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diff --git a/19746.txt b/19746.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..83b5dd0 --- /dev/null +++ b/19746.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9798 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Colonel's Dream, by Charles W. Chesnutt + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Colonel's Dream + + +Author: Charles W. Chesnutt + + + +Release Date: November 9, 2006 [eBook #19746] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COLONEL'S DREAM*** + + +E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Jeannie Howse, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net/) + + + + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation and dialect spelling in the | + | original document have been preserved. | + | | + | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected in this | + | text. For a complete list, please see the end of document. | + | | + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +THE COLONEL'S DREAM + +A Novel + +by + +CHARLES W. CHESNUTT + + + + + + + +Harlem Moon +Broadway Books +New York + +Published in 1905 by +Doubleday, New York. + + + + + + +THE COLONEL'S DREAM + + + + +DEDICATION + + +_To the great number of those who are seeking, in whatever manner or +degree, from near at hand or far away, to bring the forces of +enlightenment to bear upon the vexed problems which harass the South, +this volume is inscribed, with the hope that it may contribute to the +same good end._ + +_If there be nothing new between its covers, neither is love new, nor +faith, nor hope, nor disappointment, nor sorrow. Yet life is not the +less worth living because of any of these, nor has any man truly lived +until he has tasted of them all._ + + + + +LIST OF CHARACTERS + + +_Colonel Henry French_, A RETIRED MERCHANT + +_Mr. Kirby_, } +_Mrs. Jerviss_, } HIS FORMER PARTNERS + +_Philip French_, THE COLONEL'S SON + +_Peter French_, HIS OLD SERVANT + +_Mrs. Treadwell_, AN OLD LADY + +_Miss Laura Treadwell_, HER DAUGHTER + +_Graciella Treadwell_, HER GRANDDAUGHTER + +_Malcolm Dudley_, A TREASURE-SEEKER + +_Ben Dudley_, HIS NEPHEW + +_Viney_, HIS HOUSEKEEPER + +_William Fetters_, A CONVICT LABOUR CONTRACTOR + +_Barclay Fetters_, HIS SON + +_Bud Johnson_, A CONVICT LABOURER + +_Caroline_, HIS WIFE + +_Henry Taylor_, A NEGRO SCHOOLMASTER + +_William Nichols_, A MULATTO BARBER + +_Haynes_, A CONSTABLE + + + + +One + + +Two gentlemen were seated, one March morning in 189--, in the private +office of French and Company, Limited, on lower Broadway. Mr. Kirby, +the junior partner--a man of thirty-five, with brown hair and +mustache, clean-cut, handsome features, and an alert manner, was +smoking cigarettes almost as fast as he could roll them, and at the +same time watching the electric clock upon the wall and getting up now +and then to stride restlessly back and forth across the room. + +Mr. French, the senior partner, who sat opposite Kirby, was an older +man--a safe guess would have placed him somewhere in the debatable +ground between forty and fifty; of a good height, as could be seen +even from the seated figure, the upper part of which was held erect +with the unconscious ease which one associates with military training. +His closely cropped brown hair had the slightest touch of gray. The +spacious forehead, deep-set gray eyes, and firm chin, scarcely +concealed by a light beard, marked the thoughtful man of affairs. His +face indeed might have seemed austere, but for a sensitive mouth, +which suggested a reserve of humour and a capacity for deep feeling. A +man of well-balanced character, one would have said, not apt to +undertake anything lightly, but sure to go far in whatever he took in +hand; quickly responsive to a generous impulse, and capable of a +righteous indignation; a good friend, a dangerous enemy; more likely +to be misled by the heart than by the head; of the salt of the earth, +which gives it savour. + +Mr. French sat on one side, Mr. Kirby on the other, of a handsome, +broad-topped mahogany desk, equipped with telephones and push buttons, +and piled with papers, account books and letter files in orderly +array. In marked contrast to his partner's nervousness, Mr. French +scarcely moved a muscle, except now and then to take the cigar from +his lips and knock the ashes from the end. + +"Nine fifty!" ejaculated Mr. Kirby, comparing the clock with his +watch. "Only ten minutes more." + +Mr. French nodded mechanically. Outside, in the main office, the same +air of tense expectancy prevailed. For two weeks the office force had +been busily at work, preparing inventories and balance sheets. The +firm of French and Company, Limited, manufacturers of crashes and +burlaps and kindred stuffs, with extensive mills in Connecticut, and +central offices in New York, having for a long time resisted the siren +voice of the promoter, had finally faced the alternative of selling +out, at a sacrifice, to the recently organised bagging trust, or of +meeting a disastrous competition. Expecting to yield in the end, they +had fought for position--with brilliant results. Negotiations for a +sale, upon terms highly favourable to the firm, had been in progress +for several weeks; and the two partners were awaiting, in their +private office, the final word. Should the sale be completed, they +were richer men than they could have hoped to be after ten years more +of business stress and struggle; should it fail, they were heavy +losers, for their fight had been expensive. They were in much the same +position as the player who had staked the bulk of his fortune on the +cast of a die. Not meaning to risk so much, they had been drawn into +it; but the game was worth the candle. + +"Nine fifty-five," said Kirby. "Five minutes more!" + +He strode over to the window and looked out. It was snowing, and the +March wind, blowing straight up Broadway from the bay, swept the white +flakes northward in long, feathery swirls. Mr. French preserved his +rigid attitude, though a close observer might have wondered whether it +was quite natural, or merely the result of a supreme effort of will. + +Work had been practically suspended in the outer office. The clerks +were also watching the clock. Every one of them knew that the board of +directors of the bagging trust was in session, and that at ten o'clock +it was to report the result of its action on the proposition of French +and Company, Limited. The clerks were not especially cheerful; the +impending change meant for them, at best, a change of masters, and for +many of them, the loss of employment. The firm, for relinquishing its +business and good will, would receive liberal compensation; the +clerks, for their skill, experience, and prospects of advancement, +would receive their discharge. What else could be expected? The +principal reason for the trust's existence was economy of +administration; this was stated, most convincingly, in the prospectus. +There was no suggestion, in that model document, that competition +would be crushed, or that, monopoly once established, labour must +sweat and the public groan in order that a few captains, or +chevaliers, of industry, might double their dividends. Mr. French may +have known it, or guessed it, but he was between the devil and the +deep sea--a victim rather than an accessory--he must take what he +could get, or lose what he had. + +"Nine fifty-nine!" + +Kirby, as he breathed rather than spoke the words, threw away his +scarcely lighted cigarette, and gripped the arms of his chair +spasmodically. His partner's attitude had not varied by a hair's +breadth; except for the scarcely perceptible rise and fall of his +chest he might have been a wax figure. The pallor of his countenance +would have strengthened the illusion. + +Kirby pushed his chair back and sprung to his feet. The clock marked +the hour, but nothing happened. Kirby was wont to say, thereafter, +that the ten minutes that followed were the longest day of his life. +But everything must have an end, and their suspense was terminated by +a telephone call. Mr. French took down the receiver and placed it to +his ear. + +"It's all right," he announced, looking toward his partner. "Our +figures accepted--resolution adopted--settlement to-morrow. We +are----" + +The receiver fell upon the table with a crash. Mr. French toppled +over, and before Kirby had scarcely realised that something was the +matter, had sunk unconscious to the floor, which, fortunately, was +thickly carpeted. + +It was but the work of a moment for Kirby to loosen his partner's +collar, reach into the recesses of a certain drawer in the big desk, +draw out a flask of brandy, and pour a small quantity of the burning +liquid down the unconscious man's throat. A push on one of the +electric buttons summoned a clerk, with whose aid Mr. French was +lifted to a leather-covered couch that stood against the wall. Almost +at once the effect of the stimulant was apparent, and he opened his +eyes. + +"I suspect," he said, with a feeble attempt at a smile, "that I must +have fainted--like a woman--perfectly ridiculous." + +"Perfectly natural," replied his partner. "You have scarcely slept for +two weeks--between the business and Phil--and you've reached the end +of your string. But it's all over now, except the shouting, and you +can sleep a week if you like. You'd better go right up home. I'll send +for a cab, and call Dr. Moffatt, and ask him to be at the hotel by the +time you reach it. I'll take care of things here to-day, and after a +good sleep you'll find yourself all right again." + +"Very well, Kirby," replied Mr. French, "I feel as weak as water, but +I'm all here. It might have been much worse. You'll call up Mrs. +Jerviss, of course, and let her know about the sale?" + +When Mr. French, escorted to the cab by his partner, and accompanied +by a clerk, had left for home, Kirby rang up the doctor, and requested +him to look after Mr. French immediately. He then called for another +number, and after the usual delay, first because the exchange girl was +busy, and then because the line was busy, found himself in +communication with the lady for whom he had asked. + +"It's all right, Mrs. Jerviss," he announced without preliminaries. +"Our terms accepted, and payment to be made, in cash and bonds, as +soon as the papers are executed, when you will be twice as rich as you +are to-day." + +"Thank you, Mr. Kirby! And I suppose I shall never have another happy +moment until I know what to do with it. Money is a great trial. I +often envy the poor." + +Kirby smiled grimly. She little knew how near she had been to ruin. +The active partners had mercifully shielded her, as far as possible, +from the knowledge of their common danger. If the worst happened, she +must know, of course; if not, then, being a woman whom they both +liked--she would be spared needless anxiety. How closely they had +skirted the edge of disaster she did not learn until afterward; +indeed, Kirby himself had scarcely appreciated the true situation, and +even the senior partner, since he had not been present at the meeting +of the trust managers, could not know what had been in their minds. + +But Kirby's voice gave no hint of these reflections. He laughed a +cheerful laugh. "If the world only knew," he rejoined, "it would +cease to worry about the pains of poverty, and weep for the woes of +wealth." + +"Indeed it would!" she replied, with a seriousness which seemed almost +sincere. "Is Mr. French there? I wish to thank him, too." + +"No, he has just gone home." + +"At this hour?" she exclaimed, "and at such a time? What can be the +matter? Is Phil worse?" + +"No, I think not. Mr. French himself had a bad turn, for a few +minutes, after we learned the news." + +Faces are not yet visible over the telephone, and Kirby could not see +that for a moment the lady's grew white. But when she spoke again the +note of concern in her voice was very evident. + +"It was nothing--serious?" + +"Oh, no, not at all, merely overwork, and lack of sleep, and the +suspense--and the reaction. He recovered almost immediately, and one +of the clerks went home with him." + +"Has Dr. Moffatt been notified?" she asked. + +"Yes, I called him up at once; he'll be at the Mercedes by the time +the patient arrives." + +There was a little further conversation on matters of business, and +Kirby would willingly have prolonged it, but his news about Mr. French +had plainly disturbed the lady's equanimity, and Kirby rang off, after +arranging to call to see her in person after business hours. + +Mr. Kirby hung up the receiver with something of a sigh. + +"A fine woman," he murmured, "I could envy French his chances, though +he doesn't seem to see them--that is, if I were capable of envy toward +so fine a fellow and so good a friend. It's curious how clearsighted a +man can be in some directions, and how blind in others." + +Mr. French lived at the Mercedes, an uptown apartment hotel +overlooking Central Park. He had scarcely reached his apartment, when +the doctor arrived--a tall, fair, fat practitioner, and one of the +best in New York; a gentleman as well, and a friend, of Mr. French. + +"My dear fellow," he said, after a brief examination, "you've been +burning the candle at both ends, which, at your age won't do at all. +No, indeed! No, indeed! You've always worked too hard, and you've been +worrying too much about the boy, who'll do very well now, with care. +You've got to take a rest--it's all you need. You confess to no bad +habits, and show the signs of none; and you have a fine constitution. +I'm going to order you and Phil away for three months, to some mild +climate, where you'll be free from business cares and where the boy +can grow strong without having to fight a raw Eastern spring. You +might try the Riviera, but I'm afraid the sea would be too much for +Phil just yet; or southern California--but the trip is tiresome. The +South is nearer at hand. There's Palm Beach, or Jekyll Island, or +Thomasville, Asheville, or Aiken--somewhere down in the pine country. +It will be just the thing for the boy's lungs, and just the place for +you to rest. Start within a week, if you can get away. In fact, you've +_got_ to get away." + +Mr. French was too weak to resist--both body and mind seemed strangely +relaxed--and there was really no reason why he should not go. His work +was done. Kirby could attend to the formal transfer of the business. +He would take a long journey to some pleasant, quiet spot, where he +and Phil could sleep, and dream and ride and drive and grow strong, +and enjoy themselves. For the moment he felt as though he would never +care to do any more work, nor would he need to, for he was rich +enough. He would live for the boy. Phil's education, his health, his +happiness, his establishment in life--these would furnish occupation +enough for his well-earned retirement. + +It was a golden moment. He had won a notable victory against greed and +craft and highly trained intelligence. And yet, a year later, he was +to recall this recent past with envy and regret; for in the meantime +he was to fight another battle against the same forces, and others +quite as deeply rooted in human nature. But he was to fight upon a new +field, and with different weapons, and with results which could not be +foreseen. + +But no premonition of impending struggle disturbed Mr. French's +pleasant reverie; it was broken in a much more agreeable manner by the +arrival of a visitor, who was admitted by Judson, Mr. French's man. +The visitor was a handsome, clear-eyed, fair-haired woman, of thirty +or thereabouts, accompanied by another and a plainer woman, evidently +a maid or companion. The lady was dressed with the most expensive +simplicity, and her graceful movements were attended by the rustle of +unseen silks. In passing her upon the street, any man under ninety +would have looked at her three times, the first glance instinctively +recognising an attractive woman, the second ranking her as a lady; +while the third, had there been time and opportunity, would have been +the long, lingering look of respectful or regretful admiration. + +"How is Mr. French, Judson?" she inquired, without dissembling her +anxiety. + +"He's much better, Mrs. Jerviss, thank you, ma'am." + +"I'm very glad to hear it; and how is Phil?" + +"Quite bright, ma'am, you'd hardly know that he'd been sick. He's +gaining strength rapidly; he sleeps a great deal; he's asleep now, +ma'am. But, won't you step into the library? There's a fire in the +grate, and I'll let Mr. French know you are here." + +But Mr. French, who had overheard part of the colloquy, came forward +from an adjoining room, in smoking jacket and slippers. + +"How do you do?" he asked, extending his hand. "It was mighty good of +you to come to see me." + +"And I'm awfully glad to find you better," she returned, giving him +her slender, gloved hand with impulsive warmth. "I might have +telephoned, but I wanted to see for myself. I felt a part of the blame +to be mine, for it is partly for me, you know, that you have been +overworking." + +"It was all in the game," he said, "and we have won. But sit down and +stay awhile. I know you'll pardon my smoking jacket. We are partners, +you know, and I claim an invalid's privilege as well." + +The lady's fine eyes beamed, and her fair cheek flushed with pleasure. +Had he only realised it, he might have claimed of her any privilege a +woman can properly allow, even that of conducting her to the altar. +But to him she was only, thus far, as she had been for a long time, a +very good friend of his own and of Phil's; a former partner's widow, +who had retained her husband's interest in the business; a wholesome, +handsome woman, who was always excellent company and at whose table he +had often eaten, both before and since her husband's death. Nor, +despite Kirby's notions, was he entirely ignorant of the lady's +partiality for himself. + +"Doctor Moffatt has ordered Phil and me away, for three months," he +said, after Mrs. Jerviss had inquired particularly concerning his +health and Phil's. + +"Three months!" she exclaimed with an accent of dismay. "But you'll be +back," she added, recovering herself quickly, "before the vacation +season opens?" + +"Oh, certainly; we shall not leave the country." + +"Where are you going?" + +"The doctor has prescribed the pine woods. I shall visit my old home, +where I was born. We shall leave in a day or two." + +"You must dine with me to-morrow," she said warmly, "and tell me about +your old home. I haven't had an opportunity to thank you for making me +rich, and I want your advice about what to do with the money; and I'm +tiring you now when you ought to be resting." + +"Do not hurry," he said. "It is almost a pleasure to be weak and +helpless, since it gives me the privilege of a visit from you." + +She lingered a few moments and then went. She was the embodiment of +good taste and knew when to come and when to go. + +Mr. French was conscious that her visit, instead of tiring him, had +had an opposite effect; she had come and gone like a pleasant breeze, +bearing sweet odours and the echo of distant music. Her shapely hand, +when it had touched his own, had been soft but firm; and he had almost +wished, as he held it for a moment, that he might feel it resting on +his still somewhat fevered brow. When he came back from the South, he +would see a good deal of her, either at the seaside, or wherever she +might spend the summer. + +When Mr. French and Phil were ready, a day or two later, to start upon +their journey, Kirby was at the Mercedes to see them off. + +"You're taking Judson with you to look after the boy?" he asked. + +"No," replied Mr. French, "Judson is in love, and does not wish to +leave New York. He will take a vacation until we return. Phil and I +can get along very well alone." + +Kirby went with them across the ferry to the Jersey side, and through +the station gates to the waiting train. There was a flurry of snow in +the air, and overcoats were comfortable. When Mr. French had turned +over his hand luggage to the porter of the Pullman, they walked up and +down the station platform. + +"I'm looking for something to interest us," said Kirby, rolling a +cigarette. "There's a mining proposition in Utah, and a trolley +railroad in Oklahoma. When things are settled up here, I'll take a run +out, and look the ground over, and write to you." + +"My dear fellow," said his friend, "don't hurry. Why should I make any +more money? I have all I shall ever need, and as much as will be good +for Phil. If you find a good thing, I can help you finance it; and +Mrs. Jerviss will welcome a good investment. But I shall take a long +rest, and then travel for a year or two, and after that settle down +and take life comfortably." + +"That's the way you feel now," replied Kirby, lighting another +cigarette, "but wait until you are rested, and you'll yearn for the +fray; the first million only whets the appetite for more." + +"All aboard!" + +The word was passed along the line of cars. Kirby took leave of Phil, +into whose hand he had thrust a five-dollar bill, "To buy popcorn on +the train," he said, kissed the boy, and wrung his ex-partner's hand +warmly. + +"Good-bye," he said, "and good luck. You'll hear from me soon. We're +partners still, you and I and Mrs. Jerviss." + +And though Mr. French smiled acquiescence, and returned Kirby's hand +clasp with equal vigour and sincerity, he felt, as the train rolled +away, as one might feel who, after a long sojourn in an alien land, at +last takes ship for home. The mere act of leaving New York, after the +severance of all compelling ties, seemed to set in motion old currents +of feeling, which, moving slowly at the start, gathered momentum as +the miles rolled by, until his heart leaped forward to the old +Southern town which was his destination, and he soon felt himself +chafing impatiently at any delay that threatened to throw the train +behind schedule time. + +"He'll be back in six weeks," declared Kirby, when Mrs. Jerviss and he +next met. "I know him well; he can't live without his club and his +counting room. It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks." + +"And I'm sure he'll not stay away longer than three months," said the +lady confidently, "for I have invited him to my house party." + +"A privilege," said Kirby gallantly, "for which many a man would come +from the other end of the world." + +But they were both mistaken. For even as they spoke, he whose future +each was planning, was entering upon a new life of his own, from which +he was to look back upon his business career as a mere period of +preparation for the real end and purpose of his earthly existence. + + + + +_Two_ + + +The hack which the colonel had taken at the station after a two-days' +journey, broken by several long waits for connecting trains, jogged in +somewhat leisurely fashion down the main street toward the hotel. The +colonel, with his little boy, had left the main line of railroad +leading north and south and had taken at a certain way station the one +daily train for Clarendon, with which the express made connection. +They had completed the forty-mile journey in two or three hours, +arriving at Clarendon at noon. + +It was an auspicious moment for visiting the town. It is true that the +grass grew in the street here and there, but the sidewalks were +separated from the roadway by rows of oaks and elms and china-trees in +early leaf. The travellers had left New York in the midst of a +snowstorm, but here the scent of lilac and of jonquil, the song of +birds, the breath of spring, were all about them. The occasional +stretches of brick sidewalk under their green canopy looked cool and +inviting; for while the chill of winter had fled and the sultry heat +of summer was not yet at hand, the railroad coach had been close and +dusty, and the noonday sun gave some slight foretaste of his coming +reign. + +The colonel looked about him eagerly. It was all so like, and yet so +different--shrunken somewhat, and faded, but yet, like a woman one +loves, carried into old age something of the charm of youth. The old +town, whose ripeness was almost decay, whose quietness was scarcely +distinguishable from lethargy, had been the home of his youth, and he +saw it, strange to say, less with the eyes of the lad of sixteen who +had gone to the war, than with those of the little boy to whom it had +been, in his tenderest years, the great wide world, the only world he +knew in the years when, with his black boy Peter, whom his father had +given to him as a personal attendant, he had gone forth to field and +garden, stream and forest, in search of childish adventure. Yonder was +the old academy, where he had attended school. The yellow brick of its +walls had scaled away in places, leaving the surface mottled with pale +splotches; the shingled roof was badly dilapidated, and overgrown here +and there with dark green moss. The cedar trees in the yard were in +need of pruning, and seemed, from their rusty trunks and scant +leafage, to have shared in the general decay. As they drove down the +street, cows were grazing in the vacant lot between the bank, which +had been built by the colonel's grandfather, and the old red brick +building, formerly a store, but now occupied, as could be seen by the +row of boxes visible through the open door, by the post-office. + +The little boy, an unusually handsome lad of five or six, with blue +eyes and fair hair, dressed in knickerbockers and a sailor cap, was +also keenly interested in the surroundings. It was Saturday, and the +little two-wheeled carts, drawn by a steer or a mule; the pigs +sleeping in the shadow of the old wooden market-house; the lean and +sallow pinelanders and listless negroes dozing on the curbstone, were +all objects of novel interest to the boy, as was manifest by the light +in his eager eyes and an occasional exclamation, which in a clear +childish treble, came from his perfectly chiselled lips. Only a glance +was needed to see that the child, though still somewhat pale and +delicate from his recent illness, had inherited the characteristics +attributed to good blood. Features, expression, bearing, were marked +by the signs of race; but a closer scrutiny was required to discover, +in the blue-eyed, golden-haired lad, any close resemblance to the +shrewd, dark man of affairs who sat beside him, and to whom this +little boy was, for the time being, the sole object in life. + +But for the child the colonel was alone in the world. Many years +before, when himself only a boy, he had served in the Southern army, +in a regiment which had fought with such desperate valour that the +honour of the colonelcy had come to him at nineteen, as the sole +survivor of the group of young men who had officered the regiment. His +father died during the last year of the Civil War, having lived long +enough to see the conflict work ruin to his fortunes. The son had been +offered employment in New York by a relative who had sympathised with +the South in her struggle; and he had gone away from Clarendon. The +old family "mansion"--it was not a very imposing structure, except by +comparison with even less pretentious houses--had been sold upon +foreclosure, and bought by an ambitious mulatto, who only a few years +before had himself been an object of barter and sale. Entering his +uncle's office as a clerk, and following his advice, reinforced by a +sense of the fitness of things, the youthful colonel had dropped his +military title and become plain Mr. French. Putting the past behind +him, except as a fading memory, he had thrown himself eagerly into the +current of affairs. Fortune favoured one both capable and energetic. +In time he won a partnership in the firm, and when death removed his +relative, took his place at its head. + +He had looked forward to the time, not very far in the future, when he +might retire from business and devote his leisure to study and travel, +tastes which for years he had subordinated to the pursuit of wealth; +not entirely, for his life had been many sided; and not so much for +the money, as because, being in a game where dollars were the +counters, it was his instinct to play it well. He was winning already, +and when the bagging trust paid him, for his share of the business, a +sum double his investment, he found himself, at some years less than +fifty, relieved of business cares and in command of an ample fortune. + +This change in the colonel's affairs--and we shall henceforth call him +the colonel, because the scene of this story is laid in the South, +where titles are seldom ignored, and where the colonel could hardly +have escaped his own, even had he desired to do so--this change in the +colonel's affairs coincided with that climacteric of the mind, from +which, without ceasing to look forward, it turns, at times, in wistful +retrospect, toward the distant past, which it sees thenceforward +through a mellowing glow of sentiment. Emancipated from the counting +room, and ordered South by the doctor, the colonel's thoughts turned +easily and naturally to the old town that had given him birth; and he +felt a twinge of something like remorse at the reflection that never +once since leaving it had he set foot within its borders. For years he +had been too busy. His wife had never manifested any desire to visit +the South, nor was her temperament one to evoke or sympathise with +sentimental reminiscence. He had married, rather late in life, a New +York woman, much younger than himself; and while he had admired her +beauty and they had lived very pleasantly together, there had not +existed between them the entire union of souls essential to perfect +felicity, and the current of his life had not been greatly altered by +her loss. + +Toward little Phil, however, the child she had borne him, his feeling +was very different. His young wife had been, after all, but a sweet +and pleasant graft upon a sturdy tree. Little Phil was flesh of his +flesh and bone of his bone. Upon his only child the colonel lavished +all of his affection. Already, to his father's eye, the boy gave +promise of a noble manhood. His frame was graceful and active. His +hair was even more brightly golden than his mother's had been; his +eyes more deeply blue than hers; while his features were a duplicate +of his father's at the same age, as was evidenced by a faded +daguerreotype among the colonel's few souvenirs of his own childhood. +Little Phil had a sweet temper, a loving disposition, and endeared +himself to all with whom he came in contact. + +The hack, after a brief passage down the main street, deposited the +passengers at the front of the Clarendon Hotel. The colonel paid the +black driver the quarter he demanded--two dollars would have been the +New York price--ran the gauntlet of the dozen pairs of eyes in the +heads of the men leaning back in the splint-bottomed armchairs under +the shade trees on the sidewalk, registered in the book pushed forward +by a clerk with curled mustaches and pomatumed hair, and accompanied +by Phil, followed the smiling black bellboy along a passage and up one +flight of stairs to a spacious, well-lighted and neatly furnished +room, looking out upon the main street. + + + + +_Three_ + + +When the colonel and Phil had removed the dust and disorder of travel +from their appearance, they went down to dinner. After they had eaten, +the colonel, still accompanied by the child, left the hotel, and +following the main street for a short distance, turned into another +thoroughfare bordered with ancient elms, and stopped for a moment +before an old gray house with high steps and broad piazza--a large, +square-built, two-storied house, with a roof sloping down toward the +front, broken by dormer windows and buttressed by a massive brick +chimney at either end. In spite of the gray monotone to which the +paintless years had reduced the once white weatherboarding and green +Venetian blinds, the house possessed a certain stateliness of style +which was independent of circumstance, and a solidity of construction +that resisted sturdily the disintegrating hand of time. Heart-pine and +live-oak, mused the colonel, like other things Southern, live long +and die hard. The old house had been built of the best materials, and +its woodwork dowelled and mortised and tongued and grooved by men who +knew their trade and had not learned to scamp their work. For the +colonel's grandfather had built the house as a town residence, the +family having owned in addition thereto a handsome country place upon +a large plantation remote from the town. + +The colonel had stopped on the opposite side of the street and was +looking intently at the home of his ancestors and of his own youth, +when a neatly dressed coloured girl came out on the piazza, seated +herself in a rocking-chair with an air of proprietorship, and opened +what the colonel perceived to be, even across the street, a copy of a +woman's magazine whose circulation, as he knew from the advertising +rates that French and Co. had paid for the use of its columns, touched +the million mark. Not wishing to seem rude, the colonel moved slowly +on down the street. When he turned his head, after going a rod or two, +and looked back over his shoulder, the girl had risen and was +re-entering the house. Her disappearance was promptly followed by the +notes of a piano, slightly out of tune, to which some one--presumably +the young woman--was singing in a high voice, which might have been +better had it been better trained, + + _"I dreamt that I dwe-elt in ma-arble halls + With vassals and serfs at my si-i-ide."_ + +The colonel had slackened his pace at the sound of the music, but, +after the first few bars, started forward with quickened footsteps +which he did not relax until little Phil's weight, increasing +momentarily, brought home to him the consciousness that his stride was +too long for the boy's short legs. Phil, who was a thoroughbred, and +would have dropped in his tracks without complaining, was nevertheless +relieved when his father's pace returned to the normal. + +Their walk led down a hill, and, very soon, to a wooden bridge which +spanned a creek some twenty feet below. The colonel paused for a +moment beside the railing, and looked up and down the stream. It +seemed narrower and more sluggish than his memory had pictured it. +Above him the water ran between high banks grown thick with underbrush +and over-arching trees; below the bridge, to the right of the creek, +lay an open meadow, and to the left, a few rods away, the ruins of the +old Eureka cotton mill, which in his boyhood had harboured a +flourishing industry, but which had remained, since Sherman's army +laid waste the country, the melancholy ruin the colonel had seen it +last, when twenty-five years or more before, he left Clarendon to seek +a wider career in the outer world. The clear water of the creek +rippled harmoniously down a gentle slope and over the site where the +great dam at the foot had stood, while birds were nesting in the vines +with which kindly nature had sought to cloak the dismantled and +crumbling walls. + +Mounting the slope beyond the bridge, the colonel's stride now +carefully accommodated to the child's puny step, they skirted a low +brick wall, beyond which white headstones gleamed in a mass of +verdure. Reaching an iron gate, the colonel lifted the latch, and +entered the cemetery which had been the object of their visit. + +"Is this the place, papa?" asked the little boy. + +"Yes, Phil, but it is farther on, in the older part." + +They passed slowly along, under the drooping elms and willows, past +the monuments on either hand--here, resting on a low brick wall, a +slab of marble, once white, now gray and moss-grown, from which the +hand of time had well nigh erased the carved inscription; here a +family vault, built into the side of a mound of earth, from which only +the barred iron door distinguished it; here a pedestal, with a +time-worn angel holding a broken fragment of the resurrection trumpet; +here a prostrate headstone, and there another bending to its fall; +and among them a profusion of rose bushes, on some of which the early +roses were already blooming--scarcely a well-kept cemetery, for in +many lots the shrubbery grew in wild unpruned luxuriance; nor yet +entirely neglected, since others showed the signs of loving care, and +an effort had been made to keep the walks clean and clear. + +Father and son had traversed half the width of the cemetery, when they +came to a spacious lot, surrounded by large trees and containing +several monuments. It seemed less neglected than the lots about it, +and as they drew nigh they saw among the tombs a very black and +seemingly aged Negro engaged in pruning a tangled rose tree. Near him +stood a dilapidated basket, partially filled with weeds and leaves, +into which he was throwing the dead and superfluous limbs. He seemed +very intent upon his occupation, and had not noticed the colonel's and +Phil's approach until they had paused at the side of the lot and stood +looking at him. + +When the old man became aware of their presence, he straightened +himself up with the slow movement of one stiff with age or rheumatism +and threw them a tentatively friendly look out of a pair of faded +eyes. + +"Howdy do, uncle," said the colonel. "Will you tell me whose graves +these are that you are caring for?" + +"Yas, suh," said the old man, removing his battered hat +respectfully--the rest of his clothing was in keeping, a picturesque +assortment of rags and patches such as only an old Negro can get +together, or keep together--"dis hyuh lot, suh, b'longs ter de fambly +dat I useter b'long ter--de ol' French fambly, suh, de fines' fambly +in Beaver County." + +"Why, papa!" cried little Phil, "he means----" + +"Hush, Phil! Go on, uncle." + +"Yas, suh, de fines' fambly in Cla'endon, suh. Dis hyuh headstone +hyuh, suh, an' de little stone at de foot, rep'esents de grave er ol' +Gin'al French, w'at fit in de Revolution' Wah, suh; and dis hyuh one +nex' to it is de grave er my ol' marster, Majah French, w'at fit in +de Mexican Wah, and died endyoin' de wah wid de Yankees, suh." + +"Papa," urged Phil, "that's my----" + +"Shut up, Phil! Well, uncle, did this interesting old family die out, +or is it represented in the present generation?" + +"Lawd, no, suh, de fambly did n' die out--'deed dey did n' die out! +dey ain't de kind er fambly ter die out! But it's mos' as bad, +suh--dey's moved away. Young Mars Henry went ter de Norf, and dey say +he's got rich; but he ain't be'n back no mo', suh, an' I don' know +whether he's ever comin' er no." + +"You must have been very fond of them to take such good care of their +graves," said the colonel, much moved, but giving no sign. + +"Well, suh, I b'longed ter de fambly, an' I ain' got no chick ner +chile er my own, livin', an' dese hyuh dead folks 'pears mo' closer +ter me dan anybody e'se. De cullud folks don' was'e much time wid a +ole man w'at ain' got nothin', an' dese hyuh new w'ite folks wa't is +come up sence de wah, ain' got no use fer niggers, now dat dey don' +b'long ter nobody no mo'; so w'en I ain' got nothin' e'se ter do, I +comes roun' hyuh, whar I knows ev'ybody and ev'ybody knows me, an' +trims de rose bushes an' pulls up de weeds and keeps de grass down +jes' lak I s'pose Mars Henry'd 'a' had it done ef he'd 'a' lived hyuh +in de ole home, stidder 'way off yandah in de Norf, whar he so busy +makin' money dat he done fergot all 'bout his own folks." + +"What is your name?" asked the colonel, who had been looking closely +at the old man. + +"Peter, suh--Peter French. Most er de niggers change' dey names after +de wah, but I kept de ole fambly name I wuz raise' by. It wuz good +'nuff fer me, suh; dey ain' none better." + +"Oh, papa," said little Phil, unable to restrain himself longer, "he +must be some kin to us; he has the same name, and belongs to the same +family, and you know you called him 'Uncle.'" + +The old Negro had dropped his hat, and was staring at the colonel and +the little boy, alternately, with dawning amazement, while a look of +recognition crept slowly into his rugged old face. + +"Look a hyuh, suh," he said tremulously, "is it?--it can't be!--but +dere's de eyes, an' de nose, an' de shape er de head--why, it _must_ +be my young Mars Henry!" + +"Yes," said the colonel, extending his hand to the old man, who +grasped it with both his own and shook it up and down with +unconventional but very affectionate vigour, "and you are my boy +Peter; who took care of me when I was no bigger than Phil here!" + +This meeting touched a tender chord in the colonel's nature, already +tuned to sympathy with the dead past of which Peter seemed the only +survival. The old man's unfeigned delight at their meeting; his +retention of the family name, a living witness of its former standing; +his respect for the dead; his "family pride," which to the +unsympathetic outsider might have seemed grotesque; were proofs of +loyalty that moved the colonel deeply. When he himself had been a +child of five or six, his father had given him Peter as his own boy. +Peter was really not many years older than the colonel, but prosperity +had preserved the one, while hard luck had aged the other prematurely. +Peter had taken care of him, and taught him to paddle in the shallow +water of the creek and to avoid the suck-holes; had taught him simple +woodcraft, how to fish, and how to hunt, first with bow and arrow, and +later with a shotgun. Through the golden haze of memory the colonel's +happy childhood came back to him with a sudden rush of emotion. + +"Those were good times, Peter, when we were young," he sighed +regretfully, "good times! I have seen none happier." + +"Yas, suh! yas, suh! 'Deed dem wuz good ole times! Sho' dey wuz, suh, +sho' dey wuz! 'Member dem co'n-stalk fiddles we use' ter make, an' dem +elderberry-wood whistles?" + +"Yes, Peter, and the robins we used to shoot and the rabbits we used +to trap?" + +"An' dem watermillions, suh--um-m-m, um-m-m-m!" + +"_Y-e-s_," returned the colonel, with a shade of pensiveness. There +had been two sides to the watermelon question. Peter and he had not +always been able to find ripe watermelons, early in the season, and at +times there had been painful consequences, the memory of which came +back to the colonel with surprising ease. Nor had they always been +careful about boundaries in those early days. There had been one +occasion when an irate neighbour had complained, and Major French had +thrashed Henry and Peter both--Peter because he was older, and knew +better, and Henry because it was important that he should have +impressed upon him, early in life, that of him to whom much is given, +much will be required, and that what might be lightly regarded in +Peter's case would be a serious offence in his future master's. The +lesson had been well learned, for throughout the course of his life +the colonel had never shirked responsibility, but had made the +performance of duty his criterion of conduct. To him the line of least +resistance had always seemed the refuge of the coward and the +weakling. With the twenty years preceding his return to Clarendon, +this story has nothing to do; but upon the quiet background of his +business career he had lived an active intellectual and emotional +life, and had developed into one of those rare natures of whom it may +be truly said that they are men, and that they count nothing of what +is human foreign to themselves. + +But the serenity of Peter's retrospect was unmarred by any passing +cloud. Those who dwell in darkness find it easier to remember the +bright places in their lives. + +"Yas, suh, yas, suh, dem watermillions," he repeated with unction, "I +kin tas'e 'em now! Dey wuz de be's watermillions dat evuh growed, +suh--dey doan raise none lack 'em dese days no mo'. An' den dem +chinquapin bushes down by de swamp! 