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diff --git a/old/16138-8.txt b/old/16138-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..46202b4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/16138-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11158 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Cromptons, by Mary J. Holmes + +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 Cromptons + +Author: Mary J. Holmes + +Release Date: June 27, 2005 [EBook #16138] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CROMPTONS *** + + + + +Produced by Kentuckiana Digital Library, David Garcia, Ed +Casulli and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +POPULAR NOVELS + +BY + +MRS. MARY J. HOLMES. + + +TEMPEST AND SUNSHINE. +DARKNESS AND DAYLIGHTS. +ENGLISH ORPHANS. +HUGH +WORTHINGTON. +HOMESTEAD ON HILLSIDE. +CAMERON PRIDE. +'LENA RIVERS. +ROSE MATHER. +MEADOW BROOK. +ETHELYN'S MISTAKE. +DORA DEANE. +MILBANK. +COUSIN MAUDE. +EDNA BROWNING. +MARIAN GREY. +WEST LAWN. +EDITH LYLE. +MILDRED. +DAISY THORNTON. +FOREST HOUSE. +CHATEAU D'OR. +MADELINE. +QUEENIE HETHERTON. +CHRISTMAS STORIES. +BESSIE'S FORTUNE. +GRETCHEN. +MARGUERITE. +DR. HATHERN'S DAUGHTERS. +MRS. HALLAM'S COMPANION. +PAUL RALSTON. +THE TRACY DIAMONDS. +THE CROMPTONS. (_NEW_) + + + +"Mrs. Holmes is a peculiarly pleasant and fascinating writer. Her books +are always entertaining, and she has the rare faculty of enlisting the +sympathy and affections of her readers, and of holding their attention +to her pages with deep and absorbing interest." + + +Handsomely bound in cloth. Price, $1.00 each, and sent _free_ by mail on +receipt of price. + +G.W. Dillingham Co., Publishers, NEW YORK. + + + +[Illustration: "Here by this grave I promise all you ask."--Page 39.] + + + +The Cromptons + + +BY + +MARY J. HOLMES + + +G.W. DILLINGHAM COMPANY +PUBLISHERS NEW YORK + +COPYRIGHT 1899, 1901, + +By MRS. MARY J. HOLMES. + +_All rights reserved._ + +_The Cromptons. Issued August, 1902._ + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PART I + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I. THE STRANGER AT THE BROCK HOUSE 9 + + II. THE PALMETTO CLEARING 20 + + III. THE INTERVIEW 32 + + IV. HOPING AND WAITING 44 + + V. MISS DORY 48 + + VI. THE SERVICES 58 + + VII. COL. CROMPTON 66 + +VIII. THE CHILD OF THE CLEARING 80 + + IX. THE COLONEL AND JAKE 88 + + X. EUDORA 102 + + +PART II + + I. HOWARD CROMPTON TO JACK HARCOURT 115 + + II. JACK HARCOURT TO HOWARD CROMPTON 122 + + III. ELOISE 127 + + IV. THE ACCIDENT 139 + + V. AMY 149 + + VI. AT MRS. BIGGS'S 160 + + VII. RUBY ANN PATRICK 178 + +VIII. MRS. BIGGS'S REMINISCENCES 189 + + IX. LETTER FROM REV. CHARLES MASON 199 + + X. PART SECOND OF REV. MR. MASON'S LETTER 211 + + XI. SUNDAY CALLS 218 + + XII. THE MARCH OF EVENTS 227 + +XIII. GETTING READY FOR THE RUMMAGE SALE 242 + + XIV. THE FIRST SALE 256 + + XV. AT THE RUMMAGE 261 + + XVI. THE AUCTION 271 + + +PART III + + I. THE BEGINNING OF THE END 285 + + II. THE LITTLE RED CLOAK 294 + + III. ELOISE AT THE CROMPTON HOUSE 304 + + IV. THE SHADOW OF DEATH 315 + + V. LOOKING FOR A WILL 323 + + VI. IN FLORIDA 336 + + VII. IN THE PALMETTO CLEARING 342 + +VIII. THE LITTLE HAIR TRUNK 350 + + IX. WHAT HOWARD FOUND 362 + + X. HOWARD'S TEMPTATION 371 + + XI. CONCLUSION 379 + + + + +Illustrations: + +"Here by this grave I promise all you ask." + + + + +THE CROMPTONS + + + + +PART I + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE STRANGER AT THE BROCK HOUSE + + +The steamer "Hatty" which plied between Jacksonville and Enterprise was +late, and the people who had come down from the Brock House to the +landing had waited half an hour before a puff of smoke in the distance +told that she was coming. There had been many conjectures as to the +cause of the delay, for she was usually on time, and those who had +friends on the boat were growing nervous, fearing an accident, and all +were getting tired, when she appeared in the distance, the puffs of +smoke increasing in volume as she drew nearer, and the sound of her +whistle echoing across the water, which at Enterprise spreads out into a +lake. She had not met with an accident, but had been detained at Palatka +waiting for a passenger of whom the captain had been apprised. + +"He may be a trifle late, but if he is, wait. He must take your boat," +Tom Hardy had said to the captain when engaging passage for his friend, +and Tom Hardy was not one whose wishes were often disregarded. "Them +Hardys does more business with me in one year than ten other families +and I can't go agin Tom, and if he says wait for his friend, why, +there's nothing to do but wait," the captain said, as he walked up and +down in front of his boat, growing more and more impatient, until at +last as he was beginning to swear he'd wait no longer for all the Hardys +in Christendom, two men came slowly towards the landing, talking +earnestly and not seeming to be in the least hurry, although the "Hatty" +began to scream herself hoarse as if frantic to be gone. + +"How d'ye, Cap," Tom said, in his easy, off-hand way. "Hope we haven't +kept you long. This is my friend I told you about. I suppose his berth +is ready?" + +He did not tell the name of his friend, who, as if loath to cross the +plank, held back for a few more words. Tom gave him a little push at +last, and said, "Good-bye, you really must go. Success to you, but don't +for a moment think of carrying out that quixotic plan you first +mentioned. Better jump into the river. Good-bye!" + +The plank was crossed and pulled in, and a mulatto boy came forward to +take the stranger's bag and pilot him to his stateroom, which opened +from what was called the ladies' parlor. Coiled up in a corner on the +deck was a bundle of something which stirred as they came near to it, +and began to turn over, making the stranger start with a slight +exclamation. + +"Doan you be skeert, sar," the boy said, "dat's nottin' but Mandy Ann, +an onery nigger what b'longs to ole Miss Harris in de clarin' up ter +Ent'prise. She's been hired out a spell in Jacksonville,--nuss to a +little gal, and now she's gwine home. Miss Dory done sent for her, +'case Jake is gone and ole Miss is wus,--never was very peart," and +turning to the girl the boy Ted continued: "You Mandy Ann, doan you know +more manners not to skeer a gemman, rollin' round like a punkin? Get +back wid yer." + +He spurned the bundle with his foot, while the stranger stopped +suddenly, as if a blow had been struck him. + +"Who did you say she was? To whom does she belong, I mean?" he asked, +and the boy replied, "Mandy Ann, a no count nigger, b'longs to Miss +Harris. Poor white trash! Crackers! Dis your stateroom, sar. Kin I do +somethin' for you?" + +The boy's head was held high, indicative of his opinion of poor white +trash and Crackers in general, and Mandy Ann in particular. + +"No, thanks," the stranger said, taking his bag and shutting himself +into his stuffy little stateroom. + +"'Specs he's from de Norf; looks like it, an' dey allus askin' who we +'longs to. In course we 'longs to somebody. We has ter," Ted thought, as +he made his way back to Mandy Ann, who was wide-awake and ready for any +war of words which might come up between herself and Ted, "who felt +mighty smart 'case he was cabin boy on de 'Hatty.'" + +As Ted suspected, the stranger was of Northern birth, which showed +itself in his accent and cold, proud bearing. He might have been thirty, +and he might have been more. His face did not show his age. His features +were regular, and his complexion pale as a woman's. His eyes were a +cross between blue and gray, with a look in them which made you feel +that they were reading your inmost secrets, and you involuntarily turned +away when they were fixed upon you. On this occasion he seemed colder +and prouder than usual, as he seated himself upon the stool in his +stateroom and looked about him,--not at any thing that was there, for he +did not see it, or think how small and uncomfortable his quarters were, +although recommended as one of the staterooms _de luxe_ on the boat. His +thoughts were outside, first on Mandy Ann,--not because of anything +about her personally. He had seen nothing except a woolly head, a dark +blue dress, and two black, bare feet and ankles, but because she was +Mandy Ann, bound slave of "ole Miss Harris, who lived in de clarin'," +and for that reason she connected him with something from which he +shrank with an indescribable loathing. At last he concluded to try the +narrow berth, but finding it too hard and too short went out upon the +rear deck, and taking a chair where he would be most out of the way and +screened from observation, he sat until the moon went down behind a +clump of palms, and the stars paled in the light of the sun which shone +down upon the beautiful river and the tangled mass of shrubbery and +undergrowth on either side of it. + +At last the passengers began to appear one by one, with their cheery how +dye's and good mornings, and curious glances at this stranger in their +midst, who, although with them, did not seem to be one of them. They +were all Southerners and inclined to be friendly, but nothing in the +stranger's attitude invited sociability. He was looking off upon the +water in the direction from which they had come, and never turned his +head in response to the loud shouts, when an alligator was seen lying +upon the shore, or a big turtle was sunning itself on a log. He was a +Northerner, they knew from his general make-up, and a friend of Tom +Hardy, the captain said, when questioned with regard to him. This last +was sufficient to atone for any proclivities he might have antagonistic +to the South. Tom Hardy, although living in Georgia, was well known in +Florida. To be his friend was to be somebody; and two or three attempts +at conversation were made in the course of the morning. One man, bolder +than the rest, told him it was a fine day and a fine trip, but that the +"Hatty" was getting a little too _passée_ for real comfort. At the word +_passée_ the stranger looked up with something like interest, and +admitted that the boat was _passée_, and the day fine, and the trip, +too. A cigar was next offered, but politely declined, and then the +attempt at an acquaintance ceased on the part of the first to make it. +Later on an old Georgian planter, garrulous and good-humored, swore he'd +find out what stuff the Yankee was made of, and why he was down there +where few of his kind ever came. His first move was the offer of +tobacco, with the words: "How d'ye, sir? Have a chew?" + +The stranger's head went up a little higher than its wont, and the proud +look on the pale face deepened as he declined the tobacco civilly, as he +had the cigar. + +"Wall, now, don't chew tobacky? You lose a good deal. I couldn't live +without it. Sorter soothin', an' keeps my jaws goin', and when I'm so +full of vim,--mad, you know,--that I'm fit to bust, why, I spit and +spit,--backy juice in course,--till I spit it all out," the Georgian +said, taking an immense chew, and sitting down by the stranger, who gave +no sign that he knew of his proximity, but still kept his eyes on the +river as if absorbed in the scenery. + +The Georgian was not to be easily rebuffed. Crossing his legs and +planting his big hat on his knees, he went on: + +"You are from the North, I calculate?" + +"Yes." + +"I thought so. We can mostly tell 'em. From Boston, I reckon?" + +"No." + +"New York, mabby? No? Chicago? No? Wall, where in--" the Georgian +stopped, checked by a look in the bluish-gray eyes which seldom failed +in its effect. + +Evidently the stranger didn't choose to tell where he lived, but the +Georgian, though somewhat subdued, was not wholly silenced, and he +continued: "Ever in Florida before?" + +"No." + +"Wall, I s'pose you're takin' a little pleasure trip like the rest of +us?" + +To this there was no response, the stranger thinking with bitterness +that his trip was anything but one of pleasure. There was still one +chord left to pull and that was Tom Hardy, who in a way was voucher for +this interloper, and the Georgian's next question was: "Do you know Tom +well?" + +"Do you mean, Mr. Hardy?" the stranger asked, and the Georgian replied. +"In course, but I allus calls him Tom. Have known him since he wore +gowns. My plantation jines old man Hardy's." + +There was no doubt, now, that the stranger was interested, and had his +companion been a close observer he would have seen the kindling light in +his eyes, and the spots of red beginning to show on his face. Whether to +talk or not was a question in his mind. Cowardice prompted him to remain +silent, and something which defied silence prompted him at last to +talk. + +"I was with Mr. Thomas Hardy in college," he said, "and I have visited +him in his home. He is my best friend." + +"To-be-sure!" the Georgian said, hitching nearer to the stranger, as if +there was a bond of relationship between them. + +The man had given no inkling of the date of his visit, and as it was +some years since Tom was graduated the Georgian did not dream of +associating the visit with a few weeks before, when he had heard that a +high buck was at old man Hardy's and with Tom was painting the +neighborhood red and scandalizing some of the more sober citizens with +his excesses. This quiet stranger with the proud face and hard eyes +never helped paint anything. It was somebody else, whose name he had +forgotten, but of whom he went on to speak in not very complimentary +terms. + +"A high buck, I never happened to see squar in the face," he said. "Had +glimpses of him in the distance ridin' ole man Hardy's sorrel, like he +was crazy, and oncet reelin' in the saddle. Yes, sar, _reelin'_, as if +he'd took too much. I b'lieve in a drink when you are dry, but Lord +land, whar's the sense of _reelin'_? I don't see it, do you?" + +The stranger said he didn't and the Georgian went on, now in a lower, +confidential voice. + +"I actually hearn that this chap,--what the deuce was his name? Have you +an idee? He was from the North?" + +If the stranger had an _idee_ he didn't give it, and the Georgian +continued: "These two young chaps--Tom ain't right young though, same +age as you, I reckon--called on some Cracker girls back in the woods and +the Northern feller staid thar two or three days. Think of it--Cracker +girls! Now, if'ted been niggers, instead of Crackers!" + +"Ugh!" the stranger exclaimed, wakened into something like life. "Don't +talk any more about that man! He must have been a sneak and villain and +a low-lived dog, and if there is any meaner name you can give him, do +so. It will fit him well, and please me." + +"Call him a Cracker, but a Florida one. Georgy is mostly better--not up +to so much snuff, you know," the Georgian suggested, while the +Northerner drew a quick breath and thought of Mandy Ann, and wondered +where she was and if he should see her again. + +He felt as if there was not a dry thread in one of his garments when his +companion left him, and returning to his friends reported that he hadn't +made much out of the chap. He wasn't from New York, nor Boston, nor +Chicago, and "I don't know where in thunder he is from, nor his name +nuther. I forgot to ask it, he was so stiff and offish. He was in +college with Tom Hardy and visited him years ago; that's all I know," +the planter said, and after that the stranger was left mostly to +himself, while the passengers busied themselves with gossip, and the +scenery, and trying to keep cool. + +The day was hot and grew hotter as the sun rose higher in the heavens, +and the stranger felt very uncomfortable, but it was not the heat which +affected him as much as the terrible network of circumstances which he +had woven for himself. It was the harvest he was reaping as the result +of one false step, when his brain was blurred and he was somebody +besides the elegant gentleman whom people felt it an honor to know. He +was himself now, crushed inwardly, but carrying himself just as proudly +as if no mental fire were consuming him, making him think seriously more +than once of jumping into the river and ending it all. He was very +luxurious and fastidious in his tastes, and would have nothing unseemly +in his home at the North, where he had only to say to his servants come +and they came, and where, if he died on his rosewood bedstead with +silken hangings, they would make him a grand funeral--smother him with +flowers, and perhaps photograph him as he lay in state. Here, if he +ended his life, in the river, with alligators and turtles, he would be +fished up a sorry spectacle, and laid upon the deck with weeds and ferns +clinging to him, and no one knowing who he was till they sent for Tom +Hardy at that moment hurrying back to his home in Georgia, from which he +had come at the earnest request of his friend. He did not like the looks +of himself bedraggled and wet, and dead, on the deck of the "Hatty," +with that curious crowd looking at him, Mandy Ann with the rest. Strange +that thoughts of Mandy Ann should flit through his mind as he decided +against the cold bath in the St. John's and _to face_ it, whatever it +was. Occasionally some one spoke to him, and he always answered +politely, and once offered his chair to a lady who seemed to be looking +for one. But she declined it, and he was again left alone. Once he went +to the other end of the boat for a little exercise and change, he said +to himself, but really for a chance of seeing Mandy Ann, who of all the +passengers interested him the most. But Mandy Ann was not in sight, nor +did he see her again till the boat was moving slowly up to the wharf at +Enterprise, and with her braided tags of hair standing up like little +horns, and her worldly goods tied up in a cotton handkerchief, she stood +respectfully behind the waiting crowd, each eager to be the first to +land. + +The Brock House was full--"not so much as a cot or a shelf for one +more," the clerk said to the stranger, who was last at the desk. He had +lingered behind the others to watch Mandy Ann, with a half-formed +resolution to ask her to direct him to "ole Miss Harrises" if, as Ted +had said, she was going there. Mandy Ann did not seem to be in any hurry +and sauntered leisurely up the lane a little beyond the Brock House, +where she sat down and stretching out her bare feet began to suck an +orange Ted had given her at parting, telling her that though she was "an +onery nigger who belonged to a Cracker, she had rather far eyes and a +mouth that couldn't be beat for sass, adding that he reckoned that thar +tall man who didn't speak to nobody might be wantin' to buy her, as he +had done ast him oncet how far it was to the clarin', an' he couldn't +want nobody thar but her." Mandy Ann had taken the orange, but had +spurned what Ted had said of the tall man's intentions. She had been +told too many times, during her brief stay in Jacksonville as a nurse +girl, that she was of no manner of account to believe any one wished to +buy her, and she paid no attention to the tall man, except to see that +he was the last to enter the hotel, where he was told there was no room +for him. + +"But I must have a place to sleep," he said. "It is only for the night. +I return on the 'Hatty.'" + +"Why not stay on her then? Some do who only come up for the trip," was +the clerk's reply. + +This was not a bad idea, although the stranger shuddered as he thought +of his ill-smelling stateroom and short berth. Still it was better than +camping out doors, or--the clearing--where he might be accommodated. He +shuddered again when he thought of that possibility--thanked the clerk +for his suggestion--and declined the book which had been pushed towards +him for his name. No use to register if he was not to be a guest; no use +to tell his name anyway, if he could avoid it, as he had successfully on +the boat, and with a polite good-evening he stepped outside just as +Mandy Ann, having finished her orange, peel and all, gathered herself up +with a view to starting for home. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE PALMETTO CLEARING + + +The stranger had asked Ted on the boat, when he came with some lemonade +he had ordered, how far it was from the Brock House to the palmetto +clearing, and if there was any conveyance to take him there. Ted had +stared at him with wonder--first, as to what such as he could want at +the clearing, and second, if he was crazy enough to think there was a +conveyance. From being a petted cabin boy, Ted had grown to be something +of a spoiled one, and was what the passengers thought rather too "peart" +in his ways, while some of the crew insisted that he needed "takin' down +a button hole lower," whatever that might mean. + +"Bless yer soul, Mas'r," he said, in reply to the question. "Thar ain't +no conveyance to the clarin'. It's off in de woods a piece, right smart. +You sticks to de road a spell, till you comes to a grave--what used to +be--but it's done sunk in now till nuffin's thar but de stun an' some +blackb'ry bushes clamberin' over it. Then you turns inter de wust piece +of road in Floridy, and turns agin whar some yaller jasmine is growin', +an fore long you're dar." + +The direction was not very lucid, and the stranger thought of asking the +clerk for something more minute, but the surprise in Ted's eyes when he +inquired the way to the clearing had put him on his guard against a +greater surprise in the clerk. He would find his way somehow, and he +went out into the yard and looked in the direction of the sandy road +which led into the woods and which Mandy Ann was taking, presumably on +her way home. A second time the thought came to him that she might +direct him, and he started rather rapidly after her, calling as he went: +"I say girl, I want you. Do you hear?" + +Mandy Ann heard, gave one glance over her shoulder, saw who was +following her, and began at once to run, her bare feet and ankles +throwing up the sand, and her sunbonnet falling from her head down her +back, where it flapped from side to side as she ran. She remembered what +Ted had said of the stranger, who might be thinking of buying her; this +was possible after all, as he had said he wanted her, and though her +home in the clearing was not one of luxury, it was one of ease and +indolence, and she had no desire for a new one--certainly not with this +man whose face did not attract her. Just why she ran, she did not know. +It was of no use to appeal to _ole missus_, who would not know whether +she belonged to her or some one else. Miss Dory was her only hope. With +promises of future good behavior and abstinence from pilfering and +lying, and badness generally, she might enlist her sympathy and +protection till Jake came home, when all would be right. So she sped on +like a deer, glancing back occasionally to see the stranger following +her with rapid strides which, however, did not avail to overtake her. +The afternoon was very warm--the road sandy and uneven--and he soon gave +up the chase, wondering why the girl ran so fast, as if afraid of him. +The last sight he had of her was of her woolly head, turning off from +the road to the right, where it disappeared behind some thick +undergrowth. Ted had said, "Turn at the grave," and he walked on till he +reached the spot, and stood by the low railing enclosing a sunken grave, +whether of man or woman he could not tell, the lettering on the +discolored stone was so obscure. Studying it very carefully, he thought +he made out "Mrs." before the moss-blurred name. + +"A woman," he said, with a feeling how terrible it must be to be buried +and left alone in that dreary, sandy waste, with no human habitation +nearer than the Brock House, and no sound of life passing by, except +from the same place, unless--and he started, as he noticed for the first +time what Ted had said was the worst road in Florida, and what was +scarcely more than a footpath leading off to the right, and to the +clearing, of course--and he must follow it past tangled weeds and +shrubs, and briers, and dwarf palmettoes, stumps of which impeded his +progress. + +Mandy Ann had entirely disappeared, but here and there in the sand he +saw her footprints, the toes spread wide apart, and knew he was right. +Suddenly there came a diversion, and he leaned against a tree and +breathed hard and fast, as one does when a shock comes unexpectedly. His +ear had caught the sound of voices at no great distance from him. A +negro's voice--Mandy Ann's, he was sure--eager, excited, and pleading; +and another, soft and low, and reassuring, but wringing the sweat from +him in great drops, and making his heart beat rapidly. He knew who was +with Mandy Ann, and that she, too, was hurrying on to the clearing, +still in the distance. Had there been any doubt of her identity, it +would have been swept away when, through an opening in the trees, he +caught sight of a slender girlish figure, clad in the homely garments of +what Ted called poorwhite trash, and of which he had some knowledge. +There was, however, a certain grace in the movements of the girl which +moved him a little, for he was not blind to any point of beauty in a +woman, and the beauty of this girl, hurrying on so fast, had been his +ruin, as he in one sense had been hers. + +"Eudora!" he said, with a groan, and with a half resolve to turn back +rather than go on. + +Tom Hardy in their talk while the boat waited for them at Palatka, had +told him what _not_ to do, and he was there to follow Tom's +advice--though, to do him justice, there was a thought in his heart that +possibly he might do what he knew he ought to do, in spite of Tom. + +"I'll wait and see, and if--" he said at last, as he began to pick his +way over the palmetto stumps and ridges of sand till he came upon the +clearing. + +It was an open space of two or three acres, cleared from tanglewood and +dwarf palmettoes. In the centre was a log-house, larger and more +pretentious than many log-houses which he had seen in the South. A +Marshal Niel had climbed up one corner to the roof, and twined itself +around the chimney, giving a rather picturesque effect to the house, and +reminding the stranger of some of the cabins he had seen in Ireland, +with ivy growing over them. There was an attempt at a flower garden +where many roses were blooming. Some one was fond of flowers, and the +thought gave the stranger a grain of comfort, for a love of flowers was +associated in his mind with an innate refinement in the lover, and there +was for a moment a tinge of brightness in the darkness settling upon +his future. Around the house there was no sign of life or stir, except a +brood of well-grown chickens, which, with their mother, were huddled on +the door step, evidently contemplating an entrance into the house, the +door of which was open, as were the shutters to the windows, which were +minus glass, as was the fashion of many old Florida houses in the days +before the Civil War. With a shoo to the chickens, which sent some into +the house and others flying into the yard, the stranger stepped to the +door and knocked, once very gently, then more decidedly--then, as there +came no response, he ventured in, and driving out the chickens, one of +which had mounted upon a table and was pecking at a few crumbs of bread +left there, he sat down and looked about him. In the loft which could +hardly be dignified with the name chamber, he heard a low murmur of +voices, and the sound of footsteps moving rapidly, as if some one were +in a hurry. The room in which he sat was evidently living and +dining-room both, and was destitute of everything which he deemed +necessary to comfort. He had been in a Cracker's house before, and it +seemed to him now that his heart turned over when he recalled his visits +there, and his utter disregard of his surroundings. + +"I was a fool, and blind, then; but I can see now," he said to himself, +as he looked around at the marks of poverty, or shiftlessness, or both, +and contrasted them with his home in the North. + +The floor was bare, with the exception of a mat laid before the door +leading into another and larger room, before one of the windows of which +a white curtain was gently blowing in the wind. A rough, uncovered table +pushed against the wall, three or four chairs, and a hair-cloth settee +completed the furniture, with the exception of a low rocking-chair, in +which sat huddled and wrapped in a shawl a little old woman whose +yellow, wrinkled face told of the snuff habit, and bore a strong +resemblance to a mummy, except that the woman wore a cap with a fluted +frill, and moved her head up and down like Christmas toys of old men and +women. She was evidently asleep, as she gave no sign of consciousness +that any one was there. + +"Old Miss," the stranger said, and his breath again came gaspingly, and +Tom Hardy's advice looked more and more reasonable, while he cursed +himself for the fool he had been, and would have given all he was worth, +and even half his life, to be rid of this thing weighing him down like a +nightmare from which he could not awaken. + +He was roused at last by the sound of bare feet on the stairs in a +corner of the room. Some one was coming, and in a moment Mandy Ann stood +before him, her eyes shining, and her teeth showing white against the +ebony of her skin. In her rush through the woods Mandy Ann had come upon +her young mistress looking for the few berries which grew upon the +tangled bushes. + +"Miss Dory, Miss Dory!" she exclaimed, clutching the girl's arm with +such force that the pail fell to the ground and the berries were +spilled, "you ain't gwine for ter sell me to nobody? Say you ain't, an' +fo' de Lawd I'll never touch nothin', nor lie, nor sass ole Miss, nor +make faces and mumble like she does. I'll be a fust cut nigger, an' say +my prars ebery night. I'se done got a new one down ter Jacksonville. Say +you ain't." + +In her surprise Miss Dory did not at first speak; then, shaking Mandy +Ann's hand from her arm and pushing back her sunbonnet she said: "What +do you mean, and where did you come from? The 'Hatty,' I s'pose, but she +must be late. I'd given you up. Who's gwine ter buy yer?" + +"Ted done tole me mabby de man on de boat from de Norf, what got on ter +Palatka, an' done as't the way hyar, might be after me--an'--" + +She got no further, for her own arm was now clutched as her mistress's +had been, while Miss Dory asked, "What man? How did he look? Whar is +he?" and her eyes, shining with expectancy, looked eagerly around. + +Very rapidly Mandy Ann told all she knew of the stranger, while the +girl's face grew radiant as she listened. "An' he done holler and say +how he want me an' follered me, an' when I turn off at the grave he was +still follerin' me. He's comin' hyar. You won't sell me, shoo'," Mandy +Ann said, and her mistress replied, "Sell you? No. It was one of Ted's +lies. He is my friend. He's comin' to see me. Hurry!" + +Eudora was racing now through the briers, and weeds, and palmetto +stumps, and dragging Mandy Ann with her. + +"Never mind granny," she said, when they reached the house and Mandy +stopped to say how d'ye to the old woman in the chair. "Come upstairs +with me and help me change my gown." + +"Faw de Lawd's sake, is he yer beau?" Mandy Ann asked, as she saw the +excitement of her mistress, who was tearing around the room, now +laughing, now dashing the tears away and giving the most contradicting +orders as to what she was to wear and Mandy Ann was to get for her. + +They heard the two knocks and knew that some one had entered the house, +but Mandy Ann was too busy blacking a pair of boots to go at once, as +she had her hands to wash, and yet, although it seemed to him an age, it +was scarcely two minutes before she came down the stairs, nimble as a +cat, and bobbed before him with a courtesy nearly to the floor. Her +mistress had said to her. "Mind your manners. You say you have learned a +heap in Jacksonville." + +"To be shoo'. I've seen de quality thar in Miss Perkins's house," Mandy +Ann replied, and hence the courtesy she thought rather fetching, +although she shook a little as she confronted the stranger, whose +features never relaxed in the least, and who did not answer her. "How +d'ye, Mas'r," which she felt it incumbent to say, as there was no one +else to receive him. + +Mandy Ann was very bright, and as she knew no restraint in her Florida +home, when alone with her old Miss and young Miss, she was apt to be +rather familiar for a negro slave, and a little inclined to humor. She +knew whom the gentleman had come to see, but when he said. "Is your +mistress at home?" she turned at once to the piece of parchment in the +rocking-chair and replied. "To be shoo. Dar she is in de char over dar. +Dat's ole Miss Lucy." + +Going up to the chair, she screamed in the woman's ear, "Wake up, Miss +Lucy. I'se done comed home an' thar's a gemman to see you? Wake up!" + +She shook the bundle of shawls vigorously, until the old lady was +thoroughly roused and glared at her with her dark, beady eyes, while she +mumbled, "You hyar, shakin' me so, you limb. You, Mandy Ann! Whar did +you come from?" + +"Jacksonville, in course. Whar'd you think? An' hyar's a gemman come to +see you, I tell you. Wake up an' say how d'ye." + +"Whar is he?" the old woman asked, beginning to show some interest, +while the stranger arose and coming forward said, "Excuse me, madam. It +is the young lady I wish to see--your daughter." + +"She hain't her mother. She's her granny," Mandy Ann chimed in with a +good deal of contempt in her voice, as she nodded to the figure in the +chair, who, with some semblance of what she once was, put out a skinny +hand and said, "I'm very pleased to see you. Call Dory. She'll know what +to do." + +This last to Mandy Ann, who flirted away from her and said to the +stranger, "She hain't no sense mostly--some days more, some days +littler, an' to-day she's littler. You wants to see Miss Dory? She's +upstars changin' her gown, 'case she knows you're hyar. I done tole her, +an' her face lit right up like de sun shinin' in de mawnin'. Will you +gim me your caird?" + +This was Mandy Ann's master-stroke at good manners. She had seen such +things at "Miss Perkins's" in Jacksonville, and had once or twice taken +a card on a silver tray to that lady, and why not bring the fashion to +her own home, if it were only a log-cabin, and she a bare-foot, +bare-legged waitress, instead of Mrs. Perkins's maid Rachel, smart in +slippers and cap, and white apron. For a moment the stranger's face +relaxed into a broad smile at the ludicrousness of the situation. Mandy +Ann, who was quick of comprehension, understood the smile and hastened +to explain. + +"I done larn't a heap of things at Miss Perkins's, which we can't do +hyar, 'case of ole Miss bein' so quar. Miss Dory'd like 'em right well." + +"Certainly," the stranger said, beginning to have a good deal of respect +for the poor slave girl trying to keep up the dignity of her family. + +Taking a card from his case he handed it to Mandy Ann, who looked at it +carefully as if reading the name, although she held it wrong side up. +There was no silver tray to take it on--there was no tray at all--but +there was a china plate kept as an ornament on a shelf, and on this +Mandy Ann placed the card, and then darted up the stairs, finding her +mistress nearly dressed, and waiting for her. + +"Oh, his card? He gave it to you?" Eudora said, flushing with pleasure +that he had paid her this compliment, and pressing her lips to the name +when Mandy Ann did not see her. + +"In course he done gin it to me. Dat's de way wid de quality both Souf +and Norf. We livin' hyar in de clarin' doan know noffin'." Mandy Ann +replied. + +On the strength of her three months sojourn with Mrs. Perkins, who was +undeniably quality, she felt herself capable of teaching many things to +her young mistress, who had seldom repressed her, and who now made no +answer except to ask, "How do I look?" + +She had hesitated a moment as to the dress she would wear in place of +the one discarded. She had very few to select from, and finally took +down a white gown sacred to her, because of the one occasion on which +she had worn it. It was a coarse muslin, but made rather prettily with +satin bows on the sleeves, and shoulders, and neck. Several times, +since she had hung it on a peg under a sheet to keep it from getting +soiled, she had looked at it and stroked it, wondering if she would ever +wear it again. Now she took it down and smoothed the bows of ribbon, and +brushed a speck from the skirt, while there came to her eyes a rush of +glad tears as she put it on, with a thought that he would like her in +it, and then tried to see its effect in the little eight by twelve +cracked glass upon the wall. All she could see was her head and +shoulders, and so she asked the opinion of Mandy Ann, who answered +quickly, "You done look beautiful--some like de young ladies in +Jacksonville, and some like you was gwine to be married." + +"Perhaps I am," Eudora replied, with a joyous ring in her voice. "Would +you like to have me get married?" + +Mandy Ann hesitated a moment and then said, "I'se promised never to tole +you no mo' lies, so dis is de truffe, ef I was to drap dead. I'd like +you to marry some de gemmans in Jacksonville, or some dem who comes to +de Brock House, but not him downstars!" + +"Why not?" Eudora asked, and there was a little sharpness in her voice. + +"'Case," Mandy Ann began, "you as't me, an' fo' de Lawd I mus' tell de +truffe. He's very tall an' gran', an' w'ars fine close, an' han's is +white as a cotton bat, but his eyes doan set right in his head. They +look hard, an' not a bit smilin', an' he looks proud as ef he thought we +was dirt, an' dem white han's--I do' know, but pears like they'd squeeze +body an' soul till you done cry wid pain. Doan you go for to marry him, +Miss Dory, will you?" + +At first Mandy Ann had opened and shut her black fingers, as she showed +how the stranger's white hands would squeeze one's body and soul; then +they closed round her mistress's arm as she said, "Doan you marry him, +Miss Dory, will you?" + +"No," Eudora answered, "don't be a silly, but go down and bring me a +rose, if you can find one two-thirds open. I wore one with this dress +before and he liked it, and as't me to give it to him. Mebby he will +now," she thought, while waiting for Mandy Ann, who soon came back with +a beautiful rose hidden under her apron. + +"Strues I'm bawn, I b'lieve he's done gone to sleep like ole Miss--he's +settin' thar so still," she said. + +But he was far from being asleep. He had gone over again and again with +everything within his range of vision, from the old woman nodding in her +chair, to the bucket of water standing outside the door, with a gourd +swimming on the top, and he was wondering at the delay, and feeling more +and more that he should take Tom Hardy's advice, when he heard steps on +the stairs, which he knew were not Mandy Ann's, and he rose to meet +Eudora. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE INTERVIEW + + +She was a short, slender little girl, not more than sixteen or +seventeen, with a sweet face and soft brown eyes which drooped as she +came forward, and then looked at him shyly through a mist of tears which +she bravely kept back. + +"How d'ye. I'm so glad to see you," she said, looking up at him with +quivering lips which were so unquestionably asking for a kiss that he +gave it, while her face beamed with delight at the caress, and she did +not mind how cold, and stiff, and reserved he grew the next moment. + +He did not like her "How d'ye," although he knew how common a salutation +it was at the South. It savored of Mandy Ann, and her accent was like +Mandy Ann's, and her white dress instead of pleasing him filled him with +disgust for himself, as he remembered when he first saw it and thought +it fine. She had worn a rose then, and he had asked her for it, and put +it in his pocket, like an insane idiot, Tom had said. She wore a rose +now, but he didn't ask her for it, and he dropped her hand almost as +soon as he took it, and called himself a brute when he saw the color +come and go in her face, and how she trembled as she sat beside him. He +knew she was pretty, and graceful, and modest, and that she loved him +as no other woman ever would, but she was untrained, and uneducated, and +unused to the world--his world, which would scan her with cold, +wondering eyes. He couldn't do it, and he wouldn't--certainly, not yet. +He would wait and see what came of his plan which he must unfold, and +tell her why he had come. But not there where the old woman might hear +and understand, and where he felt sure Mandy Ann was listening. She had +stolen down the stairs and gone ostensibly to meet a woman whom Eudora +called Sonsie, and who, she said, came every day to do the work now Jake +was away. + +"Who is Jake?" the man asked, and Eudora replied, "The negro who has +taken care of us since I can remember. He is free, but does for us, and +is in Richmond now, valleying for a gentleman who pays him big wage, and +he spends it all for us." + +The stranger flushed at her words indicative of her station, and then +suggested that they go outside where they could be sure of being alone, +as he had much to say to her. + +"Perhaps you will walk part way with me on my return to the 'Hatty,'" he +said, glancing at his watch and feeling surprised to find how late it +was. + +Instantly Eudora, who had seemed so listless, woke up with all the +hospitality of her Southern nature roused to action. "Surely you'll have +supper with me," she said. "Sonsie is here to get it and will have it +directly." + +There was no good reason for refusing, although he revolted against +taking supper in that humble cabin, with possibly that old woman at the +table; but he swallowed his pride and, signifying his assent, went +outside, where they came upon Mandy Ann in a crouching attitude under +the open casement. She was listening, of course, but sprang to her feet +as the two appeared, and said in response to her mistress's "What are +you doing here?" "Nothin', Miss Dory, fo' de Lawd, nothing, but huntin' +on de groun' for somethin' what done drap out de windy upstars." + +The stranger knew she was lying, and Eudora knew it, but said nothing +except to bid the girl get up and assist Sonsie with the supper. Mandy +Ann had once said of her mistress to Jake, "She hain't no sperrit to +spar," and Jake had replied, "Lucky for you, Mandy Ann, that she hain't +no sperrit, for ef she had she'd of done pulled every har out of your +head afore now." + +Mandy Ann knew that neither her hair, nor any part of her person, was in +danger from her young mistress, and after a few more scratches in the +dirt after an imaginary lost article, she arose and joined Sonsie, to +whom Eudora gave a few instructions, and then with her guest walked +across the clearing to a bench which Jake had made for her, and which +was partially sheltered by a tall palm. Here they sat down while he +unfolded his plan, plainly and concisely, and leaving no chance for +opposition, had the crushed, quivering creature at his side felt +inclined to make it. As Mandy Ann had said she hadn't much spirit, and +what little she had was slain as she listened, while her face grew white +as her dress, and her hands were linked together on her lap. The sun had +just gone down, and the full moon was rising and throwing its light upon +the clearing and the girl, whose face and attitude touched her +companion, cold and hard as he was, but he must carry his point. + +"You see it is for the best and you promise; you will remember," he +said, taking one of her hands and wondering to find it so cold. + +"Yes, oh, yes," she replied, every word a gasp. "I thought--I hoped--you +had done come to take,--or to stay--not here, but somewhar--but I see +you can't. You know best. I ain't fittin' to go yet, but I'll try, and I +promise all you ask; but don't let it be long. The days are so lonesome +since I come home, and things seem different since I knew you; but I +promise, and will remember and do my best." + +Half his burden rolled away. He could be very kind now, for he knew he +could trust her to the death, and putting his arm around her, he drew +her close to him and said, "You are a good girl, Eudora. I shall not +forget it; but why do you tremble so? Are you cold?" + +"Yes--no," she answered, nestling so close to him that the rose in her +dress was loosened and fell to the ground. + +He picked it up, but did not put it in his pocket as a keepsake. He gave +it back to her, and she fastened it again to her dress, saying, "I do' +know why I shake, only it seems's if somethin' had died that I hoped +for. But it is all right, becase you care for me. You love me." + +She lifted up her face on which the moonlight fell, making a picture the +man never forgot to the last day of his life. He did not tell her he +loved her, he could not; but for answer he stooped and kissed her, and +she--poor, simple girl--was satisfied. + +"If I could tell Jake, it would be some comfort," she said at last, +timidly, and her companion answered quickly. "Tell Jake! Never! You must +not be too familiar with your servants." + +"Jake is more than a servant. He is everything to me," the girl +answered, with rising spirit. "He would die for me, and if anything +happened to me and you did not come, I think he would kill you." + +There was something of Southern fire in her eyes as she said this, which +made the stranger laugh as he replied, "Nothing will happen, and I'm not +afraid of Jake." + +In his heart he was glad the negro was not there, for something warned +him that in the poor black man he might find a formidable obstacle to +his plan. Meanwhile in the house Mandy Ann had been busy with the +supper-table. They ought to have a good deal of light, she thought, +remembering the lamps at Mrs. Perkins's, and as there were only two +candlesticks in the house her fertile brain had contrived two more from +some large round potatoes, cutting a flat piece from one end, making a +hole in the centre to hold the candle, and wrapping some white paper +around the standard. She had taken great pains with the table, trying to +imitate Mrs. Perkins's, and the imitation was rather satisfactory to +herself. The best cloth had been brought out, and though it was yellow +with disuse it showed what it had been. A few roses in a pitcher were in +the centre of the table, and ranged around them were the four candles, +spluttering and running down as tallow candles are apt to do. The dishes +troubled her, they were so thick and nicked in so many places, that it +was difficult to find one which was whole. The stranger had the china +plate, which had done duty as a tray for his card, and he had the only +plated fork in the house: a Christmas gift from Jake to the ole Miss, +who scarcely appreciated it, but insisted that it be wrapped in several +folds of tissue paper and kept in her bureau drawer. Mandy Ann did not +ask if she could have it. She took it and rubbed it with soft sand to +remove some discolorations and laid it, with a horn-handled knife, by +the china plate. + +"Ef we only had napkins," she said, while Sonsie, who had lived all her +life near the clearing, and knew nothing of the fashions of the world, +asked what napkins were. With a toss of her head indicative of her +superior knowledge, Mandy Ann replied, "You'd know if you'd lived wid de +quality in Jacksonville. Miss Perkins's allus had 'em. Dey's squar +little towels what you holds in yer lap to wipe yer fingers on when +you've done eatin'. Dat's what they is, an' de gemman or to hev one." + +"Can't he wipe his hands on de table cloth, for oncet?" Sonsie asked, +with a sudden inspiration which was received with great scorn by Mandy +Ann, to whom there had also come an inspiration on which she at once +acted. + +In one of ole Miss's bureau drawers was a large plain linen handkerchief +which was never used. It would serve the purpose nicely, and Mandy Ann +brought it out, holding it behind her lest it should be seen by the old +lady, who sometimes saw more than Mandy Ann cared to have her see. It +was rather yellow like the table cloth, and the creases where it was +folded were a little dark, but Mandy Ann turned it, and refolded and +pressed it, and laid it on the china plate, while Sonsie looked on and +admired. Everything was in readiness, and Mandy Ann called across the +clearing. "Hallo, Miss Dory. Supper's done served." + +She had caught on to a good many things at Miss Perkins's, and "served" +was one of them. "I don't s'pose Miss Dory will understan'," she +thought, "but he will, and see dat dis nigger know sumptin'." + +It was a novel situation in which the stranger found himself, seated at +that table with Eudora presiding and Mandy Ann waiting upon them, her +tray a dinner-plate which she flourished rather conspicuously. He was +quick to observe and nothing escaped him, from the improvised +candlesticks to the napkin by his china plate. He knew it was a +handkerchief, and smiled inwardly as he wondered what Tom Hardy would +say if he could see him now. The old lady was not at the table. Mandy +Ann had managed that and attended to her in her chair, but as if eating +brightened her faculties, she began to look about her and talk, and ask +why she couldn't sit at her own table. + +"'Case thar's a gemman hyar an' you draps yer vittles so," Mandy Ann +said in a whisper, with her lips close to the old woman's ear. + +"Gentleman? Who's he? Whar's he from?" the old woman asked--forgetting +that she had spoken to him. + +"I told you oncet he's Miss Dory's frien' an' from de Norf. Do be +quiet," Mandy Ann blew into the deaf ears. + +"From the Nawth. I don't like the Nawth, 'case I--" the old lady began, +but Mandy Ann choked her with a muffin, and she did not finish her +sentence and tell why she disliked the North. + +Eudora's face was scarlet, but she did not interfere. Her grandmother +was in better hands than hers, and more forceful. + +"Granny is queer sometimes," she said by way of apology, while her +guest bowed in token that he understood, and the meal proceeded in quiet +with one exception. Granny was choked with eating too fast, and Mandy +Ann struck her on her back and shook her up, and dropped her +dinner-plate and broke it in her excitement. + +"For de Lawd's sake, 'tan't no use," she said, gathering up the pieces +and taking them to the kitchen, where Sonsie laughed till the tears ran +at Mandy Ann's attempt "to be gran'," and its result. + +Meanwhile the stranger ate Sonsie's corn cakes and muffins, and said +they were good, and drank muddy coffee, sweetened with brown sugar out +of a big thick cup, and thought of his dainty service at home, and +glanced at the girl opposite him with a great pity, which, however, did +not move him one whit from his purpose. He had told her his plan and she +had accepted it, and he told it again when, after supper, she walked +with him through the clearing and the woods to the main road which led +to the river. He did the talking, while she answered yes or no, with a +sound of tears in her voice. When they reached the highway they stopped +by the sunken grave, and leaning against the fence which inclosed it, +Eudora removed her sunbonnet, letting the moon shine upon her face, as +it had done when she sat in the clearing. It was very white but there +were no tears now in her eyes. She was forcing them back and she tried +to smile as she said, "You are very kind, and I think I understand what +you want, and here by this grave I promise all you ask, and will do my +best--my very best." + +Her lips began to quiver and her voice to break, for the visit from +which she had expected so much had proved a blank, and her high hopes +were dead as the woman by whose grave she stood. She had folded her +hands one over the other upon the top rail of the fence, and her +companion looked at them and thought how small they were and shapely, +too, although brown with the work she had to do when Jake and Mandy Ann +were both gone and Sonsie came only at meal times. He was not a brute. +He was simply a proud, cold, selfish man, whose will had seldom been +crossed, and who found himself in a tight place from which he could not +wholly extricate himself. He was sorry for Eudora, for he guessed how +desolate she would be when he was gone, and there was nothing left but +that home in the clearing, with old granny and Mandy Ann. He had not +seen Jake, of whom Eudora now spoke, saying, "Our house never seemed so +poor to me till I seen you in it. It will be better when Jake comes, for +he is to fix it up--he knows how." + +It was the only excuse she had made, and she did it falteringly, while +her companion's heart rose up in his throat and made him very +uncomfortable, as he thought of Jake and Mandy Ann caring for this girl, +while his income was larger than he could spend. It had not occurred to +him to offer her money till that moment, and he did not know now that +she would take it. Turning his back to her as if looking at something +across the road, he counted a roll of bills, and turning back took one +of the little brown hands resting on the rail in his and pressed the +roll into it. Just for an instant the slim fingers held fast to his +hand--then, as she felt the bills and saw what they were, she drew back +and dropped them upon the sand. + +"I can't; no, I can't," she said, when he urged them upon her, telling +her it was his right to give and hers to take. + +As usual his will prevailed, and when at last he said good-by and walked +rapidly towards the river, while she went slowly through the woods and +across the clearing to the log-house, where Mandy Ann was having a +frightful time getting ole Miss to bed, she had in her possession more +money than Jake would earn in months. + +"I would send it all back," she thought, "if we didn't need it badly, +and he said it was right for me to take it, but some of it _must_ go. +I'll send it just before the 'Hatty' sails." + +There was no one to send but Mandy Ann, who, after many misgivings on +the part of her mistress, was entrusted with a part of the money, with +injunctions neither to look at nor lose it, but to hold it tight in her +hand until she gave it to the gentleman. Eudora had thought of writing a +note, but the effort was too great. Mandy Ann could say all she wanted +to have said, and in due time the negress started for the boat, nothing +loth to visit it again and bandy words with Ted. The "Hatty" was blowing +off steam preparatory to starting, when a pair of bare legs and feet +were seen racing down the lane to the landing, and Mandy Ann, waving her +hand, was calling out, "Hol' on dar, you cap'n. I'se sometin' berry +'portant for de gemman. Hol' on, I say," and she dashed across the +plank, nearly knocking Ted down in her headlong haste. "Whar is 'ee?" +she gasped, and continued, "Leg-go, I tell ye. Le' me be," as Ted seized +her arm, asking what she wanted, and if she was going back to +Jacksonville. + +"No; leg-go, I tell you. I wants the man from de Norf, what comed to +see Miss Dory. I've sometin' for him very partic'lar." + +She found him in his seat at the rear of the boat, where he had sat on +his way up, and had again appropriated to himself, with no one +protesting or noticing him beyond a civil bow. They called him Boston, +knowing no other name, and wondered why he had visited the Harrises as +they knew he had. Ted, who was allowed nearly as much freedom of speech +on the boat as Mandy Ann had at the clearing, had aired his opinion that +the gentleman wanted to buy Mandy Ann, but this idea was scouted. Boston +was not one to buy negroes. Probably he was some kin to old Granny +Harris, who had distant connections in the North, some one suggested. +This seemed reasonable, and the people settled upon it, and gave him a +wide berth as one who wished to be let alone. When Mandy Ann rushed in +and made her way to him curiosity was again roused, but no one was near +enough to hear her as she put into his hands a paper, saying +breathlessly, "Miss Dory done send some of it back with thanks, 'case +she can't keep it all, and she wants to know how d'ye, an' I mus' hurry, +or dey carries me off." + +The stranger took the paper, opened it, and glanced at the bills; then +at the girl who stood as if she expected something. Taking a dollar from +his pocket he gave it to her saying, "Take this and be a good girl to +your young mistress, and now go." + +Mandy Ann did not move, but stood with her lips twitching and her eyes +filling with tears. No one had ever given her a dollar before, and her +better nature cried out against what she had done. + +"Fo' de Lawd, I can't help 'fessin," she said, thrusting her hand into +her bosom and bringing out a crumpled bill which she gave to the +gentleman, who saw that it was a ten and looked at her sternly as she +went on: "I done promised Miss Dory I'never tache a thing, if she +wouldn't sell me to you, but dar was sich a pile, an' I wanted some +beads, an' a red han'kercher, an' a ring, an' I done took one. I don'no +how much, 'case I can't read, an' dat's why I was late an' had to run so +fass. You're good, you is, an' I muss 'fess--may de Lawd forgive me." + +At this point Ted, who had been on some of the large boats between +Jacksonville and Charleston, and had heard the cry warning the +passengers to leave, screamed close to her. "All asho', dat's gwine +asho'!" and seizing her arm he led her to the plank and pushed her on to +it, but not until she had shaken her bill in his face and said, +"Licke-e-dar, a dollar! All mine--he done gin it to me, an' I'se gwine +to buy a gown, an' a han'kercher, an' some shoes, an' some candy, an' +some--" the rest of her intended purchases were cut short by a jerk of +the plank, which sent her sprawling on her hands and knees, with a jeer +from Ted sounding in her ears. The "Hatty" was off, and with a feeling +of relief the stranger kept his seat on the rear deck, or staid in his +stateroom until Palatka was reached, where he went on shore, lifting his +hat politely to the passengers, shaking hands with the captain, and +giving a quarter to Ted, who nearly stood on his head for joy, and could +scarcely wait for the next trip to Enterprise, where he would find Mandy +Ann and tell her of his good fortune, doubling or trebling the amount as +he might feel inclined at the time. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +HOPING AND WAITING + + +The curiosity concerning the stranger at Enterprise had nearly died out +when it was roused again to fever heat by the arrival at the clearing of +a little girl, whom the young mother baptized with bitter tears, but +refused to talk of the father except to say, "It was all right and +people would know it was when he came, as he was sure to do." + +He didn't come, and the girl's face grew sadder and whiter, and her eyes +had in them always an expectant, wistful look, as if waiting for some +one or something, which would lift from her the dark cloud under which +she was laboring. Jake, who had returned from Richmond, suffered nearly +as much as she did. His pride in his family--such as the family was--was +great, and his affection for his young mistress unbounded. + +"Only tell me whar he is an' I'll done fetch him, or kill him," he said, +when in an agony of tears she laid her baby in his lap and said, +"Another for you to care for till he comes, as I know he will." + +Eudora had said to the stranger that Jake would kill him if anything +happened to her, but now at the mention of killing him she shuddered and +replied, "No, Jake, not that. You'll know sometime. I can't explain. I +done promised more than once. The last time was by that grave yonder, +when he was sayin' good-by. It was same as an oath. I was to go to +school and learn to be a lady, but baby has come, and I can't go now. It +will make some differ with him perhaps, an' he'll come for baby's sake. +You b'lieve me, Jake?" + +"Yes, honey--same as ef 'twas de Lawd himself talkin' to me, an' I'll +take keer of de little one till he comes, an' if I sees somebody winkin' +or hunchin' de shoulder, I'll--I'll--" + +Jake clenched his fist to show what he would do, and hugging the baby to +him, continued, "Dis my 'ittle chile till its fader comes; doan' you +worry. I'se strong an' kin work, an' Mandy Ann's done got to stir de +stumps more'n she has." + +He cast a threatening look at Mandy Ann, who had at first been appalled +at the advent of the baby, and for a while kept aloof even from Ted, +when the "Hatty" was in. Then she rallied and, like Jake, was ready to +do battle with any one who hunched their shoulders at Miss Dory. She had +two good square fights with Ted on the subject, and two or three more +with some of her own class near the clearing, and as she came off victor +each time it was thought wise not to provoke her, except as Ted from the +safety of the "Hatty's" deck sometimes called to her, when he saw her on +the shore with the baby in her arms and asked how little Boston was +getting along. Mandy Ann felt that she could kill him, and every one +else who spoke slightingly of her charge. She had told Jake over and +over again all she could remember of the stranger's visit, and more than +she could remember when she saw how eager he was for every detail. She +told him of the card taken to her mistress on a china plate, of the +table with its four candles, and ole Miss's handkerchief for a napkin, +and of her waiting just as she had seen it done at Miss Perkins's. + +"The gemman was gran' an' tall, an' mighty fine spoken, like all dem +quality from de Norf," she said, although in fact he was the first +person she had ever seen from the North; but that made no difference +with Mandy Ann. "He was a gemman--he had given her a dollar, and he was +shoo to come back." + +This she said many times to her young mistress, keeping her spirits up, +helping her to hope against hope, while the seasons came and went, and +letters were sometimes received or sent, first to Tom Hardy and +forwarded by him either to the North or to Eudora. There was no lack of +money, but this was not what the young girl wanted. Mandy Ann had said +she had not much _sperrit_, and she certainly had not enough to claim +her rights, but clung to a morbid fancy of what was her duty, bearing up +bravely for a long time, trying to learn, trying to read the books +recommended to her in her Northern letters, and sent for by Jake to +Palatka, trying to understand what she read, and, most pitiful of all, +trying to be a lady, fashioned after her own ideas, and those of Jake +and Mandy Ann. Jake told her what he had seen the quality do in +Richmond, while Mandy Ann boasted her superior knowledge, because of her +three months with Miss Perkins's in Jacksonville, and rehearsed many +times the way she had seen young ladies "come into de house, shake han's +an' say how d'ye, an' hole' thar kyard cases so" (illustrating with a +bit of block), "an' thar parasols so" (taking up granny's cane), "an' +set on the aidge of thar char straight up, an' Miss Perkins bowin' an' +smilin' an' sayin' how glad she was to see 'em, an' den when dey's gone +sayin' sometimes, 'I wonder what sent 'em hyar to-day, when it's so +powerful hot, an' I wants to take my sester'--dat's her nap, you know, +after dinner, what plenty ladies take--an' den you mus' sometimes speak +sharp like to Jake an' to me, an' not be so soff spoken, as if we wasn't +yer niggers, 'case we are, or I is, an' does a heap o' badness; an' you +orto pull my har f'or it." + +Confused and bewildered Eudora listened, first to Jake and then to Mandy +Ann, but as she had no card case, no parasol, and no ladies called upon +her, she could only try to remember the proper thing to do when the time +came, if it ever did. But she lost heart at last. She was deserted. +There was no need for her to try to be a lady. Her life was slipping +away, but for baby there was hope, and many times in her chamber loft, +when Mandy Ann thought she was taking her _sester_, and so far imitating +"de quality," she was praying that when she was dead, as she felt she +soon would be, her little child might be recognized and taken where she +rightfully belonged. + +And so the years went on till more than three were gone since the +stranger came on the "Hatty," and one morning when she lay again at the +wharf, and Mandy Ann came down for something ordered from Palatka, her +eyes were swollen with crying, and when Ted began his chaff she +answered, "Doan't, Teddy, doan't. I can't fought you now, nor sass you +back, 'case Miss Dory is dead, an' Jake's done gone for de minister." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +MISS DORY + + +That day was one of the hottest of the season, and the sun was beating +down upon the piazza of the Brock House where the Rev. Charles Mason sat +fanning himself with a huge palm leaf, and trying to put together in his +mind some points for the sermon he was to preach the next Sunday in the +parlor of the hotel to the few guests who came there occasionally during +the summer. But it was of no use. With the thermometer at ninety degrees +in the shade, and not a breath of air moving, except that made by his +fan, points did not come readily, and all he could think of was Dives' +thirsting for a drop of water from the finger of Lazarus to cool his +parched tongue. "If it was hotter there than it is here I am sorry for +him," he thought, wiping his wet face and looking off across the broad +lake in the direction of Sanford, from which a rowboat was coming very +rapidly, the oarsman bending to his work with a will, which soon brought +him to the landing place, near the hotel. Securing his boat, he came up +the walk and approaching Mr. Mason accosted him with, "How d'ye, Mas'r +Mason. I knows you by sight, and I'se right glad to find you hyar. You +see, I'se that tuckered out I'm fit to drap." + +The perspiration was standing in great drops on his face as he sank +panting upon a step of the piazza. + +"'Scuse me," he said, "but 'pears like I can't stan' another minit, what +with bein' up all night with Miss Dory, an' gwine 'crost the lake twiste +for nothin', 'case I didn't find him." + +By this time Mr. Mason had recognized the negro as one he had seen +occasionally around the hotel selling vegetables and eggs, and who he +had heard the people say was worth his weight in gold. + +"How d'ye, Jake," he said, pleasantly. "I didn't know you at first. Why +have you been across the lake twice this morning?" + +Jake's face clouded as he drew his big black hand across his eyes. + +"Miss Dory done died at sun up," he replied. "You know Miss Dory, in +course." + +Mr. Mason was obliged to confess his ignorance with regard to Miss Dory, +and asked who she was. + +Jake looked disgusted. Not to know Miss Dory was something inexcusable. + +"Why, she's Miss Dory," he said, "an' ole Miss is her granny. We live up +in the palmetto clearing, back in de woods, an' I take keer of 'em." + +"You mean you belong to Miss Dora's grandmother?" Mr. Mason asked, while +Jake looked more disgusted than ever. + +Not to know Miss Dory was bad enough, but not to know who he was was +much worse. + +"Lor' bless your soul, Mas'r Mason, I don't belong to nobody but myself. +I'se done bawn free, I was. But father belonged to ole Miss Lucy, an' +when my mother died she took keer of me, an' I've lived with her ever +sense, all but two or three times I hired out to some swells in +Virginny, whar I seen high life. They's mighty kine to me, dem folks +was, an' let me learn to read an' write, an' do some figgerin'. I'se +most as good a scholar as Miss Dory, an' I tole her some de big words, +an' what the quality in Virginny does, when she was tryin' so hard to +learn to be a lady. She's dead now, the lam', an' my cuss be on him as +killed her." + +"Killed! Didn't she die a natural death?" Mr. Mason asked. + +"No, sar. She jest pined an' pined for him, an' got de shakes bad, an' +died this mornin'," Jake replied, "an' ole Miss done gone clar out of +her head. She never was over-bright, an' 'pears like she don't know +nothin' now. 