where questions of color +were not regarded as vitally important. + +Dr. Price did not like to lie, even to a negro. To a man of his own +caste, his word was his bond. If it were painful to lie, it would be +humiliating to be found out. The principle of _noblesse oblige_ was also +involved in the matter. His claim of superiority to the colored doctor +rested fundamentally upon the fact that he was white and Miller was not; +and yet this superiority, for which he could claim no credit, since he +had not made himself, was the very breath of his nostrils,--he would not +have changed places with the other for wealth untold; and as a +gentleman, he would not care to have another gentleman, even a colored +man, catch him in a lie. Of this, however, there was scarcely any +danger. A word to the other surgeons would insure their corroboration of +whatever he might tell Miller. No one of them would willingly wound Dr. +Miller or embarrass Dr. Price; indeed, they need not know that Miller +had come in time for the operation. + +"I'm sorry, Miller," he said with apparent regret, "but we were here +ahead of time, and the case took a turn which would admit of no delay, +so the gentlemen went in. Dr. Burns is with the patient now, and asked +me to explain why we did not wait for you." + +"I'm sorry too," returned Miller, regretfully, but nothing doubting. He +was well aware that in such cases danger might attend upon delay. He had +lost his chance, through no fault of his own or of any one else. + +"I hope that all is well?" he said, hesitatingly, not sure whether he +would be asked to remain. + +"All is well, so far. Step round to my office in the morning, Miller, or +come in when you're passing, and I'll tell you the details." + +This was tantamount to a dismissal, so Miller took his leave. Descending +the doorsteps, he stood for a moment, undecided whether to return home +or to go to the hotel and await the return of Dr. Burns, when he heard +his name called from the house in a low tone. + +"Oh, doctuh!" + +He stepped back toward the door, outside of which stood the colored +servant who had just let him out. + +"Dat's all a lie, doctuh," he whispered, "'bout de operation bein' +already pe'fo'med. Dey-all had jes' gone in de minute befo' you +come--Doctuh Price hadn' even got out 'n de room. Dey be'n quollin' +'bout you fer de las' ha'f hour. Majah Ca'te'et say he wouldn' have +you, an' de No'then doctuh say he wouldn't do nothin' widout you, an' +Doctuh Price he j'ined in on bofe sides, an' dey had it hot an' heavy, +nip an' tuck, till bimeby Majah Ca'te'et up an' say it wa'n't altogether +yo' color he objected to, an' wid dat de No'then doctuh give in. He's +a fine man, suh, but dey wuz too much fer 'im!" + +"Thank you, Sam, I'm much obliged," returned Miller mechanically. "One +likes to know the truth." + +Truth, it has been said, is mighty, and must prevail; but it sometimes +leaves a bad taste in the mouth. In the ordinary course of events Miller +would not have anticipated such an invitation, and for that reason had +appreciated it all the more. The rebuff came with a corresponding shock. +He had the heart of a man, the sensibilities of a cultivated gentleman; +the one was sore, the other deeply wounded. He was not altogether sure, +upon reflection, whether he blamed Dr. Price very much for the amiable +lie, which had been meant to spare his feelings, or thanked Sam a great +deal for the unpalatable truth. + +Janet met him at the door. "How is the baby?" she asked excitedly. + +"Dr. Price says he is doing well." + +"What is the matter, Will, and why are you back so soon?" + +He would have spared her the story, but she was a woman, and would have +it. He was wounded, too, and wanted sympathy, of which Janet was an +exhaustless fountain. So he told her what had happened. She comforted +him after the manner of a loving woman, and felt righteously indignant +toward her sister's husband, who had thus been instrumental in the +humiliation of her own. Her anger did not embrace her sister, and yet +she felt obscurely that their unacknowledged relationship had been the +malignant force which had given her husband pain, and defeated his +honorable ambition. When Dr. Price entered the nursery, Dr. Burns was +leaning attentively over the operating table. The implements needed for +the operation were all in readiness--the knives, the basin, the sponge, +the materials for dressing the wound--all the ghastly paraphernalia of +vivisection. + +Mrs. Carteret had been banished to another room, where Clara vainly +attempted to soothe her. Old Mammy Jane, still burdened by her fears, +fervently prayed the good Lord to spare the life of the sweet little +grandson of her dear old mistress. + +Dr. Burns had placed his ear to the child's chest, which had been bared +for the incision. Dr. Price stood ready to administer the anaesthetic. +Little Dodie looked up with a faint expression of wonder, as if dimly +conscious of some unusual event. The major shivered at the thought of +what the child must undergo. + +"There's a change in his breathing," said Dr. Burns, lifting his head. +"The whistling noise is less pronounced, and he breathes easier. The +obstruction seems to have shifted." + +Applying his ear again to the child's throat, he listened for a moment +intently, and then picking the baby up from the table, gave it a couple +of sharp claps between the shoulders. Simultaneously a small object shot +out from the child's mouth, struck Dr. Price in the neighborhood of his +waistband, and then rattled lightly against the floor. Whereupon the +baby, as though conscious of his narrow escape, smiled and gurgled, and +reaching upward clutched the doctor's whiskers with his little hand, +which, according to old Jane, had a stronger grip than any other +infant's in Wellington. + + + + +VIII + + +THE CAMPAIGN DRAGS + +The campaign for white supremacy was dragging. Carteret had set out, in +the columns of the Morning Chronicle, all the reasons why this movement, +inaugurated by the three men who had met, six months before, at the +office of the Chronicle, should be supported by the white public. Negro +citizenship was a grotesque farce--Sambo and Dinah raised from the +kitchen to the cabinet were a spectacle to make the gods laugh. The laws +by which it had been sought to put the negroes on a level with the +whites must be swept away in theory, as they had failed in fact. If it +were impossible, without a further education of public opinion, to +secure the repeal of the fifteenth amendment, it was at least the solemn +duty of the state to endeavor, through its own constitution, to escape +from the domination of a weak and incompetent electorate and confine the +negro to that inferior condition for which nature had evidently designed +him. + +In spite of the force and intelligence with which Carteret had expressed +these and similar views, they had not met the immediate response +anticipated. There were thoughtful men, willing to let well enough +alone, who saw no necessity for such a movement. They believed that +peace, prosperity, and popular education offered a surer remedy for +social ills than the reopening of issues supposed to have been settled. +There were timid men who shrank from civic strife. There were busy men, +who had something else to do. There were a few fair men, prepared to +admit, privately, that a class constituting half to two thirds of the +population were fairly entitled to some representation in the law-making +bodies. Perhaps there might have been found, somewhere in the state, a +single white man ready to concede that all men were entitled to equal +rights before the law. + +That there were some white men who had learned little and forgotten +nothing goes without saying, for knowledge and wisdom are not +impartially distributed among even the most favored race. There were +ignorant and vicious negroes, and they had a monopoly of neither +ignorance nor crime, for there were prosperous negroes and +poverty-stricken whites. Until Carteret and his committee began their +baleful campaign the people of the state were living in peace and +harmony. The anti-negro legislation in more southern states, with large +negro majorities, had awakened scarcely an echo in this state, with a +population two thirds white. Even the triumph of the Fusion party had +not been regarded as a race issue. It remained for Carteret and his +friends to discover, with inspiration from whatever supernatural source +the discriminating reader may elect, that the darker race, docile by +instinct, humble by training, patiently waiting upon its as yet +uncertain destiny, was an incubus, a corpse chained to the body politic, +and that the negro vote was a source of danger to the state, no matter +how cast or by whom directed. + +To discuss means for counteracting this apathy, a meeting of the "Big +Three," as they had begun to designate themselves jocularly, was held at +the office of the "Morning Chronicle," on the next day but one after +little Dodie's fortunate escape from the knife. + +"It seems," said General Belmont, opening the discussion, "as though we +had undertaken more than we can carry through. It is clear that we must +reckon on opposition, both at home and abroad. If we are to hope for +success, we must extend the lines of our campaign. The North, as well as +our own people, must be convinced that we have right upon our side. We +are conscious of the purity of our motives, but we should avoid even the +appearance of evil." + +McBane was tapping the floor impatiently with his foot during this +harangue. + +"I don't see the use," he interrupted, "of so much beating about the +bush. We may as well be honest about this thing. We are going to put the +niggers down because we want to, and think we can; so why waste our time +in mere pretense? I'm no hypocrite myself,--if I want a thing I take it, +provided I'm strong enough." + +"My dear captain," resumed the general, with biting suavity, "your +frankness does you credit,--'an honest man's the noblest work of +God,'--but we cannot carry on politics in these degenerate times without +a certain amount of diplomacy. In the good old days when your father was +alive, and perhaps nowadays in the discipline of convicts, direct and +simple methods might be safely resorted to; but this is a modern age, +and in dealing with so fundamental a right as the suffrage we must +profess a decent regard for the opinions of even that misguided portion +of mankind which may not agree with us. This is the age of crowds, and +we must have the crowd with us." The captain flushed at the allusion +to his father's calling, at which he took more offense than at the +mention of his own. He knew perfectly well that these old aristocrats, +while reaping the profits of slavery, had despised the instruments by +which they were attained--the poor-white overseer only less than the +black slave. McBane was rich; he lived in Wellington, but he had never +been invited to the home of either General Belmont or Major Carteret, +nor asked to join the club of which they were members. His face, +therefore, wore a distinct scowl, and his single eye glowed ominously. +He would help these fellows carry the state for white supremacy, and +then he would have his innings,--he would have more to say than they +dreamed, as to who should fill the offices under the new deal. Men of no +better birth or breeding than he had represented Southern states in +Congress since the war. Why should he not run for governor, +representative, whatever he chose? He had money enough to buy out half a +dozen of these broken-down aristocrats, and money was all-powerful. + +"You see, captain," the general went on, looking McBane smilingly and +unflinchingly in the eye, "we need white immigration--we need Northern +capital. 'A good name is better than great riches,' and we must prove +our cause a righteous one." + +"We must be armed at all points," added Carteret, "and prepared for +defense as well as for attack,--we must make our campaign a national +one." + +"For instance," resumed the general, "you, Carteret, represent the +Associated Press. Through your hands passes all the news of the state. +What more powerful medium for the propagation of an idea? The man who +would govern a nation by writing its songs was a blethering idiot beside +the fellow who can edit its news dispatches. The negroes are playing +into our hands,--every crime that one of them commits is reported by us. +With the latitude they have had in this state they are growing more +impudent and self-assertive every day. A yellow demagogue in New York +made a speech only a few days ago, in which he deliberately, and in cold +blood, advised negroes to defend themselves to the death when attacked +by white people! I remember well the time when it was death for a negro +to strike a white man." + +"It's death now, if he strikes the right one," interjected McBane, +restored to better humor by this mention of a congenial subject. + +The general smiled a fine smile. He had heard the story of how McBane +had lost his other eye. + +"The local negro paper is quite outspoken, too," continued the general, +"if not impudent. We must keep track of that; it may furnish us some +good campaign material." + +"Yes," returned Carteret, "we must see to that. I threw a copy into the +waste-basket this morning, without looking at it. Here it is now!" + + + + +IX + + +A WHITE MAN'S "NIGGER" + +Carteret fished from the depths of the waste-basket and handed to the +general an eighteen by twenty-four sheet, poorly printed on cheap paper, +with a "patent" inside, a number of advertisements of proprietary +medicines, quack doctors, and fortune-tellers, and two or three columns +of editorial and local news. Candor compels the admission that it was +not an impressive sheet in any respect, except when regarded as the +first local effort of a struggling people to make public expression of +their life and aspirations. From this point of view it did not speak at +all badly for a class to whom, a generation before, newspapers, books, +and learning had been forbidden fruit. + +"It's an elegant specimen of journalism, isn't it?" laughed the general, +airily. "Listen to this 'ad':-- + +"'Kinky, curly hair made straight by one application of our specific. +Our face bleach will turn the skin of a black or brown person four or +five shades lighter, and of a mulatto perfectly white. When you get the +color you wish, stop using the preparation.' + +"Just look at those heads!--'Before using' and 'After using.' We'd +better hurry, or there'll be no negroes to disfranchise! If they don't +stop till they get the color they desire, and the stuff works according +to contract, they'll all be white. Ah! what have we here? This looks as +though it might be serious." Opening the sheet the general read aloud +an editorial article, to which Carteret listened intently, his +indignation increasing in strength from the first word to the last, +while McBane's face grew darkly purple with anger. + +The article was a frank and somewhat bold discussion of lynching and its +causes. It denied that most lynchings were for the offense most +generally charged as their justification, and declared that, even of +those seemingly traced to this cause, many were not for crimes at all, +but for voluntary acts which might naturally be expected to follow from +the miscegenation laws by which it was sought, in all the Southern +States, to destroy liberty of contract, and, for the purpose of +maintaining a fanciful purity of race, to make crimes of marriages to +which neither nature nor religion nor the laws of other states +interposed any insurmountable barrier. Such an article in a Northern +newspaper would have attracted no special attention, and might merely +have furnished food to an occasional reader for serious thought upon a +subject not exactly agreeable; but coming from a colored man, in a +Southern city, it was an indictment of the laws and social system of the +South that could not fail of creating a profound sensation. + +"Infamous--infamous!" exclaimed Carteret, his voice trembling with +emotion. "The paper should be suppressed immediately." + +"The impudent nigger ought to be horsewhipped and run out of town," +growled McBane. + +"Gentlemen," said the general soothingly, after the first burst of +indignation had subsided, "I believe we can find a more effective use +for this article, which, by the way, will not bear too close +analysis,--there's some truth in it, at least there's an argument." +"That is not the point," interrupted Carteret. + +"No," interjected McBane with an oath, "that ain't at all the point. +Truth or not, no damn nigger has any right to say it." + +"This article," said Carteret, "violates an unwritten law of the South. +If we are to tolerate this race of weaklings among us, until they are +eliminated by the stress of competition, it must be upon terms which we +lay down. One of our conditions is violated by this article, in which +our wisdom is assailed, and our women made the subject of offensive +comment. We must make known our disapproval." + +"I say lynch the nigger, break up the press, and burn down the newspaper +office," McBane responded promptly. + +"Gentlemen," interposed the general, "would you mind suspending the +discussion for a moment, while I mind Jerry across the street? I think I +can then suggest a better plan." + +Carteret rang the bell for Jerry, who answered promptly. He had been +expecting such a call ever since the gentlemen had gone in. + +"Jerry," said the general, "step across to Brown's and tell him to send +me three Calhoun cocktails. Wait for them,--here's the money." + +"Yas, suh," replied Jerry, taking the proffered coin. + +"And make has'e, charcoal," added McBane, "for we're gettin' damn dry." + +A momentary cloud of annoyance darkened Carteret's brow. McBane had +always grated upon his aristocratic susceptibilities. The captain was an +upstart, a product of the democratic idea operating upon the poor white +man, the descendant of the indentured bondservant and the socially +unfit. He had wealth and energy, however, and it was necessary to make +use of him; but the example of such men was a strong incentive to +Carteret in his campaign against the negro. It was distasteful enough to +rub elbows with an illiterate and vulgar white man of no ancestry,--the +risk of similar contact with negroes was to be avoided at any cost. He +could hardly expect McBane to be a gentleman, but when among men of that +class he might at least try to imitate their manners. A gentleman did +not order his own servants around offensively, to say nothing of +another's. + +The general had observed Carteret's annoyance, and remarked pleasantly +while they waited for the servant's return:-- + +"Jerry, now, is a very good negro. He's not one of your new negroes, +who think themselves as good as white men, and want to run the +government. Jerry knows his place,--he is respectful, humble, obedient, +and content with the face and place assigned to him by nature." + +"Yes, he's one of the best of 'em," sneered McBane. "He'll call any man +'master' for a quarter, or 'God' for half a dollar; for a dollar he'll +grovel at your feet, and for a cast-off coat you can buy an option on +his immortal soul,--if he has one! I've handled niggers for ten years, +and I know 'em from the ground up. They're all alike,--they're a scrub +race, an affliction to the country, and the quicker we're rid of 'em +all the better." + +Carteret had nothing to say by way of dissent. McBane's sentiments, in +their last analysis, were much the same as his, though he would have +expressed them less brutally. "The negro," observed the general, +daintily flicking the ash from his cigar, "is all right in his place and +very useful to the community. We lived on his labor for quite a long +time, and lived very well. Nevertheless we are better off without +slavery, for we can get more out of the free negro, and with less +responsibility. I really do not see how we could get along without the +negroes. If they were all like Jerry, we'd have no trouble with them." + +Having procured the drinks, Jerry, the momentary subject of the race +discussion which goes on eternally in the South, was making his way back +across the street, somewhat disturbed in mind. + +"O Lawd!" he groaned, "I never troubles trouble till trouble troubles +me; but w'en I got dem drinks befo', Gin'l Belmont gimme half a dollar +an' tol' me ter keep de change. Dis time he didn' say nothin' 'bout de +change. I s'pose he jes' fergot erbout it, but w'at is a po' nigger +gwine ter do w'en he has ter conten' wid w'ite folks's fergitfulniss? I +don' see no way but ter do some fergittin' myse'f. I'll jes' stan' +outside de do' here till dey gits so wrop' up in deir talk dat dey won' +'member nothin' e'se, an' den at de right minute I'll ban' de glasses +'roun, an' moa' lackly de gin'l 'll fergit all 'bout de change." + +While Jerry stood outside, the conversation within was plainly audible, +and some inkling of its purport filtered through his mind. + +"Now, gentlemen," the general was saying, "here's my plan. That +editorial in the negro newspaper is good campaign matter, but we should +reserve it until it will be most effective. Suppose we just stick it in +a pigeon-hole, and let the editor,--what's his name?" + +"The nigger's name is Barber," replied McBane. "I'd like to have him +under me for a month or two; he'd write no more editorials." + +"Let Barber have all the rope he wants," resumed the general, "and +he'll be sure to hang himself. In the mean time we will continue to work +up public opinion,--we can use this letter privately for that +purpose,--and when the state campaign opens we'll print the editorial, +with suitable comment, scatter it broadcast throughout the state, fire +the Southern heart, organize the white people on the color line, have a +little demonstration with red shirts and shotguns, scare the negroes +into fits, win the state for white supremacy, and teach our colored +fellow citizens that we are tired of negro domination and have put an +end to it forever. The Afro-American Banner will doubtless die about the +same time." + +"And so will the editor!" exclaimed McBane ferociously; "I'll see to +that. But I wonder where that nigger is with them cocktails? I'm so +thirsty I could swallow blue blazes." + +"Here's yo' drinks, gin'l," announced Jerry, entering with the glasses +on a tray. + +The gentlemen exchanged compliments and imbibed--McBane at a gulp, +Carteret with more deliberation, leaving about half the contents of his +glass. + +The general drank slowly, with every sign of appreciation. "If the +illustrious statesman," he observed, "whose name this mixture bears, had +done nothing more than invent it, his fame would still deserve to go +thundering down the endless ages." + +"It ain't bad liquor," assented McBane, smacking his lips. + +Jerry received the empty glasses on the tray and left the room. He had +scarcely gained the hall when the general called him back. + +"O Lawd!" groaned Jerry, "he's gwine ter ax me fer de change. Yas, suh, +yas, suh; comin', gin'l, comin', suh!" + +"You may keep the change, Jerry," said the general. + +Jerry's face grew radiant at this announcement. "Yas, suh, gin'l; thank +y', suh; much obleedzed, suh. I wuz jus' gwine ter fetch it in, suh, +w'en I had put de tray down. Thank y', suh, truly, suh!" + +Jerry backed and bowed himself out into the hall. + +"Dat wuz a close shave," he muttered, as he swallowed the remaining +contents of Major Carteret's glass. "I 'lowed dem twenty cents wuz gone +dat time,--an' whar I wuz gwine ter git de money ter take my gal ter de +chu'ch festibal ter-night, de Lawd only knows!--'less'n I borried it +offn Mr. Ellis, an' I owes him sixty cents a'ready. But I wonduh w'at +dem w'ite folks in dere is up ter? Dere's one thing sho',--dey're +gwine ter git after de niggers some way er 'nuther, an' w'en dey does, +whar is Jerry gwine ter be? Dat's de mos' impo'tantes' question. I'm +gwine ter look at dat newspaper dey be'n talkin' 'bout, an' 'less'n my +min' changes might'ly, I'm gwine ter keep my mouf shet an' stan' in wid +de Angry-Saxon race,--ez dey calls deyse'ves nowadays,--an' keep on de +right side er my bread an' meat. Wat nigger ever give me twenty cents in +all my bawn days?" + +"By the way, major," said the general, who lingered behind McBane as +they were leaving, "is Miss Clara's marriage definitely settled upon?" + +"Well, general, not exactly; but it's the understanding that they will +marry when they are old enough." + +"I was merely thinking," the general went on, "that if I were you I'd +speak to Tom about cards and liquor. He gives more time to both than a +young man can afford. I'm speaking in his interest and in Miss +Clara's,--we of the old families ought to stand together." + +"Thank you, general, for the hint. I'll act upon it." + +This political conference was fruitful in results. Acting upon the plans +there laid out, McBane traveled extensively through the state, working +up sentiment in favor of the new movement. He possessed a certain +forceful eloquence; and white supremacy was so obviously the divine +intention that he had merely to affirm the doctrine in order to secure +adherents. + +General Belmont, whose business required him to spend much of the winter +in Washington and New York, lost no opportunity to get the ear of +lawmakers, editors, and other leaders of national opinion, and to +impress upon them, with persuasive eloquence, the impossibility of +maintaining existing conditions, and the tremendous blunder which had +been made in conferring the franchise upon the emancipated race. + +Carteret conducted the press campaign, and held out to the Republicans +of the North the glittering hope that, with the elimination of the negro +vote, and a proper deference to Southern feeling, a strong white +Republican party might be built up in the New South. How well the bait +took is a matter of history,--but the promised result is still in the +future. The disfranchisement of the negro has merely changed the form of +the same old problem. The negro had no vote before the rebellion, and +few other rights, and yet the negro question was, for a century, the +pivot of American politics. It plunged the nation into a bloody war, +and it will trouble the American government and the American conscience +until a sustained attempt is made to settle it upon principles of +justice and equity. + +The personal ambitions entertained by the leaders of this movement are +but slightly involved in this story. McBane's aims have been touched +upon elsewhere. The general would have accepted the nomination for +governor of the state, with a vision of a senatorship in the future. +Carteret hoped to vindicate the supremacy of his race, and make the +state fit for his son to live in, and, incidentally, he would not refuse +any office, worthy of his dignity, which a grateful people might thrust +upon him. + +So powerful a combination of bigot, self-seeking demagogue, and astute +politician was fraught with grave menace to the peace of the state and +the liberties of the people,--by which is meant the whole people, and +not any one class, sought to be built up at the expense of another. + + + + +X + + +DELAMERE PLAYS A TRUMP + +Carteret did not forget what General Belmont had said in regard to Tom. +The major himself had been young, not so very long ago, and was inclined +toward indulgence for the foibles of youth. A young gentleman should +have a certain knowledge of life,--but there were limits. Clara's future +happiness must not be imperiled. + +The opportunity to carry out this purpose was not long delayed. Old Mr. +Delamere wished to sell some timber which had been cut at Belleview, and +sent Tom down to the Chronicle office to leave an advertisement. The +major saw him at the desk, invited him into his sanctum, and delivered +him a mild lecture. The major was kind, and talked in a fatherly way +about the danger of extremes, the beauty of moderation, and the value of +discretion as a rule of conduct. He mentioned collaterally the +unblemished honor of a fine old family, its contemplated alliance with +his own, and dwelt upon the sweet simplicity of Clara's character. The +major was a man of feeling and of tact, and could not have put the +subject in a way less calculated to wound the _amour propre_ of a very +young man. + +Delamere had turned red with anger while the major was speaking. He was +impulsive, and an effort was required to keep back the retort that +sprang once or twice to his lips; but his conscience was not clear, and +he could not afford hard words with Clara's guardian and his +grandfather's friend. Clara was rich, and the most beautiful girl in +town; they were engaged; he loved her as well as he could love anything +of which he seemed sure; and he did not mean that any one else should +have her. The major's mild censure disturbed slightly his sense of +security; and while the major's manner did not indicate that he knew +anything definite against him, it would be best to let well enough +alone. + +"Thank you, major," he said, with well-simulated frankness. "I realize +that I may have been a little careless, more from thoughtlessness than +anything else; but my heart is all right, sir, and I am glad that my +conduct has been brought to your attention, for what you have said +enables me to see it in a different light. I will be more careful of my +company hereafter; for I love Clara, and mean to try to be worthy of +her. Do you know whether she will be at home this evening?" + +"I have heard nothing to the contrary," replied the major warmly. "Call +her up by telephone and ask--or come up and see. You're always welcome, +my boy." + +Upon leaving the office, which was on the second floor, Tom met Ellis +coming up the stairs. It had several times of late occurred to Tom that +Ellis had a sneaking fondness for Clara. Panoplied in his own +engagement, Tom had heretofore rather enjoyed the idea of a hopeless +rival. Ellis was such a solemn prig, and took life so seriously, that it +was a pleasure to see him sit around sighing for the unattainable. That +he should be giving pain to Ellis added a certain zest to his own +enjoyment. But this interview with the major had so disquieted him +that upon meeting Ellis upon the stairs he was struck by a sudden +suspicion. He knew that Major Carteret seldom went to the Clarendon +Club, and that he must have got his information from some one else. +Ellis was a member of the club, and a frequent visitor. Who more likely +than he to try to poison Clara's mind, or the minds of her friends, +against her accepted lover? Tom did not think that the world was using +him well of late; bad luck had pursued him, in cards and other things, +and despite his assumption of humility, Carteret's lecture had left him +in an ugly mood. He nodded curtly to Ellis without relaxing the scowl +that disfigured his handsome features. + +"That's the damned sneak who's been giving me away," he muttered. "I'll +get even with him yet for this." + +Delamere's suspicions with regard to Ellis's feelings were not, as we +have seen, entirely without foundation. Indeed, he had underestimated +the strength of this rivalry and its chances of success. Ellis had been +watching Delamere for a year. There had been nothing surreptitious about +it, but his interest in Clara had led him to note things about his +favored rival which might have escaped the attention of others less +concerned. + +Ellis was an excellent judge of character, and had formed a very decided +opinion of Tom Delamere. To Ellis, unbiased by ancestral traditions, +biased perhaps by jealousy, Tom Delamere was a type of the degenerate +aristocrat. If, as he had often heard, it took three or four generations +to make a gentleman, and as many more to complete the curve and return +to the base from which it started, Tom Delamere belonged somewhere on +the downward slant, with large possibilities of further decline. Old +Mr. Delamere, who might be taken as the apex of an ideal aristocratic +development, had been distinguished, during his active life, as Ellis +had learned, for courage and strength of will, courtliness of bearing, +deference to his superiors, of whom there had been few, courtesy to his +equals, kindness and consideration for those less highly favored, and +above all, a scrupulous sense of honor; his grandson Tom was merely the +shadow without the substance, the empty husk without the grain. Of grace +he had plenty. In manners he could be perfect, when he so chose. Courage +and strength he had none. Ellis had seen this fellow, who boasted of his +descent from a line of cavaliers, turn pale with fright and spring from +a buggy to which was harnessed a fractious horse, which a negro +stable-boy drove fearlessly. A valiant carpet-knight, skilled in all +parlor exercises, great at whist or euchre, a dream of a dancer, +unexcelled in Cakewalk or "coon" impersonations, for which he was in +large social demand, Ellis had seen him kick an inoffensive negro out of +his path and treat a poor-white man with scant courtesy. He suspected +Delamere of cheating at cards, and knew that others entertained the same +suspicion. For while regular in his own habits,--his poverty would not +have permitted him any considerable extravagance,--Ellis's position as a +newspaper man kept him in touch with what was going on about town. He +was a member, proposed by Carteret, of the Clarendon Club, where cards +were indulged in within reasonable limits, and a certain set were known +to bet dollars in terms of dimes. + +Delamere was careless, too, about money matters. He had a habit of +borrowing, right and left, small sums which might be conveniently +forgotten by the borrower, and for which the lender would dislike to +ask. Ellis had a strain of thrift, derived from a Scotch ancestry, and a +tenacious memory for financial details. Indeed, he had never had so much +money that he could lose track of it. He never saw Delamere without +being distinctly conscious that Delamere owed him four dollars, which he +had lent at a time when he could ill afford to spare it. It was a +prerogative of aristocracy, Ellis reflected, to live upon others, and +the last privilege which aristocracy in decay would willingly +relinquish. Neither did the aristocratic memory seem able to retain the +sordid details of a small pecuniary transaction. + +No doubt the knowledge that Delamere was the favored lover of Miss +Pemberton lent a touch of bitterness to Ellis's reflections upon his +rival. Ellis had no grievance against the "aristocracy" of Wellington. +The "best people" had received him cordially, though his father had not +been of their caste; but Ellis hated a hypocrite, and despised a coward, +and he felt sure that Delamere was both. Otherwise he would have +struggled against his love for Clara Pemberton. His passion for her had +grown with his appreciation of Delamere's unworthiness. As a friend of +the family, he knew the nature and terms of the engagement, and that if +the marriage took place at all, it would not be for at least a year. +This was a long time,--many things might happen in a year, especially to +a man like Tom Delamere. If for any reason Delamere lost his chance, +Ellis meant to be next in the field. He had not made love to Clara, but +he had missed no opportunity of meeting her and making himself quietly +and unobtrusively agreeable. + +On the day after this encounter with Delamere on the stairs of the +Chronicle office, Ellis, while walking down Vine Street, met old Mrs. +Ochiltree. She was seated in her own buggy, which was of ancient build +and pattern, driven by her colored coachman and man of all work. + +"Mr. Ellis," she called in a shrill voice, having directed her coachman +to draw up at the curb as she saw the young man approaching, "come here. +I want to speak to you." + +Ellis came up to the buggy and stood uncovered beside it. + +"People are saying," said Mrs. Ochiltree, "that Tom Delamere is drinking +hard, and has to be carried home intoxicated, two or three times a week, +by old Mr. Delamere's man Sandy. Is there any truth in the story?" + +"My dear Mrs. Ochiltree, I am not Tom Delamere's keeper. Sandy could +tell you better than I." + +"You are dodging my question, Mr. Ellis. Sandy wouldn't tell me the +truth, and I know that you wouldn't lie,--you don't look like a liar. +They say Tom is gambling scandalously. What do you know about that?" + +"You must excuse me, Mrs. Ochiltree. A great deal of what we hear is +mere idle gossip, and the truth is often grossly exaggerated. I'm a +member of the same club with Delamere, and gentlemen who belong to the +same club are not in the habit of talking about one another. As long as +a man retains his club membership, he's presumed to be a gentleman. I +wouldn't say anything against Delamere if I could." + +"You don't need to," replied the old lady, shaking her finger at him +with a cunning smile. "You are a very open young man, Mr. Ellis, and I +can read you like a book. You are much smarter than you look, but you +can't fool me. Good-morning." + +Mrs. Ochiltree drove immediately to her niece's, where she found Mrs. +Carteret and Clara at home. Clara was very fond of the baby, and was +holding him in her arms. He was a fine baby, and bade fair to realize +the bright hopes built upon him. + +"You hold a baby very naturally, Clara," chuckled the old lady. "I +suppose you are in training. But you ought to talk to Tom. I have just +learned from Mr. Ellis that Tom is carried home drunk two or three times +a week, and that he is gambling in the most reckless manner imaginable." + +Clara's eyes flashed indignantly. Ere she could speak, Mrs. Carteret +exclaimed:-- + +"Why, Aunt Polly! did Mr. Ellis say that?" + +"I got it from Dinah," she replied, "who heard it from her husband, who +learned it from a waiter at the club. And"-- + +"Pshaw!" said Mrs. Carteret, "mere servants' gossip." + +"No, it isn't, Olivia. I met Mr. Ellis on the street, and asked him +point blank, and he didn't deny it. He's a member of the club, and +ought to know." + +"Well, Aunt Polly, it can't be true. Tom is here every other night, and +how could he carry on so without showing the signs of it? and where +would he get the money? You know he has only a moderate allowance." + +"He may win it at cards,--it's better to be born lucky than rich," +returned Mrs. Ochiltree. "Then he has expectations, and can get credit. +There's no doubt that Tom is going on shamefully." Clara's +indignation had not yet found vent in speech; Olivia had said all that +was necessary, but she had been thinking rapidly. Even if all this had +been true, why should Mr. Ellis have said it? Or, if he had not stated +it directly, he had left the inference to be drawn. It seemed a most +unfair and ungentlemanly thing. What motive could Ellis have for such an +act? + +She was not long in reaching a conclusion which was not flattering to +Ellis. Mr. Ellis came often to the house, and she had enjoyed his +society in a friendly way. That he had found her pleasant company had +been very evident. She had never taken his attentions seriously, +however, or regarded his visits as made especially to her, nor had the +rest of the family treated them from that point of view. Her engagement +to Tom Delamere, though not yet formally ratified, was so well +understood by the world of Wellington that Mr. Ellis would, scarcely +have presumed to think of her as anything more than a friend. + +This revelation of her aunt's, however, put a different face upon his +conduct. Certain looks and sighs and enigmatical remarks of Ellis, to +which she had paid but casual attention and attached no particular +significance, now recurred to her memory with a new meaning. He had now +evidently tried, in a roundabout way, to besmirch Tom's character and +undermine him in her regard. While loving Tom, she had liked Ellis well +enough, as a friend; but he had abused the privileges of friendship, and +she would teach him a needed lesson. + +Nevertheless, Mrs. Ochiltree's story had given Clara food for thought. +She was uneasily conscious, after all, that there might be a grain of +truth in what had been said, enough, at least, to justify her in +warning Tom to be careful, lest his enemies should distort some amiable +weakness into a serious crime. + +She put this view of the case to Tom at their next meeting, assuring +him, at the same time, of her unbounded faith and confidence. She did +not mention Ellis's name, lest Tom, in righteous indignation, might do +something rash, which he might thereafter regret. If any subtler or more +obscure motive kept her silent as to Ellis, she was not aware of it; for +Clara's views of life were still in the objective stage, and she had not +yet fathomed the deepest recesses of her own consciousness. + +Delamere had the cunning of weakness. He knew, too, better than any one +else could know, how much truth there was in the rumors concerning him, +and whether or not they could be verified too easily for him to make an +indignant denial. After a little rapid reflection, he decided upon a +different course. + +"Clara," he said with a sigh, taking the hand which she generously +yielded to soften any suggestion of reproach which he may have read into +her solicitude, "you are my guardian angel. I do not know, of course, +who has told you this pack of lies,--for I can see that you have heard +more than you have told me,--but I think I could guess the man they came +from. I am not perfect, Clara, though I have done nothing of which a +gentleman should be ashamed. There is one sure way to stop the tongue of +calumny. My home life is not ideal,--grandfather is an old, weak man, +and the house needs the refining and softening influence of a lady's +presence. I do not love club life; its ideals are not elevating. With +you by my side, dearest, I should be preserved from every influence +except the purest and the best. Don't you think, dearest, that the major +might be induced to shorten our weary term of waiting?" + +"Oh, Tom," she demurred blushingly, "I shall be young enough at +eighteen; and you are barely twenty-one." + +But Tom proved an eloquent pleader, and love a still more persuasive +advocate. Clara spoke to the major the same evening, who looked grave at +the suggestion, and said he would think about it. They were both very +young; but where both parties were of good family, in good health and +good circumstances, an early marriage might not be undesirable. Tom was +perhaps a little unsettled, but blood would tell in the long run, and +marriage always exercised a steadying influence. + +The only return, therefore, which Ellis received for his well-meant +effort to ward off Mrs. Ochiltree's embarrassing inquiries was that he +did not see Clara upon his next visit, which was made one afternoon +while he was on night duty at the office. In conversation with Mrs. +Carteret he learned that Clara's marriage had been definitely agreed +upon, and the date fixed,--it was to take place in about six months. +Meeting Miss Pemberton on the street the following day, he received the +slightest of nods. When he called again at the house, after a week of +misery, she treated him with a sarcastic coolness which chilled his +heart. + +"How have I offended you, Miss Clara?" he demanded desperately, when +they were left alone for a moment. + +"Offended me?" she replied, lifting her eyebrows with an air of puzzled +surprise. "Why, Mr. Ellis! What could have put such a notion into your +head? Oh dear, I think I hear Dodie,--I know you'll excuse me, Mr. +Ellis, won't you? Sister Olivia will be back in a moment; and we're +expecting Aunt Polly this afternoon,--if you'll stay awhile she'll be +glad to talk to you! You can tell her all the interesting news about +your friends!" + + + + +XI + + +THE BABY AND THE BIRD + +When Ellis, after this rebuff, had disconsolately taken his leave, +Clara, much elated at the righteous punishment she had inflicted upon +the slanderer, ran upstairs to the nursery, and, snatching Dodie from +Mammy Jane's arms, began dancing gayly with him round the room. + +"Look a-hyuh, honey," said Mammy Jane, "you better be keerful wid dat +chile, an' don' drap 'im on de flo'. You might let him fall on his head +an' break his neck. My, my! but you two does make a pretty pictur'! +You'll be wantin' ole Jane ter come an' nuss yo' child'en some er dese +days," she chuckled unctuously. + +Mammy Jane had been very much disturbed by the recent dangers through +which little Dodie had passed; and his escape from strangulation, in the +first place, and then from the knife had impressed her as little less +than miraculous. She was not certain whether this result had been +brought about by her manipulation of the buried charm, or by the prayers +which had been offered for the child, but was inclined to believe that +both had cooperated to avert the threatened calamity. The favorable +outcome of this particular incident had not, however, altered the +general situation. Prayers and charms, after all, were merely temporary +things, which must be constantly renewed, and might be forgotten or +overlooked; while the mole, on the contrary, neither faded nor went +away. If its malign influence might for a time seem to disappear, it was +merely lying dormant, like the germs of some deadly disease, awaiting +its opportunity to strike at an unguarded spot. + +Clara and the baby were laughing in great glee, when a mockingbird, +perched on the topmost bough of a small tree opposite the nursery +window, burst suddenly into song, with many a trill and quaver. Clara, +with the child in her arms, sprang to the open window. + +"Sister Olivia," she cried, turning her face toward Mrs. Carteret, who +at that moment entered the room, "come and look at Dodie." + +The baby was listening intently to the music, meanwhile gurgling with +delight, and reaching his chubby hands toward the source of this +pleasing sound. It seemed as though the mockingbird were aware of his +appreciative audience, for he ran through the songs of a dozen different +birds, selecting, with the discrimination of a connoisseur and entire +confidence in his own powers, those which were most difficult and most +alluring. + +Mrs. Carteret approached the window, followed by Mammy Jane, who waddled +over to join the admiring party. So absorbed were the three women in the +baby and the bird that neither one of them observed a neat top buggy, +drawn by a sleek sorrel pony, passing slowly along the street before the +house. In the buggy was seated a lady, and beside her a little boy, +dressed in a child's sailor suit and a straw hat. The lady, with a +wistful expression, was looking toward the party grouped in the open +window. + +Mrs. Carteret, chancing to lower her eyes for an instant, caught the +other woman's look directed toward her and her child. With a glance of +cold aversion she turned away from the window. + +Old Mammy Jane had observed this movement, and had divined the reason +for it. She stood beside Clara, watching the retreating buggy. + +"Uhhuh!" she said to herself, "it's huh sister Janet! She ma'ied a +doctuh, an' all dat, an' she lives in a big house, an' she's be'n roun' +de worl' an de Lawd knows where e'se: but Mis' 'Livy don' like de sight +er her, an' never will, ez long ez de sun rises an' sets. Dey ce't'nly +does favor one anudder,--anybody mought 'low dey wuz twins, ef dey didn' +know better. Well, well! Fo'ty yeahs ago who'd 'a' ever expected ter +see a nigger gal ridin' in her own buggy? My, my! but I don' know,--I +don' know! It don' look right, an' it ain' gwine ter las'!--you can't +make me b'lieve!" + +Meantime Janet, stung by Mrs. Carteret's look,--the nearest approach she +had ever made to a recognition of her sister's existence,--had turned +away with hardening face. She had struck her pony sharply with the whip, +much to the gentle creature's surprise, when the little boy, who was +still looking back, caught his mother's sleeve and exclaimed +excitedly:-- + +"Look, look, mamma! The baby,--the baby!" + +Janet turned instantly, and with a mother's instinct gave an involuntary +cry of alarm. + +At the moment when Mrs. Carteret had turned away from the window, and +while Mammy Jane was watching Janet, Clara had taken a step forward, and +was leaning against the window-sill. The baby, convulsed with delight, +had given a spasmodic spring and slipped from Clara's arms. +Instinctively the young woman gripped the long skirt as it slipped +through her hands, and held it tenaciously, though too frightened for an +instant to do more. Mammy Jane, ashen with sudden dread, uttered an +inarticulate scream, but retained self-possession enough to reach down +and draw up the child, which hung dangerously suspended, head downward, +over the brick pavement below. + +"Oh, Clara, Clara, how could you!" exclaimed Mrs. Carteret +reproachfully; "you might have killed my child!" + +She had snatched the child from Jane's arms, and was holding him closely +to her own breast. Struck by a sudden thought, she drew near the window +and looked out. Twice within a few weeks her child had been in serious +danger, and upon each occasion a member of the Miller family had been +involved, for she had heard of Dr. Miller's presumption in trying to +force himself where he must have known he would be unwelcome. + +Janet was just turning her head away as the buggy moved slowly off. +Olivia felt a violent wave of antipathy sweep over her toward this +baseborn sister who had thus thrust herself beneath her eyes. If she had +not cast her brazen glance toward the window, she herself would not have +turned away and lost sight of her child. To this shameless intrusion, +linked with Clara's carelessness, had been due the catastrophe, so +narrowly averted, which might have darkened her own life forever. She +took to her bed for several days, and for a long time was cold toward +Clara, and did not permit her to touch the child. + +Mammy Jane entertained a theory of her own about the accident, by which +the blame was placed, in another way, exactly where Mrs. Carteret had +laid it. Julia's daughter, Janet, had been looking intently toward the +window just before little Dodie had sprung from Clara's arms. Might she +not have cast the evil eye upon the baby, and sought thereby to draw him +out of the window? One would not ordinarily expect so young a woman to +possess such a power, but she might have acquired it, for this very +purpose, from some more experienced person. By the same reasoning, the +mockingbird might have been a familiar of the witch, and the two might +have conspired to lure the infant to destruction. Whether this were so +or not, the transaction at least wore a peculiar look. There was no use +telling Mis' 'Livy about it, for she didn't believe, or pretended not +to believe, in witchcraft and conjuration. But one could not be too +careful. The child was certainly born to be exposed to great +dangers,--the mole behind the left ear was an unfailing sign,--and no +precaution should be omitted to counteract its baleful influence. + +While adjusting the baby's crib, a few days later, Mrs. Carteret found +fastened under one of the slats a small bag of cotton cloth, about half +an inch long and tied with a black thread, upon opening which she found +a few small roots or fibres and a pinch of dried and crumpled herbs. It +was a good-luck charm which Mammy Jane had placed there to ward off the +threatened evil from the grandchild of her dear old mistress. Mrs. +Carteret's first impulse was to throw the bag into the fire, but on +second thoughts she let it remain. To remove it would give unnecessary +pain to the old nurse. Of course these old negro superstitions were +absurd,--but if the charm did no good, it at least would do no harm. + + + + +XII + + +ANOTHER SOUTHERN PRODUCT + +One morning shortly after the opening of the hospital, while Dr. Miller +was making his early rounds, a new patient walked in with a smile on his +face and a broken arm hanging limply by his side. Miller recognized in +him a black giant by the name of Josh Green, who for many years had +worked on the docks for Miller's father,--and simultaneously identified +him as the dust-begrimed negro who had stolen a ride to Wellington on +the trucks of a passenger car. + +"Well, Josh," asked the doctor, as he examined the fracture, "how did +you get this? Been fighting again?" + +"No, suh, I don' s'pose you could ha'dly call it a fight. One er dem +dagoes off'n a Souf American boat gimme some er his jaw, an' I give 'im +a back answer, an' here I is wid a broken arm. He got holt er a +belayin'-pin befo' I could hit 'im." + +"What became of the other man?" demanded Miller suspiciously. He +perceived, from the indifference with which Josh bore the manipulation +of the fractured limb, that such an accident need not have interfered +seriously with the use of the remaining arm, and he knew that Josh had a +reputation for absolute fearlessness. + +"Lemme see," said Josh reflectively, "ef I kin 'member w'at _did_ become +er him! Oh, yes, I 'member now! Dey tuck him ter de Marine Horspittle +in de amberlance, 'cause his leg wuz broke, an' I reckon somethin' must +'a' accident'ly hit 'im in de jaw, fer he wuz scatt'rin' teeth all de +way 'long de street. I didn' wan' ter kill de man, fer he might have +somebody dependin' on 'im, an' I knows how dat'd be ter dem. But no man +kin call me a damn' low-down nigger and keep on enjoyin' good health +right along." + +"It was considerate of you to spare his life," said Miller dryly, "but +you'll hit the wrong man some day. These are bad times for bad negroes. +You'll get into a quarrel with a white man, and at the end of it there'll +be a lynching, or a funeral. You'd better be peaceable and endure a +little injustice, rather than run the risk of a sudden and violent +death." + +"I expec's ter die a vi'lent death in a quarrel wid a w'ite man," +replied Josh, in a matter-of-fact tone, "an' fu'thermo', he's gwine ter +die at the same time, er a little befo'. I be'n takin' my own time 'bout +killin' 'im; I ain' be'n crowdin' de man, but I'll be ready after a +w'ile, an' den he kin look out!" + +"And I suppose you're merely keeping in practice on these other fellows +who come your way. When I get your arm dressed, you'd better leave town +till that fellow's boat sails; it may save you the expense of a trial +and three months in the chain-gang. But this talk about killing a man is +all nonsense. What has any man in this town done to you, that you should +thirst for his blood?" + +"No, suh, it ain' nonsense,--it's straight, solem' fac'. I'm gwine ter +kill dat man as sho' as I'm settin' in dis cheer; an' dey ain' nobody +kin say I ain' got a right ter kill 'im. Does you 'member de Ku-Klux?" +"Yes, but I was a child at the time, and recollect very little about +them. It is a page of history which most people are glad to forget." + +"Yas, suh; I was a chile, too, but I wuz right in it, an' so I 'members +mo' erbout it 'n you does. My mammy an' daddy lived 'bout ten miles f'm +here, up de river. One night a crowd er w'ite men come ter ou' house an' +tuck my daddy out an' shot 'im ter death, an' skeered my mammy so she +ain' be'n herse'f f'm dat day ter dis. I wa'n't mo' 'n ten years ole at +de time, an' w'en my mammy seed de w'ite men comin', she tol' me ter +run. I hid in de bushes an' seen de whole thing, an' it wuz branded on +my mem'ry, suh, like a red-hot iron bran's de skin. De w'ite folks had +masks on, but one of 'em fell off,--he wuz de boss, he wuz de head man, +an' tol' de res' w'at ter do,--an' I seen his face. It wuz a easy face +ter 'member; an' I swo' den, 'way down deep in my hea't, little ez I +wuz, dat some day er 'nother I'd kill dat man. I ain't never had no +doubt erbout it; it's jus' w'at I'm livin' fer, an' I know I ain' gwine +ter die till I've done it. Some lives fer one thing an' some fer +another, but dat's my job. I ain' be'n in no has'e, fer I'm not ole +yit, an' dat man is in good health. I'd like ter see a little er de +worl' befo' I takes chances on leavin' it sudden; an', mo'over, +somebody's got ter take keer er de ole 'oman. But her time'll come some +er dese days, an den _his_ time'll be come--an' prob'ly mine. But I +ain' keerin' 'bout myse'f: w'en I git thoo wid him, it won' make no +diff'ence 'bout me." + +Josh was evidently in dead earnest. Miller recalled, very vividly, the +expression he had seen twice on his patient's face, during the journey +to Wellington. + +He had often seen Josh's mother, old Aunt Milly,--"Silly Milly," the +children called her,--wandering aimlessly about the street, muttering to +herself incoherently. He had felt a certain childish awe at the sight of +one of God's creatures who had lost the light of reason, and he had +always vaguely understood that she was the victim of human cruelty, +though he had dated it farther back into the past. This was his first +knowledge of the real facts of the case. + +He realized, too, for a moment, the continuity of life, how inseparably +the present is woven with the past, how certainly the future will be but +the outcome of the present. He had supposed this old wound healed. The +negroes were not a vindictive people. If, swayed by passion or emotion, +they sometimes gave way to gusts of rage, these were of brief duration. +Absorbed in the contemplation of their doubtful present and their +uncertain future, they gave little thought to the past,--it was a dark +story, which they would willingly forget. He knew the timeworn +explanation that the Ku-Klux movement, in the main, was merely an +ebullition of boyish spirits, begun to amuse young white men by playing +upon the fears and superstitions of ignorant negroes. Here, however, was +its tragic side,--the old wound still bleeding, the fruit of one +tragedy, the seed of another. He could not approve of Josh's application +of the Mosaic law of revenge, and yet the incident was not without +significance. Here was a negro who could remember an injury, who could +shape his life to a definite purpose, if not a high or holy one. When +his race reached the point where they would resent a wrong, there was +hope that they might soon attain the stage where they would try, and, if +need be, die, to defend a right. This man, too, had a purpose in life, +and was willing to die that he might accomplish it. Miller was willing +to give up his life to a cause. Would he be equally willing, he asked +himself, to die for it? Miller had no prophetic instinct to tell him how +soon he would have the opportunity to answer his own question. But he +could not encourage Josh to carry out this dark and revengeful purpose. +Every worthy consideration required him to dissuade his patient from +such a desperate course. + +"You had better put away these murderous fancies, Josh," he said +seriously. "The Bible says that we should 'forgive our enemies, bless +them that curse us, and do good to them that despitefully use us.'" + +"Yas, suh, I've l'arnt all dat in Sunday-school, an' I've heared de +preachers say it time an' time ag'in. But it 'pears ter me dat dis +fergitfulniss an' fergivniss is mighty one-sided. De w'ite folks don' +fergive nothin' de niggers does. Dey got up de Ku-Klux, dey said, on +'count er de kyarpit-baggers. Dey be'n talkin' 'bout de kyarpit-baggers +ever sence, an' dey 'pears ter fergot all 'bout de Ku-Klux. But I ain' +fergot. De niggers is be'n train' ter fergiveniss; an' fer fear dey +might fergit how ter fergive, de w'ite folks gives 'em somethin' new +ev'y now an' den, ter practice on. A w'ite man kin do w'at he wants ter +a nigger, but de minute de nigger gits back at 'im, up goes de nigger, +an' don' come down tell somebody cuts 'im down. If a nigger gits a' +office, er de race 'pears ter be prosperin' too much, de w'ite folks up +an' kills a few, so dat de res' kin keep on fergivin' an' bein' thankful +dat dey're lef alive. Don' talk ter me 'bout dese w'ite folks,--I knows +'em, I does! Ef a nigger wants ter git down on his marrow-bones, an' eat +dirt, an' call 'em 'marster,' _he's_ a good nigger, dere's room fer +_him_. But I ain' no w'ite folks' nigger, I ain'. I don' call no man +'marster.' I don' wan' nothin' but w'at I wo'k fer, but I wants all er +dat. I never moles's no w'ite man, 'less 'n he moles's me fus'. But w'en +de ole 'oman dies, doctuh, an' I gits a good chance at dat w'ite +man,--dere ain' no use talkin', suh!--dere's gwine ter be a mix-up, an' +a fune'al, er two fune'als--er may be mo', ef anybody is keerliss enough +to git in de way." + +"Josh," said the doctor, laying a cool hand on the other's brow, "you +'re feverish, and don't know what you're talking about. I shouldn't +let my mind dwell on such things, and you must keep quiet until this arm +is well, or you may never be able to hit any one with it again." + +Miller determined that when Josh got better he would talk to him +seriously and dissuade him from this dangerous design. He had not asked +the name of Josh's enemy, but the look of murderous hate which the +dust-begrimed tramp of the railway journey had cast at Captain George +McBane rendered any such question superfluous. McBane was probably +deserving of any evil fate which might befall him; but such a revenge +would do no good, would right no wrong; while every such crime, +committed by a colored man, would be imputed to the race, which was +already staggering under a load of obloquy because, in the eyes of a +prejudiced and undiscriminating public, it must answer as a whole for +the offenses of each separate individual. To die in defense of the right +was heroic. To kill another for revenge was pitifully human and weak: +"Vengeance is mine, I will repay," saith the Lord. + + + + +XIII + + +THE CAKEWALK + +Old Mr. Delamere's servant, Sandy Campbell, was in deep trouble. + +A party of Northern visitors had been staying for several days at the +St. James Hotel. The gentlemen of the party were concerned in a +projected cotton mill, while the ladies were much interested in the +study of social conditions, and especially in the negro problem. As soon +as their desire for information became known, they were taken +courteously under the wing of prominent citizens and their wives, who +gave them, at elaborate luncheons, the Southern white man's views of the +negro, sighing sentimentally over the disappearance of the good old +negro of before the war, and gravely deploring the degeneracy of his +descendants. They enlarged upon the amount of money the Southern whites +had spent for the education of the negro, and shook their heads over the +inadequate results accruing from this unexampled generosity. It was sad, +they said, to witness this spectacle of a dying race, unable to +withstand the competition of a superior type. The severe reprisals taken +by white people for certain crimes committed by negroes were of course +not the acts of the best people, who deplored them; but still a certain +charity should be extended towards those who in the intense and +righteous anger of the moment should take the law into their own hands +and deal out rough but still substantial justice; for no negro was ever +lynched without incontestable proof of his guilt. In order to be +perfectly fair, and give their visitors an opportunity to see both sides +of the question, they accompanied the Northern visitors to a colored +church where they might hear a colored preacher, who had won a jocular +popularity throughout the whole country by an oft-repeated sermon +intended to demonstrate that the earth was flat like a pancake. This +celebrated divine could always draw a white audience, except on the days +when his no less distinguished white rival in the field of +sensationalism preached his equally famous sermon to prove that hell was +exactly one half mile, linear measure, from the city limits of +Wellington. Whether accidentally or not, the Northern visitors had no +opportunity to meet or talk alone with any colored person in the city +except the servants at the hotel. When one of the party suggested a +visit to the colored mission school, a Southern friend kindly +volunteered to accompany them. + +The visitors were naturally much impressed by what they learned from +their courteous hosts, and felt inclined to sympathize with the Southern +people, for the negro is not counted as a Southerner, except to fix the +basis of congressional representation. There might of course be things +to criticise here and there, certain customs for which they did not +exactly see the necessity, and which seemed in conflict with the highest +ideals of liberty but surely these courteous, soft-spoken ladies and +gentlemen, entirely familiar with local conditions, who descanted so +earnestly and at times pathetically upon the grave problems confronting +them, must know more about it than people in the distant North, without +their means of information. The negroes who waited on them at the hotel +seemed happy enough, and the teachers whom they had met at the mission +school had been well-dressed, well-mannered, and apparently content with +their position in life. Surely a people who made no complaints could not +be very much oppressed. + +In order to give the visitors, ere they left Wellington, a pleasing +impression of Southern customs, and particularly of the joyous, +happy-go-lucky disposition of the Southern darky and his entire +contentment with existing conditions, it was decided by the hotel +management to treat them, on the last night of their visit, to a little +diversion, in the shape of a genuine negro cakewalk. + +On the afternoon of this same day Tom Delamere strolled into the hotel, +and soon gravitated to the bar, where he was a frequent visitor. Young +men of leisure spent much of their time around the hotel, and no small +part of it in the bar. Delamere had been to the club, but had avoided +the card-room. Time hanging heavy on his hands, he had sought the hotel +in the hope that some form of distraction might present itself. + +"Have you heard the latest, Mr. Delamere?" asked the bartender, as he +mixed a cocktail for his customer. + +"No, Billy; what is it?" + +"There's to be a big cakewalk upstairs to-night. The No'the'n gentlemen +an' ladies who are down here to see about the new cotton fact'ry want to +study the nigger some more, and the boss has got up a cakewalk for 'em, +'mongst the waiters and chambermaids, with a little outside talent." + +"Is it to be public?" asked Delamere. + +"Oh, no, not generally, but friends of the house won't be barred out. +The clerk 'll fix it for you. Ransom, the head waiter, will be floor +manager." + +Delamere was struck with a brilliant idea. The more he considered it, +the brighter it seemed. Another cocktail imparted additional brilliancy +to the conception. He had been trying, after a feeble fashion, to keep +his promise to Clara, and was really suffering from lack of excitement. + +He left the bar-room, found the head waiter, held with him a short +conversation, and left in his intelligent and itching palm a piece of +money. + +The cakewalk was a great success. The most brilliant performer was a +late arrival, who made his appearance just as the performance was about +to commence. The newcomer was dressed strikingly, the conspicuous +features of his attire being a long blue coat with brass buttons and a +pair of plaid trousers. He was older, too, than the other participants, +which made his agility the more remarkable. His partner was a new +chambermaid, who had just come to town, and whom the head waiter +introduced to the newcomer upon his arrival. The cake was awarded to +this couple by a unanimous vote. The man presented it to his partner +with a grandiloquent flourish, and returned thanks in a speech which +sent the Northern visitors into spasms of delight at the quaintness of +the darky dialect and the darky wit. To cap the climax, the winner +danced a buck dance with a skill and agility that brought a shower of +complimentary silver, which he gathered up and passed to the head +waiter. + +Ellis was off duty for the evening. Not having ventured to put in an +appearance at Carteret's since his last rebuff, he found himself +burdened with a superfluity of leisure, from which he essayed to find +relief by dropping into the hotel office at about nine o'clock. He was +invited up to see the cakewalk, which he rather enjoyed, for there was +some graceful dancing and posturing. But the grotesque contortions of +one participant had struck him as somewhat overdone, even for the +comical type of negro. He recognized the fellow, after a few minutes' +scrutiny, as the body-servant of old Mr. Delamere. The man's present +occupation, or choice of diversion, seemed out of keeping with his +employment as attendant upon an invalid old gentleman, and strangely +inconsistent with the gravity and decorum which had been so noticeable +when this agile cakewalker had served as butler at Major Carteret's +table, upon the occasion of the christening dinner. There was a vague +suggestion of unreality about this performance, too, which Ellis did not +attempt to analyze, but which recurred vividly to his memory upon a +subsequent occasion. + +Ellis had never pretended to that intimate knowledge of negro thought +and character by which some of his acquaintances claimed the ability to +fathom every motive of a negro's conduct, and predict in advance what +any one of the darker race would do under a given set of circumstances. +He would not have believed that a white man could possess two so widely +varying phases of character; but as to negroes, they were as yet a crude +and undeveloped race, and it was not safe to make predictions concerning +them. No one could tell at what moment the thin veneer of civilization +might peel off and reveal the underlying savage. + +The champion cakewalker, much to the surprise of his sable companions, +who were about equally swayed by admiration and jealousy, disappeared +immediately after the close of the performance. Any one watching him on +his way home through the quiet streets to old Mr. Delamere's would have +seen him now and then shaking with laughter. It had been excellent fun. +Nevertheless, as he neared home, a certain aspect of the affair, +hitherto unconsidered, occurred to him, and it was in a rather serious +frame of mind that he cautiously entered the house and sought his own +room. + + * * * * * + +The cakewalk had results which to Sandy were very serious. The following +week he was summoned before the disciplinary committee of his church and +charged with unchristian conduct, in the following particulars, to wit: +dancing, and participating in a sinful diversion called a cakewalk, +which was calculated to bring the church into disrepute and make it the +mockery of sinners. + +Sandy protested his innocence vehemently, but in vain. The proof was +overwhelming. He was positively identified by Sister 'Manda Patterson, +the hotel cook, who had watched the whole performance from the hotel +corridor for the sole, single, solitary, and only purpose, she averred, +of seeing how far human wickedness could be carried by a professing +Christian. The whole thing had been shocking and offensive to her, and +only a stern sense of duty had sustained her in looking on, that she +might be qualified to bear witness against the offender. She had +recognized his face, his clothes, his voice, his walk--there could be no +shadow of doubt that it was Brother Sandy. This testimony was confirmed +by one of the deacons, whose son, a waiter at the hotel, had also seen +Sandy at the cakewalk. + +Sandy stoutly insisted that he was at home the whole evening; that he +had not been near the hotel for three months; that he had never in his +life taken part in a cakewalk, and that he did not know how to dance. +It was replied that wickedness, like everything else, must have a +beginning; that dancing was an art that could be acquired in secret, and +came natural to some people. In the face of positive proof, Sandy's +protestations were of no avail; he was found guilty, and suspended from +church fellowship until he should have repented and made full +confession. + +Sturdily refusing to confess a fault of which he claimed to be innocent, +Sandy remained in contumacy, thereby falling somewhat into disrepute +among the members of his church, the largest in the city. The effect of +a bad reputation being subjective as well as objective, and poor human +nature arguing that one may as well have the game as the name, Sandy +insensibly glided into habits of which the church would not have +approved, though he took care that they should not interfere with his +duties to Mr. Delamere. The consolation thus afforded, however, followed +as it was by remorse of conscience, did not compensate him for the loss +of standing in the church, which to him was a social club as well as a +religious temple. At times, in conversation with young Delamere, he +would lament his hard fate. + +Tom laughed until he cried at the comical idea which Sandy's plaint +always brought up, of half-a-dozen negro preachers sitting in solemn +judgment upon that cakewalk,--it had certainly been a good +cakewalk!--and sending poor Sandy to spiritual Coventry. + +"Cheer up, Sandy, cheer up!" he would say when Sandy seemed most +depressed. "Go into my room and get yourself a good drink of liquor. The +devil's church has a bigger congregation than theirs, and we have the +consolation of knowing that when we die, we'll meet all our friends on +the other side. Brace up, Sandy, and be a man, or, if you can't be a +man, be as near a man as you can!" + +Hoping to revive his drooping spirits, Sandy too often accepted the +proffered remedy. + + + + +XIV + + +THE MAUNDERINGS OF OLD MRS. OCHILTREE + +When Mrs. Carteret had fully recovered from the shock attendant upon the +accident at the window, where little Dodie had so narrowly escaped death +or serious injury, she ordered her carriage one afternoon and directed +the coachman to drive her to Mrs. Ochiltree's. + +Mrs. Carteret had discharged her young nurse only the day before, and +had sent for Mammy Jane, who was now recovered from her rheumatism, to +stay until she could find another girl. The nurse had been ordered not +to take the child to negroes' houses. Yesterday, in driving past the old +homestead of her husband's family, now occupied by Dr. Miller and his +family, Mrs. Carteret had seen her own baby's carriage standing in the +yard. + +When the nurse returned home, she was immediately discharged. She +offered some sort of explanation, to the effect that her sister worked +for Mrs. Miller, and that some family matter had rendered it necessary +for her to see her sister. The explanation only aggravated the offense: +if Mrs. Carteret could have overlooked the disobedience, she would by no +means have retained in her employment a servant whose sister worked for +the Miller woman. + +Old Mrs. Ochiltree had within a few months begun to show signs of +breaking up. She was over seventy years old, and had been of late, by +various afflictions, confined to the house much of the time. More than +once within the year, Mrs. Carteret had asked her aunt to come and live +with her; but Mrs. Ochiltree, who would have regarded such a step as an +acknowledgment of weakness, preferred her lonely independence. She +resided in a small, old-fashioned house, standing back in the middle of +a garden on a quiet street. Two old servants made up her modest +household. + +This refusal to live with her niece had been lightly borne, for Mrs. +Ochiltree was a woman of strong individuality, whose comments upon her +acquaintance, present or absent, were marked by a frankness at times no +less than startling. This characteristic caused her to be more or less +avoided. Mrs. Ochiltree was aware of this sentiment on the part of her +acquaintance, and rather exulted in it. She hated fools. Only fools ran +away from her, and that because they were afraid she would expose their +folly. If most people were fools, it was no fault of hers, and she was +not obliged to indulge them by pretending to believe that they knew +anything. She had once owned considerable property, but was reticent +about her affairs, and told no one how much she was worth, though it was +supposed that she had considerable ready money, besides her house and +some other real estate. Mrs. Carteret was her nearest living relative, +though her grand-nephew Tom Delamere had been a great favorite with her. +If she did not spare him her tongue-lashings, it was nevertheless +expected in the family that she would leave him something handsome in +her will. + +Mrs. Ochiltree had shared in the general rejoicing upon the advent of +the Carteret baby. She had been one of his godmothers, and had hinted at +certain intentions held by her concerning him. During Mammy Jane's +administration she had tried the old nurse's patience more or less by +her dictatorial interference. Since her partial confinement to the +house, she had gone, when her health and the weather would permit, to +see the child, and at other times had insisted that it be sent to her in +charge of the nurse at least every other day. + +Mrs. Ochiltree's faculties had shared insensibly in the decline of her +health. This weakness manifested itself by fits of absent-mindedness, in +which she would seemingly lose connection with the present, and live +over again, in imagination, the earlier years of her life. She had +buried two husbands, had tried in vain to secure a third, and had never +borne any children. Long ago she had petrified into a character which +nothing under heaven could change, and which, if death is to take us as +it finds us, and the future life to keep us as it takes us, promised +anything but eternal felicity to those with whom she might associate +after this life. Tom Delamere had been heard to say, profanely, that if +his Aunt Polly went to heaven, he would let his mansion in the skies on +a long lease, at a low figure. + +When the carriage drove up with Mrs. Carteret, her aunt was seated on +the little front piazza, with her wrinkled hands folded in her lap, +dozing the afternoon away in fitful slumber. + +"Tie the horse, William," said Mrs. Carteret, "and then go in and wake +Aunt Polly, and tell her I want her to come and drive with me." + +Mrs. Ochiltree had not observed her niece's approach, nor did she look +up when William drew near. Her eyes were closed, and she would let her +head sink slowly forward, recovering it now and then with a spasmodic +jerk. + +"Colonel Ochiltree," she muttered, "was shot at the battle of Culpepper +Court House, and left me a widow for the second time. But I would not +have married any man on earth after him." + +"Mis' Ochiltree!" cried William, raising his voice, "oh, Mis' +Ochiltree!" + +"If I had found a man,--a real man,--I might have married again. I did +not care for weaklings. I could have married John Delamere if I had +wanted him. But pshaw! I could have wound him round"-- + +"Go round to the kitchen, William," interrupted Mrs. Carteret +impatiently, "and tell Aunt Dinah to come and wake her up." + +William returned in a few moments with a fat, comfortable looking black +woman, who curtsied to Mrs. Carteret at the gate, and then going up to +her mistress seized her by the shoulder and shook her vigorously. + +"Wake up dere, Mis' Polly," she screamed, as harshly as her mellow voice +would permit. "Mis' 'Livy wants you ter go drivin' wid 'er!" + +"Dinah," exclaimed the old lady, sitting suddenly upright with a defiant +assumption of wakefulness, "why do you take so long to come when I call? +Bring me my bonnet and shawl. Don't you see my niece waiting for me at +the gate?" + +"Hyuh dey is, hyuh dey is!" returned Dinah, producing the bonnet and +shawl, and assisting Mrs. Ochiltree to put them on. + +Leaning on William's arm, the old lady went slowly down the walk, and +was handed to the rear seat with Mrs. Carteret. + +"How's the baby to-day, Olivia, and why didn't you bring him?" + +"He has a cold to-day, and is a little hoarse," replied Mrs. Carteret, +"so I thought it best not to bring him out. Drive out the Weldon road, +William, and back by Pine Street." + +The drive led past an eminence crowned by a handsome brick building of +modern construction, evidently an institution of some kind, surrounded +on three sides by a grove of venerable oaks. + +"Hugh Poindexter," Mrs. Ochiltree exclaimed explosively, after a +considerable silence, "has been building a new house, in place of the +old family mansion burned during the war." + +"It isn't Mr. Poindexter's house, Aunt Polly. That is the new colored +hospital built by the colored doctor." + +"The new colored hospital, indeed, and the colored doctor! Before the +war the negroes were all healthy, and when they got sick we took care of +them ourselves! Hugh Poindexter has sold the graves of his ancestors to +a negro,--I should have starved first!" + +"He had his grandfather's grave opened, and there was nothing to remove, +except a few bits of heart-pine from the coffin. All the rest had +crumbled into dust." + +"And he sold the dust to a negro! The world is upside down." + +"He had the tombstone transferred to the white cemetery, Aunt Polly, and +he has moved away." + +"Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. When I die, if you +outlive me, Olivia, which is not likely, I shall leave my house and +land to this child! He is a Carteret,--he would never sell them to a +negro. I can't trust Tom Delamere, I'm afraid." + +The carriage had skirted the hill, passing to the rear of the new +building. + +"Turn to the right, William," ordered Mrs. Carteret, addressing the +coachman, "and come back past the other side of the hospital." + +A turn to the right into another road soon brought them to the front of +the building, which stood slightly back from the street, with no +intervening fence or inclosure. A sorrel pony in a light buggy was +fastened to a hitching-post near the entrance. As they drove past, a +lady came out of the front door and descended the steps, holding by the +hand a very pretty child about six years old. + +"Who is that woman, Olivia?" asked Mrs. Ochiltree abruptly, with signs +of agitation. + +The lady coming down the steps darted at the approaching carriage a look +which lingered involuntarily. + +Mrs. Carteret, perceiving this glance, turned away coldly. + +With a sudden hardening of her own features the other woman lifted the +little boy into the buggy and drove sharply away in the direction +opposite to that taken by Mrs. Carteret's carriage. + +"Who is that woman, Olivia?" repeated Mrs. Ochiltree, with marked +emotion. + +"I have not the honor of her acquaintance," returned Mrs. Carteret +sharply. "Drive faster, William." + +"I want to know who that woman is," persisted Mrs. Ochiltree +querulously. "William," she cried shrilly, poking the coachman in the +back with the end of her cane, "who is that woman?" + +"Dat's Mis' Miller, ma'am," returned the coachman, touching his hat; +"Doctuh Miller's wife." + +"What was her mother's name?" + +"Her mother's name wuz Julia Brown. She's be'n dead dese twenty years +er mo'. Why, you knowed Julia, Mis' Polly!--she used ter b'long ter yo' +own father befo' de wah; an' after de wah she kep' house fer"-- + +"Look to your horses, William!" exclaimed Mrs. Carteret sharply. + +"It's that hussy's child," said Mrs. Ochiltree, turning to her niece +with great excitement. "When your father died, I turned the mother and +the child out into the street. The mother died and went to--the place +provided for such as she. If I hadn't been just in time, Olivia, they +would have turned you out. I saved the property for you and your son! +You can thank me for it all!" + +"Hush, Aunt Polly, for goodness' sake! William will hear you. Tell me +about it when you get home." + +Mrs. Ochiltree was silent, except for a few incoherent mumblings. What +she might say, what distressing family secret she might repeat in +William's hearing, should she take another talkative turn, was beyond +conjecture. + +Olivia looked anxiously around for something to distract her aunt's +attention, and caught sight of a colored man, dressed in sober gray, who +was coming toward the carriage. + +"There's Mr. Delamere's Sandy!" exclaimed Mrs. Carteret, touching her +aunt on the arm. "I wonder how his master is? Sandy, oh, Sandy!" + +Sandy approached the carriage, lifting his hat with a slight +exaggeration of Chesterfieldian elegance. Sandy, no less than his +master, was a survival of an interesting type. He had inherited the +feudal deference for his superiors in position, joined to a certain +self-respect which saved him from sycophancy. His manners had been +formed upon those of old Mr. Delamere, and were not a bad imitation; for +in the man, as in the master, they were the harmonious reflection of a +mental state. + +"How is Mr. Delamere, Sandy?" asked Mrs. Carteret, acknowledging Sandy's +salutation with a nod and a smile. + +"He ain't ez peart ez he has be'n, ma'am," replied Sandy, "but he's +doin' tol'able well. De doctuh say he's good fer a dozen years yit, ef +he'll jes' take good keer of hisse'f an' keep f'm gittin' excited; fer +sence dat secon' stroke, excitement is dange'ous fer 'im." + +"I'm sure you take the best care of him," returned Mrs. Carteret kindly. + +"You can't do anything for him, Sandy," interposed old Mrs. Ochiltree, +shaking her head slowly to emphasize her dissent. "All the doctors in +creation couldn't keep him alive another year. I shall outlive him by +twenty years, though we are not far from the same age." + +"Lawd, ma'am!" exclaimed Sandy, lifting his hands in affected +amazement,--his study of gentle manners had been more than +superficial,--"whoever would 'a' s'picion' dat you an' Mars John wuz +nigh de same age? I'd 'a' 'lowed you wuz ten years younger 'n him, easy, +ef you wuz a day!" + +"Give my compliments to the poor old gentleman," returned Mrs. +Ochiltree, with a simper of senile vanity, though her back was +weakening under the strain of the effort to sit erect that she might +maintain this illusion of comparative youthfulness. "Bring him to see me +some day when he is able to walk." + +"Yas'm, I will," rejoined Sandy. "He's gwine out ter Belleview nex' +week, fer ter stay a mont' er so, but I'll fetch him 'roun' w'en he +comes back. I'll tell 'im dat you ladies 'quired fer 'im." + +Sandy made another deep bow, and held his hat in his hand until the +carriage had moved away. He had not condescended to notice the coachman +at all, who was one of the young negroes of the new generation; while +Sandy regarded himself as belonging to the quality, and seldom stooped +to notice those beneath him. It would not have been becoming in him, +either, while conversing with white ladies, to have noticed a colored +servant. Moreover, the coachman was a Baptist, while Sandy was a +Methodist, though under a cloud, and considered a Methodist in poor +standing as better than a Baptist of any degree of sanctity. + +"Lawd, Lawd!" chuckled Sandy, after the carriage had departed, "I never +seed nothin' lack de way dat ole lady do keep up her temper! Wid one +foot in de grave, an' de other hov'rin' on de edge, she talks 'bout my +ole marster lack he wuz in his secon' chil'hood. But I'm jes' willin' +ter bet dat he'll outlas' her! She ain't half de woman she wuz dat +night I waited on de table at de christenin' pa'ty, w'en she 'lowed she +wuzn' feared er no man livin'." + + + + +XV + + +MRS. CARTERET SEEKS AN EXPLANATION + +As a stone dropped into a pool of water sets in motion a series of +concentric circles which disturb the whole mass in varying degree, so +Mrs. Ochiltree's enigmatical remark had started in her niece's mind a +disturbing train of thought. Had her words, Mrs. Carteret asked herself, +any serious meaning, or were they the mere empty babblings of a clouded +intellect? + +"William," she said to the coachman when they reached Mrs. Ochiltree's +house, "you may tie the horse and help us out. I shall be here a little +while." + +William helped the ladies down, assisted Mrs. Ochiltree into the house, +and then went round to the kitchen. Dinah was an excellent hand at +potato-pone and other culinary delicacies dear to the Southern heart, +and William was a welcome visitor in her domain. + +"Now, Aunt Polly," said Mrs. Carteret resolutely, as soon as they were +alone, "I want to know what you meant by what you said about my father +and Julia, and this--this child of hers?" + +The old woman smiled cunningly, but her expression soon changed to one +more grave. + +"Why do you want to know?" she asked suspiciously. "You've got the +land, the houses, and the money. You've nothing to complain of. Enjoy +yourself, and be thankful!" + +"I'm thankful to God," returned Olivia, "for all his good gifts,--and +He has blessed me abundantly,--but why should I be thankful to _you_ for +the property my father left me?" + +"Why should you be thankful to me?" rejoined Mrs. Ochiltree with +querulous indignation. "You'd better ask why _shouldn't_ you be +thankful to me. What have I not done for you?" + +"Yes, Aunt Polly, I know you've done a great deal. You reared me in +your own house when I had been cast out of my father's; you have been a +second mother to me, and I am very grateful,--you can never say that I +have not shown my gratitude. But if you have done anything else for me, +I wish to know it. Why should I thank you for my inheritance?" + +"Why should you thank me? Well, because I drove that woman and her brat +away." + +"But she had no right to stay, Aunt Polly, after father died. Of course +she had no moral right before, but it was his house, and he could keep +her there if he chose. But after his death she surely had no right." + +"Perhaps not so surely as you think,--if she had not been a negro. Had +she been white, there might have been a difference. When I told her to +go, she said"-- + +"What did she say, Aunt Polly," demanded Olivia eagerly. + +It seemed for a moment as though Mrs. Ochiltree would speak no further: +but her once strong will, now weakened by her bodily infirmities, +yielded to the influence of her niece's imperious demand. + +"I'll tell you the whole story," she said, "and then you'll know what +I did for you and yours." Mrs. Ochiltree's eyes assumed an +introspective expression, and her story, as it advanced, became as +keenly dramatic as though memory had thrown aside the veil of +intervening years and carried her back directly to the events which she +now described. + +"Your father," she said, "while living with that woman, left home one +morning the picture of health. Five minutes later he tottered into the +house groaning with pain, stricken unto death by the hand of a just God, +as a punishment for his sins." + +Olivia gave a start of indignation, but restrained herself. + +"I was at once informed of what had happened, for I had means of knowing +all that took place in the household. Old Jane--she was younger +then--had come with you to my house; but her daughter remained, and +through her I learned all that went on. + +"I hastened immediately to the house, entered without knocking, and +approached Mr. Merkell's bedroom, which was on the lower floor and +opened into the hall. The door was ajar, and as I stood there for a +moment I heard your father's voice. + +"'Listen, Julia,' he was saying. 'I shall not live until the doctor +comes. But I wish you to know, dear Julia!'--he called her 'dear +Julia!'--'before I die, that I have kept my promise. You did me one +great service, Julia,--you saved me from Polly Ochiltree!' Yes, Olivia, +that is what he said! 'You have served me faithfully and well, and I owe +you a great deal, which I have tried to pay.' + +"'Oh, Mr. Merkell, dear Mr. Merkell,' cried the hypocritical hussy, +falling to her knees by his bedside, and shedding her crocodile tears, +'you owe me nothing. You have done more for me than I could ever repay. +You will not die and leave me,--no, no, it cannot be!' + +"'Yes, I am going to die,--I am dying now, Julia. But listen,--compose +yourself and listen, for this is a more important matter. Take the keys +from under my pillow, open the desk in the next room, look in the second +drawer on the right, and you will find an envelope containing three +papers: one of them is yours, one is the paper I promised to make, and +the third is a letter which I wrote last night. As soon as the breath +has left my body, deliver the envelope to the address indorsed upon it. +Do not delay one moment, or you may live to regret it. Say nothing until +you have delivered the package, and then be guided by the advice which +you receive,--it will come from a friend of mine who will not see you +wronged.' + +"I slipped away from the door without making my presence known and +entered, by a door from the hall, the room adjoining the one where Mr. +Merkell lay. A moment later there was a loud scream. Returning quickly +to the hall, I entered Mr. Merkell's room as though just arrived. + +"'How is Mr. Merkell?' I demanded, as I crossed the threshold. + +"'He is dead,' sobbed the woman, without lifting her head,--she had +fallen on her knees by the bedside. She had good cause to weep, for my +time had come. + +"'Get up,' I said. 'You have no right here. You pollute Mr. Merkell's +dead body by your touch. Leave the house immediately,--your day is +over!' + +"'I will not!' she cried, rising to her feet and facing me with +brazen-faced impudence. 'I have a right to stay,--he has given me the +right!' + +"'Ha, ha!' I laughed. 'Mr. Merkell is dead, and I am mistress here +henceforth. Go, and go at once,--do you hear?' + +"'I hear, but I shall not heed. I can prove my rights! I shall not +leave!' + +"'Very well,' I replied, 'we shall see. The law will decide.' + +"I left the room, but did not leave the house. On the contrary, I +concealed myself where I could see what took place in the room adjoining +the death-chamber. + +"She entered the room a moment later, with her child on one arm and the +keys in the other hand. Placing the child on the floor, she put the key +in the lock, and seemed surprised to find the desk already unfastened. +She opened the desk, picked up a roll of money and a ladies' watch, +which first caught her eye, and was reaching toward the drawer upon the +right, when I interrupted her:-- + +"'Well, thief, are you trying to strip the house before you leave it?' + +"She gave an involuntary cry, clasped one hand to her bosom and with the +other caught up her child, and stood like a wild beast at bay. + +"'I am not a thief,' she panted. 'The things are mine!' + +"'You lie,' I replied. 'You have no right to them,--no more right than +you have to remain in this house!' + +"'I have a right,' she persisted, 'and I can prove it!' + +"She turned toward the desk, seized the drawer, and drew it open. Never +shall I forget her look,--never shall I forget that moment; it was the +happiest of my life. The drawer was empty! + +"Pale as death she turned and faced me. + +"'The papers!' she shrieked, 'the papers! _You_ have stolen them!' + +"'Papers?' I laughed, 'what papers? Do you take me for a thief, like +yourself?' + +"'There were papers here,' she cried, 'only a minute since. They are +mine,--give them back to me!' + +"'Listen, woman,' I said sternly, 'you are lying--or dreaming. My +brother-in-law's papers are doubtless in his safe at his office, where +they ought to be. As for the rest,--you are a thief.' + +"'I am not,' she screamed; 'I am his wife. He married me, and the papers +that were in the desk will prove it.' + +"'Listen,' I exclaimed, when she had finished,--'listen carefully, and +take heed to what I say. You are a liar. You have no proofs,--there +never were any proofs of what you say, because it never happened,--it is +absurd upon the face of it. Not one person in Wellington would believe +it. Why should he marry you? He did not need to! You are merely +lying,--you are not even self-deceived. If he had really married you, +you would have made it known long ago. That you did not is proof that +your story is false.' + +"She was hit so hard that she trembled and sank into a chair. But I had +no mercy--she had saved your father from _me_--'dear Julia,' indeed! + +"'Stand up,' I ordered. 