'Member dem chinquapin bushes, +whar we killt dat water moccasin dat day? He wuz 'bout ten foot +long!" + +"Yes, Peter, he was a whopper! Then there were the bullace vines, in +the woods beyond the tanyard!" + +"Sho' 'nuff, suh! an' de minnows we use' ter ketch in de creek, an' +dem perch in de mill pon'?" + +For years the colonel had belonged to a fishing club, which preserved +an ice-cold stream in a Northern forest. For years the choicest fruits +of all the earth had been served daily upon his table. Yet as he +looked back to-day no shining trout that had ever risen to his fly had +stirred his emotions like the diaphanous minnows, caught, with a +crooked pin, in the crooked creek; no luscious fruit had ever matched +in sweetness the sour grapes and bitter nuts gathered from the native +woods--by him and Peter in their far-off youth. + +"Yas, suh, yas, suh," Peter went on, "an' 'member dat time you an' +young Mars Jim Wilson went huntin' and fishin' up de country +tergether, an' got ti'ed er waitin' on yo'se'ves an' writ back fer me +ter come up ter wait on yer and cook fer yer, an' ole Marster say he +did n' dare ter let me go 'way off yander wid two keerliss boys lak +you-all, wid guns an' boats fer fear I mought git shot, er drownded?" + +"It looked, Peter, as though he valued you more than me! more than his +own son!" + +"Yas, suh, yas, suh! sho' he did, sho' he did! old Marse Philip wuz a +monstus keerful man, an' _I_ wuz winth somethin', suh, dem times; I +wuz wuth five hundred dollahs any day in de yeah. But nobody would n' +give five hundred cents fer me now, suh. Dey'd want pay fer takin' me, +mos' lakly. Dey ain' none too much room fer a young nigger no mo', let +'lone a' ol' one." + +"And what have you been doing all these years, Peter?" asked the +colonel. + +Peter's story was not a thrilling one; it was no tale of inordinate +ambition, no Odyssey of a perilous search for the prizes of life, but +the bald recital of a mere struggle for existence. Peter had stayed by +his master until his master's death. Then he had worked for a +railroad contractor, until exposure and overwork had laid him up with +a fever. After his recovery, he had been employed for some years at +cutting turpentine boxes in the pine woods, following the trail of the +industry southward, until one day his axe had slipped and wounded him +severely. When his wound was healed he was told that he was too old +and awkward for the turpentine, and that they needed younger and more +active men. + +"So w'en I got my laig kyo'ed up," said the old man, concluding his +story, "I come back hyuh whar I wuz bo'n, suh, and whar my w'ite folks +use' ter live, an' whar my frien's use' ter be. But my w'ite folks wuz +all in de graveya'd, an' most er my frien's wuz dead er moved away, +an' I fin's it kinder lonesome, suh. I goes out an' picks cotton in de +fall, an' I does arrants an' little jobs roun' de house fer folks w'at +'ll hire me; an' w'en I ain' got nothin' ter eat I kin gor oun' ter de +ole house an' wo'k in de gyahden er chop some wood, an' git a meal er +vittles f'om ole Mis' Nichols, who's be'n mighty good ter me, suh. +She's de barbuh's wife, suh, w'at bought ouah ole house. Dey got mo' +dan any yuther colored folks roun' hyuh, but dey he'ps de po', suh, +dey he'ps de po'." + +"Which speaks well for them, Peter. I'm glad that all the virtue has +not yet gone out of the old house." + +The old man's talk rambled on, like a sluggish stream, while the +colonel's more active mind busied itself with the problem suggested by +this unforeseen meeting. Peter and he had both gone out into the +world, and they had both returned. He had come back rich and +independent. What good had freedom done for Peter? In the colonel's +childhood his father's butler, old Madison, had lived a life which, +compared to that of Peter at the same age, was one of ease and luxury. +How easy the conclusion that the slave's lot had been the more +fortunate! But no, Peter had been better free. There were plenty of +poor white men, and no one had suggested slavery as an improvement of +their condition. Had Peter remained a slave, then the colonel would +have remained a master, which was only another form of slavery. The +colonel had been emancipated by the same token that had made Peter +free. Peter had returned home poor and broken, not because he had been +free, but because nature first, and society next, in distributing +their gifts, had been niggardly with old Peter. Had he been better +equipped, or had a better chance, he might have made a better showing. +The colonel had prospered because, having no Peters to work for him, +he had been compelled to work for himself. He would set his own +success against Peter's failure; and he would take off his hat to the +memory of the immortal statesman, who in freeing one race had +emancipated another and struck the shackles from a Nation's mind. + + + + +_Four_ + + +While the colonel and old Peter were thus discussing reminiscences in +which little Phil could have no share, the boy, with childish +curiosity, had wandered off, down one of the shaded paths. When, a +little later, the colonel looked around for him, he saw Phil seated on +a rustic bench, in conversation with a lady. As the boy seemed +entirely comfortable, and the lady not at all disturbed, the colonel +did not interrupt them for a while. But when the lady at length rose, +holding Phil by the hand, the colonel, fearing that the boy, who was a +child of strong impulses, prone to sudden friendships, might be +proving troublesome, left his seat on the flat-topped tomb of his +Revolutionary ancestor and hastened to meet them. + +"I trust my boy hasn't annoyed you," he said, lifting his hat. + +"Not at all, sir," returned the lady, in a clear, sweet voice, some +haunting tone of which found an answering vibration in the colonel's +memory. "On the contrary, he has interested me very much, and in +nothing more than in telling me his name. If this and my memory do not +deceive me, _you_ are Henry French!" + +"Yes, and you are--you are Laura Treadwell! How glad I am to meet you! +I was coming to call this afternoon." + +"I'm glad to see you again. We have always remembered you, and knew +that you had grown rich and great, and feared that you had forgotten +the old town--and your old friends." + +"Not very rich, nor very great, Laura--Miss Treadwell." + +"Let it be Laura," she said with a faint colour mounting in her cheek, +which had not yet lost its smoothness, as her eyes had not faded, nor +her step lost its spring. + +"And neither have I forgotten the old home nor the old friends--since +I am here and knew you the moment I looked at you and heard your +voice." + +"And what a dear little boy!" exclaimed Miss Treadwell, looking down +at Phil. "He is named Philip--after his grandfather, I reckon?" + +"After his grandfather. We have been visiting his grave, and those of +all the Frenches; and I found them haunted--by an old retainer, who +had come hither, he said, to be with his friends." + +"Old Peter! I see him, now and then, keeping the lot in order. There +are few like him left, and there were never any too many. But how have +you been these many years, and where is your wife? Did you bring her +with you?" + +"I buried her," returned the colonel, "a little over a year ago. She +left me little Phil." + +"He must be like her," replied the lady, "and yet he resembles you." + +"He has her eyes and hair," said his father. "He is a good little boy +and a lad of taste. See how he took to you at first sight! I can +always trust Phil's instincts. He is a born gentleman." + +"He came of a race of gentlemen," she said. "I'm glad it is not to +die out. There are none too many left--in Clarendon. You are going to +like me, aren't you, Phil?" asked the lady. + +"I like you already," replied Phil gallantly. "You are a very nice +lady. What shall I call you?" + +"Call her Miss Laura, Phil--it is the Southern fashion--a happy union +of familiarity and respect. Already they come back to me, Laura--one +breathes them with the air--the gentle Southern customs. With all the +faults of the old system, Laura--it carried the seeds of decay within +itself and was doomed to perish--a few of us, at least, had a good +time. An aristocracy is quite endurable, for the aristocrat, and +slavery tolerable, for the masters--and the Peters. When we were +young, before the rude hand of war had shattered our illusions, we +were very happy, Laura." + +"Yes, we were very happy." + +They were walking now, very slowly, toward the gate by which the +colonel had entered, with little Phil between them, confiding a hand +to each. + +"And how is your mother?" asked the colonel. "She is living yet, I +trust?" + +"Yes, but ailing, as she has been for fifteen years--ever since my +father died. It was his grave I came to visit." + +"You had ever a loving heart, Laura," said the colonel, "given to duty +and self-sacrifice. Are you still living in the old place?" + +"The old place, only it is older, and shows it--like the rest of us." + +She bit her lip at the words, which she meant in reference to herself, +but which she perceived, as soon as she had uttered them, might apply +to him with equal force. Despising herself for the weakness which he +might have interpreted as a bid for a compliment, she was glad that he +seemed unconscious of the remark. + +The colonel and Phil had entered the cemetery by a side gate and their +exit led through the main entrance. Miss Laura pointed out, as they +walked slowly along between the elms, the graves of many whom the +colonel had known in his younger days. Their names, woven in the +tapestry of his memory, needed in most cases but a touch to restore +them. For while his intellectual life had ranged far and wide, his +business career had run along a single channel, his circle of +intimates had not been very large nor very variable, nor was his +memory so overlaid that he could not push aside its later impressions +in favour of those graven there so deeply in his youth. + +Nearing the gate, they passed a small open space in which stood a +simple marble shaft, erected to the memory of the Confederate Dead. + +A wealth of fresh flowers lay at its base. The colonel took off his +hat as he stood before it for a moment with bowed head. But for the +mercy of God, he might have been one of those whose deaths as well as +deeds were thus commemorated. + +Beyond this memorial, impressive in its pure simplicity, and between +it and the gate, in an obtrusively conspicuous spot stood a florid +monument of granite, marble and bronze, of glaring design and +strangely out of keeping with the simple dignity and quiet restfulness +of the surroundings; a monument so striking that the colonel paused +involuntarily and read the inscription in bronze letters on the marble +shaft above the granite base: + + "'_Sacred to the Memory of + Joshua Fetters and Elizabeth Fetters, his Wife._ + + "'_Life's work well done, + Life's race well run, + Life's crown well won, + Then comes rest._'" + +"A beautiful sentiment, if somewhat trite," said the colonel, "but an +atrocious monument." + +"Do you think so?" exclaimed the lady. "Most people think the monument +fine, but smile at the sentiment." + +"In matters of taste," returned the colonel, "the majority are always +wrong. But why smile at the sentiment? Is it, for some reason, +inappropriate to this particular case? Fetters--Fetters--the name +seems familiar. Who was Fetters, Laura?" + +"He was the speculator," she said, "who bought and sold negroes, and +kept dogs to chase runaways; old Mr. Fetters--you must remember old +Josh Fetters? When I was a child, my coloured mammy used him for a +bogeyman for me, as for her own children." + +"'Look out, honey,' she'd say, 'ef you ain' good, ole Mr. Fettuhs 'll +ketch you.'" + +Yes, he remembered now. Fetters had been a character in Clarendon--not +an admirable character, scarcely a good character, almost a bad +character; a necessary adjunct of an evil system, and, like other +parasites, worse than the body on which he fed; doing the dirty work +of slavery, and very naturally despised by those whose instrument he +was, but finding consolation by taking it out of the Negroes in the +course of his business. The colonel would have expected Fetters to lie +in an unmarked grave in his own back lot, or in the potter's field. +Had he so far escaped the ruin of the institution on which he lived, +as to leave an estate sufficient to satisfy his heirs and also pay for +this expensive but vulgar monument? + +"The memorial was erected, as you see from the rest of the +inscription, 'by his beloved and affectionate son.' That either loved +the other no one suspected, for Bill was harshly treated, and ran away +from home at fifteen. He came back after the war, with money, which he +lent out at high rates of interest; everything he touched turned to +gold; he has grown rich, and is a great man in the State. He was a +large contributor to the soldiers' monument." + +"But did not choose the design; let us be thankful for that. It might +have been like his father's. Bill Fetters rich and great," he mused, +"who would have dreamed it? I kicked him once, all the way down Main +Street from the schoolhouse to the bank--and dodged his angry mother +for a whole month afterward!" + +"No one," suggested Miss Laura, "would venture to cross him now. Too +many owe him money." + +"He went to school at the academy," the colonel went on, unwinding the +thread of his memory, "and the rest of the boys looked down on him and +made his life miserable. Well, Laura, in Fetters you see one thing +that resulted from the war--the poor white boy was given a chance to +grow; and if the product is not as yet altogether admirable, taste and +culture may come with another generation." + +"It is to be hoped they may," said Miss Laura, "and character as well. +Mr. Fetters has a son who has gone from college to college, and will +graduate from Harvard this summer. They say he is very wild and spends +ten thousand dollars a year. I do not see how it can be possible!" + +The colonel smiled at her simplicity. + +"I have been," he said, "at a college football game, where the gate +receipts were fifty thousand dollars, and half a million was said to +have changed hands in bets on the result. It is easy to waste money." + +"It is a sin," she said, "that some should be made poor, that others +may have it to waste." + +There was a touch of bitterness in her tone, the instinctive +resentment (the colonel thought) of the born aristocrat toward the +upstart who had pushed his way above those no longer strong enough to +resist. It did not occur to him that her feeling might rest upon any +personal ground. It was inevitable that, with the incubus of slavery +removed, society should readjust itself in due time upon a democratic +basis, and that poor white men, first, and black men next, should +reach a level representing the true measure of their talents and their +ambition. But it was perhaps equally inevitable that for a generation +or two those who had suffered most from the readjustment, should +chafe under its seeming injustice. + +The colonel was himself a gentleman, and the descendant of a long line +of gentlemen. But he had lived too many years among those who judged +the tree by its fruit, to think that blood alone entitled him to any +special privileges. The consciousness of honourable ancestry might +make one clean of life, gentle of manner, and just in one's dealings. +In so far as it did this it was something to be cherished, but +scarcely to be boasted of, for democracy is impatient of any +excellence not born of personal effort, of any pride save that of +achievement. He was glad that Fetters had got on in the world. It +justified a fine faith in humanity, that wealth and power should have +been attained by the poor white lad, over whom, with a boy's +unconscious brutality, he had tyrannised in his childhood. He could +have wished for Bill a better taste in monuments, and better luck in +sons, if rumour was correct about Fetters's boy. But, these, perhaps, +were points where blood _did_ tell. There was something in blood, +after all, Nature might make a great man from any sort of material: +hence the virtue of democracy, for the world needs great men, and +suffers from their lack, and welcomes them from any source. But fine +types were a matter of breeding and were perhaps worth the trouble of +preserving, if their existence were compatible with the larger good. +He wondered if Bill ever recalled that progress down Main Street in +which he had played so conspicuous a part, or still bore any +resentment toward the other participants? + +"Could your mother see me," he asked, as they reached the gate, "if I +went by the house?" + +"She would be glad to see you. Mother lives in the past, and you would +come to her as part of it. She often speaks of you. It is only a short +distance. You have not forgotten the way?" + +They turned to the right, in a direction opposite to that from which +the colonel had reached the cemetery. After a few minutes' walk, in +the course of which they crossed another bridge over the same winding +creek, they mounted the slope beyond, opened a gate, climbed a short +flight of stone steps and found themselves in an enchanted garden, +where lilac bush and jessamine vine reared their heads high, tulip and +daffodil pushed their way upward, but were all dominated by the +intenser fragrance of the violets. + +Old Peter had followed the party at a respectful distance, but, seeing +himself forgotten, he walked past the gate, after they had entered it, +and went, somewhat disconsolately, on his way. He had stopped, and was +looking back toward the house--Clarendon was a great place for looking +back, perhaps because there was little in the town to which to look +forward--when a white man, wearing a tinned badge upon his coat, came +up, took Peter by the arm and led him away, despite some feeble +protests on the old man's part. + + + + +_Five_ + + +At the end of the garden stood a frame house with a wide, columned +porch. It had once been white, and the windows closed with blinds that +still retained a faded tint of green. Upon the porch, in a comfortable +arm chair, sat an old lady, wearing a white cap, under which her white +hair showed at the sides, and holding her hands, upon which she wore +black silk mits, crossed upon her lap. On the top step, at opposite +ends, sat two young people--one of them a rosy-cheeked girl, in the +bloom of early youth, with a head of rebellious brown hair. She had +been reading a book held open in her hand. The other was a +long-legged, lean, shy young man, of apparently twenty-three or +twenty-four, with black hair and eyes and a swarthy complexion. From +the jack-knife beside him, and the shavings scattered around, it was +clear that he had been whittling out the piece of pine that he was +adjusting, with some nicety, to a wooden model of some mechanical +contrivance which stood upon the floor beside him. They were a +strikingly handsome couple, of ideally contrasting types. + +"Mother," said Miss Treadwell, "this is Henry French--Colonel +French--who has come back from the North to visit his old home and the +graves of his ancestors. I found him in the cemetery; and this is his +dear little boy, Philip--named after his grandfather." + +The old lady gave the colonel a slender white hand, thin almost to +transparency. + +"Henry," she said, in a silvery thread of voice, "I am glad to see +you. You must excuse my not rising--I can't walk without help. You are +like your father, and even more like your grandfather, and your little +boy takes after the family." She drew Phil toward her and kissed him. + +Phil accepted this attention amiably. Meantime the young people had +risen. + +"This," said Miss Treadwell, laying her hand affectionately on the +girl's arm, "is my niece Graciella--my brother Tom's child. Tom is +dead, you know, these eight years and more, and so is Graciella's +mother, and she has lived with us." + +Graciella gave the colonel her hand with engaging frankness. "I'm sure +we're awfully glad to see anybody from the North," she said. "Are you +familiar with New York?" + +"I left there only day before yesterday," replied the colonel. + +"And this," said Miss Treadwell, introducing the young man, who, when +he unfolded his long legs, rose to a rather imposing height, "this is +Mr. Ben Dudley." + +"The son of Malcolm Dudley, of Mink Run, I suppose? I'm glad to meet +you," said the colonel, giving the young man's hand a cordial grasp. + +"His nephew, sir," returned young Dudley. "My uncle never married." + +"Oh, indeed? I did not know; but he is alive, I trust, and well?" + +"Alive, sir, but very much broken. He has not been himself for years." + +"You find things sadly changed, Henry," said Mrs. Treadwell. "They +have never been the same since the surrender. Our people are poor now, +right poor, most of them, though we ourselves were fortunate enough to +have something left." + +"We have enough left for supper, mother," interposed Miss Laura +quickly, "to which we are going to ask Colonel French to stay." + +"I suppose that in New York every one has dinner at six, and supper +after the theatre or the concert?" said Graciella, inquiringly. + +"The fortunate few," returned the colonel, smiling into her eager +face, "who can afford a seat at the opera, and to pay for and digest +two meals, all in the same evening." + +"And now, colonel," said Miss Treadwell, "I'm going to see about the +supper. Mother will talk to you while I am gone." + +"I must be going," said young Dudley. + +"Won't you stay to supper, Ben?" asked Miss Laura. + +"No, Miss Laura; I'd like to, but uncle wasn't well to-day and I must +stop by the drug store and get some medicine for him. Dr. Price gave +me a prescription on my way in. Good-bye, sir," he added, addressing +the colonel. "Will you be in town long?" + +"I really haven't decided. A day or two, perhaps a week. I am not +bound, at present, by any business ties--am foot-loose, as we used to +say when I was young. I shall follow my inclinations." + +"Then I hope, sir, that you'll feel inclined to pay us a long visit +and that I shall see you many times." + +As Ben Dudley, after this courteous wish, stepped down from the +piazza, Graciella rose and walked with him along the garden path. She +was tall as most women, but only reached his shoulder. + +"Say, Graciella," he asked, "won't you give me an answer." + +"I'm thinking about it, Ben. If you could take me away from this dead +old town, with its lazy white people and its trifling niggers, to a +place where there's music and art, and life and society--where there's +something going on all the time, I'd _like_ to marry you. But if I did +so now, you'd take me out to your rickety old house, with your daffy +old uncle and his dumb old housekeeper, and I should lose my own mind +in a week or ten days. When you can promise to take me to New York, +I'll promise to marry you, Ben. I want to travel, and to see things, +to visit the art galleries and libraries, to hear Patti, and to look +at the millionaires promenading on Fifth Avenue--and I'll marry the +man who'll take me there!" + +"Uncle Malcolm can't live forever, Graciella--though I wouldn't wish +his span shortened by a single day--and I'll get the plantation. And +then, you know," he added, hesitating, "we may--we may find the +money." + +Graciella shook her head compassionately. "No, Ben, you'll never find +the money. There isn't any; it's all imagination--moonshine. The war +unsettled your uncle's brain, and he dreamed the money." + +"It's as true as I'm standing here, Graciella," replied Ben, +earnestly, "that there's money--gold--somewhere about the house. Uncle +couldn't imagine paper and ink, and I've seen the letter from my +uncle's uncle Ralph--I'll get it and bring it to you. Some day the +money will turn up, and then may be I'll be able to take you away. +Meantime some one must look after uncle and the place; there's no one +else but me to do it. Things must grow better some time--they always +do, you know." + +"They couldn't be much worse," returned Graciella, discontentedly. + +"Oh, they'll be better--they're bound to be! They'll just have to be. +And you'll wait for me, won't you, Graciella?" + +"Oh, I suppose I'll have to. You're around here so much that every one +else is scared away, and there isn't much choice at the best; all the +young men worth having are gone away already. But you know my +ultimatum--I must get to New York. If you are ready before any one +else speaks, you may take me there." + +"You're hard on a poor devil, Graciella. I don't believe you care a +bit for me, or you wouldn't talk like that. Don't you suppose I have +any feelings, even if I ain't much account? Ain't I worth as much as a +trip up North?" + +"Why should I waste my time with you, if I didn't care for you?" +returned Graciella, begging the question. "Here's a rose, in token of +my love." + +She plucked the flower and thrust it into his hand. + +"It's full of thorns, like your love," he said ruefully, as he picked +the sharp points out of his fingers. + +"'Faithful are the wounds of a friend,'" returned the girl. "See +Psalms, xxvii: 6." + +"Take care of my cotton press, Graciella; I'll come in to-morrow +evening and work on it some more. I'll bring some cotton along to try +it with." + +"You'll probably find some excuse--you always do." + +"Don't you want me to come?" he asked with a trace of resentment. "I +can stay away, if you don't." + +"Oh, you come so often that I--I suppose I'd miss you, if you didn't! +One must have some company, and half a loaf is better than no bread." + +He went on down the hill, turning at the corner for a lingering +backward look at his tyrant. Graciella, bending her head over the +wall, followed his movements with a swift tenderness in her sparkling +brown eyes. + +"I love him better than anything on earth," she sighed, "but it would +never do to tell him so. He'd get so conceited that I couldn't manage +him any longer, and so lazy that he'd never exert himself. I must get +away from this town before I'm old and gray--I'll be seventeen next +week, and an old maid in next to no time--and Ben must take me away. +But I must be his inspiration; he'd never do it by himself. I'll go +now and talk to that dear old Colonel French about the North; I can +learn a great deal from him. And he doesn't look so old either," she +mused, as she went back up the walk to where the colonel sat on the +piazza talking to the other ladies. + + + + +_Six_ + + +The colonel spent a delightful evening in the company of his friends. +The supper was typically Southern, and the cook evidently a good one. +There was smothered chicken, light biscuit, fresh eggs, poundcake and +tea. The tablecloth and napkins were of fine linen. That they were +soft and smooth the colonel noticed, but he did not observe closely +enough to see that they had been carefully darned in many places. The +silver spoons were of fine, old-fashioned patterns, worn very thin--so +thin that even the colonel was struck by their fragility. How +charming, he thought, to prefer the simple dignity of the past to the +vulgar ostentation of a more modern time. He had once dined off a +golden dinner service, at the table of a multi-millionaire, and had +not enjoyed the meal half so much. The dining-room looked out upon the +garden and the perfume of lilac and violet stole in through the open +windows. A soft-footed, shapely, well-trained negro maid, in white +cap and apron, waited deftly upon the table; a woman of serious +countenance--so serious that the colonel wondered if she were a +present-day type of her race, and if the responsibilities of freedom +had robbed her people of their traditional light-heartedness and +gaiety. + +After supper they sat out upon the piazza. The lights within were +turned down low, so that the moths and other insects might not be +attracted. Sweet odours from the garden filled the air. Through the +elms the stars, brighter than in more northern latitudes, looked out +from a sky of darker blue; so bright were they that the colonel, +looking around for the moon, was surprised to find that luminary +invisible. On the green background of the foliage the fireflies glowed +and flickered. There was no strident steam whistle from factory or +train to assault the ear, no rumble of passing cabs or street cars. +Far away, in some distant part of the straggling town, a sweet-toned +bell sounded the hour of an evening church service. + +"To see you is a breath from the past, Henry," said Mrs. Treadwell. +"You are a fine, strong man now, but I can see you as you were, the +day you went away to the war, in your new gray uniform, on your fine +gray horse, at the head of your company. You were going to take Peter +with you, but he had got his feet poisoned with poison ivy, and +couldn't walk, and your father gave you another boy, and Peter cried +like a baby at being left behind. I can remember how proud you were, +and how proud your father was, when he gave you his sword--your +grandfather's sword, and told you never to draw it or sheath it, +except in honour; and how, when you were gone, the old gentleman shut +himself up for two whole days and would speak to no one. He was glad +and sorry--glad to send you to fight for your country, and sorry to +see you go--for you were his only boy." + +The colonel thrilled with love and regret. His father had loved him, +he knew very well, and he had not visited his tomb for twenty-five +years. How far away it seemed too, the time when he had thought of +the Confederacy as his country! And the sword, his grandfather's +sword, had been for years stored away in a dark closet. His father had +kept it displayed upon the drawing-room wall, over the table on which +the family Bible had rested. + +Mrs. Treadwell was silent for a moment. + +"Times have changed since then, Henry. We have lost a great deal, +although we still have enough--yes, we have plenty to live upon, and +to hold up our heads among the best." + +Miss Laura and Graciella, behind the colonel's back, exchanged meaning +glances. How well they knew how little they had to live upon! + +"That is quite evident," said the colonel, glancing through the window +at the tasteful interior, "and I am glad to see that you have fared so +well. My father lost everything." + +"We were more fortunate," said Mrs. Treadwell. "We were obliged to let +Belleview go when Major Treadwell died--there were debts to be paid, +and we were robbed as well--but we have several rentable properties in +town, and an estate in the country which brings us in an income. But +things are not quite what they used to be!" + +Mrs. Treadwell sighed, and nodded. Miss Laura sat in silence--a +pensive silence. She, too, remembered the time gone by, but unlike her +mother's life, her own had only begun as the good times were ending. +Her mother, in her youth, had seen something of the world. The +daughter of a wealthy planter, she had spent her summers at Saratoga, +had visited New York and Philadelphia and New Orleans, and had taken a +voyage to Europe. Graciella was young and beautiful. Her prince might +come, might be here even now, if this grand gentleman should chance to +throw the handkerchief. But she, Laura, had passed her youth in a +transition period; the pleasures neither of memory nor of hope had +been hers--except such memories as came of duty well performed, and +such hopes as had no root in anything earthly or corruptible. + +Graciella was not in a reflective mood, and took up the burden of the +conversation where her grandmother had dropped it. Her thoughts were +not of the past, but of the future. She asked many eager questions of +New York. Was it true that ladies at the Waldorf-Astoria always went +to dinner in low-cut bodices with short sleeves, and was evening dress +always required at the theatre? Did the old Knickerbocker families +recognise the Vanderbilts? Were the Rockefellers anything at all +socially? Did he know Ward McAllister, at that period the Beau Brummel +of the metropolitan smart set? Was Fifth Avenue losing its +pre-eminence? On what days of the week was the Art Museum free to the +public? What was the fare to New York, and the best quarter of the +city in which to inquire for a quiet, select boarding house where a +Southern lady of refinement and good family might stay at a reasonable +price, and meet some nice people? And would he recommend stenography +or magazine work, and which did he consider preferable, as a career +which such a young lady might follow without injury to her social +standing? + +The colonel, with some amusement, answered these artless inquiries as +best he could; they came as a refreshing foil to the sweet but +melancholy memories of the past. They were interesting, too, from this +very pretty but very ignorant little girl in this backward little +Southern town. She was a flash of sunlight through a soft gray cloud; +a vigorous shoot from an old moss-covered stump--she was life, young +life, the vital principle, breaking through the cumbering envelope, +and asserting its right to reach the sun. + +After a while a couple of very young ladies, friends of Graciella, +dropped in. They were introduced to the colonel, who found that he had +known their fathers, or their mothers, or their grandfathers, or their +grandmothers, and that many of them were more or less distantly +related. A little later a couple of young men, friends of Graciella's +friends--also very young, and very self-conscious--made their +appearance, and were duly introduced, in person and by pedigree. The +conversation languished for a moment, and then one of the young ladies +said something about music, and one of the young men remarked that he +had brought over a new song. Graciella begged the colonel to excuse +them, and led the way to the parlour, followed by her young friends. + +Mrs. Treadwell had fallen asleep, and was leaning comfortably back in +her armchair. Miss Laura excused herself, brought a veil, and laid it +softly across her mother's face. + +"The night air is not damp," she said, "and it is pleasanter for her +here than in the house. She won't mind the music; she is accustomed to +it." + +Graciella went to the piano and with great boldness of touch struck +the bizarre opening chords and then launched into the grotesque words +of the latest New York "coon song," one of the first and worst of its +kind, and the other young people joined in the chorus. + +It was the first discordant note. At home, the colonel subscribed to +the opera, and enjoyed the music. A plantation song of the olden time, +as he remembered it, borne upon the evening air, when sung by the +tired slaves at the end of their day of toil, would have been +pleasing, with its simple melody, its plaintive minor strains, its +notes of vague longing; but to the colonel's senses there was to-night +no music in this hackneyed popular favourite. In a metropolitan music +hall, gaudily bedecked and brilliantly lighted, it would have been +tolerable from the lips of a black-face comedian. But in this quiet +place, upon this quiet night, and in the colonel's mood, it seemed +like profanation. The song of the coloured girl, who had dreamt that +she dwelt in marble halls, and the rest, had been less incongruous; it +had at least breathed aspiration. + +Mrs. Treadwell was still dozing in her armchair. The colonel, +beckoning Miss Laura to follow him, moved to the farther end of the +piazza, where they might not hear the singers and the song. + +"It is delightful here, Laura. I seem to have renewed my youth. I +yield myself a willing victim to the charm of the old place, the old +ways, the old friends." + +"You see our best side, Henry. Night has a kindly hand, that covers +our defects, and the starlight throws a glamour over everything. You +see us through a haze of tender memories. When you have been here a +week, the town will seem dull, and narrow, and sluggish. You will find +us ignorant and backward, worshipping our old idols, and setting up no +new ones; our young men leaving us, and none coming in to take their +place. Had you, and men like you, remained with us, we might have +hoped for better things." + +"And perhaps not, Laura. Environment controls the making of men. Some +rise above it, the majority do not. We might have followed in the +well-worn rut. But let us not spoil this delightful evening by +speaking of anything sad or gloomy. This is your daily life; to me it +is like a scene from a play, over which one sighs to see the curtain +fall--all enchantment, all light, all happiness." + +But even while he spoke of light, a shadow loomed up beside them. The +coloured woman who had waited at the table came around the house from +the back yard and stood by the piazza railing. + +"Miss Laura!" she called, softly and appealingly. "Kin you come hyuh a +minute?" + +"What is it, Catherine?" + +"Kin I speak just a word to you, ma'am? It's somethin' +partic'lar--mighty partic'lar, ma'am." + +"Excuse me a minute, Henry," said Miss Laura, rising with evident +reluctance. + +She stepped down from the piazza, and walked beside the woman down one +of the garden paths. The colonel, as he sat there smoking--with Miss +Laura's permission he had lighted a cigar--could see the light stuff +of the lady's gown against the green background, though she was +walking in the shadow of the elms. From the murmur which came to him, +he gathered that the black woman was pleading earnestly, passionately, +and he could hear Miss Laura's regretful voice, as she closed the +interview: + +"I am sorry, Catherine, but it is simply impossible. I would if I +could, but I cannot." + +The woman came back first, and as she passed by an open window, the +light fell upon her face, which showed signs of deep distress, +hardening already into resignation or despair. She was probably in +trouble of some sort, and her mistress had not been able, doubtless +for some good reason, to help her out. This suspicion was borne out by +the fact that when Miss Laura came back to him, she too seemed +troubled. But since she did not speak of the matter, the colonel gave +no sign of his own thoughts. + +"You have said nothing of yourself, Laura," he said, wishing to divert +her mind from anything unpleasant. "Tell me something of your own +life--it could only be a cheerful theme, for you have means and +leisure, and a perfect environment. Tell me of your occupations, your +hopes, your aspirations." + +"There is little enough to tell, Henry," she returned, with a sudden +courage, "but that little shall be the truth. You will find it out, if +you stay long in town, and I would rather you learned it from our lips +than from others less friendly. My mother is--my mother--a dear, sweet +woman to whom I have devoted my life! But we are not well off, Henry. +Our parlour carpet has been down for twenty-five years; surely you +must have recognised the pattern! The house has not been painted for +the same length of time; it is of heart pine, and we train the flowers +and vines to cover it as much as may be, and there are many others +like it, so it is not conspicuous. Our rentable property is three +ramshackle cabins on the alley at the rear of the lot, for which we +get four dollars a month each, when we can collect it. Our country +estate is a few acres of poor land, which we rent on shares, and from +which we get a few bushels of corn, an occasional load of firewood, +and a few barrels of potatoes. As for my own life, I husband our small +resources; I keep the house, and wait on mother, as I have done since +she became helpless, ten years ago. I look after Graciella. I teach in +the Sunday School, and I give to those less fortunate such help as the +poor can give the poor." + +"How did you come to lose Belleview?" asked the colonel, after a +pause. "I had understood Major Treadwell to be one of the few people +around here who weathered the storm of war and emerged financially +sound." + +"He did; and he remained so--until he met Mr. Fetters, who had made +money out of the war while all the rest were losing. Father despised +the slavetrader's son, but admired his ability to get along. Fetters +made his acquaintance, flattered him, told him glowing stories of +wealth to be made by speculating in cotton and turpentine. Father was +not a business man, but he listened. Fetters lent him money, and +father lent Fetters money, and they had transactions back and forth, +and jointly. Father lost and gained and we had no inkling that he had +suffered greatly, until, at his sudden death, Fetters foreclosed a +mortgage he held upon Belleview. Mother has always believed there was +something wrong about the transaction, and that father was not +indebted to Fetters in any such sum as Fetters claimed. But we could +find no papers and we had no proof, and Fetters took the plantation +for his debt. He changed its name to Sycamore; he wanted a post-office +there, and there were too many Belleviews." + +"Does he own it still?" + +"Yes, and runs it--with convict labour! The thought makes me shudder! +We were rich when he was poor; we are poor and he is rich. But we +trust in God, who has never deserted the widow and the fatherless. By +His mercy we have lived and, as mother says, held up our heads, not +in pride or haughtiness, but in self-respect, for we cannot forget +what we were." + +"Nor what you are, Laura, for you are wonderful," said the colonel, +not unwilling to lighten a situation that bordered on intensity. "You +should have married and had children. The South needs such mothers as +you would have made. Unless the men of Clarendon have lost their +discernment, unless chivalry has vanished and the fire died out of the +Southern blood, it has not been for lack of opportunity that your name +remains unchanged." + +Miss Laura's cheek flushed unseen in the shadow of the porch. + +"Ah, Henry, that would be telling! But to marry me, one must have +married the family, for I could not have left them--they have had only +me. I have not been unhappy. I do not know that I would have had my +life different." + +Graciella and her friends had finished their song, the piano had +ceased to sound, and the visitors were taking their leave. Graciella +went with them to the gate, where they stood laughing and talking. The +colonel looked at his watch by the light of the open door. + +"It is not late," he said. "If my memory is true, you too played the +piano when you--when I was young." + +"It is the same piano, Henry, and, like our life here, somewhat thin +and weak of tone. But if you think it would give you pleasure, I will +play--as well as I know how." + +She readjusted the veil, which had slipped from her mother's face, and +they went into the parlour. From a pile of time-stained music she +selected a sheet and seated herself at the piano. The colonel stood at +her elbow. She had a pretty back, he thought, and a still youthful +turn of the head, and still plentiful, glossy brown hair. Her hands +were white, slender and well kept, though he saw on the side of the +forefinger of her left hand the telltale marks of the needle. + +The piece was an arrangement of the well-known air from the opera of +_Maritana_: + + _"Scenes that are brightest, + May charm awhile, + Hearts which are lightest + And eyes that smile. + Yet o'er them above us, + Though nature beam, + With none to love us, + How sad they seem!"_ + +Under her sympathetic touch a gentle stream of melody flowed from the +old-time piano, scarcely stronger toned in its decrepitude, than the +spinet of a former century. A few moments before, under Graciella's +vigorous hands, it had seemed to protest at the dissonances it had +been compelled to emit; now it seemed to breathe the notes of the old +opera with an almost human love and tenderness. It, too, mused the +colonel, had lived and loved and was recalling the memories of a +brighter past. + +The music died into silence. Mrs. Treadwell was awake. + +"Laura!" she called. + +Miss Treadwell went to the door. + +"I must have been nodding for a minute. I hope Colonel French did not +observe it--it would scarcely seem polite. He hasn't gone yet?" + +"No, mother, he is in the parlour." + +"I must be going," said the colonel, who came to the door. "I had +almost forgotten Phil, and it is long past his bedtime." + +Miss Laura went to wake up Phil, who had fallen asleep after supper. +He was still rubbing his eyes when the lady led him out. + +"Wake up, Phil," said the colonel. "It's time to be going. Tell the +ladies good night." + +Graciella came running up the walk. + +"Why, Colonel French," she cried, "you are not going already? I made +the others leave early so that I might talk to you." + +"My dear young lady," smiled the colonel, "I have already risen to go, +and if I stayed longer I might wear out my welcome, and Phil would +surely go to sleep again. But I will come another time--I shall stay +in town several days." + +"Yes, _do_ come, if you _must_ go," rejoined Graciella with emphasis. +"I want to hear more about the North, and about New York society +and--oh, everything! Good night, Philip. _Good_ night, Colonel +French." + +"Beware of the steps, Henry," said Miss Laura, "the bottom stone is +loose." + +They heard his footsteps in the quiet street, and Phil's light patter +beside him. + +"He's a lovely man, isn't he, Aunt Laura?" said Graciella. + +"He is a gentleman," replied her aunt, with a pensive look at her +young niece. + +"Of the old school," piped Mrs. Treadwell. + +"And Philip is a sweet child," said Miss Laura. + +"A chip of the old block," added Mrs. Treadwell. "I remember----" + +"Yes, mother, you can tell me when I've shut up the house," +interrupted Miss Laura. "Put out the lamps, Graciella--there's not +much oil--and when you go to bed hang up your gown carefully, for it +takes me nearly half an hour to iron it." + +"And you are right good to do it! Good night, dear Aunt Laura! Good +night, grandma!" + +Mr. French had left the hotel at noon that day as free as air, and he +slept well that night, with no sense of the forces that were to +constrain his life. And yet the events of the day had started the +growth of a dozen tendrils, which were destined to grow, and reach +out, and seize and hold him with ties that do not break. + + + + +_Seven_ + + +The constable who had arrested old Peter led his prisoner away through +alleys and quiet streets--though for that matter all the streets of +Clarendon were quiet in midafternoon--to a guardhouse or calaboose, +constructed of crumbling red brick, with a rusty, barred iron door +secured by a heavy padlock. As they approached this structure, which +was sufficiently forbidding in appearance to depress the most +lighthearted, the strumming of a banjo became audible, accompanying a +mellow Negro voice which was singing, to a very ragged ragtime air, +words of which the burden was something like this: + + _"W'at's de use er my wo'kin' so hahd? + I got a' 'oman in de white man's yahd. + W'en she cook chicken, she save me a wing; + W'en dey 'low I'm wo'kin', I ain' doin' a thing!"