'I leave it to you to do,' she said, an I'm doin' on't the +best I kin. I seen her laid out decent in her best gownd--that's Miss +Dory--an' sent to Palatka for a coffin--a good one, too--an' have been +across the lake for Elder Covil to 'tend the burial, 'case she done +said, 'Send for him; he knows.' But he ain't thar, an' I'se come for +you. It'll be day after to-morrer at one o'clock." + +Mr. Mason felt the water rolling down his back in streams as he thought +of a hot drive through the Florida sand and woods, but he could not say +no, Jake's honest face was so anxious and pleading. + +"Yes, I'll come, but how?" he asked. + +"Oh, I'll be hyar wid de mule an' de shay. Noon, sharp," Jake replied. +"Thankee, Mas'r Mason, thankee. We couldn't bury Miss Dory without a +word of pra'r. I kin say de Lawd's, but I want somethin' about de +resurrection an' de life what I hearn in Virginny. An' now I mus' go +'long home. Ole Miss'll be wantin' me an' de chile." + +"What child?" Mr. Mason asked, in some surprise. + +Jake's face was a study as he hesitated a minute, winking to keep his +tears back before he said, "Sartin', thar's a chile. Why shouldn't thar +be, but fo' God it's all right. Miss Dory said so, an' Elder Covil +knows, only he's done gone Norf or somewhar. It's all right, an' you'll +know 'tis the minit you see Miss Dory's face--innocent as a baby's. Good +day to you." + +He doffed his hat with a kind of grace one would hardly have expected, +and walked rapidly away, leaving the Rev. Mr. Mason to think over what +he had heard, and wonder that he didn't ask the name of the family he +was to visit. "Miss Dory, ole Miss, and Jake," were all he had to guide +him, but the last name was sufficient. + +"Oh, yes," the landlord said, when questioned. "It's old Mrs. Harris and +her grand-daughter out in the palmetto clearing; they're Crackers. The +old woman is half demented, the whole family was queer, and the girl the +queerest of all--won't talk and keeps her mouth shut as to her marriage, +if there was one." + +"Who was the man?" Mr. Mason asked, and the landlord replied, "Some +Northern cuss she met in Georgia where she was staying a spell with her +kin. A high blood, they say. Attracted by her pretty face, I suppose, +and then got tired of her, or was too proud to own up. I wasn't landlord +then, but I've heard about it. I think he was here once three or four +years ago. He came on the 'Hatty' and staid on her--the house was so +full. Didn't register, nor anything--nor tell his name to a livin' soul. +One or two ast him square, I b'lieve, but he either pretended not to +hear 'em, or got out of it somehow. Acted prouder than Lucifer. Walked +along the shore and in the woods, and went to the clearin'--some said +to buy that limb of a Mandy Ann, but more to see Miss Dory. All the time +he was on the boat he was so stiff and starched that nobody wanted to +tackle him, and that girl--I mean Miss Dory--has kept a close mouth +about him, and when her baby was born, and some of the old cats talked +she only said, 'It is all right, I'm a good girl,' and I b'lieve she +was. But that Northern cuss needs killin'. He sends her money, they say, +through some friend in Palatka, who keeps his mouth shut tight, but +neither she nor Jake will use a cent of it. They are savin' it to +educate the little girl and make a lady of her, if nobody claims her. A +lady out of a Cracker! I'd laugh! That Jake is a dandy. He's free, but +has stuck to the Harrises because his father belonged to old Mrs. +Harris. He is smarter than chain lightnin', if he is a nigger, and knows +more than a dozen of some white men. He drives a white mule, and has +managed to put a top of sail cloth on an old ramshackle buggy, which he +calls a 'shay.' You'll go to the funeral in style." + +Mr. Mason made no reply. He was thinking of Dory, and beginning to feel +a good deal of interest in her and her story, and anxious to see her, +even if she were dead. At precisely twelve o'clock on the day appointed +for the funeral Jake drove his white mule and shay to the door of the +Brock House. He had on his Sunday clothes, and around his tall hat was a +band of black alpaca, the nearest approach to mourning he could get, for +crape was out of the question. If possible, it was hotter than on the +previous day, and the sail cloth top was not much protection from the +sun as they drove along the sandy road, over bogs and stumps, palmetto +roots and low bridges, and across brooks nearly dried up by the heat. +The way seemed interminable to Mr. Mason, for the mule was not very +swift-footed, and Jake was too fond of him to touch him with a whip. A +pull at the lines, which were bits of rope, and a "Go 'long dar, you +lazy ole t'ing, 'fore I takes the hide off'n you" was the most he did to +urge the animal forward, and Mr. Mason was beginning to think he might +get on faster by walking, when a turn in the road brought the clearing +in view. + +It had improved some since we first saw it, and was under what the +natives called right smart cultivation for such a place. Jake had worked +early and late to make it attractive for his young mistress. He had +given the log-house a coat of whitewash, and planted more climbing roses +than had been there when the man from the North visited it. A rude fence +of twisted poles had been built around it, and standing before this +fence were three or four ox-carts and a democrat wagon with two mules +attached to it. The people who had come in these vehicles were waiting +expectantly for Jake and the minister, and the moment they appeared in +sight the white portion hurried into the house and seated +themselves--some in the few chairs the room contained, some on the +table, and some on the long bench Jake had improvised with a board and +two boxes, and which threatened every moment to topple over. There were +a number of old women with sunbonnets on their heads--two or three +higher-toned ones with straw bonnets--a few younger ones with hats, +while the men and boys were all in their shirt sleeves. Some of them had +come miles that hot day to pay their last respects to Miss Dory, who, +in the room adjoining where they sat, lay in her coffin, clad, as Jake +had said, in her best gown, the white one she had worn with so much +pride the day the stranger came. She had never worn it since, but had +said to Mandy Ann a few days before she died, "I should like to be +buried in it, if you can smarten it up." And Mandy Ann who understood, +had done her best at smartening, and when Sonsie and others said it was +"yaller as saffern, an' not fittin' for a buryin'," she had washed and +ironed it, roughly, it is true, but it was white and clean, and Sonsie +was satisfied. Mandy Ann had tried to freshen the satin bows, but gave +it up, and put in their place bunches of wild flowers she had gathered +herself. With a part of the dollar given her by "the man from the Norf," +she had commissioned Ted to buy her a ring in Jacksonville. It had +proved too small for any finger, except her little one, and she had +seldom worn it. Now, as she dressed her mistress for the last time an +idea came to her; she was a well-grown girl of sixteen, and understood +many things better than when she was younger. Going to Jake, she said, +"Ain't thar somethin' 'bout a ring in that pra'r book you got in +Richmon' an' reads on Sundays?" + +"Yes, in de weddin' service," Jake replied, and Mandy continued: "Doan' +it show dey's married for shoo'!" + +"For shoo? Yes. I wish Miss Dory had one," Jake answered. + +Mandy Ann nodded. She had learned what she wanted to know, and going to +the little paper box where she kept her ring she took it up, looked at +it lovingly, and tried it on. She had paid fifty cents for it, and Ted +had told her the real price was a dollar, but he had got it for less, +because the jeweler was selling out. It tarnished rather easily, but she +could rub it up. It was her only ornament, and she prized it as much as +some ladies prize their diamonds, but she loved her young mistress more +than she loved the ring, and her mistress, though dead, should have it. +It needed polishing, and she rubbed it until it looked nearly as well as +when Ted brought it to her from Jacksonville. + +"I wish to de Lawd I knew ef dar was any partic'lar finger," she +thought, as she stood by the coffin looking at the calm face of her +mistress. + +By good luck she selected the right finger, on which the ring slipped +easily, then folding the hands one over the other, and putting in them +some flowers, which, while they did not hide the ring, covered it +partially, so that only a very close observer would be apt to think it +was not real, she said, "If you wasn't married with a ring you shall be +buried with one, an' it looks right nice on you, it do, an' I hope ole +granny Thomas'll be hyar an' see it wid her snaky eyes speerin' 'round. +Axed me oncet who I s'posed de baby's fader was, an' I tole her de +gemman from de Norf, in course, an' den made up de lie an' tole her dey +had a weddin' on de sly in Georgy--kinder runaway, an' his kin was mad +an' kep' him to home 'cept oncet when he comed hyar to see her, an' I +'clar for't I doan think she b'lieve a word 'cept that he was hyar. +Everybody knowd that. I reckon she will gin in when she see de ring." + +Pleased with what she had done, Mandy Ann left the room just as the +first instalment of people arrived, and with them old granny Thomas. In +the little community of Crackers scattered through the neighborhood +there were two factions, the larger believing in Eudora, and the smaller +not willing to commit themselves until their leader Mrs. Thomas had done +so. On the strength of living in a frame house, owning two or three +negroes and a democrat wagon, she was a power among them. What she +thought some of those less favored than herself thought. When she "gave +in" they would, and not before. Up to the present time there had been no +signs of "giving in" on the part of the lady, whose shoulders still +hunched and whose head shook when Eudora was mentioned. She should go to +the funeral, in course, she said. She owed it to ole Miss Harris, and +she really had a good deal of respect for the nigger Jake. So she came +in her democrat wagon and straw bonnet, and because she was Mrs. Thomas, +walked uninvited into the room where the coffin stood, and looked at +Eudora. + +"I'd forgot she was so purty. It's a good while sense I seen her," she +thought, a feeling of pity rising in her heart for the young girl whose +face had never looked fairer than it did now with the seal of death upon +it. "And s'true's I live she's got a ring on her weddin' finger! Why +didn't she never war it afore an' let it be known?" she said to herself, +stooping down to inspect the ring, which to her dim old eyes seemed like +the real coin. "She wouldn't _lie_ in her coffin, an' I b'lieve she was +good after all, an' I've been too hard on her," she continued, waddling +to a seat outside, and communicating her change of sentiment to the +woman next to her, who told it to the next, until it was pretty +generally known that "ole Miss Thomas had _gin in_, 'case Miss Dory had +on her weddin' ring." + +Nearly every one else present had "gin in" long before, and now that +Mrs. Thomas had declared herself, the few doubtful ones followed her +lead, and there were only kind, pitying words said of poor Dory, as they +waited for the minister to come, and the services to begin. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE SERVICES + + +The blacks were outside the house, and the whites inside, when Jake +drove his shay to the door, and the Rev. Mr. Mason alighted, wiping the +sweat from his face and looking around with a good deal of curiosity. A +mulatto boy came forward to take charge of the mule, and Jake ushered +the minister into the room where the coffin stood, and where were the +four men he had asked to be bearers. + +"I s'pose I'd or'ter of had six," he said in a whisper; "but she's so +light, four can tote her easy, an' they's all very 'spectable. No +low-downs. I means everything shall be fust-class." + +Wrapped in shawls, with her head nodding up and down, old Mrs. Harris +sat, more deaf and more like a dried mummy than she had been on the +occasion of the stranger's visit. Jake had bought her an ear trumpet, +but she seldom used it, unless compelled by Mandy Ann, who now sat near +her with the little girl who, at sight of Jake, started to meet him. +But, Mandy Ann held her back and whispered, "Can't you done 'have +yerself at yer mammy's funeral an' we the only mourners?" + +The child only understood that she was to keep quiet, and sat down in +her little chair, while Jake motioned to Mr. Mason that he was to see +Miss Dory. + +During her illness her hair had fallen out so fast that it had been cut +off, and now lay in soft rings around her forehead, giving her more the +look of a child than of a girl of twenty, as the plate on her coffin +indicated. "Eudora, aged twenty," was all there was on it, and glancing +at it Mr. Mason wondered there was no other name. Jake saw the look and +whispered. "I wan't gwine to lie an' put on 'Eudora Harris,' for she +ain't Eudora Harris, an' I didn't know t'other name for shoo. Ain't she +lovely!" + +"She is, indeed," Mr. Mason said, feeling the moisture in his eyes, as +he looked at the young, innocent face on which there was no trace of +guilt. + +He was sure of that without Jake's repeated assertion, "Fo' God, it's +all right, for she tole me so. Mostly, she'd say nothin'. She'd promised +she wouldn't, but jess fo' she died she said agen to me, 'I tole him I'd +keep dark till he come for me, but it's all right. Send for Elder Covil +'crost the river. He knows.' I've tole you this afore, I reckon, but my +mind is so full I git rattled." + +By this time the bent figure sitting in the rocking-chair, near the +coffin began to show signs of life and whimper a little. + +"'Scuse me," Jake said, pulling a shawl more squarely around her +shoulders and straightening her up. "Mas'r Mason, this is ole Miss Lucy. +Miss Lucy, this is Mas'r Mason, come to 'tend Miss Dory's funeral. Peart +up a little, can't you, and speak to him." + +There didn't seem to be much "peart up" in the woman, who began at once +to cry. Instantly Mandy Ann started up and wiped her face, and settled +her cap, and taking the trumpet screamed into it that she was to behave +herself and speak to the gemman. + +"Dory's dead," she moaned, and subsided into her shawl and cap, with a +faint kind of cry. + +"Dory's dead," was repeated, in a voice very different from that of the +old woman--a child's clear, sweet voice--and turning, Mr. Mason saw a +little dark-haired, dark-eyed girl standing by Mandy Ann. + +Mr. Mason was fond of children, and stooping down he kissed the child, +who drew back and hid behind Jake. + +"Me 'fraid," she said, covering her face with her hands, and looking +with her bright eyes through her fingers at the stranger. + +Something in her eyes attracted and fascinated, and at the same time +troubled Mr. Mason, he scarcely knew why. The old grandmother was +certainly demented. The landlord had said Eudora and the whole family +were queer. Was the child going to be queer, too, and did she show it in +her eyes? They were very large and beautiful, and the long, curling +lashes, when she closed them, fell on her cheeks like those of her dead +mother, whom she resembled. She seemed out of place in her surroundings, +but he could not talk to her then. The people in the next room were +beginning to get restless, and to talk in low tones of their crops and +the weather, and the big alligator caught near the hotel. It was time to +begin, and taking the little girl in his arms, Jake motioned to Mr. +Mason. In the door between the two rooms was a stand covered with a +clean white towel. On it was a Bible, a hymn-book, a cup of water, and +two or three flowers in another cup. Mr. Mason did not need the Bible. +Jake had asked for the Resurrection and the Life, and he had brought +his prayer-book, and began the beautiful burial service of the Church, +to which the people listened attentively for a while; then they began to +get tired, and by the time the long reading was through there were +unmistakable signs of discontent among them. They had expected something +more than reading a chapter. They wanted remarks, with laudations of the +deceased. Miss Dory was worthy of them, and because there were none they +fancied the minister did not believe it was all right with her, and they +resented it. Even old Miss Thomas had "gin in," and thar was the weddin' +ring, an' no sermon,--no remarks, and they didn't like it. Another +grievance was that no hymn was given out, and there was the hymn-book at +hand. They had at least expected "Hark from the tombs," if nothing else, +but there was nothing. Singing constituted a large part of their +religious worship, and they did not mean to have Miss Dory buried +without this attention. + +As Mr. Mason finished the services and sat down, he was startled with an +outburst of "Shall we meet beyond the river." Everybody joined in the +song, negroes and all, their rich, full voices dominating the others, +and making Mr. Mason thrill in every nerve as the quaint music filled +the house, and went echoing out upon the summer air. When the "Beautiful +River" was finished some one outside the door took up the refrain: + + "Oh, that will be joyful, joyful, joyful; + Oh, that will be joyful, + When we meet to part no more." + +This appealed to the blacks, who entered into the singing heart and +soul, some of the older ones keeping time with a swinging motion of +their bodies, and one old lady in her enthusiasm bringing down her fist +upon the doorstep, on which she was sitting, and shouting in a way which +warned Jake of danger. He knew the signs, and putting down the little +girl, who had fallen asleep in his lap, he went to the old negress, who +was beginning to get under full headway, and holding her uplifted arm, +said to her: + +"Hush, Aunt Judy, hush; this ain't no place to have the pow'. This ain't +a pra'r meetin'; tis a 'Piscopal funeral, this is, such as they have in +Virginny." + +What Judy might have said is uncertain, for there came a diversion in +the scene. The child had followed Jake to the door, where she stood +wide-eyed and attentive, and when the last words of the hymn ended, she +sang in a clear, shrill voice, "Be joyful when we meet to part no more." +Her voice was singularly sweet and full, and Mr. Mason said to himself, +"She'll be a singer some day, if she is not crazy first." Nothing now +could keep old Judy from one more burst, and her "Yes, thank de Lawd, +we'll meet to part no mo'," rang out like a clarion, and the religious +services were over. + +There still remained what was the most interesting part to the +audience--taking leave of the corpse--and for a few minutes the sobs, +and cries, and ejaculations were bewildering to Mr. Mason, who had never +had an experience of this kind. Jake quieted the tumult as soon as +possible, reminding the people again that this was a first-class +'Piscopal funeral, such as the quality had in Virginny. The old +grandmother was led to the coffin by Mandy Ann, who shook her up and +told her to look at Miss Dory, but not cry much, if she could help it. +She didn't cry at all, but nearly every one did in the adjoining room, +where they said to each other, "Ole Miss is takin' leave and don't sense +it an atom." The little girl was held up by Jake, who made her kiss her +mother. + +"Mamma's s'eep," the child said, as she kissed the pale lips which would +never smile on her again. + +There was a fresh outburst of sobs and tears from the spectators, and +then the coffin was closed, and the procession took its way across the +hot sands to the little enclosure in the clearing, where other members +of the Harris family were buried. Remembering the impatience of the +people in the house, Mr. Mason wished to shorten the service at the +grave, but Jake said: "No. We'll have the whole figger for Miss Dory." +Mr. Mason went the whole figure with uncovered head under the broiling +sun, and when he was through he felt as if his brains were baked. The +Crackers did not seem to mind the heat at all. They were accustomed to +it, and after their return from the grave, stayed round until the white +mule and sail-topped shay were brought up for Mr. Mason's return to the +hotel. + +As Jake was very busy, a young negro boy was sent in his place. +Naturally loquacious, he kept up a constant stream of talk, but as he +stammered frightfully the most Mr. Mason could understand was that Miss +Dory was a dandy, ole Miss 'onery, whatever that might mean, and Jake a +big head, who thought he knew everything because he was free and could +read. + +The next day was Sunday, and Mr. Mason took for the subject of his +remarks in the parlor of the hotel the story of Lazarus and Dives, and +every time he spoke of Dives receiving his good things in life, he +thought of the man whom the landlord had designated a "Northern cuss"; +and every time he spoke of Lazarus, he thought of poor little Dory and +that humble grave in the sands of the palmetto clearing. + +It was covered before night with young dwarf palmettoes, which Mandy Ann +laid upon it with a thought that they would keep her young mistress +cool. All through the day she had restrained her feelings, because Jake +told her that was the way to do. + +"Seems ef I should bust," she said to herself more than once, and when +at last the day was over, and both ole Miss and the little girl were +asleep, she stole out to the newly made grave, and lying down upon it +among the palmettoes she cried bitterly, "Oh, Miss Dory, Miss Dory, kin +you har me? It's Mandy Ann, an' I'm so sorry you're dead, an' sorry I +was so bad sometimes. I have tried to be better lately, sense I got +growed. Now, hain't I, an' I hain't tole many lies, nor tached a thing +sense I took that bill from him. _Cuss_ him, wharever he is! Cuss him +to-night, ef he's alive; an' ef his bed is soff' as wool, doan let him +sleep for thinkin' of Miss Dory. Doan let him ever know peace of min' +till he owns the 'ittle girl; though, dear Lawd, what should we do +without her--me an' Jake?" + +Mandy Ann was on her knees now, with her hands uplifted, as she prayed +for _cusses_ on the man who had wrought such harm to her mistress. When +the prayer was finished she fell on her face again and sobbed, "Miss +Dory, Miss Dory, I must go in now an' see to 'ittle chile, but I hates +to leave you hyar alone in de san'. Does you know you's got on my ring? +I gin it to you, an' ole granny Thomas 'gin in' when she seed it, an' +said you mus' be good. I'se mighty glad I gin it to you. 'Twas all I had +to give, an' it will tell 'em whar you've gone that you was good." + +There was a dampness in the air that night, and Mandy Ann felt it as she +rose from the grave, and brushed bits of palmetto from her dress and +hair. But she did not mind it, and as she walked to the house she felt +greatly comforted with the thought that she had _cussed_ him, and that +Miss Dory was wearing her ring as a sign that she was good, and that +"ole granny Thomas had gin in." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +COL. CROMPTON + + +He was young to be a colonel, but the title was merely nominal and +complimentary, and not given for any service to his country. When only +twenty-one he had joined a company of militia--young bloods like +himself--who drilled for exercise and pleasure rather than from any idea +that they would ever be called into service. He was at first captain, +then he rose to the rank of colonel, and when the company disbanded he +kept the title, and was rather proud of it, as he was of everything +pertaining to himself and the Cromptons generally. It was an old English +family, tracing its ancestry back to the days of William the Conqueror, +and boasting of two or three titles and a coat-of-arms. The American +branch was not very prolific, and so far as he knew, the Colonel was the +only remaining Crompton of that line in this country, except the son of +a half-brother. This brother, who was now dead, had married against his +father's wishes, and been cut off from the Crompton property, which, at +the old man's death, all came to the Colonel. It was a fine estate, with +a very grand house for the New England town by the sea in which it was +situated. It was built by the elder Crompton, who was born in England, +and had carried out his foreign ideas of architecture, and with its +turrets and square towers it bore some resemblance to the handsome +places he had seen at home. It was of stone, and stood upon a rise of +ground, commanding a view of the sea two miles away, and the pretty +village on the shore with a background of wooded hills stretching to the +west. It was full of pictures and bric-à-brac, and statuary from all +parts of the world, for the Colonel's father had travelled extensively, +and brought home souvenirs from every country visited. Florida had +furnished her quota, and stuffed parokeets and red birds, and a huge +alligator skin adorned the walls of the wide hall, together with antlers +and pieces of old armor, and other curios. A small fortune was yearly +expended upon the grounds which were very large, and people wondered +that the Colonel lavished so much upon what he seemed to care so little +for, except to see that it was in perfect order, without a dried leaf, +or twig, or weed to mar its beauty. + +It had not always been thus with him. When he first came into possession +of the place he was just through college, and had seemed very proud and +fond of his fine estate, and had extended his hospitality freely to his +acquaintances, keeping them, however, at a certain distance, for the +Crompton pride was always in the ascendant, and he tolerated no +familiarities, except such as he chose to allow. This genial social life +lasted a few years, and then there came a change, following a part of a +winter spent in South Carolina and Georgia with his intimate friend and +college chum, Tom Hardy. Communication between the North and South was +not as frequent and direct then as it is now, and but little was known +of his doings. At first he wrote occasionally to Peter, his head +servant, to whom he entrusted the care of the house; then his letters +ceased and nothing was heard from him until suddenly, without warning, +he came home, looking much older than when he went away, and with a look +upon his face which did not leave it as the days went on. + +"'Spect he had a high old time with that Tom Hardy, and is all tuckered +out," Peter said, while the Colonel, thinking he must give some reason +for his changed demeanor, said he had malaria, taken in some Southern +swamp. + +If there was any disease for which Peter had a special aversion it was +malaria, which he fancied he knew how to treat, having had it once +himself. Quinine, cholagogue, and whiskey were prescribed in large +quantities, and Peter wondered why they failed to cure. He did not +suspect that the quinine went into the fire, and the cholagogue down the +drain-pipe from the washstand. The Colonel's malaria was not the kind to +be cured by drugs, and there came a day when, after the receipt of a +letter from Tom Hardy, he collapsed entirely, and Peter found him +shivering in his room, his teeth chattering, and his fingers purple with +cold. + +"You have got it bad this time," Peter said, suggesting the doctor, and +more quinine and cholagogue, and a dose of Warburg's Tincture. + +The Colonel declined them all. What he needed was another blanket, and +to be let alone. Peter brought the blanket and left him alone, while he +faced this new trouble which bore no resemblance to malaria. He was just +beginning to be more hopeful of the future, and had his plans all laid, +and knew what he should do and say, and now this new complication had +arisen and brushed his scheme aside. He had sown the wind and was +reaping a cyclone, and he swore to himself, and hardened his heart +against the innocent cause of his trouble, and thought once of suicide +as he had on the St. John's the year before. He spent money, just the +same, upon his handsome grounds; but it was only for the pride he had in +keeping them up, and not for any pleasure he had in them. He never +picked a flower, or sat on any of the seats under the trees, and, unless +the day was very hot, was seldom seen upon his broad piazza, where every +day Peter spread rugs and placed chairs because his master liked to see +them there, if they were not used. His library was his favorite place, +where he sat for hours reading, smoking, and thinking, no one knew of +what, or tried to know, for he was not a man to be easily approached, or +questioned as to his business. If he had malaria it clung to him year +after year, while he grew more reserved and silent, and saw less and +less of the people. Proud as Lucifer they called him, and yet, because +he was a Crompton, and because of the money he gave so freely when it +was asked for, he was not unpopular; and when the town began to grow in +importance on account of its fine beach and safe bathing, and a movement +was made to change its name from Troutburg to something less plebeian, +Crompton was suggested, and met with general approval. No one was better +pleased with the arrangement than the Colonel himself, although he did +not smile when the news was brought to him. He seldom smiled at +anything, but there was a kindling light in his eyes, and his voice +shook a little as he thanked the committee who waited upon him. To be +known as "Col. Crompton of Crompton" was exceedingly gratifying to his +vanity, and seemed in a way to lift the malarious cloud from him for a +time at least. + +It was more than three years since Tom Hardy's letter had thrown him +into a chill, and everything as yet was quiet. Nothing had come from the +South derogatory to him, and he had almost made himself believe that +this state of things might go on for years, perhaps forever, though that +was scarcely possible. At all events he'd wait till the storm burst, and +then meet it somehow. He was a Crompton and had faith in himself, and +the faith was increased by the compliment paid by his townspeople; and +as he was not one to receive a favor without returning it, he conceived +the idea of giving an immense lawn-party, to which nearly everybody +should be invited. He had shut himself up too much, he thought--he must +mingle more with the people, and build around himself a wall so strong +that nothing in the future could quite break it down. + +Peter and the rest of his servants were consulted and entered heartily +into his plan. Cards of invitation were issued bearing the Crompton +monogram, and a notice inserted in the daily paper to the effect that +any who failed to receive a card were to know it was a mistake, and come +just the same. There was a great deal of excitement among the people, +for it had been a long time since any hospitality had been extended to +them, and they were eager to go, knowing that something fine was to be +expected, as the Colonel never did anything by halves. The day of the +lawn-party was perfect--neither too hot nor too cold--and the sun which +shone upon that humble funeral in the palmetto clearing shone upon a +very different scene in the Crompton grounds, where the people began to +assemble as early as one o'clock. The grass on the lawn was like velvet, +without a stick or stone to be seen, for two gardeners had been at work +upon it since sunrise, cutting and raking, and sprinkling, until it was +as fresh as after a soft summer shower. The late roses and white lilies +were in full bloom, the latter filling the air with a sweet odor and +making a lovely background. There were tables and chairs under the +maples and elms, and rugs and pieces of carpet wherever there was a +suspicion of dampness in the ground. There was a brass band in one part +of the grounds, and a string band in another, where the young people +danced under the trees. Refreshments were served at five o'clock, and +the festivities were kept up till the sun went down, and half the +children were sick from overeating--the mothers were tired, and some of +the men a little shaky in their legs, and thick in their speech, from a +too frequent acquaintance with the claret punch which stood here and +there in great bowls, free as water, and more popular. The crowning +event of the day came when the hundreds of lanterns were lighted on the +piazzas and in the trees, and every window in the house blazed with +candles placed in so close proximity to each other, that objects could +be plainly seen at some distance. + +The Colonel was going to make a speech, and he came out upon an upper +balcony, where the light from ten tall lamps fell full upon him, +bringing out every feature of his face distinctly. He was rather pale +and haggard, but the people were accustomed to that, and charged it to +the malaria. He was very distinguished looking, they thought, as they +stood waiting for him to commence his speech. All the afternoon he had +been the most courteous of hosts--a little too patronizing, perhaps, for +that was his way, but very polite, with a pleasant word for every one. +He knew he was making an impression, and felt proud in a way as Crompton +of Crompton, when he stepped out upon the balcony and saw the eager, +upturned faces, and heard the shout which greeted him. And still there +was with him a feeling of unrest--a presentiment that on his horizon, +seemingly so bright, a dark cloud was lowering, which might at any +moment burst upon the head he held so high. He was always dreading it, +but for the last few days the feeling had been stronger until now it was +like a nightmare, and his knees shook as he bowed to the people +confronting him and filling the air with cheers. + +No contrast could have been greater than that between the scene on which +he looked down--the park, the flowers, the fountains, and the +people--and the palmetto clearing in far away Florida. He did not know +of the funeral and the group assembled around the log-cabin. But he knew +of the clearing. He had been there, and always felt his blood tingle +when he thought of it, and it was the picture of it which had haunted +him all day, and which came and stood beside him, shutting out +everything else, as he began to thank the people for the honor conferred +upon him by calling the town by his name. + +He didn't deserve it, he said. He didn't deserve anything from anybody. + +"Yes, you do," went up from a hundred throats, for under the influence +of the good cheer and the attention paid them the man was for the time +being a hero. + +"No, I don't," he continued. "I am a morally weak man--weaker than +water where my pride is concerned--and if you knew me as I know myself +you would say I was more deserving of tar and feathers than the honor +you have conferred upon me." + +This was not at all what he intended to say, but the words seemed forced +from him by that picture of the palmetto clearing standing so close to +him. His audience did not know what he meant. So far as they knew he had +been perfectly upright, with no fault but his pride and coldness by +which he came rightfully as a Crompton. He must have visited the punch +bowls too often, they thought, and didn't know what he was talking +about. After a pause, during which he was trying to thrust aside the +clearing, and the log-house, and the old woman in her chair, and Mandy +Ann, and to pull himself together, he went on to say: + +"You have been for a long time discussing the site of a new +school-house, in place of the old one which stands so near the marshes, +that it is a wonder your children have not all died with fever and ague. +Some of you want it on the hill--some under the hill--some in one place, +and some in another. Nobody wants it near his own premises. A +school-house with a lot of howling children is not a desirable neighbor +to most people. For my part I don't object to it. I like children." + +Here he stopped suddenly as the image of a child he had never seen came +before him and choked his utterance, while the people looked at each +other, and wondered how long he had been so fond of children. It was +generally conceded that he did not care for them--disliked them in +fact--and he had never been known to notice one in any way. Surely he +had been too near the claret bowls. He detected the thought of those +nearest to him, and continued: + +"I am not one to show all I feel. It is not my nature. I am interested +in children, and as proof of it I will tell you my plan. There are two +acres of land on the south side of the park. I fenced it off for an +artificial pond, but gave it up. There is a spring of good water there, +with plenty of shade trees for the children to play under. I will give +this land for the new school-house." + +Here he was obliged to stop, the cheers were so deafening. When they +subsided he went on rapidly: + +"I will build the house, too. Such an one as will not shame District No. +5 in Crompton. It shall be a model house, well lighted and ventilated, +with broad, comfortable seats, especially for the little ones, whose +feet shall touch the floor. It shall be commenced at once, and finished +before the winter term." + +He bowed and sat down, white and perspiring at every pore, and hardly +knowing to what he had committed himself. The cheers were now a roar +which went echoing out into the night, and were heard nearly as far as +the village on the beach, the people wondering more and more at his +generosity, and sudden interest in their little ones. And no one +wondered more than himself. He did not care a picayune for children, nor +whether their feet touched the floor or not, and he had not intended +pledging himself to build the house when he began. But as he talked, the +palmetto clearing stared him in the face, shutting out everything from +his vision, except a long seat directly in front of him, on which +several little girls whose feet could not touch the ground were fast +asleep, their heads falling over upon each other, and the last one +resting upon the arm of the settee. It was a pretty picture, and stirred +in him feelings he had never experienced before. He would do something +for the children, expiatory, he said to himself, as he sat down, +thinking he ought to be the proudest and happiest of men to have the +town called for him, and to stand so high in the esteem of his fellow +citizens. What would they say if they knew what he did, and how cowardly +he was because of his pride. Sometime they must know. It could not be +otherwise, but he would put off the evil day as long as he could, and +when, at last, his guests began to leave, and he went down to bid them +good-night, his head was high with that air of patronage and superiority +natural to him, and which the people tolerated because he was Col. +Crompton. + +That night he had a chill--the result of so much excitement to which he +was not accustomed, he said to Peter, who brought him a hot-water bag +and an extra blanket, and would like to have suggested his favorite +remedies, quinine and cholagogue, but experience had taught him wisdom, +and putting down the hot-water bag and blanket, he left the room with a +casual remark about the fine day, and how well everything had passed +off, "only a few men a little boozy," he said, "and three or four +children with bruised heads caused by a fall from a swing." + +The lawn-party had been a great success, and the Colonel knew he ought +to be the happiest man in town, whereas he was the most miserable. He +could not hear Mandy Ann's curses as she knelt on her mistress's grave, +nor see her dusky arms swaying in the darkness to emphasize her +maledictions. He didn't know there was a grave, but something weighed +him down with unspeakable remorse. Every incident of his first visit +South came back to him with startling vividness, making him wonder why +God had allowed him to do what he had done. Then he remembered his trip +on the "Hatty," when he kept himself aloof from everybody, with a morbid +fear lest he should see some one who knew him, or had heard of him, or +would meet him again. He remembered the log-house and his supper, when +Mandy Ann served from a dinner-plate, and his napkin was a pocket +handkerchief. He remembered the mumbling old woman in her chair; but +most of all he remembered the girl who sat opposite him. Her face was +always with him, and it came before him now, just as it was in the +moonlight, when she said: "You can trust me. I will do the best I can." + +She had stood with her hands upon the fence and he saw them as they +looked then, and holding up his own he said, "They were little brown +hands, but they should have been white like mine. Poor Dory!" + +There was a throb of pity in his heart as his remorse increased, and the +hot night seemed to quiver with the echo of Mandy Ann's "cuss him, cuss +him wherever he may be, and if his bed is soff as wool doan' let him +sleep a wink." His bed was soft as wool, but it had no attraction for +him, and he sat with his hot-water bag and blanket until his chill +passed, and was succeeded by a heat which made him put blanket and bag +aside, and open both the windows of his room. The late moon had risen +and was flooding the grounds with its light, bringing out distinctly the +objects nearest to him. Some tables and chairs were left standing, a few +lanterns were hanging in the trees, and in front of him was the long +bench on which the little girls had been sleeping, with their feet from +the ground, when he made his speech. The sight of this brought to his +mind the day three years before when, just as his plans were perfected, +there had come a letter which made him stagger as from a heavy blow, +while all around him was chaos, dark and impenetrable. In most men the +letter would have awakened a feeling of tenderness, but he was not like +most men. He was utterly selfish, and prouder than any Crompton in the +long line of that proud race, and, instead of tenderness or pity, he +felt an intense anger against the fate which had thus dealt with him +when he was trying to do right. + +What to do next was the question, which Tom Hardy, as cold and unfeeling +as himself, answered for him. + +"You are in an awful mess," he wrote, "and the only course I see is to +keep them supplied with money, and let things run until they come to a +focus, as I suppose they must, though they may not. Florida is a long +ways from Massachusetts. Few Northerners ever go to Enterprise, and if +they do they may not hear of the clearing and its inmates. The girl is +not over-bright. I beg your pardon, but she isn't, and will be apt to be +quiet when she makes up her mind that she is deserted. The only one you +have to fear is that nigger, Jake; but I reckon we can manage him; so +cheer up and never make such an infernal fool of yourself again." + +Something in this letter had grated on the Colonel's feelings--the +reference to the girl, perhaps--but he had decided to follow Tom's +advice, and let things run until they came to a focus. They had run +pretty smoothly for three years, and only a few letters, forwarded by +his friend who now lived in Palatka, and kept a kind of oversight of the +clearing, came to trouble him. These he always burned, but he could not +forget, and the past was always with him, not exactly as it was on the +night after his lawn-party, when it seemed to him that all the powers of +the bottomless pit had united against him, and if ever a man expiated +his wrong-doing in remorse and mental pain he was doing it. The +laudations of the crowd which had cheered him so lustily were of no +account, nor the honor conferred by giving the town his name. Nothing +helped him as he stood with the sweat rolling down his face, and looked +out upon his handsome grounds, which he did not see because of the +palmetto clearing, and the little child, and the young mother on whose +grave the moon was shining. Mandy Ann's curse was surely taking effect, +for no sleep came to him that night, and the next day found him worn and +pale, and when Peter, sure of a malarious attack worse than usual, +ventured to offer his cholagogue and quinine, he was sworn at, and told +to take himself off with his infernal drugs. + +"I am tired with yesterday's mob. I shall be better when I am rested, +and get the taste out of my mouth of Tom, Dick, and Harry tramping over +the premises," he thought. + +This was not very complimentary to the Tom's, and Dick's, and Harry's +who had tramped through his grounds, but they did not know his thoughts, +and were full of the lawn-party, and the new school-house, the work on +which was commenced early in August, when a large number of men +appeared, and were superintended and urged on by the Colonel himself. +He did not work, but he was there every day, issuing orders and making +suggestions, and in this way managing to dissipate in part the cloud +always hanging over him, and which before long was to assume a form +which he could not escape. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE CHILD OF THE CLEARING + + +The school-house was finished, and was a model of comfort and +convenience. It was well lighted and ventilated, and every child of +whatever age could touch its feet to the floor. If it were in any sense +expiatory, it had proven a success, for the palmetto clearing did not +haunt the Colonel as it had done on the day of the lawn-party. It was a +long time since he had heard from there, and he was beginning to wonder +if anything had happened, when Peter brought him an odd-looking letter, +directed wrong side up, written with a pencil, and having about it a +faint perfume of very bad tobacco. It was addressed to "Mr. Kurnal +Krompton, Troutberg, Mass." The writer evidently did not know of the +recent change of name, and the letter had been long on the way, but had +reached its destination at last, and was soiled and worn, and very +second-class in its appearance, Peter decided, as he took it from the +office and studied it carefully. No such missive had, to his knowledge, +ever before found its way into the aristocratic precincts of Crompton +Place. If it had he had not seen it, and he wondered who could have sent +this one. He found his master taking his breakfast, and, holding the +letter between his thumb and fingers, as if there were contamination in +its touch, he handed it to him. + +"Fairly turned speckled when he looked at it," Peter thought, as he left +the room. "Wish I had seen where it was mailed." + +An hour later, Jane, the housemaid, came to him and said, "The Colonel +wants you." + +Peter found him in his bedroom, packing a satchel with a shaking hand +and a face more speckled than it had been when he read the letter. + +"Peter," he said, "fold up these shirts for me, and put in some collars +and socks. I am going on a little trip, and may be gone two weeks, maybe +more. Hold your tongue." + +When he wished Peter to be particularly reticent, he told him to hold +his tongue. Peter understood, and held it, and finished packing the +satchel, ordered the carriage for the eleven o'clock train, and saw his +master off, without knowing where he was going, except that his ticket +was for New York. + +"That smelly letter has something to do with it, of course," he said. "I +wish I knew where it was from." + +He was arranging the papers on the library table, when he stopped +suddenly with an exclamation of surprise, for there, under his hand, lay +the smelly letter, which the Colonel had forgotten to put away. + +"Phew! I thought I got a whiff of something bad," he said, and read +again the superscription, with a growing contempt for the writer. +"Nobody will know if I read it, and I shall hold my tongue, as usual," +he thought, his curiosity at last overcoming his sense of honor. + +Opening the envelope, he took out the piece of foolscap, on which was +neither date nor name of place. + +"Kurnal Krompton," it began. "Yer fren' in Palatky done gone to Europe. +He tole me yer name 'fore he went, an' so I rite meself to tell you Miss +Dory's ded, an' ole Miss, too. She done dide a week ago, an' Miss Dory +las' July. What shal I do wid de chile? I shood of rit when Miss Dory +dide, but Mandy Ann an' me--you 'members Mandy Ann--sed how you'd be +comin' to fotch her rite away, an' we cuddent bar to part wid her whilst +ole Miss lived. But now she's done ded de chile doan or'to be brung up +wid Crackers an' niggers, an' den dar's de place belonged to ole Miss, +an' dar's Mandy Ann. She doan' or'ter be sole to nobody. I'd buy her an' +set her free ef I had de money, but I hain't. She's a rale purty +chile--de little girl. You mite buy Mandy Ann an' take her for lil +chile's nuss. Jake Harris." + +"Jerusalem!" Peter exclaimed. "Here's a go. Who is Miss Dory? Some +trollop, of course--and she is dead, and old Miss, too. Who is old Miss? +and who is Mandy Ann the Colonel is to buy? I'd laugh, rank Abolitionist +as he is! And what will he do with a child? Crackers and niggers? What +is a Cracker?" + +Peter had no opinion on that head. He knew what a nigger was, and at +once detected another odor besides bad tobacco, and opened the window to +air the room. Then he began to study the postmark to see where the +letter came from. It was not very clear, and it took him some time to +make out "Palatka, Fla." The latter baffled him, it was so illegible, +but he was sure of "Palatka," and wondered where it was. Hunting up an +atlas, he went patiently through State after State, till he found +Palatka, on the St. John's River, Florida. + +"Florida! That's where he's gone. There are niggers enough there, but +who the Crackers are is beyond me," Peter said. "I believe I'll copy +this, letter." + +He did copy it, and then waited for developments. + +Meanwhile the Colonel was hurrying South as fast as steam could take +him. Arrived in New York, he found himself in time to take a boat bound +for Savannah, and shutting himself up in his stateroom sat down to +analyze his feelings, and solve the problem which had for so long been +confronting him. A part of it was solved for him. Eudora was dead; but +there was the child. Something must be done with her, and Jake's words +kept repeating themselves in his mind: + +"She doan or'ter be brung up wid Crackers an' niggers." + +"No, she don't or'ter," the Colonel thought, involuntarily adopting +Jake's dialect; but what to do with her was the question. + +If Tom Hardy had been home he would have consulted him, but Tom was +away, and he must face the difficulty alone, knowing perfectly well what +his duty was, and finally making up his mind to do it. If he chose to +adopt a child it was no one's business. As a Crompton he was above +caring for gossip or public opinion. To be sure the child would be a +nuisance, and a constant reminder of what he would like to forget; but +it was right, and he owed it to the mother to care for her little girl. +He began to think a good deal of himself for this kind of reasoning, and +by the time he reached Jacksonville he had made up his mind that he was +a pretty nice man after all, and felt happier than he had in years. +Death had closed one page of his life, and the distance between Florida +and Massachusetts would close the other, and he was much like himself +when he at last stepped on board the "Hatty," and started up the river. + +There was room for him at the Brock House this time, and he registered +his name. "Col. James Crompton, Crompton, Mass.," and said he had come +to look after a family in the palmetto clearing, Harris was the name, +and through a friend he was interested in them. The landlord was not the +same who had been there on the occasion of the Colonel's first visit, +but he knew something about the clearing, and volunteered whatever +information he had concerning the family, speaking of the recent death +of the demented old woman, and of the little child left to the care of +two negroes, and saying, he hoped the gentleman had come to take it to +its friends, if it had any. + +The Colonel bowed and said that was his business, and early the next +morning started on foot along the road he had trodden twice before, and +which brought Eudora before him so vividly that it seemed as if she were +walking at his side, and once, as some animal ran through the bushes +near the grave at the turn of the road, he started at the sound as if it +had been the rustle of Eudora's white dress as he heard it that day. He +was beginning to get nervous, and by the time the clearing was reached +he was as cold as he had been at home, when Peter brought him the +hot-water bag and blanket. He noticed the improvements which had been +made in the place since he was there last, and knew it was Jake's +handiwork. He had never seen the man, and shrank a little from meeting +him, knowing how infinitely superior to himself in a moral way the poor +African was. He remembered Mandy Ann perfectly, and recognized her as +she came to the door, shading her eyes with her hand to look at him; +then she disappeared suddenly, and Jake, who was at the rear of the +house, fixing a barrel to catch rain-water, was clutched by the arm, and +nearly thrown backwards, as the girl exclaimed: "For the Lawd's sake, +Jake, it's comin'--it's comin'--it's hyar!" + +"What's comin'? The las' day, that you look so skeered?" Jake said, +while Mandy Ann continued: "De man from de Norf, Cunnel Crompton, you +call him--done come for lill chile!" + +She put her apron over her face and began to cry, while Jake wiped his +hands, and hurrying round the house, met the Colonel just as he reached +the door. There was not the least servility in Jake's manner, although +it was respectful, as he said, "How d'ye, Mas'r Crompton. I'm shoo it's +you, an' I'se right glad to see you, though I 'spects you done come for +the lill chile, an' I feel fit to bust when I think of partin' wid her. +Walk in, walk in; take a cheer, an' I'll sen' Mandy Ann for de lill +chile. She's in de play-house I made her, jess dis side de graves, whar +she sits an' plays. Thar's a tree thar an' she calls it de shady." + +"Thanks!" the Colonel said, taking a chair, while Jake went for Mandy +Ann, and found her struggling with the child, not far from the door. + +The _chile_ had seen the stranger as soon as Mandy Ann; and as visitors +were rare at the cabin, and she was fond of society, she left her sand +pies, and her slice of bread and molasses, and started for the house, +meeting Mandy Ann, who seized her, saying, "Come an' have on a clean +frock and be _wassed_. Your face is all sticky, an' han's, too--an' de +gemman from de Norf, de Cunnel, is hyar." + +As it happened, the _chile_ didn't approve of changing her dress and +having her face washed. She was in a hurry to see the gentleman, and she +pulled back, and fought, and called Mandy Ann an "ole nigger," and told +her to "leg-go," and finally wrenched herself free, and ran like a +little spider to the house, and into the room where the Colonel was +sitting. Starting to his feet he stood looking down at the mite staring +at him with her great dark eyes, in which was a look which had puzzled +the Rev. Mr. Mason when he saw her at her mother's funeral. She was a +very pretty child, with a round, chubby face just now smeared with +molasses, as were her fat little hands, while her dress, open at the +back, showed signs of the sand and water with which it had come in +contact. And she stood, holding the Colonel with her eyes, until he +began to feel cold again, and to think of his hot-water bag. He did not +care for children, and this one-- + +"Heavens!" he thought to himself. "Can I do it? Yes, I must!" + +Then, putting out his hand, he said, "Little girl, will you shake hands +with me." + +Nothing abashed she was going forward, when Mandy Ann rushed in and +pulled her back, exclaiming: "Oh, sar, not wid dem han's; dey mus' be +wassed." + +"You ole Mandy Ann nigger, you lemme be. I won't be wassed," was the +sharp reply, and the dark eyes flashed with a fire which made the +Colonel think of himself when roused, and he began to feel a good deal +of respect for the spoiled tyrant. + +"Little girl," he said, very gently, but firmly, "Go with Mandy and be +washed, and then come and see--" he came very near saying "see what I +have brought you," without at all knowing why it should have come into +his mind. + +It had never occurred to him to bring her anything, but he wished now +that he had, and began to wonder what he had that would please a child. +He was fond of jewelry, and wore on his watch-chain several ornaments, +and among them a very small, delicately carved book in ivory. He could +detach it easily, and he began to do so, while the child eyed him +curiously. She had seen very few gentlemen, and this one attracted her, +he was so tall and imposing; and when he said again, "Go and be washed," +she obeyed him, and the Colonel was a second time alone, for Jake was +making his ablutions, and changing his working clothes for his best, in +which he looked very respectable, when he at last rejoined his guest, +and began at once in a trembling voice to speak of the business which +had brought the Colonel there. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE COLONEL AND JAKE + + +"I 'lowed you had the best right to her because 'twas you that sent the +money," he said. + +The Colonel neither assented nor dissented, and Jake went on: "Thar is +nobody else. Miss Dory never tole nothin'; she was silent as de grave +about--him--de fader of de lill chile, I mean. 'It's all right,' she'd +say. 'I tole him I wouldn't tell till he came--an' I won't--but, it's +all right. Elder Covil knows--send for him.' That's just afore she +died." + +"And did you send for him?" the Colonel asked with some alarm, and Jake +replied: "I went for him an' he wasn't thar--had moved off--an' another +gemman, the Rev. Mr. Charles Mason, what I foun' at the hotel, 'tended +de buryin' with his pra'r book, 'case I wanted somethin' 'bout de +Resurrection an' de Life. 'Twas as fust class a funeral as we could have +out hyer. She wore her white gown--the one Mandy Ann says she wore when +you war hyer. You members it?" + +The Colonel nodded, and Jake, thinking he could do nothing better than +repeat all the particulars, went on: "She had a nice coffin from +Palatka, an' Mandy Ann done fixed her rale nice, wid flowers in her +han's, an' on her bosom, an', does you 'member givin' Mandy Ann a dollar +when you's here afore?" + +Again the Colonel nodded and Jake went on: "Well, she done bought a +ring wid some of it--not rale gold, you know, but looked most like +it--an' what do you think Mandy Ann did, as the last thing she could do +for Miss Dory?" + +Jake was growing excited, and the Colonel nervous, as the negro +continued: "It was too small for her, to be shue, but she thought a +sight on't, but more of Miss Dory's good name." + +There was a great ridge in the Colonel's forehead, between his eyes, as +he repeated, "Her good name?" + +"Yes, sar," Jake answered. "What could you 'spec when dar's a lill +chile, and no fader for shoo, as anybody knows, but me an' Mandy Ann, +an' Mas'r Hardy. Naterally they'd talk. But I 'shured 'em 'twas all +right, an' knocked down one or two Crackers what grinned when I tole +'em, an' Mandy Ann did a power of fitin'. She's great at it--jess like a +cat, an' we got 'em pretty much all under, except a few ole women, who +never quite gin in till de last. Ole granny Thomas was de worst, an' de +rest follered her; but she gin in when she seen de ring Mandy Ann +slipped on Miss Dory's weddin' finger, an' dar wasn't a s'picion on de +lam' as she lay in her coffin." + +The Colonel's lips moved spasmodically, while Jake continued: "Thar was +a right smart of 'em hyar, an' the minister read from de pra'r book jest +as I seen 'em in Virginny 'mongst de quality, an' when de blacks set up +a singin' so loud that ole Aunt Judy nighly had de pow'--dat's a kind of +fit, you know, when dey gits to feelin' like kingdom come--I stopped +her. I was boun' to have de funeral fust class. When ole Miss died, I +let 'em have dar way, an' ole Aunt Judy had de pow' till her missus, who +was hyar, shook her out on't. That was ole Miss Thomas, who stood out +agin Miss Dory till she seen de ring. She says to me, says she, 'Does +you know whar de chile's fader is?' an' says I, 'S'posin' I do?' 'Then +sen' for him,' says she. 'Tain't fittin' de chile to stay on hyar.' 'I'm +gwine to sen',' says I, an' I did, an' you've done come. Is you gwine to +take her?" + +Jake's broad chest heaved as he asked this question, to which the +Colonel replied, "That is what I came for." + +Jake had assumed that he was the child's father, and he did not +contradict him, but said, "You call her the child. Has she no name?" + +"Yes, Dory; dat's what her mother called her, but to me dar's only one +Dory, an' she's dead, an' 'twas handy to say de _lill chile_ or _honey_. +Is you gwine to take her right away?" + +"Yes, when the 'Hatty' goes back," the Colonel replied, with a feeling +of pity for the negro, whose face was quivering, and whose voice shook +as he said, "It's best, I s'pose, but 'twill be mighty lonesome hyar, +with the chile gone from de 'shady' whar she plays, an' from de cradle +whar I rocks her, an' from dese arms what totes her many a time, when +she goes through de clarin' in de woods. You wouldn't be wantin' me an +Mandy Ann to go wid you? De chile is wonderfully 'tached to us, an' has +some spells only we can manage." + +The Colonel shook his head. Jake and Mandy Ann knew too much for him to +take them North. The child would soon forget its surroundings. People +would stop wondering after a while, and the past would be bridged over, +as far as was possible. On the whole the future looked brighter than it +had done for years, and on this account the Colonel could afford to be +very suave and gentle with this poor negro. + +"No, Jake," he said, very kindly. "You would not be happy at the North, +it is so different from the South. I cannot take you, nor Mandy Ann, but +I shall reward you for all you have done for the child, and for her +mother." + +The last words came slowly, and there was a kind of tremor in the +Colonel's voice. + +"I 'specs you are right," Jake said meekly; "but it'll be mighty hard, +an' what's gwine to become of Mandy Ann? Who does she 'long to, now Miss +Dory an' ole Miss is both dead? I 'longs to myself, but what of Mandy +Ann?" + +Here was a problem the Colonel had not thought of. But his mind worked +rapidly and clearly, and he soon reached a decision, but before he could +speak of it the child appeared. It had taken a long time to wash and +dress her, for the little hands were grimy, and the face very sticky, +and a good deal of scrubbing had been necessary, with a good deal of +squabbling, too--and the Colonel had heard some of the altercations--the +child's voice the louder, as she protested against the soap and water +used so freely. Jake had closed one of the doors to shut out the noise, +saying as he did so, "She's got a heap of sperrit, but not from de +Harrises, dey hadn't an atom." + +It did not puzzle the Colonel at all to know where the _sperrit_ came +from, and he did not like the child the less because of it. She was in +the room now, scrubbed till her face shone, and her hair, which was +curly, lay in rings upon her forehead. Mandy Ann had put on her best +frock, a white one, stiff with starch, and standing out like a small +balloon. The Colonel liked her better in the limp, soiled gown, as he +had seen her first, but she was clean, and she came to him and put up +her hand as Mandy Ann had told her to do. It was a little soft, fat, +baby hand, such as the Colonel had never touched in his life, and he +took it and held it a moment, while the old malarious feeling crept over +him, and he could have sworn that the thermometer, which, when he left +the "Hatty" had stood at seventy-five, had fallen to forty degrees. As a +quietus during the washing, Mandy Ann had suggested that "mabby de +gemman done brung somethin'," and remembering this the little girl at +once asked, "Has you done brung me sumptin'? Mandy Ann tole me so." + +The Colonel's thermometer dropped lower still at the speech, so +decidedly African, and his pride rose up in rebellion, and his heart +sank, as in fancy he heard this dialect in his Northern home. But he +must bear it, and when, as he did not at once respond to her question, +she said, "Has you done brung me sumptin'?" he was glad he had removed +the little ivory book from his watch-chain. It was something, and he +gave it to her, saying, "This is for you--a little book. Do you know +what a book is?" + +She was examining the ornament on the back of which was carved a +miniature bar of music, with three or four notes. The child had seen +written music in a hymn-book, which belonged to her mother, and from +which she had often pretended to sing, when she played at a _funeral_, +or prayer meeting, as she sometimes did under the _shady_. Jake had not +spoken of this habit to the Colonel. He was waiting to take him to the +graves, and the play-house near them, and he was watching the child as +she examined the carving. Lifting up her bright eyes to the Colonel, +she said, "Moosich--me sing," and a burst of childish song rang through +the room--part of a negro melody, and "Me wants to be an angel" +alternating in a kind of melody, to which the Colonel listened in +wonder. + +"Me done sing dood," she said, and her eyes shone and flashed, and her +bosom rose and fell, as if she were standing before an audience, sure of +success and applause. + +Jake did clap his hands when she finished, and said to the Colonel, "She +done goes on dat way very often. She's wonderful wid her voice an' eyes. +'Specs she'll make a singer. She's a little quar--dem Harrises--" + +Here he stopped suddenly, and asked, "Is you cole?" as he saw the +Colonel shiver. He knew the Harrises were _quar_, and this dark-haired, +dark-eyed child singing in a shrill, high-pitched, but very sweet voice, +seemed to him uncanny, and he shrank from her as she said. "Me sing some +mo'." + +Jake now interfered, saying, "No, honey; we're gwine to yer mother's +grave." + +"Me go, too," the child answered, slipping her hand into the Colonel's +and leading the way to a little enclosure where the Harrises were +buried. + +The Colonel felt _quar_ with that hand holding his so tight, and the +child hippy-ty-hopping by his side over the boards Jake had put down for +a walk to the graveyard. + +"Dis mine. Me play here," the child said, more intent upon her +play-house than upon her mother's grave. + +The play-house was a simple affair, which Jake had constructed. There +were two pieces of board for a floor, and a small bench for a table, on +which were bits of broken cups and saucers, the slice of bread and +molasses the child had left when she went to see the stranger, a rag +doll, fashioned from a cob, with a cloth head stuffed with bran, and a +book, soiled and worn as from frequent usage. The child made the Colonel +look at the doll which she called Judy, "after ole mammy Judy, who came +nigh havin' de pow' at de funeral, an' who done made it for her," Jake +explained. The book--a child's reader--was next taken up, the little +girl saying, "Mamma's book--me read," and opening it she made a pretense +of reading something which sounded like "Now I lay me." The Colonel, who +had freed his hand from the fingers which had held it so fast, looked +inquiringly at Jake, who said, "Miss Dory's book; she done read it a +sight, 'case 'twas easier readin' dan dem books from Palatka; an' she +could larn somethin' from it, but de long words floored her an' me, too, +who tried to help her." + +For a moment the Colonel seemed agitated, and taking the book from the +child he said, "Can I have it?" + +"No, sar!" Jake answered emphatically. "I wouldn't part wid it for de +world. It's a part of Miss Dory, an' she tried so hard to read good an' +be a lady. Mandy Ann lived a spell wid de quality, an' got some o' dar +ways, an' I got some in Virginny, an' we tole 'em to her, an' she done +tried till towards de las' she gin it up. ''Taint no use,' she said to +me. 'I'm 'scouraged. I can never be a lady. Ef he comes after I'm dead, +tell him I tried an' couldn't.' She meant the chile's fader, her +husband. Ain't you her husband?" + +It was a direct question, and Jake's honest eyes were looking steadily +at the Colonel, whose lips were white, and opened and shut two or three +times before he answered, "I am nobody's husband, and never shall be. I +knew your young mistress, and was interested in her, and shall care for +the child. Don't ask me any more questions." + +Up to this moment Jake had felt quite softened towards the man he had +once thought to kill. But now he wanted to knock him down, but +restrained himself with a great effort, and answered, "I axes yer +pardon, but I'se allus thought so--an'--an'--I thinks so still." + +To this there was no reply, and Jake, who had sent home his shaft, which +he knew was making the proud man quiver, spoke next of a monument for +Miss Dory, and asked where he'd better get it. + +"Where you think best," the Colonel answered. "Only get a good one, and +send the bill to me." + +"Yes, sar; thank'ee, Mas'r," Jake said, beginning to feel somewhat less +like knocking the Colonel down. "What shall I put on it?" he asked, and +the Colonel replied, "What was on her coffin?" + +"Jess 'Eudora, aged twenty.' I didn' know no odder name--las' name, I +mean. I was shue 'twan't Harris." + +"Put the same on the monument," the Colonel said; "and, Jake, keep the +grave up. She was a good girl." + +"Fo' de Lawd, I knows dat, an' I thank'ee, Mas'r, for sayin' dem words +by de grave whar mabby she done har'em; thank'ee." + +The tears were in Jake's eyes, as he grasped the Colonel's hand and +looked into the face which had relaxed from its sternness, and was +quivering in every muscle. The proud man was moved, and felt that if he +were alone he would have knelt in the hot sand by Eudora's grave, and +asked pardon for the wrong he had done her. But Jake was there, and the +child looking on with wide-open eyes, and though she did not understand +what was said she knew that Jake was crying, and charged it to the +stranger--"the bad man, to make Shaky cry--I hates 'oo," she said, +beginning to strike at him. + +"Hush! honey, hush!" Jake said, while the Colonel began to feel the need +of several hot-water bags as he went back to the house where Mandy Ann, +remembering the hospitable ways at Miss Perkins's when people called, +had set out for him the best the house afforded, including the china +plate he remembered so well. + +He felt that to eat would choke him, but forced himself to take a sip of +coffee and a bit of corn bread. The little girl had remained behind in +her play-house, and he was glad of that. She was a restraint upon him. +He wanted to talk business, and he did not know how much she would +understand. When her great bright eyes were on him he felt nervous as if +she were reading his thoughts, and was more himself with her away. He +must talk about her and her going with him on the "Hatty," and Jake +listened with a swelling heart, and Mandy Ann with her apron over her +head to hide her tears. They knew it must be, and tried to suppress +their feelings. + +"It's like takin' my life," Jake said, "but it's for de best. Miss Dory +would say so, but, Mas'r Crompton, you'll fotch her back sometime to de +ole place. You'll tell her of her mudder, an' me, an' Mandy Ann. You +won't let her done forget." + +Nothing could be further from the Colonel's intentions than to let the +child come back, and everything he could do to make her forget was to be +done, but he could not say so to Jake, and with some evasive answer he +hurried on to business, and spoke of the house and clearing, which now +by right of inheritance belonged to the child. As he assumed her +guardianship he should also assume an oversight of her property, and it +was his wish that Jake should stay on the place, receiving a certain sum +yearly for his services, and having all he could make besides. For +anything of his own which he had spent on the clearing he was to be +repaid, and all the money Eudora had put by was to be his. Jake felt +like a millionaire, and expressed his thanks with choking sobs. Then, +glancing at Mandy Ann, he asked as he had asked before, "An' what 'bout +Mandy Ann? I 'longs to myself, but who's she 'long to, now ole Miss an' +young Miss is dead?" + +"Yes, who's nigger be I? Whar am I gwine?" Mandy Ann cried, jerking her +apron from her head. + +"In the natural sequence of things you belong to the little girl," the +Colonel replied, adding, "I might buy you--" + +But he got no further. All of Mandy Ann's animosity, when Ted suggested +that the man from the North had come to buy her, and she had begged her +mistress to save her from such a fate, had returned, and she exclaimed +vehemently, "Fo' de Lawd, not dat ar. Lemme stay hyar. You 'members Ted, +de colored boy on de 'Hatty.' We's kep' company, off an' on, a year, +sometimes quarrelin', and den makin' up. I can't leave Ted." + +Her soul was in her eyes, as she begged for herself and Ted, and the +Colonel hastened to say, "You did not let me finish. I couldn't buy you, +if I would, and if I did I'd set you free. I will see that this is done +some time." + +"Bress you, Mas'r, for dat ar," Mandy Ann began, but the Colonel stopped +her by saying, "You are young to be keeping company." + +"I'se 'most as ole as Miss Dory when lill chile was born," was the +reply, which silenced the Colonel with regard to her age. + +He had quite a liking for Mandy Ann, and meant to do all he could for +her and Jake, and after some further conversation it was arranged that +she should stay with the latter, the Colonel promising to see that her +wages were paid, and saying that she could keep the money for herself. +He was certainly acting generously towards the two blacks, who would +have been happy but for the parting with the child, which weighed so +heavily upon them. There was not much time left, for the "Hatty" sailed +early the next morning, and the Colonel must be on board that night. + +Great as was their grief it was nothing compared to the antagonism of +the child, when she heard she was to go with the Colonel, and leave Jake +and Mandy Ann behind. She would _not_ go, she said, and fought like a +little tiger when that evening the Colonel came for her, and Mandy Ann +tried to dress her for the journey. Under the table, and lounge, and +chairs she crawled in her efforts to hide, and finally springing into +Jake's lap begged him to keep her, promising to be good and never call +him nor Mandy Ann niggers again, and nearly breaking Jake's heart with +her tears and pretty coaxings. At last worn out with excitement, and +feeling that the battle was against her, she sobbed, "Go wid me, Shaky, +if I goes." + +"I 'spects I'll hev to go part way--say to Savannah--ef you gets her off +quiet. Thar's that in her will make her jump inter de river ef we pushes +her too far," Jake said, and the Colonel, who was sweating like rain, +and did not care for a scene on the "Hatty," finally consented for Jake +to accompany them to Savannah, trusting Providence for what might +follow. + +Thus quieted the child made no resistance when Mandy Ann changed her +soiled white dress for one more suitable for the trip, and then began to +pack her few belongings. Here the Colonel stopped her. He did not know +much about children's clothes, but he felt intuitively that nothing of +the child's present wardrobe would ever be worn at Crompton Place. He +did not say this in so many words, but Mandy Ann understood him and +asked, "Ain't she to carry nothin'?" + +"Nothing but what is necessary on the road," the Colonel replied, and an +old satchel was filled with a night-dress, a clean apron, a pair of +stockings, and Mandy Ann's tears, which fell like rain as she performed +her last office for the little girl, who, now that Jaky was going, began +to look forward to the trip with childish delight. + +Judy was wrapped carefully in paper and put into the satchel, and then +she was ready. Mandy Ann went with her to the boat, where, as it was +late, scarcely any one was visible except Ted, to whom Mandy Ann +intrusted her charge, bidding him _'muse_ her when he could, and +whispering to him the good luck which had come to her and Jake through +the Colonel's generosity. Then with a terrible wrench in her heart, she +took the child in her arms and said, "Doan' you forget me, honey, an' +some time you'll be comin' agen. Oh, I can't bar it!" and with a wail +which was scarcely like a human cry she dropped the child, and hurrying +from the boat ran swiftly up the lane, and was soon out of sight. There +were two or three bursts of tears for Mandy Ann, but for the most part +the little girl was quiet until Savannah was reached, and she heard Jake +was to leave her. Then she showed of what she was capable, and the +Colonel looked on aghast, wondering what he should do when Jake was +gone. She had played on the way with Judy, whose appearance had provoked +a smile from some of the passengers, making the Colonel wonder if there +were not something more reputable in looks than Judy, with her features +of ink and the sewed-up gash in the side of her neck from which a little +bran was still oozing. He didn't know much about dolls, but was sure +there must be some in Savannah, and he went on a tour of inspection, and +found a gold ring with a small stone in it for Mandy Ann in place of the +one buried with poor Dory. This he would give to Jake to take home to +the negro girl, he thought, and then continued his search for dolls, +finding one which could stand up, and sit down, and was gorgeous in a +satin dress, with earrings in its ears. This was more in keeping with +his ideas, and he took it to the hotel, hoping he had seen the last of +Judy, who, he suggested, should be thrown away. He didn't know children. +The little girl was delighted with her new doll, which she handled +gingerly, as if afraid to touch it, and which she called Mandy Ann. But +she clung to Judy just the same, quite to the disgust of the Colonel. + +Poor Jake grew thin during the few days they spent in Savannah, and he +knew he was nearing the end. + +"I must buy her somfin'," he thought, and one morning when he was +walking with her past a dry goods store he saw in the window a little +scarlet merino cloak, lined with white satin, and looking so pretty that +he stopped to look at it, while the little girl jumped up and down, +exclaiming, "Oh, the buffitel cloak. Me wants it, Shaky; me wants it." + +Going into the store Jake inquired the price, which was so large that +his heart sank. It would take nearly all the money he had with him to +buy it, but reflecting that the Colonel was paying his bills, and that +on his return home he could eat two meals a day, and light ones at that, +until he had saved the required sum, he bought the cloak; and, when the +final parting came, wrapped it round the little girl, and carrying her +to the steamer put her down, and left hurriedly, while she rolled on the +floor screaming for Shaky, and bumping her head against a settee. As the +boat moved off, Jake stood on the wharf watching it for a long distance, +with a feeling that all the brightness of his life had vanished with the +little girl, whom the harassed and half-crazed Colonel would have given +much to have left with him had it been practicable. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +EUDORA + + +The Colonel had been gone nearly three weeks and no one knew where he +was, or thought it strange that they didn't. It was his habit to go +suddenly and return just as suddenly. Peter had his opinion, and felt +curious to know if the Colonel would bring back Jake and Mandy Ann +besides the child, and had many a hearty laugh by himself as he imagined +the consternation of the household when this menagerie was turned in +upon them. Naturally his master would let him know when to expect him, +he thought, and was greatly surprised one morning when a station hack +drove into the yard, and the Colonel entered the house looking years +older than when he went away. + +With him was a little girl, three years old or more, clinging to his +hand as if in fear. Her garments were all coarse and old-fashioned, +except the scarlet merino cloak. The hood was drawn over her head, and +from it there looked out a pair of eyes, which, had Peter ever heard of +the word, he would have said were uncanny, they were so large, and +bright, and moved so rapidly from one object to another. She dropped the +hood from her head, and began tugging at the ribbons of her cloak, while +her lip quivered as if she were about to cry. It came at last, not like +anything Peter had ever heard, and was more like a howl than a cry, for +"Shaky; me wants Shaky." + +It was loud, and shrill, and penetrated to all parts of the house, +bringing Sally, the cook, Jane, the chambermaid, and Sam, the coachman, +all into the hall, where they stood appalled at what they saw. + +"Shaky, Shaky," the child wailed on, frightened by the strange faces +around her, and as he did not come she threw herself upon the floor, and +began to bump her head up and down, her last resort when her paroxysms +were at their height. + +The Colonel had borne a good deal since leaving Savannah, and had more +than once been tempted to turn back and either bring Shaky, or leave the +child with him. She had cried for him till she was purple in the face, +and the stewardess had struck her on her back to make her catch her +breath, and then taken her in her arms, and tried to comfort her. +Perhaps it was owing to her color that the child took to her so readily +that the Colonel said to her, "Keep her quiet, if you can, and I do not +care what I pay you." + +After that the little girl staid mostly with the stewardess, and was +comparatively happy. Judy was a great comfort to her, and she kept it +hugged to her bosom through the day, and slept with it at night, and +when she reached the Crompton House it was in the inside pocket of her +cloak. Becoming detached from the pocket as she rolled on the floor it +fell at Peter's feet, making him start, it was so unlike anything he had +seen in years. + +"Great guns!" he exclaimed, spurning it with his foot, and sending it +near the child, who snatched it up with a cry of "Judy, Judy, my Judy." + +"Who is she, and where did she come from?" the cook asked, while Jane +tried to soothe the excited child. + +"Her name is Eudora Harris," the Colonel said. "Her father is a sneaking +scoundrel; her mother was a good woman, and my friend. She is dead, and +there is no one to care for her child but myself. I have brought her +home to bring up as my own. Jaky is the colored man who took care of her +with Mandy Ann, a colored girl. She will cry for her by and by." + +As if to prove his words true the child set up a howl for Mandy Ann; "me +wants Mandy Ann," while the Colonel continued, "She is to be treated in +all respects as a daughter of the house. Get her some decent clothes at +once, you women who understand such things. Don't mind expense. Give her +a pretty room, and I think you'd better hunt up some young person to +look after her. Until the girl comes Jane must sleep in the room with +her, and don't bother me unless it is necessary; I feel quite used up, +and as if I had been through a thrashing-machine. I am not used to +children, and this one is--well, to say the least, very extraordinary." + +This was a good deal for the Colonel to say at one time to his servants, +who listened in wonder, none of them knowing anything except Peter, who +kept his knowledge to himself. And this was all the explanation the +Colonel gave, either to his servants, or to the people outside who knew +better than to question him, and who never mentioned the child in his +presence. Gossip, however, was rife in the neighborhood, and many were +the surmises as to the parentage of the little girl who for a time +turned the Crompton House upside down, and made it a kind of bedlam when +her fits were on, and she was rolling on the floor, and bumping her +head, with cries for Shaky and Mandy Ann. She was homesick, and cared +nothing for the beautiful things they brought her. Against the pretty +dresses she fought at first, and then submitted to them, but kept her +old one in a corner of her room, and Susie, the girl hired to attend +her, sometimes found her there asleep with her head upon it, and Judy +held closely in her arms. They bought her a doll-house which was fitted +up with everything calculated to please a child, but after inspecting it +a while she turned from it with a cry for her "shady" under the palm +tree in the clearing. The doll, Mandy Ann, which the Colonel had bought +in Savannah, never took the place of Judy, who was her favorite, +together with the scarlet cloak, which she would seldom let out of her +sight. During the day she kept it round her, saying, "Me's cold," and at +night she had it near her bed where she could see it the first thing in +the morning. + +The Colonel knew the town was full of speculation and surmises, but he +did not care. Surmises which went wide of the mark were better than the +real truth would have been, and that he could not tell. He had left a +large part of his past in Florida, and trusted it would not follow him. +He could not leave the little girl, and he meant to do his duty by her, +outwardly at least. He had no love for her, and could not manufacture +one. He would rather she had never been born; but inasmuch as she was +born, and was very much alive, she must be cared for. + +There was a private baptism in his library one Sunday afternoon, and she +was christened Amy Eudora. Amy was for his mother; Eudora for no one +knew whom, except Peter, who thought of the smelly letter, and knew +that Eudora was for the young mother, dead somewhere in Florida. But he +held his tongue, and tried to make up to the little girl her loss of +Shaky, for whom she cried for days. Then, as she grew accustomed to her +surroundings, she became contented, and her merry chatter filled the +house from morning till night. Every one was devoted to her, except the +Colonel. He was kind, but never encouraged her advances; never kissed +her, never took her in his lap, or allowed her in his library. She +called him father, and he answered to the name, while she was Eudora +Harris to others. He tried at first to call her Amy, but she stoutly +resisted. + +"Me's Dory. Shaky and Mandy Ann calls me Dory," she would say, with a +stamp of her foot, refusing to answer to any name but Dory, which came +at last to be Dora as she grew older. + +She learned to read in the new school-house by the south gate of the +park, and when she heard that the Colonel built it, she called it hers, +and queened it over her companions with an imperiousness worthy of the +Colonel himself. When questioned of her old home her answers were vague. +There was a river somewhere, and her mother was sick, and she reckoned +she had no father but Shaky. + +As she grew older, she became very reticent of her past, and, if she +remembered it at all, she held her tongue, like Peter. Once, when she +was more than usually aggressive, claiming not only the school-house but +everything in and around it, she was told by the children that she lived +with niggers till she came to Crompton Place, and they guessed her +mother was one, and nobody knew anything about her anyway. There was a +fierce fight in which Dora came off victorious, with a scratch or two +on her face and a torn dress. That afternoon the Colonel was confronted +by what seemed a little maniac, demanding to know if her mother was +black, and if she had lived only with negroes until she came to +Crompton. + +"No, to both questions, and never let me hear another word on the +subject as long as you live," was the Colonel's answer, given with a +sternness before which the girl always quailed. + +She was afraid of the Colonel, and kept aloof from him as much as +possible, rarely seeing him except at meal times, and then saying very +little to him and never dreaming how closely he watched her, attributing +every pecularity, and she had many, to the Harris taint, of which he had +a mortal terror. But however much or little there might have been of the +Harris blood in her, the few who knew her found her charming, as she +grew from childhood into a beautiful girl of eighteen, apparently +forgetful of everything pertaining to her Florida home. The doll-house, +with all the expensive toys bought for her, had been banished to a room +in the attic, and with them finally went Judy and Mandy Ann. The red +cloak she seemed to prize more than all her possessions. It was more in +keeping with her surroundings than Judy, and she often wrapped it around +her as she sat upon the piazza, when the day was cool, and sometimes +wore it on her shoulders to breakfast in the morning. Once she asked the +Colonel where it came from, and he answered "Savannah," and went on +reading his paper with a scowl on his forehead which warned her she was +on dangerous ground. He was not fond of questions, and she did not often +trouble him with them, but lived her silent life, increasing in beauty +with every year, and guarded so closely from contact with the outer +world that she scarcely had an intimate acquaintance. + +It was not the Colonel's wish that she should have any. Indeed, he +hardly knew what he did want. He was aristocratic, and exclusive, and +wished to make her so, and keep her from contact with the common herd, +as he secretly designated the people around him. He knew she was +beautiful, with an imperiousness of manner she took from him, and a +sweet yielding graciousness she took from her mother. Sometimes a smile, +or turn of her head, or kindling in her eyes, would bring the dead woman +so vividly to his mind that he would rise suddenly and leave the room, +as if a ghost were haunting him. On these occasions he was sterner than +usual with Eudora, who chafed under the firm rein held upon her, and +longed to be free. + +The Colonel had it in his mind to take her to Europe, hoping to secure a +desirable marriage for her. He should tell her husband, of course, who +she was, knowing that money and position would atone for the Harris +blood, and feeling that in this way he would be entirely freed from the +page of life which did not now trouble him much. He was still Crompton +of Crompton, with his head as high as ever. The Civil War had swept over +the land like a whirlwind. Tom Hardy had been among the first to enlist +in the Southern army, and been killed in a battle. The Colonel had heard +of his death with a pang, and also with a certain feeling of relief, +knowing that he was about the only one who possessed a knowledge of his +folly, or his whereabouts. There was still Jake, who wrote occasionally, +asking for his _lill Miss_ and telling of Mandy Ann, whom the war had +made free, and who had married Ted, and was living in her own house +outside the clearing. Everything was out of the way except Eudora, who, +before he had proposed his trip to Europe, took herself from him in a +most summary manner. The restraint laid upon her was becoming more than +she could bear, and she rebelled against it. + +"I shall elope some day--see if I don't," she said to Peter, who still +remained in the family, and was her confidant in most things. "I shall +say 'yes' to the first man who proposes, and leave this prison for the +world, and the grand sights which Adolph says are everywhere. Here I am, +cooped up with no young society, and seldom allowed to attend a picnic, +or party, or concert, and I do so enjoy the latter, only I often feel as +if I could do better than the professionals. Adolph says I can, and he +knows." + +Adolph Candida was her music teacher, who, alone of the young men in +Crompton, had free access to the house. He was a fine fellow as well as +teacher, and had done much to develop Dora's taste and love for music, +which had strengthened with her years, until her voice was wonderful for +its scope and sweetness. Naturally there sprang up between the young +people an affection which ripened into love, and Candida was told by +Eudora to ask her father's sanction to their marriage. That she could +stoop to care for her music teacher the Colonel never dreamed, and was +speechless with surprise and anger when asked by the young Italian for +her hand. To show him the door was the work of a moment, and then Dora +was sent for. She came at once, with a look in her eyes which made the +Colonel hesitate a little before he told her what he had done, and what +he expected her to do. + +"If you disobey me in the slightest, you are no longer a daughter of my +house," he said, in the cold, hard tone which Dora knew so well, and had +feared so much. + +But the fear was over now. Something had transformed the timid girl into +a woman, with a courage equal to the Colonel's. For a time she stood +perfectly still, with her eyes fixed upon the angry man, listening to +him until he spoke of her as the daughter of the house; then, with a +gesture of her hands, which bade him stop, she exclaimed, "I did not +know I was daughter of anything. For fifteen years I have lived here, +and though you have been kind to me in your way, you have surrounded +yourself with an air of reserve so cold and impregnable that I have +never dared ask you who I am, since I was a child, and asked you about +my mother. You told me then never to mention that subject again, and I +never have. But do you think I have forgotten that I had a mother? I +have not. I do forget some things in a strange way. They come in a +moment and go, and I cannot bring them back, but the face I think was +mother's is not one of them. Of my father I remember nothing. I have +been told that when you brought me here you said he was a scoundrel! Are +you he? Are you my father?" + +The Colonel was white as a sheet, and his lips twitched nervously, as if +it were hard for them to frame the word No, which came at last +decidedly. Over Dora's face a look of disappointment passed, and her +hands grasped the back of a chair in front of her, as if she needed +support. + +"If you are not my father, who and what was my mother?" was her next +question, and the Colonel replied, "She was an honest woman. Be +satisfied with that." + +"I never for a moment thought her dishonest," the girl exclaimed, +vehemently. "I remember her as some one seen in a dream--a frail little +body, with a sweet face which seldom smiled. There were other faces +round us--dusky ones--negroes, weren't they?" + +Her eyes compelled the Colonel to bow assent, and she continued, "I +thought so, and our home was South; not a grand home like this, but a +cabin, I think. Wasn't it a cabin?" + +Again the Colonel bowed, and Dora went on, "There came a day when it was +full of people, and somebody was in a box, and I sat in Shaky's lap. I +have never forgotten him. He was all the father I knew." + +The Colonel drew a long breath, and she went on, "He held me up, and +bade me kiss the white face in the box. That was my mother?" + +Again her eyes made the Colonel bow assent, and she continued, "After +that there is a blank, with misty recollections of another box on the +table, and a walk across hot sands with Shaky, and then I came here, +where you have tried hard to blot all the past from my memory, as if it +were something of which to be ashamed. But I shall find my mother's +family some day, and Shaky, if he is living, and shall know all about +it. There was a girl, too--Mandy Ann. I called the doll you gave me for +her. She took care of me when Shaky didn't. He is more distinct. He took +you to the graves the day you came for me, and I went with you and +showed you my play-house under the palm tree--the poor little thing, +but dearer to me than the best you have ever given me, because it was +hedged round with love, even if it were the love of negroes. Things are +coming back to me now so vividly, pressing on my brain which feels as if +it would burst, and I remember the blacks, and their prayer meetings, +and the songs they sang, and their hallelujahs and amens sound in my +ears, and I think they always have, and helped me on and up when I have +been practising difficult music. When a child at school I was often +taunted and mocked for what the children called my negro brogue and +talk. We had several battles in which I generally beat, although I was +one against a dozen. There is a good deal of fight in me which I must +have inherited from my father, who, I suppose, was a Southerner, if you +are not he." + +The Colonel only glared at her, and she continued, "I have been told, +too, that there is a negro twang in my voice, and I am glad of it, and +try to imitate the sounds which come to me from a past I so dimly +remember, and which I think are echoes from some negro _prar_ meeting. +You see I have not forgotten the dialect of my early surroundings, and +some day--I tell you again, I shall find the place and the graves of my +people, and know what you have kept from me so carefully." + +"Better not. You'll be sorry if you do. Your mother's family were +Crackers," the Colonel said. "You would not be proud of the connection, +although they were respectable people." + +If Dora had ever heard of Crackers she knew very little about them, and +cared less. She was greatly excited, and her eyes flashed and glowed +with that light which Mr. Mason and Peter had noticed years before, and +from which the Colonel turned away as from something dangerous. + +"My mother was a Cracker? My father was a Mr. Harris--a Cracker, too. I +am not your daughter, as I have been weak enough at times to believe, +and--yes, I will confess it--I was weak enough to be proud that I was a +Crompton; but that is over now; my father and mother were Crackers. I am +a Cracker, and Eudora Harris. I am eighteen, and my own +mistress--amenable to the authority of no one. I am glad for that, as it +makes me free to do as I please. Good evening." + +She bowed and left the room, leaving him stunned that she dared defy +him, and half resolved to call her back and tell her the truth. But he +didn't, and it was years before he saw her again. + +The next morning she was missing. She had gone with Candida--where, he +took no pains to inquire. She sent him a New York paper, with a notice +of her marriage, and the names of herself and husband in the list of +passengers sailing on the Celtic. He put the paper in the fire with the +tongs, and after that a great silence fell upon the house, and the +Colonel grew more reserved than ever, and more peculiar. He forbade the +servants to mention Dora's name, or tell him where she was, if they +knew. They didn't know, and many years went by, and to all intents and +purposes she was dead to those who had known her as a bright, beautiful +girl. Jake, who wrote to inquire for her, was told that she had run away +and married, and the Colonel neither knew nor cared where she was, and +was not to be troubled with any more letters, which he should not +answer. Jake was silenced, and there was no link connecting the Colonel +with the past, except his memory which lashed him like the stings of +scorpions. His hair turned white as snow; there was a stoop between his +shoulders, and his fifty-five years might have been sixty-five, he aged +so fast, as time went on, and his great house became so intolerable to +him that he at last hailed with delight an event which, sad as it was in +some respects, brought him something of life and an interest in it. + + + + +PART II + + + +CHAPTER I + +HOWARD CROMPTON TO JACK HARCOURT + + +"Crompton House, June --, 18--. + +"Dear Jack: + +"I have bearded the lion in his den and found him a harmless old cove, +after all, with many of his fangs extracted. You know, I am the son of +his half-brother, who was many years his junior. I fancy the two never +agreed very well, and when I wrote, proposing that I should visit +Crompton House, I was surprised at the cordial reply, bidding me pack up +my traps and come at once. I packed up and came, and, if I know myself, +I shall stay. I am the only near relative he has in the world. He has a +large estate to dispose of, was never married, and, of course, has no +children, unless-- + +"There must everlastingly be an _unless_, or a _but_ somewhere, and here +it is--a big one in the shape of a woman--a lovely woman, too, if she is +nearer forty than twenty. Don't you remember I once told you of a girl +whom my uncle brought home from the South, and who ran off with her +music teacher, an Italian. Well, she is here--a wreck physically and +mentally in one sense; not exactly insane, but with memory so impaired +that she can tell nothing of her past, or perhaps she does not wish to. +She always says, when questioned about it, 'I don't remember, and it +makes my head ache to try.' + +"It seems her first husband, Candida, took her abroad and gave her every +advantage in music, both in Paris and Italy. When he died she married +Homer Smith, an American, who was associated with him in some way. After +his return to America he got up what was known as the 'Homer Troupe.' He +dropped his last name, thinking the _Smith_ Troupe would not sound as +well as Homer. His wife was the drawing card. She had a wonderful voice +as a girl, they say, with a peculiarly pathetic tone in it, like what +you hear in negro concerts, and it was this and her beauty which took +with the people. She hated the business, but was compelled to sing by +her husband, who, I fancy, was a tyrant and a brute. They starred it in +the far West mostly, until her health and mind gave way, and she went +raving mad on the stage, I believe. He put her in a private asylum in +San Francisco. How long she was there I don't know, and she don't know. +She was always a little queer, they say, and people predicted she would +be crazy some time. Her husband died suddenly in Santa Barbara. Just +before he died he tried to say something, but could only manage to give +his physician the Colonel's address, and say, 'Tell him where my wife +is.' + +"Off started the Colonel, lame, and gouty, and rheumatic as he is, and +brought her home, and has set her up as a kind of queen whose slightest +wish is to be obeyed. To do her justice she has not many wishes. She is +very quiet, talks but little, and seems in a kind of brown study most of +the time. Occasionally she rouses up and asks if we are sure he is +dead--the he being her husband--the last one, presumably. When we tell +her he is she smiles and says, 'I think I'm glad, for now I shall never +have to sing again in public.' Then she says in a very different tone, +'Baby is dead, too; and my head has ached so hard ever since that I +cannot think or remember, only it was sudden and took my life away.' + +"She has an old red cloak which at times she wraps around a shawl, and +cuddles it as if it were a baby, crooning some negro melody she heard +South. There must have been a little child who died, but she is not +clear on the subject. Sometimes it is a baby; sometimes a grown girl; +sometimes it died in one place; sometimes in another; but always just +before she was going to sing, and the room was full of coffins until she +sank down, and knew no more. Whether my uncle has taken pains to inquire +about the child, I don't know. He does not like children, and is +satisfied to have Amy back, and is trying to atone for his former +harshness. He calls her Amy, instead of Eudora, because the latter was +the name by which she was known in the Homer Troupe, and he saw it +flaunted on a handbill advertising the last concert in which she took +part. + +"Don't think I have heard all this from him. He is tighter than the bark +of a tree with regard to his affairs, and I do not think any one in the +town knows anything definite about her singing in public, or the asylum; +but there is a servant, Peter, who has grown old in the family. He knows +everything, and has told me about my uncle bringing the child home, and +how she cried for days for Shaky, a colored man, and slept in the red +cloak, and kept it around her in the day-time because he gave it to +her. I have learned that she was never lawfully adopted, and that my +uncle has made no will. Still she must be something to him, but +certainly not his lawful child, or why his reticence with regard to her. +I am the only near relative bearing the Crompton name. I have made +myself very necessary to him--am in fact, in a way, a son of the house. +He is very much broken, and if he dies without a will-- + +"Well, all things come to him who waits, and I can afford to wait in +such comfortable quarters. Do you catch on, and call me a scamp with +your Puritanical notions? Not so fast, old fellow. You have chosen to +earn your living delving at the law. I earn mine by being so useful to +my uncle that he will not part with me. He has already made me a kind of +agent to attend to his business, so that I look upon myself as +permanently fixed at Crompton House for as long as I choose to stay. It +is a grand old place, with an income of I do not know how many +thousands, and if I should ever be fortunate enough to be master, I +shall say that for once in his life Howard Crompton was in luck. I want +you to come here, Jack, when you have finished visiting your sister. I +asked my uncle if I could invite you, and he said, 'Certainly; I like to +have young people in the house. It pleases Amy.' + +"This is wonderful, as they say he used to keep young people away, +almost with lock and key, when she was young. But now anything which +pleases Amy pleases him. + +"And now for another matter which involves a girl, Eloise Smith. Who is +she, you ask? Well, she is neither high born, I fancy, nor city bred; +nor much like the girls from Wellesley and Lasell, with whom we used to +flirt. She is a country school-ma'am, and is to be graduated this month +in the Normal School in Mayville, where you are visiting. What is she to +me? Nothing, except this: She has haunted me ever since I heard of her, +and I can't get rid of an idea that in some way she is to influence my +life. You know I was always given to presentiments and vagaries, and she +is the last one. I might not have thought much of her if my uncle were +not in a great way on her account. Long ago when they changed the name +of the town from Troutburg to Crompton in his honor, he built a +school-house on his premises, and gave it to the town. Since then he has +felt that he had a right to control it, and say who should teach, and +who shouldn't. For a long time the people humored him, and made him +school inspector, whose business it was to examine the teachers with +regard to their qualifications. With his old time notions, he had some +very old-time questions, which with others, he always propounded. As a +test of scholarship they were ridiculous; but he was Col. Crompton, and +the people shrugged their shoulders and laughed at what they called the +Crompton formula. Here are a few of the questions: First, What is logic? +Second, Why does the wind usually stop blowing when the sun goes down? I +don't know; do you? and we are both Harvarders. The third introduces a +man in old Colburn's Arithmetic, driving his sheep or geese to market. +The fourth is a scorcher, and has to do with the diameter of a +grindstone, after a certain number of inches have been ground from it. +Then comes what I call the _pièce de résistance_, but which my uncle +called 'killing two birds with one stone.' He has a fad on writing and +spelling, and required his victims to put on paper the following: + +"'Mr. Wright has a right To write the rites of the church.' + +"Blamed if I didn't get stuck on that last _rite_ when he gave it to me! +If the teachers got safely through with the sheep, or geese, and the +grindstone, and Mr. Wright, and the rest of them, he gave them a +certificate declaring them qualified to teach a district school. In +these days of methods, and analysis, and different ways of looking at +things, all that is exploded, and the Crompton people have dropped my +uncle, who is furious, and charges it to young blood, and the normal +schools which have sprung up, and in which he does not believe. 'No +matter how many diplomas a girl may have,' he says, 'proving that she +has stood up in a white gown, and read an esay nobody within four feet +of the rostrum could hear, or care to hear, if they could, she ought to +pass a good solid examination to see if she were rooted and grounded in +the fundamentals,' and when he heard that a normal graduate was engaged +for District No. 5, he swore a blue streak at the girl, the trustee who +hired her, and the attack of gout which keeps him a prisoner in the +house, and will prevent his interviewing Miss Smith, as he certainly +would if he were able. I tried to quiet him by offering to interview her +myself. Think of me in a district school-house, talking to the teacher +about the diameter of a grindstone! The absurdity must have struck my +uncle. You should have seen the look he gave me over his spectacles, as +he said, 'You, who know nothing, except ball games, and boat races, and +raising the devil generally, interview a girl with a diploma! You would +probably end by making love to her, but I won't have it; mind, I won't +have it! Remember, you are a Crompton, and no Crompton ever married +beneath him!' Here he stopped suddenly, and turned so white that I was +alarmed, and asked what ailed him. + +"'Nothing,' he said, 'nothing but a twinge. I had an awful one.' + +"I suppose he referred to his foot, which was pretty bad that day. After +a little, quite to my surprise, he said, 'If you knew anything yourself, +you might manage to see if this Smith girl knows anything. Amy can coach +you. She is rooted and grounded. She was taught in the old school-house, +which I would never have given the town but for her.' + +"What he meant I don't know. What I do know is that Amy has told me why +the wind stops blowing when the sun goes down, but I'll be hanged if I +understand much about the rarefaction of the air. Do you? She was very +glib with the sheep and the geese, but the grindstone made her head +ache, and she gave it up. I think, however, I have all the knowledge +necessary to judge whether a girl is rooted and grounded, and now I want +to know something about the girl. Manage to see her while you are in +Mayville. Attend the commencement exercises. She is sure to read an +essay in a white gown. Write me what she is like, and if I am likely to +fall in love with her. Come as soon as you can. + +"Always your friend, + +"HOWARD CROMPTON." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +JACK HARCOURT TO HOWARD CROMPTON + + +Mayville, July --, 18--. + +"Dear Howard: + +"That you are a scamp of the first water goes without saying, +insinuating yourself into an eccentric old man's confidence in hopes to +be his heir! I dare say, Amy is his daughter, and you will have to work +for a living after all, and serve you right, too. But have a good time +while you can, and I'll help you after a little, as I accept your +invitation with pleasure. + +"Now for the girl! I have seen her, and if there was ever a case of love +at first sight, I'm that case. It was this way. Mayville is not a very +lively place, and when my sister, Mrs. Lovell, who you know has a summer +home here, suggested one morning that we attend the commencement +exercises of the Normal School, saying, that twenty-five or thirty young +girls were to be graduated, I concluded that it was better than nothing. +I hate such places, as a rule, they are so close and stuffy, and the +essays so long and dull, and the girls all look pretty much alike, and I +begged Bell to get a seat as near the door as possible, so I could go +out when it became unendurable. Just then your letter was brought to me, +and after reading it, nothing could have kept me from Eloise Smith. I +asked Bell if she knew her. + +"'I don't know many of the girls by name,' she said, 'but I have heard +of Eloise Smith. She sings in the choir, and is a basket-boarder of Mrs. +Brown's.' + +"'What the mischief is a basket-boarder?' I asked, and Bell explained +that girls sometimes hire a room, and bring their food from home, and +have the family with whom they lodge cook it for them, or cook it +themselves on the family stove. A kind of picnic to get an education, +you see, and just think of all we spent uselessly in college. Why, it +would keep a lot of basket-boarders. Well, we started for the chapel, +which was literally crammed, and the thermometer at ninety. You know, +Mr. Lovell is wealthy, and from New York, and that makes Bell a kind of +swell woman in the place, while I fancy your humble servant had +something to do with the attention we received. Instead of a seat by the +door, we were pushed to the front, within ten feet of the rostrum, and I +was wedged in with Bell on one side of me, afraid I'd jam her sleeves, +and on the other side was a woman, who weighed at least two hundred, and +was equally afraid of her sleeves. In front of me was a hat so big that +I couldn't begin to see all the stage, and but for Eloise I'd have got +out some way, I was so uncomfortable with Bell fanning on one side till +that rheumatic spot on my shoulder, which troubled me some at Harvard, +began to ache, and the fat woman the other side mopping her face with a +handkerchief saturated with cheap perfumery, and the big hat in front +flopping and nodding this way and that, and no place to stretch my long +legs. + +"There was a prayer, a song circle, and _et ceteras_, and a great +flutter in a row of white dresses, and many colored ribbons to my left. +'The Graduates,' Bell whispered, and the business of the day began. +There were eight in all to read essays--nice looking girls, and much +like the Lasells and Wellesleys we used to know. As for the +essays--well, there was either a good deal of bosh in them, or a +profundity of learning and thought to which Jack Harcourt never +attained. But the people cheered like mad whenever one was ended, and +sent up flowers, while I grew hotter and hotter, and when the seventh +went up, and unfolded the 'Age of Progress and Reason,' which looked as +if it might last an age, I made up my mind to bolt, and said so to Bell. + +"'Keep still; there's only one more after this one, and that is Eloise +Smith,' she said. + +"I thought of you, and settled myself for another fifteen minutes, while +a red-haired girl in glasses went through the 'Age of Progress and +Reason' with great applause, and a basket of flowers, and bowed herself +off the stage. There was a little delay. Somebody had fainted. I wonder +they didn't all faint, the air was so hot and thick; and to crown all, +the window near us had to be shut, because that fat woman didn't want a +draught on her back! When they got the fainting person out, and the +window shut, I saw the flutter of a white dress, and knew the eighth and +last essay was coming. + +"'That's Eloise,' Bell said, as a slender little girl walked on to the +rostrum, looking as fresh, and cool, and sweet as a--well, as the white +lilies of which I am so fond. + +"'By George!' I said, so loud that those nearest me must have heard me, +and wondered what ailed me. + +"Perhaps she heard me, for she looked at me with her beautiful eyes, +which steadied me, and kept me quiet all through her essay. Don't ask +me what it was about. I don't know. I was so absorbed in the girl +herself, she was so graceful, and pretty, and self-possessed, and her +voice was so musical that I could think of nothing but her; and when she +finished I cheered louder than anybody else, and kept on cheering as +they do in plays when they want them to come back, till Bell nudged my +side, and whispered, 'Are you crazy? Everybody is looking at you.' + +"I was a little ashamed to be spatting away alone, but it pleased the +fat woman, who proved to be Mrs. Brown, the keeper of the +basket-boarders. + +"'That's Miss Smith. She done nice, didn't she, and she or'to of had +some flowers,' she said to me; and then I remembered with a pang that +not a flower had been sent up to her--the flower of them all--and wished +I had a whole green-house to give her. + +"Did she think of it? I wondered, as I watched her after she sat down. +The big hat had moved a little, and I could see the top of Eloise's +head, with its crown of reddish-brown hair, on which a gleam of sunshine +from a window fell, bringing out tints of gold, as well as red. That +sounds rather poetical, don't it? for a prosy chap who professes never +to have been moved by any piece of femininity, however dainty. I'll +confess I was moved by this little girl. She is very slight and very +young, I judge. I like Mrs. Brown, and do not think her perfumery bad, +or herself very fat, and am glad they had the window shut for her. I +wouldn't have her in a draught for anything, because she told me Eloise +was the nicest girl she ever had in her house, and the best scholar in +her class. Of course she is; I'd swear to that. She may not be rooted +and grounded in the fundamentals your queer old uncle thinks necessary, +and I doubt if she knows about the grindstone, and the rest of it. I'd +laugh to see a great hulking fellow like you questioning her on such +subjects. I've a great mind to write out the lingo, and send it to her +anonymously, so she will be prepared to satisfy your uncle, who, I +fancy, is the Great Mogul of Crompton. + +"I got quite chummy with Mrs. Brown before the exercises were over, and +she told me Eloise lived in North Mayville with her grandmother, and +that she was real glad she had a place to teach in Crompton, for she +needed it. + +"'Poor?' I asked, feeling ashamed of myself for the question. + +"But Mrs. Brown saw nothing wrong in it, and answered, 'Very.' + +"Just then Bell nudged me again, and said, 'Let's go. We can get out +now. You don't care to see them receive their diplomas?' + +"But I did, and sat it out till Eloise had hers, and I saw her face +again, and saw, too, what I had not noticed before, that her dress +looked poor and plain beside the others. Of course she's poor; but what +do I care for that? I am a good deal struck, you see, and if there were +nothing else to bring me to Crompton, Eloise would do it. So expect me +in September about the time her school commences. When will that be? + +"Very truly, + +"JACK HARCOURT." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +ELOISE + + +It was a brown, old-fashioned house such as is common in New England, +with low ceilings, high windows, and small panes of glass, and in the +centre a great chimney of a fashion a hundred years ago. In the grass +plot at the side, where clothes were bleached and dried, there should +have been a well-sweep and curb to complete the picture, but instead +there was a modern pump where an elderly woman was getting water, and +throwing away three or four pails full, so that the last might be fresh +and sparkling for the coffee she was to make for the early breakfast. +Above the eastern hills the sun was rising, coloring everything with a +rosy tinge, and the air was full of the song which summer sings, of +flowers and happy insect life, when she is at her best. But the woman +neither heard the song nor saw the sunshine, her heart was so heavy with +thoughts of the parting which was so near. + +"I can't let her know how bad I feel," she said, fighting back her +tears, as she prepared the dainty breakfast which she could scarcely +touch, but which her grand-daughter, Eloise, ate with the healthy +appetite of youth, and then turned her attention to strapping her trunk, +while her grandmother began to fill a paper box with slices of bread and +butter, and whatever else she could find, and thought Eloise would like +on the road. + +"There, I've got it done at last, and hope it will hold till I get +there, the old lock is so shaky," Eloise said, rising to her feet, and +shedding back from her face a mass of soft, fluffy hair. + +"Please don't put up any more lunch. I can never eat it all," she +continued, turning to her grandmother; then, as she saw the tears +dropping from the dim, old eyes, she sprang forward, and exclaimed, +"Don't cry. You know we promised we would both be brave, and it is not +so very long to Christmas. I shall certainly be home then, and Crompton +is not so very far away." + +With a catching kind of sob, the elder woman smiled upon the bright face +uplifted to hers, and said: "I didn't mean to cry, and I am going to be +brave. I am glad you have the chance." + +"So am I," the girl replied, her spirits rising as her grandmother's +tears were dried. "Ever since I was engaged to go to Crompton I have +felt an elation of spirits, as if something were going to come of it. If +it were not for leaving you, and I had heard from California, I should +be very happy. When a letter comes, forward it at once, and if necessary +I shall go there during the holidays, and bring her home. I am glad we +have her room all ready for her. I must see it once more." + +Running upstairs she opened the door of a large chamber, and stood for a +moment inspecting it. Everything was plain and cheap, from the pine +washstand to the rag carpet on the floor; but it was cosey and +home-like, and the girl who had worked in it so much, papering and +painting it herself, with her grandmother's help, and then arranging +and rearranging the furniture until it suited her, thought it fine, and +said to herself, "She'll like it better than any room she ever had at +the grandest hotel. I wish she were here. Mother's room, good-by." + +She kissed her hand to it and ran downstairs, for it was time to go. The +train was drawing up at the station, a short distance from her +grandmother's door, and in a few minutes she was speeding away towards +Crompton. At nearly the same hour Jack Harcourt was starting from New +York for his promised visit to Crompton. His letter has given some +insight into his character, but a look at his face will give a better. +It was not a very handsome face, but it was one which every man, and +woman, and child would trust, and never be deceived. For a young man of +twenty-six he had seen a good deal of life, both at home and abroad, but +the bad side had made but little impression upon him. + +"It slips from Jack like water from a duck's back, while we poor +wretches get smirched all over," Howard Crompton was wont to say of him, +when smarting from some temptation to which he had yielded, and which +Jack had resisted. + +They had been friends since they were boys of eighteen in Europe, and +Howard had nursed him through a fever contracted in Rome. They had also +been chums in Harvard, where both had pulled through rather creditably, +and where Jack had acted as a restraint upon Howard, who was fonder of +larks than of study. + +"Are you sure he is the right kind of friend for you?" Jack's +sister--who was many years his senior, and who stood to him in the place +of a mother--sometimes said to him; and he always answered, "He isn't a +bad sort, as fellows go. Too lazy, perhaps, for a chap who has nothing +but expectations from a crabbed, half-cracked old uncle, and not always +quite on the square. But he is jolly good company, and I like him." + +Something of this sort he said to his sister, who was in her New York +home on the day when he was starting for Crompton, and had expressed her +doubts of Howard's perfect rectitude in everything. + +"He isn't a saint," he said to her, "but I don't forget how he stuck to +me in that beastly place on the Riviera, while every soul of the party +but him hurried off, afraid of the fever. He is having a grand time at +Crompton, and I'm going to help him a while, and then buckle down to +hard work in the office. So good-by, and don't worry." + +He kissed her and hurried off to the station, bought the "Century," put +several expensive cigars in the pocket of his overcoat, took a chair in +a parlor car, and felt, as the train sped away out of the city, that it +was good to live, and that Crompton held some new pleasure and +excitement for him, who found sunshine everywhere. + +Moving in the same direction and for the same point was another train, +in which Eloise sat, dusty and tired, and homesick for the old +grandmother and the house under the big poplar tree. Added to this was a +harrowing anxiety for news from California. + +"If I do not hear by Christmas, I shall certainly take an extra week in +my vacation, and go there," she thought; and then she began to wonder +about Crompton, and District No. 5, and if she would have any trouble +with the big boys and girls, and how she would like Mrs. Biggs, who had +boarded the school teachers for twenty years, and was to board her; and +if by any chance she would ever see the inside of the Crompton House, of +which she had heard from a friend who had visited in the town and had +given glowing descriptions of it. + +At last, as the air in the car grew cooler, she fell asleep, and did not +waken till the sun was down, and a great bank of black clouds was +looming up in the west, with mutterings of thunder, and an occasional +flash of lightning showing against the dark sky. She might not have +wakened then if the car had not given a lurch, with a jar which brought +every one to his feet. The train was off the track, and it would be two +or three hours before it was on again, the conductor said to the crowd +eagerly questioning him. There was nothing to do but wait, and Eloise +did it philosophically. She had dined from her lunch box in the middle +of the day, and was now glad that her grandmother had put so much in it, +as it not only served her for supper, but also a tired mother and two +hungry children. As the car began to grow close again, she left it for a +breath of the fresh air, which blew over the hills as the storm came +nearer. She heard some one say it was time for the New York Express, +which was to pass them at Crompton, and it soon came thundering on, but +stopped suddenly when it found its progress impeded. She saw the +passengers alight to ascertain the cause of the hindrance, and heard +their impatient exclamations at the delay, which would seriously +inconvenience some of them. + +"It may be midnight before we reach Crompton. I wonder if Howard will +meet me at that late hour," she heard a young man say, the smoke from +his cigar blowing in her face as he passed where she was sitting on a +stump. + +"He is sure to be there. I saw him day before yesterday, and he is wild +to have you come. I fancy he finds it rather dull with only a cranky old +man and a half-crazy woman for associates. Howard wants life and fun," +was the reply of his companion, and then the two young men were out of +hearing. + +Who Howard was, or the cranky old man and half-crazy woman, Eloise had +no idea, nor did she give them a thought. One thing alone impressed +her,--the late hour when she would probably arrive at Crompton. Would +any one be there to meet her, or any conveyance, and if not, how was she +to find her way to Mrs. Biggs? + +"Grandma says never cross a river till you reach it, when you will +probably find a plank, if nothing more," she thought, and settled +herself to wait through the long hours which elapsed before the welcome +"All aboard!" was sounded, and the two trains were under way,--the +accommodation in front, and the express in the rear. + +The storm had broken before the trains started, and it increased in such +violence that when Crompton was reached it was raining in torrents. The +wind was like a hurricane, with alternate flashes of lightning which lit +up the darkness, and peals of thunder which seemed to shake the trains +as they stopped to let off their passengers. There were but two, the +young man from the parlor car, and the girl from the accommodation. The +girl was almost drenched to the skin in the downpour before she could +open her cotton umbrella, which was at once turned inside out. Holding +her satchel with one hand and struggling to keep her hat on her head +with the other, she was trying to reach the shelter of the station, +where a faint light was shining, when the violence of the wind and rain +drove her backwards, almost into the arms of a young man hurrying past +her, in a slouched hat and water-proof coat. Thinking him an official, +she seized his arm and said, "Oh, please, sir, tell me is there any one +here from Mrs. Biggs's, or any way to get there?" + +Her question was inopportune, for at that moment the stranger's umbrella +met a like fate with her own, and was turned inside out, while hers, +loosened by the opening of her hand, went sailing off into the darkness +and rain. She thought she heard an oath before the stranger replied that +he knew nothing of Mrs. Biggs, and did not think any conveyance was +there at that hour. + +"Hallo, Jack! Is that you? and did you ever know such an infernal storm? +Nearly takes one off his feet. My umbrella has gone up; so will yours if +you open it. Didn't see you till I was right on you," was his next +exclamation, as a vivid flash of lightning lit up the platform, and +showed Eloise two young men clasping hands within three feet of her. + +Howard Crompton had been to the station at the appointed time, and +learned of the delay of the train in which he expected his friend. Later +a telephone had told him when the belated train would arrive, and the +carriage was again ordered, the coachman grumbling, and the Colonel +swearing to himself at having the horses go out in such a storm. To +Howard he said nothing. That young man had so ingratiated himself into +his uncle's good opinion, as to be nearly master of the situation. He +wrote and answered most of the Colonel's letters, collected his rents, +and looked after his business generally, and did it so well that the +Colonel was beginning to feel that he could not get on without him, and +to have serious thoughts of making it worth his while to stay +indefinitely. + +Nothing could have been further from Howard's wishes than going out so +late at night, and in such a storm, but the one unselfish passion of his +life was his attachment to Jack Harcourt. He was not very well pleased +with the wetting he got, as his umbrella was turned inside out; nor at +all interested in the girl asking so timidly for Mrs. Biggs, and in his +pleasure at meeting Jack he forgot her entirely, until the same flash of +lightning which showed her the two men showed them her white face, with +an appealing expression on it which Jack never passed by, whether it +were matron or maid who needed his help. Who the drooping little figure +was, with the water running down her jacket and off her hat in streams, +he had no idea from the glimpse he had of her features as the lightning +played over them for a moment. That she was in trouble was evident, and +in return to Howard's greeting, he said, "This is a corker of a storm, +and no mistake, and I do believe I am wet through, but,--" and he spoke +a little lower,--"there's a girl here near us,--alone, too, I do +believe." + +"Yes, I know," Howard replied. "The station master will see to her. Come +on to the carriage. The horses are plunging like mad. Sam can't hold +them much longer." + +He moved away, but Jack stood still, for a second flash of lightning had +shown him Eloise's face again. It was very pale, and tears, as well as +rain, were on her cheeks. + +"Can I do anything for you?" he said, opening his umbrella, and holding +it over her. + +His voice was that of a friend, and Eloise recognized it as such, and +answered, "I don't know. I am a stranger. I want to go to Mrs. Biggs's. +Do you know where she lives?" + +"I am a stranger, too, and have never heard of Mrs. Biggs," Jack +replied; "but the station agent will know. He ought to be here. Hallo! +you, sir! Why are you not attending to your business? Here is a young +lady," he called out, as the agent at last appeared coming slowly toward +them, holding a lantern with one hand, and his cap on with the other. + +"I didn't s'pose there was anybody here but Mr. Crompton's friend. Who +is she? Where does she want to go? There ain't no conveyance here for +nowhere at this hour," he said, throwing the light of his lantern fully +on Eloise, whose face grew, if possible, a shade paler, and whose voice +shook as she replied, "I want to go to Mrs. Biggs's. I am to board with +her. I am the new school teacher, Miss Smith. Can I walk there when the +storm is over? How far is it?" + +"Great guns!" Jack said under his breath, holding the whole of his +umbrella now over the girl instead of half, while the agent replied, +"Walk to Widder Biggs's! I'd say not. It's two good miles from here. +You'll have to sit in the depot till it stops rainin' a little, and I'll +find you a place till mornin'. Tim Biggs was here when the train or'to +of come, and said he was expectin' a schoolmarm. Be you her?" + +"Yes, oh, yes; thank you. Let me get into the station as soon as I can. +My umbrella is gone, and I am so cold and wet," Eloise said, with +catches in her breath between the words. + +"Hold on a minit," the agent continued. "The Crompton carriage goes +within quarter of a mile of the Widder Biggs's. I guess the young man +will take you. I will ask him." + +"No, let me. I'm sure he will," Jack interrupted him, and thrusting his +umbrella into Eloise's hand, he stumbled through the darkness to the +corner where he heard Howard calling to him, "Jack, Jack, where in +thunder are you?" + +"Here," Jack replied, making for the voice, and saying to Howard when he +reached him, "Howard, that's Eloise Smith, the girl I wrote you +about,--the school teacher. She hasn't a dry rag on her. Her umbrella is +lost. She wants to go to Widow Biggs's. The agent says it is not far +from the Crompton Place. Can't we take her? Of course we can. I'll go +for her." + +He hurried off as well as he could, leaving Howard in no very amiable +frame of mind. He had laughed at Jack's rhapsodies over Eloise Smith, +and said to himself, "His interest in her will never be very lasting, no +matter how pretty she is. Jack Harcourt and a basket-boarder! Ha, ha! +Rich. Still, I'd like to see her." + +After that he had nearly forgotten her in his absorbing efforts to keep +the right side of his uncle, and entertain Amy. And now she was here, +and Jack was proposing to have him take her to Widow Biggs's, which was +a quarter of a mile beyond the park gates, Sam said, when consulted as +to the widow's whereabouts. There was no help for it, but he didn't like +it, and there was a scowl on his face as he waited for Jack, who came +at last with Eloise and the agent, whose lantern shed a dim light on the +handsomely-cushioned carriage when the door was open. + +"I'm not fit to get in there, I am so wet," Eloise said, drawing back a +little. + +"As fit as we are," Jack replied, almost lifting her in, and tilting his +umbrella till one of the sticks struck Howard in the eye, increasing his +discomposure, and making him wish both Eloise and Mrs. Biggs in a much +dryer place than he was. + +"Now, Howard, in with you. There's a little lull in the rain. We'll take +advantage of it," Jack continued, as he followed Howard into the +carriage, where both sat down opposite Eloise, who crouched in her +corner, afraid she did not know of what. Certainly not of the man who +had been so kind to her, and who she wished was sitting in front of her, +instead of the one who did not speak at all, except to ask Sam how the +deuce they were to know when they reached the Widow Biggs's. + +"Easy enough. It is a squat-roofed house with lalock and piney bushes in +the yard." + +"Yes, but how are we to see a squat roof with lalocks and pineys on this +beastly night?" Howard rejoined, in a tone which told that he was not +anticipating his trip to the widder Biggs's. "Drive on, for heaven's +sake," he continued, "and don't upset us. It is darker than a pocket." + +"No, sir, not if I can help it. I never knew the horses so 'fraid. Easy, +Cass--easy Brute," Sam answered, as in response to a flash of lightning +Brutus and Cassius both stood on their hind feet and pawed the air with +terror. "Easy, easy, boys. Lightnin' can't strike you but once," Sam +continued soothingly to the restless, nervous horses, who were at last +gotten safely from the station, and started down the road which lead +through the village to Crompton Place. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE ACCIDENT + + +For a short time the carriage went on smoothly and swiftly through the +town, where the street lamps of kerosene gave a little light to the +darkness. Once out of town in the country Sam became less sure of his +way, and as he could not see his hand before him, he finally left the +matter to the horses, trusting their instinct to keep in the road. + +"I shall know when I reach the gate, and so will Brute and Cass; but +we've got to go farther to the Widder Biggs's, and darned if I b'lieve +they'll know the place," he thought, with a growing conviction of his +inability to recognize Mrs. Biggs's squat roof and lilacs and peonies. + +The storm which had abated for a short time was increasing again. The +peals of thunder were more frequent, and with each flash of lightning +the horses grew more unmanageable, until at last they flew along the +highway at a speed which rocked the carriage from side to side, and +began at last to alarm its occupants. Eloise in her corner was holding +fast to the strap, when a lurid flame filled the carriage for an instant +with a blaze of light. She had removed her hat, and her face, +silhouetted against the dark cushions, startled both the young men with +its beauty. It was very white, except the cheeks which were flushed with +excitement. Her lips were apart, but her chief beauty was in her eyes, +which were full of terror, and which shone like stars as they looked +from one young man to the other. + +"Oh, I am afraid. Let me out. I'd rather walk," she cried, starting to +her feet and grasping the handle of the door. + +"Please be quiet. There is no danger. You must not get out," Howard +said, laying both his hands on hers, which he held for a moment, and +pressed by way of reassuring her as he pushed her gently back into her +seat. + +She felt the pressure and resented it, and releasing her hands put them +behind her, lest in the darkness they should be touched again. The same +lightning which had showed her face to Howard had also given her a +glimpse of his black eyes kindling with surprise and admiration at a +beauty he had not expected. A lurch of the carriage sent Jack from his +seat, and Eloise felt him close beside her. Was he going to squeeze her +hands, too? She didn't know, and was holding them closely pressed behind +her, when there was another flash, a deafening peal of thunder, a crash, +and the next she knew the rain was falling upon her face, her head was +lying against some one's arm, and two pairs of hands were tugging at her +collar and jacket. + +"Do you think she is dead?" was asked, in the voice which had told her +not to be afraid. + +"Dead!" a second voice replied. "She cannot be dead. She must not be. +Miss Smith, Miss Smith! Where are you hurt?" + +It was on the arm of this speaker she was lying, and she felt his breath +on her face as he bent over her. With a great effort she moved her head +and answered, "I'm not dead, nor hurt either, except my foot, which is +twisted under me." + +"Thank God!" Jack said, and instantly the two pairs of hands groped in +the dark for the twisted foot. + +"Oh!" Eloise cried, sitting upright, as a sharp pain shot from her ankle +to her head. "Don't touch me. I can't bear it. I am afraid it is broken. +What has happened, and where is the carriage?" + +"Home by this time, if Brutus and Cassius have not demolished it in +their mad fright," Howard said, explaining that at the last heavy peal +of thunder the horses had swerved from the road and upset the carriage +at the entrance to the park; that Sam had been thrown to some distance +from the box, but had gathered himself up, and gone after the horses +tearing up the avenue. "I shouted to him to come back with a lantern as +quickly as possible. He'll be here soon, I think. Are you in great +pain?" + +"When I move, yes," Eloise replied, and then, as the full extent of the +catastrophe burst upon her, she began to cry,--not softly to herself, +but hysterically, with sobs which smote both Howard and Jack like blows. + +It was a novel predicament in which they found themselves,--near +midnight, in a thunderstorm, with a young girl on the ground unable to +walk, and neither of them knowing what to do. Howard said it was a +deuced shame, and Jack told her not to cry. Sam was sure to come with a +lantern soon, and they'd see what was the matter. As he talked he put +her head back upon his shoulder, and she let it lie there without +protest. + +After what seemed a long time, Sam came up with a lantern. The carriage +was badly injured, he said, having been dragged through the avenue on +its side. Brutus had a gouge on his shoulder from running into a tall +shrub; he had hurt his arm when he fell from the box, and the Colonel +was not in a very pious state of mind on account of his damaged +property. + +Eloise heard it all, but did not realize its import, her foot was +paining her so badly. Jack had helped her up when Sam came, but she +could not walk, and her face looked so white when the lantern light fell +upon it, that both men feared she was going to faint. + +"What shall we do?" Howard asked, standing first on one foot and then on +the other, and feeling the water ooze over the tops of his shoes. + +"Take her to the Crompton house, of course. It must be nearer than Mrs. +Biggs's," Jack suggested. + +Before Howard could reply, Eloise exclaimed, "Oh, no, I can hop on one +foot to Mrs. Biggs's if some one helps me. Is it far?" + +The two men looked inquiringly at each other and then at Sam, who was +the first to speak. In the Colonel's state of mind, with regard to his +carriage and his horses, he did not think it advisable to introduce a +helpless stranger into the house, and he said, "I'll tell you what; did +you ever make a chair with your hands crossed--so?" + +He indicated what he meant, and the chair was soon made, and Eloise +lifted into it. + +"That's just the thing; but you'll have to put an arm around each of our +necks to steady yourself," Jack said. "So! That's right! hold tight!" he +continued, as Eloise put an arm around each neck. + +Sam was directing matters, and taking up the lantern and Jack's +umbrella, which he had found lying in the mud, he said, "I'll light the +way and hold the umbrella over you. It don't rain much now." + +"My hat and satchel, please," Eloise said, but neither could be found, +and the strange cortége started. + +For an instant the ludicrousness of the affair struck both young men, +convulsing them with laughter to such an extent that the chair came near +being pulled apart and Eloise dropped to the ground. She felt it giving +way, and, taking her arm from Howard, clung desperately to Jack. + +"Don't let me fall, please," she said. + +"No danger; hold fast as you are," Jack answered cheerily, rather +enjoying the feeling of the two arms clasping his neck so tightly. + +What Howard felt was streams of water trickling down his back from the +umbrella, which Sam held at exactly the right angle for him to get the +full benefit of a bath between his collar and his neck. He did not like +it, and was in a bad frame of mind mentally, when, after what seemed an +eternity to Eloise, they came to three or four squat-roofed houses in a +row, at one of which Sam stopped, confidently affirming it was the +Widder Biggs's, although he could not see the "lalock and pineys." + +"Knock louder! Kick, if necessary," Howard said, applying his own foot +to the door as there came no answer to Sam's first appeal. + +There was a louder knock and call, and at last a glimmer of light +inside. Somebody was lighting a candle, which was at once extinguished +when the door was open, and a gust of wind and rain swept in. + +"Are you Mrs. Biggs?" Sam asked, as a tall figure in a very short +night-robe was for a moment visible. + +"Mrs. Biggs! Thunder, no! Don't you know a man from a woman? She lives +second house from here," was the masculine response. + +The door was shut with a bang, and the cortége moved on to the third +house, which, by investigating the lilac bushes and peonies, Sam made +out belonged to the Widder Biggs. It was harder to rouse her than it had +been to rouse her neighbor. She was a little deaf, and the noise of the +wind and rain added to the difficulty. When she did awaken her first +thought was of burglars, and there was a loud cry to her son Tim to come +quick and bring his gun, for somebody was breaking into the house. + +"Robbers don't make such a noise as that! Open your window and see who's +there," was Tim's sleepy answer, as Sam's blows fell heavily upon the +door, accompanied with thuds from Howard's foot. + +Mrs. Biggs opened her window cautiously, and thrust out her head, minus +her false hair, and enveloped in a cotton nightcap. + +"Who is it? What has happened? Anybody sick or dead?" she asked; and Sam +replied, "Miss Smith is here with a broken laig, for't I know!" + +"Miss Smith! A broken leg! For the land's sake, Tim, get up quick!" the +widow gasped. + +Closing the window and putting on a skirt, she descended to the kitchen, +lighted an oil lamp, and, throwing open the door, looked at the group +outside. She was prepared for Sam and Miss Smith, and did not mind her +deshabille for them. But at the sight of two gentlemen, and one of them +young Mr. Crompton, she came near dropping her lamp. + +"Gracious goodness!" she exclaimed. "Mr. Crompton! And I half-dressed! +Wait till I get on some clothes, and my hair, and my teeth. I am a +sight to behold." + +"Never mind your teeth, nor your hair, nor your best gown," Sam said, +pushing open the door Mrs. Biggs had partially closed, and entering the +house, followed by Howard and Jack, with Eloise still clinging to Jack's +neck, and half fainting with the pain in her ankle which had increased +from hanging down so long. + +Tim had come by this time, fastening his suspenders as he came, and +caring less for his appearance than his mother. She had disappeared, but +soon returned with teeth, and hair, and clothes in place, and herself +ready for the emergency. Following Tim's directions they had put Eloise +on a couch, where she lay with her eyes closed, and so still that they +thought she had fainted. + +"Bring the camphire, Timothy, and the hartshorn, and start up the oil +stove for hot water, and move lively." Mrs. Biggs said to her son. "I +don't believe she's broke her laig, poor thing. How white she is," she +continued, laying her hand on Eloise's forehead. + +This brought the tears in a copious shower, as Eloise sat up and said, +"It is my ankle. I think it is sprained. If you could get off my boot." + +She tried to lift it, but let it drop with a cry of pain. + +"I'll bet it's sprained, and a sprain is wus than a break. I had one +twenty years ago come Christmas, and went with my knee on a chair two +weeks, and on crutches three," was Mrs. Biggs's consoling remark, as she +held the lamp close to the fast-swelling foot, to which the wet boot +clung with great tenacity. + +"Oh, I can't bear it," Eloise said, as the process of removing her boot +commenced; then, closing her eyes, she lay back upon the cushions, +while one after another, Mrs. Biggs, Howard, Jack, and Tim worked at the +refractory boot. + +It was such a small foot, Jack thought, pitying the young girl, as he +saw spasms of pain upon her face, where drops of sweat were standing. He +wiped these away with Mrs. Biggs's apron, lying in a chair, and smoothed +her hair, and took one of her clenched hands in his, and held it while +the three tried to remove the boot. + +"'Tain't no use,--it's got to be cut off,--mine did. Tim, bring me the +butcher knife,--the sharpest one," Mrs. Biggs said. + +Eloise shuddered, and thought of the only other pair of boots she +had,--her best ones, which were to have lasted a year. But there was no +alternative. The boot must be cut off, and Jack continued to hold her +hands while, piece by piece, the wet leather dropped upon the floor. + +"Now for the stockin'; that'll come easier," Mrs. Biggs said. + +"Must you take that off now?" Eloise asked, her maidenly modesty +prevailing over every other feeling. + +Howard and Jack understood, and went to the window, while the stocking +followed the fate of the boot; and when they came back to the couch +Eloise's foot was in a basin of hot water, and Mrs. Biggs was gently +manipulating it, and declaring it the worst sprain she ever knew, except +her own, which, after twenty years troubled her at times, and told her +when a storm was coming. + +"Ought she to have a doctor?" Jack asked, and Mrs. Biggs replied, "A +doctor? What for, except to run up a bill. I know what to do. She'll +have to keep quiet a spell; wormwood and vinegar and hot water will do +the rest. Tim, go up garret and get a handful of wormwood. It's the +bundle of 'arbs to your right. There's catnip, and horehound, and +spearmint, and sage, and wormwood. Be lively, and put it to steep in +some vinegar, and bring me that old sheet in the under bureau drawer for +bandages." + +She seemed to know what she was about. Eloise was in good hands, and the +two water-soaked young men were about to leave when she said, "I guess +one of you will have to carry her to her chamber. I can't trust Tim, +he's such a blunderhead." + +"No, no! Oh, no! I can walk somehow," Eloise said, starting to her feet, +and sinking back as quickly. + +"Let me. I'll carry her!" Howard and Jack both exclaimed; but something +in Eloise's eyes gave the preference to Jack, who lifted her as easily +as if she had been a child, and carried her up the narrow stairs to the +room which at intervals had been occupied by one teacher after another +for nearly twenty years, for it was understood that Mrs. Biggs was to +board the teachers who had no home of their own in the district. + +But never had so forlorn or wretched an one been there as poor Eloise. +The world certainly looked very dreary to her, and her lip quivered as +she said good-by to Jack, and tried to smile in reply to his assurance +that she would be better soon, and that he would call and see her on the +morrow. Then he was gone, and Eloise heard the footsteps and voices of +the three men as they left the house and hurried away. She was soon in +bed, and as comfortable as Mrs. Biggs could make her. That good lady was +a born nurse as well as a gossip, and as she arranged Eloise for what +there was left of the night, her tongue ran incessantly, first on her +own sprain,--every harrowing detail of which was gone over,--then on the +two young men, Howard Crompton and t'other one, who was he? She knew Mr. +Howard,--everybody did. He was Col. Crompton's nephew, and he ruled the +roost at the Crompton House, folks said, and would most likely be the +Colonel's heir, with Miss Amy, as folks called her now. Had Miss Smith +ever heard of her? + +Eloise never had, and the pain in her ankle was so sharp that she gave +little heed to what Mrs. Biggs was saying. She did not know either of +the young men, she said. Both had been kind to her, and one, she +thought, was a stranger, who came in the train with her. + +"Oh, yes," Mrs. Biggs answered briskly. "I remember now. Cindy,--that's +Miss Stiles, the housekeeper at Crompton Place,--told me Mr. Howard was +to have company,--another high buck, I s'pose, though Howard don't do +nothin' worse than drive horses pretty fast, and smoke most all the +time. Drinks wine at dinner, they say, which I disbelieve in on account +of Tim, who never took nothin' stronger'n sweet cider through a straw." + +At last, to Eloise's relief, Mrs. Biggs said good-night, and left her +with the remark, "I don't s'pose you'll sleep a wink. I didn't the first +night after my sprain, nor for a good many nights neither." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +AMY + + +"If this isn't a lark I never had one," Howard said to Jack, when they +were safely housed and had changed their clothes, not a thread of which +was dry. + +Jack, whose luggage had not come, and who was obliged to borrow from +Howard's wardrobe, looked like an overgrown boy in garments too small +for him. But he did not mind it, and with Howard discussed the events of +the evening, as they sat over the fire the latter had lighted in his +room. Naturally Eloise was the subject of their conversation. + +"I wrote you I had a presentiment that she was to come into my life in +some way, but I had no idea it was to be this way," Howard said, as he +puffed at his cigar and talked of their adventure and Eloise. + +That she was very handsome and had pretty little feet went without +saying, and that both were sorry for her was equally, of course. Jack +was the more so, as his was the more unselfish and sympathetic nature. + +"By Jove, didn't she bear the cutting of that boot like a hero, and how +is she ever to get to school with that ankle?" he said; "and I think she +ought to have a doctor to see if any bones are broken. Suppose you get +one in the morning, and tell him not to send his bill to her but to me." + +Howard looked up quickly, and Jack went on, "I wrote you that Mrs. +Brown said she was poor, and I should know it by her boots." + +"Her boots!" Howard repeated, and Jack continued, "Yes, wet as they were +I noticed they were half-worn, and had been blacked many times. She +can't afford to pay many doctor's bills, and I ask you again, how is she +to get to school?" + +Howard did not know, unless they made another chair and carried her. + +"I wouldn't mind it much for the sake of her arm around my neck. I can +feel it yet. Can't you?" he said. + +Jack could feel it and the little wet hand which once or twice had +touched his face, but something in his nature forbade his talking about +it. It might have been fun for them, but he knew it was like death to +the girl, and that she had shrank from it all, and only submitted +because she could not help it. He was very sorry for her, and thought of +her the last moment before he fell asleep, and the first moment he awoke +with Howard in the room telling him it was after breakfast time, and his +uncle, who did not like to be kept waiting, was already in a temper and +blowing like a northeaster. + +The Colonel, who was suffering from an attack of rheumatic gout, was +more irritable than usual. He had not liked having his horses and +carriage go out in the rain, and had sat up waiting for the return of +his nephew, and when Sam came in, telling what had happened to the +carriage and horses, and that he must go back with a lantern to the park +gates and see if the new school mistress was alive, he went into a +terrible passion, swearing at the weather, and the late train, and the +school mistress who he seemed to think was the cause of the accident. + +"What business had she in the carriage? Why did she come in such a +storm? Why didn't she take the 'bus, and if the 'bus wasn't there, why +didn't she--?" He didn't know what, and it took all the tact of Peter, +who was still in the family and old like his master, to quiet him. + +Then next morning his gout was so bad that he was wheeled into the +dining-room, where he was fast growing angry at the delay of breakfast, +and beginning to swear again when Peter, who knew how to manage him, +went for Amy. Nothing quieted the Colonel like a sight of Amy, with her +sweet face and gentle ways. + +"Please come. It's beginning to sizzle," Peter frequently said to her +when a storm was brewing, and Amy always went, and was like oil on the +troubled waters. + +"What is it?" she now asked, and the Colonel replied, "What is it! I +should say, what is it! There's the very old Harry to pay. Brutus has a +big hole in his breast, the carriage is smashed, silk cushions all +stained with a girl's blue gown, and that girl the school-teacher I +didn't want; and she's broken her leg or something when they tipped +over, and Howard and his friend carried her to Widow Biggs's, and the +Lord knows what didn't happen!" + +Amy had a way of seeming to listen very attentively when the Colonel +talked to her, and always smiled her appreciation and approbation of +what he said. Just how much she really heard or understood was doubtful. +Her mind seemed to run in two channels,--one the present, the other the +past,--and both were blurred and indistinct,--especially the past. She +understood about the young girl, however, and at once expressed her +sympathy, and said, "We must do something for her." + +To do something for any one in sickness or trouble was her first +thought, and many a home had been made glad because of her since she +came to Crompton. + +"Certainly; do what you like, only don't bring her here," the Colonel +replied, his voice and manner softening, as they always did with Amy. + +She was a very handsome woman and looked younger than her years. The +storm which had swept over her had not impaired her physical beauty, but +had touched her mentally in a way very puzzling to those about her, and +rather annoying to the Colonel, who was trying to make amends for the +harshness which had driven her from his home. Sometimes her quiet, +passive manner irritated him, and he felt that he would gladly welcome +the old imperiousness with which she had defied him. But it was gone. +Something had broken her on the wheel, killing her spirit completely, or +smothering it and leaving her a timid, silent woman, who sat for hours +with a sad, far-off expression, as if looking into the past and trying +to gather up the tangled threads which had in a measure obscured her +intellect. + +"The Harrises are queer," kept sounding in the Colonel's ears, with a +thought that the taint in the Harris blood was working in Amy's veins, +intensified by some great shock, or series of shocks. + +Once, after he brought her home, he questioned her of her life as a +singer, and of the baby, which she occasionally mentioned, but he never +repeated the experiment. There was a fit of nervous trembling,--a look +of terror in her eyes, and a drawn expression on her face, and for a +moment she was like the girl Eudora when roused. Then, putting her hand +before her eyes as if to shut out something hateful to her, she said, +"Oh, don't ask me to bring up a past I can't remember without such a +pain in my head and everywhere, as if I were choking. It was very +dreadful,--with _him_,--not with Adolf,--he was so kind." + +"Did he ever beat you?--or what did the wretch do? _Smith_, I mean," the +Colonel asked, and Amy replied, "Oh, no; it wasn't that. It was a +constant grind, grind,--swear, swear,--a breaking of my will, till I had +none left. He never struck me but once, and then it was throwing +something instead of a blow. It hit me here, and it has ached ever +since." + +She put her hand to one side of her temple, and went on, "It was the +night I heard baby was dead, and I said I could not sing,--but he made +me, and I broke down, and I don't know much what happened after till you +came. I can't remember." + +"Yes, but the baby,--where did it die, and when?" the Colonel asked. + +Amy had been getting quiet as she talked, but at the mention of the +baby, she began to tremble again, and beat the air with her hands. + +"I don't know, I don't know," she said. "He took her away, and she died. +It is so black when I try to think how it was, and it goes from me. Wait +a bit!" She sat very still a moment, and then in a more natural voice +said, "It may come back sometime, and then I will tell you. It makes me +worse to talk about it now. It's this way: The inside of my head shakes +all over. The doctor said it was like a bottle full of something which +must settle. I _am_ settling here where everybody speaks so low and +kind, but when I am a little clear, with the sediment going down, if you +shake up the bottle, it is thick and muddy again, and I can't remember." + +"By Jove!" the Colonel said to himself, "that bottle business isn't a +bad comparison. She is all shaken up, and I'll let her settle." + +He did not question her again of her life with Homer Smith, or of the +baby. Both were dead, and he felt that it was just as well that they +were. Homer Smith ought to be dead, and as to the baby it would have +been very upsetting in the house, and might have been queer, like the +Harrises, or worse yet, like its _cuss_ of a father. On the whole, it +was better as it was, although he was sorry for Amy, and would do all he +could to make her happy, and some time, perhaps, she would remember, and +tell him where the baby was buried, and he'd have it brought to +Crompton, and put in the Crompton vault. As for Homer Smith, his carcase +might rot in the desert of Arizona, or anywhere, for aught he cared. He +was very gentle and patient with Amy, and watched the settling of the +bottle with a great deal of interest. Sometimes he wondered how much she +remembered of her Florida life, if anything, and what effect the mention +of Jaky and Mandy Ann would have upon her, and what effect it would have +upon her if he took her to the palmetto clearing, and found the negroes, +if living. But pride still stood in the way. More than thirty-five years +of silence were between him and the past, which to all intents was as +dead as poor Dory; and why should he pull aside the dark curtain, and +let in the public gaze and gossip. He couldn't and he wouldn't. All he +could do for Amy in other ways he would, and for her sake he controlled +himself, mightily, becoming, as Peter said, like a turtle dove compared +to what he once was, when the slightest crossing of his will roused him +into fury. + +Harsh, loud tones made Amy shiver, and brought a look into her eyes +which the Colonel did not like to see, and with her he was usually very +docile, or if roused, the touch of her hand and the expression of her +eyes subdued him, as they did now when he told her of his broken +carriage and ruined cushions and the young girl for whom Amy at once +wished to do something. + +"Certainly," he had said; "only don't bring her here," and he was +beginning to wonder where Howard was, and to feel irritated at the +delay, when the latter came in with Jack, and found a tolerably urbane +and courteous host. + +Naturally the conversation turned upon the storm and accident, the +particulars of which were briefly gone over, while Amy stirred her +coffee listlessly and did not seem to listen. She was very lovely, Jack +thought, with no sign of her mental disorder, except the peculiar +expression of her eyes at times. Her dress was faultless, her manner +perfect, her language good, and her smile the sweetest and saddest he +had ever seen, and Jack watched her curiously, while the conversation +drifted away from Eloise, in whom the Colonel felt no interest. She was +a graduate, and probably knew nothing of what he thought essential for a +teacher to know. She was not rooted and grounded in the fundamentals. +Probably she had never heard of the grindstone, or the sheep, and could +not work out the problems if she had. She was superficial. She belonged +to a new generation which had put him and his theories on the shelf. Her +blue dress had stained the cushions of his carriage, and there was a +puddle of water in the hall where Sam had put down her satchel and hat, +which had been found in the driveway near the stable. They had been +thrown from the carriage, and lain in the rain all night. The hat was +soaked through and through, and the ribbons were limp and faded; but he +did not care a rap what became of them, he said to himself, when Howard +spoke of them and their condition, saying that bad as they were he +presumed she wanted them. + +Amy on the contrary was instantly on the alert, and as they passed +through the hall from the dining-room, and she saw the poor crushed hat, +she said to Jack, "Is it hers?" + +"Yes, and I'm afraid it is ruined," Jack answered, taking it in his hand +and examining it critically. + +"I will fix it," Amy replied, and, carrying it to her room, she tried to +bend it into shape and renovate the bows of ribbon. + +But it was beyond her skill. + +"She can never wear it. I must send her one of mine," she said, +selecting a hat which she wore when walking in the park. "You must take +it to the young lady at Mrs. Biggs's. What is her name? I don't think I +understood; they were all talking together and confused me so," she said +to her maid, who had heard of the adventure from Sam, but had not caught +the right name. + +"It is Louise something. I don't remember what," she replied. + +"Louise! That sounds like baby's name, and it makes my head ache to +think of it," Amy said sadly, going to the window, and looking out at +the rain and fog, for the weather had not cleared. + +It was a wet morning, and Howard, who liked his ease, shrugged his +shoulders when Jack suggested that they should call upon Miss Smith. + +"She ought to have her satchel and her hat," Jack said, and Howard +replied, "Oh, Amy sent Sarah off with a hat half an hour ago. She would +send all her wardrobe if she thought the girl wanted it, and, by George! +why didn't she send a pair of boots? She has dozens of them, I dare +say," he continued, as he recalled the bits of leather they had cut from +Eloise's foot, and left on Mrs. Biggs's floor. + +Jack had spoken of her boots, and he readily acceded to Howard's +proposition to ask Amy if she had any cast-offs she thought would fit +Miss Smith. "They must wear about the same size, the girl is so slight," +Howard said as he went to Amy's room, where he found her still standing +by the window drumming upon the pane as if fingering a piano and humming +softly to herself. She never touched the grand instrument in the +drawing-room, and when asked to do so and sing, she answered, "I can't; +I can't. It would bring it all back and shake up the bottle. I hate the +memory of it when I sang to the crowd and they applauded. I hear them +now; it is baby's death knell. I can never sing again as I did then." + +And yet she did sing often to herself, but so low that one could +scarcely understand her words, except to know they were some negro +melody sung evidently as a lullaby to a child. As Howard came up to her +he caught the words, "Mother's lil baby," and knew it was what she +sometimes sang with the red cloak hugged to her bosom. + +"Miss Amy," he said, "I wonder if you haven't a pair of half-worn boots +for the young lady at Mrs. Biggs's? We had to cut one of hers off, her +foot was so swollen." + +Amy was interested at once, and ordered Sarah, who had returned from +Mrs. Biggs's, to bring out all her boots and slippers, insisting that +several pairs be sent for the girl to choose from. Sarah suggested that +slippers would be better than boots, as the young lady could not wear +the latter in her present condition. + +"Yes," Amy said, selecting a pair of white satin slippers, with high +French heels and fanciful rosettes. "I wore them the night he told me +baby was dead. I've never had them on since. I don't want them. Give +them to her. They are hateful to me." + +Amy was in a peculiar mood this morning, such as sometimes came upon her +and made Peter say she was a chip of the old block, meaning the Colonel, +who he never for a moment doubted was her father. Sarah's suggestion +that white satin slippers would be out of place made no difference. They +must go. She was more stubborn than usual, and Sarah accounted for it by +saying in a low tone to Howard, "Certain spells of weather always affect +her and send her back to a night when something dreadful must have +happened. Probably the baby she talks about died. She's thinking about +it now. Better take the slippers. I've heard her talk of them before and +threaten to burn them." + +"All right," Howard said. "Miss Smith can send them back if she does not +want them." + +The slippers were made into a parcel so small that Howard put them in +his pocket and said he was ready. It had stopped raining, and as the +young men preferred to walk they set off through the park, laughing over +their errand and the phase of excitement in which they found themselves. +Jack liked it, and Howard, too, began to like it, or said he should if +the girl proved as good-looking by daylight as she had been in the +night. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +AT MRS. BIGGS'S + + +Notwithstanding Mrs. Biggs's prediction that she would not sleep a wink, +Eloise did sleep fairly well. She was young and tired. Her ankle did not +pain her much when she kept it still, and after she fell asleep she did +not waken till Mrs. Biggs stood by her bed armed with hot coffee and +bandages and fresh wormwood and vinegar. + +"Do you feel like a daisy?" was Mrs. Biggs's cheery greeting, as she put +down the coffee and bowl of vinegar in a chair and brought some water +for Eloise's face and hands. + +"Not much like a daisy," Eloise answered, with a smile, "but better than +I expected. I am going to get up." + +"Better stay where you be. I did, and had 'em wait on me," Mrs. Biggs +said; but Eloise insisted, thinking she must exercise. + +She soon found, however, that exercising was a difficult matter. Her +ankle was badly swollen, and began to ache when she moved it, nor did +Mrs. Biggs's assurance that "it would ache more until it didn't ache so +bad" comfort her much. She managed, however, to get into a chair, and +took the coffee, and submitted to have her ankle bathed and bandaged and +her foot slipped into an old felt shoe of Mrs. Biggs's, which was out +at the toe and out at the side, but did not pinch at all. + +"Your dress ain't dry. You'll catch your death of cold to have it on. +You must wear one of mine," Mrs. Biggs said, producing a spotted calico +wrapper, brown and white,--colors which Eloise detested. + +It was much too large every way, but Mrs. Biggs lapped it in front and +lapped it behind, and said the length would not matter, as Eloise could +only walk with her knee in a chair and could hold up one side. Eloise +knew she was a fright, but felt that she did not care, until Mrs. Biggs +told her of the hat which the lady from Crompton Place had sent her, and +that Sarah had said the young gentlemen would probably call. + +"I've been thinking after all," she continued, "that it is better to be +up. The committee man, Mr. Bills, who hired you, will call, and you +can't see him and the young men here. I'm a respectable woman, and have +boarded the teachers off and on for twenty years,--all, in fact, except +Ruby Ann, who has a home of her own,--and I can't have my character +compromised now by inviting men folks into a bedroom. You must come down +to the parlor. There's a bed-lounge there which I can make up at night, +and it'll save me a pile of steps coming upstairs." + +"How am I to get there?" Eloise asked in dismay, and Mrs. Biggs replied, +"It'll be a chore, I guess, but you can do it. I did when my ankle was +bad. I took some strong coffee, same as I brought you, had my foot done +up, and slid downstairs, one at a time, with my lame laig straight out. +I can't say it didn't hurt, for it did, but I had to grin and bear it. +Christian Science nor mind cure wasn't invented then, or I should of +used 'em, and said my ankle wasn't sprained. There's plenty of nice +people believes 'em now. You can try 'em on, and we'll manage somehow." + +Eloise was appalled at the thought of going downstairs to meet people, +and especially the young men from Crompton, clad in that spotted brown +and white gown, with nothing to relieve its ugliness, not even a collar, +for the one she had worn the previous day was past being worn again +until it had been laundered. She looked at her handkerchief. That, too, +was impossible. + +"Mrs. Biggs," she said at last, "have you a handkerchief you can loan +me?" + +"To be sure! To be sure! Half a dozen, if you like," Mrs. Biggs +answered, hurrying from the room, and soon returning with a handkerchief +large enough for a dinner napkin. + +It was coarse and half-cotton, but it was clean, and Eloise tied it +around her neck, greatly to Mrs. Biggs's surprise. + +"Oh," she said, "you wanted it for that? Why not have a lace ruffle? +I'll get one in a jiffy." + +Eloise declined the ruffle. The handkerchief was bad enough, but a lace +ruffle with that gown would have been worse. + +"Now, I'll call Tim to go in front and keep you from falling. He is kind +of awkward, but I'll go behind and stiddy you, and you grit your teeth +and put on the mind cure, and down we go," Mrs. Biggs said, calling Tim, +who came shambling up the stairs, and laughed aloud when he saw Eloise +wrapped in his mother's gown. + +"Excuse me, I couldn't help it; mother has made you into such a +bundle," he said good-humoredly, as he saw the pained look in Eloise's +face. "I'll get your trunk the next train, and you can have your own +fixin's. What am I to do?" + +This last was to his mother, who explained the way she had gone +downstairs when she sprained her ankle twenty years ago come Christmas. + +"She must sit down somehow on the top stair and slide down with one +before her,--that's you,--and one behind,--that's me,--and she's to put +on the mind cure. Miss Jenks says it does a sight of good." + +Tim looked at his mother and then at Eloise, whose pitiful face appealed +to him strongly. + +"Oh, go to grass," he said, "with your mind cure! It's all rot! I'll +carry her, if she will let me. I could of done it last night as well as +them fine fellows." + +He was a rough young boy of sixteen, with uncouth ways; but there was +something in his face which drew Eloise to him, and when he said, "Shall +I carry you?" she answered gladly, "Oh, yes, please. I don't think I +have any mind to put on." + +Lifting her very gently in his strong arms, while his mother kept saying +she knew he'd let her fall, Tim carried her down and into the best room, +where he set her in a rocking-chair, and brought a stool for her lame +foot to rest upon, and then said he would go for her trunk, if she would +give him her check. There was something magnetic about Tim, and Eloise +felt it, and was sorry when he was gone. The world looked very dreary +with the fog and rain outside, and the best room inside, with its stiff +hair-cloth furniture, glaring paper and cheap prints on the wall--one of +them of Beatrice Cenci, worse than anything she had ever seen. She was +very fastidious in her tastes, and everything rude and incongruous +offended it, and she was chafing against her surroundings, when Mrs. +Biggs came bustling in, very much excited, and exclaiming, "For the +land's sake, they are comin'! They are right here. They hain't let much +grass grow. Let me poke your hair back a little from your forehead,--so! +That's right, and more becomin'." + +"Who are coming?" Eloise asked. + +"Why, Mr. Crompton and his friend. I don't know his name," Mrs. Biggs +replied, and Eloise felt a sudden chill as she thought of the figure she +must present to them. + +If she could only look in the glass and adjust herself a little, or if +Mrs. Biggs would throw something over the unsightly slipper and the +ankle smothered in so many bandages. The mirror was out of the question. +She had combed her hair with a side comb which had come safely through +the storm, but she felt that it was standing on end, and that she was a +very crumpled, sorry spectacle in Mrs. Biggs's spotted gown, with the +handkerchief round her neck. Hastily covering her foot with a fold of +the wide gown, she clasped her hands tightly together, and leaning her +head against the back of her chair, drew a long breath and waited. + +She heard the steps outside, and Mrs. Biggs's "Good-mornin'; glad to see +you. She is expectin' you, or I am. Yes, her laig is pretty bad. Swelled +as big as two laigs, just as mine was twenty years ago come Christmas, +when I sprained it. Tim brought her downstairs where she can see folks. +She's in the parlor. Walk in." + +Eloise's cheeks were blazing, but the rest of her face was very pale, +and her eyes had in them a hunted look as the young men entered the +room, preceded by Mrs. Biggs in her working apron, with her sleeves +rolled up. + +"Miss Smith, this is Mr. Crompton," she said, indicating Howard; "and +the t'other one is--his name has slipped my mind." + +"Harcourt," Jack said, feeling an intense sympathy for the helpless +girl, whose feelings he guessed and whose hand he held a moment with a +clasp in which she felt the pity, and had hard work to keep the tears +back. + +Howard also took her hand and felt sorry for her, but he did not affect +her like Jack, and she did not like his eyes, which she guessed saw +everything. He had a keen sense of the ridiculous, and the contrast +between Eloise and the gown which he knew must belong to Mrs. Biggs +struck him so forcibly that he could scarcely repress a smile, as he +asked how she had passed the night. Mrs. Biggs answered for her. Indeed, +she did most of the talking. + +"She slep' pretty well, I guess; better'n I did when I sprained my ankle +twenty years ago come Christmas. I never closed my eyes, even in a cat +nap, and she did. I crep' to her door twice to see how she was gettin' +on, and she was--not exactly snorin'--I don't s'pose she ever does +snore,--but breathin' reg'lar like, jess like a baby, which I didn't do +in a week when I sprained my ankle." + +She would have added "twenty years ago come Christmas," if Jack had not +forestalled her by asking Eloise if her ankle pained her much. + +"Yes," she said, while Mrs. Biggs chimed in, "Can't help painin' her, +swelled as 'tis,--big as two ankles; look." + +She whisked off the bottom of her dress which Eloise had put over her +foot, and disclosed the shapeless bundle encased in the old felt +slipper. + +"Look for yourselves; see if you think it aches," she said. + +This was too much for Eloise, who, regardless of pain, drew her foot up +under the skirt of her dress, while her face grew scarlet. Both Howard +and Jack were sorry for her, and at last got the conversation into +another channel by saying they had brought her satchel and hat, which +they feared were ruined, and asking if she had seen the hat Miss Amy had +sent her. + +"Land sakes, no! I told her about it, but I hain't had time to show it +to her," Mrs. Biggs exclaimed, starting from the room, while Howard +explained that his cousin had tried in vain to renovate the drenched +hat, and, finding it impossible, had sent one of her own which she +wished Miss Smith to accept with her compliments. + +"How do you like it?" Mrs. Biggs asked, as she came in with it. + +It was a fine leghorn, with a wreath of lilacs round the crown, and +Eloise knew that it was far more expensive than anything she had ever +worn. + +"It is very pretty," she said, "and very kind in the lady to send it. +Tell her I thank her. What is her name?" + +Jack looked at Howard, who replied, "She has had a good many, none of +which pleased my uncle, the last one least of all; so he calls her Miss +Amy, and wishes others to do so." + +Eloise was puzzled, but the sight of Mrs. Biggs tugging at her wet +satchel to open it diverted her mind. + +"Your things is sp'ilt, most likely, but you'd better have 'em out. For +the mercy's sake, look!" she said, passing the satchel to Eloise, who +was beyond caring: for what was spoiled and what was not. "There's +somebody knockin'. It's Mr. Bills, most likely, the committee man, come +to see you; I told Tim to notify him," Mrs. Biggs exclaimed, hurrying +out, and saying to Howard as she passed him, "You can visit a spell +before I fetch him in. She needs perkin' up, poor thing." + +It proved to be a grocer's boy instead of Mr. Bills, and Mrs. Biggs came +back just as Howard was presenting the slippers. + +"I did not think they were just what you wanted," Howard explained, as +he saw the look of surprise on Eloise's face. "Miss Amy is not always +quite clear in her mind, but rather resolute when it is made up; and +when we told her we had to cut off your boot, she insisted upon sending +these." + +At this point Mrs. Biggs appeared, throwing up both hands at what she +saw, and exclaiming, "Wall, if I won't give up! Satin slips for a +spraint laig. Yes, I'll give up!" + +She looked at Howard, who did not reply, but turned his head to hide his +laugh from Eloise, while Mrs. Biggs went on, "I don't see how she can +ever get her feet into 'em. I can't mine, and I don't b'lieve she can. +Better send 'em back;" and she looked at Eloise, who, if she was proud +of any part of her person, was proud of her feet. + +Flushing hotly she said, "They are not suitable for me, of course, but I +think I _could_ get one on my well foot." + +"I know you could; try it," Jack said. + +Stooping forward Eloise removed her boot, although the effort brought a +horrible twinge to her lame ankle and made her feel faint for a moment. + +"Put it on for me, please," she said to Mrs. Biggs, who, mistaking the +right-hand slipper for the left, began tugging at it. + +"I told you so," she said. "Your foot is twice as big." + +"Try this one," Jack suggested, "or let me;" and he fitted the slipper +at once to the little foot, while Mrs. Biggs exclaimed, "Wall, I vum, it +does fit to a T! If anything, it's too big." + +In spite of her pain and embarrassment there was a look of exultation in +Eloise's eyes, as they met those of Jack, who was nearly as pleased as +herself. + +"You will keep them and wear them some time," he said; and when Eloise +declined, saying they would be of no use to her, Howard, who had been +watching this Cinderella play with a good deal of interest, and wishing +he had been the prince to fit the slipper instead of Jack, said to +Eloise, "I think it better for you to keep them. Miss Amy will not like +to have them returned, and if they were, she'd give them to some one +else, or very likely send them to the Rummage Sale we are to have in +town." + +"That's so," Mrs. Biggs chimed in. "There is to be a rummage sale, and +Ruby Ann has spoke for Tim's old clothes and mine, especially our shoes. +Keep 'em by all means." + +Eloise was beginning to feel faint again, and tired with all this talk +and excitement, and painfully conscious that Howard's eyes were dancing +with laughter at the sight of her feet,--one swollen to three times its +natural size and pushed into Mrs. Biggs's old felt shoe, and the other +in Miss Amy's white satin slipper. + +"Oh, I wish you would take it off!" she gasped, feeling unequal to +leaning forward again, and closing her eyes wearily. + +She meant Mrs. Biggs, but Jack forestalled that good woman, and in an +instant had the slipper off and the boot on, doing both so gently that +she was not hurt at all. + +"Thanks!" Eloise said, drawing her well foot under the spotted calico, +and wishing the young men would go. + +How long they would have staid is uncertain if there had not come a +second knock at the kitchen door. This time it was really Mr. Bills, and +Mrs. Biggs went out to meet him, while Eloise felt every nerve quiver +with dread. She must see him and tell him how impossible it would be for +her to commence her duties on Monday. Perhaps he would dismiss her +altogether, and take another in her place, and then--"What shall I do?" +she thought, and, scarcely knowing what she said, she cried, "Oh, I +can't bear it!" while the tears rolled down her cheeks, and Howard and +Jack gathered close to her,--the laugh all gone from Howard's eyes, and +a great pity shining in Jack's. + +"Excuse me," she continued, "I don't mean to be childish, but everything +is so dreadful! I don't mind the pain so much; but to be here away from +home, and to lose the school, as I may, and--and,--I want a handkerchief +to wipe my face,--and this is ruined." + +She said this last as she took from her satchel the handkerchief which +had been so white and clean when she left home, and which now was wet +and stained from a bottle of shoe blacking which had come uncorked and +saturated everything. She had borne a great deal, and, as is often the +case, a small matter upset her entirely. The spoiled handkerchief was +the straw too many, and her tears came faster as she held it in one +hand, and with the other tried to wipe them away. + +"Take mine, please; I've not used it," Jack said, offering her one of +fine linen, and as daintily perfumed as a woman's. + +She took it unhesitatingly. She was in a frame of mind to take anything, +and smiled her thanks through her tears. + +"I know I must seem very weak to you to be crying like a baby; but you +don't know how I dread meeting Mr. Bills, or how much is depending upon +my having this school, or what it would be to me to lose it, if he can't +wait. Do you think he will?" + +She looked at Jack, who knew nothing whatever of the matter, or of Mr. +Bills, but who answered promptly, "Of course he will wait; he must wait. +We shall see to that. Don't cry. I'm awfully sorry for you; we both +are." + +He was standing close to her, and involuntarily laid his hand on her +hair, smoothing it a little as he would have smoothed his sister's. She +seemed so young and looked so small, wrapped up in Mrs. Biggs's gown, +that he thought of her for a moment as a child to be soothed and +comforted. She did not repel the touch of his hand, but cried the harder +and wiped her face with his handkerchief until it was wet with her +tears. + +"Mr. Bills wants to know if he can come in now," came as an interruption +to the scene, which was getting rather affecting. + +"In just a minute," Jack said. Then to Eloise, "Brace up! We'll attend +to Mr. Bills if he proves formidable." + +She braced up as he bade her, and gave his handkerchief back to him. + +"I shan't need it again. I am not going to be foolish any longer, and I +thank you so much," she said, with a look which made Jack's pulse beat +rapidly. + +"We'd better go now and give Mr. Bills a chance," he said to Howard, who +had been comparatively silent and let him do the talking and suggesting. + +Howard could not define his feeling with regard to Eloise. Her beauty +impressed him greatly, and he was very sorry for her, but he could not +rid himself of the conviction which had a second time taken possession +of him that in some way she was to influence his life or cross his path. + +He bade her good-by, and told her to keep up good courage, and felt a +little piqued that she withdrew her hand more quickly from him than she +did from Jack, who left her rather reluctantly. They found Mr. Bills +outside talking to Mrs. Biggs, who was volubly narrating the particulars +of the accident, so far as she knew them, and referring constantly to +her own sprained ankle of twenty years ago, and the impossibility of +Miss Smith's being able to walk for some time. + +With his usual impetuousness Jack took the initiative, and said to Mr. +Bills: "Your school can certainly wait; it must wait. A week or two can +make no difference. At the end of that time, if she cannot walk, she can +be taken to and from the school-house every day. To lose the school will +go hard with her, and she's so young." + +Jack was quite eloquent, and Mr. Bills looked at him curiously, +wondering who this smart young fellow was, pleading for the new +school-teacher. He knew Howard, who, after Jack was through, said he +hoped Mr. Bills would wait; it would be a pity to disappoint the girl +when she had come so far. + +"Perhaps a week or two will make no difference," Mr. Bills said, "though +the young ones are getting pretty wild, and their mothers anxious to +have them out of the way, but I guess we'll manage it somehow." + +He knew he should manage it when he saw Eloise. She could not tell him +of the need there was of money in her grandmother's home, or the still +greater need if she took the trip to California which she feared she +must take. She only looked her anxiety, and Mr. Bills, whose heart Mrs. +Biggs said was "big as a barn," warmed toward her, while mentally he +began to doubt her ability to "fill the bill," as he put it, she looked +so young and so small. + +"I'll let her off easy, if I have to," he thought, and he said, +"Folks'll want school to begin as advertised. You can't go, but there's +Ruby Ann Patrick. She'll be glad to supply. She's kep' the school five +years runnin'. She wanted it when we hired you. She's out of a job, and +will be glad to take it till you can walk. I'll see her to-day. You look +young to manage unruly boys, and there's a pile of 'em in Deestrick No. +5 want lickin' half the time. Ruby Ann can lick 'em. She's five feet +nine. You ain't more'n five." + +Eloise did not tell him how tall she was. In fact, she didn't know. She +must look very diminutive in Mr. Bills's eyes, she thought, and hastened +to say, "I taught boys and young men older than I am in the normal at +Mayville, and never had any trouble. I had only to speak to or look at +them." + +"I b'lieve you, I b'lieve you," Mr. Bills said. "I should mind you +myself every time if you looked at me, but boys ain't alike. There's Tom +Walker, ringleader in every kind of mischief, the wust feller you ever +see. Ruby Ann had one tussle with him, and came off Number One. He'd +most likely raise Cain with a schoolmarm who couldn't walk and went on +crutches." + +"Oh-h!" Eloise said despairingly. "I shall not have to do that!" + +"Mebby not; mebby not. Sprained ankles mostly does, though. I had to +when I sprained mine. I used to hobble to the well and pump cold water +on it; that's tiptop for a sprain. Well, I must go now and see Ruby Ann. +Good-day. Keep a stiff upper lip, and you'll pull through. Widder Biggs +is a fust rate nurse, and woman, too. Little too much tongue, mebby. +Hung in the middle and plays both ways. Knows everybody's history and +age from the Flood down. She'll get at yours from A to izzard. +Good-day!" + +He was gone, and Eloise was alone with her pain and homesickness and +discouragement. Turn which way she would, there was not much brightness +in her sky, except when she thought of Jack Harcourt, whose hand on her +hair she could feel just as he had felt her wet hand on his neck hours +after the spot was dried, ft seemed perfectly natural and proper that he +should care for her, just as it did that the lady at the Crompton House +should send her a hat. It was lying on a chair near her with the +slippers, and she took it up and examined it again very carefully, +admiring the fineness of the leghorn, the beauty of the lilac wreath, +and the texture of the ribbons. + +"I shall never wear it," she thought. "It is too handsome for me; but I +shall always keep it, and be glad for the thoughtfulness which prompted +the lady to send it." + +Then she wondered if she would ever see the lady and thank her in +person, or go to the Crompton House; and if her trunk would ever come +from the station, so that she could divest herself of the detestable +cotton gown and put on something more becoming, which would show him she +was not quite so much a guy as she looked in Mrs. Biggs's wardrobe. The +him was Jack, not Howard. He was not in the running. She cared as little +for him as she imagined he cared for her. And here she did him +injustice. She interested him greatly, though not in the way she +interested Jack, whom he chaffed on their way home, telling him he ought +to offer his services as nurse. + +"I wonder you did not wipe her eyes as well as give her your +handkerchief," he said. "I dare say you will never have it laundered, +lest her tears should be washed out of it." + +"Never!" Jack replied, and, taking the handkerchief from his pocket and +folding it carefully, he put it back again, saying, "No, sir; I shall +keep it intact. No laundryman's hands will ever touch it." + +"Pretty far gone, that's a fact," Howard rejoined, and then continued: +"I say, Jack, we'd better not talk of Miss Smith before the Colonel. It +will only rouse him up, and make him swear at normal graduates in +general, and this one in particular. You know I wrote you that he gave +the lot and built the school-house, and for years was inspector of +Crompton schools,--boss and all hands,--till a new generation came up +and shelved him. He fought hard, but had to give in to young blood and +modern ideas. He had no voice in hiring Miss Smith,--was not consulted. +His choice was a Ruby Ann Patrick, a perfect Amazon of an old maid; +weighs two hundred, I believe, and rides a wheel. You ought to see her. +But then she is rooted and grounded, and uncle does not think Miss Smith +is, though she was pretty well grounded last night when she sat on that +sand heap with her foot twisted under her. I'm not a soft head like you, +to fall in love with her at first sight; but I'm awfully sorry for her, +and I don't wish to hear the Colonel swear about her." + +Jack had never seen Howard more in earnest, and his mental comment was, +"Cares more for her than I supposed. He'll bear watching. Poor little +girl! How white she was at times, and how tired her eyes looked; and +bright, too, as stars. I wonder if she really ought not to have a +doctor." + +He put this question to Howard, who replied: "No, that Biggs woman is a +full team on sprained ankles. She'll get her up without a doctor, and I +don't suppose the girl has much to spend on the craft." + +"Yes, but what is a little money to you or me, if she really needs a +doctor?" Jack said thoughtfully, while Howard laughed and answered, +"Don't be an idiot, and lose your heart to a schoolma'am because she +happened to have had her arm around your neck when we carried her in +that chair. I can feel it yet, and sometimes put up my hand when half +awake to see if it isn't there, but I am not going to make a fool of +myself." + +As they were near home Jack did not reply, but he could have told of +times when half awake and wide awake he felt the arms and the hands and +the hot breath of the girl clinging to him in the darkness and rain, and +saw the eyes full of pain and dumb entreaty not to hurt her more than +they could help, as they cut the soaked boot from the swollen foot. But +he said nothing, and, when the house was reached, went at once to his +own room, wondering what he could do to make her more comfortable. + +Acting upon Howard's advice, Eloise was not mentioned, either at lunch +or at dinner. Amy had evidently forgotten her, for she made no inquiry +for her. Neither did the Colonel. She was, however, much in the minds of +the young men, and each was wondering how he could best serve her. +Howard thought of a sea chair, in which his uncle had crossed the ocean. +He had found it covered with dust in the attic, and brought it to his +room to lounge in. It would be far more comfortable for Eloise than that +stiff, straight-backed, hair-cloth rocker in which she had to sit so +upright. He would send it to her with Amy's compliments, if he could +manage it without the knowledge of Jack, who he would rather should not +know how much he was really interested in Eloise. Jack was also planning +what he could do, and thought of a wheel chair, in which she could be +taken to and from school. He might possibly find one in the village by +the shore. He would inquire without consulting Howard, whose joking +grated a little, as it presupposed the impossibility of his really +caring for one so far removed from his station in life as Eloise seemed +to be. + +Could she have known how much she was in the minds of the young men at +Crompton Place, she would not have felt quite as forlorn and +disconsolate as she did during the long hours of the day, when she sat +helpless and alone, except as Mrs. Biggs tried to entertain her with a +flow of talk and gossip which did not interest her. A few of the +neighbors called in the evening, and it seemed to Eloise that every one +had had a sprained ankle or two, of which they talked continually, +dwelling mostly upon the length of time it took before they were able to +walk across the floor, to say nothing of the distance from Mrs. Biggs's +to the school-house. That would be impossible for two or three weeks at +least, and even then Miss Smith would have to go on crutches most +likely, was their comforting assurance. + +"I've got some up garret that I used twenty years ago. Too long for her, +but Tim can cut them off. They are just the thing. Lucky I kept them," +Mrs. Biggs said, while Eloise listened with a feeling like death in her +heart, and dreamed that night of hobbling to school on Mrs. Biggs's +crutches, while Jack Harcourt helped and encouraged her, and Howard +Crompton stood at a distance laughing at her. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +RUBY ANN PATRICK + + +She had taught the school in District No. 5 summer and winter for five +years. She had been a teacher for fifteen years, her first experience +dating back to the days when the Colonel was school inspector, and his +formula in full swing. She had met all his requirements promptly, knew +all about the geese and the grindstone, and the wind, and Mr. Wright, +and had a certificate in the Colonel's handwriting, declaring her to be +rooted and grounded in the fundamentals, and qualified to teach a +district school anywhere. As Mr. Bills had said to Eloise, she was five +feet nine inches high and large in proportion, with so much strength and +vital force and determination, that the most unruly boy in District No. +5 would hesitate before openly defying her authority. She had conquered +Tom Walker, the bully of the school, and after the day when he was made +to feel the force there was in her large hand, he had done nothing worse +than make faces behind her back and draw caricatures of her on his +slate. + +As a rule, Ruby Ann was popular with the majority of the people, and +there had been some opposition to a change. It was hardly fair, they +said to the Colonel, who took so much interest in the school, and who +was sure to feel angry and hurt if deprived of the privilege of +catechising the teachers in the office he had erected for that purpose +on his grounds. He had not only built the school-house, but had kept it +in repair, and had added a classroom for the older scholars because +somebody said it was needed, and had not objected when it was only used +for wraps and dinner pails, and balls and clubs in the summer, and in +the winter for coal and wood and sleds and skates and other things +pertaining to a school of wide-awake girls and boys. + +This was the conservative party, but there was another which wanted a +change. They had been in a rut long enough, and they laughed at the +Colonel's formula, which nearly every child knew by heart. The Colonel +was too old to run things,--they must have something up to date, and +when the president of Mayville Normal School applied for a situation for +Eloise she was accepted, and Ruby Ann went to the wall. She was greatly +chagrined and disappointed when she found herself supplanted by a normal +graduate, of whom she had not a much higher opinion than the Colonel +himself. When she heard of the accident and that her rival was disabled, +she was conscious just for a moment of a feeling of exultation, as if +Eloise had received her just deserts. She was, however, a kind-hearted, +well-principled woman, and soon cast the feeling aside as unworthy of +her, and tried to believe she was sorry for the girl, who, she heard, +was very young, and had been carried in the darkness and rain to Mrs. +Biggs's house in Howard Crompton's arms. + +"I would almost be willing to sprain my ankle for the sake of being +carried in that way," Ruby thought, and then laughed as she tried to +fancy the young man bending beneath the weight of her hundred and +ninety pounds. + +It was at this juncture that Mr. Bills came in asking if she would take +Miss Smith's place until she was able to walk. It might be two weeks, +and it might be three, and it might be less, he said. Any way, they +didn't want a cripple in the school-house for Tom Walker to raise Hail +Columby with. Would Ruby Ann swaller her pride and be a substitute? + +"It is a good deal to ask me to do after I have been turned out of +office," she said, "but I am not one to harbor resentment. Yes, I'll +take the school till Miss Smith is able. How does she look? I hear she +is very young." + +"Well, she's some younger than you, I guess, and looks like a child as +she sits down," Mr. Bills replied. "Why, you are big as two of +her,--yes, three,--and could throw her over the house." + +Ruby's face clouded, and Mr. Bills went on: "She is handsome as blazes, +with a mouth which keeps kind of quivering, as if she wanted to cry, or +something, and eyes--well, you've got to see 'em to know what they are +like. They are just eyes which make an old man like me feel,--I don't +know how." + +Ruby laughed, but felt a little hurt as she thought of her own small, +light-blue eyes and lighter eyebrows, which had never yet made any man, +young or old, feel "he didn't know how." She knew she was neither young +nor handsome nor attractive, but she had good common sense, and after +Mr. Bills was gone she sat down to review the situation, and resolved to +accept it gracefully and to call upon Eloise. It would be certainly _en +regle_ and Christian-like to do so, she thought, and the next afternoon +she presented herself at Mrs. Biggs's door and asked if Miss Smith were +able to see any one. + +Mrs. Biggs belonged to the radical party which favored a change of +teachers. Five years was long enough for one person to teach in the same +place, she said, and they wanted somebody modern and younger. She laid a +great deal of stress upon that, and on one occasion, when giving her +opinion over her gate to a neighbor, had added "smaller and +better-looking." Ruby was not a favorite with Mrs. Biggs, whom she had +called an inveterate gossip, hunting up everbody's history and age, and +making them out two or three years older than they were. She had lived +at home and kept Mrs. Biggs out of a boarder five years. She had called +Tim a lout, and kept him after school several times when his mother +needed him. Consequently Mrs. Biggs's sympathies were all with Eloise, +who was young and small and good-looking, and she flouted the idea of +having Ruby hired even for a few days. + +"It's just a wedge to git her in again," she had said to Tim, with whom +she had discussed the matter. "I know Ruby Ann, and she'll jump at the +chance, and keep it, too. She can wind Mr. Bills round her fingers. I'd +rather have Miss Smith with one laig than Ruby Ann with three. Tom +Walker ain't goin' to raise Ned with such a slip of a girl." + +"I ruther guess not, when I'm there," Tim said, squaring himself up as +if ready to fight a dozen Tom Walkers, when, in fact, he was afraid of +one, and usually kept out of his way. + +Mrs. Biggs had not expected Ruby Ann to call, and her face wore a +vinegary expression when she opened the door to her. + +"Yes, I s'pose you can see her, but too much company ain't good for +sprained ankles," she replied in response to Ruby's inquiry if she could +see Miss Smith. "You'll find her in the parlor, but don't stay long. +Talkin' 'll create a fever in her laig." + +Ruby was accustomed to Mrs. Biggs's vagaries, and did not mind them. + +"I'll be very discreet," she said, as she passed on to the parlor, +curious to see the girl who had been preferred to herself. + +She had heard from Mr. Bills that Eloise "was handsome as blazes," but +she was not prepared for the face which looked up at her as she entered +the room. Something in the eyes appealed to her as it had to Mr. Bills, +and any prejudice she might have had melted away at once, and she began +talking to Eloise as familiarly as if she had known her all her life. At +first Eloise drew back from the powerfully built woman, who stood up so +tall before her, and whose voice was so strong and masculine, and whose +eyes travelled over her so rapidly, taking in every detail of her dress +and every feature of her face. Mrs. Biggs's disfiguring cotton gown had +been discarded for a loose white jacket, which, with its knots of pink +ribbon, was very becoming, and Ruby found herself studying it closely, +and wondering if she could make one like it, and how she would look in +it. Then she noticed the hands, so small and so white, and felt an +irresistible desire to take one of them in her broad palm. + +"I do believe I could hold three like them in one of mine," she thought, +and sitting down by Eloise's side, she laid her hand on the one resting +on the arm of the chair. + +There was something so friendly and warm and so sympathetic in the +touch that Eloise wanted to cry. With a great effort she kept her tears +back, but could not prevent one or two from standing on her long lashes, +and making her eyes very bright as she answered Ruby's rapid questions +with regard to the accident. + +"And I hear Mr. Howard Crompton brought you here himself. That was +something of an honor, as he seldom goes out of his way for any one," +she said, with a keen look of curiosity in her eyes. + +"I never thought of the honor," Eloise replied. "I could think of +nothing but the pain, which was terrible, and now everything is so +dreary and so different from what I hoped. Do you think it will be long +before I can walk?" + +"No; oh no," Ruby answered cheerily. "Let me see your foot. It is +swollen badly," she said, as she replaced the old shawl Mrs. Biggs had +thrown across it. "What have you on it? Wormwood and vinegar, I know by +the odor. You should have a rubber band, and nothing else. It is cleaner +and saves trouble. That's what I used, and was well in no time." + +"Have you had a sprained ankle, too?" Eloise asked, and Ruby Ann +replied, "Certainly. Nearly every one has at some time in his life. It +is as common as the measles." + +"I believe it," Eloise rejoined with a laugh. "So many have called to +see me, and almost every one had had a sprain,--some as many as three; +and each one proposed a different remedy." + +"Naturally; but you try the rubber band. I'll bring you one, and +massage your ankle, and have you well very soon." + +These were the first hopeful words Eloise had heard, and her heart +warmed towards this great blond woman, who was proving herself a friend, +and who began to tell her of the school and her own experience as +teacher in District No. 5, which, she said, was the largest and most +important district in town, with the oldest scholars both summer and +winter. "There are some unruly boys, especially Tom Walker, but I am so +big and strong that I conquered him by brute force, and had no trouble +after one battle. You will conquer some other way. Tom is very +susceptible to good looks,--calls me a hayseed, and a chestnut, and a +muff. It will be different with you," and Ruby pressed the hand she was +holding. Then she spoke of Col. Crompton, who used to examine the +teachers, and before whom she had been five times; usually answering the +same questions, especially those contained in the "Formula," and to +which Eloise would not be subjected. + +"What is the Formula?" Eloise asked, and Ruby told her, while Eloise +listened bewildered, and glad that she was to escape an ordeal she could +never pass with credit. + +It was easy to be confiding with Ruby, and Eloise soon found herself +talking freely of her life and school days in Mayville, and the +necessity there was for her to teach, and the bitter disappointment it +would be to lose the school on which so much depended. + +"My father is dead," she said, "and my mother is--" she hesitated, while +a deep flush came to her cheeks, "she is an invalid, and there is no one +to care for her now but me. She is in California, and I may have to go +for her, and must have the money." + +Just for a moment, when Mr. Bills asked her to take Eloise's place, +there had been in Ruby's mind a half-formed hope that she might be +wholly reinstated in her old place as a teacher. But it was gone now, +and Jack Harcourt himself was not more kindly disposed to the helpless +girl than she was. + +"You shall not lose the school, nor the time either," she said +impulsively. "I am to take it till you are able, and then I shall step +out. In the mean time, I shall do all I can for you,--shall enlist Tom +Walker on your side, and you will have no trouble." + +She arose to go, then sat down again and said, "I hope you will be able +to attend our Rummage Sale." + +"Rummage Sale!" Eloise repeated, remembering to have heard the word in +connection with the slippers Miss Amy had sent her. "I don't think I +quite understand." + +"Don't you know what a Rummage Sale is?" Ruby Ann asked, explaining what +it was, and saying they were to have one in a vacant house not far from +Mrs. Biggs's, the proceeds to go for a free library for District No. 5. +"I am one of the solicitors," she continued, "but as you are a stranger +you may not have anything to contribute." + +As Rummage Sales were just beginning to dawn on the public horizon +Eloise had never heard of them, but she became interested at once, +because Ruby Ann was so enthusiastic, and said, "I have two or three +white aprons I made myself. You can have one of them if you think +anybody will buy it." + +"Buy it!" Ruby repeated, rubbing her hands in ecstasy. "It will bring a +big price when they know it was yours and you made it. I'll see that it +has a conspicuous place. And now I must go and see Mrs. Biggs again +about the sale. Good-by, and keep up your courage." + +She stooped and kissed Eloise, who heard her next in the kitchen talking +to Mrs. Biggs, first of rubber bands and massage, and then of the +Rummage Sale. When she was gone Mrs. Biggs came in and sat down and +began to give her opinion of the Rummage Sale, and massage and rubber +bands, and first the Rummage. A good way to get rid of truck, and Ruby +Ann said they took everything. She had a lot of old chairs and a warming +pan and foot-stove, and she s'posed she might give the spotted brown and +white calico wrapper which Eloise had worn. It was faded and out of +style. Yes, on the whole, she'd give the wrapper. She never liked it +very well, she said; and then she spoke of the rubber band Ruby Ann had +recommended instead of wormwood and vinegar, and of which she did not +approve. What did Ruby Ann know? though, to be sure, she was old enough. +How old did Eloise think she was? Eloise had not given her age a +thought, but, pressed for an answer, ventured the reply that she might +be verging on to thirty. + +"Verging on to thirty! More likely verging on to forty," Mrs. Biggs +said, with a savage click of the needles with which she was knitting Tim +a sock. "I know her age, if she does try to look young and wear a sailor +hat, and ride a wheel in a short gown! I'd laugh to see me ridin' a +wheel, and there ain't so much difference between us neither. I know, +for we went to school together. She was a little girl, to be sure, and +sat on the low seat and learnt her a-b-c's. I was four or five years +older, and sat on a higher seat with Amy Crompton, till the Colonel took +her from the district school and kep' her at home with a governess." + +Mrs. Biggs was very proud of the acquaintance she had had with Amy +Crompton, when the two played together under the trees which shaded the +school-house the Colonel had built as _expiatory_ years before, and she +continued: "Amy, you know, is the half-cracked lady at the Crompton +House who sent the hat and slippers. She's been married twice,--run away +the first time. My land! what a stir there was about it, and what a high +hoss the Colonel rode. Who her second was nobody knows,--some scamp by +the name of Smith,--that's your name, and a good one, too, but about the +commonest in the world, I reckon. There's four John Smiths in town, and +Joel Smith, who brings my milk, and George Smith I buy aigs of, and +forty odd more. They say the Colonel hates the name like pisen. Won't +have anybody work for him by that name. Dismissed his milkman because he +was a Smith, and between you and I, I b'lieve half his opposition to you +was your name. Why, it's like a red rag to a bull." + +"I didn't know he was opposed to me personally," Eloise said, and Mrs. +Biggs replied, "Of course not; how could he be? He never seen you. It's +the normal, and bein' put out of office--he and Ruby Ann. They've run +things long enough. They say he did swear offel at the last school +meetin' about normals and ingrates and all that,--meanin' they'd forgot +all he'd done for 'em; but, my land, you can't b'lieve half you hear. I +don't b'lieve nothin', and try to keep a close mouth 'bout what I do +b'lieve. I ain't none o' your gossips, and won't have folks sayin' the +Widder Biggs said so and so." + +Here Mrs. Biggs stopped to take breath and answer a rap at the kitchen +door, where George Smith was standing with a basket of eggs. Eloise +could hear her badgering him because he charged too much and because his +hens did not lay larger eggs, and threatening to withdraw her patronage +if there was not a change. Then items of the latest news were exchanged, +Mrs. Biggs doing her part well for one who never repeated anything and +never believed anything. When George Smith was gone she returned to her +seat by Eloise and resumed her conversation, which had been interrupted, +and which was mostly reminiscent of people and incidents in Crompton, +and especially of the Crompton House and its occupants, with a second +fling at Ruby Ann. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MRS. BIGGS'S REMINISCENCES + + +"Maybe I was too hard on Ruby Ann," she said, measuring the heel of +Tim's sock to see if it were time to begin to narrow. "She's a pretty +clever woman, take her by and large, but I do hate to see a dog frisk +like a puppy, and she's thirty-five if she's a day. You see, I know, +'cause, as I was tellin' you, there was her and me and Amy Crompton +girls together. I am forty, Amy is thirty-eight or thirty-nine, and Ruby +Ann is thirty-five." + +Having settled Ruby's age and asked Eloise hers, and told her she looked +young for nineteen, the good woman branched off upon the grandeur of the +Crompton House, with its pictures and statuary and bric-à-brac, its +flowers and fountains, and rustic arbors and seats scattered over the +lawn. Eloise had heard something of the place from a school friend, but +never had it been so graphically described as by Mrs. Biggs, and she +listened with a feeling that in the chamber of her childhood's memory a +picture of this place had been hung by somebody. + +"Was it my father?" she asked herself, and answered decidedly, "No," as +she recalled the little intercourse she had ever had with him. "Was it +my mother?" she next asked herself, and involuntarily her tears started +as she thought of her mother, and how unlikely it was that she had ever +been in Crompton. + +Turning her head aside to hide her tears from Mrs. Biggs, she said, +"Tell me more of the place. It almost seems as if I had been there." + +Thus encouraged, Mrs. Biggs began a description of the lawn party which +she was too young to remember, although she was there with her mother, +and had a faint recollection of music and candy and lights in the trees, +and an attack of colic the night after as a result of overeating. + +"But, my land!" she said, "that was nothin' to the blow-out on Amy's +sixteenth birthday. The Colonel had kep' her pretty close after he took +her from school. She had a governess and she had a maid, but I must say +she didn't seem an atom set up, and was just as nice when she met us +girls. 'Hello, Betsey,' she'd say to me. That's my name, Betsey, but I +call myself 'Lisbeth. 