'Do not dare to sit down in my presence. I have +you on the hip, my lady, and will teach you your place.' + +"She struggled to her feet, and stood supporting herself with one hand +on the chair. I could have killed her, Olivia! She had been my father's +slave; if it had been before the war, I would have had her whipped to +death. + +"'You are a thief,' I said, 'and of that there _are_ proofs. I have +caught you in the act. The watch in your bosom is my own, the money +belongs to Mr. Merkell's estate, which belongs to my niece, his daughter +Olivia. I saw you steal them. My word is worth yours a hundred times +over, for I am a lady, and you are--what? And now hear me: if ever you +breathe to a living soul one word of this preposterous story, I will +charge you with the theft, and have you sent to the penitentiary. Your +child will be taken from you, and you shall never see it again. I will +give you now just ten minutes to take your brat and your rags out of +this house forever. But before you go, put down your plunder there upon +the desk!' + +"She laid down the money and the watch, and a few minutes later left the +house with the child in her arms. + +"And now, Olivia, you know how I saved your estate, and why you should +be grateful to me." + +Olivia had listened to her aunt's story with intense interest. Having +perceived the old woman's mood, and fearful lest any interruption might +break the flow of her narrative, she had with an effort kept back the +one question which had been hovering upon her lips, but which could now +no longer be withheld. + +"What became of the papers, Aunt Polly?" + +"Ha, ha!" chuckled Mrs. Ochiltree with a cunning look, "did I not tell +you that she found no papers?" + +A change had come over Mrs. Ochiltree's face, marking the reaction from +her burst of energy. Her eyes were half closed, and she was muttering +incoherently. Olivia made some slight effort to arouse her, but in vain, +and realizing the futility of any further attempt to extract information +from her aunt at this time, she called William and drove homeward. + + + + +XVI + + +ELLIS TAKES A TRICK + +Late one afternoon a handsome trap, drawn by two spirited bays, drove up +to Carteret's gate. Three places were taken by Mrs. Carteret, Clara, and +the major, leaving the fourth seat vacant. + +"I've asked Ellis to drive out with us," said the major, as he took the +lines from the colored man who had the trap in charge. "We'll go by the +office and pick him up." + +Clara frowned, but perceiving Mrs. Carteret's eye fixed upon her, +restrained any further expression of annoyance. + +The major's liking for Ellis had increased within the year. The young +man was not only a good journalist, but possessed sufficient cleverness +and tact to make him excellent company. The major was fond of argument, +but extremely tenacious of his own opinions. Ellis handled the foils of +discussion with just the requisite skill to draw out the major, +permitting himself to be vanquished, not too easily, but, as it were, +inevitably, by the major's incontrovertible arguments. + +Olivia had long suspected Ellis of feeling a more than friendly interest +in Clara. Herself partial to Tom, she had more than once thought it +hardly fair to Delamere, or even to Clara, who was young and +impressionable, to have another young man constantly about the house. +True, there had seemed to be no great danger, for Ellis had neither the +family nor the means to make him a suitable match for the major's +sister; nor had Clara made any secret of her dislike for Ellis, or of +her resentment for his supposed depreciation of Delamere. Mrs. Carteret +was inclined to a more just and reasonable view of Ellis's conduct in +this matter, but nevertheless did not deem it wise to undeceive Clara. +Dislike was a stout barrier, which remorse might have broken down. The +major, absorbed in schemes of empire and dreams of his child's future, +had not become cognizant of the affair. His wife, out of friendship for +Tom, had refrained from mentioning it; while the major, with a delicate +regard for Clara's feelings, had said nothing at home in regard to his +interview with her lover. + +At the Chronicle office Ellis took the front seat beside the major. +After leaving the city pavements, they bowled along merrily over an +excellent toll-road, built of oyster shells from the neighboring sound, +stopping at intervals to pay toll to the gate-keepers, most of whom were +white women with tallow complexions and snuff-stained lips,--the +traditional "poor-white." For part of the way the road was bordered with +a growth of scrub oak and pine, interspersed with stretches of cleared +land, white with the opening cotton or yellow with ripening corn. To the +right, along the distant river-bank, were visible here and there groups +of turpentine pines, though most of this growth had for some years been +exhausted. Twenty years before, Wellington had been the world's greatest +shipping port for naval stores. But as the turpentine industry had moved +southward, leaving a trail of devastated forests in its rear, the city +had fallen to a poor fifth or sixth place in this trade, relying now +almost entirely upon cotton for its export business. + +Occasionally our party passed a person, or a group of persons,--mostly +negroes approximating the pure type, for those of lighter color grew +noticeably scarcer as the town was left behind. Now and then one of +these would salute the party respectfully, while others glanced at them +indifferently or turned away. There would have seemed, to a stranger, a +lack, of spontaneous friendliness between the people of these two races, +as though each felt that it had no part or lot in the other's life. At +one point the carriage drew near a party of colored folks who were +laughing and jesting among themselves with great glee. Paying no +attention to the white people, they continued to laugh and shout +boisterously as the carriage swept by. + +Major Carteret's countenance wore an angry look. + +"The negroes around this town are becoming absolutely insufferable," he +averred. "They are sadly in need of a lesson in manners." + +Half an hour later they neared another group, who were also making +merry. As the carriage approached, they became mute and silent as the +grave until the major's party had passed. + +"The negroes are a sullen race," remarked the major thoughtfully. "They +will learn their lesson in a rude school, and perhaps much sooner than +they dream. By the way," he added, turning to the ladies, "what was the +arrangement with Tom? Was he to come out this evening?" + +"He came out early in the afternoon," replied Clara, "to go a-fishing. +He is to join us at the hotel." + +After an hour's drive they reached the hotel, in front of which +stretched the beach, white and inviting, along the shallow sound. Mrs. +Carteret and Clara found seats on the veranda. Having turned the trap +over to a hostler, the major joined a group of gentlemen, among whom was +General Belmont, and was soon deep in the discussion of the standing +problem of how best to keep the negroes down. + +Ellis remained by the ladies. Clara seemed restless and ill at ease. +Half an hour elapsed and Delamere had not appeared. + +"I wonder where Tom is," said Mrs. Carteret. + +"I guess he hasn't come in yet from fishing," said Clara. "I wish he +would come. It's lonesome here. Mr. Ellis, would you mind looking about +the hotel and seeing if there's any one here that we know?" + +For Ellis the party was already one too large. He had accepted this +invitation eagerly, hoping to make friends with Clara during the +evening. He had never been able to learn definitely the reason of her +coldness, but had dated it from his meeting with old Mrs. Ochiltree, +with which he felt it was obscurely connected. He had noticed Delamere's +scowling look, too, at their last meeting. Clara's injustice, whatever +its cause, he felt keenly. To Delamere's scowl he had paid little +attention,--he despised Tom so much that, but for his engagement to +Clara, he would have held his opinions in utter contempt. + +He had even wished that Clara might make some charge against him,--he +would have preferred that to her attitude of studied indifference, the +only redeeming feature about which was that it _was_ studied, showing +that she, at least, had him in mind. The next best thing, he reasoned, +to having a woman love you, is to have her dislike you violently,--the +main point is that you should be kept in mind, and made the subject of +strong emotions. He thought of the story of Hall Caine's, where the +woman, after years of persecution at the hands of an unwelcome suitor, +is on the point of yielding, out of sheer irresistible admiration for +the man's strength and persistency, when the lover, unaware of his +victory and despairing of success, seizes her in his arms and, springing +into the sea, finds a watery grave for both. The analogy of this case +with his own was, of course, not strong. He did not anticipate any +tragedy in their relations; but he was glad to be thought of upon almost +any terms. He would not have done a mean thing to make her think of him; +but if she did so because of a misconception, which he was given no +opportunity to clear up, while at the same time his conscience absolved +him from evil and gave him the compensating glow of martyrdom, it was at +least better than nothing. + +He would, of course, have preferred to be upon a different footing. It +had been a pleasure to have her speak to him during the drive,--they had +exchanged a few trivial remarks in the general conversation. It was a +greater pleasure to have her ask a favor of him,--a pleasure which, in +this instance, was partly offset when he interpreted her request to mean +that he was to look for Tom Delamere. He accepted the situation +gracefully, however, and left the ladies alone. + +Knowing Delamere's habits, he first went directly to the bar-room,--the +atmosphere would be congenial, even if he were not drinking. Delamere +was not there. Stepping next into the office, he asked the clerk if +young Mr. Delamere had been at the hotel. + +"Yes, sir," returned the man at the desk, "he was here at luncheon, and +then went out fishing in a boat with several other gentlemen. I think +they came back about three o'clock. I'll find out for you." + +He rang the bell, to which a colored boy responded. + +"Front," said the clerk, "see if young Mr. Delamere's upstairs. Look in +255 or 256, and let me know at once." + +The bell-boy returned in a moment. + +"Yas, suh," he reported, with a suppressed grin, "he's in 256, suh. De +do' was open, an' I seed 'im from de hall, suh." + +"I wish you'd go up and tell him," said Ellis, "that--What are you +grinning about?" he asked suddenly, noticing the waiter's expression. + +"Nothin', suh, nothin' at all, suh," responded the negro, lapsing into +the stolidity of a wooden Indian. "What shall I tell Mr. Delamere, suh?" + +"Tell him," resumed Ellis, still watching the boy suspiciously,--"no, I'll +tell him myself." + +He ascended the broad stair to the second floor. There was an upper +balcony and a parlor, with a piano for the musically inclined. To reach +these one had to pass along the hall upon which the room mentioned by +the bell-boy opened. Ellis was quite familiar with the hotel. He could +imagine circumstances under which he would not care to speak to +Delamere; he would merely pass through the hall and glance into the room +casually, as any one else might do, and see what the darky downstairs +might have meant by his impudence. + +It required but a moment to reach the room. The door was not wide open, +but far enough ajar for him to see what was going on within. + +Two young men, members of the fast set at the Clarendon Club, were +playing cards at a small table, near which stood another, decorated with +an array of empty bottles and glasses. Sprawling on a lounge, with +flushed face and disheveled hair, his collar unfastened, his vest +buttoned awry, lay Tom Delamere, breathing stertorously, in what seemed +a drunken sleep. Lest there should be any doubt of the cause of his +condition, the fingers of his right hand had remained clasped +mechanically around the neck of a bottle which lay across his bosom. + +Ellis turned away in disgust, and went slowly back to the ladies. + +"There seems to be no one here yet," he reported. "We came a little +early for the evening crowd. The clerk says Tom Delamere was here to +luncheon, but he hasn't seen him for several hours." + +"He's not a very gallant cavalier," said Mrs. Carteret severely. "He +ought to have been waiting for us." + +Clara was clearly disappointed, and made no effort to conceal her +displeasure, leaving Ellis in doubt as to whether or not he were its +object. Perhaps she suspected him of not having made a very thorough +search. Her next remark might have borne such a construction. + +"Sister Olivia," she said pettishly, "let's go up to the parlor. I can +play the piano anyway, if there's no one to talk to." + +"I find it very comfortable here, Clara," replied her sister placidly. +"Mr. Ellis will go with you. You'll probably find some one in the +parlor, or they'll come when you begin to play." + +Clara's expression was not cordial, but she rose as if to go. Ellis was +in a quandary. If she went through the hall, the chances were at least +even that she would see Delamere. He did not care a rap for +Delamere,--if he chose to make a public exhibition of himself, it was +his own affair; but to see him would surely spoil Miss Pemberton's +evening, and, in her frame of mind, might lead to the suspicion that +Ellis had prearranged the exposure. Even if she should not harbor this +unjust thought, she would not love the witness of her discomfiture. We +had rather not meet the persons who have seen, even though they never +mention, the skeletons in our closets. Delamere had disposed of himself +for the evening. Ellis would have a fairer field with Delamere out of +sight and unaccounted for, than with Delamere in evidence in his present +condition. + +"Wouldn't you rather take a stroll on the beach, Miss Clara?" he asked, +in the hope of creating a diversion. + +"No, I'm going to the parlor. _You_ needn't come, Mr. Ellis, if you'd +rather go down to the beach. I can quite as well go alone." + +"I'd rather go with you," he said meekly. + +They were moving toward the door opening into the hall, from which the +broad staircase ascended. Ellis, whose thoughts did not always respond +quickly to a sudden emergency, was puzzling his brain as to how he +should save her from any risk of seeing Delamere. Through the side door +leading from the hall into the office, he saw the bell-boy to whom he +had spoken seated on the bench provided for the servants. + +"Won't you wait for me just a moment, Miss Clara, while I step into the +office? I'll be with you in an instant." + +Clara hesitated. + +"Oh, certainly," she replied nonchalantly. + +Ellis went direct to the bell-boy. "Sit right where you are," he said, +"and don't move a hair. What is the lady in the hall doing?" + +"She's got her back tu'ned this way, suh. I 'spec' she's lookin' at the +picture on the opposite wall, suh." + +"All right," whispered Ellis, pressing a coin into the servant's hand. +"I'm going up to the parlor with the lady. You go up ahead of us, and +keep in front of us along the hall. Don't dare to look back. I shall +keep on talking to the lady, so that you can tell by my voice where we +are. When you get to room 256, go in and shut the door behind you: +pretend that you were called,--ask the gentlemen what they want,--tell +any kind of a lie you like,--but keep the door shut until you're sure +we've got by. Do you hear?" + +"Yes, suh," replied the negro intelligently. + +The plan worked without a hitch. Ellis talked steadily, about the hotel, +the furnishings, all sorts of irrelevant subjects, to which Miss +Pemberton paid little attention. She was angry with Delamere, and took +no pains to conceal her feelings. The bell-boy entered room 256 just +before they reached the door. Ellis had heard loud talking as they +approached, and as they were passing there was a crash of broken glass, +as though some object had been thrown at the door. + +"What is the matter there?" exclaimed Clara, quickening her footsteps +and instinctively drawing closer to Ellis. + +"Some one dropped a glass, I presume," replied Ellis calmly. + +Miss Pemberton glanced at him suspiciously. She was in a decidedly +perverse mood. Seating herself at the piano, she played brilliantly for +a quarter of an hour. Quite a number of couples strolled up to the +parlor, but Delamere was not among them. + +"Oh dear!" exclaimed Miss Pemberton, as she let her fingers fall upon +the keys with a discordant crash, after the last note, "I don't see why +we came out here to-night. Let's go back downstairs." + +Ellis felt despondent. He had done his utmost to serve and to please +Miss Pemberton, but was not likely, he foresaw, to derive much benefit +from his opportunity. Delamere was evidently as much or more in her +thoughts by reason of his absence than if he had been present. If the +door should have been opened, and she should see him from the hall upon +their return, Ellis could not help it. He took the side next to the +door, however, meaning to hurry past the room so that she might not +recognize Delamere. + +Fortunately the door was closed and all quiet within the room. On the +stairway they met the bellboy, rubbing his head with one hand and +holding a bottle of seltzer upon a tray in the other. The boy was well +enough trained to give no sign of recognition, though Ellis guessed the +destination of the bottle. + +Ellis hardly knew whether to feel pleased or disappointed at the success +of his manoeuvres. He had spared Miss Pemberton some mortification, but +he had saved Tom Delamere from merited exposure. Clara ought to know the +truth, for her own sake. + +On the beach, a few rods away, fires were burning, around which several +merry groups had gathered. The smoke went mostly to one side, but a +slight whiff came now and then to where Mrs. Carteret sat awaiting +them. + +"They're roasting oysters," said Mrs. Carteret. "I wish you'd bring me +some, Mr. Ellis." + +Ellis strolled down to the beach. A large iron plate, with a turned-up +rim like a great baking-pan, supported by legs which held it off the +ground, was set over a fire built upon the sand. This primitive oven was +heaped with small oysters in the shell, taken from the neighboring +sound, and hauled up to the hotel by a negro whose pony cart stood near +by. A wet coffee-sack of burlaps was spread over the oysters, which, +when steamed sufficiently, were opened by a colored man and served +gratis to all who cared for them. + +Ellis secured a couple of plates of oysters, which he brought to Mrs. +Carteret and Clara; they were small, but finely flavored. + +Meanwhile Delamere, who possessed a remarkable faculty of recuperation +from the effects of drink, had waked from his sleep, and remembering his +engagement, had exerted himself to overcome the ravages of the +afternoon's debauch. A dash of cold water braced him up somewhat. A +bottle of seltzer and a big cup of strong coffee still further +strengthened his nerves. + +When Ellis returned to the veranda, after having taken away the plates, +Delamere had joined the ladies and was explaining the cause of his +absence. + +He had been overcome by the heat, he said, while out fishing, and had +been lying down ever since. Perhaps he ought to have sent for a doctor, +but the fellows had looked after him. He hadn't sent word to his friends +because he hadn't wished to spoil their evening. + +"That was very considerate of you, Tom," said Mrs. Carteret dryly, "but +you ought to have let us know. We have been worrying about you very +much. Clara has found the evening dreadfully dull." + +"Indeed, no, sister Olivia," said the young lady cheerfully, "I've been +having a lovely time. Mr. Ellis and I have been up in the parlor; I +played the piano; and we've been eating oysters and having a most +delightful time. Won't you take me down there to the beach, Mr. Ellis? I +want to see the fires. Come on." + +"Can't I go?" asked Tom jealously. + +"No, indeed, you mustn't stir a foot! You must not overtax yourself so +soon; it might do you serious injury. Stay here with sister Olivia." + +She took Ellis's arm with exaggerated cordiality. Delamere glared after +them angrily. Ellis did not stop to question her motives, but took the +goods the gods provided. With no very great apparent effort, Miss +Pemberton became quite friendly, and they strolled along the beach, in +sight of the hotel, for nearly half an hour. As they were coming up she +asked him abruptly,-- + +"Mr. Ellis, did you know Tom was in the hotel?" + +Ellis was looking across the sound, at the lights of a distant steamer +which was making her way toward the harbor. + +"I wonder," he said musingly, as though he had not heard her question, +"if that is the Ocean Belle?" + +"And was he really sick?" she demanded. + +"She's later than usual this trip," continued Ellis, pursuing his +thought. "She was due about five o'clock." + +Miss Pemberton, under cover of the darkness, smiled a fine smile, which +foreboded ill for some one. When they joined the party on the piazza, +the major had come up and was saying that it was time to go. He had +been engaged in conversation, for most of the evening, with General +Belmont and several other gentlemen. + +"Here comes the general now. Let me see. There are five of us. The +general has offered me a seat in his buggy, and Tom can go with +you-all." + +The general came up and spoke to the ladies. Tom murmured his thanks; it +would enable him to make up a part of the delightful evening he had +missed. + +When Mrs. Carteret had taken the rear seat, Clara promptly took the +place beside her. Ellis and Delamere sat in front. When Delamere, who +had offered to drive, took the reins, Ellis saw that his hands were +shaking. + +"Give me the lines," he whispered. "Your nerves are unsteady and the +road is not well lighted." + +Delamere prudently yielded the reins. He did not like Ellis's tone, +which seemed sneering rather than expressive of sympathy with one who +had been suffering. He wondered if the beggar knew anything about his +illness. Clara had been acting strangely. It would have been just like +Ellis to have slandered him. The upstart had no business with Clara +anyway. He would cheerfully have strangled Ellis, if he could have done +so with safety to himself and no chance of discovery. + +The drive homeward through the night was almost a silent journey. Mrs. +Carteret was anxious about her baby. Clara did not speak, except now and +then to Ellis with reference to some object in or near the road. +Occasionally they passed a vehicle in the darkness, sometimes barely +avoiding a collision. Far to the north the sky was lit up with the glow +of a forest fire. The breeze from the Sound was deliciously cool. Soon +the last toll-gate was passed and the lights of the town appeared. + +Ellis threw the lines to William, who was waiting, and hastened to help +the ladies out. + +"Good-night, Mr. Ellis," said Clara sweetly, as she gave Ellis her hand. +"Thank you for a very pleasant evening. Come up and see us soon." + +She ran into the house without a word to Tom. + + + + +XVII + + +THE SOCIAL ASPIRATIONS OF CAPTAIN McBANE + +It was only eleven o'clock, and Delamere, not being at all sleepy, and +feeling somewhat out of sorts as the combined results of his afternoon's +debauch and the snubbing he had received at Clara's hands, directed the +major's coachman, who had taken charge of the trap upon its arrival, to +drive him to the St. James Hotel before returning the horses to the +stable. First, however, the coachman left Ellis at his boarding-house, +which was near by. The two young men parted with as scant courtesy as +was possible without an open rupture. + +Delamere hoped to find at the hotel some form of distraction to fill in +an hour or two before going home. Ill fortune favored him by placing in +his way the burly form of Captain George McBane, who was sitting in an +armchair alone, smoking a midnight cigar, under the hotel balcony. Upon +Delamere's making known his desire for amusement, the captain proposed a +small game of poker in his own room. + +McBane had been waiting for some such convenient opportunity. We have +already seen that the captain was desirous of social recognition, which +he had not yet obtained beyond the superficial acquaintance acquired by +association with men about town. He had determined to assault society in +its citadel by seeking membership in the Clarendon Club, of which most +gentlemen of the best families of the city were members. + +The Clarendon Club was a historic institution, and its membership a +social cult, the temple of which was located just off the main street of +the city, in a dignified old colonial mansion which had housed it for +the nearly one hundred years during which it had maintained its +existence unbroken. There had grown up around it many traditions and +special usages. Membership in the Clarendon was the _sine qua non_ of +high social standing, and was conditional upon two of three +things,--birth, wealth, and breeding. Breeding was the prime essential, +but, with rare exceptions, must be backed by either birth or money. + +Having decided, therefore, to seek admission into this social arcanum, +the captain, who had either not quite appreciated the standard of the +Clarendon's membership, or had failed to see that he fell beneath it, +looked about for an intermediary through whom to approach the object of +his desire. He had already thought of Tom Delamere in this connection, +having with him such an acquaintance as one forms around a hotel, and +having long ago discovered that Delamere was a young man of +superficially amiable disposition, vicious instincts, lax principles, +and a weak will, and, which was quite as much to the purpose, a member +of the Clarendon Club. Possessing mental characteristics almost entirely +opposite, Delamere and the captain had certain tastes in common, and had +smoked, drunk, and played cards together more than once. + +Still more to his purpose, McBane had detected Delamere trying to cheat +him at cards. He had said nothing about this discovery, but had merely +noted it as something which at some future time might prove useful. The +captain had not suffered by Delamere's deviation from the straight line +of honor, for while Tom was as clever with the cards as might be +expected of a young man who had devoted most of his leisure for several +years to handling them, McBane was past master in their manipulation. +During a stormy career he had touched more or less pitch, and had +escaped few sorts of defilement. + +The appearance of Delamere at a late hour, unaccompanied, and wearing +upon his countenance an expression in which the captain read aright the +craving for mental and physical excitement, gave him the opportunity for +which he had been looking. McBane was not the man to lose an +opportunity, nor did Delamere require a second invitation. Neither was +it necessary, during the progress of the game, for the captain to press +upon his guest the contents of the decanter which stood upon the table +within convenient reach. + +The captain permitted Delamere to win from him several small amounts, +after which he gradually increased the stakes and turned the tables. + +Delamere, with every instinct of a gamester, was no more a match for +McBane in self-control than in skill. When the young man had lost all +his money, the captain expressed his entire willingness to accept notes +of hand, for which he happened to have convenient blanks in his +apartment. + +When Delamere, flushed with excitement and wine, rose from the gaming +table at two o'clock, he was vaguely conscious that he owed McBane a +considerable sum, but could not have stated how much. His opponent, who +was entirely cool and collected, ran his eye carelessly over the bits of +paper to which Delamere had attached his signature. "Just one thousand +dollars even," he remarked. + +The announcement of this total had as sobering an effect upon Delamere +as though he had been suddenly deluged with a shower of cold water. For +a moment he caught his breath. He had not a dollar in the world with +which to pay this sum. His only source of income was an allowance from +his grandfather, the monthly installment of which, drawn that very day, +he had just lost to McBane, before starting in upon the notes of hand. + +"I'll give you your revenge another time," said McBane, as they rose. +"Luck is against you to-night, and I'm unwilling to take advantage of a +clever young fellow like you. Meantime," he added, tossing the notes of +hand carelessly on a bureau, "don't worry about these bits of paper. +Such small matters shouldn't cut any figure between friends; but if you +are around the hotel to-morrow, I should like to speak to you upon +another subject." + +"Very well, captain," returned Tom somewhat ungraciously. + +Delamere had been completely beaten with his own weapons. He had tried +desperately to cheat McBane. He knew perfectly well that McBane had +discovered his efforts and had cheated him in turn, for the captain's +play had clearly been gauged to meet his own. The biter had been bit, +and could not complain of the outcome. + +The following afternoon McBane met Delamere at the hotel, and bluntly +requested the latter to propose him for membership in the Clarendon +Club. + +Delamere was annoyed at this request. His aristocratic gorge rose at the +presumption of this son of an overseer and ex-driver of convicts. +McBane was good enough to win money from, or even to lose money to, but +not good enough to be recognized as a social equal. He would +instinctively have blackballed McBane had he been proposed by some one +else; with what grace could he put himself forward as the sponsor for +this impossible social aspirant? Moreover, it was clearly a vulgar, +cold-blooded attempt on McBane's part to use his power over him for a +personal advantage. + +"Well, now, Captain McBane," returned Delamere diplomatically, "I've +never put any one up yet, and it's not regarded as good form for so +young a member as myself to propose candidates. I'd much rather you'd +ask some older man." + +"Oh, well," replied McBane, "just as you say, only I thought you had cut +your eye teeth." + +Delamere was not pleased with McBane's tone. His remark was not +acquiescent, though couched in terms of assent. There was a sneering +savagery about it, too, that left Delamere uneasy. He was, in a measure, +in McBane's power. He could not pay the thousand dollars, unless it fell +from heaven, or he could win it from some one else. He would not dare go +to his grandfather for help. Mr. Delamere did not even know that his +grandson gambled. He might not have objected, perhaps, to a gentleman's +game, with moderate stakes, but he would certainly, Tom knew very well, +have looked upon a thousand dollars as a preposterous sum to be lost at +cards by a man who had nothing with which to pay it. It was part of Mr. +Delamere's creed that a gentleman should not make debts that he was not +reasonably able to pay. + +There was still another difficulty. If he had lost the money to a +gentleman, and it had been his first serious departure from Mr. +Delamere's perfectly well understood standard of honor, Tom might have +risked a confession and thrown himself on his grandfather's mercy; but +he owed other sums here and there, which, to his just now much disturbed +imagination, loomed up in alarming number and amount. He had recently +observed signs of coldness, too, on the part of certain members of the +club. Moreover, like most men with one commanding vice, he was addicted +to several subsidiary forms of iniquity, which in case of a scandal were +more than likely to come to light. He was clearly and most disagreeably +caught in the net of his own hypocrisy. His grandfather believed him a +model of integrity, a pattern of honor; he could not afford to have his +grandfather undeceived. + +He thought of old Mrs. Ochiltree. If she were a liberal soul, she could +give him a thousand dollars now, when he needed it, instead of making +him wait until she died, which might not be for ten years or more, for a +legacy which was steadily growing less and might be entirely exhausted +if she lived long enough,--some old people were very tenacious of life! +She was a careless old woman, too, he reflected, and very foolishly kept +her money in the house. Latterly she had been growing weak and childish. +Some day she might be robbed, and then his prospective inheritance from +that source would vanish into thin air! + +With regard to this debt to McBane, if he could not pay it, he could at +least gain a long respite by proposing the captain at the club. True, he +would undoubtedly be blackballed, but before this inevitable event his +name must remain posted for several weeks, during which interval McBane +would be conciliatory. On the other hand, to propose McBane would arouse +suspicion of his own motives; it might reach his grandfather's ears, and +lead to a demand for an explanation, which it would be difficult to +make. Clearly, the better plan would be to temporize with McBane, with +the hope that something might intervene to remove this cursed +obligation. + +"Suppose, captain," he said affably, "we leave the matter open for a few +days. This is a thing that can't be rushed. I'll feel the pulse of my +friends and yours, and when we get the lay of the land, the affair can +be accomplished much more easily." + +"Well, that's better," returned McBane, somewhat mollified,--"if you'll +do that." + +"To be sure I will," replied Tom easily, too much relieved to resent, if +not too preoccupied to perceive, the implied doubt of his veracity. + +McBane ordered and paid for more drinks, and they parted on amicable +terms. + +"We'll let these notes stand for the time being, Tom," said McBane, +with significant emphasis, when they separated. + +Delamere winced at the familiarity. He had reached that degree of moral +deterioration where, while principles were of little moment, the +externals of social intercourse possessed an exaggerated importance. +McBane had never before been so personal. + +He had addressed the young aristocrat first as "Mr. Delamere," then, as +their acquaintance advanced, as "Delamere." He had now reached the +abbreviated Christian name stage of familiarity. There was no lower +depth to which Tom could sink, unless McBane should invent a nickname by +which to address him. He did not like McBane's manner,--it was +characterized by a veiled insolence which was exceedingly offensive. He +would go over to the club and try his luck with some honest +player,--perhaps something might turn up to relieve him from his +embarrassment. + +He put his hand in his pocket mechanically,--and found it empty! In the +present state of his credit, he could hardly play without money. + +A thought struck him. Leaving the hotel, he hastened home, where he +found Sandy dusting his famous suit of clothes on the back piazza. Mr. +Delamere was not at home, having departed for Belleview about two +o'clock, leaving Sandy to follow him in the morning. + +"Hello, Sandy," exclaimed Tom, with an assumed jocularity which he was +very far from feeling, "what are you doing with those gorgeous +garments?" + +"I'm a-dustin' of 'em, Mistuh Tom, dat's w'at I'm a-doin'. Dere's +somethin' wrong 'bout dese clo's er mine--I don' never seem ter be able +ter keep 'em clean no mo'. Ef I b'lieved in dem ole-timey sayin's, I'd +'low dere wuz a witch come here eve'y night an' tuk 'em out an' wo' 'em, +er tuk me out an' rid me in 'em. Dere wuz somethin' wrong 'bout dat +cakewalk business, too, dat I ain' never unde'stood an' don' know how +ter 'count fer, 'less dere wuz some kin' er dev'lishness goin' on dat +don' show on de su'face." + +"Sandy," asked Tom irrelevantly, "have you any money in the house?" + +"Yas, suh, I got de money Mars John give me ter git dem things ter take +out ter Belleview in de mawnin." + +"I mean money of your own." + +"I got a qua'ter ter buy terbacker wid," returned Sandy cautiously. + +"Is that all? Haven't you some saved up?" + +"Well, yas, Mistuh Tom," returned Sandy, with evident reluctance, "dere's +a few dollahs put away in my bureau drawer fer a rainy day,--not +much, suh." + +"I'm a little short this afternoon, Sandy, and need some money right +away. Grandfather isn't here, so I can't get any from him. Let me take +what you have for a day or two, Sandy, and I'll return it with good +interest." + +"Now, Mistuh Tom," said Sandy seriously, "I don' min' lettin' you take +my money, but I hopes you ain' gwine ter use it fer none er dem +rakehelly gwines-on er yo'n,--gamblin' an' bettin' an' so fo'th. Yo' +grandaddy 'll fin' out 'bout you yit, ef you don' min' yo' P's an' Q's. +I does my bes' ter keep yo' misdoin's f'm 'im, an' sense I b'en tu'ned +out er de chu'ch--thoo no fault er my own, God knows!--I've tol' lies +'nuff 'bout you ter sink a ship. But it ain't right, Mistuh Tom, it +ain't right! an' I only does it fer de sake er de fam'ly honuh, dat Mars +John sets so much sto' by, an' ter save his feelin's; fer de doctuh says +he mus'n' git ixcited 'bout nothin', er it mought bring on another +stroke." + +"That's right, Sandy," replied Tom approvingly; "but the family honor is +as safe in my hands as in grandfather's own, and I'm going to use the +money for an excellent purpose, in fact to relieve a case of genuine +distress; and I'll hand it back to you in a day or two,--perhaps +to-morrow. Fetch me the money, Sandy,--that's a good darky!" + +"All right, Mistuh Tom, you shill have de money; but I wants ter tell +you, suh, dat in all de yeahs I has wo'ked fer yo' gran'daddy, he has +never called me a 'darky' ter my face, suh. Co'se I knows dere's w'ite +folks an' black folks,--but dere's manners, suh, dere's manners, an' +gent'emen oughter be de ones ter use 'em, suh, ef dey ain't ter be +fergot enti'ely!" + +"There, there, Sandy," returned Tom in a conciliatory tone, "I beg your +pardon! I've been associating with some Northern white folks at the +hotel, and picked up the word from them. You're a high-toned colored +gentleman, Sandy,--the finest one on the footstool." + +Still muttering to himself, Sandy retired to his own room, which was in +the house, so that he might be always near his master. He soon returned +with a time-stained leather pocket-book and a coarse-knit cotton sock, +from which two receptacles he painfully extracted a number of bills and +coins. + +"You count dat, Mistuh Tom, so I'll know how much I'm lettin' you have." + +"This isn't worth anything," said Tom, pushing aside one roll of bills. +"It's Confederate money." + +"So it is, suh. It ain't wuth nothin' now; but it has be'n money, an' +who kin tell but what it mought be money agin? De rest er dem bills is +greenbacks,--dey'll pass all right, I reckon." + +The good money amounted to about fifty dollars, which Delamere thrust +eagerly into his pocket. + +"You won't say anything to grandfather about this, will you, Sandy," he +said, as he turned away. + +"No, suh, co'se I won't! Does I ever tell 'im 'bout yo' gwines-on? Ef I +did," he added to himself, as the young man disappeared down the street, +"I wouldn' have time ter do nothin' e'se ha'dly. I don' know whether +I'll ever see dat money agin er no, do' I 'magine de ole gent'eman +wouldn' lemme lose it ef he knowed. But I ain' gwine ter tell him, +whether I git my money back er no, fer he is jes' so wrop' up in dat boy +dat I b'lieve it'd jes' break his hea't ter fin' out how he's be'n +gwine on. Doctuh Price has tol' me not ter let de ole gent'eman git +ixcited, er e'se dere's no tellin' w'at mought happen. He's be'n good +ter me, he has, an' I'm gwine ter take keer er him,--dat's w'at I is, +ez long ez I has de chance." + + * * * * * + +Delamere went directly to the club, and soon lounged into the card-room, +where several of the members were engaged in play. He sauntered here and +there, too much absorbed in his own thoughts to notice that the +greetings he received were less cordial than those usually exchanged +between the members of a small and select social club. Finally, when +Augustus, commonly and more appropriately called "Gus," Davidson came +into the room, Tom stepped toward him. + +"Will you take a hand in a game, Gus?" + +"Don't care if I do," said the other. "Let's sit over here." + +Davidson led the way to a table near the fireplace, near which stood a +tall screen, which at times occupied various places in the room. +Davidson took the seat opposite the fireplace, leaving Delamere with his +back to the screen. + +Delamere staked half of Sandy's money, and lost. He staked the rest, and +determined to win, because he could not afford to lose. He had just +reached out his hand to gather in the stakes, when he was charged with +cheating at cards, of which two members, who had quietly entered the +room and posted themselves behind the screen, had secured specific +proof. A meeting of the membership committee was hastily summoned, it +being an hour at which most of them might be found at the club. To avoid +a scandal, and to save the feelings of a prominent family, Delamere was +given an opportunity to resign quietly from the club, on condition that +he paid all his gambling debts within three days, and took an oath never +to play cards again for money. This latter condition was made at the +suggestion of an elderly member, who apparently believed that a man who +would cheat at cards would stick at perjury. + +Delamere acquiesced very promptly. The taking of the oath was easy. The +payment of some fifteen hundred dollars of debts was a different matter. +He went away from the club thoughtfully, and it may be said, in full +justice to a past which was far from immaculate, that in his present +thoughts he touched a depth of scoundrelism far beyond anything of which +he had as yet deemed himself capable. When a man of good position, of +whom much is expected, takes to evil courses, his progress is apt to +resemble that of a well-bred woman who has started on the downward +path,--the pace is all the swifter because of the distance which must be +traversed to reach the bottom. Delamere had made rapid headway; having +hitherto played with sin, his servant had now become his master, and +held him in an iron grip. + + + + +XVIII + + +SANDY SEES HIS OWN HA'NT + +Having finished cleaning his clothes, Sandy went out to the kitchen for +supper, after which he found himself with nothing to do. Mr. Delamere's +absence relieved him from attendance at the house during the evening. He +might have smoked his pipe tranquilly in the kitchen until bedtime, had +not the cook intimated, rather pointedly, that she expected other +company. To a man of Sandy's tact a word was sufficient, and he resigned +himself to seeking companionship elsewhere. + +Under normal circumstances, Sandy would have attended prayer-meeting on +this particular evening of the week; but being still in contumacy, and +cherishing what he considered the just resentment of a man falsely +accused, he stifled the inclination which by long habit led him toward +the church, and set out for the house of a friend with whom it occurred +to him that he might spend the evening pleasantly. Unfortunately, his +friend proved to be not at home, so Sandy turned his footsteps toward +the lower part of the town, where the streets were well lighted, and on +pleasant evenings quite animated. On the way he met Josh Green, whom he +had known for many years, though their paths did not often cross. In his +loneliness Sandy accepted an invitation to go with Josh and have a +drink,--a single drink. When Sandy was going home about eleven +o'clock, three sheets in the wind, such was the potent effect of the +single drink and those which had followed it, he was scared almost into +soberness by a remarkable apparition. As it seemed to Sandy, he saw +himself hurrying along in front of himself toward the house. Possibly +the muddled condition of Sandy's intellect had so affected his judgment +as to vitiate any conclusion he might draw, but Sandy was quite sober +enough to perceive that the figure ahead of him wore his best clothes +and looked exactly like him, but seemed to be in something more of a +hurry, a discrepancy which Sandy at once corrected by quickening his own +pace so as to maintain as nearly as possible an equal distance between +himself and his double. The situation was certainly an incomprehensible +one, and savored of the supernatural. + +"Ef dat's me gwine 'long in front," mused Sandy, in vinous perplexity, +"den who is dis behin' here? Dere ain' but one er me, an' my ha'nt wouldn' +leave my body 'tel I wuz dead. Ef dat's me in front, den I mus' be my +own ha'nt; an' whichever one of us is de ha'nt, de yuther must be dead +an' don' know it. I don' know what ter make er no sech gwines-on, I +don't. Maybe it ain' me after all, but it certainly do look lack me." + +When the apparition disappeared in the house by the side door, Sandy +stood in the yard for several minutes, under the shade of an elm-tree, +before he could make up his mind to enter the house. He took courage, +however, upon the reflection that perhaps, after all, it was only the +bad liquor he had drunk. Bad liquor often made people see double. + +He entered the house. It was dark, except for a light in Tom Delamere's +room. Sandy tapped softly at the door. + +"Who's there?" came Delamere's voice, in a somewhat startled tone, after +a momentary silence. + +"It's me, suh; Sandy." + +They both spoke softly. It was the rule of the house when Mr. Delamere +had retired, and though he was not at home, habit held its wonted sway. + +"Just a moment, Sandy." + +Sandy waited patiently in the hall until the door was opened. If the +room showed any signs of haste or disorder, Sandy was too full of his +own thoughts--and other things--to notice them. + +"What do you want, Sandy," asked Tom. + +"Mistuh Tom," asked Sandy solemnly, "ef I wuz in yo' place, an' you wuz +in my place, an' we wuz bofe in de same place, whar would I be?" + +Tom looked at Sandy keenly, with a touch of apprehension. Did Sandy mean +anything in particular by this enigmatical inquiry, and if so, what? But +Sandy's face clearly indicated a state of mind in which consecutive +thought was improbable; and after a brief glance Delamere breathed more +freely. + +"I give it up, Sandy," he responded lightly. "That's too deep for me." + +"'Scuse me, Mistuh Tom, but is you heared er seed anybody er anything +come in de house fer de las' ten minutes?" + +"Why, no, Sandy, I haven't heard any one. I came from the club an hour +ago. I had forgotten my key, and Sally got up and let me in, and then +went back to bed. I've been sitting here reading ever since. I should +have heard any one who came in." + +"Mistuh Tom," inquired Sandy anxiously, "would you 'low dat I'd be'n +drinkin' too much?" + +"No, Sandy, I should say you were sober enough, though of course you +may have had a few drinks. Perhaps you'd like another? I've got +something good here." + +"No, suh, Mistuh Tom, no, suh! No mo' liquor fer me, suh, never! When +liquor kin make a man see his own ha'nt, it's 'bout time fer dat man +ter quit drinkin', it sho' is! Good-night, Mistuh Tom." + +As Sandy turned to go, Delamere was struck by a sudden and daring +thought. The creature of impulse, he acted upon it immediately. + +"By the way, Sandy," he exclaimed carelessly, "I can pay you back that +money you were good enough to lend me this afternoon. I think I'll +sleep better if I have the debt off my mind, and I shouldn't wonder if +you would. You don't mind having it in gold, do you?" + +"No, indeed, suh," replied Sandy. "I ain' seen no gol' fer so long dat +de sight er it'd be good fer my eyes." + +Tom counted out ten five-dollar gold pieces upon the table at his elbow. + +"And here's another, Sandy," he said, adding an eleventh, "as interest +for the use of it." + +"Thank y', Mistuh Tom. I didn't spec' no in-trus', but I don' never +'fuse gol' w'en I kin git it." + +"And here," added Delamere, reaching carelessly into a bureau drawer, +"is a little old silk purse that I've had since I was a boy. I'll put +the gold in it, Sandy; it will hold it very nicely." + +"Thank y', Mistuh Tom. You're a gentleman, suh, an' wo'thy er de fam'ly +name. Good-night, suh, an' I hope yo' dreams 'll be pleasanter 'n' mine. +Ef it wa'n't fer dis gol' kinder takin' my min' off'n dat ha'nt, I don' +s'pose I'd be able to do much sleepin' ter-night. Good-night, suh." + +"Good-night, Sandy." + +Whether or not Delamere slept soundly, or was troubled by dreams, +pleasant or unpleasant, it is nevertheless true that he locked his door, +and sat up an hour later, looking through the drawers of his bureau, and +burning several articles in the little iron stove which constituted part +of the bedroom furniture. + +It is also true that he rose very early, before the household was +stirring. The cook slept in a room off the kitchen, which was in an +outhouse in the back yard. She was just stretching herself, preparatory +to getting up, when Tom came to her window and said that he was going +off fishing, to be gone all day, and that he would not wait for +breakfast. + + + + +XIX + + +A MIDNIGHT WALK + +Ellis left the office of the Morning Chronicle about eleven o'clock the +same evening and set out to walk home. His boarding-house was only a +short distance beyond old Mr. Delamere's residence, and while he might +have saved time and labor by a slightly shorter route, he generally +selected this one because it led also by Major Carteret's house. +Sometimes there would be a ray of light from Clara's room, which was on +one of the front corners; and at any rate he would have the pleasure of +gazing at the outside of the casket that enshrined the jewel of his +heart. It was true that this purely sentimental pleasure was sometimes +dashed with bitterness at the thought of his rival; but one in love must +take the bitter with the sweet, and who would say that a spice of +jealousy does not add a certain zest to love? On this particular +evening, however, he was in a hopeful mood. At the Clarendon Club, where +he had gone, a couple of hours before, to verify a certain news item for +the morning paper, he had heard a story about Tom Delamere which, he +imagined, would spike that gentleman's guns for all time, so far as Miss +Pemberton was concerned. So grave an affair as cheating at cards could +never be kept secret,--it was certain to reach her ears; and Ellis was +morally certain that Clara would never marry a man who had been proved +dishonorable. In all probability there would be no great sensation +about the matter. Delamere was too well connected; too many prominent +people would be involved--even Clara, and the editor himself, of whom +Delamere was a distant cousin. The reputation of the club was also to be +considered. Ellis was not the man to feel a malicious delight in the +misfortunes of another, nor was he a pessimist who welcomed scandal and +disgrace with open arms, as confirming a gloomy theory of human life. +But, with the best intentions in the world, it was no more than human +nature that he should feel a certain elation in the thought that his +rival had been practically disposed of, and the field left clear; +especially since this good situation had been brought about merely by +the unmasking of a hypocrite, who had held him at an unfair disadvantage +in the race for Clara's favor. + +The night was quiet, except for the faint sound of distant music now and +then, or the mellow laughter of some group of revelers. Ellis met but +few pedestrians, but as he neared old Mr. Delamere's, he saw two men +walking in the same direction as his own, on the opposite side of the +street. He had observed that they kept at about an equal distance apart, +and that the second, from the stealthy manner in which he was making his +way, was anxious to keep the first in sight, without disclosing his own +presence. This aroused Ellis's curiosity, which was satisfied in some +degree when the man in advance stopped beneath a lamp-post and stood for +a moment looking across the street, with his face plainly visible in the +yellow circle of light. It was a dark face, and Ellis recognized it +instantly as that of old Mr. Delamere's body servant, whose personal +appearance had been very vividly impressed upon Ellis at the +christening dinner at Major Carteret's. He had seen Sandy once since, +too, at the hotel cakewalk. The negro had a small bundle in his hand, +the nature of which Ellis could not make out. + +When Sandy had stopped beneath the lamp-post, the man who was following +him had dodged behind a tree-trunk. When Sandy moved on, Ellis, who had +stopped in turn, saw the man in hiding come out and follow Sandy. When +this second man came in range of the light, Ellis wondered that there +should be two men so much alike. The first of the two had undoubtedly +been Sandy. Ellis had recognized the peculiar, old-fashioned coat that +Sandy had worn upon the two occasions when he had noticed him. Barring +this difference, and the somewhat unsteady gait of the second man, the +two were as much alike as twin brothers. + +When they had entered Mr. Delamere's house, one after the other,--in the +stillness of the night Ellis could perceive that each of them tried to +make as little noise as possible,--Ellis supposed that they were +probably relatives, both employed as servants, or that some younger +negro, taking Sandy for a model, was trying to pattern himself after his +superior. Why all this mystery, of course he could not imagine, unless +the younger man had been out without permission and was trying to avoid +the accusing eye of Sandy. Ellis was vaguely conscious that he had seen +the other negro somewhere, but he could not for the moment place +him,--there were so many negroes, nearly three negroes to one white man +in the city of Wellington! + +The subject, however, while curious, was not important as compared with +the thoughts of his sweetheart which drove it from his mind. Clara had +been kind to him the night before,--whatever her motive, she had been +kind, and could not consistently return to her attitude of coldness. +With Delamere hopelessly discredited, Ellis hoped to have at least fair +play,--with fair play, he would take his chances of the outcome. + + + + +XX + + +A SHOCKING CRIME + +On Friday morning, when old Mrs. Ochiltree's cook Dinah went to wake her +mistress, she was confronted with a sight that well-nigh blanched her +ebony cheek and caused her eyes almost to start from her head with +horror. As soon as she could command her trembling limbs sufficiently to +make them carry her, she rushed out of the house and down the street, +bareheaded, covering in an incredibly short time the few blocks that +separated Mrs. Ochiltree's residence from that of her niece. + +She hastened around the house, and finding the back door open and the +servants stirring, ran into the house and up the stairs with the +familiarity of an old servant, not stopping until she reached the door +of Mrs. Carteret's chamber, at which she knocked in great agitation. + +Entering in response to Mrs. Carteret's invitation, she found the lady, +dressed in a simple wrapper, superintending the morning toilet of little +Dodie, who was a wakeful child, and insisted upon rising with the birds, +for whose music he still showed a great fondness, in spite of his narrow +escape while listening to the mockingbird. + +"What is it, Dinah?" asked Mrs. Carteret, alarmed at the frightened face +of her aunt's old servitor. + +"O my Lawd, Mis' 'Livy, my Lawd, my Lawd! My legs is trim'lin' so dat I +can't ha'dly hol' my han's stiddy 'nough ter say w'at I got ter say! O +Lawd have mussy on us po' sinners! W'atever is gwine ter happen in dis +worl' er sin an' sorrer!" + +"What in the world is the matter, Dinah?" demanded Mrs. Carteret, whose +own excitement had increased with the length of this preamble. "Has +anything happened to Aunt Polly?" + +"Somebody done broke in de house las' night, Mis' 'Livy, an' kill' Mis' +Polly, an' lef' her layin' dead on de flo', in her own blood, wid her +cedar chis' broke' open, an' eve'thing scattered roun' de flo'! O my +Lawd, my Lawd, my Lawd, my Lawd!" + +Mrs. Carteret was shocked beyond expression. Perhaps the spectacle of +Dinah's unrestrained terror aided her to retain a greater measure of +self-control than she might otherwise have been capable of. Giving the +nurse some directions in regard to the child, she hastily descended the +stairs, and seizing a hat and jacket from the rack in the hall, ran +immediately with Dinah to the scene of the tragedy. Before the thought +of this violent death all her aunt's faults faded into insignificance, +and only her good qualities were remembered. She had reared Olivia; she +had stood up for the memory of Olivia's mother when others had seemed to +forget what was due to it. To her niece she had been a second mother, +and had never been lacking in affection. + +More than one motive, however, lent wings to Mrs. Carteret's feet. Her +aunt's incomplete disclosures on the day of the drive past the hospital +had been weighing upon Mrs. Carteret's mind, and she had intended to +make another effort this very day, to get an answer to her question +about the papers which the woman had claimed were in existence. Suppose +her aunt had really found such papers,--papers which would seem to prove +the preposterous claim made by her father's mulatto mistress? Suppose +that, with the fatuity which generally leads human beings to keep +compromising documents, her aunt had preserved these papers? If they +should be found there in the house, there might be a scandal, if nothing +worse, and this was to be avoided at all hazards. + +Guided by some fortunate instinct, Dinah had as yet informed no one but +Mrs. Carteret of her discovery. If they could reach the house before the +murder became known to any third person, she might be the first to +secure access to the remaining contents of the cedar chest, which would +be likely to be held as evidence in case the officers of the law +forestalled her own arrival. + +They found the house wrapped in the silence of death. Mrs. Carteret +entered the chamber of the dead woman. Upon the floor, where it had +fallen, lay the body in a pool of blood, the strongly marked countenance +scarcely more grim in the rigidity of death than it had been in life. A +gaping wound in the head accounted easily for the death. The cedar chest +stood open, its strong fastenings having been broken by a steel bar +which still lay beside it. Near it were scattered pieces of old lace, +antiquated jewelry, tarnished silverware,--the various mute souvenirs of +the joys and sorrows of a long and active life. + +Kneeling by the open chest, Mrs. Carteret glanced hurriedly through its +contents. There were no papers there except a few old deeds and letters. +She had risen with a sigh of relief, when she perceived the end of a +paper projecting from beneath the edge of a rug which had been +carelessly rumpled, probably by the burglar in his hasty search for +plunder. This paper, or sealed envelope as it proved to be, which +evidently contained some inclosure, she seized, and at the sound of +approaching footsteps thrust hastily into her own bosom. + +The sight of two agitated women rushing through the quiet streets at so +early an hour in the morning had attracted attention and aroused +curiosity, and the story of the murder, having once become known, spread +with the customary rapidity of bad news. Very soon a policeman, and a +little later a sheriff's officer, arrived at the house and took charge +of the remains to await the arrival of the coroner. + +By nine o'clock a coroner's jury had been summoned, who, after brief +deliberation, returned a verdict of willful murder at the hands of some +person or persons unknown, while engaged in the commission of a +burglary. + +No sooner was the verdict announced than the community, or at least the +white third of it, resolved itself spontaneously into a committee of the +whole to discover the perpetrator of this dastardly crime, which, at +this stage of the affair, seemed merely one of robbery and murder. + +Suspicion was at once directed toward the negroes, as it always is when +an unexplained crime is committed in a Southern community. The suspicion +was not entirely an illogical one. Having been, for generations, trained +up to thriftlessness, theft, and immorality, against which only thirty +years of very limited opportunity can be offset, during which brief +period they have been denied in large measure the healthful social +stimulus and sympathy which holds most men in the path of rectitude, +colored people might reasonably be expected to commit at least a share +of crime proportionate to their numbers. The population of the town was +at least two thirds colored. The chances were, therefore, in the absence +of evidence, at least two to one that a man of color had committed the +crime. The Southern tendency to charge the negroes with all the crime +and immorality of that region, unjust and exaggerated as the claim may +be, was therefore not without a logical basis to the extent above +indicated. + +It must not be imagined that any logic was needed, or any reasoning +consciously worked out. The mere suggestion that the crime had been +committed by a negro was equivalent to proof against any negro that +might be suspected and could not prove his innocence. A committee of +white men was hastily formed. Acting independently of the police force, +which was practically ignored as likely to favor the negroes, this +committee set to work to discover the murderer. + +The spontaneous activity of the whites was accompanied by a visible +shrinkage of the colored population. This could not be taken as any +indication of guilt, but was merely a recognition of the palpable fact +that the American habit of lynching had so whetted the thirst for black +blood that a negro suspected of crime had to face at least the +possibility of a short shrift and a long rope, not to mention more +gruesome horrors, without the intervention of judge or jury. Since to +have a black face at such a time was to challenge suspicion, and since +there was neither the martyr's glory nor the saint's renown in being +killed for some one else's crime, and very little hope of successful +resistance in case of an attempt at lynching, it was obviously the part +of prudence for those thus marked to seek immunity in a temporary +disappearance from public view. + + + + +XXI + + +THE NECESSITY OF AN EXAMPLE + +About ten o'clock on the morning of the discovery of the murder, Captain +McBane and General Belmont, as though moved by a common impulse, found +themselves at the office of the Morning Chronicle. Carteret was +expecting them, though there had been no appointment made. These three +resourceful and energetic minds, representing no organized body, and +clothed with no legal authority, had so completely arrogated to +themselves the leadership of white public sentiment as to come together +instinctively when an event happened which concerned the public, and, as +this murder presumably did, involved the matter of race. + +"Well, gentlemen," demanded McBane impatiently, "what are we going to do +with the scoundrel when we catch him?" + +"They've got the murderer," announced a reporter, entering the room. + +"Who is he?" they demanded in a breath. + +"A nigger by the name of Sandy Campbell, a servant of old Mr. Delamere." + +"How did they catch him?" + +"Our Jerry saw him last night, going toward Mrs. Ochiltree's house, and +a white man saw him coming away, half an hour later." + +"Has he confessed?" + +"No, but he might as well. When the posse went to arrest him, they found +him cleaning the clothes he had worn last night, and discovered in his +room a part of the plunder. He denies it strenuously, but it seems a +clear case." + +"There can be no doubt," said Ellis, who had come into the room behind +the reporter. "I saw the negro last night, at twelve o'clock, going into +Mr. Delamere's yard, with a bundle in his hand." + +"He is the last negro I should have suspected," said Carteret. "Mr. +Delamere had implicit confidence in him." + +"All niggers are alike," remarked McBane sententiously. "The only way to +keep them from stealing is not to give them the chance. A nigger will +steal a cent off a dead man's eye. He has assaulted and murdered a white +woman,--an example should be made of him." + +Carteret recalled very distinctly the presence of this negro at his own +residence on the occasion of little Theodore's christening dinner. He +remembered having questioned the prudence of letting a servant know that +Mrs. Ochiltree kept money in the house. Mr. Delamere had insisted +strenuously upon the honesty of this particular negro. The whole race, +in the major's opinion, was morally undeveloped, and only held within +bounds by the restraining influence of the white people. Under Mr. +Delamere's thumb this Sandy had been a model servant,--faithful, docile, +respectful, and self-respecting; but Mr. Delamere had grown old, and had +probably lost in a measure his moral influence over his servant. Left to +his own degraded ancestral instincts, Sandy had begun to deteriorate, +and a rapid decline had culminated in this robbery and murder,--and who +knew what other horror? The criminal was a negro, the victim a white +woman;--it was only reasonable to expect the worst. + +"He'll swing for it," observed the general. + +Ellis went into another room, where his duty called him. + +"He should burn for it," averred McBane. "I say, burn the nigger." + +"This," said Carteret, "is something more than an ordinary crime, to be +dealt with by the ordinary processes of law. It is a murderous and fatal +assault upon a woman of our race,--upon our race in the person of its +womanhood, its crown and flower. If such crimes are not punished with +swift and terrible directness, the whole white womanhood of the South is +in danger." + +"Burn the nigger," repeated McBane automatically. + +"Neither is this a mere sporadic crime," Carteret went on. "It is +symptomatic; it is the logical and inevitable result of the conditions +which have prevailed in this town for the past year. It is the last +straw." + +"Burn the nigger," reiterated McBane. "We seem to have the right nigger, +but whether we have or not, burn _a_ nigger. It is an assault upon the +white race, in the person of old Mrs. Ochiltree, committed by the black +race, in the person of some nigger. It would justify the white people in +burning _any_ nigger. The example would be all the more powerful if we +got the wrong one. It would serve notice on the niggers that we shall +hold the whole race responsible for the misdeeds of each individual." + +"In ancient Rome," said the general, "when a master was killed by a +slave, all his slaves were put to the sword." + +"We couldn't afford that before the war," said McBane, "but the niggers +don't belong to anybody now, and there's nothing to prevent our doing as +we please with them. A dead nigger is no loss to any white man. I say, +burn the nigger." + +"I do not believe," said Carteret, who had gone to the window and was +looking out,--"I do not believe that we need trouble ourselves +personally about his punishment. I should judge, from the commotion in +the street, that the public will take the matter into its own hands. I, +for one, would prefer that any violence, however justifiable, should +take place without my active intervention." + +"It won't take place without mine, if I know it," exclaimed McBane, +starting for the door. + +"Hold on a minute, captain," exclaimed Carteret. "There's more at stake +in this matter than the life of a black scoundrel. Wellington is in the +hands of negroes and scalawags. What better time to rescue it?" + +"It's a trifle premature," replied the general. "I should have preferred +to have this take place, if it was to happen, say three months hence, on +the eve of the election,--but discussion always provokes thirst with me; +I wonder if I could get Jerry to bring us some drinks?" + +Carteret summoned the porter. Jerry's usual manner had taken on an +element of self-importance, resulting in what one might describe as a +sort of condescending obsequiousness. Though still a porter, he was also +a hero, and wore his aureole. + +"Jerry," said the general kindly, "the white people are very much +pleased with the assistance you have given them in apprehending this +scoundrel Campbell. You have rendered a great public service, Jerry, and +we wish you to know that it is appreciated." + +"Thank y', gin'l, thank y', suh! I alluz tries ter do my duty, suh, an' +stan' by dem dat stan's by me. Dat low-down nigger oughter be lynch', +suh, don't you think, er e'se bu'nt? Dere ain' nothin' too bad ter +happen ter 'im." + +"No doubt he will be punished as he deserves, Jerry," returned the +general, "and we will see that you are suitably rewarded. Go across the +street and get me three Calhoun cocktails. I seem to have nothing less +than a two-dollar bill, but you may keep the change, Jerry,--all the +change." + +Jerry was very happy. He had distinguished himself in the public view, +for to Jerry, as to the white people themselves, the white people were +the public. He had won the goodwill of the best people, and had already +begun to reap a tangible reward. It is true that several strange white +men looked at him with lowering brows as he crossed the street, which +was curiously empty of colored people; but he nevertheless went firmly +forward, panoplied in the consciousness of his own rectitude, and +serenely confident of the protection of the major and the major's +friends. + +"Jerry is about the only negro I have seen since nine o'clock," observed +the general when the porter had gone. "If this were election day, where +would the negro vote be?" + +"In hiding, where most of the negro population is to-day," answered +McBane. "It's a pity, if old Mrs. Ochiltree had to go this way, that it +couldn't have been deferred a month or six weeks." Carteret frowned +at this remark, which, coming from McBane, seemed lacking in human +feeling, as well as in respect to his wife's dead relative. + +"But," resumed the general, "if this negro is lynched, as he well +deserves to be, it will not be without its effect. We still have in +reserve for the election a weapon which this affair will only render +more effective. What became of the piece in the negro paper?" + +"I have it here," answered Carteret. "I was just about to use it as the +text for an editorial." + +"Save it awhile longer," responded the general. "This crime itself will +give you text enough for a four-volume work." + +When this conference ended, Carteret immediately put into press an extra +edition of the Morning Chronicle, which was soon upon the streets, +giving details of the crime, which was characterized as an atrocious +assault upon a defenseless old lady, whose age and sex would have +protected her from harm at the hands of any one but a brute in the +lowest human form. This event, the Chronicle suggested, had only +confirmed the opinion, which had been of late growing upon the white +people, that drastic efforts were necessary to protect the white women +of the South against brutal, lascivious, and murderous assaults at the +hands of negro men. It was only another significant example of the +results which might have been foreseen from the application of a false +and pernicious political theory, by which ignorance, clothed in a little +brief authority, was sought to be exalted over knowledge, vice over +virtue, an inferior and degraded race above the heaven-crowned +Anglo-Saxon. If an outraged people, justly infuriated, and impatient of +the slow processes of the courts, should assert their inherent +sovereignty, which the law after all was merely intended to embody, and +should choose, in obedience to the higher law, to set aside, +temporarily, the ordinary judicial procedure, it would serve as a +warning and an example to the vicious elements of the community, of the +swift and terrible punishment which would fall, like the judgment of +God, upon any one who laid sacrilegious hands upon white womanhood. + + + + +XXII + + +HOW NOT TO PREVENT A LYNCHING + +Dr. Miller, who had sat up late the night before with a difficult case +at the hospital, was roused, about eleven o'clock, from a deep and +dreamless sleep. Struggling back into consciousness, he was informed by +his wife, who stood by his bedside, that Mr. Watson, the colored lawyer, +wished to see him upon a matter of great importance. + +"Nothing but a matter of life and death would make me get up just now," +he said with a portentous yawn. + +"This is a matter of life and death," replied Janet. "Old Mrs. Polly +Ochiltree was robbed and murdered last night, and Sandy Campbell has +been arrested for the crime,--and they are going to lynch him!" + +"Tell Watson to come right up," exclaimed Miller, springing out of bed. +"We can talk while I'm dressing." + +While Miller made a hasty toilet Watson explained the situation. +Campbell had been arrested on the charge of murder. He had been seen, +during the night, in the neighborhood of the scene of the crime, by two +different persons, a negro and a white man, and had been identified +later while entering Mr. Delamere's house, where he lived, and where +damning proofs of his guilt had been discovered; the most important item +of which was an old-fashioned knit silk purse, recognized as Mrs. +Ochiltree's, and several gold pieces of early coinage, of which the +murdered woman was known to have a number. Watson brought with him one +of the first copies procurable of the extra edition of the Chronicle, +which contained these facts and further information. + +They were still talking when Mrs. Miller, knocking at the door, +announced that big Josh Green wished to see the doctor about Sandy +Campbell. Miller took his collar and necktie in his hand and went +downstairs, where Josh sat waiting. + +"Doctuh," said Green, "de w'ite folks is talkin' 'bout lynchin' Sandy +Campbell fer killin' ole Mis' Ochiltree. He never done it, an' dey oughtn' +ter be 'lowed ter lynch 'im." + +"They ought not to lynch him, even if he committed the crime," returned +Miller, "but still less if he didn't. What do you know about it?" + +"I know he was wid me, suh, las' night, at de time when dey say ole Mis' +Ochiltree wuz killed. We wuz down ter Sam Taylor's place, havin' a +little game of kyards an' a little liquor. Den we lef dere an' went up +ez fur ez de corner er Main an' Vine Streets, where we pa'ted, an' Sandy +went 'long to'ds home. Mo'over, dey say he had on check' britches an' a +blue coat. When Sandy wuz wid me he had on gray clo's, an' when we +sep'rated he wa'n't in no shape ter be changin' his clo's, let 'lone +robbin' er killin' anybody." + +"Your testimony ought to prove an alibi for him," declared Miller. + +"Dere ain' gwine ter be no chance ter prove nothin', 'less'n we kin do +it mighty quick! Dey say dey're gwine ter lynch 'im ter-night,--some on +'em is talkin' 'bout burnin' 'im. My idee is ter hunt up de niggers an' +git 'em ter stan' tergether an' gyard de jail." + +"Why shouldn't we go to the principal white people of the town and tell +them Josh's story, and appeal to them to stop this thing until Campbell +can have a hearing?" + +"It wouldn't do any good," said Watson despondently; "their blood is +up. It seems that some colored man attacked Mrs. Ochiltree,--and he was +a murderous villain, whoever he may be. To quote Josh would destroy the +effect of his story,--we know he never harmed any one but himself"-- + +"An' a few keerliss people w'at got in my way," corrected Josh. + +"He has been in court several times for fighting,--and that's against +him. To have been at Sam Taylor's place is against Sandy, too, rather +than in his favor. No, Josh, the white people would believe that you +were trying to shield Sandy, and you would probably be arrested as an +accomplice." + +"But look a-here, Mr. Watson,--Dr. Miller, is we-all jes' got ter set +down here, widout openin' ou' mouths, an' let dese w'ite folks hang er +bu'n a man w'at we _know_ ain' guilty? Dat ain't no law, ner jestice, +ner nothin'! Ef you-all won't he'p, I'll do somethin' myse'f! Dere's +two niggers ter one white man in dis town, an' I'm sho' I kin fin' fifty +of 'em w'at 'll fight, ef dey kin fin' anybody ter lead 'em." + +"Now hold on, Josh," argued Miller; "what is to be gained by fighting? +Suppose you got your crowd together and surrounded the jail,--what +then?" + +"There'd be a clash," declared Watson, "and instead of one dead negro +there'd be fifty. The white people are claiming now that Campbell didn't +stop with robbery and murder. A special edition of the Morning +Chronicle, just out, suggests a further purpose, and has all the old +shopworn cant about race purity and supremacy and imperative necessity, +which always comes to the front whenever it is sought to justify some +outrage on the colored folks. The blood of the whites is up, I tell +you!" + +"Is there anything to that suggestion?" asked Miller incredulously. + +"It doesn't matter whether there is or not," returned Watson. "Merely +to suggest it proves it. + +"Nothing was said about this feature until the paper came out,--and even +its statement is vague and indefinite,--but now the claim is in every +mouth. I met only black looks as I came down the street. White men with +whom I have long been on friendly terms passed me without a word. A +negro has been arrested on suspicion,--the entire race is condemned on +general principles." + +"The whole thing is profoundly discouraging," said Miller sadly. "Try as +we may to build up the race in the essentials of good citizenship and +win the good opinion of the best people, some black scoundrel comes +along, and by a single criminal act, committed in the twinkling of an +eye, neutralizes the effect of a whole year's work." + +"It's mighty easy neut'alize', er whatever you call it," said Josh +sullenly. "De w'ite folks don' want too good an opinion er de +niggers,--ef dey had a good opinion of 'em, dey wouldn' have no excuse +f er 'busin' an' hangin' an' burnin' 'em. But ef dey can't keep from +doin' it, let 'em git de right man! Dis way er pickin' up de fus' nigger +dey comes across, an' stringin' 'im up rega'dliss, ought ter be stop', +an' stop' right now!" + +"Yes, that's the worst of lynch law," said Watson; "but we are wasting +valuable time,--it's hardly worth while for us to discuss a subject we +are all agreed upon. One of our race, accused of certain acts, is about +to be put to death without judge or jury, ostensibly because he committed +a crime,--really because he is a negro, for if he were white he would not +be lynched. It is thus made a race issue, on the one side as well as on +the other. What can we do to protect him?" + +"We kin fight, ef we haf ter," replied Josh resolutely. + +"Well, now, let us see. Suppose the colored people armed themselves? +Messages would at once be sent to every town and county in the +neighborhood. White men from all over the state, armed to the teeth, +would at the slightest word pour into town on every railroad train, and +extras would be run for their benefit." + +"They're already coming in," said Watson. + +"We might go to the sheriff," suggested Miller, "and demand that he +telegraph the governor to call out the militia." + +"I spoke to the sheriff an hour ago," replied Watson. "He has a white +face and a whiter liver. He does not dare call out the militia to +protect a negro charged with such a brutal crime;--and if he did, the +militia are white men, and who can say that their efforts would not be +directed to keeping the negroes out of the way, in order that the white +devils might do their worst? The whole machinery of the state is in the +hands of white men, elected partly by our votes. When the color line is +drawn, if they choose to stand together with the rest of their race +against us, or to remain passive and let the others work their will, we +are helpless,--our cause is hopeless." + +"We might call on the general government," said Miller. "Surely the +President would intervene." + +"Such a demand would be of no avail," returned Watson. "The government +can only intervene under certain conditions, of which it must be +informed through designated channels. It never sees anything that is not +officially called to its attention. The whole negro population of the +South might be slaughtered before the necessary red tape could be spun +out to inform the President that a state of anarchy prevailed. There's +no hope there." + +"Den w'at we gwine ter do?" demanded Josh indignantly; "jes' set here +an' let 'em hang Sandy, er bu'n 'im?" + +"God knows!" exclaimed Miller. "The outlook is dark, but we should at +least try to do something. There must be some white men in the town who +would stand for law and order,--there's no possible chance for Sandy to +escape hanging by due process of law, if he is guilty. We might at least +try half a dozen gentlemen." + +"We'd better leave Josh here," said Watson. "He's too truculent. If he +went on the street he'd make trouble, and if he accompanied us he'd do +more harm than good. Wait for us here, Josh, until we 'we seen what we +can do. We'll be back in half an hour." + +In half an hour they had both returned. + +"It's no use," reported Watson gloomily. "I called at the mayor's office +and found it locked. He is doubtless afraid on his own account, and +would not dream of asserting his authority. I then looked up Judge +Everton, who has always seemed to be fair. My reception was cold. He +admitted that lynching was, as a rule, unjustifiable, but maintained +that there were exceptions to all rules,--that laws were made, after +all, to express the will of the people in regard to the ordinary +administration of justice, but that in an emergency the sovereign people +might assert itself and take the law into its own hands,--the creature +was not greater than the creator. He laughed at my suggestion that Sandy +was innocent. 'If he is innocent,' he said, 'then produce the real +criminal. You negroes are standing in your own light when you try to +protect such dastardly scoundrels as this Campbell, who is an enemy of +society and not fit to live. I shall not move in the matter. If a negro +wants the protection of the law, let him obey the law.' A wise judge,--a +second Daniel come to judgment! If this were the law, there would be no +need of judges or juries." + +"I called on Dr. Price," said Miller, "my good friend Dr. Price, who +would rather lie than hurt my feelings. 'Miller,' he declared, 'this is +no affair of mine, or yours. I have too much respect for myself and my +profession to interfere in such a matter, and you will accomplish +nothing, and only lessen your own influence, by having anything to say.' +'But the man may be innocent,' I replied; 'there is every reason to +believe that he is.' He shook his head pityingly. 'You are +self-deceived, Miller; your prejudice has warped your judgment. The +proof is overwhelming that he robbed this old lady, laid violent hands +upon her, and left her dead. If he did no more, he has violated the +written and unwritten law of the Southern States. I could not save him +if I would, Miller, and frankly, I would not if I could. If he is +innocent, his people can console themselves with the reflection that +Mrs. Ochiltree was also innocent, and balance one crime against the +other, the white against the black. Of course I shall take no part in +whatever may be done,--but it is not my affair, nor yours. Take my +advice, Miller, and keep out of it.' + +"That is the situation," added Miller, summing up. "Their friendship for +us, a slender stream at the best, dries up entirely when it strikes +their prejudices. There is seemingly not one white man in Wellington who +will speak a word for law, order, decency, or humanity. Those who do not +participate will stand idly by and see an untried man deliberately and +brutally murdered. Race prejudice is the devil unchained." + +"Well, den, suh," said Josh, "where does we stan' now? W'at is we gwine +ter do? I wouldn' min' fightin', fer my time ain't come yit,--I feels +dat in my bones. W'at we gwine ter do, dat's w'at I wanter know." + +"What does old Mr. Delamere have to say about the matter?" asked Miller +suddenly. "Why haven't we thought of him before? Has he been seen?" + +"No," replied Watson gloomily, "and for a good reason,--he is not in +town. I came by the house just now, and learned that he went out to his +country place yesterday afternoon, to remain a week. Sandy was to have +followed him out there this morning,--it's a pity he didn't go +yesterday. The old gentleman has probably heard nothing about the +matter." + +"How about young Delamere?" + +"He went away early this morning, down the river, to fish. He'll +probably not hear of it before night, and he's only a boy anyway, and +could very likely do nothing," said Watson. + +Miller looked at his watch. + +"Belleview is ten miles away," he said. "It is now eleven o'clock. I can +drive out there in an hour and a half at the farthest. I'll go and see +Mr. Delamere,--he can do more than any living man, if he is able to do +anything at all. There's never been a lynching here, and one good white +man, if he choose, may stem the flood long enough to give justice a +chance. Keep track of the white people while I'm gone, Watson; and you, +Josh, learn what the colored folks are saying, and do nothing rash until +I return. In the meantime, do all that you can to find out who did +commit this most atrocious murder." + + + + +XXIII + + +BELLEVIEW + +Miller did not reach his destination without interruption. At one point +a considerable stretch of the road was under repair, which made it +necessary for him to travel slowly. His horse cast a shoe, and +threatened to go lame; but in the course of time he arrived at the +entrance gate of Belleview, entering which he struck into a private +road, bordered by massive oaks, whose multitudinous branches, hung with +long streamers of trailing moss, formed for much of the way a thick +canopy above his head. It took him only a few minutes to traverse the +quarter of a mile that lay between the entrance gate and the house +itself. + +This old colonial plantation, rich in legendary lore and replete with +historic distinction, had been in the Delamere family for nearly two +hundred years. Along the bank of the river which skirted its domain the +famous pirate Blackbeard had held high carnival, and was reputed to have +buried much treasure, vague traditions of which still lingered among the +negroes and poor-whites of the country roundabout. The beautiful +residence, rising white and stately in a grove of ancient oaks, dated +from 1750, and was built of brick which had been brought from England. +Enlarged and improved from generation to generation, it stood, like a +baronial castle, upon a slight eminence from which could be surveyed +the large demesne still belonging to the estate, which had shrunk +greatly from its colonial dimensions. While still embracing several +thousand acres, part forest and part cleared land, it had not of late +years been profitable; in spite of which Mr. Delamere, with the +conservatism of his age and caste, had never been able to make up his +mind to part with any considerable portion of it. His grandson, he +imagined, could make the estate pay and yet preserve it in its +integrity. Here, in pleasant weather, surrounded by the scenes which he +loved, old Mr. Delamere spent much of the time during his declining +years. + +Dr. Miller had once passed a day at Belleview, upon Mr. Delamere's +invitation. For this old-fashioned gentleman, whose ideals not even +slavery had been able to spoil, regarded himself as a trustee for the +great public, which ought, in his opinion, to take as much pride as he +in the contemplation of this historic landmark. In earlier years Mr. +Delamere had been a practicing lawyer, and had numbered Miller's father +among his clients. He had always been regarded as friendly to the +colored people, and, until age and ill health had driven him from active +life, had taken a lively interest in their advancement since the +abolition of slavery. Upon the public opening of Miller's new hospital, +he had made an effort to be present, and had made a little speech of +approval and encouragement which had manifested his kindliness and given +Miller much pleasure. + +It was with the consciousness, therefore, that he was approaching a +friend, as well as Sandy's master, that Miller's mind was chiefly +occupied as his tired horse, scenting the end of his efforts, bore him +with a final burst of speed along the last few rods of the journey; for +the urgency of Miller's errand, involving as it did the issues of life +and death, did not permit him to enjoy the charm of mossy oak or forest +reaches, or even to appreciate the noble front of Belleview House when +it at last loomed up before him. + +"Well, William," said Mr. Delamere, as he gave his hand to Miller from +the armchair in which he was seated under the broad and stately portico, +"I didn't expect to see you out here. You'll excuse my not +rising,--I'm none too firm on my legs. Did you see anything of my man +Sandy back there on the road? He ought to have been here by nine +o'clock, and it's now one. Sandy is punctuality itself, and I don't know +how to account for his delay." + +Clearly there need be no time wasted in preliminaries. Mr. Delamere had +gone directly to the subject in hand. + +"He will not be here to-day, sir," replied Miller. "I have come to you +on his account." + +In a few words Miller stated the situation. + +"Preposterous!" exclaimed the old gentleman, with more vigor than Miller +had supposed him to possess. "Sandy is absolutely incapable of such a +crime as robbery, to say nothing of murder; and as for the rest, that is +absurd upon the face of it! And so the poor old woman is dead! Well, +well, well! she could not have lived much longer anyway; but Sandy did +not kill her,--it's simply impossible! Why, _I_ raised that boy! He was +born on my place. I'd as soon believe such a thing of my own grandson +as of Sandy! No negro raised by a Delamere would ever commit such a +crime. I really believe, William, that Sandy has the family honor of the +Delameres quite as much at heart as I have. Just tell them I say Sandy +is innocent, and it will be all right." + +"I'm afraid, sir," rejoined Miller, who kept his voice up so that the +old gentleman could understand without having it suggested that Miller +knew he was hard of hearing, "that you don't quite appreciate the +situation. _I_ believe Sandy innocent; _you_ believe him innocent; but +there are suspicious circumstances which do not explain themselves, and +the white people of the city believe him guilty, and are going to lynch +him before he has a chance to clear himself." + +"Why doesn't he explain the suspicious circumstances?" asked Mr. +Delamere. "Sandy is truthful and can be believed. I would take Sandy's +word as quickly as another man's oath." + +"He has no chance to explain," said Miller. "The case is prejudged. A +crime has been committed. Sandy is charged with it. He is black, and +therefore he is guilty. No colored lawyer would be allowed in the jail, +if one should dare to go there. No white lawyer will intervene. He'll +be lynched to-night, without judge, jury, or preacher, unless we can +stave the thing off for a day or two." + +"Have you seen my grandson?" asked the old gentleman. "Is he not looking +after Sandy?" + +"No, sir. It seems he went down the river this morning to fish, before +the murder was discovered; no one knows just where he has gone, or at +what hour he will return." + +"Well, then," said Mr. Delamere, rising from his chair with surprising +vigor, "I shall have to go myself. No faithful servant of mine shall be +hanged for a crime he didn't commit, so long as I have a voice to +speak or a dollar to spend. There'll be no trouble after I get there, +William. The people are naturally wrought up at such a crime. A fine old +woman,--she had some detestable traits, and I was always afraid she +wanted to marry me, but she was of an excellent family and had many good +points,--an old woman of one of the best families, struck down by the +hand of a murderer! You must remember, William, that blood is thicker +than water, and that the provocation is extreme, and that a few hotheads +might easily lose sight of the great principles involved and seek +immediate vengeance, without too much discrimination. But they are good +people, William, and when I have spoken, and they have an opportunity +for the sober second thought, they will do nothing rashly, but will wait +for the operation of the law, which will, of course, clear Sandy." + +"I'm sure I hope so," returned Miller. "Shall I try to drive you back, +sir, or will you order your own carriage?" + +"My horses are fresher, William, and I'll have them brought around. You +can take the reins, if you will,--I'm rather old to drive,--and my man +will come behind with your buggy." + +In a few minutes they set out along the sandy road. Having two fresh +horses, they made better headway than Miller had made coming out, and +reached Wellington easily by three o'clock. + +"I think, William," said Mr. Delamere, as they drove into the town, +"that I had first better talk with Sandy. He may be able to explain away +the things that seem to connect him with this atrocious affair; and that +will put me in a better position to talk to other people about it." + +Miller drove directly to the county jail. Thirty or forty white men, who +seemed to be casually gathered near the door, closed up when the +carriage approached. The sheriff, who had seen them from the inside, +came to the outer door and spoke to the visitor through a grated wicket. + +"Mr. Wemyss," said Mr. Delamere, when he had made his way to the +entrance with the aid of his cane, "I wish to see my servant, Sandy +Campbell, who is said to be in your custody." + +The sheriff hesitated. Meantime there was some parleying in low tones +among the crowd outside. No one interfered, however, and in a moment the +door opened sufficiently to give entrance to the old gentleman, after +which it closed quickly and clangorously behind him. + +Feeling no desire to linger in the locality, Miller, having seen his +companion enter the jail, drove the carriage round to Mr. Delamere's +house, and leaving it in charge of a servant with instructions to return +for his master in a quarter of an hour, hastened to his own home to meet +Watson and Josh and report the result of his efforts. + + + + +XXIV + + +TWO SOUTHERN GENTLEMEN + +The iron bolt rattled in the lock, the door of a cell swung open, and +when Mr. Delamere had entered was quickly closed again. + +"Well, Sandy!" + +"Oh, Mars John! Is you fell from hebben ter he'p me out er here? I +prayed de Lawd ter sen' you, an' He answered my prayer, an' here you is, +Mars John,--here you is! Oh, Mars John, git me out er dis place!" + +"Tut, tut, Sandy!" answered his master; "of course I'll get you out. +That's what I've come for. How in the world did such a mistake ever +happen? You would no more commit such a crime than I would!" + +"No, suh, 'deed I wouldn', an' you know I wouldn'! I wouldn' want ter +bring no disgrace on de fam'ly dat raise' me, ner ter make no trouble +fer you, suh; but here I is, suh, lock' up in jail, an' folks talkin' +'bout hangin' me fer somethin' dat never entered my min', suh. I swea' +ter God I never thought er sech a thing!" + +"Of course you didn't, Sandy," returned Mr. Delamere soothingly; "and +now the next thing, and the simplest thing, is to get you out of this. +I'll speak to the officers, and at the preliminary hearing to-morrow I'll +tell them all about you, and they will let you go. You won't mind +spending one night in jail for your sins." + +"No, suh, ef I wuz sho' I'd be 'lowed ter spen' it here. But dey say dey +'re gwine ter lynch me ternight,--I kin hear 'em talkin' f'm de winders +er de cell, suh." + +"Well, _I_ say, Sandy, that they shall do no such thing! Lynch a man +brought up by a Delamere, for a crime of which he is innocent? +Preposterous! I'll speak to the authorities and see that you are +properly protected until this mystery is unraveled. If Tom had been +here, he would have had you out before now, Sandy. My grandson is a +genuine Delamere, is he not, Sandy?" + +"Yas, suh, yas, suh," returned Sandy, with a lack of enthusiasm which he +tried to conceal from his master. "An' I s'pose ef he hadn' gone +fishin' so soon dis mawnin', he'd 'a' be'n lookin' after me, suh." + +"It has been my love for him and your care of me, Sandy," said the old +gentleman tremulously, "that have kept me alive so long; but now explain +to me everything concerning this distressing matter, and I shall then be +able to state your case to better advantage." + + +"Well, suh," returned Sandy, "I mought's well tell de whole tale an' not +hol' nothin' back. I wuz kind er lonesome las' night, an' sence I be'n +tu'ned outen de chu'ch on account er dat cakewalk I didn' go ter, so +he'p me God! I didn' feel like gwine ter prayer-meetin', so I went +roun' ter see Solomon Williams, an' he wa'n't home, an' den I walk' down +street an' met Josh Green, an' he ax' me inter Sam Taylor's place, an' I +sot roun' dere wid Josh till 'bout 'leven o'clock, w'en I sta'ted back +home. I went straight ter de house, suh, an' went ter bed an' ter sleep +widout sayin' a wo'd ter a single soul excep' Mistuh Tom, who wuz +settin' up readin' a book w'en I come in. I wish I may drap dead in my +tracks, suh, ef dat ain't de God's truf, suh, eve'y wo'd of it!" + +"I believe every word of it, Sandy; now tell me about the clothes that +you are said to have been found cleaning, and the suspicious articles +that were found in your room?" + +"Dat's w'at beats me, Mars John," replied Sandy, shaking his head +mournfully. "Wen I lef home las' night after supper, my clo's wuz all +put erway in de closet in my room, folded up on de she'f ter keep de +moths out. Dey wuz my good clo's,--de blue coat dat you wo' ter de +weddin' fo'ty years ago, an' dem dere plaid pants I gun Mistuh Cohen fo' +dollars fer three years ago; an' w'en I looked in my closet dis mawnin', +suh, befo' I got ready ter sta't fer Belleview, dere wuz my clo's layin' +on de flo', all muddy an' crumple' up, des lack somebody had wo' 'em in +a fight! Somebody e'se had wo' my clo's,--er e'se dere'd be'n some +witchcraf, er some sort er devilment gwine on dat I can't make out, suh, +ter save my soul!" + +"There was no witchcraft, Sandy, but that there was some deviltry might +well be. Now, what other negro, who might have been mistaken for you, +could have taken your clothes? Surely no one about the house?" + +"No, suh, no, suh. It couldn't 'a' be'n Jeff, fer he wuz at Belleview +wid you; an' it couldn't 'a' be'n Billy, fer he wuz too little ter wear +my clo's; an' it couldn't 'a' be'n Sally, fer she's a 'oman. It's a +myst'ry ter me, suh!" + +"Have you no enemies? Is there any one in Wellington whom you imagine +would like to do you an injury?" + +"Not a livin' soul dat I knows of, suh. I've be'n tu'ned out'n de +chu'ch, but I don' know who my enemy is dere, er ef it wuz all a +mistake, like dis yer jailin' is; but de Debbil is in dis somewhar, Mars +John,--an' I got my reasons fer sayin' so." + +"What do you mean, Sandy?" + +Sandy related his experience of the preceding evening: how he had seen +the apparition preceding him to the house, and how he had questioned Tom +upon the subject. + +"There's some mystery here, Sandy," said Mr. Delamere reflectively. +"Have you told me all, now, upon your honor? I am trying to save your +life, Sandy, and I must be able to trust your word implicitly. You must +tell me every circumstance; a very little and seemingly unimportant bit +of evidence may sometimes determine the issue of a great lawsuit. There +is one thing especially, Sandy: where did you get the gold which was +found in your trunk?" + +Sandy's face lit up with hopefulness. + +"Why, Mars John, I kin 'splain dat part easy. Dat wuz money I had lent +out, an' I got back f'm--But no, suh, I promise' not ter tell." + +"Circumstances absolve you from your promise, Sandy. Your life is of +more value to you than any other thing. If you will explain where you +got the gold, and the silk purse that contained it, which is said to be +Mrs. Ochiltree's, you will be back home before night." + +Old Mr. Delamere's faculties, which had been waning somewhat in sympathy +with his health, were stirred to unusual acuteness by his servant's +danger. He was watching Sandy with all the awakened instincts of the +trial lawyer. He could see clearly enough that, in beginning to account +for the possession of the gold, Sandy had started off with his +explanation in all sincerity. At the mention of the silk purse, however, +his face had blanched to an ashen gray, and the words had frozen upon +his lips. + +A less discerning observer might have taken these things as signs of +guilt, but not so Mr. Delamere. + +"Well, Sandy," said his master encouragingly, "go on. You got the gold +from"-- + +Sandy remained silent. He had had a great shock, and had taken a great +resolution. + +"Mars John," he asked dreamily, "you don' b'lieve dat I done dis thing?" + +"Certainly not, Sandy, else why should I be here?" + +"An' nothin' wouldn' make you b'lieve it, suh?" + +"No, Sandy,--I could not believe it of you. I've known you too long and +too well." + +"An' you wouldn' b'lieve it, not even ef I wouldn' say one wo'd mo' +about it?" + +"No, Sandy, I believe you no more capable of this crime than I would +be,--or my grandson, Tom. I wish Tom were here, that he might help me +overcome your stubbornness; but you'll not be so foolish, so absurdly +foolish, Sandy, as to keep silent and risk your life merely to shield +some one else, when by speaking you might clear up this mystery and be +restored at once to liberty. Just tell me where you got the gold," added +the old gentleman persuasively. "Come, now, Sandy, that's a good +fellow!" + +"Mars John," asked Sandy softly, "w'en my daddy, 'way back yander befo' +de wah, wuz about ter be sol' away f'm his wife an' child'en, you +bought him an' dem, an' kep' us all on yo' place tergether, didn't you, +suh?" + +"Yes, Sandy, and he was a faithful servant, and proved worthy of all I +did for him." + +"And w'en he had wo'ked fer you ten years, suh, you sot 'im free?" + +"Yes, Sandy, he had earned his freedom." + +"An' w'en de wah broke out, an' my folks wuz scattered, an' I didn' +have nothin' ter do ner nowhar ter go, you kep' me on yo' place, and +tuck me ter wait on you, suh, didn't you?" + +"Yes, Sandy, and you have been a good servant and a good friend; but +tell me now about this gold, and I'll go and get you out of this, right +away, for I need you, Sandy, and you'll not be of any use to me shut up +here!" + +"Jes' hol' on a minute befo' you go, Mars John; fer ef dem people +outside should git holt er me befo' you _does_ git me out er here, I may +never see you no mo', suh, in dis worl'. W'en Mars Billy McLean shot me +by mistake, w'ile we wuz out huntin' dat day, who wuz it boun' up my +woun's an' kep' me from bleedin' ter def, an' kyar'ed me two miles on +his own shoulders ter a doctuh?" + +"Yes, Sandy, and when black Sally ran away with your young mistress and +Tom, when Tom was a baby, who stopped the runaway, and saved their lives +at the risk of his own?" + +"Dat wa'n't nothin', suh; anybody could 'a' done dat, w'at wuz strong +ernuff an' swif' ernuff. You is be'n good ter me, suh, all dese years, +an' I've tried ter do my duty by you, suh, an' by Mistuh Tom, who wuz +yo' own gran'son, an' de las' one er de fam'ly." + +"Yes, you have, Sandy, and when I am gone, which will not be very long, +Tom will take care of you, and see that you never want. But we are +wasting valuable time, Sandy, in these old reminiscences. Let us get back +to the present. Tell me about the gold, now, so that I may at once look +after your safety. It may not even be necessary for you to remain here +all night." + +"Jes' one wo'd mo', Mars John, befo' you go! I know you're gwine ter do +de bes' you kin fer me, an' I'm sorry I can't he'p you no mo' wid it; +but ef dere should be any accident, er ef you _can't_ git me out er +here, don' bother yo' min' 'bout it no mo', suh, an' don' git yo'se'f +ixcited, fer you know de doctuh says, suh, dat you can't stan' +ixcitement; but jes' leave me in de han's er de Lawd, suh,--_He'll_ look +after me, here er hereafter. I know I've fell f'm grace mo' d'n once, +but I've done made my peace wid Him in dis here jail-house, suh, an' I +ain't 'feared ter die--ef I haf ter. I ain' got no wife ner child'n ter +mo'n fer me, an' I'll die knowin' dat I've done my duty ter dem dat +hi'ed me, an' trusted me, an' had claims on me. Fer I wuz raise' by a +Delamere, suh, an' all de ole Delameres wuz gent'emen, an' deir +principles spread ter de niggers 'round 'em, suh; an' ef I has ter die +fer somethin' I didn' do,--I kin die, suh, like a gent'eman! But ez fer +dat gol', suh, I ain' gwine ter say one wo'd mo' 'bout it ter nobody in +dis worl'!" + +Nothing could shake Sandy's determination. Mr. Delamere argued, +expostulated, but all in vain. Sandy would not speak. + +More and more confident of some mystery, which would come out in time, +if properly investigated, Mr. Delamere, strangely beset by a vague +sense of discomfort over and beyond that occasioned by his servant's +danger, hurried away upon his errand of mercy. He felt less confident of +the outcome than when he had entered the jail, but was quite as much +resolved that no effort should be spared to secure protection for Sandy +until there had been full opportunity for the truth to become known. + +"Take good care of your prisoner, sheriff," he said sternly, as he was +conducted to the door. "He will not be long in your custody, and I shall +see that you are held strictly accountable for his safety." + +"I'll do what I can, sir," replied the sheriff in an even tone and +seemingly not greatly impressed by this warning. "If the prisoner is +taken from me, it will be because the force that comes for him is too +strong for resistance." + +"There should be no force too strong for an honest man in your position +to resist,--whether successfully or not is beyond the question. The +officer who is intimidated by threats, or by his own fears, is recreant +to his duty, and no better than the mob which threatens him. But you +will have no such test, Mr. Wemyss! I shall see to it myself that there +is no violence!" + + + + +XXV + + +THE HONOR OF A FAMILY + +Mr. Delamere's coachman, who, in accordance with instructions left by +Miller, had brought the carriage around to the jail and was waiting +anxiously at the nearest corner, drove up with some trepidation as he +saw his master emerge from the prison. The old gentleman entered the +carriage and gave the order to be driven to the office of the Morning +Chronicle. According to Jerry, the porter, whom he encountered at the +door, Carteret was in his office, and Mr. Delamere, with the aid of his +servant, climbed the stairs painfully and found the editor at his desk. + +"Carteret," exclaimed Mr. Delamere, "what is all this talk about +lynching my man for murder and robbery and criminal assault? It's +perfectly absurd! The man was raised by me; he has lived in my house +forty years. He has been honest, faithful, and trustworthy. He would no +more be capable of this crime than you would, or my grandson Tom. Sandy +has too much respect for the family to do anything that would reflect +disgrace upon it." + +"My dear Mr. Delamere," asked Carteret, with an indulgent smile, "how +could a negro possibly reflect discredit upon a white family? I should +really like to know." + +"How, sir? A white family raised him. Like all the negroes, he has been +clay in the hands of the white people. They are what we have made them, +or permitted them to become." + +"We are not God, Mr. Delamere! We do not claim to have created +these--masterpieces." + +"No; but we thought to overrule God's laws, and we enslaved these people +for our greed, and sought to escape the manstealer's curse by laying to +our souls the flattering unction that we were making of barbarous +negroes civilized and Christian men. If we did not, if instead of making +them Christians we have made some of them brutes, we have only ourselves +to blame, and if these prey upon society, it is our just punishment! But +my negroes, Carteret, were well raised and well behaved. This man is +innocent of this offense, I solemnly affirm, and I want your aid to +secure his safety until a fair trial can be had." + +"On your bare word, sir?" asked Carteret, not at all moved by this +outburst. + +Old Mr. Delamere trembled with anger, and his withered cheek flushed +darkly, but he restrained his feelings, and answered with an attempt at +calmness:-- + +"Time was, sir, when the word of a Delamere was held as good as his +bond, and those who questioned it were forced to maintain their +skepticism upon the field of honor. Time was, sir, when the law was +enforced in this state in a manner to command the respect of the world! +Our lawyers, our judges, our courts, were a credit to humanity and +civilization. I fear I have outlasted my epoch,--I have lived to hear of +white men, the most favored of races, the heirs of civilization, the +conservators of liberty, howling like red Indians around a human being +slowly roasting at the stake." + +"My dear sir," said Carteret soothingly, "you should undeceive yourself. +This man is no longer your property. The negroes are no longer under our +control, and with their emancipation ceased our responsibility. Their +insolence and disregard for law have reached a point where they must be +sternly rebuked." + +"The law," retorted Mr. Delamere, "furnishes a sufficient penalty for +any crime, however heinous, and our code is by no means lenient. To my +old-fashioned notions, death would seem an adequate punishment for any +crime, and torture has been abolished in civilized countries for a +hundred years. It would be better to let a crime go entirely unpunished, +than to use it as a pretext for turning the whole white population into +a mob of primitive savages, dancing in hellish glee around the mangled +body of a man who has never been tried for a crime. All this, however, +is apart from my errand, which is to secure your assistance in heading +off this mob until Sandy can have a fair hearing and an opportunity to +prove his innocence." + +"How can I do that, Mr. Delamere?" + +"You are editor of the Morning Chronicle. The Chronicle is the leading +newspaper of the city. This morning's issue practically suggested the +mob; the same means will stop it. I will pay the expense of an extra +edition, calling off the mob, on the ground that newly discovered +evidence has shown the prisoner's innocence." + +"But where is the evidence?" asked Carteret. + +Again Mr. Delamere flushed and trembled. "My evidence, sir! I say the +negro was morally incapable of the crime. A man of forty-five does not +change his nature over-night. He is no more capable of a disgraceful +deed than my grandson would be!" + +Carteret smiled sadly. + +"I am sorry, Mr. Delamere," he said, "that you should permit yourself to +be so exercised about a worthless scoundrel who has forfeited his right +to live. The proof against him is overwhelming. As to his capability of +crime, we will apply your own test. You have been kept in the dark too +long, Mr. Delamere,--indeed, we all have,--about others as well as this +negro. Listen, sir: last night, at the Clarendon Club, Tom Delamere was +caught cheating outrageously at cards. He had been suspected for some +time; a trap was laid for him, and be fell into it. Out of regard for +you and for my family, he has been permitted to resign quietly, with the +understanding that he first pay off his debts, which are considerable." + +Mr. Delamere's face, which had taken on some color in the excitement of +the interview, had gradually paled to a chalky white while Carteret was +speaking. His head sunk forward; already an old man, he seemed to have +aged ten years in but little more than as many seconds. + +"Can this be true?" he demanded in a hoarse whisper. "Is it--entirely +authentic?" + +"True as gospel; true as it is that Mrs. Ochiltree has been murdered, +and that this negro killed her. Ellis was at the club a few minutes +after the affair happened, and learned the facts from one of the +participants. Tom made no attempt at denial. We have kept the matter out +of the other papers, and I would have spared your feelings,--I surely +would not wish to wound them,--but the temptation proved too strong for +me, and it seemed the only way to convince you: it was your own test. If +a gentleman of a distinguished name and an honorable ancestry, with all +the restraining forces of social position surrounding him, to hold him +in check, can stoop to dishonor, what is the improbability of an +illiterate negro's being at least capable of crime?" + +"Enough, sir," said the old gentleman. "You have proved enough. My +grandson may be a scoundrel,--I can see, in the light of this +revelation, how he might be; and he seems not to have denied it. I +maintain, nevertheless, that my man Sandy is innocent of the charge +against him. He has denied it, and it has not been proved. Carteret, I +owe that negro my life; he, and his father before him, have served me +and mine faithfully and well. I cannot see him killed like a dog, +without judge or jury,--no, not even if he were guilty, which I do not +believe!" + +Carteret felt a twinge of remorse for the pain he had inflicted upon +this fine old man, this ideal gentleman of the ideal past,--the past +which he himself so much admired and regretted. He would like to spare +his old friend any further agitation; he was in a state of health where +too great excitement might prove fatal. But how could he? The negro was +guilty, and sure to die sooner or later. He had not meant to interfere, +and his intervention might be fruitless. + +"Mr. Delamere," he said gently, "there is but one way to gain time. You +say the negro is innocent. Appearances are against him. The only way to +clear him is to produce the real criminal, or prove an alibi. If you, or +some other white man of equal standing, could swear that the negro was +in your presence last night at any hour when this crime could have taken +place, it might be barely possible to prevent the lynching for the +present; and when he is tried, which will probably be not later than +next week, he will have every opportunity to defend himself, with you +to see that he gets no less than justice. I think it can be managed, +though there is still a doubt. I will do my best, for your sake, Mr. +Delamere,--solely for your sake, be it understood, and not for that of +the negro, in whom you are entirely deceived." + +"I shall not examine your motives, Carteret," replied the other, "if you +can bring about what I desire." + +"Whatever is done," added Carteret, "must be done quickly. It is now +four o'clock; no one can answer for what may happen after seven. If he +can prove an alibi, there may yet be time to save him. White men might +lynch a negro on suspicion; they would not kill a man who was proven, by +the word of white men, to be entirely innocent." + +"I do not know," returned Mr. Delamere, shaking his head sadly. "After +what you have told me, it is no longer safe to assume what white men +will or will not do;--what I have learned here has shaken my faith in +humanity. I am going away, but shall return in a short time. Shall I +find you here?" + +"I will await your return," said Carteret. + +He watched Mr. Delamere pityingly as the old man moved away on the arm +of the coachman waiting in the hall. He did not believe that Mr. +Delamere could prove an alibi for his servant, and without some positive +proof the negro would surely die,--as he well deserved to die. + + + + +XXVI + + +THE DISCOMFORT OF ELLIS + +Mr. Ellis was vaguely uncomfortable. In the first excitement following +the discovery of the crime, he had given his bit of evidence, and had +shared the universal indignation against the murderer. When public +feeling took definite shape in the intention to lynch the prisoner, +Ellis felt a sudden sense of responsibility growing upon himself. When +he learned, an hour later, that it was proposed to burn the negro, his +part in the affair assumed a still graver aspect; for his had been the +final word to fix the prisoner's guilt. + +Ellis did not believe in lynch law. He had argued against it, more than +once, in private conversation, and had written several editorials +against the practice, while in charge of the Morning Chronicle during +Major Carteret's absence. A young man, however, and merely representing +another, he had not set up as a reformer, taking rather the view that +this summary method of punishing crime, with all its possibilities of +error, to say nothing of the resulting disrespect of the law and +contempt for the time-honored methods of establishing guilt, was a mere +temporary symptom of the unrest caused by the unsettled relations of the +two races at the South. There had never before been any special need for +any vigorous opposition to lynch law, so far as the community was +concerned, for there had not been a lynching in Wellington since Ellis +had come there, eight years before, from a smaller town, to seek a place +for himself in the world of action. Twenty years before, indeed, there +had been wild doings, during the brief Ku-Klux outbreak, but that was +before Ellis's time,--or at least when he was but a child. He had come +of a Quaker family,--the modified Quakers of the South,--and while +sharing in a general way the Southern prejudice against the negro, his +prejudices had been tempered by the peaceful tenets of his father's +sect. His father had been a Whig, and a non-slaveholder; and while he +had gone with the South in the civil war so far as a man of peace could +go, he had not done so for love of slavery. + +As the day wore on, Ellis's personal responsibility for the intended +_auto-da-fé_ bore more heavily upon him. Suppose he had been wrong? He +had seen the accused negro; he had recognized him by his clothes, his +whiskers, his spectacles, and his walk; but he had also seen another +man, who resembled Sandy so closely that but for the difference in their +clothes, he was forced to acknowledge, he could not have told them +apart. Had he not seen the first man, he would have sworn with even +greater confidence that the second was Sandy. There had been, he +recalled, about one of the men--he had not been then nor was he now able +to tell which--something vaguely familiar, and yet seemingly discordant +to whichever of the two it was, or, as it seemed to him now, to any man +of that race. His mind reverted to the place where he had last seen +Sandy, and then a sudden wave of illumination swept over him, and filled +him with a thrill of horror. The cakewalk,--the dancing,--the +speech,--they were not Sandy's at all, nor any negro's! It was a white +man who had stood in the light of the street lamp, so that the casual +passer-by might see and recognize in him old Mr. Delamere's servant. The +scheme was a dastardly one, and worthy of a heart that was something +worse than weak and vicious. + +Ellis resolved that the negro should not, if he could prevent it, die +for another's crime; but what proof had he himself to offer in support +of his theory? Then again, if he denounced Tom Delamere as the murderer, +it would involve, in all probability, the destruction of his own hopes +with regard to Clara. Of course she could not marry Delamere after the +disclosure,--the disgraceful episode at the club would have been enough +to make that reasonably certain; it had put a nail in Delamere's coffin, +but this crime had driven it in to the head and clinched it. On the +other hand, would Miss Pemberton ever speak again to the man who had +been the instrument of bringing disgrace upon the family? Spies, +detectives, police officers, may be useful citizens, but they are rarely +pleasant company for other people. We fee the executioner, but we do not +touch his bloody hand. We might feel a certain tragic admiration for +Brutus condemning his sons to death, but we would scarcely invite Brutus +to dinner after the event. It would harrow our feelings too much. + +Perhaps, thought Ellis, there might be a way out of the dilemma. It +might be possible to save this innocent negro without, for the time +being, involving Delamere. He believed that murder will out, but it need +not be through his initiative. He determined to go to the jail and +interview the prisoner, who might give such an account of himself as +would establish his innocence beyond a doubt. If so, Ellis would exert +himself to stem the tide of popular fury. If, as a last resort, he +could save Sandy only by denouncing Delamere, he would do his duty, let +it cost him what it might. + +The gravity of his errand was not lessened by what he saw and heard on +the way to the jail. The anger of the people was at a white heat. A +white woman had been assaulted and murdered by a brutal negro. Neither +advanced age, nor high social standing, had been able to protect her +from the ferocity of a black savage. Her sex, which should have been her +shield and buckler, had made her an easy mark for the villainy of a +black brute. To take the time to try him would be a criminal waste of +public money. To hang him would be too slight a punishment for so +dastardly a crime. An example must be made. + +Already the preparations were under way for the impending execution. A +T-rail from the railroad yard had been procured, and men were burying it +in the square before the jail. Others were bringing chains, and a load +of pine wood was piled in convenient proximity. Some enterprising +individual had begun the erection of seats from which, for a pecuniary +consideration, the spectacle might be the more easily and comfortably +viewed. + +Ellis was stopped once or twice by persons of his acquaintance. From one +he learned that the railroads would run excursions from the neighboring +towns in order to bring spectators to the scene; from another that the +burning was to take place early in the evening, so that the children +might not be kept up beyond their usual bedtime. In one group that he +passed he heard several young men discussing the question of which +portions of the negro's body they would prefer for souvenirs. Ellis +shuddered and hastened forward. Whatever was to be done must be done +quickly, or it would be too late. He saw that already it would require a +strong case in favor of the accused to overcome the popular verdict. + +Going up the steps of the jail, he met Mr. Delamere, who was just coming +out, after a fruitless interview with Sandy. + +"Mr. Ellis," said the old gentleman, who seemed greatly agitated, "this +is monstrous!" + +"It is indeed, sir!" returned the younger man. "I mean to stop it if I +can. The negro did not kill Mrs. Ochiltree." + +Mr. Delamere looked at Ellis keenly, and, as Ellis recalled afterwards, +there was death in his eyes. Unable to draw a syllable from Sandy, he +had found his servant's silence more eloquent than words. Ellis felt a +presentiment that this affair, however it might terminate, would be +fatal to this fine old man, whom the city could ill spare, in spite of +his age and infirmities. + +"Mr. Ellis," asked Mr. Delamere, in a voice which trembled with +ill-suppressed emotion, "do you know who killed her?" + +Ellis felt a surging pity for his old friend; but every step that he had +taken toward the jail had confirmed and strengthened his own resolution +that this contemplated crime, which he dimly felt to be far more +atrocious than that of which Sandy was accused, in that it involved a +whole community rather than one vicious man, should be stopped at any +cost. Deplorable enough had the negro been guilty, it became, in view of +his certain innocence, an unspeakable horror, which for all time would +cover the city with infamy. "Mr. Delamere," he replied, looking the +elder man squarely in the eyes, "I think I do,--and I am very sorry." + +"And who was it, Mr. Ellis?" + +He put the question hopelessly, as though the answer were a foregone +conclusion. + +"I do not wish to say at present," replied Ellis, with a remorseful +pang, "unless it becomes absolutely necessary, to save the negro's life. +Accusations are dangerous,--as this case proves,--unless the proof, be +certain." + +For a moment it seemed as though Mr. Delamere would collapse upon the +spot. Rallying almost instantly, however, he took the arm which Ellis +involuntarily offered, and said with an effort:-- + +"Mr. Ellis, you are a gentleman whom it is an honor to know. If you have +time, I wish you would go with me to my house,--I can hardly trust +myself alone,--and thence to the Chronicle office. This thing shall be +stopped, and you will help me stop it." + +It required but a few minutes to cover the half mile that lay between +the prison and Mr. Delamere's residence. + + + + +XXVII + + +THE VAGARIES OF THE HIGHER LAW + +Mr. Delamere went immediately to his grandson's room, which he entered +alone, closing and locking the door behind him. He had requested Ellis +to wait in the carriage. + +The bed had been made, and the room was apparently in perfect order. +There was a bureau in the room, through which Mr. Delamere proceeded to +look thoroughly. Finding one of the drawers locked, he tried it with a +key of his own, and being unable to unlock it, took a poker from beside +the stove and broke it ruthlessly open. + +The contents served to confirm what he had heard concerning his +grandson's character. Thrown together in disorderly confusion were +bottles of wine and whiskey; soiled packs of cards; a dice-box with +dice; a box of poker chips, several revolvers, and a number of +photographs and paper-covered books at which the old gentleman merely +glanced to ascertain their nature. + +So far, while his suspicion had been strengthened, he had found nothing +to confirm it. He searched the room more carefully, and found, in the +wood-box by the small heating-stove which stood in the room, a torn and +crumpled bit of paper. Stooping to pick this up, his eye caught a gleam +of something yellow beneath the bureau, which lay directly in his line +of vision. + +First he smoothed out the paper. It was apparently the lower half of a +label, or part of the cover of a small box, torn diagonally from corner +to corner. From the business card at the bottom, which gave the name, of +a firm of manufacturers of theatrical supplies in a Northern city, and +from the letters remaining upon the upper and narrower half, the bit of +paper had plainly formed part of the wrapper of a package of burnt cork. + +Closing his fingers spasmodically over this damning piece of evidence, +Mr. Delamere knelt painfully, and with the aid of his cane drew out from +under the bureau the yellow object which, had attracted his attention. +It was a five-dollar gold piece of a date back toward the beginning of +the century. + +To make assurance doubly sure, Mr. Delamere summoned the cook from the +kitchen in the back yard. In answer to her master's questions, Sally +averred that Mr. Tom had got up very early, had knocked at her +window,--she slept in a room off the kitchen in the yard,--and had told +her that she need not bother about breakfast for him, as he had had a +cold bite from the pantry; that he was going hunting and fishing, and +would be gone all day. According to Sally, Mr. Tom had come in about ten +o'clock the night before. He had forgotten his night-key, Sandy was out, +and she had admitted him with her own key. He had said that he was very +tired and was going, immediately to bed. + +Mr. Delamere seemed perplexed; the crime had been committed later in the +evening than ten o'clock. The cook cleared up the