_ + +The grating of the key in the rusty lock interrupted the song. The +constable thrust his prisoner into the dimly lighted interior, and +locked the door. + +"Keep over to the right," he said curtly, "that's the niggers' side." + +"But, Mistah Haines," asked Peter, excitedly, "is I got to stay here +all night? I ain' done nuthin'." + +"No, that's the trouble; you ain't done nuthin' fer a month, but loaf +aroun'. You ain't got no visible means of suppo't, so you're took up +for vagrancy." + +"But I does wo'k we'n I kin git any wo'k ter do," the old man +expostulated. "An' ef I kin jus' git wo'd ter de right w'ite folks, +I'll be outer here in half a' hour; dey'll go my bail." + +"They can't go yo' bail to-night, fer the squire's gone home. I'll +bring you some bread and meat, an' some whiskey if you want it, and +you'll be tried to-morrow mornin'." + +Old Peter still protested. + +"You niggers are always kickin'," said the constable, who was not +without a certain grim sense of humour, and not above talking to a +Negro when there were no white folks around to talk to, or to listen. +"I never see people so hard to satisfy. You ain' got no home, an' here +I've give' you a place to sleep, an' you're kickin'. You doan know +from one day to another where you'll git yo' meals, an' I offer you +bread and meat and whiskey--an' you're kickin'! You say you can't git +nothin' to do, an' yit with the prospect of a reg'lar job befo' you +to-morrer--you're kickin'! I never see the beat of it in all my bo'n +days." + +When the constable, chuckling at his own humour, left the guardhouse, +he found his way to a nearby barroom, kept by one Clay Jackson, a +place with an evil reputation as the resort of white men of a low +class. Most crimes of violence in the town could be traced to its +influence, and more than one had been committed within its walls. + +"Has Mr. Turner been in here?" demanded Haines of the man in charge. + +The bartender, with a backward movement of his thumb, indicated a door +opening into a room at the rear. Here the constable found his man--a +burly, bearded giant, with a red face, a cunning eye and an +overbearing manner. He had a bottle and a glass before him, and was +unsociably drinking alone. + +"Howdy, Haines," said Turner, "How's things? How many have you got +this time?" + +"I've got three rounded up, Mr. Turner, an' I'll take up another befo' +night. That'll make fo'--fifty dollars fer me, an' the res' fer the +squire." + +"That's good," rejoined Turner. "Have a glass of liquor. How much do +you s'pose the Squire'll fine Bud?" + +"Well," replied Haines, drinking down the glass of whiskey at a gulp, +"I reckon about twenty-five dollars." + +"You can make it fifty just as easy," said Turner. "Niggers are all +just a passell o' black fools. Bud would 'a' b'en out now, if it +hadn't be'n for me. I bought him fer six months. I kept close watch of +him for the first five, and then along to'ds the middle er the las' +month I let on I'd got keerliss, an' he run away. Course I put the +dawgs on 'im, an' followed 'im here, where his woman is, an' got you +after 'im, and now he's good for six months more." + +"The woman is a likely gal an' a good cook," said Haines. "_She'd_ be +wuth a good 'eal to you out at the stockade." + +"That's a shore fact," replied the other, "an' I need another good +woman to help aroun'. If we'd 'a' thought about it, an' give' her a +chance to hide Bud and feed him befo' you took 'im up, we could 'a' +filed a charge ag'inst her for harborin' 'im." + +"Well, I kin do it nex' time, fer he'll run away ag'in--they always +do. Bud's got a vile temper." + +"Yes, but he's a good field-hand, and I'll keep his temper down. Have +somethin' mo'?" + +"I've got to go back now and feed the pris'ners," said Haines, rising +after he had taken another drink; "an' I'll stir Bud up so he'll raise +h--ll, an' to-morrow morning I'll make another charge against him +that'll fetch his fine up to fifty and costs." + +"Which will give 'im to me till the cotton crop is picked, and several +months more to work on the Jackson Swamp ditch if Fetters gits the +contract. You stand by us here, Haines, an' help me git all the han's +I can out o' this county, and I'll give you a job at Sycamo' when yo'r +time's up here as constable. Go on and feed the niggers, an' stir up +Bud, and I'll be on hand in the mornin' when court opens." + +When the lesser of these precious worthies left his superior to his +cups, he stopped in the barroom and bought a pint of rotgut whiskey--a +cheap brand of rectified spirits coloured and flavoured to resemble +the real article, to which it bore about the relation of vitriol to +lye. He then went into a cheap eating house, conducted by a Negro for +people of his own kind, where he procured some slices of fried bacon, +and some soggy corn bread, and with these various purchases, wrapped +in a piece of brown paper, he betook himself to the guardhouse. He +unlocked the door, closed it behind him, and called Peter. The old man +came forward. + +"Here, Peter," said Haines, "take what you want of this, and give some +to them other fellows, and if there's anything left after you've got +what you want, throw it to that sulky black hound over yonder in the +corner." + +He nodded toward a young Negro in the rear of the room, the Bud +Johnson who had been the subject of the conversation with Turner. +Johnson replied with a curse. The constable advanced menacingly, his +hand moving toward his pocket. Quick as a flash the Negro threw +himself upon him. The other prisoners, from instinct, or prudence, or +hope of reward, caught him, pulled him away and held him off until +Haines, pale with rage, rose to his feet and began kicking his +assailant vigorously. With the aid of well-directed blows of his fists +he forced the Negro down, who, unable to regain his feet, finally, +whether from fear or exhaustion, lay inert, until the constable, +having worked off his worst anger, and not deeming it to his advantage +seriously to disable the prisoner, in whom he had a pecuniary +interest, desisted from further punishment. + +"I might send you to the penitentiary for this," he said, panting for +breath, "but I'll send you to h--ll instead. You'll be sold back to +Mr. Fetters for a year or two tomorrow, and in three months I'll be +down at Sycamore as an overseer, and then I'll learn you to strike a +white man, you----" + +The remainder of the objurgation need not be told, but there was no +doubt, from the expression on Haines's face, that he meant what he +said, and that he would take pleasure in repaying, in overflowing +measure, any arrears of revenge against the offending prisoner which he +might consider his due. He had stirred Bud up very successfully--much +more so, indeed, than he had really intended. He had meant to procure +evidence against Bud, but had hardly thought to carry it away in the +shape of a black eye and a swollen nose. + + + + +_Eight_ + + +When the colonel set out next morning for a walk down the main street, +he had just breakfasted on boiled brook trout, fresh laid eggs, hot +muffins and coffee, and was feeling at peace with all mankind. He was +alone, having left Phil in charge of the hotel housekeeper. He had +gone only a short distance when he reached a door around which several +men were lounging, and from which came the sound of voices and loud +laughter. Stopping, he looked with some curiosity into the door, over +which there was a faded sign to indicate that it was the office of a +Justice of the Peace--a pleasing collocation of words, to those who +could divorce it from any technical significance--Justice, Peace--the +seed and the flower of civilisation. + +An unwashed, dingy-faced young negro, clothed in rags unspeakably +vile, which scarcely concealed his nakedness, was standing in the +midst of a group of white men, toward whom he threw now and then a +shallow and shifty glance. The air was heavy with the odour of stale +tobacco, and the floor dotted with discarded portions of the weed. A +white man stood beside a desk and was addressing the audience: + +"Now, gentlemen, here's Lot Number Three, a likely young nigger who +answers to the name of Sam Brown. Not much to look at, but will make a +good field hand, if looked after right and kept away from liquor; used +to workin', when in the chain gang, where he's been, off and on, since +he was ten years old. Amount of fine an' costs thirty-seven dollars +an' a half. A musical nigger, too, who plays the banjo, an' sings jus' +like a--like a blackbird. What am I bid for this prime lot?" + +The negro threw a dull glance around the crowd with an air of +detachment which seemed to say that he was not at all interested in +the proceedings. The colonel viewed the scene with something more than +curious interest. The fellow looked like an habitual criminal, or at +least like a confirmed loafer. This must be one of the idle and +worthless blacks with so many of whom the South was afflicted. This +was doubtless the method provided by law for dealing with them. + +"One year," answered a voice. + +"Nine months," said a second. + +"Six months," came a third bid, from a tall man with a buggy whip +under his arm. + +"Are you all through, gentlemen? Six months' labour for thirty-seven +fifty is mighty cheap, and you know the law allows you to keep the +labourer up to the mark. Are you all done? Sold to Mr. Turner, for Mr. +Fetters, for six months." + +The prisoner's dull face showed some signs of apprehension when the +name of his purchaser was pronounced, and he shambled away uneasily +under the constable's vigilant eye. + +"The case of the State against Bud Johnson is next in order. Bring in +the prisoner." + +The constable brought in the prisoner, handcuffed, and placed him in +front of the Justice's desk, where he remained standing. He was a +short, powerfully built negro, seemingly of pure blood, with a +well-rounded head, not unduly low in the brow and quite broad between +the ears. Under different circumstances his countenance might have +been pleasing; at present it was set in an expression of angry +defiance. He had walked with a slight limp, there were several +contusions upon his face; and upon entering the room he had thrown a +defiant glance around him, which had not quailed even before the stern +eye of the tall man, Turner, who, as the agent of the absent Fetters, +had bid on Sam Brown. His face then hardened into the blank expression +of one who stands in a hostile presence. + +"Bud Johnson," said the justice, "you are charged with escaping from +the service into which you were sold to pay the fine and costs on a +charge of vagrancy. What do you plead--guilty or not guilty?" + +The prisoner maintained a sullen silence. + +"I'll enter a plea of not guilty. The record of this court shows that +you were convicted of vagrancy on December 26th, and sold to Mr. +Fetters for four months to pay your fine and costs. The four months +won't be up for a week. Mr. Turner may be sworn." + +Turner swore to Bud's escape and his pursuit. Haines testified to his +capture. + +"Have you anything to say?" asked the justice. + +"What's de use er my sayin' anything," muttered the Negro. "It won't +make no diff'ence. I didn' do nothin', in de fus' place, ter be fine' +fer, an' run away 'cause dey did n' have no right ter keep me dere." + +"Guilty. Twenty-five dollars an' costs. You are also charged with +resisting the officer who made the arrest. Guilty or not guilty? Since +you don't speak, I'll enter a plea of not guilty. Mr. Haines may be +sworn." + +Haines swore that the prisoner had resisted arrest, and had only been +captured by the display of a loaded revolver. The prisoner was +convicted and fined twenty-five dollars and costs for this second +offense. + +The third charge, for disorderly conduct in prison, was quickly +disposed of, and a fine of twenty-five dollars and costs levied. + +"You may consider yo'self lucky," said the magistrate, "that Mr. +Haines didn't prefer a mo' serious charge against you. Many a nigger +has gone to the gallows for less. And now, gentlemen, I want to clean +this case up right here. How much time is offered for the fine and +costs of the prisoner, Bud Johnson, amounting to seventy-five dollars +fine and thirty-three dollars and fifty-fo' cents costs? You've heard +the evidence an' you see the nigger. Ef there ain't much competition +for his services and the time is a long one, he'll have his own +stubbornness an' deviltry to thank for it. He's strong and healthy and +able to do good work for any one that can manage him." + +There was no immediate response. Turner walked forward and viewed the +prisoner from head to foot with a coldly sneering look. + +"Well, Bud," he said, "I reckon we'll hafter try it ag'in. I have +never yet allowed a nigger to git the better o' me, an', moreover, I +never will. I'll bid eighteen months, Squire; an' that's all he's +worth, with his keep." + +There was no competition, and the prisoner was knocked down to Turner, +for Fetters, for eighteen months. + +"Lock 'im up till I'm ready to go, Bill," said Turner to the +constable, "an' just leave the irons on him. I'll fetch 'em back next +time I come to town." + +The unconscious brutality of the proceeding grated harshly upon the +colonel's nerves. Delinquents of some kind these men must be, who were +thus dealt with; but he had lived away from the South so long that so +sudden an introduction to some of its customs came with something of a +shock. He had remembered the pleasant things, and these but vaguely, +since his thoughts and his interests had been elsewhere; and in the +sifting process of a healthy memory he had forgotten the disagreeable +things altogether. He had found the pleasant things still in +existence, faded but still fragrant. Fresh from a land of labour +unions, and of struggle for wealth and power, of strivings first for +equality with those above, and, this attained, for a point of vantage +to look down upon former equals, he had found in old Peter, only the +day before, a touching loyalty to a family from which he could no +longer expect anything in return. Fresh from a land of women's clubs +and women's claims, he had reveled last night in the charming +domestic, life of the old South, so perfectly preserved in a quiet +household. Things Southern, as he had already reflected, lived long +and died hard, and these things which he saw now in the clear light of +day, were also of the South, and singularly suggestive of other things +Southern which he had supposed outlawed and discarded long ago. + +"Now, Mr. Haines, bring in the next lot," said the Squire. + +The constable led out an old coloured man, clad in a quaint assortment +of tattered garments, whom the colonel did not for a moment recognise, +not having, from where he stood, a full view of the prisoner's face. + +"Gentlemen, I now call yo'r attention to Lot Number Fo', left over +from befo' the wah; not much for looks, but respectful and obedient, +and accustomed, for some time past, to eat very little. Can be made +useful in many ways--can feed the chickens, take care of the children, +or would make a good skeercrow. What I am bid, gentlemen, for ol' +Peter French? The amount due the co't is twenty-fo' dollahs and a +half." + +There was some laughter at the Squire's facetiousness. Turner, who had +bid on the young and strong men, turned away unconcernedly. + +"You'd 'a' made a good auctioneer, Squire," said the one-armed man. + +"Thank you, Mr. Pearsall. How much am I offered for this bargain?" + +"He'd be dear at any price," said one. + +"It's a great risk," observed a second. + +"Ten yeahs," said a third. + +"You're takin' big chances, Mr. Bennet," said another. "He'll die in +five, and you'll have to bury him." + +"I withdraw the bid," said Mr. Bennet promptly. + +"Two yeahs," said another. + +The colonel was boiling over with indignation. His interest in the +fate of the other prisoners had been merely abstract; in old Peter's +case it assumed a personal aspect. He forced himself into the room and +to the front. + +"May I ask the meaning of this proceeding?" he demanded. + +"Well, suh," replied the Justice, "I don't know who you are, or what +right you have to interfere, but this is the sale of a vagrant nigger, +with no visible means of suppo't. Perhaps, since you're interested, +you'd like to bid on 'im. Are you from the No'th, likely?" + +"Yes." + +"I thought, suh, that you looked like a No'the'n man. That bein' so, +doubtless you'd like somethin' on the Uncle Tom order. Old Peter's +fine is twenty dollars, and the costs fo' dollars and a half. The +prisoner's time is sold to whoever pays his fine and allows him the +shortest time to work it out. When his time's up, he goes free." + +"And what has old Peter done to deserve a fine of twenty dollars--more +money than he perhaps has ever had at any one time?" + +"'Deed, it is, Mars Henry, 'deed it is!" exclaimed Peter, fervently. + +"Peter has not been able," replied the magistrate, "to show this co't +that he has reg'lar employment, or means of suppo't, and he was +therefore tried and convicted yesterday evenin' of vagrancy, under our +State law. The fine is intended to discourage laziness and to promote +industry. Do you want to bid, suh? I'm offered two yeahs, gentlemen, +for old Peter French? Does anybody wish to make it less?" + +"I'll pay the fine," said the colonel, "let him go." + +"I beg yo' pahdon, suh, but that wouldn't fulfil the requi'ments of +the law. He'd be subject to arrest again immediately. Somebody must +take the responsibility for his keep." + +"I'll look after him," said the colonel shortly. + +"In order to keep the docket straight," said the justice, "I should +want to note yo' bid. How long shall I say?" + +"Say what you like," said the colonel, drawing out his pocketbook. + +"You don't care to bid, Mr. Turner?" asked the justice. + +"Not by a damn sight," replied Turner, with native elegance. "I buy +niggers to work, not to bury." + +"I withdraw my bid in favour of the gentleman," said the two-year +bidder. + +"Thank you," said the colonel. + +"Remember, suh," said the justice to the colonel, "that you are +responsible for his keep as well as entitled to his labour, for the +period of your bid. How long shall I make it?" + +"As long as you please," said the colonel impatiently. + +"Sold," said the justice, bringing down his gavel, "for life, to--what +name, suh?" + +"French--Henry French." + +There was some manifestation of interest in the crowd; and the colonel +was stared at with undisguised curiosity as he paid the fine and +costs, which included two dollars for two meals in the guardhouse, and +walked away with his purchase--a purchase which his father had made, +upon terms not very different, fifty years before. + +"One of the old Frenches," I reckon, said a bystander, "come back on a +visit." + +"Yes," said another, "old 'ristocrats roun' here. Well, they ought to +take keer of their old niggers. They got all the good out of 'em when +they were young. But they're not runnin' things now." + +An hour later the colonel, driving leisurely about the outskirts of +the town and seeking to connect his memories more closely with the +scenes around him, met a buggy in which sat the man Turner. After the +buggy, tied behind one another to a rope, like a coffle of slaves, +marched the three Negroes whose time he had bought at the constable's +sale. Among them, of course, was the young man who had been called Bud +Johnson. The colonel observed that this Negro's face, when turned +toward the white man in front of him, expressed a fierce hatred, as of +some wild thing of the woods, which finding itself trapped and +betrayed, would go to any length to injure its captor. + +Turner passed the colonel with no sign of recognition or greeting. + +Bud Johnson evidently recognised the friendly gentleman who had +interfered in Peter's case. He threw toward the colonel a look which +resembled an appeal; but it was involuntary, and lasted but a moment, +and, when the prisoner became conscious of it, and realised its +uselessness, it faded into the former expression. + +What the man's story was, the colonel did not know, nor what were his +deserts. But the events of the day had furnished food for reflection. +Evidently Clarendon needed new light and leading. Men, even black men, +with something to live for, and with work at living wages, would +scarcely prefer an enforced servitude in ropes and chains. And the +punishment had scarcely seemed to fit the crime. He had observed no +great zeal for work among the white people since he came to town; such +work as he had seen done was mostly performed by Negroes. If idleness +were a crime, the Negroes surely had no monopoly of it. + + + + +_Nine_ + + +Furnished with money for his keep, Peter was ordered if again molested +to say that he was in the colonel's service. The latter, since his own +plans were for the present uncertain, had no very clear idea of what +disposition he would ultimately make of the old man, but he meant to +provide in some way for his declining years. He also bought Peter a +neat suit of clothes at a clothing store, and directed him to present +himself at the hotel on the following morning. The interval would give +the colonel time to find something for Peter to do, so that he would +be able to pay him a wage. To his contract with the county he attached +little importance; he had already intended, since their meeting in the +cemetery, to provide for Peter in some way, and the legal +responsibility was no additional burden. To Peter himself, to whose +homeless old age food was more than philosophy, the arrangement seemed +entirely satisfactory. + +Colonel French's presence in Clarendon had speedily become known to +the public. Upon his return to the hotel, after leaving Peter to his +own devices for the day, he found several cards in his letter box, +left by gentlemen who had called, during his absence, to see him. + +The daily mail had also come in, and the colonel sat down in the +office to read it. There was a club notice, and several letters that +had been readdressed and forwarded, and a long one from Kirby in +reference to some detail of the recent transfer. Before he had +finished reading these, a gentleman came up and introduced himself. He +proved to be one John McLean, an old schoolmate of the colonel, and +later a comrade-in-arms, though the colonel would never have +recognised a rather natty major in his own regiment in this shabby +middle-aged man, whose shoes were run down at the heel, whose linen +was doubtful, and spotted with tobacco juice. The major talked about +the weather, which was cool for the season; about the Civil War, about +politics, and about the Negroes, who were very trifling, the major +said. While they were talking upon this latter theme, there was some +commotion in the street, in front of the hotel, and looking up they +saw that a horse, attached to a loaded wagon, had fallen in the +roadway, and having become entangled in the harness, was kicking +furiously. Five or six Negroes were trying to quiet the animal, and +release him from the shafts, while a dozen white men looked on and +made suggestions. + +"An illustration," said the major, pointing through the window toward +the scene without, "of what we've got to contend with. Six niggers +can't get one horse up without twice as many white men to tell them +how. That's why the South is behind the No'th. The niggers, in one way +or another, take up most of our time and energy. You folks up there +have half your work done before we get our'n started." + +The horse, pulled this way and that, in obedience to the conflicting +advice of the bystanders, only became more and more intricately +entangled. He had caught one foot in a manner that threatened, with +each frantic jerk, to result in a broken leg, when the colonel, +leaving his visitor without ceremony, ran out into the street, leaned +down, and with a few well-directed movements, released the threatened +limb. + +"Now, boys," he said, laying hold of the prostrate animal, "give a +hand here." + +The Negroes, and, after some slight hesitation, one or two white men, +came to the colonel's aid, and in a moment, the horse, trembling and +blowing, was raised to its feet. The driver thanked the colonel and +the others who had befriended him, and proceeded with his load. + +When the flurry of excitement was over, the colonel went back to the +hotel and resumed the conversation with his friend. If the new +franchise amendment went through, said the major, the Negro would be +eliminated from politics, and the people of the South, relieved of the +fear of "nigger domination," could give their attention to better +things, and their section would move forward along the path of +progress by leaps and bounds. Of himself the major said little except +that he had been an alternate delegate to the last Democratic National +Nominating Convention, and that he expected to run for coroner at the +next county election. + +"If I can secure the suppo't of Mr. Fetters in the primaries," he +said, "my nomination is assured, and a nomination is of co'se +equivalent to an election. But I see there are some other gentlemen +that would like to talk to you, and I won't take any mo' of yo' time +at present." + +"Mr. Blake," he said, addressing a gentleman with short side-whiskers +who was approaching them, "have you had the pleasure of meeting +Colonel French?" + +"No, suh," said the stranger, "I shall be glad to have the honour of +an introduction at your hands." + +"Colonel French, Mr. Blake--Mr. Blake, Colonel French. You gentlemen +will probably like to talk to one another, because you both belong to +the same party, I reckon. Mr. Blake is a new man roun' heah--come down +from the mountains not mo' than ten yeahs ago, an' fetched his +politics with him; but since he was born that way we don't entertain +any malice against him. Mo'over, he's not a 'Black and Tan +Republican,' but a 'Lily White.'" + +"Yes, sir," said Mr. Blake, taking the colonel's hand, "I believe in +white supremacy, and the elimination of the nigger vote. If the +National Republican Party would only ignore the coloured politicians, +and give all the offices to white men, we'll soon build up a strong +white Republican party. If I had the post-office here at Clarendon, +with the encouragement it would give, and the aid of my clerks and +subo'dinates, I could double the white Republican vote in this county +in six months." + +The major had left them together, and the Lily White, ere he in turn +made way for another caller, suggested delicately, that he would +appreciate any good word that the colonel might be able to say for him +in influential quarters--either personally or through friends who +might have the ear of the executive or those close to him--in +reference to the postmastership. Realising that the present +administration was a business one, in which sentiment played small +part, he had secured the endorsement of the leading business men of +the county, even that of Mr. Fetters himself. Mr. Fetters was of +course a Democrat, but preferred, since the office must go to a +Republican, that it should go to a Lily White. + +"I hope to see mo' of you, sir," he said, "and I take pleasure in +introducing the Honourable Henry Clay Appleton, editor of our local +newspaper, the _Anglo-Saxon_. He and I may not agree on free silver +and the tariff, but we are entirely in harmony on the subject +indicated by the title of his newspaper. Mr. Appleton not only +furnishes all the news that's fit to read, but he represents this +county in the Legislature, along with Mr. Fetters, and he will no +doubt be the next candidate for Congress from this district. He can +tell you all that's worth knowin' about Clarendon." + +The colonel shook hands with the editor, who had come with a twofold +intent--to make the visitor's acquaintance and to interview him upon +his impressions of the South. Incidentally he gave the colonel a great +deal of information about local conditions. These were not, he +admitted, ideal. The town was backward. It needed capital to develop +its resources, and it needed to be rid of the fear of Negro +domination. The suffrage in the hands of the Negroes had proved a +ghastly and expensive joke for all concerned, and the public welfare +absolutely demanded that it be taken away. Even the white Republicans +were coming around to the same point of view. The new franchise +amendment to the State constitution was receiving their unqualified +support. + +"That was a fine, chivalrous deed of yours this morning, sir," he +said, "at Squire Reddick's office. It was just what might have been +expected from a Southern gentleman; for we claim you, colonel, in +spite of your long absence." + +"Yes," returned the colonel, "I don't know what I rescued old Peter +from. It looked pretty dark for him there for a little while. I +shouldn't have envied his fate had he been bought in by the tall +fellow who represented your colleague in the Legislature. The law +seems harsh." + +"Well," admitted the editor, "I suppose it might seem harsh, in +comparison with your milder penal systems up North. But you must +consider the circumstances, and make allowances for us. We have so +many idle, ignorant Negroes that something must be done to make them +work, or else they'll steal, and to keep them in their place, or they +would run over us. The law has been in operation only a year or two, +and is already having its effect. I'll be glad to introduce a bill for +its repeal, as soon as it is no longer needed. + +"You must bear in mind, too, colonel, that niggers don't look at +imprisonment and enforced labour in the same way white people do--they +are not conscious of any disgrace attending stripes or the ball and +chain. The State is poor; our white children are suffering for lack of +education, and yet we have to spend a large amount of money on the +Negro schools. These convict labour contracts are a source of +considerable revenue to the State; they make up, in fact, for most of +the outlay for Negro education--which I approve of, though I'm frank +to say that so far I don't see much good that's come from it. This +convict labour is humanely treated; Mr. Fetters has the contract for +several counties, and anybody who knows Mr. Fetters knows that there's +no kinder-hearted man in the South." + +The colonel disclaimed any intention of criticising. He had come back +to his old home for a brief visit, to rest and to observe. He was +willing to learn and anxious to please. The editor took copious notes +of the interview, and upon his departure shook hands with the colonel +cordially. + +The colonel had tactfully let his visitors talk, while he listened, or +dropped a word here and there to draw them out. One fact was driven +home to him by every one to whom he had spoken. Fetters dominated the +county and the town, and apparently the State. His name was on every +lip. His influence was indispensable to every political aspirant. His +acquaintance was something to boast of, and his good will held a +promise of success. And the colonel had once kicked the Honourable Mr. +Fetters, then plain Bill, in presence of an admiring audience, all the +way down Main Street from the academy to the bank! Bill had been, to +all intents and purposes, a poor white boy; who could not have named +with certainty his own grandfather. The Honourable William was +undoubtedly a man of great ability. Had the colonel remained in his +native State, would he have been able, he wondered, to impress himself +so deeply upon the community? Would blood have been of any advantage, +under the changed conditions, or would it have been a drawback to one +who sought political advancement? + +When the colonel was left alone, he went to look for Phil, who was +playing with the children of the landlord, in the hotel parlour. +Commending him to the care of the Negro maid in charge of them, he +left the hotel and called on several gentlemen whose cards he had +found in his box at the clerk's desk. Their stores and offices were +within a short radius of the hotel. They were all glad to see him, and +if there was any initial stiffness or shyness in the attitude of any +one, it soon became the warmest cordiality under the influence of the +colonel's simple and unostentatious bearing. If he compared the cut of +their clothes or their beards to his own, to their disadvantage, or if +he found their views narrow and provincial, he gave no sign--their +hearts were warm and their welcome hearty. + +The colonel was not able to gather, from the conversation of his +friends, that Clarendon, or any one in the town--always excepting +Fetters, who did not live in the town, but merely overshadowed it--was +especially prosperous. There were no mills or mines in the +neighbourhood, except a few grist mills, and a sawmill. The bulk of +the business consisted in supplying the needs of an agricultural +population, and trading in their products. The cotton was baled and +shipped to the North, and re-imported for domestic use, in the shape +of sheeting and other stuffs. The corn was shipped to the North, and +came back in the shape of corn meal and salt pork, the staple articles +of diet. Beefsteak and butter were brought from the North, at +twenty-five and fifty cents a pound respectively. There were cotton +merchants, and corn and feed merchants; there were dry-goods and +grocery stores, drug stores and saloons--and more saloons--and the +usual proportion of professional men. Since Clarendon was the county +seat, there were of course a court house and a jail. There were +churches enough, if all filled at once, to hold the entire population +of the town, and preachers in proportion. The merchants, of whom a +number were Jewish, periodically went into bankruptcy; the majority of +their customers did likewise, and thus a fellow-feeling was promoted, +and the loss thrown back as far as possible. The lands of the large +farmers were mostly mortgaged, either to Fetters, or to the bank of +which he was the chief stockholder, for all that could be borrowed on +them; while the small farmers, many of whom were coloured, were +practically tied to the soil by ropes of debt and chains of contract. + +Every one the colonel met during the afternoon had heard of Squire +Reddick's good joke of the morning. That he should have sold Peter to +the colonel for life was regarded as extremely clever. Some of them +knew old Peter, and none of them had ever known any harm of him, and +they were unanimous in their recognition and applause of the colonel's +goodheartedness. Moreover, it was an index of the colonel's views. He +was one of them, by descent and early associations, but he had been +away a long time, and they hadn't really known how much of a Yankee he +might have become. By his whimsical and kindly purchase of old Peter's +time--or of old Peter, as they smilingly put it, he had shown his +appreciation of the helplessness of the Negroes, and of their proper +relations to the whites. + +"What'll you do with him, Colonel?" asked one gentleman. "An ole +nigger like Peter couldn't live in the col' No'th. You'll have to buy +a place down here to keep 'im. They wouldn' let you own a nigger at +the No'th." + +The remark, with the genial laugh accompanying it, was sounding in the +colonel's ears, as, on the way back to the hotel, he stepped into the +barber shop. The barber, who had also heard the story, was bursting +with a desire to unbosom himself upon the subject. Knowing from +experience that white gentlemen, in their intercourse with coloured +people, were apt to be, in the local phrase; "sometimey," or uncertain +in their moods, he first tested, with a few remarks about the weather, +the colonel's amiability, and finding him approachable, proved quite +talkative and confidential. + +"You're Colonel French, ain't you, suh?" he asked as he began applying +the lather. + +"Yes." + +"Yes, suh; I had heard you wuz in town, an' I wuz hopin' you would +come in to get shaved. An' w'en I heard 'bout yo' noble conduc' this +mawnin' at Squire Reddick's I wanted you to come in all de mo', suh. +Ole Uncle Peter has had a lot er bad luck in his day, but he has fell +on his feet dis time, suh, sho's you bawn. I'm right glad to see you, +suh. I feels closer to you, suh, than I does to mos' white folks, +because you know, colonel, I'm livin' in the same house you wuz bawn +in." + +"Oh, you are the Nichols, are you, who bought our old place?" + +"Yes, suh, William Nichols, at yo' service, suh. I've own' de ole +house fer twenty yeahs or mo' now, suh, an' we've b'en mighty +comfo'table in it, suh. They is a spaciousness, an' a air of elegant +sufficiency about the environs and the equipments of the ed'fice, suh, +that does credit to the tas'e of the old aristocracy an' of you-all's +family, an' teches me in a sof' spot. For I loves the aristocracy; an' +I've often tol' my ol' lady, 'Liza,' says I, 'ef I'd be'n bawn white I +sho' would 'a' be'n a 'ristocrat. I feels it in my bones.'" + +While the barber babbled on with his shrewd flattery, which was +sincere enough to carry a reasonable amount of conviction, the colonel +listened with curiously mingled feelings. He recalled each plank, each +pane of glass, every inch of wall, in the old house. No spot was +without its associations. How many a brilliant scene of gaiety had +taken place in the spacious parlour where bright eyes had sparkled, +merry feet had twinkled, and young hearts beat high with love and hope +and joy of living! And not only joy had passed that way, but sorrow. +In the front upper chamber his mother had died. Vividly he recalled, +as with closed eyes he lay back under the barber's skilful hand, their +last parting and his own poignant grief; for she had been not only his +mother, but a woman of character, who commanded respect and inspired +affection; a beautiful woman whom he had loved with a devotion that +bordered on reverence. + +Romance, too, had waved her magic wand over the old homestead. His +memory smiled indulgently as he recalled one scene. In a corner of the +broad piazza, he had poured out his youthful heart, one summer +evening, in strains of passionate devotion, to his first love, a +beautiful woman of thirty who was visiting his mother, and who had +told him between smiles and tears, to be a good boy and wait a little +longer, until he was sure of his own mind. Even now, he breathed, in +memory, the heavy odour of the magnolia blossoms which overhung the +long wooden porch bench or "jogging board" on which the lady sat, +while he knelt on the hard floor before her. He felt very young indeed +after she had spoken, but her caressing touch upon his hair had so +stirred his heart that his vanity had suffered no wound. Why, the +family had owned the house since they had owned the cemetery lot! It +was hallowed by a hundred memories, and now!---- + +"Will you have oil on yo' hair, suh, or bay rum?" + +"Nichols," exclaimed the colonel, "I should like to buy back the old +house. What do you want for it?" + +"Why, colonel," stammered the barber, somewhat taken aback at the +suddenness of the offer, "I hadn' r'ally thought 'bout sellin' it. You +see, suh, I've had it now for twenty years, and it suits me, an' my +child'en has growed up in it--an' it kind of has associations, suh." + +In principle the colonel was an ardent democrat; he believed in the +rights of man, and extended the doctrine to include all who bore the +human form. But in feeling he was an equally pronounced aristocrat. A +servant's rights he would have defended to the last ditch; familiarity +he would have resented with equal positiveness. Something of this +ancestral feeling stirred within him now. While Nichols's position in +reference to the house was, in principle, equally as correct as the +colonel's own, and superior in point of time--since impressions, like +photographs, are apt to grow dim with age, and Nichols's were of much +more recent date--the barber's display of sentiment only jarred the +colonel's sensibilities and strengthened his desire. + +"I should advise you to speak up, Nichols," said the colonel. "I had +no notion of buying the place when I came in, and I may not be of the +same mind to-morrow. Name your own price, but now's your time." + +The barber caught his breath. Such dispatch was unheard-of in +Clarendon. But Nichols, a keen-eyed mulatto, was a man of thrift and +good sense. He would have liked to consult his wife and children about +the sale, but to lose an opportunity to make a good profit was to fly +in the face of Providence. The house was very old. It needed shingling +and painting. The floors creaked; the plaster on the walls was loose; +the chimneys needed pointing and the insurance was soon renewable. He +owned a smaller house in which he could live. He had been told to name +his price; it was as much better to make it too high than too low, as +it was easier to come down than to go up. The would-be purchaser was a +rich man; the diamond on the third finger of his left hand alone would +buy a small house. + +"I think, suh," he said, at a bold venture, "that fo' thousand dollars +would be 'bout right." + +"I'll take it," returned the colonel, taking out his pocket-book. +"Here's fifty dollars to bind the bargain. I'll write a receipt for +you to sign." + +The barber brought pen, ink and paper, and restrained his excitement +sufficiently to keep silent, while the colonel wrote a receipt +embodying the terms of the contract, and signed it with a steady hand. + +"Have the deed drawn up as soon as you like," said the colonel, as he +left the shop, "and when it is done I'll give you a draft for the +money." + +"Yes, suh; thank you, suh, thank you, colonel." + +The barber had bought the house at a tax sale at a time of great +financial distress, twenty years before, for five hundred dollars. He +had made a very good sale, and he lost no time in having the deed +drawn up. + +When the colonel reached the hotel, he found Phil seated on the +doorstep with a little bow-legged black boy and a little white dog. +Phil, who had a large heart, had fraternised with the boy and fallen +in love with the dog. + +"Papa," he said, "I want to buy this dog. His name is Rover; he can +shake hands, and I like him very much. This little boy wants ten cents +for him, and I did not have the money. I asked him to wait until you +came. May I buy him?" + +"Certainly, Phil. Here, boy!" + +The colonel threw the black boy a silver dollar. Phil took the dog +under his arm and followed his father into the house, while the other +boy, his glistening eyes glued to the coin in his hand, scampered off +as fast as his limbs would carry him. He was back next morning with a +pretty white kitten, but the colonel discouraged any further purchases +for the time being. + + * * * * * + +"My dear Laura," said the colonel when he saw his friend the same +evening, "I have been in Clarendon two days; and I have already bought +a dog, a house and a man." + +Miss Laura was startled. "I don't understand," she said. + +The colonel proceeded to explain the transaction by which he had +acquired, for life, the services of old Peter. + +"I suppose it is the law," Miss Laura said, "but it seems hardly +right. I had thought we were well rid of slavery. White men do not +work any too much. Old Peter was not idle. He did odd jobs, when he +could get them; he was polite and respectful; and it was an outrage to +treat him so. I am glad you--hired him." + +"Yes--hired him. Moreover, Laura. I have bought a house." + +"A house! Then you are going to stay! I am so glad! we shall all be so +glad. What house?" + +"The old place. I went into the barber shop. The barber complimented +me on the family taste in architecture, and grew sentimental about +_his_ associations with the house. This awoke _my_ associations, and +the collocation jarred--I was selfish enough to want a monopoly of the +associations. I bought the house from him before I left the shop." + +"But what will you do with it?" asked Miss Laura, puzzled. "You could +never _live_ in it again--after a coloured family?" + +"Why not? It is no less the old house because the barber has reared +his brood beneath its roof. There were always Negroes in it when we +were there--the place swarmed with them. Hammer and plane, soap and +water, paper and paint, can make it new again. The barber, I +understand, is a worthy man, and has reared a decent family. His +daughter plays the piano, and sings: + + _'I dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls, + With vassals and serfs by my side.'