'Hello, Betsey,' I can hear her now, as she +cantered past on her pony, in her long blue ridin' habit. Sometimes +she'd come to the school-house and set on the grass under the apple +trees and chew gum with us girls. That was before her party, which beat +anything that was ever seen in Crompton, or will be again. The avenue +and yard and stables were full of carriages, and there were eighteen +waiters besides the _canterer_ from Boston." + +"The what?" Eloise asked, and Mrs. Biggs replied, "The _canterer_, don't +you know, the man who sees to things and brings the vittles and his +waiters. They say he alone cost the Colonel five hundred dollars; but, +my land! that's no more for him than five dollars is for me. He fairly +swims in money. Such dresses you never seen as there was there that +night, and such bare necks and arms, with a man at the door, a man at +the head of the stairs to tell 'em where to go, and one in the +gentlemen's room, and two girls in the ladies' rooms to button their +gloves and put on their dancing pumps. The carousin' lasted till +daylight, and a tireder, more worn-out lot of folks than we was you +never seen. I was nearly dead." + +"Were you there?' Eloise asked, with a feeling that there was some +incongruity between the Crompton party and Mrs. Biggs, who did not care +to say that she was one of the waitresses who buttoned gloves and put on +the dancing pumps in the dressing-room. + +"Why, yes, I was there," she said at last, "though I wasn't exactly in +the doin's. I've never danced since I was dipped and jined the church. +Do you dance, or be you a perfessor?" + +Eloise had to admit that she did dance and was not a professor, although +she hoped to be soon. + +"What persuasion?" was Mrs. Biggs's next question, and Eloise replied, +"I was baptized in the Episcopal Church in Rome." + +"The one in York State, I s'pose, and not t'other one across the seas?" +Mrs. Biggs suggested, and Eloise answered, "Yes, the one across the seas +in Italy." + +"For goodness' sake! How you talk! You don't mean you was born there?" +Mrs. Biggs exclaimed, with a feeling of added respect for one who was +actually born across the seas. "Do you remember it, and did you know the +Pope and the King?" + +Eloise said she did not remember being born, nor did she know the Pope +or the King. + +"I was a little girl when I left Italy, and do not remember much, +except that I was happier there than I have ever been since." + +"I want to know! I s'pose you've had trouble in your family?" was Mrs. +Biggs's quick rejoinder, as she scented some private history which she +meant to find out. + +But beyond the fact that her father was dead and her mother in +California, she could learn nothing from Eloise, and returned to the +point from which they had drifted to the Episcopal Church in Rome. + +"I kinder mistrusted you was a 'Piscopal. I do' know why, but I can most +always tell 'em," she said. "The Cromptons is all that way of thinkin'. +Old Colonel is a vestedman, I b'lieve they call 'em, but he swears +offul. I don't call that religion; do you? But folks ain't alike. I +don't s'pose the Church is to blame. There's now and then as good a +'Piscopal as you'll find anywhere. Ruby Ann has jined 'em, and goes it +strong. B'lieves in candles and vestures; got Tim into the choir one +Sunday, and now you can't keep him out of it. Wears a--a--I don't know +what you call it,--something that looks like a short night-gown, and I +have to wash it every other week. I don't mind that, and I do b'lieve +Tim is more of a man than he was, and he sings beautiful. And hain't +learnt nothin' bad there yet, but the minister does some things I don't +approve; no, don't approve. What do you think he does right before +folks, in plain sight, sittin' on the piazza?" + +Eloise could not hazard a guess as to the terrible sin of which Mr. +Mason, the rector of St. John's, was guilty, and said so. + +"Well," and Mrs. Biggs's voice sank to a whisper as she leaned forward, +"_he smokes a cigar in broad daylight_! What do you think of that for a +minister of the gospel?" + +She was so much in earnest, and her manner so dramatic, that Eloise +laughed the first real, hearty laugh she had indulged in since she came +to Crompton. Smoking might be objectionable, but it did not seem to her +the most heinous crime in the world, and she had a very vivid +remembrance of a coat in which there lurked the odor of many Havanas, +and to which she had clung desperately in the darkness and rain on the +night which seemed to her years ago. She did not, however, express any +opinion with regard to the Rev. Arthur Mason's habits, or feel +especially interested in him. But Mrs. Biggs was, and once launched on +the subject, she told Eloise that he was from the South, and had not +been long in the place; that he was unmarried, and all the girls were +after him, Ruby Ann with the rest, and she at least half a dozen years +older. + +"But, land's sake! What does that count with an old maid when a young +minister is in the market," she said, adding that, with the exception of +smoking, she believed the new minister was a good man, though for some +reason Col. Crompton did not like him, and had only been to church once +since he came, and wouldn't let Miss Amy go either. + +This brought her back to the Cromptons generally, and during the next +half hour Eloise had a pretty graphic description of the Colonel and his +eccentricities, of Amy, when she was a young girl, of the way she came +to the Crompton House, and the mystery which still surrounded her birth. + +"My Uncle Peter lived there when she came, and lives there now,--a kind +of vally to the old Colonel," she said, "and he's told me of the +mornin' the Colonel brung her home, a queer-looking little thing,--in +her clothes, I mean,--and offul peppery, I judge, fightin' everybody who +came near her, and rollin' on the floor, bumpin' and cryin' for a nigger +who had took care of her somewhere, nobody knows where, for the Colonel +never told, and if Uncle Peter knows, he holds his tongue. She was a +terrible fighter at school, if things didn't suit her, but she's quiet +enough now; seems 's if she'd been through the fire, poor thing, and +they say she don't remember nothin', and begins to shake if she tries to +remember. The Colonel is very kind to her; lets her have all the money +she wants, and she gives away a sight. Sent you a hat and slips, almost +new, and had never seen you. That's like Amy, and, my soul, there she is +now, comin' down the road with the Colonel in the b'rouch. Hurry, and +you can see her; I'll move you." + +Utterly regardless of the lame foot, which dragged on the floor and hurt +cruelly, Mrs. Biggs drew Eloise to the window in time to see a handsome +open carriage drawn by two splendid bays passing the house. The Colonel +was muffled up as closely as if it were midwinter, and only a part of +his face and his long, white hair were visible, but he was sitting +upright, with his head held high, and looked the embodiment of +aristocratic pride and arrogance. The lady beside him was very slight, +and sat in a drooping kind of posture, as if she were tired, or +restless, or both. To see her face was impossible, for she was closely +veiled, and neither she nor the Colonel glanced toward the house as they +passed. + +"I am so disappointed. I wanted to see her face," Eloise said, watching +the carriage until it was hidden from view by a turn in the road. "You +say she is lovely?" and she turned to Mrs. Biggs. + +"Lovely don't express it. Seraphic comes nearer. Looks as if she had +some great sorrow she was constantly thinking of, and trying to smile as +she thought of it," Mrs. Biggs replied. Then, as Eloise looked quickly +up, she exclaimed, "Well, if I ain't beat! It's come to me what I've +been tryin' to think of ever sense I seen you. They ain't the same +color; hers is darker, but there is a look in your eyes for all the +world as hers used to be when she was a girl, and wan't wearin' her +high-heeled shoes and ridin' over our heads. Them times she was as like +the Colonel as one pea is like another, and her eyes fairly snapped. +Other times they was soft and tender-like, and bright as stars, with a +look in 'em which I know now was kinder,--well, kinder crazy-like, you +know." + +Eloise had heard many things said of her own eyes, but never before that +they were crazy-like, and did not feel greatly complimented. She +laughed, however, and said she would like to see the lady whose eyes +hers were like. + +Before Mrs. Biggs could reply there was a step outside, and, tiptoeing +to the window, she exclaimed, in a whisper, "If I won't give it up, +there's the 'Piscopal minister, Mr. Mason, come to call on you! Ruby Ann +must of told him you belonged to 'em." + +She dropped her knitting, and, hurrying to the door, admitted the Rev. +Arthur Mason, and ushered him at once into the room where Eloise was +sitting, saying as she introduced him, "I s'pose you have come to see +her." + +It was an awkward situation for the young man, whose call was not +prompted by any thought of Eloise. His business was with Mrs. Biggs, +who had the reputation of being the parish register and town +encyclopædia, from which information regarding everybody could be +gleaned, and he had come to her for information which he had been told +she could probably give him. He had been in Crompton but three months, +and had come there from a small parish in Virginia. On the first Sunday +when he officiated in St. John's he had noticed in the audience a tall, +aristocratic-looking man, with long white hair and beard, who made the +responses loud and in a tone which told the valuation he put upon +himself. In the same pew was a lady whose face attracted his attention, +it was so sweet and yet so sad, while the beautiful eyes, he was sure, +were sometimes full of tears as she listened with rapt attention to what +he was saying of our heavenly home, where those we have loved and lost +will be restored to us. It scarcely seemed possible, and yet he thought +there was a nod of assent, and was sure that a smile broke over her face +when he spoke of the first meeting of friends in the next world, the +mother looking for her child, and the child coming to the gates of +Paradise to meet its mother. Who was she, he wondered, and who was the +old man beside her, who held himself so proudly? He soon learned who +they were, and hearing that the Colonel was very lame, and the lady an +invalid, he took the initiative and called at the Crompton House. The +Colonel received him very cordially, and made excuses for Amy's +non-appearance, saying she was not quite herself and shy with strangers. +He was very affable, and evidently charmed with his visitor, until, as +the conversation flowed on, it came out that the rector was a +Southerner by birth, although educated for the ministry at the North, +and that his father, the Rev. Charles Mason, was at present filling a +vacancy in a little country church in Enterprise, Florida, where he had +been before the war. The Rev. Arthur Mason could not tell what it was +that warned him of an instantaneous change in the Colonel's manner, it +was so subtle and still so perceptible. There was a settling himself +back in his chair, a tighter clasping of his gold-headed cane with which +he walked, and which he always kept in his hand. He was less talkative, +and finally was silent altogether, and when at last the rector arose to +go, he was not asked to stay or call again. Peter was summoned to show +him the door, the Colonel bowing very stiffly as he went out. How he had +offended, if he had done so, the rector could not guess, and, hearing +within a week or two that the Colonel was indisposed, he called again, +but was not admitted. Col. Crompton was too nervous to see any one, he +was told, and there the acquaintance had ended. The Crompton pew was not +occupied until Howard came and was occasionally seen in it. Evidently +the new rector was a _persona non grata_, and he puzzled his brain for a +reason in vain, until a letter from his father threw some light upon the +subject and induced him to call upon Mrs. Biggs. + +As usual she was very loquacious, scarcely allowing him a word, and +ringing changes on her own and Eloise's sprained ankle, until he began +to fear he should have no chance to broach the object of his visit +without seeming to drag it in. The chance came on the return of the +Crompton carriage, with the Colonel sitting stiff and straight and Amy +drooping under her veil beside him. Here was his opportunity, and the +rector seized it, and soon learned nearly all Mrs. Biggs knew of Amy's +arrival at Crompton House and the surmises concerning her antecedents. + +"She's a Crompton if there ever was one, and why the Colonel should keep +so close a mouth all these years beats me," was Mrs. Biggs's closing +remark, as she bowed the rector out and went back to Eloise, who felt +that she was getting very familiar with the Crompton history, so far as +Mrs. Biggs knew it. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +LETTER FROM REV. CHARLES MASON + + +"Enterprise, Fla., Sept. --, 18--. + +"My dear Arthur: + +"I was glad to hear that you were so pleasantly situated and liked your +parish work. I trust it is cooler there than here in Florida, where the +thermometer has registered higher day after day than it has before in +years. I rather like it, however, as I am something of a salamander, and +this, you know, is not my first experience in Florida. I was here +between thirty and forty years ago, before I was married. In fact, I met +your mother here at the Brock House, which before the war was frequented +by many Southerners, some of whom came in the summer as well as in the +winter. + +"It was while I was here that an incident occurred which made a strong +impression upon my mind, and was recalled to it by your mention of +_Crompton_ as the town where you are living. On one of the hottest days +of the season I attended a funeral, the saddest, and, in some respects, +the most peculiar I ever attended. It was in a log-house some miles from +the river, and was that of a young girl, who lay in her coffin with a +pathetic look on her face, as if in death she were pleading for some +wrong to be righted. I could scarcely keep back my tears when I looked +at her, and after all these years my eyes grow moist when I recall that +funeral in the palmetto clearing, with only Crackers and negroes in +attendance, a demented old woman, a dark-eyed little girl, the only +relatives, and a free negro, Jake, and Mandy Ann, a slave, belonging to +Mrs. Harris, the only real mourners. Mandy Ann attended to the child and +old woman, while Jake was master of ceremonies, and more intelligent +than many white people I have met. Such a funeral as that was, with the +cries and groans and singing of both whites and blacks! One old woman, +called Judy, came near having the _power_, as they call a kind of fit of +spiritual exaltation. But Jake shook her up, and told her to behave, as +it was a 'Piscopal funeral and not a pra'r meetin'. Mandy Ann also shook +up the old lady, Mrs. Harris, and screamed in her ear through a trumpet, +while the little dark-eyed child joined in the refrain of the negroes' +song, + + "'Oh, it will be joyful + When we meet to part no more.' + +"It was ludicrous, but very sad, and Jake's efforts to keep order were +pitiful. He called his young mistress Miss Dory, and was most anxious to +screen her from the least suspicion of wrong. When I questioned him with +regard to the parentage of the little girl, he wrung his hands and +answered, 'I do' know for shu', but fo' God it's all right. She tole me +so, fo' she died, an' Miss Dory never tole a lie. She said to find Elder +Covil, who knew, but he's done gone off Norf, or somewhar.' + +"I felt sure it was all right when I saw the girl's face. It must have +been beautiful in life, and no taint of guilt had ever marred its +innocence. There could have been no fault at her door, except +concealment, and the reason for that was buried in her grave. I heard of +a stranger who visited the clearing three or four years before the +funeral. Jake was away, but Mandy Ann was there and full of the +'gemman,' who, I have no doubt, was the girl's husband and a great +scamp. I left Florida within a week after that funeral, and have never +been here since, until I came to take charge for a time of the church +which has been erected here. I should never have known the place, it has +changed so since the close of the war and the influx of visitors from +the North. The hotel, which has been greatly improved and enlarged, is +always full in the season, and it is one of the most popular winter +resorts on the river. + +"One of my first inquiries was for the negroes Jake and Mandy Ann. The +latter is married and lives near the hotel, with as many children, I +thought, as the old woman who lived in a shoe, the way they swarmed out +when I called to see their mother. She had gone to Jacksonville to see +'ole Miss Perkinses, who was dyin', and had sent for her 'case she done +live with her when she was a girl,' one of the pickaninnies said. When I +asked for Jake I was told he was still in the palmetto clearing. No one +could tell me anything about the little girl who must now, if living, be +a woman of nearly forty. Indeed, no one seemed to remember her, so +changed are the people since the war. Jake, I was sure, had not +forgotten, and a few days ago I went to see him. He is an old man now, +and if there is such a thing as an aristocratic negro, he is one; with +his face black as ebony, his hair white as snow, and his eyes full of +intelligence and fire, especially when he talks of Miss Dory and 'de +good ole times fo' she went to Georgy and met de Northern cuss.' That is +what he calls the man who came for the little girl after the old +grandmother died. + +"I will tell you the story of his coming as Jake told it to me in the +little enclosure where Miss Dory is buried, and where there is a very +pretty monument to her memory, with 'Eudora, aged 20,' upon it. He was +working in the yard, which was a garden of bloom, and over the grave and +around the monument a Marshal Niel had twined itself, its clusters of +roses filling the air with perfume. Pushing them a little aside, so that +I could see the lettering more distinctly, he said, 'That's what he tole +me to put thar, jess "Eudora, aged 20." I've left room for another name +when I'm perfectly shu'. I don't want to put no lie on a grave stun, if +her name wan't Crompton.' + +"'Crompton!' I repeated, thinking of your parish. + +"'Yes, Mas'r Mason, fo' God I b'lieve it's Crompton shu'. He comed an' +fetched lil chile Dory, the lil girl you seen at the funeral, what seems +only yestiddy, one way and in another a big lifetime sense we buried her +mother here.' + +"'Who is Mr. Crompton, and how did he know about the child?' I asked, +and Jake replied, 'He is somebody from the Norf, and he'd sent money to +Mas'r Hardy in Palatka for Miss Dory, who put it away for de chile. +After she died Mas'r Hardy was gwine to Europe, an' tole me 'twas Col. +Crompton, Troutburg, Massachusetts, who sent the money, but he wouldn't +say nothin' else, 'cept that Col. Crompton had gin him his confidence +and he should keep it. I'm shoo that Miss Dory sent letters through +Mas'r Hardy to de Colonel, an' he writ to her. Not very offen, though. +She'd sen' one to Mas'r Hardy, an' he'd sen' it Norf, an' then she'd +wait and wait for de answer, an' when it came you or'to seen her face +light up like sun-up on de river in a May mornin'. An' her eyes,--she +had wonnerful eyes,--would shine like de stars frosty nights in +Virginny. Maybe 'twas mean, but sometimes I watched her readin' de +letter, her han's flutterin' as she opened it like a little bird's wings +when it's cotched. I think she was allus 'spectin' sumptin' what never +comed. The letters was short, but it took her a mighty time to read 'em, +'case you see she wasn't good at readin' writin', an' I 'specs de +Colonel's handwrite wasn't very plain. She used to spell out de long +words, whisperin' 'em out sometimes, her face changin' till all de +brightness was gone, an' it was more like a storm on de river than +sun-up. Den she'd fold de letter, an' take up de lil chile an' kiss it, +an' say, "I've got _you_. We'll never part." Den she'd burn de letter. I +specs he tole her to, an' she was shoo to mind. Den she'd go at her +readin' book agin, or writin', tryin' to larn, but 'twixt you an' I +'twan't in her, an', no direspec' nuther, de Harrises couldn't larn from +books. Dey's quick to 'dapt theirselves to what they seen, an' she +didn't see nothin'. + +"'Once she said to me when de big words troubled her an' floor'd me, "I +can never be a lady dis way. Ef he'd take me whar he is, an' 'mongst his +people, I should larn thar ways, but what can I do here wid--" She +didn't say "wid Jake an' Mandy Ann an' ole granny, an' de rest of 'em," +but she meant it. If it hadn't been for the lil chile she could of gone +to school. I tole her oncet I'd sen' her an' take care of de lil chile +an' ole Miss,--me an' Mandy Ann. The tears come in her eyes as she ast +whar I'd git de money, seein' we was layin' up what come from de Norf +for de chile. I'd done thought that out lyin' awake nights an' plannin' +how to make her a lady. I'se bawn free, you know, an' freedom was sweet +to me an' slavery sour, but for Miss Dory I'd do it, an' I said, "I'll +sell myself to Mas'r Hardy, or some gemman like him." Thar's plenty +wants me, an' would give a big price, an' she should have it all for her +schoolin'. + +"'You orter have seen her face then. Every part of it movin' to oncet, +an' her eyes so bright I could not look at 'em for the quarness thar was +in 'em, an' I'll never forget her voice as she said, "That can't be; +but, Jakey, you are de noblest man, black or white, I ever seen, an' my +best frien', an' I loves you as if you was my brodder." + +"'Dem's her very words, an' I would of sole myself for her if I could. +But de lam gin up after a while. All de hope an' life went out of her, +an' she died' an' you done 'tended her funeral,--you 'members it,--as +fust class as I could make it. I tole you sumptin' den, but not all +this. It wasn't a fittin' time, but seein' you brings it all back. Mandy +Ann an' me said we'd keep lil chile a while, bein' ole Miss was alive, +though she was no better than a broomstick dressed in her clothes. She +didn't know nothin', not even that Miss Dory was dead, an' kep' askin' +whose chile it was,--ef it was Mandy Ann's, an' why it was hyar. It +kinder troubled her, I think, it was so active an' noisy, an' sung so +much. Used to play at pra'r meetin' an' have de pow' powerful, as she +had seen de blacks have it when Mandy Ann took her to thar meetin's. +Seems ef she liked thar ways better than what I tried to teach her from +de Pra'r Book, an' they is rather more livelier for a chile. All de +neighbors was interested in her, an' ole Miss Thomas most of all. She's +de one what stood out de longest agin Miss Dory, 'case she didn't tell +squar what she'd promised not to. But she gin in at de funeral, an' was +mighty nice to the lil chile. When ole Miss Lucy died she comed in her +democrat wagon, as she did for Miss Dory, an' coaxed lil chile inter her +lap, an' said she showed she had good blood, an' or'to be brung up a +lady, an' it wasn't fittin' for her to stay whar she was, an' if I knew +de fader I mus' write to him. + +"'I knew dat as well as she did, an' after consultin' wid Mandy Ann an' +prayin' for light, it come dat I must sen' on, an' I did, hopin' he +wouldn' come, for to part wid de lil chile was like tearin' my vitals +out, an' Mandy Ann's, too. He did come,--a big, gran' man, wid a look +which made me glad Miss Dory was in heaven 'stead of livin' wid him. +He'd been hyar oncet before. Mebby I tole you, at de funeral. My mind +gets leaky, an' I can't 'member exactly, an' so repeats.' + +"'I think not,' I said, 'and if you did, I have forgotten, and am +willing to hear it again.' + +"We were sitting now on a bench close by what Jake said had been the +little girl's play-house, which she called her _Shady_, because it was +under a palm tree. + +"'Yes, he comed,' Jake said, 'two or three weeks after Miss Dory comed +home from Georgy, whar she was visitin' her kin. Mandy Ann tole me 'bout +him,--how he walked an' talked to Miss Dory, till when he went away her +face was white as the gown she put on when she hearn he was comin'. You +see, Mandy Ann was on de boat wid him, an' tole her. She was all of a +twitter, like you've seen de little hungry birds in de nest when dar +mudder is comin' wid a worm,--an' she was jess as cold an' slimpsy an' +starved when he went away as dem little birds is when de mudder is shot +on de wing an' never comes wid de worm. You know what I mean. She +s'pected somethin' an' didn't get it.' + +"Jake was very eloquent in his illustrations, and I looked admiringly at +him as he went on: 'I was in Virginny vallyin' for Mas'r Kane, a fine +gemman who gin me big wage, an' I was savin' it up to buy some things +for de house, 'case I reckoned how Miss Dory seen somethin' different in +Georgy. Her kin was very 'spectable folks, an' she might want some +fixin's. Thar was nobody hyar but ole Miss Lucy, who'd had some kind of +a spell an' lost most of her sense, an' didn't know more'n a chile. +Mandy Ann got somebody to write me that Miss Dory had a beau,--a gran' +man, an' I was that pleased that I ast the price of a second-han' +pianny, thinkin' mebby she'd want to larn, 'case she sung so nice. Den I +never hearn anoder word, 'cept from Miss Dory, till Mas'r Hardy writ +Mas'r Kane to sen' me home, 'case I was needed. I s'posed ole Miss Lucy +had had another fit, an' started thinkin' all de way up de river how I'd +see Miss Dory standin' in de do' wid de smile on her face, an' de light +in her eyes, an' her pleasant voice sayin' to me, "How d'ye, Jake, I'se +mighty glad to see you." 'Stid o' that she wasn't thar, an' Mandy Ann +come clatterin' down de stars, an' I hearn a baby cry. In my s'prise I +said, "What's dat ar? Has ole Miss got a baby?" + +"'Mandy Ann laughed till she cried, den cried without laughin', an' tole +me wid her face to de wall, an' I was so shamed I could of hid in de +san', an' Mandy Ann, they tole me, did run inter de woods at fust to +hide herself. Den she smarted up an' fit for Miss Dory, who said nothin' +'cept, "Wait, it will all be right. I tole him I would wait. I'm a good +girl," an' fo' Heaven, I b'lieved her, though some o' de white trash +didn't at fust, but they all did at the last. Maybe I'm tirin' you?' + +"'No,' I said, 'go on,' and he continued: 'I'se tole you most all dat +happened after dat till she died an' you comed to de funeral. + +"'When ole miss died, I writ to de Colonel, as I tole you, an' he comed, +gran', an' proud, an' stiff, an' I tole him all 'bout Miss Dory same as +I have you,--p'raps not quite so much,--p'raps mo'. I don't remember, +'case as I said my memory is ole an' leaky, and mebby I ain't tellin' it +right in course as I tole him. Some was in de house, an' some out hyar, +whar I said, "Dis is her grave. She's lyin' under de san', but I'll fix +her up in time an' she shall sleep under de roses." + +"'I tole him everything was done in order, an' how you preached about de +Resurrection an' de Life, an' how sweet she look in her coffin, an' +Mandy Ann's puttin' her ring on de weddin' finger, an' his mouf trembled +like, up and down, an' I b'lieve ef thar had been a tear in his dried-up +heart he'd of shed it. + +"'Oncet, when he seemed kinder softened, I ast him squar," Ain't you her +husband?" + +"'Thar was such a quar look in his eyes,--a starin' at me a minit,--an' +then he said, "I am nobody's husband, an' never shall be." + +"'I b'lieve he lied, an' wanted to knock him down, but wouldn't right +thar by her grave. He tole me I was to have all the money Miss Dory had +been layin' up, an' he would send me mo' for the stun. I ast what I +should put on it, an' he said, "What was on her coffin plate?" + +"Eudora, aged 20," I tole him. "Put the same on the stun," he said. He +tole me I was to stay on de place, an' have all I made. Then thar was +Mandy Ann, who 'longed to de lil chile. She was to stay hyar, he said, +an' he'd pay her wage which she could keep herself. He'd settle wid de +lil chile when de time come, an' set Mandy Ann free. I think he meant +it, but he was spar'd de trouble, for de wah corned like a big broom an' +swep' slavery away, an' mos' everyting souf wid it, an' Mandy Ann was +free any way widout de Colonel. + +"'After de chile went away I got to broodin' over Miss Dory's wrongs, +till I'se so worked up agin de Colonel, dat when de wah broke out I was +minded to 'list, hopin' I'd meet him somewhar in battle an' shoot him. +Den I cooled down an' staid home an' raised things an' worked for de +poor folks hyar,--de women, whose husban's an' brudders had gone to de +wah. Ted,--dat's de boy on de "Hatty" long ago,--went to de wah wid a +great flourish, promisin' Mandy Ann he'd shoot the Colonel shu' ef he +got a chance. An' what do you think? At de fust crack of de cannon in de +fust battle he seen, he cut an' run, an' kep' on runnin' till he got +hyar, beggin' me an' Mandy Ann to hide him, 'case he was a deserter. I +held my tongue, an' let Mandy Ann do as she pleased, an' she hid him +till de Federals come, when he jined them, an' did get hit, but 'twas on +de back or shoulder, showin' which way he was runnin'. + +"'Den Mandy Ann married him, an' has ten chillenses, an' washes an' +scrubs for de Brock House an' everybody, while Ted struts roun' wid a +cigar in his mouf, an' says he has neber seen a well day sense de +wah,--dat his shoulder pains him powerful at times,--an' he is tryin' to +get a pension, an' Mandy Ann is helpin' him. Beats all what women won't +do for a man if they love him, no matter how big a skunk he is. Miss +Dory died for one, an' Mandy Ann is slavin' herself to deff for one. +I'se mighty glad I'se not a woman.' + +"Here Jake stopped a moment, presumably to reflect on the waywardness of +Miss Dory and Mandy Ann caring for two skunks,--one the Colonel and one +Ted, whose last name I did not know till I asked Jake, who replied, +'Hamilton--a right smart name, I'm told, an' 'long'd to de quality. Ole +man Hamilton come from de norf somewhar, an' bought Ted's mother, a +likely mulatto. Who his fader was I doan know. He's more white dan +black, an' is mighty proud of his name,--Hamilton,--'case somebody tole +him thar was once a big man, Hamilton, an' when Mandy Ann had twin boys, +she was tole to call 'em Alexander an' Aaron,--sumptin',--I doan justly +remember what. It makes me think of a chestnut.' + +"'Burr,' I suggested, and he replied, 'Yes, sar, dat's it,--Aaron +Burr,--anoder big man,--an' dey calls de twins Alex and Aaron. Fine +boys, too, wid Mandy Ann's get-up in 'em. Dar's two mo' twins,--little +gals; beats all what a woman Mandy Ann is for twins,--an' she calls 'em +Judy and Dory,--one for young Miss, an' t'other for de rag doll lil +chile took norf wid her and called Judy, for an ole woman who has gone +to de Canaan she used to sing about--"Oh, I'se boun' for de lan' of +Canaan." She was powerful in pra'r, an' at de fust meetin' after de wah, +an' she knew she was free, I b'lieve you could of hearn her across de +lake to Sanford, she shout "Glory, bress de Lawd!" so loud. But for all +she was free, she wouldn't leave ole Miss Thomas. "I likes my mistis, +an' I ain't gwine to leave her wid somebody else to comb her har, an' +make her corn bread," she said, when dey tried to persuade her to go to +Palatky. She staid wid ole Miss, who buried her decent, an' has gone +herself to jine her an' Miss Dory in de better land, which seems to me +is not far away; an' offen, when I sees de sun go down in a glory of red +an' purple an' yaller,--I'se mighty fond of yaller,--I says to myself, +"It's dat way dey goes to de udder world, whar, please God, I'll go some +day fore berry long,--for I tries to be good." + +"There was a rapt look in Jake's face as he turned it to the west, and I +would have given much to know that my future was as assured as his." + +Here the first part of Mr. Mason's letter closed abruptly, as a friend +came to call, but he added hastily, "To-morrow I'll finish, and tell you +about the child who now occupies all Jake's thoughts, praying every day +that he may see her again." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +PART SECOND OF REV. MR. MASON'S LETTER + + +"I was interrupted yesterday, and hardly know where to begin again, or +what I have written, as Jake was a little mixed and went forward and +back at times, showing that his memory was, as he said, leaky, but when +he struck the child he was bright as a guinea. 'Lil Chile' and 'Honey +Bee' he calls her. He told me of her running into the house to meet the +Colonel, with her soiled frock, and her face and hands besmeared with +molasses; of her tussle with Mandy Ann, who wanted to wash her face and +change her clothes, and of her fine appearance at the last in a white +gown, her best, which he had bought and Mandy Ann made not long before, +and which the Colonel would not take with him. So they kept it, and +Mandy Ann washed and ironed it, and put it away with some sweet herbs, +and aired it every year till she was married, when Jake cared for it +till Mandy Ann's twins were born,--Alex and Aaron. Then Mandy Ann +borrowed it for them to be christened in, one of them one Sunday and one +the next, so that both had the honor of wearing it, while Jake was +sponsor, 'For,' said he, 'Mandy Ann has gin up them hollerin' meetin's +whar white folks done come to see de ole darkies have a kind of powow, +as dey use to have befo' de wah. Clar for't if de folks from de Norf +don't gin de blacks money to sing de ole-time songs an' rock an' weave +back an' forth till dey have de pow'. I don't think much of dat ar, jess +'musin' theyselves wid our religion;' and Jake looked his disgust, and +continued: + +"'Mandy Ann like mighty well to jine 'em, but I hole her back, an' now +she's 'Piscopal, ef she's anything,--an' when de girl twins come,--Dory +an' Judy,--she borrowed lil chile's gown agin. Dat make fo' times, an' +then I shet de gates, an' said, "No mo' gown, an' no mo' twins," an' +thar hain't been no mo'. + +"'But I'se got a good ways from lil chile, who wan't an atom shy of de +Colonel, though he was of her, an' when he took her han' I could almost +see him squirm like. I think he tried to be kind, an' he gin her a lil +ivory book he had on his watch-chain, but you see he didn't feel it. He +didn't care for children, and it seemed as if he wanted to get away from +this one. But he couldn't. She was his'n; I'd bet my soul on dat. He had +to come after her an' took her, though 'twas 'bout the wust job he ever +did, I reckon. She fit like a tiger cat about gwine wid him, an' 's +true's you bawn, I don't b'lieve she'd gone ef he hadn't took me wid him +to Savannah. I can't tell you, Mas'r Mason, 'bout de partin' thar. 'Twas +drefful, an' I kin see her now rollin' on de flo', wid her heels an' +han's in de air, an' she a-sayin' she mus' stay wid Shaky. I bought her +such a pretty red cloak, all lined wid white silk, an' wrapped her in +it, an' took her on to de boat, an' left her thar, she thinkin' I was +comin' back, an' the last I seen of her, as the boat moved off, she was +jumpin' up an' down, an' stretchin' her arms to me, an' the Cunnel +holdin' her tight, or I b'lieve she'd sprung overboard. He'd a good +time gettin' her home, I reckon. She was the very old Harry when her +dander was up,' and the old negro laughed as he thought of what the +Colonel must have borne on that journey with his troublesome charge. + +"There came a few lines to him, he said, telling of Col. Crompton's safe +arrival home, and that the child was well. After a while the war broke +out, and communication with the North was cut off. The friend in +Palatka, who had returned from Europe and joined the Confederate Army, +was killed, and the letter which Jake sent to Col. Crompton when peace +was restored was not answered for a long time. At last the Colonel wrote +that Eudora had married against his wishes and gone to Europe, and Jake +was not to trouble him with any more letters concerning her. + +"An' that's all I knows of her,' he said, 'whether she's dead or alive, +or whar she is; but if I did know I b'lieve I'd walk afoot to de Norf to +see her. She ain't my lil chile Dory no mo', but I allus thinks of her +like dat, an' I keeps de cradle she was rocked in by my bed, an' +sometimes, when I'se lonesome nights, an' can't sleep for thinkin' of +her, I puts my han' out an' jogs it with a feelin' the lil one is thar, +an' every day I prays she may come back to me, an' I b'lieve she will. +Yes, sar, it comes to me that she will.' + +"The tears were running down the old man's face when, on our going to +the house, he showed me the cradle close to his bed, a rude, +old-fashioned, high-topped thing, such as the poorest families used +years ago. There was a pillow, or cushion, in it, and a little patchwork +quilt, which, he said, Mandy Ann pieced and made. He showed me, too, a +second or third school reader, soiled and worn and pencil marked, and +showing that it had been much used. + +"'This was Miss Dory's,' he said; 'the one she studied de most, tryin' +to learn, an' gettin' terribly flustered wid de big words. I can see her +now, bendin' over it airly an' late; sometimes wid de chile in her lap +till she done tuckered out, an' laid it away with a sithe as if glad to +be shet of it. She couldn't larn, an' de Lord took her whar dey don't +ask what you knows,--only dis: does you lub de Lord? an' she did, de +lamb.' + +"Jake was still crying, and I was not far from it as I saw in fancy that +poor young girl trying to learn, trying to master the big words and +their meaning, in the vain hope of fitting herself for companionship +with a man who had deserted her, and who probably never had for her more +than a passing fancy, of which he was ashamed and would gladly ignore. + +"'I showed him de book,' Jake said, 'an' tole him how she tried to larn, +an' I tried to help her all I could, an' then he did have some feelin' +an' his eyes got red, but he didn't drap a tear; no, sar, not a drap! He +ast me could he have de book, an' I said, "No, sar, not for nothin'. +It's mine," an' he said, proud-like, "As you please." He was mighty good +to me an' Mandy Ann 'bout money, an' when I writ him she was married, he +sent her two hundred dollars, which she 'vested in a house, or Ted would +of spent it for fine close an' cigarettes. He must be gettin' ole, as I +be, an' they call de town Crompton, after him, 'stid of Troutburg.' + +"Remembering your parish, I told him I had a son settled in Crompton, +Massachusetts. I hardly thought there were two towns of the same name +in one State, and I'd inquire if Col. Crompton lived there. His face +brightened at once, and when I left him, he grasped my hand and said, +'Bress de Lawd for de grain of comfort you done give me. If she is thar +I'd walk all de road from Floridy to see her, if I couldn't git thar no +other way. Thankee, Mas'r Mason, for comin' to see me. I'se pretty +reg'lar at church, an' sets by de do', an' allus gives a nickel for +myself an' one for Miss Dory dead an' for Miss Dory livin', an' I makes +Mandy Ann 'tend all I can, though she'd rather go whar she says it's +livelier. She is mighty good to me,--comes ebery week an' clars up an' +scoles me for gittin' so dirty. She's great on a scrub, Mandy Ann is. +Muss you go? Well, I'm glad you comed, an' I s'pec's I've tole you some +things twiste, 'case of my memory. Good-by.' + +"He accompanied me to the door, and shook hands with all the grace of a +born gentleman. Then I left him, but have been haunted ever since by a +picture of that old negro in his lonely cabin, jogging that empty cradle +nights when he cannot sleep, and contrasting him with Col. Crompton, +whoever and wherever he may be. Perhaps you can throw some light on the +subject. The world is not so very wide that our sins are not pretty sure +to find us out, and that some Col. Crompton has been guilty of a great +wrong seems certain. Possibly he is one of your parishioners, and you +may know something of the second Dory. I shall await your answer with +some anxiety. + +"Your father, + +"CHARLES MASON." + +This was the letter which had sent the Rev. Arthur to call on Mrs. +Biggs, with no thought of Eloise in his mind. She was not yet an active +factor in the drama which was to be played out so rapidly. Returning to +his boarding place, the rector read his father's letter a second time, +and then answered it. A part of what he wrote we give: + +"I have just come from an interview with a woman who is credited with +knowing the history of the place forty years back, and I have no doubt +that Shaky's Col. Crompton is living here in Crompton Place, the richest +man in town and largest contributor to the church. There is a lady +living with him who people believe is his daughter, although he has +never acknowledged her as such. Mrs. Biggs, the woman I interviewed, +gave me a most graphic account of the manner of her arrival at Crompton +Place, when she was a little girl like the one you describe. She has a +lovely face, but is a little twisted in her brain. She did run away with +her music teacher, and her name is Amy Eudora. There was no mention made +of Harris. They call her Miss Amy. There can't be much doubt of her +identity with Jaky's lil chile. Send him on, and Mandy Ann, too,--and +the four twins, Alex and Aaron, Judy and Dory. I'll pay half their fare! +There's enough of the old Adam in me to make me want to see them +confront the proud Colonel, who ignores me for reasons I could not +fathom, until I received your letter. Then I suspected that because I am +your son he feared that some pages of his life, which he hoped were +blotted out by time and the ravages of war, might be revealed. He is an +old man, of course, but distinguished-looking still, though much broken +with rheumatic gout, which keeps him mostly at home. My respects to +Shaky, whom I hope before long to hear ringing the bell at Crompton +Place. Is that wicked? I suppose so, but I cannot help it. + +"ARTHUR." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +SUNDAY CALLS + + +The day following the rector's call on Mrs. Biggs was Sunday, and the +morning was wet and misty, with a thick, white fog which crept up from +the sea and hid from view objects at any distance away. + +"This is nearly as bad as London," Howard said to Jack when, after +breakfast, they stood looking out upon the sodden grass and drooping +flowers in the park. "Have you a mind to go to church?" + +Jack shrugged his shoulders, and replied, "Not I; it's too damp. Are you +going?" + +Howard had not thought of doing so until that moment, when an idea came +suddenly into his mind, and he answered, "I think so,--yes. Some one +ought to represent the Crompton pew. It is out of the question for my +uncle to go, and he would not if he could. He has taken a violent +prejudice against the new rector, for no reason I can think of. He is a +good fellow,--the rector, I mean,--and not too straight-laced to smoke a +cigar, and he knows a fine horse when he sees one, and preaches splendid +sermons. I think I shall go and encourage him." + +He did not urge Jack to accompany him, nor would Jack have done so if he +had. There was an idea in his mind, as well as in Howard's, which he +intended to carry out, and half an hour after Howard started for +church, he, too, left the house and walked slowly through the park in +the direction of Mrs. Biggs's. + +"I don't know as it is just the thing to call on Sunday," he thought, +hesitating a little as he came in sight of the house, "but it seems an +age since I saw her. I'll just step to the door and inquire how she is." + +His knock was not answered at first, but when he repeated it he heard +from the parlor what sounded like--"The key is under the mat," in a +voice he knew did not belong to Mrs. Biggs. That good woman was in +church. Tim had gone to the choir in St. John's, and Eloise was alone. +Ruby Ann had been to see her the night before with her massage and +rubber band, both of which had proved so successful that Eloise was +feeling greatly encouraged, and the outlook was not quite so forlorn as +when she first landed at Mrs. Biggs's, helpless and homesick and half +crazed with pain. Her ankle was improving fast, although she could not +walk; but she had hopes of taking her place in school within a week or +ten days. Mrs. Biggs had wondered why the young men from Crompton Place +did not call on Saturday, and Eloise had felt a little disappointed when +the day had passed and she did not see them. + +"'Tain't noways likely they'll come to-day. Folks know my principles, +and that I don't b'lieve in Sunday visiting," she said as she tidied up +the room before starting for church. "Nobody'll come, unless it is Ruby +Ann with her massage, that's no more good than a cat's foot; so I'll +just give the parlor a lick and a promise till to-morrow, and 'fise you +I'd be comfortable in that wrapper." + +But Eloise insisted upon the white dressing jacket with pink ribbons, +in which Mrs. Biggs said she looked "like a picter," regretting that the +young men could not see her. + +"If it wasn't for desiccating the Sabbath I wish them high bucks would +call," she added, as she gave a final whisk to the duster and went to +prepare for church. "I'm goin' to lock the door and put the key under +the mat, so nobody can get in if they want to. I might lose it if I +carried it to meetin'. I did once, and had to clamber inter the butry +winder," was her last remark as she left the house; and Eloise heard the +click of the key and knew she was locked in and alone. + +She was not afraid, but began to imagine what she could do in case of a +fire, or if any one were to come knocking at the door. "Sit still and +not answer," she was thinking when Jack came rapidly up the walk. She +saw his shadow as he passed the window, and her heart gave a great +bound, for she knew who was "desiccating" the Sabbath by calling upon +her. The first knock she did not answer, but when the second came, +louder and more imperative than the first, she called out, "The key is +under the mat," regretting her temerity in an instant, and trembling as +she thought, "What if I am doing something improper to admit him, and +Mrs. Biggs should disapprove!" + +The thought sent the blood to her cheeks, which were scarlet as Jack +came in, eager and delighted to find her alone. + +"Locked up like a prisoner," he said, as he took her hand, which he held +longer than was at all necessary, while he looked into her eyes, where +the gladness at seeing him again was showing so plainly. + +When he last saw her she was arrayed in Mrs. Biggs's spotted calico, and +he was quick to note the change. He had thought her lovely before; she +was beautiful now, with the brightness in her eyes and the color coming +and going so rapidly on her cheeks. Drawing a chair close to her, he sat +down just where he could look at her as he talked, and could watch the +varying expression on her face. Once he laid his hand on the arm of her +chair, but withdrew it when he saw her troubled look, as if she feared +he was getting too familiar. He asked her about her sprain, and was +greatly interested, or seemed to be, in the massage and rubber band +which were helping her so much. Then he spoke of Ruby Ann, the biggest +woman he ever saw, he believed, and just the one for a school-teacher. +He was past the school-house the day before, he said. It seemed they had +half a day on Saturday and half a day on Wednesday. It was the boys' +recess, and he never heard such a hullaballoo as they were making. A +tall, lanky boy seemed to be the leader, whom the others followed. + +"That must be Tom Walker, the one who makes all the trouble, and whom +Mr. Bills and Mrs. Biggs think I can't manage," Eloise said, with a +little gasp, such as she always felt when she thought of Tom, who, Tim +had reported, was boasting of what he meant to do with the lame +schoolmarm when she came. + +Jack detected the trouble in her voice, and asked who Tom Walker was. It +did not take long for Eloise to tell all she knew, while Jack listened +thoughtfully, resolving to seek out Tom, and by thrashing, or +threatening, or hiring, turn him from any plan he might have against +this little girl, who seemed to him far too young and dainty to be +thrown upon the mercy of the rabble he had seen by the school-house with +Tom Walker at their head. + +"Don't worry about Tom. Big bullies like him are always cowards. You'll +get along all right," he said encouragingly, with a growing desire to +take the helpless girl in his arms and carry her away from Tom Walker +and Mr. Bills and Mrs. Biggs, and the whole of her surroundings, which +she did not seem at all to fit. + +He wanted to entertain her, and told her of an excursion on the water he +had taken the previous day with Howard Crompton,--the last of the +season, he said, and very enjoyable. He wished she had been there. Then +he spoke of the Colonel, laughing at his peculiarities, and asking if +she had ever heard of the Crompton "Formula." She said she had from Ruby +Ann, and was glad she was not to be subjected to questioning on it, as +she knew she should fail in everything except the four _rights_. She +might manage them, but it was not necessary for her to be examined by +anybody, since her normal school diploma was a license to teach anywhere +in the State. + +"Hanged if I think I could manage the _rights_!" Jack said. "Spelling is +not my forte, and Howard, who is great at it, missed the last one." + +"How is Mr. Howard?" Eloise asked, and Jack replied, "All right. Has +gone to church like a good Christian. I ought to have gone, but I +thought I'd come here, as you might be lonely here alone." + +It flashed through Eloise's mind to wonder how he knew she was alone, +but she made no comment, except to say that the rector, Mr. Arthur +Mason, called upon her the day before. + +"Did he?" Jack said. "I believe he is a fine fellow. Howard likes him, +but for some reason the Colonel does not, and when Howard said he was +going to church, and suggested bringing Mr. Mason home to lunch, he +growled out something about not liking company on Sunday. He is a queer +old cove, and does not seem to care for anybody but Miss Amy. He is +devoted to her, and she is a lovely woman, and must once have been +brilliant, but she puzzles me greatly. She seems to be rational on every +subject except her life in California. If any allusion is made to that +she looks dazed at once, and says, 'I can't talk about it. I don't +remember.'" + +"My father died in California, and my mother is there now," Eloise said +sadly. + +Jack had not supposed she had a mother. Mrs. Brown, who sat beside him +at the commencement exercises in Mayville, had spoken of her as an +orphan, and he replied, "I had somehow thought your mother dead." + +"No; oh, no!" Eloise answered quickly. "She is not dead; she is--" + +She stopped suddenly, and Jack knew by her voice that her mother was a +painful subject, and he began at once to speak of something else. He was +a good talker, and Eloise a good listener, and neither took any heed to +the lapse of time, until there was the sound of wheels before the house. +A carriage had stopped to let some one out; then it went on, and Howard +Crompton came up the walk and knocked at the door just as Jack had done +an hour before. + +"Pull the bobbin and come in," Jack called out, and, a good deal +astonished, Howard walked in, looking unutterable things when he saw +Jack there before him, seemingly perfectly at home and perfectly happy, +and in very close proximity to Eloise, who wondered what Mrs. Biggs +would say if she came and found both the "high bucks" there. + +"Hallo!" Jack said, while Howard responded, "Hallo! What brought you +here?" + +"A wish to see Miss Smith. What brought you?" was Jack's reply, and +Howard responded, "A wish to see Miss Smith, of course. You didn't +suppose I came to see Mrs. Biggs, did you? Where is the old lady?" + +Eloise explained that she had gone to church, and Jack told of the key +under the mat, and the talk flowed on; and Eloise could not forbear +telling them of Mrs. Biggs's wish not to have the Sabbath "desiccated" +by visitors. + +"A regular Mrs. Malaprop," Jack said, while Howard suggested that they +leave before she came home. "We can put the key under the mat, and +she'll never know of the 'desiccation,'" he said. + +Jack looked doubtfully at Eloise, who shook her head. + +"No," she said, "I shall tell her you have been here. It would be a +deception not to." + +"As you like. And it's too late now, for here she comes!" Howard said, +as Mrs. Biggs passed the window and stooped to find the key. + +It was not there. Turning the mat upside down, she failed to discover +it. The key was gone! + +"For goodness' sake, what can have happened?" they heard her say, as she +pushed the door open and entered the room, where the two young men +stood, one on either side of Eloise, as if to protect her. "Well, if I +ain't beat!" the widow exclaimed, dropping into a chair and beginning to +untie her bonnet strings as if they choked her. "Yes, I am beat. Hain't +you been to meetin'?" she asked rather severely, her eyes falling on +Howard, who answered quickly, "Yes, I have, and on my way home called to +inquire for Miss Smith, and found this rascal here before me. He had +unlocked the door and taken possession. You ought to have him arrested +as a burglar, breaking into your house on Sunday." + +"I s'pose I or'ter," Mrs. Biggs said, "and I hope none of the neighbors +seen you come in. Miss Brown acrost the way is a great gossip, and there +hain't a speck of scandal ever been on my house in my life, and I +a-boardin' schoolma'ams for fifteen years!" + +Mrs. Biggs was inclined to be a little severe on the two young men +invading her premises, but Jack was equal to the emergency. She was +tugging at her bonnet strings, which were entangled in a knot, into +which the cord of her eyeglasses had become twisted. + +"I can swear that neither Mrs. Brown, nor any one else was looking from +the window when I came in. She was probably at church," Jack said, +offering to help her, and finally undoing the knot which had proved too +much for her. "There you are," he said, removing the bonnet, and setting +her false piece, which had become a little askew, more squarely on her +head. "You are all right now, and can blow me up as much as you please. +I deserve it," he added, beaming upon her a smile which would have +disarmed her of a dozen prejudices. + +Jack's ways were wonderful with women, both young and old, and Mrs. +Biggs felt their influence and laughed, as she said, "I ain't goin' to +blow, though I was took aback to see two men here, and I'd like to know +how you knew where to find the key." + +"I told him," Eloise answered rather shamefacedly. + +Mrs. Biggs shot a quick glance at her, and then said, with a meaning +nod, "I s'pose I'd of done the same thing when John and me was courtin', +and young folks is all alike." + +Eloise's face was scarlet, while Jack pretended suddenly to remember the +lateness of the hour, and started to leave the room. As he did so his +eyes fell upon a table on which a few books were lying. + +"You must find these lively," he said, turning them over and reading +their titles aloud. "'Pilgrim's Progress,' 'Foxe's Martyrs,' +'Doddridge's Rise and Fall,' 'Memoir of Payson,' all solid and good, but +a little heavy, 'United States History,' improving, but +tedious,--and,--upon my word, 'The Frozen Pirate'! That is jolly! Have +you read it?" + +Before Eloise could reply Mrs. Biggs exclaimed, "Of course she hasn't, +and I don't know how under the sun it got in here, unless Tim put it +here unbeknownst to me. I never read novels, and that is the wust I ever +got hold of, and the biggest lie. I told Tim so." + +She took it from the table and carried it from the room, followed by the +young men, who laughed as they thought how the widow, who never read +novels, betrayed the fact that she had read "The Frozen Pirate." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE MARCH OF EVENTS + + +"I say, Howard," Jack began, when they were out upon the road, "that +girl ought to have something besides 'The Frozen Pirate' and 'Foxe's +Martyrs' to brighten her up,--books and flowers, and other things. Do +you think she'd take them?" + +Howard's head was cooler than Jack's, and he replied, "She would resent +gifts from us, but would take them from Amy. Anyhow, we can try that +dodge." + +"By Jove, you are right! We can send her a lot of things with Mrs. Amy's +compliments," Jack exclaimed. "Flowers and books and candy, and--" + +He did not finish what was in his mind, but the next morning, +immediately after breakfast, he pretended that he had an errand in the +village, and started off alone, preferring to walk, he said, when Howard +suggested the carriage, and also declining Howard's company, which was +rather faintly offered. Howard never cared to walk when he could drive, +and then he had a plan which he could better carry out with Jack away +than with him present. He was more interested in Eloise than he would +like to confess to Jack or any one, and he found himself thinking of her +constantly and wishing he could do something to make her more +comfortable than he was sure she could be even in Mrs. Biggs's parlor. +He was very fastidious in his tastes, and Mrs. Biggs's parlor was a +horror to him, with its black hair-cloth furniture, and especially the +rocker in which Eloise sat, and out of which she seemed in danger of +slipping every time she bent forward. He had thought of his uncle's sea +chair on the occasion of his first call, and now he resolved to send it +in Amy's name. Something had warned him that in Eloise's make-up there +was a pride equal to his own. She might receive favors from Amy, as she +had the hat, and although a chair would seem a good deal perhaps, he +would explain it on the ground of Amy's great desire to help some one +when he saw her. He'd send it at once, he thought, and he wrote a note, +saying, "Miss Smith: Please accept this sea chair with the compliments +of Mrs. Amy, who thinks you will find it more comfortable than the +hair-cloth rocker, of which I told her. As she seldom writes to any one, +she has made me her amanuensis, and hopes you will excuse her. Yours, +very truly, Howard Crompton, for Mrs. Amy." + +It was a lie, Howard knew, but that did not trouble him, and calling +Sam, he bade him take it with the chair and a bunch of hothouse roses to +Miss Smith. Sam took the chair and the note and the roses, and started +for Mrs. Biggs's, stopping in the avenue to look at the shrub where +Brutus had received the gouge in his shoulder, and stopping again at a +point where some bits of glass from the broken window of the carriage +were lying. All this took time, so that it was after eleven when he at +last reached Mrs. Biggs's gate, and met a drayman coming in an opposite +direction with Jack Harcourt on the cart, seated in a very handsome +wheel chair, and looking supremely happy. + +Jack had been very busy all the morning visiting furniture stores and +inquiring for wheel chairs, which he found were not very common. Indeed, +there were only three in the town, and one of these had been sent from +Boston for the approval of Col. Crompton when his rheumatic gout +prevented him from walking. Something about it had not suited him, and +it had remained with the furniture dealer, who, glad of a purchaser, had +offered it to Jack for nearly half the original price. Jack did not care +for the cost if the chair was what he wanted. It was upholstered with +leather, both the seat and the back, and could be easily propelled from +room to room by Eloise herself, while Jack thought it quite likely that +he should himself some day take her out for an airing, possibly to the +school-house, which he had passed on his way to the village. There was a +shorter road through the meadows and woods than the one past the +school-house, but Jack took the latter, hoping he might see Tom Walker +again, in which case he meant to interview him. Nor was he disappointed, +for sauntering in the same direction and chewing gum, with his cap on +the back of his head and his hands in his pockets, was a tall, wiry +fellow, whom Jack instantly spotted as Tom Walker, the bully, who was to +terrorize Eloise. + +"Now is my time," Jack thought, hastening his steps and soon overtaking +the boy, who, never caring whether he was late or early at school, was +taking his time, and stopping occasionally to throw a stone at some bird +on the fence or a tree. "Hallo, Tom!" Jack said in his cheery way as he +came up with the boy, whose ungracious answer was, "How do you know my +name is Tom?" + +At heart Tom was something of an anarchist, jealous of and disliking +people higher in the social scale than he was, and this dislike extended +particularly to the young gentlemen from the Crompton House, who had +nothing to do but to enjoy themselves. He did not like to be patronized, +but there was something in Jack's voice which made him accompany his +speech with a laugh, which robbed it of some of its rudeness. + +"Oh, I know you, just as, I dare say, you know me, Jack Harcourt, from +New York, visiting at present at the Crompton House," was Jack's reply, +which mollified Tom at once. + +If Jack had called himself Mr. Harcourt Tom would have resented it as +airs. But he didn't; he said _Jack_, putting himself on a par with the +boy, who took the gum from his mouth for a moment, looked at it, +replaced it, and began to answer Jack's questions, which at first were +very far from Eloise. But they struck her at last as they drew near the +school-house. + +"I'm late, as usual," Tom said, rolling his gum from side to side in his +mouth. "I presume I'll catch thunder, but I don't care. I'm not afraid +of any schoolmarm I've ever seen, and I mean to carry the new one out on +a couple of chips if she tries to boss me." + +There was a look on Tom's face which Jack did not like, but he said +pleasantly, "No, you won't, when you see how helpless she is, and how +she needs a young gentleman like you to stand by her." + +"I ain't a gentleman," Tom answered, but his voice was a good deal +softened. "I'm just Tom Walker, who they lay everything to, and who the +boys expect to do all their dirty work for them." + +"I see," Jack answered; "you pick off the hot chestnuts. _I_ used to do +that when a little shaver, till I got my fingers blistered so badly I +decided to let some one else get burned in my place." + +"Did you ever cut up at school?" Tom asked, with a growing interest in +and respect for Jack, who replied, "Oh, yes, I was pretty bad sometimes, +and am ashamed of it when I remember how I annoyed some of my teachers. +I have asked pardon of one or two of the ladies when I have chanced to +meet them, but I never could have annoyed Miss Smith, nor will you when +you know her. You haven't seen her yet?" + +"Nope!" Tom answered. "I hear she ain't bigger than my thumb, and awful +pretty, Tim Biggs says, and he is threatening to thrash anybody who is +mean to her. I'd laugh to see him tackle me!" + +"He'll have no occasion to, for I predict you will be the warmest +champion Miss Smith has. See if you are not," Jack said, offering his +hand to Tom, as they had now reached the school-house. + +"He is certainly a good deal of a ruffian," Jack said to himself as he +went on his way, while Tom was not quite so sure of the two chips on +which he was to carry Eloise out if she tried to boss him. He'd wait and +see. That city chap from Crompton Place had certainly been very +friendly, and had not treated him as if he was scum; and after taking +his seat and telling Ruby Ann, with quite an air when she asked why he +was so late, that he had been detained by Mr. Harcourt, who wanted to +talk with him, he took from his desk his slate and rubbed out the +caricature he had drawn the day before of a young girl on crutches +trying to get up the steps of the school-house. He was intending to show +it to Tim Biggs and make him angry, and to the other scholars and make +them laugh, and thus ferment a prejudice against Eloise, for no reason +at all except the natural depravity of his nature. + +The word "champion" kept sounding in his ears, and he wrote it two or +three times on his slate, where the girl on crutches had been. "I always +supposed champion belonged to prize-fighters, but Mr. Harcourt didn't +mean that kind. He meant I was to stand up for her and behave myself. +Well, I'll see what kind of craft she is," he thought. + +With this decision Tom took up his lessons, and had never been more +studious and well behaved than he was that day. + +Meanwhile Jack had gone on his way to the village and bought his chair, +with some misgivings as to how Eloise would receive it, even from Mrs. +Amy. "I guess I'd better go with it, and make it right somehow," he +thought, getting into the chair and riding along in state, while the +people he met looked curiously at him. It was recess again when they +reached the school-house, where, as usual, Tom Walker was leading the +play. At sight of the dray he stopped suddenly, and then went swiftly +forward to the cart, and said to Jack, "Goin' to take her out in that?" + +Jack reddened a little, but answered pleasantly, "Perhaps." + +"Well, I guess she'll like it better than the chips I told you about. +I've thrown 'em away." + +A ring from Ruby Ann's bell told the boys their recess was over, and +with a bow Tom hurried off, while Jack and his chair went on till they +reached Mrs. Biggs's door, just as Sam came up with the sea chair. That +good woman was washing in her back kitchen, but in response to the +drayman's knock she came hurriedly, wiping the soap-suds from her arms +as she came, and holding up both hands as she saw the two chairs +deposited at the door, while Sam held the note and roses, and Jack stood +looking a little shamefaced, as if he hardly knew what to say. + +"For the pity sakes and the old Harry, are you moving a furniture store, +or what?" she asked. + +Jack began to explain that Mrs. Amy thought, or he thought--He could not +quite bring himself to lie as glibly as Howard would have done, had he +been there, and he stammered on, that he thought Miss Smith would soon +be able to get round in a wheel chair, which he hoped she would accept +with the compliments of--He didn't say Mrs. Amy, but Mrs. Biggs +understood, and nodded that she did, helping him out by saying it was +just like Mrs. Amy, and adding that it looked a good deal like the chair +the Colonel had for a spell and then returned to Lowell & Brothers, +where she saw it a few days ago in the window. + +Jack made no reply, and Mrs. Biggs continued, "I s'pose t'other chair is +Mrs. Amy's compliments, too. I'm sure I'm greatly obliged to her, and +Miss Smith will be. She is quite peart this morning. Come in and see +her." + +Jack did not think he would. He'd rather have Mrs. Biggs present his +chair, feeling sure that her conscience was of the elastic kind, which +would not stop at means if a good end was attained. + +"Thanks," he replied. "Later in the day I may come in. Good-morning." + +He walked away, leaving Mrs. Biggs alone with Sam, who was told to take +the chairs into Eloise's room. + +"Something from the Crompton House. From Mrs. Amy, they say. It is like +her to be sending things where she takes a notion as she has to you," +Mrs. Biggs said, while Eloise looked on in astonishment. + +She read Howard's note, and her surprise increased as she said, "I ought +not to keep them. Col. Crompton would not like it if he knew." + +"Yes, you ought. Mrs. Amy does what she likes without consulting the +Colonel," Mrs. Biggs rejoined. "It would not do to send them back and +upset her, and isn't there a verse somewhere in the Bible about taking +what the gods give ye?" + +Eloise knew what she meant, and replied, "'Take the good the gods +provide,' and they are certainly providing for me bountifully, but I +must at least write a note of thanks to Mrs. Amy for her thoughtfulness +and kindness." + +To this Mrs. Biggs, who felt that she was in league with the young men, +also objected. + +"Better not," she said. "Better wait till you can go and thank her in +person. I'll have Tim wheel you up some day. He'd like nothing better." + +To this Eloise finally assented, and at once exchanged the hair-cloth +rocker for the sea chair, which she found a great improvement. When Tim +came from school he was told of the addition to the furniture in the +parlor by his mother, who added, "I smelt a rat at once, and thought it +a pity to spoil the young men's fun. Mrs. Amy don't know nothin' about +them chairs, no more than the man in the moon, and if Miss Smith had +much worldly sense she'd know they never came from Mrs. Amy. But she +hain't. She's nothin' but a child, and don't dream that both them young +men is jest bewitched over her. I don't b'lieve Mr. Howard means +earnest, but t'other one does. He's got the best face. I'd trust myself +with him anywhere." + +Tim laughed at the idea that his mother could not trust herself with +anybody, but said nothing. He was Eloise's devoted slave, and offered to +wheel her miles if she cared to go; but she was satisfied with a few +turns up and down the road, which gave her fresh air and showed her +something of the country. The wheel chair was a great success, as well +as the sea chair, in which she was sitting when the young men came in +the afternoon to call, bringing some books which Mrs. Amy thought would +interest her, and a box of candy, which Jack presented in his own +person. He could not face her with Mrs. Amy as Howard could, and he felt +himself a great impostor as he received her thanks for Mrs. Amy, who, he +was sure, had entirely forgotten the girl. + +No mention was ever made of her in Amy's presence or the Colonel's. He +was not yet over his wrath at the accident to his carriage and horse, +which, with strange perversity, he charged to the Normal. Brutus was +getting well, but there would always be a scar on his shoulder, where +the sharp-pointed shrub had entered the flesh. The carriage had been +repaired, the stained cushions had been re-covered, and the Colonel had +sworn at the amount of the bill, and said it never would have happened +if the trustees had hired Ruby Ann in the first place, as they should +have done. He knew she now had the school, and felt a kind of grim +satisfaction that it was so. She was rooted and grounded, while the +other one, as far as he could learn, was a little pink and white doll, +with no fundamentals whatever. He had forgotten that Howard was to sound +her, and did not dream how often that young man and his friend were at +Mrs. Biggs's, not sounding Eloise as to her knowledge, but growing more +and more intoxicated with her beauty and sweetness and entire absence of +the self-consciousness and airs they were accustomed to find in most +young ladies. + +But for the non-arrival of the letter she was so anxious to get Eloise +would have been comparatively happy, or at least content. Her ankle was +gaining rapidly, and she hoped soon to take her place in school, Tim +having offered to wheel her there every day and back, and assuring her +that, mean as he was, Tom Walker was not mean enough to annoy her in her +helpless condition. For some reason Eloise had not now much dread of Tom +Walker, and expressed a desire to see him. + +"Tell him to call," she said to Tim, who delivered her message rather +awkwardly, as if expecting a rebuff. + +"Oh, get out," was Tom's reply, "I ain't one of your callin' kind, with +cards and things, and she'll see enough of me bimeby." + +The words sounded more ungracious than Tom intended. He said he was not +the calling kind, but the fact that he had been asked to do so pleased +him, and two or three times he walked past Mrs. Biggs's in hopes to see +the little lady in whom he was beginning to feel a good deal of +interest. He met Jack occasionally, and always received a bow of +recognition and a cheery "How are you, Tom?" until he began to believe +himself something more than a loafer and a bully whom every hand was +against. He was rather anxious for the little Normal to begin her +duties, and she was anxious, too, for funds were low and growing less +all the time. + +"Wait till the Rummage is over. That is coming next week. You will want +to go to that and see the people you have not seen, and your scholars, +too. They are sure to be there," Ruby Ann said to her. + +Ruby Ann was greatly interested in the Rummage Sale, as she was in +anything with which she had to do, and all her spare time from her +school duties was given to soliciting articles for it, and arranging for +their disposition in the building where the sale was to be held. Eloise +was interested because those around her were, and she offered her white +apron a second time as the only thing she had to give. + +"I guess I'll do it up and flute the ruffles," Mrs. Biggs said. "'Tain't +mussy, but a little rinse and starch won't harm it." + +She had given it a rinse and starch, and was ironing it when Jack came +in, rather unceremoniously, as was his habit now that he came so often. +This time he went to the kitchen door, as the other was locked, and +found Mrs. Biggs giving the final touches to the apron, which she held +up for his inspection. + +"Rummage," she said. "Miss Smith's contribution. Ain't it a beauty?" + +Jack was not much of a judge of aprons, but something in this dainty +little affair interested him, and he wished at once that he knew of some +one for whom he could buy it. His sister Bell never wore aprons to his +knowledge, neither did Mrs. Amy. It was too small for Ruby Ann, and it +would never do to give it back to Eloise. But he did not want any money +but his own spent for it, and he believed he'd speak to Ruby Ann and +have it put aside for him. He could tell her he had a sister, and she +could draw her own inference. + +"I swan, if I was a little younger, I'd buy it myself," Mrs. Biggs said, +holding it up and slipping the straps over her shoulders and her hands +into its pockets. + +Jack felt relieved when she took it off, gave it another smooth with her +iron, and folded it ready for the sale. + +"I am going to put it in a box," she said, "with a card on it saying it +is Miss Smith's contribution, and that she made every stitch herself." + +Jack was now resolved that it should be his at any cost. As to its real +value he had no idea, and when Mrs. Biggs said it "or'to bring a good +price, and probably will seein' whose 'tis," he replied, "I should say +so,--four or five dollars at least." + +"For the Lord's sake," Mrs. Biggs exclaimed, dropping her flatiron in +her surprise. "Four or five dollars! Are you crazy?" + +"Do you think it ought to bring more?" Jack asked, and Mrs. Biggs +replied, "Was you born yesterday, or when? If it brings a dollar it'll +do well. Rummages ain't high priced. Four or five dollars! Well, if I +won't give up!" + +Jack did not reply, but he was beginning to feel a good deal of interest +in the Rummage Sale, and his interest increased when he went in to see +Eloise, and heard from her that she was going down in the evening, as +Ruby Ann said it would be more lively then, with more people present and +possibly an auction. + +"Tim is to wheel me," she said, "and has promised not to run into any +one, or tip me over. I feel half afraid of him, as he does stumble +some." + +Jack looked at her a moment as she leaned back in her chair, her blue +dressing sacque open at the throat showing her white neck. + +"Miss Smith," he said, "_I_ shan't stumble. I'll take you. I'd like to. +I'll make it right with Tim." + +Eloise could not mistake the eagerness in his voice, and her cheeks +flushed as she replied, "It is very kind in you and kind in Tim, who +perhaps will be glad to be rid of the trouble." + +"Of course he will," Jack said quickly. "Day after to-morrow, isn't it? +I'll see you again and arrange just when to call for you, and now I must +go. I'd forgotten that I was to drive with Howard this morning. +Good-by." + +He went whistling down the walk, thinking that a Rummage Sale was more +interesting than anything which could possibly happen in the country, +and that he'd telegraph to his sister to send something for it. As he +started on his drive with Howard, he said, "Let's go first to the +telegraph office, I want to wire to Bell." + +They drove to the office, and in a few minutes there flashed across the +wires to New York, "We are going to have a Rummage Sale for the poor. +Send a lot of things, old and new, it does not matter which;--only send +at once." + +"I believe I made a mistake about the object of the sale. I said 'For +the poor,' and it's for a public library, isn't it?" he said to Howard, +who replied, "Seems to me you are getting daft on the Rummage. I don't +care for it much. It will be like a Jews' or pawnbroker's bazaar, with +mostly old clothes to sell." + +"No, sir," Jack answered quickly. "It will not be at all like a +pawnbroker's shop. Bell will send a pile of things. I know her, and Miss +Smith is to be there in the evening, and it's going to be a great +success." + +"I see," and Howard laughed immoderately. "It is going to be a great +success because Miss Smith is to be there. Is she for sale, and how is +she going? Are we to take her in a hand chair, as we carried her that +night in the rain?" + +"No, sir!" Jack answered, "I am to wheel her and have heaps of fun, +while you mope at home." + +Howard thought it very doubtful whether he should mope at home. It would +be worth something to see Jack wheeling Eloise, and worth a good deal +more to see her, as he knew she would look flushed and timid and +beautiful, with all the strangers around her. He had not felt much +interest in the Rummage. Old clothes were not to his fancy, but he had +promised a pair of half-worn boots to Ruby Ann, who had cornered him on +the street, and wrung from him not only his boots, but half a dozen or +more of the fifty neckties she heard he had strung on a wire around his +room, so as to have them handy when he wanted to choose one to wear. +Neckties were his weakness, and he never saw one which pleased him +without buying it, and his tailor had orders to notify him of the last +fashion as it came out. It was quite a wrench to part with any of them, +but as some were _passée_ he promised them to Ruby, but told her he +hardly thought he should attend the sale. Now, however, he changed his +mind. Eloise's presence would make a vast difference, and he should go; +and he thought of a second pair of boots, and possibly a vest and a few +more neckties he might add to the pile which he had heard from Peter was +to be sent the next day from the Crompton House to the Rummage. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +GETTING READY FOR THE RUMMAGE SALE + + +Never had District No. 5 been so stirred on the subject of any public +entertainment as on the Rummage Sale. It was something entirely new and +unique, and the whole neighborhood entered into it with great +enthusiasm. Between the little village by the sea, which numbered about +two thousand, and the radius known as District No. 5, which could not +boast half that number, there was a kind of rivalry, the district +claiming that it excelled the village in the quality of its inhabitants, +if not in quantity. Its people were mostly well educated and +intelligent, and they had Col. Crompton, with his fine house and +grounds. He was gouty and rheumatic and past his prime it was true, but +he was still a power among them, and they were proud of him and proud of +themselves, and delighted that they had been the first to carry out the +idea of a Rummage Sale, which had been brought to them by a visitor from +western New York, who explained its workings, and gave almost fabulous +accounts of the money made by such sales. The village had intended to +have one, but District No. 5 was ahead, with the result that many of the +villagers joined in, glad to be rid of articles which had been stowed +away as useless. + +At first it seemed incredible that any one would buy clothing which for +years had hung in closets, or been packed in trunks away from moths and +carpet bugs. But what had been done in other places could be done in +District No. 5, and never was a more heterogeneous mass of goods of +every description gathered together than was sent to the Rummage rooms +the day before the sale, and dumped upon tables and chairs and boxes, +until they nearly reached the rather low ceiling. There were old bonnets +and hats, and boots and shoes and dresses, and coats and trousers and +vests, and draperies and dishes, and stoves and chairs and tables and +bedsteads, with books and old magazines and toys. + +There was Mrs. Biggs's foot-stove and warming-pan, which had been her +mother's, and a brass kettle, which had belonged to her grandmother, and +which Mrs. Parker, the lady from western New York, said was the most +valuable of all the articles sent. Antiques were sure to sell to relic +hunters, and a big price must be put upon them, she told the committee +who looked in dismay at the piles of goods as they came pouring in, +wondering how they were ever to bring anything like order out of the +confusion. They could not have done it without Mrs. Parker and Ruby Ann, +the latter of whom had obtained permission to dismiss school for two +days, and worked early and late. She had laid siege to the Crompton +House, from which most of the others shrank. The Colonel was a rather +formidable old fellow to meet, if he was in a mood with twinges in his +foot, while Mrs. Amy was scarcely well enough known to the people +generally to make them care to interview her. + +On the strength of having been to school with her and known her since +"she was knee high," Mrs. Biggs offered to call upon her, but declined +seeing the Colonel, who, she heard, didn't believe in the Rummage. Ruby +Ann, however, was selected as the fittest person to see both, and had +undertaken the task with her usual assurance and energy. She found Amy a +fine subject. The idea of giving always appealed to her, and she began +at once to think of what she would send. The dresses she had worn as a +concert singer were hateful to her, and she brought them from a closet +and spread them upon chairs and tables, while Ruby looked on admiringly +and wonderingly, too, as fans and gloves and sashes and ribbons were +laid with the dresses, and Amy grew more excited and eager every moment. + +"We'll go to the attic now," she said; "my doll house is there." + +They climbed the stairs and found the house packed away as it had been +for years. + +"It may as well be sold and make some child happy," Amy said as she took +off its wrappings. + +In it was Mandy Ann, the doll the Colonel had bought in Savannah, and +Judy, lying on her face in a pile of dust. Amy took her up tenderly, +saying, "Do you think anybody will buy her?" + +There was a little choke in her voice as she asked the question, for the +sight of Judy had stirred memories which often flitted through her weak +brain and puzzled her, they were so misty and yet so sweet, like the +negro melodies she hummed to herself or sang to an imaginary baby. + +"Buy her? I guess they would," Ruby Ann replied, all her blood astir at +the thought of the doll house, with Judy and Mandy Ann. + +She knew nothing of their antecedents, or how they were connected with +Amy's childhood, but she felt intuitively that almost any price put upon +them would be paid because they belonged to Mrs. Amy, and particularly +because of the dilapidated appearance of Judy, which was sure to rouse +the mirth of the spectators. She was very doubtful as to whether she +ought to take the dresses without consulting some one besides Amy, to +whom she said, "Are you sure you want to give these away? They are +different from anything we shall have, and will seem out of place." + +For a moment Amy looked at her with a strange glitter in her eyes, as +she said, "I hate them! I have been going to burn them more than once. +You don't know what they represent to me. I shall burn them, or tear +them, if you don't take them." + +She made a motion as if she were going to tear one of the lace flounces, +when Ruby Ann stopped her by saying, "Don't, Mrs. Amy,--please don't. +I'll take the dresses, of course. I only feared you might be giving too +much, with the doll house and Mandy Ann and Judy. I want _them_, sure." + +"Yes," Amy said, her mood changing. "Take them all; but don't try to +improve them,--Mandy Ann and Judy, I mean." + +There was another choke in her voice as she smoothed Judy's old brown +dress, and brushed a bit of bran from her face. There was no danger that +Ruby would try to change either Mandy Ann or Judy. They were perfect as +they were, and telling Amy when the articles would be sent for, she left +her and went to interview the Colonel, anticipating a different +reception from what she had received from Mrs. Amy. + +"Better not handle him to-day; he had some awful twinges this morning," +Peter said, after she had "picked him clean," as he expressed it, "and +scarcely left him a shoe to his foot or a coat to his back." + +Ruby knew she could not come again, and in spite of Peter's advice, +resolved to beard the lion at once. She found him, with his lame foot on +a cushion, and a not very encouraging look on his face. He had liked +Ruby ever since she first came to be examined as to her qualifications +for a teacher, and he had found her rooted and grounded in the +fundamentals, and he had taken sides stoutly for her when the question +of normal graduates came up and Eloise had won the day. Ruby Ann's head +was level, he always said, and when she was ushered into his room, he +greeted her with as much of a smile as he could command, with his foot +aching as it did. But the smile faded when she told him her errand, and +said she was sure he would be glad to contribute either in money or +clothing to so good a cause as the public library. The Colonel had not +been consulted with regard to the library, except to be asked if he +didn't think it would be a fine thing for the school and neighborhood +generally. He was not very often consulted about anything now. Plans +were made without him, and he was only asked to contribute, which he +generally did. + +Now, however, his back was up, Peter said to Ruby Ann, warning her of +what she was to expect. He didn't believe in turning attics and cellars +and barns inside out and scattering microbes by the millions. How did +any one know what germs were lurking in old clothes? He knew a man who +died of smallpox, and twenty-five years after his death a coat, which +had hung in his closet, was given away, taking the disease with it to +three or four people. No, he didn't believe in a Rummage. It was just a +fad, got up by those who were always seeking for something new, and he +wouldn't give a thing, not even an old stock such as he used to wear, +and of which Ruby Ann knew he must have several. + +"Who under heavens would buy an old stock, and why?" he asked, and Ruby +Ann replied, "Just because it is an old stock and belonged to you." + +The "belonged to you" mollified him a little, as it flattered his +vanity, but the idea struck him as ridiculous, and he would not give in, +and as Ruby Ann grew more and more persistent, telling of the antiques +gathered up, and among them Mrs. Biggs's warming-pan and foot-stove and +brass kettle,--old Mrs. Baker's quill wheel, and some other old lady's +wedding bonnet, he grew furious and swore about the Rummage Sale, and +might have sworn at Ruby Ann if she had not discreetly withdrawn and +left him to himself and his twinges. + +She was rather chagrined over her failure with the Colonel, from whom +she had expected so much, but her success with Amy and the other members +of the household made amends, and she left tolerably well satisfied with +her work. She had not been gone long when Peter was summoned by a sharp +ring to his master's room, and found him sitting very erect in his +chair, listening intently to sounds overhead, where there was the +scurrying of feet mingled with Amy's voice and that of her maid, as box +after box was dragged across the floor. + +"Peter!" the Colonel began, "shut the door!" + +Peter had shut it and stood with his back against it, as the Colonel +went on, "What in thunder is all that racket in the attic? Has the +Rummage come up there? It commenced some time ago. Sounded as if they +were pulling out trunks, then it stopped, and now they are at it again." + +"That's just it. Mrs. Amy and Sarah were looking for something for the +sale, and now, I suppose, they are pushing the boxes back. Mrs. Amy is +greatly interested. I've never seen her so much like herself since she +was a girl," was Peter's reply, whereupon the Colonel consigned the +Rummage to perdition, with its old pots and kettles, and Mrs. Biggs's +warming-pan and foot-stove and brass kettle, and Granny Baker's quill +wheel and Mrs. Allen's wedding bonnet. Who was going to buy such truck? +"And Peter," he said, in a lower tone of voice, "what do you think? Ruby +Ann actually asked for my trousers! Yes, my trousers! And when I told +her I hadn't any but what were shiny at the knees, she said it didn't +matter; in fact, the shine would be all the better, showing they had +been worn. They'd label 'em 'Col. Crompton's,' and hang them up with the +valuables,--meaning Widow Biggs's warming-pan and foot-stove, and Widow +Allen's bonnet, and that other old woman's quill wheel, I dare say. +Think of it, Peter. My coat and trousers! She asked for a coat, +too,--strung on a line with warming-pans and quill wheels and bonnets a +hundred years old, and the Lord only knows what else, and labelled 'Col. +Crompton.' If it had been anybody but Ruby Ann, I'd turned her from the +room. I thought she had more sense,--upon my soul, I did! What did she +get out of you?" + +"Nothing much but some old clothes and shoes and a boot-jack; she +thought a good deal of that," Peter said, and with a sniff of contempt +the Colonel replied, "Old clothes and a boot-jack; and what is Mrs. Amy +sending? Half the attic, I should think from the noise they make up +there." + +Hesitating a moment Peter said, "She is giving the fancy gowns she used +to wear, with the tops of the waists and bottoms of the sleeves cut off. +She says they are hateful to her." + +The Colonel guessed what she meant, and replied, "Quite right; Rummage +and rag-bags good places for them; but I say, Peter, I won't have them +strung up with warming-pans and quill wheels and my trousers. You must +stop it. Do you hear?" + +"I didn't know your trousers were going," Peter suggested, and the +Colonel answered curtly, "Who said they were, you blockhead? They are +not going unless Ruby gets them in the night. Upon my soul, she is equal +to it. I think I shall put them under my pillow. It is Mrs. Amy's +dresses I mean. What else is she going to send?" + +"You remember the doll house you bought her when she was a little girl?" +Peter said. + +"Good thunder, yes! Will she give that away?" the Colonel asked, with +something in his tone which was more than surprise. + +It hurt him that Amy should be willing to part with the doll house. She +must be queerer than usual, and he thought of the Harris blood. Suddenly +he remembered Mandy Ann and Judy, and asked if she was going to give +them to the Rummage. + +"She means to. Yes, sir. They go with the doll house, one as mistress, +the other as maid. I heard her say so. They are downstairs now," was +Peter's reply. + +The Colonel's countenance fell, and there was an awful twinge in his +foot, but he didn't mind it. His thoughts flew back to the palmetto +clearing, where he first saw the little girl and Judy. Then they +travelled on to Savannah and the store where he bought Mandy Ann, and so +on through the different phases of Amy's childhood, and he was surprised +to find how unwilling he was to part with what had been so intimately +associated with years which, on the whole, had been happy, although at +times a little stormy. And Amy was going to send them to a Rummage Sale! + +"I may be a weak old fool, but I won't have them sold down there with +quill wheels and warming-pans!" he thought. + +But what could he do? They were Amy's, and if she had made up her mind +to send them, it would take more than his opposition to prevent it. She +was very gentle and yielding as a whole, but behind the gentleness and +sweetness he knew there was a spirit he did not like to rouse. He must +manage some other way. He had told Ruby he would neither give his +clothes nor money to the farce, and he prided himself on never going +back on his word. But he didn't tell her he wouldn't buy anything, and +his face brightened as he said, very briskly, "Peter!" + +"Yes, sir," was the prompt reply. + +"Hold your tongue!" + +"Yes, sir," was Peter's still more prompt reply, and his master +continued, "I don't care a rap about those dresses, but I won't have +Mandy Ann and the nigger baby and the doll house sold. I may be a hard +old cur. I s'pose I am, but I have now and then a streak of,--I don't +know what,--clinging to the years of Mrs. Amy's childhood. She turned +the house upside down. She raised the very old Harry sometimes, but she +got into our hearts somehow, didn't she?" + +"Yes, a long ways," was Peter's reply, as he waited for what was next to +come, and looked curiously at the Colonel, who sat with his eyes closed, +clutching the arms of his chair tightly, as if suffering from a fearful +twinge. + +But if he were, he did not think of it. His mind was again in the +palmetto clearing, and he was standing by Dory's grave in the sand, and +a little child was holding his hand, and looking at him with eyes which +had in them something of the same expression which had once quickened +his pulse, and made his heart beat with a thrill he fancied was love, +but which had died almost as soon as it was born. As a result of that +episode he had Amy, whom he did love, and because he loved her so much, +he clung to the mementoes of her babyhood, when she had been a torment +and a terror, and still a diversion in his monotonous life. + +"Peter!" he said again. "Hold your tongue, but get them somehow. Who is +head of this tomfoolery?" + +"Ruby Ann is about as big a head as there is, I guess. She and a woman +from York State," Peter replied, and the Colonel continued, "Well, I +s'pose those things will have to go to the sale, if Mrs. Amy says so, +but I won't have them mixed with the quill wheels and boot-jacks and +Widow Biggs's foot-stove and brass kettle, and I won't have a pack of +idiots looking them over and buying them and saying they belonged to the +Cromptons. Mandy Ann Crompton and Judy Crompton would sound fine,--both +niggers! No, sir! You are to go quietly to Ruby Ann and buy 'em! Do you +hear? Buy 'em! You knew Mrs. Amy when she played with 'em. You want 'em, +and you'll pay the price, no matter what it is. Lord Harry! I'll bet +they'll put a big one on 'em, but no matter. I paid thirty dollars for +the doll house and five for Mandy Ann. I don't s'pose Judy cost +anything, but the child liked it best, and I believe I'd rather have it +than both the others, because--" + +He did not say why, but he gripped the arms of his chair tightly, while +drops of sweat stood upon his forehead. He was in the clearing again +with Dora living, instead of dead, and the moon was shining on her face +as she stood in the turn of the road and gave him the promise she had +kept so faithfully. Judy belonged to that far-off time, and he'd keep +her at any cost. He called himself a sentimental old fool after Peter +left him, and wondered why his eyes grew misty and there was a lump in +his throat as his thoughts kept going back to the South he wished he had +never seen. + +"Poor little Dora!" he said to himself; "but for me she might have been +alive and married to some respectable--No, by George!" he added +suddenly, with a start which made his foot jump as he recalled the class +into which Dora would probably have married if he had not crossed her +path. "No, by George, I believe I'd rather she died in her youthful +beauty, and was buried by Jake in the sand, than to see her the wife of +some lout, and rubbing her gums with snuff." + +He was roused from his reverie by wheels crunching on the gravel walk up +to a side door, and he heard Sarah's voice and Cindy's, the cook's, and +finally Amy's giving directions, and felt sure some one had come for +whatever was to go from the Crompton Place to the sale. Ruby had not +intended sending so soon when she left the house, but chancing to meet a +drayman who had just deposited a load in the salesrooms, she bade him go +for whatever was ready, thinking, "I'll strike while the iron is hot, +and before Mrs. Amy has time to change her mind." + +There was no danger of that, at least as far as the dresses were +concerned. Like everything connected with her stage life, they had been +to her a kind of nightmare whenever she thought of them, and she was +glad to be rid of them. Mandy Ann and Judy did give her a few pangs, and +especially the latter, and as she wrapped it in tissue paper she held it +for a moment pressed close to her, and began a song she had heard from +the negroes as they sat around their light-wood fire after their day's +work was done. It was a weird melody which Homer Smith had caught up and +revised and modernized, with a change of words in some places, and made +her sing, knowing it would bring thunders of applause. She heard the +roar now, and saw the audience and the flowers falling around her, and +with an expression of disgust she put Judy into Sarah's hands, and said, +"Take her away, and quick, too. She, or something, brings it back." + +Sarah took poor, discarded Judy, tied her in her chair in the old doll +house, which was placed on top of the two trunks containing Amy's +concert dresses, and then the drayman started up his horse, and the +Colonel heard the wheels a second time coming past his window. With a +great effort he succeeded in getting upon his well foot, and, dragging +the other after him, hobbled on his crutches to the window in time to +see the cart as it turned into the avenue. As far as he could see it he +watched it as the doll house swung from side to side, and the drayman +held it to keep it from falling off. + +"I don't see how Amy could have done it," the Colonel said to himself +when the dray disappeared from view, and then becoming conscious of the +pain in his foot, he dragged himself back to his chair, and ringing for +Peter, said to him: "I think I'll lie down a spell,--and, bring me a +hot-water bag, I'm pretty cold, and my foot just jumps; and, Peter, go +to-day and buy those things as if they were for yourself. You mustn't +lie, of course,--but get 'em somehow, and bring them here to this big +closet. The chances are when Mrs. Amy comes to her senses she'll want +'em, and raise Ned, as she used to. I'd give a good deal to see her in a +tantrum. I'd rather have her that way than passive, as she is now. Will +nothing ever rouse her out of her apathy? Curse that Homer Smith!" + +He was talking to himself rather than to Peter, who got him on to the +lounge, adjusted the cushions, brought a hot-water bag, covered him up, +and then left him, saying, "Don't fret, I'll go this afternoon and get +Judy and Mandy Ann by fair means or foul." + +"All right," the Colonel said drowsily. "Fair means or foul, but don't +lie, and don't let them think they are for me. _You_ want them, and must +get them, fair means or foul. You know where my purse is. Hold your +tongue, and go!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE FIRST SALE + + +Order was being brought out of chaos in the Rummage rooms, where twenty +ladies were working industriously, sorting, pricing, and marking the +multitudinous articles heaped upon the counters. Not only District No. +5, but the village had emptied itself, glad to be rid of the +accumulations of years. Nearly every room was occupied, and the +committees were showing great skill in assigning things to the different +departments. The antiques had a niche by themselves; the quill wheel, +the warming-pan, the foot-stove, the brass kettle with Peter's +boot-jack, and many more articles of a similar character were placed +together. Jack's sister had responded quickly, and a large box had +arrived with articles curious and new, which elicited cries of delight +from the ladies in charge, who marked them at a ridiculously low price, +less even, in some instances, than had been paid for them, and labelled +their corner "The New York Store." + +Scarcely was this completed when the drayman arrived from Crompton Place +with the doll house and the two trunks, the last of which were pounced +upon first, as Ruby Ann had reported what was in them. Her description, +however, had fallen far short of the reality, and the ladies held their +breath, as one after another of the beautiful gowns was taken out for +exhibition. Few had ever seen anything just like them. Homer Smith had +prided himself upon being a connoisseur in ladies' costumes and had +directed all of Amy's, taking care that there was no sham about them. +Everything was real, from the fabric itself to the lace which trimmed +it, and which alone had cost him hundreds of dollars. And now they were +at a Rummage Sale, and the managers did not know what to do with them. +It was scarcely possible that any one would buy them, and it would be +greatly out of place to exhibit them in the dry-goods department with +Mrs. Biggs's brown and white spotted gown which she had contributed +rather unwillingly, insisting that it should not be sold for less than a +dollar. Ruby Ann suggested that they be carefully folded in boxes and +laid away by themselves for inspection by any one who had a thought of +buying them. If they did not sell, and probably they would not, they +were to be returned either to Amy or to the Colonel,--the latter most +likely, as Amy had expressed so strong a desire to be rid of them. Her +suggestion was acted upon, and the dresses laid aside, and the attention +of the managers turned to the doll house and its occupants, Mandy Ann +and Judy, the latter of whom was greeted with shrieks of laughter. + +Here was something that would sell, but what price to put upon it was a +puzzle. No one had any idea of the original cost. Mrs. Biggs, who had +joined the working force and whose voice was loudest everywhere, +suggested ten dollars, with the privilege of falling, but was at once +talked down, as low prices were to be the rule for everything, and five +was quite enough. There were few who would pay that for a mere +plaything for their children, so the card upon it was marked five +dollars, with the addition that it had once belonged to Mrs. Amy +Crompton Smith. It was then placed conspicuously in a window before +which a group of eager, excited children gathered, and to which early in +the afternoon Peter came leisurely. + +The Colonel had asked him several times why he didn't go, and had +finally grown so petulant that Peter had started, wondering how much +he'd have to pay and what excuse he was to make for wanting it himself. +His instructions were not to lie, but get it somehow without using the +Colonel's name. Finding Ruby Ann alone, he began, "I say, do you make +any sales before the thing opens?" + +"Why, yes, we can," Ruby answered. "Several antiques are promised, if +not actually sold, your boot-jack with the rest. Could sell another if +we had it. Any particular thing you want?" + +"Yes, I want that house in the window and the two women in it,--Mandy +Ann and Judy. It's marked five dollars. Here's your money," and he laid +a crisp five-dollar bill in her hand. + +"Why, Peter,--why, Peter," Ruby exclaimed in surprise, with a sense of +regret that more had not been asked, and a feeling of wonder as to why +Peter wanted it. "Are you buying it for yourself?" she asked, and Peter +replied, "Who should I buy it for? I knew Mrs. Amy when she was a little +girl and played with it and slept with that nigger baby Judy. I've +bought it. It's mine, and I'll take it right away. There's a drayman +now, bringing a worn-out cook-stove and an old lounge." + +"Oh, but, Peter,--please leave it till the sale is over. It draws +people to look at it, and then they'll come in," Ruby said, while others +of the ladies joined their entreaties with hers. + +But Peter was firm. He had bought the doll house and paid for it. It was +his, and in spite of the protests of the entire committee which gathered +round him like a swarm of bees he took it away, and an hour later it was +safely deposited in the Colonel's room without Amy's knowledge. The +Colonel was delighted. + +"Bring it close up," he said, "but first take off that infernal card +that it belonged to 'Mrs. Amy Crompton Smith.' That's the way they'd +marked my trousers! Give me Mandy Ann and Judy. I haven't seen them in +more than twenty years,--yes, nearer thirty. Upon my soul they wear +well, especially the old lady. She was never very handsome, but Amy +liked her best," he said, laughing a little as Peter put Judy in his +lap. + +He did not know that he had ever touched her before, and he held her +between his thumb and finger, with something which felt like a swelling +in his throat,--not for Judy, nor for Amy, but for poor Dory, thoughts +of whom were haunting him these days with a persistency he could not +shake off. + +"What did you give?" he asked, and Peter replied. "Five dollars,--just +what it was marked." + +"Five dollars! Heavens and earth!" and Judy fell to the floor, while the +Colonel grasped his knees with his hands and sat staring at Peter. "Five +dollars! Are you an idiot, and have none of them common sense?" he +asked, and Peter replied, "That was the price, and I didn't like to beat +them down." + +Ruby Ann isn't easy to tackle, and Mrs. Biggs was there with her gab, +if she is my niece, and said I got it dirt cheap." + +"Go to thunder with your Ruby Ann and Mrs. Biggs and dirt cheap!" the +Colonel roared. "Who said I wanted you to beat 'em down? Why, man, I +told you I gave thirty for the house and five for Mandy Ann, and here +they have sold the whole caboodle, Judy and all, for five dollars! Five +dollars! Do you hear? Five dollars, for what cost thirty-five! I +consider they've insulted Mandy Ann and Judy both. Five dollars! I'll +be--" + +He didn't finish his sentence, for he heard Amy's voice in the hall. She +might be coming, and he said hastily to Peter, "Put them in the closet. +Don't let her see them, or there'll be the old Harry to pay." + +Peter obeyed, but Amy did not come in, and after a moment the Colonel +continued, "We will keep them here a while. I dare say she'll never +think of them again. She doesn't think much. Do you believe she will +ever be any better?" + +The Colonel's voice shook as he asked the question, and Peter's shook a +little as he replied, "Please God she may. A great shock of some kind +might do it." + +"Yes, but where is the shock to come from, hedged round as she is from +every rough wind or care?" the Colonel said, little thinking with what +strides the shock was hastening on, or through what channel it was to +come. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +AT THE RUMMAGE + + +The rooms were ready at last, and twenty tired ladies went through them +to see that every thing was in its proper place, and then went home with +high anticipations of the morrow and what it would bring. It opened most +propitiously and was one of those soft, balmy September days, more like +early June than autumn. There were brisk sales and crowds of people all +day, with the probability of greater crowds and brisker sales in the +evening. Jack Harcourt was in and out, watching the sale of what his +sister had sent, drinking cups of chocolate every time a pretty girl +asked him to do so, and buying toys and picture books and candy, and +distributing them among the children gathered around the door and +windows. He thought he had looked at everything on sale, but had failed +to find the white apron. Where was it? he wondered. He would not ask +Ruby Ann or Mrs. Biggs, as that would be giving himself away. It would +certainly be there in the evening when he was to bring Eloise in her +chair. He had settled that with Tim, who gave up rather unwillingly, but +was consoled by being hired as errand boy,--an office he could not have +filled had he been hampered with a wheel chair. + +The night was glorious, with a moon near its full, and a little before +seven Jack presented himself at Mrs. Biggs's, finding Eloise ready and +alone. Tim was at the rooms, running hither and thither at everybody's +beck and call, and his mother was there, running the whole +thing,--judging from her manner as she moved among the crowd filling the +rooms nearly to suffocation. Eloise had more than once changed her mind +about going, as she sat waiting for Jack. She was shy with strangers, +and there would be so many there, and she would be so conspicuous in her +chair, with Mr. Harcourt in attendance, that she began to doubt the +propriety of going. + +"If it were Tim who was to take me, I believe I should feel +differently," she was thinking, when Jack came in, breezy and +excited,--full of the Rummage and anxious to be off. + +"You are ready, I see," he said. "That's right. We have no time to lose. +And there's no end of fun. I've been there half the day, and drank +chocolate, and eaten cake and candy till I never want to see any more. +But you will." + +He was adjusting her dress and getting the chair in motion as he talked, +and Eloise had no time to suggest that she ought not to go, before she +found herself out upon the piazza, and Jack, who had locked the door, +was putting the key under the mat. + +"You see I remember where I found it that time Howard and I desiccated +the Sabbath by calling upon you," he said, with a laugh in which Eloise +joined. + +"Is Mr. Howard going?" she asked, and Jack replied, "He is a kind of +lazy fellow, but he'll be there all right;" and the first one they saw +distinctly as they drew near the house was Howard, struggling with the +crowd. + +Howard had gone down on purpose to see Eloise, and was wondering how +with her chair she could ever be gotten through that mass of people, +when she appeared at the door, and, with Howard, wondered how she was to +get in. She might not have accomplished it if he had not come to the +rescue with two boys,--one Tim Biggs, the other a tall, freckled-faced, +light-haired fellow whom Jack greeted as Tom, saying, "Can you manage to +find a good position for Miss Smith?" + +"You bet," came simultaneously from both boys, and immediately four +sharp elbows were being thrust into the sides of the people, who moved +all they could and made a passage for Eloise and her chair near the +middle of the room, and in a comparatively sheltered place where she +could see everything without being jostled. + +If she could see everything and everybody, so everybody could see her, +and for a moment there was a hush in the large room where every eye was +turned upon Eloise, who began to feel very uncomfortable, and wish she +had not come. She had wondered what she ought to wear, and had decided +upon black as always suitable. When she left California her mother had +urged her to take a small velvet cape lined with ermine. It was the only +expensive article of dress she had, and she was very choice of it, but +to-night she wore it about her shoulders, as later the air was inclined +to blow up cool and damp from the sea. Just as they reached the house +Jack stooped to arrange it, throwing it back on either side so that more +of the ermine would show. + +"There! You look just like a queen! Ermine is very becoming to you," he +said, and the people staring at her thought so, too. + +Her head was uncovered, and her hair, which waved softly around her +forehead, was wound in a flat knot low in her neck, making her look very +young, as she sat shrinking from the fire of eyes directed towards her +and saw, if she did not hear, the low whispers of the people, many of +whom had never seen her before, and were surprised at her extreme youth +and beauty. Ruby Ann was at a distance, trying to sell Mrs. Biggs's +spotted brown and white wrapper to a scrub woman who was haggling over +the price which Mrs. Biggs had insisted should be put upon it. That good +woman was busy in the supper-room, or she would have made her way at +once to Eloise, who, as she looked over the sea of faces confronting +her, saw no one she knew except Howard Crompton, who had been very +uncomfortable in the heat and air of the place until she came, and with +her fresh, fair young face seemed at once to change the whole +atmosphere. Jack, who was not used to much exertion and had found even +Eloise's light weight a trifle heavy, especially up the hill near the +Rummage house, was sweating at every pore, and fanning himself with a +palm leaf he had bought at the entrance. + +"By George!" he said to Howard, who was standing by them. "It's hotter +than a furnace in here. I believe I'll have to go outside and cool off a +minute, if you'll stay and keep guard over Miss Smith." + +"Certainly;--with pleasure," Howard said, putting his hand on Eloise's +chair and asking if there was anything he could do for her. + +She was watching the brown and white spotted gown, and to Howard's +question she shook her head, while he continued, "Jack says the +chocolate is pretty fair. He ought to know--he has drank six cups. I am +going to bring you some." + +Before she could protest that she did not care for chocolate, he left +her and his place was at once taken by the tall, lank, light-haired boy, +whose elbows had done so good execution in forcing a passage for the +chair. Tom had been watching her ever since she came in, and making up +his mind. He had heard she was pretty, but that did not begin to express +his opinion of her, as she sat with the ermine over her shoulders, the +soft sheen on her hair, the bright color on her cheeks, and a look in +her eyes which fascinated him, boy though he was, as it did many an +older man, from Mr. Bills to Jack, and Howard Crompton. If his two chips +had not been thrown away he would have thrown them now, and still the +feeling in him which people called _cussedness_ was so strong that he +could not repress a desire "to see what stuff she was made off." + +Taking Howard's vacant place he pushed himself forward until he was +nearly in front of her, where he could look into her face. She +recognized him as the boy Jack had called Tom, and guessed who he +was,--her eyes drooping under his rather bold gaze, and her color coming +and going. Tom was not sure what he was going to say to her, and could +never understand why he said what he did. He had been told so often by +Mr. Bills and others that he needed _licking_, and so many teachers had +_licked_ him, to say nothing of his drunken father, that the idea was in +his mind, but as something wholly at variance with this dainty little +girl, who at last looked at him fearlessly. She knew he was going to +speak to her, but was not prepared for his question. + +"You are the new schoolmarm, ain't you? Do you think you could _lick_ +me?" + +Just for an instant Eloise was too much surprised to answer, while the +hot blood surged into her face, then left it spotted here and there, +making Tom think of pink rose petals with white flecks in them. But she +didn't take her eyes from the boy, who was ashamed of himself before she +said with a pleasant laugh, "I know I couldn't; and I don't believe I +shall ever wish to try. I am the new school-teacher, and you are Mr. +Thomas Walker!" + +She did not know why she put on the Mr. It came inadvertently, but was +the most fortunate thing she could have done. To be called Thomas was +gratifying, but the Mr. was quite overpowering and made Tom her ally at +once. + +"I'm Thomas Walker,--yes," he said. "Miss Patrick has told you about me, +I dare say,--and Mr. Bills, and Widder Biggs, and Tim. Oh, I know he's +told you a lot what I was goin' to do,--but it's a lie. I have plagued +Miss Patrick some, I guess, and she whaled me awful once, but I've +reformed. I didn't s'pose you was so little. I could throw you over the +house, but I shan't. Say, when are you going to begin? I'm tired of Miss +Patrick's everlasting same ways of doing things, and want something +new,--something modern, you know." + +He was getting very familiar, and Eloise was chatting with him on the +most friendly terms, when Howard came back with a cup of chocolate, a +part of which was spilled before he reached her. Howard knew who the +young blackguard was, and glowered at him disapprovingly, but Eloise +said, "Mr. Crompton, this is Thomas Walker, one of my biggest scholars +that is to be. Some difference in our height, isn't there? but we shall +get on famously. I like big boys and taught a lot of them in Mayville." + +She smiled up at Tom and gave him her empty cup to take away. He would +have stood on his head if she had asked him to, and he hurried off with +the cup, meeting Jack, who had cooled himself, bought a pound of candy +at one table and some flowers at another, and was making his way back to +Eloise. He had also looked round a little for the apron he was going to +buy, but could not find it. He'd make another tour of inspection later, +he thought, for he meant to have it, if it were still there. Taking his +stand on one side of Eloise's chair while Howard stood on the other, the +three made a striking tableau at which many looked admiringly, +commenting upon the beauty of the young girl,--the kind, good-humored +face of Jack, and the haughty bearing of Howard, who, an aristocrat to +his finger tips, watched the proceedings with an undisguised look of +contempt showing itself in his sarcastic smile and the expression of his +eyes. + +Eloise was greatly interested and so expressed herself. She had seen the +scrub woman haggling with Ruby Ann over the brown and white spotted +wrapper, and had seen it laid aside until another customer came, when +the same haggling took place with the same result, for Mrs. Biggs, who +darted in and out, still clung to the price put upon it and so retarded +the sale. The last time Ruby Ann brought it out Howard and Jack both +recognized it. + +"By Jove! I've half a mind to buy it myself as a kind of souvenir," +Jack said, but a look of disgust in Eloise's face and a frown on +Howard's deterred him, and he kept very quiet for a while, wondering +where that apron was and if by any possibility it could have been sold. + +The box of articles which Jack's sister had sent from New York had been +sold early in the day, and Amy's dresses had not been opened. Nearly +everything of any value was gone. Two of Howard's neckties still +remained conspicuously near the young men, who watched Tom Walker as he +examined them very critically, and they heard the saleswoman say, "They +belonged to Mr. Howard Crompton. They say he has dozens of them and all +first-class. This suits you admirably,"--and she held up a white satin +one with a faint tinge of blue. + +Tom took it, disappeared for a few minutes, and when he came back to the +chair he was resplendent in his new necktie which he had adjusted in the +dressing-room, adding to it a Rhine-stone pin bought at the jewelry +counter. Howard's vanity told him he was complimented, and that +restrained the laugh which sprang to his lips at the incongruity between +Tom's dress and the satin necktie bought for a grand occasion in Boston, +which Howard had attended a few months before. On his way back to the +group to which he felt he belonged Tom had stopped at the candy table +and inquired the price of the fanciful boxes, his spirits sinking when +told the pounds were fifty cents and the half-pounds twenty-five. Money +was not very plenty with Tom, and what he had he earned himself. The +necktie had made a heavy draft on him, and twenty cents was all he could +find in either pocket. + +"I say, Tim, lend me a nickel. I'll pay it back. I hope to die if I +don't," he said to Tim, who was hurrying past him on some errand for his +mother. + +"I hain't no nickels to lend," was Tim's answer, as he disappeared in +the crowd, leaving Tom hovering near the candy table and looking +longingly at the only half-pound box left. + +"I say," he began, edging up to the girl in charge, "can't you take out +a piece or two and let me have it for twenty cents? All the money I have +in the world! 'Strue's I live, and I want it awfully for the new +schoolmarm over there in the chair with them swells standin' by her." + +It was the last half-pound box and the girl was tired. + +"Yes, take it," she said, and Tom departed, happier if possible with his +candy than with his necktie. + +"I bought it for you. It's chocolate. I hope you like it," he said, +depositing his gift in Eloise's lap, where Jack's box was lying open and +half empty, for Eloise's weakness was candy. + +"Oh, thank you, Thomas," she said, beaming upon him a smile which more +than repaid him for having spent all his money for her. + +She was really very happy and thought a good deal of Rummage Sales. She +had the best place in the hall;--a good many people had spoken to her. +She had won Tom Walker, body and soul, and she knew that her escorts, +Howard and Jack, added _éclat_ to her position. She had scarcely thought +of her foot, which at last began to ache a little. She was getting tired +and wondered how much longer the sale would last. Jack wondered so, too; +not that he was tired. He could have stood all night looking at Eloise +and seeing the people admire her; but he was rather stout and apt to +get very warm in a room where the atmosphere was close as it was here, +and he wanted to be out in the fresh air again. He could take his time +wheeling Eloise home, and if Mrs. Biggs staid at the rooms, as he heard +her say she was going to do "till the last dog was hung," he could stay +out in the porch and enjoy the moonlight with Eloise's eyes shining upon +him. But where was that apron? Perhaps it hadn't come after all. He'd +inquire. But of whom? Mrs. Biggs was in the supper-room. He did not care +to go there again, for every time he appeared somebody was sure to get +off on him a cup of chocolate or coffee, and he could not drink any +more. + +Ruby Ann was busy,--her face very red and her eyes very tired, as she +tried to sell the most unsalable articles to old women who wanted +something for nothing, and quarrelled with the quality and quarrelled +with the price. His only recourse was Eloise, and he planned a long time +how to approach the subject without mentioning her apron. At last a +happy inspiration came to him, and when Howard's attention was diverted +another way he bent over her and began. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE AUCTION + + +"Astonishing, isn't it, where all the stuff comes from? Somebody must +have given very freely. I never gave a thing except money. Bell sent a +lot to be sure, and it's all sold. They had a pile from the Crompton +House. They were good at begging. They didn't expect anything of you, a +stranger, of course?" + +"Oh, yes," Eloise replied. "I had an apron which Miss Patrick seemed to +think might sell for something. It was rather pretty, and I made it +myself. I haven't seen it, and think it may have been sold, or perhaps +Mrs. Biggs, who had it in charge, forgot it. She has had a great deal on +her mind." + +Jack did not hear more than half Eloise was saying. One fact alone was +clear. She had expected the apron to be there and he would look it up. + +"Excuse me," he said, and going into the room where Mrs. Biggs was +trying to make half a loaf of bread do duty as a whole loaf to a party +just arrived, he said to her, "Pardon me, Mrs. Biggs, but did you send +or bring Miss Smith's contribution to the sale? I believe it was an +apron. She has not seen it." + +The bread fell from Mrs. Biggs's hand to the table, and the knife +followed it to the floor as she exclaimed, "Lord of heavens! I forgot +it till this minute. Where's Tim?" + +She darted from the room and found Tim bringing two pails of water, "the +last gol darned thing he was going to do that night," he said, as he put +them down. Seizing him by the collar his mother almost shrieked, "Run +home for your life, Tim!" + +"Why-er,--what-er! Is our house afire?" Tim asked, and his mother +replied, "No, but Miss Smith's apron is there. I clean forgot it. You'll +find it in a paper box on my bed, or in my bureau, or on the closet +shelf, pushed away back, or somewhere. Now clip it." + +Tim started without his hat, and the last thing he heard was his +mother's voice shrill as a clarion, "If you don't find the key under the +mat, climb inter the but'ry winder, but don't upset the mornin's milk!" + +Business was beginning to slacken and sales were few. Some of the people +had gone home and others were going, and still there were quantities of +goods unsold. An auction was the only alternative and Mr. Bills, who, to +his office of school commissioner, added that of auctioneer, was sent +for. There was no one like him in Crompton for disposing of whatever was +to be disposed of, from a tin can to a stove-pipe hat. He could judge +accurately the nature and disposition of his audience,--knew just what +to say and when to say it, and had the faculty of making people bid +whether they wanted to or not. To hear him was as good as a circus, his +friends said, and when it became known that he was to auction off the +goods remaining from the sale, many who had left came back, filling the +rooms again nearly as full as they were early in the evening. + +Eloise's chair was moved a little more to the front,--a long counter +was cleared, and on it Mr. Bills took his stand, smiling blandly upon +the crowd around him and then bowing to Eloise and her escorts, Jack and +Howard. He was bound to do his best before them and took up his work +eagerly. He was happiest when selling clothes which he could try on, or +pretend to, and after disposing of several bonnets amid roars of +laughter he took up Mrs. Biggs's gown, which Ruby Ann had not been able +to sell. Here was something to his mind and he held it out and up, and +tried its length on himself and expatiated upon its beauty and its style +and durability until he got a bid of twenty-five cents, and this from +Howard, who said to Eloise, "It seems a pity not to start the old thing +at something, and I suppose the Charitable Society will take it. I +believe there is one in town." + +Eloise did not answer. The spotted gown was an offence to her, and she +shut her eyes while Mr. Bills, delighted that he had a bid at last and +from such a source, began, "Thank you, sir. You know a good thing when +you see it, but only twenty-five cents! A mere nothing. Somebody will +give more, of course, for this fine tea gown to put on hot afternoons. +Just the thing. Twenty-five cents! Twenty-five cents! Do I hear more? +Twenty-five! Did you say thirty?" and he looked at Jack, who half +nodded, and the bids, raised five cents at a time, rolled on between +Jack and Howard and another young man, who cared nothing for the gown, +but liked the fun. Fifty cents was reached at last, and there the +bidding ceased and Mr. Bills was ringing the changes on half a dollar, +half a dollar, for a _robe de chambre_;--he called it that sometimes, +and sometimes a tea gown, and once a _robe de nu-it_, which brought +peals of laughter from those who understood the term, as he certainly +did not. In the dining-room Mrs. Biggs was busy washing dishes, but kept +her ears open to the sounds in the next room, knowing Mr. Bills was +there and anxious to get in and see the fun. When the last shouts +reached her she dropped her dish towel, saying to her companion, "I +can't stand it any longer. I've got to go and see what Bills is up to!" + +Elbowing her way in she caught sight of her gown held aloft by Mr. +Bills, and heard his voluble "Going, going, at fifty cents." + +She had thought it low at a dollar, and here it was as good as gone for +fifty cents,--to whom she did not know or care,--probably the scrub +woman who had looked at it earlier in the evening and offered sixty. Her +blood was up, and making her way to Mr. Bills she snatched at her gown, +exclaiming, "It's mine, and shall never go for fifty cents, I tell you!" + +Here was a diversion, and Mr. Bills met it beautifully. + +"Jess so, Miss Biggs," he said, bowing low to her. "I admire your taste +and judgment. I've told 'em time and time over it was worth more than +fifty. The fact is they don't know what is what, but you and I do. Shall +we double right up and shame 'em by sayin' a dollar? A dollar! A dollar! +and going!" + +Mrs. Biggs did not know that she assented, she was so excited, and +afterwards declared she didn't: but the final Going was said, with +"Gone! to Mrs. Biggs, for one dollar. Cheap at that!" + +At this juncture, when the hilarity was at its height and Mrs. Biggs was +marching off with her property, which she said she should never pay +for, Tim appeared, hatless and coatless, but with the box in his hand. +When Jack locked the door he pushed the key further under the mat than +was usual, and failing to find it at once, and being in a hurry, Tim +made his entrance into the house through the pantry window, upsetting +the pan of milk and a bowl of something, he did not stop to see what, in +his haste to find the box. It was not on the bed, nor on the bureau, nor +pushed back on a shelf in the closet. It was on a chair near the door +where his mother had put it and then forgotten it. As the key was +outside Tim made his exit the way he came in, stopping a moment to look +at the milk the cat was lapping with a great deal of satisfaction. + +"Bobbs, you'll have a good supper, and I shall catch old hundred for +giving it to you," he said, picking up the pan and springing through the +window. + +He was very warm, and taking off his coat he threw it across his arm and +started rapidly for the sale, knowing before he reached it that Mr. +Bills was there by the sounds he heard. He had no thought that the apron +was not to be sold at auction. Probably that was why it was wanted, and +pushing through the crowd to Mr. Bills he handed him the box, saying, +"Here 'tis. I 'bout run my legs off to get it. Make 'em pay smart." + +"Mr. Bills! Mr. Bills!" came excitedly from Ruby Ann, but Mr. Bills did +not hear, the buzz of voices was so great. + +He had opened the box and taken out the apron, which he handled far more +carefully than he had the spotted gown. + +"Now this is something like first-class business," he said, holding it +up. "The prettiest thing you ever saw,--a girl's apron, all ruffled and +prinked, and,--yes,--made by--" + +He had glanced at the card, which said it was made by Miss Smith, and +was about to announce that fact, feeling sure it would bring bidders, +when he chanced to look at Eloise, whose face was nearly as white as the +apron, and in whose eyes he saw an expression which checked the words. +But he had no idea of relinquishing the article, and misunderstood the +motion of Jack's hand to stop him. + +"Now, give me an offer," he began,--"a first-rate one, too; none of your +quarters, nor halves. Bid high and show you know something. 'Tain't +every day you have a chance to buy as fine a thing as this. You who have +wives, or daughters, or sisters, or sweethearts, or want it for +yourselves, speak up! Walk up! Roll up! Tumble up! Any way to get up, +only come up and bid!" + +He was looking at Jack, whose face was as red as Eloise's was pale. + +"If the thing must be sold at auction it shall bring a good price, and +I'll get it, too," he thought. + +Standing close to him was Tom Walker, who all the evening had hovered +near Eloise. + +"Tom," Jack said. "I have a sister, you know." + +Tom didn't know, but he nodded, and Jack went on: "That apron is the +only thing I've seen that I really want for her. I am not worth a cent +to bid. Will you do it for me?" + +Tom nodded again, and Jack continued, "Well, start pretty high. Keep +your eyes on me, and when I look at you raise the bid if there is any +against you. Understand?" + +"Yes, sir," Tom answered, understanding more than Jack thought he did. + +He guessed whose apron it was and did not believe much in the sister, +but he had his instructions and waited for the signal. Howard had +watched the sale of the spotted gown with a great deal of amusement, but +was beginning to feel tired with standing so long, and was wondering +when Jack proposed taking Eloise home. That he would go with them was a +matter of course, and he was about to speak to Jack when Tim came in and +the apron sale began. He had no idea whose it was until he saw the halt +in Mr. Bills's manner, and looked at Eloise. Then he knew, and knew, +too, that nothing could get Jack away till the apron was disposed of. +That Jack would buy it he did not for a moment dream, for what could he +do with it? "But yes, he is going to buy it," he thought, as he heard +Jack's instructions to Tom, "and I mean to have some fun with him, and +run that apron up." + +Close to him was Tim, and the sight of him put an idea into Howard's +mind. It would be jolly for Tom and Tim to bid against each other, while +he and Jack backed them. + +"Tim," he said, laying his hand on the boy's arm, "I am going to buy +that apron for Mrs. Amy, and I want you to bid for me against Tom Walker +and everybody. I have no idea what it is worth, but when I squeeze your +arm _so_, bid higher!" + +He gave Tim's arm a clutch so tight that the boy started away from him, +saying, "Great Peter, don't pinch like that! You hurt! 'cause I'm in my +shirt sleeves." + +"All right. I'll be more careful," Howard said. "Now begin, before Tom +has time to open the ball." + +"Yes, but-er, what-er shall I bid?" Tim stammered. + +"How do I know? It's Miss Smith's, and on that account valuable. Go in +with a dollar." + +All this time Mr. Bills had been talking himself hoarse over the merits +of the apron, while his audience were watching Howard and Jack, with a +feeling of certainty that they were intending to bid, but they were not +prepared for Tim's one dollar, which startled every one and none more so +than his mother, who, having rolled up her spotted gown "in a _wopse_," +as she said, and put it with her dish pan and towels, had come back in +time to hear Tim's astonishing bid. She could not see him for the crowd +in front of her, but she could make him hear, and her voice was shrill +and decided as she called out, "Timothy Biggs! Be you crazy? and where +are you to get your dollar, I'd like to know!" + +"Tell mother to mind her business! I know what I'm about!" Tim said to +some one near him, while Mr. Bills rang the changes on that dollar with +astonishing volubility, and Tom kept his eyes on Jack for a signal to +raise. + +Jack was taken by surprise, but readily understood that it was Howard +against whom he had to contend and not Tim. + +"All right, old chap," he whispered, then looked full at Tom, who, eager +as a young race horse, shouted a dollar and a half! + +"All right," Jack said again, and turned to Eloise on whose face there +was now some color, as she began to share in the general excitement +pervading the room and finding vent in laughter and cheers when Tom's +bid was raised to two dollars by Tim, and two and a quarter was as +quickly shrieked by Tom. Everybody now understood the contest and +watched it breathlessly, a great roar going up when Tim lost his head +and mistaking a slight movement of Howard's hand on his arm, raised his +own bid from three dollars to three and a half! + +"That's right," Mr. Bills said; "you know a thing or two. We are getting +well under way. Never enjoyed myself so well in my life. Three and a +half! three and a half! Who says four?" + +"I do," Tom yelled, his yell nearly drowned by the cheers of the +spectators, some of whom climbed on chairs and tables to look at Tom and +Tim standing, one next to Howard and the other next to Jack, with Eloise +the central figure, her ermine cape thrown back, and drops of sweat upon +her forehead and around her mouth. + +She almost felt as if it were herself Howard and Jack were contending +for instead of her apron, which Mr. Bills was waving in the air like a +flag, with a feeling that he had nearly exhausted his vocabulary and +didn't know what next to say. Four dollars was a great deal for an +apron, he knew, but he kept on ringing the changes on the four +dollars,--a measly price for so fine an article, and for so good a cause +as a Public Library. And while he talked and repeated his _going, +going_, faster and faster, Tim stood like a hound on a leash fretting +for a sign to raise. + +"You ain't goin' to be beat by Tom Walker, be you?" he said, in a +whisper to Howard, who gave him a little squeeze, with the words "Go +easy," spoken so low that Tim did not hear them, and at once raised the +four dollars to four and a half, while quick as lightning Tom responded +with five dollars. + +Jack hadn't really looked at him, but it did not matter. He was going +to have the apron, and turning to Howard he said, "I don't know how long +you mean to keep this thing up. I am prepared to go on all night." + +Howard felt sure he was and decided to stop, and his hand dropped from +Tim's shoulder quite to the disgust of that young man, who said, "You +goin' to let 'em lick us?" + +"I think I'll have to," Howard replied, while "Five dollars, and going!" +filled the room until the final "Gone!" was spoken, and the people gave +gasps of relief that it was over. + +"Sold for five dollars to Thomas Walker, who will please walk up to the +captain's office and pay," Mr. Bills said, handing the apron to Tom, who +held it awkwardly, as if afraid of harming it. + +"I guess it's yourn," he said, giving it to Jack, who knew as little +what to do with it as Tom. + +Ruby came to his aid and took it from him. She had watched the +performance with a great deal of interest, comprehending it perfectly +and feeling in a way sorry for Eloise, whose lips quivered a little when +she went up to her, and bending over her said, "You should feel +complimented, but I'm afraid you are very tired." + +"Yes, very tired and warm. I want to get into the fresh air," Eloise +said, shivering as if she were cold instead of warm. + +Jack had gone to the cashier's desk to pay for the apron, and Tom +undertook the task of getting the wheel chair through the crowd, running +against the people promiscuously, if they impeded his progress, and +caring little whom he hit if he got Eloise safely outside the door. The +night was at its best, almost as light as day, as they emerged from the +hot, close room, and Eloise drew long breaths of the cool air which blew +up fom the sea, the sound of whose waves beating upon the shore could be +heard even above the din of voices inside the building. The auction was +still going on, and Mr. Bills was doing his best, but the interest +flagged with the sale of the apron and the breaking up of the group +which had attracted so much attention. Even Mrs. Biggs's grandmother's +brass kettle, on which so many hopes were built, failed to create more +than a ripple, as Mr. Bills rang changes upon it both with tongue and +knuckles, and when his most eloquent appeals could not raise a higher +bid than ten cents, it was withdrawn by the disgusted widow, who put it +aside with her dish pan and towels and gown, and then went to find Tim +to take them home. + +Howard had been called by Ruby into the room where Amy's dresses were +lying in the boxes just as they came, and asked what they were to do +with them. + +"We could not offer them for sale, and she does not want them back," she +said. + +"Send them to the Colonel. She'll never know it, and the chance is will +never think of them again," Howard said, and then hurried outside to +where Eloise was still waiting and talking to Tom. + +"That apron went first rate," he said. "You must have felt glad they +thought so much of you, 'cause 'twas you and not the apron, though that +was pretty enough." + +"Oh!" Eloise replied, drawing her ermine cape around her shoulders, "I +don't know whether I was glad or not. I felt as if I were being sold to +the highest bidder." + +"That's so," Tom said. "It was something like it. Ain't you glad 'twas +Mr. Harcourt bought you instead of t'other?" + +Eloise laughed as she replied, "Why, Thomas, it was _you_ who bought me! +Have you forgotten?" + +She seemed so much in earnest that for a moment Tom thought she was, and +said, "You ain't so green as not to know that 'twas Mr. Harcourt eggin' +me on,--winkin' to me when to raise, and tellin' me to go high! You are +his'n, and I'm glad on't! I like him better than t'other; ain't so big +feelin'. Here they come, both on 'em." + +Howard had finished his business with Ruby Ann, and Jack had paid his +five dollars and received the apron, slightly mussed, but looking fairly +well in the box in which they put it. A good many people were leaving +the rooms again, and among them Tim, laden with his mother's dish pan +and towels, and dress and brass kettle, and one or two articles which +she had bought. + +"Hallo, Tim! You look some like a pack horse," Tom said, but Tim did not +answer. + +He was very tired, for with so many calling upon him through the day and +evening; he had run miles and received only seventy cents for it. He was +chagrined that he had raised his own bid, and wondered Tom did not chaff +him. It would come in time, he knew, and he felt angry at Tom, and angry +with the brass kettle and dish pan and dress which kept him from +wheeling Eloise instead of Tom, who, when they finally started, took his +place behind the chair as a matter of course, while Howard and Jack +walked on either side. It was a splendid night, and when Mrs. Biggs's +house was reached Howard and Jack would gladly have lingered outside +talking to Eloise, if they could have disposed of the boys. But the boys +were not inclined to be disposed of. Tom had become somebody in his own +estimation, and intended to stay as long as the young men did, while +Tim, having found the key, this time instead of entering by the pantry +window, unlocked the door, deposited his goods, and then came back, +saying to Eloise with a good deal of dignity for him, "Shall I take you +in?" + +"Yes, please. I think it's time," she said, and Howard and Jack knew +they were dismissed. "Thank you all so much for everything," she +continued, giving her hand to each of them in turn, and pressing Tom's a +little in token of the good feeling she felt sure was established +between them. + +It was not long before Mrs. Biggs came home, rather crestfallen that her +spotted gown and brass kettle had not been more popular, but jubilant +over the sale, the proceeds of which, so far as known when she left, +were over two hundred and fifty dollars. + +"Never was anything like it before in Crompton," she said, as she helped +Eloise to her bed lounge. "That apron sale beat all. Them young men +didn't care for the apron, of course, except that it was yours, and what +Mr. Harcourt will do with it I don't know. Said he was goin' to send it +to his sister. Maybe he is. He paid enough for it. Five dollars! I was +in hopes they'd run it up to ten! and I was sorry when 'twas over. Mr. +Bills kinder wilted after you all went out, and the whole thing flatted. +Well, good-night! You was the star! the synacure,--is that the word?