mystery. + +"I reckon he must 'a' be'n dead ti'ed, suh, fer I went back ter his room +fifteen er twenty minutes after he come in fer ter fin' out w'at he +wanted fer breakfus'; an' I knock' two or three times, rale ha'd, an' +Mistuh Tom didn' wake up no mo' d'n de dead. He sho'ly had a good +sleep, er he'd never 'a' got up so ea'ly." + +"Thank you, Sally," said Mr. Delamere, when the woman had finished, +"that will do." + +"Will you be home ter suppah, suh?" asked the cook. + +"Yes." + +It was a matter of the supremest indifference to Mr. Delamere whether he +should ever eat again, but he would not betray his feelings to a +servant. In a few minutes he was driving rapidly with Ellis toward the +office of the Morning Chronicle. Ellis could see that Mr. Delamere had +discovered something of tragic import. Neither spoke. Ellis gave all his +attention to the horses, and Mr. Delamere remained wrapped in his own +sombre reflections. + +When they reached the office, they were informed by Jerry that Major +Carteret was engaged with General Belmont and Captain McBane. Mr. +Delamere knocked peremptorily at the door of the inner office, which was +opened by Carteret in person. + +"Oh, it is you, Mr. Delamere." + +"Carteret," exclaimed Mr. Delamere, "I must speak to you immediately, +and alone." + +"Excuse me a moment, gentlemen," said Carteret, turning to those within +the room. "I'll be back in a moment--don't go away." + +Ellis had left the room, closing the door behind him. Mr. Delamere and +Carteret were quite alone. + +"Carteret," declared the old gentleman, "this murder must not take +place." + +"'Murder' is a hard word," replied the editor, frowning slightly. + +"It is the right word," rejoined Mr. Delamere, decidedly. "It would be a +foul and most unnatural murder, for Sandy did not kill Mrs. Ochiltree." + +Carteret with difficulty restrained a smile of pity. His old friend was +very much excited, as the tremor in his voice gave proof. The criminal +was his trusted servant, who had proved unworthy of confidence. No one +could question Mr. Delamere's motives; but he was old, his judgment was +no longer to be relied upon. It was a great pity that he should so +excite and overstrain himself about a worthless negro, who had forfeited +his life for a dastardly crime. Mr. Delamere had had two paralytic +strokes, and a third might prove fatal. He must be dealt with gently. + +"Mr. Delamere," he said, with patient tolerance, "I think you are +deceived. There is but one sure way to stop this execution. If your +servant is innocent, you must produce the real criminal. If the negro, +with such overwhelming proofs against him, is not guilty, who is?" + +"I will tell you who is," replied Mr. Delamere. "The murderer is,"--the +words came with a note of anguish, as though torn from his very +heart,--"the murderer is Tom Delamere, my own grandson!" + +"Impossible, sir!" exclaimed Carteret, starting back involuntarily. +"That could not be! The man was seen leaving the house, and he was +black!" + +"All cats are gray in the dark, Carteret; and, moreover, nothing is +easier than for a white man to black his face. God alone knows how many +crimes have been done in this guise! Tom Delamere, to get the money to +pay his gambling debts, committed this foul murder, and then tried to +fasten it upon as honest and faithful a soul as ever trod the earth." + +Carteret, though at first overwhelmed by this announcement, perceived +with quick intuition that it might easily be true. It was but a step +from fraud to crime, and in Delamere's need of money there lay a +palpable motive for robbery,--the murder may have been an afterthought. +Delamere knew as much about the cedar chest as the negro could have +known, and more. + +But a white man must not be condemned without proof positive. + +"What foundation is there, sir," he asked, "for this astounding charge?" + +Mr. Delamere related all that had taken place since he had left +Belleview a couple of hours before, and as he proceeded, step by step, +every word carried conviction to Carteret. Tom Delamere's skill as a +mimic and a negro impersonator was well known; he had himself laughed at +more than one of his performances. There had been a powerful motive, and +Mr. Delamere's discoveries had made clear the means. Tom's unusual +departure, before breakfast, on a fishing expedition was a suspicious +circumstance. There was a certain devilish ingenuity about the affair +which he would hardly have expected of Tom Delamere, but for which the +reason was clear enough. One might have thought that Tom would have been +satisfied with merely blacking his face, and leaving to chance the +identification of the negro who might be apprehended. He would hardly +have implicated, out of pure malignity, his grandfather's old servant, +who had been his own care-taker for many years. Here, however, Carteret +could see where Tom's own desperate position operated to furnish a +probable motive for the crime. The surest way to head off suspicion from +himself was to direct it strongly toward some particular person, and +this he had been able to do conclusively by his access to Sandy's +clothes, his skill in making up to resemble him, and by the episode of +the silk purse. By placing himself beyond reach during the next day, he +would not be called upon to corroborate or deny any inculpating +statements which Sandy might make, and in the very probable case that +the crime should be summarily avenged, any such statements on Sandy's +part would be regarded as mere desperate subterfuges of the murderer to +save his own life. It was a bad affair. + +"The case seems clear," said Carteret reluctantly but conclusively. "And +now, what shall we do about it?" + +"I want you to print a handbill," said Mr. Delamere, "and circulate it +through the town, stating that Sandy Campbell is innocent and Tom +Delamere guilty of this crime. If this is not done, I will go myself and +declare it to all who will listen, and I will publicly disown the +villain who is no more grandson of mine. There is no deeper sink of +iniquity into which he could fall." + +Carteret's thoughts were chasing one another tumultuously. There could +be no doubt that the negro was innocent, from the present aspect of +affairs, and he must not be lynched; but in what sort of position would +the white people be placed, if Mr. Delamere carried out his Spartan +purpose of making the true facts known? The white people of the city had +raised the issue of their own superior morality, and had themselves made +this crime a race question. The success of the impending "revolution," +for which he and his _confrères_ had labored so long, depended in large +measure upon the maintenance of their race prestige, which would be +injured in the eyes of the world by such a fiasco. While they might yet +win by sheer force, their cause would suffer in the court of morals, +where they might stand convicted as pirates, instead of being applauded +as patriots. Even the negroes would have the laugh on them,--the people +whom they hoped to make approve and justify their own despoilment. To be +laughed at by the negroes was a calamity only less terrible than failure +or death. + +Such an outcome of an event which had already been heralded to the four +corners of the earth would throw a cloud of suspicion upon the stories +of outrage which had gone up from the South for so many years, and had +done so much to win the sympathy of the North for the white South and to +alienate it from the colored people. The reputation of the race was +threatened. They must not lynch the negro, and yet, for the credit of +the town, its aristocracy, and the race, the truth of this ghastly story +must not see the light,--at least not yet. + +"Mr. Delamere," he exclaimed, "I am shocked and humiliated. The negro +must be saved, of course, but--consider the family honor." + +"Tom is no longer a member of my family. I disown him. He has covered +the family name--my name, sir--with infamy. We have no longer a family +honor. I wish never to hear his name spoken again!" + +For several minutes Carteret argued with his old friend. Then he went +into the other room and consulted with General Belmont. As a result of +these conferences, and of certain urgent messages sent out, within half +an hour thirty or forty of the leading citizens of Wellington were +gathered in the Morning Chronicle office. Several other curious persons, +observing that there was something in the wind, and supposing correctly +that it referred to the projected event of the evening, crowded in with +those who had been invited. + +Carteret was in another room, still arguing with Mr. Delamere. "It's a +mere formality, sir," he was saying suavely, "accompanied by a mental +reservation. We know the facts; but this must be done to justify us, in +the eyes of the mob, in calling them off before they accomplish their +purpose." + +"Carteret," said the old man, in a voice eloquent of the struggle +through which he had passed, "I would not perjure myself to prolong my +own miserable existence another day, but God will forgive a sin +committed to save another's life. Upon your head be it, Carteret, and +not on mine!" + +"Gentlemen," said Carteret, entering with Mr. Delamere the room where +the men were gathered, and raising his hand for silence, "the people of +Wellington were on the point of wreaking vengeance upon a negro who was +supposed to have been guilty of a terrible crime. The white men of this +city, impelled by the highest and holiest sentiments, were about to take +steps to defend their hearthstones and maintain the purity and +ascendency of their race. Your purpose sprung from hearts wounded in +their tenderest susceptibilities." + +"'Rah, 'rah!" shouted a tipsy sailor, who had edged in with the crowd. + +"But this same sense of justice," continued Carteret oratorically, +"which would lead you to visit swift and terrible punishment upon the +guilty, would not permit you to slay an innocent man. Even a negro, as +long as he behaves himself and keeps in his place, is entitled to the +protection of the law. We may be stern and unbending in the punishment +of crime, as befits our masterful race, but we hold the scales of +justice with even and impartial hand." + +"'Rah f' 'mpa'tial ban'!" cried the tipsy sailor, who was immediately +ejected with slight ceremony. + +"We have discovered, beyond a doubt, that the negro Sandy Campbell, now +in custody, did not commit this robbery and murder, but that it was +perpetrated by some unknown man, who has fled from the city. Our +venerable and distinguished fellow townsman, Mr. Delamere, in whose +employment this Campbell has been for many years, will vouch for his +character, and states, furthermore, that Campbell was with him all last +night, covering any hour at which this crime could have been committed." + +"If Mr. Delamere will swear to that," said some one in the crowd, "the +negro should not be lynched." + +There were murmurs of dissent. The preparations had all been made. There +would be great disappointment if the lynching did not occur. + +"Let Mr. Delamere swear, if he wants to save the nigger," came again +from the crowd. + +"Certainly," assented Carteret. "Mr. Delamere can have no possible +objection to taking the oath. Is there a notary public present, or a +justice of the peace?" + +A man stepped forward. "I am a justice of the peace," he announced. + +"Very well, Mr. Smith," said Carteret, recognizing the speaker. "With +your permission, I will formulate the oath, and Mr. Delamere may repeat +it after me, if he will. I solemnly swear,"-- + +"I solemnly swear,"-- + +Mr. Delamere's voice might have come from the tomb, so hollow and +unnatural did it sound. + +"So help me God,"-- + +"So help me God,"-- + +"That the negro Sandy Campbell, now in jail on the charge of murder, +robbery, and assault, was in my presence last night between the hours of +eight and two o'clock." + +Mr. Delamere repeated this statement in a firm voice; but to Ellis, who +was in the secret, his words fell upon the ear like clods dropping upon +the coffin in an open grave. + +"I wish to add," said General Belmont, stepping forward, "that it is not +our intention to interfere, by anything which may be done at this +meeting, with the orderly process of the law, or to advise the +prisoner's immediate release. The prisoner will remain in custody, Mr. +Delamere, Major Carteret, and I guaranteeing that he will be proved +entirely innocent at the preliminary hearing to-morrow morning." + +Several of those present looked relieved; others were plainly, +disappointed; but when the meeting ended, the news went out that the +lynching had been given up. Carteret immediately wrote and had struck +off a handbill giving a brief statement of the proceedings, and sent out +a dozen boys to distribute copies among the people in the streets. That +no precaution might be omitted, a call was issued to the Wellington +Grays, the crack independent military company of the city, who in an +incredibly short time were on guard at the jail. Thus a slight change +in the point of view had demonstrated the entire ability of the leading +citizens to maintain the dignified and orderly processes of the law +whenever they saw fit to do so. + + * * * * * + +The night passed without disorder, beyond the somewhat rough handling of +two or three careless negroes that came in the way of small parties of +the disappointed who had sought alcoholic consolation. + +At ten o'clock the next morning, a preliminary hearing of the charge +against Campbell was had before a magistrate. Mr. Delamere, perceptibly +older and more wizened than he had seemed the day before, and leaning +heavily on the arm of a servant, repeated his statement of the evening +before. Only one or two witnesses were called, among whom was Mr. Ellis, +who swore positively that in his opinion the prisoner was not the man +whom he had seen and at first supposed to be Campbell. The most +sensational piece of testimony was that of Dr. Price, who had examined +the body, and who swore that the wound in the head was not necessarily +fatal, and might have been due to a fall,--that she had more than likely +died of shock attendant upon the robbery, she being of advanced age and +feeble health. There was no evidence, he said, of any other personal +violence. + +Sandy was not even bound over to the grand jury, but was discharged upon +the ground that there was not sufficient evidence upon which to hold +him. Upon his release he received the congratulations of many present, +some of whom would cheerfully have done him to death a few hours before. +With the childish fickleness of a mob, they now experienced a +satisfaction almost as great as, though less exciting than, that +attendant upon taking life. We speak of the mysteries of inanimate +nature. The workings of the human heart are the profoundest mystery of +the universe. One moment they make us despair of our kind, and the next +we see in them the reflection of the divine image. Sandy, having thus +escaped from the Mr. Hyde of the mob, now received the benediction of +its Dr. Jekyll. Being no cynical philosopher, and realizing how nearly +the jaws of death had closed upon him, he was profoundly grateful for +his escape, and felt not the slightest desire to investigate or +criticise any man's motives. + +With the testimony of Dr. Price, the worst feature of the affair came to +an end. The murder eliminated or rendered doubtful, the crime became a +mere vulgar robbery, the extent of which no one could estimate, since no +living soul knew how much money Mrs. Ochiltree had had in the cedar +chest. The absurdity of the remaining charge became more fully apparent +in the light of the reaction from the excitement of the day before. + +Nothing further was ever done about the case; but though the crime went +unpunished, it carried evil in its train. As we have seen, the charge +against Campbell had been made against the whole colored race. All over +the United States the Associated Press had flashed the report of another +dastardly outrage by a burly black brute,--all black brutes it seems are +burly,--and of the impending lynching with its prospective horrors. This +news, being highly sensational in its character, had been displayed in +large black type on the front pages of the daily papers. The dispatch +that followed, to the effect that the accused had been found innocent +and the lynching frustrated, received slight attention, if any, in a +fine-print paragraph on an inside page. The facts of the case never came +out at all. The family honor of the Delameres was preserved, and the +prestige of the white race in Wellington was not seriously impaired. + + * * * * * + +Upon leaving the preliminary hearing, old Mr. Delamere had requested +General Belmont to call at his house during the day upon professional +business. This the general did in the course of the afternoon. + +"Belmont," said Mr. Delamere, "I wish to make my will. I should have +drawn it with my own hand; but you know my motives, and can testify to +my soundness of mind and memory." + +He thereupon dictated a will, by the terms of which he left to his +servant, Sandy Campbell, three thousand dollars, as a mark of the +testator's appreciation of services rendered and sufferings endured by +Sandy on behalf of his master. After some minor dispositions, the whole +remainder of the estate was devised to Dr. William Miller, in trust for +the uses of his hospital and training-school for nurses, on condition +that the institution be incorporated and placed under the management of +competent trustees. Tom Delamere was not mentioned in the will. + +"There, Belmont," he said, "that load is off my mind. Now, if you will +call in some witnesses,--most of my people can write,--I shall feel +entirely at ease." + +The will was signed by Mr. Delamere, and witnessed by Jeff and Billy, +two servants in the house, neither of whom received any information as +to its contents, beyond the statement that they were witnessing their +master's will. "I wish to leave that with you for safe keeping, +Belmont," said Mr. Delamere, after the witnesses had retired. "Lock it +up in your safe until I die, which will not be very long, since I have +no further desire to live." + +An hour later Mr. Delamere suffered a third paralytic stroke, from which +he died two days afterwards, without having in the meantime recovered +the power of speech. + +The will was never produced. The servants stated, and General Belmont +admitted, that Mr. Delamere had made a will a few days before his death; +but since it was not discoverable, it seemed probable that the testator +had destroyed it. This was all the more likely, the general was inclined +to think, because the will had been of a most unusual character. What +the contents of the will were, he of course did not state, it having +been made under the seal of professional secrecy. + +This suppression was justified by the usual race argument: Miller's +hospital was already well established, and, like most negro +institutions, could no doubt rely upon Northern philanthropy for any +further support it might need. Mr. Delamere's property belonged of right +to the white race, and by the higher law should remain in the possession +of white people. Loyalty to one's race was a more sacred principle than +deference to a weak old man's whims. + +Having reached this conclusion, General Belmont's first impulse was to +destroy the will; on second thoughts he locked it carefully away in his +safe. He would hold it awhile. It might some time be advisable to talk +the matter over with young Delamere, who was of a fickle disposition and +might wish to change his legal adviser. + + + + +XXVIII + + +IN SEASON AND OUT + +Wellington soon resumed its wonted calm, and in a few weeks the intended +lynching was only a memory. The robbery and assault, however, still +remained a mystery to all but a chosen few. The affair had been dropped +as absolutely as though it had never occurred. No colored man ever +learned the reason of this sudden change of front, and Sandy Campbell's +loyalty to his old employer's memory kept him silent. Tom Delamere did +not offer to retain Sandy in his service, though he presented him with +most of the old gentleman's wardrobe. It is only justice to Tom to state +that up to this time he had not been informed of the contents of his +grandfather's latest will. Major Carteret gave Sandy employment as +butler, thus making a sort of vicarious atonement, on the part of the +white race, of which the major felt himself in a way the embodiment, for +the risk to which Sandy had been subjected. + +Shortly after these events Sandy was restored to the bosom of the +church, and, enfolded by its sheltering arms, was no longer tempted to +stray from the path of rectitude, but became even a more rigid Methodist +than before his recent troubles. + +Tom Delamere did not call upon Clara again in the character of a lover. +Of course they could not help meeting, from time to time, but he never +dared presume upon their former relations. Indeed, the social +atmosphere of Wellington remained so frigid toward Delamere that he left +town, and did not return for several months. + +Ellis was aware that Delamere had been thrown over, but a certain +delicacy restrained him from following up immediately the advantage +which the absence of his former rival gave him. It seemed to him, with +the quixotry of a clean, pure mind, that Clara would pass through a +period of mourning for her lost illusion, and that it would be +indelicate, for the time being, to approach her with a lover's +attentions. The work of the office had been unusually heavy of late. The +major, deeply absorbed in politics, left the detail work of the paper to +Ellis. Into the intimate counsels of the revolutionary committee Ellis +had not been admitted, nor would he have desired to be. He knew, of +course, in a general way, the results that it was sought to achieve; and +while he did not see their necessity, he deferred to the views of older +men, and was satisfied to remain in ignorance of anything which he might +disapprove. Moreover, his own personal affairs occupied his mind to an +extent that made politics or any other subject a matter of minor +importance. + +As for Dr. Miller, he never learned of Mr. Delamere's good intentions +toward his institution, but regretted the old gentleman's death as the +loss of a sincere friend and well-wisher of his race in their unequal +struggle. + +Despite the untiring zeal of Carteret and his associates, the campaign +for the restriction of the suffrage, which was to form the basis of a +permanent white supremacy, had seemed to languish for a while after the +Ochiltree affair. The lull, however, was only temporary, and more +apparent than real, for the forces adverse to the negro were merely +gathering strength for a more vigorous assault. While little was said in +Wellington, public sentiment all over the country became every day more +favorable to the views of the conspirators. The nation was rushing +forward with giant strides toward colossal wealth and world-dominion, +before the exigencies of which mere abstract ethical theories must not +be permitted to stand. The same argument that justified the conquest of +an inferior nation could not be denied to those who sought the +suppression of an inferior race. In the South, an obscure jealousy of +the negro's progress, an obscure fear of the very equality so +contemptuously denied, furnished a rich soil for successful agitation. +Statistics of crime, ingeniously manipulated, were made to present a +fearful showing against the negro. Vital statistics were made to prove +that he had degenerated from an imaginary standard of physical +excellence which had existed under the benign influence of slavery. +Constant lynchings emphasized his impotence, and bred everywhere a +growing contempt for his rights. + +At the North, a new Pharaoh had risen, who knew not Israel,--a new +generation, who knew little of the fierce passions which had played +around the negro in a past epoch, and derived their opinions of him from +the "coon song" and the police reports. Those of his old friends who +survived were disappointed that he had not flown with clipped wings; +that he had not in one generation of limited opportunity attained the +level of the whites. The whole race question seemed to have reached a +sort of _impasse_, a blind alley, of which no one could see the outlet. +The negro had become a target at which any one might try a shot. +Schoolboys gravely debated the question as to whether or not the negro +should exercise the franchise. The pessimist gave him up in despair; +while the optimist, smilingly confident that everything would come out +all right in the end, also turned aside and went his buoyant way to more +pleasing themes. + +For a time there were white men in the state who opposed any reactionary +step unless it were of general application. They were conscientious men, +who had learned the ten commandments and wished to do right; but this +class was a small minority, and their objections were soon silenced by +the all-powerful race argument. Selfishness is the most constant of +human motives. Patriotism, humanity, or the love of God may lead to +sporadic outbursts which sweep away the heaped-up wrongs of centuries; +but they languish at times, while the love of self works on ceaselessly, +unwearyingly, burrowing always at the very roots of life, and heaping up +fresh wrongs for other centuries to sweep away. The state was at the +mercy of venal and self-seeking politicians, bent upon regaining their +ascendency at any cost, stultifying their own minds by vague sophistries +and high-sounding phrases, which deceived none but those who wished to +be deceived, and these but imperfectly; and dulling the public +conscience by a loud clamor in which the calm voice of truth was for the +moment silenced. So the cause went on. + +Carteret, as spokesman of the campaign, and sincerest of all its +leaders, performed prodigies of labor. The Morning Chronicle proclaimed, +in season and out, the doctrine of "White Supremacy." Leaving the paper +in charge of Ellis, the major made a tour of the state, rousing the +white people of the better class to an appreciation of the terrible +danger which confronted them in the possibility that a few negroes might +hold a few offices or dictate the terms upon which white men should fill +them. Difficulties were explained away. The provisions of the Federal +Constitution, it was maintained, must yield to the "higher law," and if +the Constitution could neither be altered nor bent to this end, means +must be found to circumvent it. + +The device finally hit upon for disfranchising the colored people in +this particular state was the notorious "grandfather clause." After +providing various restrictions of the suffrage, based upon education, +character, and property, which it was deemed would in effect +disfranchise the colored race, an exception was made in favor of all +citizens whose fathers or grandfathers had been entitled to vote prior +to 1867. Since none but white men could vote prior to 1867, this +exception obviously took in the poor and ignorant whites, while the same +class of negroes were excluded. + +It was ingenious, but it was not fair. In due time a constitutional +convention was called, in which the above scheme was adopted and +submitted to a vote of the people for ratification. The campaign was +fought on the color line. Many white Republicans, deluded with the hope +that by the elimination of the negro vote their party might receive +accessions from the Democratic ranks, went over to the white party. By +fraud in one place, by terrorism in another, and everywhere by the +resistless moral force of the united whites, the negroes were reduced to +the apathy of despair, their few white allies demoralized, and the +amendment adopted by a large majority. The negroes were taught that +this is a white man's country, and that the sooner they made up their +minds to this fact, the better for all concerned. The white people would +be good to them so long as they behaved themselves and kept their place. +As theoretical equals,--practical equality being forever out of the +question, either by nature or by law,--there could have been nothing but +strife between them, in which the weaker party would invariably have +suffered most. + +Some colored men accepted the situation thus outlined, if not as +desirable, at least as inevitable. Most of them, however, had little +faith in this condescending friendliness which was to take the place of +constitutional rights. They knew they had been treated unfairly; that +their enemies had prevailed against them; that their whilom friends had +stood passively by and seen them undone. Many of the most enterprising +and progressive left the state, and those who remain still labor under a +sense of wrong and outrage which renders them distinctly less valuable +as citizens. + +The great steal was made, but the thieves did not turn honest,--the +scheme still shows the mark of the burglar's tools. Sins, like chickens, +come home to roost. The South paid a fearful price for the wrong of +negro slavery; in some form or other it will doubtless reap the fruits +of this later iniquity. + +Drastic as were these "reforms," the results of which we have +anticipated somewhat, since the new Constitution was not to take effect +immediately, they moved all too slowly for the little coterie of +Wellington conspirators, whose ambitions and needs urged them to prompt +action. Under the new Constitution it would be two full years before the +"nigger amendment" became effective, and meanwhile the Wellington +district would remain hopelessly Republican. The committee decided, +about two months before the fall election, that an active local campaign +must be carried on, with a view to discourage the negroes from attending +the polls on election day. + +The question came up for discussion one forenoon in a meeting at the +office of the Morning Chronicle, at which all of the "Big Three" were +present. + +"Something must be done," declared McBane, "and that damn quick. Too +many white people are saying that it will be better to wait until the +amendment goes into effect. That would mean to leave the niggers in +charge of this town for two years after the state has declared for white +supremacy! I'm opposed to leaving it in their hands one hour,--them's +my sentiments!" + +This proved to be the general opinion, and the discussion turned to the +subject of ways and means. + +"What became of that editorial in the nigger paper?" inquired the +general in his blandest tones, cleverly directing a smoke ring toward +the ceiling. "It lost some of its point back there, when we came near +lynching that nigger; but now that that has blown over, why wouldn't it +be a good thing to bring into play at the present juncture? Let's read +it over again." + +Carteret extracted the paper from the pigeon-hole where he had placed it +some months before. The article was read aloud with emphasis and +discussed phrase by phrase. Of its wording there could be little +criticism,--it was temperately and even cautiously phrased. As +suggested by the general, the Ochiltree affair had proved that it was +not devoid of truth. Its great offensiveness lay in its boldness: that a +negro should publish in a newspaper what white people would scarcely +acknowledge to themselves in secret was much as though a Russian +_moujik_ or a German peasant should rush into print to question the +divine right of the Lord's Anointed. The article was racial +_lèse-majesté_ in the most aggravated form. A peg was needed upon which +to hang a _coup d'état_, and this editorial offered the requisite +opportunity. It was unanimously decided to republish the obnoxious +article, with comment adapted to fire the inflammable Southern heart and +rouse it against any further self-assertion of the negroes in politics +or elsewhere. + +"The time is ripe!" exclaimed McBane. "In a month we can have the +niggers so scared that they won't dare stick their heads out of doors on +'lection day." + +"I wonder," observed the general thoughtfully, after this conclusion had +been reached, "if we couldn't have Jerry fetch us some liquor?" + +Jerry appeared in response to the usual summons. The general gave him +the money, and ordered three Calhoun cocktails. When Jerry returned with +the glasses on a tray, the general observed him with pointed curiosity. + +"What, in h--ll is the matter with you, Jerry? Your black face is +splotched with brown and yellow patches, and your hair shines as though +you had fallen head-foremost into a firkin of butter. What's the matter +with you?" + +Jerry seemed much embarrassed by this inquiry. + +"Nothin', suh, nothin'," he stammered. "It's--it's jes' somethin' I +be'n puttin' on my hair, suh, ter improve de quality, suh." + +"Jerry," returned the general, bending a solemn look upon the porter, +"you have been playing with edged tools, and your days are numbered. You +have been reading the Afro-American Banner." + +He shook open the paper, which he had retained in his hand, and read +from one of the advertisements:-- + +"'Kinky, curly hair made straight in two applications. Dark skins +lightened two shades; mulattoes turned perfectly white.' + +"This stuff is rank poison, Jerry," continued the general with a mock +solemnity which did not impose upon Jerry, who nevertheless listened +with an air of great alarm. He suspected that the general was making fun +of him; but he also knew that the general would like to think that Jerry +believed him in earnest; and to please the white folks was Jerry's +consistent aim in life. "I can see the signs of decay in your face, and +your hair will all fall out in a week or two at the latest,--mark my +words!" + +McBane had listened to this pleasantry with a sardonic sneer. It was a +waste of valuable time. To Carteret it seemed in doubtful taste. These +grotesque advertisements had their tragic side. They were proof that the +negroes had read the handwriting on the wall. These pitiful attempts to +change their physical characteristics were an acknowledgment, on their +own part, that the negro was doomed, and that the white man was to +inherit the earth and hold all other races under his heel. For, as the +months had passed, Carteret's thoughts, centring more and more upon the +negro, had led him farther and farther, until now he was firmly +convinced that there was no permanent place for the negro in the United +States, if indeed anywhere in the world, except under the ground. More +pathetic even than Jerry's efforts to escape from the universal doom of +his race was his ignorance that even if he could, by some strange +alchemy, bleach his skin and straighten his hair, there would still +remain, underneath it all, only the unbleached darky,--the ass in the +lion's skin. + +When the general had finished his facetious lecture, Jerry backed out of +the room shamefacedly, though affecting a greater confusion than he +really felt. Jerry had not reasoned so closely as Carteret, but he had +realized that it was a distinct advantage to be white,--an advantage +which white people had utilized to secure all the best things in the +world; and he had entertained the vague hope that by changing his +complexion he might share this prerogative. While he suspected the +general's sincerity, he nevertheless felt a little apprehensive lest the +general's prediction about the effects of the face-bleach and other +preparations might prove true,--the general was a white gentleman and +ought to know,--and decided to abandon their use. + +This purpose was strengthened by his next interview with the major. When +Carteret summoned him, an hour later, after the other gentlemen had +taken their leave, Jerry had washed his head thoroughly and there +remained no trace of the pomade. An attempt to darken the lighter spots +in his cuticle by the application of printer's ink had not proved +equally successful,--the retouching left the spots as much too dark as +they had formerly been too light. + +"Jerry," said Carteret sternly, "when I hired you to work for the +Chronicle, you were black. The word 'negro' means 'black.' The best +negro is a black negro, of the pure type, as it came from the hand of +God. If you wish to get along well with the white people, the blacker +you are the better,--white people do not like negroes who want to be +white. A man should be content to remain as God made him and where God +placed him. So no more of this nonsense. Are you going to vote at the +next election?" + +"What would you 'vise me ter do, suh?" asked Jerry cautiously. + +"I do not advise you. You ought to have sense enough to see where your +own interests lie. I put it to you whether you cannot trust yourself +more safely in the hands of white gentlemen, who are your true friends, +than in the hands of ignorant and purchasable negroes and unscrupulous +white scoundrels?" + +"Dere's no doubt about it, suh," assented Jerry, with a vehemence +proportioned to his desire to get back into favor. "I ain' gwine ter +have nothin' ter do wid de 'lection, suh! Ef I don' vote, I kin keep my +job, can't I, suh?" + +The major eyed Jerry with an air of supreme disgust. What could be +expected of a race so utterly devoid of tact? It seemed as though this +negro thought a white gentleman might want to bribe him to remain away +from the polls; and the negro's willingness to accept the imaginary +bribe demonstrated the venal nature of the colored race,--its entire +lack of moral principle! + +"You will retain your place, Jerry," he said severely, "so long as you +perform your duties to my satisfaction and behave yourself properly." + +With this grandiloquent subterfuge Carteret turned to his next article +on white supremacy. Jerry did not delude himself with any fine-spun +sophistry. He knew perfectly well that he held his job upon the +condition that he stayed away from the polls at the approaching +election. Jerry was a fool-- + +"The world of fools hath such a store, + That he who would not see an ass, +Must stay at home and shut his door + And break his looking-glass." + +But while no one may be entirely wise, there are degrees of folly, and +Jerry was not all kinds of a fool. + + + + +XXIX + + +MUTTERINGS OF THE STORM + +Events moved rapidly during the next few days. The reproduction, in the +Chronicle, of the article from the Afro-American Banner, with Carteret's +inflammatory comment, took immediate effect. It touched the Southern +white man in his most sensitive spot. To him such an article was an +insult to white womanhood, and must be resented by some active +steps,--mere words would be no answer at all. To meet words with words +upon such a subject would be to acknowledge the equality of the negro +and his right to discuss or criticise the conduct of the white people. + +The colored people became alarmed at the murmurings of the whites, which +seemed to presage a coming storm. A number of them sought to arm +themselves, but ascertained, upon inquiring at the stores, that no white +merchant would sell a negro firearms. Since all the dealers in this sort +of merchandise were white men, the negroes had to be satisfied with +oiling up the old army muskets which some of them possessed, and the few +revolvers with which a small rowdy element generally managed to keep +themselves supplied. Upon an effort being made to purchase firearms from +a Northern city, the express company, controlled by local men, refused +to accept the consignment. The white people, on the other hand, procured +both arms and ammunition in large quantities, and the Wellington Grays +drilled with great assiduity at their armory. + +All this went on without any public disturbance of the town's +tranquillity. A stranger would have seen nothing to excite his +curiosity. The white people did their talking among themselves, and +merely grew more distant in their manner toward the colored folks, who +instinctively closed their ranks as the whites drew away. With each day +that passed the feeling grew more tense. The editor of the Afro-American +Banner, whose office had been quietly garrisoned for several nights by +armed negroes, became frightened, and disappeared from the town between +two suns. + +The conspirators were jubilant at the complete success of their plans. +It only remained for them to so direct this aroused public feeling that +it might completely accomplish the desired end,--to change the political +complexion of the city government and assure the ascendency of the +whites until the amendment should go into effect. A revolution, and not +a riot, was contemplated. + +With this end in view, another meeting was called at Carteret's office. + +"We are now ready," announced General Belmont, "for the final act of +this drama. We must decide promptly, or events may run away from us." + +"What do you suggest?" asked Carteret. + +"Down in the American tropics," continued the general, "they have a way +of doing things. I was in Nicaragua, ten years ago, when Paterno's +revolution drove out Igorroto's government. It was as easy as falling +off a log. Paterno had the arms and the best men. Igorroto was not +looking for trouble, and the guns were at his breast before he knew it. +We have the guns. The negroes are not expecting trouble, and are easy +to manage compared with the fiery mixture that flourishes in the +tropics." + +"I should not advocate murder," returned Carteret. "We are animated by +high and holy principles. We wish to right a wrong, to remedy an abuse, +to save our state from anarchy and our race from humiliation. I don't +object to frightening the negroes, but I am opposed to unnecessary +bloodshed." + +"I'm not quite so particular," struck in McBane. "They need to be +taught a lesson, and a nigger more or less wouldn't be missed. There's +too many of 'em now." + +"Of course," continued Carteret, "if we should decide upon a certain +mode of procedure, and the negroes should resist, a different reasoning +might apply; but I will have no premeditated murder." + +"In Central and South America," observed the general reflectively, "none +are hurt except those who get in the way." + +"There'll be no niggers hurt," said McBane contemptuously, "unless they +strain themselves running. One white man can chase a hundred of 'em. +I've managed five hundred at a time. I'll pay for burying all the +niggers that are killed." + +The conference resulted in a well-defined plan, to be put into operation +the following day, by which the city government was to be wrested from +the Republicans and their negro allies. + +"And now," said General Belmont, "while we are cleansing the Augean +stables, we may as well remove the cause as the effect. There are +several negroes too many in this town, which will be much the better +without them. There's that yellow lawyer, Watson. He's altogether too +mouthy, and has too much business. Every nigger that gets into trouble +sends for Watson, and white lawyers, with families to support and social +positions to keep up, are deprived of their legitimate source of +income." + +"There's that damn nigger real estate agent," blurted out McBane. "Billy +Kitchen used to get most of the nigger business, but this darky has +almost driven him to the poorhouse. A white business man is entitled to +a living in his own profession and his own home. That nigger don't +belong here nohow. He came from the North a year or two ago, and is hand +in glove with Barber, the nigger editor, which is enough of itself to +damn him. _He'll_ have to go!" + +"How about the collector of the port?" + +"We'd better not touch him. It would bring the government down upon us, +which we want to avoid. We don't need to worry about the nigger +preachers either. They want to stay here, where the loaves and the +fishes are. We can make 'em write letters to the newspapers justifying +our course, as a condition of their remaining." + +"What about Billings?" asked McBane. Billings was the white Republican +mayor. "Is that skunk to be allowed to stay in town?" + +"No," returned the general, "every white Republican office-holder ought +to be made to go. This town is only big enough for Democrats, and +negroes who can be taught to keep their place." + +"What about the colored doctor," queried McBane, "with the hospital, and +the diamond ring, and the carriage, and the other fallals?" + +"I shouldn't interfere with Miller," replied the general decisively. +"He's a very good sort of a negro, doesn't meddle with politics, nor +tread on any one else's toes. His father was a good citizen, which +counts in his favor. He's spending money in the community too, and +contributes to its prosperity." + +"That sort of nigger, though, sets a bad example," retorted McBane. +"They make it all the harder to keep the rest of 'em down." + +"'One swallow does not make a summer,'" quoted the general. "When we get +things arranged, there'll be no trouble. A stream cannot rise higher +than its fountain, and a smart nigger without a constituency will no +longer be an object of fear. I say, let the doctor alone." + +"He'll have to keep mighty quiet, though," muttered McBane +discontentedly. "I don't like smart niggers. I've had to shoot several +of them, in the course of my life." + +"Personally, I dislike the man," interposed Carteret, "and if I +consulted my own inclinations, would say expel him with the rest; but my +grievance is a personal one, and to gratify it in that way would be a +loss to the community. I wish to be strictly impartial in this matter, +and to take no step which cannot be entirely justified by a wise regard +for the public welfare." + +"What's the use of all this hypocrisy, gentlemen?" sneered McBane. +"Every last one of us has an axe to grind! The major may as well put an +edge on his. We'll never get a better chance to have things our way. If +this nigger doctor annoys the major, we'll run him out with the rest. +This is a white man's country, and a white man's city, and no nigger has +any business here when a white man wants him gone!" + +Carteret frowned darkly at this brutal characterization of their +motives. It robbed the enterprise of all its poetry, and put a solemn +act of revolution upon the plane of a mere vulgar theft of power. Even +the general winced. + +"I would not consent," he said irritably, "to Miller's being disturbed." + +McBane made no further objection. + +There was a discreet knock at the door. + +"Come in," said Carteret. + +Jerry entered. "Mistuh Ellis wants ter speak ter you a minute, suh," he +said. + +Carteret excused himself and left the room. + +"Jerry," said the general, "you lump of ebony, the sight of you reminds +me! If your master doesn't want you for a minute, step across to Mr. +Brown's and tell him to send me three cocktails." + +"Yas, suh," responded Jerry, hesitating. The general had said nothing +about paying. + +"And tell him, Jerry, to charge them. I'm short of change to-day." + +"Yas, suh; yas, suh," replied Jerry, as he backed out of the presence, +adding, when he had reached the hall: "Dere ain' no change fer Jerry dis +time, sho': I'll jes' make dat _fo_' cocktails, an' de gin'l won't +never know de diffe'nce. I ain' gwine 'cross de road fer nothin', not ef +I knows it." + +Half an hour later, the conspirators dispersed. They had fixed the hour +of the proposed revolution, the course to be pursued, the results to be +obtained; but in stating their equation they had overlooked one +factor,--God, or Fate, or whatever one may choose to call the Power that +holds the destinies of man in the hollow of his hand. + + + + +XXX + + +THE MISSING PAPERS + +Mrs. Carteret was very much disturbed. It was supposed that the shock of +her aunt's death had affected her health, for since that event she had +fallen into a nervous condition which gave the major grave concern. Much +to the general surprise, Mrs. Ochiltree had left no will, and no +property of any considerable value except her homestead, which descended +to Mrs. Carteret as the natural heir. Whatever she may have had on hand +in the way of ready money had undoubtedly been abstracted from the cedar +chest by the midnight marauder, to whose visit her death was immediately +due. Her niece's grief was held to mark a deep-seated affection for the +grim old woman who had reared her. + +Mrs. Carteret's present state of mind, of which her nervousness was a +sufficiently accurate reflection, did in truth date from her aunt's +death, and also in part from the time of the conversation with Mrs. +Ochiltree, one afternoon, during and after the drive past Miller's new +hospital. Mrs. Ochiltree had grown steadily more and more childish after +that time, and her niece had never succeeded in making her pick up the +thread of thought where it had been dropped. At any rate, Mrs. Ochiltree +had made no further disclosure upon the subject. + +An examination, not long after her aunt's death, of the papers found +near the cedar chest on the morning after the murder had contributed to +Mrs. Carteret's enlightenment, but had not promoted her peace of mind. + +When Mrs. Carteret reached home, after her hurried exploration of the +cedar chest, she thrust into a bureau drawer the envelope she had found. +So fully was her mind occupied, for several days, with the funeral, and +with the excitement attending the arrest of Sandy Campbell, that she +deferred the examination of the contents of the envelope until near the +end of the week. + +One morning, while alone in her chamber, she drew the envelope from the +drawer, and was holding it in her hand, hesitating as to whether or not +she should open it, when the baby in the next room began to cry. + +The child's cry seemed like a warning, and yielding to a vague +uneasiness, she put the paper back. + +"Phil," she said to her husband at luncheon, "Aunt Polly said some +strange things to me one day before she died,--I don't know whether she +was quite in her right mind or not; but suppose that my father had left +a will by which it was provided that half his property should go to that +woman and her child?" + +"It would never have gone by such a will," replied the major easily. +"Your Aunt Polly was in her dotage, and merely dreaming. Your father +would never have been such a fool; but even if he had, no such will +could have stood the test of the courts. It would clearly have been due +to the improper influence of a designing woman." + +"So that legally, as well as morally," said Mrs. Carteret, "the will +would have been of no effect?" + +"Not the slightest. A jury would soon have broken down the legal claim. +As for any moral obligation, there would have been nothing moral about +the affair. The only possible consideration for such a gift was an +immoral one. I don't wish to speak harshly of your father, my dear, +but his conduct was gravely reprehensible. The woman herself had no +right or claim whatever; she would have been whipped and expelled from +the town, if justice--blind, bleeding justice, then prostrate at the +feet of slaves and aliens--could have had her way!" + +"But the child"-- + +"The child was in the same category. Who was she, to have inherited the +estate of your ancestors, of which, a few years before, she would +herself have formed a part? The child of shame, it was hers to pay the +penalty. But the discussion is all in the air, Olivia. Your father never +did and never would have left such a will." + +This conversation relieved Mrs. Carteret's uneasiness. Going to her room +shortly afterwards, she took the envelope from her bureau drawer and +drew out a bulky paper. The haunting fear that it might be such a will +as her aunt had suggested was now removed; for such an instrument, in +the light of what her husband had said confirming her own intuitions, +would be of no valid effect. It might be just as well, she thought, to +throw the paper in the fire without looking at it. She wished to think +as well as might be of her father, and she felt that her respect for his +memory would not be strengthened by the knowledge that he had meant to +leave his estate away from her; for her aunt's words had been open to +the construction that she was to have been left destitute. Curiosity +strongly prompted her to read the paper. Perhaps the will contained no +such provision as she had feared, and it might convey some request or +direction which ought properly to be complied with. + +She had been standing in front of the bureau while these thoughts passed +through her mind, and now, dropping the envelope back into the drawer +mechanically, she unfolded the document. It was written on legal paper, +in her father's own hand. + +Mrs. Carteret was not familiar with legal verbiage, and there were +several expressions of which she did not perhaps appreciate the full +effect; but a very hasty glance enabled her to ascertain the purport of +the paper. It was a will, by which, in one item, her father devised to +his daughter Janet, the child of the woman known as Julia Brown, the sum +of ten thousand dollars, and a certain plantation or tract of land a +short distance from the town of Wellington. The rest and residue of his +estate, after deducting all legal charges and expenses, was bequeathed +to his beloved daughter, Olivia Merkell. + +Mrs. Carteret breathed a sigh of relief. Her father had not preferred +another to her, but had left to his lawful daughter the bulk of his +estate. She felt at the same time a growing indignation at the thought +that that woman should so have wrought upon her father's weakness as to +induce him to think of leaving so much valuable property to her +bastard,--property which by right should go, and now would go, to her +own son, to whom by every rule of law and decency it ought to descend. + +A fire was burning in the next room, on account of the baby,--there had +been a light frost the night before, and the air was somewhat chilly. +For the moment the room was empty. Mrs. Carteret came out from her +chamber and threw the offending paper into the fire, and watched it +slowly burn. When it had been consumed, the carbon residue of one sheet +still retained its form, and she could read the words on the charred +portion. A sentence, which had escaped her eye in her rapid reading, +stood out in ghostly black upon the gray background:-- + +"All the rest and residue of my estate I devise and bequeath to my +daughter Olivia Merkell, the child of my beloved first wife." + +Mrs. Carteret had not before observed the word "first." Instinctively +she stretched toward the fire the poker which she held in her hand, and +at its touch the shadowy remnant fell to pieces, and nothing but ashes +remained upon the hearth. + +Not until the next morning did she think again of the envelope which had +contained the paper she had burned. Opening the drawer where it lay, the +oblong blue envelope confronted her. The sight of it was distasteful. +The indorsed side lay uppermost, and the words seemed like a mute +reproach:-- + +"The Last Will and Testament of Samuel Merkell." + +Snatching up the envelope, she glanced into it mechanically as she moved +toward the next room, and perceived a thin folded paper which had +heretofore escaped her notice. When opened, it proved to be a +certificate of marriage, in due form, between Samuel Merkell and Julia +Brown. It was dated from a county in South Carolina, about two years +before her father's death. + +For a moment Mrs. Carteret stood gazing blankly at this faded slip of +paper. Her father _had_ married this woman!--at least he had gone +through the form of marriage with her, for to him it had surely been no +more than an empty formality. The marriage of white and colored persons +was forbidden by law. Only recently she had read of a case where both +the parties to such a crime, a colored man and a white woman, had been +sentenced to long terms in the penitentiary. She even recalled the +circumstances. The couple had been living together unlawfully,--they +were very low people, whose private lives were beneath the public +notice,--but influenced by a religious movement pervading the community, +had sought, they said at the trial, to secure the blessing of God upon +their union. The higher law, which imperiously demanded that the purity +and prestige of the white race be preserved at any cost, had intervened +at this point. + +Mechanically she moved toward the fireplace, so dazed by this discovery +as to be scarcely conscious of her own actions. She surely had not +formed any definite intention of destroying this piece of paper when her +fingers relaxed unconsciously and let go their hold upon it. The draught +swept it toward the fireplace. Ere scarcely touching the flames it +caught, blazed fiercely, and shot upward with the current of air. A +moment later the record of poor Julia's marriage was scattered to the +four winds of heaven, as her poor body had long since mingled with the +dust of earth. + +The letter remained unread. In her agitation at the discovery of the +marriage certificate, Olivia had almost forgotten the existence of the +letter. It was addressed to "John Delamere, Esq., as Executor of my Last +Will and Testament," while the lower left hand corner bore the +direction: "To be delivered only after my death, with seal unbroken." + +The seal was broken already; Mr. Delamere was dead; the letter could +never be delivered. Mrs. Carteret unfolded it and read:-- + +MY DEAR DELAMERE,--I have taken the liberty of naming you as executor of +my last will, because you are my friend, and the only man of my +acquaintance whom I feel that I can trust to carry out my wishes, +appreciate my motives, and preserve the silence I desire. + +I have, first, a confession to make. Inclosed in this letter you will +find a certificate of marriage between my child Janet's mother and +myself. While I have never exactly repented of this marriage, I have +never had the courage to acknowledge it openly. If I had not married +Julia, I fear Polly Ochiltree would have married me by main force,--as +she would marry you or any other gentleman unfortunate enough to fall in +the way of this twice-widowed man-hunter. When my wife died, three years +ago, her sister Polly offered to keep house for me and the child. I +would sooner have had the devil in the house, and yet I trembled with +alarm,--there seemed no way of escape,--it was so clearly and obviously +the proper thing. + +But she herself gave me my opportunity. I was on the point of +consenting, when she demanded, as a condition of her coming, that I +discharge Julia, my late wife's maid. She was laboring under a +misapprehension in regard to the girl, but I grasped at the straw, and +did everything to foster her delusion. I declared solemnly that nothing +under heaven would induce me to part with Julia. The controversy +resulted in my permitting Polly to take the child, while I retained the +maid. + +Before Polly put this idea into my head, I had scarcely looked at Julia, +but this outbreak turned my attention toward her. She was a handsome +girl, and, as I soon found out, a good girl. My wife, who raised her, +was a Christian woman, and had taught her modesty and virtue. She was +free. The air was full of liberty, and equal rights, and all the +abolition claptrap, and she made marriage a condition of her remaining +longer in the house. In a moment of weakness I took her away to a place +where we were not known, and married her. If she had left me, I should +have fallen a victim to Polly Ochiltree,--to which any fate was +preferable. + +And then, old friend, my weakness kept to the fore. I was ashamed of +this marriage, and my new wife saw it. Moreover, she loved me,--too +well, indeed, to wish to make me unhappy. The ceremony had satisfied her +conscience, had set her right, she said, with God; for the opinions of +men she did not care, since I loved her,--she only wanted to compensate +me, as best she could, for the great honor I had done my +handmaiden,--for she had read her Bible, and I was the Abraham to her +Hagar, compared with whom she considered herself at a great advantage. +It was her own proposition that nothing be said of this marriage. If any +shame should fall on her, it would fall lightly, for it would be +undeserved. When the child came, she still kept silence. No one, she +argued, could blame an innocent child for the accident of birth, and in +the sight of God this child had every right to exist; while among her +own people illegitimacy would involve but little stigma. I need not +say that I was easily persuaded to accept this sacrifice; but touched by +her fidelity, I swore to provide handsomely for them both. This I have +tried to do by the will of which I ask you to act as executor. Had I +left the child more, it might serve as a ground for attacking the will; +my acknowledgment of the tie of blood is sufficient to justify a +reasonable bequest. + +I have taken this course for the sake of my daughter Olivia, who is dear +to me, and whom I would not wish to make ashamed; and in deference to +public opinion, which it is not easy to defy. If, after my death, Julia +should choose to make our secret known, I shall of course be beyond the +reach of hard words; but loyalty to my memory will probably keep her +silent. A strong man would long since have acknowledged her before the +world and taken the consequences; but, alas! I am only myself, and the +atmosphere I live in does not encourage moral heroism. I should like to +be different, but it is God who hath made us, and not we ourselves! + +Nevertheless, old friend, I will ask of you one favor. If in the future +this child of Julia's and of mine should grow to womanhood; if she +should prove to have her mother's gentleness and love of virtue; if, in +the new era which is opening up for her mother's race, to which, +unfortunately, she must belong, she should become, in time, an educated +woman; and if the time should ever come when, by virtue of her education +or the development of her people, it would be to her a source of shame +or unhappiness that she was an illegitimate child,--if you are still +alive, old friend, and have the means of knowing or divining this thing, +go to her and tell her, for me, that she is my lawful child, and ask +her to forgive her father's weakness. + +When this letter comes to you, I shall have passed to--the Beyond; but I +am confident that you will accept this trust, for which I thank you now, +in advance, most heartily. + +The letter was signed with her father's name, the same signature which +had been attached to the will. + +Having firmly convinced herself of the illegality of the papers, and of +her own right to destroy them, Mrs. Carteret ought to have felt relieved +that she had thus removed all traces of her dead father's folly. True, +the other daughter remained,--she had seen her on the street only the +day before. The sight of this person she had always found offensive, and +now, she felt, in view of what she had just learned, it must be even +more so. Never, while this woman lived in the town, would she be able to +throw the veil of forgetfulness over this blot upon her father's memory. + +As the day wore on, Mrs. Carteret grew still less at ease. To herself, +marriage was a serious thing,--to a right-thinking woman the most +serious concern of life. A marriage certificate, rightfully procured, +was scarcely less solemn, so far as it went, than the Bible itself. Her +own she cherished as the apple of her eye. It was the evidence of her +wifehood, the seal of her child's legitimacy, her patent of +nobility,--the token of her own and her child's claim to social place +and consideration. She had burned this pretended marriage certificate +because it meant nothing. Nevertheless, she could not ignore the +knowledge of another such marriage, of which every one in the town +knew,--a celebrated case, indeed, where a white man, of a family quite +as prominent as her father's, had married a colored woman during the +military occupation of the state just after the civil war. The legality +of the marriage had never been questioned. It had been fully consummated +by twenty years of subsequent cohabitation. No amount of social +persecution had ever shaken the position of the husband. With an iron +will he had stayed on in the town, a living protest against the +established customs of the South, so rudely interrupted for a few short +years; and, though his children were negroes, though he had never +appeared in public with his wife, no one had ever questioned the +validity of his marriage or the legitimacy of his offspring. + +The marriage certificate which Mrs. Carteret had burned dated from the +period of the military occupation. Hence Mrs. Carteret, who was a good +woman, and would not have done a dishonest thing, felt decidedly +uncomfortable. She had destroyed the marriage certificate, but its ghost +still haunted her. + +Major Carteret, having just eaten a good dinner, was in a very agreeable +humor when, that same evening, his wife brought up again the subject of +their previous discussion. + +"Phil," she asked, "Aunt Polly told me that once, long before my father +died, when she went to remonstrate with him for keeping that Woman in +the house, he threatened to marry Julia if Aunt Polly ever said another +word to him about the matter. Suppose he _had_ married her, and had then +left a will,--would the marriage have made any difference, so far as the +will was concerned?" + +Major Carteret laughed. "Your Aunt Polly," he said, "was a remarkable +woman, with a wonderful imagination, which seems to have grown more +vivid as her memory and judgment weakened. Why should your father marry +his negro housemaid? Mr. Merkell was never rated as a fool,--he had one +of the clearest heads in Wellington. I saw him only a day or two before +he died, and I could swear before any court in Christendom that he was +of sound mind and memory to the last. These notions of your aunt were +mere delusions. Your father was never capable of such a folly." + +"Of course I am only supposing a case," returned Olivia. "Imagining such +a case, just for the argument, would the marriage have been legal?" + +"That would depend. If he had married her during the military +occupation, or over in South Carolina, the marriage would have been +legally valid, though morally and socially outrageous." + +"And if he had died afterwards, leaving a will?" + +"The will would have controlled the disposition of his estate, in all +probability." + +"Suppose he had left no will?" + +"You are getting the matter down pretty fine, my dear! The woman would +have taken one third of the real estate for life, and could have lived +in the homestead until she died. She would also have had half the other +property,--the money and goods and furniture, everything except the +land,--and the negro child would have shared with you the balance of the +estate. That, I believe, is according to the law of descent and +distribution." + +Mrs. Carteret lapsed into a troubled silence. Her father _had_ married +the woman. In her heart she had no doubt of the validity of the +marriage, so far as the law was concerned; if one marriage of such a +kind would stand, another contracted under similar conditions was +equally as good. If the marriage had been valid, Julia's child had been +legitimate. The will she had burned gave this sister of hers--she +shuddered at the word--but a small part of the estate. Under the law, +which intervened now that there was no will, the property should have +been equally divided. If the woman had been white,--but the woman had +_not_ been white, and the same rule of moral conduct did not, _could_ +not, in the very nature of things, apply, as between white people! For, +if this were not so, slavery had been, not merely an economic mistake, +but a great crime against humanity. If it had been such a crime, as for +a moment she dimly perceived it might have been, then through the long +centuries there had been piled up a catalogue of wrong and outrage +which, if the law of compensation be a law of nature, must some time, +somewhere, in some way, be atoned for. She herself had not escaped the +penalty, of which, she realized, this burden placed upon her conscience +was but another installment. + +If she should make known the facts she had learned, it would mean +what?--a division of her father's estate, a recognition of the legality +of her father's relations with Julia. Such a stain upon her father's +memory would be infinitely worse than if he had _not_ married her. To +have lived with her without marriage was a social misdemeanor, at which +society in the old days had winked, or at most had frowned. To have +married her was to have committed the unpardonable social sin. Such a +scandal Mrs. Carteret could not have endured. Should she seek to make +restitution, it would necessarily involve the disclosure of at least +some of the facts. Had she not destroyed the will, she might have +compromised with her conscience by producing it and acting upon its +terms, which had been so stated as not to disclose the marriage. This +was now rendered impossible by her own impulsive act; she could not +mention the will at all, without admitting that she had destroyed it. + +Mrs. Carteret found herself in what might be called, vulgarly, a moral +"pocket." She could, of course, remain silent. Mrs. Carteret was a good +woman, according to her lights, with a cultivated conscience, to which +she had always looked as her mentor and infallible guide. + +Hence Mrs. Carteret, after this painful discovery, remained for a long +time ill at ease,--so disturbed, indeed, that her mind reacted upon her +nerves, which had never been strong; and her nervousness affected her +strength, which had never been great, until Carteret, whose love for her +had been deepened and strengthened by the advent of his son, became +alarmed for her health, and spoke very seriously to Dr. Price concerning +it. + + + + +XXXI + + +THE SHADOW OF A DREAM + +Mrs. Carteret awoke, with a start, from a troubled dream. She had been +sailing across a sunlit sea, in a beautiful boat, her child lying on a +bright-colored cushion at her feet. Overhead the swelling sail served as +an awning to keep off the sun's rays, which far ahead were reflected +with dazzling brilliancy from the shores of a golden island. Her son, +she dreamed, was a fairy prince, and yonder lay his kingdom, to which he +was being borne, lying there at her feet, in this beautiful boat, across +the sunlit sea. + +Suddenly and without warning the sky was overcast. A squall struck the +boat and tore away the sail. In the distance a huge billow--a great +white wall of water--came sweeping toward their frail craft, threatening +it with instant destruction. She clasped her child to her bosom, and a +moment later found herself struggling in the sea, holding the child's +head above the water. As she floated there, as though sustained by some +unseen force, she saw in the distance a small boat approaching over the +storm-tossed waves. Straight toward her it came, and she had reached out +her hand to grasp its side, when the rower looked back, and she saw that +it was her sister. The recognition had been mutual. With a sharp +movement of one oar the boat glided by, leaving her clutching at the +empty air. She felt her strength begin to fail. Despairingly she +signaled with her disengaged hand; but the rower, after one mute, +reproachful glance, rowed on. Mrs. Carteret's strength grew less and +less. The child became heavy as lead. Herself floating in the water, as +though it were her native element, she could no longer support the +child. Lower and lower it sank,--she was powerless to save it or to +accompany it,--until, gasping wildly for breath, it threw up its little +hands and sank, the cruel water gurgling over its head,--when she awoke +with a start and a chill, and lay there trembling for several minutes +before she heard little Dodie in his crib, breathing heavily. + +She rose softly, went to the crib, and changed the child's position to +an easier one. He breathed more freely, and she went back to bed, but +not to sleep. + +She had tried to put aside the distressing questions raised by the +discovery of her father's will and the papers accompanying it. Why +should she be burdened with such a responsibility, at this late day, +when the touch of time had well-nigh healed these old sores? Surely, God +had put his curse not alone upon the slave, but upon the stealer of men! +With other good people she had thanked Him that slavery was no more, and +that those who once had borne its burden upon their consciences could +stand erect and feel that they themselves were free. The weed had been +cut down, but its roots remained, deeply imbedded in the soil, to spring +up and trouble a new generation. Upon her weak shoulders was placed the +burden of her father's weakness, her father's folly. It was left to her +to acknowledge or not this shameful marriage and her sister's rights in +their father's estate. + +Balancing one consideration against another, she had almost decided +that she might ignore this tie. To herself, Olivia Merkell,--Olivia +Carteret,--the stigma of base birth would have meant social ostracism, +social ruin, the averted face, the finger of pity or of scorn. All the +traditional weight of public disapproval would have fallen upon her as +the unhappy fruit of an unblessed union. To this other woman it could +have had no such significance,--it had been the lot of her race. To +them, twenty-five years before, sexual sin had never been imputed as +more than a fault. She had lost nothing by her supposed illegitimacy; +she would gain nothing by the acknowledgment of her mother's marriage. + +On the other hand, what would be the effect of this revelation upon Mrs. +Carteret herself? To have it known that her father had married a negress +would only be less dreadful than to have it appear that he had committed +some terrible crime. It was a crime now, by the laws of every Southern +State, for white and colored persons to intermarry. She shuddered before +the possibility that at some time in the future some person, none too +well informed, might learn that her father had married a colored woman, +and might assume that she, Olivia Carteret, or her child, had sprung +from this shocking _mésalliance_,--a fate to which she would willingly +have preferred death. No, this marriage must never be made known; the +secret should remain buried forever in her own heart! + +But there still remained the question of her father's property and her +father's will. This woman was her father's child,--of that there could +be no doubt, it was written in her features no less than in her father's +will. As his lawful child,--of which, alas! there could also be no +question,--she was entitled by law to half his estate. Mrs. Carteret's +problem had sunk from the realm of sentiment to that of material things, +which, curiously enough, she found much more difficult. For, while the +negro, by the traditions of her people, was barred from the world of +sentiment, his rights of property were recognized. The question had +become, with Mrs. Carteret, a question of _meum_ and _tuum_. Had the +girl Janet been poor, ignorant, or degraded, as might well have been her +fate, Mrs. Carteret might have felt a vicarious remorse for her aunt's +suppression of the papers; but fate had compensated Janet for the loss; +she had been educated, she had married well; she had not suffered for +lack of the money of which she had been defrauded, and did not need it +now. She had a child, it is true, but this child's career would be so +circumscribed by the accident of color that too much wealth would only +be a source of unhappiness; to her own child, on the contrary, it would +open every door of life. + +It would be too lengthy a task to follow the mind and conscience of this +much-tried lady in their intricate workings upon this difficult problem; +for she had a mind as logical as any woman's, and a conscience which she +wished to keep void of offense. She had to confront a situation +involving the element of race, upon which the moral standards of her +people were hopelessly confused. Mrs. Carteret reached the conclusion, +ere daylight dawned, that she would be silent upon the subject of her +father's second marriage. Neither party had wished it known,--neither +Julia nor her father,--and she would respect her father's wishes. To act +otherwise would be to defeat his will, to make known what he had +carefully concealed, and to give Janet a claim of title to one half her +father's estate, while he had only meant her to have the ten thousand +dollars named in the will. + +By the same reasoning, she must carry out her father's will in respect +to this bequest. Here there was another difficulty. The mining +investment into which they had entered shortly after the birth of little +Dodie had tied up so much of her property that it would have been +difficult to procure ten thousand dollars immediately; while a demand +for half the property at once would mean bankruptcy and ruin. Moreover, +upon what ground could she offer her sister any sum of money whatever? +So sudden a change of heart, after so many years of silence, would raise +the presumption of some right on the part of Janet in her father's +estate. Suspicion once aroused, it might be possible to trace this +hidden marriage, and establish it by legal proof. The marriage once +verified, the claim for half the estate could not be denied. She could +not plead her father's will to the contrary, for this would be to +acknowledge the suppression of the will, in itself a criminal act. + +There was, however, a way of escape. This hospital which had recently +been opened was the personal property of her sister's husband. Some time +in the future, when their investments matured, she would present to the +hospital a sum of money equal to the amount her father had meant his +colored daughter to have. Thus indirectly both her father's will and her +own conscience would be satisfied. + +Mrs. Carteret had reached this comfortable conclusion, and was falling +asleep, when her attention was again drawn by her child's breathing. She +took it in her own arms and soon fell asleep. + +"By the way, Olivia," said the major, when leaving the house next +morning for the office, "if you have any business down town to-day, +transact it this forenoon. Under no circumstances must you or Clara or +the baby leave the house after midday." + +"Why, what's the matter, Phil?" + +"Nothing to alarm you, except that there may be a little political +demonstration which may render the streets unsafe. You are not to say +anything about it where the servants might hear." + +"Will there be any danger for you, Phil?" she demanded with alarm. + +"Not the slightest, Olivia dear. No one will be harmed; but it is best +for ladies and children to stay indoors." + +Mrs. Carteret's nerves were still more or less unstrung from her mental +struggles of the night, and the memory of her dream came to her like a +dim foreboding of misfortune. As though in sympathy with its mother's +feelings, the baby did not seem as well as usual. The new nurse was by +no means an ideal nurse,--Mammy Jane understood the child much better. +If there should be any trouble with the negroes, toward which her +husband's remark seemed to point,--she knew the general political +situation, though not informed in regard to her husband's plans,--she +would like to have Mammy Jane near her, where the old nurse might be +protected from danger or alarm. + +With this end in view she dispatched the nurse, shortly after breakfast, +to Mammy Jane's house in the negro settlement on the other side of the +town, with a message asking the old woman to come immediately to Mrs. +Carteret's. Unfortunately, Mammy Jane had gone to visit a sick woman in +the country, and was not expected to return for several hours. + + + + +XXXII + + +THE STORM BREAKS + +The Wellington riot began at three o'clock in the afternoon of a day as +fair as was ever selected for a deed of darkness. The sky was clear, +except for a few light clouds that floated, white and feathery, high in +air, like distant islands in a sapphire sea. A salt-laden breeze from +the ocean a few miles away lent a crisp sparkle to the air. + +At three o'clock sharp the streets were filled, as if by magic, with +armed white men. The negroes, going about, had noted, with uneasy +curiosity, that the stores and places of business, many of which closed +at noon, were unduly late in opening for the afternoon, though no one +suspected the reason for the delay; but at three o'clock every passing +colored man was ordered, by the first white man he met, to throw up his +hands. If he complied, he was searched, more or less roughly, for +firearms, and then warned to get off the street. When he met another +group of white men the scene was repeated. The man thus summarily held +up seldom encountered more than two groups before disappearing across +lots to his own home or some convenient hiding-place. If he resisted any +demand of those who halted him--But the records of the day are +historical; they may be found in the newspapers of the following date, +but they are more firmly engraved upon the hearts and memories of the +people of Wellington. For many months there were negro families in the +town whose children screamed with fear and ran to their mothers for +protection at the mere sight of a white man. + +Dr. Miller had received a call, about one o'clock, to attend a case at +the house of a well-to-do colored farmer, who lived some three or four +miles from the town, upon the very road, by the way, along which Miller +had driven so furiously a few weeks before, in the few hours that +intervened before Sandy Campbell would probably have been burned at the +stake. The drive to his patient's home, the necessary inquiries, the +filling of the prescription from his own medicine-case, which he carried +along with him, the little friendly conversation about the weather and +the crops, and, the farmer being an intelligent and thinking man, the +inevitable subject of the future of their race,--these, added to the +return journey, occupied at least two hours of Miller's time. + +As he neared the town on his way back, he saw ahead of him half a dozen +men and women approaching, with fear written in their faces, in every +degree from apprehension to terror. Women were weeping and children +crying, and all were going as fast as seemingly lay in their power, +looking behind now and then as if pursued by some deadly enemy. At sight +of Miller's buggy they made a dash for cover, disappearing, like a covey +of frightened partridges, in the underbrush along the road. + +Miller pulled up his horse and looked after them in startled wonder. + +"What on earth can be the matter?" he muttered, struck with a vague +feeling of alarm. A psychologist, seeking to trace the effects of +slavery upon the human mind, might find in the South many a curious +illustration of this curse, abiding long after the actual physical +bondage had terminated. In the olden time the white South labored under +the constant fear of negro insurrections. Knowing that they themselves, +if in the negroes' place, would have risen in the effort to throw off +the yoke, all their reiterated theories of negro subordination and +inferiority could not remove that lurking fear, founded upon the obscure +consciousness that the slaves ought to have risen. Conscience, it has +been said, makes cowards of us all. There was never, on the continent of +America, a successful slave revolt, nor one which lasted more than a few +hours, or resulted in the loss of more than a few white lives; yet never +was the planter quite free from the fear that there might be one. + +On the other hand, the slave had before his eyes always the fear of the +master. There were good men, according to their lights,--according to +their training and environment,--among the Southern slaveholders, who +treated their slaves kindly, as slaves, from principle, because they +recognized the claims of humanity, even under the dark skin of a human +chattel. There was many a one who protected or pampered his negroes, as +the case might be, just as a man fondles his dog,--because they were +his; they were a part of his estate, an integral part of the entity of +property and person which made up the aristocrat; but with all this +kindness, there was always present, in the consciousness of the lowest +slave, the knowledge that he was in his master's power, and that he +could make no effectual protest against the abuse of that authority. +There was also the knowledge, among those who could think at all, that +the best of masters was himself a slave to a system, which hampered his +movements but scarcely less than those of his bondmen. + +When, therefore, Miller saw these men and women scampering into the +bushes, he divined, with this slumbering race consciousness which years +of culture had not obliterated, that there was some race trouble on +foot. His intuition did not long remain unsupported. A black head was +cautiously protruded from the shrubbery, and a black voice--if such a +description be allowable--addressed him:-- + +"Is dat you, Doctuh Miller?" + +"Yes. Who are you, and what's the trouble?" + +"What's de trouble, suh? Why, all hell's broke loose in town yonduh. De +w'ite folks is riz 'gins' de niggers, an' say dey're gwine ter kill +eve'y nigger dey kin lay han's on." + +Miller's heart leaped to his throat, as he thought of his wife and +child. This story was preposterous; it could not be true, and yet there +must be something in it. He tried to question his informant, but the man +was so overcome with excitement and fear that Miller saw clearly that he +must go farther for information. He had read in the Morning Chronicle, a +few days before, the obnoxious editorial quoted from the Afro-American +Banner, and had noted the comment upon it by the white editor. He had +felt, as at the time of its first publication, that the editorial was +ill-advised. It could do no good, and was calculated to arouse the +animosity of those whose friendship, whose tolerance, at least, was +necessary and almost indispensable to the colored people. They were +living, at the best, in a sort of armed neutrality with the whites; such +a publication, however serviceable elsewhere, could have no other +effect in Wellington than to endanger this truce and defeat the hope of +a possible future friendship. The right of free speech entitled Barber +to publish it; a larger measure of common-sense would have made him +withhold it. Whether it was the republication of this article that had +stirred up anew the sleeping dogs of race prejudice and whetted their +thirst for blood, he could not yet tell; but at any rate, there was +mischief on foot. + +"Fer God's sake, doctuh, don' go no closeter ter dat town," pleaded his +informant, "er you'll be killt sho'. Come on wid us, suh, an' tek keer +er yo'se'f. We're gwine ter hide in de swamps till dis thing is over!" + +"God, man!" exclaimed Miller, urging his horse forward, "my wife and +child are in the town!" + +Fortunately, he reflected, there were no patients confined in the +hospital,--if there should be anything in this preposterous story. To +one unfamiliar with Southern life, it might have seemed impossible that +these good Christian people, who thronged the churches on Sunday, and +wept over the sufferings of the lowly Nazarene, and sent missionaries to +the heathen, could be hungering and thirsting for the blood of their +fellow men; but Miller cherished no such delusion. He knew the history +of his country; he had the threatened lynching of Sandy Campbell vividly +in mind; and he was fully persuaded that to race prejudice, once roused, +any horror was possible. That women or children would be molested of set +purpose he did not believe, but that they might suffer by accident was +more than likely. + +As he neared the town, dashing forward at the top of his horse's speed, +he heard his voice called in a loud and agitated tone, and, glancing +around him, saw a familiar form standing by the roadside, gesticulating +vehemently. + +He drew up the horse with a suddenness that threw the faithful and +obedient animal back upon its haunches. The colored lawyer, Watson, came +up to the buggy. That he was laboring under great and unusual excitement +was quite apparent from his pale face and frightened air. + +"What's the matter, Watson?" demanded Miller, hoping now to obtain some +reliable information. + +"Matter!" exclaimed the other. "Everything's the matter! The white +people are up in arms. They have disarmed the colored people, killing +half a dozen in the process, and wounding as many more. They have forced +the mayor and aldermen to resign, have formed a provisional city +government _à la Française_, and have ordered me and half a dozen other +fellows to leave town in forty-eight hours, under pain of sudden death. +As they seem to mean it, I shall not stay so long. Fortunately, my wife +and children are away. I knew you were out here, however, and I thought +I'd come out and wait for you, so that we might talk the matter over. I +don't imagine they mean you any harm, personally, because you tread on +nobody's toes; but you're too valuable a man for the race to lose, so I +thought I'd give you warning. I shall want to sell you my property, +too, at a bargain. For I'm worth too much to my family to dream of ever +attempting to live here again." + +"Have you seen anything of my wife and child?" asked Miller, intent upon +the danger to which they might be exposed. + +"No; I didn't go to the house. I inquired at the drugstore and found +out where you had gone. You needn't fear for them,--it is not a war on +women and children." + +"War of any kind is always hardest on the women and children," returned +Miller; "I must hurry on and see that mine are safe." + +"They'll not carry the war so far into Africa as that," returned +Watson; "but I never saw anything like it. Yesterday I had a hundred +white friends in the town, or thought I had,--men who spoke pleasantly +to me on the street, and sometimes gave me their hands to shake. Not one +of them said to me today: 'Watson, stay at home this afternoon.' I might +have been killed, like any one of half a dozen others who have bit the +dust, for any word that one of my 'friends' had said to warn me. When +the race cry is started in this neck of the woods, friendship, religion, +humanity, reason, all shrivel up like dry leaves in a raging furnace." + +The buggy, into which Watson had climbed, was meanwhile rapidly nearing +the town. + +"I think I'll leave you here, Miller," said Watson, as they approached +the outskirts, "and make my way home by a roundabout path, as I should +like to get there unmolested. Home!--a beautiful word that, isn't it, +for an exiled wanderer? It might not be well, either, for us to be seen +together. If you put the hood of your buggy down, and sit well back in +the shadow, you may be able to reach home without interruption; but +avoid the main streets. I'll see you again this evening, if we're both +alive, and I can reach you; for my time is short. A committee are to +call in the morning to escort me to the train. I am to be dismissed from +the community with public honors." Watson was climbing down from the +buggy, when a small party of men were seen approaching, and big Josh +Green, followed by several other resolute-looking colored men, came up +and addressed them. + +"Dr. Miller," cried Green, "Mr. Watson,--we're lookin' fer a leader. De +w'ite folks are killin' de niggers, an' we ain' gwine ter stan' up an' +be shot down like dogs. We're gwine ter defen' ou' lives, an' we ain' +gwine ter run away f'm no place where we 'we got a right ter be; an' woe +be ter de w'ite man w'at lays ban's on us! Dere's two niggers in dis +town ter eve'y w'ite man, an' ef we 'we got ter be killt, we'll take +some w'ite folks 'long wid us, ez sho' ez dere's a God in heaven,--ez I +s'pose dere is, dough He mus' be 'sleep, er busy somewhar e'se ter-day. +Will you-all come an' lead us?" + +"Gentlemen," said Watson, "what is the use? The negroes will not back +you up. They haven't the arms, nor the moral courage, nor the +leadership." + +"We'll git de arms, an' we'll git de courage, ef you'll come an' lead +us! We wants leaders,--dat's w'y we come ter you!" + +"What's the use?" returned Watson despairingly. "The odds are too heavy. +I've been ordered out of town; if I stayed, I'd be shot on sight, +unless I had a body-guard around me." + +"We'll be yo' body-guard!" shouted half a dozen voices. + +"And when my body-guard was shot, what then? I have a wife and children. +It is my duty to live for them. If I died, I should get no glory and no +reward, and my family would be reduced to beggary,--to which they'll +soon be near enough as it is. This affair will blow over in a day or +two. The white people will be ashamed of themselves to-morrow, and +apprehensive of the consequences for some time to come. Keep quiet, +boys, and trust in God. You won't gain anything by resistance." + +"'God he'ps dem dat he'ps demselves,'" returned Josh stoutly. "Ef Mr. +Watson won't lead us, will you, Dr. Miller?" said the spokesman, turning +to the doctor. + +For Miller it was an agonizing moment. He was no coward, morally or +physically. Every manly instinct urged him to go forward and take up the +cause of these leaderless people, and, if need be, to defend their lives +and their rights with his own,--but to what end? + +"Listen, men," he said. "We would only be throwing our lives away. +Suppose we made a determined stand and won a temporary victory. By +morning every train, every boat, every road leading into Wellington, +would be crowded with white men,--as they probably will be any +way,--with arms in their hands, curses on their lips, and vengeance in +their hearts. In the minds of those who make and administer the laws, we +have no standing in the court of conscience. They would kill us in the +fight, or they would hang us afterwards,--one way or another, we should +be doomed. I should like to lead you; I should like to arm every colored +man in this town, and have them stand firmly in line, not for attack, +but for defense; but if I attempted it, and they should stand by me, +which is questionable,--for I have met them fleeing from the town,--my +life would pay the forfeit. Alive, I may be of some use to you, and you +are welcome to my life in that way,--I am giving it freely. Dead, I +should be a mere lump of carrion. Who remembers even the names of those +who have been done to death in the Southern States for the past twenty +years?" + +"I 'members de name er one of 'em," said Josh, "an' I 'members de name +er de man dat killt 'im, an' I s'pec' his time is mighty nigh come." + +"My advice is not heroic, but I think it is wise. In this riot we are +placed as we should be in a war: we have no territory, no base of +supplies, no organization, no outside sympathy,--we stand in the +position of a race, in a case like this, without money and without +friends. Our time will come,--the time when we can command respect for +our rights; but it is not yet in sight. Give it up, boys, and wait. Good +may come of this, after all." + +Several of the men wavered, and looked irresolute. + +"I reckon that's all so, doctuh," returned Josh, "an', de way you put +it, I don' blame you ner Mr. Watson; but all dem reasons ain' got no +weight wid me. I'm gwine in dat town, an' ef any w'ite man 'sturbs me, +dere'll be trouble,--dere'll be double trouble,--I feels it in my +bones!" + +"Remember your old mother, Josh," said Miller. + +"Yas, sub, I'll 'member her; dat's all I kin do now. I don' need ter +wait fer her no mo', fer she died dis mo'nin'. I'd lack ter see her +buried, suh, but I may not have de chance. Ef I gits killt, will you do +me a favor?" + +"Yes, Josh; what is it?" + +"Ef I should git laid out in dis commotion dat's gwine on, will you +collec' my wages f'm yo' brother, and see dat de ole 'oman is put away +right?" + +"Yes, of course." + +"Wid a nice coffin, an' a nice fune'al, an' a head-bo'd an' a +foot-bo'd?" + +"Yes." + +"All right, suh! Ef I don' live ter do it, I'll know it'll be 'tended +ter right. Now we're gwine out ter de cotton compress, an' git a lot er +colored men tergether, an' ef de w'ite folks 'sturbs me, I shouldn't be +s'prise' ef dere'd be a mix-up;--an' ef dere is, me an _one_ w'ite man +'ll stan' befo' de jedgment th'one er God dis day; an' it won't be me +w'at'll be 'feared er de jedgment. Come along, boys! Dese gentlemen may +have somethin' ter live fer; but ez fer my pa't, I'd ruther be a dead +nigger any day dan a live dog!" + + + + +XXXIII + + +INTO THE LION'S JAWS + +The party under Josh's leadership moved off down the road. Miller, while +entirely convinced that he had acted wisely in declining to accompany +them, was yet conscious of a distinct feeling of shame and envy that he, +too, did not feel impelled to throw away his life in a hopeless +struggle. + +Watson left the buggy and disappeared by a path at the roadside. Miller +drove rapidly forward. After entering the town, he passed several small +parties of white men, but escaped scrutiny by sitting well back in his +buggy, the presumption being that a well-dressed man with a good horse +and buggy was white. Torn with anxiety, he reached home at about four +o'clock. Driving the horse into the yard, he sprang down from the buggy +and hastened to the house, which he found locked, front and rear. + +A repeated rapping brought no response. At length he broke a window, and +entered the house like a thief. + +"Janet, Janet!" he called in alarm, "where are you? It is only +I,--Will!" + +There was no reply. He ran from room to room, only to find them all +empty. Again he called his wife's name, and was about rushing from the +house, when a muffled voice came faintly to his ear,-- + +"Is dat you, Doctuh Miller?" + +"Yes. Who are you, and where are my wife and child?" + +He was looking around in perplexity, when the door of a low closet under +the kitchen sink was opened from within, and a woolly head was +cautiously protruded. + +"Are you _sho'_ dat's you, doctuh?" + +"Yes, Sally; where are"-- + +"An' not some w'ite man come ter bu'n down de house an' kill all de +niggers?" + +"No, Sally, it's me all right. Where is my wife? Where is my child?" + +"Dey went over ter see Mis' Butler 'long 'bout two o'clock, befo' dis +fuss broke out, suh. Oh, Lawdy, Lawdy, suh! Is all de cullud folks be'n +killt 'cep'n' me an' you, suh? Fer de Lawd's sake, suh, you won' let 'em +kill me, will you, suh? I'll wuk fer you fer nuthin', suh, all my bawn +days, ef you'll save my life, suh!" + +"Calm yourself, Sally. You'll be safe enough if you stay right here, I +'we no doubt. They'll not harm women,--of that I'm sure enough, +although I haven't yet got the bearings of this deplorable affair. Stay +here and look after the house. I must find my wife and child!" + +The distance across the city to the home of the Mrs. Butler whom his +wife had gone to visit was exactly one mile. Though Miller had a good +horse in front of him, he was two hours in reaching his destination. +Never will the picture of that ride fade from his memory. In his dreams +he repeats it night after night, and sees the sights that wounded his +eyes, and feels the thoughts--the haunting spirits of the thoughts--that +tore his heart as he rode through hell to find those whom he was +seeking. For a short distance he saw nothing, and made rapid progress. +As he turned the first corner, his horse shied at the dead body of a +negro, lying huddled up in the collapse which marks sudden death. What +Miller shuddered at was not so much the thought of death, to the sight +of which his profession had accustomed him, as the suggestion of what it +signified. He had taken with allowance the wild statement of the fleeing +fugitives. Watson, too, had been greatly excited, and Josh Green's group +were desperate men, as much liable to be misled by their courage as the +others by their fears; but here was proof that murder had been +done,--and his wife and children were in the town. Distant shouts, and +the sound of firearms, increased his alarm. He struck his horse with the +whip, and dashed on toward the heart of the city, which he must traverse +in order to reach Janet and the child. + +At the next corner lay the body of another man, with the red blood +oozing from a ghastly wound in the forehead. The negroes seemed to have +been killed, as the band plays in circus parades, at the street +intersections, where the example would be most effective. Miller, with a +wild leap of the heart, had barely passed this gruesome spectacle, when +a sharp voice commanded him to halt, and emphasized the order by +covering him with a revolver. Forgetting the prudence he had preached to +others, he had raised his whip to strike the horse, when several hands +seized the bridle. + +"Come down, you damn fool," growled an authoritative voice. "Don't you +see we're in earnest? Do you want to get killed?" + +"Why should I come down?" asked Miller. "Because we've ordered you to +come down! This is the white people's day, and when they order, a nigger +must obey. We're going to search you for weapons." + +"Search away. You'll find nothing but a case of surgeon's tools, which +I'm more than likely to need before this day is over, from all +indications." + +"No matter; we'll make sure of it! That's what we're here for. Come +down, if you don't want to be pulled down!" + +Miller stepped down from his buggy. His interlocutor, who made no effort +at disguise, was a clerk in a dry-goods store where Miller bought most +of his family and hospital supplies. He made no sign of recognition, +however, and Miller claimed no acquaintance. This man, who had for +several years emptied Miller's pockets in the course of more or less +legitimate trade, now went through them, aided by another man, more +rapidly than ever before, the searchers convincing themselves that +Miller carried no deadly weapon upon his person. Meanwhile, a third +ransacked the buggy with like result. Miller recognized several others +of the party, who made not the slightest attempt at disguise, though no +names were called by any one. + +"Where are you going?" demanded the leader. + +"I am looking for my wife and child," replied Miller. + +"Well, run along, and keep them out of the streets when you find them; +and keep your hands out of this affair, if you wish to live in this +town, which from now on will be a white man's town, as you niggers will +be pretty firmly convinced before night." + +Miller drove on as swiftly as might be. At the next corner he was +stopped again. In the white man who held him up, Miller recognized a +neighbor of his own. After a short detention and a perfunctory search, +the white man remarked apologetically:-- + +"Sorry to have had to trouble you, doctuh, but them's the o'ders. It +ain't men like you that we're after, but the vicious and criminal class +of niggers." + +Miller smiled bitterly as he urged his horse forward. He was quite well +aware that the virtuous citizen who had stopped him had only a few weeks +before finished a term in the penitentiary, to which he had been +sentenced for stealing. Miller knew that he could have bought all the +man owned for fifty dollars, and his soul for as much more. + +A few rods farther on, he came near running over the body of a wounded +man who lay groaning by the wayside. Every professional instinct urged +him to stop and offer aid to the sufferer; but the uncertainty +concerning his wife and child proved a stronger motive and urged him +resistlessly forward. Here and there the ominous sound of firearms was +audible. He might have thought this merely a part of the show, like the +"powder play" of the Arabs, but for the bloody confirmation of its +earnestness which had already assailed his vision. Somewhere in this +seething caldron of unrestrained passions were his wife and child, and +he must hurry on. + +His progress was painfully slow. Three times he was stopped and +searched. More than once his way was barred, and he was ordered to turn +back, each such occasion requiring a detour which consumed many minutes. +The man who last stopped him was a well-known Jewish merchant. A +Jew--God of Moses!