_ + +I heard her as I passed there yesterday." + +Miss Laura gave an apprehensive start. + +"There were Negroes in the house in the old days," he went on +unnoticing, "and surely a good old house, gone farther astray than +ours, might still be redeemed to noble ends. I shall renovate it and +live in it while I am here, and at such times as I may return; or if I +should tire of it, I can give it to the town for a school, or for a +hospital--there is none here. I should like to preserve, so far as I +may, the old associations--_my_ associations. The house might not fall +again into hands as good as those of Nichols, and I should like to +know that it was devoted to some use that would keep the old name +alive in the community." + +"I think, Henry," said Miss Laura, "that if your visit is long enough, +you will do more for the town than if you had remained here all your +life. For you have lived in a wider world, and acquired a broader +view; and you have learned new things without losing your love for the +old." + + + + +_Ten_ + + +The deed for the house was executed on Friday, Nichols agreeing to +give possession within a week. The lavishness of the purchase price +was a subject of much remark in the town, and Nichols's good fortune +was congratulated or envied, according to the temper of each +individual. The colonel's action in old Peter's case had made him a +name for generosity. His reputation for wealth was confirmed by this +reckless prodigality. There were some small souls, of course, among +the lower whites who were heard to express disgust that, so far, only +"niggers" had profited by the colonel's visit. The _Anglo-Saxon_, +which came out Saturday morning, gave a large amount of space to +Colonel French and his doings. Indeed, the two compositors had +remained up late the night before, setting up copy, and the pressman +had not reached home until three o'clock; the kerosene oil in the +office gave out, and it was necessary to rouse a grocer at midnight to +replenish the supply--so far had the advent of Colonel French +affected the life of the town. + +The _Anglo-Saxon_ announced that Colonel Henry French, formerly of +Clarendon, who had won distinction in the Confederate Army, and since +the war achieved fortune at the North, had returned to visit his +birthplace and his former friends. The hope was expressed that Colonel +French, who had recently sold out to a syndicate his bagging mills in +Connecticut, might seek investments in the South, whose vast +undeveloped resources needed only the fructifying flow of abundant +capital to make it blossom like the rose. The New South, the +_Anglo-Saxon_ declared, was happy to welcome capital and enterprise, +and hoped that Colonel French might find, in Clarendon, an agreeable +residence, and an attractive opening for his trained business +energies. That something of the kind was not unlikely, might be +gathered from the fact that Colonel French had already repurchased, +from William Nichols, a worthy negro barber, the old French mansion, +and had taken into his service a former servant of the family, thus +foreshadowing a renewal of local ties and a prolonged residence. + +The conduct of the colonel in the matter of his old servant was warmly +commended. The romantic circumstances of their meeting in the +cemetery, and the incident in the justice's court, which were matters +of public knowledge and interest, showed that in Colonel French, +should he decide to resume his residence in Clarendon, his fellow +citizens would find an agreeable neighbour, whose sympathies would be +with the South in those difficult matters upon which North and South +had so often been at variance, but upon which they were now rapidly +becoming one in sentiment. + +The colonel, whose active mind could not long remain unoccupied, was +busily engaged during the next week, partly in making plans for the +renovation of the old homestead, partly in correspondence with Kirby +concerning the winding up of the loose ends of their former business. +Thus compelled to leave Phil to the care of some one else, he had an +excellent opportunity to utilise Peter's services. When the old man, +proud of his new clothes, and relieved of any responsibility for his +own future, first appeared at the hotel, the colonel was ready with a +commission. + +"Now, Peter," he said, "I'm going to prove my confidence in you, and +test your devotion to the family, by giving you charge of Phil. You +may come and get him in the morning after breakfast--you can get your +meals in the hotel kitchen--and take him to walk in the streets or the +cemetery; but you must be very careful, for he is all I have in the +world. In other words, Peter, you are to take as good care of Phil as +you did of me when I was a little boy." + +"I'll look aftuh 'im, Mars Henry, lak he wuz a lump er pyo' gol'. Me +an' him will git along fine, won't we, little Mars Phil?" + +"Yes, indeed," replied the child. "I like you, Uncle Peter, and I'll +be glad to go with you." + +Phil and the old man proved excellent friends, and the colonel, +satisfied that the boy would be well cared for, gave his attention to +the business of the hour. As soon as Nichols moved out of the old +house, there was a shaking of the dry bones among the mechanics of the +town. A small army of workmen invaded the premises, and repairs and +improvements of all descriptions went rapidly forward--much more +rapidly than was usual in Clarendon, for the colonel let all his work +by contract, and by a system of forfeits and premiums kept it going at +high pressure. In two weeks the house was shingled, painted inside and +out, the fences were renewed, the outhouses renovated, and the grounds +put in order. + +The stream of ready money thus put into circulation by the colonel, +soon permeated all the channels of local enterprise. The barber, out +of his profits, began the erection of a row of small houses for +coloured tenants. This gave employment to masons and carpenters, and +involved the sale and purchase of considerable building material. +General trade felt the influence of the enhanced prosperity. +Groceries, dry-goods stores and saloons, did a thriving business. The +ease with which the simply organised community responded to so slight +an inflow of money and energy, was not without a pronounced influence +upon the colonel's future conduct. + +When his house was finished, Colonel French hired a housekeeper, a +coloured maid, a cook and a coachman, bought several horses and +carriages, and, having sent to New York for his books and pictures and +several articles of furniture which he had stored there, began +housekeeping in his own establishment. Succumbing willingly to the +charm of old associations, and entering more fully into the social +life of the town, he began insensibly to think of Clarendon as an +established residence, where he would look forward to spending a +certain portion of each year. The climate was good for Phil, and to +bring up the boy safely would be henceforth his chief concern in life. +In the atmosphere of the old town the ideas of race and blood attained +a new and larger perspective. It would be too bad for an old family, +with a fine history, to die out, and Phil was the latest of the line +and the sole hope of its continuance. + +The colonel was conscious, somewhat guiltily conscious, that he had +neglected the South and all that pertained to it--except the market +for burlaps and bagging, which several Southern sales agencies had +attended to on behalf of his firm. He was aware, too, that he had felt +a certain amount of contempt for its poverty, its quixotic devotion to +lost causes and vanished ideals, and a certain disgusted impatience +with a people who persistently lagged behind in the march of progress, +and permitted a handful of upstart, blatant, self-seeking demagogues +to misrepresent them, in Congress and before the country, by +intemperate language and persistent hostility to a humble but large +and important part of their own constituency. But he was glad to find +that this was the mere froth upon the surface, and that underneath it, +deep down in the hearts of the people, the currents of life flowed, if +less swiftly, not less purely than in more favoured places. + +The town needed an element, which he could in a measure supply by +residing there, if for only a few weeks each year. And that element +was some point of contact with the outer world and its more advanced +thought. He might induce some of his Northern friends to follow his +example; there were many for whom the mild climate in Winter and the +restful atmosphere at all seasons of the year, would be a boon which +correctly informed people would be eager to enjoy. + +Of the extent to which the influence of the Treadwell household had +contributed to this frame of mind, the colonel was not conscious. He +had received the freedom of the town, and many hospitable doors were +open to him. As a single man, with an interesting little motherless +child, he did not lack for the smiles of fair ladies, of which the +town boasted not a few. But Mrs. Treadwell's home held the first place +in his affections. He had been there first, and first impressions are +vivid. They had been kind to Phil, who loved them all, and insisted on +Peter's taking him there every day. The colonel found pleasure in Miss +Laura's sweet simplicity and openness of character; to which +Graciella's vivacity and fresh young beauty formed an attractive +counterpart; and Mrs. Treadwell's plaintive minor note had soothed and +satisfied Colonel French in this emotional Indian Summer which marked +his reaction from a long and arduous business career. + + + + +_Eleven_ + + +In addition to a pronounced attractiveness of form and feature, Miss +Graciella Treadwell possessed a fine complexion, a clear eye, and an +elastic spirit. She was also well endowed with certain other +characteristics of youth; among them ingenuousness, which, if it be a +fault, experience is sure to correct; and impulsiveness, which even +the school of hard knocks is not always able to eradicate, though it +may chasten. To the good points of Graciella, could be added an +untroubled conscience, at least up to that period when Colonel French +dawned upon her horizon, and for some time thereafter. If she had put +herself foremost in all her thoughts, it had been the unconscious +egotism of youth, with no definite purpose of self-seeking. The things +for which she wished most were associated with distant places, and her +longing for them had never taken the form of envy of those around her. +Indeed envy is scarcely a vice of youth; it is a weed that flourishes +best after the flower of hope has begun to wither. Graciella's views +of life, even her youthful romanticism were sane and healthful; but +since she had not been tried in the furnace of experience, it could +only be said of her that she belonged to the class, always large, but +shifting like the sands of the sea, who have never been tempted, and +therefore do not know whether they would sin or not. + +It was inevitable, with such a nature as Graciella's, in such an +embodiment, that the time should come, at some important crisis of her +life, when she must choose between different courses; nor was it +likely that she could avoid what comes sometime to all of us, the +necessity of choosing between good and evil. Her liking for Colonel +French had grown since their first meeting. He knew so many things +that Graciella wished to know, that when he came to the house she +spent a great deal of time in conversation with him. Her aunt Laura +was often busy with household duties, and Graciella, as the least +employed member of the family, was able to devote herself to his +entertainment. Colonel French, a comparatively idle man at this +period, found her prattle very amusing. + +It was not unnatural for Graciella to think that this acquaintance +might be of future value; she could scarcely have thought otherwise. +If she should ever go to New York, a rich and powerful friend would be +well worth having. Should her going there be delayed very long, she +would nevertheless have a tie of friendship in the great city, and a +source to which she might at any time apply for information. Her +fondness for Colonel French's society was, however, up to a certain +time, entirely spontaneous, and coloured by no ulterior purpose. Her +hope that his friendship might prove valuable was an afterthought. + +It was during this happy period that she was standing, one day, by the +garden gate, when Colonel French passed by in his fine new trap, +driving a spirited horse; and it was with perfect candour that she +waved her hand to him familiarly. + +"Would you like a drive?" he called. + +"Wouldn't I?" she replied. "Wait till I tell the folks." + +She was back in a moment, and ran out of the gate and down the steps. +The colonel gave her his hand and she sprang up beside him. + +They drove through the cemetery, and into the outlying part of the +town, where there were some shaded woodland stretches. It was a +pleasant afternoon; cloudy enough to hide the sun. Graciella's eyes +sparkled and her cheek glowed with pleasure, while her light brown +hair blown about her face by the breeze of their rapid motion was like +an aureole. + +"Colonel French," she said as they were walking the horse up a hill, +"are you going to give a house warming?" + +"Why," he said, "I hadn't thought of it. Ought I to give a house +warming?" + +"You surely ought. Everybody will want to see your house while it is +new and bright. You certainly ought to have a house warming." + +"Very well," said the colonel. "I make it a rule to shirk no plain +duty. If I _ought_ to have a house warming, I _will_ have it. And you +shall be my social mentor. What sort of a party shall it be?" + +"Why not make it," she said brightly, "just such a party as your +father would have had. You have the old house, and the old furniture. +Give an old-time party." + + * * * * * + +In fitting up his house the colonel had been animated by the same +feeling that had moved him to its purchase. He had endeavoured to +restore, as far as possible, the interior as he remembered it in his +childhood. At his father's death the furniture had been sold and +scattered. He had been able, through the kindly interest of his +friends, to recover several of the pieces. Others that were lost past +hope, had been reproduced from their description. Among those +recovered was a fine pair of brass andirons, and his father's +mahogany desk, which had been purchased by Major Treadwell at the sale +of the elder French's effects. + +Miss Laura had been the first to speak of the desk. + +"Henry," she had said, "the house would not be complete without your +father's desk. It was my father's too, but yours is the prior claim. +Take it as a gift from me." + +He protested, and would have paid for it liberally, and, when she +would take nothing, declared he would not accept it on such terms. + +"You are selfish, Henry," she replied, with a smile. "You have brought +a new interest into our lives, and into the town, and you will not let +us make you any return." + +"But I am taking from you something you need," he replied, "and for +which you paid. When Major Treadwell bought it, it was merely +second-hand furniture, sold under the hammer. Now it has the value of +an antique--it is a fine piece and could be sold in New York for a +large sum." + +"You must take it for nothing, or not at all," she replied firmly. + +"It is highway robbery," he said, and could not make up his mind to +yield. + +Next day, when the colonel went home, after having been down town an +hour, he found the desk in his library. The Treadwell ladies had +corrupted Peter, who had told them when the colonel would be out of +the house and had brought a cart to take the desk away. + +When the house was finished, the interior was simple but beautiful. It +was furnished in the style that had been prevalent fifty years before. +There were some modern additions in the line of comfort and +luxury--soft chairs, fine rugs, and a few choice books and +pictures--for the colonel had not attempted to conform his own tastes +and habits to those of his father. He had some visitors, mostly +gentlemen, and there was, as Graciella knew, a lively curiosity among +the ladies to see the house and its contents. + +The suggestion of a house warming had come originally from Mrs. +Treadwell; but Graciella had promptly made it her own and conveyed it +to the colonel. + + * * * * * + +"A bright idea," he replied. "By all means let it be an old-time +party--say such a party as my father would have given, or my +grandfather. And shall we invite the old people?" + +"Well," replied Graciella judicially, "don't have them so old that +they can't talk or hear, and must be fed with a spoon. If there were +too many old, or not enough young people, I shouldn't enjoy myself." + +"I suppose I seem awfully old to you," said the colonel, +parenthetically. + +"Oh, I don't know," replied Graciella, giving him a frankly critical +look. "When you first came I thought you _were_ rather old--you see, +you are older than Aunt Laura; but you seem to have grown +younger--it's curious, but it's true--and now I hardly think of you as +old at all." + +The colonel was secretly flattered. The wisest man over forty likes to +be thought young. + +"Very well," he said, "you shall select the guests." + +"At an old-time party," continued Graciella, thoughtfully, "the guests +should wear old-time clothes. In grandmother's time the ladies wore +long flowing sleeves----" + +"And hoopskirts," said the colonel. + +"And their hair down over their ears." + +"Or in ringlets." + +"Yes, it is all in grandmother's bound volume of _The Ladies' Book_," +said Graciella. "I was reading it only last week." + +"My mother took it," returned the colonel. + +"Then you must have read 'Letters from a Pastry Cook,' by N.P. Willis +when they came out?" + +"No," said the colonel with a sigh, "I missed that. I--I wasn't able +to read then." + +Graciella indulged in a brief mental calculation. + +"Why, of course not," she laughed, "you weren't even born when they +came out! But they're fine; I'll lend you our copy. You must ask all +the girls to dress as their mothers and grandmothers used to dress. +Make the requirement elastic, because some of them may not have just +the things for one particular period. I'm all right. We have a cedar +chest in the attic, full of old things. Won't I look funny in a hoop +skirt?" + +"You'll look charming in anything," said the colonel. + +It was a pleasure to pay Graciella compliments, she so frankly enjoyed +them; and the colonel loved to make others happy. In his New York firm +Mr. French was always ready to consider a request for an advance of +salary; Kirby had often been obliged to play the wicked partner in +order to keep expenses down to a normal level. At parties debutantes +had always expected Mr. French to say something pleasant to them, and +had rarely been disappointed. + +The subject of the party was resumed next day at Mrs. Treadwell's, +where the colonel went in the afternoon to call. + +"An old-time party," declared the colonel, "should have old-time +amusements. We must have a fiddler, a black fiddler, to play +quadrilles and the Virginia Reel." + +"I don't know where you'll find one," said Miss Laura. + +"I'll ask Peter," replied the colonel. "He ought to know." + +Peter was in the yard with Phil. + +"Lawd, Mars Henry!" said Peter, "fiddlers is mighty sca'ce dese days, +but I reckon ole 'Poleon Campbell kin make you shake yo' feet yit, ef +Ole Man Rheumatiz ain' ketched holt er 'im too tight." + +"And I will play a minuet on your new piano," said Miss Laura, "and +teach the girls beforehand how to dance it. There should be cards for +those who do not dance." + +So the party was arranged. Miss Laura, Graciella and the colonel made +out the list of guests. The invitations were duly sent out for an +old-time party, with old-time costumes--any period between 1830 and +1860 permissible--and old-time entertainment. + +The announcement created some excitement in social circles, and, like +all of Colonel French's enterprises at that happy period of his +home-coming, brought prosperity in its train. Dressmakers were kept +busy making and altering costumes for the ladies. Old Archie +Christmas, the mulatto tailor, sole survivor of a once flourishing +craft--Mr. Cohen's Universal Emporium supplied the general public with +ready-made clothing, and, twice a year, the travelling salesman of a +New York tailoring firm visited Clarendon with samples of suitings, +and took orders and measurements--old Archie Christmas, who had not +made a full suit of clothes for years, was able, by making and +altering men's garments for the colonel's party, to earn enough to +keep himself alive for another twelve months. Old Peter was at +Archie's shop one day, and they were talking about old times--good old +times--for to old men old times are always good times, though history +may tell another tale. + +"Yo' boss is a godsen' ter dis town," declared old Archie, "he sho' +is. De w'ite folks says de young niggers is triflin' 'cause dey don' +larn how to do nothin'. But what is dere fer 'em to do? I kin 'member +when dis town was full er black an' yaller carpenters an' 'j'iners, +blacksmiths, wagon makers, shoemakers, tinners, saddlers an' cab'net +makers. Now all de fu'nicher, de shoes, de wagons, de buggies, de +tinware, de hoss shoes, de nails to fasten 'em on wid--yas, an' fo' de +Lawd! even de clothes dat folks wears on dere backs, is made at de +Norf, an' dere ain' nothin' lef' fer de ole niggers ter do, let 'lone +de young ones. Yo' boss is de right kin'; I hopes he'll stay 'roun' +here till you an' me dies." + +"I hopes wid you," said Peter fervently, "I sho' does! Yas indeed I +does." + +Peter was entirely sincere. Never in his life had he worn such good +clothes, eaten such good food, or led so easy a life as in the +colonel's service. Even the old times paled by comparison with this +new golden age; and the long years of poverty and hard luck that +stretched behind him seemed to the old man like a distant and +unpleasant dream. + + * * * * * + +The party came off at the appointed time, and was a distinct success. +Graciella had made a raid on the cedar chest, and shone resplendent in +crinoline, curls, and a patterned muslin. Together with Miss Laura and +Ben Dudley, who had come in from Mink Run for the party, she was among +the first to arrive. Miss Laura's costume, which belonged to an +earlier date, was in keeping with her quiet dignity. Ben wore a suit +of his uncle's, which the care of old Aunt Viney had preserved +wonderfully well from moth and dust through the years. The men wore +stocks and neckcloths, bell-bottomed trousers with straps under their +shoes, and frock coats very full at the top and buttoned tightly at +the waist. Old Peter, in a long blue coat with brass buttons, acted as +butler, helped by a young Negro who did the heavy work. Miss Laura's +servant Catherine had rallied from her usual gloom and begged the +privilege of acting as lady's maid. 'Poleon Campbell, an old-time +Negro fiddler, whom Peter had resurrected from some obscure cabin, +oiled his rheumatic joints, tuned his fiddle and rosined his bow, and +under the inspiration of good food and drink and liberal wage, played +through his whole repertory, which included such ancient favourites +as, "Fishers' Hornpipe," "Soldiers' Joy," "Chicken in the Bread-tray," +and the "Campbells are Coming." Miss Laura played a minuet, which the +young people danced. Major McLean danced the highland fling, and some +of the ladies sang old-time songs, and war lyrics, which stirred the +heart and moistened the eyes. + +Little Phil, in a child's costume of 1840, copied from _The Ladies' +Book_, was petted and made much of for several hours, until he became +sleepy and was put to bed. + +"Graciella," said the colonel to his young friend, during the evening, +"our party is a great success. It was your idea. When it is all over, +I want to make you a present in token of my gratitude. You shall +select it yourself; it shall be whatever you say." + +Graciella was very much elated at this mark of the colonel's +friendship. She did not dream of declining the proffered token, and +during the next dance her mind was busily occupied with the question +of what it should be--a ring, a bracelet, a bicycle, a set of books? +She needed a dozen things, and would have liked to possess a dozen +others. + +She had not yet decided, when Ben came up to claim her for a dance. On +his appearance, she was struck by a sudden idea. Colonel French was a +man of affairs. In New York he must have a wide circle of influential +acquaintances. Old Mr. Dudley was in failing health; he might die at +any time, and Ben would then be free to seek employment away from +Clarendon. What better place for him than New York? With a position +there, he would be able to marry her, and take her there to live. + +This, she decided, should be her request of the colonel--that he +should help her lover to a place in New York. + +Her conclusion was really magnanimous. She might profit by it in the +end, but Ben would be the first beneficiary. It was an act of +self-denial, for she was giving up a definite and certain good for a +future contingency. + +She was therefore in a pleasant glow of self-congratulatory mood when +she accidentally overheard a conversation not intended for her ears. +She had run out to the dining-room to speak to the housekeeper about +the refreshments, and was returning through the hall, when she stopped +for a moment to look into the library, where those who did not care to +dance were playing cards. + +Beyond the door, with their backs turned toward her, sat two ladies +engaged in conversation. One was a widow, a well-known gossip, and the +other a wife known to be unhappily married. They were no longer young, +and their views were marked by the cynicism of seasoned experience. + +"Oh, there's no doubt about it," said the widow. "He came down here to +find a wife. He tried a Yankee wife, and didn't like the breed; and +when he was ready for number two, he came back South." + +"He showed good taste," said the other. + +"That depends," said the widow, "upon whom he chooses. He can probably +have his pick." + +"No doubt," rejoined the married lady, with a touch of sarcasm, which +the widow, who was still under forty, chose to ignore. + +"I wonder which is it?" said the widow. "I suppose it's Laura; he +spends a great deal of time there, and she's devoted to his little +boy, or pretends to be." + +"Don't fool yourself," replied the other earnestly, and not without a +subdued pleasure in disabusing the widow's mind. "Don't fool yourself, +my dear. A man of his age doesn't marry a woman of Laura Treadwell's. +Believe me, it's the little one." + +"But she has a beau. There's that tall nephew of old Mr. Dudley's. +He's been hanging around her for a year or two. He looks very handsome +to-night." + +"Ah, well, she'll dispose of him fast enough when the time comes. He's +only a poor stick, the last of a good stock run to seed. Why, she's +been pointedly setting her cap at the colonel all the evening. He's +perfectly infatuated; he has danced with her three times to once with +Laura." + +"It's sad to see a man make a fool of himself," sighed the widow, who +was not without some remnants of beauty and a heart still warm and +willing. "Children are very forward nowadays." + +"There's no fool like an old fool, my dear," replied the other with +the cheerful philosophy of the miserable who love company. "These fair +women are always selfish and calculating; and she's a bold piece. My +husband says Colonel French is worth at least a million. A young wife, +who understands her business, could get anything from him that money +can buy." + +"What a pity, my dear," said the widow, with a spice of malice, seeing +her own opportunity, "what a pity that you were older than your +husband! Well, it will be fortunate for the child if she marries an +old man, for beauty of her type fades early." + +Old 'Poleon's fiddle, to which one of the guests was improvising an +accompaniment on the colonel's new piano, had struck up "Camptown +Races," and the rollicking lilt of the chorus was resounding through +the house. + + _"Gwine ter run all night, + Gwine ter run all day, + I'll bet my money on de bobtail nag, + Oh, who's gwine ter bet on de bay?"_ + +Ben ran out into the hall. Graciella had changed her position and was +sitting alone, perturbed in mind. + +"Come on, Graciella, let's get into the Virginia reel; it's the last +one." + +Graciella obeyed mechanically. Ben, on the contrary, was unusually +animated. He had enjoyed the party better than any he had ever +attended. He had not been at many. + +Colonel French, who had entered with zest into the spirit of the +occasion, participated in the reel. Every time Graciella touched his +hand, it was with the consciousness of a new element in their +relations. Until then her friendship for Colonel French had been +perfectly ingenuous. She had liked him because he was interesting, and +good to her in a friendly way. Now she realised that he was a +millionaire, eligible for marriage, from whom a young wife, if she +understood her business, might secure the gratification of every wish. + +The serpent had entered Eden. Graciella had been tendered the apple. +She must choose now whether she would eat. + +When the party broke up, the colonel was congratulated on every hand. +He had not only given his guests a delightful evening. He had restored +an ancient landmark; had recalled, to a people whose life lay mostly +in the past, the glory of days gone by, and proved his loyalty to +their cherished traditions. + +Ben Dudley walked home with Graciella. Miss Laura went ahead of them +with Catherine, who was cheerful in the possession of a substantial +reward for her services. + +"You're not sayin' much to-night," said Ben to his sweetheart, as they +walked along under the trees. + +Graciella did not respond. + +"You're not sayin' much to-night," he repeated. + +"Yes," returned Graciella abstractedly, "it was a lovely party!" + +Ben said no more. The house warming had also given him food for +thought. He had noticed the colonel's attentions to Graciella, and had +heard them remarked upon. Colonel French was more than old enough to +be Graciella's father; but he was rich. Graciella was poor and +ambitious. Ben's only assets were youth and hope, and priority in the +field his only claim. + +Miss Laura and Catherine had gone in, and when the young people came +to the gate, the light still shone through the open door. + +"Graciella," he said, taking her hand in his as they stood a moment, +"will you marry me?" + +"Still harping on the same old string," she said, withdrawing her +hand. "I'm tired now, Ben, too tired to talk foolishness." + +"Very well, I'll save it for next time. Good night, sweetheart." + +She had closed the gate between them. He leaned over it to kiss her, +but she evaded his caress and ran lightly up the steps. + +"Good night, Ben," she called. + +"Good night, sweetheart," he replied, with a pang of foreboding. + +In after years, when the colonel looked back upon his residence in +Clarendon, this seemed to him the golden moment. There were other +times that stirred deeper emotions--the lust of battle, the joy of +victory, the chagrin of defeat--moments that tried his soul with tests +almost too hard. But, thus far, his new career in Clarendon had been +one of pleasant experiences only, and this unclouded hour was its +fitting crown. + + + + +_Twelve_ + + +Whenever the colonel visited the cemetery, or took a walk in that +pleasant quarter of the town, he had to cross the bridge from which +was visible the site of the old Eureka cotton mill of his boyhood, and +it was not difficult to recall that it had been, before the War, a +busy hive of industry. On a narrow and obscure street, little more +than an alley, behind the cemetery, there were still several crumbling +tenements, built for the mill operatives, but now occupied by a +handful of abjectly poor whites, who kept body and soul together +through the doubtful mercy of God and a small weekly dole from the +poormaster. The mill pond, while not wide-spreading, had extended back +some distance between the sloping banks, and had furnished swimming +holes, fishing holes, and what was more to the point at present, a +very fine head of water, which, as it struck the colonel more forcibly +each time he saw it, offered an opportunity that the town could ill +afford to waste. Shrewd minds in the cotton industry had long ago +conceived the idea that the South, by reason of its nearness to the +source of raw material, its abundant water power, and its cheaper +labour, partly due to the smaller cost of living in a mild climate, +and the absence of labour agitation, was destined in time to rival and +perhaps displace New England in cotton manufacturing. Many Southern +mills were already in successful operation. But from lack of capital, +or lack of enterprise, nothing of the kind had ever been undertaken in +Clarendon although the town was the centre of a cotton-raising +district, and there was a mill in an adjoining county. Men who owned +land mortgaged it for money to raise cotton; men who rented land from +others mortgaged their crops for the same purpose. + +It was easy to borrow money in Clarendon--on adequate security--at ten +per cent., and Mr. Fetters, the magnate of the county, was always +ready, the colonel had learned, to accommodate the needy who could +give such security. He had also discovered that Fetters was acquiring +the greater part of the land. Many a farmer imagined that he owned a +farm, when he was, actually, merely a tenant of Fetters. Occasionally +Fetters foreclosed a mortgage, when there was plainly no more to be +had from it, and bought in the land, which he added to his own +holdings in fee. But as a rule, he found it more profitable to let the +borrower retain possession and pay the interest as nearly as he could; +the estate would ultimately be good for the debt, if the debtor did +not live too long--worry might be counted upon to shorten his +days--and the loan, with interest, could be more conveniently +collected at his death. To bankrupt an estate was less personal than +to break an individual; and widows, and orphans still in their +minority, did not vote and knew little about business methods. + +To a man of action, like the colonel, the frequent contemplation of +the unused water power, which might so easily be harnessed to the car +of progress, gave birth, in time, to a wish to see it thus utilised, +and the further wish to stir to labour the idle inhabitants of the +neighbourhood. In all work the shiftless methods of an older +generation still survived. No one could do anything in a quarter of an +hour. Nearly all tasks were done by Negroes who had forgotten how to +work, or by white people who had never learned. But the colonel had +already seen the reviving effect of a little money, directed by a +little energy. And so he planned to build a new and larger cotton mill +where the old had stood; to shake up this lethargic community; to put +its people to work, and to teach them habits of industry, efficiency +and thrift. This, he imagined, would be pleasant occupation for his +vacation, as well as a true missionary enterprise--a contribution to +human progress. Such a cotton mill would require only an +inconsiderable portion of his capital, the body of which would be left +intact for investment elsewhere; it would not interfere at all with +his freedom of movement; for, once built, equipped and put in +operation under a competent manager, it would no more require his +personal oversight than had the New England bagging mills which his +firm had conducted for so many years. + +From impulse to action was, for the colonel's temperament, an easy +step, and he had scarcely moved into his house, before he quietly set +about investigating the title to the old mill site. It had been +forfeited many years before, he found, to the State, for non-payment +of taxes. There having been no demand for the property at any time +since, it had never been sold, but held as a sort of lapsed asset, +subject to sale, but open also, so long as it remained unsold, to +redemption upon the payment of back taxes and certain fees. The amount +of these was ascertained; it was considerably less than the fair value +of the property, which was therefore redeemable at a profit. + +The owners, however, were widely scattered, for the mill had belonged +to a joint-stock company composed of a dozen or more members. Colonel +French was pleasantly surprised, upon looking up certain musty public +records in the court house, to find that he himself was the owner, by +inheritance, of several shares of stock which had been overlooked in +the sale of his father's property. Retaining the services of Judge +Bullard, the leading member of the Clarendon bar, he set out quietly +to secure options upon the other shares. This involved an extensive +correspondence, which occupied several weeks. For it was necessary +first to find, and then to deal with the scattered representatives of +the former owners. + + + + +_Thirteen_ + + +In engaging Judge Bullard, the colonel had merely stated to the lawyer +that he thought of building a cotton-mill, but had said nothing about +his broader plan. It was very likely, he recognised, that the people +of Clarendon might not relish the thought that they were regarded as +fit subjects for reform. He knew that they were sensitive, and quick +to resent criticism. If some of them might admit, now and then, among +themselves, that the town was unprogressive, or declining, there was +always some extraneous reason given--the War, the carpetbaggers, the +Fifteenth Amendment, the Negroes. Perhaps not one of them had ever +quite realised the awful handicap of excuses under which they +laboured. Effort was paralysed where failure was so easily explained. + +That the condition of the town might be due to causes within +itself--to the general ignorance, self-satisfaction and lack of +enterprise, had occurred to only a favoured few; the younger of these +had moved away, seeking a broader outlook elsewhere; while those who +remained were not yet strong enough nor brave enough to break with the +past and urge new standards of thought and feeling. + +So the colonel kept his larger purpose to himself until a time when +greater openness would serve to advance it. Thus Judge Bullard, not +being able to read his client's mind, assumed very naturally that the +contemplated enterprise was to be of a purely commercial nature, +directed to making the most money in the shortest time. + +"Some day, Colonel," he said, with this thought in mind, "you might +get a few pointers by running over to Carthage and looking through the +Excelsior Mills. They get more work there for less money than anywhere +else in the South. Last year they declared a forty per cent. dividend. +I know the superintendent, and will give you a letter of introduction, +whenever you like." + +The colonel bore the matter in mind, and one morning, a day or two +after his party, set out by train, about eight o'clock in the morning, +for Carthage, armed with a letter from the lawyer to the +superintendent of the mills. + +The town was only forty miles away; but a cow had been caught in a +trestle across a ditch, and some time was required for the train crew +to release her. Another stop was made in the middle of a swamp, to put +off a light mulatto who had presumed on his complexion to ride in the +white people's car. He had been successfully spotted, but had +impudently refused to go into the stuffy little closet provided at the +end of the car for people of his class. He was therefore given an +opportunity to reflect, during a walk along the ties, upon his true +relation to society. Another stop was made for a gentleman who had +sent a Negro boy ahead to flag the train and notify the conductor that +he would be along in fifteen or twenty minutes with a couple of lady +passengers. A hot journal caused a further delay. These interruptions +made it eleven o'clock, a three-hours' run, before the train reached +Carthage. + +The town was much smaller than Clarendon. It comprised a public square +of several acres in extent, on one side of which was the railroad +station, and on another the court house. One of the remaining sides +was occupied by a row of shops; the fourth straggled off in various +directions. The whole wore a neglected air. Bales of cotton goods were +piled on the platform, apparently just unloaded from wagons standing +near. Several white men and Negroes stood around and stared listlessly +at the train and the few who alighted from it. + +Inquiring its whereabouts from one of the bystanders, the colonel +found the nearest hotel--a two-story frame structure, with a piazza +across the front, extending to the street line. There was a buggy +standing in front, its horse hitched to one of the piazza posts. Steps +led up from the street, but one might step from the buggy to the floor +of the piazza, which was without a railing. + +The colonel mounted the steps and passed through the door into a small +room, which he took for the hotel office, since there were chairs +standing against the walls, and at one side a table on which a +register lay open. The only person in the room, beside himself, was a +young man seated near the door, with his feet elevated to the back of +another chair, reading a newspaper from which he did not look up. + +The colonel, who wished to make some inquiries and to register for the +dinner which he might return to take, looked around him for the clerk, +or some one in authority, but no one was visible. While waiting, he +walked over to the desk and turned over the leaves of the dog-eared +register. He recognised only one name--that of Mr. William Fetters, +who had registered there only a day or two before. + +No one had yet appeared. The young man in the chair was evidently not +connected with the establishment. His expression was so forbidding, +not to say arrogant, and his absorption in the newspaper so complete, +that the colonel, not caring to address him, turned to the right and +crossed a narrow hall to a room beyond, evidently a parlour, since it +was fitted up with a faded ingrain carpet, a centre table with a red +plush photograph album, and several enlarged crayon portraits hung +near the ceiling--of the kind made free of charge in Chicago from +photographs, provided the owner orders a frame from the company. No +one was in the room, and the colonel had turned to leave it, when he +came face to face with a lady passing through the hall. + +"Are you looking for some one?" she asked amiably, having noted his +air of inquiry. + +"Why, yes, madam," replied the colonel, removing his hat, "I was +looking for the proprietor--or the clerk." + +"Why," she replied, smiling, "that's the proprietor sitting there in +the office. I'm going in to speak to him, and you can get his +attention at the same time." + +Their entrance did not disturb the young man's reposeful attitude, +which remained as unchanged as that of a graven image; nor did he +exhibit any consciousness at their presence. + +"I want a clean towel, Mr. Dickson," said the lady sharply. + +The proprietor looked up with an annoyed expression. + +"Huh?" he demanded, in a tone of resentment mingled with surprise. + +"A clean towel, if you please." + +The proprietor said nothing more to the lady, nor deigned to notice +the colonel at all, but lifted his legs down from the back of the +chair, rose with a sigh, left the room and returned in a few minutes +with a towel, which he handed ungraciously to the lady. Then, still +paying no attention to the colonel, he resumed his former attitude, +and returned to the perusal of his newspaper--certainly the most +unconcerned of hotel keepers, thought the colonel, as a vision of +spacious lobbies, liveried porters, and obsequious clerks rose before +his vision. He made no audible comment, however, but merely stared at +the young man curiously, left the hotel, and inquired of a passing +Negro the whereabouts of the livery stable. A few minutes later he +found the place without difficulty, and hired a horse and buggy. + +While the stable boy was putting the harness on the horse, the colonel +related to the liveryman, whose manner was energetic and +business-like, and who possessed an open countenance and a sympathetic +eye, his experience at the hotel. + +"Oh, yes," was the reply, "that's Lee Dickson all over. That hotel +used to be kep' by his mother. She was a widow woman, an' ever since +she died, a couple of months ago, Lee's been playin' the big man, +spendin' the old lady's money, and enjoyin' himself. Did you see that +hoss'n'-buggy hitched in front of the ho-tel?