--of +all eyes, and looked awful pretty in that white cape. I see you've got +Tom Walker, body and soul, but my land! you'd get anybody! Good-night, +again." + +She was gone at last, and Eloise was glad to lay her tired head upon her +pillow, falling asleep nearly as soon as she touched it, but dreaming of +the Rummage Sale and that she was being auctioned off instead of her +apron. It was a kind of nightmare, and her heart beat fast as the bids +came rapidly,--sometimes on Howard's side and sometimes on Jack's. She +called him _Jack_ in her dreams, and finally awoke with a start, saying +aloud, "I am glad it was Jack who bought me!" + + + + +PART III + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE BEGINNING OF THE END + + +The Rummage Sale was a great success and netted fully two hundred and +fifty dollars, besides quantities of goods of different kinds which were +left and given either to the poor or to the Charitable Society in +Crompton. The trunks containing Amy's dresses had been sent home without +Amy's knowledge, and deposited in the closet with Mandy Ann and Judy, +the Colonel swearing at first that he would have nothing pertaining to +Homer Smith so near him. The apron sale had been an absorbing topic of +conversation, the people wondering what Mr. Harcourt was going to do +with his purchase, and if he wouldn't give it back to Eloise. Nothing +was further from his thought. He had bought it to keep, and he laid it +away in the bottom of his trunk with the handkerchief Eloise had used +when he first called upon her. + +He was growing more and more in love with her and more unwilling to +leave Crompton. He had already staid longer than he had at first +intended, but it did not need Howard's urgent invitation for him to +prolong his visit. Every day he went to Mrs. Biggs's, and sometimes +twice a day, and took Eloise out in her arm-chair for an airing,--once +as far as to the school-house where Ruby Ann still presided, and where +Eloise hoped soon to take up her duties. She was very happy, or would +have been if she could have heard from California. Every day she hoped +for news, and every day was disappointed, until at last nearly a week +after the Rummage a letter came forwarded by her grandmother from +Mayville. It was from a physician to whom Eloise had twice written with +regard to her mother, and this was his reply: + +"Portland, Oregon, September --, 18--. + +"My Dear Miss Smith: + +"I left San Francisco several months ago and have been stopping in +several places, and that is why your letters were so long in reaching +me. They both came in the same mail, and I wrote to San Francisco to see +what I could learn with regard to your mother. It seems that the private +asylum of Dr. Haynes was broken up, as there were only three patients +when Mrs. Smith left, and it did not pay. Soon after your father died in +Santa Barbara, your mother was removed from the asylum by a gentleman +whose name I have thus far been unable to learn. I thought it must have +been some relative, but if you know nothing of it my theory is wrong. +Dr. Haynes went at once with his family to Europe, and is travelling on +the continent. His address is, Care of Munroe & Co., Bankers, 7 Rue +Scribe. Paris. Write him again, as he must know who took your mother +from his care. He may not be in Paris now, but your letter will reach +him in time. If there is anything I can do to help you, I will gladly do +it. If you were in San Francisco you might find some of the attendants +in the asylum, who could give you the information you desire. + +"Yours, very truly, + +"J.P. ALLING, M.D." + +It was Ruby who brought the letter one evening two or three days before +Eloise expected to make her first appearance in school. Mrs. Biggs and +Tim were out and Eloise was alone. Tearing open the envelope, she read +it quickly, and then with the bitterest cry Ruby had ever heard, covered +her face with her hands and sobbed: "My mother! Oh, my mother!" + +"Is she dead?" Ruby asked, and Eloise replied, "Worse than that, +perhaps. I don't know where she is. Read what it says." + +She gave the letter to Ruby, who read it twice; then, sitting down by +Eloise and passing her arm around her, she said, "I don't understand +what it means. Was your mother in a lunatic asylum?" + +"Oh, don't call it that!" Eloise answered. "It was a private asylum in +San Francisco,--very private and select, father said, but I never quite +believed her crazy. She was always quiet and sad and peculiar, and hated +the business, and so did I." + +"What was the business?" Ruby asked, and Eloise answered hesitatingly, +as if it were something of which to be ashamed, "She sang in public with +a troupe,--his troupe. He made her. She was the star and drew big +houses, she was so beautiful and sang so sweetly, without any apparent +effort. It was just like a bird, and when she sang the Southern melodies +she seemed to be in a trance, seeing things we could not see. It made me +cry to hear her. I know many good women are public singers, but mother +shrank from it, and when they cheered like mad there used to be a +frightened look in her eyes, as if she wondered why they were doing it +and wanted to hide, and when she got to our rooms she'd tremble and be +so cold and cry, while father sometimes scolded and sometimes laughed at +her. He tried to make me sing once. I have a fair voice, but I rebelled +and said I'd run away before I'd do it. He was very angry, and sent me +North to my grandmother, saying I was too great an expense to keep with +him unless I would help, and was a hindrance to my mother, who was +always so anxious about me. It nearly killed her to part with me. I was +all the comfort she had, she said, and she always called me Baby. Father +was not kind to her, and it seemed as if he hated me, and was jealous of +mother's love for me. When I heard he was dead, I could not feel badly, +as I ought, and did not cry. He was a very handsome man, and very nice +with people, who thought my mother a most fortunate woman to have so +polished and courteous a husband. They should have seen him as I saw him +at times, and heard him swear, as I have heard him, and call her names +till she was white as a corpse and fainted. I never saw her turn upon +him but once. I had asked her why she didn't leave him and go home, if +she had any to go to. That was when I was a little girl. + +"'I have no home or friends in all the wide world to go to' she said, +and then, with a sneer which was maddening, it meant so much, my father +said, 'Ask her who her father was and see if she can tell you.' + +"I didn't know then what he meant to insinuate, but mother did, and +there came a look into her eyes which frightened me, and her voice was +not mother's at all, as she walked straight up to him and said, 'How +dare you insult my mother!' + +"She looked like an enraged animal, and my father must have been afraid +she would attack him, for he tried to soothe her and succeeded at last +in doing so. I think there was some mystery about her father and mother, +as she would never talk of them. Once I asked her about them, and she +said she hadn't any; and she looked so strange that I never asked her +again. I knew she was born South, that her people were poor, and her +name Harris, and that is all I know, except that no better or lovelier +woman ever lived, and if she is really crazy father made her so, and I +cannot feel any love for him, or respect. If I ever had any, and I +suppose I must have had, he killed it long ago. The first thing I +remember of him in Rome, where I was born, he was practising some music +with mother,--playing for her while she sang, and I was standing by him, +putting my hands on his arm and trying to hum the tune. With a jerk he +said to my nurse, 'Take her away and keep her away.' + +"I am wicked, I know, to talk as I am doing, but it seems as if there +was a spell over me urging me to say things I never thought of saying. +It's a comfort to talk to some one who I know is my friend, and you are +so strong every way and have been so good to me." + +She laid her head on Ruby's arm like a tired child, and continued, "I +wrote to mother very often after I came to Mayville, and she replied, +telling me how she missed me, and how she always fixed her eyes on some +part of the house, fancying she saw me, and was singing to me, and I +used to listen nights and think I heard her grand voice as it rose and +fell, and the people cheering, and she so beautiful standing there for +the crowd to gaze at, and wishing she could get away from it all. + +"At last her letters ceased and father wrote that her mind had given way +suddenly;--that she was a raving maniac,--dangerous, I think he +said,--and I thought of the way she looked at him once when I was a +child, and he told me to ask her about her father. He said she was in +Dr. Haynes's private asylum, where she had the kindest of care. I think +I died many deaths in one when I heard that. I wrote her again and +again, and wanted to go to her, but my father forbade it. No one saw +her, he said, except her attendant and the physician,--not even himself, +as the sight of him threw her into paroxysms. I didn't wonder at that. +He sent my letters back, telling me she would not sense them, and they +would excite her if she did. Her only chance of recovery was in her +being kept perfectly quiet, with nothing to remind her of the past. + +"A few months ago he died suddenly in Santa Barbara. One of the troupe +wrote to grandma, and, as I told you, I did not cry; I couldn't. I was +too anxious about mother, and wrote at once to Dr. Haynes, but received +no answer. I waited a while and wrote again, with the same result. Then +I remembered Dr. Alling, who had attended me for some slight ailment, +and wrote to him, with the result you know. Some one has taken my mother +away. Who was it, and where is she? I feel as if I were going mad when I +think of the possibilities." + +She pressed her hands to her head and rocked to and fro, while Ruby +tried to quiet and comfort her. + +"I must go to San Francisco and find my mother. I would start +to-morrow, lame as I am, only I haven't the money, and grandma hasn't +it, either," she said. "Father made a great deal of money at times, but +he spent it as freely. Always stopped at the best hotels; had a suite of +rooms, with our meals served in them; drank the costliest wines, and +smoked the most expensive cigars, and bought mother such beautiful +dresses. I did not fare so well. Anything was good enough for me after I +refused to sing in public, and that was an added source of trouble to my +mother. I was always a bone of contention and it was, perhaps, as well +in some respects that I was sent away, only mother missed me so. I was +so glad to get this school, because it would give me something for my +mother, whom I hoped to bring home before long. And now, I don't know +where she is, but I must find her. Oh, what shall I do?" + +It was not often that Eloise talked of herself and her affairs. At +school in Mayville she had been very reticent with regard to her past, +and had seldom mentioned either her father or her mother. With Mrs. +Biggs she had been equally silent, and, try as she would, the good woman +had never been able to learn anything beyond what Eloise had first told +her,--that her father was dead and her mother in California;--in a +sanitarium, Mrs. Biggs had finally decided, and let the matter drop, +thinking she should some time know "if there was anything to know." Ruby +Ann had from the first seemed to Eloise like one to be trusted, and she +felt a relief in talking to her, and said more than she had at first +intended to say. + +For a moment Ruby was silent, while Eloise's head lay on her arm and +Eloise's hand was holding hers. She was thinking of the piano she +wanted to buy, the money for which was in the Crompton bank. There was a +struggle in her mind, and then she said, "I can loan you the money. I +know you will pay it back if you live, and if you don't, no matter. I +will not call it a loss if it does you any good." + +At first Eloise demurred, longing to accept the generous offer, and +fearing that she ought not. But Ruby overcame her scruples. + +"Naturally I shall keep your place in school, so I owe you something for +the business, don't you see?" she said. + +Eloise did not quite see, but she yielded at last, for her need was +great. + +"I don't think I'd tell Mrs. Biggs all the sad story, unless you want +the whole town to know it. Tell her you have had bad news from your +mother, and are going to her," Ruby suggested, when at last she said +good-night and went out, just as Mrs. Biggs came in. + +"Goin' away! Goin' to Californy! Your mother sick! What's the matter, +and how under the sun are you goin' alone, limpin' as you do? I knew +Ruby Ann would manage to keep the school if she once got it!" were some +of Mrs. Biggs's exclamations when told Eloise was to leave her. + +Eloise parried her questions very skilfully, saying nothing except that +her mother needed her and she was going to her, and Mrs. Biggs left her +more mystified than she had ever been in her life, but resolved "to get +at the bottom if she lived." + +That night Eloise, who was now sleeping in the chamber to which she had +first been taken, sat a long time by her window, looking out upon the +towers and chimneys of Crompton Place, which were visible above the +trees in the park, and wondering at the feeling of unrest which +possessed her, and her unwillingness to leave. + +"If I could only see him once more before I go," she thought, the "him" +being Jack, who, with Howard Crompton, was in Worcester, attending a +musical festival. + +Not to see him was the saddest part of leaving Crompton, and for a +moment hot tears rolled down her cheeks,--tears which, if Jack could +have seen and known their cause, would have brought him back from +Worcester and the prima donna who that night was entrancing a crowded +house with her song. Dashing her tears away, Eloise's thoughts reverted +to Amy, who had been so kind to her. + +"I hoped to thank her in person," she said, "but as that is impossible, +I must write her a note for Tim to take in the morning, together with +the chairs." + +The note was written, and in it a regret expressed that Eloise could not +have seen her. + +"Maybe when she reads it she will call upon me to-morrow," she thought, +as she directed the note, and that night she dreamed that Amy came to +her, with a face and voice so like her mother's that she woke with a +start and a feeling that she had really seen her mother, as she used to +stand before the footlights, while the house rang with thunders of +applause. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE LITTLE RED CLOAK + + +Col. Crompton was in a bad way, both mentally and bodily. The pain in +his gouty foot had extended to his knee, and was excruciating in the +extreme; but he almost forgot it in the greater trouble in his mind. In +the same mail which had brought Eloise's letter from California there +had been one for him, which in the morning Peter had taken from the +postman and examined carefully, until he made out its direction. + +"Mister Kurnel Krompton, of Krompton Plais, Krompton, Massachusetts." + +So much room had been taken up on one side of the envelope with the +address, that half of "Massachusetts" was on the other side, and Peter's +memory instantly went back to years before, when a letter looking like +this and odorous with bad tobacco had come to the Colonel. He had a copy +of the letter still, and could repeat it by heart, and knew that it was +from Jake Harris,--presumably the "Shaky" for whom the little girl +Eudora had cried so pitifully. This was undoubtedly from the same +source. "What can he want now? and what will the Colonel say?" he +thought, as he took the letter to his master's room. + +"A letter for you, sir," he said, putting it down upon the table by the +Colonel's chair, and then lingering on the pretence of adjusting a +curtain and brushing up the hearth, but really waiting to see what +effect the letter would have. + +It was different from what he expected. With one glance at the +superscription, the Colonel grew deathly pale, and his hands shook so +that the letter dropped upon the floor. Peter picked it up and handed it +to him, saying, "Can I help you, sir?" + +"Yes, by leaving me, and holding your tongue! There's the devil to pay!" +was the answer. + +Peter was accustomed to hearing of his master's debts in that direction, +and to being told to hold his tongue, and he answered, "All right, sir," +and left the room. For some moments the Colonel sat perfectly still, his +heart beating so fast that he could scarcely breathe. Then he opened +Jake's letter, and read as follows: + +"Palmetto Clarin', Oct. --, 18--. + +"Mister Kurnel Krompton, + +"Deer Sir: + +"Glory to God. I'se done sung all day for his mussy in lettin' me heer +from lil Miss Dory onc't mo' an' 'noin' she ain't ded as I feared she +was. Mas'r Minister Mason, who done 'tended the funeral of t'other Miss +Dory done tole me how she's livin' with you, an' a lil off in her mind. +The lam'! What happened her, I wonder? Her granny, ole Miss Lucy, was +quar. All the Harrises was quar. Mebby she got it from them. A site of +me will cure her sho'. Tell her I'se comin' to see her as soon as I hear +from you that it is her, sho'. Thar might be some mistake, an' I doan' +want to take the long journey for nothin', 'case I'm ole, tho' I feels +mighty peart now wid de news. Rite me wen you git this. I shall wait +till I har, an' then start to onc't. + +"Yours to command, + +"JAKE HARRIS." + +"P.S.--Mandy Ann, you 'members her, what took care of lil chile. She's a +grown woman now in course, an' has ten chillen, 'sides Ted. You 'members +Ted, on de 'Hatty.' No 'count at all; but Mandy Ann, wall, she's a +whopper, an' when she hears de nuse, she 'most had de pow'. She sen's +her regrets, an' would come, too, if she hadn't so many moufs to feed, +an' Ted doin' nothin' but playin' gemman. + +"Onc't mo', yours, + +"JAKE." + +To describe the Colonel's state of mind as he read this letter is +impossible. He forgot the pain in his leg and knee in the greater +sensation of the cold, prickly feeling which ran through his veins, +making his fingers feel like sticks, and powerless to hold the letter, +which dropped to the floor. With every year he had hugged closer and +closer the secret of his life, becoming more and more morbid and more +fearful, lest in some way his connection with the palmetto clearing +should be known and he fall from the high pedestal on which he had stood +so long, and from which his fall would be greater because he had been +there so long. It would all be right after he was dead. He had seen to +that, and didn't care what the world would say when he was not alive to +hear it. But he was very much alive now, and his sin bade fair to find +him out. + +"Just as I feared when that rector told me who his father was," he +thought, cursing the chance which had sent the Rev. Arthur Mason to +Crompton,--cursing the Rev. Charles for giving information to Jake,--and +cursing Jake for the letter, which he spurned with his well foot, as it +lay on the floor. He had hoped the negro might be dead, as he had heard +nothing from him in a long time; and here he was, alive and waiting for +a word to come. "If he waits for that he will wait to all eternity," he +said to himself. "I shall write and make it worth his while to stay +where he is. He knows too much of Amy's birth and her mother's death to +be trusted here. Uncertainty is better than the truth. I have made +matters right for Amy, and confessed everything. They'll find it when +I'm gone, and can wag their tongues all they please. It won't hurt me +then, but while I live I'll keep up the farce. It might have been better +to have told the truth at first, but I didn't, and it's too late now. +Who in thunder is that knocking at the door? Not Amy, I hope,--and I +can't reach that letter," he continued, as there came a low rap at the +door. + +"Come in!" he called, when it was repeated, and Cora, the housemaid, +entered. + +She had been in the family but a few days and did not yet understand her +duties with regard to the Colonel, and know that she was not to trouble +him. Tim Biggs had been commissioned by Eloise to take her note to Mrs. +Amy, together with the chairs. + +"You can't carry both at one time, so take the sea this morning, and the +wheel this afternoon," Mrs. Biggs said, just as Tom Walker appeared. + +He had been to the house two or three times since the Rummage, +ostensibly to ask when Eloise was going to commence her duties as +teacher, but really to see her and hear her pleasant "Good-morning, +Thomas, I am glad to see you." + +Whatever Mrs. Biggs knew was soon known to half of District No. 5, and +the news that Eloise was going to California had reached Tom, and +brought him to inquire if it were true. + +"And won't you come back?" he asked, with real concern on his homely +face. + +"Perhaps so. I hope so," Eloise replied, and he continued, "I'm +all-fired sorry you are goin', because,--well, because I am; and I wish +I could do something for you." + +"You can," Eloise said. "You can take the wheel chair back to the +Crompton House and save Tim one journey." + +Tom cared very little about saving Tim, but he would do anything to +serve Eloise, and the two boys were soon on their way, quarrelling some +as they went, for each was jealous of the other's attention to the +"little schoolmarm," as they called her. Tom reached the house first, +but Tim was not far behind, and both encountered Cora, who bade them +leave the chairs in the hall, while she inquired as to their +disposition. Had Peter been in sight she might have consulted him, but +he was in the grounds, and, entering the Colonel's room she said, "If +you please, sir, what shall I do with the chairs?" + +"What chairs?" the Colonel asked, and Cora replied, "A sea chair, I +think, and a wheel chair, which Tom Walker and Tim Biggs have just +brought home." + +"My sea chair, and my wheel chair! How in thunder can that be, when I'm +sitting in the wheel, and how came Tom Walker, the biggest rascal in +town, by my chairs, or Tim Biggs either?" the Colonel exclaimed; and +Cora replied, "I think they said the schoolma'am had them. Here's a note +from her to Mrs. Amy." + +Since his last attack of the gout the Colonel had in a measure forgotten +Eloise, and ceased to care whether she were rooted and grounded in the +fundamentals or not. That Howard and Jack had been in the habit of +calling upon her he did not suspect, and much less that for the last two +weeks or more she had been enjoying his sea chair, and the fruit and +flowers sent her with Mrs. Amy's compliments. At the mention of her he +roused at once. + +"That girl had my chair! How the devil came she by it? A note for Mrs. +Amy! Give it to me, and pick up that paper on the floor and go!" + +Cora was not long in obeying, and the irascible old man was again alone. +First tearing Jake's letter in strips, he turned Eloise's note over in +his hand, and read, "Mrs. Amy Smith, Crompton Place." The name "Smith" +always made him angry, and he repeated it with a quick shutting together +of his teeth. + +"Smith!" he said, "I can't abide it! And what has she to say to Mrs. +Smith?" + +The note was not sealed, and without the least hesitancy he opened it +and read, commenting as he did so. + +"My dear Mrs. Smith." (Her dear Mrs. Smith! I like that.) "I am going +away (Glad to hear it) and I wish to thank you for the many things you +have sent me. (The deuce she has! I didn't know it.) The pretty hat I +want to keep, with the slippers, which remind me of my mother. +(Slippers,--remind her of her mother, who, I dare say, never wore +anything but big shoes, and coarse at that," the Colonel growled, and +read on.) The chairs I return, with my thanks for them, and the fruit +and flowers and books. I would like so much to see you, and thank you +personally, but as this cannot be I must do it on paper. Be assured I +shall never forget your kindness to me, a stranger. + +"Your very truly, + +"E.A. SMITH." + +"Smith again! E.A. Smith!" the Colonel said. "Why couldn't she write her +whole name? E.A., ELIZA ANN, of course! That's who she is, ELIZA ANN +SMITH!" + +If there was one name he disliked as much as he did Smith, it was Eliza +Ann, and he repeated it again: "ELIZA ANN SMITH! Fruit and flowers and +books, and shoes and my sea chair and a wheel chair sent to her by Amy! +Where did she get the wheel, I'd like to know? I don't believe it!" he +added, as a sudden light broke upon him. "It's that dog Howard's work, +and that other chap." + +Ringing the bell which stood on the table beside him, he bade Cora, who +appeared, to send Mrs. Amy to him. Amy had not slept well, and was more +easily confused than usual, but she came and asked what he wanted. It +did not occur to him to give her the note, which he kept in his hand +while he said, in a much softer tone than that in which he had been +talking to himself, "Have you sent things to Eliza Ann Smith,--fruit and +flowers and books, and my sea chair and a wheel chair, and a bonnet and +shoes, and the Lord knows what else?" + +Amy was bewildered at once. + +"Eliza Ann Smith!" she repeated. "I don't know her. Who is she?" + +"Why, the girl that jammed a hole in Brutus's neck and stained the +cushions of my carriage, and broke her leg at Mrs. Biggs's," the Colonel +replied. + +At the mention of Mrs. Biggs, Amy's face brightened. Since the day after +the accident, when she sent the hat and slippers, Eloise had not been +mentioned in her presence, and she had entirely forgotten her. Now she +was all interest again, and said, "Oh, yes; I remember now, Poor girl! I +did send her a hat and some slippers, which I hated because I wore them +when I sang. Did they fit her?" + +"Lord Harry! How do I know? It isn't likely your shoes would fit her. +They would be a mile too small!" the Colonel said, and Amy asked, "Does +she want anything?" + +"No," the Colonel replied. "Somebody has sent her flowers and chairs and +books and things. She thought it was you and wished to thank you." + +"It was not I, and I am sorry I forgot her," Amy rejoined, as she turned +to leave him, with a confused feeling in her brain, and a pang of regret +that she had perhaps neglected the little girl at Mrs. Biggs's. + +Once the Colonel thought to call her back and give her the note. Then, +thinking it did not matter, he let her go without it. Just what +influence was at work in Amy's mind that morning it were difficult to +tell. Whatever it was, it prompted her on her return to her room to take +the little red cloak from the closet where it was kept and examine it +carefully. It had been the best of its kind when it was bought, and, +though somewhat faded and worn, had withstood the ravages of time +wonderfully. It had encircled her like a friend, both when she was sad +and when she was gay. It had been wrapped around the Baby, of whom she +never thought without a pang and a blur before her eyes. It was the +dearest article she had in her wardrobe, and because of that and because +she had been so forgetful, she would send it to Eliza Ann Smith! + +"But not for good," she said to Sarah, who was commissioned to take it +to Eloise the next morning. "She can keep it till she is well. Somebody +told me she had a sprained ankle. I had one once, and I put it across my +lap and foot, it was so soft and warm. Tell her I am sorry I forgot +about her. I am not always quite myself." + + * * * * * + +"Sent that old red cloak she's had ever since she was knee high! I +shouldn't s'pose there'd be a rag of it left! She must be crazy as a +loon to-day," was Mrs. Biggs's comment, when Sarah told her errand. +"What possessed her?" + +Sarah only knew that her mistress was more dazed than usual that +morning, and had insisted upon her bringing the cloak. + +"I think it rattled her when the chairs came back. She didn't know +anything about 'em, nor the Colonel either," Sarah said. + +Mrs. Biggs laughed, and replied, "I didn't s'pose they did. Them young +men, I b'lieve, was at the bottom of it, and I or'to have told Miss +Smith to send her thanks to them, but I wasn't quite sure about the sea +chair. So I let it slide, thinkin' it was a good joke on 'em to thank +Amy. They pretended the things was from her." + +Taking the cloak from the girl, she carried it into the room where +Eloise had fallen asleep, with her foot resting upon a hassock, and a +shawl thrown over it. Removing the shawl and putting the red cloak in +its place, Mrs. Biggs stole noiselessly out, saying to herself, "I guess +she'll wonder where that came from when she wakes up." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +ELOISE AT THE CROMPTON HOUSE + + +For an hour or more Eloise slept on, and then awoke suddenly and saw the +scarlet cloak across her foot. At first it was the color which attracted +her. Then taking it in her hands she began to examine it, while drops of +sweat came out upon her forehead and under her hair. She knew that +cloak! She had worn it many and many a time when she was a child. She +had seen her mother fold and pack it far more carefully, when they were +starting on a starring tour, than she did the fine dresses she wore on +the stage. + +"It is my mother's, but how came it here?" she thought, as she took it +into the kitchen where she heard Mrs. Biggs at her work. "Where did you +get my mother's cloak?" she asked. + +Mrs. Biggs, who always washed on Saturdays, had just put Tim's shirt +through the wringer. Holding it at arm's length with one hand and +steadying herself on the side of the tub with the other, she stared +blankly at Eloise for a moment, and then said, "Your mother's cloak! +Child alive, that's Mrs. Amy's. I've seen her wear it a hundred times +when she was a little girl. She has got on a spell of givin' this +mornin', and sent it to you by Sarah. She's kep' it well all these +years. What ails you?" she continued, as Eloise's face grew as white as +the clothes in Mrs. Biggs's basket. + +Ray after ray of light was penetrating her mind, making her wonder she +had not seen it before, and bringing a possibility which made her brain +reel for a moment. + +"Sit down," Mrs. Biggs continued, "and tell me why you think this is +your mother's cloak." + +"I know it is," Eloise answered. "I have worn it so many times, and once +I tore a long rent in the lining and mother darned it. It is +here,--see!" + +She showed the place in the silk lining where a tear had been and was +mended. + +"For the Lord's sake, who be you?" Mrs. Biggs exclaimed, still +flourishing Tim's shirt, which she finally dropped back into the tub, +and in her excitement came near sitting down in a pail of bluing water +instead of a chair. + +"I am Eloise Albertina Smith, and my father was Homer Smith, and my +mother was Eudora Harris from Florida, and sang in concerts, and lost +her mind, and was in a private asylum in San Francisco, and my father +died, and a strange man took her out a few months ago. I did not know +where she was, and was going to California to find her. I believe your +Mrs. Amy is she, and I am going to the Crompton House to inquire!" + +"For Heaven's sake!" was Mrs. Biggs's next ejaculation. "Harris was +Amy's name before she was called Crompton, and her name is Amy Eudora, +too; but I never heard she had a girl." + +"Yes, she had, and I am that girl," Eloise said, "and I am going up +there now, right off!" + +"You can't walk," Mrs. Biggs suggested. "That ankle would turn before +you got half way there. If you must go,--and I believe I would,--Tim +will git a rig from the livery. Here, Tim," she called, as she heard him +whistling in the woodshed, "run to Miller's and git a carriage and a +span, quick as you can,--a good one, too," she added, as the possibility +grew upon her that Eloise might belong to the Cromptons, and if so, +ought to go up in style. + +It did not take long for Tim to execute his mother's order, and the best +turn-out from Miller's stable soon stood before the door. + +"I b'lieve I'll go, too. The washin' will keep, and this won't," the +widow said, beginning to change her work-dress for a better one. + +Eloise was too much excited to care who went with her, and with Mrs. +Biggs she was soon driving up the broad avenue under the stately maples +to the door of the Crompton House. Peter saw the carriage, and thinking +it came from town with callers on Amy, went out to say she could not see +them, as she was not feeling well and was lying down. + +"But I must see her," Eloise said, alighting first and brushing past +him, while he stood open-mouthed with surprise. + +"She thinks she is Amy's girl, and, I swan, I begin to think so, too," +Mrs. Biggs said, trying to explain and getting things a good deal mixed, +and so bewildering the old man that he paid no attention to Eloise, who, +with the cloak on her arm, was in the hall and saying to a maid who met +her, "Take me to Mrs. Amy." + +All her timidity was gone, as she gave the order like one who felt +perfectly at home. + +"Mrs. Amy is asleep, and I don't like to disturb her. She is unusually +nervous this morning. Will you see the Colonel instead?" the girl said, +awed by Eloise's air of authority. + +"My business is with Mrs. Amy, but perhaps I'd better see Col. Crompton +first," she replied. + +Mrs. Biggs and Peter were in the house by this time, and heard what +Eloise was saying. + +"Better not," Peter began. "I don't know as you can see him. You stay +here. I'll inquire." + +He started up the stairs, followed by Eloise, who had no idea of staying +behind. + +"Wait," he said, motioning her back as he reached the Colonel's door, +and saw her close beside him. "Let me go in first." + +He left the door ajar and walked into the room where the Colonel was +sitting just as he had sat the morning before, when Jake's letter and +Eloise's note were brought to him. He had not slept at all during the +night, and was in a trembling condition, with a feeling of numbness in +his limbs which he did not like. + +"Well?" he said sharply, as Peter came in, and he saw by his face that +something had happened. "What's up now?" + +"Nothing, but Miss Smith, the teacher," Peter replied. "She wants to see +you." + +"Miss Smith, the normal? Do you mean Eliza Ann? Tell her to go away. I +can't see anybody," the Colonel said. + +"I'll tell her, but I'm afraid she won't go," Peter replied, starting +for the door, through which a little figure came so swiftly as nearly to +knock him down, and Eloise, who had forgotten her lameness, stood before +the astonished Colonel, her face glowing with excitement, and her eyes +shining like stars as she confronted him. + +Old as he was, the Colonel was not insensible to female beauty, and the +rare loveliness of this young girl moved him with something like +admiration, and made his voice a little softer as he said, "Are you +Eliza Ann Smith? What do you want?" + +"I am not Eliza Ann," Eloise answered quickly. "I am Eloise Albertina +Smith. My father was Homer Smith; my mother was Eudora Harris, from +Florida, a concert singer, till she lost her mind and was put in a +private asylum in San Francisco. You took her out, and she is here. You +call her Mrs. Amy. She never told me of you. I don't know why. She never +talked much of her girlhood. I don't think she was very happy. She sent +me this cloak, and that's how I knew she was here. I have worn it many +times when a child. I knew it in a moment, and I have come to see her. +Where is she?" + +This was worse than Jake's letter, and every nerve in the Colonel's body +was quivering with excitement, and he felt as if a hundred prickly +sensations were chasing each other up and down his arms and legs, and +making his tongue thick as he tried to call for Peter. Succeeding at +last, he said faintly, "Take this girl away before she kills me." + +"I shall not go," Eloise rejoined, "until I see my mother. I tell you +she is my mother. Has she never spoken of me?" + +"Never," the Colonel answered. "She has talked of a baby who died, and +you are not dead." + +"No, but I am Baby,--her pet name for me always. Why she should think me +dead, I don't know. Send for her, and see if she does not know me." + +She had come close to the trembling old man, and put one of her hands +on his cold, clammy one. He didn't shake it off, but looked at her with +an expression in his eyes which roused her sympathy. + +"I don't mean any harm," she said. "I only want my mother. Send for her, +please." + +There was a motion of assent toward Peter, who left the room, +encountering Mrs. Biggs outside the door. There was too much going on +for her not to have a hand in it, and she stood listening and waiting +till Amy came down the hall, her white cashmere wrapper trailing softly +behind her, and her hair coiled under a pretty invalid cap. She had been +roused from a sound sleep, which had cleared her brain somewhat, and +when told the Colonel wished to see her, she rose at once and started to +go to him, fearing he was worse. He heard her coming, and braced himself +up. Eloise heard her, and, with her head thrown back and her hands +clasped together, stood waiting for her. For a moment Amy did not see +her, so absorbed was she in the expression of the Colonel, who was +watching her intently. When at last she did see her, she started +suddenly, while a strange light leaped into her eyes. Then a wild, glad +cry of "Baby! Baby!" rang through the room, and was answered by one of +"Mother! Mother!" as the two women sprang to each other's arms. + +Amy was the first to recover herself. Turning Eloise around and +examining her minutely, she said, "I thought you dead. He told me so, +and everything has been a blank to me since." + +"You see she is my mother!" Eloise said to the Colonel; "and if she is +your daughter, you must be my grandfather!" + +If the Colonel had been carved in stone he could not have sat more +motionless than he did, giving no sign that he heard. + +"No matter! I shall find it all out for myself," Eloise continued, as +she turned again to her mother, who was examining the red cloak as if +she wondered how it came there. + +The mention of "finding it out" affected the Colonel more than anything +else had done. Amy had said the same thing to him once. She had not +found it out, but this slip of a girl would, he was sure, and with +something like a groan he sank back in his chair with a call for Peter. + +"Take them away," he said huskily. "I can't bear any more, +and,--and,--the girl must stay, if Amy wants her, and bring me a +hot-water bag,--two of them,--I was never so cold in my life." + +Peter nodded that he understood, and, ringing the bell for Amy's maid, +bade her take her mistress to her room, and the young lady, too. "She is +Mrs. Amy's daughter," he added. + +There was no need to tell this, for Mrs. Biggs had done her duty, and +every servant in the house had heard the news and was anxious to see the +stranger. Amy was always at her best in her own room, where Sarah left +her alone with Eloise, and hastened away to gossip with Mrs. Biggs and +Peter. The shock, instead of making Amy worse, had for the time being +cleared her brain to some extent, so that she was able to talk quite +rationally to Eloise, whose first question was why she had thought her +dead. "I was so homesick for you, and cried so much after you went away +that he was angry and hard with me,--very hard,--and I said at last if +he didn't send for you I'd never sing again, and meant it, too," Amy +replied. "It was at Los Angeles on a concert night. I must have been +pretty bad, and he seemed half afraid of me, and finally told me you +were dead, and had been for three weeks, and that he had meant to keep +it from me till the season was over. I believed him, and something +snapped in my head and let in a pain and noise which have never left it; +but they will now I have found you. I went before the footlights once +that night, and the stage was full of coffins in which you lay, and I +saw the little grave in the New England cemetery where he said you were +buried. At last I fainted, and have never sung again. They were very +kind to me at Dr. Haynes's, where he came often to see me till I heard +he was dead. I was not sorry; he had been so,--so--I can't explain." + +"I know," Eloise said, remembering her father's manner toward this weak, +timid woman, who went on: "Then Col. Crompton came and brought me home. +I used to live here years ago and called him father, till he said he was +not my father. I never told you of him, or that this was once my home, +although I described the place to you as something I had seen. If he +were not my father I did not want to know who was, and did not want to +talk about it, and after I married Mr. Smith it was very dreadful. He +hated the Colonel when he found he could not get money from him, and +sometimes taunted me with my birth, saying I was a Harris and a Cracker; +but the cruelest of all was telling me you were dead. Why did he do it?" + +"I think your fretting for me irritated him, and he feared you might +never sing again unless he sent for me, and he did not want me," Eloise +said. "He never wanted me. He was a bad man, and I could not feel sorry +when he died." + +"You needn't," Amy exclaimed excitedly, and, getting up she began to +walk the floor as she continued, "It is time things were cleared up. I +am not afraid of him now, although I was when he was living. He broke +all the spirit I had, till the sound of his voice when he was angry made +me shake. Thank God he was not your father! there has been a lie all the +time, and that wore upon me. Your father,--Adolph Candida,--is lying in +the Protestant burying-ground in Rome." + +Grasping her mother's arm Eloise cried, "Oh, mother, what is this you +are saying, and why have I never heard it before?" + +Amy had been tolerably clear in her conversation up to this point, but +she was getting tired, and it was a long, rambling story she told, with +many digressions and much irrelevant matter, but Eloise managed to +follow her and get a fairly correct version of the truth. Candida, whom +Amy loved devotedly, and with whom she had been very happy, had died +after a brief illness when Eloise was an infant. Homer Smith, the +handsome American, who had attached himself to the Candidas, was very +kind to the young widow, whom he induced to marry him, and to let her +little girl take his name. + +"I don't know why I did that," Amy said; "only he always made me do what +he pleased, and he pretended to love you so much, and he didn't want his +friends to know he was my second husband when he came to America. I +couldn't understand that, but I yielded, as I did in everything. He +seemed to hate the name of Candida, and was jealous of him in his +grave, and would never let me speak of him. I think he was crazy, and +he said I was, and shut me up. He once wrote to Col. Crompton for money +and got a dreadful letter, telling him to go to that place where I am +afraid he has gone, and saying I was welcome to come home any time, if I +would leave the singing master. There was a bad word before the +'singing,' which I can't speak. I meant to go home some time and take +you with me. I hated the stage, and the pain got in my head, and I +forgot so many things after he said you were dead, but never forgot you, +although I didn't talk about you much. I couldn't, for a bunch came in +my throat and choked me, and my head seemed to open and shut on the top +when I thought of you. Col. Crompton has been very kind to me since I +came. I think now he is my father. I asked him once, and he said, No. I +believed him then, and accepted in my mind some Mr. Harris, for I knew +my mother was a true woman. We will find it all out, you and I." + +"Yes," Eloise replied, "and the pain will go away, and you will tell me +more of my own father. I know now why I never could feel a daughter's +love for the other one. Does grandmother know? She was always kind to +me, and I love her." + +Amy shook her head, and said, "I think not, but am not sure. It will be +clearer by and by. I must sleep now." + +When she was tired she always slept, and, adjusting the cushions on the +sofa, Eloise made her lie down, and spread over her the little red cloak +which had been the means of bringing them together. + +"Yes, that's right. Cover me with the dear old cloak Jakey gave me," +Amy said sleepily. "You'll help me find him." + +Eloise didn't know who Jakey was, or what connection he had with the +cloak; but she answered promptly, "Yes, I'll help you find him and +everything." + +Thus reassured, Amy fell asleep, while Eloise sat by her until startled +by the entrance of Mrs. Biggs. That worthy woman had been busy telling +the servants everything she knew about Eloise since she came to +Crompton, and that she had always mistrusted she was somebody out of the +common. Then, as Eloise did not appear, and the carriage from Miller's +was still waiting at a dollar and a half an hour, it occurred to her +that if Eloise should not prove to be somebody out of the common she +would have to pay the bill, as she had ordered the turn-out. Going to +Amy's room, she walked in unannounced, and asked, "Be you goin' home +with me, or goin' to stay?" + +"I don't know what I am to do," Eloise said, starting to her feet. + +Amy decided for her. Mrs. Biggs had roused her, and, hearing what was +wanted, she protested so vehemently against Eloise's leaving her even +for an hour, that Mrs. Biggs departed without her, thinking to herself +as she rode in state behind the fleet horses, "It beats the Dutch what +luck some folks have. I've lost my boarder, and Ruby Ann has got the +school, just as I knew she would, and mebby I'll have to pay for the +rig. I wonder how long I've had it." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE SHADOW OF DEATH + + +This was on Saturday, and by Monday the whole town of Crompton, from +District No. 5 to the village on the seashore, was buzzing with the news +told eagerly from one to another. The young girl who had sprained her +ankle while coming to take charge of the school in District No. 5 had, +it was told, turned out to be the daughter of Mrs. Amy, and was at the +Crompton House with her mother, who had thought her dead. This some +believed and some did not, until assured by Mrs. Biggs, who, having done +her washing on Saturday, was free on Monday to call upon her neighbors +and repeat the story over and over, ending always with, "I mistrusted +from the first that she was somebody." + +The second piece of news was scarcely less exciting, but sad. After his +interview with Eloise, the Colonel had complained of nausea and +faintness, and had gone early to bed. Before going, however, he had +asked if Eliza Ann were still in the house. An idea once lodged in his +brain was apt to stay, and Eliza Ann had taken too strong a hold upon +his senses to be easily removed. + +"Bring her here," he said. + +She came at once and asked what she could do for him. + +"Sit down," he said. "You seem to be lame." + +He had evidently forgotten about the accident, and Eloise did not remind +him of it, but sat down while he catechised her with regard to what she +had told him of herself. Some of his comments on Homer Smith were not +very complimentary, and this emboldened Eloise to tell him who her real +father was. + +"Thank God!" he said emphatically. "I'm glad you are not that rascal's, +and because you are not you can stay with Amy and fare as she fares. But +why did she think you dead?" + +Eloise told him all she thought necessary to tell him, while his face +grew purple with anger, and his clenched fists beat the air as if +attacking an imaginary Homer Smith. + +"It's a comfort to know, if there is a God--and I know there is--he is +getting his deserts," he said. Then, as his mood changed, he continued, +"And you are the little normal I didn't want, and you board with Mrs. +Biggs?" + +"Yes," Eloise replied. "I am the normal you did not want, and I board +with Mrs. Biggs, where I heard a great deal of Mrs. Amy, as they call +her. I must have a slow, stupid mind, or I should have suspected who she +was. I never heard the name Harris connected with her. If I had I should +have known. It is so clear to me now." + +The Colonel looked at her a moment, and then said, "If you are Amy's +daughter you are a Harris, and they are queer, with slow minds,--and now +go. I am infernally tired, and cannot keep up much longer." + +He moved his hand toward her, and Eloise took it and pressed it to her +lips. + +"D-don't," the Colonel said, but held fast to the soft, warm hand +clasping his. "If one's life could roll back," he added, more to himself +than to Eloise, as his head dropped wearily upon his breast, and he +whispered, "I am sorry for a great deal. God knows I am sorry. Call +Peter." + +The old servant came and got him to bed, and sat by him most of the +night. Toward morning, finding that he was sleeping quietly, he, too, +lay down and slept until the early sun was shining into the room. Waking +with a start, he hurried to his master's side, to find him with +wide-open eyes full of terror as he tried to ask what had happened to +him. All power to move except his head was gone, and when he tried to +talk his lips gave only inarticulate sounds which no one could +understand. + +"Paralysis," the doctor said when summoned. "I have expected it a long +time," he continued, and would give no hope to Amy and Eloise, who +hastened to the sick-room. + +The moment they came in the Colonel's eyes brightened, and when Amy +stooped and kissed him he tried to kiss her back. Then he fixed his eyes +on Eloise with a questioning glance, which made her say to him, "Do you +know me?" + +He struggled hard for a moment, and then replied, "Yesh, 'Lisha Ann! +Stay!" and those were the only really intelligible words he ever spoke. + +They telegraphed to Worcester for Howard, and learning that he was in +Boston, telegraphed there, and found him at the Vendome. "Come at once. +Your uncle is dying," the telegram said, and Howard read it with a +sensation for which he hated himself, and which he could not entirely +shake off. He tried to believe he did not want his uncle to die, but if +he did die, what might it not do for him, the only direct heir, if Amy +were not a lawful daughter? And he did not believe she was. She had not +been adopted, and he had never heard of a will, and before he was aware +of it a feeling that he was master of Crompton Place crept over him. Amy +would live there, of course, just as she did now, even if he should +marry, as he might, and there came up before him the memory of a rainy +night and a helpless little girl sitting on a mound of stones and dirt +and crying with fear and pain. He had seen Jack's interest in Eloise +with outward indifference, but with a growing jealousy he was too proud +to show. He admired her greatly, and thought that under some +circumstances he might love her. As a Crompton he ought to look higher, +and if he proved to be the heir it would never do to think of her even +if Jack were not in his way. All this passed like lightning through his +mind as he read the telegram and handed it to Jack, who, he insisted, +should return with him to Crompton. + +"I feel awfully shaky, and I want you there if anything happens," he +said, while Jack, whose first thought had been that he would be in the +way, was not loath to go. + +Eloise was in Crompton, and ever since he left it, a thought of her had +been in his mind. + +"If I find her as sweet and lovely as I left her, I'll ask her to be my +wife, and take her away from Mrs. Biggs," he was thinking as the train +sped on over the New England hills toward Crompton, which it reached +about two P.M. + +Peter was at the station with Sam, and to Howard's eager questions +answered, "Pretty bad. No change since morning. Don't seem to know +anybody except Mrs. Amy and Miss Eloise. She's with him all the time, +and he tries to smile when she speaks to him." + +"Who?" both the young men asked in the same breath, and Peter told them +all he knew of the matter during the rapid drive to the house. + +Howard was incredulous, and made Peter repeat the story twice, while his +brain worked rapidly with a presentiment that this new complication +might prove adverse to him. + +"What do you think of it?" he asked Jack, who replied, "I see no reason +to doubt it," and he was conscious of a pang of regret that he had not +asked Eloise to be his wife before her changed circumstances. + +"She would then know that I loved her for herself, and not for any +family relations," he thought. + +He had no doubt that Amy was Col. Crompton's daughter, and if so, +Eloise's position would be very different from what it had been. + +"I'll wait the course of events, as this is no time for love-making," he +decided, as they drove up to the door, from which the doctor was just +emerging. + +"Matter of a few hours," he said to Howard. "I am glad you have come. +Evidently he wants to see you, or wants something, nobody can make out +what. You have heard the news?" + +Howard bowed, and entering the house, ran up to his uncle's room. The +Colonel was propped on pillows, laboring for breath, and trying to +articulate words impossible to speak, while, if ever eyes talked, his +were talking, first to Amy and then to Eloise, both of whom were beside +him, Amy smoothing his hair and Eloise rubbing his cold hands. + +They had been with him for hours, trying to understand him as he +struggled to speak. + +"There is something he wants to tell us," Eloise said, and in his eyes +there was a look of affirmation, while the lips tried in vain to frame +the words, which were only gurgling sounds. + +What did the dying man want to say? Was he trying to reveal a secret +kept so many years, and which was planting his pillow with thorns? Was +he back in the palmetto clearing, standing in the moonlight with Dora, +and exacting a promise from her which broke her heart? No one could +guess, and least of all the two women ministering to him so +tenderly,--Amy, because she loved him, and Eloise, because she felt that +he was more to her than a mere stranger. She was very quiet and +self-contained. The events of the last two days had transformed her from +a timid girl into a fearless woman, ready to fight for her own rights +and those of her mother. Once when Amy was from the room a moment she +bent close to the Colonel and said, "You are my mother's father?" + +There was a choking sound and an attempt to move the head which Eloise +took for assent. + +"Then you are my grandfather?" she added. + +This time she was sure he nodded, and she said, "It will all be right. +You can rest now," but he didn't rest. + +There was more on his mind which he could not tell. + +"I believe it is Mr. Howard," Eloise thought, and said to him, "He is +coming on the next train. I hear it now. He will soon be here. Is that +what you want?" + +The dying man turned his head wearily. There was more besides Howard he +wanted, but when at last the young man came into the room, his eyes +shone with a look of pleased recognition, and he tried to speak a +welcome. In the hall outside Jack was waiting, and as Eloise passed out +he gave her his hand, and leading her to a settee, sat down beside her, +and told her how glad he was for the news he had heard of her, but +feeling the while that he did not know whether he were glad or not. She +had never looked fairer or sweeter to him than she did now, and yet +there was a difference which he detected, and which troubled him. It +would have been easy to say "I love you," to the helpless little +school-teacher at Mrs. Biggs's, and he wished now he had done so, and +not waited till she became a daughter of the Crompton House, as he +believed she was. Now he could only look his love into the eyes which +fell beneath his gaze, as he held her hand and questioned her of the +Colonel's sudden attack, and the means by which she had discovered her +relationship to Amy. + +Again he repeated, "I am so glad for you," and might have said more if +Howard had not stepped into the hall, his face clouded and anxious. + +"He wants you, I think," he said to Eloise. "At least he wants +something,--I don't know what." + +Eloise went to him at once, and again there was a painful effort to +speak. But whatever he would say was never said, and after a little the +palsied tongue ceased trying to articulate, and only his eyes showed +how clear his reason was to the last. If there was sorrow for the past, +he could not express it. If thoughts of the palmetto clearing were in +his mind, no one knew it. All that could be guessed at was that he +wanted Amy and Eloise with him. + +"Call him father. I think he will like it," Eloise said to her mother, +while Howard looked up quickly, and to Peter, who was present, it seemed +as if a frown settled on his face as a smile flickered around the +Colonel's mouth at the sound of the name Amy had not given him since she +came from California. + +All the afternoon and evening they watched him, as his breathing grew +shorter and the heavy lids fell over the eyes, which, until they closed, +rested upon Amy, who held his hand and spoke to him occasionally, +calling him father, and asking if he knew her. To the very last he +responded to the question with a quivering of the lids when he could no +longer lift them, and when the clock on the stairs struck twelve, the +physician who was present said to Eloise, "Take your mother away; he is +dead." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +LOOKING FOR A WILL + + +For three days the Colonel lay in the great drawing-room of the Crompton +House, the blinds of which were closed, while knots of crape streamed +from every door, and the servants talked together in low tones, +sometimes of the dead man and sometimes of the future, wondering who +would be master now of Crompton Place. Speculation on this point was +rife everywhere, and on no one had it a stronger hold than on Howard +himself. He would not like to have had it known that within twenty-four +hours after his uncle's death he had gone through every pigeon-hole and +nook in the Colonel's safe and private drawers, and turned over every +paper searching for a will, and when he found none, had congratulated +himself that in all human probability he was the sole heir. He was very +properly sad, with an unmistakable air of ownership as he went about the +place, giving orders to the servants. To Amy he paid great deference, +telling the undertaker to ask what she liked and abide by her decisions. +And here he was perfectly safe. With the shock of the Colonel's death +Amy had relapsed into a dazed, silent mood, saying always, "I don't +know; ask Eloise," and when Eloise was asked, she replied, "I have been +here too short a time to give any orders. Mr. Howard will tell you." + +Thus everything was left to him, as he meant it should be, stipulating +that Eloise meet the people who came, some to offer their sympathy, and +more from a morbid curiosity to see whatever there was to be seen. This +Eloise did with a dignity which surprised herself, and if Howard were +the master, she was the mistress, and apparently as much at home as if +she had lived there all her life. Ruby was the first to call. She had +not seen Eloise since the astounding news that she was Amy's daughter. + +"I am so glad for you," she said, and the first tears Eloise had shed +sprang to her eyes as she laid her head on Ruby's arm, just as she had +done in the days of her trouble and pain. + +Mrs. Biggs came, too,--very loud in her protestations of delight and +assertions that she had always known Eloise was above the common. + +Never since the memorable lawn party many years ago had there been so +great a crowd in the house and grounds as on the day of the funeral. In +honor of his memory, and because he had given the school-house to the +town, the school was closed, and the pupils, with Ruby Ann at their +head, marched up the avenue with wreaths of autumn leaves and bouquets +of flowers intended for the grave. The Rev. Arthur Mason read the burial +service, and as he glanced at the costly casket, nearly smothered in +flowers, and at the crowd inside and out, he could not keep his thoughts +from his father's description of another funeral, where the dead woman +lay in her cheap coffin, with Crackers and negroes as spectators; and +only a demented woman, a little child, and black Jake and Mandy Ann as +mourners. The mourners here were Amy and Howard, Eloise and Jack, and +next to him a plain-looking, elderly woman, who, Mrs. Biggs told every +one near her, was old Mrs. Smith, Eloise's supposed grandmother from +Mayville. + +Eloise had sent for her, and while telling the story of deception and +wrong which had been practised so long, and to which the mother listened +with streaming eyes, she had said, "But it makes no difference with us. +You are mine just the same, and wherever I live in the future, you are +to live, too, if you will." + +Mrs. Smith had smiled upon the young girl, and felt bewildered and +strange in this grand house and at this grand funeral, unlike anything +she had ever seen. It seemed like an endless line of carriages and foot +passengers which followed the Colonel to the grave, and when the +services were over, a few friends of the Colonel, who had come from a +distance, returned to the house, and among them Mr. Ferris, the lawyer, +who had been the Colonel's counsel and adviser for years, and managed +his affairs. This was Howard's idea. He could not rest until he knew +whether there was in the lawyer's possession any will or papers bearing +upon Amy. When lunch was over he took the old man into his uncle's +library, and said, hesitatingly, "I do not want to be too hasty, but it +is better to have such matters settled, and if I have no interest in the +Crompton estate I must leave, of course. Did my uncle leave a will?" + +Lawyer Ferris looked at him keenly through his glasses, took a huge +pinch of snuff, and blew a good deal of it from him and some in Howard's +face, making him sneeze before he replied, "Not that I know of; more's +the pity. I tried my best to have him make one. The last time I urged it +he said, 'There's no need. I've fixed it. Amy will be all right.' I was +thinking of her. If there is no will, and she wasn't adopted and wasn't +his daughter, it's hard lines for her." + +"But she was his daughter," came in a clear, decided voice, and both the +lawyer and Howard turned to see Eloise standing in the door. + +Rain was beginning to fall, and she had come to close a window, with no +thought that any one was in the library, until she heard the lawyer's +last words, which stopped her suddenly. Where her mother was concerned +she could be very brave, and, stepping into the room, she startled the +two men with her assertion, "She was his daughter." + +"He told me so," she continued. + +"He did? When?" Howard asked, and Eloise replied, "I asked him, and his +eyes looked yes, and when I said, 'You are my grandfather?' I was very +sure he nodded. I know he meant it." + +The lawyer smiled and answered her, "That is something, but not enough. +We must have a will or some document. He might have been your mother's +father. I think he was; and still, she may not be--be--" + +He hesitated, for Eloise's eyes were fixed upon him, and the hot blood +of shame was crimsoning her face. After a moment he continued, "A will +can set things right; or, if we can prove a marriage, all will be fair +sailing for your mother and you." + +"I was not thinking of myself," Eloise returned. "I am thinking of +mother. I know all the dreadful gossip and everything. Mrs. Biggs has +told me, and I am going to find out. Somebody knows, and I shall find +them." + +She looked very fearless as she left the room, and Howard felt that she +would be no weak antagonist if he wanted to contest his right to the +estate. But he didn't, he told himself, and Mr. Ferris, too. He was +willing to abide by the law. If there was a will he'd like to find it; +and, in any case, should be generous to Amy and--Eloise! + +"No doubt of it," the lawyer said, looking at him now over his +spectacles, and taking a second pinch of snuff preparatory to the search +among the dead man's papers, which Howard suggested that he make. + +Every place Howard had gone through was gone through again,--every paper +unfolded and every envelope looked into. There was no will or scrap of +writing bearing upon Amy. There were some receipts from Tom Hardy, of +Palatka, for money received from the Colonel and paid over to Eudora +Harris, and at these the lawyer looked curiously. + +"Harris was the name Amy sometimes went by before her marriage, I +believe," he said. "Eudora was probably her mother. Now, if we can find +Tom Hardy we may learn something. Shall I write to Palatka and inquire?" + +"Certainly," Howard replied, with a choke in his throat which he managed +to hide from the lawyer. + +He didn't mean to be a scoundrel. He only wanted his own, and he meant +to do right if chance made him master of Crompton, he said to himself, +as he went to the drawing-room, where Jack and Eloise were sitting with +a few friends who seemed to be waiting for something. Ruby and Mrs. +Biggs, who, on the strength of their intimacy with Eloise, had remained +in the house while the family was at the grave, were there, evidently +expectant. It was not Howard's idea to broach the subject at once. He +wanted to talk it over with Jack and Eloise, and make himself right with +them. The lawyer had no such scruples. He had read wills after many +funerals, and now that there was none to read, he spoke up: + +"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry I can't oblige you, but there ain't any +will as we can find, and nothing to show who Mrs. Amy is, and matters +must rest for a spell as they are. Meanwhile, Mr. Howard Crompton, as +the Colonel's nephew and only known heir, must take charge of things." + +Eloise's face flushed, and Jack, who stole a look at her, saw that her +hands trembled a little. No one spoke until Mrs. Biggs rose and said, +"'Squire Ferris, if no will ain't found, and nothin' is proved for Mrs. +Amy,--adoption nor nothin',--you know what I mean,--can't she inherit?" + +"Not a cent!" was the reply. + +"You mean she'll have nothin'?" + +"Legally nothing!" + +"And Mr. Howard will have everything?" + +"Yes, everything, as he is sole heir and next of kin." + +"Get out with your 'sole heir and next of kin' and law!" Mrs. Biggs +exclaimed vehemently. "There ain't no justice in law. Look a-here, +Squire; when women vote we'll have things different. Here is Amy, been +used to them elegancies all her life." She swept her arm around the +room, and, still keeping it poised, continued: "And now she's to be +turned out because there ain't no will and you can't prove nothin'! And +that's law! It makes me so mad! Who is goin' to take care of her, I'd +like to know?" + +"I am!" and Eloise sprang to her feet, the central figure now in the +room. "I shall take care of my mother! I don't care for the will, nor +anything, except to prove that she is Col. Crompton's legitimate +daughter, and that I will do. I am going where she was born, if I can +find the place, and take her with me. I am not very lame now, and I +would start to-morrow if--" + +She stopped, remembering that in her purse were only two and one half +dollars, and this she owed to Mrs. Biggs for board; then her eyes fell +upon Ruby, the friend who had stood by her in her need, and who had been +the first to congratulate her on finding her mother. Ruby had offered +her money for the journey to California, and something in Ruby's face +told her it was still ready for her, and she went on: "I was foolish +enough to think Crompton Place was her rightful home, and be glad for +her, but if it is not, I shall take her away at once. No one need worry +about mother! I shall care for her." + +"Bravo!" Mrs. Biggs rejoined, as Eloise sank back in her chair. "That's +what I call pluck! Law, indeed! It makes me so mad! You can fetch her to +my house any minit. Your old room is ready for you, and I won't charge a +cent till you find something to do and can pay. Maybe Ruby'll give up +the school. Won't you, Ruby Ann?" + +"Certainly, if she wishes it," Ruby answered, and going over to Eloise, +she said, "You are a brave little girl, and the money is still waiting +for you if you want it." + +As for Jack, he was ready to lay himself at her feet, but all he could +do then was to say to Ruby, "Perhaps Miss Smith had better go to her +room; she seems tired," and taking her arm, he went with her to the +door, which Howard opened for her. That young man did not feel very +comfortable, and as soon as Eloise was gone he said to the inmates of +the room, "If any of you think me such a cad as to turn Mrs. Amy and her +daughter from the house, or to allow them to go, you are mistaken. If it +should prove that I am master here, they will share with me. I can do no +more." + +"Good for you!" Jack said, wringing Howard's hand, while the party began +to break up, as it was time for those who lived at a distance to take +the train. + +Among those who arose to go was the Rev. Arthur Mason, whom Howard had +asked to lunch after the burial. As he left the house he said to Jack, +who stood for a moment with him on the piazza, "Please say to Miss Smith +that I can direct her to her mother's birthplace in Florida. My father +is preaching there." + +"Thanks! I will tell her," Jack replied, in some surprise, and then went +in to where Howard was standing, with an expression on his face not +quite such as one ought to have when he has just come into possession of +a fortune. + +"I congratulate you, old boy," Jack said cheerily, as he went up to him. + +"Don't!" Howard answered impetuously. "Nothing is sure. A will may be +found, or my uncle's marriage proved; in either case, I sink back into +the cipher I was before. I cannot say I'm not glad to have money, but I +don't want people blaming me. I can't help it if my uncle made no will +and did not marry Amy's mother, and I don't believe he did, or why was +he silent so many years?" + +Jack could not answer him and left the room, taking his way, he hardly +knew why, to the village, where he fell in again with the rector. To +talk of the recent events at the Crompton House was natural, and before +they parted Jack knew the contents of the Rev. Charles's letter to his +son, and in his mind there was no doubt of a secret marriage and Amy's +legitimacy. + +"It will be hard on Howard," he thought, "but Amy ought to have her +rights,--and,--Eloise! And she shall!" he added, as he retraced his +steps to the Crompton House. + +Chancing to be alone with her, he told her in part what he had heard +from the rector, keeping back everything pertaining to the poverty of +the surroundings, and speaking mostly of Jakey and Mandy Ann, whom Amy +might remember. + +"She does," Eloise replied, "and at every mention of them her brain +seems to get clearer. Peter has brought me a copy of a letter which Col. +Crompton received from Jake just before he went for my mother, and which +he has kept all these years. It may help me to find whatever there is to +be found, good or bad." She handed him the copy, and continued, "The +letter was mailed in Palatka, but from what you tell me, Jakey is +farther up the river. Shall I have any trouble in finding him, do you +think?" + +"None whatever," Jack replied, a plan rapidly maturing in his mind as +to what he would do if Eloise persisted in going to Florida. "Better +leave your mother here," he said, when she told him of her determination +to unravel the mystery. + +"No," she answered. "Mother must go. I expect much from a sight of her +old home and Jakey." + +Jack shivered as he recalled the Rev. Charles Mason's picture of that +home, but he would not enlighten her. She must guess something from +Jakey's note to the Colonel, he thought. Evidently she did, for she +asked him what a Cracker was. + +"I ought to know, of course, and have some idea," she said. "I asked +mother, and she said she was one. What did she mean?" + +"If you go to Florida you will probably learn what a Cracker is," Jack +replied, as he bade her good-night, pitying her for what he knew was in +store for her. + +The next day a telegram from New York called him to the city. But before +he went he had an interview with Ruby with regard to the journey which +Eloise was designing to take as soon as her mother should have recovered +from the shock of the Colonel's death. + +For a few days after his departure matters moved on quietly at the +Crompton House, where Howard assumed the head unostentatiously, and +without giving offence to any of the servants. The Crompton estate, as +reported to him by Lawyer Ferris, was larger than he had supposed, and +if it were his he would be a richer man than he had ever hoped to be. He +liked money, and what it would bring him, and if he had been sure of his +foothold he would have been very happy. And he was nearly sure. There +was no will in the house, he was certain, for he had gone a second and +third time through every place where one could possibly have been put, +and found nothing. He was safe there, and as he did not know all which +Mr. Mason had written to his son, he did not greatly fear the result of +Eloise's trip to the South, which he thought a foolish undertaking. But +she was bent upon going and the day was fixed. Grandmother Smith had +returned home to await developments. Amy was ready. Eloise's lameness +was nearly gone, "And to-morrow we start," she said to him one evening, +when, after dinner, she joined him in the library, where he spent most +of his time. + +Every day since his uncle's death, and he had seen so much of Eloise, +Howard's interest in her had increased, until it amounted to a passion, +if not positive love. Jack was a formidable rival, he knew, but now that +he was probably master of Crompton Place, where her mother would be +happier than elsewhere, she might think favorably of him. At all events +he'd take the chance, and now was his time. Looking up quickly as she +came in, and drawing a chair close to him for her, he said, "Sit down a +moment while I talk to you." She sat down, and he continued, "I wish you +would give up this journey, which can only end in disappointment. I have +no idea there was a marriage, or that you could prove it if there was. +My uncle was not a brute. He loved Amy, and would not have kept silent +till he died if she had been his legitimate daughter. Give up the +project. I will gladly share the fortune with you, and be a son to your +mother. Will you, Eloise? I must call you that, and I ask you to be my +wife. It is not so sudden as you may think," he continued, as he saw her +look of surprise. "I do not show all I feel. I admired you from the +first, but Jack seemed to be ahead, and I gave way to him, not +understanding until within the last few days how much you were to me. I +love you, and ask you again to be my wife." + +He had one of her hands in his, but it was cold and pulseless, and it +seemed to him it told her answer before she said, very kindly, as if +sorry to give him pain: + +"I believe you are my cousin, or, rather, my mother's, and I can esteem +you as such, but I cannot be your wife." + +"Because you love Jack Harcourt, I suppose," Howard said, a little +bitterly, and Eloise replied, "I do not think we should bring Mr. +Harcourt into the discussion. When he asks me to be his wife it will be +time to know whether I love him or not. I cannot marry you." + +She arose to go, while Howard tried to detain her, feeling every moment +how his love was growing for this girl who had so recently come into his +life, and was crossing his path, as he had felt she would when he first +heard of her from his uncle, and had promised to sound her as to her +fitness for a teacher. There had been no need for that; his uncle was +dead, and she was going from him, perhaps to return as a usurper. + +"Eloise," he said again, with more feeling in his voice than when he +first spoke, "you must listen to me. I cannot give you up. I would +rather lose Crompton, if it is mine, than to lose you." + +Rising to his feet, he took her face between his hands and kissed it +passionately. + +"How dare you!" she said, wresting herself from him. + +"Because I dare! Jack may have the second kiss, but I have had the +first," he replied. Then his manner changed, and he said, entreatingly, +"Forgive me, Eloise, I was beside myself for a moment. Don't give me an +answer now. Think of what I have said while you are gone, if you will +go; and if you fail, remember this is your home and your mother's, just +as much as it will be if you succeed. Promise me you will come back here +whatever happens. You will come?" + +"For a time, yes; till I know what to do if I fail," she replied. + +Then she went out and left him alone, to go again through the +pigeon-holes and drawers and shelves he had been through so often and +found nothing. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +IN FLORIDA + + +The Boston train was steaming into the Central Station in New York, and +Eloise was gathering up her satchels and wraps, and looking anxiously +out into the deepening twilight, wondering if the cars would be gone +from the Jersey side, and what she should do if they were. She had +intended taking a train which reached New York earlier, but there was +some mistake in her reading of the time-table, and now it was growing +dark, and for a moment her courage began to fail her, and she half +wished herself back in Crompton, where every one had been so kind to +her, and where every one had looked upon the journey as useless, except +the rector and Ruby. These had encouraged her to go, and Ruby had +furnished the money and had been very hopeful, and told her there was +nothing to fear even in New York, which Eloise dreaded the most. Howard +had seen her to the train and got her seats in the parlor car, and said +to her, as he had once before: + +"I'd like to offer you money, but you say you have enough." + +"Oh, yes," Eloise answered; "more than enough. Ruby has been so kind." + +Then he said good-by, and went back to the house, which seemed empty and +desolate. + +"I ought at least to have gone to New York with them, but that little +girl is so proud and independent, I dare say she would not have let me," +he said to himself, and all day his thoughts followed them, until by +some clairvoyant process he seemed to see them at the station alone and +afraid, just as for a short time Eloise was afraid and wished she had +not come. + +Then, rallying, she said to herself, "This won't do. I must keep up," +and she helped her mother from the car, and began to walk through the +long station toward the street. Only half the distance had been gone +over when a hand was laid upon her shoulder, and a voice which made her +heart bound with delight, said to her, "Here you are! I was afraid I had +missed you in the crowd." + +"Oh, Mr. Harcourt, I am so glad! How did you know we were coming?" +Eloise exclaimed, her gladness showing in her eyes and sounding in her +voice. + +"Oh, I knew," Jack answered, taking her satchel and wraps and umbrella +from her, and giving his disengaged arm to her mother. "I have a friend +at court who lets me know what is going to happen. It is Ruby. She +telegraphed." + +Calling a carriage, which was evidently waiting for him, Jack put the +ladies into it, attended to the baggage, and then sprang in himself. +With him opposite her, Eloise felt no further responsibility. Everything +would be right, she was sure, and it was. They were in time for the +south-bound train, and after a word with the porter, were ushered into a +drawing-room compartment, which Jack said was to be theirs during the +long journey. + +"Yes, I know," Eloise said. "It is large and comfortable, and away from +the people, but I'm afraid it costs too much." + +"It's all right," Jack answered, beginning to remove Amy's jacket, with +an air of being at home. + +Just then Eloise glanced from the window and saw they were moving. + +"Oh, Mr. Harcourt!" she screamed. "We have started! You will be carried +off! Do hurry!" + +She put both hands on his arm to force him from the room, while he +laughed and said, "Did you think I would let you go to Florida alone? I +am going with you. I have a section all to myself outside, where you can +sit when you are tired in here. Are you sorry?" + +"Sorry!" she repeated. "I was never so glad in my life. But are you sure +you ought to go? Is it right?" + +"You mean proper? Perfectly!" he answered. "Your mother is with us. Your +friend Ruby knows I am going, and Mr. Mason, and Mrs. Biggs, and +everybody else by this time. It's all right. Mrs. Grundy will approve." + +Eloise was too happy to care for Mrs. Grundy, and her happiness +increased with every hour which brought her nearer to Florida, and she +saw more and more how thoroughly kind and thoughtful Jack was. Sometimes +he sat with her and her mother in the compartment he had engaged for +them, but oftener when Amy was resting she sat with him in his section, +planning what she was to do first when Florida was reached, and how she +was to find Jakey. Jack knew exactly what to do, but he liked to listen +to her and watch the expression of her face, which seemed to him to +grow more beautiful every hour. On the last evening they were to be upon +the road, she was sitting with him just before the car lamps were +lighted, and he said to her, "Suppose you don't succeed? What will you +do?" + +For a moment Eloise was silent; then she replied, "I shall take mother +home to my grandmother's. I call her that still, although you know she +is not really mine, but I love her just the same, and shall take care of +her and mother. I can do it. Ruby will let me have the school, I am +sure, if I ask her, but I couldn't take it from her now. I can get +another somewhere, or if not a school, I can find something to do. I am +not afraid of work." + +She was trying to be very brave, but there was a pathetic look in her +face which moved Jack strangely. Her hands were lying in her lap, and +taking the one nearest to him, he said, "Eloise, I'll tell you what you +are going to do, whether you succeed or not. You are going to be my +wife! Yes, my wife!" + +"Mr. Harcourt!" Eloise exclaimed, trying to withdraw her hand from him. + +But he only held it closer, while he said, "Don't Mr. Harcourt me! Call +me Jack, and I shall know you assent. I think I have loved you ever +since I saw you on the rostrum in Mayville,--at any rate, ever since +that stormy night when you came near being killed. I did not mean to +speak here in the car, but I am glad I have settled it." + +He was taking her consent for granted, and was squeezing her hand until +she said involuntarily, "Oh, Jack, you hurt me!" + +Then he dropped it and, stooping, kissed her, saying, "I am answered. +You have called me Jack. You are mine,--my little wife,--the dearest a +man ever had." + +He kissed her again, while she whispered, "Oh, Jack, how can you, with +all the people looking on? and it isn't very dark yet." + +"There are not many to look on, and they are in front of us, and I don't +care if the whole world sees me," Jack replied, passing his arm around +her and drawing her close to him. + +"You must not, right here in the car; besides that, I haven't told you I +would," she said, making an effort to free herself from him, as the +porter began to light the lamps. + +He was satisfied with her answer, and kept his arm around her in the +face of the porter, who was too much accustomed to such scenes to pay +any attention to this particular one. He had spotted them as lovers from +the first and was not surprised, but when eleven o'clock came and every +berth was made up except that of Jack, who still sat with Eloise beside +him, loath to let her go, the negro grew uneasy and anxious to finish +his night's work. + +"Sir," he said at last to Jack, "'scuse me, but you might move into the +gentlemen's wash-room whiles I make up the berth; it's gwine on toward +mornin'." + +In a flash Eloise sprang up, and without a word went to her mother, who +was sleeping quietly, just as she had left her three hours before. A +lurch of the train awoke her, and, kneeling beside her, Eloise said to +her, "Mr. Harcourt has asked me to be his wife. Are you glad?" + +"Yes, daughter, very glad. Are we in Florida?" Amy replied. + +"Yes, mother, and before long we shall reach your old home and Jakey," +was Eloise's answer, as she kissed her mother good-night and sought her +own pillow to think of the great happiness which had come to her in Jack +Harcourt's love, and which would compensate for any disappointment there +might be in store for her. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +IN THE PALMETTO CLEARING + + +There were not many guests at the Brock House as the season had not +fully opened, and Jack had no trouble to find rooms for the ladies and +himself. Amy's was in front, looking upon the St. John's, which here +spreads out into Lake Monroe. She had had glimpses of the river from the +railway car, but had not seen it as distinctly as now, when she stood by +the window with an expression on her face as if she were thinking of the +past, before her reason was clouded. + +"Oh, the river!--the beautiful river!" she said. "It brings things +back,--the boat I went in; not like that," and she pointed to a large, +handsome steamboat lying at the wharf. "Not like that. What was its +name?" + +Jack, who was in the room, and who had read Mr. Mason's letter to his +son, suggested, "The 'Hatty'?" + +"Yes, the 'Hatty'!" Amy said. "Strange, I remember it when I have +forgotten so much. And he was with me,--my father. Wasn't he my father?" + +She looked at Eloise, who answered promptly, "Yes, he was your father." + +"I thought so. He said I was to call him so," Amy went on, more to +herself than to Eloise. "I didn't always, he was so cold and proud and +hard with me, but he was kind at the last, and he is dead, and this is +Florida, where the oranges and palm trees grow. They are there,--see!" +and she pointed to the right, where a tall palm tree raised its head +above an orange grove below. + +She was beginning to remember, and Eloise and Jack kept silent while she +went on: "And we are here to find my mother and Jakey." + +She looked again at Eloise, who answered her: "To find Jakey,--yes; and +to-morrow we shall see him. To-night you must rest." + +"Yes, rest to-night, and to-morrow go to Jakey," Amy replied, submissive +as a little child to whatever Eloise bade her do. + +She was very tired, and slept soundly without once waking, and her first +question in the morning was, "Is it to-morrow, and are we in Florida?" + +"Yes, dearest, we are in Florida, and going to find Jakey," was Eloise's +reply, as she kissed her mother's face, and thought how young and fair +it was still, with scarcely a line upon it. + +Only the eyes and the droop of the mouth showed signs of past suffering, +and these were passing away with a renewal of old scenes and memories. +Jack had found the Rev. Mr. Mason, who received him cordially. + +"I was expecting you," he said. "A telegram from my son told me you were +on the way. I have not seen Jake, as it was only yesterday I had the +despatch. I have one piece of news, however, for which I am sorry. Elder +Covil died in Virginia soon after the war, and nothing can be learned +from him." + +Jack was greatly disappointed. His hope had been to find Elder Covil, +if living, or some trace of him, and that was swept away; but he would +not tell Eloise. She was all eagerness and excitement, and was ready +soon after breakfast for the drive to the palmetto clearing, and Amy +seemed almost as excited and eager. Born amid palms and orange trees, +and magnolias and negroes, the sight of them brought back the past in a +misty kind of way, which was constantly clearing as Eloise helped her to +remember. Of Mr. Mason she of course had no recollection, and shrank +from him when presented to him. He did not tell her he had buried her +mother. He only said he knew Jakey, and was going to take her to him, +and they were soon on their way. The road was very different from the +one over which he had been driven behind the white mule, and there were +marks of improvement everywhere,--gardens and fields and cabins with +little negroes swarming around the doors, and these, with the palm trees +and the orange trees, helped to revive Amy's memories of the time when +she played with the little darkys among the dwarf palmettos and ate +oranges in the groves. + +In the doorway of one of the small houses a colored woman was standing, +looking at the carriage as it passed. Recognizing Mr. Mason, she gave +him a hearty "How d'ye, Mas'r Mason?" to which he responded without +telling his companions that it was Mandy Ann. He wished Amy to see Jake +first. + +"Here we are," he said at last. "This is the clearing; this is the +house, and there is Jake himself." + +He pointed to a negro in the distance, and to a small house,--half log +and half frame, for Jake had added to and improved it within a few +years. + +"I'se gwine to make it 'spectable, so she won't be 'shamed if she ever +comes back to see whar she was bawn," he had thought, and to him it +seemed almost palatial, with its addition, which he called a "linter," +and which consisted of a large room furnished with a most heterogeneous +mass of articles gathered here and there as he could afford them. + +Conspicuous in one corner was "lil Dory's cradle," which had been +painted red, with a lettering in white on one side of it, "In memory of +lil chile Dory." This he had placed in what he called the parlor that +morning, after dusting it carefully and putting a fresh pillow case on +the scanty pillow where Amy's head had lain. He was thinking of her and +wondering he did not hear from the Colonel, when the sound of carriage +wheels made him look up and start for his house. Mr. Mason was the first +to alight; then Jack; then Eloise; and then Amy, whose senses for a +moment left her entirely. + +"What is it? Where are we?" she said, pressing her hands to her +forehead. + +Evidently the place did not impress her, except as something strange. + +"Let's go!" she whispered to Eloise. "We've nothing to do here; let's go +back to the oranges and palmettos." + +"But, mother, Jakey is here!" Eloise replied, her eyes fixed upon the +old man to whom Mr. Mason had been explaining, and whose "Bress de Lawd. +I feels like havin' de pow', ef I b'lieved in it," she heard distinctly. + +Then he came rapidly toward them, and she could see the tears on his +black face, which was working nervously. + +"Miss Dory! Miss Dory! 'Tain't you! Oh, de Lawd,--so growed,--so +changed! Is it you for shu'?" he said, stretching his hands toward Amy, +who drew closer to Eloise. + +"Go gently, Jake; gently! Remember her mind is weak," Mr. Mason said. + +"Yes, sar. I 'members de Harris's mind mostly was weak. Ole Miss didn't +know nuffin', an' Miss Dory was a little quar, an' dis po' chile is like +'em," was Jake's reply, which brought a deep flush to Eloise's face. + +She had felt her cheeks burning all the time she had been looking round +on her mother's home, wondering what Jack would think of it. At Jake's +mention of the Harrises she glanced at him so appealingly, that for +answer he put his arm around her and whispered, "Keep up, darling, I see +your mother is waking up." + +Jake had taken one of her hands, and was looking in her face as if he +would find some trace of the "lil chile Dory" who left him years ago. +And she was scanning him, not quite as if she knew him, but with a +puzzled, uncertain manner, in which there was now no fear. + +"Doan' you know me, Miss Dory? I'm Shaky,--ole Shaky,--what use' to play +b'ar wid you, an' tote you on his back," he said to her. + +"I think I do. Yes. Where's Mandy Ann?" Amy asked. + +"She 'members,--she does!" Jake cried, excitedly. "Mandy Ann was de nuss +girl what looked after her an' ole Miss." Then to Amy he said, "Mandy +Ann's done grow'd like you, an' got chillen as big as you. Twins, four +on 'em, as was christened in your gown. Come into de house. You'll +member then. Come inter de gret room, but fust wait a minit. I seen a +boy out dar,--Aaron,--one of Mandy Ann's twins, an' I'se gwine to sen' +for Mandy Ann. + +"Hello, you flat-footed chap!" he called. "Make tracks home the fastest +you ever did, an' tell yer mother to come quick, 'case lil Miss Dory's +hyar. Run, I say." + +The boy Aaron started, and Jake led the way to the door of the "gret +room," which he threw open with an air of pride. + +"Walk in, gemmen an' ladies, walk in," he said, holding Amy's hand. + +They walked in, and he led Amy to a lounge and sat down beside her, +close to the red cradle, to which he called her attention. + +"Doan' you 'member it, Miss Dory?" he said, giving it a jog. "I use' ter +rock yer to sleep wid you kickin' yer heels an' doublin' yer fists, an' +callin' me ole fool, an' I singin': + + "'Lil chile Dory, Shaky's lil lam', + Mudder's gone to heaven, + Shaky leff behime + To care for lil chile Dory, Shaky's lil lam'.' + +Doan' you 'member it, honey,--an' doan' you member me? I'm Shaky,--I +is." + +There was a touching pathos in Jakey's voice as he sang, and it was +intensified when he asked, "Doan' you 'member me, honey?" + +Both Mr. Mason and Jack turned their heads aside to hide the moisture in +their eyes, while Eloise's tears fell fast as she watched the strange +pair,--the wrinkled old negro and the white-faced woman, in whom a +wonderful transformation seemed to be taking place. With the first sound +of the weird melody and the words "Lil chile Dory, Shaky's lil lam'," +she leaned forward and seemed to be either listening intently or trying +to recall something which came and went, and which she threw out her +hands to retain. As the singing went on the expression of her face +changed from one of painful thought to one of perfect peace and quiet, +and when it ceased and Jakey appealed lo her memory, she answered him, +"Yes, Shaky, I remember." Then to Eloise she said, "The lullaby of my +childhood, which has rung in my ears for years. He used to want me to +sing a negro melody to the people, and said it made them cry. That's +because I wanted to cry, as I do now, and can't. I believe I must have +sung it that last night in Los Angeles before everything grew dark." + +Moving closer to Jakey she laid her head upon his arm and whispered to +him, "Sing it again, Shaky. The tightness across the top of my head is +giving way. It has ached so long." + +Jake began the song again, his voice more tremulous than before, while +Amy's hands tightened on his arm, and her head sank lower on his breast. +As he sang he jogged the cradle with one foot, and kept time with the +other and a swaying motion of his body, which brought Amy almost across +his lap. When she lifted up her head there were tears in her eyes, and +they ran at last like rivers down her cheeks, while a storm of +hysterical sobs shook her frame and brought Eloise to her. + +"Don't cry so," she said. "You frighten me." + +Amy put her aside, and answered, "I must cry; it cools my brain. There +are oceans yet to come,--all the pent-up tears of the years--since he +told me you were dead. I am so glad to cry." + +For some moments she wept on, until Jakey began to soothe her with his +"Doan' cry no mo', honey. Summat has done happened you bad, but it's +done gone now, an' we're all here,--me an' I do' know her name, but +she's you uns, an' Mas'r Mason an' de oder gemman. We're all here, an' +de light is breakin'. Doan' you feel it, honey?" + +"Yes, I feel it," she said, lifting up her head and wiping away her +tears. "The light is breaking; my head is better. This is the old home. +How did we get here?" + +Her mind was misty still, but Eloise felt a crisis was past, and that in +time the films which had clouded her mother's brain would clear away, +not wholly, perhaps, for she was a Harris, and "all the Harrises," Jake +said, "were quar." She was very quiet now, and listened as they talked, +but could recall nothing of her mother or the funeral, which Mr. Mason +had attended. She seemed very tired, and at Eloise's suggestion lay +clown upon the lounge and soon fell asleep, while Jack put question +after question to Jake, hoping some light would be thrown upon the +mystery they had come to unravel. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE LITTLE HAIR TRUNK + + +Jake could tell them but little more than he had told Mr. Mason on a +former visit. This he repeated with some additions, while Eloise +listened, sometimes with indignation at Col. Crompton, and sometimes +with shame and a thought as to what Jack would think of it. Her mother's +family history was being unrolled before her, and she did not like it. +There was proud blood in her veins, and she felt it coming to the +surface and rebelling against the family tree of which she was a +branch,--the Harrises, the Crackers, and, more than all, the uncertainty +as to her mother's legitimacy, which she began to fear must remain an +uncertainty. It was not a very desirable ancestry, and she glanced +timidly at Jack to see how he was taking it. His face was very placid +and unmoved as he questioned Jake of the relatives in Georgia, whom +Amy's mother had visited. + +"We must find them," he said. "Do you know anything of them? Were they +Harrises, or what?" + +Jake said they were "Browns an' Crackers; not the real no 'counts. +Thar's a difference, an' I'm shu' ole Miss Lucy was fust class, 'case +Miss Dory was a lady bawn." + +"Are there no papers anywhere to tell us who they were?" Jack asked, and +Jake replied, "Thar's papers in de little har trunk whar I keeps de +writin' book Miss Dory used, an' de book she read in to learn, but dem's +no 'count. Some receipts an' bills an' some letters ole Mas'r Harris +writ to Miss Lucy 'fo' they was married,--love letters, in course, which +I seen Miss Dory tie up wid a white ribbon. I've never opened dem, 'case +it didn't seem fittin' like to read what a boy writ to a gal." + +"Why, Jake," Jack exclaimed, "don't you see those letters may tell us +where Miss Lucy lived in Georgia? and that is probably where Miss Dory +visited. Bring us the trunk." + +"'Clar for't. I never thought of that," Jake said, rising with alacrity +and going into the room where he slept. + +Mr. Mason, too, stepped out for a few moments, leaving Eloise alone with +Jack. Now was her time, and, going up to him, she said, "Jack, I want to +tell you now, you mustn't marry me!" + +"Mustn't marry you!" Jack repeated. "Are you crazy?" + +"Not yet," Eloise answered with a sob, "but I may be in time, or queer, +like all the Harrises,--mother and her mother and 'old Miss.' We are all +Harrises, and,--and,--oh, Jack, I know what a Cracker is now; mother is +one; I am one, and it is all so dreadful; and mother nobody, perhaps. I +can't bear it, and you must not marry me." + +"I shall marry you," Jack said, folding her in his arms. "Do you think I +care who your family are, or how queer they are? You'll never be queer. +I'll shield you so carefully from every care that you can't even spell +the word." + +He took her hands and made her look at him, while he kissed her lips +and said, "It is you I want, with all the Harrises and Crackers in +Christendom thrown in, if necessary. Are you satisfied?" + +He knew she was, and was kissing her again when Jake appeared with the +trunk, which he said had held Miss Dory's clothes when she went to +Georgia. There was a musty odor about it when he opened it, and the few +papers inside were yellow with age. + +"Dis yer is de reader Miss Dory use' to go over so much," Jake said, +handing the book to Eloise, who turned its worn pages reverently, as if +touching the hands of the dead girl, who, Jake said, "had rassled with +the big words an' de no 'count pieces. She liked de po'try, an' got by +heart 'bout de boy on de burnin' deck, but de breakin' waves floo'd her, +'case 'twan't no story like Cassy-by-anker." + +He pointed the latter poem out to Eloise, who said, "Will you give me +this book?" + +Jake hesitated before he replied, "He wanted it, the Colonel, an' I tole +him no, but you're different. I'll think about it." + +Mr. Mason had returned by this time, and with Jack was looking at the +bundle of letters tied with a satin ribbon which Jake said Miss Dory had +taken from her white dress, the one he believed she was married in, as +it was her bestest. There were four letters and a paper which did not +seem to be a letter, and which slipped to the floor at Eloise's feet as +Jack untied the ribbon. There was also a small envelope containing a +card with "James Crompton" upon it, the one Mandy Ann had carried her +mistress on a china plate, and which poor Dora had kept as a souvenir of +that visit. With the card were the remains of what must have been a +beautiful rose. The petals were brown and crumbling to dust, but still +gave out a faint perfume, which Eloise detected. While she was looking +at these mementos of a past, Jack was running his eyes over the almost +illegible directions on the letters, making out "Miss Lucy Brown, +Atlanta, Ga." + +"That doesn't help us much," he said to Mr. Mason. "Brown is a common +name, and the Atlanta before the war was not like the Atlanta of +to-day." + +"Perhaps something inside will give a cue," Mr. Mason suggested, and +Jack opened one of the letters carefully, for it was nearly torn apart. + +The spelling was bad and the writing was bad, but it rang true with a +young man's love for the girl of his choice, and it seemed to Jack like +sacrilege to read it. Very hurriedly he went through the four letters, +finding nothing to guide him but "Atlanta," and a few names of people +who must have been living in the vicinity. + +"Here's another," Eloise said, passing him the paper which she had +picked from the floor. + +Jack took it, and opening it, glanced at the contents. Then, with a cry +of "Eureka!" he began a sort of pirouette, while Eloise and Mr. Mason +wondered if he, too, had gone quar, like the Harrises. + +"It's the marriage certificate," he said, sobering down at last, and +reading aloud that at the Hardy Plantation, Fulton County, Georgia, on +December--, 18--, the Rev. John Covil united in marriage James Crompton, +of Troutburg, Massachusetts, and Miss Eudora Harris, of Volucia County, +Florida. + +Upon no one did the finding of this certificate produce so miraculous an +effect as upon Jake. + +"Fo' de Lawd!" he exclaimed, "I feels as if I mus' have de pow',--what +I hain't had since I jined de 'Piscopals. To think dat ar was lyin' in +thar all dis time, an' I not know it. I 'members now dat Elder Covil +comed hyar oncet after the lil chile was bawn, to see Miss Dory, an' I +seen him write a paper an' give it to her, an' she put it in her bosom. +I axed no questions, but I know now 'twas this. The Cunnel tole her not +to tell, an' if she said she wouldn't, she wouldn't. Dat's like de +Harrises,--dey's mighty quar, stickin' to dar word till they die like +that Cassy-by-anker on de burnin' ship. Glory to God, glory! I mus' +shout, I mus' hurrah. Glory!" + +He went careering round the room like one mad, knocking over a chair, +waking up Amy, and bringing her to the scene of action. + +"Bress de Lawd!" he said, taking her by the arm and giving her a whirl, +"we've done foun' your mudder's stifficut in de letters whar she put it +an' tied 'em wid her weddin' ribbon. Glory hollerluyer!" + +Amy looked frightened, and when Eloise explained to her she did not seem +as much impressed as the others. Her mind had grasped Jake and the old +home, and could not then take in much more. Still, in a way she +understood, and when Eloise said to her, "Col. Crompton was really your +father,--married to your mother,--and you were Amy Crompton, and not +Harris," she said, "I am glad, and wish he knew. He used to taunt me +with my low birth and call me a Cracker. When are we going home?" + +Her mind had reverted at once to Crompton Place, now hers in reality, +although she probably did not think of that. + +"I am very glad, and congratulate you that Crompton Place is your home +without a doubt," Jack said to her. Then, turning to Eloise, he +continued, in a low tone, "I can't tell you how glad I am for you, +provided you don't feel so high and mighty that you want to cast me +off." + +"Oh, Jack," Eloise replied, "don't talk such nonsense. I am still of the +Harris blood and part Cracker, and maybe quar. If you can stand that I +think I can stand you." + +At this point there was the sound of hurrying feet outside, and a +woman's voice was heard saying, "Now, mind your manners, or you'll cotch +it." Then four woolly heads were thrust in at the door and with them was +Mandy Ann. + +"Hyar she comes wid de fo' twins," Jake said, going forward to meet her. +"Mandy Ann," he began, "hyar's de lil chile Dory. Miss Amy they done +call her. Would you know'd her?" + +"Know'd her? I reckon so,--anywhar in de dark. Praise de Lawd, an' now +let His servant 'part in peace, 'case my eyes has seen de lil chile +oncet mo'," Mandy Ann exclaimed, going up to Amy and putting her hands +on her shoulders. + +"She's 'peatin' some o' de chant in de Pra'r Book. Mandy Ann is mighty +pious, she is," Jake said in a low tone, while Amy drew back a little, +and looked timidly at the tall negress calling her lil chile Dory. + +"Mandy Ann wasn't so big," she said, turning to the twins, Alex and +Aaron, Judy and Dory, who brought the past back more vividly when Mandy +Ann was about their size. + +A look of inquiry passed from Mandy Ann to Jake, who touched his +forehead, while Mandy whispered, "Quar, like ole Miss an' all of 'em. +Oh, de pity of it! What happened her?" Then to Amy she said, with all +the motherhood of her ten children in her voice, "Doan' you 'member me, +Mandy Ann, what use' to dress you in de mornin', an' comb yer har, an' +wass yer face?" + +"Up, instead of down," Amy said quickly, while everybody laughed instead +of herself. + +"To be shu'," Mandy Ann rejoined. "I reckon I did sometimes wass up +'sted of down. I couldn't help it, 'case you's gen'rally pullin' an' +haulin' an' kickin' me to git away, but you 'members me, an' Judy, wid +dis kind of face?" + +She touched her eyes and nose and mouth to show where Judy's features +were marked with ink, and then Amy laughed, and as if the mention of +Judy took her back to the vernacular of her childhood, she said, "Oh, +yes, I done 'members Judy. Whar is she?" + +This lapse of her mother into negro dialect was more dreadful to Eloise +than anything which had gone before, but Mr. Mason, who read her concern +in her face, said to her, "It's all right, and shows she is taking up +the tangled threads." + +No one present knew of Judy's sale at the Rummage, and no one could +reply to the question, "Whar is she?" Amy forgot it in a moment in her +interest in the twins, whom Mandy presented one after another, saying, +"I've six mo' grow'd up, some on 'em, an' one is married, 'case I'se +old,--I'se fifty-three, an' you's about forty." + +To this Amy paid no attention. She was still absorbed with the twins, +who, Mandy Ann told her, had worn her white frock at their christening. +Mandy Ann had not yet heard of the finding of the marriage certificate, +and when Jake told her she did not seem greatly surprised. + +"I allus knew she was married, without a stifficut," she said. "I +b'lieved it the fust time he come befo' lil Miss Dory was bawn." + +"Tell me about his coming," Eloise said, and Mandy Ann, who liked +nothing better than to talk, began at the beginning, and told every +particular of the first visit, when Miss Dora wore the white gown she +was married in and buried in, and the rose on her bosom. "And you think +this is it?" Eloise asked, holding carefully in a bit of paper the ashes +of what had once been a rose. + +"I 'clar for't, yes," Mandy said, "I seen her put it somewhar with the +card he done gin me. You'se found it?" + +Eloise nodded and held fast to the relics of a past which in this way +was linking itself to the present. "Tell us of the second time, when he +took mother," Eloise suggested, and here Mandy Ann was very eloquent, +describing everything in detail, repeating much which Jake had told, +telling of the ring,--a real stone, sent her from Savannah, and which +she had given her daughter as it was too small for her now. From a +drawer in the chamber above she brought a little white dress, stiff with +starch and yellow and tender with time, which she said "lil Miss Dory +wore when she first saw her father." + +This Eloise seized at once, saying, "You will let me have it as +something which belonged to mother far back." + +Mandy Ann looked doubtful. There would probably be grandchildren, and +Jake's scruples might be overcome and the white gown do duty again as a +christening robe. But Jake spoke up promptly. + +"In course it's your'n, an' de book, too, if you wants it, though it's +like takin' a piece of de ole times. Strange Miss Dora don't pay no +'tention, but is so wropp'd up in dem twins. 'Specs it seems like when +de little darkys use' to play wid her," he continued, looking at Amy, +who, if she heard what Mandy Ann was saying, gave no sign, but seemed, +as Jake said, "wropp'd up" in the twins. + +There was not much more for Mandy Ann to tell of the Colonel, except to +speak of the money he had sent to her and Jake, proving that he was not +"the wustest man in the world, if she did cuss him kneeling on Miss +Dory's grave the night after the burial." She spoke of that and of "ole +Miss Thomas, who was the last to _gin in_," and wouldn't have done it +then but for the ring on her finger. At this point Jake, who thought she +had told enough, said to her, "Hole on a spell. Your tongue is like a +mill wheel when it starts. Thar's some things you or'to keep to your +self. Ole man Crompton is dead, an' God is takin' keer of him. He knows +all the good thar was at the last, an' I 'specs thar was a heap." + +By this time Amy had tired of the twins, who had fingered her rings and +buttons, and stroked her dress and hair, and called her a pretty lady, +and asked her on the sly for a nickel. She was getting restless, when +Jakey said, "If you'd like to see your mudder's grave, come wid me." + +From the house to the enclosure where the Harrises were buried he had +made a narrow road, beside which eucalyptus trees and oleanders were +growing, and along this walk the party followed him to Eudora's grave. + +"I can have 'Crompton' put hyar now that I am shu'," Jake said, pointing +to the vacant space after Eudora. "I wish dar was room for 'belobed wife +of Cunnel Crompton.' I reckons, though, she wasn't 'belobed,' or why was +he so dogon mean to her?" he added, kneeling by the grave and picking a +dead leaf and bud which his quick eye had detected amid the bloom. +"Couldn't you done drap a tear 'case your mother is lyin' here?" he said +to Amy, who shook her head. + +The dead mother was not as real to her as the living Jake, to whom she +said, "As you talk to me I remember something of her, and people making +a noise. But it is long ago, and much has happened since. I can't cry. +Is it wrong?" + +She looked at Eloise, who replied, "No, darling; you have cried enough +for one day. Some time we will come here again, and you'll remember +more. Let us go." + +"What is your plan now?" Mr. Mason asked Jack when, after a half hour +spent with Jake, they were driving back to the Brock House. + +"I have been thinking," Jack replied, "that I will leave the ladies for +a few days at the hotel, while I go to Palatka and Atlanta, and see if +anything can be learned of the Browns, or Harrises, or the Hardy +plantation, where the marriage took place. I wish to get all the facts I +can, although the certificate should be sufficient to establish Mrs. +Amy's right to the estate. I don't think she realizes her position, as +heir to the finest property in Crompton." + +She didn't realize it at all, but was very willing to stay at the Brock +House with Eloise, while Jack went to Palatka and Atlanta to see what he +could find. It was not much. Tom Hardy had been killed in the war, and +had left no family. This he was told in Palatka. In Atlanta he learned +that before the war there had been a plantation near the city owned by a +Hardy family, all of whom were dead or had disappeared. There were +Browns in plenty in the Directory, and Jack saw them all, but none had +any connection with the Harrises. At last he struck an old negress, who +had belonged to the Hardys, and who remembered a double wedding at the +plantation years before, and who said that an Andrew Jackson Brown, who +must have been present, as he was a son of the house, was living in +Boston, and was a conductor of a street car. With this information as +the result of his search Jack went back to Enterprise, where he found +Amy greatly improved in mind and body. Every day Jake and Mandy Ann had +been to see her, or with Eloise she had driven to the clearing, where +her dormant faculties continued to awaken with the familiar objects of +her childhood. Many people and much talking still bewildered her, and +her memory was treacherous on many points, but to a stranger who knew +nothing of her history she seemed a quiet, sane woman, "not a bit quar," +Eloise said to Jack as she welcomed him back. "And I believe she will +continue to improve when we get her home, away from the people who talk +to her so much and confuse her. When can we go?" + +"To-morrow, if you like," Jack said, and the next day they left +Enterprise, after bidding an affectionate good-by to Mandy Ann, with +whom they left a substantial remembrance of their visit. + +Amy would have liked to take the twins with her, but Eloise said, "Not +yet, mother; wait and see, and perhaps they will all come later." + +It was sure that Jakey was to follow them soon and spend as much time +with them as he pleased. + +"Stay always, if you will. We owe you everything," Eloise said to him, +when at parting he stood on the platform with his "God bress you, Mas'r +Harcourt an' Miss Amy, an' Miss t'other one," until the train was out of +sight. + +They made the journey by easy stages, for Amy was worn with excitement, +and it was a week after leaving Florida when a telegram was received at +the Crompton House saying they would arrive that evening. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +WHAT HOWARD FOUND + + +Jack had sent Howard a postal on the road to Florida, and a few lines +from Enterprise on the day of their arrival. Since that time he had been +so busy that he had failed to write, thinking he could tell the news so +much better, and Howard argued from his silence that the errand had been +unsuccessful. Crompton Place was undoubtedly his, and still he had not +been altogether happy in his rôle as heir. The servants had been very +respectful; people had treated him with deference; trades-people had +sought his patronage; subscription papers had poured in upon him from +all quarters, and in many ways he was made to feel that he was really +Crompton of Crompton, with a prospective income of many thousands. He +had gone over his uncle's papers, and knew exactly what he was worth, +and when his dividends and rents were due. He was a rich man, unless +they found something unexpected in Florida, and he did not believe they +would. It seemed impossible that if there were a marriage it should have +been kept secret so long. "My uncle would certainly have told it at the +last and not left a stain on Amy," he said to himself again and again, +and nearly succeeded in making himself believe that he had a right to be +where he was,--his uncle's heir and head of the house. Why no provision +was made for Amy he could not imagine. "But it will make no difference," +he said; "I shall provide for her and Eloise." + +At the thought of her his heart gave a great throb, for she was dearer +to him than he had supposed. "I believe I'd give up Crompton if I could +win her," he thought, "but that cannot be; Jack is the lucky fellow," +and then he began to calculate how much he would give Amy out and out. +"She can live here, of course, if she will, but she must have something +of her own. Will twenty thousand be enough, or too much?" he said, and +from the sum total of the estate he subtracted twenty thousand dollars, +with so large a remainder that he decided to give her that amount in +bonds and mortgages, which would cause her as little trouble as +possible. There were some government bonds in a private drawer, through +which he had searched for a will. He would have a look at them and see +which were the more desirable for Amy. He had been through that drawer +three or four times, and there was no thought of the will now as he +opened it, wondering that it came so hard, as if something were binding +on the top or side. It shut harder, or, rather, it didn't shut at all, +and with a jerk he pulled it out to see what was the matter. As he did +so a folded sheet of foolscap, which had been lodged between the drawer +and the side of the desk, fell to the floor. With a presentiment of the +truth Howard took it up and read, "THE LAST WILL AND CONFESSION OF JAMES +CROMPTON!" + +It had come at last, and, unfolding the sheet, Howard began to read, +glancing first at the date, which was a few weeks after Amy came from +California. + +"KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS," it began, "that I, JAMES CROMPTON, am +a coward and a sneak and a villain, and have lived a lie for forty +years, hiding a secret I was too proud to divulge at first, and which +grew harder and harder to tell as time went on and people held me so +high as the soul of honor and rectitude. Honor! There isn't a hair of it +on my head! I broke the heart of an innocent girl, and left her to die +alone. AMY EUDORA SMITH is my own daughter, the lawful child of my +marriage with EUDORA HARRIS, which took place December--, 18--, on the +Hardy Plantation, Fulton County, in Georgia, several miles from +Atlanta." + +Up to this point Howard had been standing, but now the floor seemed to +rise up and strike him in the face. Sitting down in the nearest chair, +he breathed hard for a moment, and then went on with what the Colonel +called his CONFESSION, which he had not had courage to make verbally +while living. + +When in college he had for his room-mate Tom Hardy from Atlanta. The two +were fast friends, and when the Colonel was invited to visit Georgia he +did so gladly. Some miles from the town was the plantation owned by the +Hardys. This the Colonel visited in company with his friend. A small +log-house on a part of the farm was rented to a Mr. Brown, a perfectly +respectable man, but ignorant and coarse. His family consisted of +himself and wife and son, and daughter Mary, a pretty girl of twenty, +and a cousin from Florida, Eudora Harris, a beautiful girl of sixteen, +wholly uneducated and shy as a bird. There was about her a wonderful +fascination for the Colonel, who went with his friend several times to +the Brown's, and mixed with them familiarly for the sake of the girl +whose eyes welcomed him so gladly, and in which he at last read +unmistakable signs of love for himself, while the broad jokes of her +friends warned him of his danger. Then his calls ceased, for nothing was +further from his thought than marriage with Eudora. At last there came +to him and Tom a badly written and spelled invitation to Mary's wedding, +which was to take place on the afternoon of the nineteenth day of +December, 18--. + +"Let's go; there'll be no end of fun," Tom said, but when the day came +he was ill in bed with influenza, and the Colonel went without him, +reaching the house just as the family were taking a hasty lunch, +preparatory to the feast which was to follow the wedding. + +"I sat down with them," the Colonel wrote, "and made myself one of them, +and drank vile whiskey and home-made wine until my head began to feel as +big as two heads, and I do not think I knew what I was about. As bad +luck would have it, the man who was to stand with Eudora as groomsman +failed to come, and I was asked to take his place. + +"'Certainly, I am ready for anything,' I said, and my voice sounded +husky and unnatural, and I wondered what ailed me. + +"'Then, s'posin' you and Dory get spliced, and we'll have a double +weddin'. You have sparked it long enough, and we don't stand foolin' +here,' Mr. Brown said to me, in a half-laughing, half-threatening tone. + +"I looked at Eudora, and her beautiful eyes were shining upon me with a +look which made my pulses quicken as they never had before. I don't know +what demon possessed me, unless it were the demon of the whiskey punch, +of which I had drank far too much, and which prompted me to say, 'All +right, if Eudora is willing.' + +"To do her justice, she hesitated a moment, but when I kissed her she +yielded, and with the touch of her lips there came over me a feeling I +mistook for love, and everything was forgotten except the girl. Elder +Covil performed the double ceremony, and looked questioningly at me, as +if doubtful whether I were in my right mind or not. I thought I was, and +felt extremely happy, until I woke to what I had done, and from which +there was no escape. I was bound to a girl whose sweet disposition and +great beauty were her only attractions, and whose environments made me +shudder. I could not bring her to Crompton Place and introduce her to my +friends, and I did not know what to do. + +"Tom was furious when he heard of it, and suggested suicide and divorce, +and everything else that was bad. But Dora's eyes held me for two weeks, +and then I became so disillusionized and so sick of my surroundings, +that I was nearly ready to follow Tom's advice and blow out my brains. + +"'If you won't kill yourself,' he said, 'send the girl home to Florida, +and leave her there till you make up your mind what to do. There must be +some way to untie that knot. If not, you are in for it.' + +"I sent her home, and after two or three weeks, during which Tom and I +revolved a hundred plans, I decided on one, and went to see her in her +home--and such a home! A log-house in a palmetto clearing, with a +foolish old grandmother who did not know enough to ask or care what I +was to Eudora. I could not endure it, and I told Eudora how impossible +it was for me to take her North until she had some education and +knowledge of the world. I would leave her, I said, until I could decide +upon a school to which I would send her, and, as it would be absurd for +a married woman to be attending school, she was to retain her maiden +name of Harris, and tell no one of our marriage until I gave her +permission to do so. I think she would have jumped into the river at my +bidding, and she promised all that I required. + +"'I shall never tell I am your wife until you say I may,' she said to me +when I left her, but there was a look in her eyes like that I once saw +in a pet dog I had shot, and which in dying licked my hands. + +"Through Tom Hardy, who left Atlanta for Palatka, I sent her money +regularly and wrote occasionally, while she replied through the same +medium. Loving, pitiful letters they were, and would have moved the +heart of any man who was not a brute and steeped to the dregs in pride +and cowardice. I burned them as soon as I read them, for fear they might +be found. I told her to do the same with mine, and have no doubt she +did. I did mean fair about the school, and was making inquiries, slowly, +it is true, as my heart was not in it, and I had nearly decided upon +Lexington, Kentucky, when the birth of a little girl changed everything, +but did not reconcile me to the situation. I never cared for +children,--disliked them rather than otherwise,--and the fact that I was +a father did not move me a whit. + +"There was a letter imploring me to come and see our baby, and I +promised to go, with a vague idea that I might some time keep my word. +But I didn't. I had no love for Eudora, none for the child; and still a +thought of it haunted me continually, and was the cause of my giving the +grounds and the school-house to the town. I wanted to expiate my sin, +and at the same time increase my popularity, for at that time I was +trying to make up my mind to acknowledge my marriage and bring Eudora +home. The poor girl never knew it, for on the day of the lawn party she +was buried. Tom Hardy wrote me she was dead, and that he was about +starting for Europe, and had given Jake, a faithful servant of the +family, my address. God knows my remorse when I heard it, and still I +put off going for the child until Jake wrote me that the grandmother, +too, had died, and added that it was not fitting for the little girl to +be brought up with Crackers and negroes. He did not know that I had +heard of Eudora's death from Tom, and was waiting for--I did not know +what, unless it was to hear from him personally. There was more +manliness in that negro's nature than in mine, and I knew it, and was +ashamed of myself, and went for my daughter and stood by my wife's +grave, and heard from Jake the story of her life, and knew she had kept +her promise and never opened her lips, except to say that 'it was all +right.' + +"The people believed her for the most part, and anathematized the +unknown man who had deserted her, but they could not heap upon me all +the odium I deserved. Why the story has never reached here I hardly +know, except that intercourse between the North and the extreme South +was not as easy as it is now, and then the war swept off Tom Hardy and +most likely all who knew of the marriage. + +"When I brought Amy home I was too proud to acknowledge her as my +daughter. The Harrises and the palmetto clearing stood in the way, and I +let people think what they chose, hating myself with an added hatred for +allowing a stain to rest on her birth. I was fond of her in a way, and +angry when she married Candida, who died in Rome. Then she married a +Smith, who took her round the country to sing in concerts, until her +mind gave way, when he put her in a private asylum in San Francisco. I +was very proud of her, and loved her more than she ever knew, but could +not confess my relationship to her. When she married Candida I cast her +off. She must have some of my spirit, for she never came begging for +favors. Her rascally second husband wrote once for money, but I shut him +up so that he never wrote again, and the next I heard was a message from +Santa Barbara, where he died, and where, before he died, he had bidden +his physician to write to me that his wife was in an asylum in San +Francisco. I found her and brought her home, shattered in health and in +mind, but I think she will recover. If she does before I die, I have +sworn to tell her the truth, and will do it, so help me God! + +"She has at times spoken of a baby who died,--Smith's probably, and I +hated him and did not care for his child. I have thought to make my +will, but would rather write this confession, which will explain things +and put Amy right as my heir. I have, however, one request to make to +her, or those who attend to her affairs. I want my nephew, Howard, to +have twenty thousand dollars,--enough for any young man to start on if +there is any get-up in him, and Howard has considerable. + +"Written by me and signed this -- day of July, 18--, the anniversary of +Eudora's funeral and the big picnic on my grounds. + +"JAMES M. CROMPTON." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +HOWARD'S TEMPTATION + + +Howard did not know how long it took him to read this paper. It seemed +to him an age, and when it was read he felt as if turning into stone. +There was a fire in the grate before which he sat, and something said to +him, "Burn it," so distinctly, that he looked over his shoulder to see +who was there. "It's the devil," he thought, and his hand went toward +the flame, then drew back quickly. He knew now what his uncle had tried +so hard to tell them, and remembered how often his eyes had turned in +the direction of the private drawer. He had put his confession there, +and it had become wedged in and was out of sight, until frequent opening +and shutting the drawer had brought it into view. He read the document +again, and felt the perspiration oozing out of every pore. The twenty +thousand recommended for him made him laugh, as he thought that was the +sum he had intended for Amy, and which looked very small for his own +needs. "Six times two are twelve," he said, calculating the interest at +six per cent. "Twelve hundred a year is not much when one expected as +many thousands. I believe I'll burn it!" and again the paper was held so +near the fire that a corner of it was scorched. + +"I can't do it," he said, drawing it back a second time. "It would do +no good, either, if they find out in Florida. I don't see, though, how +they can, and if they have, Jack would have written, but I can't burn it +yet. I must think a while." + +He put the paper aside, and, without his overcoat, went out into the +cold, sleety rain, which was falling heavily. It chilled him at once, +but he did not think of it as he went through the grounds and gardens +and fields of the Crompton Place, where everything was in perfect order +and bespoke the wealth of the owner. It was a fair heritage, and he +could not give it up without a pang. He never knew how many miles he +walked back and forth across the fields and through the woods. Nor did +he know that he was cold, until he returned to the house with drenched +garments and a chill which he felt to his bones. He had taken a heavy +cold, and staid in-doors the next morning, shivering before the grate, +which he told Peter to heap with coal until it was hot as--. He didn't +finish the sentence, but added, "I'm infernally cold,--influenza, I +reckon, but I won't have any nostrums brought to me. All I want is a +good fire." + +Peter heaped up the fire until the room seemed to him like a furnace, +and then left the young man alone with his thoughts and his temptation, +which was assailing him a second time, stronger than before. He firmly +believed the devil was there, urging him to burn the paper, and held +several spirited conversations with him, pro and con, the cons finally +gaining the victory. + +Late in the afternoon Jack's telegram was brought to him. "We'll be home +this evening." + +"That means seven o'clock, and dinner at halfpast seven," he said to +Peter. "Send Sam with the carriage, and see that there are fires in +their rooms." + +He had given his orders and then sat down to decide what he would do. + +"I know the Old Harry is here with me, but his company is better than +none," he said, wishing he had a shawl, he was so cold, with the room at +90 degrees. + +The short day drew to a close. Peter came in and lighted the gas, and +put more coal on the grate, and said Sam had gone to the station. Half +an hour later Howard heard the whistle of the train, and then the sound +of wheels coming up the avenue. + +"Now or never!" was whispered in his ear, and his hand, with the paper +in it, went toward the fire. + +There was a fierce struggle, and Howard felt that he was really fighting +with an unseen foe; then his hand came back with the paper in it, safe +except for a second scorch on one side. + +"By the great eternal, it is never! I swear it!" he said, as his arm +dropped beside him and the paper fell to the floor. + +There was a sound below of people entering the house. They had come, and +he heard Eloise's voice as she passed his door on her way to her room +with Amy. Was Jack there too? he was wondering--when Jack came in, gay +and breezy, but startled when he met the woe-begone face turned toward +him. + +"By George! old man," he said, "Peter told me you were shut up with a +cold, but I didn't expect this. Why, you look like a ghost, and are +sweating like a butcher, and no wonder. The thermometer must be a +hundred. What's the matter?" + +"Jack," Howard said, "for forty-eight hours I have had a hand-to-hand +tussle with the devil. He was here bodily, as much as you are, but I +beat him, and swore I wouldn't burn the paper. Read it!" + +He pointed to it upon the floor at his feet. + +"I had it pretty near the fire twice, and singed it some," he continued, +as Jack took it up, and, glancing at the first words, exclaimed, "A +will! You found one, then?" + +"Not a regularly attested will, but answers every purpose," Howard +replied, while Jack read on with lightning rapidity, understanding much +that was dark before, and guessing in part what it was to Howard to have +all his hopes swept away. + +"By Jove!" he said, as he finished reading, "there was good in the old +man after all. I didn't think so when I heard Jakey's story, and saw +where his wife lived and died. We found the marriage certificate." + +"You did!" Howard exclaimed, a great gladness that he had not destroyed +the paper taking possession of him. "Why didn't you write and tell me? +It would have saved me that fight with the devil." + +"I don't know why I didn't," Jack replied. "I was awfully busy, and went +at once to Palatka to see if Tom Hardy left any family there, and found +he was never married. Then I went to Atlanta to find some trace of the +Browns and the Hardy plantation. The latter had been sold, the Hardys +were all gone, and the Browns, too,--killed in the war, most likely, +except one who is a street-car conductor in Boston, and I am going to +hunt him up, as I believe he was at the wedding, although he must have +been quite young. Yes, I ought to have written, and I'm sorry for you, +upon my soul. You look as if you'd had a taste of the infernal regions. +I'm glad you didn't burn it." + +He took Howard's hand and held it, while he told him, very briefly, the +circumstances of their finding the certificate, of whose existence Col. +Crompton could not have known. "And, Howard," he added, "I've something +else to tell you. Eloise is to be my wife. We settled it in the train +before I knew she was a great heiress. Can't you congratulate me?" he +asked, as Howard did not speak. + +"I expected it. You've got everything,--money and girl, too," Howard +said at last. "You are a lucky dog, and, whether you believe me or not, +I'd rather have the girl than the money. I asked her to marry me. Did +she tell you?" + +"Of course not," Jack replied, and Howard went on, "Well, I did, and +kissed her, too!" + +"Did she kiss you?" Jack asked a little sharply, and Howard replied, +"No, sir; she was madder than a hatter; you've no cause to be jealous." + +"All right," Jack answered, his brow clearing. "All right. I'm more +sorry for you now than I was before. I didn't know you really cared for +her that way; but, I say, aren't you coming to dinner? The bell has rung +twice, and I still in my travelling clothes and you in your +dressing-gown." + +Howard shook his head. "Don't you see, I am sick with an infernal cold," +he said. "Got it tramping in the rain without my overcoat, and that +fight I told you of has unstrung me. It was a regular battle. But you go +yourself, and perhaps Eloise will come to see me. I shall show her the +Colonel's confession, and she can do as she pleases about telling her +mother." + +Jack left him and went to the dinner, which had been kept waiting some +time, and at which Amy did not appear. She had gone at once to bed, +Eloise explained, when she took her seat at the table with Jack. When +told of Howard's message, she said, "Of course I'll go to him," and half +an hour later she was in his room, and greatly shocked at his white, +haggard face, which indicated more than the cold of which he complained. +He did not tell her of his temptation. It was not necessary. He +congratulated her upon her success, and upon her engagement, of which +Jack had told him. Then he gave her the paper he had found, and watched +her as she read it, sometimes with flashes of indignation upon her face, +and again with tears of pity in her eyes. + +"He was a bad man," she said, with great energy, and then added, "A good +one, too, in some respects, although I cannot understand the pride which +made him such a coward." + +"I can," Howard rejoined. "It's the Crompton pride, stronger than life +itself. I know, for I am a Crompton. You, probably, are more Harris than +Crompton, and do not feel so deeply." + +He did not mean to reflect upon her mother's family, but Eloise's face +was very red as she said, "The Harrises and Browns are not people to be +proud of, I know, but they were as honest, perhaps, as the Cromptons, +and they are mine, and if they all came here to-night I would not disown +them." + +She looked every inch a Crompton as she spoke, and Howard laughed and +said, "Good for you, little cousin; I believe you would, and if Jack +finds the conductor in Boston, I dare say you will have him at your +wedding. When is it to be?" + +"Just as soon as arrangements can be made," Jack replied, coming in in +time to hear the last of Howard's remark, "and, of course, we'll have +the street conductor if he will come. I start to-morrow to find him." + +He took an early train the next morning for Boston, and two days after +he wrote to Eloise: "I believe there are a million street cars in the +city and fifty conductors by the name of Brown. Fortunately, however, +there is only one Andrew Jackson, or Andy, as they call him, and I found +him on one of the suburban trains, rather old to be a conductor, but +seemed young for his years. He is your grandmother's cousin, and was +present at the double wedding, when Eudora Harris was married by Elder +Covil to James Crompton, 'a mighty proud-lookin' chap,' he said, 'who +deserted her in less than a month. I remember him well. Pop threatened +to shoot him if he ever cotched him, but the wah broke out and pop was +killed, and all of us but me, who married a little Yankee girl what +brought things to us prisoners in Washington. She's right smart younger +than I am, and I've got eight children and five grandchildren, peart and +lively as rabbits. And you want me to swear that I seen Eudory married? +Wall, I will, for I did, and I'd like to see her girl--Amy you call her. +Mabby Mary Jane an' me will come to visit her when I have a spell off.' + +"All this he said in a breath, and when I told him I was to marry Amy's +daughter, he called me his cousin, and asked when the wedding was to be. +If it had not been for those eight children and five grandchildren, +thirteen Browns in all, which I felt sure he would bring with him, I +should have promised him and Mary Jane an invitation. As it was, I did +nothing rash. I got his affidavit, and we parted the best of friends, he +urging me to call at his shanty and see Mary Jane and the kids. I had to +decline, but told him perhaps I'd bring my wife to see them. What do you +say? Expect me to-morrow. + +"Lovingly, + +"JACK." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +CONCLUSION + + +It did not take long for all Crompton to know that Amy was Col. +Crompton's daughter, and that the Colonel had left a paper to that +effect, which Mr. Howard had found, and that Eloise had also found the +marriage certificate, proving her mother's legitimacy beyond a doubt, +and making her sole heir to the Crompton estate. It was Friday night +when the travellers returned from the South, and on Saturday morning, +Mrs. Biggs's washing day, she heard the news. Leaving her clothes in the +suds, and her tubs of rinsing and bluing water upon the floor, she +started for the Crompton House, which she reached breathless with haste +and excitement, and eager to congratulate Amy and Eloise. + +"I swan, it 'most seem's if I was your relation," she said, shaking +Eloise's hand, and telling her she always mistrusted she was somebody +more than common, "and I hope we shall be neighborly. I s'pose you'll +live here?" + +Eloise received her graciously, and said she should never forget her +kindness, and told her some incidents of her journey, and, as Mrs. Biggs +reported to Tim, "treated me as if I was just as good as she, if she is +a Crompton." + +Ruby Ann came later in the day, genuinely glad for Eloise, and sure +that nothing would ever change the young girl's friendship for herself, +no matter what her position might be. Many others called that day and +the following Monday, and Eloise received them with a dignity of which +she was herself unconscious, and which they charged to the Crompton +blood. Howard, who was still suffering from a severe cold, kept his room +until Jack returned. Then he came out with a feeling of humiliation, not +so much that he had lost the estate, as that he had thought to burn the +paper which took it from him. This feeling, however, gradually wore off +under Jack's geniality and Eloise's friendliness, and Amy's sweetness of +manner as she called him Cousin Howard, and said she hoped he would look +upon Crompton as his home. Then he was to have twenty thousand dollars +when matters were adjusted, and that was something to one who, when he +came to Crompton, had scarcely a dollar. His visit had paid, and, though +he was not the master, he was the favored guest and cousin, who, at +Eloise's request, took charge of affairs after Jack went home to New +York. + +Early in December Jake came from the South, and was welcomed warmly by +Amy and Eloise. To the servants he was a great curiosity, with his negro +dialect and quaint ways, but no one could look at the old man's honest +face without respecting him. Even Peter, who detected about him an order +of the bad tobacco which had so offended his nostrils in the letters to +his master, and who on general principles disliked negroes, was disarmed +of his prejudices by Jake's confiding simplicity and thorough goodness. +Taking him one day for a drive around the country and through the +village, he bought him some first-class cigars with the thought "Maybe +they'll take that smell out of his clothes." + +"Thankee, Mas'r Peter, thankee," Jake said, smacking his lips with his +enjoyment of the flavor of the Havanas. "Dis yer am mighty fine, but I +s'pecks I or'to stick to my backy. I done brought a lot wid me." + +He smoked the Havanas as long as they lasted, with no special diminution +of odor as Peter could discover, and then returned to his backy and his +clay pipe. + +In the love and tender care with which she was surrounded, Amy's mind +recovered its balance to a great extent, with an occasional lapse when +anything reminded her of her life in California as a public singer, or +when she was very tired. She was greatly interested in Eloise's wedding, +which was fixed for the 10th of January, her twentieth birthday. Jack, +who came from New York every week, would have liked what he called a +blow-out, but the recent death of the Colonel and Amy's mourning +precluded that, and only a very few were bidden to the ceremony, which +took place in the drawing-room of the Crompton House, instead of the +church. Amy gave the bride away, and a stranger would never have +suspected that she was what Jakey called quar. After Eloise left for her +bridal trip she began to assume some responsibility as mistress of the +house and to understand Mr. Ferris a little when he talked to her on +business. Jake was a kind of ballast to her during Eloise's absence, but +a Northern winter did not agree with the old man, who wore nearly as +much clothing to keep him warm as Harry Gill, and then complained of +the cold. + +"Florida suits me best, and I've a kind of hankerin' for de ole place +whar deys all buried," he said, and in the spring he returned to his +Lares and Penates, leaving Amy a little unsettled with his loss, but she +soon recovered her spirits in the excitement of going abroad. + +It was Jack who suggested this trip, which he thought would benefit them +all, and early in May they sailed for Europe, taking Ruby with them, not +in any sense as a waiting maid, as some ill-natured ones suggested, but +as a companion to Amy, and as the friend who had been so kind to Eloise +in her need. + +That summer Howard was a conspicuous figure at a fashionable watering +place with his fast horse and stylish buggy, and every other appearance +of wealth and luxury. He had received his twenty thousand dollars and +more, too, for Eloise was disposed to be very generous toward him, and +Amy assented to whatever she suggested. + +"I'll have one good time and spend a whole year's interest if I choose," +he said, and he had a good time and made love to a little Western +heiress, whose eyes were like those of Eloise, and first attracted him +to her, and who before the season was over promised to be his wife. + +Just before she left for Europe Eloise brought her grandmother, Mrs. +Smith, from Mayville, and established her in Crompton Place as its +mistress, but that good woman had little to say, and allowed the +servants to have their way in everything. The change from her quiet home +to all the grandeur and ceremony of the Crompton House did not suit her, +and she returned, like Jakey, to her household gods when the family +came back in the spring. + + * * * * * + +Several years have passed since then, and Crompton Place is just as +lovely as it was when we first saw it on the day of the lawn party. +Three children are there now; two girls, Dora and Lucy, and a sturdy +boy, who was christened James Harris Crompton, but is called Harry. The +doll-house has been brought to light, with Mandy Ann and Judy, to the +great delight of the little girls, and Amy is never brighter than when +playing with the children, and telling them of the palms and oranges, +alligators and negroes in Florida, which she speaks of as home. + +Eloise is very happy, and if a fear of the Harris taint ever creeps into +her mind, it is dissipated at once in the perfect sunshine which crowns +her life. Nearly every year Jakey comes to visit "chile Dory an' her lil +ones," and once Mandy Ann spent a summer in Crompton as cook in place of +Cindy, who was taking a vacation. But Northern ways of regularity and +promptness did not suit her. + +"'Clar for't," she said, "I jess can't git use't to de Yankee Doodle +quickstep nohow. At Miss Perkinses dey wasn't partic'lar ef things was +half an hour behime." + +Her mind dwelt a good deal on what she had seen at Miss Perkins's, more +than forty years before, and on her children and Ted, and when Cindy +returned in the autumn she went back to him and the twins, laden with +gifts from Amy and Eloise, the latter of whom saw that her mother gave +more judiciously than she would otherwise have done. Both Amy and Eloise +are fond of driving, and nearly every day the carriage goes out, but +the coachman is no longer Sam. He is married and lives in the village, +and his place is filled by Tom Walker, who wears a brown livery, and +fills the position with a dignity one would scarcely expect in the tall, +lank boy, once the bully in school and the blackguard of the town. + +There have been three or four different teachers in District No. 5,--all +normal graduates, and all during their term of office boarding with Mrs. +Biggs, who is never tired of boasting of her intimacy with the +Cromptons, and Eloise in particular. Every detail of the accident is +repeated again and again, with many incidents of Amy's girlhood. Then +she takes up the Colonel and his private marriage, and with his +introduction we end our story and leave her to tell hers in her own way. + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Cromptons, by Mary J. 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