--had so far forgotten twenty centuries of history as +to join in the persecution of another oppressed race! When almost +reduced to despair by these innumerable delays, he perceived, coming +toward him, Mr. Ellis, the sub-editor of the Morning Chronicle. Miller +had just been stopped and questioned again, and Ellis came up as he was +starting once more upon his endless ride. + +"Dr. Miller," said Ellis kindly, "it is dangerous for you on the +streets. Why tempt the danger?" + +"I am looking for my wife and child," returned Miller in desperation. +"They are somewhere in this town,--I don't know where,--and I must find +them." + +Ellis had been horror-stricken by the tragedy of the afternoon, the +wholly superfluous slaughter of a harmless people, whom a show of force +would have been quite sufficient to overawe. Elaborate explanations were +afterwards given for these murders, which were said, perhaps truthfully, +not to have been premeditated, and many regrets were expressed. The +young man had been surprised, quite as much as the negroes themselves, +at the ferocity displayed. His own thoughts and feelings were attuned to +anything but slaughter. Only that morning he had received a perfumed +note, calling his attention to what the writer described as a very noble +deed of his, and requesting him to call that evening and receive the +writer's thanks. Had he known that Miss Pemberton, several weeks after +their visit to the Sound, had driven out again to the hotel and made +some inquiries among the servants, he might have understood better the +meaning of this missive. When Miller spoke of his wife and child, some +subtle thread of suggestion coupled the note with Miller's plight. +"I'll go with you, Dr. Miller," he said, "if you'll permit me. In my +company you will not be disturbed." + +He took a seat in Miller's buggy, after which it was not molested. + +Neither of them spoke. Miller was sick at heart; he could have wept with +grief, even had the welfare of his own dear ones not been involved in +this regrettable affair. With prophetic instinct he foresaw the hatreds +to which this day would give birth; the long years of constraint and +distrust which would still further widen the breach between two peoples +whom fate had thrown together in one community. + +There was nothing for Ellis to say. In his heart he could not defend the +deeds of this day. The petty annoyances which the whites had felt at the +spectacle of a few negroes in office; the not unnatural resentment of a +proud people at what had seemed to them a presumptuous freedom of speech +and lack of deference on the part of their inferiors,--these things, +which he knew were to be made the excuse for overturning the city +government, he realized full well were no sort of justification for the +wholesale murder or other horrors which might well ensue before the day +was done. He could not approve the acts of his own people; neither could +he, to a negro, condemn them. Hence he was silent. + +"Thank you, Mr. Ellis," exclaimed Miller, when they had reached the +house where he expected to find his wife. "This is the place where I was +going. I am--under a great obligation to you." + +"Not at all, Dr. Miller. I need not tell you how much I regret this +deplorable affair." + +Ellis went back down the street. Fastening his horse to the fence, +Miller sprang forward to find his wife and child. They would certainly +be there, for no colored woman would be foolhardy enough to venture on +the streets after the riot had broken out. + +As he drew nearer, he felt a sudden apprehension. The house seemed +strangely silent and deserted. The doors were closed, and the Venetian +blinds shut tightly. Even a dog which had appeared slunk timidly back +under the house, instead of barking vociferously according to the usual +habit of his kind. + + + + +XXXIV + + +THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW + +Miller knocked at the door. There was no response. He went round to the +rear of the house. The dog had slunk behind the woodpile. Miller knocked +again, at the back door, and, receiving no reply, called aloud. + +"Mrs. Butler! It is I, Dr. Miller. Is my wife here?" + +The slats of a near-by blind opened cautiously. + +"Is it really you, Dr. Miller?" + +"Yes, Mrs. Butler. I am looking for my wife and child,--are they here?" + +"No, sir; she became alarmed about you, soon after the shooting +commenced, and I could not keep her. She left for home half an hour ago. +It is coming on dusk, and she and the child are so near white that she +did not expect to be molested." + +"Which way did she go?" + +"She meant to go by the main street. She thought it would be less +dangerous than the back streets. I tried to get her to stay here, but +she was frantic about you, and nothing I could say would keep her. Is +the riot almost over, Dr. Miller? Do you think they will murder us all, +and burn down our houses?" + +"God knows," replied Miller, with a groan. "But I must find her, if I +lose my own life in the attempt." + +Surely, he thought, Janet would be safe. The white people of Wellington +were not savages; or at least their temporary reversion to savagery +would not go as far as to include violence to delicate women and +children. Then there flashed into his mind Josh Green's story of his +"silly" mother, who for twenty years had walked the earth as a child, as +the result of one night's terror, and his heart sank within him. + +Miller realized that his buggy, by attracting attention, had been a +hindrance rather than a help in his progress across the city. In order +to follow his wife, he must practically retrace his steps over the very +route he had come. Night was falling. It would be easier to cross the +town on foot. In the dusk his own color, slight in the daytime, would +not attract attention, and by dodging in the shadows he might avoid +those who might wish to intercept him. But he must reach Janet and the +boy at any risk. He had not been willing to throw his life away +hopelessly, but he would cheerfully have sacrificed it for those whom he +loved. + +He had gone but a short distance, and had not yet reached the centre of +mob activity, when he intercepted a band of negro laborers from the +cotton compress, with big Josh Green at their head. + +"Hello, doctuh!" cried Josh, "does you wan' ter jine us?" + +"I'm looking for my wife and child, Josh. They're somewhere in this +den of murderers. Have any of you seen them?" + +No one had seen them. + +"You men are running a great risk," said Miller. "You are rushing on to +certain death." + +"Well, suh, maybe we is; but we're gwine ter die fightin'. Dey say de +w'ite folks is gwine ter bu'n all de cullud schools an' chu'ches, an' +kill all de niggers dey kin ketch. Dey're gwine ter bu'n yo' new +hospittle, ef somebody don' stop 'em." + +"Josh--men--you are throwing your lives away. It is a fever; it will +wear off to-morrow, or to-night. They'll not burn the schoolhouses, nor +the hospital--they are not such fools, for they benefit the community; +and they'll only kill the colored people who resist them. Every one of +you with a gun or a pistol carries his death warrant in his own hand. +I'd rather see the hospital burn than have one of you lose his life. +Resistance only makes the matter worse,--the odds against you are too +long." + +"Things can't be any wuss, doctuh," replied one of the crowd sturdily. +"A gun is mo' dange'ous ter de man in front of it dan ter de man behin' +it. Dey're gwine ter kill us anyhow; an' we're tired,--we read de +newspapers,--an' we're tired er bein' shot down like dogs, widout jedge +er jury. We'd ruther die fightin' dan be stuck like pigs in a pen!" + +"God help you!" said Miller. "As for me, I must find my wife and child." + +"Good-by, doctuh," cried Josh, brandishing a huge knife. "'Member 'bout +de ole 'oman, ef you lives thoo dis. Don' fergit de headbo'd an' de +footbo'd, an' a silver plate on de coffin, ef dere's money ernuff." + +They went their way, and Miller hurried on. They might resist attack; he +thought it extremely unlikely that they would begin it; but he knew +perfectly well that the mere knowledge that some of the negroes +contemplated resistance would only further inflame the infuriated +whites. The colored men might win a momentary victory, though it was +extremely doubtful; and they would as surely reap the harvest later on. +The qualities which in a white man would win the applause of the world +would in a negro be taken as the marks of savagery. So thoroughly +diseased was public opinion in matters of race that the negro who died +for the common rights of humanity might look for no meed of admiration +or glory. At such a time, in the white man's eyes, a negro's courage +would be mere desperation; his love of liberty, a mere animal dislike of +restraint. Every finer human instinct would be interpreted in terms of +savagery. Or, if forced to admire, they would none the less repress. +They would applaud his courage while they stretched his neck, or carried +off the fragments of his mangled body as souvenirs, in much the same way +that savages preserve the scalps or eat the hearts of their enemies. + +But concern for the fate of Josh and his friends occupied only a +secondary place in Miller's mind for the moment. His wife and child were +somewhere ahead of him. He pushed on. He had covered about a quarter of +a mile more, and far down the street could see the signs of greater +animation, when he came upon the body of a woman lying upon the +sidewalk. In the dusk he had almost stumbled over it, and his heart came +up in his mouth. A second glance revealed that it could not be his wife. +It was a fearful portent, however, of what her fate might be. The "war" +had reached the women and children. Yielding to a professional instinct, +he stooped, and saw that the prostrate form was that of old Aunt Jane +Letlow. She was not yet quite dead, and as Miller, with a tender touch, +placed her head in a more comfortable position, her lips moved with a +last lingering flicker of consciousness:-- + +"Comin', missis, comin'!" + +Mammy Jane had gone to join the old mistress upon whose memory her +heart was fixed; and yet not all her reverence for her old mistress, nor +all her deference to the whites, nor all their friendship for her, had +been able to save her from this raging devil of race hatred which +momentarily possessed the town. + +Perceiving that he could do no good, Miller hastened onward, sick at +heart. Whenever he saw a party of white men approaching,--these brave +reformers never went singly,--he sought concealment in the shadow of a +tree or the shrubbery in some yard until they had passed. He had covered +about two thirds of the distance homeward, when his eyes fell upon a +group beneath a lamp-post, at sight of which he turned pale with horror, +and rushed forward with a terrible cry. + + + + +XXXV + + +"MINE ENEMY, O MINE ENEMY!" + +The proceedings of the day--planned originally as a "demonstration," +dignified subsequently as a "revolution," under any name the culmination +of the conspiracy formed by Carteret and his colleagues--had by seven +o'clock in the afternoon developed into a murderous riot. Crowds of +white men and half-grown boys, drunk with whiskey or with license, raged +through the streets, beating, chasing, or killing any negro so +unfortunate as to fall into their hands. Why any particular negro was +assailed, no one stopped to inquire; it was merely a white mob thirsting +for black blood, with no more conscience or discrimination than would be +exercised by a wolf in a sheepfold. It was race against race, the whites +against the negroes; and it was a one-sided affair, for until Josh Green +got together his body of armed men, no effective resistance had been +made by any colored person, and the individuals who had been killed had +so far left no marks upon the enemy by which they might be remembered. + +"Kill the niggers!" rang out now and then through the dusk, and far down +the street and along the intersecting thoroughfares distant voices took +up the ominous refrain,--"Kill the niggers! Kill the damned niggers!" +Now, not a dark face had been seen on the street for half an hour, +until the group of men headed by Josh made their appearance in the negro +quarter. Armed with guns and axes, they presented quite a formidable +appearance as they made their way toward the new hospital, near which +stood a schoolhouse and a large church, both used by the colored people. +They did not reach their destination without having met a number of +white men, singly or in twos or threes; and the rumor spread with +incredible swiftness that the negroes in turn were up in arms, +determined to massacre all the whites and burn the town. Some of the +whites became alarmed, and recognizing the power of the negroes, if +armed and conscious of their strength, were impressed by the immediate +necessity of overpowering and overawing them. Others, with appetites +already whetted by slaughter, saw a chance, welcome rather than not, of +shedding more black blood. Spontaneously the white mob flocked toward +the hospital, where rumor had it that a large body of desperate negroes, +breathing threats of blood and fire, had taken a determined stand. + +It had been Josh's plan merely to remain quietly and peaceably in the +neighborhood of the little group of public institutions, molesting no +one, unless first attacked, and merely letting the white people see that +they meant to protect their own; but so rapidly did the rumor spread, +and so promptly did the white people act, that by the time Josh and his +supporters had reached the top of the rising ground where the hospital +stood, a crowd of white men much more numerous than their own party were +following them at a short distance. + +Josh, with the eye of a general, perceived that some of his party were +becoming a little nervous, and decided that they would feel safer behind +shelter. + +"I reckon we better go inside de hospittle, boys," he exclaimed. "Den +we'll be behind brick walls, an' dem other fellows 'll be outside, an' ef +dere's any fightin', we'll have de bes' show. We ain' gwine ter do no +shootin' till we're pestered, an' dey'll be less likely ter pester us +ef dey can't git at us widout runnin' some resk. Come along in! Be men! +De gov'ner er de President is gwine ter sen' soldiers ter stop dese +gwines-on, an' meantime we kin keep dem white devils f'm bu'nin' down +our hospittles an' chu'ch-houses. Wen dey comes an' fin's out dat we +jes' means ter pertect ou' prope'ty, dey'll go 'long 'bout deir own +business. Er, ef dey wants a scrap, dey kin have it! Come erlong, boys!" + +Jerry Letlow, who had kept out of sight during the day, had started out, +after night had set in, to find Major Carteret. Jerry was very much +afraid. The events of the day had filled him with terror. Whatever the +limitations of Jerry's mind or character may have been, Jerry had a keen +appreciation of the danger to the negroes when they came in conflict +with the whites, and he had no desire to imperil his own skin. He valued +his life for his own sake, and not for any altruistic theory that it +might be of service to others. In other words, Jerry was something of a +coward. He had kept in hiding all day, but finding, toward evening, that +the riot did not abate, and fearing, from the rumors which came to his +ears, that all the negroes would be exterminated, he had set out, +somewhat desperately, to try to find his white patron and protector. He +had been cautious to avoid meeting any white men, and, anticipating no +danger from those of his own race, went toward the party which he saw +approaching, whose path would cross his own. When they were only a few +yards apart, Josh took a step forward and caught Jerry by the arm. + +"Come along, Jerry, we need you! Here's another man, boys. Come on now, +and fight fer yo' race!" + +In vain Jerry protested. "I don' wan' ter fight," he howled. "De w'ite +folks ain' gwine ter pester me; dey're my frien's. Tu'n me loose,--tu'n +me loose, er we all gwine ter git killed!" + +The party paid no attention to Jerry's protestations. Indeed, with the +crowd of whites following behind, they were simply considering the +question of a position from which they could most effectively defend +themselves and the building which they imagined to be threatened. If +Josh had released his grip of Jerry, that worthy could easily have +escaped from the crowd; but Josh maintained his hold almost +mechanically, and, in the confusion, Jerry found himself swept with the +rest into the hospital, the doors of which were promptly barricaded with +the heavier pieces of furniture, and the windows manned by several men +each, Josh, with the instinct of a born commander, posting his forces so +that they could cover with their guns all the approaches to the +building. Jerry still continuing to make himself troublesome, Josh, in a +moment of impatience, gave him a terrific box on the ear, which +stretched him out upon the floor unconscious. + +"Shet up," he said; "ef you can't stan' up like a man, keep still, and +don't interfere wid men w'at will fight!" The hospital, when Josh and +his men took possession, had been found deserted. Fortunately there were +no patients for that day, except one or two convalescents, and these, +with the attendants, had joined the exodus of the colored people from +the town. + +A white man advanced from the crowd without toward the main entrance to +the hospital. Big Josh, looking out from a window, grasped his gun more +firmly, as his eyes fell upon the man who had murdered his father and +darkened his mother's life. Mechanically he raised his rifle, but +lowered it as the white man lifted up his hand as a sign that he wished +to speak. + +"You niggers," called Captain McBane loudly,--it was that worthy,--"you +niggers are courtin' death, an' you won't have to court her but a minute +er two mo' befo' she'll have you. If you surrender and give up your +arms, you'll be dealt with leniently,--you may get off with the +chain-gang or the penitentiary. If you resist, you'll be shot like +dogs." + +"Dat's no news, Mr. White Man," replied Josh, appearing boldly at the +window. "We're use' ter bein' treated like dogs by men like you. If you +w'ite people will go 'long an' ten' ter yo' own business an' let us +alone, we'll ten' ter ou'n. You've got guns, an' we've got jest as +much right ter carry 'em as you have. Lay down yo'n, an' we'll lay down +ou'n,--we didn' take 'em up fust; but we ain' gwine ter let you bu'n +down ou' chu'ches an' school'ouses, er dis hospittle, an' we ain' comin' +out er dis house, where we ain' disturbin' nobody, fer you ter shoot us +down er sen' us ter jail. You hear me!" + +"All right," responded McBane. "You've had fair warning. Your blood be +on your"--His speech was interrupted by a shot from the crowd, which +splintered the window-casing close to Josh's head. This was followed by +half a dozen other shots, which were replied to, almost simultaneously, +by a volley from within, by which one of the attacking party was killed +and another wounded. + +This roused the mob to frenzy. + +"Vengeance! vengeance!" they yelled. "Kill the niggers!" + +A negro had killed a white man,--the unpardonable sin, admitting neither +excuse, justification, nor extenuation. From time immemorial it had been +bred in the Southern white consciousness, and in the negro consciousness +also, for that matter, that the person of a white man was sacred from +the touch of a negro, no matter what the provocation. A dozen colored +men lay dead in the streets of Wellington, inoffensive people, slain in +cold blood because they had been bold enough to question the authority +of those who had assailed them, or frightened enough to flee when they +had been ordered to stand still; but their lives counted nothing against +that of a riotous white man, who had courted death by attacking a body +of armed men. + +The crowd, too, surrounding the hospital, had changed somewhat in +character. The men who had acted as leaders in the early afternoon, +having accomplished their purpose of overturning the local +administration and establishing a provisional government of their own, +had withdrawn from active participation in the rioting, deeming the +negroes already sufficiently overawed to render unlikely any further +trouble from that source. Several of the ringleaders had indeed begun to +exert themselves to prevent further disorder, or any loss of property, +the possibility of which had become apparent; but those who set in +motion the forces of evil cannot always control them afterwards. The +baser element of the white population, recruited from the wharves and +the saloons, was now predominant. + +Captain McBane was the only one of the revolutionary committee who had +remained with the mob, not with any purpose to restore or preserve +order, but because he found the company and the occasion entirely +congenial. He had had no opportunity, at least no tenable excuse, to +kill or maim a negro since the termination of his contract with the +state for convicts, and this occasion had awakened a dormant appetite +for these diversions. We are all puppets in the hands of Fate, and +seldom see the strings that move us. McBane had lived a life of violence +and cruelty. As a man sows, so shall he reap. In works of fiction, such +men are sometimes converted. More often, in real life, they do not +change their natures until they are converted into dust. One does well +to distrust a tamed tiger. + +On the outskirts of the crowd a few of the better class, or at least of +the better clad, were looking on. The double volley described had +already been fired, when the number of these was augmented by the +arrival of Major Carteret and Mr. Ellis, who had just come from the +Chronicle office, where the next day's paper had been in hasty +preparation. They pushed their way towards the front of the crowd. + +"This must be stopped, Ellis," said Carteret. "They are burning houses +and killing women and children. Old Jane, good old Mammy Jane, who +nursed my wife at her bosom, and has waited on her and my child within +a few weeks, was killed only a few rods from my house, to which she was +evidently fleeing for protection. It must have been by accident,--I +cannot believe that any white man in town would be dastard enough to +commit such a deed intentionally! I would have defended her with my own +life! We must try to stop this thing!" + +"Easier said than done," returned Ellis. "It is in the fever stage, and +must burn itself out. We shall be lucky if it does not burn the town +out. Suppose the negroes should also take a hand at the burning? We have +advised the people to put the negroes down, and they are doing the job +thoroughly." + +"My God!" replied the other, with a gesture of impatience, as he +continued to elbow his way through the crowd; "I meant to keep them in +their places,--I did not intend wholesale murder and arson." + +Carteret, having reached the front of the mob, made an effort to gain +their attention. + +"Gentlemen!" he cried in his loudest tones. His voice, unfortunately, +was neither loud nor piercing. + +"Kill the niggers!" clamored the mob. + +"Gentlemen, I implore you"-- + +The crash of a dozen windows, broken by stones and pistol shots, drowned +his voice. + +"Gentlemen!" he shouted; "this is murder, it is madness; it is a +disgrace to our city, to our state, to our civilization!" + +"That's right!" replied several voices. The mob had recognized the +speaker. "It _is_ a disgrace, and we'll not put up with it a moment +longer. Burn 'em out! Hurrah for Major Carteret, the champion of 'white +supremacy'! Three cheers for the Morning Chronicle and 'no nigger +domination'!" + +"Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!" yelled the crowd. + +In vain the baffled orator gesticulated and shrieked in the effort to +correct the misapprehension. Their oracle had spoken; not hearing what +he said, they assumed it to mean encouragement and coöperation. Their +present course was but the logical outcome of the crusade which the +Morning Chronicle had preached, in season and out of season, for many +months. When Carteret had spoken, and the crowd had cheered him, they +felt that they had done all that courtesy required, and he was +good-naturedly elbowed aside while they proceeded with the work in hand, +which was now to drive out the negroes from the hospital and avenge the +killing of their comrade. + +Some brought hay, some kerosene, and others wood from a pile which had +been thrown into a vacant lot near by. Several safe ways of approach to +the building were discovered, and the combustibles placed and fired. The +flames, soon gaining a foothold, leaped upward, catching here and there +at the exposed woodwork, and licking the walls hungrily with long +tongues of flame. + +Meanwhile a desultory firing was kept up from the outside, which was +replied to scatteringly from within the hospital. Those inside were +either not good marksmen, or excitement had spoiled their aim. If a face +appeared at a window, a dozen pistol shots from the crowd sought the +spot immediately. + +Higher and higher leaped the flames. Suddenly from one of the windows +sprang a black figure, waving a white handkerchief. It was Jerry Letlow. +Regaining consciousness after the effect of Josh's blow had subsided, +Jerry had kept quiet and watched his opportunity. From a safe +vantage-ground he had scanned the crowd without, in search of some +white friend. When he saw Major Carteret moving disconsolately away +after his futile effort to stem the torrent, Jerry made a dash for the +window. He sprang forth, and, waving his handkerchief as a flag of +truce, ran toward Major Carteret, shouting frantically:-- + +"Majah Carteret--_O_ majah! It's me, suh, Jerry, suh! I didn' go in +dere myse'f, suh--I wuz drag' in dere! I wouldn' do nothin' 'g'inst de +w'ite folks, suh,--no, 'ndeed, I wouldn', suh!" + +Jerry's cries were drowned in a roar of rage and a volley of shots from +the mob. Carteret, who had turned away with Ellis, did not even hear his +servant's voice. Jerry's poor flag of truce, his explanations, his +reliance upon his white friends, all failed him in the moment of supreme +need. In that hour, as in any hour when the depths of race hatred are +stirred, a negro was no more than a brute beast, set upon by other brute +beasts whose only instinct was to kill and destroy. + +"Let us leave this inferno, Ellis," said Carteret, sick with anger and +disgust. He had just become aware that a negro was being killed, though +he did not know whom. "We can do nothing. The negroes have themselves to +blame,--they tempted us beyond endurance. I counseled firmness, and firm +measures were taken, and our purpose was accomplished. I am not +responsible for these subsequent horrors,--I wash my hands of them. Let +us go!" + +The flames gained headway and gradually enveloped the burning building, +until it became evident to those within as well as those without that +the position of the defenders was no longer tenable. Would they die in +the flames, or would they be driven out? The uncertainty soon came to an +end. + +The besieged had been willing to fight, so long as there seemed a hope +of successfully defending themselves and their property; for their +purpose was purely one of defense. When they saw the case was hopeless, +inspired by Josh Green's reckless courage, they were still willing to +sell their lives dearly. One or two of them had already been killed, and +as many more disabled. The fate of Jerry Letlow had struck terror to the +hearts of several others, who could scarcely hide their fear. After the +building had been fired, Josh's exhortations were no longer able to keep +them in the hospital. They preferred to fight and be killed in the open, +rather than to be smothered like rats in a hole. + +"Boys!" exclaimed Josh,--"men!--fer nobody but men would do w'at you +have done,--the day has gone 'g'inst us. We kin see ou' finish; but fer +my part, I ain' gwine ter leave dis worl' widout takin' a w'ite man +'long wid me, an' I sees my man right out yonder waitin',--I be'n +waitin' fer him twenty years, but he won' have ter wait fer me mo' 'n +'bout twenty seconds. Eve'y one er you pick yo' man! We'll open de do', +an' we'll give some w'ite men a chance ter be sorry dey ever started +dis fuss!" + +The door was thrown open suddenly, and through it rushed a dozen or more +black figures, armed with knives, pistols, or clubbed muskets. Taken by +sudden surprise, the white people stood motionless for a moment, but the +approaching negroes had scarcely covered half the distance to which the +heat of the flames had driven back the mob, before they were greeted +with a volley that laid them all low but two. One of these, dazed by +the fate of his companions, turned instinctively to flee, but had +scarcely faced around before he fell, pierced in the back by a dozen +bullets. + +Josh Green, the tallest and biggest of them all, had not apparently been +touched. Some of the crowd paused in involuntary admiration of this +black giant, famed on the wharves for his strength, sweeping down upon +them, a smile upon his face, his eyes lit up with a rapt expression +which seemed to take him out of mortal ken. This impression was +heightened by his apparent immunity from the shower of lead which less +susceptible persons had continued to pour at him. + +Armed with a huge bowie-knife, a relic of the civil war, which he had +carried on his person for many years for a definite purpose, and which +he had kept sharpened to a razor edge, he reached the line of the crowd. +All but the bravest shrank back. Like a wedge he dashed through the mob, +which parted instinctively before him, and all oblivious of the rain of +lead which fell around him, reached the point where Captain McBane, the +bravest man in the party, stood waiting to meet him. A pistol-flame +flashed in his face, but he went on, and raising his powerful right arm, +buried his knife to the hilt in the heart of his enemy. When the crowd +dashed forward to wreak vengeance on his dead body, they found him with +a smile still upon his face. + +One of the two died as the fool dieth. Which was it, or was it both? +"Vengeance is mine," saith the Lord, and it had not been left to Him. +But they that do violence must expect to suffer violence. McBane's death +was merciful, compared with the nameless horrors he had heaped upon the +hundreds of helpless mortals who had fallen into his hands during his +career as a contractor of convict labor. + +Sobered by this culminating tragedy, the mob shortly afterwards +dispersed. The flames soon completed their work, and this handsome +structure, the fruit of old Adam Miller's industry, the monument of his +son's philanthropy, a promise of good things for the future of the city, +lay smouldering in ruins, a melancholy witness to the fact that our +boasted civilization is but a thin veneer, which cracks and scales off +at the first impact of primal passions. + + + + +XXXVI + + +FIAT JUSTITIA + +By the light of the burning building, which illuminated the street for +several blocks, Major Carteret and Ellis made their way rapidly until +they turned into the street where the major lived. Reaching the house, +Carteret tried the door and found it locked. A vigorous ring at the bell +brought no immediate response. Carteret had begun to pound impatiently +upon the door, when it was cautiously opened by Miss Pemberton, who was +pale, and trembled with excitement. + +"Where is Olivia?" asked the major. + +"She is upstairs, with Dodie and Mrs. Albright's hospital nurse. Dodie +has the croup. Virgie ran away after the riot broke out. Sister Olivia +had sent for Mammy Jane, but she did not come. Mrs. Albright let her +white nurse come over." + +"I'll go up at once," said the major anxiously. "Wait for me, +Ellis,--I'll be down in a few minutes." + +"Oh, Mr. Ellis," exclaimed Clara, coming toward him with both hands +extended, "can nothing be done to stop this terrible affair?" + +"I wish I could do something," he murmured fervently, taking both her +trembling hands in his own broad palms, where they rested with a +surrendering trustfulness which he has never since had occasion to +doubt. "It has gone too far, already, and the end, I fear, is not yet; +but it cannot grow much worse." The editor hurried upstairs. Mrs. +Carteret, wearing a worried and haggard look, met him at the threshold +of the nursery. + +"Dodie is ill," she said. "At three o'clock, when the trouble began, I +was over at Mrs. Albright's,--I had left Virgie with the baby. When I +came back, she and all the other servants had gone. They had heard that +the white people were going to kill all the negroes, and fled to seek +safety. I found Dodie lying in a draught, before an open window, gasping +for breath. I ran back to Mrs. Albright's,--I had found her much better +to-day,--and she let her nurse come over. The nurse says that Dodie is +threatened with membranous croup." + +"Have you sent for Dr. Price?" + +"There was no one to send,--the servants were gone, and the nurse was +afraid to venture out into the street. I telephoned for Dr. Price, and +found that he was out of town; that he had gone up the river this +morning to attend a patient, and would not be back until to-morrow. Mrs. +Price thought that he had anticipated some kind of trouble in the town +to-day, and had preferred to be where he could not be called upon to +assume any responsibility." + +"I suppose you tried Dr. Ashe?" + +"I could not get him, nor any one else, after that first call. The +telephone service is disorganized on account of the riot. We need +medicine and ice. The drugstores are all closed on account of the riot, +and for the same reason we couldn't get any ice." + +Major Carteret stood beside the brass bedstead upon which his child was +lying,--his only child, around whose curly head clustered all his hopes; +upon whom all his life for the past year had been centred. He stooped +over the bed, beside which the nurse had stationed herself. She was +wiping the child's face, which was red and swollen and covered with +moisture, the nostrils working rapidly, and the little patient vainly +endeavoring at intervals to cough up the obstruction to his breathing. + +"Is it serious?" he inquired anxiously. He had always thought of the +croup as a childish ailment, that yielded readily to proper treatment; +but the child's evident distress impressed him with sudden fear. + +"Dangerous," replied the young woman laconically. "You came none too +soon. If a doctor isn't got at once, the child will die,--and it must +be a good doctor." + +"Whom can I call?" he asked. "You know them all, I suppose. Dr. Price, +our family physician, is out of town." + +"Dr. Ashe has charge of his cases when he is away," replied the nurse. +"If you can't find him, try Dr. Hooper. The child is growing worse every +minute. On your way back you'd better get some ice, if possible." + +The major hastened downstairs. + +"Don't wait for me, Ellis," he said. "I shall be needed here for a +while. I'll get to the office as soon as possible. Make up the paper, +and leave another stick out for me to the last minute, but fill it up in +case I'm not on hand by twelve. We must get the paper out early in the +morning." + +Nothing but a matter of the most vital importance would have kept Major +Carteret away from his office this night. Upon the presentation to the +outer world of the story of this riot would depend the attitude of the +great civilized public toward the events of the last ten hours. The +Chronicle was the source from which the first word would be expected; it +would give the people of Wellington their cue as to the position which +they must take in regard to this distressful affair, which had so far +transcended in ferocity the most extreme measures which the conspirators +had anticipated. The burden of his own responsibility weighed heavily +upon him, and could not be shaken off; but he must do first the duty +nearest to him,--he must first attend to his child. + +Carteret hastened from the house, and traversed rapidly the short +distance to Dr. Ashe's office. Far down the street he could see the glow +of the burning hospital, and he had scarcely left his own house when the +fusillade of shots, fired when the colored men emerged from the burning +building, was audible. Carteret would have hastened back to the scene of +the riot, to see what was now going on, and to make another effort to +stem the tide of bloodshed; but before the dread of losing his child, +all other interests fell into the background. Not all the negroes in +Wellington could weigh in the balance for one instant against the life +of the feeble child now gasping for breath in the house behind him. + +Reaching the house, a vigorous ring brought the doctor's wife to the +door. + +"Good evening, Mrs. Ashe. Is the doctor at home?" + +"No, Major Carteret. He was called to attend Mrs. Wells, who was taken +suddenly ill, as a result of the trouble this afternoon. He will be +there all night, no doubt." + +"My child is very ill, and I must find some one." + +"Try Dr. Yates. His house is only four doors away." + +A ring at Dr. Yates's door brought out a young man. + +"Is Dr. Yates in?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Can I see him?" + +"You might see him, sir, but that would be all. His horse was frightened +by the shooting on the streets, and ran away and threw the doctor, and +broke his right arm. I have just set it; he will not be able to attend +any patients for several weeks. He is old and nervous, and the shock was +great." + +"Are you not a physician?" asked Carteret, looking at the young man +keenly. He was a serious, gentlemanly looking young fellow, whose word +might probably be trusted. + +"Yes, I am Dr. Evans, Dr. Yates's assistant. I'm really little more +than a student, but I'll do what I can." + +"My only child is sick with the croup, and requires immediate +attention." + +"I ought to be able to handle a case of the croup," answered Dr. Evans, +"at least in the first stages. I'll go with you, and stay by the child, +and if the case is beyond me, I may keep it in check until another +physician comes." + +He stepped back into another room, and returning immediately with his +hat, accompanied Carteret homeward. The riot had subsided; even the glow +from the smouldering hospital was no longer visible. It seemed that the +city, appalled at the tragedy, had suddenly awakened to a sense of its +own crime. Here and there a dark face, emerging cautiously from some +hiding-place, peered from behind fence or tree, but shrank hastily away +at the sight of a white face. The negroes of Wellington, with the +exception of Josh Green and his party, had not behaved bravely on this +critical day in their history; but those who had fought were dead, to +the last man; those who had sought safety in flight or concealment were +alive to tell the tale. + +"We pass right by Dr. Thompson's," said Dr. Evans. "If you haven't +spoken to him, it might be well to call him for consultation, in case +the child should be very bad." + +"Go on ahead," said Carteret, "and I'll get him." + +Evans hastened on, while Carteret sounded the old-fashioned knocker upon +the doctor's door. A gray-haired negro servant, clad in a dress suit and +wearing a white tie, came to the door. + +"De doctuh, suh," he replied politely to Carteret's question, "has gone +ter ampitate de ahm er a gent'eman who got one er his bones smashed wid +a pistol bullet in de--fightin' dis atternoon, suh. He's jes' gone, suh, +an' lef' wo'd dat he'd be gone a' hour er mo', suh." + +Carteret hastened homeward. He could think of no other available +physician. Perhaps no other would be needed, but if so, he could find +out from Evans whom it was best to call. + +When he reached the child's room, the young doctor was bending anxiously +over the little frame. The little lips had become livid, the little +nails, lying against the white sheet, were blue. The child's efforts to +breathe were most distressing, and each gasp cut the father like a +knife. Mrs. Carteret was weeping hysterically. "How is he, doctor?" +asked the major. + +"He is very low," replied the young man. "Nothing short of +tracheotomy--an operation to open the windpipe--will relieve him. +Without it, in half or three quarters of an hour he will be unable to +breathe. It is a delicate operation, a mistake in which would be as +fatal as the disease. I have neither the knowledge nor the experience to +attempt it, and your child's life is too valuable for a student to +practice upon. Neither have I the instruments here." + +"What shall we do?" demanded Carteret. "We have called all the best +doctors, and none are available." + +The young doctor's brow was wrinkled with thought. He knew a doctor who +could perform the operation. He had heard, also, of a certain event at +Carteret's house some months before, when an unwelcome physician had +been excluded from a consultation,--but it was the last chance. + +"There is but one other doctor in town who has performed the operation, +so far as I know," he declared, "and that is Dr. Miller. If you can get +him, he can save your child's life." + +Carteret hesitated involuntarily. All the incidents, all the arguments, +of the occasion when he had refused to admit the colored doctor to his +house, came up vividly before his memory. He had acted in accordance +with his lifelong beliefs, and had carried his point; but the present +situation was different,--this was a case of imperative necessity, and +every other interest or consideration must give way before the imminence +of his child's peril. That the doctor would refuse the call, he did not +imagine: it would be too great an honor for a negro to decline,--unless +some bitterness might have grown out of the proceedings of the +afternoon. That this doctor was a man of some education he knew; and he +had been told that he was a man of fine feeling,--for a negro,--and +might easily have taken to heart the day's events. Nevertheless, he +could hardly refuse a professional call,--professional ethics would +require him to respond. Carteret had no reason to suppose that Miller +had ever learned of what had occurred at the house during Dr. Burns's +visit to Wellington. The major himself had never mentioned the +controversy, and no doubt the other gentlemen had been equally silent. + +"I'll go for him myself," said Dr. Evans, noting Carteret's hesitation +and suspecting its cause. "I can do nothing here alone, for a little +while, and I may be able to bring the doctor back with me. He likes a +difficult operation." + + * * * * * + +It seemed an age ere the young doctor returned, though it was really +only a few minutes. The nurse did what she could to relieve the child's +sufferings, which grew visibly more and more acute. The mother, upon the +other side of the bed, held one of the baby's hands in her own, and +controlled her feelings as best she might. Carteret paced the floor +anxiously, going every few seconds to the head of the stairs to listen +for Evans's footsteps on the piazza without. At last the welcome sound +was audible, and a few strides took him to the door. + +"Dr. Miller is at home, sir," reported Evans, as he came in. "He says +that he was called to your house once before, by a third person who +claimed authority to act, and that he was refused admittance. He +declares that he will not consider such a call unless it come from you +personally." + +"That is true, quite true," replied Carteret. "His position is a just +one. I will go at once. Will--will--my child live until I can get Miller +here?" + +"He can live for half an hour without an operation. Beyond that I could +give you little hope." + +Seizing his hat, Carteret dashed out of the yard and ran rapidly to +Miller's house; ordinarily a walk of six or seven minutes, Carteret +covered it in three, and was almost out of breath when he rang the bell +of Miller's front door. + +The ring was answered by the doctor in person. + +"Dr. Miller, I believe?" asked Carteret. + +"Yes, sir." + +"I am Major Carteret. My child is seriously ill, and you are the only +available doctor who can perform the necessary operation." + +"Ah! You have tried all the others,--and then you come to me!" + +"Yes, I do not deny it," admitted the major, biting his lip. He had not +counted on professional jealousy as an obstacle to be met. "But I _have_ +come to you, as a physician, to engage your professional services for my +child,--my only child. I have confidence in your skill, or I should not +have come to you. I request--nay, I implore you to lose no more time, +but come with me at once! My child's life is hanging by a thread, and +you can save it!" + +"Ah!" replied the other, "as a father whose only child's life is in +danger, you implore me, of all men in the world, to come and save it!" + +There was a strained intensity in the doctor's low voice that struck +Carteret, in spite of his own pre-occupation. He thought he heard, too, +from the adjoining room, the sound of some one sobbing softly. There was +some mystery here which he could not fathom unaided. + +Miller turned to the door behind him and threw it open. On the white +cover of a low cot lay a childish form in the rigidity of death, and by +it knelt, with her back to the door, a woman whose shoulders were shaken +by the violence of her sobs. Absorbed in her grief, she did not turn, or +give any sign that she had recognized the intrusion. + +"There, Major Carteret!" exclaimed Miller, with the tragic eloquence of +despair, "there lies a specimen of your handiwork! There lies _my_ only +child, laid low by a stray bullet in this riot which you and your paper +have fomented; struck down as much by your hand as though you had held +the weapon with which his life was taken!" + +"My God!" exclaimed Carteret, struck with horror. "Is the child dead?" + +"There he lies," continued the other, "an innocent child,--there he lies +dead, his little life snuffed out like a candle, because you and a +handful of your friends thought you must override the laws and run this +town at any cost!--and there kneels his mother, overcome by grief. We +are alone in the house. It is not safe to leave her unattended. My duty +calls me here, by the side of my dead child and my suffering wife! I +cannot go with you. There is a just God in heaven!--as you have sown, so +may you reap!" + +Carteret possessed a narrow, but a logical mind, and except when +confused or blinded by his prejudices, had always tried to be a just +man. In the agony of his own predicament,--in the horror of the +situation at Miller's house,--for a moment the veil of race prejudice +was rent in twain, and he saw things as they were, in their correct +proportions and relations,--saw clearly and convincingly that he had no +standing here, in the presence of death, in the home of this stricken +family. Miller's refusal to go with him was pure, elemental justice; he +could not blame the doctor for his stand. He was indeed conscious of a +certain involuntary admiration for a man who held in his hands the power +of life and death, and could use it, with strict justice, to avenge his +own wrongs. In Dr. Miller's place he would have done the same thing. +Miller had spoken the truth,--as he had sown, so must he reap! He could +not expect, could not ask, this father to leave his own household at +such a moment. + +Pressing his lips together with grim courage, and bowing mechanically, +as though to Fate rather than the physician, Carteret turned and left +the house. At a rapid pace he soon reached home. There was yet a chance +for his child: perhaps some one of the other doctors had come; perhaps, +after all, the disease had taken a favorable turn,--Evans was but a +young doctor, and might have been mistaken. Surely, with doctors all +around him, his child would not be permitted to die for lack of medical +attention! He found the mother, the doctor, and the nurse still grouped, +as he had left them, around the suffering child. + +"How is he now?" he asked, in a voice that sounded like a groan. + +"No better," replied the doctor; "steadily growing worse. He can go on +probably for twenty minutes longer without an operation." + +"Where is the doctor?" demanded Mrs. Carteret, looking eagerly toward +the door. "You should have brought him right upstairs. There's not a +minute to spare! Phil, Phil, our child will die!" + +Carteret's heart swelled almost to bursting with an intense pity. Even +his own great sorrow became of secondary importance beside the grief +which his wife must soon feel at the inevitable loss of her only child. +And it was his fault! Would that he could risk his own life to spare her +and to save the child! + +Briefly, and as gently as might be, he stated the result of his errand. +The doctor had refused to come, for a good reason. He could not ask him +again. + +Young Evans felt the logic of the situation, which Carteret had +explained sufficiently. To the nurse it was even clearer. If she or any +other woman had been in the doctor's place, she would have given the +same answer. + +Mrs. Carteret did not stop to reason. In such a crisis a mother's heart +usurps the place of intellect. For her, at that moment, there were but +two facts in all the world. Her child lay dying. There was within the +town, and within reach, a man who could save him. With an agonized cry +she rushed wildly from the room. + +Carteret sought to follow her, but she flew down the long stairs like a +wild thing. The least misstep might have precipitated her to the bottom; +but ere Carteret, with a remonstrance on his lips, had scarcely reached +the uppermost step, she had thrown open the front door and fled +precipitately out into the night. + + + + +XXXVII + + +THE SISTERS + +Miller's doorbell rang loudly, insistently, as though demanding a +response. Absorbed in his own grief, into which he had relapsed upon +Carteret's departure, the sound was an unwelcome intrusion. Surely the +man could not be coming back! If it were some one else--What else might +happen to the doomed town concerned him not. His child was dead,--his +distracted wife could not be left alone. + +The doorbell rang--clamorously--appealingly. Through the long hall and +the closed door of the room where he sat, he could hear some one +knocking, and a faint voice calling. + +"Open, for God's sake, open!" + +It was a woman's voice,--the voice of a woman in distress. Slowly Miller +rose and went to the door, which he opened mechanically. + +A lady stood there, so near the image of his own wife, whom he had just +left, that for a moment he was well-nigh startled. A little older, +perhaps, a little fairer of complexion, but with the same form, the same +features, marked by the same wild grief. She wore a loose wrapper, which +clothed her like the drapery of a statue. Her long dark hair, the +counterpart of his wife's, had fallen down, and hung disheveled about +her shoulders. There was blood upon her knuckles, where she had beaten +with them upon the door. "Dr. Miller," she panted, breathless from her +flight and laying her hand upon his arm appealingly,--when he shrank +from the contact she still held it there,--"Dr. Miller, you will come +and save my child? You know what it is to lose a child! I am so sorry +about your little boy! You will come to mine!" + +"Your sorrow comes too late, madam," he said harshly. "My child is dead. +I charged your husband with his murder, and he could not deny it. Why +should I save your husband's child?" + +"Ah, Dr. Miller!" she cried, with his wife's voice,--she never knew how +much, in that dark hour, she owed to that resemblance--"it is _my_ +child, and I have never injured you. It is my child, Dr. Miller, my only +child. I brought it into the world at the risk of my own life! I have +nursed it, I have watched over it, I have prayed for it,--and it now +lies dying! Oh, Dr. Miller, dear Dr. Miller, if you have a heart, come +and save my child!" + +"Madam," he answered more gently, moved in spite of himself, "my heart +is broken. My people lie dead upon the streets, at the hands of yours. +The work of my life is in ashes,--and, yonder, stretched out in death, +lies my own child! God! woman, you ask too much of human nature! Love, +duty, sorrow, _justice_, call me here. I cannot go!" + +She rose to her full height. "Then you are a murderer," she cried +wildly. "His blood be on your head, and a mother's curse beside!" + +The next moment, with a sudden revulsion of feeling, she had thrown +herself at his feet,--at the feet of a negro, this proud white +woman,--and was clasping his knees wildly. + +"O God!" she prayed, in tones which quivered with anguish, "pardon my +husband's sins, and my own, and move this man's hard heart, by the blood +of thy Son, who died to save us all!" + +It was the last appeal of poor humanity. When the pride of intellect and +caste is broken; when we grovel in the dust of humiliation; when +sickness and sorrow come, and the shadow of death falls upon us, and +there is no hope elsewhere,--we turn to God, who sometimes swallows the +insult, and answers the appeal. + +Miller raised the lady to her feet. He had been deeply moved,--but he +had been more deeply injured. This was his wife's sister,--ah, yes! but +a sister who had scorned and slighted and ignored the existence of his +wife for all her life. Only Miller, of all the world, could have guessed +what this had meant to Janet, and he had merely divined it through the +clairvoyant sympathy of love. This woman could have no claim upon him +because of this unacknowledged relationship. Yet, after all, she was his +wife's sister, his child's kinswoman. She was a fellow creature, too, +and in distress. + +"Rise, madam," he said, with a sudden inspiration, lifting her gently. +"I will listen to you on one condition. My child lies dead in the +adjoining room, his mother by his side. Go in there, and make your +request of her. I will abide by her decision." + +The two women stood confronting each other across the body of the dead +child, mute witness of this first meeting between two children of the +same father. Standing thus face to face, each under the stress of the +deepest emotions, the resemblance between them was even more striking +than it had seemed to Miller when he had admitted Mrs. Carteret to the +house. But Death, the great leveler, striking upon the one hand and +threatening upon the other, had wrought a marvelous transformation in +the bearing of the two women. The sad-eyed Janet towered erect, with +menacing aspect, like an avenging goddess. The other, whose pride had +been her life, stood in the attitude of a trembling suppliant. + +"_You_ have come here," cried Janet, pointing with a tragic gesture to +the dead child,--"_you_, to gloat over your husband's work. All my life +you have hated and scorned and despised me. Your presence here insults +me and my dead. What are you doing here?" + +"Mrs. Miller," returned Mrs. Carteret tremulously, dazed for a moment by +this outburst, and clasping her hands with an imploring gesture, "my +child, my only child, is dying, and your husband alone can save his +life. Ah, let me have my child," she moaned, heart-rendingly. "It is my +only one--my sweet child--my ewe lamb!" + +"This was _my_ only child!" replied the other mother; "and yours is no +better to die than mine!" + +"You are young," said Mrs. Carteret, "and may yet have many +children,--this is my only hope! If you have a human heart, tell your +husband to come with me. He leaves it to you; he will do as you +command." + +"Ah," cried Janet, "I have a human heart, and therefore I will not let +him go. _My_ child is dead--O God, my child, my child!" + +She threw herself down by the bedside, sobbing hysterically. The other +woman knelt beside her, and put her arm about her neck. For a moment +Janet, absorbed in her grief, did not repulse her. "Listen," pleaded +Mrs. Carteret. "You will not let my baby die? You are my sister;--the +child is your own near kin!" + +"My child was nearer," returned Janet, rising again to her feet and +shaking off the other woman's arm. "He was my son, and I have seen him +die. I have been your sister for twenty-five years, and you have only +now, for the first time, called me so!" + +"Listen--sister," returned Mrs. Carteret. Was there no way to move this +woman? Her child lay dying, if he were not dead already. She would tell +everything, and leave the rest to God. If it would save her child, she +would shrink at no sacrifice. Whether the truth would still further +incense Janet, or move her to mercy, she could not tell; she would leave +the issue to God. + +"Listen, sister!" she said. "I have a confession to make. You are my +lawful sister. My father was married to your mother. You are entitled to +his name, and to half his estate." + +Janet's eyes flashed with bitter scorn. + +"And you have robbed me all these years, and now tell me that as a +reason why I should forgive the murder of my child?" + +"No, no!" cried the other wildly, fearing the worst. "I have known of it +only a few weeks,--since my Aunt Polly's death. I had not meant to rob +you,--I had meant to make restitution. Sister! for our father's sake, +who did you no wrong, give me my child's life!" + +Janet's eyes slowly filled with tears--bitter tears--burning tears. For +a moment even her grief at her child's loss dropped to second place in +her thoughts. This, then, was the recognition for which, all her life, +she had longed in secret. It had come, after many days, and in larger +measure than she had dreamed; but it had come, not with frank kindliness +and sisterly love, but in a storm of blood and tears; not freely given, +from an open heart, but extorted from a reluctant conscience by the +agony of a mother's fears. Janet had obtained her heart's desire, and +now that it was at her lips, found it but apples of Sodom, filled with +dust and ashes! + +"Listen!" she cried, dashing her tears aside. "I have but one word for +you,--one last word,--and then I hope never to see your face again! My +mother died of want, and I was brought up by the hand of charity. Now, +when I have married a man who can supply my needs, you offer me back the +money which you and your friends have robbed me of! You imagined that +the shame of being a negro swallowed up every other ignominy,--and in +your eyes I am a negro, though I am your sister, and you are white, and +people have taken me for you on the streets,--and you, therefore, left +me nameless all my life! Now, when an honest man has given me a name of +which I can be proud, you offer me the one of which you robbed me, and +of which I can make no use. For twenty-five years I, poor, despicable +fool, would have kissed your feet for a word, a nod, a smile. Now, when +this tardy recognition comes, for which I have waited so long, it is +tainted with fraud and crime and blood, and I must pay for it with my +child's life!" + +"And I must forfeit that of mine, it seems, for withholding it so long," +sobbed the other, as, tottering, she turned to go. "It is but just." + +"Stay--do not go yet!" commanded Janet imperiously, her pride still +keeping back her tears. "I have not done. I throw you back your +father's name, your father's wealth, your sisterly recognition. I want +none of them,--they are bought too dear! ah, God, they are bought too +dear! But that you may know that a woman may be foully wronged, and yet +may have a heart to feel, even for one who has injured her, you may have +your child's life, if my husband can save it! Will," she said, throwing +open the door into the next room, "go with her!" + +"God will bless you for a noble woman!" exclaimed Mrs. Carteret. "You do +not mean all the cruel things you have said,--ah, no! I will see you +again, and make you take them back; I cannot thank you now! Oh, doctor, +let us go! I pray God we may not be too late!" + +Together they went out into the night. Mrs. Carteret tottered under the +stress of her emotions, and would have fallen, had not Miller caught and +sustained her with his arm until they reached the house, where he turned +over her fainting form to Carteret at the door. + +"Is the child still alive?" asked Miller. + +"Yes, thank God," answered the father, "but nearly gone." + +"Come on up, Dr. Miller," called Evans from the head of the stairs. +"There's time enough, but none to spare." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Marrow of Tradition, by Charles W. 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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 + + diff --git a/old/11228-8.zip b/old/11228-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c95702 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11228-8.zip diff --git a/old/11228.txt b/old/11228.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d4b85b3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11228.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10141 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Marrow of Tradition, by Charles W. Chesnutt + +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: The Marrow of Tradition + +Author: Charles W. Chesnutt + +Release Date: February 22, 2004 [EBook #11228] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MARROW OF TRADITION *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Bill Walker and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +THE MARROW OF TRADITION + +by Charles W. Chestnutt +1901 + + + + +CONTENTS + +I. At Break of Day +II. The Christening Party +III. The Editor at Work +IV. Theodore Felix +V. A Journey Southward +VI. Janet +VII. The Operation +VIII. The Campaign drags +IX. A White Man's "Nigger" +X. Delamere Plays a Trump +XI. The Baby and the Bird +XII. Another Southern Product +XIII. The Cakewalk +XIV. The Maunderings of Old Mrs. Ochiltree +XV. Mrs. Carteret Seeks an Explanation +XVI. Ellis Takes a Trick +XVII. The Social Aspirations of Captain McBane +XVIII. Sandy Sees His Own Ha'nt +XIX. A Midnight Walk +XX. A Shocking Crime +XXI. The Necessity of an Example +XXII. How Not to Prevent a Lynching +XXIII. Belleview +XXIV. Two Southern Gentlemen +XXV. The Honor of a Family +XXVI. The Discomfort of Ellis +XXVII. The Vagaries of the Higher Law +XXVIII. In Season and Out +XXIX. Mutterings of the Storm +XXX. The Missing Papers +XXXI. The Shadow of a Dream +XXXII. The Storm breaks +XXXIII. Into the Lion's Jaws +XXXIV. The Valley of the Shadow +XXXV. "Mine Enemy, O Mine Enemy!" +XXXVI. Fiat Justitia +XXXVII. The Sisters + + + + + +The Marrow of Tradition + +I like you and your book, ingenious Hone! + In whose capacious all-embracing leaves + The very marrow of tradition's shown. + +--CHARLES LAMB +_To the Editor of the Every-Day Book_ + + + + +I + + +AT BREAK OF DAY + +"Stay here beside her, major. I shall not he needed for an hour yet. +Meanwhile I'll go downstairs and snatch a bit of sleep, or talk to old +Jane." + +The night was hot and sultry. Though the windows of the chamber were +wide open, and the muslin curtains looped back, not a breath of air was +stirring. Only the shrill chirp of the cicada and the muffled croaking +of the frogs in some distant marsh broke the night silence. The heavy +scent of magnolias, overpowering even the strong smell of drugs in the +sickroom, suggested death and funeral wreaths, sorrow and tears, the +long home, the last sleep. The major shivered with apprehension as the +slender hand which he held in his own contracted nervously and in a +spasm of pain clutched his fingers with a viselike grip. + +Major Carteret, though dressed in brown linen, had thrown off his coat +for greater comfort. The stifling heat, in spite of the palm-leaf fan +which he plied mechanically, was scarcely less oppressive than his own +thoughts. Long ago, while yet a mere boy in years, he had come back from +Appomattox to find his family, one of the oldest and proudest in the +state, hopelessly impoverished by the war,--even their ancestral home +swallowed up in the common ruin. His elder brother had sacrificed his +life on the bloody altar of the lost cause, and his father, broken and +chagrined, died not many years later, leaving the major the last of his +line. He had tried in various pursuits to gain a foothold in the new +life, but with indifferent success until he won the hand of Olivia +Merkell, whom he had seen grow from a small girl to glorious womanhood. +With her money he had founded the Morning Chronicle, which he had made +the leading organ of his party and the most influential paper in the +State. The fine old house in which they lived was hers. In this very +room she had first drawn the breath of life; it had been their nuptial +chamber; and here, too, within a few hours, she might die, for it seemed +impossible that one could long endure such frightful agony and live. + +One cloud alone had marred the otherwise perfect serenity of their +happiness. Olivia was childless. To have children to perpetuate the name +of which he was so proud, to write it still higher on the roll of +honor, had been his dearest hope. His disappointment had been +proportionately keen. A few months ago this dead hope had revived, and +altered the whole aspect of their lives. But as time went on, his wife's +age had begun to tell upon her, until even Dr. Price, the most cheerful +and optimistic of physicians, had warned him, while hoping for the best, +to be prepared for the worst. To add to the danger, Mrs. Carteret had +only this day suffered from a nervous shock, which, it was feared, had +hastened by several weeks the expected event. + +Dr. Price went downstairs to the library, where a dim light was +burning. An old black woman, dressed in a gingham frock, with a red +bandana handkerchief coiled around her head by way of turban, was seated +by an open window. She rose and curtsied as the doctor entered and +dropped into a willow rocking-chair near her own. + +"How did this happen, Jane?" he asked in a subdued voice, adding, with +assumed severity, "You ought to have taken better care of your +mistress." + +"Now look a-hyuh, Doctuh Price," returned the old woman in an unctuous +whisper, "you don' wanter come talkin' none er yo' foolishness 'bout my +not takin' keer er Mis' 'Livy. _She_ never would 'a' said sech a thing! +Seven er eight mont's ago, w'en she sent fer me, I says ter her, says +I:-- + +"'Lawd, Lawd, honey! You don' tell me dat after all dese long w'ary +years er waitin' de good Lawd is done heared yo' prayer an' is gwine ter +sen' you de chile you be'n wantin' so long an' so bad? Bless his holy +name! Will I come an' nuss yo' baby? Why, honey, I nussed you, an' +nussed yo' mammy thoo her las' sickness, an' laid her out w'en she died. +I wouldn' _let_ nobody e'se nuss yo' baby; an' mo'over, I'm gwine ter +come an' nuss you too. You're young side er me, Mis' 'Livy, but you're +ove'ly ole ter be havin' yo' fus' baby, an' you'll need somebody roun', +honey, w'at knows all 'bout de fam'ly, an' deir ways an' deir +weaknesses, an' I don' know who dat'd be ef it wa'n't me.' + +"''Deed, Mammy Jane,' says she, 'dere ain' nobody e'se I'd have but you. +You kin come ez soon ez you wanter an' stay ez long ez you mineter.' + +"An hyuh I is, an' hyuh I'm gwine ter stay. Fer Mis' 'Livy is my ole +mist'ess's daughter, an' my ole mist'ess wuz good ter me, an' dey ain' +none er her folks gwine ter suffer ef ole Jane kin he'p it." + +"Your loyalty does you credit, Jane," observed the doctor; "but you +haven't told me yet what happened to Mrs. Carteret to-day. Did the horse +run away, or did she see something that frightened her?" + +"No, suh, de hoss didn' git skeered at nothin', but Mis' 'Livy did see +somethin', er somebody; an' it wa'n't no fault er mine ner her'n +neither,--it goes fu'ther back, suh, fu'ther dan dis day er dis year. +Does you 'member de time w'en my ole mist'ess, Mis' 'Livy upstairs's +mammy, died? No? Well, you wuz prob'ly 'way ter school den, studyin' ter +be a doctuh. But I'll tell you all erbout it. + +"Wen my ole mist'ess, Mis' 'Liz'beth Merkell,--an' a good mist'ess she +wuz,--tuck sick fer de las' time, her sister Polly--ole Mis' Polly +Ochiltree w'at is now--come ter de house ter he'p nuss her. Mis' 'Livy +upstairs yander wuz erbout six years ole den, de sweetes' little angel +you ever laid eyes on; an' on her dyin' bed Mis' 'Liz'beth ax' Mis' +Polly fer ter stay hyuh an' take keer er her chile, an' Mis' Polly she +promise'. She wuz a widder fer de secon' time, an' didn' have no +child'en, an' could jes' as well come as not. + +"But dere wuz trouble after de fune'al, an' it happen' right hyuh in dis +lib'ary. Mars Sam wuz settin' by de table, w'en Mis' Polly come +downstairs, slow an' solemn, an' stood dere in de middle er de flo', all +in black, till Mars Sam sot a cheer fer her. + +"'Well, Samuel,' says she, 'now dat we've done all we can fer po' +'Liz'beth, it only 'mains fer us ter consider Olivia's future.' + +"Mars Sam nodded his head, but didn' say nothin'. + +"'I don' need ter tell you,' says she,' dat I am willin' ter carry out +de wishes er my dead sister, an' sac'ifice my own comfo't, an' make +myse'f yo' housekeeper an' yo' child's nuss, fer my dear sister's sake. +It wuz her dyin' wish, an' on it I will ac', ef it is also yo'n.' + +"Mars Sam didn' want Mis' Polly ter come, suh; fur he didn' like Mis' +Polly. He wuz skeered er Miss Polly." + +"I don't wonder," yawned the doctor, "if she was anything like she is +now." + +"Wuss, suh, fer she wuz younger, an' stronger. She always would have her +say, no matter 'bout what, an' her own way, no matter who 'posed her. +She had already be'n in de house fer a week, an' Mars Sam knowed ef she +once come ter stay, she'd be de mist'ess of eve'ybody in it an' him +too. But w'at could he do but say yas? + +"'Den it is unde'stood, is it,' says Mis' Polly, w'en he had spoke, 'dat +I am ter take cha'ge er de house?' + +"'All right, Polly,' says Mars Sam, wid a deep sigh. + +"Mis' Polly 'lowed he wuz sighin' fer my po' dead mist'ess, fer she didn' +have no idee er his feelin's to'ds her,--she alluz did 'low dat all +de gent'emen wuz in love wid 'er. + +"'You won' fin' much ter do,' Mars Sam went on, 'fer Julia is a good +housekeeper, an' kin ten' ter mos' eve'ything, under yo' d'rections.' + +"Mis' Polly stiffen' up like a ramrod. 'It mus' be unde'stood, Samuel,' +says she, 'dat w'en I 'sumes cha'ge er yo' house, dere ain' gwine ter be +no 'vided 'sponsibility; an' as fer dis Julia, me an' her couldn' git +'long tergether nohow. Ef I stays, Julia goes.' + +"Wen Mars Sam beared dat, he felt better, an' 'mence' ter pick up his +courage. Mis' Polly had showed her ban' too plain. My mist'ess hadn' +got col' yit, an' Mis' Polly, who'd be'n a widder fer two years dis +las' time, wuz already fig'rin' on takin' her place fer good, an' she +did n! want no other woman roun' de house dat Mars Sam might take a' +intrus' in. + +"'My dear Polly,' says Mars Sam, quite determine', 'I couldn' possibly +sen' Julia 'way. Fac' is, I couldn' git 'long widout Julia. She'd be'n +runnin' dis house like clockwo'k befo' you come, an' I likes her ways. +My dear, dead 'Liz'beth sot a heap er sto' by Julia, an' I'm gwine ter +keep her here fer 'Liz'beth's sake.' + +"Mis' Polly's eyes flash' fire. + +"'Ah,' says she,' I see--I see! You perfers her housekeepin' ter mine, +indeed! Dat is a fine way ter talk ter a lady! An' a heap er rispec' you +is got fer de mem'ry er my po' dead sister!' + +"Mars Sam knowed w'at she 'lowed she seed wa'n't so; but he didn' let +on, fer it only made him de safer. He wuz willin' fer her ter 'magine w'at +she please', jes' so long ez she kep' out er his house an' let him +alone. + +"'No, Polly,' says he, gittin' bolder ez she got madder, 'dere ain' no +use talkin'. Nothin' in de worl' would make me part wid Julia.' + +"Mis' Polly she r'ared an' she pitch', but Mars Sam helt on like grim +death. Mis' Polly wouldn' give in neither, an' so she fin'lly went +away. Dey made some kind er 'rangement afterwa'ds, an' Miss Polly tuck +Mis' 'Livy ter her own house. Mars Sam paid her bo'd an' 'lowed Mis' +Polly somethin' fer takin' keer er her." + +"And Julia stayed?" + +"Julia stayed, suh, an' a couple er years later her chile wuz bawn, +right here in dis house." + +"But you said," observed the doctor, "that Mrs. Ochiltree was in error +about Julia." + +"Yas, suh, so she wuz, w'en my ole mist'ess died. But dis wuz two years +after,--an' w'at has ter be has ter be. Julia had a easy time; she had a +black gal ter wait on her, a buggy to ride in, an' eve'ything she +wanted. Eve'ybody s'posed Mars Sam would give her a house an' lot, er +leave her somethin' in his will. But he died suddenly, and didn' leave +no will, an' Mis' Polly got herse'f 'pinted gyardeen ter young Mis' +'Livy, an' driv Julia an' her young un out er de house, an' lived here +in dis house wid Mis' 'Livy till Mis' 'Livy ma'ied Majah Carteret." + +"And what became of Julia?" asked Dr. Price. + +Such relations, the doctor knew very well, had been all too common in +the old slavery days, and not a few of them had been projected into the +new era. Sins, like snakes, die hard. The habits and customs of a people +were not to be changed in a day, nor by the stroke of a pen. As family +physician, and father confessor by brevet, Dr. Price had looked upon +more than one hidden skeleton; and no one in town had had better +opportunities than old Jane for learning the undercurrents in the lives +of the old families. + +"Well," resumed Jane, "eve'ybody s'posed, after w'at had happen', dat +Julia'd keep on livin' easy, fer she wuz young an' good-lookin'. But +she didn'. She tried ter make a livin' sewin', but Mis' Polly wouldn' +let de bes' w'ite folks hire her. Den she tuck up washin', but didn' do +no better at dat; an' bimeby she got so discourage' dat she ma'ied a +shif'less yaller man, an' died er consumption soon after,--an' wuz +'bout ez well off, fer dis man couldn' hardly feed her nohow." + +"And the child?" + +"One er de No'the'n w'ite lady teachers at de mission school tuck a +likin' ter little Janet, an' put her thoo school, an' den sent her off +ter de No'th fer ter study ter be a school teacher. W'en she come back, +'stead er teachin' she ma'ied ole Adam Miller's son." + +"The rich stevedore's son, Dr. Miller?" + +"Yas, suh, dat's de man,--you knows 'im. Dis yer boy wuz jes' gwine +'way fer ter study ter be a doctuh, an' he ma'ied dis Janet, an' tuck +her 'way wid 'im. Dey went off ter Europe, er Irope, er Orope, er +somewhere er 'nother, 'way off yander, an' come back here las' year an' +sta'ted dis yer horspital an' school fer ter train de black gals fer +nusses." + +"He's a very good doctor, Jane, and is doing a useful work. Your +chapter of family history is quite interesting,--I knew part of it +before, in a general way; but you haven't yet told me what brought on +Mrs. Carteret's trouble." + +"I'm jes' comin' ter dat dis minute, suh,--w'at I be'n tellin' you is +all a part of it. Dis yer Janet, w'at's Mis' 'Livy's half-sister, is ez +much like her ez ef dey wuz twins. Folks sometimes takes 'em fer one +ernudder,--I s'pose it tickles Janet mos' ter death, but it do make Mis' +'Livy rippin'. An' den 'way back yander jes' after de wah, w'en de ole +Carteret mansion had ter be sol', Adam Miller bought it, an' dis yer +Janet an' her husban' is be'n livin' in it ever sence ole Adam died, +'bout a year ago; an' dat makes de majah mad, 'ca'se he don' wanter see +cullud folks livin' in de ole fam'ly mansion w'at he wuz bawn in. An' +mo'over, an' dat's de wust of all, w'iles Mis' 'Livy ain' had no +child'en befo', dis yer sister er her'n is got a fine-lookin' little +yaller boy, w'at favors de fam'ly so dat ef Mis' 'Livy'd see de chile +anywhere, it'd mos' break her heart fer ter think 'bout her not havin' +no child'en herse'f. So ter-day, w'en Mis' 'Livy wuz out ridin' an' met +dis yer Janet wid her boy, an' w'en Mis' 'Livy got ter studyin' 'bout +her own chances, an' how she mought not come thoo safe, she jes' had a +fit er hysterics right dere in de buggy. She wuz mos' home, an' William +got her here, an' you knows de res'." + +Major Carteret, from the head of the stairs, called the doctor +anxiously. + +"You had better come along up now, Jane," said the doctor. + +For two long hours they fought back the grim spectre that stood by the +bedside. The child was born at dawn. Both mother and child, the doctor +said, would live. + +"Bless its 'ittle hea't!" exclaimed Mammy Jane, as she held up the tiny +mite, which bore as much resemblance to mature humanity as might be +expected of an infant which had for only a few minutes drawn the breath +of life. "Bless its 'ittle hea't! it's de we'y spit an' image er its +pappy!" + +The doctor smiled. The major laughed aloud. Jane's unconscious +witticism, or conscious flattery, whichever it might be, was a welcome +diversion from the tense strain of the last few hours. + +"Be that as it may," said Dr. Price cheerfully, "and I'll not dispute +it, the child is a very fine boy,--a very fine boy, indeed! Take care of +it, major," he added with a touch of solemnity, "for your wife can never +bear another." + +With the child's first cry a refreshing breeze from the distant ocean +cooled the hot air of the chamber; the heavy odor of the magnolias, with +its mortuary suggestiveness, gave place to the scent of rose and lilac +and honeysuckle. The birds in the garden were singing lustily. + +All these sweet and pleasant things found an echo in the major's heart. +He stood by the window, and looking toward the rising sun, breathed a +silent prayer of thanksgiving. All nature seemed to rejoice in sympathy +with his happiness at the fruition of this long-deferred hope, and to +predict for this wonderful child a bright and glorious future. + +Old Mammy Jane, however, was not entirely at ease concerning the child. +She had discovered, under its left ear, a small mole, which led her to +fear that the child was born for bad luck. Had the baby been black, or +yellow, or poor-white, Jane would unhesitatingly have named, as his +ultimate fate, a not uncommon form of taking off, usually resultant upon +the infraction of certain laws, or, in these swift modern days, upon too +violent a departure from established social customs. It was manifestly +impossible that a child of such high quality as the grandson of her old +mistress should die by judicial strangulation; but nevertheless the +warning was a serious thing, and not to be lightly disregarded. + +Not wishing to be considered as a prophet of evil omen, Jane kept her +own counsel in regard to this significant discovery. But later, after +the child was several days old, she filled a small vial with water in +which the infant had been washed, and took it to a certain wise old +black woman, who lived on the farther edge of the town and was well +known to be versed in witchcraft and conjuration. The conjure woman +added to the contents of the bottle a bit of calamus root, and one of +the cervical vertebrae from the skeleton of a black cat, with several +other mysterious ingredients, the nature of which she did not disclose. +Following instructions given her, Aunt Jane buried the bottle in +Carteret's back yard, one night during the full moon, as a good-luck +charm to ward off evil from the little grandson of her dear mistress, so +long since dead and gone to heaven. + + + + +II + + +THE CHRISTENING PARTY + +They named the Carteret baby Theodore Felix. Theodore was a family name, +and had been borne by the eldest son for several generations, the major +himself being a second son. Having thus given the child two beautiful +names, replete with religious and sentimental significance, they called +him--"Dodie." + +The baby was christened some six weeks after its birth, by which time +Mrs. Carteret was able to be out. Old Mammy Jane, who had been brought +up in the church, but who, like some better informed people in all ages, +found religion not inconsistent with a strong vein of superstition, felt +her fears for the baby's future much relieved when the rector had made +the sign of the cross and sprinkled little Dodie with the water from the +carved marble font, which had come from England in the reign of King +Charles the Martyr, as the ill-fated son of James I. was known to St. +Andrew's. Upon this special occasion Mammy Jane had been provided with a +seat downstairs among the white people, to her own intense satisfaction, +and to the secret envy of a small colored attendance in the gallery, to +whom she was ostentatiously pointed out by her grandson Jerry, porter at +the Morning Chronicle office, who sat among them in the front row. + +On the following Monday evening the major gave a christening party in +honor of this important event. Owing to Mrs. Carteret's still delicate +health, only a small number of intimate friends and family connections +were invited to attend. These were the rector of St. Andrew's; old Mrs. +Polly Ochiltree, the godmother; old Mr. Delamere, a distant relative and +also one of the sponsors; and his grandson, Tom Delamere. The major had +also invited Lee Ellis, his young city editor, for whom he had a great +liking apart from his business value, and who was a frequent visitor at +the house. These, with the family itself, which consisted of the major, +his wife, and his half-sister, Clara Pemberton, a young woman of about +eighteen, made up the eight persons for whom covers were laid. + +Ellis was the first to arrive, a tall, loose-limbed young man, with a +slightly freckled face, hair verging on auburn, a firm chin, and honest +gray eyes. He had come half an hour early, and was left alone for a few +minutes in the parlor, a spacious, high-ceilinged room, with large +windows, and fitted up in excellent taste, with stately reminiscences of +a past generation. The walls were hung with figured paper. The ceiling +was whitewashed, and decorated in the middle with a plaster +centre-piece, from which hung a massive chandelier sparkling with +prismatic rays from a hundred crystal pendants. There was a handsome +mantel, set with terra-cotta tiles, on which fauns and satyrs, nymphs +and dryads, disported themselves in idyllic abandon. The furniture was +old, and in keeping with the room. + +At seven o'clock a carriage drove up, from which alighted an elderly +gentleman, with white hair and mustache, and bowed somewhat with years. +Short of breath and painfully weak in the legs, he was assisted from the +carriage by a colored man, apparently about forty years old, to whom +short side-whiskers and spectacles imparted an air of sobriety. This +attendant gave his arm respectfully to the old gentleman, who leaned +upon it heavily, but with as little appearance of dependence as +possible. The servant, assuming a similar unconsciousness of the weight +resting upon his arm, assisted the old gentleman carefully up the steps. + +"I'm all right now, Sandy," whispered the gentleman as soon as his feet +were planted firmly on the piazza. "You may come back for me at nine +o'clock." + +Having taken his hand from his servant's arm, he advanced to meet a lady +who stood in the door awaiting him, a tall, elderly woman, gaunt and +angular of frame, with a mottled face, and high cheekbones partially +covered by bands of hair entirely too black and abundant for a person of +her age, if one might judge from the lines of her mouth, which are +rarely deceptive in such matters. + +"Perhaps you'd better not send your man away, Mr. Delamere," observed +the lady, in a high shrill voice, which grated upon the old gentleman's +ears. He was slightly hard of hearing, but, like most deaf people, +resented being screamed at. "You might need him before nine o'clock. One +never knows what may happen after one has had the second stroke. And +moreover, our butler has fallen down the back steps--negroes are so +careless!--and sprained his ankle so that he can't stand. I'd like to +have Sandy stay and wait on the table in Peter's place, if you don't +mind." + +"I thank you, Mrs. Ochiltree, for your solicitude," replied Mr. +Delamere, with a shade of annoyance in his voice, "but my health is very +good just at present, and I do not anticipate any catastrophe which will +require my servant's presence before I am ready to go home. But I have +no doubt, madam," he continued, with a courteous inclination, "that +Sandy will be pleased to serve you, if you desire it, to the best of his +poor knowledge." + +"I shill be honored, ma'am," assented Sandy, with a bow even deeper than +his master's, "only I'm 'feared I ain't rightly dressed fer ter wait on +table. I wuz only goin' ter pra'r-meetin', an' so I didn' put on my +bes' clo's. Ef Mis' Ochiltree ain' gwine ter need me fer de nex' fifteen +minutes, I kin ride back home in de ca'ige an' dress myse'f suitable fer +de occasion, suh." + +"If you think you'll wait on the table any better," said Mrs. +Ochiltree, "you may go along and change your clothes; but hurry back, +for it is seven now, and dinner will soon be served." + +Sandy retired with a bow. While descending the steps to the carriage, +which had waited for him, he came face to face with a young man just +entering the house. + +"Am I in time for dinner, Sandy?" asked the newcomer. + +"Yas, Mistuh Tom, you're in plenty er time. Dinner won't be ready till +_I_ git back, which won' be fer fifteen minutes er so yit." + +Throwing away the cigarette which he held between his fingers, the young +man crossed the piazza with a light step, and after a preliminary knock, +for an answer to which he did not wait, entered the house with the air +of one thoroughly at home. The lights in the parlor had been lit, and +Ellis, who sat talking to Major Carteret when the newcomer entered, +covered him with a jealous glance. + +Slender and of medium height, with a small head of almost perfect +contour, a symmetrical face, dark almost to swarthiness, black eyes, +which moved somewhat restlessly, curly hair of raven tint, a slight +mustache, small hands and feet, and fashionable attire, Tom Delamere, +the grandson of the old gentleman who had already arrived, was easily +the handsomest young man in Wellington. But no discriminating observer +would have characterized his beauty as manly. It conveyed no impression +of strength, but did possess a certain element, feline rather than +feminine, which subtly negatived the idea of manliness. + +He gave his hand to the major, nodded curtly to Ellis, saluted his +grandfather respectfully, and inquired for the ladies. + +"Olivia is dressing for dinner," replied the major; "Mrs. Ochiltree is +in the kitchen, struggling with the servants. Clara--Ah, here she comes +now!" + +Ellis, whose senses were preternaturally acute where Clara was +concerned, was already looking toward the hall and was the first to see +her. Clad in an evening gown of simple white, to the close-fitting +corsage of which she had fastened a bunch of pink roses, she was to +Ellis a dazzling apparition. To him her erect and well-moulded form was +the embodiment of symmetry, her voice sweet music, her movements the +perfection of grace; and it scarcely needed a lover's imagination to +read in her fair countenance a pure heart and a high spirit,--the +truthfulness that scorns a lie, the pride which is not haughtiness. +There were suggestive depths of tenderness, too, in the curl of her lip, +the droop of her long lashes, the glance of her blue eyes,--depths that +Ellis had long since divined, though he had never yet explored them. She +gave Ellis a friendly nod as she came in, but for the smile with which +she greeted Delamere, Ellis would have given all that he +possessed,--not a great deal, it is true, but what could a man do more? + +"You are the last one, Tom," she said reproachfully. "Mr. Ellis has been +here half an hour." + +Delamere threw a glance at Ellis which was not exactly friendly. Why +should this fellow always be on hand to emphasize his own shortcomings? + +"The rector is not here," answered Tom triumphantly. "You see I am not +the last." + +"The rector," replied Clara, "was called out of town at six o'clock this +evening, to visit a dying man, and so cannot be here. You are the last, +Tom, and Mr. Ellis was the first." + +Ellis was ruefully aware that this comparison in his favor was the only +visible advantage that he had gained from his early arrival. He had not +seen Miss Pemberton a moment sooner by reason of it. There had been a +certain satisfaction in being in the same house with her, but Delamere +had arrived in time to share or, more correctly, to monopolize, the +sunshine of her presence. + +Delamere gave a plausible excuse which won Clara's pardon and another +enchanting smile, which pierced Ellis like a dagger. He knew very well +that Delamere's excuse was a lie. Ellis himself had been ready as early +as six o'clock, but judging this to be too early, had stopped in at the +Clarendon Club for half an hour, to look over the magazines. While +coming out he had glanced into the card-room, where he had seen his +rival deep in a game of cards, from which Delamere had evidently not +been able to tear himself until the last moment. He had accounted for +his lateness by a story quite inconsistent with these facts. + +The two young people walked over to a window on the opposite side of +the large room, where they stood talking to one another in low tones. +The major had left the room for a moment. Old Mr. Delamere, who was +watching his grandson and Clara with an indulgent smile, proceeded to +rub salt into Ellis's wounds. + +"They make a handsome couple," he observed. "I remember well when her +mother, in her youth an ideally beautiful woman, of an excellent family, +married Daniel Pemberton, who was not of so good a family, but had made +money. The major, who was only a very young man then, disapproved of the +match; he considered that his mother, although a widow and nearly forty, +was marrying beneath her. But he has been a good brother to Clara, and a +careful guardian of her estate. Ah, young gentleman, you cannot +appreciate, except in imagination, what it means, to one standing on the +brink of eternity, to feel sure that he will live on in his children and +his children's children!" + +Ellis was appreciating at that moment what it meant, in cold blood, with +no effort of the imagination, to see the girl whom he loved absorbed +completely in another man. She had looked at him only once since Tom +Delamere had entered the room, and then merely to use him as a spur with +which to prick his favored rival. + +"Yes, sir," he returned mechanically, "Miss Clara is a beautiful young +lady." + +"And Tom is a good boy--a fine boy," returned the old gentleman. "I am +very well pleased with Tom, and shall be entirely happy when I see them +married." + +Ellis could not echo this sentiment. The very thought of this marriage +made him miserable. He had always understood that the engagement was +merely tentative, a sort of family understanding, subject to +confirmation after Delamere should have attained his majority, which was +still a year off, and when the major should think Clara old enough to +marry. Ellis saw Delamere with the eye of a jealous rival, and judged +him mercilessly,--whether correctly or not the sequel will show. He did +not at all believe that Tom Delamere would make a fit husband for Clara +Pemberton; but his opinion would have had no weight,--he could hardly +have expressed it without showing his own interest. Moreover, there was +no element of the sneak in Lee Ellis's make-up. The very fact that he +might profit by the other's discomfiture left Delamere secure, so far as +he could be affected by anything that Ellis might say. But Ellis did not +shrink from a fair fight, and though in this one the odds were heavily +against him, yet so long as this engagement remained indefinite, so +long, indeed, as the object of his love was still unwed, he would not +cease to hope. Such a sacrifice as this marriage clearly belonged in the +catalogue of impossibilities. Ellis had not lived long enough to learn +that impossibilities are merely things of which we have not learned, or +which we do not wish to happen. + +Sandy returned at the end of a quarter of an hour, and dinner was +announced. Mr. Delamere led the way to the dining-room with Mrs. +Ochiltree. Tom followed with Clara. The major went to the head of the +stairs and came down with Mrs. Carteret upon his arm, her beauty +rendered more delicate by the pallor of her countenance and more +complete by the happiness with which it glowed. Ellis went in alone. In +the rector's absence it was practically a family party which sat down, +with the exception of Ellis, who, as we have seen, would willingly have +placed himself in the same category. + +The table was tastefully decorated with flowers, which grew about the +house in lavish profusion. In warm climates nature adorns herself with +true feminine vanity. + +"What a beautiful table!" exclaimed Tom, before they were seated. + +"The decorations are mine," said Clara proudly. "I cut the flowers and +arranged them all myself." + +"Which accounts for the admirable effect," rejoined Tom with a bow, +before Ellis, to whom the same thought had occurred, was able to express +himself. He had always counted himself the least envious of men, but for +this occasion he coveted Tom Delamere's readiness. + +"The beauty of the flowers," observed old Mr. Delamere, with sententious +gallantry, "is reflected upon all around them. It is a handsome +company." + +Mrs. Ochiltree beamed upon the table with a dry smile. + +"I don't perceive any effect that it has upon you or me," she said; "And +as for the young people, 'Handsome is as handsome does.' If Tom here, +for instance, were as good as he looks"-- + +"You flatter me, Aunt Polly," Tom broke in hastily, anticipating the +crack of the whip; he was familiar with his aunt's conversational +idiosyncrasies. + +"If you are as good as you look," continued the old lady, with a cunning +but indulgent smile, "some one has been slandering you." + +"Thanks, Aunt Polly! Now you don't flatter me." + +"There is Mr. Ellis," Mrs. Ochiltree went on, "who is not half so +good-looking, but is steady as a clock, I dare say." + +"Now, Aunt Polly," interposed Mrs. Carteret, "let the gentlemen alone." + +"She doesn't mean half what she says," continued Mrs. Carteret +apologetically, "and only talks that way to people whom she likes." + +Tom threw Mrs. Carteret a grateful glance. He had been apprehensive, +with the sensitiveness of youth, lest his old great-aunt should make a +fool of him before Clara's family. Nor had he relished the comparison +with Ellis, who was out of place, anyway, in this family party. He had +never liked the fellow, who was too much of a plodder and a prig to make +a suitable associate for a whole-souled, generous-hearted young +gentleman. He tolerated him as a visitor at Carteret's and as a member +of the Clarendon Club, but that was all. + +"Mrs. Ochiltree has a characteristic way of disguising her feelings," +observed old Mr. Delamere, with a touch of sarcasm. + +Ellis had merely flushed and felt uncomfortable at the reference to +himself. The compliment to his character hardly offset the reflection +upon his looks. He knew he was not exactly handsome, but it was not +pleasant to have the fact emphasized in the presence of the girl he +loved; he would like at least fair play, and judgment upon the subject +left to the young lady. + +Mrs. Ochiltree was quietly enjoying herself. In early life she had been +accustomed to impale fools on epigrams, like flies on pins, to see them +wriggle. But with advancing years she had lost in some measure the +faculty of nice discrimination,--it was pleasant to see her victims +squirm, whether they were fools or friends. Even one's friends, she +argued, were not always wise, and were sometimes the better for being +told the truth. At her niece's table she felt at liberty to speak her +mind, which she invariably did, with a frankness that sometimes bordered +on brutality. She had long ago outgrown the period where ambition or +passion, or its partners, envy and hatred, were springs of action in her +life, and simply retained a mild enjoyment in the exercise of an old +habit, with no active malice whatever. The ruling passion merely grew +stronger as the restraining faculties decreased in vigor. + +A diversion was created at this point by the appearance of old Mammy +Jane, dressed in a calico frock, with clean white neckerchief and apron, +carrying the wonderful baby in honor of whose naming this feast had been +given. Though only six weeks old, the little Theodore had grown rapidly, +and Mammy Jane declared was already quite large for his age, and +displayed signs of an unusually precocious intelligence. He was passed +around the table and duly admired. Clara thought his hair was fine. +Ellis inquired about his teeth. Tom put his finger in the baby's fist to +test his grip. Old Mr. Delamere was unable to decide as yet whether he +favored most his father or his mother. The object of these attentions +endured them patiently for several minutes, and then protested with a +vocal vigor which led to his being taken promptly back upstairs. +Whatever fate might be in store for him, he manifested no sign of weak +lungs. + +"Sandy," said Mrs. Carteret when the baby had retired, "pass that tray +standing upon the side table, so that we may all see the presents." + +Mr. Delamere had brought a silver spoon, and Tom a napkin ring. Ellis +had sent a silver watch; it was a little premature, he admitted, but +the boy would grow to it, and could use it to play with in the mean +time. It had a glass back, so that he might see the wheels go round. +Mrs. Ochiltree's present was an old and yellow ivory rattle, with a +handle which the child could bite while teething, and a knob screwed on +at the end to prevent the handle from slipping through the baby's hand. + +"I saw that in your cedar chest, Aunt Polly," said Clara, "when I was a +little girl, and you used to pull the chest out from under your bed to +get me a dime." + +"You kept the rattle in the right-hand corner of the chest," said Tom, +"in the box with the red silk purse, from which you took the gold piece +you gave me every Christmas." + +A smile shone on Mrs. Ochiltree's severe features at this appreciation, +like a ray of sunlight on a snowbank. + +"Aunt Polly's chest is like the widow's cruse," said Mrs. Carteret, +"which was never empty." + +"Or Fortunatus's purse, which was always full," added old Mr. Delamere, +who read the Latin poets, and whose allusions were apt to be classical +rather than scriptural. + +"It will last me while I live," said Mrs. Ochiltree, adding cautiously, +"but there'll not be a great deal left. It won't take much to support +an old woman for twenty years." + +Mr. Delamere's man Sandy had been waiting upon the table with the +decorum of a trained butler, and a gravity all his own. He had changed +his suit of plain gray for a long blue coat with brass buttons, which +dated back to the fashion of a former generation, with which he wore a +pair of plaid trousers of strikingly modern cut and pattern. With his +whiskers, his spectacles, and his solemn air of responsibility, he would +have presented, to one unfamiliar with the negro type, an amusingly +impressive appearance. But there was nothing incongruous about Sandy to +this company, except perhaps to Tom Delamere, who possessed a keen eye +for contrasts and always regarded Sandy, in that particular rig, as a +very comical darkey. + +"Is it quite prudent, Mrs. Ochiltree," suggested the major at a moment +when Sandy, having set down the tray, had left the room for a little +while, "to mention, in the presence of the servants, that you keep money +in the house?" + +"I beg your pardon, major," observed old Mr. Delamere, with a touch of +stiffness. "The only servant in hearing of the conversation has been my +own; and Sandy is as honest as any man in Wellington." + +"You mean, sir," replied Carteret, with a smile, "as honest as any negro +in Wellington." + +"I make no exceptions, major," returned the old gentleman, with +emphasis. "I would trust Sandy with my life,--he saved it once at the +risk of his own." + +"No doubt," mused the major, "the negro is capable of a certain doglike +fidelity,--I make the comparison in a kindly sense,--a certain personal +devotion which is admirable in itself, and fits him eminently for a +servile career. I should imagine, however, that one could more safely +trust his life with a negro than his portable property." + +"Very clever, major! I read your paper, and know that your feeling is +hostile toward the negro, but"-- + +The major made a gesture of dissent, but remained courteously silent +until Mr. Delamere had finished. + +"For my part," the old gentleman went on, "I think they have done very +well, considering what they started from, and their limited +opportunities. There was Adam Miller, for instance, who left a +comfortable estate. His son George carries on the business, and the +younger boy, William, is a good doctor and stands well with his +profession. His hospital is a good thing, and if my estate were clear, I +should like to do something for it." + +"You are mistaken, sir, in imagining me hostile to the negro," explained +Carteret. "On the contrary, I am friendly to his best interests. I give +him employment; I pay taxes for schools to educate him, and for +court-houses and jails to keep him in order. I merely object to being +governed by an inferior and servile race." + +Mrs. Carteret's face wore a tired expression. This question was her +husband's hobby, and therefore her own nightmare. Moreover, she had her +personal grievance against the negro race, and the names mentioned by +old Mr. Delamere had brought it vividly before her mind. She had no +desire to mar the harmony of the occasion by the discussion of a +distasteful subject. + +Mr. Delamere, glancing at his hostess, read something of this thought, +and refused the challenge to further argument. + +"I do not believe, major," he said, "that Olivia relishes the topic. I +merely wish to say that Sandy is an exception to any rule which you may +formulate in derogation of the negro. Sandy is a gentleman in ebony!" + +Tom could scarcely preserve his gravity at this characterization of old +Sandy, with his ridiculous air of importance, his long blue coat, and +his loud plaid trousers. That suit would make a great costume for a +masquerade. He would borrow it some time,--there was nothing in the +world like it. + +"Well, Mr. Delamere," returned the major good-humoredly, "no doubt Sandy +is an exceptionally good negro,--he might well be, for he has had the +benefit of your example all his life,--and we know that he is a faithful +servant. But nevertheless, if I were Mrs. Ochiltree, I should put my +money in the bank. Not all negroes are as honest as Sandy, and an +elderly lady might not prove a match for a burly black burglar." + +"Thank you, major," retorted Mrs. Ochiltree, with spirit, "I'm not yet +too old to take care of myself. That cedar chest has been my bank for +forty years, and I shall not change my habits at my age." + +At this moment Sandy reentered the room. Carteret made a warning +gesture, which Mrs. Ochiltree chose not to notice. + +"I've proved a match for two husbands, and am not afraid of any man +that walks the earth, black or white, by day or night. I have a +revolver, and know how to use it. Whoever attempts to rob me will do so +at his peril." + +After dinner Clara played the piano and sang duets with Tom Delamere. At +nine o'clock Mr. Delamere's carriage came for him, and he went away +accompanied by Sandy. Under cover of the darkness the old gentleman +leaned on his servant's arm with frank dependence, and Sandy lifted him +into the carriage with every mark of devotion. + +Ellis had already excused himself to go to the office and look over the +late proofs for the morning paper. Tom remained a few minutes longer +than his grandfather, and upon taking his leave went round to the +Clarendon Club, where he spent an hour or two in the card-room with a +couple of congenial friends. Luck seemed to favor him, and he went home +at midnight with a comfortable balance of winnings. He was fond of +excitement, and found a great deal of it in cards. To lose was only less +exciting than to win. Of late he had developed into a very successful +player,--so successful, indeed, that several members of the club +generally found excuses to avoid participating in a game where he made +one. + + + + +III + + +THE EDITOR AT WORK + +To go back a little, for several days after his child's birth Major +Carteret's chief interest in life had been confined to the four walls of +the chamber where his pale wife lay upon her bed of pain, and those of +the adjoining room where an old black woman crooned lovingly over a +little white infant. A new element had been added to the major's +consciousness, broadening the scope and deepening the strength of his +affections. He did not love Olivia the less, for maternity had crowned +her wifehood with an added glory; but side by side with this old and +tried attachment was a new passion, stirring up dormant hopes and +kindling new desires. His regret had been more than personal at the +thought that with himself an old name should be lost to the State; and +now all the old pride of race, class, and family welled up anew, and +swelled and quickened the current of his life. + +Upon the major's first appearance at the office, which took place the +second day after the child's birth, he opened a box of cigars in honor +of the event. The word had been passed around by Ellis, and the whole +office force, including reporters, compositors, and pressmen, came in to +congratulate the major and smoke at his expense. Even Jerry, the colored +porter,--Mammy Jane's grandson and therefore a protege of the +family,--presented himself among the rest, or rather, after the rest. +The major shook hands with them all except Jerry, though he acknowledged +the porter's congratulations with a kind nod and put a good cigar into +his outstretched palm, for which Jerry thanked him without manifesting +any consciousness of the omission. He was quite aware that under +ordinary circumstances the major would not have shaken hands with white +workingmen, to say nothing of negroes; and he had merely hoped that in +the pleasurable distraction of the moment the major might also overlook +the distinction of color. Jerry's hope had been shattered, though not +rudely; for the major had spoken pleasantly and the cigar was a good +one. Mr. Ellis had once shaken hands with Jerry,--but Mr. Ellis was a +young man, whose Quaker father had never owned any slaves, and he could +not be expected to have as much pride as one of the best "quality," +whose families had possessed land and negroes for time out of mind. On +the whole, Jerry preferred the careless nod of the editor-in-chief to +the more familiar greeting of the subaltern. + +Having finished this pleasant ceremony, which left him with a +comfortable sense of his new dignity, the major turned to his desk. It +had been much neglected during the week, and more than one matter +claimed his attention; but as typical of the new trend of his thoughts, +the first subject he took up was one bearing upon the future of his son. +Quite obviously the career of a Carteret must not be left to chance,--it +must be planned and worked out with a due sense of the value of good +blood. + +There lay upon his desk a letter from a well-known promoter, offering +the major an investment which promised large returns, though several +years must elapse before the enterprise could be put upon a paying +basis. The element of time, however, was not immediately important. The +Morning Chronicle provided him an ample income. The money available for +this investment was part of his wife's patrimony. It was invested in a +local cotton mill, which was paying ten per cent., but this was a +beggarly return compared with the immense profits promised by the +offered investment,--profits which would enable his son, upon reaching +manhood, to take a place in the world commensurate with the dignity of +his ancestors, one of whom, only a few generations removed, had owned an +estate of ninety thousand acres of land and six thousand slaves. + +This letter having been disposed of by an answer accepting the offer, +the major took up his pen to write an editorial. Public affairs in the +state were not going to his satisfaction. At the last state election his +own party, after an almost unbroken rule of twenty years, had been +defeated by the so-called "Fusion" ticket, a combination of Republicans +and Populists. A clean sweep had been made of the offices in the state, +which were now filled by new men. Many of the smaller places had gone to +colored men, their people having voted almost solidly for the Fusion +ticket. In spite of the fact that the population of Wellington was two +thirds colored, this state of things was gall and wormwood to the +defeated party, of which the Morning Chronicle was the acknowledged +organ. Major Carteret shared this feeling. Only this very morning, while +passing the city hall, on his way to the office, he had seen the steps +of that noble building disfigured by a fringe of job-hunting negroes, +for all the world--to use a local simile--like a string of buzzards +sitting on a rail, awaiting their opportunity to batten upon the +helpless corpse of a moribund city. + +Taking for his theme the unfitness of the negro to participate in +government,--an unfitness due to his limited education, his lack of +experience, his criminal tendencies, and more especially to his hopeless +mental and physical inferiority to the white race,--the major had +demonstrated, it seemed to him clearly enough, that the ballot in the +hands of the negro was a menace to the commonwealth. He had argued, with +entire conviction, that the white and black races could never attain +social and political harmony by commingling their blood; he had proved +by several historical parallels that no two unassimilable races could +ever live together except in the relation of superior and inferior; and +he was just dipping his gold pen into the ink to indite his conclusions +from the premises thus established, when Jerry, the porter, announced +two visitors. + +"Gin'l Belmont an' Cap'n McBane would like ter see you, suh." + +"Show them in, Jerry." + +The man who entered first upon this invitation was a dapper little +gentleman with light-blue eyes and a Vandyke beard. He wore a frock +coat, patent leather shoes, and a Panama hat. There were crow's-feet +about his eyes, which twinkled with a hard and, at times, humorous +shrewdness. He had sloping shoulders, small hands and feet, and walked +with the leisurely step characteristic of those who have been reared +under hot suns. + +Carteret gave his hand cordially to the gentleman thus described. + +"How do you do, Captain McBane," he said, turning to the second visitor. + +The individual thus addressed was strikingly different in appearance +from his companion. His broad shoulders, burly form, square jaw, and +heavy chin betokened strength, energy, and unscrupulousness. With the +exception of a small, bristling mustache, his face was clean shaven, +with here and there a speck of dried blood due to a carelessly or +unskillfully handled razor. A single deep-set gray eye was shadowed by a +beetling brow, over which a crop of coarse black hair, slightly streaked +with gray, fell almost low enough to mingle with his black, bushy +eyebrows. His coat had not been brushed for several days, if one might +judge from the accumulation of dandruff upon the collar, and his +shirt-front, in the middle of which blazed a showy diamond, was +plentifully stained with tobacco juice. He wore a large slouch hat, +which, upon entering the office, he removed and held in his hand. + +Having greeted this person with an unconscious but quite perceptible +diminution of the warmth with which he had welcomed the other, the major +looked around the room for seats for his visitors, and perceiving only +one chair, piled with exchanges, and a broken stool propped against the +wall, pushed a button, which rang a bell in the hall, summoning the +colored porter to his presence. + +"Jerry," said the editor when his servant appeared, "bring a couple of +chairs for these gentlemen." + +While they stood waiting, the visitors congratulated the major on the +birth of his child, which had been announced in the Morning Chronicle, +and which the prominence of the family made in some degree a matter of +public interest. + +"And now that you have a son, major," remarked the gentleman first +described, as he lit one of the major's cigars, "you'll be all the more +interested in doing something to make this town fit to live in, which is +what we came up to talk about. Things are in an awful condition! A negro +justice of the peace has opened an office on Market Street, and only +yesterday summoned a white man to appear before him. Negro lawyers get +most of the business in the criminal court. Last evening a group of +young white ladies, going quietly along the street arm-in-arm, were +forced off the sidewalk by a crowd of negro girls. Coming down the +street just now, I saw a spectacle of social equality and negro +domination that made my blood boil with indignation,--a white and a +black convict, chained together, crossing the city in charge of a negro +officer! We cannot stand that sort of thing, Carteret,--it is the last +straw! Something must be done, and that quickly!" + +The major thrilled with responsive emotion. There was something +prophetic in this opportune visit. The matter was not only in his own +thoughts, but in the air; it was the spontaneous revulsion of white men +against the rule of an inferior race. These were the very men, above all +others in the town, to join him in a movement to change these degrading +conditions. + +General Belmont, the smaller of the two, was a man of good family, a +lawyer by profession, and took an active part in state and local +politics. Aristocratic by birth and instinct, and a former owner of +slaves, his conception of the obligations and rights of his caste was +nevertheless somewhat lower than that of the narrower but more sincere +Carteret. In serious affairs Carteret desired the approval of his +conscience, even if he had to trick that docile organ into +acquiescence. This was not difficult to do in politics, for he believed +in the divine right of white men and gentlemen, as his ancestors had +believed in and died for the divine right of kings. General Belmont was +not without a gentleman's distaste for meanness, but he permitted no +fine scruples to stand in the way of success. He had once been minister, +under a Democratic administration, to a small Central American state. +Political rivals had characterized him as a tricky demagogue, which may +of course have been a libel. He had an amiable disposition, possessed +the gift of eloquence, and was a prime social favorite. + +Captain George McBane had sprung from the poor-white class, to which, +even more than to the slaves, the abolition of slavery had opened the +door of opportunity. No longer overshadowed by a slaveholding caste, +some of this class had rapidly pushed themselves forward. Some had made +honorable records. Others, foremost in negro-baiting and election +frauds, had done the dirty work of politics, as their fathers had done +that of slavery, seeking their reward at first in minor offices,--for +which men of gentler breeding did not care,--until their ambition began +to reach out for higher honors. + +Of this class McBane--whose captaincy, by the way, was merely a polite +fiction--had been one of the most successful. He had held, until +recently, as the reward of questionable political services, a contract +with the State for its convict labor, from which in a few years he had +realized a fortune. But the methods which made his contract profitable +had not commended themselves to humane people, and charges of cruelty +and worse had been preferred against him. He was rich enough to escape +serious consequences from the investigation which followed, but when the +Fusion ticket carried the state he lost his contract, and the system of +convict labor was abolished. Since then McBane had devoted himself to +politics: he was ambitious for greater wealth, for office, and for +social recognition. A man of few words and self-engrossed, he seldom +spoke of his aspirations except where speech might favor them, +preferring to seek his ends by secret "deals" and combinations rather +than to challenge criticism and provoke rivalry by more open methods. + +At sight, therefore, of these two men, with whose careers and characters +he was entirely familiar, Carteret felt sweep over his mind the +conviction that now was the time and these the instruments with which to +undertake the redemption of the state from the evil fate which had +befallen it. + +Jerry, the porter, who had gone downstairs to the counting-room to find +two whole chairs, now entered with one in each hand. He set a chair for +the general, who gave him an amiable nod, to which Jerry responded with +a bow and a scrape. Captain McBane made no acknowledgment, but fixed +Jerry so fiercely with his single eye that upon placing the chair Jerry +made his escape from the room as rapidly as possible. + +"I don' like dat Cap'n McBane," he muttered, upon reaching the hall. +"Dey says he got dat eye knock' out tryin' ter whip a cullud 'oman, when +he wuz a boy, an' dat he ain' never had no use fer niggers +sence,--'cep'n' fer what he could make outen 'em wid his convic' labor +contrac's. His daddy wuz a' overseer befo' 'im, an' it come nachul fer +him ter be a nigger-driver. I don' want dat one eye er his'n restin' on +me no longer 'n I kin he'p, an' I don' know how I'm gwine ter like dis +job ef he's gwine ter be comin' roun' here. He ain' nothin' but po' +w'ite trash nohow; but Lawd! Lawd! look at de money he's got,--livin' +at de hotel, wearin' di'mon's, an' colloguin' wid de bes' quality er dis +town! 'Pears ter me de bottom rail is gittin' mighty close ter de top. +Well, I s'pose it all comes f'm bein' w'ite. I wush ter Gawd I wuz +w'ite!" + +After this fervent aspiration, having nothing else to do for the time +being, except to remain within call, and having caught a few words of +the conversation as he went in with the chairs, Jerry, who possessed a +certain amount of curiosity, placed close to the wall the broken stool +upon which he sat while waiting in the hall, and applied his ear to a +hole in the plastering of the hallway. There was a similar defect in the +inner wall, between the same two pieces of studding, and while this +inner opening was not exactly opposite the outer, Jerry was enabled, +through the two, to catch in a more or less fragmentary way what was +going on within. + +He could hear the major, now and then, use the word "negro," and +McBane's deep voice was quite audible when he referred, it seemed to +Jerry with alarming frequency, to "the damned niggers," while the +general's suave tones now and then pronounced the word "niggro,"--a sort +of compromise between ethnology and the vernacular. That the gentlemen +were talking politics seemed quite likely, for gentlemen generally +talked politics when they met at the Chronicle office. Jerry could hear +the words "vote," "franchise," "eliminate," "constitution," and other +expressions which marked the general tenor of the talk, though he could +not follow it all,--partly because he could not hear everything +distinctly, and partly because of certain limitations which nature had +placed in the way of Jerry's understanding anything very difficult or +abstruse. + +He had gathered enough, however, to realize, in a vague way, that +something serious was on foot, involving his own race, when a bell +sounded over his head, at which he sprang up hastily and entered the +room where the gentlemen were talking. + +"Jerry," said the major, "wait on Captain McBane." + +"Yas, suh," responded Jerry, turning toward the captain, whose eye he +carefully avoided meeting directly. + +"Take that half a dollar, boy," ordered McBane, "an' go 'cross the +street to Mr. Sykes's, and tell him to send me three whiskies. Bring +back the change, and make has'e." + +The captain tossed the half dollar at Jerry, who, looking to one side, +of course missed it. He picked the money up, however, and backed out of +the room. Jerry did not like Captain McBane, to begin with, and it was +clear that the captain was no gentleman, or he would not have thrown the +money at him. Considering the source, Jerry might have overlooked this +discourtesy had it not been coupled with the remark about the change, +which seemed to him in very poor taste. + +Returning in a few minutes with three glasses on a tray, he passed them +round, handed Captain McBane his change, and retired to the hall. + +"Gentlemen," exclaimed the captain, lifting his glass, "I propose a +toast: 'No nigger domination.'" + +"Amen!" said the others, and three glasses were solemnly drained. + +"Major," observed the general, smacking his lips, "_I_ should like to +use Jerry for a moment, if you will permit me." + +Jerry appeared promptly at the sound of the bell. He had remained +conveniently near,--calls of this sort were apt to come in sequence. + +"Jerry," said the general, handing Jerry half a dollar, "go over to Mr. +Brown's,--I get my liquor there,--and tell them to send me three glasses +of my special mixture. And, Jerry,--you may keep the change!" + +"Thank y', gin'l, thank y', marster," replied Jerry, with unctuous +gratitude, bending almost double as he backed out of the room. + +"Dat's a gent'eman, a rale ole-time gent'eman," he said to himself when +he had closed the door. "But dere's somethin' gwine on in dere,--dere +sho' is! 