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, that's Lee's buggy. He hires it from us. We send it up every +mornin' at nine o'clock, when Lee gits up. When he's had his breakfas' +he comes out an' gits in the buggy, an' drives to the barber-shop nex' +door, gits out, goes in an' gits shaved, comes out, climbs in the +buggy, an' drives back to the ho-tel. Then he talks to the cook, comes +out an' gits in the buggy, an' drives half-way 'long that side of the +square, about two hund'ed feet, to the grocery sto', and orders half a +pound of coffee or a pound of lard, or whatever the ho-tel needs for +the day, then comes out, climbs in the buggy and drives back. When the +mail comes in, if he's expectin' any mail, he drives 'cross the square +to the post-office, an' then drives back to the ho-tel. There's other +lazy men roun' here, but Lee Dickson takes the cake. However, it's +money in our pocket, as long as it keeps up." + +"I shouldn't think it would keep up long," returned the colonel. "How +can such a hotel prosper?" + +"It don't!" replied the liveryman, "but it's the best in town." + +"I don't see how there could be a worse," said the colonel. + +"There couldn't--it's reached bed rock." + +The buggy was ready by this time, and the colonel set out, with a +black driver, to find the Excelsior Cotton Mills. They proved to be +situated in a desolate sandhill region several miles out of town. The +day was hot; the weather had been dry, and the road was deep with a +yielding white sand into which the buggy tires sank. The horse soon +panted with the heat and the exertion, and the colonel, dressed in +brown linen, took off his hat and mopped his brow with his +handkerchief. The driver, a taciturn Negro--most of the loquacious, +fun-loving Negroes of the colonel's youth seemed to have +disappeared--flicked a horsefly now and then, with his whip, from the +horse's sweating back. + +The first sign of the mill was a straggling group of small frame +houses, built of unpainted pine lumber. The barren soil, which would +not have supported a firm lawn, was dotted with scraggy bunches of +wiregrass. In the open doorways, through which the flies swarmed in +and out, grown men, some old, some still in the prime of life, were +lounging, pipe in mouth, while old women pottered about the yards, or +pushed back their sunbonnets to stare vacantly at the advancing buggy. +Dirty babies were tumbling about the cabins. There was a lean and +listless yellow dog or two for every baby; and several slatternly +black women were washing clothes on the shady sides of the houses. A +general air of shiftlessness and squalor pervaded the settlement. +There was no sign of joyous childhood or of happy youth. + +A turn in the road brought them to the mill, the distant hum of which +had already been audible. It was a two-story brick structure with many +windows, altogether of the cheapest construction, but situated on the +bank of a stream and backed by a noble water power. + +They drew up before an open door at one corner of the building. The +colonel alighted, entered, and presented his letter of introduction. +The superintendent glanced at him keenly, but, after reading the +letter, greeted him with a show of cordiality, and called a young man +to conduct the visitor through the mill. + +The guide seemed in somewhat of a hurry, and reticent of speech; nor +was the noise of the machinery conducive to conversation. Some of the +colonel's questions seemed unheard, and others were imperfectly +answered. Yet the conditions disclosed by even such an inspection +were, to the colonel, a revelation. Through air thick with flying +particles of cotton, pale, anaemic young women glanced at him +curiously, with lack-luster eyes, or eyes in which the gleam was not +that of health, or hope, or holiness. Wizened children, who had never +known the joys of childhood, worked side by side at long rows of +spools to which they must give unremitting attention. Most of the +women were using snuff, the odour of which was mingled with the flying +particles of cotton, while the floor was thickly covered with +unsightly brown splotches. + +When they had completed the tour of the mills and returned to the +office, the colonel asked some questions of the manager about the +equipment, the output, and the market, which were very promptly and +courteously answered. To those concerning hours and wages the replies +were less definite, and the colonel went away impressed as much by +what he had not learned as by what he had seen. + +While settling his bill at the livery stable, he made further +inquiries. + +"Lord, yes," said the liveryman in answer to one of them, "I can tell +you all you want to know about that mill. Talk about nigger +slavery--the niggers never were worked like white women and children +are in them mills. They work 'em from twelve to sixteen hours a day +for from fifteen to fifty cents. Them triflin' old pinelanders out +there jus' lay aroun' and raise children for the mills, and then set +down and chaw tobacco an' live on their children's wages. It's a sin +an' a shame, an' there ought to be a law ag'inst it." + +The conversation brought out the further fact that vice was rampant +among the millhands. + +"An' it ain't surprisin'," said the liveryman, with indignation +tempered by the easy philosophy of hot climates. "Shut up in jail all +day, an' half the night, never breathin' the pyo' air, or baskin' in +God's bright sunshine; with no books to read an' no chance to learn, +who can blame the po'r things if they have a little joy in the only +way they know?" + +"Who owns the mill?" asked the colonel. + +"It belongs to a company," was the reply, "but Old Bill Fetters owns a +majority of the stock--durn, him!" + +The colonel felt a thrill of pleasure--he had met a man after his own +heart. + +"You are not one of Fetters's admirers then?" he asked. + +"Not by a durn sight," returned the liveryman promptly. "When I look +at them white gals, that ought to be rosy-cheeked an' bright-eyed an' +plump an' hearty an' happy, an' them po' little child'en that never +get a chance to go fishin' or swimmin' or to learn anything, I allow I +wouldn' mind if the durned old mill would catch fire an' burn down. +They work children there from six years old up, an' half of 'em die of +consumption before they're grown. It's a durned outrage, an' if I ever +go to the Legislatur', for which I mean to run, I'll try to have it +stopped." + +"I hope you will be elected," said the colonel. "What time does the +train go back to Clarendon?" + +"Four o'clock, if she's on time--but it may be five." + +"Do you suppose I can get dinner at the hotel?" + +"Oh, yes! I sent word up that I 'lowed you might be back, so they'll +be expectin' you." + +The proprietor was at the desk when the colonel went in. He wrote his +name on the book, and was served with an execrable dinner. He paid his +bill of half a dollar to the taciturn proprietor, and sat down on the +shady porch to smoke a cigar. The proprietor, having put the money in +his pocket, came out and stepped into his buggy, which was still +standing alongside the piazza. The colonel watched him drive a stone's +throw to a barroom down the street, get down, go in, come out a few +minutes later, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, climb into +the buggy, drive back, step out and re-enter the hotel. + +It was yet an hour to train time, and the colonel, to satisfy an +impulse of curiosity, strolled over to the court house, which could be +seen across the square, through the trees. Requesting leave of the +Clerk in the county recorder's office to look at the records of +mortgages, he turned the leaves over and found that a large proportion +of the mortgages recently recorded--among them one on the hotel +property--had been given to Fetters. + +The whistle of the train was heard in the distance as the colonel +recrossed the square. Glancing toward the hotel, he saw the landlord +come out, drive across the square to the station, and sit there until +the passengers had alighted. To a drummer with a sample case, he +pointed carelessly across the square to the hotel, but made no +movement to take the baggage; and as the train moved off, the colonel, +looking back, saw him driving back to the hotel. + +Fetters had begun to worry the colonel. He had never seen the man, and +yet his influence was everywhere. He seemed to brood over the country +round about like a great vampire bat, sucking the life-blood of the +people. His touch meant blight. As soon as a Fetters mortgage rested +on a place, the property began to run down; for why should the nominal +owner keep up a place which was destined in the end to go to Fetters? +The colonel had heard grewsome tales of Fetters's convict labour +plantation; he had seen the operation of Fetters's cotton-mill, where +white humanity, in its fairest and tenderest form, was stunted and +blighted and destroyed; and he had not forgotten the scene in the +justice's office. + +The fighting blood of the old Frenches was stirred. The colonel's +means were abundant; he did not lack the sinews of war. Clarendon +offered a field for profitable investment. He would like to do +something for humanity, something to offset Fetters and his kind, who +were preying upon the weaknesses of the people, enslaving white and +black alike. In a great city, what he could give away would have been +but a slender stream, scarcely felt in the rivers of charity poured +into the ocean of want; and even his considerable wealth would have +made him only a small stockholder in some great aggregation of +capital. In this backward old town, away from the great centres of +commerce, and scarcely feeling their distant pulsebeat, except when +some daring speculator tried for a brief period to corner the cotton +market, he could mark with his own eyes the good he might accomplish. +It required no great stretch of imagination to see the town, a few +years hence, a busy hive of industry, where no man, and no woman +obliged to work, need be without employment at fair wages; where the +trinity of peace, prosperity and progress would reign supreme; where +men like Fetters and methods like his would no longer be tolerated. +The forces of enlightenment, set in motion by his aid, and supported +by just laws, should engage the retrograde forces represented by +Fetters. Communities, like men, must either grow or decay, advance or +decline; they could not stand still. Clarendon was decaying. Fetters +was the parasite which, by sending out its roots toward rich and poor +alike, struck at both extremes of society, and was choking the life of +the town like a rank and deadly vine. + +The colonel could, if need be, spare the year or two of continuous +residence needed to rescue Clarendon from the grasp of Fetters. The +climate agreed with Phil, who was growing like a weed; and the colonel +could easily defer for a little while his scheme of travel, and the +further disposition of his future. + +So, when he reached home that night, he wrote an answer to a long and +gossipy letter received from Kirby about that time, in which the +latter gave a detailed account of what was going on in the colonel's +favourite club and among their mutual friends, and reported progress +in the search for some venture worthy of their mettle. The colonel +replied that Phil and he were well, that he was interesting himself in +a local enterprise which would certainly occupy him for some months, +and that he would not visit New York during the summer, unless it were +to drop in for a day or two on business and return immediately. + +A letter from Mrs. Jerviss, received about the same time, was less +easily disposed of. She had learned, from Kirby, of the chivalrous +manner in which Mr. French had protected her interests and spared her +feelings in the fight with Consolidated Bagging. She had not been +able, she said, to thank him adequately before he went away, because +she had not known how much she owed him; nor could she fittingly +express herself on paper. She could only renew her invitation to him +to join her house party at Newport in July. The guests would be +friends of his--she would be glad to invite any others that he might +suggest. She would then have the opportunity to thank him in person. + +The colonel was not unmoved by this frank and grateful letter, and he +knew perfectly well what reward he might claim from her gratitude. Had +the letter come a few weeks sooner, it might have had a different +answer. But, now, after the first pang of regret, his only problem was +how to refuse gracefully her offered hospitality. He was sorry, he +replied, not to be able to join her house party that summer, but +during the greater part of it he would be detained in the South by +certain matters into which he had been insensibly drawn. As for her +thanks, she owed him none; he had only done his duty, and had already +been thanked too much. + +So thoroughly had Colonel French entered into the spirit of his yet +undefined contest with Fetters, that his life in New York, save when +these friendly communications recalled it, seemed far away, and of +slight retrospective interest. Every one knows of the "blind spot" in +the field of vision. New York was for the time being the colonel's +blind spot. That it might reassert its influence was always possible, +but for the present New York was of no more interest to him than +Canton or Bogota. Having revelled for a few pleasant weeks in memories +of a remoter past, the reaction had projected his thoughts forward +into the future. His life in New York, and in the Clarendon of the +present--these were mere transitory embodiments; he lived in the +Clarendon yet to be, a Clarendon rescued from Fetters, purified, +rehabilitated; and no compassionate angel warned him how tenacious of +life that which Fetters stood for might be--that survival of the +spirit of slavery, under which the land still groaned and +travailed--the growth of generations, which it would take more than +one generation to destroy. + +In describing to Judge Bullard his visit to the cotton mill, the +colonel was not sparing of his indignation. + +"The men," he declared with emphasis, "who are responsible for that +sort of thing, are enemies of mankind. I've been in business for +twenty years, but I have never sought to make money by trading on the +souls and bodies of women and children. I saw the little darkies +running about the streets down there at Carthage; they were poor and +ragged and dirty, but they were out in the air and the sunshine; they +have a chance to get their growth; to go to school and learn +something. The white children are worked worse than slaves, and are +growing up dulled and stunted, physically and mentally. Our folks down +here are mighty short-sighted, judge. We'll wake them up. We'll build +a model cotton mill, and run it with decent hours and decent wages, +and treat the operatives like human beings with bodies to nourish, +minds to develop; and souls to save. Fetters and his crowd will have +to come up to our standard, or else we'll take their hands away." + +Judge Bullard had looked surprised when the colonel began his +denunciation; and though he said little, his expression, when the +colonel had finished, was very thoughtful and not altogether happy. + + + + +_Fourteen_ + + +It was the week after the colonel's house warming. + +Graciella was not happy. She was sitting, erect and graceful, as she +always sat, on the top step of the piazza. Ben Dudley occupied the +other end of the step. His model stood neglected beside him, and he +was looking straight at Graciella, whose eyes, avoiding his, were bent +upon a copy of "Jane Eyre," held open in her hand. There was an +unwonted silence between them, which Ben was the first to break. + +"Will you go for a walk with me?" he asked. + +"I'm sorry, Ben," she replied, "but I have an engagement to go driving +with Colonel French." + +Ben's dark cheek grew darker, and he damned Colonel French softly +beneath his breath. He could not ask Graciella to drive, for their old +buggy was not fit to be seen, and he had no money to hire a better +one. The only reason why he ever had wanted money was because of her. +If she must have money, or the things that money alone would buy, he +must get money, or lose her. As long as he had no rival there was +hope. But could he expect to hold his own against a millionaire, who +had the garments and the manners of the great outside world? + +"I suppose the colonel's here every night, as well as every day," he +said, "and that you talk to him all the time." + +"No, Ben, he isn't here every night, nor every day. His old darky, +Peter, brings Phil over every day; but when the colonel comes he talks +to grandmother and Aunt Laura, as well as to me." + +Graciella had risen from the step, and was now enthroned in a +splint-bottomed armchair, an attitude more in keeping with the air of +dignity which she felt constrained to assume as a cloak for an uneasy +conscience. + +Graciella was not happy. She had reached the parting of the ways, and +realised that she must choose between them. And yet she hesitated. +Every consideration of prudence dictated that she choose Colonel +French rather than Ben. The colonel was rich and could gratify all her +ambitions. There could be no reasonable doubt that he was fond of her; +and she had heard it said, by those more experienced than she and +therefore better qualified to judge, that he was infatuated with her. +Certainly he had shown her a great deal of attention. He had taken her +driving; he had lent her books and music; he had brought or sent the +New York paper every day for her to read. + +He had been kind to her Aunt Laura, too, probably for her niece's +sake; for the colonel was kind by nature, and wished to make everyone +about him happy. It was fortunate that her Aunt Laura was fond of +Philip. If she should decide to marry the colonel, she would have her +Aunt Laura come and make her home with them: she could give Philip the +attention with which his stepmother's social duties might interfere. +It was hardly likely that her aunt entertained any hope of marriage; +indeed, Miss Laura had long since professed herself resigned to old +maidenhood. + +But in spite of these rosy dreams, Graciella was not happy. To marry +the colonel she must give up Ben; and Ben, discarded, loomed up larger +than Ben, accepted. She liked Ben; she was accustomed to Ben. Ben was +young, and youth attracted youth. Other things being equal, she would +have preferred him to the colonel. But Ben was poor; he had nothing +and his prospects for the future were not alluring. He would inherit +little, and that little not until his uncle's death. He had no +profession. He was not even a good farmer, and trifled away, with his +useless models and mechanical toys, the time he might have spent in +making his uncle's plantation productive. Graciella did not know that +Fetters had a mortgage on the plantation, or Ben's prospects would +have seemed even more hopeless. + +She felt sorry not only for herself, but for Ben as well--sorry that +he should lose her--for she knew that he loved her sincerely. But her +first duty was to herself. Conscious that she possessed talents, +social and otherwise, it was not her view of creative wisdom that it +should implant in the mind tastes and in the heart longings destined +never to be realised. She must discourage Ben--gently and gradually, +for of course he would suffer; and humanity, as well as friendship, +counselled kindness. A gradual breaking off, too, would be less +harrowing to her own feelings. + +"I suppose you admire Colonel French immensely," said Ben, with +assumed impartiality. + +"Oh, I like him reasonably well," she said with an equal lack of +candour. "His conversation is improving. He has lived in the +metropolis, and has seen so much of the world that he can scarcely +speak without saying something interesting. It's a liberal education +to converse with people who have had opportunities. It helps to +prepare my mind for life at the North." + +"You set a great deal of store by the North, Graciella. Anybody would +allow, to listen to you, that you didn't love your own country." + +"I love the South, Ben, as I loved Aunt Lou, my old black mammy. I've +laid in her arms many a day, and I 'most cried my eyes out when she +died. But that didn't mean that I never wanted to see any one else. +Nor am I going to live in the South a minute longer than I can help, +because it's too slow. And New York isn't all--I want to travel and +see the world. The South is away behind." + +She had said much the same thing weeks before; but then it had been +spontaneous. Now she was purposely trying to make Ben see how +unreasonable was his hope. + +Ben stood, as he obscurely felt, upon delicate ground. Graciella had +not been the only person to overhear remarks about the probability of +the colonel's seeking a wife in Clarendon, and jealousy had sharpened +Ben's perceptions while it increased his fears. He had little to offer +Graciella. He was not well educated; he had nothing to recommend him +but his youth and his love for her. He could not take her to Europe, +or even to New York--at least not yet. + +"And at home," Graciella went on seriously, "at home I should want +several houses--a town house, a country place, a seaside cottage. When +we were tired of one we could go to another, or live in hotels--in the +winter in Florida, at Atlantic City in the spring, at Newport in the +summer. They say Long Branch has gone out entirely." + +Ben had a vague idea that Long Branch was by the seaside, and exposed +to storms. "Gone out to sea?" he asked absently. He was sick for love +of her, and she was dreaming of watering places. + +"No, Ben," said Graciella, compassionately. Poor Ben had so little +opportunity for schooling! He was not to blame for his want of +knowledge; but could she throw herself away upon an ignoramus? "It's +still there, but has gone out of fashion." + +"Oh, excuse me! I'm not posted on these fashionable things." + +Ben relapsed into gloom. The model remained untouched. He could not +give Graciella a house; he would not have a house until his uncle +died. Graciella had never seemed so beautiful as to-day, as she sat, +dressed in the cool white gown which Miss Laura's slender fingers had +done up, and with her hair dressed after the daintiest and latest +fashion chronicled in the _Ladies' Fireside Journal_. No wonder, he +thought, that a jaded old man of the world like Colonel French should +delight in her fresh young beauty! + +But he would not give her up without a struggle. She had loved him; +she must love him still; and she would yet be his, if he could keep +her true to him or free from any promise to another, until her deeper +feelings could resume their sway. It could not be possible, after all +that had passed between them, that she meant to throw him over, nor +was he a man that she could afford to treat in such a fashion. There +was more in him than Graciella imagined; he was conscious of latent +power of some kind, though he knew not what, and something would +surely happen, sometime, somehow, to improve his fortunes. And there +was always the hope, the possibility of finding the lost money. + +He had brought his great-uncle Ralph's letter with him, as he had +promised Graciella. When she read it, she would see the reasonableness +of his hope, and might be willing to wait, at least a little while. +Any delay would be a point gained. He shuddered to think that he might +lose her, and then, the day after the irrevocable vows had been taken, +the treasure might come to light, and all their life be spent in vain +regrets. Graciella was skeptical about the lost money. Even Mrs. +Treadwell, whose faith had been firm for years, had ceased to +encourage his hope; while Miss Laura, who at one time had smiled at +any mention of the matter, now looked grave if by any chance he let +slip a word in reference to it. But he had in his pocket the outward +and visible sign of his inward belief, and he would try its effect on +Graciella. He would risk ridicule or anything else for her sake. + +"Graciella," he said, "I have brought my uncle Malcolm's letter along, +to convince you that uncle is not as crazy as he seems, and that +there's some foundation for the hope that I may yet be able to give +you all you want. I don't want to relinquish the hope, and I want you +to share it with me." + +He produced an envelope, once white, now yellow with time, on which +was endorsed in ink once black but faded to a pale brown, and hardly +legible, the name of "Malcolm Dudley, Esq., Mink Run," and in the +lower left-hand corner, "By hand of Viney." + +The sheet which Ben drew from this wrapper was worn at the folds, and +required careful handling. Graciella, moved by curiosity, had come +down from her throne to a seat beside Ben upon the porch. She had +never had any faith in the mythical gold of old Ralph Dudley. The +people of an earlier generation--her Aunt Laura perhaps--may once have +believed in it, but they had long since ceased to do more than smile +pityingly and shake their heads at the mention of old Malcolm's +delusion. But there was in it the element of romance. Strange things +had happened, and why might they not happen again? And if they should +happen, why not to Ben, dear old, shiftless Ben! She moved a porch +pillow close beside him, and, as they bent their heads over the paper +her hair mingled with his, and soon her hand rested, unconsciously, +upon his shoulder. + +"It was a voice from the grave," said Ben, "for my great-uncle Ralph +was dead when the letter reached Uncle Malcolm. I'll read it +aloud--the writing is sometimes hard to make out, and I know it by +heart: + + _My Dear Malcolm: + + I have in my hands fifty thousand dollars of government money, + in gold, which I am leaving here at the house for a few days. + Since you are not at home, and I cannot wait, I have confided + in our girl Viney, whom I can trust. She will tell you, when + she gives you this, where I have put the money--I do not write + it, lest the letter should fall into the wrong hands; there are + many to whom it would be a great temptation. I shall return in + a few days, and relieve you of the responsibility. Should + anything happen to me, write to the Secretary of State at + Richmond for instructions what to do with the money. In great + haste_, + + _Your affectionate uncle,_ + RALPH DUDLEY" + +Graciella was momentarily impressed by the letter; of its reality +there could be no doubt--it was there in black and white, or rather +brown and yellow. + +"It sounds like a letter in a novel," she said, thoughtfully. "There +must have been something." + +"There must _be_ something, Graciella, for Uncle Ralph was killed the +next day, and never came back for the money. But Uncle Malcolm, +because he don't know where to look, can't find it; and old Aunt +Viney, because she can't talk, can't tell him where it is." + +"Why has she never shown him?" asked Graciella. + +"There is some mystery," he said, "which she seems unable to explain +without speech. And then, she is queer--as queer, in her own way, as +uncle is in his. Now, if you'd only marry me, Graciella, and go out +there to live, with your uncommonly fine mind, _you'd_ find it--you +couldn't help but find it. It would just come at your call, like my +dog when I whistle to him." + +Graciella was touched by the compliment, or by the serious feeling +which underlay it. And that was very funny, about calling the money +and having it come! She had often heard of people whistling for their +money, but had never heard that it came--that was Ben's idea. There +really was a good deal in Ben, and perhaps, after all---- + +But at that moment there was a sound of wheels, and whatever +Graciella's thought may have been, it was not completed. As Colonel +French lifted the latch of the garden gate and came up the walk toward +them, any glamour of the past, any rosy hope of the future, vanished +in the solid brilliancy of the present moment. Old Ralph was dead, old +Malcolm nearly so; the money had never been found, would never come to +light. There on the doorstep was a young man shabbily attired, without +means or prospects. There at the gate was a fine horse, in a handsome +trap, and coming up the walk an agreeable, well-dressed gentleman of +wealth and position. No dead romance could, in the heart of a girl of +seventeen, hold its own against so vital and brilliant a reality. + +"Thank you, Ben," she said, adjusting a stray lock of hair which had +escaped from her radiant crop, "I am not clever enough for that. It is +a dream. Your great-uncle Ralph had ridden too long and too far in the +sun, and imagined the treasure, which has driven your Uncle Malcolm +crazy, and his housekeeper dumb, and has benumbed you so that you sit +around waiting, waiting, when you ought to be working, working! No, +Ben, I like you ever so much, but you will never take me to New York +with your Uncle Ralph's money, nor will you ever earn enough to take +me with your own. You must excuse me now, for here comes my cavalier. +Don't hurry away; Aunt Laura will be out in a minute. You can stay and +work on your model; I'll not be here to interrupt you. Good evening, +Colonel French! Did you bring me a _Herald_? I want to look at the +advertisements." + +"Yes, my dear young lady, there is Wednesday's--it is only two days +old. How are you, Mr. Dudley?" + +"Tol'able, sir, thank you." Ben was a gentleman by instinct, though +his heart was heavy and the colonel a favoured rival. + +"By the way," said the colonel, "I wish to have an interview with your +uncle, about the old mill site. He seems to have been a stockholder in +the company, and we should like his signature, if he is in condition +to give it. If not, it may be necessary to appoint you his guardian, +with power to act in his place." + +"He's all right, sir, in the morning, if you come early enough," +replied Ben, courteously. "You can tell what is best to do after +you've seen him." + +"Thank you," replied the colonel, "I'll have my man drive me out +to-morrow about ten, say; if you'll be at home? You ought to be there, +you know." + +"Very well, sir, I'll be there all day, and shall expect you." + +Graciella threw back one compassionate glance, as they drove away +behind the colonel's high-stepping brown horse, and did not quite +escape a pang at the sight of her young lover, still sitting on the +steps in a dejected attitude; and for a moment longer his reproachful +eyes haunted her. But Graciella prided herself on being, above all +things, practical, and, having come out for a good time, resolutely +put all unpleasant thoughts aside. + +There was good horse-flesh in the neighbourhood of Clarendon, and the +colonel's was of the best. Some of the roads about the town were +good--not very well kept roads, but the soil was a sandy loam and was +self-draining, so that driving was pleasant in good weather. The +colonel had several times invited Miss Laura to drive with him, and +had taken her once; but she was often obliged to stay with her mother. +Graciella could always be had, and the colonel, who did not like to +drive alone, found her a vivacious companion, whose naive comments +upon life were very amusing to a seasoned man of the world. She was as +pretty, too, as a picture, and the colonel had always admired +beauty--with a tempered admiration. + +At Graciella's request they drove first down Main Street, past the +post-office, where she wished to mail a letter. They attracted much +attention as they drove through the street in the colonel's new trap. +Graciella's billowy white gown added a needed touch of maturity to her +slender youthfulness. A big straw hat shaded her brown hair, and she +sat erect, and held her head high, with a vivid consciousness that she +was the central feature of a very attractive whole. The colonel shared +her thought, and looked at her with frank admiration. + +"You are the cynosure of all eyes," he declared. "I suppose I'm an +object of envy to every young fellow in town." + +Graciella blushed and bridled with pleasure. "I am not interested in +the young men of Clarendon," she replied loftily; "they are not worth +the trouble." + +"Not even--Ben?" asked the colonel slyly. + +"Oh," she replied, with studied indifference, "Mr. Dudley is really a +cousin, and only a friend. He comes to see the family." + +The colonel's attentions could have but one meaning, and it was +important to disabuse his mind concerning Ben. Nor was she the only +one in the family who entertained that thought. Of late her +grandmother had often addressed her in an unusual way, more as a woman +than as a child; and, only the night before, had retold the old story +of her own sister Mary, who, many years before, had married a man of +fifty. He had worshipped her, and had died, after a decent interval, +leaving her a large fortune. From which the old lady had deduced that, +on the whole, it was better to be an old man's darling than a young +man's slave. She had made no application of the story, but Graciella +was astute enough to draw her own conclusions. + +Her Aunt Laura, too, had been unusually kind; she had done up the +white gown twice a week, had trimmed her hat for her, and had worn +old gloves that she might buy her niece a new pair. And her aunt had +looked at her wistfully and remarked, with a sigh, that youth was a +glorious season and beauty a great responsibility. Poor dear, good old +Aunt Laura! When the expected happened, she would be very kind to Aunt +Laura, and repay her, so far as possible, for all her care and +sacrifice. + + + + +_Fifteen_ + + +It was only a short time after his visit to the Excelsior Mills that +Colonel French noticed a falling off in the progress made by his +lawyer, Judge Bullard, in procuring the signatures of those interested +in the old mill site, and after the passing of several weeks he began +to suspect that some adverse influence was at work. This suspicion was +confirmed when Judge Bullard told him one day, with some +embarrassment, that he could no longer act for him in the matter. + +"I'm right sorry, Colonel," he said. "I should like to help you put +the thing through, but I simply can't afford it. Other clients, whose +business I have transacted for years, and to whom I am under heavy +obligations, have intimated that they would consider any further +activity of mine in your interest unfriendly to theirs." + +"I suppose," said the colonel, "your clients wish to secure the mill +site for themselves. Nothing imparts so much value to a thing as the +notion that somebody else wants it. Of course, I can't ask you to act +for me further, and if you'll make out your bill, I'll hand you a +check." + +"I hope," said Judge Bullard, "there'll be no ill-feeling about our +separation." + +"Oh, no," responded the colonel, politely, "not at all. Business is +business, and a man's own interests are his first concern." + +"I'm glad you feel that way," replied the lawyer, much relieved. He +had feared that the colonel might view the matter differently. + +"Some men, you know," he said, "might have kept on, and worked against +you, while accepting your retainer; there are such skunks at the bar." + +"There are black sheep in every fold," returned the colonel with a +cold smile. "It would be unprofessional, I suppose, to name your +client, so I'll not ask you." + +The judge did not volunteer the information, but the colonel knew +instinctively whence came opposition to his plan, and investigation +confirmed his intuition. Judge Bullard was counsel for Fetters in all +matters where skill and knowledge were important, and Fetters held his +note, secured by mortgage, for money loaned. For dirty work Fetters +used tools of baser metal, but, like a wise man, he knew when these +were useless, and was shrewd enough to keep the best lawyers under his +control. + +The colonel, after careful inquiry, engaged to take Judge Bullard's +place, one Albert Caxton, a member of a good old family, a young man, +and a capable lawyer, who had no ascertainable connection with +Fetters, and who, in common with a small fraction of the best people, +regarded Fetters with distrust, and ascribed his wealth to usury and +to what, in more recent years, has come to be known as "graft." + +To a man of Colonel French's business training, opposition was merely +a spur to effort. He had not run a race of twenty years in the +commercial field, to be worsted in the first heat by the petty boss of +a Southern backwoods county. Why Fetters opposed him he did not know. +Perhaps he wished to defeat a possible rival, or merely to keep out +principles and ideals which would conflict with his own methods and +injure his prestige. But if Fetters wanted a fight, Fetters should +have a fight. + +Colonel French spent much of his time at young Caxton's office, +instructing the new lawyer in the details of the mill affair. Caxton +proved intelligent, zealous, and singularly sympathetic with his +client's views and plans. They had not been together a week before the +colonel realised that he had gained immensely by the change. + +The colonel took a personal part in the effort to procure signatures, +among others that of old Malcolm Dudley and on the morning following +the drive with Graciella, he drove out to Mink Run to see the old +gentleman in person and discover whether or not he was in a condition +to transact business. + +Before setting out, he went to his desk--his father's desk, which Miss +Laura had sent to him--to get certain papers for old Mr. Dudley's +signature, if the latter should prove capable of a legal act. He had +laid the papers on top of some others which had nearly filled one of +the numerous small drawers in the desk. Upon opening the drawer he +found that one of the papers was missing. + +The colonel knew quite well that he had placed the paper in the drawer +the night before; he remembered the circumstance very distinctly, for +the event was so near that it scarcely required an exercise, not to +say an effort, of memory. An examination of the drawer disclosed that +the piece forming the back of it was a little lower than the sides. +Possibly, thought the colonel, the paper had slipped off and fallen +behind the drawer. + +He drew the drawer entirely out, and slipped his hand into the cavity. +At the back of it he felt the corner of a piece of paper projecting +upward from below. The paper had evidently slipped off the top of the +others and fallen into a crevice, due to the shrinkage of the wood or +some defect of construction. + +The opening for the drawer was so shallow that though he could feel +the end of the paper, he was unable to get such a grasp of it as would +permit him to secure it easily. But it was imperative that he have the +paper; and since it bore already several signatures obtained with some +difficulty, he did not wish to run the risk of tearing it. + +He examined the compartment below to see if perchance the paper could +be reached from there, but found that it could not. There was +evidently a lining to the desk, and the paper had doubtless slipped +down between this and the finished panels forming the back of the +desk. To reach it, the colonel procured a screw driver, and turning +the desk around, loosened, with some difficulty, the screws that +fastened the proper panel, and soon recovered the paper. With it, +however, he found a couple of yellow, time-stained envelopes, +addressed on the outside to Major John Treadwell. + +The envelopes were unsealed. He glanced into one of them, and seeing +that it contained a sheet, folded small, presumably a letter, he +thrust the two of them into the breast pocket of his coat, intending +to hand them to Miss Laura at their next meeting. They were probably +old letters and of no consequence, but they should of course be +returned to the owners. + +In putting the desk back in its place, after returning the panel and +closing the crevice against future accidents, the colonel caught his +coat on a projecting point and tore a long rent in the sleeve. It was +an old coat, and worn only about the house; and when he changed it +before leaving to pay his call upon old Malcolm Dudley, he hung it in +a back corner in his clothes closet, and did not put it on again for a +long time. Since he was very busily occupied in the meantime, the two +old letters to which he had attached no importance, escaped his memory +altogether. + +The colonel's coachman, a young coloured man by the name of Tom, had +complained of illness early in the morning, and the colonel took +Peter along to drive him to Mink Run, as well as to keep him company. +On their way through the town they stopped at Mrs. Treadwell's, where +they left Phil, who had, he declared, some important engagement with +Graciella. + +The distance was not long, scarcely more than five miles. Ben Dudley +was in the habit of traversing it on horseback, twice a day. When they +had passed the last straggling cabin of the town, their way lay along +a sandy road, flanked by fields green with corn and cotton, broken by +stretches of scraggy pine and oak, growing upon land once under +cultivation, but impoverished by the wasteful methods of slavery; land +that had never been regenerated, and was now no longer tilled. Negroes +were working in the fields, birds were singing in the trees. Buzzards +circled lazily against the distant sky. Although it was only early +summer, a languor in the air possessed the colonel's senses, and +suggested a certain charity toward those of his neighbours--and they +were most of them--who showed no marked zeal for labour. + +"Work," he murmured, "is best for happiness, but in this climate +idleness has its compensations. What, in the end, do we get for all +our labour?" + +"Fifty cents a day, an' fin' yo'se'f, suh," said Peter, supposing the +soliloquy addressed to himself. "Dat's w'at dey pays roun' hyuh." + +When they reached a large clearing, which Peter pointed out as their +destination, the old man dismounted with considerable agility, and +opened a rickety gate that was held in place by loops of rope. +Evidently the entrance had once possessed some pretensions to +elegance, for the huge hewn posts had originally been faced with +dressed lumber and finished with ornamental capitals, some fragments +of which remained; and the one massive hinge, hanging by a slender +rust-eaten nail, had been wrought into a fantastic shape. As they +drove through the gateway, a green lizard scampered down from the top +of one of the posts, where he had been sunning himself, and a +rattlesnake lying in the path lazily uncoiled his motley brown +length, and sounding his rattle, wriggled slowly off into the rank +grass and weeds that bordered the carriage track. + +The house stood well back from the road, amid great oaks and elms and +unpruned evergreens. The lane by which it was approached was partly +overgrown with weeds and grass, from which the mare's fetlocks swept +the dew, yet undried by the morning sun. + +The old Dudley "mansion," as it was called, was a large two-story +frame house, built in the colonial style, with a low-pitched roof, and +a broad piazza along the front, running the full length of both +stories and supported by thick round columns, each a solid piece of +pine timber, gray with age and lack of paint, seamed with fissures by +the sun and rain of many years. The roof swayed downward on one side; +the shingles were old and cracked and moss-grown; several of the +second story windows were boarded up, and others filled with sashes +from which most of the glass had disappeared. + +About the house, for a space of several rods on each side of it, the +ground was bare of grass and shrubbery, rough and uneven, lying in +little hillocks and hollows, as though recently dug over at haphazard, +or explored by some vagrant drove of hogs. At one side, beyond this +barren area, lay a kitchen garden, enclosed by a paling fence. The +colonel had never thought of young Dudley as being at all energetic, +but so ill-kept a place argued shiftlessness in a marked degree. + +When the carriage had drawn up in front of the house, the colonel +became aware of two figures on the long piazza. At one end, in a +massive oaken armchair, sat an old man--seemingly a very old man, for +he was bent and wrinkled, with thin white hair hanging down upon his +shoulders. His face, of a highbred and strongly marked type, +emphasised by age, had the hawk-like contour, that is supposed to +betoken extreme acquisitiveness. His faded eyes were turned toward a +woman, dressed in a homespun frock and a muslin cap, who sat bolt +upright, in a straight-backed chair, at the other end of the piazza, +with her hands folded on her lap, looking fixedly toward her +_vis-a-vis_. Neither of them paid the slightest attention to the +colonel, and when the old man rose, it was not to step forward and +welcome his visitor, but to approach and halt in front of the woman. + +"Viney," he said, sharply, "I am tired of this nonsense. I insist upon +knowing, immediately, where my uncle left the money." + +The woman made no reply, but her faded eyes glowed for a moment, like +the ashes of a dying fire, and her figure stiffened perceptibly as she +leaned slightly toward him. + +"Show me at once, you hussy," he said, shaking his fist, "or you'll +have reason to regret it. I'll have you whipped." His cracked voice +rose to a shrill shriek as he uttered the threat. + +The slumbrous fire in the woman's eyes flamed up for a moment. She +rose, and drawing herself up to her full height, which was greater +than the old man's, made some incoherent sounds, and bent upon him a +look beneath which he quailed. + +"Yes, Viney, good Viney," he said, soothingly, "I know it was wrong, +and I've always regretted it, always, from the very moment. But you +shouldn't bear malice. Servants, the Bible says, should obey their +masters, and you should bless them that curse you, and do good to them +that despitefully use you. But I was good to you before, Viney, and I +was kind to you afterwards, and I know you've forgiven me, good Viney, +noble-hearted Viney, and you're going to tell me, aren't you?" he +pleaded, laying his hand caressingly upon her arm. + +She drew herself away, but, seemingly mollified, moved her lips as +though in speech. The old man put his hand to his ear and listened +with an air of strained eagerness, well-nigh breathless in its +intensity. + +"Try again, Viney," he said, "that's a good girl. Your old master +thinks a great deal of you, Viney. He is your best friend!" + +Again she made an inarticulate response, which he nevertheless seemed +to comprehend, for, brightening up immediately, he turned from her, +came down the steps with tremulous haste, muttering to himself +meanwhile, seized a spade that stood leaning against the steps, passed +by the carriage without a glance, and began digging furiously at one +side of the yard. The old woman watched him for a while, with a +self-absorption that was entirely oblivious of the visitors, and then +entered the house. + +The colonel had been completely absorbed in this curious drama. There +was an air of weirdness and unreality about it all. Old Peter was as +silent as if he had been turned into stone. Something in the +atmosphere conduced to somnolence, for even the horses stood still, +with no signs of restlessness. The colonel was the first to break the +spell. + +"What's the matter with them, Peter? Do you know?" + +"Dey's bofe plumb 'stracted, suh--clean out'n dey min's--dey be'n dat +way fer yeahs an' yeahs an' yeahs." + +"That's Mr. Dudley, I suppose?" + +"Yas, suh, dat's ole Mars Ma'com Dudley, de uncle er young Mistah Ben +Dudley w'at hangs 'roun Miss Grac'ella so much." + +"And who is the woman?" + +"She's a bright mulattah 'oman, suh, w'at use' ter b'long ter de +family befo' de wah, an' has kep' house fer ole Mars' Ma'com ever +sense. He 'lows dat she knows whar old Mars' Rafe Dudley, _his_ uncle, +hid a million dollahs endyoin' de wah, an' huh tongue's paralyse' so +she can't tell 'im--an' he's be'n tryin' ter fin' out fer de las' +twenty-five years. I wo'ked out hyuh one summer on plantation, an' I +seen 'em gwine on like dat many 'n' many a time. Dey don' nobody roun' +hyuh pay no 'tention to 'em no mo', ev'ybody's so use' ter seein' +'em." + +The conversation was interrupted by the appearance of Ben Dudley, who +came around the house, and, advancing to the carriage, nodded to +Peter, and greeted the colonel respectfully. + +"Won't you 'light and come in?" he asked. + +The colonel followed him into the house, to a plainly furnished +parlour. There was a wide fireplace, with a fine old pair of brass +andirons, and a few pieces of old mahogany furniture, incongruously +assorted with half a dozen splint-bottomed chairs. The floor was bare, +and on the walls half a dozen of the old Dudleys looked out from as +many oil paintings, with the smooth glaze that marked the touch of the +travelling artist, in the days before portrait painting was superseded +by photography and crayon enlargements. + +Ben returned in a few minutes with his uncle. Old Malcolm seemed to +have shaken off his aberration, and greeted the colonel with grave +politeness. + +"I am glad, sir," he said, giving the visitor his hand, "to make your +acquaintance. I have been working in the garden--the flower-garden--for +the sake of the exercise. We have negroes enough, though they are very +trifling nowadays, but the exercise is good for my health. I have +trouble, at times, with my rheumatism, and with my--my memory." He +passed his hand over his brow as though brushing away an imaginary +cobweb. + +"Ben tells me you have a business matter to present to me?" + +The colonel, somewhat mystified, after what he had witnessed, by this +sudden change of manner, but glad to find the old man seemingly +rational, stated the situation in regard to the mill site. Old Malcolm +seemed to understand perfectly, and accepted with willingness the +colonel's proposition to give him a certain amount of stock in the new +company for the release of such rights as he might possess under the +old incorporation. The colonel had brought with him a contract, +properly drawn, which was executed by old Malcolm, and witnessed by +the colonel and Ben. + +"I trust, sir," said Mr. Dudley, "that you will not ascribe it to any +discourtesy that I have not called to see you. I knew your father and +your grandfather. But the cares of my estate absorb me so completely +that I never leave home. I shall send my regards to you now and then +by my nephew. I expect, in a very short time, when certain matters +are adjusted, to be able to give up, to a great extent, my arduous +cares, and lead a life of greater leisure, which will enable me to +travel and cultivate a wider acquaintance. When that time comes, sir, +I shall hope to see more of you." + +The old gentleman stood courteously on the steps while Ben accompanied +the colonel to the carriage. It had scarcely turned into the lane when +the colonel, looking back, saw the old man digging furiously. The +condition of the yard was explained; he had been unjust in ascribing +it to Ben's neglect. + +"I reckon, suh," remarked Peter, "dat w'en he fin' dat million +dollahs, Mistah Ben'll marry Miss Grac'ella an' take huh ter New +Yo'k." + +"Perhaps--and perhaps not," said the colonel. To himself he added, +musingly, "Old Malcolm will start on a long journey before he finds +the--million dollars. The watched pot never boils. Buried treasure is +never found by those who seek it, but always accidentally, if at all." + +On the way back they stopped at the Treadwells' for Phil. Phil was not +ready to go home. He was intensely interested in a long-eared +mechanical mule, constructed by Ben Dudley out of bits of wood and +leather and controlled by certain springs made of rubber bands, by +manipulating which the mule could be made to kick furiously. Since the +colonel had affairs to engage his attention, and Phil seemed perfectly +contented, he was allowed to remain, with the understanding that Peter +should come for him in the afternoon. + + + + +_Sixteen_ + + +Little Phil had grown very fond of old Peter, who seemed to lavish +upon the child all of his love and devotion for the dead generations +of the French family. The colonel had taught Phil to call the old man +"Uncle Peter," after the kindly Southern fashion of slavery days, +which, denying to negroes the forms of address applied to white +people, found in the affectionate terms of relationship--Mammy, Auntie +and Uncle--designations that recognised the respect due to age, and +yet lost, when applied to slaves, their conventional significance. +There was a strong, sympathy between the intelligent child and the +undeveloped old negro; they were more nearly on a mental level, +leaving out, of course, the factor of Peter's experience, than could +have been the case with one more generously endowed than Peter, who, +though by nature faithful, had never been unduly bright. Little Phil +became so attached to his old attendant that, between Peter and the +Treadwell ladies, the colonel's housekeeper had to give him very +little care. + +On Sunday afternoons the colonel and Phil and Peter would sometimes +walk over to the cemetery. The family lot was now kept in perfect +order. The low fence around it had been repaired, and several leaning +headstones straightened up. But, guided by a sense of fitness, and +having before him the awful example for which Fetters was responsible, +the colonel had added no gaudy monument nor made any alterations which +would disturb the quiet beauty of the spot or its harmony with the +surroundings. In the Northern cemetery where his young wife was +buried, he had erected to her memory a stately mausoleum, in keeping +with similar memorials on every hand. But here, in this quiet +graveyard, where his ancestors slept their last sleep under the elms +and the willows, display would have been out of place. He had, +however, placed a wrought-iron bench underneath the trees, where he +would sit and read his paper, while little Phil questioned old Peter +about his grandfather and his great-grandfather, their prowess on the +hunting field, and the wars they fought in; and the old man would +delight in detailing, in his rambling and disconnected manner, the +past glories of the French family. It was always a new story to Phil, +and never grew stale to the old man. If Peter could be believed, there +were never white folks so brave, so learned, so wise, so handsome, so +kind to their servants, so just to all with whom they had dealings. +Phil developed a very great fondness for these dead ancestors, whose +graves and histories he soon knew as well as Peter himself. With his +lively imagination he found pleasure, as children often do, in looking +into the future. The unoccupied space in the large cemetery lot +furnished him food for much speculation. + +"Papa," he said, upon one of these peaceful afternoons, "there's room +enough here for all of us, isn't there--you, and me and Uncle Peter?" + +"Yes, Phil," said his father, "there's room for several generations of +Frenches yet to sleep with their fathers." + +Little Phil then proceeded to greater detail. "Here," he said, "next +to grandfather, will be your place, and here next to that, will be +mine, and here, next to me will be--but no," he said, pausing +reflectively, "that ought to be saved for my little boy when he grows +up and dies, that is, when I grow up and have a little boy and he +grows up and grows old and dies and leaves a little boy and--but where +will Uncle Peter be?" + +"Nem mine me, honey," said the old man, "dey can put me somewhar e'se. +Hit doan' mattuh 'bout me." + +"No, Uncle Peter, you must be here with the rest of us. For you know, +Uncle Peter, I'm so used to you now, that I should want you to be near +me then." + +Old Peter thought to humour the lad. "Put me down hyuh at de foot er +de lot, little Mars' Phil, unner dis ellum tree." + +"Oh, papa," exclaimed Phil, demanding the colonel's attention, "Uncle +Peter and I have arranged everything. You know Uncle Peter is to stay +with me as long as I live, and when he dies, he is to be buried here +at the foot of the lot, under the elm tree, where he'll be near me all +the time, and near the folks that he knows and that know him." + +"All right, Phil. You see to it; you'll live longer." + +"But, papa, if I should die first, and then Uncle Peter, and you last +of all, you'll put Uncle Peter near me, won't you, papa?" + +"Why, bless your little heart, Phil, of course your daddy will do +whatever you want, if he's here to do it. But you'll live, Phil, +please God, until I am old and bent and white-haired, and you are a +grown man, with a beard, and a little boy of your own." + +"Yas, suh," echoed the old servant, "an' till ole Peter's bones is +long sence crumble' inter dus'. None er de Frenches' ain' never died +till dey was done growed up." + +On the afternoon following the colonel's visit to Mink Run, old Peter, +when he came for Phil, was obliged to stay long enough to see the +antics of the mechanical mule; and had not that artificial animal +suddenly refused to kick, and lapsed into a characteristic balkiness +for which there was no apparent remedy, it might have proved difficult +to get Phil away. + +"There, Philip dear, never mind," said Miss Laura, "we'll have Ben +mend it for you when he comes, next time, and then you can play with +it again." + +Peter had brought with him some hooks and lines, and, he and Phil, +after leaving the house, followed the bank of the creek, climbing a +fence now and then, until they reached the old mill site, upon which +work had not yet begun. They found a shady spot, and seating +themselves upon the bank, baited their lines, and dropped them into a +quiet pool. For quite a while their patience was unrewarded by +anything more than a nibble. By and by a black cat came down from the +ruined mill, and sat down upon the bank at a short distance from them. + +"I reckon we'll haf ter move, honey," said the old man. "We ain't +gwine ter have no luck fishin' 'g'ins' no ole black cat." + +"But cats don't fish, Uncle Peter, do they?" + +"Law', chile, you'll never know w'at dem critters _kin_ do, 'tel you's +watched 'em long ez I has! Keep yo' eye on dat one now." + +The cat stood by the stream, in a watchful attitude. Suddenly she +darted her paw into the shallow water and with a lightning-like +movement drew out a small fish, which she took in her mouth, and +retired with it a few yards up the bank. + +"Jes' look at dat ole devil," said Peter, "playin' wid dat fish jes' +lack it wuz a mouse! She'll be comin' down heah terreckly tellin' us +ter go 'way fum her fishin' groun's." + +"Why, Uncle Peter," said Phil incredulously, "cats can't talk!" + +"Can't dey? Hoo said dey couldn'? Ain't Miss Grac'ella an' me be'n +tellin' you right along 'bout Bre'r Rabbit and Bre'r Fox an de yuther +creturs talkin' an' gwine on jes' lak folks?" + +"Yes, Uncle Peter, but those were just stories; they didn't really +talk, did they?" + +"Law', honey," said the old man, with a sly twinkle in his rheumy eye, +"you is de sma'tes' little white boy I ever knowed, but you is got a +monst'us heap ter l'arn yit, chile. Nobody ain' done tol' you 'bout de +Black Cat an' de Ha'nted House, is dey?" + +"No, Uncle Peter--you tell me." + +"I didn' knowed but Miss Grac'ella mought a tole you--she knows mos' +all de tales." + +"No, she hasn't. You tell me about it, Uncle Peter." + +"Well," said Peter, "does you 'member dat coal-black man dat drives de +lumber wagon?" + +"Yes, he goes by our house every day, on the way to the sawmill." + +"Well, it all happen' 'long er him. He 'uz gwine long de street one +day, w'en he heared two gent'emen--one of 'em was ole Mars' Tom +Sellers an' I fuhgot de yuther--but dey 'uz talkin' 'bout dat ole +ha'nted house down by de creek, 'bout a mile from hyuh, on de yuther +side er town, whar we went fishin' las' week. Does you 'member de +place?" + +"Yes, I remember the house." + +"Well, as dis yer Jeff--dat's de lumber-wagon driver's name--as dis +yer Jeff come up ter dese yer two gentlemen, one of 'em was sayin, +'I'll bet five dollahs dey ain' narry a man in his town would stay in +dat ha'nted house all night.' Dis yer Jeff, he up 'n sez, sezee, +'Scuse me, suh, but ef you'll 'low me ter speak, suh, I knows a man +wat'll stay in dat ole ha'nted house all night.'" + +"What is a ha'nted house, Uncle Peter?" asked Phil. + +"W'y. Law,' chile, a ha'nted house is a house whar dey's ha'nts!" + +"And what are ha'nts, Uncle Peter?" + +"Ha'nts, honey, is sperrits er dead folks, dat comes back an' hangs +roun' whar dey use' ter lib." + +"Do all spirits come back, Uncle Peter?" + +"No, chile, bress de Lawd, no. Only de bad ones, w'at has be'n so +wicked dey can't rest in dey graves. Folks lack yo' gran'daddy and yo' +gran'mammy--an' all de Frenches--dey don' none er _dem_ come back, fer +dey wuz all good people an' is all gone ter hebben. But I'm fergittin' +de tale. + +"'Well, hoo's de man--hoo's de man?' ax Mistah Sellers, w'en Jeff tol' +'im dey wuz somebody wat 'ud stay in de ole ha'nted house all night. + +"'I'm de man,' sez Jeff. 'I ain't skeered er no ha'nt dat evuh walked, +an' I sleeps in graveya'ds by pref'ence; fac', I jes nach'ly lacks ter +talk ter ha'nts. You pay me de five dollahs, an' I'll 'gree ter stay +in de ole house f'm nine er clock 'tel daybreak.' + +"Dey talk' ter Jeff a w'ile, an' dey made a bahgin wid 'im; dey give +'im one dollah down, an' promus' 'im fo' mo' in de mawnin' ef he +stayed 'tel den. + +"So w'en he got de dollah he went uptown an' spent it, an' 'long 'bout +nine er clock he tuk a lamp, an' went down ter de ole house, an' went +inside an' shet de do'. + +"Dey wuz a rickety ole table settin' in de middle er de flo'. He sot +de lamp on de table. Den he look 'roun' de room, in all de cawners an' +up de chimbly, ter see dat dey wan't nobody ner nuthin' hid in de +room. Den he tried all de winders an' fastened de do', so dey couldn' +nobody ner nuthin' git in. Den he fotch a' ole rickety chair f'm one +cawner, and set it by de table, and sot down. He wuz settin' dere, +noddin' his head, studyin' 'bout dem other fo' dollahs, an' w'at he +wuz gwine buy wid 'em, w'en bimeby he kinder dozed off, an' befo' he +knowed it he wuz settin' dere fast asleep." + +"W'en he woke up, 'long 'bout 'leven erclock, de lamp had bu'n' down +kinder low. He heared a little noise behind him an' look 'roun', an' +dere settin' in de middle er de flo' wuz a big black tomcat, wid his +tail quirled up over his back, lookin' up at Jeff wid bofe his two big +yaller eyes. + +"Jeff rub' 'is eyes, ter see ef he wuz 'wake, an w'iles he sot dere +wond'rin' whar de hole wuz dat dat ole cat come in at, fus' thing he +knowed, de ole cat wuz settin' right up 'side of 'im, on de table, wid +his tail quirled up roun' de lamp chimbly. + +"Jeff look' at de black cat, an' de black cat look' at Jeff. Den de +black cat open his mouf an' showed 'is teef, an' sezee----" + +"'Good evenin'!' + +"'Good evenin' suh,' 'spon' Jeff, trimblin' in de knees, an' kind'er +edgin' 'way fum de table. + +"'Dey ain' nobody hyuh but you an' me, is dey?' sez de black cat, +winkin' one eye. + +"'No, suh,' sez Jeff, as he made fer de do', _'an' quick ez I kin git +out er hyuh, dey ain' gwine ter be nobody hyuh but you!_'" + +"Is that all, Uncle Peter?" asked Phil, when the old man came to a +halt with a prolonged chuckle. + +"Huh?" + +"Is that all?" + +"No, dey's mo' er de tale, but dat's ernuff ter prove dat black cats +kin do mo' dan little w'ite boys 'low dey kin." + +"Did Jeff go away?" + +"Did he go 'way! Why, chile, he jes' flew away! Befo' he got ter de +do', howsomevuh, he 'membered he had locked it, so he didn' stop ter +try ter open it, but went straight out'n a winder, quicker'n +lightnin', an' kyared de sash 'long wid 'im. An' he'd be'n in sech +pow'ful has'e dat he knock' de lamp over an' lack ter sot de house +afire. He nevuh got de yuther fo' dollahs of co'se, 'ca'se he didn't +stay in de ole ha'nted house all night, but he 'lowed he'd sho'ly +'arned de one dollah he'd had a'ready." + +"Why didn't he want to talk to the black cat, Uncle Peter?" + +"Why didn' he wan' ter talk ter de black cat? Whoever heared er sich a +queshtun! He didn' wan' ter talk wid no black cat, 'ca'se he wuz +skeered. Black cats brings 'nuff bad luck w'en dey doan' talk, let +'lone w'en dey does." + +"I should like," said Phil, reflectively, "to talk to a black cat. I +think it would be great fun." + +"Keep away f'm 'em, chile, keep away f'm 'em. Dey is some things too +deep fer little boys ter projec' wid, an' black cats is one of 'em." + +They moved down the stream and were soon having better luck. + +"Uncle Peter," said Phil, while they were on their way home, "there +couldn't be any ha'nts at all in the graveyard where my grandfather is +buried, could there? Graciella read a lot of the tombstones to me one +day, and they all said that all the people were good, and were resting +in peace, and had gone to heaven. Tombstones always tell the truth, +don't they, Uncle Peter?" + +"Happen so, honey, happen so! De French tombstones does; an' as ter de +res', I ain' gwine to 'spute 'em, nohow, fer ef I did, de folks under +'em mought come back an' ha'nt me, jes' fer spite." + + + + +_Seventeen_ + + +By considerable effort, and a moderate outlay, the colonel at length +secured a majority of interest in the Eureka mill site and made +application to the State, through Caxton, for the redemption of the +title. The opposition had either ceased or had proved ineffective. +There would be some little further delay, but the outcome seemed +practically certain, and the colonel did not wait longer to set in +motion his plans for the benefit of Clarendon. + +"I'm told that Fetters says he'll get the mill anyway," said Caxton, +"and make more money buying it under foreclosure than by building a +new one. He's ready to lend on it now." + +"Oh, damn Fetters!" exclaimed the colonel, elated with his victory. He +had never been a profane man, but strong language came so easy in +Clarendon that one dropped into it unconsciously. "The mill will be +running on full time when Fetters has been put out of business. We've +won our first fight, and I've never really seen the fellow yet." + +As soon as the title was reasonably secure, the colonel began his +preparations for building the cotton mill. The first step was to send +for a New England architect who made a specialty of mills, to come +down and look the site over, and make plans for the dam, the mill +buildings and a number of model cottages for the operatives. As soon +as the estimates were prepared, he looked the ground over to see how +far he could draw upon local resources for material. + +There was good brick clay on the outskirts of the town, where bricks +had once been made; but for most of the period since the war such as +were used in the town had been procured from the ruins of old +buildings--it was cheaper to clean bricks than to make them. Since the +construction of the railroad branch to Clarendon the few that were +needed from time to time were brought in by train. Not since the +building of the Opera House block had there been a kiln of brick made +in the town. Inquiry brought out the fact that in case of a demand for +bricks there were brickmakers thereabouts; and in accordance with his +general plan to employ local labour, the colonel looked up the owner +of the brickyard, and asked if he were prepared to take a large +contract. + +The gentleman was palpably troubled by the question. + +"Well, colonel," he said, "I don't know. I'd s'posed you were goin' to +impo't yo' bricks from Philadelphia." + +"No, Mr. Barnes," returned the colonel, "I want to spend the money +here in Clarendon. There seems to be plenty of unemployed labour." + +"Yes, there does, till you want somethin' done; then there ain't so +much. I s'pose I might find half a dozen niggers round here that know +how to make brick; and there's several more that have moved away that +I can get back if I send for them. If you r'al'y think you want yo'r +brick made here, I'll try to get them out for you. They'll cost you, +though, as much, if not more than, you'd have to pay for machine-made +bricks from the No'th." + +The colonel declared that he preferred the local product. + +"Well, I'm shore I don't see why," said the brickmaker. "They'll not +be as smooth or as uniform in colour." + +"They'll be Clarendon brick," returned the colonel, "and I want this +to be a Clarendon enterprise, from the ground up." + +"Well," said Barnes resignedly, "if you must have home-made brick, I +suppose I'll have to make 'em. I'll see what I can do." + +Colonel French then turned the brick matter over to Caxton, who, in +the course of a week, worried Barnes into a contract to supply so many +thousand brick within a given time. + +"I don't like that there time limit," said the brickmaker, "but I +reckon I can make them brick as fast as you can get anybody roun' here +to lay 'em." + +When in the course of another week the colonel saw signs of activity +about the old brickyard, he proceeded with the next step, which was to +have the ruins of the old factory cleared away. + +"Well, colonel," said Major McLean one day when the colonel dropped +into the hotel, where the Major hung out a good part of the time, "I +s'pose you're goin' to hire white folks to do the work over there." + +"Why," replied the colonel, "I hadn't thought about the colour of the +workmen. There'll be plenty, I guess, for all who apply, so long as it +lasts." + +"You'll have trouble if you hire niggers," said the major. "You'll +find that they won't work when you want 'em to. They're not reliable, +they have no sense of responsibility. As soon as they get a dollar +they'll lay off to spend it, and leave yo' work at the mos' critical +point." + +"Well, now, major," replied the colonel, "I haven't noticed any +unnatural activity among the white men of the town. The Negroes have +to live, or seem to think they have, and I'll give 'em a chance to +turn an honest penny. By the way, major, I need a superintendent to +look after the work. It don't require an expert, but merely a good +man--gentleman preferred--whom I can trust to see that my ideas are +carried out. Perhaps you can recommend such a person?" + +The major turned the matter over in his mind before answering. He +might, of course, offer his own services. The pay would doubtless be +good. But he had not done any real work for years. His wife owned +their home. His daughter taught in the academy. He was drawn on jury +nearly every term; was tax assessor now and then, and a judge or clerk +of elections upon occasion. Nor did he think that steady employment +would agree with his health, while it would certainly interfere with +his pleasant visits with the drummers at the hotel. + +"I'd be glad to take the position myself, colonel," he said, "but I +r'aly won't have the time. The campaign will be hummin' in a month or +so, an' my political duties will occupy all my leisure. But I'll bear +the matter in mind, an' see if I can think of any suitable person." + +The colonel thanked him. He had hardly expected the major to offer his +services, but had merely wished, for the fun of the thing, to try the +experiment. What the colonel really needed was a good foreman--he had +used the word "superintendent" merely on the major's account, as less +suggestive of work. He found a poor white man, however, Green by name, +who seemed capable and energetic, and a gang of labourers under his +charge was soon busily engaged in clearing the mill site and preparing +for the foundations of a new dam. When it was learned that the colonel +was paying his labourers a dollar and a half a day, there was +considerable criticism, on the ground that such lavishness would +demoralise the labour market, the usual daily wage of the Negro +labourer being from fifty to seventy-five cents. But since most of the +colonel's money soon found its way, through the channels of trade, +into the pockets of the white people, the criticism soon died a +natural death. + + + + +_Eighteen_ + + +Once started in his career of active benevolence, the colonel's +natural love of thoroughness, combined with a philanthropic zeal as +pleasant as it was novel, sought out new reforms. They were easily +found. He had begun, with wise foresight, at the foundations of +prosperity, by planning an industry in which the people could find +employment. But there were subtler needs, mental and spiritual, to be +met. Education, for instance, so important to real development, +languished in Clarendon. There was a select private school for young +ladies, attended by the daughters of those who could not send their +children away to school. A few of the town boys went away to military +schools. The remainder of the white youth attended the academy, which +was a thoroughly democratic institution, deriving its support partly +from the public school fund and partly from private subscriptions. +There was a coloured public school taught by a Negro teacher. Neither +school had, so far as the colonel could learn, attained any very high +degree of efficiency. At one time the colonel had contemplated +building a schoolhouse for the children of the mill hands, but upon +second thought decided that the expenditure would be more widely +useful if made through the channels already established. If the old +academy building were repaired, and a wing constructed, for which +there was ample room upon the grounds, it would furnish any needed +additional accommodation for the children of the operatives, and avoid +the drawing of any line that might seem to put these in a class apart. +There were already lines enough in the town--the deep and distinct +colour line, theoretically all-pervasive, but with occasional curious +exceptions; the old line between the "rich white folks" or +aristocrats--no longer rich, most of them, but retaining some of their +former wealth and clinging tenaciously to a waning prestige--and the +"poor whites," still at a social disadvantage, but gradually evolving +a solid middle class, with reinforcements from the decaying +aristocracy, and producing now and then some ambitious and successful +man like Fetters. To emphasise these distinctions was no part of the +colonel's plan. To eradicate them entirely in any stated time was of +course impossible, human nature being what it was, but he would do +nothing to accentuate them. His mill hands should become, like the +mill hands in New England towns, an intelligent, self-respecting and +therefore respected element of an enlightened population; and the +whole town should share equally in anything he might spend for their +benefit. + +He found much pleasure in talking over these fine plans of his with +Laura Treadwell. Caxton had entered into them with the enthusiasm of +an impressionable young man, brought into close contact with a +forceful personality. But in Miss Laura the colonel found a sympathy +that was more than intellectual--that reached down to sources of +spiritual strength and inspiration which the colonel could not touch +but of which he was conscious and of which he did not hesitate to +avail himself at second hand. Little Phil had made the house almost a +second home; and the frequent visits of his father had only +strengthened the colonel's admiration of Laura's character. He had +learned, not from the lady herself, how active in good works she was. +A Lady Bountiful in any large sense she could not be, for her means, +as she had so frankly said upon his first visit, were small. But a +little went a long way among the poor of Clarendon, and the life after +all is more than meat, and the body more than raiment, and advice and +sympathy were as often needed as other kinds of help. He had offered +to assist her charities in a substantial way, and she had permitted it +now and then, but had felt obliged at last to cease mentioning them +altogether. He was able to circumvent this delicacy now and then +through the agency of Graciella, whose theory was that money was made +to spend. + +"Laura," he said one evening when at the house, "will you go with me +to-morrow to visit the academy? I wish to see with your eyes as well +as with mine what it needs and what can be done with it. It shall be +our secret until we are ready to surprise the town." + +They went next morning, without notice to the principal. The school +was well ordered, but the equipment poor. The building was old and +sadly in need of repair. The teacher was an ex-Confederate officer, +past middle life, well taught by the methods in vogue fifty years +before, but scarcely in harmony with modern ideals of education. In +spite of his perfect manners and unimpeachable character, the +Professor, as he was called, was generally understood to hold his +position more by virtue of his need and his influence than of his +fitness to instruct. He had several young lady assistants who found in +teaching the only career open, in Clarendon, to white women of good +family. + +The recess hour arrived while they were still at school. When the +pupils marched out, in orderly array, the colonel, seizing a moment +when Miss Treadwell and the professor were speaking about some of the +children whom the colonel did not know, went to the rear of one of the +schoolrooms and found, without much difficulty, high up on one of the +walls, the faint but still distinguishable outline of a pencil +caricature he had made there thirty years before. If the wall had been +whitewashed in the meantime, the lime had scaled down to the original +plaster. Only the name, which had been written underneath, was +illegible, though he could reconstruct with his mind's eye and the aid +of a few shadowy strokes--"Bill Fetters, Sneak"--in angular letters in +the printed form. + +The colonel smiled at this survival of youthful bigotry. Yet even then +his instinct had been a healthy one; his boyish characterisation of +Fetters, schoolboy, was not an inapt description of Fetters, +man--mortgage shark, labour contractor and political boss. Bill, +seeking official favour, had reported to the Professor of that date +some boyish escapade in which his schoolfellows had taken part, and it +was in revenge for this meanness that the colonel had chased him +ignominiously down Main Street and pilloried him upon the schoolhouse +wall. Fetters the man, a Goliath whom no David had yet opposed, had +fastened himself upon a weak and disorganised community, during a +period of great distress and had succeeded by devious ways in making +himself its master. And as the colonel stood looking at the picture he +was conscious of a faint echo of his boyish indignation and sense of +outraged honour. Already Fetters and he had clashed upon the subject +of the cotton mill, and Fetters had retired from the field. If it were +written that they should meet in a life-and-death struggle for the +soul of Clarendon, he would not shirk the conflict. + +"Laura," he said, when they went away, "I should like to visit the +coloured school. Will you come with me?" + +She hesitated, and he could see with half an eye that her answer was +dictated by a fine courage. + +"Why, certainly, I will go. Why not? It is a place where a good work +is carried on." + +"No, Laura," said the colonel smiling, "you need not go. On second +thought, I should prefer to go alone." + +She insisted, but he was firm. He had no desire to go counter to her +instincts, or induce her to do anything that might provoke adverse +comment. Miss Laura had all the fine glow of courage, but was secretly +relieved at being excused from a trip so unconventional. + +So the colonel found his way alone to the schoolhouse, an unpainted +frame structure in a barren, sandy lot upon a street somewhat removed +from the centre of the town and given over mainly to the humble homes +of Negroes. That his unannounced appearance created some embarrassment +was quite evident, but his friendliness toward the Negroes had already +been noised abroad, and he was welcomed with warmth, not to say +effusion, by the principal of the school, a tall, stalwart and dark +man with an intelligent expression, a deferential manner, and shrewd +but guarded eyes--the eyes of the jungle, the colonel had heard them +called; and the thought came to him, was it some ancestral jungle on +the distant coast of savage Africa, or the wilderness of another sort +in which the black people had wandered and were wandering still in +free America? The attendance was not large; at a glance the colonel +saw that there were but twenty-five pupils present. + +"What is your total enrolment?" he asked the teacher. + +"Well, sir," was the reply, "we have seventy-five or eighty on the +roll, but it threatened rain this morning, and as a great many of them +haven't got good shoes, they stayed at home for fear of getting their +feet wet." + +The colonel had often noticed the black children paddling around +barefoot in the puddles on rainy days, but there was evidently some +point of etiquette connected with attending school barefoot. He had +passed more than twenty-five children on the streets, on his way to +the schoolhouse. + +The building was even worse than that of the academy, and the +equipment poorer still. Upon the colonel asking to hear a recitation, +the teacher made some excuse and shrewdly requested him to make a few +remarks. They could recite, he said, at any time, but an opportunity +to hear Colonel French was a privilege not to be neglected. + +The colonel, consenting good-humouredly, was introduced to the school +in very flowery language. The pupils were sitting, the teacher +informed them, in the shadow of a great man. A distinguished member of +the grand old aristocracy of their grand old native State had gone to +the great North and grown rich and famous. He had returned to his old +home to scatter his vast wealth where it was most needed, and to give +his fellow townsmen an opportunity to add their applause to his +world-wide fame. He was present to express his sympathy with their +feeble efforts to rise in the world, and he wanted the scholars all to +listen with the most respectful attention. + +Colonel French made a few simple remarks in which he spoke of the +advantages of education as a means of forming character and of fitting +boys and girls for the work of men and women. In former years his +people had been charged with direct responsibility for the care of +many coloured children, and in a larger and indirect way they were +still responsible for their descendants. He urged them to make the +best of their opportunities and try to fit themselves for useful +citizenship. They would meet with the difficulties that all men must, +and with some peculiarly their own. But they must look up and not +down, forward and not back, seeking always incentives to hope rather +than excuses for failure. Before leaving, he arranged with the +teacher, whose name was Taylor, to meet several of the leading +coloured men, with whom he wished to discuss some method of improving +their school and directing their education to more definite ends. The +meeting was subsequently held. + +"What your people need," said the colonel to the little gathering at +the schoolhouse one evening, "is to learn not only how to read and +write and think, but to do these things to some definite end. We live +in an age of specialists. To make yourselves valuable members of +society, you must learn to do well some particular thing, by which +you may reasonably expect to earn a comfortable living in your own +home, among your neighbours, and save something for old age and the +education of your children. Get together. Take advice from some of +your own capable leaders in other places. Find out what you can do for +yourselves, and I will give you three dollars for every one you can +gather, for an industrial school or some similar institution. Take +your time, and when you're ready to report, come and see me, or write +to me, if I am not here." + +The result was the setting in motion of a stagnant pool. Who can +measure the force of hope? The town had been neglected by mission +boards. No able or ambitious Negro had risen from its midst to found +an institution and find a career. The coloured school received a +grudging dole from the public funds, and was left entirely to the +supervision of the coloured people. It would have been surprising had +the money always been expended to the best advantage. + +The fact that a white man, in some sense a local man, who had yet come +from the far North, the land of plenty, with feelings friendly to +their advancement, had taken a personal interest in their welfare and +proved it by his presence among them, gave them hope and inspiration +for the future. They had long been familiar with the friendship that +curbed, restricted and restrained, and concerned itself mainly with +their limitations. They were almost hysterically eager to welcome the +co-operation of a friend who, in seeking to lift them up, was obsessed +by no fear of pulling himself down or of narrowing in some degree the +gulf that separated them--who was willing not only to help them, but +to help them to a condition in which they might be in less need of +help. The colonel touched the reserves of loyalty in the Negro nature, +exemplified in old Peter and such as he. Who knows, had these reserves +been reached sooner by strict justice and patient kindness, that they +might not long since have helped to heal the wounds of slavery? + +"And now, Laura," said the colonel, "when we have improved the schools +and educated the people, we must give them something to occupy their +minds. We must have a library, a public library." + +"That will be splendid!" she replied with enthusiasm. + +"A public library," continued the colonel, "housed in a beautiful +building, in a conspicuous place, and decorated in an artistic +manner--a shrine of intellect and taste, at which all the people, rich +and poor, black and white, may worship." + +Miss Laura was silent for a moment, and thoughtful. + +"But, Henry," she said with some hesitation, "do you mean that +coloured people should use the library?" + +"Why not?" he asked. "Do they not need it most? Perhaps not many of +them might wish to use it; but to those who do, should we deny the +opportunity? Consider their teachers--if the blind lead the blind, +shall they not both fall into the ditch?" + +"Yes, Henry, that is the truth; but I am afraid the white people +wouldn't wish to handle the same books." + +"Very well, then we will give the coloured folks a library of their +own, at some place convenient for their use. We need not strain our +ideal by going too fast. Where shall I build the library?" + +"The vacant lot," she said, "between the post-office and the bank." + +"The very place," he replied. "It belonged to our family once, and I +shall be acquiring some more ancestral property. The cows will need to +find a new pasture." + +The announcement of the colonel's plan concerning the academy and the +library evoked a hearty response on the part of the public, and the +_Anglo-Saxon_ hailed it as the dawning of a new era. With regard to +the colonel's friendly plans for the Negroes, there was less +enthusiasm and some difference of opinion. Some commended the +colonel's course. There were others, good men and patriotic, men who +would have died for liberty, in the abstract, men who sought to walk +uprightly, and to live peaceably with all, but who, by much brooding +over the conditions surrounding their life, had grown hopelessly +pessimistic concerning the Negro. + +The subject came up in a little company of gentlemen who were gathered +around the colonel's table one evening, after the coffee had been +served, and the Havanas passed around. + +"Your zeal for humanity does you infinite credit, Colonel French," +said Dr. Mackenzie, minister of the Presbyterian Church, who was one +of these prophetic souls, "but I fear your time and money and effort +will be wasted. The Negroes are hopelessly degraded. They have +degenerated rapidly since the war." + +"How do you know, doctor? You came here from the North long after the +war. What is your standard of comparison?" + +"I voice the unanimous opinion of those who have known them at both +periods." + +"_I_ don't agree with you; and I lived here before the war. There is +certainly one smart Negro in town. Nichols, the coloured barber, owns +five houses, and overreached me in a bargain. Before the war he was a +chattel. And Taylor, the teacher, seems to be a very sensible fellow." + +"Yes," said Dr. Price, who was one of the company, "Taylor is a very +intelligent Negro. Nichols and he have learned how to live and prosper +among the white people." + +"They are exceptions," said the preacher, "who only prove the rule. +No, Colonel French, for a long time _I_ hoped that there was a future +for these poor, helpless blacks. But of late I have become profoundly +convinced that there is no place in this nation for the Negro, except +under the sod. We will not assimilate him, we cannot deport him----" + +"And therefore, O man of God, must we exterminate him?" + +"It is God's will. We need not stain our hands with innocent blood. If +we but sit passive, and leave their fate to time, they will die away +in discouragement and despair. Already disease is sapping their +vitals. Like other weak races, they will vanish from the pathway of +the strong, and there is no place for them to flee. When they go +hence, it is to go forever. It is the law of life, which God has given +to the earth. To coddle them, to delude them with false hopes of an +unnatural equality which not all the power of the Government has been +able to maintain, is only to increase their unhappiness. To a doomed +race, ignorance is euthanasia, and knowledge is but pain and sorrow. +It is His will that the fittest should survive, and that those shall +inherit the earth who are best prepared to utilise its forces and +gather its fruits." + +"My dear doctor, what you say may all be true, but, with all due +respect, I don't believe a word of it. I am rather inclined to think +that these people have a future; that there is a place for them here; +that they have made fair progress under discouraging circumstances; +that they will not disappear from our midst for many generations, if +ever; and that in the meantime, as we make or mar them, we shall make +or mar our civilisation. No society can be greater or wiser or better +than the average of all its elements. Our ancestors brought these +people here, and lived in luxury, some of them--or went into +bankruptcy, more of them--on their labour. After three hundred years +of toil they might be fairly said to have earned their liberty. At any +rate, they are here. They constitute the bulk of our labouring class. +To teach them is to make their labour more effective and therefore +more profitable; to increase their needs is to increase our profits in +supplying them. I'll take my chances on the Golden Rule. I am no lover +of the Negro, _as_ Negro--I do not know but I should rather see him +elsewhere. I think our land would have been far happier had none but +white men ever set foot upon it after the red men were driven back. +But they are here, through no fault of theirs, as we are. They were +born here. We have given them our language--which they speak more or +less corruptly; our religion--which they practise certainly no better +than we; and our blood--which our laws make a badge of disgrace. +Perhaps we could not do them strict justice, without a great sacrifice +upon our own part. But they are men, and they should have their +chance--at least _some_ chance." + +"I shall pray for your success," sighed the preacher. "With God all +things are possible, if He will them. But I can only anticipate your +failure." + +"The colonel is growing so popular, with his ready money and his +cheerful optimism," said old General Thornton, another of the guests, +"that we'll have to run him for Congress, as soon as he is reconverted +to the faith of his fathers." + +Colonel French had more than once smiled at the assumption that a mere +change of residence would alter his matured political convictions. His +friends seemed to look upon them, so far as they differed from their +own, as a mere veneer, which would scale off in time, as had the +multiplied coats of whitewash over the pencil drawing made on the +school-house wall in his callow youth. + +"You see," the old general went on, "it's a social matter down here, +rather than a political one. With this ignorant black flood sweeping +up against us, the race question assumes an importance which +overshadows the tariff and the currency and everything else. For +instance, I had fully made up my mind to vote the other ticket in the +last election. I didn't like our candidate nor our platform. There was +a clean-cut issue between sound money and financial repudiation, and +_I_ was tired of the domination of populists and demagogues. All my +better instincts led me toward a change of attitude, and I boldly +proclaimed the fact. I declared my political and intellectual +independence, at the cost of many friends; even my own son-in-law +scarcely spoke to me for a month. When I went to the polls, old Sam +Brown, the triflingest nigger in town, whom I had seen sentenced to +jail more than once for stealing--old Sam Brown was next to me in the +line. + +"'Well, Gin'l,' he said, 'I'm glad you is got on de right side at +las', an' is gwine to vote _our_ ticket.'" + +"This was too much! I could stand the other party in the abstract, but +not in the concrete. I voted the ticket of my neighbours and my +friends. We had to preserve our institutions, if our finances went to +smash. Call it prejudice--call it what you like--it's human nature, +and you'll come to it, colonel, you'll come to it--and then we'll send +you to Congress." + +"I might not care to go," returned the colonel, smiling. + +"You could not resist, sir, the unanimous demand of a determined +constituency. Upon the rare occasions when, in this State, the office +has had a chance to seek the man, it has never sought in vain." + + + + +_Nineteen_ + + +Time slipped rapidly by, and the colonel had been in Clarendon a +couple of months when he went home one afternoon, and not finding Phil +and Peter, went around to the Treadwells' as the most likely place to +seek them. + +"Henry," said Miss Laura, "Philip does not seem quite well to-day. +There are dark circles under his eyes, and he has been coughing a +little." + +The colonel was startled. Had his growing absorption in other things +led him to neglect his child? Phil needed a mother. This dear, +thoughtful woman, whom nature had made for motherhood, had seen things +about his child, that he, the child's father, had not perceived. To a +mind like Colonel French's, this juxtaposition of a motherly heart and +a motherless child seemed very pleasing. + +He despatched a messenger on horseback immediately for Dr. Price. The +colonel had made the doctor's acquaintance soon after coming to +Clarendon, and out of abundant precaution, had engaged him to call +once a week to see Phil. A physician of skill and experience, a +gentleman by birth and breeding, a thoughtful student of men and +manners, and a good story teller, he had proved excellent company and +the colonel soon numbered him among his intimate friends. He had seen +Phil a few days before, but it was yet several days before his next +visit. + +Dr. Price owned a place in the country, several miles away, on the +road to Mink Run, and thither the messenger went to find him. He was +in his town office only at stated hours. The colonel was waiting at +home, an hour later, when the doctor drove up to the gate with Ben +Dudley, in the shabby old buggy to which Ben sometimes drove his one +good horse on his trips to town. + +"I broke one of my buggy wheels going out home this morning," +explained the doctor, "and had just sent it to the shop when your +messenger came. I would have ridden your horse back, and let the man +walk in, but Mr. Dudley fortunately came along and gave me a lift." + +He looked at Phil, left some tablets, with directions for their use, +and said that it was nothing serious and the child would be all right +in a day or two. + +"What he needs, colonel, at his age, is a woman's care. But for that +matter none of us ever get too old to need that." + +"I'll have Tom hitch up and take you home," said the colonel, when the +doctor had finished with Phil, "unless you'll stay to dinner." + +"No, thank you," said the doctor, "I'm much obliged, but I told my +wife I'd be back