'No nigger damnation!' Dat soun's all right,--I'm sho' dere +ain' no nigger I knows w'at wants damnation, do' dere's lots of 'em w'at +deserves it; but ef dat one-eyed Cap'n McBane got anything ter do wid +it, w'atever it is, it don' mean no good fer de niggers,--damnation'd +be better fer 'em dan dat Cap'n McBane! He looks at a nigger lack he +could jes' eat 'im alive." + +"This mixture, gentlemen," observed the general when Jerry had returned +with the glasses, "was originally compounded by no less a person than +the great John C. Calhoun himself, who confided the recipe to my father +over the convivial board. In this nectar of the gods, gentlemen, I drink +with you to 'White Supremacy!'" + +"White Supremacy everywhere!" added McBane with fervor. + +"Now and forever!" concluded Carteret solemnly. + +When the visitors, half an hour later, had taken their departure, +Carteret, inspired by the theme, and in less degree by the famous +mixture of the immortal Calhoun, turned to his desk and finished, at a +white heat, his famous editorial in which he sounded the tocsin of a new +crusade. + +At noon, when the editor, having laid down his pen, was leaving the +office, he passed Jerry in the hall without a word or a nod. The major +wore a rapt look, which Jerry observed with a vague uneasiness. + +"He looks jes' lack he wuz walkin' in his sleep," muttered Jerry +uneasily. "Dere's somethin' up, sho 's you bawn! 'No nigger damnation!' +Anybody'd 'low dey wuz all gwine ter heaven; but I knows better! W'en a +passel er w'ite folks gits ter talkin' 'bout de niggers lack dem in +yander, it's mo' lackly dey're gwine ter ketch somethin' e'se dan +heaven! I got ter keep my eyes open an' keep up wid w'at's happenin'. Ef +dere's gwine ter be anudder flood 'roun' here, I wants ter git in de +ark wid de w'ite folks,--I may haf ter be anudder Ham, an' sta't de +cullud race all over ag'in." + + + + +IV + + +THEODORE FELIX + +The young heir of the Carterets had thriven apace, and at six months old +was, according to Mammy Jane, whose experience qualified her to speak +with authority, the largest, finest, smartest, and altogether most +remarkable baby that had ever lived in Wellington. Mammy Jane had +recently suffered from an attack of inflammatory rheumatism, as the +result of which she had returned to her own home. She nevertheless came +now and then to see Mrs. Carteret. A younger nurse had been procured to +take her place, but it was understood that Jane would come whenever she +might be needed. + +"You really mean that about Dodie, do you, Mammy Jane?" asked the +delighted mother, who never tired of hearing her own opinion confirmed +concerning this wonderful child, which had come to her like an angel +from heaven. + +"Does I mean it!" exclaimed Mammy Jane, with a tone and an expression +which spoke volumes of reproach. "Now, Mis' 'Livy, what is I ever +uttered er said er spoke er done dat would make you s'pose I could tell +you a lie 'bout yo' own chile?" + +"No, Mammy Jane, I'm sure you wouldn't." + +"'Deed, ma'am, I'm tellin' you de Lawd's truf. I don' haf ter tell no +lies ner strain no p'ints 'bout my ole mist'ess's gran'chile. Dis yer +boy is de ve'y spit an' image er yo' brother, young Mars Alick, w'at +died w'en he wuz 'bout eight mont's ole, w'iles I wuz laid off havin' a +baby er my own, an' couldn' be roun' ter look after 'im. An' dis chile +is a rale quality chile, he is,--I never seed a baby wid sech fine hair +fer his age, ner sech blue eyes, ner sech a grip, ner sech a heft. W'y, +dat chile mus' weigh 'bout twenty-fo' poun's, an' he not but six mont's +ole. Does dat gal w'at does de nussin' w'iles I'm gone ten' ter dis +chile right, Mis' 'Livy?" + +"She does fairly well, Mammy Jane, but I could hardly expect her to love +the baby as you do. There's no one like you, Mammy Jane." + +"'Deed dere ain't, honey; you is talkin' de gospel truf now! None er +dese yer young folks ain' got de trainin' my ole mist'ess give me. Dese +yer new-fangle' schools don' l'arn 'em nothin' ter compare wid it. I'm +jes' gwine ter give dat gal a piece er my min', befo' I go, so she'll +ten' ter dis chile right." + +The nurse came in shortly afterwards, a neat-looking brown girl, dressed +in a clean calico gown, with a nurse's cap and apron. + +"Look a-here, gal," said Mammy Jane sternly, "I wants you ter understan' +dat you got ter take good keer er dis chile; fer I nussed his mammy +dere, an' his gran'mammy befo' 'im, an' you is got a priv'lege dat mos' +lackly you don' 'preciate. I wants you to 'member, in yo' incomin's an' +outgoin's, dat I got my eye on you, an' am gwine ter see dat you does +yo' wo'k right." + +"Do you need me for anything, ma'am?" asked the young nurse, who had +stood before Mrs. Carteret, giving Mammy Jane a mere passing glance, and +listening impassively to her harangue. The nurse belonged to the +younger generation of colored people. She had graduated from the mission +school, and had received some instruction in Dr. Miller's class for +nurses. Standing, like most young people of her race, on the border line +between two irreconcilable states of life, she had neither the +picturesqueness of the slave, nor the unconscious dignity of those of +whom freedom has been the immemorial birthright; she was in what might +be called the chip-on-the-shoulder stage, through which races as well as +individuals must pass in climbing the ladder of life,--not an +interesting, at least not an agreeable stage, but an inevitable one, and +for that reason entitled to a paragraph in a story of Southern life, +which, with its as yet imperfect blending of old with new, of race with +race, of slavery with freedom, is like no other life under the sun. + +Had this old woman, who had no authority over her, been a little more +polite, or a little less offensive, the nurse might have returned her a +pleasant answer. These old-time negroes, she said to herself, made her +sick with their slavering over the white folks, who, she supposed, +favored them and made much of them because they had once belonged to +them,--much the same reason why they fondled their cats and dogs. For +her own part, they gave her nothing but her wages, and small wages at +that, and she owed them nothing more than equivalent service. It was +purely a matter of business; she sold her time for their money. There +was no question of love between them. + +Receiving a negative answer from Mrs. Carteret, she left the room +without a word, ignoring Mammy Jane completely, and leaving that +venerable relic of ante-bellum times gasping in helpless astonishment. + +"Well, I nevuh!" she ejaculated, as soon as she could get her breath, +"ef dat ain' de beatinis' pe'fo'mance I ever seed er heared of! Dese yer +young niggers ain' got de manners dey wuz bawned wid! I don' know w'at +dey're comin' to, w'en dey ain' got no mo' rispec' fer ole age--I don' +know--I don' know!" + +"Now what are you croaking about, Jane?" asked Major Carteret, who came +into the room and took the child into his arms. + +Mammy Jane hobbled to her feet and bobbed a curtsy. She was never +lacking in respect to white people of proper quality; but Major +Carteret, the quintessence of aristocracy, called out all her reserves +of deference. The major was always kind and considerate to these old +family retainers, brought up in the feudal atmosphere now so rapidly +passing away. Mammy Jane loved Mrs. Carteret; toward the major she +entertained a feeling bordering upon awe. + +"Well, Jane," returned the major sadly, when the old nurse had related +her grievance, "the old times have vanished, the old ties have been +ruptured. The old relations of dependence and loyal obedience on the +part of the colored people, the responsibility of protection and +kindness upon that of the whites, have passed away forever. The young +negroes are too self-assertive. Education is spoiling them, Jane; they +have been badly taught. They are not content with their station in life. +Some time they will overstep the mark. The white people are patient, but +there is a limit to their endurance." + +"Dat's w'at I tells dese young niggers," groaned Mammy Jane, with a +portentous shake of her turbaned head, "w'en I hears 'em gwine on wid +deir foolishniss; but dey don' min' me. Dey 'lows dey knows mo' d'n I +does, 'ca'se dey be'n l'arnt ter look in a book. But, pshuh! my ole +mist'ess showed me mo' d'n dem niggers 'll l'arn in a thousan' years! I +'s fetch' my gran'son' Jerry up ter be 'umble, an' keep in 'is place. +An' I tells dese other niggers dat ef dey'd do de same, an' not crowd +de w'ite folks, dey'd git ernuff ter eat, an' live out deir days in +peace an' comfo't. But dey don' min' me--dey don' min' me!" + +"If all the colored people were like you and Jerry, Jane," rejoined the +major kindly, "there would never be any trouble. You have friends upon +whom, in time of need, you can rely implicitly for protection and +succor. You served your mistress faithfully before the war; you remained +by her when the other negroes were running hither and thither like sheep +without a shepherd; and you have transferred your allegiance to my wife +and her child. We think a great deal of you, Jane." + +"Yes, indeed, Mammy Jane," assented Mrs. Carteret, with sincere +affection, glancing with moist eyes from the child in her husband's arms +to the old nurse, whose dark face was glowing with happiness at these +expressions of appreciation, "you shall never want so long as we have +anything. We would share our last crust with you." + +"Thank y', Mis' 'Livy," said Jane with reciprocal emotion, "I knows who +my frien's is, an' I ain' gwine ter let nothin' worry me. But fer de +Lawd's sake, Mars Philip, gimme dat chile, an' lemme pat 'im on de back, +er he'll choke hisse'f ter death!" + +The old nurse had been the first to observe that little Dodie, for some +reason, was gasping for breath. Catching the child from the major's +arms, she patted it on the back, and shook it gently. After a moment of +this treatment, the child ceased to gasp, but still breathed heavily, +with a strange, whistling noise. + +"Oh, my child!" exclaimed the mother, in great alarm, taking the baby in +her own arms, "what can be the matter with him, Mammy Jane?" + +"Fer de Lawd's sake, ma'am, I don' know, 'less he's swallered +somethin'; an' he ain' had nothin' in his han's but de rattle Mis' Polly +give 'im." + +Mrs. Carteret caught up the ivory rattle, which hung suspended by a +ribbon from the baby's neck. + +"He has swallowed the little piece off the end of the handle," she +cried, turning pale with fear, "and it has lodged in his throat. +Telephone Dr. Price to come immediately, Philip, before my baby chokes +to death! Oh, my baby, my precious baby!" + +An anxious half hour passed, during which the child lay quiet, except +for its labored breathing. The suspense was relieved by the arrival of +Dr. Price, who examined the child carefully. + +"It's a curious accident," he announced at the close of his inspection. +"So far as I can discover, the piece of ivory has been drawn into the +trachea, or windpipe, and has lodged in the mouth of the right bronchus. +I'll try to get it out without an operation, but I can't guarantee the +result." + +At the end of another half hour Dr. Price announced his inability to +remove the obstruction without resorting to more serious measures. + +"I do not see," he declared, "how an operation can be avoided." + +"Will it be dangerous?" inquired the major anxiously, while Mrs. +Carteret shivered at the thought. + +"It will be necessary to cut into his throat from the outside. All such +operations are more or less dangerous, especially on small children. If +this were some other child, I might undertake the operation unassisted; +but I know how you value this one, major, and I should prefer to share +the responsibility with a specialist." + +"Is there one in town?" asked the major. + +"No, but we can get one from out of town." + +"Send for the best one in the country," said the major, "who can be got +here in time. Spare no expense, Dr. Price. We value this child above any +earthly thing." + +"The best is the safest," replied Dr. Price. "I will send for Dr. Burns, +of Philadelphia, the best surgeon in that line in America. If he can +start at once, he can reach here in sixteen or eighteen hours, and the +case can wait even longer, if inflammation does not set in." + +The message was dispatched forthwith. By rare good fortune the eminent +specialist was able to start within an hour or two after the receipt of +Dr. Price's telegram. Meanwhile the baby remained restless and uneasy, +the doctor spending most of his time by its side. Mrs. Carteret, who had +never been quite strong since the child's birth, was a prey to the most +agonizing apprehensions. + +Mammy Jane, while not presuming to question the opinion of Dr. Price, +and not wishing to add to her mistress's distress, was secretly +oppressed by forebodings which she was unable to shake off. The child +was born for bad luck. The mole under its ear, just at the point where +the hangman's knot would strike, had foreshadowed dire misfortune. She +had already observed several little things which had rendered her +vaguely anxious. + +For instance, upon one occasion, on entering the room where the baby had +been left alone, asleep in his crib, she had met a strange cat hurrying +from the nursery, and, upon examining closely the pillow upon which the +child lay, had found a depression which had undoubtedly been due to the +weight of the cat's body. The child was restless and uneasy, and Jane +had ever since believed that the cat had been sucking little Dodie's +breath, with what might have been fatal results had she not appeared +just in the nick of time. + +This untimely accident of the rattle, a fatality for which no one could +be held responsible, had confirmed the unlucky omen. Jane's duties in +the nursery did not permit her to visit her friend the conjure woman; +but she did find time to go out in the back yard at dusk, and to dig up +the charm which she had planted there. It had protected the child so +far; but perhaps its potency had become exhausted. She picked up the +bottle, shook it vigorously, and then laid it back, with the other side +up. Refilling the hole, she made a cross over the top with the thumb of +her left hand, and walked three times around it. + +What this strange symbolism meant, or whence it derived its origin, Aunt +Jane did not know. The cross was there, and the Trinity, though Jane was +scarcely conscious of these, at this moment, as religious emblems. But +she hoped, on general principles, that this performance would strengthen +the charm and restore little Dodie's luck. It certainly had its moral +effect upon Jane's own mind, for she was able to sleep better, and +contrived to impress Mrs. Carteret with her own hopefulness. + + + + +V + + +A JOURNEY SOUTHWARD + +As the south-bound train was leaving the station at Philadelphia, a +gentleman took his seat in the single sleeping-car attached to the +train, and proceeded to make himself comfortable. He hung up his hat and +opened his newspaper, in which he remained absorbed for a quarter of an +hour. When the train had left the city behind, he threw the paper aside, +and looked around at the other occupants of the car. One of these, who +had been on the car since it had left New York, rose from his seat upon +perceiving the other's glance, and came down the aisle. + +"How do you do, Dr. Burns?" he said, stopping beside the seat of the +Philadelphia passenger. + +The gentleman looked up at the speaker with an air of surprise, which, +after the first keen, incisive glance, gave place to an expression of +cordial recognition. + +"Why, it's Miller!" he exclaimed, rising and giving the other his hand, +"William Miller--Dr. Miller, of course. Sit down, Miller, and tell me +all about yourself,--what you're doing, where you've been, and where +you're going. I'm delighted to meet you, and to see you looking so +well--and so prosperous." + +"I deserve no credit for either, sir," returned the other, as he took +the proffered seat, "for I inherited both health and prosperity. It is a +fortunate chance that permits me to meet you." + +The two acquaintances, thus opportunely thrown together so that they +might while away in conversation the tedium of their journey, +represented very different and yet very similar types of manhood. A +celebrated traveler, after many years spent in barbarous or savage +lands, has said that among all varieties of mankind the similarities are +vastly more important and fundamental than the differences. Looking at +these two men with the American eye, the differences would perhaps be +the more striking, or at least the more immediately apparent, for the +first was white and the second black, or, more correctly speaking, +brown; it was even a light brown, but both his swarthy complexion and +his curly hair revealed what has been described in the laws of some of +our states as a "visible admixture" of African blood. + +Having disposed of this difference, and having observed that the white +man was perhaps fifty years of age and the other not more than thirty, +it may be said that they were both tall and sturdy, both well dressed, +the white man with perhaps a little more distinction; both seemed from +their faces and their manners to be men of culture and accustomed to the +society of cultivated people. They were both handsome men, the elder +representing a fine type of Anglo-Saxon, as the term is used in speaking +of our composite white population; while the mulatto's erect form, broad +shoulders, clear eyes, fine teeth, and pleasingly moulded features +showed nowhere any sign of that degeneration which the pessimist so +sadly maintains is the inevitable heritage of mixed races. + +As to their personal relations, it has already appeared that they were +members of the same profession. In past years they had been teacher and +pupil. Dr. Alvin Burns was professor in the famous medical college +where Miller had attended lectures. The professor had taken an interest +in his only colored pupil, to whom he had been attracted by his +earnestness of purpose, his evident talent, and his excellent manners +and fine physique. It was in part due to Dr. Burns's friendship that +Miller had won a scholarship which had enabled him, without drawing too +heavily upon his father's resources, to spend in Europe, studying in the +hospitals of Paris and Vienna, the two most delightful years of his +life. The same influence had strengthened his natural inclination toward +operative surgery, in which Dr. Burns was a distinguished specialist of +national reputation. + +Miller's father, Adam Miller, had been a thrifty colored man, the son of +a slave, who, in the olden time, had bought himself with money which he +had earned and saved, over and above what he had paid his master for his +time. Adam Miller had inherited his father's thrift, as well as his +trade, which was that of a stevedore, or contractor for the loading and +unloading of vessels at the port of Wellington. In the flush turpentine +days following a few years after the civil war, he had made money. His +savings, shrewdly invested, had by constant accessions become a +competence. He had brought up his eldest son to the trade; the other he +had given a professional education, in the proud hope that his children +or his grandchildren might be gentlemen in the town where their +ancestors had once been slaves. + +Upon his father's death, shortly after Dr. Miller's return from Europe, +and a year or two before the date at which this story opens, he had +promptly spent part of his inheritance in founding a hospital, to which +was to be added a training school for nurses, and in time perhaps a +medical college and a school of pharmacy. He had been strongly tempted +to leave the South, and seek a home for his family and a career for +himself in the freer North, where race antagonism was less keen, or at +least less oppressive, or in Europe, where he had never found his color +work to his disadvantage. But his people had needed him, and he had +wished to help them, and had sought by means of this institution to +contribute to their uplifting. As he now informed Dr. Burns, he was +returning from New York, where he had been in order to purchase +equipment for his new hospital, which would soon be ready for the +reception of patients. + +"How much I can accomplish I do not know," said Miller, "but I'll do +what I can. There are eight or nine million of us, and it will take a +great deal of learning of all kinds to leaven that lump." + +"It is a great problem, Miller, the future of your race," returned the +other, "a tremendously interesting problem. It is a serial story which +we are all reading, and which grows in vital interest with each +successive installment. It is not only your problem, but ours. Your race +must come up or drag ours down." + +"We shall come up," declared Miller; "slowly and painfully, perhaps, but +we shall win our way. If our race had made as much progress everywhere +as they have made in Wellington, the problem would be well on the way +toward solution." + +"Wellington?" exclaimed Dr. Burns. "That's where I'm going. A Dr. Price, +of Wellington, has sent for me to perform an operation on a child's +throat. Do you know Dr. Price?" + +"Quite well," replied Miller, "he is a friend of mine." + +"So much the better. I shall want you to assist me. I read in the +Medical Gazette, the other day, an account of a very interesting +operation of yours. I felt proud to number you among my pupils. It was a +remarkable case--a rare case. I must certainly have you with me in this +one." + +"I shall be delighted, sir," returned Miller, "if it is agreeable to all +concerned." + +Several hours were passed in pleasant conversation while the train sped +rapidly southward. They were already far down in Virginia, and had +stopped at a station beyond Richmond, when the conductor entered the +car. + +"All passengers," he announced, "will please transfer to the day coaches +ahead. The sleeper has a hot box, and must be switched off here." + +Dr. Burns and Miller obeyed the order, the former leading the way into +the coach immediately in front of the sleeping-car. + +"Let's sit here, Miller," he said, having selected a seat near the rear +of the car and deposited his suitcase in a rack. "It's on the shady +side." + +Miller stood a moment hesitatingly, but finally took the seat indicated, +and a few minutes later the journey was again resumed. + +When the train conductor made his round after leaving the station, he +paused at the seat occupied by the two doctors, glanced interrogatively +at Miller, and then spoke to Dr. Burns, who sat in the end of the seat +nearest the aisle. + +"This man is with you?" he asked, indicating Miller with a slight side +movement of his head, and a keen glance in his direction. + +"Certainly," replied Dr. Burns curtly, and with some surprise. "Don't +you see that he is?" + +The conductor passed on. Miller paid no apparent attention to this +little interlude, though no syllable had escaped him. He resumed the +conversation where it had been broken off, but nevertheless followed +with his eyes the conductor, who stopped at a seat near the forward end +of the car, and engaged in conversation with a man whom Miller had not +hitherto noticed. + +As this passenger turned his head and looked back toward Miller, the +latter saw a broad-shouldered, burly white man, and recognized in his +square-cut jaw, his coarse, firm mouth, and the single gray eye with +which he swept Miller for an instant with a scornful glance, a +well-known character of Wellington, with whom the reader has already +made acquaintance in these pages. Captain McBane wore a frock coat and a +slouch hat; several buttons of his vest were unbuttoned, and his +solitaire diamond blazed in his soiled shirt-front like the headlight of +a locomotive. + +The conductor in his turn looked back at Miller, and retraced his steps. +Miller braced himself for what he feared was coming, though he had +hoped, on account of his friend's presence, that it might be avoided. + +"Excuse me, sir," said the conductor, addressing Dr. Burns, "but did I +understand you to say that this man was your servant?" + +"No, indeed!" replied Dr. Burns indignantly. "The gentleman is not my +servant, nor anybody's servant, but is my friend. But, by the way, since +we are on the subject, may I ask what affair it is of yours?" + +"It's very much my affair," returned the conductor, somewhat nettled at +this questioning of his authority. "I'm sorry to part _friends_, but the +law of Virginia does not permit colored passengers to ride in the white +cars. You'll have to go forward to the next coach," he added, addressing +Miller this time. + +"I have paid my fare on the sleeping-car, where the separate-car law +does not apply," remonstrated Miller. + +"I can't help that. You can doubtless get your money back from the +sleeping-car company. But this is a day coach, and is distinctly marked +'White,' as you must have seen before you sat down here. The sign is put +there for that purpose." + +He indicated a large card neatly framed and hung at the end of the car, +containing the legend, "White," in letters about a foot long, painted in +white upon a dark background, typical, one might suppose, of the +distinction thereby indicated. + +"You shall not stir a step, Miller," exclaimed Dr. Burns wrathfully. +"This is an outrage upon a citizen of a free country. You shall stay +right here." + +"I'm sorry to discommode you," returned the conductor, "but there's no +use kicking. It's the law of Virginia, and I am bound by it as well as +you. I have already come near losing my place because of not enforcing +it, and I can take no more such chances, since I have a family to +support." + +"And my friend has his rights to maintain," returned Dr. Burns with +determination. "There is a vital principle at stake in the matter." + +"Really, sir," argued the conductor, who was a man of peace and not fond +of controversy, "there's no use talking--he absolutely cannot ride in +this car." + +"How can you prevent it?" asked Dr. Burns, lapsing into the +argumentative stage. + +"The law gives me the right to remove him by force. I can call on the +train crew to assist me, or on the other passengers. If I should choose +to put him off the train entirely, in the middle of a swamp, he would +have no redress--the law so provides. If I did not wish to use force, I +could simply switch this car off at the next siding, transfer the white +passengers to another, and leave you and your friend in possession until +you were arrested and fined or imprisoned." + +"What he says is absolutely true, doctor," interposed Miller at this +point. "It is the law, and we are powerless to resist it. If we made any +trouble, it would merely delay your journey and imperil a life at the +other end. I'll go into the other car." + +"You shall not go alone," said Dr. Burns stoutly, rising in his turn. "A +place that is too good for you is not good enough for me. I will sit +wherever you do." + +"I'm sorry again," said the conductor, who had quite recovered his +equanimity, and calmly conscious of his power, could scarcely restrain +an amused smile; "I dislike to interfere, but white passengers are not +permitted to ride in the colored car." + +"This is an outrage," declared Dr. Burns, "a d----d outrage! You are +curtailing the rights, not only of colored people, but of white men as +well. I shall sit where I please!" + +"I warn you, sir," rejoined the conductor, hardening again, "that the +law will be enforced. The beauty of the system lies in its strict +impartiality--it applies to both races alike." + +"And is equally infamous in both cases," declared Dr. Burns. "I shall +immediately take steps"-- + +"Never mind, doctor," interrupted Miller, soothingly, "it's only for a +little while. I'll reach my destination just as surely in the other car, +and we can't help it, anyway. I'll see you again at Wellington." + +Dr. Burns, finding resistance futile, at length acquiesced and made way +for Miller to pass him. + +The colored doctor took up his valise and crossed the platform to the +car ahead. It was an old car, with faded upholstery, from which the +stuffing projected here and there through torn places. Apparently the +floor had not been swept for several days. The dust lay thick upon the +window sills, and the water-cooler, from which he essayed to get a +drink, was filled with stale water which had made no recent acquaintance +with ice. There was no other passenger in the car, and Miller occupied +himself in making a rough calculation of what it would cost the Southern +railroads to haul a whole car for every colored passenger. It was +expensive, to say the least; it would be cheaper, and quite as +considerate of their feelings, to make the negroes walk. + +The car was conspicuously labeled at either end with large cards, +similar to those in the other car, except that they bore the word +"Colored" in black letters upon a white background. The author of this +piece of legislation had contrived, with an ingenuity worthy of a better +cause, that not merely should the passengers be separated by the color +line, but that the reason for this division should be kept constantly in +mind. Lest a white man should forget that he was white,--not a very +likely contingency,--these cards would keep him constantly admonished of +the fact; should a colored person endeavor, for a moment, to lose sight +of his disability, these staring signs would remind him continually that +between him and the rest of mankind not of his own color, there was by +law a great gulf fixed. + +Having composed himself, Miller had opened a newspaper, and was deep in +an editorial which set forth in glowing language the inestimable +advantages which would follow to certain recently acquired islands by +the introduction of American liberty, when the rear door of the car +opened to give entrance to Captain George McBane, who took a seat near +the door and lit a cigar. Miller knew him quite well by sight and by +reputation, and detested him as heartily. He represented the aggressive, +offensive element among the white people of the New South, who made it +hard for a negro to maintain his self-respect or to enjoy even the +rights conceded to colored men by Southern laws. McBane had undoubtedly +identified him to the conductor in the other car. Miller had no desire +to thrust himself upon the society of white people, which, indeed, to +one who had traveled so much and so far, was no novelty; but he very +naturally resented being at this late day--the law had been in operation +only a few months--branded and tagged and set apart from the rest of +mankind upon the public highways, like an unclean thing. Nevertheless, +he preferred even this to the exclusive society of Captain George +McBane. + +"Porter," he demanded of the colored train attache who passed through +the car a moment later, "is this a smoking car for white men?" + +"No, suh," replied the porter, "but they comes in here sometimes, when +they ain' no cullud ladies on the kyar." + +"Well, I have paid first-class fare, and I object to that man's smoking +in here. You tell him to go out." + +"I'll tell the conductor, suh," returned the porter in a low tone. "I +'d jus' as soon talk ter the devil as ter that man." + +The white man had spread himself over two seats, and was smoking +vigorously, from time to time spitting carelessly in the aisle, when the +conductor entered the compartment. + +"Captain," said Miller, "this car is plainly marked 'Colored.' I have +paid first-class fare, and I object to riding in a smoking car." + +"All right," returned the conductor, frowning irritably. "I'll speak to +him." + +He walked over to the white passenger, with whom he was evidently +acquainted, since he addressed him by name. + +"Captain McBane," he said, "it's against the law for you to ride in the +nigger car." + +"Who are you talkin' to?" returned the other. "I'll ride where I damn +please." + +"Yes, sir, but the colored passenger objects. I'm afraid I'll have to +ask you to go into the smoking-car." + +"The hell you say!" rejoined McBane. "I'll leave this car when I get +good and ready, and that won't be till I've finished this cigar. See?" + +He was as good as his word. The conductor escaped from the car before +Miller had time for further expostulation. Finally McBane, having thrown +the stump of his cigar into the aisle and added to the floor a finishing +touch in the way of expectoration, rose and went back into the white +car. + +Left alone in his questionable glory, Miller buried himself again in his +newspaper, from which he did not look up until the engine stopped at a +tank station to take water. + +As the train came to a standstill, a huge negro, covered thickly with +dust, crawled off one of the rear trucks unobserved, and ran round the +rear end of the car to a watering-trough by a neighboring well. Moved +either by extreme thirst or by the fear that his time might be too short +to permit him to draw a bucket of water, he threw himself down by the +trough, drank long and deep, and plunging his head into the water, shook +himself like a wet dog, and crept furtively back to his dangerous perch. + +Miller, who had seen this man from the car window, had noticed a very +singular thing. As the dusty tramp passed the rear coach, he cast toward +it a glance of intense ferocity. Up to that moment the man's face, which +Miller had recognized under its grimy coating, had been that of an +ordinarily good-natured, somewhat reckless, pleasure-loving negro, at +present rather the worse for wear. The change that now came over it +suggested a concentrated hatred almost uncanny in its murderousness. +With awakened curiosity Miller followed the direction of the negro's +glance, and saw that it rested upon a window where Captain McBane sat +looking out. When Miller looked back, the negro had disappeared. + +At the next station a Chinaman, of the ordinary laundry type, boarded +the train, and took his seat in the white car without objection. At +another point a colored nurse found a place with her mistress. + +"White people," said Miller to himself, who had seen these passengers +from the window, "do not object to the negro as a servant. As the +traditional negro,--the servant,--he is welcomed; as an equal, he is +repudiated." + +Miller was something of a philosopher. He had long ago had the +conclusion forced upon him that an educated man of his race, in order to +live comfortably in the United States, must be either a philosopher or +a fool; and since he wished to be happy, and was not exactly a fool, he +had cultivated philosophy. By and by he saw a white man, with a dog, +enter the rear coach. Miller wondered whether the dog would be allowed +to ride with his master, and if not, what disposition would be made of +him. He was a handsome dog, and Miller, who was fond of animals, would +not have objected to the company of a dog, as a dog. He was nevertheless +conscious of a queer sensation when he saw the porter take the dog by +the collar and start in his own direction, and felt consciously relieved +when the canine passenger was taken on past him into the baggage-car +ahead. Miller's hand was hanging over the arm of his seat, and the dog, +an intelligent shepherd, licked it as he passed. Miller was not entirely +sure that he would not have liked the porter to leave the dog there; he +was a friendly dog, and seemed inclined to be sociable. + +Toward evening the train drew up at a station where quite a party of +farm laborers, fresh from their daily toil, swarmed out from the +conspicuously labeled colored waiting-room, and into the car with +Miller. They were a jolly, good-natured crowd, and, free from the +embarrassing presence of white people, proceeded to enjoy themselves +after their own fashion. Here an amorous fellow sat with his arm around +a buxom girl's waist. A musically inclined individual--his talents did +not go far beyond inclination--produced a mouth-organ and struck up a +tune, to which a limber-legged boy danced in the aisle. They were noisy, +loquacious, happy, dirty, and malodorous. For a while Miller was amused +and pleased. They were his people, and he felt a certain expansive +warmth toward them in spite of their obvious shortcomings. By and by, +however, the air became too close, and he went out upon the platform. +For the sake of the democratic ideal, which meant so much to his race, +he might have endured the affliction. He could easily imagine that +people of refinement, with the power in their hands, might be tempted to +strain the democratic ideal in order to avoid such contact; but +personally, and apart from the mere matter of racial sympathy, these +people were just as offensive to him as to the whites in the other end +of the train. Surely, if a classification of passengers on trains was at +all desirable, it might be made upon some more logical and considerate +basis than a mere arbitrary, tactless, and, by the very nature of +things, brutal drawing of a color line. It was a veritable bed of +Procrustes, this standard which the whites had set for the negroes. +Those who grew above it must have their heads cut off, figuratively +speaking,--must be forced back to the level assigned to their race; +those who fell beneath the standard set had their necks stretched, +literally enough, as the ghastly record in the daily papers gave +conclusive evidence. + +Miller breathed more freely when the lively crowd got off at the next +station, after a short ride. Moreover, he had a light heart, a +conscience void of offense, and was only thirty years old. His +philosophy had become somewhat jaded on this journey, but he pulled it +together for a final effort. Was it not, after all, a wise provision of +nature that had given to a race, destined to a long servitude and a slow +emergence therefrom, a cheerfulness of spirit which enabled them to +catch pleasure on the wing, and endure with equanimity the ills that +seemed inevitable? The ability to live and thrive under adverse +circumstances is the surest guaranty of the future. The race which at +the last shall inherit the earth--the residuary legatee of +civilization--will be the race which remains longest upon it. The negro +was here before the Anglo-Saxon was evolved, and his thick lips and +heavy-lidded eyes looked out from the inscrutable face of the Sphinx +across the sands of Egypt while yet the ancestors of those who now +oppress him were living in caves, practicing human sacrifice, and +painting themselves with woad--and the negro is here yet. + +"'Blessed are the meek,'" quoted Miller at the end of these consoling +reflections, "'for they shall inherit the earth.' If this be true, the +negro may yet come into his estate, for meekness seems to be set apart +as his portion." + +The journey came to an end just as the sun had sunk into the west. + +Simultaneously with Miller's exit from the train, a great black figure +crawled off the trucks of the rear car, on the side opposite the station +platform. Stretching and shaking himself with a free gesture, the black +man, seeing himself unobserved, moved somewhat stiffly round the end of +the car to the station platform. + +"'Fo de Lawd!" he muttered, "ef I hadn' had a cha'm' life, I'd 'a' +never got here on dat ticket, an' dat's a fac'--it sho' am! I kind er +'lowed I wuz gone a dozen times, ez it wuz. But I got my job ter do in +dis worl', an' I knows I ain' gwine ter die 'tel I've 'complished it. I +jes' want one mo' look at dat man, an' den I'll haf ter git somethin' +ter eat; fer two raw turnips in twelve hours is slim pickin's fer a man +er my size!" + + + + +VI + + +JANET + +As the train drew up at the station platform, Dr. Price came forward +from the white waiting-room, and stood expectantly by the door of the +white coach. Miller, having left his car, came down the platform in time +to intercept Burns as he left the train, and to introduce him to Dr. +Price. + +"My carriage is in waiting," said Dr. Price. "I should have liked to +have you at my own house, but my wife is out of town. We have a good +hotel, however, and you will doubtless find it more convenient." + +"You are very kind, Dr. Price. Miller, won't you come up and dine with +me?" + +"Thank you, no," said Miller, "I am expected at home. My wife and child +are waiting for me in the buggy yonder by the platform." + +"Oh, very well; of course you must go; but don't forget our appointment. +Let's see, Dr. Price, I can eat and get ready in half an hour--that will +make it"-- + +"I have asked several of the local physicians to be present at eight +o'clock," said Dr. Price. "The case can safely wait until then." + +"Very well, Miller, be on hand at eight. I shall expect you without +fail. Where shall he come, Dr. Price?" + +"To the residence of Major Philip Carteret, on Vine Street." + +"I have invited Dr. Miller to be present and assist in the operation," +Dr. Burns continued, as they drove toward the hotel. "He was a favorite +pupil of mine, and is a credit to the profession. I presume you saw his +article in the Medical Gazette?" + +"Yes, and I assisted him in the case," returned Dr. Price. "It was a +colored lad, one of his patients, and he called me in to help him. He is +a capable man, and very much liked by the white physicians." + +Miller's wife and child were waiting for him in fluttering anticipation. +He kissed them both as he climbed into the buggy. + +"We came at four o'clock," said Mrs. Miller, a handsome young woman, who +might be anywhere between twenty-five and thirty, and whose complexion, +in the twilight, was not distinguishable from that of a white person, +"but the train was late two hours, they said. We came back at six, and +have been waiting ever since." + +"Yes, papa," piped the child, a little boy of six or seven, who sat +between them, "and I am very hungry." + +Miller felt very much elated as he drove homeward through the twilight. +By his side sat the two persons whom he loved best in all the world. His +affairs were prosperous. Upon opening his office in the city, he had +been received by the members of his own profession with a cordiality +generally frank, and in no case much reserved. The colored population of +the city was large, but in the main poor, and the white physicians were +not unwilling to share this unprofitable practice with a colored doctor +worthy of confidence. In the intervals of the work upon his hospital, he +had built up a considerable practice among his own people; but except in +the case of some poor unfortunate whose pride had been lost in poverty +or sin, no white patient had ever called upon him for treatment. He knew +very well the measure of his powers,--a liberal education had given him +opportunity to compare himself with other men,--and was secretly +conscious that in point of skill and knowledge he did not suffer by +comparison with any other physician in the town. He liked to believe +that the race antagonism which hampered his progress and that of his +people was a mere temporary thing, the outcome of former conditions, and +bound to disappear in time, and that when a colored man should +demonstrate to the community in which he lived that he possessed +character and power, that community would find a way in which to enlist +his services for the public good. + +He had already made himself useful, and had received many kind words and +other marks of appreciation. He was now offered a further confirmation +of his theory: having recognized his skill, the white people were now +ready to take advantage of it. Any lurking doubt he may have felt when +first invited by Dr. Burns to participate in the operation, had been +dispelled by Dr. Price's prompt acquiescence. + +On the way homeward Miller told his wife of this appointment. She was +greatly interested; she was herself a mother, with an only child. +Moreover, there was a stronger impulse than mere humanity to draw her +toward the stricken mother. Janet had a tender heart, and could have +loved this white sister, her sole living relative of whom she knew. All +her life long she had yearned for a kind word, a nod, a smile, the least +thing that imagination might have twisted into a recognition of the tie +between them. But it had never come. + +And yet Janet was not angry. She was of a forgiving temper; she could +never bear malice. She was educated, had read many books, and +appreciated to the full the social forces arrayed against any such +recognition as she had dreamed of. Of the two barriers between them a +man might have forgiven the one; a woman would not be likely to overlook +either the bar sinister or the difference of race, even to the slight +extent of a silent recognition. Blood is thicker than water, but, if it +flow too far from conventional channels, may turn to gall and wormwood. +Nevertheless, when the heart speaks, reason falls into the background, +and Janet would have worshiped this sister, even afar off, had she +received even the slightest encouragement. So strong was this weakness +that she had been angry with herself for her lack of pride, or even of a +decent self-respect. It was, she sometimes thought, the heritage of her +mother's race, and she was ashamed of it as part of the taint of +slavery. She had never acknowledged, even to her husband, from whom she +concealed nothing else, her secret thoughts upon this lifelong sorrow. +This silent grief was nature's penalty, or society's revenge, for +whatever heritage of beauty or intellect or personal charm had come to +her with her father's blood. For she had received no other inheritance. +Her sister was rich by right of her birth; if Janet had been fortunate, +her good fortune had not been due to any provision made for her by her +white father. + +She knew quite well how passionately, for many years, her proud sister +had longed and prayed in vain for the child which had at length brought +joy into her household, and she could feel, by sympathy, all the +sickening suspense with which the child's parents must await the result +of this dangerous operation. + +"O Will," she adjured her husband anxiously, when he had told her of the +engagement, "you must be very careful. Think of the child's poor mother! +Think of our own dear child, and what it would mean to lose him!" + + + + +VII + + +THE OPERATION + +Dr. Price was not entirely at ease in his mind as the two doctors drove +rapidly from the hotel to Major Carteret's. Himself a liberal man, from +his point of view, he saw no reason why a colored doctor might not +operate upon a white male child,--there are fine distinctions in the +application of the color line,--but several other physicians had been +invited, some of whom were men of old-fashioned notions, who might not +relish such an innovation. + +This, however, was but a small difficulty compared with what might be +feared from Major Carteret himself. For he knew Carteret's unrelenting +hostility to anything that savored of recognition of the negro as the +equal of white men. It was traditional in Wellington that no colored +person had ever entered the front door of the Carteret residence, and +that the luckless individual who once presented himself there upon +alleged business and resented being ordered to the back door had been +unceremoniously thrown over the piazza railing into a rather thorny +clump of rosebushes below. If Miller were going as a servant, to hold a +basin or a sponge, there would be no difficulty; but as a surgeon--well, +he wouldn't borrow trouble. Under the circumstances the major might +yield a point. + +But as they neared the house the major's unyielding disposition loomed +up formidably. Perhaps if the matter were properly presented to Dr. +Burns, he might consent to withdraw the invitation. It was not yet too, +late to send Miller a note. + +"By the way, Dr. Burns," he said, "I'm very friendly to Dr. Miller, and +should personally like to have him with us to-night. But--I ought to +have told you this before, but I couldn't very well do so, on such +short notice, in Miller's presence--we are a conservative people, and +our local customs are not very flexible. We jog along in much the same +old way our fathers did. I'm not at all sure that Major Carteret or the +other gentlemen would consent to the presence of a negro doctor." + +"I think you misjudge your own people," returned Dr. Burns, "they are +broader than you think. We have our prejudices against the negro at the +North, but we do not let them stand in the way of anything that _we_ +want. At any rate, it is too late now, and I will accept the +responsibility. If the question is raised, I will attend to it. When I +am performing an operation I must be _aut Caesar, aut nullus_." + +Dr. Price was not reassured, but he had done his duty and felt the +reward of virtue. If there should be trouble, he would not be +responsible. Moreover, there was a large fee at stake, and Dr. Burns was +not likely to prove too obdurate. + +They were soon at Carteret's, where they found assembled the several +physicians invited by Dr. Price. These were successively introduced as +Drs. Dudley, Hooper, and Ashe, all of whom were gentlemen of good +standing, socially and in their profession, and considered it a high +privilege to witness so delicate an operation at the hands of so eminent +a member of their profession. + +Major Carteret entered the room and was duly presented to the famous +specialist. Carteret's anxious look lightened somewhat at sight of the +array of talent present. It suggested, of course, the gravity of the +impending event, but gave assurance of all the skill and care which +science could afford. + +Dr. Burns was shown to the nursery, from which he returned in five +minutes. + +"The case is ready," he announced. "Are the gentlemen all present?" + +"I believe so," answered Dr. Price quickly. + +Miller had not yet arrived. Perhaps, thought Dr. Price, a happy +accident, or some imperative call, had detained him. This would be +fortunate indeed. Dr. Burns's square jaw had a very determined look. It +would be a pity if any acrimonious discussion should arise on the eve of +a delicate operation. If the clock on the mantel would only move faster, +the question might never come up. + +"I don't see Dr. Miller," observed Dr. Burns, looking around the room. +"I asked him to come at eight. There are ten minutes yet." + +Major Carteret looked up with a sudden frown. + +"May I ask to whom you refer?" he inquired, in an ominous tone. + +The other gentlemen showed signs of interest, not to say emotion. Dr. +Price smiled quizzically. + +"Dr. Miller, of your city. He was one of my favorite pupils. He is also +a graduate of the Vienna hospitals, and a surgeon of unusual skill. I +have asked him to assist in the operation." + +Every eye was turned toward Carteret, whose crimsoned face had set in a +look of grim determination. + +"The person to whom you refer is a negro, I believe?" he said. + +"He is a colored man, certainly," returned Dr. Burns, "though one would +never think of his color after knowing him well." + +"I do not know, sir," returned Carteret, with an effort at self-control, +"what the customs of Philadelphia or Vienna may be; but in the South we +do not call negro doctors to attend white patients. I could not permit a +negro to enter my house upon such an errand." + +"I am here, sir," replied Dr. Burns with spirit, "to perform a certain +operation. Since I assume the responsibility, the case must be under my +entire control. Otherwise I cannot operate." + +"Gentlemen," interposed Dr. Price, smoothly, "I beg of you both--this is +a matter for calm discussion, and any asperity is to be deplored. The +life at stake here should not be imperiled by any consideration of minor +importance." + +"Your humanity does you credit, sir," retorted Dr. Burns. "But other +matters, too, are important. I have invited this gentleman here. My +professional honor is involved, and I merely invoke my rights to +maintain it. It is a matter of principle, which ought not to give way to +a mere prejudice." + +"That also states the case for Major Carteret," rejoined Dr. Price, +suavely. "He has certain principles,--call them prejudices, if you +like,--certain inflexible rules of conduct by which he regulates his +life. One of these, which he shares with us all in some degree, forbids +the recognition of the negro as a social equal." + +"I do not know what Miller's social value may be," replied Dr. Burns, +stoutly, "or whether you gain or lose by your attitude toward him. I +have invited him here in a strictly professional capacity, with which +his color is not at all concerned." + +"Dr. Burns does not quite appreciate Major Carteret's point of view," +said Dr. Price. "This is not with him an unimportant matter, or a mere +question of prejudice, or even of personal taste. It is a sacred +principle, lying at the very root of our social order, involving the +purity and prestige of our race. You Northern gentlemen do not quite +appreciate our situation; if you lived here a year or two you would act +as we do. Of course," he added, diplomatically, "if there were no +alternative--if Dr. Burns were willing to put Dr. Miller's presence on +the ground of imperative necessity"-- + +"I do nothing of the kind, sir," retorted Dr. Burns with some heat. "I +have not come all the way from Philadelphia to undertake an operation +which I cannot perform without the aid of some particular physician. I +merely stand upon my professional rights." + +Carteret was deeply agitated. The operation must not be deferred; his +child's life might be endangered by delay. If the negro's presence were +indispensable he would even submit to it, though in order to avoid so +painful a necessity, he would rather humble himself to the Northern +doctor. The latter course involved merely a personal sacrifice--the +former a vital principle. Perhaps there was another way of escape. +Miller's presence could not but be distasteful to Mrs. Carteret for +other reasons. Miller's wife was the living evidence of a painful +episode in Mrs. Carteret's family, which the doctor's presence would +inevitably recall. Once before, Mrs. Carteret's life had been endangered +by encountering, at a time of great nervous strain, this ill-born +sister and her child. She was even now upon the verge of collapse at the +prospect of her child's suffering, and should be protected from the +intrusion of any idea which might add to her distress. + +"Dr. Burns," he said, with the suave courtesy which was part of his +inheritance, "I beg your pardon for my heat, and throw myself upon your +magnanimity, as between white men"-- + +"I am a gentleman, sir, before I am a white man," interposed Dr. Burns, +slightly mollified, however, by Carteret's change of manner. + +"The terms should be synonymous," Carteret could not refrain from +saying. "As between white men, and gentlemen, I say to you, frankly, +that there are vital, personal reasons, apart from Dr. Miller's color, +why his presence in this house would be distasteful. With this +statement, sir, I throw myself upon your mercy. My child's life is worth +more to me than any earthly thing, and I must be governed by your +decision." + +Dr. Burns was plainly wavering. The clock moved with provoking slowness. +Miller would be there in five minutes. + +"May I speak with you privately a moment, doctor?" asked Dr. Price. + +They withdrew from the room and were engaged in conversation for a few +moments. Dr. Burns finally yielded. + +"I shall nevertheless feel humiliated when I meet Miller again," he +said, "but of course if there is a personal question involved, that +alters the situation. Had it been merely a matter of color, I should +have maintained my position. As things stand, I wash my hands of the +whole affair, so far as Miller is concerned, like Pontius Pilate--yes, +indeed, sir, I feel very much like that individual." + +"I'll explain the matter to Miller," returned Dr. Price, amiably, "and +make it all right with him. We Southern people understand the negroes +better than you do, sir. Why should we not? They have been constantly +under our interested observation for several hundred years. You feel +this vastly more than Miller will. He knows the feeling of the white +people, and is accustomed to it. He wishes to live and do business here, +and is quite too shrewd to antagonize his neighbors or come where he is +not wanted. He is in fact too much of a gentleman to do so." + +"I shall leave the explanation to you entirely," rejoined Dr. Burns, as +they reentered the other room. + +Carteret led the way to the nursery, where the operation was to take +place. Dr. Price lingered for a moment. Miller was not likely to be +behind the hour, if he came at all, and it would be well to head him off +before the operation began. + +Scarcely had the rest left the room when the doorbell sounded, and a +servant announced Dr. Miller. + +Dr. Price stepped into the hall and met Miller face to face. + +He had meant to state the situation to Miller frankly, but now that the +moment had come he wavered. He was a fine physician, but he shrank from +strenuous responsibilities. It had been easy to theorize about the +negro; it was more difficult to look this man in the eyes--whom at this +moment he felt to be as essentially a gentleman as himself--and tell him +the humiliating truth. + +As a physician his method was to ease pain--he would rather take the +risk of losing a patient from the use of an anaesthetic than from the +shock of an operation. He liked Miller, wished him well, and would not +wittingly wound his feelings. He really thought him too much of a +gentleman for the town, in view of the restrictions with which he must +inevitably be hampered. There was something melancholy, to a cultivated +mind, about a sensitive, educated man who happened to be off color. Such +a person was a sort of social misfit, an odd quantity, educated out of +his own class, with no possible hope of entrance into that above it. He +felt quite sure that if he had been in Miller's place, he would never +have settled in the South--he would have moved to Europe, or to the West +Indies, or some Central or South American state where questions of color +were not regarded as vitally important. + +Dr. Price did not like to lie, even to a negro. To a man of his own +caste, his word was his bond. If it were painful to lie, it would be +humiliating to be found out. The principle of _noblesse oblige_ was also +involved in the matter. His claim of superiority to the colored doctor +rested fundamentally upon the fact that he was white and Miller was not; +and yet this superiority, for which he could claim no credit, since he +had not made himself, was the very breath of his nostrils,--he would not +have changed places with the other for wealth untold; and as a +gentleman, he would not care to have another gentleman, even a colored +man, catch him in a lie. Of this, however, there was scarcely any +danger. A word to the other surgeons would insure their corroboration of +whatever he might tell Miller. No one of them would willingly wound Dr. +Miller or embarrass Dr. Price; indeed, they need not know that Miller +had come in time for the operation. + +"I'm sorry, Miller," he said with apparent regret, "but we were here +ahead of time, and the case took a turn which would admit of no delay, +so the gentlemen went in. Dr. Burns is with the patient now, and asked +me to explain why we did not wait for you." + +"I'm sorry too," returned Miller, regretfully, but nothing doubting. He +was well aware that in such cases danger might attend upon delay. He had +lost his chance, through no fault of his own or of any one else. + +"I hope that all is well?" he said, hesitatingly, not sure whether he +would be asked to remain. + +"All is well, so far. Step round to my office in the morning, Miller, or +come in when you're passing, and I'll tell you the details." + +This was tantamount to a dismissal, so Miller took his leave. Descending +the doorsteps, he stood for a moment, undecided whether to return home +or to go to the hotel and await the return of Dr. Burns, when he heard +his name called from the house in a low tone. + +"Oh, doctuh!" + +He stepped back toward the door, outside of which stood the colored +servant who had just let him out. + +"Dat's all a lie, doctuh," he whispered, "'bout de operation bein' +already pe'fo'med. Dey-all had jes' gone in de minute befo' you +come--Doctuh Price hadn' even got out 'n de room. Dey be'n quollin' +'bout you fer de las' ha'f hour. Majah Ca'te'et say he wouldn' have +you, an' de No'then doctuh say he wouldn't do nothin' widout you, an' +Doctuh Price he j'ined in on bofe sides, an' dey had it hot an' heavy, +nip an' tuck, till bimeby Majah Ca'te'et up an' say it wa'n't altogether +yo' color he objected to, an' wid dat de No'then doctuh give in. He's +a fine man, suh, but dey wuz too much fer 'im!" + +"Thank you, Sam, I'm much obliged," returned Miller mechanically. "One +likes to know the truth." + +Truth, it has been said, is mighty, and must prevail; but it sometimes +leaves a bad taste in the mouth. In the ordinary course of events Miller +would not have anticipated such an invitation, and for that reason had +appreciated it all the more. The rebuff came with a corresponding shock. +He had the heart of a man, the sensibilities of a cultivated gentleman; +the one was sore, the other deeply wounded. He was not altogether sure, +upon reflection, whether he blamed Dr. Price very much for the amiable +lie, which had been meant to spare his feelings, or thanked Sam a great +deal for the unpalatable truth. + +Janet met him at the door. "How is the baby?" she asked excitedly. + +"Dr. Price says he is doing well." + +"What is the matter, Will, and why are you back so soon?" + +He would have spared her the story, but she was a woman, and would have +it. He was wounded, too, and wanted sympathy, of which Janet was an +exhaustless fountain. So he told her what had happened. She comforted +him after the manner of a loving woman, and felt righteously indignant +toward her sister's husband, who had thus been instrumental in the +humiliation of her own. Her anger did not embrace her sister, and yet +she felt obscurely that their unacknowledged relationship had been the +malignant force which had given her husband pain, and defeated his +honorable ambition. When Dr. Price entered the nursery, Dr. Burns was +leaning attentively over the operating table. The implements needed for +the operation were all in readiness--the knives, the basin, the sponge, +the materials for dressing the wound--all the ghastly paraphernalia of +vivisection. + +Mrs. Carteret had been banished to another room, where Clara vainly +attempted to soothe her. Old Mammy Jane, still burdened by her fears, +fervently prayed the good Lord to spare the life of the sweet little +grandson of her dear old mistress. + +Dr. Burns had placed his ear to the child's chest, which had been bared +for the incision. Dr. Price stood ready to administer the anaesthetic. +Little Dodie looked up with a faint expression of wonder, as if dimly +conscious of some unusual event. The major shivered at the thought of +what the child must undergo. + +"There's a change in his breathing," said Dr. Burns, lifting his head. +"The whistling noise is less pronounced, and he breathes easier. The +obstruction seems to have shifted." + +Applying his ear again to the child's throat, he listened for a moment +intently, and then picking the baby up from the table, gave it a couple +of sharp claps between the shoulders. Simultaneously a small object shot +out from the child's mouth, struck Dr. Price in the neighborhood of his +waistband, and then rattled lightly against the floor. Whereupon the +baby, as though conscious of his narrow escape, smiled and gurgled, and +reaching upward clutched the doctor's whiskers with his little hand, +which, according to old Jane, had a stronger grip than any other +infant's in Wellington. + + + + +VIII + + +THE CAMPAIGN DRAGS + +The campaign for white supremacy was dragging. Carteret had set out, in +the columns of the Morning Chronicle, all the reasons why this movement, +inaugurated by the three men who had met, six months before, at the +office of the Chronicle, should be supported by the white public. Negro +citizenship was a grotesque farce--Sambo and Dinah raised from the +kitchen to the cabinet were a spectacle to make the gods laugh. The laws +by which it had been sought to put the negroes on a level with the +whites must be swept away in theory, as they had failed in fact. If it +were impossible, without a further education of public opinion, to +secure the repeal of the fifteenth amendment, it was at least the solemn +duty of the state to endeavor, through its own constitution, to escape +from the domination of a weak and incompetent electorate and confine the +negro to that inferior condition for which nature had evidently designed +him. + +In spite of the force and intelligence with which Carteret had expressed +these and similar views, they had not met the immediate response +anticipated. There were thoughtful men, willing to let well enough +alone, who saw no necessity for such a movement. They believed that +peace, prosperity, and popular education offered a surer remedy for +social ills than the reopening of issues supposed to have been settled. +There were timid men who shrank from civic strife. There were busy men, +who had something else to do. There were a few fair men, prepared to +admit, privately, that a class constituting half to two thirds of the +population were fairly entitled to some representation in the law-making +bodies. Perhaps there might have been found, somewhere in the state, a +single white man ready to concede that all men were entitled to equal +rights before the law. + +That there were some white men who had learned little and forgotten +nothing goes without saying, for knowledge and wisdom are not +impartially distributed among even the most favored race. There were +ignorant and vicious negroes, and they had a monopoly of neither +ignorance nor crime, for there were prosperous negroes and +poverty-stricken whites. Until Carteret and his committee began their +baleful campaign the people of the state were living in peace and +harmony. The anti-negro legislation in more southern states, with large +negro majorities, had awakened scarcely an echo in this state, with a +population two thirds white. Even the triumph of the Fusion party had +not been regarded as a race issue. It remained for Carteret and his +friends to discover, with inspiration from whatever supernatural source +the discriminating reader may elect, that the darker race, docile by +instinct, humble by training, patiently waiting upon its as yet +uncertain destiny, was an incubus, a corpse chained to the body politic, +and that the negro vote was a source of danger to the state, no matter +how cast or by whom directed. + +To discuss means for counteracting this apathy, a meeting of the "Big +Three," as they had begun to designate themselves jocularly, was held at +the office of the "Morning Chronicle," on the next day but one after +little Dodie's fortunate escape from the knife. + +"It seems," said General Belmont, opening the discussion, "as though we +had undertaken more than we can carry through. It is clear that we must +reckon on opposition, both at home and abroad. If we are to hope for +success, we must extend the lines of our campaign. The North, as well as +our own people, must be convinced that we have right upon our side. We +are conscious of the purity of our motives, but we should avoid even the +appearance of evil." + +McBane was tapping the floor impatiently with his foot during this +harangue. + +"I don't see the use," he interrupted, "of so much beating about the +bush. We may as well be honest about this thing. We are going to put the +niggers down because we want to, and think we can; so why waste our time +in mere pretense? I'm no hypocrite myself,--if I want a thing I take it, +provided I'm strong enough." + +"My dear captain," resumed the general, with biting suavity, "your +frankness does you credit,--'an honest man's the noblest work of +God,'--but we cannot carry on politics in these degenerate times without +a certain amount of diplomacy. In the good old days when your father was +alive, and perhaps nowadays in the discipline of convicts, direct and +simple methods might be safely resorted to; but this is a modern age, +and in dealing with so fundamental a right as the suffrage we must +profess a decent regard for the opinions of even that misguided portion +of mankind which may not agree with us. This is the age of crowds, and +we must have the crowd with us." The captain flushed at the allusion +to his father's calling, at which he took more offense than at the +mention of his own. He knew perfectly well that these old aristocrats, +while reaping the profits of slavery, had despised the instruments by +which they were attained--the poor-white overseer only less than the +black slave. McBane was rich; he lived in Wellington, but he had never +been invited to the home of either General Belmont or Major Carteret, +nor asked to join the club of which they were members. His face, +therefore, wore a distinct scowl, and his single eye glowed ominously. +He would help these fellows carry the state for white supremacy, and +then he would have his innings,--he would have more to say than they +dreamed, as to who should fill the offices under the new deal. Men of no +better birth or breeding than he had represented Southern states in +Congress since the war. Why should he not run for governor, +representative, whatever he chose? He had money enough to buy out half a +dozen of these broken-down aristocrats, and money was all-powerful. + +"You see, captain," the general went on, looking McBane smilingly and +unflinchingly in the eye, "we need white immigration--we need Northern +capital. 'A good name is better than great riches,' and we must prove +our cause a righteous one." + +"We must be armed at all points," added Carteret, "and prepared for +defense as well as for attack,--we must make our campaign a national +one." + +"For instance," resumed the general, "you, Carteret, represent the +Associated Press. Through your hands passes all the news of the state. +What more powerful medium for the propagation of an idea? The man who +would govern a nation by writing its songs was a blethering idiot beside +the fellow who can edit its news dispatches. The negroes are playing +into our hands,--every crime that one of them commits is reported by us. +With the latitude they have had in this state they are growing more +impudent and self-assertive every day. A yellow demagogue in New York +made a speech only a few days ago, in which he deliberately, and in cold +blood, advised negroes to defend themselves to the death when attacked +by white people! I remember well the time when it was death for a negro +to strike a white man." + +"It's death now, if he strikes the right one," interjected McBane, +restored to better humor by this mention of a congenial subject. + +The general smiled a fine smile. He had heard the story of how McBane +had lost his other eye. + +"The local negro paper is quite outspoken, too," continued the general, +"if not impudent. We must keep track of that; it may furnish us some +good campaign material." + +"Yes," returned Carteret, "we must see to that. I threw a copy into the +waste-basket this morning, without looking at it. Here it is now!" + + + + +IX + + +A WHITE MAN'S "NIGGER" + +Carteret fished from the depths of the waste-basket and handed to the +general an eighteen by twenty-four sheet, poorly printed on cheap paper, +with a "patent" inside, a number of advertisements of proprietary +medicines, quack doctors, and fortune-tellers, and two or three columns +of editorial and local news. Candor compels the admission that it was +not an impressive sheet in any respect, except when regarded as the +first local effort of a struggling people to make public expression of +their life and aspirations. From this point of view it did not speak at +all badly for a class to whom, a generation before, newspapers, books, +and learning had been forbidden fruit. + +"It's an elegant specimen of journalism, isn't it?" laughed the general, +airily. "Listen to this 'ad':-- + +"'Kinky, curly hair made straight by one application of our specific. +Our face bleach will turn the skin of a black or brown person four or +five shades lighter, and of a mulatto perfectly white. When you get the +color you wish, stop using the preparation.' + +"Just look at those heads!--'Before using' and 'After using.' We'd +better hurry, or there'll be no negroes to disfranchise! If they don't +stop till they get the color they desire, and the stuff works according +to contract, they'll all be white. Ah! what have we here? This looks as +though it might be serious." Opening the sheet the general read aloud +an editorial article, to which Carteret listened intently, his +indignation increasing in strength from the first word to the last, +while McBane's face grew darkly purple with anger. + +The article was a frank and somewhat bold discussion of lynching and its +causes. It denied that most lynchings were for the offense most +generally charged as their justification, and declared that, even of +those seemingly traced to this cause, many were not for crimes at all, +but for voluntary acts which might naturally be expected to follow from +the miscegenation laws by which it was sought, in all the Southern +States, to destroy liberty of contract, and, for the purpose of +maintaining a fanciful purity of race, to make crimes of marriages to +which neither nature nor religion nor the laws of other states +interposed any insurmountable barrier. Such an article in a Northern +newspaper would have attracted no special attention, and might merely +have furnished food to an occasional reader for serious thought upon a +subject not exactly agreeable; but coming from a colored man, in a +Southern city, it was an indictment of the laws and social system of the +South that could not fail of creating a profound sensation. + +"Infamous--infamous!" exclaimed Carteret, his voice trembling with +emotion. "The paper should be suppressed immediately." + +"The impudent nigger ought to be horsewhipped and run out of town," +growled McBane. + +"Gentlemen," said the general soothingly, after the first burst of +indignation had subsided, "I believe we can find a more effective use +for this article, which, by the way, will not bear too close +analysis,--there's some truth in it, at least there's an argument." +"That is not the point," interrupted Carteret. + +"No," interjected McBane with an oath, "that ain't at all the point. +Truth or not, no damn nigger has any right to say it." + +"This article," said Carteret, "violates an unwritten law of the South. +If we are to tolerate this race of weaklings among us, until they are +eliminated by the stress of competition, it must be upon terms which we +lay down. One of our conditions is violated by this article, in which +our wisdom is assailed, and our women made the subject of offensive +comment. We must make known our disapproval." + +"I say lynch the nigger, break up the press, and burn down the newspaper +office," McBane responded promptly. + +"Gentlemen," interposed the general, "would you mind suspending the +discussion for a moment, while I mind Jerry across the street? I think I +can then suggest a better plan." + +Carteret rang the bell for Jerry, who answered promptly. He had been +expecting such a call ever since the gentlemen had gone in. + +"Jerry," said the general, "step across to Brown's and tell him to send +me three Calhoun cocktails. Wait for them,--here's the money." + +"Yas, suh," replied Jerry, taking the proffered coin. + +"And make has'e, charcoal," added McBane, "for we're gettin' damn dry." + +A momentary cloud of annoyance darkened Carteret's brow. McBane had +always grated upon his aristocratic susceptibilities. The captain was an +upstart, a product of the democratic idea operating upon the poor white +man, the descendant of the indentured bondservant and the socially +unfit. He had wealth and energy, however, and it was necessary to make +use of him; but the example of such men was a strong incentive to +Carteret in his campaign against the negro. It was distasteful enough to +rub elbows with an illiterate and vulgar white man of no ancestry,--the +risk of similar contact with negroes was to be avoided at any cost. He +could hardly expect McBane to be a gentleman, but when among men of that +class he might at least try to imitate their manners. A gentleman did +not order his own servants around offensively, to say nothing of +another's. + +The general had observed Carteret's annoyance, and remarked pleasantly +while they waited for the servant's return:-- + +"Jerry, now, is a very good negro. He's not one of your new negroes, +who think themselves as good as white men, and want to run the +government. Jerry knows his place,--he is respectful, humble, obedient, +and content with the face and place assigned to him by nature." + +"Yes, he's one of the best of 'em," sneered McBane. "He'll call any man +'master' for a quarter, or 'God' for half a dollar; for a dollar he'll +grovel at your feet, and for a cast-off coat you can buy an option on +his immortal soul,--if he has one! I've handled niggers for ten years, +and I know 'em from the ground up. They're all alike,--they're a scrub +race, an affliction to the country, and the quicker we're rid of 'em +all the better." + +Carteret had nothing to say by way of dissent. McBane's sentiments, in +their last analysis, were much the same as his, though he would have +expressed them less brutally. "The negro," observed the general, +daintily flicking the ash from his cigar, "is all right in his place and +very useful to the community. We lived on his labor for quite a long +time, and lived very well. Nevertheless we are better off without +slavery, for we can get more out of the free negro, and with less +responsibility. I really do not see how we could get along without the +negroes. If they were all like Jerry, we'd have no trouble with them." + +Having procured the drinks, Jerry, the momentary subject of the race +discussion which goes on eternally in the South, was making his way back +across the street, somewhat disturbed in mind. + +"O Lawd!" he groaned, "I never troubles trouble till trouble troubles +me; but w'en I got dem drinks befo', Gin'l Belmont gimme half a dollar +an' tol' me ter keep de change. Dis time he didn' say nothin' 'bout de +change. I s'pose he jes' fergot erbout it, but w'at is a po' nigger +gwine ter do w'en he has ter conten' wid w'ite folks's fergitfulniss? I +don' see no way but ter do some fergittin' myse'f. I'll jes' stan' +outside de do' here till dey gits so wrop' up in deir talk dat dey won' +'member nothin' e'se, an' den at de right minute I'll ban' de glasses +'roun, an' moa' lackly de gin'l 'll fergit all 'bout de change." + +While Jerry stood outside, the conversation within was plainly audible, +and some inkling of its purport filtered through his mind. + +"Now, gentlemen," the general was saying, "here's my plan. That +editorial in the negro newspaper is good campaign matter, but we should +reserve it until it will be most effective. Suppose we just stick it in +a pigeon-hole, and let the editor,--what's his name?" + +"The nigger's name is Barber," replied McBane. "I'd like to have him +under me for a month or two; he'd write no more editorials." + +"Let Barber have all the rope he wants," resumed the general, "and +he'll be sure to hang himself. In the mean time we will continue to work +up public opinion,--we can use this letter privately for that +purpose,--and when the state campaign opens we'll print the editorial, +with suitable comment, scatter it broadcast throughout the state, fire +the Southern heart, organize the white people on the color line, have a +little demonstration with red shirts and shotguns, scare the negroes +into fits, win the state for white supremacy, and teach our colored +fellow citizens that we are tired of negro domination and have put an +end to it forever. The Afro-American Banner will doubtless die about the +same time." + +"And so will the editor!" exclaimed McBane ferociously; "I'll see to +that. But I wonder where that nigger is with them cocktails? I'm so +thirsty I could swallow blue blazes." + +"Here's yo' drinks, gin'l," announced Jerry, entering with the glasses +on a tray. + +The gentlemen exchanged compliments and imbibed--McBane at a gulp, +Carteret with more deliberation, leaving about half the contents of his +glass. + +The general drank slowly, with every sign of appreciation. "If the +illustrious statesman," he observed, "whose name this mixture bears, had +done nothing more than invent it, his fame would still deserve to go +thundering down the endless ages." + +"It ain't bad liquor," assented McBane, smacking his lips. + +Jerry received the empty glasses on the tray and left the room. He had +scarcely gained the hall when the general called him back. + +"O Lawd!" groaned Jerry, "he's gwine ter ax me fer de change. Yas, suh, +yas, suh; comin', gin'l, comin', suh!" + +"You may keep the change, Jerry," said the general. + +Jerry's face grew radiant at this announcement. "Yas, suh, gin'l; thank +y', suh; much obleedzed, suh. I wuz jus' gwine ter fetch it in, suh, +w'en I had put de tray down. Thank y', suh, truly, suh!" + +Jerry backed and bowed himself out into the hall. + +"Dat wuz a close shave," he muttered, as he swallowed the remaining +contents of Major Carteret's glass. "I 'lowed dem twenty cents wuz gone +dat time,--an' whar I wuz gwine ter git de money ter take my gal ter de +chu'ch festibal ter-night, de Lawd only knows!--'less'n I borried it +offn Mr. Ellis, an' I owes him sixty cents a'ready. But I wonduh w'at +dem w'ite folks in dere is up ter? Dere's one thing sho',--dey're +gwine ter git after de niggers some way er 'nuther, an' w'en dey does, +whar is Jerry gwine ter be? Dat's de mos' impo'tantes' question. I'm +gwine ter look at dat newspaper dey be'n talkin' 'bout, an' 'less'n my +min' changes might'ly, I'm gwine ter keep my mouf shet an' stan' in wid +de Angry-Saxon race,--ez dey calls deyse'ves nowadays,--an' keep on de +right side er my bread an' meat. Wat nigger ever give me twenty cents in +all my bawn days?" + +"By the way, major," said the general, who lingered behind McBane as +they were leaving, "is Miss Clara's marriage definitely settled upon?" + +"Well, general, not exactly; but it's the understanding that they will +marry when they are old enough." + +"I was merely thinking," the general went on, "that if I were you I'd +speak to Tom about cards and liquor. He gives more time to both than a +young man can afford. I'm speaking in his interest and in Miss +Clara's,--we of the old families ought to stand together." + +"Thank you, general, for the hint. I'll act upon it." + +This political conference was fruitful in results. Acting upon the plans +there laid out, McBane traveled extensively through the state, working +up sentiment in favor of the new movement. He possessed a certain +forceful eloquence; and white supremacy was so obviously the divine +intention that he had merely to affirm the doctrine in order to secure +adherents. + +General Belmont, whose business required him to spend much of the winter +in Washington and New York, lost no opportunity to get the ear of +lawmakers, editors, and other leaders of national opinion, and to +impress upon them, with persuasive eloquence, the impossibility of +maintaining existing conditions, and the tremendous blunder which had +been made in conferring the franchise upon the emancipated race. + +Carteret conducted the press campaign, and held out to the Republicans +of the North the glittering hope that, with the elimination of the negro +vote, and a proper deference to Southern feeling, a strong white +Republican party might be built up in the New South. How well the bait +took is a matter of history,--but the promised result is still in the +future. The disfranchisement of the negro has merely changed the form of +the same old problem. The negro had no vote before the rebellion, and +few other rights, and yet the negro question was, for a century, the +pivot of American politics. It plunged the nation into a bloody war, +and it will trouble the American government and the American conscience +until a sustained attempt is made to settle it upon principles of +justice and equity. + +The personal ambitions entertained by the leaders of this movement are +but slightly involved in this story. McBane's aims have been touched +upon elsewhere. The general would have accepted the nomination for +governor of the state, with a vision of a senatorship in the future. +Carteret hoped to vindicate the supremacy of his race, and make the +state fit for his son to live in, and, incidentally, he would not refuse +any office, worthy of his dignity, which a grateful people might thrust +upon him. + +So powerful a combination of bigot, self-seeking demagogue, and astute +politician was fraught with grave menace to the peace of the state and +the liberties of the people,--by which is meant the whole people, and +not any one class, sought to be built up at the expense of another. + + + + +X + + +DELAMERE PLAYS A TRUMP + +Carteret did not forget what General Belmont had said in regard to Tom. +The major himself had been young, not so very long ago, and was inclined +toward indulgence for the foibles of youth. A young gentleman should +have a certain knowledge of life,--but there were limits. Clara's future +happiness must not be imperiled. + +The opportunity to carry out this purpose was not long delayed. Old Mr. +Delamere wished to sell some timber which had been cut at Belleview, and +sent Tom down to the Chronicle office to leave an advertisement. The +major saw him at the desk, invited him into his sanctum, and delivered +him a mild lecture. The major was kind, and talked in a fatherly way +about the danger of extremes, the beauty of moderation, and the value of +discretion as a rule of conduct. He mentioned collaterally the +unblemished honor of a fine old family, its contemplated alliance with +his own, and dwelt upon the sweet simplicity of Clara's character. The +major was a man of feeling and of tact, and could not have put the +subject in a way less calculated to wound the _amour propre_ of a very +young man. + +Delamere had turned red with anger while the major was speaking. He was +impulsive, and an effort was required to keep back the retort that +sprang once or twice to his lips; but his conscience was not clear, and +he could not afford hard words with Clara's guardian and his +grandfather's friend. Clara was rich, and the most beautiful girl in +town; they were engaged; he loved her as well as he could love anything +of which he seemed sure; and he did not mean that any one else should +have her. The major's mild censure disturbed slightly his sense of +security; and while the major's manner did not indicate that he knew +anything definite against him, it would be best to let well enough +alone. + +"Thank you, major," he said, with well-simulated frankness. "I realize +that I may have been a little careless, more from thoughtlessness than +anything else; but my heart is all right, sir, and I am glad that my +conduct has been brought to your attention, for what you have said +enables me to see it in a different light. I will be more careful of my +company hereafter; for I love Clara, and mean to try to be worthy of +her. Do you know whether she will be at home this evening?" + +"I have heard nothing to the contrary," replied the major warmly. "Call +her up by telephone and ask--or come up and see. You're always welcome, +my boy." + +Upon leaving the office, which was on the second floor, Tom met Ellis +coming up the stairs. It had several times of late occurred to Tom that +Ellis had a sneaking fondness for Clara. Panoplied in his own +engagement, Tom had heretofore rather enjoyed the idea of a hopeless +rival. Ellis was such a solemn prig, and took life so seriously, that it +was a pleasure to see him sit around sighing for the unattainable. That +he should be giving pain to Ellis added a certain zest to his own +enjoyment. But this interview with the major had so disquieted him +that upon meeting Ellis upon the stairs he was struck by a sudden +suspicion. He knew that Major Carteret seldom went to the Clarendon +Club, and that he must have got his information from some one else. +Ellis was a member of the club, and a frequent visitor. Who more likely +than he to try to poison Clara's mind, or the minds of her friends, +against her accepted lover? Tom did not think that the world was using +him well of late; bad luck had pursued him, in cards and other things, +and despite his assumption of humility, Carteret's lecture had left him +in an ugly mood. He nodded curtly to Ellis without relaxing the scowl +that disfigured his handsome features. + +"That's the damned sneak who's been giving me away," he muttered. "I'll +get even with him yet for this." + +Delamere's suspicions with regard to Ellis's feelings were not, as we +have seen, entirely without foundation. Indeed, he had underestimated +the strength of this rivalry and its chances of success. Ellis had been +watching Delamere for a year. There had been nothing surreptitious about +it, but his interest in Clara had led him to note things about his +favored rival which might have escaped the attention of others less +concerned. + +Ellis was an excellent judge of character, and had formed a very decided +opinion of Tom Delamere. To Ellis, unbiased by ancestral traditions, +biased perhaps by jealousy, Tom Delamere was a type of the degenerate +aristocrat. If, as he had often heard, it took three or four generations +to make a gentleman, and as many more to complete the curve and return +to the base from which it started, Tom Delamere belonged somewhere on +the downward slant, with large possibilities of further decline. Old +Mr. Delamere, who might be taken as the apex of an ideal aristocratic +development, had been distinguished, during his active life, as Ellis +had learned, for courage and strength of will, courtliness of bearing, +deference to his superiors, of whom there had been few, courtesy to his +equals, kindness and consideration for those less highly favored, and +above all, a scrupulous sense of honor; his grandson Tom was merely the +shadow without the substance, the empty husk without the grain. Of grace +he had plenty. In manners he could be perfect, when he so chose. Courage +and strength he had none. Ellis had seen this fellow, who boasted of his +descent from a line of cavaliers, turn pale with fright and spring from +a buggy to which was harnessed a fractious horse, which a negro +stable-boy drove fearlessly. A valiant carpet-knight, skilled in all +parlor exercises, great at whist or euchre, a dream of a dancer, +unexcelled in Cakewalk or "coon" impersonations, for which he was in +large social demand, Ellis had seen him kick an inoffensive negro out of +his path and treat a poor-white man with scant courtesy. He suspected +Delamere of cheating at cards, and knew that others entertained the same +suspicion. For while regular in his own habits,--his poverty would not +have permitted him any considerable extravagance,--Ellis's position as a +newspaper man kept him in touch with what was going on about town. He +was a member, proposed by Carteret, of the Clarendon Club, where cards +were indulged in within reasonable limits, and a certain set were known +to bet dollars in terms of dimes. + +Delamere was careless, too, about money matters. He had a habit of +borrowing, right and left, small sums which might be conveniently +forgotten by the borrower, and for which the lender would dislike to +ask. Ellis had a strain of thrift, derived from a Scotch ancestry, and a +tenacious memory for financial details. Indeed, he had never had so much +money that he could lose track of it. He never saw Delamere without +being distinctly conscious that Delamere owed him four dollars, which he +had lent at a time when he could ill afford to spare it. It was a +prerogative of aristocracy, Ellis reflected, to live upon others, and +the last privilege which aristocracy in decay would willingly +relinquish. Neither did the aristocratic memory seem able to retain the +sordid details of a small pecuniary transaction. + +No doubt the knowledge that Delamere was the favored lover of Miss +Pemberton lent a touch of bitterness to Ellis's reflections upon his +rival. Ellis had no grievance against the "aristocracy" of Wellington. +The "best people" had received him cordially, though his father had not +been of their caste; but Ellis hated a hypocrite, and despised a coward, +and he felt sure that Delamere was both. Otherwise he would have +struggled against his love for Clara Pemberton. His passion for her had +grown with his appreciation of Delamere's unworthiness. As a friend of +the family, he knew the nature and terms of the engagement, and that if +the marriage took place at all, it would not be for at least a year. +This was a long time,--many things might happen in a year, especially to +a man like Tom Delamere. If for any reason Delamere lost his chance, +Ellis meant to be next in the field. He had not made love to Clara, but +he had missed no opportunity of meeting her and making himself quietly +and unobtrusively agreeable. + +On the day after this encounter with Delamere on the stairs of the +Chronicle office, Ellis, while walking down Vine Street, met old Mrs. +Ochiltree. She was seated in her own buggy, which was of ancient build +and pattern, driven by her colored coachman and man of all work. + +"Mr. Ellis," she called in a shrill voice, having directed her coachman +to draw up at the curb as she saw the young man approaching, "come here. +I want to speak to you." + +Ellis came up to the buggy and stood uncovered beside it. + +"People are saying," said Mrs. Ochiltree, "that Tom Delamere is drinking +hard, and has to be carried home intoxicated, two or three times a week, +by old Mr. Delamere's man Sandy. Is there any truth in the story?" + +"My dear Mrs. Ochiltree, I am not Tom Delamere's keeper. Sandy could +tell you better than I." + +"You are dodging my question, Mr. Ellis. Sandy wouldn't tell me the +truth, and I know that you wouldn't lie,--you don't look like a liar. +They say Tom is gambling scandalously. What do you know about that?" + +"You must excuse me, Mrs. Ochiltree. A great deal of what we hear is +mere idle gossip, and the truth is often grossly exaggerated. I'm a +member of the same club with Delamere, and gentlemen who belong to the +same club are not in the habit of talking about one another. As long as +a man retains his club membership, he's presumed to be a gentleman. I +wouldn't say anything against Delamere if I could." + +"You don't need to," replied the old lady, shaking her finger at him +with a cunning smile. "You are a very open young man, Mr. Ellis, and I +can read you like a book. You are much smarter than you look, but you +can't fool me. Good-morning." + +Mrs. Ochiltree drove immediately to her niece's, where she found Mrs. +Carteret and Clara at home. Clara was very fond of the baby, and was +holding him in her arms. He was a fine baby, and bade fair to realize +the bright hopes built upon him. + +"You hold a baby very naturally, Clara," chuckled the old lady. "I +suppose you are in training. But you ought to talk to Tom. I have just +learned from Mr. Ellis that Tom is carried home drunk two or three times +a week, and that he is gambling in the most reckless manner imaginable." + +Clara's eyes flashed indignantly. Ere she could speak, Mrs. Carteret +exclaimed:-- + +"Why, Aunt Polly! did Mr. Ellis say that?" + +"I got it from Dinah," she replied, "who heard it from her husband, who +learned it from a waiter at the club. And"-- + +"Pshaw!" said Mrs. Carteret, "mere servants' gossip." + +"No, it isn't, Olivia. I met Mr. Ellis on the street, and asked him +point blank, and he didn't deny it. He's a member of the club, and +ought to know." + +"Well, Aunt Polly, it can't be true. Tom is here every other night, and +how could he carry on so without showing the signs of it? and where +would he get the money? You know he has only a moderate allowance." + +"He may win it at cards,--it's better to be born lucky than rich," +returned Mrs. Ochiltree. "Then he has expectations, and can get credit. +There's no doubt that Tom is going on shamefully." Clara's +indignation had not yet found vent in speech; Olivia had said all that +was necessary, but she had been thinking rapidly. Even if all this had +been true, why should Mr. Ellis have said it? Or, if he had not stated +it directly, he had left the inference to be drawn. It seemed a most +unfair and ungentlemanly thing. What motive could Ellis have for such an +act? + +She was not long in reaching a conclusion which was not flattering to +Ellis. Mr. Ellis came often to the house, and she had enjoyed his +society in a friendly way. That he had found her pleasant company had +been very evident. She had never taken his attentions seriously, +however, or regarded his visits as made especially to her, nor had the +rest of the family treated them from that point of view. Her engagement +to Tom Delamere, though not yet formally ratified, was so well +understood by the world of Wellington that Mr. Ellis would, scarcely +have presumed to think of her as anything more than a friend. + +This revelation of her aunt's, however, put a different face upon his +conduct. Certain looks and sighs and enigmatical remarks of Ellis, to +which she had paid but casual attention and attached no particular +significance, now recurred to her memory with a new meaning. He had now +evidently tried, in a roundabout way, to besmirch Tom's character and +undermine him in her regard. While loving Tom, she had liked Ellis well +enough, as a friend; but he had abused the privileges of friendship, and +she would teach him a needed lesson. + +Nevertheless, Mrs. Ochiltree's story had given Clara food for thought. +She was uneasily conscious, after all, that there might be a grain of +truth in what had been said, enough, at least, to justify her in +warning Tom to be careful, lest his enemies should distort some amiable +weakness into a serious crime. + +She put this view of the case to Tom at their next meeting, assuring +him, at the same time, of her unbounded faith and confidence. She did +not mention Ellis's name, lest Tom, in righteous indignation, might do +something rash, which he might thereafter regret. If any subtler or more +obscure motive kept her silent as to Ellis, she was not aware of it; for +Clara's views of life were still in the objective stage, and she had not +yet fathomed the deepest recesses of her own consciousness. + +Delamere had the cunning of weakness. He knew, too, better than any one +else could know, how much truth there was in the rumors concerning him, +and whether or not they could be verified too easily for him to make an +indignant denial. After a little rapid reflection, he decided upon a +different course. + +"Clara," he said with a sigh, taking the hand which she generously +yielded to soften any suggestion of reproach which he may have read into +her solicitude, "you are my guardian angel. I do not know, of course, +who has told you this pack of lies,--for I can see that you have heard +more than you have told me,--but I think I could guess the man they came +from. I am not perfect, Clara, though I have done nothing of which a +gentleman should be ashamed. There is one sure way to stop the tongue of +calumny. My home life is not ideal,--grandfather is an old, weak man, +and the house needs the refining and softening influence of a lady's +presence. I do not love club life; its ideals are not elevating. With +you by my side, dearest, I should be preserved from every influence +except the purest and the best. Don't you think, dearest, that the major +might be induced to shorten our weary term of waiting?" + +"Oh, Tom," she demurred blushingly, "I shall be young enough at +eighteen; and you are barely twenty-one." + +But Tom proved an eloquent pleader, and love a still more persuasive +advocate. Clara spoke to the major the same evening, who looked grave at +the suggestion, and said he would think about it. They were both very +young; but where both parties were of good family, in good health and +good circumstances, an early marriage might not be undesirable. Tom was +perhaps a little unsettled, but blood would tell in the long run, and +marriage always exercised a steadying influence. + +The only return, therefore, which Ellis received for his well-meant +effort to ward off Mrs. Ochiltree's embarrassing inquiries was that he +did not see Clara upon his next visit, which was made one afternoon +while he was on night duty at the office. In conversation with Mrs. +Carteret he learned that Clara's marriage had been definitely agreed +upon, and the date fixed,--it was to take place in about six months. +Meeting Miss Pemberton on the street the following day, he received the +slightest of nods. When he called again at the house, after a week of +misery, she treated him with a sarcastic coolness which chilled his +heart. + +"How have I offended you, Miss Clara?" he demanded desperately, when +they were left alone for a moment. + +"Offended me?" she replied, lifting her eyebrows with an air of puzzled +surprise. "Why, Mr. Ellis! What could have put such a notion into your +head? Oh dear, I think I hear Dodie,--I know you'll excuse me, Mr. +Ellis, won't you? Sister Olivia will be back in a moment; and we're +expecting Aunt Polly this afternoon,--if you'll stay awhile she'll be +glad to talk to you! You can tell her all the interesting news about +your friends!" + + + + +XI + + +THE BABY AND THE BIRD + +When Ellis, after this rebuff, had disconsolately taken his leave, +Clara, much elated at the righteous punishment she had inflicted upon +the slanderer, ran upstairs to the nursery, and, snatching Dodie from +Mammy Jane's arms, began dancing gayly with him round the room. + +"Look a-hyuh, honey," said Mammy Jane, "you better be keerful wid dat +chile, an' don' drap 'im on de flo'. You might let him fall on his head +an' break his neck. My, my! but you two does make a pretty pictur'! +You'll be wantin' ole Jane ter come an' nuss yo' child'en some er dese +days," she chuckled unctuously. + +Mammy Jane had been very much disturbed by the recent dangers through +which little Dodie had passed; and his escape from strangulation, in the +first place, and then from the knife had impressed her as little less +than miraculous. She was not certain whether this result had been +brought about by her manipulation of the buried charm, or by the prayers +which had been offered for the child, but was inclined to believe that +both had cooperated to avert the threatened calamity. The favorable +outcome of this particular incident had not, however, altered the +general situation. Prayers and charms, after all, were merely temporary +things, which must be constantly renewed, and might be forgotten or +overlooked; while the mole, on the contrary, neither faded nor went +away. If its malign influence might for a time seem to disappear, it was +merely lying dormant, like the germs of some deadly disease, awaiting +its opportunity to strike at an unguarded spot. + +Clara and the baby were laughing in great glee, when a mockingbird, +perched on the topmost bough of a small tree opposite the nursery +window, burst suddenly into song, with many a trill and quaver. Clara, +with the child in her arms, sprang to the open window. + +"Sister Olivia," she cried, turning her face toward Mrs. Carteret, who +at that moment entered the room, "come and look at Dodie." + +The baby was listening intently to the music, meanwhile gurgling with +delight, and reaching his chubby hands toward the source of this +pleasing sound. It seemed as though the mockingbird were aware of his +appreciative audience, for he ran through the songs of a dozen different +birds, selecting, with the discrimination of a connoisseur and entire +confidence in his own powers, those which were most difficult and most +alluring. + +Mrs. Carteret approached the window, followed by Mammy Jane, who waddled +over to join the admiring party. So absorbed were the three women in the +baby and the bird that neither one of them observed a neat top buggy, +drawn by a sleek sorrel pony, passing slowly along the street before the +house. In the buggy was seated a lady, and beside her a little boy, +dressed in a child's sailor suit and a straw hat. The lady, with a +wistful expression, was looking toward the party grouped in the open +window. + +Mrs. Carteret, chancing to lower her eyes for an instant, caught the +other woman's look directed toward her and her child. With a glance of +cold aversion she turned away from the window. + +Old Mammy Jane had observed this movement, and had divined the reason +for it. She stood beside Clara, watching the retreating buggy. + +"Uhhuh!" she said to herself, "it's huh sister Janet! She ma'ied a +doctuh, an' all dat, an' she lives in a big house, an' she's be'n roun' +de worl' an de Lawd knows where e'se: but Mis' 'Livy don' like de sight +er her, an' never will, ez long ez de sun rises an' sets. Dey ce't'nly +does favor one anudder,--anybody mought 'low dey wuz twins, ef dey didn' +know better. Well, well! Fo'ty yeahs ago who'd 'a' ever expected ter +see a nigger gal ridin' in her own buggy? My, my! but I don' know,--I +don' know! It don' look right, an' it ain' gwine ter las'!--you can't +make me b'lieve!" + +Meantime Janet, stung by Mrs. Carteret's look,--the nearest approach she +had ever made to a recognition of her sister's existence,--had turned +away with hardening face. She had struck her pony sharply with the whip, +much to the gentle creature's surprise, when the little boy, who was +still looking back, caught his mother's sleeve and exclaimed +excitedly:-- + +"Look, look, mamma! The baby,--the baby!" + +Janet turned instantly, and with a mother's instinct gave an involuntary +cry of alarm. + +At the moment when Mrs. Carteret had turned away from the window, and +while Mammy Jane was watching Janet, Clara had taken a step forward, and +was leaning against the window-sill. The baby, convulsed with delight, +had given a spasmodic spring and slipped from Clara's arms. +Instinctively the young woman gripped the long skirt as it slipped +through her hands, and held it tenaciously, though too frightened for an +instant to do more. Mammy Jane, ashen with sudden dread, uttered an +inarticulate scream, but retained self-possession enough to reach down +and draw up the child, which hung dangerously suspended, head downward, +over the brick pavement below. + +"Oh, Clara, Clara, how could you!" exclaimed Mrs. Carteret +reproachfully; "you might have killed my child!" + +She had snatched the child from Jane's arms, and was holding him closely +to her own breast. Struck by a sudden thought, she drew near the window +and looked out. Twice within a few weeks her child had been in serious +danger, and upon each occasion a member of the Miller family had been +involved, for she had heard of Dr. Miller's presumption in trying to +force himself where he must have known he would be unwelcome. + +Janet was just turning her head away as the buggy moved slowly off. +Olivia felt a violent wave of antipathy sweep over her toward this +baseborn sister who had thus thrust herself beneath her eyes. If she had +not cast her brazen glance toward the window, she herself would not have +turned away and lost sight of her child. To this shameless intrusion, +linked with Clara's carelessness, had been due the catastrophe, so +narrowly averted, which might have darkened her own life forever. She +took to her bed for several days, and for a long time was cold toward +Clara, and did not permit her to touch the child. + +Mammy Jane entertained a theory of her own about the accident, by which +the blame was placed, in another way, exactly where Mrs. Carteret had +laid it. Julia's daughter, Janet, had been looking intently toward the +window just before little Dodie had sprung from Clara's arms. Might she +not have cast the evil eye upon the baby, and sought thereby to draw him +out of the window? One would not ordinarily expect so young a woman to +possess such a power, but she might have acquired it, for this very +purpose, from some more experienced person. By the same reasoning, the +mockingbird might have been a familiar of the witch, and the two might +have conspired to lure the infant to destruction. Whether this were so +or not, the transaction at least wore a peculiar look. There was no use +telling Mis' 'Livy about it, for she didn't believe, or pretended not +to believe, in witchcraft and conjuration. But one could not be too +careful. The child was certainly born to be exposed to great +dangers,--the mole behind the left ear was an unfailing sign,--and no +precaution should be omitted to counteract its baleful influence. + +While adjusting the baby's crib, a few days later, Mrs. Carteret found +fastened under one of the slats a small bag of cotton cloth, about half +an inch long and tied with a black thread, upon opening which she found +a few small roots or fibres and a pinch of dried and crumpled herbs. It +was a good-luck charm which Mammy Jane had placed there to ward off the +threatened evil from the grandchild of her dear old mistress. Mrs. +Carteret's first impulse was to throw the bag into the fire, but on +second thoughts she let it remain. To remove it would give unnecessary +pain to the old nurse. Of course these old negro superstitions were +absurd,--but if the charm did no good, it at least would do no harm. + + + + +XII + + +ANOTHER SOUTHERN PRODUCT + +One morning shortly after the opening of the hospital, while Dr. Miller +was making his early rounds, a new patient walked in with a smile on his +face and a broken arm hanging limply by his side. Miller recognized in +him a black giant by the name of Josh Green, who for many years had +worked on the docks for Miller's father,--and simultaneously identified +him as the dust-begrimed negro who had stolen a ride to Wellington on +the trucks of a passenger car. + +"Well, Josh," asked the doctor, as he examined the fracture, "how did +you get this? Been fighting again?" + +"No, suh, I don' s'pose you could ha'dly call it a fight. One er dem +dagoes off'n a Souf American boat gimme some er his jaw, an' I give 'im +a back answer, an' here I is wid a broken arm. He got holt er a +belayin'-pin befo' I could hit 'im." + +"What became of the other man?" demanded Miller suspiciously. He +perceived, from the indifference with which Josh bore the manipulation +of the fractured limb, that such an accident need not have interfered +seriously with the use of the remaining arm, and he knew that Josh had a +reputation for absolute fearlessness. + +"Lemme see," said Josh reflectively, "ef I kin 'member w'at _did_ become +er him! Oh, yes, I 'member now! Dey tuck him ter de Marine Horspittle +in de amberlance, 'cause his leg wuz broke, an' I reckon somethin' must +'a' accident'ly hit 'im in de jaw, fer he wuz scatt'rin' teeth all de +way 'long de street. I didn' wan' ter kill de man, fer he might have +somebody dependin' on 'im, an' I knows how dat'd be ter dem. But no man +kin call me a damn' low-down nigger and keep on enjoyin' good health +right along." + +"It was considerate of you to spare his life," said Miller dryly, "but +you'll hit the wrong man some day. These are bad times for bad negroes. +You'll get into a quarrel with a white man, and at the end of it there'll +be a lynching, or a funeral. You'd better be peaceable and endure a +little injustice, rather than run the risk of a sudden and violent +death." + +"I expec's ter die a vi'lent death in a quarrel wid a w'ite man," +replied Josh, in a matter-of-fact tone, "an' fu'thermo', he's gwine ter +die at the same time, er a little befo'. I be'n takin' my own time 'bout +killin' 'im; I ain' be'n crowdin' de man, but I'll be ready after a +w'ile, an' den he kin look out!" + +"And I suppose you're merely keeping in practice on these other fellows +who come your way. When I get your arm dressed, you'd better leave town +till that fellow's boat sails; it may save you the expense of a trial +and three months in the chain-gang. But this talk about killing a man is +all nonsense. What has any man in this town done to you, that you should +thirst for his blood?" + +"No, suh, it ain' nonsense,--it's straight, solem' fac'. I'm gwine ter +kill dat man as sho' as I'm settin' in dis cheer; an' dey ain' nobody +kin say I ain' got a right ter kill 'im. Does you 'member de Ku-Klux?" +"Yes, but I was a child at the time, and recollect very little about +them. It is a page of history which most people are glad to forget." + +"Yas, suh; I was a chile, too, but I wuz right in it, an' so I 'members +mo' erbout it 'n you does. My mammy an' daddy lived 'bout ten miles f'm +here, up de river. One night a crowd er w'ite men come ter ou' house an' +tuck my daddy out an' shot 'im ter death, an' skeered my mammy so she +ain' be'n herse'f f'm dat day ter dis. I wa'n't mo' 'n ten years ole at +de time, an' w'en my mammy seed de w'ite men comin', she tol' me ter +run. I hid in de bushes an' seen de whole thing, an' it wuz branded on +my mem'ry, suh, like a red-hot iron bran's de skin. De w'ite folks had +masks on, but one of 'em fell off,--he wuz de boss, he wuz de head man, +an' tol' de res' w'at ter do,--an' I seen his face. It wuz a easy face +ter 'member; an' I swo' den, 'way down deep in my hea't, little ez I +wuz, dat some day er 'nother I'd kill dat man. I ain't never had no +doubt erbout it; it's jus' w'at I'm livin' fer, an' I know I ain' gwine +ter die till I've done it. Some lives fer one thing an' some fer +another, but dat's my job. I ain' be'n in no has'e, fer I'm not ole +yit, an' dat man is in good health. I'd like ter see a little er de +worl' befo' I takes chances on leavin' it sudden; an', mo'over, +somebody's got ter take keer er de ole 'oman. But her time'll come some +er dese days, an den _his_ time'll be come--an' prob'ly mine. But I +ain' keerin' 'bout myse'f: w'en I git thoo wid him, it won' make no +diff'ence 'bout me." + +Josh was evidently in dead earnest. Miller recalled, very vividly, the +expression he had seen twice on his patient's face, during the journey +to Wellington. + +He had often seen Josh's mother, old Aunt Milly,--"Silly Milly," the +children called her,--wandering aimlessly about the street, muttering to +herself incoherently. He had felt a certain childish awe at the sight of +one of God's creatures who had lost the light of reason, and he had +always vaguely understood that she was the victim of human cruelty, +though he had dated it farther back into the past. This was his first +knowledge of the real facts of the case. + +He realized, too, for a moment, the continuity of life, how inseparably +the present is woven with the past, how certainly the future will be but +the outcome of the present. He had supposed this old wound healed. The +negroes were not a vindictive people. If, swayed by passion or emotion, +they sometimes gave way to gusts of rage, these were of brief duration. +Absorbed in the contemplation of their doubtful present and their +uncertain future, they gave little thought to the past,--it was a dark +story, which they would willingly forget. He knew the timeworn +explanation that the Ku-Klux movement, in the main, was merely an +ebullition of boyish spirits, begun to amuse young white men by playing +upon the fears and superstitions of ignorant negroes. Here, however, was +its tragic side,--the old wound still bleeding, the fruit of one +tragedy, the seed of another. He could not approve of Josh's application +of the Mosaic law of revenge, and yet the incident was not without +significance. Here was a negro who could remember an injury, who could +shape his life to a definite purpose, if not a high or holy one. When +his race reached the point where they would resent a wrong, there was +hope that they might soon attain the stage where they would try, and, if +need be, die, to defend a right. This man, too, had a purpose in life, +and was willing to die that he might accomplish it. Miller was willing +to give up his life to a cause. Would he be equally willing, he asked +himself, to die for it? Miller had no prophetic instinct to tell him how +soon he would have the opportunity to answer his own question. But he +could not encourage Josh to carry out this dark and revengeful purpose. +Every worthy consideration required him to dissuade his patient from +such a desperate course. + +"You had better put away these murderous fancies, Josh," he said +seriously. "The Bible says that we should 'forgive our enemies, bless +them that curse us, and do good to them that despitefully use us.'" + +"Yas, suh, I've l'arnt all dat in Sunday-school, an' I've heared de +preachers say it time an' time ag'in. But it 'pears ter me dat dis +fergitfulniss an' fergivniss is mighty one-sided. De w'ite folks don' +fergive nothin' de niggers does. Dey got up de Ku-Klux, dey said, on +'count er de kyarpit-baggers. Dey be'n talkin' 'bout de kyarpit-baggers +ever sence, an' dey 'pears ter fergot all 'bout de Ku-Klux. But I ain' +fergot. De niggers is be'n train' ter fergiveniss; an' fer fear dey +might fergit how ter fergive, de w'ite folks gives 'em somethin' new +ev'y now an' den, ter practice on. A w'ite man kin do w'at he wants ter +a nigger, but de minute de nigger gits back at 'im, up goes de nigger, +an' don' come down tell somebody cuts 'im down. If a nigger gits a' +office, er de race 'pears ter be prosperin' too much, de w'ite folks up +an' kills a few, so dat de res' kin keep on fergivin' an' bein' thankful +dat dey're lef alive. Don' talk ter me 'bout dese w'ite folks,--I knows +'em, I does! Ef a nigger wants ter git down on his marrow-bones, an' eat +dirt, an' call 'em 'marster,' _he's_ a good nigger, dere's room fer +_him_. But I ain' no w'ite folks' nigger, I ain'. I don' call no man +'marster.' I don' wan' nothin' but w'at I wo'k fer, but I wants all er +dat. I never moles's no w'ite man, 'less 'n he moles's me fus'. But w'en +de ole 'oman dies, doctuh, an' I gits a good chance at dat w'ite +man,--dere ain' no use talkin', suh!--dere's gwine ter be a mix-up, an' +a fune'al, er two fune'als--er may be mo', ef anybody is keerliss enough +to git in de way." + +"Josh," said the doctor, laying a cool hand on the other's brow, "you +'re feverish, and don't know what you're talking about. I shouldn't +let my mind dwell on such things, and you must keep quiet until this arm +is well, or you may never be able to hit any one with it again." + +Miller determined that when Josh got better he would talk to him +seriously and dissuade him from this dangerous design. He had not asked +the name of Josh's enemy, but the look of murderous hate which the +dust-begrimed tramp of the railway journey had cast at Captain George +McBane rendered any such question superfluous. McBane was probably +deserving of any evil fate which might befall him; but such a revenge +would do no good, would right no wrong; while every such crime, +committed by a colored man, would be imputed to the race, which was +already staggering under a load of obloquy because, in the eyes of a +prejudiced and undiscriminating public, it must answer as a whole for +the offenses of each separate individual. To die in defense of the right +was heroic. To kill another for revenge was pitifully human and weak: +"Vengeance is mine, I will repay," saith the Lord. + + + + +XIII + + +THE CAKEWALK + +Old Mr. Delamere's servant, Sandy Campbell, was in deep trouble. + +A party of Northern visitors had been staying for several days at the +St. James Hotel. The gentlemen of the party were concerned in a +projected cotton mill, while the ladies were much interested in the +study of social conditions, and especially in the negro problem. As soon +as their desire for information became known, they were taken +courteously under the wing of prominent citizens and their wives, who +gave them, at elaborate luncheons, the Southern white man's views of the +negro, sighing sentimentally over the disappearance of the good old +negro of before the war, and gravely deploring the degeneracy of his +descendants. They enlarged upon the amount of money the Southern whites +had spent for the education of the negro, and shook their heads over the +inadequate results accruing from this unexampled generosity. It was sad, +they said, to witness this spectacle of a dying race, unable to +withstand the competition of a superior type. The severe reprisals taken +by white people for certain crimes committed by negroes were of course +not the acts of the best people, who deplored them; but still a certain +charity should be extended towards those who in the intense and +righteous anger of the moment should take the law into their own hands +and deal out rough but still substantial justice; for no negro was ever +lynched without incontestable proof of his guilt. In order to be +perfectly fair, and give their visitors an opportunity to see both sides +of the question, they accompanied the Northern visitors to a colored +church where they might hear a colored preacher, who had won a jocular +popularity throughout the whole country by an oft-repeated sermon +intended to demonstrate that the earth was flat like a pancake. This +celebrated divine could always draw a white audience, except on the days +when his no less distinguished white rival in the field of +sensationalism preached his equally famous sermon to prove that hell was +exactly one half mile, linear measure, from the city limits of +Wellington. Whether accidentally or not, the Northern visitors had no +opportunity to meet or talk alone with any colored person in the city +except the servants at the hotel. When one of the party suggested a +visit to the colored mission school, a Southern friend kindly +volunteered to accompany them. + +The visitors were naturally much impressed by what they learned from +their courteous hosts, and felt inclined to sympathize with the Southern +people, for the negro is not counted as a Southerner, except to fix the +basis of congressional representation. There might of course be things +to criticise here and there, certain customs for which they did not +exactly see the necessity, and which seemed in conflict with the highest +ideals of liberty but surely these courteous, soft-spoken ladies and +gentlemen, entirely familiar with local conditions, who descanted so +earnestly and at times pathetically upon the grave problems confronting +them, must know more about it than people in the distant North, without +their means of information. The negroes who waited on them at the hotel +seemed happy enough, and the teachers whom they had met at the mission +school had been well-dressed, well-mannered, and apparently content with +their position in life. Surely a people who made no complaints could not +be very much oppressed. + +In order to give the visitors, ere they left Wellington, a pleasing +impression of Southern customs, and particularly of the joyous, +happy-go-lucky disposition of the Southern darky and his entire +contentment with existing conditions, it was decided by the hotel +management to treat them, on the last night of their visit, to a little +diversion, in the shape of a genuine negro cakewalk. + +On the afternoon of this same day Tom Delamere strolled into the hotel, +and soon gravitated to the bar, where he was a frequent visitor. Young +men of leisure spent much of their time around the hotel, and no small +part of it in the bar. Delamere had been to the club, but had avoided +the card-room. Time hanging heavy on his hands, he had sought the hotel +in the hope that some form of distraction might present itself. + +"Have you heard the latest, Mr. Delamere?" asked the bartender, as he +mixed a cocktail for his customer. + +"No, Billy; what is it?" + +"There's to be a big cakewalk upstairs to-night. The No'the'n gentlemen +an' ladies who are down here to see about the new cotton fact'ry want to +study the nigger some more, and the boss has got up a cakewalk for 'em, +'mongst the waiters and chambermaids, with a little outside talent." + +"Is it to be public?" asked Delamere. + +"Oh, no, not generally, but friends of the house won't be barred out. +The clerk 'll fix it for you. Ransom, the head waiter, will be floor +manager." + +Delamere was struck with a brilliant idea. The more he considered it, +the brighter it seemed. Another cocktail imparted additional brilliancy +to the conception. He had been trying, after a feeble fashion, to keep +his promise to Clara, and was really suffering from lack of excitement. + +He left the bar-room, found the head waiter, held with him a short +conversation, and left in his intelligent and itching palm a piece of +money. + +The cakewalk was a great success. The most brilliant performer was a +late arrival, who made his appearance just as the performance was about +to commence. The newcomer was dressed strikingly, the conspicuous +features of his attire being a long blue coat with brass buttons and a +pair of plaid trousers. He was older, too, than the other participants, +which made his agility the more remarkable. His partner was a new +chambermaid, who had just come to town, and whom the head waiter +introduced to the newcomer upon his arrival. The cake was awarded to +this couple by a unanimous vote. The man presented it to his partner +with a grandiloquent flourish, and returned thanks in a speech which +sent the Northern visitors into spasms of delight at the quaintness of +the darky dialect and the darky wit. To cap the climax, the winner +danced a buck dance with a skill and agility that brought a shower of +complimentary silver, which he gathered up and passed to the head +waiter. + +Ellis was off duty for the evening. Not having ventured to put in an +appearance at Carteret's since his last rebuff, he found himself +burdened with a superfluity of leisure, from which he essayed to find +relief by dropping into the hotel office at about nine o'clock. He was +invited up to see the cakewalk, which he rather enjoyed, for there was +some graceful dancing and posturing. But the grotesque contortions of +one participant had struck him as somewhat overdone, even for the +comical type of negro. He recognized the fellow, after a few minutes' +scrutiny, as the body-servant of old Mr. Delamere. The man's present +occupation, or choice of diversion, seemed out of keeping with his +employment as attendant upon an invalid old gentleman, and strangely +inconsistent with the gravity and decorum which had been so noticeable +when this agile cakewalker had served as butler at Major Carteret's +table, upon the occasion of the christening dinner. There was a vague +suggestion of unreality about this performance, too, which Ellis did not +attempt to analyze, but which recurred vividly to his memory upon a +subsequent occasion. + +Ellis had never pretended to that intimate knowledge of negro thought +and character by which some of his acquaintances claimed the ability to +fathom every motive of a negro's conduct, and predict in advance what +any one of the darker race would do under a given set of circumstances. +He would not have believed that a white man could possess two so widely +varying phases of character; but as to negroes, they were as yet a crude +and undeveloped race, and it was not safe to make predictions concerning +them. No one could tell at what moment the thin veneer of civilization +might peel off and reveal the underlying savage. + +The champion cakewalker, much to the surprise of his sable companions, +who were about equally swayed by admiration and jealousy, disappeared +immediately after the close of the performance. Any one watching him on +his way home through the quiet streets to old Mr. Delamere's would have +seen him now and then shaking with laughter. It had been excellent fun. +Nevertheless, as he neared home, a certain aspect of the affair, +hitherto unconsidered, occurred to him, and it was in a rather serious +frame of mind that he cautiously entered the house and sought his own +room. + + * * * * * + +The cakewalk had results which to Sandy were very serious. The following +week he was summoned before the disciplinary committee of his church and +charged with unchristian conduct, in the following particulars, to wit: +dancing, and participating in a sinful diversion called a cakewalk, +which was calculated to bring the church into disrepute and make it the +mockery of sinners. + +Sandy protested his innocence vehemently, but in vain. The proof was +overwhelming. He was positively identified by Sister 'Manda Patterson, +the hotel cook, who had watched the whole performance from the hotel +corridor for the sole, single, solitary, and only purpose, she averred, +of seeing how far human wickedness could be carried by a professing +Christian. The whole thing had been shocking and offensive to her, and +only a stern sense of duty had sustained her in looking on, that she +might be qualified to bear witness against the offender. She had +recognized his face, his clothes, his voice, his walk--there could be no +shadow of doubt that it was Brother Sandy. This testimony was confirmed +by one of the deacons, whose son, a waiter at the hotel, had also seen +Sandy at the cakewalk. + +Sandy stoutly insisted that he was at home the whole evening; that he +had not been near the hotel for three months; that he had never in his +life taken part in a cakewalk, and that he did not know how to dance. +It was replied that wickedness, like everything else, must have a +beginning; that dancing was an art that could be acquired in secret, and +came natural to some people. In the face of positive proof, Sandy's +protestations were of no avail; he was found guilty, and suspended from +church fellowship until he should have repented and made full +confession. + +Sturdily refusing to confess a fault of which he claimed to be innocent, +Sandy remained in contumacy, thereby falling somewhat into disrepute +among the members of his church, the largest in the city. The effect of +a bad reputation being subjective as well as objective, and poor human +nature arguing that one may as well have the game as the name, Sandy +insensibly glided into habits of which the church would not have +approved, though he took care that they should not interfere with his +duties to Mr. Delamere. The consolation thus afforded, however, followed +as it was by remorse of conscience, did not compensate him for the loss +of standing in the church, which to him was a social club as well as a +religious temple. At times, in conversation with young Delamere, he +would lament his hard fate. + +Tom laughed until he cried at the comical idea which Sandy's plaint +always brought up, of half-a-dozen negro preachers sitting in solemn +judgment upon that cakewalk,--it had certainly been a good +cakewalk!--and sending poor Sandy to spiritual Coventry. + +"Cheer up, Sandy, cheer up!" he would say when Sandy seemed most +depressed. "Go into my room and get yourself a good drink of liquor. The +devil's church has a bigger congregation than theirs, and we have the +consolation of knowing that when we die, we'll meet all our friends on +the other side. Brace up, Sandy, and be a man, or, if you can't be a +man, be as near a man as you can!" + +Hoping to revive his drooping spirits, Sandy too often accepted the +proffered remedy. + + + + +XIV + + +THE MAUNDERINGS OF OLD MRS. OCHILTREE + +When Mrs. Carteret had fully recovered from the shock attendant upon the +accident at the window, where little Dodie had so narrowly escaped death +or serious injury, she ordered her carriage one afternoon and directed +the coachman to drive her to Mrs. Ochiltree's. + +Mrs. Carteret had discharged her young nurse only the day before, and +had sent for Mammy Jane, who was now recovered from her rheumatism, to +stay until she could find another girl. The nurse had been ordered not +to take the child to negroes' houses. Yesterday, in driving past the old +homestead of her husband's family, now occupied by Dr. Miller and his +family, Mrs. Carteret had seen her own baby's carriage standing in the +yard. + +When the nurse returned home, she was immediately discharged. She +offered some sort of explanation, to the effect that her sister worked +for Mrs. Miller, and that some family matter had rendered it necessary +for her to see her sister. The explanation only aggravated the offense: +if Mrs. Carteret could have overlooked the disobedience, she would by no +means have retained in her employment a servant whose sister worked for +the Miller woman. + +Old Mrs. Ochiltree had within a few months begun to show signs of +breaking up. She was over seventy years old, and had been of late, by +various afflictions, confined to the house much of the time. More than +once within the year, Mrs. Carteret had asked her aunt to come and live +with her; but Mrs. Ochiltree, who would have regarded such a step as an +acknowledgment of weakness, preferred her lonely independence. She +resided in a small, old-fashioned house, standing back in the middle of +a garden on a quiet street. Two old servants made up her modest +household. + +This refusal to live with her niece had been lightly borne, for Mrs. +Ochiltree was a woman of strong individuality, whose comments upon her +acquaintance, present or absent, were marked by a frankness at times no +less than startling. This characteristic caused her to be more or less +avoided. Mrs. Ochiltree was aware of this sentiment on the part of her +acquaintance, and rather exulted in it. She hated fools. Only fools ran +away from her, and that because they were afraid she would expose their +folly. If most people were fools, it was no fault of hers, and she was +not obliged to indulge them by pretending to believe that they knew +anything. She had once owned considerable property, but was reticent +about her affairs, and told no one how much she was worth, though it was +supposed that she had considerable ready money, besides her house and +some other real estate. Mrs. Carteret was her nearest living relative, +though her grand-nephew Tom Delamere had been a great favorite with her. +If she did not spare him her tongue-lashings, it was nevertheless +expected in the family that she would leave him something handsome in +her will. + +Mrs. Ochiltree had shared in the general rejoicing upon the advent of +the Carteret baby. She had been one of his godmothers, and had hinted at +certain intentions held by her concerning him. During Mammy Jane's +administration she had tried the old nurse's patience more or less by +her dictatorial interference. Since her partial confinement to the +house, she had gone, when her health and the weather would permit, to +see the child, and at other times had insisted that it be sent to her in +charge of the nurse at least every other day. + +Mrs. Ochiltree's faculties had shared insensibly in the decline of her +health. This weakness manifested itself by fits of absent-mindedness, in +which she would seemingly lose connection with the present, and live +over again, in imagination, the earlier years of her life. She had +buried two husbands, had tried in vain to secure a third, and had never +borne any children. Long ago she had petrified into a character which +nothing under heaven could change, and which, if death is to take us as +it finds us, and the future life to keep us as it takes us, promised +anything but eternal felicity to those with whom she might associate +after this life. Tom Delamere had been heard to say, profanely, that if +his Aunt Polly went to heaven, he would let his mansion in the skies on +a long lease, at a low figure. + +When the carriage drove up with Mrs. Carteret, her aunt was seated on +the little front piazza, with her wrinkled hands folded in her lap, +dozing the afternoon away in fitful slumber. + +"Tie the horse, William," said Mrs. Carteret, "and then go in and wake +Aunt Polly, and tell her I want her to come and drive with me." + +Mrs. Ochiltree had not observed her niece's approach, nor did she look +up when William drew near. Her eyes were closed, and she would let her +head sink slowly forward, recovering it now and then with a spasmodic +jerk. + +"Colonel Ochiltree," she muttered, "was shot at the battle of Culpepper +Court House, and left me a widow for the second time. But I would not +have married any man on earth after him." + +"Mis' Ochiltree!" cried William, raising his voice, "oh, Mis' +Ochiltree!" + +"If I had found a man,--a real man,--I might have married again. I did +not care for weaklings. I could have married John Delamere if I had +wanted him. But pshaw! I could have wound him round"-- + +"Go round to the kitchen, William," interrupted Mrs. Carteret +impatiently, "and tell Aunt Dinah to come and wake her up." + +William returned in a few moments with a fat, comfortable looking black +woman, who curtsied to Mrs. Carteret at the gate, and then going up to +her mistress seized her by the shoulder and shook her vigorously. + +"Wake up dere, Mis' Polly," she screamed, as harshly as her mellow voice +would permit. "Mis' 'Livy wants you ter go drivin' wid 'er!" + +"Dinah," exclaimed the old lady, sitting suddenly upright with a defiant +assumption of wakefulness, "why do you take so long to come when I call? +Bring me my bonnet and shawl. Don't you see my niece waiting for me at +the gate?" + +"Hyuh dey is, hyuh dey is!" returned Dinah, producing the bonnet and +shawl, and assisting Mrs. Ochiltree to put them on. + +Leaning on William's arm, the old lady went slowly down the walk, and +was handed to the rear seat with Mrs. Carteret. + +"How's the baby to-day, Olivia, and why didn't you bring him?" + +"He has a cold to-day, and is a little hoarse," replied Mrs. Carteret, +"so I thought it best not to bring him out. Drive out the Weldon road, +William, and back by Pine Street." + +The drive led past an eminence crowned by a handsome brick building of +modern construction, evidently an institution of some kind, surrounded +on three sides by a grove of venerable oaks. + +"Hugh Poindexter," Mrs. Ochiltree exclaimed explosively, after a +considerable silence, "has been building a new house, in place of the +old family mansion burned during the war." + +"It isn't Mr. Poindexter's house, Aunt Polly. That is the new colored +hospital built by the colored doctor." + +"The new colored hospital, indeed, and the colored doctor! Before the +war the negroes were all healthy, and when they got sick we took care of +them ourselves! Hugh Poindexter has sold the graves of his ancestors to +a negro,--I should have starved first!" + +"He had his grandfather's grave opened, and there was nothing to remove, +except a few bits of heart-pine from the coffin. All the rest had +crumbled into dust." + +"And he sold the dust to a negro! The world is upside down." + +"He had the tombstone transferred to the white cemetery, Aunt Polly, and +he has moved away." + +"Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. When I die, if you +outlive me, Olivia, which is not likely, I shall leave my house and +land to this child! He is a Carteret,--he would never sell them to a +negro. I can't trust Tom Delamere, I'm afraid." + +The carriage had skirted the hill, passing to the rear of the new +building. + +"Turn to the right, William," ordered Mrs. Carteret, addressing the +coachman, "and come back past the other side of the hospital." + +A turn to the right into another road soon brought them to the front of +the building, which stood slightly back from the street, with no +intervening fence or inclosure. A sorrel pony in a light buggy was +fastened to a hitching-post near the entrance. As they drove past, a +lady came out of the front door and descended the steps, holding by the +hand a very pretty child about six years old. + +"Who is that woman, Olivia?" asked Mrs. Ochiltree abruptly, with signs +of agitation. + +The lady coming down the steps darted at the approaching carriage a look +which lingered involuntarily. + +Mrs. Carteret, perceiving this glance, turned away coldly. + +With a sudden hardening of her own features the other woman lifted the +little boy into the buggy and drove sharply away in the direction +opposite to that taken by Mrs. Carteret's carriage. + +"Who is that woman, Olivia?" repeated Mrs. Ochiltree, with marked +emotion. + +"I have not the honor of her acquaintance," returned Mrs. Carteret +sharply. "Drive faster, William." + +"I want to know who that woman is," persisted Mrs. Ochiltree +querulously. "William," she cried shrilly, poking the coachman in the +back with the end of her cane, "who is that woman?" + +"Dat's Mis' Miller, ma'am," returned the coachman, touching his hat; +"Doctuh Miller's wife." + +"What was her mother's name?" + +"Her mother's name wuz Julia Brown. She's be'n dead dese twenty years +er mo'. Why, you knowed Julia, Mis' Polly!--she used ter b'long ter yo' +own father befo' de wah; an' after de wah she kep' house fer"-- + +"Look to your horses, William!" exclaimed Mrs. Carteret sharply. + +"It's that hussy's child," said Mrs. Ochiltree, turning to her niece +with great excitement. "When your father died, I turned the mother and +the child out into the street. The mother died and went to--the place +provided for such as she. If I hadn't been just in time, Olivia, they +would have turned you out. I saved the property for you and your son! +You can thank me for it all!" + +"Hush, Aunt Polly, for goodness' sake! William will hear you. Tell me +about it when you get home." + +Mrs. Ochiltree was silent, except for a few incoherent mumblings. What +she might say, what distressing family secret she might repeat in +William's hearing, should she take another talkative turn, was beyond +conjecture. + +Olivia looked anxiously around for something to distract her aunt's +attention, and caught sight of a colored man, dressed in sober gray, who +was coming toward the carriage. + +"There's Mr. Delamere's Sandy!" exclaimed Mrs. Carteret, touching her +aunt on the arm. "I wonder how his master is? Sandy, oh, Sandy!" + +Sandy approached the carriage, lifting his hat with a slight +exaggeration of Chesterfieldian elegance. Sandy, no less than his +master, was a survival of an interesting type. He had inherited the +feudal deference for his superiors in position, joined to a certain +self-respect which saved him from sycophancy. His manners had been +formed upon those of old Mr. Delamere, and were not a bad imitation; for +in the man, as in the master, they were the harmonious reflection of a +mental state. + +"How is Mr. Delamere, Sandy?" asked Mrs. Carteret, acknowledging Sandy's +salutation with a nod and a smile. + +"He ain't ez peart ez he has be'n, ma'am," replied Sandy, "but he's +doin' tol'able well. De doctuh say he's good fer a dozen years yit, ef +he'll jes' take good keer of hisse'f an' keep f'm gittin' excited; fer +sence dat secon' stroke, excitement is dange'ous fer 'im." + +"I'm sure you take the best care of him," returned Mrs. Carteret kindly. + +"You can't do anything for him, Sandy," interposed old Mrs. Ochiltree, +shaking her head slowly to emphasize her dissent. "All the doctors in +creation couldn't keep him alive another year. I shall outlive him by +twenty years, though we are not far from the same age." + +"Lawd, ma'am!" exclaimed Sandy, lifting his hands in affected +amazement,--his study of gentle manners had been more than +superficial,--"whoever would 'a' s'picion' dat you an' Mars John wuz +nigh de same age? I'd 'a' 'lowed you wuz ten years younger 'n him, easy, +ef you wuz a day!" + +"Give my compliments to the poor old gentleman," returned Mrs. +Ochiltree, with a simper of senile vanity, though her back was +weakening under the strain of the effort to sit erect that she might +maintain this illusion of comparative youthfulness. "Bring him to see me +some day when he is able to walk." + +"Yas'm, I will," rejoined Sandy. "He's gwine out ter Belleview nex' +week, fer ter stay a mont' er so, but I'll fetch him 'roun' w'en he +comes back. I'll tell 'im dat you ladies 'quired fer 'im." + +Sandy made another deep bow, and held his hat in his hand until the +carriage had moved away. He had not condescended to notice the coachman +at all, who was one of the young negroes of the new generation; while +Sandy regarded himself as belonging to the quality, and seldom stooped +to notice those beneath him. It would not have been becoming in him, +either, while conversing with white ladies, to have noticed a colored +servant. Moreover, the coachman was a Baptist, while Sandy was a +Methodist, though under a cloud, and considered a Methodist in poor +standing as better than a Baptist of any degree of sanctity. + +"Lawd, Lawd!" chuckled Sandy, after the carriage had departed, "I never +seed nothin' lack de way dat ole lady do keep up her temper! Wid one +foot in de grave, an' de other hov'rin' on de edge, she talks 'bout my +ole marster lack he wuz in his secon' chil'hood. But I'm jes' willin' +ter bet dat he'll outlas' her! She ain't half de woman she wuz dat +night I waited on de table at de christenin' pa'ty, w'en she 'lowed she +wuzn' feared er no man livin'." + + + + +XV + + +MRS. CARTERET SEEKS AN EXPLANATION + +As a stone dropped into a pool of water sets in motion a series of +concentric circles which disturb the whole mass in varying degree, so +Mrs. Ochiltree's enigmatical remark had started in her niece's mind a +disturbing train of thought. Had her words, Mrs. Carteret asked herself, +any serious meaning, or were they the mere empty babblings of a clouded +intellect? + +"William," she said to the coachman when they reached Mrs. Ochiltree's +house, "you may tie the horse and help us out. I shall be here a little +while." + +William helped the ladies down, assisted Mrs. Ochiltree into the house, +and then went round to the kitchen. Dinah was an excellent hand at +potato-pone and other culinary delicacies dear to the Southern heart, +and William was a welcome visitor in her domain. + +"Now, Aunt Polly," said Mrs. Carteret resolutely, as soon as they were +alone, "I want to know what you meant by what you said about my father +and Julia, and this--this child of hers?" + +The old woman smiled cunningly, but her expression soon changed to one +more grave. + +"Why do you want to know?" she asked suspiciously. "You've got the +land, the houses, and the money. You've nothing to complain of. Enjoy +yourself, and be thankful!" + +"I'm thankful to God," returned Olivia, "for all his good gifts,--and +He has blessed me abundantly,--but why should I be thankful to _you_ for +the property my father left me?" + +"Why should you be thankful to me?" rejoined Mrs. Ochiltree with +querulous indignation. "You'd better ask why _shouldn't_ you be +thankful to me. What have I not done for you?" + +"Yes, Aunt Polly, I know you've done a great deal. You reared me in +your own house when I had been cast out of my father's; you have been a +second mother to me, and I am very grateful,--you can never say that I +have not shown my gratitude. But if you have done anything else for me, +I wish to know it. Why should I thank you for my inheritance?" + +"Why should you thank me? Well, because I drove that woman and her brat +away." + +"But she had no right to stay, Aunt Polly, after father died. Of course +she had no moral right before, but it was his house, and he could keep +her there if he chose. But after his death she surely had no right." + +"Perhaps not so surely as you think,--if she had not been a negro. Had +she been white, there might have been a difference. When I told her to +go, she said"-- + +"What did she say, Aunt Polly," demanded Olivia eagerly. + +It seemed for a moment as though Mrs. Ochiltree would speak no further: +but her once strong will, now weakened by her bodily infirmities, +yielded to the influence of her niece's imperious demand. + +"I'll tell you the whole story," she said, "and then you'll know what +I did for you and yours." Mrs. Ochiltree's eyes assumed an +introspective expression, and her story, as it advanced, became as +keenly dramatic as though memory had thrown aside the veil of +intervening years and carried her back directly to the events which she +now described. + +"Your father," she said, "while living with that woman, left home one +morning the picture of health. Five minutes later he tottered into the +house groaning with pain, stricken unto death by the hand of a just God, +as a punishment for his sins." + +Olivia gave a start of indignation, but restrained herself. + +"I was at once informed of what had happened, for I had means of knowing +all that took place in the household. Old Jane--she was younger +then--had come with you to my house; but her daughter remained, and +through her I learned all that went on. + +"I hastened immediately to the house, entered without knocking, and +approached Mr. Merkell's bedroom, which was on the lower floor and +opened into the hall. The door was ajar, and as I stood there for a +moment I heard your father's voice. + +"'Listen, Julia,' he was saying. 'I shall not live until the doctor +comes. But I wish you to know, dear Julia!'--he called her 'dear +Julia!'--'before I die, that I have kept my promise. You did me one +great service, Julia,--you saved me from Polly Ochiltree!' Yes, Olivia, +that is what he said! 'You have served me faithfully and well, and I owe +you a great deal, which I have tried to pay.' + +"'Oh, Mr. Merkell, dear Mr. Merkell,' cried the hypocritical hussy, +falling to her knees by his bedside, and shedding her crocodile tears, +'you owe me nothing. You have done more for me than I could ever repay. +You will not die and leave me,--no, no, it cannot be!' + +"'Yes, I am going to die,--I am dying now, Julia. But listen,--compose +yourself and listen, for this is a more important matter. Take the keys +from under my pillow, open the desk in the next room, look in the second +drawer on the right, and you will find an envelope containing three +papers: one of them is yours, one is the paper I promised to make, and +the third is a letter which I wrote last night. As soon as the breath +has left my body, deliver the envelope to the address indorsed upon it. +Do not delay one moment, or you may live to regret it. Say nothing until +you have delivered the package, and then be guided by the advice which +you receive,--it will come from a friend of mine who will not see you +wronged.' + +"I slipped away from the door without making my presence known and +entered, by a door from the hall, the room adjoining the one where Mr. +Merkell lay. A moment later there was a loud scream. Returning quickly +to the hall, I entered Mr. Merkell's room as though just arrived. + +"'How is Mr. Merkell?' I demanded, as I crossed the threshold. + +"'He is dead,' sobbed the woman, without lifting her head,--she had +fallen on her knees by the bedside. She had good cause to weep, for my +time had come. + +"'Get up,' I said. 'You have no right here. You pollute Mr. Merkell's +dead body by your touch. Leave the house immediately,--your day is +over!' + +"'I will not!' she cried, rising to her feet and facing me with +brazen-faced impudence. 'I have a right to stay,--he has given me the +right!' + +"'Ha, ha!' I laughed. 'Mr. Merkell is dead, and I am mistress here +henceforth. Go, and go at once,--do you hear?' + +"'I hear, but I shall not heed. I can prove my rights! I shall not +leave!' + +"'Very well,' I replied, 'we shall see. The law will decide.' + +"I left the room, but did not leave the house. On the contrary, I +concealed myself where I could see what took place in the room adjoining +the death-chamber. + +"She entered the room a moment later, with her child on one arm and the +keys in the other hand. Placing the child on the floor, she put the key +in the lock, and seemed surprised to find the desk already unfastened. +She opened the desk, picked up a roll of money and a ladies' watch, +which first caught her eye, and was reaching toward the drawer upon the +right, when I interrupted her:-- + +"'Well, thief, are you trying to strip the house before you leave it?' + +"She gave an involuntary cry, clasped one hand to her bosom and with the +other caught up her child, and stood like a wild beast at bay. + +"'I am not a thief,' she panted. 'The things are mine!' + +"'You lie,' I replied. 'You have no right to them,--no more right than +you have to remain in this house!' + +"'I have a right,' she persisted, 'and I can prove it!' + +"She turned toward the desk, seized the drawer, and drew it open. Never +shall I forget her look,--never shall I forget that moment; it was the +happiest of my life. The drawer was empty! + +"Pale as death she turned and faced me. + +"'The papers!' she shrieked, 'the papers! _You_ have stolen them!' + +"'Papers?' I laughed, 'what papers? Do you take me for a thief, like +yourself?' + +"'There were papers here,' she cried, 'only a minute since. They are +mine,--give them back to me!' + +"'Listen, woman,' I said sternly, 'you are lying--or dreaming. My +brother-in-law's papers are doubtless in his safe at his office, where +they ought to be. As for the rest,--you are a thief.' + +"'I am not,' she screamed; 'I am his wife. He married me, and the papers +that were in the desk will prove it.' + +"'Listen,' I exclaimed, when she had finished,--'listen carefully, and +take heed to what I say. You are a liar. You have no proofs,--there +never were any proofs of what you say, because it never happened,--it is +absurd upon the face of it. Not one person in Wellington would believe +it. Why should he marry you? He did not need to! You are merely +lying,--you are not even self-deceived. If he had really married you, +you would have made it known long ago. That you did not is proof that +your story is false.' + +"She was hit so hard that she trembled and sank into a chair. But I had +no mercy--she had saved your father from _me_--'dear Julia,' indeed! + +"'Stand up,' I ordered. 'Do not dare to sit down in my presence. I have +you on the hip, my lady, and will teach you your place.' + +"She struggled to her feet, and stood supporting herself with one hand +on the chair. I could have killed her, Olivia! She had been my father's +slave; if it had been before the war, I would have had her whipped to +death. + +"'You are a thief,' I said, 'and of that there _are_ proofs. I have +caught you in the act. The watch in your bosom is my own, the money +belongs to Mr. Merkell's estate, which belongs to my niece, his daughter +Olivia. I saw you steal them. My word is worth yours a hundred times +over, for I am a lady, and you are--what? And now hear me: if ever you +breathe to a living soul one word of this preposterous story, I will +charge you with the theft, and have you sent to the penitentiary. Your +child will be taken from you, and you shall never see it again. I will +give you now just ten minutes to take your brat and your rags out of +this house forever. But before you go, put down your plunder there upon +the desk!' + +"She laid down the money and the watch, and a few minutes later left the +house with the child in her arms. + +"And now, Olivia, you know how I saved your estate, and why you should +be grateful to me." + +Olivia had listened to her aunt's story with intense interest. Having +perceived the old woman's mood, and fearful lest any interruption might +break the flow of her narrative, she had with an effort kept back the +one question which had been hovering upon her lips, but which could now +no longer be withheld. + +"What became of the papers, Aunt Polly?" + +"Ha, ha!" chuckled Mrs. Ochiltree with a cunning look, "did I not tell +you that she found no papers?" + +A change had come over Mrs. Ochiltree's face, marking the reaction from +her burst of energy. Her eyes were half closed, and she was muttering +incoherently. Olivia made some slight effort to arouse her, but in vain, +and realizing the futility of any further attempt to extract information +from her aunt at this time, she called William and drove homeward. + + + + +XVI + + +ELLIS TAKES A TRICK + +Late one afternoon a handsome trap, drawn by two spirited bays, drove up +to Carteret's gate. Three places were taken by Mrs. Carteret, Clara, and +the major, leaving the fourth seat vacant. + +"I've asked Ellis to drive out with us," said the major, as he took the +lines from the colored man who had the trap in charge. "We'll go by the +office and pick him up." + +Clara frowned, but perceiving Mrs. Carteret's eye fixed upon her, +restrained any further expression of annoyance. + +The major's liking for Ellis had increased within the year. The young +man was not only a good journalist, but possessed sufficient cleverness +and tact to make him excellent company. The major was fond of argument, +but extremely tenacious of his own opinions. Ellis handled the foils of +discussion with just the requisite skill to draw out the major, +permitting himself to be vanquished, not too easily, but, as it were, +inevitably, by the major's incontrovertible arguments. + +Olivia had long suspected Ellis of feeling a more than friendly interest +in Clara. Herself partial to Tom, she had more than once thought it +hardly fair to Delamere, or even to Clara, who was young and +impressionable, to have another young man constantly about the house. +True, there had seemed to be no great danger, for Ellis had neither the +family nor the means to make him a suitable match for the major's +sister; nor had Clara made any secret of her dislike for Ellis, or of +her resentment for his supposed depreciation of Delamere. Mrs. Carteret +was inclined to a more just and reasonable view of Ellis's conduct in +this matter, but nevertheless did not deem it wise to undeceive Clara. +Dislike was a stout barrier, which remorse might have broken down. The +major, absorbed in schemes of empire and dreams of his child's future, +had not become cognizant of the affair. His wife, out of friendship for +Tom, had refrained from mentioning it; while the major, with a delicate +regard for Clara's feelings, had said nothing at home in regard to his +interview with her lover. + +At the Chronicle office Ellis took the front seat beside the major. +After leaving the city pavements, they bowled along merrily over an +excellent toll-road, built of oyster shells from the neighboring sound, +stopping at intervals to pay toll to the gate-keepers, most of whom were +white women with tallow complexions and snuff-stained lips,--the +traditional "poor-white." For part of the way the road was bordered with +a growth of scrub oak and pine, interspersed with stretches of cleared +land, white with the opening cotton or yellow with ripening corn. To the +right, along the distant river-bank, were visible here and there groups +of turpentine pines, though most of this growth had for some years been +exhausted. Twenty years before, Wellington had been the world's greatest +shipping port for naval stores. But as the turpentine industry had moved +southward, leaving a trail of devastated forests in its rear, the city +had fallen to a poor fifth or sixth place in this trade, relying now +almost entirely upon cotton for its export business. + +Occasionally our party passed a person, or a group of persons,--mostly +negroes approximating the pure type, for those of lighter color grew +noticeably scarcer as the town was left behind. Now and then one of +these would salute the party respectfully, while others glanced at them +indifferently or turned away. There would have seemed, to a stranger, a +lack, of spontaneous friendliness between the people of these two races, +as though each felt that it had no part or lot in the other's life. At +one point the carriage drew near a party of colored folks who were +laughing and jesting among themselves with great glee. Paying no +attention to the white people, they continued to laugh and shout +boisterously as the carriage swept by. + +Major Carteret's countenance wore an angry look. + +"The negroes around this town are becoming absolutely insufferable," he +averred. "They are sadly in need of a lesson in manners." + +Half an hour later they neared another group, who were also making +merry. As the carriage approached, they became mute and silent as the +grave until the major's party had passed. + +"The negroes are a sullen race," remarked the major thoughtfully. "They +will learn their lesson in a rude school, and perhaps much sooner than +they dream. By the way," he added, turning to the ladies, "what was the +arrangement with Tom? Was he to come out this evening?" + +"He came out early in the afternoon," replied Clara, "to go a-fishing. +He is to join us at the hotel." + +After an hour's drive they reached the hotel, in front of which +stretched the beach, white and inviting, along the shallow sound. Mrs. +Carteret and Clara found seats on the veranda. Having turned the trap +over to a hostler, the major joined a group of gentlemen, among whom was +General Belmont, and was soon deep in the discussion of the standing +problem of how best to keep the negroes down. + +Ellis remained by the ladies. Clara seemed restless and ill at ease. +Half an hour elapsed and Delamere had not appeared. + +"I wonder where Tom is," said Mrs. Carteret. + +"I guess he hasn't come in yet from fishing," said Clara. "I wish he +would come. It's lonesome here. Mr. Ellis, would you mind looking about +the hotel and seeing if there's any one here that we know?" + +For Ellis the party was already one too large. He had accepted this +invitation eagerly, hoping to make friends with Clara during the +evening. He had never been able to learn definitely the reason of her +coldness, but had dated it from his meeting with old Mrs. Ochiltree, +with which he felt it was obscurely connected. He had noticed Delamere's +scowling look, too, at their last meeting. Clara's injustice, whatever +its cause, he felt keenly. To Delamere's scowl he had paid little +attention,--he despised Tom so much that, but for his engagement to +Clara, he would have held his opinions in utter contempt. + +He had even wished that Clara might make some charge against him,--he +would have preferred that to her attitude of studied indifference, the +only redeeming feature about which was that it _was_ studied, showing +that she, at least, had him in mind. The next best thing, he reasoned, +to having a woman love you, is to have her dislike you violently,--the +main point is that you should be kept in mind, and made the subject of +strong emotions. He thought of the story of Hall Caine's, where the +woman, after years of persecution at the hands of an unwelcome suitor, +is on the point of yielding, out of sheer irresistible admiration for +the man's strength and persistency, when the lover, unaware of his +victory and despairing of success, seizes her in his arms and, springing +into the sea, finds a watery grave for both. The analogy of this case +with his own was, of course, not strong. He did not anticipate any +tragedy in their relations; but he was glad to be thought of upon almost +any terms. He would not have done a mean thing to make her think of him; +but if she did so because of a misconception, which he was given no +opportunity to clear up, while at the same time his conscience absolved +him from evil and gave him the compensating glow of martyrdom, it was at +least better than nothing. + +He would, of course, have preferred to be upon a different footing. It +had been a pleasure to have her speak to him during the drive,--they had +exchanged a few trivial remarks in the general conversation. It was a +greater pleasure to have her ask a favor of him,--a pleasure which, in +this instance, was partly offset when he interpreted her request to mean +that he was to look for Tom Delamere. He accepted the situation +gracefully, however, and left the ladies alone. + +Knowing Delamere's habits, he first went directly to the bar-room,--the +atmosphere would be congenial, even if he were not drinking. Delamere +was not there. Stepping next into the office, he asked the clerk if +young Mr. Delamere had been at the hotel. + +"Yes, sir," returned the man at the desk, "he was here at luncheon, and +then went out fishing in a boat with several other gentlemen. I think +they came back about three o'clock. I'll find out for you." + +He rang the bell, to which a colored boy responded. + +"Front," said the clerk, "see if young Mr. Delamere's upstairs. Look in +255 or 256, and let me know at once." + +The bell-boy returned in a moment. + +"Yas, suh," he reported, with a suppressed grin, "he's in 256, suh. De +do' was open, an' I seed 'im from de hall, suh." + +"I wish you'd go up and tell him," said Ellis, "that--What are you +grinning about?" he asked suddenly, noticing the waiter's expression. + +"Nothin', suh, nothin' at all, suh," responded the negro, lapsing into +the stolidity of a wooden Indian. "What shall I tell Mr. Delamere, suh?" + +"Tell him," resumed Ellis, still watching the boy suspiciously,--"no, I'll +tell him myself." + +He ascended the broad stair to the second floor. There was an upper +balcony and a parlor, with a piano for the musically inclined. To reach +these one had to pass along the hall upon which the room mentioned by +the bell-boy opened. Ellis was quite familiar with the hotel. He could +imagine circumstances under which he would not care to speak to +Delamere; he would merely pass through the hall and glance into the room +casually, as any one else might do, and see what the darky downstairs +might have meant by his impudence. + +It required but a moment to reach the room. The door was not wide open, +but far enough ajar for him to see what was going on within. + +Two young men, members of the fast set at the Clarendon Club, were +playing cards at a small table, near which stood another, decorated with +an array of empty bottles and glasses. Sprawling on a lounge, with +flushed face and disheveled hair, his collar unfastened, his vest +buttoned awry, lay Tom Delamere, breathing stertorously, in what seemed +a drunken sleep. Lest there should be any doubt of the cause of his +condition, the fingers of his right hand had remained clasped +mechanically around the neck of a bottle which lay across his bosom. + +Ellis turned away in disgust, and went slowly back to the ladies. + +"There seems to be no one here yet," he reported. "We came a little +early for the evening crowd. The clerk says Tom Delamere was here to +luncheon, but he hasn't seen him for several hours." + +"He's not a very gallant cavalier," said Mrs. Carteret severely. "He +ought to have been waiting for us." + +Clara was clearly disappointed, and made no effort to conceal her +displeasure, leaving Ellis in doubt as to whether or not he were its +object. Perhaps she suspected him of not having made a very thorough +search. Her next remark might have borne such a construction. + +"Sister Olivia," she said pettishly, "let's go up to the parlor. I can +play the piano anyway, if there's no one to talk to." + +"I find it very comfortable here, Clara," replied her sister placidly. +"Mr. Ellis will go with you. You'll probably find some one in the +parlor, or they'll come when you begin to play." + +Clara's expression was not cordial, but she rose as if to go. Ellis was +in a quandary. If she went through the hall, the chances were at least +even that she would see Delamere. He did not care a rap for +Delamere,--if he chose to make a public exhibition of himself, it was +his own affair; but to see him would surely spoil Miss Pemberton's +evening, and, in her frame of mind, might lead to the suspicion that +Ellis had prearranged the exposure. Even if she should not harbor this +unjust thought, she would not love the witness of her discomfiture. We +had rather not meet the persons who have seen, even though they never +mention, the skeletons in our closets. Delamere had disposed of himself +for the evening. Ellis would have a fairer field with Delamere out of +sight and unaccounted for, than with Delamere in evidence in his present +condition. + +"Wouldn't you rather take a stroll on the beach, Miss Clara?" he asked, +in the hope of creating a diversion. + +"No, I'm going to the parlor. _You_ needn't come, Mr. Ellis, if you'd +rather go down to the beach. I can quite as well go alone." + +"I'd rather go with you," he said meekly. + +They were moving toward the door opening into the hall, from which the +broad staircase ascended. Ellis, whose thoughts did not always respond +quickly to a sudden emergency, was puzzling his brain as to how he +should save her from any risk of seeing Delamere. Through the side door +leading from the hall into the office, he saw the bell-boy to whom he +had spoken seated on the bench provided for the servants. + +"Won't you wait for me just a moment, Miss Clara, while I step into the +office? I'll be with you in an instant." + +Clara hesitated. + +"Oh, certainly," she replied nonchalantly. + +Ellis went direct to the bell-boy. "Sit right where you are," he said, +"and don't move a hair. What is the lady in the hall doing?" + +"She's got her back tu'ned this way, suh. I 'spec' she's lookin' at the +picture on the opposite wall, suh." + +"All right," whispered Ellis, pressing a coin into the servant's hand. +"I'm going up to the parlor with the lady. You go up ahead of us, and +keep in front of us along the hall. Don't dare to look back. I shall +keep on talking to the lady, so that you can tell by my voice where we +are. When you get to room 256, go in and shut the door behind you: +pretend that you were called,--ask the gentlemen what they want,--tell +any kind of a lie you like,--but keep the door shut until you're sure +we've got by. Do you hear?" + +"Yes, suh," replied the negro intelligently. + +The plan worked without a hitch. Ellis talked steadily, about the hotel, +the furnishings, all sorts of irrelevant subjects, to which Miss +Pemberton paid little attention. She was angry with Delamere, and took +no pains to conceal her feelings. The bell-boy entered room 256 just +before they reached the door. Ellis had heard loud talking as they +approached, and as they were passing there was a crash of broken glass, +as though some object had been thrown at the door. + +"What is the matter there?" exclaimed Clara, quickening her footsteps +and instinctively drawing closer to Ellis. + +"Some one dropped a glass, I presume," replied Ellis calmly. + +Miss Pemberton glanced at him suspiciously. She was in a decidedly +perverse mood. Seating herself at the piano, she played brilliantly for +a quarter of an hour. Quite a number of couples strolled up to the +parlor, but Delamere was not among them. + +"Oh dear!" exclaimed Miss Pemberton, as she let her fingers fall upon +the keys with a discordant crash, after the last note, "I don't see why +we came out here to-night. Let's go back downstairs." + +Ellis felt despondent. He had done his utmost to serve and to please +Miss Pemberton, but was not likely, he foresaw, to derive much benefit +from his opportunity. Delamere was evidently as much or more in her +thoughts by reason of his absence than if he had been present. If the +door should have been opened, and she should see him from the hall upon +their return, Ellis could not help it. He took the side next to the +door, however, meaning to hurry past the room so that she might not +recognize Delamere. + +Fortunately the door was closed and all quiet within the room. On the +stairway they met the bellboy, rubbing his head with one hand and +holding a bottle of seltzer upon a tray in the other. The boy was well +enough trained to give no sign of recognition, though Ellis guessed the +destination of the bottle. + +Ellis hardly knew whether to feel pleased or disappointed at the success +of his manoeuvres. He had spared Miss Pemberton some mortification, but +he had saved Tom Delamere from merited exposure. Clara ought to know the +truth, for her own sake. + +On the beach, a few rods away, fires were burning, around which several +merry groups had gathered. The smoke went mostly to one side, but a +slight whiff came now and then to where Mrs. Carteret sat awaiting +them. + +"They're roasting oysters," said Mrs. Carteret. "I wish you'd bring me +some, Mr. Ellis." + +Ellis strolled down to the beach. A large iron plate, with a turned-up +rim like a great baking-pan, supported by legs which held it off the +ground, was set over a fire built upon the sand. This primitive oven was +heaped with small oysters in the shell, taken from the neighboring +sound, and hauled up to the hotel by a negro whose pony cart stood near +by. A wet coffee-sack of burlaps was spread over the oysters, which, +when steamed sufficiently, were opened by a colored man and served +gratis to all who cared for them. + +Ellis secured a couple of plates of oysters, which he brought to Mrs. +Carteret and Clara; they were small, but finely flavored. + +Meanwhile Delamere, who possessed a remarkable faculty of recuperation +from the effects of drink, had waked from his sleep, and remembering his +engagement, had exerted himself to overcome the ravages of the +afternoon's debauch. A dash of cold water braced him up somewhat. A +bottle of seltzer and a big cup of strong coffee still further +strengthened his nerves. + +When Ellis returned to the veranda, after having taken away the plates, +Delamere had joined the ladies and was explaining the cause of his +absence. + +He had been overcome by the heat, he said, while out fishing, and had +been lying down ever since. Perhaps he ought to have sent for a doctor, +but the fellows had looked after him. He hadn't sent word to his friends +because he hadn't wished to spoil their evening. + +"That was very considerate of you, Tom," said Mrs. Carteret dryly, "but +you ought to have let us know. We have been worrying about you very +much. Clara has found the evening dreadfully dull." + +"Indeed, no, sister Olivia," said the young lady cheerfully, "I've been +having a lovely time. Mr. Ellis and I have been up in the parlor; I +played the piano; and we've been eating oysters and having a most +delightful time. Won't you take me down there to the beach, Mr. Ellis? I +want to see the fires. Come on." + +"Can't I go?" asked Tom jealously. + +"No, indeed, you mustn't stir a foot! You must not overtax yourself so +soon; it might do you serious injury. Stay here with sister Olivia." + +She took Ellis's arm with exaggerated cordiality. Delamere glared after +them angrily. Ellis did not stop to question her motives, but took the +goods the gods provided. With no very great apparent effort, Miss +Pemberton became quite friendly, and they strolled along the beach, in +sight of the hotel, for nearly half an hour. As they were coming up she +asked him abruptly,-- + +"Mr. Ellis, did you know Tom was in the hotel?" + +Ellis was looking across the sound, at the lights of a distant steamer +which was making her way toward the harbor. + +"I wonder," he said musingly, as though he had not heard her question, +"if that is the Ocean Belle?" + +"And was he really sick?" she demanded. + +"She's later than usual this trip," continued Ellis, pursuing his +thought. "She was due about five o'clock." + +Miss Pemberton, under cover of the darkness, smiled a fine smile, which +foreboded ill for some one. When they joined the party on the piazza, +the major had come up and was saying that it was time to go. He had +been engaged in conversation, for most of the evening, with General +Belmont and several other gentlemen. + +"Here comes the general now. Let me see. There are five of us. The +general has offered me a seat in his buggy, and Tom can go with +you-all." + +The general came up and spoke to the ladies. Tom murmured his thanks; it +would enable him to make up a part of the delightful evening he had +missed. + +When Mrs. Carteret had taken the rear seat, Clara promptly took the +place beside her. Ellis and Delamere sat in front. When Delamere, who +had offered to drive, took the reins, Ellis saw that his hands were +shaking. + +"Give me the lines," he whispered. "Your nerves are unsteady and the +road is not well lighted." + +Delamere prudently yielded the reins. He did not like Ellis's tone, +which seemed sneering rather than expressive of sympathy with one who +had been suffering. He wondered if the beggar knew anything about his +illness. Clara had been acting strangely. It would have been just like +Ellis to have slandered him. The upstart had no business with Clara +anyway. He would cheerfully have strangled Ellis, if he could have done +so with safety to himself and no chance of discovery. + +The drive homeward through the night was almost a silent journey. Mrs. +Carteret was anxious about her baby. Clara did not speak, except now and +then to Ellis with reference to some object in or near the road. +Occasionally they passed a vehicle in the darkness, sometimes barely +avoiding a collision. Far to the north the sky was lit up with the glow +of a forest fire. The breeze from the Sound was deliciously cool. Soon +the last toll-gate was passed and the lights of the town appeared. + +Ellis threw the lines to William, who was waiting, and hastened to help +the ladies out. + +"Good-night, Mr. Ellis," said Clara sweetly, as she gave Ellis her hand. +"Thank you for a very pleasant evening. Come up and see us soon." + +She ran into the house without a word to Tom. + + + + +XVII + + +THE SOCIAL ASPIRATIONS OF CAPTAIN McBANE + +It was only eleven o'clock, and Delamere, not being at all sleepy, and +feeling somewhat out of sorts as the combined results of his afternoon's +debauch and the snubbing he had received at Clara's hands, directed the +major's coachman, who had taken charge of the trap upon its arrival, to +drive him to the St. James Hotel before returning the horses to the +stable. First, however, the coachman left Ellis at his boarding-house, +which was near by. The two young men parted with as scant courtesy as +was possible without an open rupture. + +Delamere hoped to find at the hotel some form of distraction to fill in +an hour or two before going home. Ill fortune favored him by placing in +his way the burly form of Captain George McBane, who was sitting in an +armchair alone, smoking a midnight cigar, under the hotel balcony. Upon +Delamere's making known his desire for amusement, the captain proposed a +small game of poker in his own room. + +McBane had been waiting for some such convenient opportunity. We have +already seen that the captain was desirous of social recognition, which +he had not yet obtained beyond the superficial acquaintance acquired by +association with men about town. He had determined to assault society in +its citadel by seeking membership in the Clarendon Club, of which most +gentlemen of the best families of the city were members. + +The Clarendon Club was a historic institution, and its membership a +social cult, the temple of which was located just off the main street of +the city, in a dignified old colonial mansion which had housed it for +the nearly one hundred years during which it had maintained its +existence unbroken. There had grown up around it many traditions and +special usages. Membership in the Clarendon was the _sine qua non_ of +high social standing, and was conditional upon two of three +things,--birth, wealth, and breeding. Breeding was the prime essential, +but, with rare exceptions, must be backed by either birth or money. + +Having decided, therefore, to seek admission into this social arcanum, +the captain, who had either not quite appreciated the standard of the +Clarendon's membership, or had failed to see that he fell beneath it, +looked about for an intermediary through whom to approach the object of +his desire. He had already thought of Tom Delamere in this connection, +having with him such an acquaintance as one forms around a hotel, and +having long ago discovered that Delamere was a young man of +superficially amiable disposition, vicious instincts, lax principles, +and a weak will, and, which was quite as much to the purpose, a member +of the Clarendon Club. Possessing mental characteristics almost entirely +opposite, Delamere and the captain had certain tastes in common, and had +smoked, drunk, and played cards together more than once. + +Still more to his purpose, McBane had detected Delamere trying to cheat +him at cards. He had said nothing about this discovery, but had merely +noted it as something which at some future time might prove useful. The +captain had not suffered by Delamere's deviation from the straight line +of honor, for while Tom was as clever with the cards as might be +expected of a young man who had devoted most of his leisure for several +years to handling them, McBane was past master in their manipulation. +During a stormy career he had touched more or less pitch, and had +escaped few sorts of defilement. + +The appearance of Delamere at a late hour, unaccompanied, and wearing +upon his countenance an expression in which the captain read aright the +craving for mental and physical excitement, gave him the opportunity for +which he had been looking. McBane was not the man to lose an +opportunity, nor did Delamere require a second invitation. Neither was +it necessary, during the progress of the game, for the captain to press +upon his guest the contents of the decanter which stood upon the table +within convenient reach. + +The captain permitted Delamere to win from him several small amounts, +after which he gradually increased the stakes and turned the tables. + +Delamere, with every instinct of a gamester, was no more a match for +McBane in self-control than in skill. When the young man had lost all +his money, the captain expressed his entire willingness to accept notes +of hand, for which he happened to have convenient blanks in his +apartment. + +When Delamere, flushed with excitement and wine, rose from the gaming +table at two o'clock, he was vaguely conscious that he owed McBane a +considerable sum, but could not have stated how much. His opponent, who +was entirely cool and collected, ran his eye carelessly over the bits of +paper to which Delamere had attached his signature. "Just one thousand +dollars even," he remarked. + +The announcement of this total had as sobering an effect upon Delamere +as though he had been suddenly deluged with a shower of cold water. For +a moment he caught his breath. He had not a dollar in the world with +which to pay this sum. His only source of income was an allowance from +his grandfather, the monthly installment of which, drawn that very day, +he had just lost to McBane, before starting in upon the notes of hand. + +"I'll give you your revenge another time," said McBane, as they rose. +"Luck is against you to-night, and I'm unwilling to take advantage of a +clever young fellow like you. Meantime," he added, tossing the notes of +hand carelessly on a bureau, "don't worry about these bits of paper. +Such small matters shouldn't cut any figure between friends; but if you +are around the hotel to-morrow, I should like to speak to you upon +another subject." + +"Very well, captain," returned Tom somewhat ungraciously. + +Delamere had been completely beaten with his own weapons. He had tried +desperately to cheat McBane. He knew perfectly well that McBane had +discovered his efforts and had cheated him in turn, for the captain's +play had clearly been gauged to meet his own. The biter had been bit, +and could not complain of the outcome. + +The following afternoon McBane met Delamere at the hotel, and bluntly +requested the latter to propose him for membership in the Clarendon +Club. + +Delamere was annoyed at this request. His aristocratic gorge rose at the +presumption of this son of an overseer and ex-driver of convicts. +McBane was good enough to win money from, or even to lose money to, but +not good enough to be recognized as a social equal. He would +instinctively have blackballed McBane had he been proposed by some one +else; with what grace could he put himself forward as the sponsor for +this impossible social aspirant? Moreover, it was clearly a vulgar, +cold-blooded attempt on McBane's part to use his power over him for a +personal advantage. + +"Well, now, Captain McBane," returned Delamere diplomatically, "I've +never put any one up yet, and it's not regarded as good form for so +young a member as myself to propose candidates. I'd much rather you'd +ask some older man." + +"Oh, well," replied McBane, "just as you say, only I thought you had cut +your eye teeth." + +Delamere was not pleased with McBane's tone. His remark was not +acquiescent, though couched in terms of assent. There was a sneering +savagery about it, too, that left Delamere uneasy. He was, in a measure, +in McBane's power. He could not pay the thousand dollars, unless it fell +from heaven, or he could win it from some one else. He would not dare go +to his grandfather for help. Mr. Delamere did not even know that his +grandson gambled. He might not have objected, perhaps, to a gentleman's +game, with moderate stakes, but he would certainly, Tom knew very well, +have looked upon a thousand dollars as a preposterous sum to be lost at +cards by a man who had nothing with which to pay it. It was part of Mr. +Delamere's creed that a gentleman should not make debts that he was not +reasonably able to pay. + +There was still another difficulty. If he had lost the money to a +gentleman, and it had been his first serious departure from Mr. +Delamere's perfectly well understood standard of honor, Tom might have +risked a confession and thrown himself on his grandfather's mercy; but +he owed other sums here and there, which, to his just now much disturbed +imagination, loomed up in alarming number and amount. He had recently +observed signs of coldness, too, on the part of certain members of the +club. Moreover, like most men with one commanding vice, he was addicted +to several subsidiary forms of iniquity, which in case of a scandal were +more than likely to come to light. He was clearly and most disagreeably +caught in the net of his own hypocrisy. His grandfather believed him a +model of integrity, a pattern of honor; he could not afford to have his +grandfather undeceived. + +He thought of old Mrs. Ochiltree. If she were a liberal soul, she could +give him a thousand dollars now, when he needed it, instead of making +him wait until she died, which might not be for ten years or more, for a +legacy which was steadily growing less and might be entirely exhausted +if she lived long enough,--some old people were very tenacious of life! +She was a careless old woman, too, he reflected, and very foolishly kept +her money in the house. Latterly she had been growing weak and childish. +Some day she might be robbed, and then his prospective inheritance from +that source would vanish into thin air! + +With regard to this debt to McBane, if he could not pay it, he could at +least gain a long respite by proposing the captain at the club. True, he +would undoubtedly be blackballed, but before this inevitable event his +name must remain posted for several weeks, during which interval McBane +would be conciliatory. On the other hand, to propose McBane would arouse +suspicion of his own motives; it might reach his grandfather's ears, and +lead to a demand for an explanation, which it would be difficult to +make. Clearly, the better plan would be to temporize with McBane, with +the hope that something might intervene to remove this cursed +obligation. + +"Suppose, captain," he said affably, "we leave the matter open for a few +days. This is a thing that can't be rushed. I'll feel the pulse of my +friends and yours, and when we get the lay of the land, the affair can +be accomplished much more easily." + +"Well, that's better," returned McBane, somewhat mollified,--"if you'll +do that." + +"To be sure I will," replied Tom easily, too much relieved to resent, if +not too preoccupied to perceive, the implied doubt of his veracity. + +McBane ordered and paid for more drinks, and they parted on amicable +terms. + +"We'll let these notes stand for the time being, Tom," said McBane, +with significant emphasis, when they separated. + +Delamere winced at the familiarity. He had reached that degree of moral +deterioration where, while principles were of little moment, the +externals of social intercourse possessed an exaggerated importance. +McBane had never before been so personal. + +He had addressed the young aristocrat first as "Mr. Delamere," then, as +their acquaintance advanced, as "Delamere." He had now reached the +abbreviated Christian name stage of familiarity. There was no lower +depth to which Tom could sink, unless McBane should invent a nickname by +which to address him. He did not like McBane's manner,--it was +characterized by a veiled insolence which was exceedingly offensive. He +would go over to the club and try his luck with some honest +player,--perhaps something might turn up to relieve him from his +embarrassment. + +He put his hand in his pocket mechanically,--and found it empty! In the +present state of his credit, he could hardly play without money. + +A thought struck him. Leaving the hotel, he hastened home, where he +found Sandy dusting his famous suit of clothes on the back piazza. Mr. +Delamere was not at home, having departed for Belleview about two +o'clock, leaving Sandy to follow him in the morning. + +"Hello, Sandy," exclaimed Tom, with an assumed jocularity which he was +very far from feeling, "what are you doing with those gorgeous +garments?" + +"I'm a-dustin' of 'em, Mistuh Tom, dat's w'at I'm a-doin'. Dere's +somethin' wrong 'bout dese clo's er mine--I don' never seem ter be able +ter keep 'em clean no mo'. Ef I b'lieved in dem ole-timey sayin's, I'd +'low dere wuz a witch come here eve'y night an' tuk 'em out an' wo' 'em, +er tuk me out an' rid me in 'em. Dere wuz somethin' wrong 'bout dat +cakewalk business, too, dat I ain' never unde'stood an' don' know how +ter 'count fer, 'less dere wuz some kin' er dev'lishness goin' on dat +don' show on de su'face." + +"Sandy," asked Tom irrelevantly, "have you any money in the house?" + +"Yas, suh, I got de money Mars John give me ter git dem things ter take +out ter Belleview in de mawnin." + +"I mean money of your own." + +"I got a qua'ter ter buy terbacker wid," returned Sandy cautiously. + +"Is that all? Haven't you some saved up?" + +"Well, yas, Mistuh Tom," returned Sandy, with evident reluctance, "dere's +a few dollahs put away in my bureau drawer fer a rainy day,--not +much, suh." + +"I'm a little short this afternoon, Sandy, and need some money right +away. Grandfather isn't here, so I can't get any from him. Let me take +what you have for a day or two, Sandy, and I'll return it with good +interest." + +"Now, Mistuh Tom," said Sandy seriously, "I don' min' lettin' you take +my money, but I hopes you ain' gwine ter use it fer none er dem +rakehelly gwines-on er yo'n,--gamblin' an' bettin' an' so fo'th. Yo' +grandaddy 'll fin' out 'bout you yit, ef you don' min' yo' P's an' Q's. +I does my bes' ter keep yo' misdoin's f'm 'im, an' sense I b'en tu'ned +out er de chu'ch--thoo no fault er my own, God knows!--I've tol' lies +'nuff 'bout you ter sink a ship. But it ain't right, Mistuh Tom, it +ain't right! an' I only does it fer de sake er de fam'ly honuh, dat Mars +John sets so much sto' by, an' ter save his feelin's; fer de doctuh says +he mus'n' git ixcited 'bout nothin', er it mought bring on another +stroke." + +"That's right, Sandy," replied Tom approvingly; "but the family honor is +as safe in my hands as in grandfather's own, and I'm going to use the +money for an excellent purpose, in fact to relieve a case of genuine +distress; and I'll hand it back to you in a day or two,--perhaps +to-morrow. Fetch me the money, Sandy,--that's a good darky!" + +"All right, Mistuh Tom, you shill have de money; but I wants ter tell +you, suh, dat in all de yeahs I has wo'ked fer yo' gran'daddy, he has +never called me a 'darky' ter my face, suh. Co'se I knows dere's w'ite +folks an' black folks,--but dere's manners, suh, dere's manners, an' +gent'emen oughter be de ones ter use 'em, suh, ef dey ain't ter be +fergot enti'ely!" + +"There, there, Sandy," returned Tom in a conciliatory tone, "I beg your +pardon! I've been associating with some Northern white folks at the +hotel, and picked up the word from them. You're a high-toned colored +gentleman, Sandy,--the finest one on the footstool." + +Still muttering to himself, Sandy retired to his own room, which was in +the house, so that he might be always near his master. He soon returned +with a time-stained leather pocket-book and a coarse-knit cotton sock, +from which two receptacles he painfully extracted a number of bills and +coins. + +"You count dat, Mistuh Tom, so I'll know how much I'm lettin' you have." + +"This isn't worth anything," said Tom, pushing aside one roll of bills. +"It's Confederate money." + +"So it is, suh. It ain't wuth nothin' now; but it has be'n money, an' +who kin tell but what it mought be money agin? De rest er dem bills is +greenbacks,--dey'll pass all right, I reckon." + +The good money amounted to about fifty dollars, which Delamere thrust +eagerly into his pocket. + +"You won't say anything to grandfather about this, will you, Sandy," he +said, as he turned away. + +"No, suh, co'se I won't! Does I ever tell 'im 'bout yo' gwines-on? Ef I +did," he added to himself, as the young man disappeared down the street, +"I wouldn' have time ter do nothin' e'se ha'dly. I don' know whether +I'll ever see dat money agin er no, do' I 'magine de ole gent'eman +wouldn' lemme lose it ef he knowed. But I ain' gwine ter tell him, +whether I git my money back er no, fer he is jes' so wrop' up in dat boy +dat I b'lieve it'd jes' break his hea't ter fin' out how he's be'n +gwine on. Doctuh Price has tol' me not ter let de ole gent'eman git +ixcited, er e'se dere's no tellin' w'at mought happen. He's be'n good +ter me, he has, an' I'm gwine ter take keer er him,--dat's w'at I is, +ez long ez I has de chance." + + * * * * * + +Delamere went directly to the club, and soon lounged into the card-room, +where several of the members were engaged in play. He sauntered here and +there, too much absorbed in his own thoughts to notice that the +greetings he received were less cordial than those usually exchanged +between the members of a small and select social club. Finally, when +Augustus, commonly and more appropriately called "Gus," Davidson came +into the room, Tom stepped toward him. + +"Will you take a hand in a game, Gus?" + +"Don't care if I do," said the other. "Let's sit over here." + +Davidson led the way to a table near the fireplace, near which stood a +tall screen, which at times occupied various places in the room. +Davidson took the seat opposite the fireplace, leaving Delamere with his +back to the screen. + +Delamere staked half of Sandy's money, and lost. He staked the rest, and +determined to win, because he could not afford to lose. He had just +reached out his hand to gather in the stakes, when he was charged with +cheating at cards, of which two members, who had quietly entered the +room and posted themselves behind the screen, had secured specific +proof. A meeting of the membership committee was hastily summoned, it +being an hour at which most of them might be found at the club. To avoid +a scandal, and to save the feelings of a prominent family, Delamere was +given an opportunity to resign quietly from the club, on condition that +he paid all his gambling debts within three days, and took an oath never +to play cards again for money. This latter condition was made at the +suggestion of an elderly member, who apparently believed that a man who +would cheat at cards would stick at perjury. + +Delamere acquiesced very promptly. The taking of the oath was easy. The +payment of some fifteen hundred dollars of debts was a different matter. +He went away from the club thoughtfully, and it may be said, in full +justice to a past which was far from immaculate, that in his present +thoughts he touched a depth of scoundrelism far beyond anything of which +he had as yet deemed himself capable. When a man of good position, of +whom much is expected, takes to evil courses, his progress is apt to +resemble that of a well-bred woman who has started on the downward +path,--the pace is all the swifter because of the distance which must be +traversed to reach the bottom. Delamere had made rapid headway; having +hitherto played with sin, his servant had now become his master, and +held him in an iron grip. + + + + +XVIII + + +SANDY SEES HIS OWN HA'NT + +Having finished cleaning his clothes, Sandy went out to the kitchen for +supper, after which he found himself with nothing to do. Mr. Delamere's +absence relieved him from attendance at the house during the evening. He +might have smoked his pipe tranquilly in the kitchen until bedtime, had +not the cook intimated, rather pointedly, that she expected other +company. To a man of Sandy's tact a word was sufficient, and he resigned +himself to seeking companionship elsewhere. + +Under normal circumstances, Sandy would have attended prayer-meeting on +this particular evening of the week; but being still in contumacy, and +cherishing what he considered the just resentment of a man falsely +accused, he stifled the inclination which by long habit led him toward +the church, and set out for the house of a friend with whom it occurred +to him that he might spend the evening pleasantly. Unfortunately, his +friend proved to be not at home, so Sandy turned his footsteps toward +the lower part of the town, where the streets were well lighted, and on +pleasant evenings quite animated. On the way he met Josh Green, whom he +had known for many years, though their paths did not often cross. In his +loneliness Sandy accepted an invitation to go with Josh and have a +drink,--a single drink. When Sandy was going home about eleven +o'clock, three sheets in the wind, such was the potent effect of the +single drink and those which had followed it, he was scared almost into +soberness by a remarkable apparition. As it seemed to Sandy, he saw +himself hurrying along in front of himself toward the house. Possibly +the muddled condition of Sandy's intellect had so affected his judgment +as to vitiate any conclusion he might draw, but Sandy was quite sober +enough to perceive that the figure ahead of him wore his best clothes +and looked exactly like him, but seemed to be in something more of a +hurry, a discrepancy which Sandy at once corrected by quickening his own +pace so as to maintain as nearly as possible an equal distance between +himself and his double. The situation was certainly an incomprehensible +one, and savored of the supernatural. + +"Ef dat's me gwine 'long in front," mused Sandy, in vinous perplexity, +"den who is dis behin' here? Dere ain' but one er me, an' my ha'nt wouldn' +leave my body 'tel I wuz dead. Ef dat's me in front, den I mus' be my +own ha'nt; an' whichever one of us is de ha'nt, de yuther must be dead +an' don' know it. I don' know what ter make er no sech gwines-on, I +don't. Maybe it ain' me after all, but it certainly do look lack me." + +When the apparition disappeared in the house by the side door, Sandy +stood in the yard for several minutes, under the shade of an elm-tree, +before he could make up his mind to enter the house. He took courage, +however, upon the reflection that perhaps, after all, it was only the +bad liquor he had drunk. Bad liquor often made people see double. + +He entered the house. It was dark, except for a light in Tom Delamere's +room. Sandy tapped softly at the door. + +"Who's there?" came Delamere's voice, in a somewhat startled tone, after +a momentary silence. + +"It's me, suh; Sandy." + +They both spoke softly. It was the rule of the house when Mr. Delamere +had retired, and though he was not at home, habit held its wonted sway. + +"Just a moment, Sandy." + +Sandy waited patiently in the hall until the door was opened. If the +room showed any signs of haste or disorder, Sandy was too full of his +own thoughts--and other things--to notice them. + +"What do you want, Sandy," asked Tom. + +"Mistuh Tom," asked Sandy solemnly, "ef I wuz in yo' place, an' you wuz +in my place, an' we wuz bofe in de same place, whar would I be?" + +Tom looked at Sandy keenly, with a touch of apprehension. Did Sandy mean +anything in particular by this enigmatical inquiry, and if so, what? But +Sandy's face clearly indicated a state of mind in which consecutive +thought was improbable; and after a brief glance Delamere breathed more +freely. + +"I give it up, Sandy," he responded lightly. "That's too deep for me." + +"'Scuse me, Mistuh Tom, but is you heared er seed anybody er anything +come in de house fer de las' ten minutes?" + +"Why, no, Sandy, I haven't heard any one. I came from the club an hour +ago. I had forgotten my key, and Sally got up and let me in, and then +went back to bed. I've been sitting here reading ever since. I should +have heard any one who came in." + +"Mistuh Tom," inquired Sandy anxiously, "would you 'low dat I'd be'n +drinkin' too much?" + +"No, Sandy, I should say you were sober enough, though of course you +may have had a few drinks. Perhaps you'd like another? I've got +something good here." + +"No, suh, Mistuh Tom, no, suh! No mo' liquor fer me, suh, never! When +liquor kin make a man see his own ha'nt, it's 'bout time fer dat man +ter quit drinkin', it sho' is! Good-night, Mistuh Tom." + +As Sandy turned to go, Delamere was struck by a sudden and daring +thought. The creature of impulse, he acted upon it immediately. + +"By the way, Sandy," he exclaimed carelessly, "I can pay you back that +money you were good enough to lend me this afternoon. I think I'll +sleep better if I have the debt off my mind, and I shouldn't wonder if +you would. You don't mind having it in gold, do you?" + +"No, indeed, suh," replied Sandy. "I ain' seen no gol' fer so long dat +de sight er it'd be good fer my eyes." + +Tom counted out ten five-dollar gold pieces upon the table at his elbow. + +"And here's another, Sandy," he said, adding an eleventh, "as interest +for the use of it." + +"Thank y', Mistuh Tom. I didn't spec' no in-trus', but I don' never +'fuse gol' w'en I kin git it." + +"And here," added Delamere, reaching carelessly into a bureau drawer, +"is a little old silk purse that I've had since I was a boy. I'll put +the gold in it, Sandy; it will hold it very nicely." + +"Thank y', Mistuh Tom. You're a gentleman, suh, an' wo'thy er de fam'ly +name. Good-night, suh, an' I hope yo' dreams 'll be pleasanter 'n' mine. +Ef it wa'n't fer dis gol' kinder takin' my min' off'n dat ha'nt, I don' +s'pose I'd be able to do much sleepin' ter-night. Good-night, suh." + +"Good-night, Sandy." + +Whether or not Delamere slept soundly, or was troubled by dreams, +pleasant or unpleasant, it is nevertheless true that he locked his door, +and sat up an hour later, looking through the drawers of his bureau, and +burning several articles in the little iron stove which constituted part +of the bedroom furniture. + +It is also true that he rose very early, before the household was +stirring. The cook slept in a room off the kitchen, which was in an +outhouse in the back yard. She was just stretching herself, preparatory +to getting up, when Tom came to her window and said that he was going +off fishing, to be gone all day, and that he would not wait for +breakfast. + + + + +XIX + + +A MIDNIGHT WALK + +Ellis left the office of the Morning Chronicle about eleven o'clock the +same evening and set out to walk home. His boarding-house was only a +short distance beyond old Mr. Delamere's residence, and while he might +have saved time and labor by a slightly shorter route, he generally +selected this one because it led also by Major Carteret's house. +Sometimes there would be a ray of light from Clara's room, which was on +one of the front corners; and at any rate he would have the pleasure of +gazing at the outside of the casket that enshrined the jewel of his +heart. It was true that this purely sentimental pleasure was sometimes +dashed with bitterness at the thought of his rival; but one in love must +take the bitter with the sweet, and who would say that a spice of +jealousy does not add a certain zest to love? On this particular +evening, however, he was in a hopeful mood. At the Clarendon Club, where +he had gone, a couple of hours before, to verify a certain news item for +the morning paper, he had heard a story about Tom Delamere which, he +imagined, would spike that gentleman's guns for all time, so far as Miss +Pemberton was concerned. So grave an affair as cheating at cards could +never be kept secret,--it was certain to reach her ears; and Ellis was +morally certain that Clara would never marry a man who had been proved +dishonorable. In all probability there would be no great sensation +about the matter. Delamere was too well connected; too many prominent +people would be involved--even Clara, and the editor himself, of whom +Delamere was a distant cousin. The reputation of the club was also to be +considered. Ellis was not the man to feel a malicious delight in the +misfortunes of another, nor was he a pessimist who welcomed scandal and +disgrace with open arms, as confirming a gloomy theory of human life. +But, with the best intentions in the world, it was no more than human +nature that he should feel a certain elation in the thought that his +rival had been practically disposed of, and the field left clear; +especially since this good situation had been brought about merely by +the unmasking of a hypocrite, who had held him at an unfair disadvantage +in the race for Clara's favor. + +The night was quiet, except for the faint sound of distant music now and +then, or the mellow laughter of some group of revelers. Ellis met but +few pedestrians, but as he neared old Mr. Delamere's, he saw two men +walking in the same direction as his own, on the opposite side of the +street. He had observed that they kept at about an equal distance apart, +and that the second, from the stealthy manner in which he was making his +way, was anxious to keep the first in sight, without disclosing his own +presence. This aroused Ellis's curiosity, which was satisfied in some +degree when the man in advance stopped beneath a lamp-post and stood for +a moment looking across the street, with his face plainly visible in the +yellow circle of light. It was a dark face, and Ellis recognized it +instantly as that of old Mr. Delamere's body servant, whose personal +appearance had been very vividly impressed upon Ellis at the +christening dinner at Major Carteret's. He had seen Sandy once since, +too, at the hotel cakewalk. The negro had a small bundle in his hand, +the nature of which Ellis could not make out. + +When Sandy had stopped beneath the lamp-post, the man who was following +him had dodged behind a tree-trunk. When Sandy moved on, Ellis, who had +stopped in turn, saw the man in hiding come out and follow Sandy. When +this second man came in range of the light, Ellis wondered that there +should be two men so much alike. The first of the two had undoubtedly +been Sandy. Ellis had recognized the peculiar, old-fashioned coat that +Sandy had worn upon the two occasions when he had noticed him. Barring +this difference, and the somewhat unsteady gait of the second man, the +two were as much alike as twin brothers. + +When they had entered Mr. Delamere's house, one after the other,--in the +stillness of the night Ellis could perceive that each of them tried to +make as little noise as possible,--Ellis supposed that they were +probably relatives, both employed as servants, or that some younger +negro, taking Sandy for a model, was trying to pattern himself after his +superior. Why all this mystery, of course he could not imagine, unless +the younger man had been out without permission and was trying to avoid +the accusing eye of Sandy. Ellis was vaguely conscious that he had seen +the other negro somewhere, but he could not for the moment place +him,--there were so many negroes, nearly three negroes to one white man +in the city of Wellington! + +The subject, however, while curious, was not important as compared with +the thoughts of his sweetheart which drove it from his mind. Clara had +been kind to him the night before,--whatever her motive, she had been +kind, and could not consistently return to her attitude of coldness. +With Delamere hopelessly discredited, Ellis hoped to have at least fair +play,--with fair play, he would take his chances of the outcome. + + + + +XX + + +A SHOCKING CRIME + +On Friday morning, when old Mrs. Ochiltree's cook Dinah went to wake her +mistress, she was confronted with a sight that well-nigh blanched her +ebony cheek and caused her eyes almost to start from her head with +horror. As soon as she could command her trembling limbs sufficiently to +make them carry her, she rushed out of the house and down the street, +bareheaded, covering in an incredibly short time the few blocks that +separated Mrs. Ochiltree's residence from that of her niece. + +She hastened around the house, and finding the back door open and the +servants stirring, ran into the house and up the stairs with the +familiarity of an old servant, not stopping until she reached the door +of Mrs. Carteret's chamber, at which she knocked in great agitation. + +Entering in response to Mrs. Carteret's invitation, she found the lady, +dressed in a simple wrapper, superintending the morning toilet of little +Dodie, who was a wakeful child, and insisted upon rising with the birds, +for whose music he still showed a great fondness, in spite of his narrow +escape while listening to the mockingbird. + +"What is it, Dinah?" asked Mrs. Carteret, alarmed at the frightened face +of her aunt's old servitor. + +"O my Lawd, Mis' 'Livy, my Lawd, my Lawd! My legs is trim'lin' so dat I +can't ha'dly hol' my han's stiddy 'nough ter say w'at I got ter say! O +Lawd have mussy on us po' sinners! W'atever is gwine ter happen in dis +worl' er sin an' sorrer!" + +"What in the world is the matter, Dinah?" demanded Mrs. Carteret, whose +own excitement had increased with the length of this preamble. "Has +anything happened to Aunt Polly?" + +"Somebody done broke in de house las' night, Mis' 'Livy, an' kill' Mis' +Polly, an' lef' her layin' dead on de flo', in her own blood, wid her +cedar chis' broke' open, an' eve'thing scattered roun' de flo'! O my +Lawd, my Lawd, my Lawd, my Lawd!" + +Mrs. Carteret was shocked beyond expression. Perhaps the spectacle of +Dinah's unrestrained terror aided her to retain a greater measure of +self-control than she might otherwise have been capable of. Giving the +nurse some directions in regard to the child, she hastily descended the +stairs, and seizing a hat and jacket from the rack in the hall, ran +immediately with Dinah to the scene of the tragedy. Before the thought +of this violent death all her aunt's faults faded into insignificance, +and only her good qualities were remembered. She had reared Olivia; she +had stood up for the memory of Olivia's mother when others had seemed to +forget what was due to it. To her niece she had been a second mother, +and had never been lacking in affection. + +More than one motive, however, lent wings to Mrs. Carteret's feet. Her +aunt's incomplete disclosures on the day of the drive past the hospital +had been weighing upon Mrs. Carteret's mind, and she had intended to +make another effort this very day, to get an answer to her question +about the papers which the woman had claimed were in existence. Suppose +her aunt had really found such papers,--papers which would seem to prove +the preposterous claim made by her father's mulatto mistress? Suppose +that, with the fatuity which generally leads human beings to keep +compromising documents, her aunt had preserved these papers? If they +should be found there in the house, there might be a scandal, if nothing +worse, and this was to be avoided at all hazards. + +Guided by some fortunate instinct, Dinah had as yet informed no one but +Mrs. Carteret of her discovery. If they could reach the house before the +murder became known to any third person, she might be the first to +secure access to the remaining contents of the cedar chest, which would +be likely to be held as evidence in case the officers of the law +forestalled her own arrival. + +They found the house wrapped in the silence of death. Mrs. Carteret +entered the chamber of the dead woman. Upon the floor, where it had +fallen, lay the body in a pool of blood, the strongly marked countenance +scarcely more grim in the rigidity of death than it had been in life. A +gaping wound in the head accounted easily for the death. The cedar chest +stood open, its strong fastenings having been broken by a steel bar +which still lay beside it. Near it were scattered pieces of old lace, +antiquated jewelry, tarnished silverware,--the various mute souvenirs of +the joys and sorrows of a long and active life. + +Kneeling by the open chest, Mrs. Carteret glanced hurriedly through its +contents. There were no papers there except a few old deeds and letters. +She had risen with a sigh of relief, when she perceived the end of a +paper projecting from beneath the edge of a rug which had been +carelessly rumpled, probably by the burglar in his hasty search for +plunder. This paper, or sealed envelope as it proved to be, which +evidently contained some inclosure, she seized, and at the sound of +approaching footsteps thrust hastily into her own bosom. + +The sight of two agitated women rushing through the quiet streets at so +early an hour in the morning had attracted attention and aroused +curiosity, and the story of the murder, having once become known, spread +with the customary rapidity of bad news. Very soon a policeman, and a +little later a sheriff's officer, arrived at the house and took charge +of the remains to await the arrival of the coroner. + +By nine o'clock a coroner's jury had been summoned, who, after brief +deliberation, returned a verdict of willful murder at the hands of some +person or persons unknown, while engaged in the commission of a +burglary. + +No sooner was the verdict announced than the community, or at least the +white third of it, resolved itself spontaneously into a committee of the +whole to discover the perpetrator of this dastardly crime, which, at +this stage of the affair, seemed merely one of robbery and murder. + +Suspicion was at once directed toward the negroes, as it always is when +an unexplained crime is committed in a Southern community. The suspicion +was not entirely an illogical one. Having been, for generations, trained +up to thriftlessness, theft, and immorality, against which only thirty +years of very limited opportunity can be offset, during which brief +period they have been denied in large measure the healthful social +stimulus and sympathy which holds most men in the path of rectitude, +colored people might reasonably be expected to commit at least a share +of crime proportionate to their numbers. The population of the town was +at least two thirds colored. The chances were, therefore, in the absence +of evidence, at least two to one that a man of color had committed the +crime. The Southern tendency to charge the negroes with all the crime +and immorality of that region, unjust and exaggerated as the claim may +be, was therefore not without a logical basis to the extent above +indicated. + +It must not be imagined that any logic was needed, or any reasoning +consciously worked out. The mere suggestion that the crime had been +committed by a negro was equivalent to proof against any negro that +might be suspected and could not prove his innocence. A committee of +white men was hastily formed. Acting independently of the police force, +which was practically ignored as likely to favor the negroes, this +committee set to work to discover the murderer. + +The spontaneous activity of the whites was accompanied by a visible +shrinkage of the colored population. This could not be taken as any +indication of guilt, but was merely a recognition of the palpable fact +that the American habit of lynching had so whetted the thirst for black +blood that a negro suspected of crime had to face at least the +possibility of a short shrift and a long rope, not to mention more +gruesome horrors, without the intervention of judge or jury. Since to +have a black face at such a time was to challenge suspicion, and since +there was neither the martyr's glory nor the saint's renown in being +killed for some one else's crime, and very little hope of successful +resistance in case of an attempt at lynching, it was obviously the part +of prudence for those thus marked to seek immunity in a temporary +disappearance from public view. + + + + +XXI + + +THE NECESSITY OF AN EXAMPLE + +About ten o'clock on the morning of the discovery of the murder, Captain +McBane and General Belmont, as though moved by a common impulse, found +themselves at the office of the Morning Chronicle. Carteret was +expecting them, though there had been no appointment made. These three +resourceful and energetic minds, representing no organized body, and +clothed with no legal authority, had so completely arrogated to +themselves the leadership of white public sentiment as to come together +instinctively when an event happened which concerned the public, and, as +this murder presumably did, involved the matter of race. + +"Well, gentlemen," demanded McBane impatiently, "what are we going to do +with the scoundrel when we catch him?" + +"They've got the murderer," announced a reporter, entering the room. + +"Who is he?" they demanded in a breath. + +"A nigger by the name of Sandy Campbell, a servant of old Mr. Delamere." + +"How did they catch him?" + +"Our Jerry saw him last night, going toward Mrs. Ochiltree's house, and +a white man saw him coming away, half an hour later." + +"Has he confessed?" + +"No, but he might as well. When the posse went to arrest him, they found +him cleaning the clothes he had worn last night, and discovered in his +room a part of the plunder. He denies it strenuously, but it seems a +clear case." + +"There can be no doubt," said Ellis, who had come into the room behind +the reporter. "I saw the negro last night, at twelve o'clock, going into +Mr. Delamere's yard, with a bundle in his hand." + +"He is the last negro I should have suspected," said Carteret. "Mr. +Delamere had implicit confidence in him." + +"All niggers are alike," remarked McBane sententiously. "The only way to +keep them from stealing is not to give them the chance. A nigger will +steal a cent off a dead man's eye. He has assaulted and murdered a white +woman,--an example should be made of him." + +Carteret recalled very distinctly the presence of this negro at his own +residence on the occasion of little Theodore's christening dinner. He +remembered having questioned the prudence of letting a servant know that +Mrs. Ochiltree kept money in the house. Mr. Delamere had insisted +strenuously upon the honesty of this particular negro. The whole race, +in the major's opinion, was morally undeveloped, and only held within +bounds by the restraining influence of the white people. Under Mr. +Delamere's thumb this Sandy had been a model servant,--faithful, docile, +respectful, and self-respecting; but Mr. Delamere had grown old, and had +probably lost in a measure his moral influence over his servant. Left to +his own degraded ancestral instincts, Sandy had begun to deteriorate, +and a rapid decline had culminated in this robbery and murder,--and who +knew what other horror? The criminal was a negro, the victim a white +woman;--it was only reasonable to expect the worst. + +"He'll swing for it," observed the general. + +Ellis went into another room, where his duty called him. + +"He should burn for it," averred McBane. "I say, burn the nigger." + +"This," said Carteret, "is something more than an ordinary crime, to be +dealt with by the ordinary processes of law. It is a murderous and fatal +assault upon a woman of our race,--upon our race in the person of its +womanhood, its crown and flower. If such crimes are not punished with +swift and terrible directness, the whole white womanhood of the South is +in danger." + +"Burn the nigger," repeated McBane automatically. + +"Neither is this a mere sporadic crime," Carteret went on. "It is +symptomatic; it is the logical and inevitable result of the conditions +which have prevailed in this town for the past year. It is the last +straw." + +"Burn the nigger," reiterated McBane. "We seem to have the right nigger, +but whether we have or not, burn _a_ nigger. It is an assault upon the +white race, in the person of old Mrs. Ochiltree, committed by the black +race, in the person of some nigger. It would justify the white people in +burning _any_ nigger. The example would be all the more powerful if we +got the wrong one. It would serve notice on the niggers that we shall +hold the whole race responsible for the misdeeds of each individual." + +"In ancient Rome," said the general, "when a master was killed by a +slave, all his slaves were put to the sword." + +"We couldn't afford that before the war," said McBane, "but the niggers +don't belong to anybody now, and there's nothing to prevent our doing as +we please with them. A dead nigger is no loss to any white man. I say, +burn the nigger." + +"I do not believe," said Carteret, who had gone to the window and was +looking out,--"I do not believe that we need trouble ourselves +personally about his punishment. I should judge, from the commotion in +the street, that the public will take the matter into its own hands. I, +for one, would prefer that any violence, however justifiable, should +take place without my active intervention." + +"It won't take place without mine, if I know it," exclaimed McBane, +starting for the door. + +"Hold on a minute, captain," exclaimed Carteret. "There's more at stake +in this matter than the life of a black scoundrel. Wellington is in the +hands of negroes and scalawags. What better time to rescue it?" + +"It's a trifle premature," replied the general. "I should have preferred +to have this take place, if it was to happen, say three months hence, on +the eve of the election,--but discussion always provokes thirst with me; +I wonder if I could get Jerry to bring us some drinks?" + +Carteret summoned the porter. Jerry's usual manner had taken on an +element of self-importance, resulting in what one might describe as a +sort of condescending obsequiousness. Though still a porter, he was also +a hero, and wore his aureole. + +"Jerry," said the general kindly, "the white people are very much +pleased with the assistance you have given them in apprehending this +scoundrel Campbell. You have rendered a great public service, Jerry, and +we wish you to know that it is appreciated." + +"Thank y', gin'l, thank y', suh! I alluz tries ter do my duty, suh, an' +stan' by dem dat stan's by me. Dat low-down nigger oughter be lynch', +suh, don't you think, er e'se bu'nt? Dere ain' nothin' too bad ter +happen ter 'im." + +"No doubt he will be punished as he deserves, Jerry," returned the +general, "and we will see that you are suitably rewarded. Go across the +street and get me three Calhoun cocktails. I seem to have nothing less +than a two-dollar bill, but you may keep the change, Jerry,--all the +change." + +Jerry was very happy. He had distinguished himself in the public view, +for to Jerry, as to the white people themselves, the white people were +the public. He had won the goodwill of the best people, and had already +begun to reap a tangible reward. It is true that several strange white +men looked at him with lowering brows as he crossed the street, which +was curiously empty of colored people; but he nevertheless went firmly +forward, panoplied in the consciousness of his own rectitude, and +serenely confident of the protection of the major and the major's +friends. + +"Jerry is about the only negro I have seen since nine o'clock," observed +the general when the porter had gone. "If this were election day, where +would the negro vote be?" + +"In hiding, where most of the negro population is to-day," answered +McBane. "It's a pity, if old Mrs. Ochiltree had to go this way, that it +couldn't have been deferred a month or six weeks." Carteret frowned +at this remark, which, coming from McBane, seemed lacking in human +feeling, as well as in respect to his wife's dead relative. + +"But," resumed the general, "if this negro is lynched, as he well +deserves to be, it will not be without its effect. We still have in +reserve for the election a weapon which this affair will only render +more effective. What became of the piece in the negro paper?" + +"I have it here," answered Carteret. "I was just about to use it as the +text for an editorial." + +"Save it awhile longer," responded the general. "This crime itself will +give you text enough for a four-volume work." + +When this conference ended, Carteret immediately put into press an extra +edition of the Morning Chronicle, which was soon upon the streets, +giving details of the crime, which was characterized as an atrocious +assault upon a defenseless old lady, whose age and sex would have +protected her from harm at the hands of any one but a brute in the +lowest human form. This event, the Chronicle suggested, had only +confirmed the opinion, which had been of late growing upon the white +people, that drastic efforts were necessary to protect the white women +of the South against brutal, lascivious, and murderous assaults at the +hands of negro men. It was only another significant example of the +results which might have been foreseen from the application of a false +and pernicious political theory, by which ignorance, clothed in a little +brief authority, was sought to be exalted over knowledge, vice over +virtue, an inferior and degraded race above the heaven-crowned +Anglo-Saxon. If an outraged people, justly infuriated, and impatient of +the slow processes of the courts, should assert their inherent +sovereignty, which the law after all was merely intended to embody, and +should choose, in obedience to the higher law, to set aside, +temporarily, the ordinary judicial procedure, it would serve as a +warning and an example to the vicious elements of the community, of the +swift and terrible punishment which would fall, like the judgment of +God, upon any one who laid sacrilegious hands upon white womanhood. + + + + +XXII + + +HOW NOT TO PREVENT A LYNCHING + +Dr. Miller, who had sat up late the night before with a difficult case +at the hospital, was roused, about eleven o'clock, from a deep and +dreamless sleep. Struggling back into consciousness, he was informed by +his wife, who stood by his bedside, that Mr. Watson, the colored lawyer, +wished to see him upon a matter of great importance. + +"Nothing but a matter of life and death would make me get up just now," +he said with a portentous yawn. + +"This is a matter of life and death," replied Janet. "Old Mrs. Polly +Ochiltree was robbed and murdered last night, and Sandy Campbell has +been arrested for the crime,--and they are going to lynch him!" + +"Tell Watson to come right up," exclaimed Miller, springing out of bed. +"We can talk while I'm dressing." + +While Miller made a hasty toilet Watson explained the situation. +Campbell had been arrested on the charge of murder. He had been seen, +during the night, in the neighborhood of the scene of the crime, by two +different persons, a negro and a white man, and had been identified +later while entering Mr. Delamere's house, where he lived, and where +damning proofs of his guilt had been discovered; the most important item +of which was an old-fashioned knit silk purse, recognized as Mrs. +Ochiltree's, and several gold pieces of early coinage, of which the +murdered woman was known to have a number. Watson brought with him one +of the first copies procurable of the extra edition of the Chronicle, +which contained these facts and further information. + +They were still talking when Mrs. Miller, knocking at the door, +announced that big Josh Green wished to see the doctor about Sandy +Campbell. Miller took his collar and necktie in his hand and went +downstairs, where Josh sat waiting. + +"Doctuh," said Green, "de w'ite folks is talkin' 'bout lynchin' Sandy +Campbell fer killin' ole Mis' Ochiltree. He never done it, an' dey oughtn' +ter be 'lowed ter lynch 'im." + +"They ought not to lynch him, even if he committed the crime," returned +Miller, "but still less if he didn't. What do you know about it?" + +"I know he was wid me, suh, las' night, at de time when dey say ole Mis' +Ochiltree wuz killed. We wuz down ter Sam Taylor's place, havin' a +little game of kyards an' a little liquor. Den we lef dere an' went up +ez fur ez de corner er Main an' Vine Streets, where we pa'ted, an' Sandy +went 'long to'ds home. Mo'over, dey say he had on check' britches an' a +blue coat. When Sandy wuz wid me he had on gray clo's, an' when we +sep'rated he wa'n't in no shape ter be changin' his clo's, let 'lone +robbin' er killin' anybody." + +"Your testimony ought to prove an alibi for him," declared Miller. + +"Dere ain' gwine ter be no chance ter prove nothin', 'less'n we kin do +it mighty quick! Dey say dey're gwine ter lynch 'im ter-night,--some on +'em is talkin' 'bout burnin' 'im. My idee is ter hunt up de niggers an' +git 'em ter stan' tergether an' gyard de jail." + +"Why shouldn't we go to the principal white people of the town and tell +them Josh's story, and appeal to them to stop this thing until Campbell +can have a hearing?" + +"It wouldn't do any good," said Watson despondently; "their blood is +up. It seems that some colored man attacked Mrs. Ochiltree,--and he was +a murderous villain, whoever he may be. To quote Josh would destroy the +effect of his story,--we know he never harmed any one but himself"-- + +"An' a few keerliss people w'at got in my way," corrected Josh. + +"He has been in court several times for fighting,--and that's against +him. To have been at Sam Taylor's place is against Sandy, too, rather +than in his favor. No, Josh, the white people would believe that you +were trying to shield Sandy, and you would probably be arrested as an +accomplice." + +"But look a-here, Mr. Watson,--Dr. Miller, is we-all jes' got ter set +down here, widout openin' ou' mouths, an' let dese w'ite folks hang er +bu'n a man w'at we _know_ ain' guilty? Dat ain't no law, ner jestice, +ner nothin'! Ef you-all won't he'p, I'll do somethin' myse'f! Dere's +two niggers ter one white man in dis town, an' I'm sho' I kin fin' fifty +of 'em w'at 'll fight, ef dey kin fin' anybody ter lead 'em." + +"Now hold on, Josh," argued Miller; "what is to be gained by fighting? +Suppose you got your crowd together and surrounded the jail,--what +then?" + +"There'd be a clash," declared Watson, "and instead of one dead negro +there'd be fifty. The white people are claiming now that Campbell didn't +stop with robbery and murder. A special edition of the Morning +Chronicle, just out, suggests a further purpose, and has all the old +shopworn cant about race purity and supremacy and imperative necessity, +which always comes to the front whenever it is sought to justify some +outrage on the colored folks. The blood of the whites is up, I tell +you!" + +"Is there anything to that suggestion?" asked Miller incredulously. + +"It doesn't matter whether there is or not," returned Watson. "Merely +to suggest it proves it. + +"Nothing was said about this feature until the paper came out,--and even +its statement is vague and indefinite,--but now the claim is in every +mouth. I met only black looks as I came down the street. White men with +whom I have long been on friendly terms passed me without a word. A +negro has been arrested on suspicion,--the entire race is condemned on +general principles." + +"The whole thing is profoundly discouraging," said Miller sadly. "Try as +we may to build up the race in the essentials of good citizenship and +win the good opinion of the best people, some black scoundrel comes +along, and by a single criminal act, committed in the twinkling of an +eye, neutralizes the effect of a whole year's work." + +"It's mighty easy neut'alize', er whatever you call it," said Josh +sullenly. "De w'ite folks don' want too good an opinion er de +niggers,--ef dey had a good opinion of 'em, dey wouldn' have no excuse +f er 'busin' an' hangin' an' burnin' 'em. But ef dey can't keep from +doin' it, let 'em git de right man! Dis way er pickin' up de fus' nigger +dey comes across, an' stringin' 'im up rega'dliss, ought ter be stop', +an' stop' right now!" + +"Yes, that's the worst of lynch law," said Watson; "but we are wasting +valuable time,--it's hardly worth while for us to discuss a subject we +are all agreed upon. One of our race, accused of certain acts, is about +to be put to death without judge or jury, ostensibly because he committed +a crime,--really because he is a negro, for if he were white he would not +be lynched. It is thus made a race issue, on the one side as well as on +the other. What can we do to protect him?" + +"We kin fight, ef we haf ter," replied Josh resolutely. + +"Well, now, let us see. Suppose the colored people armed themselves? +Messages would at once be sent to every town and county in the +neighborhood. White men from all over the state, armed to the teeth, +would at the slightest word pour into town on every railroad train, and +extras would be run for their benefit." + +"They're already coming in," said Watson. + +"We might go to the sheriff," suggested Miller, "and demand that he +telegraph the governor to call out the militia." + +"I spoke to the sheriff an hour ago," replied Watson. "He has a white +face and a whiter liver. He does not dare call out the militia to +protect a negro charged with such a brutal crime;--and if he did, the +militia are white men, and who can say that their efforts would not be +directed to keeping the negroes out of the way, in order that the white +devils might do their worst? The whole machinery of the state is in the +hands of white men, elected partly by our votes. When the color line is +drawn, if they choose to stand together with the rest of their race +against us, or to remain passive and let the others work their will, we +are helpless,--our cause is hopeless." + +"We might call on the general government," said Miller. "Surely the +President would intervene." + +"Such a demand would be of no avail," returned Watson. "The government +can only intervene under certain conditions, of which it must be +informed through designated channels. It never sees anything that is not +officially called to its attention. The whole negro population of the +South might be slaughtered before the necessary red tape could be spun +out to inform the President that a state of anarchy prevailed. There's +no hope there." + +"Den w'at we gwine ter do?" demanded Josh indignantly; "jes' set here +an' let 'em hang Sandy, er bu'n 'im?" + +"God knows!" exclaimed Miller. "The outlook is dark, but we should at +least try to do something. There must be some white men in the town who +would stand for law and order,--there's no possible chance for Sandy to +escape hanging by due process of law, if he is guilty. We might at least +try half a dozen gentlemen." + +"We'd better leave Josh here," said Watson. "He's too truculent. If he +went on the street he'd make trouble, and if he accompanied us he'd do +more harm than good. Wait for us here, Josh, until we 'we seen what we +can do. We'll be back in half an hour." + +In half an hour they had both returned. + +"It's no use," reported Watson gloomily. "I called at the mayor's office +and found it locked. He is doubtless afraid on his own account, and +would not dream of asserting his authority. I then looked up Judge +Everton, who has always seemed to be fair. My reception was cold. He +admitted that lynching was, as a rule, unjustifiable, but maintained +that there were exceptions to all rules,--that laws were made, after +all, to express the will of the people in regard to the ordinary +administration of justice, but that in an emergency the sovereign people +might assert itself and take the law into its own hands,--the creature +was not greater than the creator. He laughed at my suggestion that Sandy +was innocent. 