to dinner. I'll just sit here and wait for young +Dudley, who's going to call for me in an hour. There's a fine mind, +colonel, that's never had a proper opportunity for development. If +he'd had half the chance that your boy will, he would make his mark. +Did you ever see his uncle Malcolm?" + +The colonel described his visit to Mink Run, the scene on the piazza, +the interview with Mr. Dudley, and Peter's story about the hidden +treasure. + +"Is the old man sane?" he asked. + +"His mind is warped, undoubtedly," said the doctor, "but I'll leave it +to you whether it was the result of an insane delusion or not--if you +care to hear his story--or perhaps you've heard it?" + +"No, I have not," returned the colonel, "but I should like to hear +it." + +This was the story that the doctor told: + + * * * * * + +When the last century had passed the half-way mark, and had started +upon its decline, the Dudleys had already owned land on Mink Run for a +hundred years or more, and were one of the richest and most +conspicuous families in the State. The first great man of the family, +General Arthur Dudley, an ardent patriot, had won distinction in the +War of Independence, and held high place in the councils of the infant +nation. His son became a distinguished jurist, whose name is still a +synonym for legal learning and juridical wisdom. In Ralph Dudley, the +son of Judge Dudley, and the immediate predecessor of the demented old +man in whom now rested the title to the remnant of the estate, the +family began to decline from its eminence. Ralph did not marry, but +led a life of ease and pleasure, wasting what his friends thought rare +gifts, and leaving his property to the management of his nephew +Malcolm, the orphan son of a younger brother and his uncle's +prospective heir. Malcolm Dudley proved so capable a manager that for +year after year the large estate was left almost entirely in his +charge, the owner looking to it merely for revenue to lead his own +life in other places. + +The Civil War gave Ralph Dudley a career, not upon the field, for +which he had no taste, but in administrative work, which suited his +talents, and imposed more arduous tasks than those of actual warfare. +Valour was of small account without arms and ammunition. A +commissariat might be improvised, but gunpowder must be manufactured +or purchased. + +Ralph's nephew Malcolm kept bachelor's hall in the great house. The +only women in the household were an old black cook, and the +housekeeper, known as "Viney"--a Negro corruption of Lavinia--a tall, +comely young light mulattress, with a dash of Cherokee blood, which +gave her straighter, blacker and more glossy hair than most women of +mixed race have, and perhaps a somewhat different temperamental +endowment. Her duties were not onerous; compared with the toiling +field hands she led an easy life. The household had been thus +constituted for ten years and more, when Malcolm Dudley began paying +court to a wealthy widow. + +This lady, a Mrs. Todd, was a war widow, who had lost her husband in +the early years of the struggle. War, while it took many lives, did +not stop the currents of life, and weeping widows sometimes found +consolation. Mrs. Todd was of Clarendon extraction, and had returned +to the town to pass the period of her mourning. Men were scarce in +those days, and Mrs. Todd was no longer young, Malcolm Dudley courted +her, proposed marriage, and was accepted. + +He broke the news to his housekeeper by telling her to prepare the +house for a mistress. It was not a pleasant task, but he was a +resolute man. The woman had been in power too long to yield +gracefully. Some passionate strain of the mixed blood in her veins +broke out in a scene of hysterical violence. Her pleadings, +remonstrances, rages, were all in vain. Mrs. Todd was rich, and he was +poor; should his uncle see fit to marry--always a possibility--he +would have nothing. He would carry out his purpose. + +The day after this announcement Viney went to town, sought out the +object of Dudley's attentions, and told her something; just what, no +one but herself and the lady ever knew. When Dudley called in the +evening, the widow refused to see him, and sent instead, a curt note +cancelling their engagement. + +Dudley went home puzzled and angry. On the way thither a suspicion +flashed into his mind. In the morning he made investigations, after +which he rode round by the residence of his overseer. Returning to the +house at noon, he ate his dinner in an ominous silence, which struck +terror to the heart of the woman who waited on him and had already +repented of her temerity. When she would have addressed him, with a +look he froze the words upon her lips. When he had eaten he looked at +his watch, and ordered a boy to bring his horse round to the door. He +waited until he saw his overseer coming toward the house, then sprang +into the saddle and rode down the lane, passing the overseer with a +nod. + +Ten minutes later Dudley galloped back up the lane and sprang from his +panting horse. As he dashed up the steps he met the overseer coming +out of the house. + +"You have not----" + +"I have, sir, and well! The she-devil bit my hand to the bone, and +would have stabbed me if I hadn't got the knife away from her. You'd +better have the niggers look after her; she's shamming a fit." + +Dudley was remorseful, and finding Viney unconscious, sent hastily for +a doctor. + +"The woman has had a stroke," said that gentleman curtly, after an +examination, "brought on by brutal treatment. By G--d, Dudley, I +wouldn't have thought this of you! I own Negroes, but I treat them +like human beings. And such a woman! I'm ashamed of my own race, I +swear I am! If we are whipped in this war and the slaves are freed, as +Lincoln threatens, it will be God's judgment!" + +Many a man has been shot by Southern gentlemen for language less +offensive; but Dudley's conscience made him meek as Moses. + +"It was a mistake," he faltered, "and I shall discharge the overseer +who did it." + +"You had better shoot him," returned the doctor. "He has no soul--and +what is worse, no discrimination." + +Dudley gave orders that Viney should receive the best of care. Next +day he found, behind the clock, where she had laid it, the letter +which Ben Dudley, many years after, had read to Graciella on Mrs. +Treadwell's piazza. It was dated the morning of the previous day. + +An hour later he learned of the death of his uncle, who had been +thrown from a fractious horse, not far from Mink Run, and had broken +his neck in the fall. A hasty search of the premises did not disclose +the concealed treasure. The secret lay in the mind of the stricken +woman. As soon as Dudley learned that Viney had eaten and drunk and +was apparently conscious, he went to her bedside and took her limp +hand in his own. + +"I'm sorry, Viney, mighty sorry, I assure you. Martin went further +than I intended, and I have discharged him for his brutality. You'll +be sorry, Viney, to learn that your old Master Ralph is dead; he was +killed by an accident within ten miles of here. His body will be +brought home to-day and buried to-morrow." + +Dudley thought he detected in her expressionless face a shade of +sorrow. Old Ralph, high liver and genial soul, had been so indulgent a +master, that his nephew suffered by the comparison. + +"I found the letter he left with you," he continued softly, "and must +take charge of the money immediately. Can you tell me where it is?" + +One side of Viney's face was perfectly inert, as the result of her +disorder, and any movement of the other produced a slight distortion +that spoiled the face as the index of the mind. But her eyes were not +dimmed, and into their sombre depths there leaped a sudden fire--only +a momentary flash, for almost instantly she closed her lids, and when +she opened them a moment later, they exhibited no trace of emotion. + +"You will tell me where it is?" he repeated. A request came awkwardly +to his lips; he was accustomed to command. + +Viney pointed to her mouth with her right hand, which was not +affected. + +"To be sure," he said hastily, "you cannot speak--not yet." + +He reflected for a moment. The times were unsettled. Should a wave of +conflict sweep over Clarendon, the money might be found by the enemy. +Should Viney take a turn for the worse and die, it would be impossible +to learn anything from her at all. There was another thought, which +had rapidly taken shape in his mind. No one but Viney knew that his +uncle had been at Mink Run. The estate had been seriously embarrassed +by Roger's extravagant patriotism, following upon the heels of other +and earlier extravagances. The fifty thousand dollars would in part +make good the loss; as his uncle's heir, he had at least a moral claim +upon it, and possession was nine points of the law. + +"Is it in the house?" he asked. + +She made a negative sign. + +"In the barn?" + +The same answer. + +"In the yard? the garden? the spring house? the quarters?" + +No question he could put brought a different answer. Dudley was +puzzled. The woman was in her right mind; she was no liar--of this +servile vice at least she was free. Surely there was some mystery. + +"You saw my uncle?" he asked thoughtfully. + +She nodded affirmatively. + +"And he had the money, in gold?" + +Yes. + +"He left it here?" + +Yes, positively. + +"Do you know where he hid it?" + +She indicated that she did, and pointed again to her silent tongue. + +"You mean that you must regain your speech before you can explain?" + +She nodded yes, and then, as if in pain, turned her face away from +him. + +Viney was carefully nursed. The doctor came to see her regularly. She +was fed with dainty food, and no expense was spared to effect her +cure. In due time she recovered from the paralytic stroke, in all +except the power of speech, which did not seem to return. All of +Dudley's attempts to learn from her the whereabouts of the money were +equally futile. She seemed willing enough, but, though she made the +effort, was never able to articulate; and there was plainly some +mystery about the hidden gold which only words could unravel. + +If she could but write, a few strokes of the pen would give him his +heart's desire! But, alas! Viney may as well have been without hands, +for any use she could make of a pen. Slaves were not taught to read or +write, nor was Viney one of the rare exceptions. But Dudley was a man +of resource--he would have her taught. He employed a teacher for her, +a free coloured man who knew the rudiments. But Viney, handicapped by +her loss of speech, made wretched progress. From whatever cause, she +manifested a remarkable stupidity, while seemingly anxious to learn. +Dudley himself took a hand in her instruction, but with no better +results, and, in the end, the attempt to teach her was abandoned as +hopeless. + +Years rolled by. The fall of the Confederacy left the slaves free and +completed the ruin of the Dudley estate. Part of the land went, at +ruinous prices, to meet mortgages at ruinous rates; part lay fallow, +given up to scrub oak and short-leaf pine; merely enough was +cultivated, or let out on shares to Negro tenants, to provide a living +for old Malcolm and a few servants. Absorbed in dreams of the hidden +gold and in the search for it, he neglected his business and fell yet +deeper into debt. He worried himself into a lingering fever, through +which Viney nursed him with every sign of devotion, and from which he +rose with his mind visibly weakened. + +When the slaves were freed, Viney had manifested no desire to leave +her old place. After the tragic episode which had led to their mutual +undoing, there had been no relation between them but that of master +and servant. But some gloomy attraction, or it may have been habit, +held her to the scene of her power and of her fall. She had no kith +nor kin, and her affliction separated her from the rest of mankind. +Nor would Dudley have been willing to let her go, for in her lay the +secret of the treasure; and, since all other traces of her ailment had +disappeared, so her speech might return. The fruitless search was +never relinquished, and in time absorbed all of Malcolm Dudley's +interest. The crops were left to the servants, who neglected them. The +yard had been dug over many times. Every foot of ground for rods +around had been sounded with a pointed iron bar. The house had +suffered in the search. No crack or cranny had been left unexplored. +The spaces between the walls, beneath the floors, under the +hearths--every possible hiding place had been searched, with little +care for any resulting injury. + + * * * * * + +Into this household Ben Dudley, left alone in the world, had come when +a boy of fifteen. He had no special turn for farming, but such work as +was done upon the old plantation was conducted under his supervision. +In the decaying old house, on the neglected farm, he had grown up in +harmony with his surroundings. The example of his old uncle, wrecked +in mind by a hopeless quest, had never been brought home to him as a +warning; use had dulled its force. He had never joined in the search, +except casually, but the legend was in his mind. Unconsciously his +standards of life grew around it. Some day he would be rich, and in +order to be sure of it, he must remain with his uncle, whose heir he +was. For the money was there, without a doubt. His great-uncle had hid +the gold and left the letter--Ben had read it. + +The neighbours knew the story, or at least some vague version of it, +and for a time joined in the search--surreptitiously, as occasion +offered, and each on his own account. It was the common understanding +that old Malcolm was mentally unbalanced. The neighbouring Negroes, +with generous imagination, fixed his mythical and elusive treasure at +a million dollars. Not one of them had the faintest conception of the +bulk or purchasing power of one million dollars in gold; but when one +builds a castle in the air, why not make it lofty and spacious? + +From this unwholesome atmosphere Ben Dudley found relief, as he grew +older, in frequent visits to Clarendon, which invariably ended at the +Treadwells', who were, indeed, distant relatives. He had one good +horse, and in an hour or less could leave behind him the shabby old +house, falling into ruin, the demented old man, digging in the +disordered yard, the dumb old woman watching him from her inscrutable +eyes; and by a change as abrupt as that of coming from a dark room +into the brightness of midday, find himself in a lovely garden, beside +a beautiful girl, whom he loved devotedly, but who kept him on the +ragged edge of an uncertainty that was stimulating enough, but very +wearing. + + + + +_Twenty_ + + +The summer following Colonel French's return to Clarendon was +unusually cool, so cool that the colonel, pleasantly occupied with his +various plans and projects, scarcely found the heat less bearable than +that of New York at the same season. During a brief torrid spell he +took Phil to a Southern mountain resort for a couple of weeks, and +upon another occasion ran up to New York for a day or two on business +in reference to the machinery for the cotton mill, which was to be +ready for installation some time during the fall. But these were brief +interludes, and did not interrupt the current of his life, which was +flowing very smoothly and pleasantly in its new channel, if not very +swiftly, for even the colonel was not able to make things move swiftly +in Clarendon during the summer time, and he was well enough pleased to +see them move at all. + +Kirby was out of town when the colonel was in New York, and therefore +he did not see him. His mail was being sent from his club to Denver, +where he was presumably looking into some mining proposition. Mrs. +Jerviss, the colonel supposed, was at the seaside, but he had almost +come face to face with her one day on Broadway. She had run down to +the city on business of some sort. Moved by the instinct of defense, +the colonel, by a quick movement, avoided the meeting, and felt safer +when the lady was well out of sight. He did not wish, at this time, to +be diverted from his Southern interests, and the image of another +woman was uppermost in his mind. + +One moonlight evening, a day or two after his return from this brief +Northern trip, the colonel called at Mrs. Treadwells'. Caroline opened +the door. Mrs. Treadwell, she said, was lying down. Miss Graciella had +gone over to a neighbour's, but would soon return. Miss Laura was +paying a call, but would not be long. Would the colonel wait? No, he +said, he would take a walk, and come back later. + +The streets were shady, and the moonlight bathed with a silvery glow +that part of the town which the shadows did not cover. Strolling +aimlessly along the quiet, unpaved streets, the colonel, upon turning +a corner, saw a lady walking a short distance ahead of him. He thought +he recognised the figure, and hurried forward; but ere he caught up +with her, she turned and went into one of a row of small houses which +he knew belonged to Nichols, the coloured barber, and were occupied by +coloured people. Thinking he had been mistaken in the woman's +identity, he slackened his pace, and ere he had passed out of hearing, +caught the tones of a piano, accompanying the words, + + _"I dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls, + With vassals and serfs at my s-i-i-de."_ + +It was doubtless the barber's daughter. The barber's was the only +coloured family in town that owned a piano. In the moonlight, and at a +distance of some rods, the song sounded well enough, and the colonel +lingered until it ceased, and the player began to practise scales, +when he continued his walk. He had smoked a couple of cigars, and was +returning toward Mrs. Treadwells', when he met, face to face, Miss +Laura Treadwell coming out of the barber's house. He lifted his hat +and put out his hand. + +"I called at the house a while ago, and you were all out. I was just +going back. I'll walk along with you." + +Miss Laura was visibly embarrassed at the meeting. The colonel gave no +sign that he noticed her emotion, but went on talking. + +"It is a delightful evening," he said. + +"Yes," she replied, and then went on, "you must wonder what I was +doing there." + +"I suppose," he said, "that you were looking for a servant, or on some +mission of kindness and good will." + +Miss Laura was silent for a moment and he could feel her hand tremble +on the arm he offered her. + +"No, Henry," she said, "why should I deceive you? I did not go to find +a servant, but to serve. I have told you we were poor, but not how +poor. I can tell you what I could not say to others, for you have +lived away from here, and I know how differently from most of us you +look at things. I went to the barber's house to give the barber's +daughter music lessons--for money." + +The colonel laughed contagiously. + +"You taught her to sing-- + + _'I dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls?'_" + +"Yes, but you must not judge my work too soon," she replied. "It is +not finished yet." + +"You shall let me know when it is done," he said, "and I will walk by +and hear the finished product. Your pupil has improved wonderfully. I +heard her singing the song the day I came back--the first time I +walked by the old house. She sings it much better now. You are a good +teacher, as well as a good woman." + +Miss Laura laughed somewhat excitedly, but was bent upon her +explanation. + +"The girl used to come to the house," she said. "Her mother belonged +to us before the war, and we have been such friends as white and black +can be. And she wanted to learn to play, and offered to pay me well +for lessons, and I gave them to her. We never speak about the money at +the house; mother knows it, but feigns that I do it out of mere +kindness, and tells me that I am spoiling the coloured people. Our +friends are not supposed to know it, and if any of them do, they are +kind and never speak of it. Since you have been coming to the house, +it has not been convenient to teach her there, and I have been going +to her home in the evening." + +"My dear Laura," said the colonel, remorsefully, "I have driven you +away from your own home, and all unwittingly. I applaud your +enterprise and your public spirit. It is a long way from the banjo to +the piano--it marks the progress of a family and foreshadows the +evolution of a race. And what higher work than to elevate humanity?" + +They had reached the house. Mrs. Treadwell had not come down, nor had +Graciella returned. They went into the parlour. Miss Laura turned up +the lamp. + + * * * * * + +Graciella had run over to a neighbour's to meet a young lady who was +visiting a young lady who was a friend of Graciella's. She had +remained a little longer than she had meant to, for among those who +had called to see her friend's friend was young Mr. Fetters, the son +of the magnate, lately returned home from college. Barclay Fetters was +handsome, well-dressed and well-mannered. He had started at one +college, and had already changed to two others. Stories of his +dissipated habits and reckless extravagance had been bruited about. +Graciella knew his family history, and had imbibed the old-fashioned +notions of her grandmother's household, so that her acknowledgment of +the introduction was somewhat cold, not to say distant. But as she +felt the charm of his manner, and saw that the other girls were vieing +with one another for his notice, she felt a certain triumph that he +exhibited a marked preference for her conversation. Her reserve +gradually broke down, and she was talking with animation and listening +with pleasure, when she suddenly recollected that Colonel French would +probably call, and that she ought to be there to entertain him, for +which purpose she had dressed herself very carefully. He had not +spoken yet, but might be expected to speak at any time; such marked +attentions as his could have but one meaning; and for several days she +had had a premonition that before the week was out he would seek to +know his fate; and Graciella meant to be kind. + +Anticipating this event, she had politely but pointedly discouraged +Ben Dudley's attentions, until Ben's pride, of which he had plenty in +reserve, had awaked to activity. At their last meeting he had demanded +a definite answer to his oft-repeated question. + +"Graciella," he had said, "are you going to marry me? Yes or no. I'll +not be played with any longer. You must marry me for myself, or not at +all. Yes or no." + +"Then no, Mr. Dudley," she had replied with spirit, and without a +moment's hesitation, "I will not marry you. I will never marry you, +not if I should die an old maid." + +She was sorry they had not parted friends, but she was not to blame. +After her marriage, she would avoid the embarrassment of meeting him, +by making the colonel take her away. Sometime she might, through her +husband, be of service to Ben, and thus make up, in part at least, for +his disappointment. + +As she ran up through the garden and stepped upon the porch--her +slippers were thin and made no sound--she heard Colonel French's voice +in the darkened parlour. Some unusual intonation struck her, and she +moved lightly and almost mechanically forward, in the shadow, toward a +point where she could see through the window and remain screened from +observation. So intense was her interest in what she heard, that she +stood with her hand on her heart, not even conscious that she was +doing a shameful thing. + + * * * * * + +Her aunt was seated and Colonel French was standing near her. An open +Bible lay upon the table. The colonel had taken it up and was reading: + +"'Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies. +The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her. She will do him +good and not evil all the days of her life. Strength and honour are +her clothing, and she shall rejoice in time to come.' + +"Laura," he said, "the proverb maker was a prophet as well. In these +words, written four thousand years ago, he has described you, line for +line." + +The glow which warmed her cheek, still smooth, the light which came +into her clear eyes, the joy that filled her heart at these kind +words, put the years to flight, and for the moment Laura was young +again. + +"You have been good to Phil," the colonel went on, "and I should like +him to be always near you and have your care. And you have been kind +to me, and made me welcome and at home in what might otherwise have +seemed, after so long an absence, a strange land. You bring back to me +the best of my youth, and in you I find the inspiration for good +deeds. Be my wife, dear Laura, and a mother to my boy, and we will try +to make you happy." + +"Oh, Henry," she cried with fluttering heart, "I am not worthy to be +your wife. I know nothing of the world where you have lived, nor +whether I would fit into it." + +"You are worthy of any place," he declared, "and if one please you +more than another, I shall make your wishes mine." + +"But, Henry, how could I leave my mother? And Graciella needs my +care." + +"You need not leave your mother--she shall be mine as well as yours. +Graciella is a dear, bright child; she has in her the making of a +noble woman; she should be sent away to a good school, and I will see +to it. No, dear Laura, there are no difficulties, no giants in the +pathway that will not fly or fall when we confront them." + +He had put his arm around her and lifted her face to his. He read his +answer in her swimming eyes, and when he had reached down and kissed +her cheek, she buried her head on his shoulder and shed some tears of +happiness. For this was her secret: she was sweet and good; she would +have made any man happy, who had been worthy of her, but no man had +ever before asked her to be his wife. She had lived upon a plane so +simple, yet so high, that men not equally high-minded had never +ventured to address her, and there were few such men, and chance had +not led them her way. As to the others--perhaps there were women more +beautiful, and certainly more enterprising. She had not repined; she +had been busy and contented. Now this great happiness was vouchsafed +her, to find in the love of the man whom she admired above all others +a woman's true career. + +"Henry," she said, when they had sat down on the old hair-cloth sofa, +side by side, "you have made me very happy; so happy that I wish to +keep my happiness all to myself--for a little while. Will you let me +keep our engagement secret until I--am accustomed to it? It may be +silly or childish, but it seems like a happy dream, and I wish to +assure myself of its reality before I tell it to anyone else." + +"To me," said the colonel, smiling tenderly into her eyes, "it is the +realisation of an ideal. Since we met that day in the cemetery you +have seemed to me the embodiment of all that is best of my memories of +the old South; and your gentleness, your kindness, your tender grace, +your self-sacrifice and devotion to duty, mark you a queen among +women, and my heart shall be your throne. As to the announcement, have +it as you will--it is the lady's privilege." + +"You are very good," she said tremulously. "This hour repays me for +all I have ever tried to do for others." + + * * * * * + +Graciella felt very young indeed--somewhere in the neighbourhood of +ten, she put it afterward, when she reviewed the situation in a calmer +frame of mind--as she crept softly away from the window and around the +house to the back door, and up the stairs and into her own chamber, +where, all oblivious of danger to her clothes or her complexion, she +threw herself down upon her own bed and burst into a passion of tears. +She had been cruelly humiliated. Colonel French, whom she had imagined +in love with her, had regarded her merely as a child, who ought to be +sent to school--to acquire what, she asked herself, good sense or +deportment? Perhaps she might acquire more good sense--she had +certainly made a fool of herself in this case--but she had prided +herself upon her manners. Colonel French had been merely playing with +her, like one would with a pet monkey; and he had been in love, all +the time, with her Aunt Laura, whom the girls had referred to +compassionately, only that same evening, as a hopeless old maid. + +It is fortunate that youth and hope go generally hand in hand. +Graciella possessed a buoyant spirit to breast the waves of +disappointment. She had her cry out, a good, long cry; and when much +weeping had dulled the edge of her discomfiture she began to reflect +that all was not yet lost. The colonel would not marry her, but he +would still marry in the family. When her Aunt Laura became Mrs. +French, she would doubtless go often to New York, if she would not +live there always. She would invite Graciella to go with her, perhaps +to live with her there. As for going to school, that was a matter +which her own views should control; at present she had no wish to +return to school. She might take lessons in music, or art; her aunt +would hardly care for her to learn stenography now, or go into +magazine work. Her aunt would surely not go to Europe without inviting +her, and Colonel French was very liberal with his money, and would +deny his wife nothing, though Graciella could hardly imagine that any +man would be infatuated with her Aunt Laura. + +But this was not the end of Graciella's troubles. Graciella had a +heart, although she had suppressed its promptings, under the influence +of a selfish ambition. She had thrown Ben Dudley over for the colonel; +the colonel did not want her, and now she would have neither. Ben had +been very angry, unreasonably angry, she had thought at the time, and +objectionably rude in his manner. He had sworn never to speak to her +again. If he should keep his word, she might be very unhappy. These +reflections brought on another rush of tears, and a very penitent, +contrite, humble-minded young woman cried herself to sleep before Miss +Laura, with a heart bursting with happiness, bade the colonel +good-night at the gate, and went upstairs to lie awake in her bed in a +turmoil of pleasant emotions. + +Miss Laura's happiness lay not alone in the prospect that Colonel +French would marry her, nor in any sordid thought of what she would +gain by becoming the wife of a rich man. It rested in the fact that +this man, whom she admired, and who had come back from the outer world +to bring fresh ideas, new and larger ideals to lift and broaden and +revivify the town, had passed by youth and beauty and vivacity, and +had chosen her to share this task, to form the heart and mind and +manners of his child, and to be the tie which would bind him most +strongly to her dear South. For she was a true child of the soil; the +people about her, white and black, were her people, and this marriage, +with its larger opportunities for usefulness, would help her to do +that for which hitherto she had only been able to pray and to hope. +To the boy she would be a mother indeed; to lead him in the paths of +truth and loyalty and manliness and the fear of God--it was a +priceless privilege, and already her mother-heart yearned to begin the +task. + +And then after the flow came the ebb. Why had he chosen her? Was it +_merely_ as an abstraction--the embodiment of an ideal, a survival +from a host of pleasant memories, and as a mother for his child, who +needed care which no one else could give, and as a helpmate in +carrying out his schemes of benevolence? Were these his only motives; +and, if so, were they sufficient to ensure her happiness? Was he +marrying her through a mere sentimental impulse, or for calculated +convenience, or from both? She must be certain; for his views might +change. He was yet in the full flow of philanthropic enthusiasm. She +shared his faith in human nature and the triumph of right ideas; but +once or twice she had feared he was underrating the power of +conservative forces; that he had been away from Clarendon so long as +to lose the perspective of actual conditions, and that he was +cherishing expectations which might be disappointed. Should this ever +prove true, his disillusion might be as far-reaching and as sudden as +his enthusiasm. Then, if he had not loved her for herself, she might +be very unhappy. She would have rejoiced to bring him youth and +beauty, and the things for which other women were preferred; she would +have loved to be the perfect mate, one in heart, mind, soul and body, +with the man with whom she was to share the journey of life. + +But this was a passing thought, born of weakness and self-distrust, +and she brushed it away with the tear that had come with it, and +smiled at its absurdity. Her youth was past; with nothing to expect +but an old age filled with the small expedients of genteel poverty, +there had opened up to her, suddenly and unexpectedly, a great avenue +for happiness and usefulness. It was foolish, with so much to be +grateful for, to sigh for the unattainable. His love must be all the +stronger since it took no thought of things which others would have +found of controlling importance. In choosing her to share his +intellectual life he had paid her a higher compliment than had he +praised the glow of her cheek or the contour of her throat. In +confiding Phil to her care he had given her a sacred trust and +confidence, for she knew how much he loved the child. + + + + +_Twenty-one_ + + +The colonel's schemes for the improvement of Clarendon went forward, +with occasional setbacks. Several kilns of brick turned out badly, so +that the brickyard fell behind with its orders, thus delaying the work +a few weeks. The foundations of the old cotton mill had been +substantially laid, and could be used, so far as their position +permitted for the new walls. When the bricks were ready, a gang of +masons was put to work. White men and coloured were employed, under a +white foreman. So great was the demand for labour and so stimulating +the colonel's liberal wage, that even the drowsy Negroes around the +market house were all at work, and the pigs who had slept near them +were obliged to bestir themselves to keep from being run over by the +wagons that were hauling brick and lime and lumber through the +streets. Even the cows in the vacant lot between the post-office and +the bank occasionally lifted up their gentle eyes as though wondering +what strange fever possessed the two-legged creatures around them, +urging them to such unnatural activity. + +The work went on smoothly for a week or two, when the colonel had some +words with Jim Green, the white foreman of the masons. The cause of +the dispute was not important, but the colonel, as the master, +insisted that certain work should be done in a certain way. Green +wished to argue the point. The colonel brought the discussion to a +close with a peremptory command. The foreman took offense, declared +that he was no nigger to be ordered around, and quit. The colonel +promoted to the vacancy George Brown, a coloured man, who was the next +best workman in the gang. + +On the day when Brown took charge of the job the white bricklayers, of +whom there were two at work, laid down their tools. + +"What's the matter?" asked the colonel, when they reported for their +pay. "Aren't you satisfied with the wages?" + +"Yes, we've got no fault to find with the wages." + +"Well?" + +"We won't work under George Brown. We don't mind working _with_ +niggers, but we won't work _under_ a nigger." + +"I'm sorry, gentlemen, but I must hire my own men. Here is your +money." + +They would have preferred to argue their grievance, and since the +colonel had shut off discussion they went down to Clay Jackson's +saloon and argued the case with all comers, with the usual distortion +attending one-sided argument. Jim Green had been superseded by a +nigger--this was the burden of their grievance. + +Thus came the thin entering wedge that was to separate the colonel +from a measure of his popularity. There had been no objection to the +colonel's employing Negroes, no objection to his helping their +school--if he chose to waste his money that way; but there were many +who took offense when a Negro was preferred to a white man. + +Through Caxton the colonel learned of this criticism. The colonel +showed no surprise, and no annoyance, but in his usual good-humoured +way replied: + +"We'll go right along and pay no attention to him. There were only two +white men in the gang, and they have never worked under the Negro; +they quit as soon as I promoted him. I have hired many men in my time +and have made it an unvarying rule to manage my own business in my own +way. If anybody says anything to you about it, you tell them just +that. These people have got to learn that we live in an industrial +age, and success demands of an employer that he utilise the most +available labour. After Green was discharged, George Brown was the +best mason left. He gets more work out of the men than Green did--even +in the old slave times Negroes made the best of overseers; they knew +their own people better than white men could and got more out of them. +When the mill is completed it will give employment to five hundred +white women and fifty white men. But every dog must have his day, so +give the Negro his." + +The colonel attached no great importance to the incident; the places +of the workmen were filled, and the work went forward. He knew the +Southern sensitiveness, and viewed it with a good-natured tolerance, +which, however, stopped at injustice to himself or others. The very +root of his reform was involved in the proposition to discharge a +competent foreman because of an unreasonable prejudice. Matters of +feeling were all well enough in some respects--no one valued more +highly than the colonel the right to choose his own associates--but +the right to work and to do one's best work, was fundamental, as was +the right to have one's work done by those who could do it best. Even +a healthy social instinct might be perverted into an unhealthy and +unjust prejudice; most things evil were the perversion of good. + +The feeling with which the colonel thus came for the first time +directly in contact, a smouldering fire capable always of being fanned +into flame, had been greatly excited by the political campaign which +began about the third month after his arrival in Clarendon. An +ambitious politician in a neighbouring State had led a successful +campaign on the issue of Negro disfranchisement. Plainly +unconstitutional, it was declared to be as plainly necessary for the +preservation of the white race and white civilisation. The example had +proved contagious, and Fetters and his crowd, who dominated their +State, had raised the issue there. At first the pronouncement met with +slight response. The sister State had possessed a Negro majority, +which, in view of reconstruction history was theoretically capable of +injuring the State. Such was not the case here. The State had survived +reconstruction with small injury. White supremacy existed, in the +main, by virtue of white efficiency as compared with efficiency of a +lower grade; there had been places, and instances, where other methods +had been occasionally employed to suppress the Negro vote, but, taken +as a whole, the supremacy of the white man was secure. No Negro had +held a State office for twenty years. In Clarendon they had even +ceased to be summoned as jurors, and when a Negro met a white man, he +gave him the wall, even if it were necessary to take the gutter to do +so. But this was not enough; this supremacy must be made permanent. +Negroes must be taught that they need never look for any different +state of things. New definitions were given to old words, new pictures +set in old frames, new wine poured into old bottles. + +"So long," said the candidate for governor, when he spoke at Clarendon +during the canvas, at a meeting presided over by the editor of the +_Anglo-Saxon_, "so long as one Negro votes in the State, so long are +we face to face with the nightmare of Negro domination. For example, +suppose a difference of opinion among white men so radical as to +divide their vote equally, the ballot of one Negro would determine the +issue. Can such a possibility be contemplated without a shudder? Our +duty to ourselves, to our children, and their unborn descendants, and +to our great and favoured race, impels us to protest, by word, by +vote, by arms if need be, against the enforced equality of an inferior +race. Equality anywhere, means ultimately, equality everywhere. +Equality at the polls means social equality; social equality means +intermarriage and corruption of blood, and degeneration and decay. +What gentleman here would want his daughter to marry a blubber-lipped, +cocoanut-headed, kidney-footed, etc., etc., nigger?" + +There could be but one answer to the question, and it came in thunders +of applause. Colonel French heard the speech, smiled at the old +arguments, but felt a sudden gravity at the deep-seated feeling which +they evoked. He remembered hearing, when a boy, the same arguments. +They had served their purpose once before, with other issues, to +plunge the South into war and consequent disaster. Had the lesson been +in vain? He did not see the justice nor the expediency of the proposed +anti-Negro agitation. But he was not in politics, and confined his +protests to argument with his friends, who listened but were not +convinced. + +Behind closed doors, more than one of the prominent citizens admitted +that the campaign was all wrong; that the issues were unjust and +reactionary, and that the best interests of the State lay in uplifting +every element of the people rather than selecting some one class for +discouragement and degradation, and that the white race could hold its +own, with the Negroes or against them, in any conceivable state of +political equality. They listened to the colonel's quiet argument that +no State could be freer or greater or more enlightened than the +average of its citizenship, and that any restriction of rights that +rested upon anything but impartial justice, was bound to re-act, as +slavery had done, upon the prosperity and progress of the State. They +listened, which the colonel regarded as a great point gained, and they +agreed in part, and he could almost understand why they let their +feelings govern their reason and their judgment, and said no word to +prevent an unfair and unconstitutional scheme from going forward to a +successful issue. He knew that for a white man to declare, in such a +community, for equal rights or equal justice for the Negro, or to take +the Negro's side in any case where the race issue was raised, was to +court social ostracism and political death, or, if the feeling +provoked were strong enough, an even more complete form of extinction. + +So the colonel was patient, and meant to be prudent. His own arguments +avoided the stirring up of prejudice, and were directed to the higher +motives and deeper principles which underlie society, in the light of +which humanity is more than race, and the welfare of the State above +that of any man or set of men within it; it being an axiom as true in +statesmanship as in mathematics, that the whole is greater than any +one of its parts. Content to await the uplifting power of industry and +enlightenment, and supremely confident of the result, the colonel went +serenely forward in his work of sowing that others might reap. + + + + +_Twenty-two_ + + +The atmosphere of the Treadwell home was charged, for the next few +days, with electric currents. Graciella knew that her aunt was engaged +to Colonel French. But she had not waited, the night before, to hear +her aunt express the wish that the engagement should be kept secret. +She was therefore bursting with information of which she could +manifest no consciousness without confessing that she had been +eavesdropping--a thing which she knew Miss Laura regarded as +detestably immoral. She wondered at her aunt's silence. Except a +certain subdued air of happiness there was nothing to distinguish Miss +Laura's calm demeanor from that of any other day. Graciella had +determined upon her own attitude toward her aunt. She would kiss her, +and wish her happiness, and give no sign that any thought of Colonel +French had ever entered her own mind. But this little drama, +rehearsed in the privacy of her own room, went unacted, since the +curtain did not rise upon the stage. + +The colonel came and went as usual. Some dissimulation was required on +Graciella's part to preserve her usual light-hearted manner toward +him. She may have been to blame in taking the colonel's attentions as +intended for herself; she would not soon forgive his slighting +reference to her. In his eyes she had been only a child, who ought to +go to school. He had been good enough to say that she had the making +of a fine woman. Thanks! She had had a lover for at least two years, +and a proposal of marriage before Colonel French's shadow had fallen +athwart her life. She wished her Aunt Laura happiness; no one could +deserve it more, but was it possible to be happy with a man so lacking +in taste and judgment? + +Her aunt's secret began to weigh upon her mind, and she effaced +herself as much as possible when the colonel came. Her grandmother had +begun to notice this and comment upon it, when the happening of a +certain social event created a diversion. This was the annual +entertainment known as the Assembly Ball. It was usually held later in +the year, but owing to the presence of several young lady visitors in +the town, it had been decided to give it early in the fall. + +The affair was in the hands of a committee, by whom invitations were +sent to most people in the county who had any claims to gentility. The +gentlemen accepting were expected to subscribe to the funds for hall +rent, music and refreshments. These were always the best the town +afforded. The ball was held in the Opera House, a rather euphemistic +title for the large hall above Barstow's cotton warehouse, where +third-class theatrical companies played one-night stands several times +during the winter, and where an occasional lecturer or conjurer