'If he is innocent,' he said, 'then produce the real +criminal. You negroes are standing in your own light when you try to +protect such dastardly scoundrels as this Campbell, who is an enemy of +society and not fit to live. I shall not move in the matter. If a negro +wants the protection of the law, let him obey the law.' A wise judge,--a +second Daniel come to judgment! If this were the law, there would be no +need of judges or juries." + +"I called on Dr. Price," said Miller, "my good friend Dr. Price, who +would rather lie than hurt my feelings. 'Miller,' he declared, 'this is +no affair of mine, or yours. I have too much respect for myself and my +profession to interfere in such a matter, and you will accomplish +nothing, and only lessen your own influence, by having anything to say.' +'But the man may be innocent,' I replied; 'there is every reason to +believe that he is.' He shook his head pityingly. 'You are +self-deceived, Miller; your prejudice has warped your judgment. The +proof is overwhelming that he robbed this old lady, laid violent hands +upon her, and left her dead. If he did no more, he has violated the +written and unwritten law of the Southern States. I could not save him +if I would, Miller, and frankly, I would not if I could. If he is +innocent, his people can console themselves with the reflection that +Mrs. Ochiltree was also innocent, and balance one crime against the +other, the white against the black. Of course I shall take no part in +whatever may be done,--but it is not my affair, nor yours. Take my +advice, Miller, and keep out of it.' + +"That is the situation," added Miller, summing up. "Their friendship for +us, a slender stream at the best, dries up entirely when it strikes +their prejudices. There is seemingly not one white man in Wellington who +will speak a word for law, order, decency, or humanity. Those who do not +participate will stand idly by and see an untried man deliberately and +brutally murdered. Race prejudice is the devil unchained." + +"Well, den, suh," said Josh, "where does we stan' now? W'at is we gwine +ter do? I wouldn' min' fightin', fer my time ain't come yit,--I feels +dat in my bones. W'at we gwine ter do, dat's w'at I wanter know." + +"What does old Mr. Delamere have to say about the matter?" asked Miller +suddenly. "Why haven't we thought of him before? Has he been seen?" + +"No," replied Watson gloomily, "and for a good reason,--he is not in +town. I came by the house just now, and learned that he went out to his +country place yesterday afternoon, to remain a week. Sandy was to have +followed him out there this morning,--it's a pity he didn't go +yesterday. The old gentleman has probably heard nothing about the +matter." + +"How about young Delamere?" + +"He went away early this morning, down the river, to fish. He'll +probably not hear of it before night, and he's only a boy anyway, and +could very likely do nothing," said Watson. + +Miller looked at his watch. + +"Belleview is ten miles away," he said. "It is now eleven o'clock. I can +drive out there in an hour and a half at the farthest. I'll go and see +Mr. Delamere,--he can do more than any living man, if he is able to do +anything at all. There's never been a lynching here, and one good white +man, if he choose, may stem the flood long enough to give justice a +chance. Keep track of the white people while I'm gone, Watson; and you, +Josh, learn what the colored folks are saying, and do nothing rash until +I return. In the meantime, do all that you can to find out who did +commit this most atrocious murder." + + + + +XXIII + + +BELLEVIEW + +Miller did not reach his destination without interruption. At one point +a considerable stretch of the road was under repair, which made it +necessary for him to travel slowly. His horse cast a shoe, and +threatened to go lame; but in the course of time he arrived at the +entrance gate of Belleview, entering which he struck into a private +road, bordered by massive oaks, whose multitudinous branches, hung with +long streamers of trailing moss, formed for much of the way a thick +canopy above his head. It took him only a few minutes to traverse the +quarter of a mile that lay between the entrance gate and the house +itself. + +This old colonial plantation, rich in legendary lore and replete with +historic distinction, had been in the Delamere family for nearly two +hundred years. Along the bank of the river which skirted its domain the +famous pirate Blackbeard had held high carnival, and was reputed to have +buried much treasure, vague traditions of which still lingered among the +negroes and poor-whites of the country roundabout. The beautiful +residence, rising white and stately in a grove of ancient oaks, dated +from 1750, and was built of brick which had been brought from England. +Enlarged and improved from generation to generation, it stood, like a +baronial castle, upon a slight eminence from which could be surveyed +the large demesne still belonging to the estate, which had shrunk +greatly from its colonial dimensions. While still embracing several +thousand acres, part forest and part cleared land, it had not of late +years been profitable; in spite of which Mr. Delamere, with the +conservatism of his age and caste, had never been able to make up his +mind to part with any considerable portion of it. His grandson, he +imagined, could make the estate pay and yet preserve it in its +integrity. Here, in pleasant weather, surrounded by the scenes which he +loved, old Mr. Delamere spent much of the time during his declining +years. + +Dr. Miller had once passed a day at Belleview, upon Mr. Delamere's +invitation. For this old-fashioned gentleman, whose ideals not even +slavery had been able to spoil, regarded himself as a trustee for the +great public, which ought, in his opinion, to take as much pride as he +in the contemplation of this historic landmark. In earlier years Mr. +Delamere had been a practicing lawyer, and had numbered Miller's father +among his clients. He had always been regarded as friendly to the +colored people, and, until age and ill health had driven him from active +life, had taken a lively interest in their advancement since the +abolition of slavery. Upon the public opening of Miller's new hospital, +he had made an effort to be present, and had made a little speech of +approval and encouragement which had manifested his kindliness and given +Miller much pleasure. + +It was with the consciousness, therefore, that he was approaching a +friend, as well as Sandy's master, that Miller's mind was chiefly +occupied as his tired horse, scenting the end of his efforts, bore him +with a final burst of speed along the last few rods of the journey; for +the urgency of Miller's errand, involving as it did the issues of life +and death, did not permit him to enjoy the charm of mossy oak or forest +reaches, or even to appreciate the noble front of Belleview House when +it at last loomed up before him. + +"Well, William," said Mr. Delamere, as he gave his hand to Miller from +the armchair in which he was seated under the broad and stately portico, +"I didn't expect to see you out here. You'll excuse my not +rising,--I'm none too firm on my legs. Did you see anything of my man +Sandy back there on the road? He ought to have been here by nine +o'clock, and it's now one. Sandy is punctuality itself, and I don't know +how to account for his delay." + +Clearly there need be no time wasted in preliminaries. Mr. Delamere had +gone directly to the subject in hand. + +"He will not be here to-day, sir," replied Miller. "I have come to you +on his account." + +In a few words Miller stated the situation. + +"Preposterous!" exclaimed the old gentleman, with more vigor than Miller +had supposed him to possess. "Sandy is absolutely incapable of such a +crime as robbery, to say nothing of murder; and as for the rest, that is +absurd upon the face of it! And so the poor old woman is dead! Well, +well, well! she could not have lived much longer anyway; but Sandy did +not kill her,--it's simply impossible! Why, _I_ raised that boy! He was +born on my place. I'd as soon believe such a thing of my own grandson +as of Sandy! No negro raised by a Delamere would ever commit such a +crime. I really believe, William, that Sandy has the family honor of the +Delameres quite as much at heart as I have. Just tell them I say Sandy +is innocent, and it will be all right." + +"I'm afraid, sir," rejoined Miller, who kept his voice up so that the +old gentleman could understand without having it suggested that Miller +knew he was hard of hearing, "that you don't quite appreciate the +situation. _I_ believe Sandy innocent; _you_ believe him innocent; but +there are suspicious circumstances which do not explain themselves, and +the white people of the city believe him guilty, and are going to lynch +him before he has a chance to clear himself." + +"Why doesn't he explain the suspicious circumstances?" asked Mr. +Delamere. "Sandy is truthful and can be believed. I would take Sandy's +word as quickly as another man's oath." + +"He has no chance to explain," said Miller. "The case is prejudged. A +crime has been committed. Sandy is charged with it. He is black, and +therefore he is guilty. No colored lawyer would be allowed in the jail, +if one should dare to go there. No white lawyer will intervene. He'll +be lynched to-night, without judge, jury, or preacher, unless we can +stave the thing off for a day or two." + +"Have you seen my grandson?" asked the old gentleman. "Is he not looking +after Sandy?" + +"No, sir. It seems he went down the river this morning to fish, before +the murder was discovered; no one knows just where he has gone, or at +what hour he will return." + +"Well, then," said Mr. Delamere, rising from his chair with surprising +vigor, "I shall have to go myself. No faithful servant of mine shall be +hanged for a crime he didn't commit, so long as I have a voice to +speak or a dollar to spend. There'll be no trouble after I get there, +William. The people are naturally wrought up at such a crime. A fine old +woman,--she had some detestable traits, and I was always afraid she +wanted to marry me, but she was of an excellent family and had many good +points,--an old woman of one of the best families, struck down by the +hand of a murderer! You must remember, William, that blood is thicker +than water, and that the provocation is extreme, and that a few hotheads +might easily lose sight of the great principles involved and seek +immediate vengeance, without too much discrimination. But they are good +people, William, and when I have spoken, and they have an opportunity +for the sober second thought, they will do nothing rashly, but will wait +for the operation of the law, which will, of course, clear Sandy." + +"I'm sure I hope so," returned Miller. "Shall I try to drive you back, +sir, or will you order your own carriage?" + +"My horses are fresher, William, and I'll have them brought around. You +can take the reins, if you will,--I'm rather old to drive,--and my man +will come behind with your buggy." + +In a few minutes they set out along the sandy road. Having two fresh +horses, they made better headway than Miller had made coming out, and +reached Wellington easily by three o'clock. + +"I think, William," said Mr. Delamere, as they drove into the town, +"that I had first better talk with Sandy. He may be able to explain away +the things that seem to connect him with this atrocious affair; and that +will put me in a better position to talk to other people about it." + +Miller drove directly to the county jail. Thirty or forty white men, who +seemed to be casually gathered near the door, closed up when the +carriage approached. The sheriff, who had seen them from the inside, +came to the outer door and spoke to the visitor through a grated wicket. + +"Mr. Wemyss," said Mr. Delamere, when he had made his way to the +entrance with the aid of his cane, "I wish to see my servant, Sandy +Campbell, who is said to be in your custody." + +The sheriff hesitated. Meantime there was some parleying in low tones +among the crowd outside. No one interfered, however, and in a moment the +door opened sufficiently to give entrance to the old gentleman, after +which it closed quickly and clangorously behind him. + +Feeling no desire to linger in the locality, Miller, having seen his +companion enter the jail, drove the carriage round to Mr. Delamere's +house, and leaving it in charge of a servant with instructions to return +for his master in a quarter of an hour, hastened to his own home to meet +Watson and Josh and report the result of his efforts. + + + + +XXIV + + +TWO SOUTHERN GENTLEMEN + +The iron bolt rattled in the lock, the door of a cell swung open, and +when Mr. Delamere had entered was quickly closed again. + +"Well, Sandy!" + +"Oh, Mars John! Is you fell from hebben ter he'p me out er here? I +prayed de Lawd ter sen' you, an' He answered my prayer, an' here you is, +Mars John,--here you is! Oh, Mars John, git me out er dis place!" + +"Tut, tut, Sandy!" answered his master; "of course I'll get you out. +That's what I've come for. How in the world did such a mistake ever +happen? You would no more commit such a crime than I would!" + +"No, suh, 'deed I wouldn', an' you know I wouldn'! I wouldn' want ter +bring no disgrace on de fam'ly dat raise' me, ner ter make no trouble +fer you, suh; but here I is, suh, lock' up in jail, an' folks talkin' +'bout hangin' me fer somethin' dat never entered my min', suh. I swea' +ter God I never thought er sech a thing!" + +"Of course you didn't, Sandy," returned Mr. Delamere soothingly; "and +now the next thing, and the simplest thing, is to get you out of this. +I'll speak to the officers, and at the preliminary hearing to-morrow I'll +tell them all about you, and they will let you go. You won't mind +spending one night in jail for your sins." + +"No, suh, ef I wuz sho' I'd be 'lowed ter spen' it here. But dey say dey +'re gwine ter lynch me ternight,--I kin hear 'em talkin' f'm de winders +er de cell, suh." + +"Well, _I_ say, Sandy, that they shall do no such thing! Lynch a man +brought up by a Delamere, for a crime of which he is innocent? +Preposterous! I'll speak to the authorities and see that you are +properly protected until this mystery is unraveled. If Tom had been +here, he would have had you out before now, Sandy. My grandson is a +genuine Delamere, is he not, Sandy?" + +"Yas, suh, yas, suh," returned Sandy, with a lack of enthusiasm which he +tried to conceal from his master. "An' I s'pose ef he hadn' gone +fishin' so soon dis mawnin', he'd 'a' be'n lookin' after me, suh." + +"It has been my love for him and your care of me, Sandy," said the old +gentleman tremulously, "that have kept me alive so long; but now explain +to me everything concerning this distressing matter, and I shall then be +able to state your case to better advantage." + + +"Well, suh," returned Sandy, "I mought's well tell de whole tale an' not +hol' nothin' back. I wuz kind er lonesome las' night, an' sence I be'n +tu'ned outen de chu'ch on account er dat cakewalk I didn' go ter, so +he'p me God! I didn' feel like gwine ter prayer-meetin', so I went +roun' ter see Solomon Williams, an' he wa'n't home, an' den I walk' down +street an' met Josh Green, an' he ax' me inter Sam Taylor's place, an' I +sot roun' dere wid Josh till 'bout 'leven o'clock, w'en I sta'ted back +home. I went straight ter de house, suh, an' went ter bed an' ter sleep +widout sayin' a wo'd ter a single soul excep' Mistuh Tom, who wuz +settin' up readin' a book w'en I come in. I wish I may drap dead in my +tracks, suh, ef dat ain't de God's truf, suh, eve'y wo'd of it!" + +"I believe every word of it, Sandy; now tell me about the clothes that +you are said to have been found cleaning, and the suspicious articles +that were found in your room?" + +"Dat's w'at beats me, Mars John," replied Sandy, shaking his head +mournfully. "Wen I lef home las' night after supper, my clo's wuz all +put erway in de closet in my room, folded up on de she'f ter keep de +moths out. Dey wuz my good clo's,--de blue coat dat you wo' ter de +weddin' fo'ty years ago, an' dem dere plaid pants I gun Mistuh Cohen fo' +dollars fer three years ago; an' w'en I looked in my closet dis mawnin', +suh, befo' I got ready ter sta't fer Belleview, dere wuz my clo's layin' +on de flo', all muddy an' crumple' up, des lack somebody had wo' 'em in +a fight! Somebody e'se had wo' my clo's,--er e'se dere'd be'n some +witchcraf, er some sort er devilment gwine on dat I can't make out, suh, +ter save my soul!" + +"There was no witchcraft, Sandy, but that there was some deviltry might +well be. Now, what other negro, who might have been mistaken for you, +could have taken your clothes? Surely no one about the house?" + +"No, suh, no, suh. It couldn't 'a' be'n Jeff, fer he wuz at Belleview +wid you; an' it couldn't 'a' be'n Billy, fer he wuz too little ter wear +my clo's; an' it couldn't 'a' be'n Sally, fer she's a 'oman. It's a +myst'ry ter me, suh!" + +"Have you no enemies? Is there any one in Wellington whom you imagine +would like to do you an injury?" + +"Not a livin' soul dat I knows of, suh. I've be'n tu'ned out'n de +chu'ch, but I don' know who my enemy is dere, er ef it wuz all a +mistake, like dis yer jailin' is; but de Debbil is in dis somewhar, Mars +John,--an' I got my reasons fer sayin' so." + +"What do you mean, Sandy?" + +Sandy related his experience of the preceding evening: how he had seen +the apparition preceding him to the house, and how he had questioned Tom +upon the subject. + +"There's some mystery here, Sandy," said Mr. Delamere reflectively. +"Have you told me all, now, upon your honor? I am trying to save your +life, Sandy, and I must be able to trust your word implicitly. You must +tell me every circumstance; a very little and seemingly unimportant bit +of evidence may sometimes determine the issue of a great lawsuit. There +is one thing especially, Sandy: where did you get the gold which was +found in your trunk?" + +Sandy's face lit up with hopefulness. + +"Why, Mars John, I kin 'splain dat part easy. Dat wuz money I had lent +out, an' I got back f'm--But no, suh, I promise' not ter tell." + +"Circumstances absolve you from your promise, Sandy. Your life is of +more value to you than any other thing. If you will explain where you +got the gold, and the silk purse that contained it, which is said to be +Mrs. Ochiltree's, you will be back home before night." + +Old Mr. Delamere's faculties, which had been waning somewhat in sympathy +with his health, were stirred to unusual acuteness by his servant's +danger. He was watching Sandy with all the awakened instincts of the +trial lawyer. He could see clearly enough that, in beginning to account +for the possession of the gold, Sandy had started off with his +explanation in all sincerity. At the mention of the silk purse, however, +his face had blanched to an ashen gray, and the words had frozen upon +his lips. + +A less discerning observer might have taken these things as signs of +guilt, but not so Mr. Delamere. + +"Well, Sandy," said his master encouragingly, "go on. You got the gold +from"-- + +Sandy remained silent. He had had a great shock, and had taken a great +resolution. + +"Mars John," he asked dreamily, "you don' b'lieve dat I done dis thing?" + +"Certainly not, Sandy, else why should I be here?" + +"An' nothin' wouldn' make you b'lieve it, suh?" + +"No, Sandy,--I could not believe it of you. I've known you too long and +too well." + +"An' you wouldn' b'lieve it, not even ef I wouldn' say one wo'd mo' +about it?" + +"No, Sandy, I believe you no more capable of this crime than I would +be,--or my grandson, Tom. I wish Tom were here, that he might help me +overcome your stubbornness; but you'll not be so foolish, so absurdly +foolish, Sandy, as to keep silent and risk your life merely to shield +some one else, when by speaking you might clear up this mystery and be +restored at once to liberty. Just tell me where you got the gold," added +the old gentleman persuasively. "Come, now, Sandy, that's a good +fellow!" + +"Mars John," asked Sandy softly, "w'en my daddy, 'way back yander befo' +de wah, wuz about ter be sol' away f'm his wife an' child'en, you +bought him an' dem, an' kep' us all on yo' place tergether, didn't you, +suh?" + +"Yes, Sandy, and he was a faithful servant, and proved worthy of all I +did for him." + +"And w'en he had wo'ked fer you ten years, suh, you sot 'im free?" + +"Yes, Sandy, he had earned his freedom." + +"An' w'en de wah broke out, an' my folks wuz scattered, an' I didn' +have nothin' ter do ner nowhar ter go, you kep' me on yo' place, and +tuck me ter wait on you, suh, didn't you?" + +"Yes, Sandy, and you have been a good servant and a good friend; but +tell me now about this gold, and I'll go and get you out of this, right +away, for I need you, Sandy, and you'll not be of any use to me shut up +here!" + +"Jes' hol' on a minute befo' you go, Mars John; fer ef dem people +outside should git holt er me befo' you _does_ git me out er here, I may +never see you no mo', suh, in dis worl'. W'en Mars Billy McLean shot me +by mistake, w'ile we wuz out huntin' dat day, who wuz it boun' up my +woun's an' kep' me from bleedin' ter def, an' kyar'ed me two miles on +his own shoulders ter a doctuh?" + +"Yes, Sandy, and when black Sally ran away with your young mistress and +Tom, when Tom was a baby, who stopped the runaway, and saved their lives +at the risk of his own?" + +"Dat wa'n't nothin', suh; anybody could 'a' done dat, w'at wuz strong +ernuff an' swif' ernuff. You is be'n good ter me, suh, all dese years, +an' I've tried ter do my duty by you, suh, an' by Mistuh Tom, who wuz +yo' own gran'son, an' de las' one er de fam'ly." + +"Yes, you have, Sandy, and when I am gone, which will not be very long, +Tom will take care of you, and see that you never want. But we are +wasting valuable time, Sandy, in these old reminiscences. Let us get back +to the present. Tell me about the gold, now, so that I may at once look +after your safety. It may not even be necessary for you to remain here +all night." + +"Jes' one wo'd mo', Mars John, befo' you go! I know you're gwine ter do +de bes' you kin fer me, an' I'm sorry I can't he'p you no mo' wid it; +but ef dere should be any accident, er ef you _can't_ git me out er +here, don' bother yo' min' 'bout it no mo', suh, an' don' git yo'se'f +ixcited, fer you know de doctuh says, suh, dat you can't stan' +ixcitement; but jes' leave me in de han's er de Lawd, suh,--_He'll_ look +after me, here er hereafter. I know I've fell f'm grace mo' d'n once, +but I've done made my peace wid Him in dis here jail-house, suh, an' I +ain't 'feared ter die--ef I haf ter. I ain' got no wife ner child'n ter +mo'n fer me, an' I'll die knowin' dat I've done my duty ter dem dat +hi'ed me, an' trusted me, an' had claims on me. Fer I wuz raise' by a +Delamere, suh, an' all de ole Delameres wuz gent'emen, an' deir +principles spread ter de niggers 'round 'em, suh; an' ef I has ter die +fer somethin' I didn' do,--I kin die, suh, like a gent'eman! But ez fer +dat gol', suh, I ain' gwine ter say one wo'd mo' 'bout it ter nobody in +dis worl'!" + +Nothing could shake Sandy's determination. Mr. Delamere argued, +expostulated, but all in vain. Sandy would not speak. + +More and more confident of some mystery, which would come out in time, +if properly investigated, Mr. Delamere, strangely beset by a vague +sense of discomfort over and beyond that occasioned by his servant's +danger, hurried away upon his errand of mercy. He felt less confident of +the outcome than when he had entered the jail, but was quite as much +resolved that no effort should be spared to secure protection for Sandy +until there had been full opportunity for the truth to become known. + +"Take good care of your prisoner, sheriff," he said sternly, as he was +conducted to the door. "He will not be long in your custody, and I shall +see that you are held strictly accountable for his safety." + +"I'll do what I can, sir," replied the sheriff in an even tone and +seemingly not greatly impressed by this warning. "If the prisoner is +taken from me, it will be because the force that comes for him is too +strong for resistance." + +"There should be no force too strong for an honest man in your position +to resist,--whether successfully or not is beyond the question. The +officer who is intimidated by threats, or by his own fears, is recreant +to his duty, and no better than the mob which threatens him. But you +will have no such test, Mr. Wemyss! I shall see to it myself that there +is no violence!" + + + + +XXV + + +THE HONOR OF A FAMILY + +Mr. Delamere's coachman, who, in accordance with instructions left by +Miller, had brought the carriage around to the jail and was waiting +anxiously at the nearest corner, drove up with some trepidation as he +saw his master emerge from the prison. The old gentleman entered the +carriage and gave the order to be driven to the office of the Morning +Chronicle. According to Jerry, the porter, whom he encountered at the +door, Carteret was in his office, and Mr. Delamere, with the aid of his +servant, climbed the stairs painfully and found the editor at his desk. + +"Carteret," exclaimed Mr. Delamere, "what is all this talk about +lynching my man for murder and robbery and criminal assault? It's +perfectly absurd! The man was raised by me; he has lived in my house +forty years. He has been honest, faithful, and trustworthy. He would no +more be capable of this crime than you would, or my grandson Tom. Sandy +has too much respect for the family to do anything that would reflect +disgrace upon it." + +"My dear Mr. Delamere," asked Carteret, with an indulgent smile, "how +could a negro possibly reflect discredit upon a white family? I should +really like to know." + +"How, sir? A white family raised him. Like all the negroes, he has been +clay in the hands of the white people. They are what we have made them, +or permitted them to become." + +"We are not God, Mr. Delamere! We do not claim to have created +these--masterpieces." + +"No; but we thought to overrule God's laws, and we enslaved these people +for our greed, and sought to escape the manstealer's curse by laying to +our souls the flattering unction that we were making of barbarous +negroes civilized and Christian men. If we did not, if instead of making +them Christians we have made some of them brutes, we have only ourselves +to blame, and if these prey upon society, it is our just punishment! But +my negroes, Carteret, were well raised and well behaved. This man is +innocent of this offense, I solemnly affirm, and I want your aid to +secure his safety until a fair trial can be had." + +"On your bare word, sir?" asked Carteret, not at all moved by this +outburst. + +Old Mr. Delamere trembled with anger, and his withered cheek flushed +darkly, but he restrained his feelings, and answered with an attempt at +calmness:-- + +"Time was, sir, when the word of a Delamere was held as good as his +bond, and those who questioned it were forced to maintain their +skepticism upon the field of honor. Time was, sir, when the law was +enforced in this state in a manner to command the respect of the world! +Our lawyers, our judges, our courts, were a credit to humanity and +civilization. I fear I have outlasted my epoch,--I have lived to hear of +white men, the most favored of races, the heirs of civilization, the +conservators of liberty, howling like red Indians around a human being +slowly roasting at the stake." + +"My dear sir," said Carteret soothingly, "you should undeceive yourself. +This man is no longer your property. The negroes are no longer under our +control, and with their emancipation ceased our responsibility. Their +insolence and disregard for law have reached a point where they must be +sternly rebuked." + +"The law," retorted Mr. Delamere, "furnishes a sufficient penalty for +any crime, however heinous, and our code is by no means lenient. To my +old-fashioned notions, death would seem an adequate punishment for any +crime, and torture has been abolished in civilized countries for a +hundred years. It would be better to let a crime go entirely unpunished, +than to use it as a pretext for turning the whole white population into +a mob of primitive savages, dancing in hellish glee around the mangled +body of a man who has never been tried for a crime. All this, however, +is apart from my errand, which is to secure your assistance in heading +off this mob until Sandy can have a fair hearing and an opportunity to +prove his innocence." + +"How can I do that, Mr. Delamere?" + +"You are editor of the Morning Chronicle. The Chronicle is the leading +newspaper of the city. This morning's issue practically suggested the +mob; the same means will stop it. I will pay the expense of an extra +edition, calling off the mob, on the ground that newly discovered +evidence has shown the prisoner's innocence." + +"But where is the evidence?" asked Carteret. + +Again Mr. Delamere flushed and trembled. "My evidence, sir! I say the +negro was morally incapable of the crime. A man of forty-five does not +change his nature over-night. He is no more capable of a disgraceful +deed than my grandson would be!" + +Carteret smiled sadly. + +"I am sorry, Mr. Delamere," he said, "that you should permit yourself to +be so exercised about a worthless scoundrel who has forfeited his right +to live. The proof against him is overwhelming. As to his capability of +crime, we will apply your own test. You have been kept in the dark too +long, Mr. Delamere,--indeed, we all have,--about others as well as this +negro. Listen, sir: last night, at the Clarendon Club, Tom Delamere was +caught cheating outrageously at cards. He had been suspected for some +time; a trap was laid for him, and be fell into it. Out of regard for +you and for my family, he has been permitted to resign quietly, with the +understanding that he first pay off his debts, which are considerable." + +Mr. Delamere's face, which had taken on some color in the excitement of +the interview, had gradually paled to a chalky white while Carteret was +speaking. His head sunk forward; already an old man, he seemed to have +aged ten years in but little more than as many seconds. + +"Can this be true?" he demanded in a hoarse whisper. "Is it--entirely +authentic?" + +"True as gospel; true as it is that Mrs. Ochiltree has been murdered, +and that this negro killed her. Ellis was at the club a few minutes +after the affair happened, and learned the facts from one of the +participants. Tom made no attempt at denial. We have kept the matter out +of the other papers, and I would have spared your feelings,--I surely +would not wish to wound them,--but the temptation proved too strong for +me, and it seemed the only way to convince you: it was your own test. If +a gentleman of a distinguished name and an honorable ancestry, with all +the restraining forces of social position surrounding him, to hold him +in check, can stoop to dishonor, what is the improbability of an +illiterate negro's being at least capable of crime?" + +"Enough, sir," said the old gentleman. "You have proved enough. My +grandson may be a scoundrel,--I can see, in the light of this +revelation, how he might be; and he seems not to have denied it. I +maintain, nevertheless, that my man Sandy is innocent of the charge +against him. He has denied it, and it has not been proved. Carteret, I +owe that negro my life; he, and his father before him, have served me +and mine faithfully and well. I cannot see him killed like a dog, +without judge or jury,--no, not even if he were guilty, which I do not +believe!" + +Carteret felt a twinge of remorse for the pain he had inflicted upon +this fine old man, this ideal gentleman of the ideal past,--the past +which he himself so much admired and regretted. He would like to spare +his old friend any further agitation; he was in a state of health where +too great excitement might prove fatal. But how could he? The negro was +guilty, and sure to die sooner or later. He had not meant to interfere, +and his intervention might be fruitless. + +"Mr. Delamere," he said gently, "there is but one way to gain time. You +say the negro is innocent. Appearances are against him. The only way to +clear him is to produce the real criminal, or prove an alibi. If you, or +some other white man of equal standing, could swear that the negro was +in your presence last night at any hour when this crime could have taken +place, it might be barely possible to prevent the lynching for the +present; and when he is tried, which will probably be not later than +next week, he will have every opportunity to defend himself, with you +to see that he gets no less than justice. I think it can be managed, +though there is still a doubt. I will do my best, for your sake, Mr. +Delamere,--solely for your sake, be it understood, and not for that of +the negro, in whom you are entirely deceived." + +"I shall not examine your motives, Carteret," replied the other, "if you +can bring about what I desire." + +"Whatever is done," added Carteret, "must be done quickly. It is now +four o'clock; no one can answer for what may happen after seven. If he +can prove an alibi, there may yet be time to save him. White men might +lynch a negro on suspicion; they would not kill a man who was proven, by +the word of white men, to be entirely innocent." + +"I do not know," returned Mr. Delamere, shaking his head sadly. "After +what you have told me, it is no longer safe to assume what white men +will or will not do;--what I have learned here has shaken my faith in +humanity. I am going away, but shall return in a short time. Shall I +find you here?" + +"I will await your return," said Carteret. + +He watched Mr. Delamere pityingly as the old man moved away on the arm +of the coachman waiting in the hall. He did not believe that Mr. +Delamere could prove an alibi for his servant, and without some positive +proof the negro would surely die,--as he well deserved to die. + + + + +XXVI + + +THE DISCOMFORT OF ELLIS + +Mr. Ellis was vaguely uncomfortable. In the first excitement following +the discovery of the crime, he had given his bit of evidence, and had +shared the universal indignation against the murderer. When public +feeling took definite shape in the intention to lynch the prisoner, +Ellis felt a sudden sense of responsibility growing upon himself. When +he learned, an hour later, that it was proposed to burn the negro, his +part in the affair assumed a still graver aspect; for his had been the +final word to fix the prisoner's guilt. + +Ellis did not believe in lynch law. He had argued against it, more than +once, in private conversation, and had written several editorials +against the practice, while in charge of the Morning Chronicle during +Major Carteret's absence. A young man, however, and merely representing +another, he had not set up as a reformer, taking rather the view that +this summary method of punishing crime, with all its possibilities of +error, to say nothing of the resulting disrespect of the law and +contempt for the time-honored methods of establishing guilt, was a mere +temporary symptom of the unrest caused by the unsettled relations of the +two races at the South. There had never before been any special need for +any vigorous opposition to lynch law, so far as the community was +concerned, for there had not been a lynching in Wellington since Ellis +had come there, eight years before, from a smaller town, to seek a place +for himself in the world of action. Twenty years before, indeed, there +had been wild doings, during the brief Ku-Klux outbreak, but that was +before Ellis's time,--or at least when he was but a child. He had come +of a Quaker family,--the modified Quakers of the South,--and while +sharing in a general way the Southern prejudice against the negro, his +prejudices had been tempered by the peaceful tenets of his father's +sect. His father had been a Whig, and a non-slaveholder; and while he +had gone with the South in the civil war so far as a man of peace could +go, he had not done so for love of slavery. + +As the day wore on, Ellis's personal responsibility for the intended +_auto-da-fe_ bore more heavily upon him. Suppose he had been wrong? He +had seen the accused negro; he had recognized him by his clothes, his +whiskers, his spectacles, and his walk; but he had also seen another +man, who resembled Sandy so closely that but for the difference in their +clothes, he was forced to acknowledge, he could not have told them +apart. Had he not seen the first man, he would have sworn with even +greater confidence that the second was Sandy. There had been, he +recalled, about one of the men--he had not been then nor was he now able +to tell which--something vaguely familiar, and yet seemingly discordant +to whichever of the two it was, or, as it seemed to him now, to any man +of that race. His mind reverted to the place where he had last seen +Sandy, and then a sudden wave of illumination swept over him, and filled +him with a thrill of horror. The cakewalk,--the dancing,--the +speech,--they were not Sandy's at all, nor any negro's! It was a white +man who had stood in the light of the street lamp, so that the casual +passer-by might see and recognize in him old Mr. Delamere's servant. The +scheme was a dastardly one, and worthy of a heart that was something +worse than weak and vicious. + +Ellis resolved that the negro should not, if he could prevent it, die +for another's crime; but what proof had he himself to offer in support +of his theory? Then again, if he denounced Tom Delamere as the murderer, +it would involve, in all probability, the destruction of his own hopes +with regard to Clara. Of course she could not marry Delamere after the +disclosure,--the disgraceful episode at the club would have been enough +to make that reasonably certain; it had put a nail in Delamere's coffin, +but this crime had driven it in to the head and clinched it. On the +other hand, would Miss Pemberton ever speak again to the man who had +been the instrument of bringing disgrace upon the family? Spies, +detectives, police officers, may be useful citizens, but they are rarely +pleasant company for other people. We fee the executioner, but we do not +touch his bloody hand. We might feel a certain tragic admiration for +Brutus condemning his sons to death, but we would scarcely invite Brutus +to dinner after the event. It would harrow our feelings too much. + +Perhaps, thought Ellis, there might be a way out of the dilemma. It +might be possible to save this innocent negro without, for the time +being, involving Delamere. He believed that murder will out, but it need +not be through his initiative. He determined to go to the jail and +interview the prisoner, who might give such an account of himself as +would establish his innocence beyond a doubt. If so, Ellis would exert +himself to stem the tide of popular fury. If, as a last resort, he +could save Sandy only by denouncing Delamere, he would do his duty, let +it cost him what it might. + +The gravity of his errand was not lessened by what he saw and heard on +the way to the jail. The anger of the people was at a white heat. A +white woman had been assaulted and murdered by a brutal negro. Neither +advanced age, nor high social standing, had been able to protect her +from the ferocity of a black savage. Her sex, which should have been her +shield and buckler, had made her an easy mark for the villainy of a +black brute. To take the time to try him would be a criminal waste of +public money. To hang him would be too slight a punishment for so +dastardly a crime. An example must be made. + +Already the preparations were under way for the impending execution. A +T-rail from the railroad yard had been procured, and men were burying it +in the square before the jail. Others were bringing chains, and a load +of pine wood was piled in convenient proximity. Some enterprising +individual had begun the erection of seats from which, for a pecuniary +consideration, the spectacle might be the more easily and comfortably +viewed. + +Ellis was stopped once or twice by persons of his acquaintance. From one +he learned that the railroads would run excursions from the neighboring +towns in order to bring spectators to the scene; from another that the +burning was to take place early in the evening, so that the children +might not be kept up beyond their usual bedtime. In one group that he +passed he heard several young men discussing the question of which +portions of the negro's body they would prefer for souvenirs. Ellis +shuddered and hastened forward. Whatever was to be done must be done +quickly, or it would be too late. He saw that already it would require a +strong case in favor of the accused to overcome the popular verdict. + +Going up the steps of the jail, he met Mr. Delamere, who was just coming +out, after a fruitless interview with Sandy. + +"Mr. Ellis," said the old gentleman, who seemed greatly agitated, "this +is monstrous!" + +"It is indeed, sir!" returned the younger man. "I mean to stop it if I +can. The negro did not kill Mrs. Ochiltree." + +Mr. Delamere looked at Ellis keenly, and, as Ellis recalled afterwards, +there was death in his eyes. Unable to draw a syllable from Sandy, he +had found his servant's silence more eloquent than words. Ellis felt a +presentiment that this affair, however it might terminate, would be +fatal to this fine old man, whom the city could ill spare, in spite of +his age and infirmities. + +"Mr. Ellis," asked Mr. Delamere, in a voice which trembled with +ill-suppressed emotion, "do you know who killed her?" + +Ellis felt a surging pity for his old friend; but every step that he had +taken toward the jail had confirmed and strengthened his own resolution +that this contemplated crime, which he dimly felt to be far more +atrocious than that of which Sandy was accused, in that it involved a +whole community rather than one vicious man, should be stopped at any +cost. Deplorable enough had the negro been guilty, it became, in view of +his certain innocence, an unspeakable horror, which for all time would +cover the city with infamy. "Mr. Delamere," he replied, looking the +elder man squarely in the eyes, "I think I do,--and I am very sorry." + +"And who was it, Mr. Ellis?" + +He put the question hopelessly, as though the answer were a foregone +conclusion. + +"I do not wish to say at present," replied Ellis, with a remorseful +pang, "unless it becomes absolutely necessary, to save the negro's life. +Accusations are dangerous,--as this case proves,--unless the proof, be +certain." + +For a moment it seemed as though Mr. Delamere would collapse upon the +spot. Rallying almost instantly, however, he took the arm which Ellis +involuntarily offered, and said with an effort:-- + +"Mr. Ellis, you are a gentleman whom it is an honor to know. If you have +time, I wish you would go with me to my house,--I can hardly trust +myself alone,--and thence to the Chronicle office. This thing shall be +stopped, and you will help me stop it." + +It required but a few minutes to cover the half mile that lay between +the prison and Mr. Delamere's residence. + + + + +XXVII + + +THE VAGARIES OF THE HIGHER LAW + +Mr. Delamere went immediately to his grandson's room, which he entered +alone, closing and locking the door behind him. He had requested Ellis +to wait in the carriage. + +The bed had been made, and the room was apparently in perfect order. +There was a bureau in the room, through which Mr. Delamere proceeded to +look thoroughly. Finding one of the drawers locked, he tried it with a +key of his own, and being unable to unlock it, took a poker from beside +the stove and broke it ruthlessly open. + +The contents served to confirm what he had heard concerning his +grandson's character. Thrown together in disorderly confusion were +bottles of wine and whiskey; soiled packs of cards; a dice-box with +dice; a box of poker chips, several revolvers, and a number of +photographs and paper-covered books at which the old gentleman merely +glanced to ascertain their nature. + +So far, while his suspicion had been strengthened, he had found nothing +to confirm it. He searched the room more carefully, and found, in the +wood-box by the small heating-stove which stood in the room, a torn and +crumpled bit of paper. Stooping to pick this up, his eye caught a gleam +of something yellow beneath the bureau, which lay directly in his line +of vision. + +First he smoothed out the paper. It was apparently the lower half of a +label, or part of the cover of a small box, torn diagonally from corner +to corner. From the business card at the bottom, which gave the name, of +a firm of manufacturers of theatrical supplies in a Northern city, and +from the letters remaining upon the upper and narrower half, the bit of +paper had plainly formed part of the wrapper of a package of burnt cork. + +Closing his fingers spasmodically over this damning piece of evidence, +Mr. Delamere knelt painfully, and with the aid of his cane drew out from +under the bureau the yellow object which, had attracted his attention. +It was a five-dollar gold piece of a date back toward the beginning of +the century. + +To make assurance doubly sure, Mr. Delamere summoned the cook from the +kitchen in the back yard. In answer to her master's questions, Sally +averred that Mr. Tom had got up very early, had knocked at her +window,--she slept in a room off the kitchen in the yard,--and had told +her that she need not bother about breakfast for him, as he had had a +cold bite from the pantry; that he was going hunting and fishing, and +would be gone all day. According to Sally, Mr. Tom had come in about ten +o'clock the night before. He had forgotten his night-key, Sandy was out, +and she had admitted him with her own key. He had said that he was very +tired and was going, immediately to bed. + +Mr. Delamere seemed perplexed; the crime had been committed later in the +evening than ten o'clock. The cook cleared up the mystery. + +"I reckon he must 'a' be'n dead ti'ed, suh, fer I went back ter his room +fifteen er twenty minutes after he come in fer ter fin' out w'at he +wanted fer breakfus'; an' I knock' two or three times, rale ha'd, an' +Mistuh Tom didn' wake up no mo' d'n de dead. He sho'ly had a good +sleep, er he'd never 'a' got up so ea'ly." + +"Thank you, Sally," said Mr. Delamere, when the woman had finished, +"that will do." + +"Will you be home ter suppah, suh?" asked the cook. + +"Yes." + +It was a matter of the supremest indifference to Mr. Delamere whether he +should ever eat again, but he would not betray his feelings to a +servant. In a few minutes he was driving rapidly with Ellis toward the +office of the Morning Chronicle. Ellis could see that Mr. Delamere had +discovered something of tragic import. Neither spoke. Ellis gave all his +attention to the horses, and Mr. Delamere remained wrapped in his own +sombre reflections. + +When they reached the office, they were informed by Jerry that Major +Carteret was engaged with General Belmont and Captain McBane. Mr. +Delamere knocked peremptorily at the door of the inner office, which was +opened by Carteret in person. + +"Oh, it is you, Mr. Delamere." + +"Carteret," exclaimed Mr. Delamere, "I must speak to you immediately, +and alone." + +"Excuse me a moment, gentlemen," said Carteret, turning to those within +the room. "I'll be back in a moment--don't go away." + +Ellis had left the room, closing the door behind him. Mr. Delamere and +Carteret were quite alone. + +"Carteret," declared the old gentleman, "this murder must not take +place." + +"'Murder' is a hard word," replied the editor, frowning slightly. + +"It is the right word," rejoined Mr. Delamere, decidedly. "It would be a +foul and most unnatural murder, for Sandy did not kill Mrs. Ochiltree." + +Carteret with difficulty restrained a smile of pity. His old friend was +very much excited, as the tremor in his voice gave proof. The criminal +was his trusted servant, who had proved unworthy of confidence. No one +could question Mr. Delamere's motives; but he was old, his judgment was +no longer to be relied upon. It was a great pity that he should so +excite and overstrain himself about a worthless negro, who had forfeited +his life for a dastardly crime. Mr. Delamere had had two paralytic +strokes, and a third might prove fatal. He must be dealt with gently. + +"Mr. Delamere," he said, with patient tolerance, "I think you are +deceived. There is but one sure way to stop this execution. If your +servant is innocent, you must produce the real criminal. If the negro, +with such overwhelming proofs against him, is not guilty, who is?" + +"I will tell you who is," replied Mr. Delamere. "The murderer is,"--the +words came with a note of anguish, as though torn from his very +heart,--"the murderer is Tom Delamere, my own grandson!" + +"Impossible, sir!" exclaimed Carteret, starting back involuntarily. +"That could not be! The man was seen leaving the house, and he was +black!" + +"All cats are gray in the dark, Carteret; and, moreover, nothing is +easier than for a white man to black his face. God alone knows how many +crimes have been done in this guise! Tom Delamere, to get the money to +pay his gambling debts, committed this foul murder, and then tried to +fasten it upon as honest and faithful a soul as ever trod the earth." + +Carteret, though at first overwhelmed by this announcement, perceived +with quick intuition that it might easily be true. It was but a step +from fraud to crime, and in Delamere's need of money there lay a +palpable motive for robbery,--the murder may have been an afterthought. +Delamere knew as much about the cedar chest as the negro could have +known, and more. + +But a white man must not be condemned without proof positive. + +"What foundation is there, sir," he asked, "for this astounding charge?" + +Mr. Delamere related all that had taken place since he had left +Belleview a couple of hours before, and as he proceeded, step by step, +every word carried conviction to Carteret. Tom Delamere's skill as a +mimic and a negro impersonator was well known; he had himself laughed at +more than one of his performances. There had been a powerful motive, and +Mr. Delamere's discoveries had made clear the means. Tom's unusual +departure, before breakfast, on a fishing expedition was a suspicious +circumstance. There was a certain devilish ingenuity about the affair +which he would hardly have expected of Tom Delamere, but for which the +reason was clear enough. One might have thought that Tom would have been +satisfied with merely blacking his face, and leaving to chance the +identification of the negro who might be apprehended. He would hardly +have implicated, out of pure malignity, his grandfather's old servant, +who had been his own care-taker for many years. Here, however, Carteret +could see where Tom's own desperate position operated to furnish a +probable motive for the crime. The surest way to head off suspicion from +himself was to direct it strongly toward some particular person, and +this he had been able to do conclusively by his access to Sandy's +clothes, his skill in making up to resemble him, and by the episode of +the silk purse. By placing himself beyond reach during the next day, he +would not be called upon to corroborate or deny any inculpating +statements which Sandy might make, and in the very probable case that +the crime should be summarily avenged, any such statements on Sandy's +part would be regarded as mere desperate subterfuges of the murderer to +save his own life. It was a bad affair. + +"The case seems clear," said Carteret reluctantly but conclusively. "And +now, what shall we do about it?" + +"I want you to print a handbill," said Mr. Delamere, "and circulate it +through the town, stating that Sandy Campbell is innocent and Tom +Delamere guilty of this crime. If this is not done, I will go myself and +declare it to all who will listen, and I will publicly disown the +villain who is no more grandson of mine. There is no deeper sink of +iniquity into which he could fall." + +Carteret's thoughts were chasing one another tumultuously. There could +be no doubt that the negro was innocent, from the present aspect of +affairs, and he must not be lynched; but in what sort of position would +the white people be placed, if Mr. Delamere carried out his Spartan +purpose of making the true facts known? The white people of the city had +raised the issue of their own superior morality, and had themselves made +this crime a race question. The success of the impending "revolution," +for which he and his _confreres_ had labored so long, depended in large +measure upon the maintenance of their race prestige, which would be +injured in the eyes of the world by such a fiasco. While they might yet +win by sheer force, their cause would suffer in the court of morals, +where they might stand convicted as pirates, instead of being applauded +as patriots. Even the negroes would have the laugh on them,--the people +whom they hoped to make approve and justify their own despoilment. To be +laughed at by the negroes was a calamity only less terrible than failure +or death. + +Such an outcome of an event which had already been heralded to the four +corners of the earth would throw a cloud of suspicion upon the stories +of outrage which had gone up from the South for so many years, and had +done so much to win the sympathy of the North for the white South and to +alienate it from the colored people. The reputation of the race was +threatened. They must not lynch the negro, and yet, for the credit of +the town, its aristocracy, and the race, the truth of this ghastly story +must not see the light,--at least not yet. + +"Mr. Delamere," he exclaimed, "I am shocked and humiliated. The negro +must be saved, of course, but--consider the family honor." + +"Tom is no longer a member of my family. I disown him. He has covered +the family name--my name, sir--with infamy. We have no longer a family +honor. I wish never to hear his name spoken again!" + +For several minutes Carteret argued with his old friend. Then he went +into the other room and consulted with General Belmont. As a result of +these conferences, and of certain urgent messages sent out, within half +an hour thirty or forty of the leading citizens of Wellington were +gathered in the Morning Chronicle office. Several other curious persons, +observing that there was something in the wind, and supposing correctly +that it referred to the projected event of the evening, crowded in with +those who had been invited. + +Carteret was in another room, still arguing with Mr. Delamere. "It's a +mere formality, sir," he was saying suavely, "accompanied by a mental +reservation. We know the facts; but this must be done to justify us, in +the eyes of the mob, in calling them off before they accomplish their +purpose." + +"Carteret," said the old man, in a voice eloquent of the struggle +through which he had passed, "I would not perjure myself to prolong my +own miserable existence another day, but God will forgive a sin +committed to save another's life. Upon your head be it, Carteret, and +not on mine!" + +"Gentlemen," said Carteret, entering with Mr. Delamere the room where +the men were gathered, and raising his hand for silence, "the people of +Wellington were on the point of wreaking vengeance upon a negro who was +supposed to have been guilty of a terrible crime. The white men of this +city, impelled by the highest and holiest sentiments, were about to take +steps to defend their hearthstones and maintain the purity and +ascendency of their race. Your purpose sprung from hearts wounded in +their tenderest susceptibilities." + +"'Rah, 'rah!" shouted a tipsy sailor, who had edged in with the crowd. + +"But this same sense of justice," continued Carteret oratorically, +"which would lead you to visit swift and terrible punishment upon the +guilty, would not permit you to slay an innocent man. Even a negro, as +long as he behaves himself and keeps in his place, is entitled to the +protection of the law. We may be stern and unbending in the punishment +of crime, as befits our masterful race, but we hold the scales of +justice with even and impartial hand." + +"'Rah f' 'mpa'tial ban'!" cried the tipsy sailor, who was immediately +ejected with slight ceremony. + +"We have discovered, beyond a doubt, that the negro Sandy Campbell, now +in custody, did not commit this robbery and murder, but that it was +perpetrated by some unknown man, who has fled from the city. Our +venerable and distinguished fellow townsman, Mr. Delamere, in whose +employment this Campbell has been for many years, will vouch for his +character, and states, furthermore, that Campbell was with him all last +night, covering any hour at which this crime could have been committed." + +"If Mr. Delamere will swear to that," said some one in the crowd, "the +negro should not be lynched." + +There were murmurs of dissent. The preparations had all been made. There +would be great disappointment if the lynching did not occur. + +"Let Mr. Delamere swear, if he wants to save the nigger," came again +from the crowd. + +"Certainly," assented Carteret. "Mr. Delamere can have no possible +objection to taking the oath. Is there a notary public present, or a +justice of the peace?" + +A man stepped forward. "I am a justice of the peace," he announced. + +"Very well, Mr. Smith," said Carteret, recognizing the speaker. "With +your permission, I will formulate the oath, and Mr. Delamere may repeat +it after me, if he will. I solemnly swear,"-- + +"I solemnly swear,"-- + +Mr. Delamere's voice might have come from the tomb, so hollow and +unnatural did it sound. + +"So help me God,"-- + +"So help me God,"-- + +"That the negro Sandy Campbell, now in jail on the charge of murder, +robbery, and assault, was in my presence last night between the hours of +eight and two o'clock." + +Mr. Delamere repeated this statement in a firm voice; but to Ellis, who +was in the secret, his words fell upon the ear like clods dropping upon +the coffin in an open grave. + +"I wish to add," said General Belmont, stepping forward, "that it is not +our intention to interfere, by anything which may be done at this +meeting, with the orderly process of the law, or to advise the +prisoner's immediate release. The prisoner will remain in custody, Mr. +Delamere, Major Carteret, and I guaranteeing that he will be proved +entirely innocent at the preliminary hearing to-morrow morning." + +Several of those present looked relieved; others were plainly, +disappointed; but when the meeting ended, the news went out that the +lynching had been given up. Carteret immediately wrote and had struck +off a handbill giving a brief statement of the proceedings, and sent out +a dozen boys to distribute copies among the people in the streets. That +no precaution might be omitted, a call was issued to the Wellington +Grays, the crack independent military company of the city, who in an +incredibly short time were on guard at the jail. Thus a slight change +in the point of view had demonstrated the entire ability of the leading +citizens to maintain the dignified and orderly processes of the law +whenever they saw fit to do so. + + * * * * * + +The night passed without disorder, beyond the somewhat rough handling of +two or three careless negroes that came in the way of small parties of +the disappointed who had sought alcoholic consolation. + +At ten o'clock the next morning, a preliminary hearing of the charge +against Campbell was had before a magistrate. Mr. Delamere, perceptibly +older and more wizened than he had seemed the day before, and leaning +heavily on the arm of a servant, repeated his statement of the evening +before. Only one or two witnesses were called, among whom was Mr. Ellis, +who swore positively that in his opinion the prisoner was not the man +whom he had seen and at first supposed to be Campbell. The most +sensational piece of testimony was that of Dr. Price, who had examined +the body, and who swore that the wound in the head was not necessarily +fatal, and might have been due to a fall,--that she had more than likely +died of shock attendant upon the robbery, she being of advanced age and +feeble health. There was no evidence, he said, of any other personal +violence. + +Sandy was not even bound over to the grand jury, but was discharged upon +the ground that there was not sufficient evidence upon which to hold +him. Upon his release he received the congratulations of many present, +some of whom would cheerfully have done him to death a few hours before. +With the childish fickleness of a mob, they now experienced a +satisfaction almost as great as, though less exciting than, that +attendant upon taking life. We speak of the mysteries of inanimate +nature. The workings of the human heart are the profoundest mystery of +the universe. One moment they make us despair of our kind, and the next +we see in them the reflection of the divine image. Sandy, having thus +escaped from the Mr. Hyde of the mob, now received the benediction of +its Dr. Jekyll. Being no cynical philosopher, and realizing how nearly +the jaws of death had closed upon him, he was profoundly grateful for +his escape, and felt not the slightest desire to investigate or +criticise any man's motives. + +With the testimony of Dr. Price, the worst feature of the affair came to +an end. The murder eliminated or rendered doubtful, the crime became a +mere vulgar robbery, the extent of which no one could estimate, since no +living soul knew how much money Mrs. Ochiltree had had in the cedar +chest. The absurdity of the remaining charge became more fully apparent +in the light of the reaction from the excitement of the day before. + +Nothing further was ever done about the case; but though the crime went +unpunished, it carried evil in its train. As we have seen, the charge +against Campbell had been made against the whole colored race. All over +the United States the Associated Press had flashed the report of another +dastardly outrage by a burly black brute,--all black brutes it seems are +burly,--and of the impending lynching with its prospective horrors. This +news, being highly sensational in its character, had been displayed in +large black type on the front pages of the daily papers. The dispatch +that followed, to the effect that the accused had been found innocent +and the lynching frustrated, received slight attention, if any, in a +fine-print paragraph on an inside page. The facts of the case never came +out at all. The family honor of the Delameres was preserved, and the +prestige of the white race in Wellington was not seriously impaired. + + * * * * * + +Upon leaving the preliminary hearing, old Mr. Delamere had requested +General Belmont to call at his house during the day upon professional +business. This the general did in the course of the afternoon. + +"Belmont," said Mr. Delamere, "I wish to make my will. I should have +drawn it with my own hand; but you know my motives, and can testify to +my soundness of mind and memory." + +He thereupon dictated a will, by the terms of which he left to his +servant, Sandy Campbell, three thousand dollars, as a mark of the +testator's appreciation of services rendered and sufferings endured by +Sandy on behalf of his master. After some minor dispositions, the whole +remainder of the estate was devised to Dr. William Miller, in trust for +the uses of his hospital and training-school for nurses, on condition +that the institution be incorporated and placed under the management of +competent trustees. Tom Delamere was not mentioned in the will. + +"There, Belmont," he said, "that load is off my mind. Now, if you will +call in some witnesses,--most of my people can write,--I shall feel +entirely at ease." + +The will was signed by Mr. Delamere, and witnessed by Jeff and Billy, +two servants in the house, neither of whom received any information as +to its contents, beyond the statement that they were witnessing their +master's will. "I wish to leave that with you for safe keeping, +Belmont," said Mr. Delamere, after the witnesses had retired. "Lock it +up in your safe until I die, which will not be very long, since I have +no further desire to live." + +An hour later Mr. Delamere suffered a third paralytic stroke, from which +he died two days afterwards, without having in the meantime recovered +the power of speech. + +The will was never produced. The servants stated, and General Belmont +admitted, that Mr. Delamere had made a will a few days before his death; +but since it was not discoverable, it seemed probable that the testator +had destroyed it. This was all the more likely, the general was inclined +to think, because the will had been of a most unusual character. What +the contents of the will were, he of course did not state, it having +been made under the seal of professional secrecy. + +This suppression was justified by the usual race argument: Miller's +hospital was already well established, and, like most negro +institutions, could no doubt rely upon Northern philanthropy for any +further support it might need. Mr. Delamere's property belonged of right +to the white race, and by the higher law should remain in the possession +of white people. Loyalty to one's race was a more sacred principle than +deference to a weak old man's whims. + +Having reached this conclusion, General Belmont's first impulse was to +destroy the will; on second thoughts he locked it carefully away in his +safe. He would hold it awhile. It might some time be advisable to talk +the matter over with young Delamere, who was of a fickle disposition and +might wish to change his legal adviser. + + + + +XXVIII + + +IN SEASON AND OUT + +Wellington soon resumed its wonted calm, and in a few weeks the intended +lynching was only a memory. The robbery and assault, however, still +remained a mystery to all but a chosen few. The affair had been dropped +as absolutely as though it had never occurred. No colored man ever +learned the reason of this sudden change of front, and Sandy Campbell's +loyalty to his old employer's memory kept him silent. Tom Delamere did +not offer to retain Sandy in his service, though he presented him with +most of the old gentleman's wardrobe. It is only justice to Tom to state +that up to this time he had not been informed of the contents of his +grandfather's latest will. Major Carteret gave Sandy employment as +butler, thus making a sort of vicarious atonement, on the part of the +white race, of which the major felt himself in a way the embodiment, for +the risk to which Sandy had been subjected. + +Shortly after these events Sandy was restored to the bosom of the +church, and, enfolded by its sheltering arms, was no longer tempted to +stray from the path of rectitude, but became even a more rigid Methodist +than before his recent troubles. + +Tom Delamere did not call upon Clara again in the character of a lover. +Of course they could not help meeting, from time to time, but he never +dared presume upon their former relations. Indeed, the social +atmosphere of Wellington remained so frigid toward Delamere that he left +town, and did not return for several months. + +Ellis was aware that Delamere had been thrown over, but a certain +delicacy restrained him from following up immediately the advantage +which the absence of his former rival gave him. It seemed to him, with +the quixotry of a clean, pure mind, that Clara would pass through a +period of mourning for her lost illusion, and that it would be +indelicate, for the time being, to approach her with a lover's +attentions. The work of the office had been unusually heavy of late. The +major, deeply absorbed in politics, left the detail work of the paper to +Ellis. Into the intimate counsels of the revolutionary committee Ellis +had not been admitted, nor would he have desired to be. He knew, of +course, in a general way, the results that it was sought to achieve; and +while he did not see their necessity, he deferred to the views of older +men, and was satisfied to remain in ignorance of anything which he might +disapprove. Moreover, his own personal affairs occupied his mind to an +extent that made politics or any other subject a matter of minor +importance. + +As for Dr. Miller, he never learned of Mr. Delamere's good intentions +toward his institution, but regretted the old gentleman's death as the +loss of a sincere friend and well-wisher of his race in their unequal +struggle. + +Despite the untiring zeal of Carteret and his associates, the campaign +for the restriction of the suffrage, which was to form the basis of a +permanent white supremacy, had seemed to languish for a while after the +Ochiltree affair. The lull, however, was only temporary, and more +apparent than real, for the forces adverse to the negro were merely +gathering strength for a more vigorous assault. While little was said in +Wellington, public sentiment all over the country became every day more +favorable to the views of the conspirators. The nation was rushing +forward with giant strides toward colossal wealth and world-dominion, +before the exigencies of which mere abstract ethical theories must not +be permitted to stand. The same argument that justified the conquest of +an inferior nation could not be denied to those who sought the +suppression of an inferior race. In the South, an obscure jealousy of +the negro's progress, an obscure fear of the very equality so +contemptuously denied, furnished a rich soil for successful agitation. +Statistics of crime, ingeniously manipulated, were made to present a +fearful showing against the negro. Vital statistics were made to prove +that he had degenerated from an imaginary standard of physical +excellence which had existed under the benign influence of slavery. +Constant lynchings emphasized his impotence, and bred everywhere a +growing contempt for his rights. + +At the North, a new Pharaoh had risen, who knew not Israel,--a new +generation, who knew little of the fierce passions which had played +around the negro in a past epoch, and derived their opinions of him from +the "coon song" and the police reports. Those of his old friends who +survived were disappointed that he had not flown with clipped wings; +that he had not in one generation of limited opportunity attained the +level of the whites. The whole race question seemed to have reached a +sort of _impasse_, a blind alley, of which no one could see the outlet. +The negro had become a target at which any one might try a shot. +Schoolboys gravely debated the question as to whether or not the negro +should exercise the franchise. The pessimist gave him up in despair; +while the optimist, smilingly confident that everything would come out +all right in the end, also turned aside and went his buoyant way to more +pleasing themes. + +For a time there were white men in the state who opposed any reactionary +step unless it were of general application. They were conscientious men, +who had learned the ten commandments and wished to do right; but this +class was a small minority, and their objections were soon silenced by +the all-powerful race argument. Selfishness is the most constant of +human motives. Patriotism, humanity, or the love of God may lead to +sporadic outbursts which sweep away the heaped-up wrongs of centuries; +but they languish at times, while the love of self works on ceaselessly, +unwearyingly, burrowing always at the very roots of life, and heaping up +fresh wrongs for other centuries to sweep away. The state was at the +mercy of venal and self-seeking politicians, bent upon regaining their +ascendency at any cost, stultifying their own minds by vague sophistries +and high-sounding phrases, which deceived none but those who wished to +be deceived, and these but imperfectly; and dulling the public +conscience by a loud clamor in which the calm voice of truth was for the +moment silenced. So the cause went on. + +Carteret, as spokesman of the campaign, and sincerest of all its +leaders, performed prodigies of labor. The Morning Chronicle proclaimed, +in season and out, the doctrine of "White Supremacy." Leaving the paper +in charge of Ellis, the major made a tour of the state, rousing the +white people of the better class to an appreciation of the terrible +danger which confronted them in the possibility that a few negroes might +hold a few offices or dictate the terms upon which white men should fill +them. Difficulties were explained away. The provisions of the Federal +Constitution, it was maintained, must yield to the "higher law," and if +the Constitution could neither be altered nor bent to this end, means +must be found to circumvent it. + +The device finally hit upon for disfranchising the colored people in +this particular state was the notorious "grandfather clause." After +providing various restrictions of the suffrage, based upon education, +character, and property, which it was deemed would in effect +disfranchise the colored race, an exception was made in favor of all +citizens whose fathers or grandfathers had been entitled to vote prior +to 1867. Since none but white men could vote prior to 1867, this +exception obviously took in the poor and ignorant whites, while the same +class of negroes were excluded. + +It was ingenious, but it was not fair. In due time a constitutional +convention was called, in which the above scheme was adopted and +submitted to a vote of the people for ratification. The campaign was +fought on the color line. Many white Republicans, deluded with the hope +that by the elimination of the negro vote their party might receive +accessions from the Democratic ranks, went over to the white party. By +fraud in one place, by terrorism in another, and everywhere by the +resistless moral force of the united whites, the negroes were reduced to +the apathy of despair, their few white allies demoralized, and the +amendment adopted by a large majority. The negroes were taught that +this is a white man's country, and that the sooner they made up their +minds to this fact, the better for all concerned. The white people would +be good to them so long as they behaved themselves and kept their place. +As theoretical equals,--practical equality being forever out of the +question, either by nature or by law,--there could have been nothing but +strife between them, in which the weaker party would invariably have +suffered most. + +Some colored men accepted the situation thus outlined, if not as +desirable, at least as inevitable. Most of them, however, had little +faith in this condescending friendliness which was to take the place of +constitutional rights. They knew they had been treated unfairly; that +their enemies had prevailed against them; that their whilom friends had +stood passively by and seen them undone. Many of the most enterprising +and progressive left the state, and those who remain still labor under a +sense of wrong and outrage which renders them distinctly less valuable +as citizens. + +The great steal was made, but the thieves did not turn honest,--the +scheme still shows the mark of the burglar's tools. Sins, like chickens, +come home to roost. The South paid a fearful price for the wrong of +negro slavery; in some form or other it will doubtless reap the fruits +of this later iniquity. + +Drastic as were these "reforms," the results of which we have +anticipated somewhat, since the new Constitution was not to take effect +immediately, they moved all too slowly for the little coterie of +Wellington conspirators, whose ambitions and needs urged them to prompt +action. Under the new Constitution it would be two full years before the +"nigger amendment" became effective, and meanwhile the Wellington +district would remain hopelessly Republican. The committee decided, +about two months before the fall election, that an active local campaign +must be carried on, with a view to discourage the negroes from attending +the polls on election day. + +The question came up for discussion one forenoon in a meeting at the +office of the Morning Chronicle, at which all of the "Big Three" were +present. + +"Something must be done," declared McBane, "and that damn quick. Too +many white people are saying that it will be better to wait until the +amendment goes into effect. That would mean to leave the niggers in +charge of this town for two years after the state has declared for white +supremacy! I'm opposed to leaving it in their hands one hour,--them's +my sentiments!" + +This proved to be the general opinion, and the discussion turned to the +subject of ways and means. + +"What became of that editorial in the nigger paper?" inquired the +general in his blandest tones, cleverly directing a smoke ring toward +the ceiling. "It lost some of its point back there, when we came near +lynching that nigger; but now that that has blown over, why wouldn't it +be a good thing to bring into play at the present juncture? Let's read +it over again." + +Carteret extracted the paper from the pigeon-hole where he had placed it +some months before. The article was read aloud with emphasis and +discussed phrase by phrase. Of its wording there could be little +criticism,--it was temperately and even cautiously phrased. As +suggested by the general, the Ochiltree affair had proved that it was +not devoid of truth. Its great offensiveness lay in its boldness: that a +negro should publish in a newspaper what white people would scarcely +acknowledge to themselves in secret was much as though a Russian +_moujik_ or a German peasant should rush into print to question the +divine right of the Lord's Anointed. The article was racial +_lese-majeste_ in the most aggravated form. A peg was needed upon which +to hang a _coup d'etat_, and this editorial offered the requisite +opportunity. It was unanimously decided to republish the obnoxious +article, with comment adapted to fire the inflammable Southern heart and +rouse it against any further self-assertion of the negroes in politics +or elsewhere. + +"The time is ripe!" exclaimed McBane. "In a month we can have the +niggers so scared that they won't dare stick their heads out of doors on +'lection day." + +"I wonder," observed the general thoughtfully, after this conclusion had +been reached, "if we couldn't have Jerry fetch us some liquor?" + +Jerry appeared in response to the usual summons. The general gave him +the money, and ordered three Calhoun cocktails. When Jerry returned with +the glasses on a tray, the general observed him with pointed curiosity. + +"What, in h--ll is the matter with you, Jerry? Your black face is +splotched with brown and yellow patches, and your hair shines as though +you had fallen head-foremost into a firkin of butter. What's the matter +with you?" + +Jerry seemed much embarrassed by this inquiry. + +"Nothin', suh, nothin'," he stammered. "It's--it's jes' somethin' I +be'n puttin' on my hair, suh, ter improve de quality, suh." + +"Jerry," returned the general, bending a solemn look upon the porter, +"you have been playing with edged tools, and your days are numbered. You +have been reading the Afro-American Banner." + +He shook open the paper, which he had retained in his hand, and read +from one of the advertisements:-- + +"'Kinky, curly hair made straight in two applications. Dark skins +lightened two shades; mulattoes turned perfectly white.' + +"This stuff is rank poison, Jerry," continued the general with a mock +solemnity which did not impose upon Jerry, who nevertheless listened +with an air of great alarm. He suspected that the general was making fun +of him; but he also knew that the general would like to think that Jerry +believed him in earnest; and to please the white folks was Jerry's +consistent aim in life. "I can see the signs of decay in your face, and +your hair will all fall out in a week or two at the latest,--mark my +words!" + +McBane had listened to this pleasantry with a sardonic sneer. It was a +waste of valuable time. To Carteret it seemed in doubtful taste. These +grotesque advertisements had their tragic side. They were proof that the +negroes had read the handwriting on the wall. These pitiful attempts to +change their physical characteristics were an acknowledgment, on their +own part, that the negro was doomed, and that the white man was to +inherit the earth and hold all other races under his heel. For, as the +months had passed, Carteret's thoughts, centring more and more upon the +negro, had led him farther and farther, until now he was firmly +convinced that there was no permanent place for the negro in the United +States, if indeed anywhere in the world, except under the ground. More +pathetic even than Jerry's efforts to escape from the universal doom of +his race was his ignorance that even if he could, by some strange +alchemy, bleach his skin and straighten his hair, there would still +remain, underneath it all, only the unbleached darky,--the ass in the +lion's skin. + +When the general had finished his facetious lecture, Jerry backed out of +the room shamefacedly, though affecting a greater confusion than he +really felt. Jerry had not reasoned so closely as Carteret, but he had +realized that it was a distinct advantage to be white,--an advantage +which white people had utilized to secure all the best things in the +world; and he had entertained the vague hope that by changing his +complexion he might share this prerogative. While he suspected the +general's sincerity, he nevertheless felt a little apprehensive lest the +general's prediction about the effects of the face-bleach and other +preparations might prove true,--the general was a white gentleman and +ought to know,--and decided to abandon their use. + +This purpose was strengthened by his next interview with the major. When +Carteret summoned him, an hour later, after the other gentlemen had +taken their leave, Jerry had washed his head thoroughly and there +remained no trace of the pomade. An attempt to darken the lighter spots +in his cuticle by the application of printer's ink had not proved +equally successful,--the retouching left the spots as much too dark as +they had formerly been too light. + +"Jerry," said Carteret sternly, "when I hired you to work for the +Chronicle, you were black. The word 'negro' means 'black.' The best +negro is a black negro, of the pure type, as it came from the hand of +God. If you wish to get along well with the white people, the blacker +you are the better,--white people do not like negroes who want to be +white. A man should be content to remain as God made him and where God +placed him. So no more of this nonsense. Are you going to vote at the +next election?" + +"What would you 'vise me ter do, suh?" asked Jerry cautiously. + +"I do not advise you. You ought to have sense enough to see where your +own interests lie. I put it to you whether you cannot trust yourself +more safely in the hands of white gentlemen, who are your true friends, +than in the hands of ignorant and purchasable negroes and unscrupulous +white scoundrels?" + +"Dere's no doubt about it, suh," assented Jerry, with a vehemence +proportioned to his desire to get back into favor. "I ain' gwine ter +have nothin' ter do wid de 'lection, suh! Ef I don' vote, I kin keep my +job, can't I, suh?" + +The major eyed Jerry with an air of supreme disgust. What could be +expected of a race so utterly devoid of tact? It seemed as though this +negro thought a white gentleman might want to bribe him to remain away +from the polls; and the negro's willingness to accept the imaginary +bribe demonstrated the venal nature of the colored race,--its entire +lack of moral principle! + +"You will retain your place, Jerry," he said severely, "so long as you +perform your duties to my satisfaction and behave yourself properly." + +With this grandiloquent subterfuge Carteret turned to his next article +on white supremacy. Jerry did not delude himself with any fine-spun +sophistry. He knew perfectly well that he held his job upon the +condition that he stayed away from the polls at the approaching +election. Jerry was a fool-- + +"The world of fools hath such a store, + That he who would not see an ass, +Must stay at home and shut his door + And break his looking-glass." + +But while no one may be entirely wise, there are degrees of folly, and +Jerry was not all kinds of a fool. + + + + +XXIX + + +MUTTERINGS OF THE STORM + +Events moved rapidly during the next few days. The reproduction, in the +Chronicle, of the article from the Afro-American Banner, with Carteret's +inflammatory comment, took immediate effect. It touched the Southern +white man in his most sensitive spot. To him such an article was an +insult to white womanhood, and must be resented by some active +steps,--mere words would be no answer at all. To meet words with words +upon such a subject would be to acknowledge the equality of the negro +and his right to discuss or criticise the conduct of the white people. + +The colored people became alarmed at the murmurings of the whites, which +seemed to presage a coming storm. A number of them sought to arm +themselves, but ascertained, upon inquiring at the stores, that no white +merchant would sell a negro firearms. Since all the dealers in this sort +of merchandise were white men, the negroes had to be satisfied with +oiling up the old army muskets which some of them possessed, and the few +revolvers with which a small rowdy element generally managed to keep +themselves supplied. Upon an effort being made to purchase firearms from +a Northern city, the express company, controlled by local men, refused +to accept the consignment. The white people, on the other hand, procured +both arms and ammunition in large quantities, and the Wellington Grays +drilled with great assiduity at their armory. + +All this went on without any public disturbance of the town's +tranquillity. A stranger would have seen nothing to excite his +curiosity. The white people did their talking among themselves, and +merely grew more distant in their manner toward the colored folks, who +instinctively closed their ranks as the whites drew away. With each day +that passed the feeling grew more tense. The editor of the Afro-American +Banner, whose office had been quietly garrisoned for several nights by +armed negroes, became frightened, and disappeared from the town between +two suns. + +The conspirators were jubilant at the complete success of their plans. +It only remained for them to so direct this aroused public feeling that +it might completely accomplish the desired end,--to change the political +complexion of the city government and assure the ascendency of the +whites until the amendment should go into effect. A revolution, and not +a riot, was contemplated. + +With this end in view, another meeting was called at Carteret's office. + +"We are now ready," announced General Belmont, "for the final act of +this drama. We must decide promptly, or events may run away from us." + +"What do you suggest?" asked Carteret. + +"Down in the American tropics," continued the general, "they have a way +of doing things. I was in Nicaragua, ten years ago, when Paterno's +revolution drove out Igorroto's government. It was as easy as falling +off a log. Paterno had the arms and the best men. Igorroto was not +looking for trouble, and the guns were at his breast before he knew it. +We have the guns. The negroes are not expecting trouble, and are easy +to manage compared with the fiery mixture that flourishes in the +tropics." + +"I should not advocate murder," returned Carteret. "We are animated by +high and holy principles. We wish to right a wrong, to remedy an abuse, +to save our state from anarchy and our race from humiliation. I don't +object to frightening the negroes, but I am opposed to unnecessary +bloodshed." + +"I'm not quite so particular," struck in McBane. "They need to be +taught a lesson, and a nigger more or less wouldn't be missed. There's +too many of 'em now." + +"Of course," continued Carteret, "if we should decide upon a certain +mode of procedure, and the negroes should resist, a different reasoning +might apply; but I will have no premeditated murder." + +"In Central and South America," observed the general reflectively, "none +are hurt except those who get in the way." + +"There'll be no niggers hurt," said McBane contemptuously, "unless they +strain themselves running. One white man can chase a hundred of 'em. +I've managed five hundred at a time. I'll pay for burying all the +niggers that are killed." + +The conference resulted in a well-defined plan, to be put into operation +the following day, by which the city government was to be wrested from +the Republicans and their negro allies. + +"And now," said General Belmont, "while we are cleansing the Augean +stables, we may as well remove the cause as the effect. There are +several negroes too many in this town, which will be much the better +without them. There's that yellow lawyer, Watson. He's altogether too +mouthy, and has too much business. Every nigger that gets into trouble +sends for Watson, and white lawyers, with families to support and social +positions to keep up, are deprived of their legitimate source of +income." + +"There's that damn nigger real estate agent," blurted out McBane. "Billy +Kitchen used to get most of the nigger business, but this darky has +almost driven him to the poorhouse. A white business man is entitled to +a living in his own profession and his own home. That nigger don't +belong here nohow. He came from the North a year or two ago, and is hand +in glove with Barber, the nigger editor, which is enough of itself to +damn him. _He'll_ have to go!" + +"How about the collector of the port?" + +"We'd better not touch him. It would bring the government down upon us, +which we want to avoid. We don't need to worry about the nigger +preachers either. They want to stay here, where the loaves and the +fishes are. We can make 'em write letters to the newspapers justifying +our course, as a condition of their remaining." + +"What about Billings?" asked McBane. Billings was the white Republican +mayor. "Is that skunk to be allowed to stay in town?" + +"No," returned the general, "every white Republican office-holder ought +to be made to go. This town is only big enough for Democrats, and +negroes who can be taught to keep their place." + +"What about the colored doctor," queried McBane, "with the hospital, and +the diamond ring, and the carriage, and the other fallals?" + +"I shouldn't interfere with Miller," replied the general decisively. +"He's a very good sort of a negro, doesn't meddle with politics, nor +tread on any one else's toes. His father was a good citizen, which +counts in his favor. He's spending money in the community too, and +contributes to its prosperity." + +"That sort of nigger, though, sets a bad example," retorted McBane. +"They make it all the harder to keep the rest of 'em down." + +"'One swallow does not make a summer,'" quoted the general. "When we get +things arranged, there'll be no trouble. A stream cannot rise higher +than its fountain, and a smart nigger without a constituency will no +longer be an object of fear. I say, let the doctor alone." + +"He'll have to keep mighty quiet, though," muttered McBane +discontentedly. "I don't like smart niggers. I've had to shoot several +of them, in the course of my life." + +"Personally, I dislike the man," interposed Carteret, "and if I +consulted my own inclinations, would say expel him with the rest; but my +grievance is a personal one, and to gratify it in that way would be a +loss to the community. I wish to be strictly impartial in this matter, +and to take no step which cannot be entirely justified by a wise regard +for the public welfare." + +"What's the use of all this hypocrisy, gentlemen?" sneered McBane. +"Every last one of us has an axe to grind! The major may as well put an +edge on his. We'll never get a better chance to have things our way. If +this nigger doctor annoys the major, we'll run him out with the rest. +This is a white man's country, and a white man's city, and no nigger has +any business here when a white man wants him gone!" + +Carteret frowned darkly at this brutal characterization of their +motives. It robbed the enterprise of all its poetry, and put a solemn +act of revolution upon the plane of a mere vulgar theft of power. Even +the general winced. + +"I would not consent," he said irritably, "to Miller's being disturbed." + +McBane made no further objection. + +There was a discreet knock at the door. + +"Come in," said Carteret. + +Jerry entered. "Mistuh Ellis wants ter speak ter you a minute, suh," he +said. + +Carteret excused himself and left the room. + +"Jerry," said the general, "you lump of ebony, the sight of you reminds +me! If your master doesn't want you for a minute, step across to Mr. +Brown's and tell him to send me three cocktails." + +"Yas, suh," responded Jerry, hesitating. The general had said nothing +about paying. + +"And tell him, Jerry, to charge them. I'm short of change to-day." + +"Yas, suh; yas, suh," replied Jerry, as he backed out of the presence, +adding, when he had reached the hall: "Dere ain' no change fer Jerry dis +time, sho': I'll jes' make dat _fo_' cocktails, an' de gin'l won't +never know de diffe'nce. I ain' gwine 'cross de road fer nothin', not ef +I knows it." + +Half an hour later, the conspirators dispersed. They had fixed the hour +of the proposed revolution, the course to be pursued, the results to be +obtained; but in stating their equation they had overlooked one +factor,--God, or Fate, or whatever one may choose to call the Power that +holds the destinies of man in the hollow of his hand. + + + + +XXX + + +THE MISSING PAPERS + +Mrs. Carteret was very much disturbed. It was supposed that the shock of +her aunt's death had affected her health, for since that event she had +fallen into a nervous condition which gave the major grave concern. Much +to the general surprise, Mrs. Ochiltree had left no will, and no +property of any considerable value except her homestead, which descended +to Mrs. Carteret as the natural heir. Whatever she may have had on hand +in the way of ready money had undoubtedly been abstracted from the cedar +chest by the midnight marauder, to whose visit her death was immediately +due. Her niece's grief was held to mark a deep-seated affection for the +grim old woman who had reared her. + +Mrs. Carteret's present state of mind, of which her nervousness was a +sufficiently accurate reflection, did in truth date from her aunt's +death, and also in part from the time of the conversation with Mrs. +Ochiltree, one afternoon, during and after the drive past Miller's new +hospital. Mrs. Ochiltree had grown steadily more and more childish after +that time, and her niece had never succeeded in making her pick up the +thread of thought where it had been dropped. At any rate, Mrs. Ochiltree +had made no further disclosure upon the subject. + +An examination, not long after her aunt's death, of the papers found +near the cedar chest on the morning after the murder had contributed to +Mrs. Carteret's enlightenment, but had not promoted her peace of mind. + +When Mrs. Carteret reached home, after her hurried exploration of the +cedar chest, she thrust into a bureau drawer the envelope she had found. +So fully was her mind occupied, for several days, with the funeral, and +with the excitement attending the arrest of Sandy Campbell, that she +deferred the examination of the contents of the envelope until near the +end of the week. + +One morning, while alone in her chamber, she drew the envelope from the +drawer, and was holding it in her hand, hesitating as to whether or not +she should open it, when the baby in the next room began to cry. + +The child's cry seemed like a warning, and yielding to a vague +uneasiness, she put the paper back. + +"Phil," she said to her husband at luncheon, "Aunt Polly said some +strange things to me one day before she died,--I don't know whether she +was quite in her right mind or not; but suppose that my father had left +a will by which it was provided that half his property should go to that +woman and her child?" + +"It would never have gone by such a will," replied the major easily. +"Your Aunt Polly was in her dotage, and merely dreaming. Your father +would never have been such a fool; but even if he had, no such will +could have stood the test of the courts. It would clearly have been due +to the improper influence of a designing woman." + +"So that legally, as well as morally," said Mrs. Carteret, "the will +would have been of no effect?" + +"Not the slightest. A jury would soon have broken down the legal claim. +As for any moral obligation, there would have been nothing moral about +the affair. The only possible consideration for such a gift was an +immoral one. I don't wish to speak harshly of your father, my dear, +but his conduct was gravely reprehensible. The woman herself had no +right or claim whatever; she would have been whipped and expelled from +the town, if justice--blind, bleeding justice, then prostrate at the +feet of slaves and aliens--could have had her way!" + +"But the child"-- + +"The child was in the same category. Who was she, to have inherited the +estate of your ancestors, of which, a few years before, she would +herself have formed a part? The child of shame, it was hers to pay the +penalty. But the discussion is all in the air, Olivia. Your father never +did and never would have left such a will." + +This conversation relieved Mrs. Carteret's uneasiness. Going to her room +shortly afterwards, she took the envelope from her bureau drawer and +drew out a bulky paper. The haunting fear that it might be such a will +as her aunt had suggested was now removed; for such an instrument, in +the light of what her husband had said confirming her own intuitions, +would be of no valid effect. It might be just as well, she thought, to +throw the paper in the fire without looking at it. She wished to think +as well as might be of her father, and she felt that her respect for his +memory would not be strengthened by the knowledge that he had meant to +leave his estate away from her; for her aunt's words had been open to +the construction that she was to have been left destitute. Curiosity +strongly prompted her to read the paper. Perhaps the will contained no +such provision as she had feared, and it might convey some request or +direction which ought properly to be complied with. + +She had been standing in front of the bureau while these thoughts passed +through her mind, and now, dropping the envelope back into the drawer +mechanically, she unfolded the document. It was written on legal paper, +in her father's own hand. + +Mrs. Carteret was not familiar with legal verbiage, and there were +several expressions of which she did not perhaps appreciate the full +effect; but a very hasty glance enabled her to ascertain the purport of +the paper. It was a will, by which, in one item, her father devised to +his daughter Janet, the child of the woman known as Julia Brown, the sum +of ten thousand dollars, and a certain plantation or tract of land a +short distance from the town of Wellington. The rest and residue of his +estate, after deducting all legal charges and expenses, was bequeathed +to his beloved daughter, Olivia Merkell. + +Mrs. Carteret breathed a sigh of relief. Her father had not preferred +another to her, but had left to his lawful daughter the bulk of his +estate. She felt at the same time a growing indignation at the thought +that that woman should so have wrought upon her father's weakness as to +induce him to think of leaving so much valuable property to her +bastard,--property which by right should go, and now would go, to her +own son, to whom by every rule of law and decency it ought to descend. + +A fire was burning in the next room, on account of the baby,--there had +been a light frost the night before, and the air was somewhat chilly. +For the moment the room was empty. Mrs. Carteret came out from her +chamber and threw the offending paper into the fire, and watched it +slowly burn. When it had been consumed, the carbon residue of one sheet +still retained its form, and she could read the words on the charred +portion. A sentence, which had escaped her eye in her rapid reading, +stood out in ghostly black upon the gray background:-- + +"All the rest and residue of my estate I devise and bequeath to my +daughter Olivia Merkell, the child of my beloved first wife." + +Mrs. Carteret had not before observed the word "first." Instinctively +she stretched toward the fire the poker which she held in her hand, and +at its touch the shadowy remnant fell to pieces, and nothing but ashes +remained upon the hearth. + +Not until the next morning did she think again of the envelope which had +contained the paper she had burned. Opening the drawer where it lay, the +oblong blue envelope confronted her. The sight of it was distasteful. +The indorsed side lay uppermost, and the words seemed like a mute +reproach:-- + +"The Last Will and Testament of Samuel Merkell." + +Snatching up the envelope, she glanced into it mechanically as she moved +toward the next room, and perceived a thin folded paper which had +heretofore escaped her notice. When opened, it proved to be a +certificate of marriage, in due form, between Samuel Merkell and Julia +Brown. It was dated from a county in South Carolina, about two years +before her father's death. + +For a moment Mrs. Carteret stood gazing blankly at this faded slip of +paper. Her father _had_ married this woman!--at least he had gone +through the form of marriage with her, for to him it had surely been no +more than an empty formality. The marriage of white and colored persons +was forbidden by law. Only recently she had read of a case where both +the parties to such a crime, a colored man and a white woman, had been +sentenced to long terms in the penitentiary. She even recalled the +circumstances. The couple had been living together unlawfully,--they +were very low people, whose private lives were beneath the public +notice,--but influenced by a religious movement pervading the community, +had sought, they said at the trial, to secure the blessing of God upon +their union. The higher law, which imperiously demanded that the purity +and prestige of the white race be preserved at any cost, had intervened +at this point. + +Mechanically she moved toward the fireplace, so dazed by this discovery +as to be scarcely conscious of her own actions. She surely had not +formed any definite intention of destroying this piece of paper when her +fingers relaxed unconsciously and let go their hold upon it. The draught +swept it toward the fireplace. Ere scarcely touching the flames it +caught, blazed fiercely, and shot upward with the current of air. A +moment later the record of poor Julia's marriage was scattered to the +four winds of heaven, as her poor body had long since mingled with the +dust of earth. + +The letter remained unread. In her agitation at the discovery of the +marriage certificate, Olivia had almost forgotten the existence of the +letter. It was addressed to "John Delamere, Esq., as Executor of my Last +Will and Testament," while the lower left hand corner bore the +direction: "To be delivered only after my death, with seal unbroken." + +The seal was broken already; Mr. Delamere was dead; the letter could +never be delivered. Mrs. Carteret unfolded it and read:-- + +MY DEAR DELAMERE,--I have taken the liberty of naming you as executor of +my last will, because you are my friend, and the only man of my +acquaintance whom I feel that I can trust to carry out my wishes, +appreciate my motives, and preserve the silence I desire. + +I have, first, a confession to make. Inclosed in this letter you will +find a certificate of marriage between my child Janet's mother and +myself. While I have never exactly repented of this marriage, I have +never had the courage to acknowledge it openly. If I had not married +Julia, I fear Polly Ochiltree would have married me by main force,--as +she would marry you or any other gentleman unfortunate enough to fall in +the way of this twice-widowed man-hunter. When my wife died, three years +ago, her sister Polly offered to keep house for me and the child. I +would sooner have had the devil in the house, and yet I trembled with +alarm,--there seemed no way of escape,--it was so clearly and obviously +the proper thing. + +But she herself gave me my opportunity. I was on the point of +consenting, when she demanded, as a condition of her coming, that I +discharge Julia, my late wife's maid. She was laboring under a +misapprehension in regard to the girl, but I grasped at the straw, and +did everything to foster her delusion. I declared solemnly that nothing +under heaven would induce me to part with Julia. The controversy +resulted in my permitting Polly to take the child, while I retained the +maid. + +Before Polly put this idea into my head, I had scarcely looked at Julia, +but this outbreak turned my attention toward her. She was a handsome +girl, and, as I soon found out, a good girl. My wife, who raised her, +was a Christian woman, and had taught her modesty and virtue. She was +free. The air was full of liberty, and equal rights, and all the +abolition claptrap, and she made marriage a condition of her remaining +longer in the house. In a moment of weakness I took her away to a place +where we were not known, and married her. If she had left me, I should +have fallen a victim to Polly Ochiltree,--to which any fate was +preferable. + +And then, old friend, my weakness kept to the fore. I was ashamed of +this marriage, and my new wife saw it. Moreover, she loved me,--too +well, indeed, to wish to make me unhappy. The ceremony had satisfied her +conscience, had set her right, she said, with God; for the opinions of +men she did not care, since I loved her,--she only wanted to compensate +me, as best she could, for the great honor I had done my +handmaiden,--for she had read her Bible, and I was the Abraham to her +Hagar, compared with whom she considered herself at a great advantage. +It was her own proposition that nothing be said of this marriage. If any +shame should fall on her, it would fall lightly, for it would be +undeserved. When the child came, she still kept silence. No one, she +argued, could blame an innocent child for the accident of birth, and in +the sight of God this child had every right to exist; while among her +own people illegitimacy would involve but little stigma. I need not +say that I was easily persuaded to accept this sacrifice; but touched by +her fidelity, I swore to provide handsomely for them both. This I have +tried to do by the will of which I ask you to act as executor. Had I +left the child more, it might serve as a ground for attacking the will; +my acknowledgment of the tie of blood is sufficient to justify a +reasonable bequest. + +I have taken this course for the sake of my daughter Olivia, who is dear +to me, and whom I would not wish to make ashamed; and in deference to +public opinion, which it is not easy to defy. If, after my death, Julia +should choose to make our secret known, I shall of course be beyond the +reach of hard words; but loyalty to my memory will probably keep her +silent. A strong man would long since have acknowledged her before the +world and taken the consequences; but, alas! I am only myself, and the +atmosphere I live in does not encourage moral heroism. I should like to +be different, but it is God who hath made us, and not we ourselves! + +Nevertheless, old friend, I will ask of you one favor. If in the future +this child of Julia's and of mine should grow to womanhood; if she +should prove to have her mother's gentleness and love of virtue; if, in +the new era which is opening up for her mother's race, to which, +unfortunately, she must belong, she should become, in time, an educated +woman; and if the time should ever come when, by virtue of her education +or the development of her people, it would be to her a source of shame +or unhappiness that she was an illegitimate child,--if you are still +alive, old friend, and have the means of knowing or divining this thing, +go to her and tell her, for me, that she is my lawful child, and ask +her to forgive her father's weakness. + +When this letter comes to you, I shall have passed to--the Beyond; but I +am confident that you will accept this trust, for which I thank you now, +in advance, most heartily. + +The letter was signed with her father's name, the same signature which +had been attached to the will. + +Having firmly convinced herself of the illegality of the papers, and of +her own right to destroy them, Mrs. Carteret ought to have felt relieved +that she had thus removed all traces of her dead father's folly. True, +the other daughter remained,--she had seen her on the street only the +day before. The sight of this person she had always found offensive, and +now, she felt, in view of what she had just learned, it must be even +more so. Never, while this woman lived in the town, would she be able to +throw the veil of forgetfulness over this blot upon her father's memory. + +As the day wore on, Mrs. Carteret grew still less at ease. To herself, +marriage was a serious thing,--to a right-thinking woman the most +serious concern of life. A marriage certificate, rightfully procured, +was scarcely less solemn, so far as it went, than the Bible itself. Her +own she cherished as the apple of her eye. It was the evidence of her +wifehood, the seal of her child's legitimacy, her patent of +nobility,--the token of her own and her child's claim to social place +and consideration. She had burned this pretended marriage certificate +because it meant nothing. Nevertheless, she could not ignore the +knowledge of another such marriage, of which every one in the town +knew,--a celebrated case, indeed, where a white man, of a family quite +as prominent as her father's, had married a colored woman during the +military occupation of the state just after the civil war. The legality +of the marriage had never been questioned. It had been fully consummated +by twenty years of subsequent cohabitation. No amount of social +persecution had ever shaken the position of the husband. With an iron +will he had stayed on in the town, a living protest against the +established customs of the South, so rudely interrupted for a few short +years; and, though his children were negroes, though he had never +appeared in public with his wife, no one had ever questioned the +validity of his marriage or the legitimacy of his offspring. + +The marriage certificate which Mrs. Carteret had burned dated from the +period of the military occupation. Hence Mrs. Carteret, who was a good +woman, and would not have done a dishonest thing, felt decidedly +uncomfortable. She had destroyed the marriage certificate, but its ghost +still haunted her. + +Major Carteret, having just eaten a good dinner, was in a very agreeable +humor when, that same evening, his wife brought up again the subject of +their previous discussion. + +"Phil," she asked, "Aunt Polly told me that once, long before my father +died, when she went to remonstrate with him for keeping that Woman in +the house, he threatened to marry Julia if Aunt Polly ever said another +word to him about the matter. Suppose he _had_ married her, and had then +left a will,--would the marriage have made any difference, so far as the +will was concerned?" + +Major Carteret laughed. "Your Aunt Polly," he said, "was a remarkable +woman, with a wonderful imagination, which seems to have grown more +vivid as her memory and judgment weakened. Why should your father marry +his negro housemaid? Mr. Merkell was never rated as a fool,--he had one +of the clearest heads in Wellington. I saw him only a day or two before +he died, and I could swear before any court in Christendom that he was +of sound mind and memory to the last. These notions of your aunt were +mere delusions. Your father was never capable of such a folly." + +"Of course I am only supposing a case," returned Olivia. "Imagining such +a case, just for the argument, would the marriage have been legal?" + +"That would depend. If he had married her during the military +occupation, or over in South Carolina, the marriage would have been +legally valid, though morally and socially outrageous." + +"And if he had died afterwards, leaving a will?" + +"The will would have controlled the disposition of his estate, in all +probability." + +"Suppose he had left no will?" + +"You are getting the matter down pretty fine, my dear! The woman would +have taken one third of the real estate for life, and could have lived +in the homestead until she died. She would also have had half the other +property,--the money and goods and furniture, everything except the +land,--and the negro child would have shared with you the balance of the +estate. That, I believe, is according to the law of descent and +distribution." + +Mrs. Carteret lapsed into a troubled silence. Her father _had_ married +the woman. In her heart she had no doubt of the validity of the +marriage, so far as the law was concerned; if one marriage of such a +kind would stand, another contracted under similar conditions was +equally as good. If the marriage had been valid, Julia's child had been +legitimate. The will she had burned gave this sister of hers--she +shuddered at the word--but a small part of the estate. Under the law, +which intervened now that there was no will, the property should have +been equally divided. If the woman had been white,--but the woman had +_not_ been white, and the same rule of moral conduct did not, _could_ +not, in the very nature of things, apply, as between white people! For, +if this were not so, slavery had been, not merely an economic mistake, +but a great crime against humanity. If it had been such a crime, as for +a moment she dimly perceived it might have been, then through the long +centuries there had been piled up a catalogue of wrong and outrage +which, if the law of compensation be a law of nature, must some time, +somewhere, in some way, be atoned for. She herself had not escaped the +penalty, of which, she realized, this burden placed upon her conscience +was but another installment. + +If she should make known the facts she had learned, it would mean +what?--a division of her father's estate, a recognition of the legality +of her father's relations with Julia. Such a stain upon her father's +memory would be infinitely worse than if he had _not_ married her. To +have lived with her without marriage was a social misdemeanor, at which +society in the old days had winked, or at most had frowned. To have +married her was to have committed the unpardonable social sin. Such a +scandal Mrs. Carteret could not have endured. Should she seek to make +restitution, it would necessarily involve the disclosure of at least +some of the facts. Had she not destroyed the will, she might have +compromised with her conscience by producing it and acting upon its +terms, which had been so stated as not to disclose the marriage. This +was now rendered impossible by her own impulsive act; she could not +mention the will at all, without admitting that she had destroyed it. + +Mrs. Carteret found herself in what might be called, vulgarly, a moral +"pocket." She could, of course, remain silent. Mrs. Carteret was a good +woman, according to her lights, with a cultivated conscience, to which +she had always looked as her mentor and infallible guide. + +Hence Mrs. Carteret, after this painful discovery, remained for a long +time ill at ease,--so disturbed, indeed, that her mind reacted upon her +nerves, which had never been strong; and her nervousness affected her +strength, which had never been great, until Carteret, whose love for her +had been deepened and strengthened by the advent of his son, became +alarmed for her health, and spoke very seriously to Dr. Price concerning +it. + + + + +XXXI + + +THE SHADOW OF A DREAM + +Mrs. Carteret awoke, with a start, from a troubled dream. She had been +sailing across a sunlit sea, in a beautiful boat, her child lying on a +bright-colored cushion at her feet. Overhead the swelling sail served as +an awning to keep off the sun's rays, which far ahead were reflected +with dazzling brilliancy from the shores of a golden island. Her son, +she dreamed, was a fairy prince, and yonder lay his kingdom, to which he +was being borne, lying there at her feet, in this beautiful boat, across +the sunlit sea. + +Suddenly and without warning the sky was overcast. A squall struck the +boat and tore away the sail. In the distance a huge billow--a great +white wall of water--came sweeping toward their frail craft, threatening +it with instant destruction. She clasped her child to her bosom, and a +moment later found herself struggling in the sea, holding the child's +head above the water. As she floated there, as though sustained by some +unseen force, she saw in the distance a small boat approaching over the +storm-tossed waves. Straight toward her it came, and she had reached out +her hand to grasp its side, when the rower looked back, and she saw that +it was her sister. The recognition had been mutual. With a sharp +movement of one oar the boat glided by, leaving her clutching at the +empty air. She felt her strength begin to fail. Despairingly she +signaled with her disengaged hand; but the rower, after one mute, +reproachful glance, rowed on. Mrs. Carteret's strength grew less and +less. The child became heavy as lead. Herself floating in the water, as +though it were her native element, she could no longer support the +child. Lower and lower it sank,--she was powerless to save it or to +accompany it,--until, gasping wildly for breath, it threw up its little +hands and sank, the cruel water gurgling over its head,--when she awoke +with a start and a chill, and lay there trembling for several minutes +before she heard little Dodie in his crib, breathing heavily. + +She rose softly, went to the crib, and changed the child's position to +an easier one. He breathed more freely, and she went back to bed, but +not to sleep. + +She had tried to put aside the distressing questions raised by the +discovery of her father's will and the papers accompanying it. Why +should she be burdened with such a responsibility, at this late day, +when the touch of time had well-nigh healed these old sores? Surely, God +had put his curse not alone upon the slave, but upon the stealer of men! +With other good people she had thanked Him that slavery was no more, and +that those who once had borne its burden upon their consciences could +stand erect and feel that they themselves were free. The weed had been +cut down, but its roots remained, deeply imbedded in the soil, to spring +up and trouble a new generation. Upon her weak shoulders was placed the +burden of her father's weakness, her father's folly. It was left to her +to acknowledge or not this shameful marriage and her sister's rights in +their father's estate. + +Balancing one consideration against another, she had almost decided +that she might ignore this tie. To herself, Olivia Merkell,--Olivia +Carteret,--the stigma of base birth would have meant social ostracism, +social ruin, the averted face, the finger of pity or of scorn. All the +traditional weight of public disapproval would have fallen upon her as +the unhappy fruit of an unblessed union. To this other woman it could +have had no such significance,--it had been the lot of her race. To +them, twenty-five years before, sexual sin had never been imputed as +more than a fault. She had lost nothing by her supposed illegitimacy; +she would gain nothing by the acknowledgment of her mother's marriage. + +On the other hand, what would be the effect of this revelation upon Mrs. +Carteret herself? To have it known that her father had married a negress +would only be less dreadful than to have it appear that he had committed +some terrible crime. It was a crime now, by the laws of every Southern +State, for white and colored persons to intermarry. She shuddered before +the possibility that at some time in the future some person, none too +well informed, might learn that her father had married a colored woman, +and might assume that she, Olivia Carteret, or her child, had sprung +from this shocking _mesalliance_,--a fate to which she would willingly +have preferred death. No, this marriage must never be made known; the +secret should remain buried forever in her own heart! + +But there still remained the question of her father's property and her +father's will. This woman was her father's child,--of that there could +be no doubt, it was written in her features no less than in her father's +will. As his lawful child,--of which, alas! there could also be no +question,--she was entitled by law to half his estate. Mrs. Carteret's +problem had sunk from the realm of sentiment to that of material things, +which, curiously enough, she found much more difficult. For, while the +negro, by the traditions of her people, was barred from the world of +sentiment, his rights of property were recognized. The question had +become, with Mrs. Carteret, a question of _meum_ and _tuum_. Had the +girl Janet been poor, ignorant, or degraded, as might well have been her +fate, Mrs. Carteret might have felt a vicarious remorse for her aunt's +suppression of the papers; but fate had compensated Janet for the loss; +she had been educated, she had married well; she had not suffered for +lack of the money of which she had been defrauded, and did not need it +now. She had a child, it is true, but this child's career would be so +circumscribed by the accident of color that too much wealth would only +be a source of unhappiness; to her own child, on the contrary, it would +open every door of life. + +It would be too lengthy a task to follow the mind and conscience of this +much-tried lady in their intricate workings upon this difficult problem; +for she had a mind as logical as any woman's, and a conscience which she +wished to keep void of offense. She had to confront a situation +involving the element of race, upon which the moral standards of her +people were hopelessly confused. Mrs. Carteret reached the conclusion, +ere daylight dawned, that she would be silent upon the subject of her +father's second marriage. Neither party had wished it known,--neither +Julia nor her father,--and she would respect her father's wishes. To act +otherwise would be to defeat his will, to make known what he had +carefully concealed, and to give Janet a claim of title to one half her +father's estate, while he had only meant her to have the ten thousand +dollars named in the will. + +By the same reasoning, she must carry out her father's will in respect +to this bequest. Here there was another difficulty. The mining +investment into which they had entered shortly after the birth of little +Dodie had tied up so much of her property that it would have been +difficult to procure ten thousand dollars immediately; while a demand +for half the property at once would mean bankruptcy and ruin. Moreover, +upon what ground could she offer her sister any sum of money whatever? +So sudden a change of heart, after so many years of silence, would raise +the presumption of some right on the part of Janet in her father's +estate. Suspicion once aroused, it might be possible to trace this +hidden marriage, and establish it by legal proof. The marriage once +verified, the claim for half the estate could not be denied. She could +not plead her father's will to the contrary, for this would be to +acknowledge the suppression of the will, in itself a criminal act. + +There was, however, a way of escape. This hospital which had recently +been opened was the personal property of her sister's husband. Some time +in the future, when their investments matured, she would present to the +hospital a sum of money equal to the amount her father had meant his +colored daughter to have. Thus indirectly both her father's will and her +own conscience would be satisfied. + +Mrs. Carteret had reached this comfortable conclusion, and was falling +asleep, when her attention was again drawn by her child's breathing. She +took it in her own arms and soon fell asleep. + +"By the way, Olivia," said the major, when leaving the house next +morning for the office, "if you have any business down town to-day, +transact it this forenoon. Under no circumstances must you or Clara or +the baby leave the house after midday." + +"Why, what's the matter, Phil?" + +"Nothing to alarm you, except that there may be a little political +demonstration which may render the streets unsafe. You are not to say +anything about it where the servants might hear." + +"Will there be any danger for you, Phil?" she demanded with alarm. + +"Not the slightest, Olivia dear. No one will be harmed; but it is best +for ladies and children to stay indoors." + +Mrs. Carteret's nerves were still more or less unstrung from her mental +struggles of the night, and the memory of her dream came to her like a +dim foreboding of misfortune. As though in sympathy with its mother's +feelings, the baby did not seem as well as usual. The new nurse was by +no means an ideal nurse,--Mammy Jane understood the child much better. +If there should be any trouble with the negroes, toward which her +husband's remark seemed to point,--she knew the general political +situation, though not informed in regard to her husband's plans,--she +would like to have Mammy Jane near her, where the old nurse might be +protected from danger or alarm. + +With this end in view she dispatched the nurse, shortly after breakfast, +to Mammy Jane's house in the negro settlement on the other side of the +town, with a message asking the old woman to come immediately to Mrs. +Carteret's. Unfortunately, Mammy Jane had gone to visit a sick woman in +the country, and was not expected to return for several hours. + + + + +XXXII + + +THE STORM BREAKS + +The Wellington riot began at three o'clock in the afternoon of a day as +fair as was ever selected for a deed of darkness. The sky was clear, +except for a few light clouds that floated, white and feathery, high in +air, like distant islands in a sapphire sea. A salt-laden breeze from +the ocean a few miles away lent a crisp sparkle to the air. + +At three o'clock sharp the streets were filled, as if by magic, with +armed white men. The negroes, going about, had noted, with uneasy +curiosity, that the stores and places of business, many of which closed +at noon, were unduly late in opening for the afternoon, though no one +suspected the reason for the delay; but at three o'clock every passing +colored man was ordered, by the first white man he met, to throw up his +hands. If he complied, he was searched, more or less roughly, for +firearms, and then warned to get off the street. When he met another +group of white men the scene was repeated. The man thus summarily held +up seldom encountered more than two groups before disappearing across +lots to his own home or some convenient hiding-place. If he resisted any +demand of those who halted him--But the records of the day are +historical; they may be found in the newspapers of the following date, +but they are more firmly engraved upon the hearts and memories of the +people of Wellington. For many months there were negro families in the +town whose children screamed with fear and ran to their mothers for +protection at the mere sight of a white man. + +Dr. Miller had received a call, about one o'clock, to attend a case at +the house of a well-to-do colored farmer, who lived some three or four +miles from the town, upon the very road, by the way, along which Miller +had driven so furiously a few weeks before, in the few hours that +intervened before Sandy Campbell would probably have been burned at the +stake. The drive to his patient's home, the necessary inquiries, the +filling of the prescription from his own medicine-case, which he carried +along with him, the little friendly conversation about the weather and +the crops, and, the farmer being an intelligent and thinking man, the +inevitable subject of the future of their race,--these, added to the +return journey, occupied at least two hours of Miller's time. + +As he neared the town on his way back, he saw ahead of him half a dozen +men and women approaching, with fear written in their faces, in every +degree from apprehension to terror. Women were weeping and children +crying, and all were going as fast as seemingly lay in their power, +looking behind now and then as if pursued by some deadly enemy. At sight +of Miller's buggy they made a dash for cover, disappearing, like a covey +of frightened partridges, in the underbrush along the road. + +Miller pulled up his horse and looked after them in startled wonder. + +"What on earth can be the matter?" he muttered, struck with a vague +feeling of alarm. A psychologist, seeking to trace the effects of +slavery upon the human mind, might find in the South many a curious +illustration of this curse, abiding long after the actual physical +bondage had terminated. In the olden time the white South labored under +the constant fear of negro insurrections. Knowing that they themselves, +if in the negroes' place, would have risen in the effort to throw off +the yoke, all their reiterated theories of negro subordination and +inferiority could not remove that lurking fear, founded upon the obscure +consciousness that the slaves ought to have risen. Conscience, it has +been said, makes cowards of us all. There was never, on the continent of +America, a successful slave revolt, nor one which lasted more than a few +hours, or resulted in the loss of more than a few white lives; yet never +was the planter quite free from the fear that there might be one. + +On the other hand, the slave had before his eyes always the fear of the +master. There were good men, according to their lights,--according to +their training and environment,--among the Southern slaveholders, who +treated their slaves kindly, as slaves, from principle, because they +recognized the claims of humanity, even under the dark skin of a human +chattel. There was many a one who protected or pampered his negroes, as +the case might be, just as a man fondles his dog,--because they were +his; they were a part of his estate, an integral part of the entity of +property and person which made up the aristocrat; but with all this +kindness, there was always present, in the consciousness of the lowest +slave, the knowledge that he was in his master's power, and that he +could make no effectual protest against the abuse of that authority. +There was also the knowledge, among those who could think at all, that +the best of masters was himself a slave to a system, which hampered his +movements but scarcely less than those of his bondmen. + +When, therefore, Miller saw these men and women scampering into the +bushes, he divined, with this slumbering race consciousness which years +of culture had not obliterated, that there was some race trouble on +foot. His intuition did not long remain unsupported. A black head was +cautiously protruded from the shrubbery, and a black voice--if such a +description be allowable--addressed him:-- + +"Is dat you, Doctuh Miller?" + +"Yes. Who are you, and what's the trouble?" + +"What's de trouble, suh? Why, all hell's broke loose in town yonduh. De +w'ite folks is riz 'gins' de niggers, an' say dey're gwine ter kill +eve'y nigger dey kin lay han's on." + +Miller's heart leaped to his throat, as he thought of his wife and +child. This story was preposterous; it could not be true, and yet there +must be something in it. He tried to question his informant, but the man +was so overcome with excitement and fear that Miller saw clearly that he +must go farther for information. He had read in the Morning Chronicle, a +few days before, the obnoxious editorial quoted from the Afro-American +Banner, and had noted the comment upon it by the white editor. He had +felt, as at the time of its first publication, that the editorial was +ill-advised. It could do no good, and was calculated to arouse the +animosity of those whose friendship, whose tolerance, at least, was +necessary and almost indispensable to the colored people. They were +living, at the best, in a sort of armed neutrality with the whites; such +a publication, however serviceable elsewhere, could have no other +effect in Wellington than to endanger this truce and defeat the hope of +a possible future friendship. The right of free speech entitled Barber +to publish it; a larger measure of common-sense would have made him +withhold it. Whether it was the republication of this article that had +stirred up anew the sleeping dogs of race prejudice and whetted their +thirst for blood, he could not yet tell; but at any rate, there was +mischief on foot. + +"Fer God's sake, doctuh, don' go no closeter ter dat town," pleaded his +informant, "er you'll be killt sho'. Come on wid us, suh, an' tek keer +er yo'se'f. We're gwine ter hide in de swamps till dis thing is over!" + +"God, man!" exclaimed Miller, urging his horse forward, "my wife and +child are in the town!" + +Fortunately, he reflected, there were no patients confined in the +hospital,--if there should be anything in this preposterous story. To +one unfamiliar with Southern life, it might have seemed impossible that +these good Christian people, who thronged the churches on Sunday, and +wept over the sufferings of the lowly Nazarene, and sent missionaries to +the heathen, could be hungering and thirsting for the blood of their +fellow men; but Miller cherished no such delusion. He knew the history +of his country; he had the threatened lynching of Sandy Campbell vividly +in mind; and he was fully persuaded that to race prejudice, once roused, +any horror was possible. That women or children would be molested of set +purpose he did not believe, but that they might suffer by accident was +more than likely. + +As he neared the town, dashing forward at the top of his horse's speed, +he heard his voice called in a loud and agitated tone, and, glancing +around him, saw a familiar form standing by the roadside, gesticulating +vehemently. + +He drew up the horse with a suddenness that threw the faithful and +obedient animal back upon its haunches. The colored lawyer, Watson, came +up to the buggy. That he was laboring under great and unusual excitement +was quite apparent from his pale face and frightened air. + +"What's the matter, Watson?" demanded Miller, hoping now to obtain some +reliable information. + +"Matter!" exclaimed the other. "Everything's the matter! The white +people are up in arms. They have disarmed the colored people, killing +half a dozen in the process, and wounding as many more. They have forced +the mayor and aldermen to resign, have formed a provisional city +government _a la Francaise_, and have ordered me and half a dozen other +fellows to leave town in forty-eight hours, under pain of sudden death. +As they seem to mean it, I shall not stay so long. Fortunately, my wife +and children are away. I knew you were out here, however, and I thought +I'd come out and wait for you, so that we might talk the matter over. I +don't imagine they mean you any harm, personally, because you tread on +nobody's toes; but you're too valuable a man for the race to lose, so I +thought I'd give you warning. I shall want to sell you my property, +too, at a bargain. For I'm worth too much to my family to dream of ever +attempting to live here again." + +"Have you seen anything of my wife and child?" asked Miller, intent upon +the danger to which they might be exposed. + +"No; I didn't go to the house. I inquired at the drugstore and found +out where you had gone. You needn't fear for them,--it is not a war on +women and children." + +"War of any kind is always hardest on the women and children," returned +Miller; "I must hurry on and see that mine are safe." + +"They'll not carry the war so far into Africa as that," returned +Watson; "but I never saw anything like it. Yesterday I had a hundred +white friends in the town, or thought I had,--men who spoke pleasantly +to me on the street, and sometimes gave me their hands to shake. Not one +of them said to me today: 'Watson, stay at home this afternoon.' I might +have been killed, like any one of half a dozen others who have bit the +dust, for any word that one of my 'friends' had said to warn me. When +the race cry is started in this neck of the woods, friendship, religion, +humanity, reason, all shrivel up like dry leaves in a raging furnace." + +The buggy, into which Watson had climbed, was meanwhile rapidly nearing +the town. + +"I think I'll leave you here, Miller," said Watson, as they approached +the outskirts, "and make my way home by a roundabout path, as I should +like to get there unmolested. Home!--a beautiful word that, isn't it, +for an exiled wanderer? It might not be well, either, for us to be seen +together. If you put the hood of your buggy down, and sit well back in +the shadow, you may be able to reach home without interruption; but +avoid the main streets. I'll see you again this evening, if we're both +alive, and I can reach you; for my time is short. A committee are to +call in the morning to escort me to the train. I am to be dismissed from +the community with public honors." Watson was climbing down from the +buggy, when a small party of men were seen approaching, and big Josh +Green, followed by several other resolute-looking colored men, came up +and addressed them. + +"Dr. Miller," cried Green, "Mr. Watson,--we're lookin' fer a leader. De +w'ite folks are killin' de niggers, an' we ain' gwine ter stan' up an' +be shot down like dogs. We're gwine ter defen' ou' lives, an' we ain' +gwine ter run away f'm no place where we 'we got a right ter be; an' woe +be ter de w'ite man w'at lays ban's on us! Dere's two niggers in dis +town ter eve'y w'ite man, an' ef we 'we got ter be killt, we'll take +some w'ite folks 'long wid us, ez sho' ez dere's a God in heaven,--ez I +s'pose dere is, dough He mus' be 'sleep, er busy somewhar e'se ter-day. +Will you-all come an' lead us?" + +"Gentlemen," said Watson, "what is the use? The negroes will not back +you up. They haven't the arms, nor the moral courage, nor the +leadership." + +"We'll git de arms, an' we'll git de courage, ef you'll come an' lead +us! We wants leaders,--dat's w'y we come ter you!" + +"What's the use?" returned Watson despairingly. "The odds are too heavy. +I've been ordered out of town; if I stayed, I'd be shot on sight, +unless I had a body-guard around me." + +"We'll be yo' body-guard!" shouted half a dozen voices. + +"And when my body-guard was shot, what then? I have a wife and children. +It is my duty to live for them. If I died, I should get no glory and no +reward, and my family would be reduced to beggary,--to which they'll +soon be near enough as it is. This affair will blow over in a day or +two. The white people will be ashamed of themselves to-morrow, and +apprehensive of the consequences for some time to come. Keep quiet, +boys, and trust in God. You won't gain anything by resistance." + +"'God he'ps dem dat he'ps demselves,'" returned Josh stoutly. "Ef Mr. +Watson won't lead us, will you, Dr. Miller?" said the spokesman, turning +to the doctor. + +For Miller it was an agonizing moment. He was no coward, morally or +physically. Every manly instinct urged him to go forward and take up the +cause of these leaderless people, and, if need be, to defend their lives +and their rights with his own,--but to what end? + +"Listen, men," he said. "We would only be throwing our lives away. +Suppose we made a determined stand and won a temporary victory. By +morning every train, every boat, every road leading into Wellington, +would be crowded with white men,--as they probably will be any +way,--with arms in their hands, curses on their lips, and vengeance in +their hearts. In the minds of those who make and administer the laws, we +have no standing in the court of conscience. They would kill us in the +fight, or they would hang us afterwards,--one way or another, we should +be doomed. I should like to lead you; I should like to arm every colored +man in this town, and have them stand firmly in line, not for attack, +but for defense; but if I attempted it, and they should stand by me, +which is questionable,--for I have met them fleeing from the town,--my +life would pay the forfeit. Alive, I may be of some use to you, and you +are welcome to my life in that way,--I am giving it freely. Dead, I +should be a mere lump of carrion. Who remembers even the names of those +who have been done to death in the Southern States for the past twenty +years?" + +"I 'members de name er one of 'em," said Josh, "an' I 'members de name +er de man dat killt 'im, an' I s'pec' his time is mighty nigh come." + +"My advice is not heroic, but I think it is wise. In this riot we are +placed as we should be in a war: we have no territory, no base of +supplies, no organization, no outside sympathy,--we stand in the +position of a race, in a case like this, without money and without +friends. Our time will come,--the time when we can command respect for +our rights; but it is not yet in sight. Give it up, boys, and wait. Good +may come of this, after all." + +Several of the men wavered, and looked irresolute. + +"I reckon that's all so, doctuh," returned Josh, "an', de way you put +it, I don' blame you ner Mr. Watson; but all dem reasons ain' got no +weight wid me. I'm gwine in dat town, an' ef any w'ite man 'sturbs me, +dere'll be trouble,--dere'll be double trouble,--I feels it in my +bones!" + +"Remember your old mother, Josh," said Miller. + +"Yas, sub, I'll 'member her; dat's all I kin do now. I don' need ter +wait fer her no mo', fer she died dis mo'nin'. I'd lack ter see her +buried, suh, but I may not have de chance. Ef I gits killt, will you do +me a favor?" + +"Yes, Josh; what is it?" + +"Ef I should git laid out in dis commotion dat's gwine on, will you +collec' my wages f'm yo' brother, and see dat de ole 'oman is put away +right?" + +"Yes, of course." + +"Wid a nice coffin, an' a nice fune'al, an' a head-bo'd an' a +foot-bo'd?" + +"Yes." + +"All right, suh! Ef I don' live ter do it, I'll know it'll be 'tended +ter right. Now we're gwine out ter de cotton compress, an' git a lot er +colored men tergether, an' ef de w'ite folks 'sturbs me, I shouldn't be +s'prise' ef dere'd be a mix-up;--an' ef dere is, me an _one_ w'ite man +'ll stan' befo' de jedgment th'one er God dis day; an' it won't be me +w'at'll be 'feared er de jedgment. Come along, boys! Dese gentlemen may +have somethin' ter live fer; but ez fer my pa't, I'd ruther be a dead +nigger any day dan a live dog!" + + + + +XXXIII + + +INTO THE LION'S JAWS + +The party under Josh's leadership moved off down the road. Miller, while +entirely convinced that he had acted wisely in declining to accompany +them, was yet conscious of a distinct feeling of shame and envy that he, +too, did not feel impelled to throw away his life in a hopeless +struggle. + +Watson left the buggy and disappeared by a path at the roadside. Miller +drove rapidly forward. After entering the town, he passed several small +parties of white men, but escaped scrutiny by sitting well back in his +buggy, the presumption being that a well-dressed man with a good horse +and buggy was white. Torn with anxiety, he reached home at about four +o'clock. Driving the horse into the yard, he sprang down from the buggy +and hastened to the house, which he found locked, front and rear. + +A repeated rapping brought no response. At length he broke a window, and +entered the house like a thief. + +"Janet, Janet!" he called in alarm, "where are you? It is only +I,--Will!" + +There was no reply. He ran from room to room, only to find them all +empty. Again he called his wife's name, and was about rushing from the +house, when a muffled voice came faintly to his ear,-- + +"Is dat you, Doctuh Miller?" + +"Yes. Who are you, and where are my wife and child?" + +He was looking around in perplexity, when the door of a low closet under +the kitchen sink was opened from within, and a woolly head was +cautiously protruded. + +"Are you _sho'_ dat's you, doctuh?" + +"Yes, Sally; where are"-- + +"An' not some w'ite man come ter bu'n down de house an' kill all de +niggers?" + +"No, Sally, it's me all right. Where is my wife? Where is my child?" + +"Dey went over ter see Mis' Butler 'long 'bout two o'clock, befo' dis +fuss broke out, suh. Oh, Lawdy, Lawdy, suh! Is all de cullud folks be'n +killt 'cep'n' me an' you, suh? Fer de Lawd's sake, suh, you won' let 'em +kill me, will you, suh? I'll wuk fer you fer nuthin', suh, all my bawn +days, ef you'll save my life, suh!" + +"Calm yourself, Sally. You'll be safe enough if you stay right here, I +'we no doubt. They'll not harm women,--of that I'm sure enough, +although I haven't yet got the bearings of this deplorable affair. Stay +here and look after the house. I must find my wife and child!" + +The distance across the city to the home of the Mrs. Butler whom his +wife had gone to visit was exactly one mile. Though Miller had a good +horse in front of him, he was two hours in reaching his destination. +Never will the picture of that ride fade from his memory. In his dreams +he repeats it night after night, and sees the sights that wounded his +eyes, and feels the thoughts--the haunting spirits of the thoughts--that +tore his heart as he rode through hell to find those whom he was +seeking. For a short distance he saw nothing, and made rapid progress. +As he turned the first corner, his horse shied at the dead body of a +negro, lying huddled up in the collapse which marks sudden death. What +Miller shuddered at was not so much the thought of death, to the sight +of which his profession had accustomed him, as the suggestion of what it +signified. He had taken with allowance the wild statement of the fleeing +fugitives. Watson, too, had been greatly excited, and Josh Green's group +were desperate men, as much liable to be misled by their courage as the +others by their fears; but here was proof that murder had been +done,--and his wife and children were in the town. Distant shouts, and +the sound of firearms, increased his alarm. He struck his horse with the +whip, and dashed on toward the heart of the city, which he must traverse +in order to reach Janet and the child. + +At the next corner lay the body of another man, with the red blood +oozing from a ghastly wound in the forehead. The negroes seemed to have +been killed, as the band plays in circus parades, at the street +intersections, where the example would be most effective. Miller, with a +wild leap of the heart, had barely passed this gruesome spectacle, when +a sharp voice commanded him to halt, and emphasized the order by +covering him with a revolver. Forgetting the prudence he had preached to +others, he had raised his whip to strike the horse, when several hands +seized the bridle. + +"Come down, you damn fool," growled an authoritative voice. "Don't you +see we're in earnest? Do you want to get killed?" + +"Why should I come down?" asked Miller. "Because we've ordered you to +come down! This is the white people's day, and when they order, a nigger +must obey. We're going to search you for weapons." + +"Search away. You'll find nothing but a case of surgeon's tools, which +I'm more than likely to need before this day is over, from all +indications." + +"No matter; we'll make sure of it! That's what we're here for. Come +down, if you don't want to be pulled down!" + +Miller stepped down from his buggy. His interlocutor, who made no effort +at disguise, was a clerk in a dry-goods store where Miller bought most +of his family and hospital supplies. He made no sign of recognition, +however, and Miller claimed no acquaintance. This man, who had for +several years emptied Miller's pockets in the course of more or less +legitimate trade, now went through them, aided by another man, more +rapidly than ever before, the searchers convincing themselves that +Miller carried no deadly weapon upon his person. Meanwhile, a third +ransacked the buggy with like result. Miller recognized several others +of the party, who made not the slightest attempt at disguise, though no +names were called by any one. + +"Where are you going?" demanded the leader. + +"I am looking for my wife and child," replied Miller. + +"Well, run along, and keep them out of the streets when you find them; +and keep your hands out of this affair, if you wish to live in this +town, which from now on will be a white man's town, as you niggers will +be pretty firmly convinced before night." + +Miller drove on as swiftly as might be. At the next corner he was +stopped again. In the white man who held him up, Miller recognized a +neighbor of his own. After a short detention and a perfunctory search, +the white man remarked apologetically:-- + +"Sorry to have had to trouble you, doctuh, but them's the o'ders. It +ain't men like you that we're after, but the vicious and criminal class +of niggers." + +Miller smiled bitterly as he urged his horse forward. He was quite well +aware that the virtuous citizen who had stopped him had only a few weeks +before finished a term in the penitentiary, to which he had been +sentenced for stealing. Miller knew that he could have bought all the +man owned for fifty dollars, and his soul for as much more. + +A few rods farther on, he came near running over the body of a wounded +man who lay groaning by the wayside. Every professional instinct urged +him to stop and offer aid to the sufferer; but the uncertainty +concerning his wife and child proved a stronger motive and urged him +resistlessly forward. Here and there the ominous sound of firearms was +audible. He might have thought this merely a part of the show, like the +"powder play" of the Arabs, but for the bloody confirmation of its +earnestness which had already assailed his vision. Somewhere in this +seething caldron of unrestrained passions were his wife and child, and +he must hurry on. + +His progress was painfully slow. Three times he was stopped and +searched. More than once his way was barred, and he was ordered to turn +back, each such occasion requiring a detour which consumed many minutes. +The man who last stopped him was a well-known Jewish merchant. A +Jew--God of Moses!--had so far forgotten twenty centuries of history as +to join in the persecution of another oppressed race! When almost +reduced to despair by these innumerable delays, he perceived, coming +toward him, Mr. Ellis, the sub-editor of the Morning Chronicle. Miller +had just been stopped and questioned again, and Ellis came up as he was +starting once more upon his endless ride. + +"Dr. Miller," said Ellis kindly, "it is dangerous for you on the +streets. Why tempt the danger?" + +"I am looking for my wife and child," returned Miller in desperation. +"They are somewhere in this town,--I don't know where,--and I must find +them." + +Ellis had been horror-stricken by the tragedy of the afternoon, the +wholly superfluous slaughter of a harmless people, whom a show of force +would have been quite sufficient to overawe. Elaborate explanations were +afterwards given for these murders, which were said, perhaps truthfully, +not to have been premeditated, and many regrets were expressed. The +young man had been surprised, quite as much as the negroes themselves, +at the ferocity displayed. His own thoughts and feelings were attuned to +anything but slaughter. Only that morning he had received a perfumed +note, calling his attention to what the writer described as a very noble +deed of his, and requesting him to call that evening and receive the +writer's thanks. Had he known that Miss Pemberton, several weeks after +their visit to the Sound, had driven out again to the hotel and made +some inquiries among the servants, he might have understood better the +meaning of this missive. When Miller spoke of his wife and child, some +subtle thread of suggestion coupled the note with Miller's plight. +"I'll go with you, Dr. Miller," he said, "if you'll permit me. In my +company you will not be disturbed." + +He took a seat in Miller's buggy, after which it was not molested. + +Neither of them spoke. Miller was sick at heart; he could have wept with +grief, even had the welfare of his own dear ones not been involved in +this regrettable affair. With prophetic instinct he foresaw the hatreds +to which this day would give birth; the long years of constraint and +distrust which would still further widen the breach between two peoples +whom fate had thrown together in one community. + +There was nothing for Ellis to say. In his heart he could not defend the +deeds of this day. The petty annoyances which the whites had felt at the +spectacle of a few negroes in office; the not unnatural resentment of a +proud people at what had seemed to them a presumptuous freedom of speech +and lack of deference on the part of their inferiors,--these things, +which he knew were to be made the excuse for overturning the city +government, he realized full well were no sort of justification for the +wholesale murder or other horrors which might well ensue before the day +was done. He could not approve the acts of his own people; neither could +he, to a negro, condemn them. Hence he was silent. + +"Thank you, Mr. Ellis," exclaimed Miller, when they had reached the +house where he expected to find his wife. "This is the place where I was +going. I am--under a great obligation to you." + +"Not at all, Dr. Miller. I need not tell you how much I regret this +deplorable affair." + +Ellis went back down the street. Fastening his horse to the fence, +Miller sprang forward to find his wife and child. They would certainly +be there, for no colored woman would be foolhardy enough to venture on +the streets after the riot had broken out. + +As he drew nearer, he felt a sudden apprehension. The house seemed +strangely silent and deserted. The doors were closed, and the Venetian +blinds shut tightly. Even a dog which had appeared slunk timidly back +under the house, instead of barking vociferously according to the usual +habit of his kind. + + + + +XXXIV + + +THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW + +Miller knocked at the door. There was no response. He went round to the +rear of the house. The dog had slunk behind the woodpile. Miller knocked +again, at the back door, and, receiving no reply, called aloud. + +"Mrs. Butler! It is I, Dr. Miller. Is my wife here?" + +The slats of a near-by blind opened cautiously. + +"Is it really you, Dr. Miller?" + +"Yes, Mrs. Butler. I am looking for my wife and child,--are they here?" + +"No, sir; she became alarmed about you, soon after the shooting +commenced, and I could not keep her. She left for home half an hour ago. +It is coming on dusk, and she and the child are so near white that she +did not expect to be molested." + +"Which way did she go?" + +"She meant to go by the main street. She thought it would be less +dangerous than the back streets. I tried to get her to stay here, but +she was frantic about you, and nothing I could say would keep her. Is +the riot almost over, Dr. Miller? Do you think they will murder us all, +and burn down our houses?" + +"God knows," replied Miller, with a groan. "But I must find her, if I +lose my own life in the attempt." + +Surely, he thought, Janet would be safe. The white people of Wellington +were not savages; or at least their temporary reversion to savagery +would not go as far as to include violence to delicate women and +children. Then there flashed into his mind Josh Green's story of his +"silly" mother, who for twenty years had walked the earth as a child, as +the result of one night's terror, and his heart sank within him. + +Miller realized that his buggy, by attracting attention, had been a +hindrance rather than a help in his progress across the city. In order +to follow his wife, he must practically retrace his steps over the very +route he had come. Night was falling. It would be easier to cross the +town on foot. In the dusk his own color, slight in the daytime, would +not attract attention, and by dodging in the shadows he might avoid +those who might wish to intercept him. But he must reach Janet and the +boy at any risk. He had not been willing to throw his life away +hopelessly, but he would cheerfully have sacrificed it for those whom he +loved. + +He had gone but a short distance, and had not yet reached the centre of +mob activity, when he intercepted a band of negro laborers from the +cotton compress, with big Josh Green at their head. + +"Hello, doctuh!" cried Josh, "does you wan' ter jine us?" + +"I'm looking for my wife and child, Josh. They're somewhere in this +den of murderers. Have any of you seen them?" + +No one had seen them. + +"You men are running a great risk," said Miller. "You are rushing on to +certain death." + +"Well, suh, maybe we is; but we're gwine ter die fightin'. Dey say de +w'ite folks is gwine ter bu'n all de cullud schools an' chu'ches, an' +kill all de niggers dey kin ketch. Dey're gwine ter bu'n yo' new +hospittle, ef somebody don' stop 'em." + +"Josh--men--you are throwing your lives away. It is a fever; it will +wear off to-morrow, or to-night. They'll not burn the schoolhouses, nor +the hospital--they are not such fools, for they benefit the community; +and they'll only kill the colored people who resist them. Every one of +you with a gun or a pistol carries his death warrant in his own hand. +I'd rather see the hospital burn than have one of you lose his life. +Resistance only makes the matter worse,--the odds against you are too +long." + +"Things can't be any wuss, doctuh," replied one of the crowd sturdily. +"A gun is mo' dange'ous ter de man in front of it dan ter de man behin' +it. Dey're gwine ter kill us anyhow; an' we're tired,--we read de +newspapers,--an' we're tired er bein' shot down like dogs, widout jedge +er jury. We'd ruther die fightin' dan be stuck like pigs in a pen!" + +"God help you!" said Miller. "As for me, I must find my wife and child." + +"Good-by, doctuh," cried Josh, brandishing a huge knife. "'Member 'bout +de ole 'oman, ef you lives thoo dis. Don' fergit de headbo'd an' de +footbo'd, an' a silver plate on de coffin, ef dere's money ernuff." + +They went their way, and Miller hurried on. They might resist attack; he +thought it extremely unlikely that they would begin it; but he knew +perfectly well that the mere knowledge that some of the negroes +contemplated resistance would only further inflame the infuriated +whites. The colored men might win a momentary victory, though it was +extremely doubtful; and they would as surely reap the harvest later on. +The qualities which in a white man would win the applause of the world +would in a negro be taken as the marks of savagery. So thoroughly +diseased was public opinion in matters of race that the negro who died +for the common rights of humanity might look for no meed of admiration +or glory. At such a time, in the white man's eyes, a negro's courage +would be mere desperation; his love of liberty, a mere animal dislike of +restraint. Every finer human instinct would be interpreted in terms of +savagery. Or, if forced to admire, they would none the less repress. +They would applaud his courage while they stretched his neck, or carried +off the fragments of his mangled body as souvenirs, in much the same way +that savages preserve the scalps or eat the hearts of their enemies. + +But concern for the fate of Josh and his friends occupied only a +secondary place in Miller's mind for the moment. His wife and child were +somewhere ahead of him. He pushed on. He had covered about a quarter of +a mile more, and far down the street could see the signs of greater +animation, when he came upon the body of a woman lying upon the +sidewalk. In the dusk he had almost stumbled over it, and his heart came +up in his mouth. A second glance revealed that it could not be his wife. +It was a fearful portent, however, of what her fate might be. The "war" +had reached the women and children. Yielding to a professional instinct, +he stooped, and saw that the prostrate form was that of old Aunt Jane +Letlow. She was not yet quite dead, and as Miller, with a tender touch, +placed her head in a more comfortable position, her lips moved with a +last lingering flicker of consciousness:-- + +"Comin', missis, comin'!" + +Mammy Jane had gone to join the old mistress upon whose memory her +heart was fixed; and yet not all her reverence for her old mistress, nor +all her deference to the whites, nor all their friendship for her, had +been able to save her from this raging devil of race hatred which +momentarily possessed the town. + +Perceiving that he could do no good, Miller hastened onward, sick at +heart. Whenever he saw a party of white men approaching,--these brave +reformers never went singly,--he sought concealment in the shadow of a +tree or the shrubbery in some yard until they had passed. He had covered +about two thirds of the distance homeward, when his eyes fell upon a +group beneath a lamp-post, at sight of which he turned pale with horror, +and rushed forward with a terrible cry. + + + + +XXXV + + +"MINE ENEMY, O MINE ENEMY!" + +The proceedings of the day--planned originally as a "demonstration," +dignified subsequently as a "revolution," under any name the culmination +of the conspiracy formed by Carteret and his colleagues--had by seven +o'clock in the afternoon developed into a murderous riot. Crowds of +white men and half-grown boys, drunk with whiskey or with license, raged +through the streets, beating, chasing, or killing any negro so +unfortunate as to fall into their hands. Why any particular negro was +assailed, no one stopped to inquire; it was merely a white mob thirsting +for black blood, with no more conscience or discrimination than would be +exercised by a wolf in a sheepfold. It was race against race, the whites +against the negroes; and it was a one-sided affair, for until Josh Green +got together his body of armed men, no effective resistance had been +made by any colored person, and the individuals who had been killed had +so far left no marks upon the enemy by which they might be remembered. + +"Kill the niggers!" rang out now and then through the dusk, and far down +the street and along the intersecting thoroughfares distant voices took +up the ominous refrain,--"Kill the niggers! Kill the damned niggers!" +Now, not a dark face had been seen on the street for half an hour, +until the group of men headed by Josh made their appearance in the negro +quarter. Armed with guns and axes, they presented quite a formidable +appearance as they made their way toward the new hospital, near which +stood a schoolhouse and a large church, both used by the colored people. +They did not reach their destination without having met a number of +white men, singly or in twos or threes; and the rumor spread with +incredible swiftness that the negroes in turn were up in arms, +determined to massacre all the whites and burn the town. Some of the +whites became alarmed, and recognizing the power of the negroes, if +armed and conscious of their strength, were impressed by the immediate +necessity of overpowering and overawing them. Others, with appetites +already whetted by slaughter, saw a chance, welcome rather than not, of +shedding more black blood. Spontaneously the white mob flocked toward +the hospital, where rumor had it that a large body of desperate negroes, +breathing threats of blood and fire, had taken a determined stand. + +It had been Josh's plan merely to remain quietly and peaceably in the +neighborhood of the little group of public institutions, molesting no +one, unless first attacked, and merely letting the white people see that +they meant to protect their own; but so rapidly did the rumor spread, +and so promptly did the white people act, that by the time Josh and his +supporters had reached the top of the rising ground where the hospital +stood, a crowd of white men much more numerous than their own party were +following them at a short distance. + +Josh, with the eye of a general, perceived that some of his party were +becoming a little nervous, and decided that they would feel safer behind +shelter. + +"I reckon we better go inside de hospittle, boys," he exclaimed. "Den +we'll be behind brick walls, an' dem other fellows 'll be outside, an' ef +dere's any fightin', we'll have de bes' show. We ain' gwine ter do no +shootin' till we're pestered, an' dey'll be less likely ter pester us +ef dey can't git at us widout runnin' some resk. Come along in! Be men! +De gov'ner er de President is gwine ter sen' soldiers ter stop dese +gwines-on, an' meantime we kin keep dem white devils f'm bu'nin' down +our hospittles an' chu'ch-houses. Wen dey comes an' fin's out dat we +jes' means ter pertect ou' prope'ty, dey'll go 'long 'bout deir own +business. Er, ef dey wants a scrap, dey kin have it! Come erlong, boys!" + +Jerry Letlow, who had kept out of sight during the day, had started out, +after night had set in, to find Major Carteret. Jerry was very much +afraid. The events of the day had filled him with terror. Whatever the +limitations of Jerry's mind or character may have been, Jerry had a keen +appreciation of the danger to the negroes when they came in conflict +with the whites, and he had no desire to imperil his own skin. He valued +his life for his own sake, and not for any altruistic theory that it +might be of service to others. In other words, Jerry was something of a +coward. He had kept in hiding all day, but finding, toward evening, that +the riot did not abate, and fearing, from the rumors which came to his +ears, that all the negroes would be exterminated, he had set out, +somewhat desperately, to try to find his white patron and protector. He +had been cautious to avoid meeting any white men, and, anticipating no +danger from those of his own race, went toward the party which he saw +approaching, whose path would cross his own. When they were only a few +yards apart, Josh took a step forward and caught Jerry by the arm. + +"Come along, Jerry, we need you! Here's another man, boys. Come on now, +and fight fer yo' race!" + +In vain Jerry protested. "I don' wan' ter fight," he howled. "De w'ite +folks ain' gwine ter pester me; dey're my frien's. Tu'n me loose,--tu'n +me loose, er we all gwine ter git killed!" + +The party paid no attention to Jerry's protestations. Indeed, with the +crowd of whites following behind, they were simply considering the +question of a position from which they could most effectively defend +themselves and the building which they imagined to be threatened. If +Josh had released his grip of Jerry, that worthy could easily have +escaped from the crowd; but Josh maintained his hold almost +mechanically, and, in the confusion, Jerry found himself swept with the +rest into the hospital, the doors of which were promptly barricaded with +the heavier pieces of furniture, and the windows manned by several men +each, Josh, with the instinct of a born commander, posting his forces so +that they could cover with their guns all the approaches to the +building. Jerry still continuing to make himself troublesome, Josh, in a +moment of impatience, gave him a terrific box on the ear, which +stretched him out upon the floor unconscious. + +"Shet up," he said; "ef you can't stan' up like a man, keep still, and +don't interfere wid men w'at will fight!" The hospital, when Josh and +his men took possession, had been found deserted. Fortunately there were +no patients for that day, except one or two convalescents, and these, +with the attendants, had joined the exodus of the colored people from +the town. + +A white man advanced from the crowd without toward the main entrance to +the hospital. Big Josh, looking out from a window, grasped his gun more +firmly, as his eyes fell upon the man who had murdered his father and +darkened his mother's life. Mechanically he raised his rifle, but +lowered it as the white man lifted up his hand as a sign that he wished +to speak. + +"You niggers," called Captain McBane loudly,--it was that worthy,--"you +niggers are courtin' death, an' you won't have to court her but a minute +er two mo' befo' she'll have you. If you surrender and give up your +arms, you'll be dealt with leniently,--you may get off with the +chain-gang or the penitentiary. If you resist, you'll be shot like +dogs." + +"Dat's no news, Mr. White Man," replied Josh, appearing boldly at the +window. "We're use' ter bein' treated like dogs by men like you. If you +w'ite people will go 'long an' ten' ter yo' own business an' let us +alone, we'll ten' ter ou'n. You've got guns, an' we've got jest as +much right ter carry 'em as you have. Lay down yo'n, an' we'll lay down +ou'n,--we didn' take 'em up fust; but we ain' gwine ter let you bu'n +down ou' chu'ches an' school'ouses, er dis hospittle, an' we ain' comin' +out er dis house, where we ain' disturbin' nobody, fer you ter shoot us +down er sen' us ter jail. You hear me!" + +"All right," responded McBane. "You've had fair warning. Your blood be +on your"--His speech was interrupted by a shot from the crowd, which +splintered the window-casing close to Josh's head. This was followed by +half a dozen other shots, which were replied to, almost simultaneously, +by a volley from within, by which one of the attacking party was killed +and another wounded. + +This roused the mob to frenzy. + +"Vengeance! vengeance!" they yelled. "Kill the niggers!" + +A negro had killed a white man,--the unpardonable sin, admitting neither +excuse, justification, nor extenuation. From time immemorial it had been +bred in the Southern white consciousness, and in the negro consciousness +also, for that matter, that the person of a white man was sacred from +the touch of a negro, no matter what the provocation. A dozen colored +men lay dead in the streets of Wellington, inoffensive people, slain in +cold blood because they had been bold enough to question the authority +of those who had assailed them, or frightened enough to flee when they +had been ordered to stand still; but their lives counted nothing against +that of a riotous white man, who had courted death by attacking a body +of armed men. + +The crowd, too, surrounding the hospital, had changed somewhat in +character. The men who had acted as leaders in the early afternoon, +having accomplished their purpose of overturning the local +administration and establishing a provisional government of their own, +had withdrawn from active participation in the rioting, deeming the +negroes already sufficiently overawed to render unlikely any further +trouble from that source. Several of the ringleaders had indeed begun to +exert themselves to prevent further disorder, or any loss of property, +the possibility of which had become apparent; but those who set in +motion the forces of evil cannot always control them afterwards. The +baser element of the white population, recruited from the wharves and +the saloons, was now predominant. + +Captain McBane was the only one of the revolutionary committee who had +remained with the mob, not with any purpose to restore or preserve +order, but because he found the company and the occasion entirely +congenial. He had had no opportunity, at least no tenable excuse, to +kill or maim a negro since the termination of his contract with the +state for convicts, and this occasion had awakened a dormant appetite +for these diversions. We are all puppets in the hands of Fate, and +seldom see the strings that move us. McBane had lived a life of violence +and cruelty. As a man sows, so shall he reap. In works of fiction, such +men are sometimes converted. More often, in real life, they do not +change their natures until they are converted into dust. One does well +to distrust a tamed tiger. + +On the outskirts of the crowd a few of the better class, or at least of +the better clad, were looking on. The double volley described had +already been fired, when the number of these was augmented by the +arrival of Major Carteret and Mr. Ellis, who had just come from the +Chronicle office, where the next day's paper had been in hasty +preparation. They pushed their way towards the front of the crowd. + +"This must be stopped, Ellis," said Carteret. "They are burning houses +and killing women and children. Old Jane, good old Mammy Jane, who +nursed my wife at her bosom, and has waited on her and my child within +a few weeks, was killed only a few rods from my house, to which she was +evidently fleeing for protection. It must have been by accident,--I +cannot believe that any white man in town would be dastard enough to +commit such a deed intentionally! I would have defended her with my own +life! We must try to stop this thing!" + +"Easier said than done," returned Ellis. "It is in the fever stage, and +must burn itself out. We shall be lucky if it does not burn the town +out. Suppose the negroes should also take a hand at the burning? We have +advised the people to put the negroes down, and they are doing the job +thoroughly." + +"My God!" replied the other, with a gesture of impatience, as he +continued to elbow his way through the crowd; "I meant to keep them in +their places,--I did not intend wholesale murder and arson." + +Carteret, having reached the front of the mob, made an effort to gain +their attention. + +"Gentlemen!" he cried in his loudest tones. His voice, unfortunately, +was neither loud nor piercing. + +"Kill the niggers!" clamored the mob. + +"Gentlemen, I implore you"-- + +The crash of a dozen windows, broken by stones and pistol shots, drowned +his voice. + +"Gentlemen!" he shouted; "this is murder, it is madness; it is a +disgrace to our city, to our state, to our civilization!" + +"That's right!" replied several voices. The mob had recognized the +speaker. "It _is_ a disgrace, and we'll not put up with it a moment +longer. Burn 'em out! Hurrah for Major Carteret, the champion of 'white +supremacy'! Three cheers for the Morning Chronicle and 'no nigger +domination'!" + +"Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!" yelled the crowd. + +In vain the baffled orator gesticulated and shrieked in the effort to +correct the misapprehension. Their oracle had spoken; not hearing what +he said, they assumed it to mean encouragement and cooeperation. Their +present course was but the logical outcome of the crusade which the +Morning Chronicle had preached, in season and out of season, for many +months. When Carteret had spoken, and the crowd had cheered him, they +felt that they had done all that courtesy required, and he was +good-naturedly elbowed aside while they proceeded with the work in hand, +which was now to drive out the negroes from the hospital and avenge the +killing of their comrade. + +Some brought hay, some kerosene, and others wood from a pile which had +been thrown into a vacant lot near by. Several safe ways of approach to +the building were discovered, and the combustibles placed and fired. The +flames, soon gaining a foothold, leaped upward, catching here and there +at the exposed woodwork, and licking the walls hungrily with long +tongues of flame. + +Meanwhile a desultory firing was kept up from the outside, which was +replied to scatteringly from within the hospital. Those inside were +either not good marksmen, or excitement had spoiled their aim. If a face +appeared at a window, a dozen pistol shots from the crowd sought the +spot immediately. + +Higher and higher leaped the flames. Suddenly from one of the windows +sprang a black figure, waving a white handkerchief. It was Jerry Letlow. +Regaining consciousness after the effect of Josh's blow had subsided, +Jerry had kept quiet and watched his opportunity. From a safe +vantage-ground he had scanned the crowd without, in search of some +white friend. When he saw Major Carteret moving disconsolately away +after his futile effort to stem the torrent, Jerry made a dash for the +window. He sprang forth, and, waving his handkerchief as a flag of +truce, ran toward Major Carteret, shouting frantically:-- + +"Majah Carteret--_O_ majah! It's me, suh, Jerry, suh! I didn' go in +dere myse'f, suh--I wuz drag' in dere! I wouldn' do nothin' 'g'inst de +w'ite folks, suh,--no, 'ndeed, I wouldn', suh!" + +Jerry's cries were drowned in a roar of rage and a volley of shots from +the mob. Carteret, who had turned away with Ellis, did not even hear his +servant's voice. Jerry's poor flag of truce, his explanations, his +reliance upon his white friends, all failed him in the moment of supreme +need. In that hour, as in any hour when the depths of race hatred are +stirred, a negro was no more than a brute beast, set upon by other brute +beasts whose only instinct was to kill and destroy. + +"Let us leave this inferno, Ellis," said Carteret, sick with anger and +disgust. He had just become aware that a negro was being killed, though +he did not know whom. "We can do nothing. The negroes have themselves to +blame,--they tempted us beyond endurance. I counseled firmness, and firm +measures were taken, and our purpose was accomplished. I am not +responsible for these subsequent horrors,--I wash my hands of them. Let +us go!" + +The flames gained headway and gradually enveloped the burning building, +until it became evident to those within as well as those without that +the position of the defenders was no longer tenable. Would they die in +the flames, or would they be driven out? The uncertainty soon came to an +end. + +The besieged had been willing to fight, so long as there seemed a hope +of successfully defending themselves and their property; for their +purpose was purely one of defense. When they saw the case was hopeless, +inspired by Josh Green's reckless courage, they were still willing to +sell their lives dearly. One or two of them had already been killed, and +as many more disabled. The fate of Jerry Letlow had struck terror to the +hearts of several others, who could scarcely hide their fear. After the +building had been fired, Josh's exhortations were no longer able to keep +them in the hospital. They preferred to fight and be killed in the open, +rather than to be smothered like rats in a hole. + +"Boys!" exclaimed Josh,--"men!--fer nobody but men would do w'at you +have done,--the day has gone 'g'inst us. We kin see ou' finish; but fer +my part, I ain' gwine ter leave dis worl' widout takin' a w'ite man +'long wid me, an' I sees my man right out yonder waitin',--I be'n +waitin' fer him twenty years, but he won' have ter wait fer me mo' 'n +'bout twenty seconds. Eve'y one er you pick yo' man! We'll open de do', +an' we'll give some w'ite men a chance ter be sorry dey ever started +dis fuss!" + +The door was thrown open suddenly, and through it rushed a dozen or more +black figures, armed with knives, pistols, or clubbed muskets. Taken by +sudden surprise, the white people stood motionless for a moment, but the +approaching negroes had scarcely covered half the distance to which the +heat of the flames had driven back the mob, before they were greeted +with a volley that laid them all low but two. One of these, dazed by +the fate of his companions, turned instinctively to flee, but had +scarcely faced around before he fell, pierced in the back by a dozen +bullets. + +Josh Green, the tallest and biggest of them all, had not apparently been +touched. Some of the crowd paused in involuntary admiration of this +black giant, famed on the wharves for his strength, sweeping down upon +them, a smile upon his face, his eyes lit up with a rapt expression +which seemed to take him out of mortal ken. This impression was +heightened by his apparent immunity from the shower of lead which less +susceptible persons had continued to pour at him. + +Armed with a huge bowie-knife, a relic of the civil war, which he had +carried on his person for many years for a definite purpose, and which +he had kept sharpened to a razor edge, he reached the line of the crowd. +All but the bravest shrank back. Like a wedge he dashed through the mob, +which parted instinctively before him, and all oblivious of the rain of +lead which fell around him, reached the point where Captain McBane, the +bravest man in the party, stood waiting to meet him. A pistol-flame +flashed in his face, but he went on, and raising his powerful right arm, +buried his knife to the hilt in the heart of his enemy. When the crowd +dashed forward to wreak vengeance on his dead body, they found him with +a smile still upon his face. + +One of the two died as the fool dieth. Which was it, or was it both? +"Vengeance is mine," saith the Lord, and it had not been left to Him. +But they that do violence must expect to suffer violence. McBane's death +was merciful, compared with the nameless horrors he had heaped upon the +hundreds of helpless mortals who had fallen into his hands during his +career as a contractor of convict labor. + +Sobered by this culminating tragedy, the mob shortly afterwards +dispersed. The flames soon completed their work, and this handsome +structure, the fruit of old Adam Miller's industry, the monument of his +son's philanthropy, a promise of good things for the future of the city, +lay smouldering in ruins, a melancholy witness to the fact that our +boasted civilization is but a thin veneer, which cracks and scales off +at the first impact of primal passions. + + + + +XXXVI + + +FIAT JUSTITIA + +By the light of the burning building, which illuminated the street for +several blocks, Major Carteret and Ellis made their way rapidly until +they turned into the street where the major lived. Reaching the house, +Carteret tried the door and found it locked. A vigorous ring at the bell +brought no immediate response. Carteret had begun to pound impatiently +upon the door, when it was cautiously opened by Miss Pemberton, who was +pale, and trembled with excitement. + +"Where is Olivia?" asked the major. + +"She is upstairs, with Dodie and Mrs. Albright's hospital nurse. Dodie +has the croup. Virgie ran away after the riot broke out. Sister Olivia +had sent for Mammy Jane, but she did not come. Mrs. Albright let her +white nurse come over." + +"I'll go up at once," said the major anxiously. "Wait for me, +Ellis,--I'll be down in a few minutes." + +"Oh, Mr. Ellis," exclaimed Clara, coming toward him with both hands +extended, "can nothing be done to stop this terrible affair?" + +"I wish I could do something," he murmured fervently, taking both her +trembling hands in his own broad palms, where they rested with a +surrendering trustfulness which he has never since had occasion to +doubt. "It has gone too far, already, and the end, I fear, is not yet; +but it cannot grow much worse." The editor hurried upstairs. Mrs. +Carteret, wearing a worried and haggard look, met him at the threshold +of the nursery. + +"Dodie is ill," she said. "At three o'clock, when the trouble began, I +was over at Mrs. Albright's,--I had left Virgie with the baby. When I +came back, she and all the other servants had gone. They had heard that +the white people were going to kill all the negroes, and fled to seek +safety. I found Dodie lying in a draught, before an open window, gasping +for breath. I ran back to Mrs. Albright's,--I had found her much better +to-day,--and she let her nurse come over. The nurse says that Dodie is +threatened with membranous croup." + +"Have you sent for Dr. Price?" + +"There was no one to send,--the servants were gone, and the nurse was +afraid to venture out into the street. I telephoned for Dr. Price, and +found that he was out of town; that he had gone up the river this +morning to attend a patient, and would not be back until to-morrow. Mrs. +Price thought that he had anticipated some kind of trouble in the town +to-day, and had preferred to be where he could not be called upon to +assume any responsibility." + +"I suppose you tried Dr. Ashe?" + +"I could not get him, nor any one else, after that first call. The +telephone service is disorganized on account of the riot. We need +medicine and ice. The drugstores are all closed on account of the riot, +and for the same reason we couldn't get any ice." + +Major Carteret stood beside the brass bedstead upon which his child was +lying,--his only child, around whose curly head clustered all his hopes; +upon whom all his life for the past year had been centred. He stooped +over the bed, beside which the nurse had stationed herself. She was +wiping the child's face, which was red and swollen and covered with +moisture, the nostrils working rapidly, and the little patient vainly +endeavoring at intervals to cough up the obstruction to his breathing. + +"Is it serious?" he inquired anxiously. He had always thought of the +croup as a childish ailment, that yielded readily to proper treatment; +but the child's evident distress impressed him with sudden fear. + +"Dangerous," replied the young woman laconically. "You came none too +soon. If a doctor isn't got at once, the child will die,--and it must +be a good doctor." + +"Whom can I call?" he asked. "You know them all, I suppose. Dr. Price, +our family physician, is out of town." + +"Dr. Ashe has charge of his cases when he is away," replied the nurse. +"If you can't find him, try Dr. Hooper. The child is growing worse every +minute. On your way back you'd better get some ice, if possible." + +The major hastened downstairs. + +"Don't wait for me, Ellis," he said. "I shall be needed here for a +while. I'll get to the office as soon as possible. Make up the paper, +and leave another stick out for me to the last minute, but fill it up in +case I'm not on hand by twelve. We must get the paper out early in the +morning." + +Nothing but a matter of the most vital importance would have kept Major +Carteret away from his office this night. Upon the presentation to the +outer world of the story of this riot would depend the attitude of the +great civilized public toward the events of the last ten hours. The +Chronicle was the source from which the first word would be expected; it +would give the people of Wellington their cue as to the position which +they must take in regard to this distressful affair, which had so far +transcended in ferocity the most extreme measures which the conspirators +had anticipated. The burden of his own responsibility weighed heavily +upon him, and could not be shaken off; but he must do first the duty +nearest to him,--he must first attend to his child. + +Carteret hastened from the house, and traversed rapidly the short +distance to Dr. Ashe's office. Far down the street he could see the glow +of the burning hospital, and he had scarcely left his own house when the +fusillade of shots, fired when the colored men emerged from the burning +building, was audible. Carteret would have hastened back to the scene of +the riot, to see what was now going on, and to make another effort to +stem the tide of bloodshed; but before the dread of losing his child, +all other interests fell into the background. Not all the negroes in +Wellington could weigh in the balance for one instant against the life +of the feeble child now gasping for breath in the house behind him. + +Reaching the house, a vigorous ring brought the doctor's wife to the +door. + +"Good evening, Mrs. Ashe. Is the doctor at home?" + +"No, Major Carteret. He was called to attend Mrs. Wells, who was taken +suddenly ill, as a result of the trouble this afternoon. He will be +there all night, no doubt." + +"My child is very ill, and I must find some one." + +"Try Dr. Yates. His house is only four doors away." + +A ring at Dr. Yates's door brought out a young man. + +"Is Dr. Yates in?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Can I see him?" + +"You might see him, sir, but that would be all. His horse was frightened +by the shooting on the streets, and ran away and threw the doctor, and +broke his right arm. I have just set it; he will not be able to attend +any patients for several weeks. He is old and nervous, and the shock was +great." + +"Are you not a physician?" asked Carteret, looking at the young man +keenly. He was a serious, gentlemanly looking young fellow, whose word +might probably be trusted. + +"Yes, I am Dr. Evans, Dr. Yates's assistant. I'm really little more +than a student, but I'll do what I can." + +"My only child is sick with the croup, and requires immediate +attention." + +"I ought to be able to handle a case of the croup," answered Dr. Evans, +"at least in the first stages. I'll go with you, and stay by the child, +and if the case is beyond me, I may keep it in check until another +physician comes." + +He stepped back into another room, and returning immediately with his +hat, accompanied Carteret homeward. The riot had subsided; even the glow +from the smouldering hospital was no longer visible. It seemed that the +city, appalled at the tragedy, had suddenly awakened to a sense of its +own crime. Here and there a dark face, emerging cautiously from some +hiding-place, peered from behind fence or tree, but shrank hastily away +at the sight of a white face. The negroes of Wellington, with the +exception of Josh Green and his party, had not behaved bravely on this +critical day in their history; but those who had fought were dead, to +the last man; those who had sought safety in flight or concealment were +alive to tell the tale. + +"We pass right by Dr. Thompson's," said Dr. Evans. "If you haven't +spoken to him, it might be well to call him for consultation, in case +the child should be very bad." + +"Go on ahead," said Carteret, "and I'll get him." + +Evans hastened on, while Carteret sounded the old-fashioned knocker upon +the doctor's door. A gray-haired negro servant, clad in a dress suit and +wearing a white tie, came to the door. + +"De doctuh, suh," he replied politely to Carteret's question, "has gone +ter ampitate de ahm er a gent'eman who got one er his bones smashed wid +a pistol bullet in de--fightin' dis atternoon, suh. He's jes' gone, suh, +an' lef' wo'd dat he'd be gone a' hour er mo', suh." + +Carteret hastened homeward. He could think of no other available +physician. Perhaps no other would be needed, but if so, he could find +out from Evans whom it was best to call. + +When he reached the child's room, the young doctor was bending anxiously +over the little frame. The little lips had become livid, the little +nails, lying against the white sheet, were blue. The child's efforts to +breathe were most distressing, and each gasp cut the father like a +knife. Mrs. Carteret was weeping hysterically. "How is he, doctor?" +asked the major. + +"He is very low," replied the young man. "Nothing short of +tracheotomy--an operation to open the windpipe--will relieve him. +Without it, in half or three quarters of an hour he will be unable to +breathe. It is a delicate operation, a mistake in which would be as +fatal as the disease. I have neither the knowledge nor the experience to +attempt it, and your child's life is too valuable for a student to +practice upon. Neither have I the instruments here." + +"What shall we do?" demanded Carteret. "We have called all the best +doctors, and none are available." + +The young doctor's brow was wrinkled with thought. He knew a doctor who +could perform the operation. He had heard, also, of a certain event at +Carteret's house some months before, when an unwelcome physician had +been excluded from a consultation,--but it was the last chance. + +"There is but one other doctor in town who has performed the operation, +so far as I know," he declared, "and that is Dr. Miller. If you can get +him, he can save your child's life." + +Carteret hesitated involuntarily. All the incidents, all the arguments, +of the occasion when he had refused to admit the colored doctor to his +house, came up vividly before his memory. He had acted in accordance +with his lifelong beliefs, and had carried his point; but the present +situation was different,--this was a case of imperative necessity, and +every other interest or consideration must give way before the imminence +of his child's peril. That the doctor would refuse the call, he did not +imagine: it would be too great an honor for a negro to decline,--unless +some bitterness might have grown out of the proceedings of the +afternoon. That this doctor was a man of some education he knew; and he +had been told that he was a man of fine feeling,--for a negro,--and +might easily have taken to heart the day's events. Nevertheless, he +could hardly refuse a professional call,--professional ethics would +require him to respond. Carteret had no reason to suppose that Miller +had ever learned of what had occurred at the house during Dr. Burns's +visit to Wellington. The major himself had never mentioned the +controversy, and no doubt the other gentlemen had been equally silent. + +"I'll go for him myself," said Dr. Evans, noting Carteret's hesitation +and suspecting its cause. "I can do nothing here alone, for a little +while, and I may be able to bring the doctor back with me. He likes a +difficult operation." + + * * * * * + +It seemed an age ere the young doctor returned, though it was really +only a few minutes. The nurse did what she could to relieve the child's +sufferings, which grew visibly more and more acute. The mother, upon the +other side of the bed, held one of the baby's hands in her own, and +controlled her feelings as best she might. Carteret paced the floor +anxiously, going every few seconds to the head of the stairs to listen +for Evans's footsteps on the piazza without. At last the welcome sound +was audible, and a few strides took him to the door. + +"Dr. Miller is at home, sir," reported Evans, as he came in. "He says +that he was called to your house once before, by a third person who +claimed authority to act, and that he was refused admittance. He +declares that he will not consider such a call unless it come from you +personally." + +"That is true, quite true," replied Carteret. "His position is a just +one. I will go at once. Will--will--my child live until I can get Miller +here?" + +"He can live for half an hour without an operation. Beyond that I could +give you little hope." + +Seizing his hat, Carteret dashed out of the yard and ran rapidly to +Miller's house; ordinarily a walk of six or seven minutes, Carteret +covered it in three, and was almost out of breath when he rang the bell +of Miller's front door. + +The ring was answered by the doctor in person. + +"Dr. Miller, I believe?" asked Carteret. + +"Yes, sir." + +"I am Major Carteret. My child is seriously ill, and you are the only +available doctor who can perform the necessary operation." + +"Ah! You have tried all the others,--and then you come to me!" + +"Yes, I do not deny it," admitted the major, biting his lip. He had not +counted on professional jealousy as an obstacle to be met. "But I _have_ +come to you, as a physician, to engage your professional services for my +child,--my only child. I have confidence in your skill, or I should not +have come to you. I request--nay, I implore you to lose no more time, +but come with me at once! My child's life is hanging by a thread, and +you can save it!" + +"Ah!" replied the other, "as a father whose only child's life is in +danger, you implore me, of all men in the world, to come and save it!" + +There was a strained intensity in the doctor's low voice that struck +Carteret, in spite of his own pre-occupation. He thought he heard, too, +from the adjoining room, the sound of some one sobbing softly. There was +some mystery here which he could not fathom unaided. + +Miller turned to the door behind him and threw it open. On the white +cover of a low cot lay a childish form in the rigidity of death, and by +it knelt, with her back to the door, a woman whose shoulders were shaken +by the violence of her sobs. Absorbed in her grief, she did not turn, or +give any sign that she had recognized the intrusion. + +"There, Major Carteret!" exclaimed Miller, with the tragic eloquence of +despair, "there lies a specimen of your handiwork! There lies _my_ only +child, laid low by a stray bullet in this riot which you and your paper +have fomented; struck down as much by your hand as though you had held +the weapon with which his life was taken!" + +"My God!" exclaimed Carteret, struck with horror. "Is the child dead?" + +"There he lies," continued the other, "an innocent child,--there he lies +dead, his little life snuffed out like a candle, because you and a +handful of your friends thought you must override the laws and run this +town at any cost!--and there kneels his mother, overcome by grief. We +are alone in the house. It is not safe to leave her unattended. My duty +calls me here, by the side of my dead child and my suffering wife! I +cannot go with you. There is a just God in heaven!--as you have sown, so +may you reap!" + +Carteret possessed a narrow, but a logical mind, and except when +confused or blinded by his prejudices, had always tried to be a just +man. In the agony of his own predicament,--in the horror of the +situation at Miller's house,--for a moment the veil of race prejudice +was rent in twain, and he saw things as they were, in their correct +proportions and relations,--saw clearly and convincingly that he had no +standing here, in the presence of death, in the home of this stricken +family. Miller's refusal to go with him was pure, elemental justice; he +could not blame the doctor for his stand. He was indeed conscious of a +certain involuntary admiration for a man who held in his hands the power +of life and death, and could use it, with strict justice, to avenge his +own wrongs. In Dr. Miller's place he would have done the same thing. +Miller had spoken the truth,--as he had sown, so must he reap! He could +not expect, could not ask, this father to leave his own household at +such a moment. + +Pressing his lips together with grim courage, and bowing mechanically, +as though to Fate rather than the physician, Carteret turned and left +the house. At a rapid pace he soon reached home. There was yet a chance +for his child: perhaps some one of the other doctors had come; perhaps, +after all, the disease had taken a favorable turn,--Evans was but a +young doctor, and might have been mistaken. Surely, with doctors all +around him, his child would not be permitted to die for lack of medical +attention! He found the mother, the doctor, and the nurse still grouped, +as he had left them, around the suffering child. + +"How is he now?" he asked, in a voice that sounded like a groan. + +"No better," replied the doctor; "steadily growing worse. He can go on +probably for twenty minutes longer without an operation." + +"Where is the doctor?" demanded Mrs. Carteret, looking eagerly toward +the door. "You should have brought him right upstairs. There's not a +minute to spare! Phil, Phil, our child will die!" + +Carteret's heart swelled almost to bursting with an intense pity. Even +his own great sorrow became of secondary importance beside the grief +which his wife must soon feel at the inevitable loss of her only child. +And it was his fault! Would that he could risk his own life to spare her +and to save the child! + +Briefly, and as gently as might be, he stated the result of his errand. +The doctor had refused to come, for a good reason. He could not ask him +again. + +Young Evans felt the logic of the situation, which Carteret had +explained sufficiently. To the nurse it was even clearer. If she or any +other woman had been in the doctor's place, she would have given the +same answer. + +Mrs. Carteret did not stop to reason. In such a crisis a mother's heart +usurps the place of intellect. For her, at that moment, there were but +two facts in all the world. Her child lay dying. There was within the +town, and within reach, a man who could save him. With an agonized cry +she rushed wildly from the room. + +Carteret sought to follow her, but she flew down the long stairs like a +wild thing. The least misstep might have precipitated her to the bottom; +but ere Carteret, with a remonstrance on his lips, had scarcely reached +the uppermost step, she had thrown open the front door and fled +precipitately out into the night. + + + + +XXXVII + + +THE SISTERS + +Miller's doorbell rang loudly, insistently, as though demanding a +response. Absorbed in his own grief, into which he had relapsed upon +Carteret's departure, the sound was an unwelcome intrusion. Surely the +man could not be coming back! If it were some one else--What else might +happen to the doomed town concerned him not. His child was dead,--his +distracted wife could not be left alone. + +The doorbell rang--clamorously--appealingly. Through the long hall and +the closed door of the room where he sat, he could hear some one +knocking, and a faint voice calling. + +"Open, for God's sake, open!" + +It was a woman's voice,--the voice of a woman in distress. Slowly Miller +rose and went to the door, which he opened mechanically. + +A lady stood there, so near the image of his own wife, whom he had just +left, that for a moment he was well-nigh startled. A little older, +perhaps, a little fairer of complexion, but with the same form, the same +features, marked by the same wild grief. She wore a loose wrapper, which +clothed her like the drapery of a statue. Her long dark hair, the +counterpart of his wife's, had fallen down, and hung disheveled about +her shoulders. There was blood upon her knuckles, where she had beaten +with them upon the door. "Dr. Miller," she panted, breathless from her +flight and laying her hand upon his arm appealingly,--when he shrank +from the contact she still held it there,--"Dr. Miller, you will come +and save my child? You know what it is to lose a child! I am so sorry +about your little boy! You will come to mine!" + +"Your sorrow comes too late, madam," he said harshly. "My child is dead. +I charged your husband with his murder, and he could not deny it. Why +should I save your husband's child?" + +"Ah, Dr. Miller!" she cried, with his wife's voice,--she never knew how +much, in that dark hour, she owed to that resemblance--"it is _my_ +child, and I have never injured you. It is my child, Dr. Miller, my only +child. I brought it into the world at the risk of my own life! I have +nursed it, I have watched over it, I have prayed for it,--and it now +lies dying! Oh, Dr. Miller, dear Dr. Miller, if you have a heart, come +and save my child!" + +"Madam," he answered more gently, moved in spite of himself, "my heart +is broken. My people lie dead upon the streets, at the hands of yours. +The work of my life is in ashes,--and, yonder, stretched out in death, +lies my own child! God! woman, you ask too much of human nature! Love, +duty, sorrow, _justice_, call me here. I cannot go!" + +She rose to her full height. "Then you are a murderer," she cried +wildly. "His blood be on your head, and a mother's curse beside!" + +The next moment, with a sudden revulsion of feeling, she had thrown +herself at his feet,--at the feet of a negro, this proud white +woman,--and was clasping his knees wildly. + +"O God!" she prayed, in tones which quivered with anguish, "pardon my +husband's sins, and my own, and move this man's hard heart, by the blood +of thy Son, who died to save us all!" + +It was the last appeal of poor humanity. When the pride of intellect and +caste is broken; when we grovel in the dust of humiliation; when +sickness and sorrow come, and the shadow of death falls upon us, and +there is no hope elsewhere,--we turn to God, who sometimes swallows the +insult, and answers the appeal. + +Miller raised the lady to her feet. He had been deeply moved,--but he +had been more deeply injured. This was his wife's sister,--ah, yes! but +a sister who had scorned and slighted and ignored the existence of his +wife for all her life. Only Miller, of all the world, could have guessed +what this had meant to Janet, and he had merely divined it through the +clairvoyant sympathy of love. This woman could have no claim upon him +because of this unacknowledged relationship. Yet, after all, she was his +wife's sister, his child's kinswoman. She was a fellow creature, too, +and in distress. + +"Rise, madam," he said, with a sudden inspiration, lifting her gently. +"I will listen to you on one condition. My child lies dead in the +adjoining room, his mother by his side. Go in there, and make your +request of her. I will abide by her decision." + +The two women stood confronting each other across the body of the dead +child, mute witness of this first meeting between two children of the +same father. Standing thus face to face, each under the stress of the +deepest emotions, the resemblance between them was even more striking +than it had seemed to Miller when he had admitted Mrs. Carteret to the +house. But Death, the great leveler, striking upon the one hand and +threatening upon the other, had wrought a marvelous transformation in +the bearing of the two women. The sad-eyed Janet towered erect, with +menacing aspect, like an avenging goddess. The other, whose pride had +been her life, stood in the attitude of a trembling suppliant. + +"_You_ have come here," cried Janet, pointing with a tragic gesture to +the dead child,--"_you_, to gloat over your husband's work. All my life +you have hated and scorned and despised me. Your presence here insults +me and my dead. What are you doing here?" + +"Mrs. Miller," returned Mrs. Carteret tremulously, dazed for a moment by +this outburst, and clasping her hands with an imploring gesture, "my +child, my only child, is dying, and your husband alone can save his +life. Ah, let me have my child," she moaned, heart-rendingly. "It is my +only one--my sweet child--my ewe lamb!" + +"This was _my_ only child!" replied the other mother; "and yours is no +better to die than mine!" + +"You are young," said Mrs. Carteret, "and may yet have many +children,--this is my only hope! If you have a human heart, tell your +husband to come with me. He leaves it to you; he will do as you +command." + +"Ah," cried Janet, "I have a human heart, and therefore I will not let +him go. _My_ child is dead--O God, my child, my child!" + +She threw herself down by the bedside, sobbing hysterically. The other +woman knelt beside her, and put her arm about her neck. For a moment +Janet, absorbed in her grief, did not repulse her. "Listen," pleaded +Mrs. Carteret. "You will not let my baby die? You are my sister;--the +child is your own near kin!" + +"My child was nearer," returned Janet, rising again to her feet and +shaking off the other woman's arm. "He was my son, and I have seen him +die. I have been your sister for twenty-five years, and you have only +now, for the first time, called me so!" + +"Listen--sister," returned Mrs. Carteret. Was there no way to move this +woman? Her child lay dying, if he were not dead already. She would tell +everything, and leave the rest to God. If it would save her child, she +would shrink at no sacrifice. Whether the truth would still further +incense Janet, or move her to mercy, she could not tell; she would leave +the issue to God. + +"Listen, sister!" she said. "I have a confession to make. You are my +lawful sister. My father was married to your mother. You are entitled to +his name, and to half his estate." + +Janet's eyes flashed with bitter scorn. + +"And you have robbed me all these years, and now tell me that as a +reason why I should forgive the murder of my child?" + +"No, no!" cried the other wildly, fearing the worst. "I have known of it +only a few weeks,--since my Aunt Polly's death. I had not meant to rob +you,--I had meant to make restitution. Sister! for our father's sake, +who did you no wrong, give me my child's life!" + +Janet's eyes slowly filled with tears--bitter tears--burning tears. For +a moment even her grief at her child's loss dropped to second place in +her thoughts. This, then, was the recognition for which, all her life, +she had longed in secret. It had come, after many days, and in larger +measure than she had dreamed; but it had come, not with frank kindliness +and sisterly love, but in a storm of blood and tears; not freely given, +from an open heart, but extorted from a reluctant conscience by the +agony of a mother's fears. Janet had obtained her heart's desire, and +now that it was at her lips, found it but apples of Sodom, filled with +dust and ashes! + +"Listen!" she cried, dashing her tears aside. "I have but one word for +you,--one last word,--and then I hope never to see your face again! My +mother died of want, and I was brought up by the hand of charity. Now, +when I have married a man who can supply my needs, you offer me back the +money which you and your friends have robbed me of! You imagined that +the shame of being a negro swallowed up every other ignominy,--and in +your eyes I am a negro, though I am your sister, and you are white, and +people have taken me for you on the streets,--and you, therefore, left +me nameless all my life! Now, when an honest man has given me a name of +which I can be proud, you offer me the one of which you robbed me, and +of which I can make no use. For twenty-five years I, poor, despicable +fool, would have kissed your feet for a word, a nod, a smile. Now, when +this tardy recognition comes, for which I have waited so long, it is +tainted with fraud and crime and blood, and I must pay for it with my +child's life!" + +"And I must forfeit that of mine, it seems, for withholding it so long," +sobbed the other, as, tottering, she turned to go. "It is but just." + +"Stay--do not go yet!" commanded Janet imperiously, her pride still +keeping back her tears. "I have not done. I throw you back your +father's name, your father's wealth, your sisterly recognition. I want +none of them,--they are bought too dear! ah, God, they are bought too +dear! But that you may know that a woman may be foully wronged, and yet +may have a heart to feel, even for one who has injured her, you may have +your child's life, if my husband can save it! Will," she said, throwing +open the door into the next room, "go with her!" + +"God will bless you for a noble woman!" exclaimed Mrs. Carteret. "You do +not mean all the cruel things you have said,--ah, no! I will see you +again, and make you take them back; I cannot thank you now! Oh, doctor, +let us go! I pray God we may not be too late!" + +Together they went out into the night. Mrs. Carteret tottered under the +stress of her emotions, and would have fallen, had not Miller caught and +sustained her with his arm until they reached the house, where he turned +over her fainting form to Carteret at the door. + +"Is the child still alive?" asked Miller. + +"Yes, thank God," answered the father, "but nearly gone." + +"Come on up, Dr. Miller," called Evans from the head of the stairs. +"There's time enough, but none to spare." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Marrow of Tradition, by Charles W. 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