held +forth. An amateur performance of "Pinafore" had once been given there. +Henry W. Grady had lectured there upon White Supremacy; the Reverend +Sam Small had preached there on Hell. It was also distinguished as +having been refused, even at the request of the State Commissioner of +Education, as a place for Booker T. Washington to deliver an address, +which had been given at the town hall instead. The Assembly Balls had +always been held in the Opera House. In former years the music had +been furnished by local Negro musicians, but there were no longer any +of these, and a band of string music was brought in from another town. +So far as mere wealth was concerned, the subscribers touched such +extremes as Ben Dudley on the one hand and Colonel French on the +other, and included Barclay Fetters, whom Graciella had met on the +evening before her disappointment. + +The Treadwell ladies were of course invited, and the question of ways +and means became paramount. New gowns and other accessories were +imperative. Miss Laura's one party dress had done service until it was +past redemption, and this was Graciella's first Assembly Ball. Miss +Laura took stock of the family's resources, and found that she could +afford only one gown. This, of course, must be Graciella's. Her own +marriage would entail certain expenses which demanded some present +self-denial. She had played wall-flower for several years, but now +that she was sure of a partner, it was a real sacrifice not to attend +the ball. But Graciella was young, and in such matters youth has a +prior right; for she had yet to find her mate. + +Graciella magnanimously offered to remain at home, but was easily +prevailed upon to go. She was not entirely happy, for the humiliating +failure of her hopes had left her for the moment without a recognised +admirer, and the fear of old maidenhood had again laid hold of her +heart. Her Aunt Laura's case was no consoling example. Not one man in +a hundred would choose a wife for Colonel French's reasons. Most men +married for beauty, and Graciella had been told that beauty that +matured early, like her own, was likely to fade early. + +One humiliation she was spared. She had been as silent about her hopes +as Miss Laura was about her engagement. Whether this was due to mere +prudence or to vanity--the hope of astonishing her little world by +the unexpected announcement--did not change the comforting fact that +she had nothing to explain and nothing for which to be pitied. If her +friends, after the manner of young ladies, had hinted at the subject +and sought to find a meaning in Colonel French's friendship, she had +smiled enigmatically. For this self-restraint, whatever had been its +motive, she now reaped her reward. The announcement of her aunt's +engagement would account for the colonel's attentions to Graciella as +a mere courtesy to a young relative of his affianced. + +With regard to Ben, Graciella was quite uneasy. She had met him only +once since their quarrel, and had meant to bow to him politely, but +with dignity, to show that she bore no malice; but he had +ostentatiously avoided her glance. If he chose to be ill-natured, she +had thought, and preferred her enmity to her friendship, her +conscience was at least clear. She had been willing to forget his +rudeness and be a friend to him. She could have been his true friend, +if nothing more; and he would need friends, unless he changed a great +deal. + +When her mental atmosphere was cleared by the fading of her dream, Ben +assumed larger proportions. Perhaps he had had cause for complaint; at +least it was only just to admit that he thought so. Nor had he +suffered in her estimation by his display of spirit in not waiting to +be jilted but in forcing her hand before she was quite ready to play +it. She could scarcely expect him to attend her to the ball; but he +was among the subscribers, and could hardly avoid meeting her, or +dancing with her, without pointed rudeness. If he did not ask her to +dance, then either the Virginia reel, or the lancers, or quadrilles, +would surely bring them together; and though Graciella sighed, she did +not despair. She could, of course, allay his jealousy at once by +telling him of her Aunt Laura's engagement, but this was not yet +practicable. She must find some other way of placating him. + +Ben Dudley also had a problem to face in reference to the ball--a +problem which has troubled impecunious youth since balls were +invented--the problem of clothes. He was not obliged to go to the +ball. Graciella's outrageous conduct relieved him of any obligation to +invite her, and there was no other woman with whom he would have cared +to go, or who would have cared, so far as he knew, to go with him. For +he was not a lady's man, and but for his distant relationship would +probably never have gone to the Treadwells'. He was looked upon by +young women as slow, and he knew that Graciella had often been +impatient at his lack of sprightliness. He could pay his subscription, +which was really a sort of gentility tax, the failure to meet which +would merely forfeit future invitations, and remain at home. He did +not own a dress suit, nor had he the money to spare for one. He, or +they, for he and his uncle were one in such matters, were in debt +already, up to the limit of their credit, and he had sold the last +bale of old cotton to pay the last month's expenses, while the new +crop, already partly mortgaged, was not yet picked. He knew that some +young fellows in town rented dress suits from Solomon Cohen, who, +though he kept only four suits in stock at a time, would send to New +York for others to rent out on this occasion, and return them +afterwards. But Ben would not wear another man's clothes. He had borne +insults from Graciella that he never would have borne from any one +else, and that he would never bear again; but there were things at +which his soul protested. Nor would Cohen's suits have fitted him. He +was so much taller than the average man for whom store clothes were +made. + +He remained in a state of indecision until the day of the ball. Late +in the evening he put on his black cutaway coat, which was getting a +little small, trousers to match, and a white waistcoat, and started to +town on horseback so as to arrive in time for the ball, in case he +should decide, at the last moment, to take part. + + + + +_Twenty-three_ + + +The Opera House was brilliantly lighted on the night of the Assembly +Ball. The dancers gathered at an earlier hour than is the rule in the +large cities. Many of the guests came in from the country, and +returned home after the ball, since the hotel could accommodate only a +part of them. + +When Ben Dudley, having left his horse at a livery stable, walked up +Main Street toward the hall, carriages were arriving and discharging +their freight. The ladies were prettily gowned, their faces were +bright and animated, and Ben observed that most of the gentlemen wore +dress suits; but also, much to his relief, that a number, sufficient +to make at least a respectable minority, did not. He was rapidly +making up his mind to enter, when Colonel French's carriage, drawn by +a pair of dashing bays and driven by a Negro in livery, dashed up to +the door and discharged Miss Graciella Treadwell, radiantly beautiful +in a new low-cut pink gown, with pink flowers in her hair, a thin +gold chain with a gold locket at the end around her slender throat, +white slippers on her feet and long white gloves upon her shapely +hands and wrists. + +Ben shrank back into the shadow. He had never been of an envious +disposition; he had always looked upon envy as a mean vice, unworthy +of a gentleman; but for a moment something very like envy pulled at +his heartstrings. Graciella worshipped the golden calf. _He_ +worshipped Graciella. But he had no money; he could not have taken her +to the ball in a closed carriage, drawn by blooded horses and driven +by a darky in livery. + +Graciella's cavalier wore, with the ease and grace of long habit, an +evening suit of some fine black stuff that almost shone in the light +from the open door. At the sight of him the waist of Ben's own coat +shrunk up to the arm-pits, and he felt a sinking of the heart as they +passed out of his range of vision. He would not appear to advantage by +the side of Colonel French, and he would not care to appear otherwise +than to advantage in Graciella's eyes. He would not like to make more +palpable, by contrast, the difference between Colonel French and +himself; nor could he be haughty, distant, reproachful, or anything +but painfully self-conscious, in a coat that was not of the proper +cut, too short in the sleeves, and too tight under the arms. + +While he stood thus communing with his own bitter thoughts, another +carriage, drawn by a pair of beautiful black horses, drew up to the +curb in front of him. The horses were restive, and not inclined to +stand still. Some one from the inside of the carriage called to the +coachman through the open window. + +"Ransom," said the voice, "stay on the box. Here, you, open this +carriage door!" + +Ben looked around for the person addressed, but saw no one near but +himself. + +"You boy there, by the curb, open this door, will you, or hold the +horses, so my coachman can!" + +"Are you speaking to me?" demanded Ben angrily. + +Just then one of the side-lights of the carriage flashed on Ben's +face. + +"Oh, I beg pardon," said the man in the carriage, carelessly, "I took +you for a nigger." + +There could be no more deadly insult, though the mistake was not +unnatural. Ben was dark, and the shadow made him darker. + +Ben was furious. The stranger had uttered words of apology, but his +tone had been insolent, and his apology was more offensive than his +original blunder. Had it not been for Ben's reluctance to make a +disturbance, he would have struck the offender in the mouth. If he had +had a pistol, he could have shot him; his great uncle Ralph, for +instance, would not have let him live an hour. + +While these thoughts were surging through his heated brain, the young +man, as immaculately clad as Colonel French had been, left the +carriage, from which he helped a lady, and with her upon his arm, +entered the hall. In the light that streamed from the doorway, Ben +recognised him as Barclay Fetters, who, having finished a checkered +scholastic career, had been at home at Sycamore for several months. +Much of this time he had spent in Clarendon, where his father's wealth +and influence gave him entrance to good society, in spite of an +ancestry which mere character would not have offset. He knew young +Fetters very well by sight, since the latter had to pass Mink Run +whenever he came to town from Sycamore. Fetters may not have known +him, since he had been away for much of the time in recent years, but +he ought to have been able to distinguish between a white man--a +gentleman--and a Negro. It was the insolence of an upstart. Old Josh +Fetters had been, in his younger days, his uncle's overseer. An +overseer's grandson treated him, Ben Dudley, like dirt under his feet! +Perhaps he had judged him by his clothes. He would like to show +Barclay Fetters, if they ever stood face to face, that clothes did +not make the man, nor the gentleman. + +Ben decided after this encounter that he would not go on the floor of +the ballroom; but unable to tear himself away, he waited until +everybody seemed to have gone in; then went up the stairs and gained +access, by a back way, to a dark gallery in the rear of the hall, +which the ushers had deserted for the ballroom, from which he could, +without discovery, look down upon the scene below. His eyes flew to +Graciella as the needle to the pole. She was dancing with Colonel +French. + +The music stopped, and a crowd of young fellows surrounded her. When +the next dance, which was a waltz, began, she moved out upon the floor +in the arms of Barclay Fetters. + +Ben swore beneath his breath. He had heard tales of Barclay Fetters +which, if true, made him unfit to touch a decent woman. He left the +hall, walked a short distance down a street and around the corner to +the bar in the rear of the hotel, where he ordered a glass of whiskey. +He had never been drunk in his life, and detested the taste of liquor; +but he was desperate and had to do something; he would drink till he +was drunk, and forget his troubles. Having never been intoxicated, he +had no idea whatever of the effect liquor would have upon him. + +With each succeeding drink, the sense of his wrongs broadened and +deepened. At one stage his intoxication took the form of an intense +self-pity. There was something rotten in the whole scheme of things. +Why should he be poor, while others were rich, and while fifty +thousand dollars in gold were hidden in or around the house where he +lived? Why should Colonel French, an old man, who was of no better +blood than himself, be rich enough to rob him of the woman whom he +loved? And why, above all, should Barclay Fetters have education and +money and every kind of opportunity, which he did not appreciate, +while he, who would have made good use of them, had nothing? With this +sense of wrong, which grew as his brain clouded more and more, there +came, side by side, a vague zeal to right these wrongs. As he grew +drunker still, his thoughts grew less coherent; he lost sight of his +special grievance, and merely retained the combative instinct. + +He had reached this dangerous stage, and had, fortunately, passed it +one step farther along the road to unconsciousness--fortunately, +because had he been sober, the result of that which was to follow +might have been more serious--when two young men, who had come down +from the ballroom for some refreshment, entered the barroom and asked +for cocktails. While the barkeeper was compounding the liquor, the +young men spoke of the ball. + +"That little Treadwell girl is a peach," said one. "I could tote a +bunch of beauty like that around the ballroom all night." + +The remark was not exactly respectful, nor yet exactly disrespectful. +Ben looked up from his seat. The speaker was Barclay Fetters, and his +companion one Tom McRae, another dissolute young man of the town. Ben +got up unsteadily and walked over to where they stood. + +"I want you to un'erstan'," he said thickly, "that no gen'l'man would +mensh'n a lady's name in a place like this, or shpeak dissuspeckerly +'bout a lady 'n any place; an' I want you to unerstan' fu'thermo' that +you're no gen'l'man, an' that I'm goin' t' lick you, by G--d!" + +"The hell you are!" returned Fetters. A scowl of surprise rose on his +handsome face, and he sprang to an attitude of defence. + +Ben suited the action to the word, and struck at Fetters. But Ben was +drunk and the other two were sober, and in three minutes Ben lay on +the floor with a sore head and a black eye. His nose was bleeding +copiously, and the crimson stream had run down upon his white shirt +and vest. Taken all in all, his appearance was most disreputable. By +this time the liquor he had drunk had its full effect, and complete +unconsciousness supervened to save him, for a little while, from the +realisation of his disgrace. + +"Who is the mucker, anyway?" asked Barclay Fetters, readjusting his +cuffs, which had slipped down in the melee. + +"He's a chap by the name of Dudley," answered McRae; "lives at Mink +Run, between here and Sycamore, you know." + +"Oh, yes, I've seen him--the 'po' white' chap that lives with the old +lunatic that's always digging for buried treasure---- + + _'For my name was Captain Kidd, + As I sailed, as I sailed.'_ + +But let's hurry back, Tom, or we'll lose the next dance." + +Fetters and his companion returned to the ball. The barkeeper called a +servant of the hotel, with whose aid, Ben was carried upstairs and put +to bed, bruised in body and damaged in reputation. + + + + +_Twenty-four_ + + +Ben's fight with young Fetters became a matter of public comment the +next day after the ball. His conduct was cited as sad proof of the +degeneracy of a once fine old family. He had been considered shiftless +and not well educated, but no one had suspected that he was a drunkard +and a rowdy. Other young men in the town, high-spirited young fellows +with plenty of money, sometimes drank a little too much, and +occasionally, for a point of honour, gentlemen were obliged to attack +or defend themselves, but when they did, they used pistols, a +gentleman's weapon. Here, however, was an unprovoked and brutal attack +with fists, upon two gentlemen in evening dress and without weapons to +defend themselves, "one of them," said the _Anglo-Saxon_, "the son of +our distinguished fellow citizen and colleague in the legislature, the +Honourable William Fetters." + +When Colonel French called to see Miss Laura, the afternoon of next +day after the ball, the ladies were much concerned about the affair. + +"Oh, Henry," exclaimed Miss Laura, "what is this dreadful story about +Ben Dudley? They say he was drinking at the hotel, and became +intoxicated, and that when Barclay Fetters and Tom McRae went into the +hotel, he said something insulting about Graciella, and when they +rebuked him for his freedom he attacked them violently, and that when +finally subdued he was put to bed unconscious and disgracefully +intoxicated. Graciella is very angry, and we all feel ashamed enough +to sink into the ground. What can be the matter with Ben? He hasn't +been around lately, and he has quarrelled with Graciella. I never +would have expected anything like this from Ben." + +"It came from his great-uncle Ralph," said Mrs. Treadwell. "Ralph was +very wild when he was young, but settled down into a very polished +gentleman. I danced with him once when he was drunk, and I never knew +it--it was my first ball, and I was intoxicated myself, with +excitement. Mother was scandalised, but father laughed and said boys +would be boys. But poor Ben hasn't had his uncle's chances, and while +he has always behaved well here, he could hardly be expected to carry +his liquor like a gentleman of the old school." + +"My dear ladies," said the colonel, "we have heard only one side of +the story. I guess there's no doubt Ben was intoxicated, but we know +he isn't a drinking man, and one drink--or even one drunk--doesn't +make a drunkard, nor one fight a rowdy. Barclay Fetters and Tom McRae +are not immaculate, and perhaps Ben can exonerate himself." + +"I certainly hope so," said Miss Laura earnestly. "I am sorry for Ben, +but I could not permit a drunken rowdy to come to the house, or let my +niece be seen upon the street with him." + +"It would only be fair," said the colonel, "to give him a chance to +explain, when he comes in again. I rather like Ben. He has some fine +mechanical ideas, and the making of a man in him, unless I am +mistaken. I have been hoping to find a place for him in the new cotton +mill, when it is ready to run." + +They were still speaking of Ben, when there was an irresolute knock at +the rear door of the parlour, in which they were seated. + +"Miss Laura, O Miss Laura," came a muffled voice. "Kin I speak to you +a minute. It's mighty pertickler, Miss Laura, fo' God it is!" + +"Laura," said the colonel, "bring Catharine in. I saw that you were +troubled once before when you were compelled to refuse her something. +Henceforth your burdens shall be mine. Come in, Catharine," he called, +"and tell us what's the matter. What's your trouble? What's it all +about?" + +The woman, red-eyed from weeping, came in, wringing her apron. + +"Miss Laura," she sobbed, "an' Colonel French, my husban' Bud is done +gone and got inter mo' trouble. He's run away f'm Mistah Fettuhs, w'at +he wuz sol' back to in de spring, an' he's done be'n fine' fifty +dollahs mo', an' he's gwine ter be sol' back ter Mistah Fettuhs in de +mawnin', fer ter finish out de ole fine and wo'k out de new one. I's +be'n ter see 'im in de gyard house, an' he say Mistah Haines, w'at +use' ter be de constable and is a gyard fer Mistah Fettuhs now, beat +an' 'bused him so he couldn' stan' it; an' 'ceptin' I could pay all +dem fines, he'll be tuck back dere; an'he say ef dey evah beats him +ag'in, dey'll eithuh haf ter kill him, er he'll kill some er dem. An' +Bud is a rash man, Miss Laura, an' I'm feared dat he'll do w'at he +say, an' ef dey kills him er he kills any er dem, it'll be all de same +ter me--I'll never see 'm no mo' in dis worl'. Ef I could borry de +money, Miss Laura--Mars' Colonel--I'd wuk my fingers ter de bone 'tel +I paid back de las' cent. Er ef you'd buy Bud, suh, lack you did Unc' +Peter, he would n' mind wukkin' fer you, suh, fer Bud is a good wukker +we'n folks treats him right; an' he had n' never had no trouble nowhar +befo' he come hyuh, suh." + +"How did he come to be arrested the first time?" asked the colonel. + +"He didn't live hyuh, suh; I used ter live hyuh, an' I ma'ied him +down ter Madison, where I wuz wukkin'. We fell out one day, an' I got +mad and lef' 'im--it wuz all my fault an' I be'n payin' fer it evuh +since--an' I come back home an' went ter wuk hyuh, an' he come aftuh +me, an de fus' day he come, befo' I knowed he wuz hyuh, dis yer Mistah +Haines tuck 'im up, an' lock 'im up in de gyard house, like a hog in +de poun', an' he didn' know nobody, an' dey didn' give 'im no chanst +ter see nobody, an' dey tuck 'im roun' ter Squi' Reddick nex' mawnin', +an' fined 'im an' sol' 'im ter dis yer Mistuh Fettuhs fer ter wo'k out +de fine; an' I be'n wantin' all dis time ter hyuh fum 'im, an' I'd +done be'n an' gone back ter Madison to look fer 'im, an' foun' he wuz +gone. An' God knows I didn' know what had become er 'im, 'tel he run +away de yuther time an' dey tuck 'im an' sent 'im back again. An' he +hadn' done nothin' de fus' time, suh, but de Lawd know w'at he won' do +ef dey sen's 'im back any mo'." + +Catharine had put her apron to her eyes and was sobbing bitterly. The +story was probably true. The colonel had heard underground rumours +about the Fetters plantation and the manner in which it was supplied +with labourers, and his own experience in old Peter's case had made +them seem not unlikely. He had seen Catharine's husband, in the +justice's court, and the next day, in the convict gang behind Turner's +buggy. The man had not looked like a criminal; that he was surly and +desperate may as well have been due to a sense of rank injustice as to +an evil nature. That a wrong had been done, under cover of law, was at +least more than likely; but a deed of mercy could be made to right it. +The love of money might be the root of all evil, but its control was +certainly a means of great good. The colonel glowed with the +consciousness of this beneficent power to scatter happiness. + +"Laura," he said, "I will attend to this; it is a matter about which +you should not be troubled. Don't be alarmed, Catharine. Just be a +good girl and help Miss Laura all you can, and I'll look after your +husband, and pay his fine and let him work it out as a free man." + +"Thank'y, suh, thank'y, Mars' Colonel, an' Miss Laura! An' de Lawd is +gwine bless you, suh, you an' my sweet young lady, fuh bein' good to +po' folks w'at can't do nuthin' to he'p deyse'ves out er trouble," +said Catharine backing out with her apron to her eyes. + + * * * * * + +On leaving Miss Laura, the colonel went round to the office of Squire +Reddick, the justice of the peace, to inquire into the matter of Bud +Johnson. The justice was out of town, his clerk said, but would be in +his office at nine in the morning, at which time the colonel could +speak to him about Johnson's fine. + +The next morning was bright and clear, and cool enough to be bracing. +The colonel, alive with pleasant thoughts, rose early and after a cold +bath, and a leisurely breakfast, walked over to the mill site, where +the men were already at work. Having looked the work over and given +certain directions, he glanced at his watch, and finding it near nine, +set out for the justice's office in time to reach it by the appointed +hour. Squire Reddick was at his desk, upon which his feet rested, +while he read a newspaper. He looked up with an air of surprise as the +colonel entered. + +"Why, good mornin', Colonel French," he said genially. "I kind of +expected you a while ago; the clerk said you might be around. But you +didn' come, so I supposed you'd changed yo' mind." + +"The clerk said that you would be here at nine," replied the colonel; +"it is only just nine." + +"Did he? Well, now, that's too bad! I do generally git around about +nine, but I was earlier this mornin' and as everybody was here, we +started in a little sooner than usual. You wanted to see me about Bud +Johnson?" + +"Yes, I wish to pay his fine and give him work." + +"Well, that's too bad; but you weren't here, and Mr. Turner was, and +he bought his time again for Mr. Fetters. I'm sorry, you know, but +first come, first served." + +The colonel was seriously annoyed. He did not like to believe there +was a conspiracy to frustrate his good intention; but that result had +been accomplished, whether by accident or design. He had failed in the +first thing he had undertaken for the woman he loved and was to marry. +He would see Fetters's man, however, and come to some arrangement with +him. With Fetters the hiring of the Negro was purely a commercial +transaction, conditioned upon a probable profit, for the immediate +payment of which, and a liberal bonus, he would doubtless relinquish +his claim upon Johnson's services. + +Learning that Turner, who had acted as Fetters's agent in the matter, +had gone over to Clay Johnson's saloon, he went to seek him there. He +found him, and asked for a proposition. Turner heard him out. + +"Well, Colonel French," he replied with slightly veiled insolence, "I +bought this nigger's time for Mr. Fetters, an' unless I'm might'ly +mistaken in Mr. Fetters, no amount of money can get the nigger until +he's served his time out. He's defied our rules and defied the law, +and defied me, and assaulted one of the guards; and he ought to be +made an example of. We want to keep 'im; he's a bad nigger, an' we've +got to handle a lot of 'em, an' we need 'im for an example--he keeps +us in trainin'." + +"Have you any power in the matter?" demanded the colonel, restraining +his contempt. + +"Me? No, not _me_! I couldn't let the nigger go for his weight in +gol'--an' wouldn' if I could. I bought 'im in for Mr. Fetters, an' +he's the only man that's got any say about 'im." + +"Very well," said the colonel as he turned away, "I'll see Fetters." + +"I don't know whether you will or not," said Turner to himself, as he +shot a vindictive glance at the colonel's retreating figure. "Fetters +has got this county where he wants it, an' I'll bet dollars to bird +shot he ain't goin' to let no coon-flavoured No'the'n interloper come +down here an' mix up with his arrangements, even if he did hail from +this town way back yonder. This here nigger problem is a South'en +problem, and outsiders might's well keep their han's off. Me and +Haines an' Fetters is the kind o' men to settle it." + +The colonel was obliged to confess to Miss Laura his temporary +setback, which he went around to the house and did immediately. + +"It's the first thing I've undertaken yet for your sake, Laura, and +I've got to report failure, so far." + +"It's only the first step," she said, consolingly. + +"That's all. I'll drive out to Fetters's place to-morrow, and arrange +the matter. By starting before day, I can make it and transact my +business, and get back by night, without hurting the horses." + +Catharine was called in and the situation explained to her. Though +clearly disappointed at the delay, and not yet free of apprehension +that Bud might do something rash, she seemed serenely confident of the +colonel's ultimate success. In her simple creed, God might sometimes +seem to neglect his black children, but no harm could come to a Negro +who had a rich white gentleman for friend and protector. + + + + +_Twenty-five_ + + +It was not yet sunrise when the colonel set out next day, after an +early breakfast, upon his visit to Fetters. There was a crisp +freshness in the air, the dew was thick upon the grass, the clear blue +sky gave promise of a bright day and a pleasant journey. + +The plantation conducted by Fetters lay about twenty miles to the +south of Clarendon, and remote from any railroad, a convenient +location for such an establishment, for railroads, while they bring in +supplies and take out produce, also bring in light and take out +information, both of which are fatal to certain fungus growths, social +as well as vegetable, which flourish best in the dark. + +The road led by Mink Run, and the colonel looked over toward the house +as they passed it. Old and weather-beaten it seemed, even in the +distance, which lent it no enchantment in the bright morning light. +When the colonel had travelled that road in his boyhood, great +forests of primeval pine had stretched for miles on either hand, +broken at intervals by thriving plantations. Now all was changed. The +tall and stately growth of the long-leaf pine had well nigh +disappeared; fifteen years before, the turpentine industry, moving +southward from Virginia, along the upland counties of the Appalachian +slope, had swept through Clarendon County, leaving behind it a trail +of blasted trunks and abandoned stills. Ere these had yielded to +decay, the sawmill had followed, and after the sawmill the tar kiln, +so that the dark green forest was now only a waste of blackened stumps +and undergrowth, topped by the vulgar short-leaved pine and an +occasional oak or juniper. Here and there they passed an expanse of +cultivated land, and there were many smaller clearings in which could +be seen, plowing with gaunt mules or stunted steers, some heavy-footed +Negro or listless "po' white man;" or women and children, black or +white. In reply to a question, the coachman said that Mr. Fetters had +worked all that country for turpentine years before, and had only +taken up cotton raising after the turpentine had been exhausted from +the sand hills. + +He had left his mark, thought the colonel. Like the plague of locusts, +he had settled and devoured and then moved on, leaving a barren waste +behind him. + +As the morning advanced, the settlements grew thinner, until suddenly, +upon reaching the crest of a hill, a great stretch of cultivated +lowland lay spread before them. In the centre of the plantation, near +the road which ran through it, stood a square, new, freshly painted +frame house, which would not have seemed out of place in some Ohio or +Michigan city, but here struck a note alien to its surroundings. Off +to one side, like the Negro quarters of another generation, were +several rows of low, unpainted cabins, built of sawed lumber, the +boards running up and down, and battened with strips where the edges +met. The fields were green with cotton and with corn, and there were +numerous gangs of men at work, with an apparent zeal quite in contrast +with the leisurely movement of those they had passed on the way. It +was a very pleasing scene. + +"Dis yer, suh," said the coachman in an awed tone, "is Mistah +Fetters's plantation. You ain' gwine off nowhere, and leave me alone +whils' you are hyuh, is you, suh?" + +"No," said the colonel, "I'll keep my eye on you. Nobody'll trouble +you while you're with me." + +Passing a clump of low trees, the colonel came upon a group at sight +of which he paused involuntarily. A gang of Negroes were at work. Upon +the ankles of some was riveted an iron band to which was soldered a +chain, at the end of which in turn an iron ball was fastened. +Accompanying them was a white man, in whose belt was stuck a revolver, +and who carried in one hand a stout leather strap, about two inches in +width with a handle by which to grasp it. The gang paused momentarily +to look at the traveller, but at a meaning glance from the overseer +fell again to their work of hoeing cotton. The white man stepped to +the fence, and Colonel French addressed him. + +"Good morning." + +"Mornin', suh." + +"Will you tell me where I can find Mr. Fetters?" inquired the colonel. + +"No, suh, unless he's at the house. He may have went away this +mornin', but I haven't heard of it. But you drive along the road to +the house, an' somebody'll tell you." + +The colonel seemed to have seen the overseer before, but could not +remember where. + +"Sam," he asked the coachman, "who is that white man?" + +"Dat's Mistah Haines, suh--use' ter be de constable at Cla'endon, suh. +I wouldn' lak to be in no gang under him, suh, sho' I wouldn', no, +suh!" + +After this ejaculation, which seemed sincere as well as fervent, Sam +whipped up the horses and soon reached the house. A Negro boy came out +to meet them. + +"Is Mr. Fetters at home," inquired the colonel? + +"I--_I_ don' know, suh--I--I'll ax Mars' Turner. _He's_ hyuh." + +He disappeared round the house and in a few minutes returned with +Turner, with whom the colonel exchanged curt nods. + +"I wish to see Mr. Fetters," said the colonel. + +"Well, you can't see him." + +"Why not?" + +"Because he ain't here. He left for the capital this mornin', to be +gone a week. You'll be havin' a fine drive, down here and back." + +The colonel ignored the taunt. + +"When will Mr. Fetters return?" he inquired. + +"I'm shore I don't know. He don't tell me his secrets. But I'll tell +_you_, Colonel French, that if you're after that nigger, you're +wastin' your time. He's in Haines's gang, and Haines loves him so well +that Mr. Fetters has to keep Bud in order to keep Haines. There's no +accountin' for these vi'lent affections, but they're human natur', and +they have to be 'umoured." + +"I'll talk to your _master_," rejoined the colonel, restraining his +indignation and turning away. + +Turner looked after him vindictively. + +"He'll talk to my _master_, like as if I was a nigger! It'll be a long +time before he talks to Fetters, if that's who he means--if I can +prevent it. Not that it would make any difference, but I'll just keep +him on the anxious seat." + +It was nearing noon, but the colonel had received no invitation to +stop, or eat, or feed his horses. He ordered Sam to turn and drive +back the way they had come. + +As they neared the group of labourers they had passed before, the +colonel saw four Negroes, in response to an imperative gesture from +the overseer, seize one of their number, a short, thickset fellow, +overpower some small resistance which he seemed to make, throw him +down with his face to the ground, and sit upon his extremities while +the overseer applied the broad leathern thong vigorously to his bare +back. + +The colonel reached over and pulled the reins mechanically. His +instinct was to interfere; had he been near enough to recognise in the +Negro the object of his visit, Bud Johnson, and in the overseer the +ex-constable, Haines, he might have yielded to the impulse. But on +second thought he realised that he had neither authority nor strength +to make good his interference. For aught he knew, the performance +might be strictly according to law. So, fighting a feeling of nausea +which he could hardly conquer, he ordered Sam to drive on. + +The coachman complied with alacrity, as though glad to escape from a +mighty dangerous place. He had known friendless coloured folks, who +had strayed down in that neighbourhood to be lost for a long time; and +he had heard of a spot, far back from the road, in a secluded part of +the plantation, where the graves of convicts who had died while in +Fetters's service were very numerous. + + + + +_Twenty-six_ + + +During the next month the colonel made several attempts to see +Fetters, but some fatality seemed always to prevent their meeting. He +finally left the matter of finding Fetters to Caxton, who ascertained +that Fetters would be in attendance at court during a certain week, at +Carthage, the county seat of the adjoining county, where the colonel +had been once before to inspect a cotton mill. Thither the colonel +went on the day of the opening of court. His train reached town toward +noon and he went over to the hotel. He wondered if he would find the +proprietor sitting where he had found him some weeks before. But the +buggy was gone from before the piazza, and there was a new face behind +the desk. The colonel registered, left word that he would be in to +dinner, and then went over to the court house, which lay behind the +trees across the square. + +The court house was an old, square, hip-roofed brick structure, whose +walls, whitewashed the year before, had been splotched and discoloured +by the weather. From one side, under the eaves, projected a beam, +which supported a bell rung by a rope from the window below. A hall +ran through the centre, on either side of which were the county +offices, while the court room with a judge's room and jury room, +occupied the upper floor. + +The colonel made his way across the square, which showed the usual +signs of court being in session. There were buggies hitched to trees +and posts here and there, a few Negroes sleeping in the sun, and +several old coloured women with little stands for the sale of cakes, +and fried fish, and cider. + +The colonel went upstairs to the court room. It was fairly well +filled, and he remained standing for a few minutes near the entrance. +The civil docket was evidently on trial, for there was a jury in the +box, and a witness was being examined with some prolixity with +reference to the use of a few inches of land which lay on one side or +on the other of a disputed boundary. From what the colonel could +gather, that particular line fence dispute had been in litigation for +twenty years, had cost several lives, and had resulted in a feud that +involved a whole township. + +The testimony was about concluded when the colonel entered, and the +lawyers began their arguments. The feeling between the litigants +seemed to have affected their attorneys, and the court more than once +found it necessary to call counsel to order. The trial was finished, +however, without bloodshed; the case went to the jury, and court was +adjourned until two o'clock. + +The colonel had never met Fetters, nor had he seen anyone in the court +room who seemed likely to be the man. But he had seen his name freshly +written on the hotel register, and he would doubtless go there for +dinner. There would be ample time to get acquainted and transact his +business before court reassembled for the afternoon. + +Dinner seemed to be a rather solemn function, and except at a table +occupied by the judge and the lawyers, in the corner of the room +farthest from the colonel, little was said. A glance about the room +showed no one whom the colonel could imagine to be Fetters, and he was +about to ask the waiter if that gentleman had yet entered the dining +room, when a man came in and sat down on the opposite side of the +table. The colonel looked up, and met the cheerful countenance of the +liveryman from whom he had hired a horse and buggy some weeks before. + +"Howdy do?" said the newcomer amiably. "Hope you've been well." + +"Quite well," returned the colonel, "how are you?" + +"Oh, just tol'able. Tendin' co't?" + +"No, I came down here to see a man that's attending court--your friend +Fetters. I suppose he'll be in to dinner." + +"Oh, yes, but he ain't come in yet. I reckon you find the ho-tel a +little different from the time you were here befo'." + +"This is a better dinner than I got," replied the colonel, "and I +haven't seen the landlord anywhere, nor his buggy." + +"No, he ain't here no more. Sad loss to Carthage! You see Bark +Fetters--that's Bill's boy that's come home from the No'th from +college--Bark Fetters come down here one day, an' went in the ho-tel, +an' when Lee Dickson commenced to put on his big airs, Bark cussed 'im +out, and Lee, who didn't know Bark from Adam, cussed 'im back, an' +then Bark hauled off an' hit 'im. They had it hot an' heavy for a +while. Lee had more strength, but Bark had more science, an' laid Lee +out col'. Then Bark went home an' tol' the ole man, who had a mortgage +on the ho-tel, an' he sol' Lee up. I hear he's barberin' or somethin' +er that sort up to Atlanta, an' the hotel's run by another man. +There's Fetters comin' in now." + +The colonel glanced in the direction indicated, and was surprised at +the appearance of the redoubtable Fetters, who walked over and took +his seat at the table with the judge and the lawyers. He had expected +to meet a tall, long-haired, red-faced, truculent individual, in a +slouch hat and a frock coat, with a loud voice and a dictatorial +manner, the typical Southerner of melodrama. He saw a keen-eyed, +hard-faced small man, slightly gray, clean-shaven, wearing a +well-fitting city-made business suit of light tweed. Except for a few +little indications, such as the lack of a crease in his trousers, +Fetters looked like any one of a hundred business men whom the colonel +might have met on Broadway in any given fifteen minutes during +business hours. + +The colonel timed his meal so as to leave the dining-room at the same +moment with Fetters. He went up to Fetters, who was chewing a +toothpick in the office, and made himself known. + +"I am Mr. French," he said--he never referred to himself by his +military title--"and you, I believe, are Mr. Fetters?" + +"Yes, sir, that's my name," replied Fetters without enthusiasm, but +eyeing the colonel keenly between narrowed lashes. + +"I've been trying to see you for some time, about a matter," continued +the colonel, "but never seemed able to catch up with you before." + +"Yes, I heard you were at my house, but I was asleep upstairs, and +didn't know you'd be'n there till you'd gone." + +"Your man told me you had gone to the capital for two weeks." + +"My man? Oh, you mean Turner! Well, I reckon you must have riled +Turner somehow, and he thought he'd have a joke on you." + +"I don't quite see the joke," said the colonel, restraining his +displeasure. "But that's ancient history. Can we sit down over here in +the shade and talk by ourselves for a moment?" + +Fetters followed the colonel out of doors, where they drew a couple of +chairs to one side, and the colonel stated the nature of his business. +He wished to bargain for the release of a Negro, Bud Johnson by name, +held to service by Fetters under a contract with Clarendon County. He +was willing to pay whatever expense Fetters had been to on account of +Johnson, and an amount sufficient to cover any estimated profits from +his services. + +Meanwhile Fetters picked his teeth nonchalantly, so nonchalantly as to +irritate the colonel. The colonel's impatience was not lessened by the +fact that Fetters waited several seconds before replying. + +"Well, Mr. Fetters, what say you?" + +"Colonel French," said Fetters, "I reckon you can't have the nigger." + +"Is it a matter of money?" asked the colonel. "Name your figure. I +don't care about the money. I want the man for a personal reason." + +"So do I," returned Fetters, coolly, "and money's no object to me. +I've more now than I know what to do with." + +The colonel mastered his impatience. He had one appeal which no +Southerner could resist. + +"Mr. Fetters," he said, "I wish to get this man released to please a +lady." + +"Sorry to disoblige a lady," returned Fetters, "but I'll have to keep +the nigger. I run a big place, and I'm obliged to maintain discipline. +This nigger has been fractious and contrary, and I've sworn that he +shall work out his time. I have never let any nigger get the best of +me--or white man either," he added significantly. + +The colonel was angry, but controlled himself long enough to make one +more effort. "I'll give you five hundred dollars for your contract," +he said rising from his chair. + +"You couldn't get him for five thousand." + +"Very well, sir," returned the colonel, "this is not the end of this. +I will see, sir, if a man can be held in slavery in this State, for a +debt he is willing and ready to pay. You'll hear more of this before +I'm through with it." + +"Another thing, Colonel French," said Fetters, his quiet eyes +glittering as he spoke, "I wonder if you recollect an incident that +occurred years ago, when we went to the academy in Clarendon?" + +"If you refer," returned the colonel promptly, "to the time I chased +you down Main Street, yes--I recalled it the first time I heard of +you when I came back to Clarendon--and I remember why I did it. It is +a good omen." + +"That's as it may be," returned Fetters quietly. "I didn't have to +recall it; I've never forgotten it. Now you want something from me, +and you can't have it." + +"We shall see," replied the colonel. "I bested you then, and I'll best +you now." + +"We shall see," said Fetters. + +Fetters was not at all alarmed, indeed he smiled rather pityingly. +There had been a time when these old aristocrats could speak, and the +earth trembled, but that day was over. In this age money talked, and +he had known how to get money, and how to use it to get more. There +were a dozen civil suits pending against him in the court house there, +and he knew in advance that he should win them every one, without +directly paying any juryman a dollar. That any nigger should get away +while he wished to hold him, was--well, inconceivable. Colonel French +might have money, but he, Fetters, had men as well; and if Colonel +French became too troublesome about this nigger, this friendship for +niggers could be used in such a way as to make Clarendon too hot for +Colonel French. He really bore no great malice against Colonel French +for the little incident of their school days, but he had not forgotten +it, and Colonel French might as well learn a lesson. He, Fetters, had +not worked half a lifetime for a commanding position, to yield it to +Colonel French or any other man. So Fetters smoked his cigar +tranquilly, and waited at the hotel for his anticipated verdicts. For +there could not be a jury impanelled in the county which did not have +on it a majority of men who were mortgaged to Fetters. He even held +the Judge's note for several hundred dollars. + +The colonel waited at the station for the train back to Clarendon. +When it came, it brought a gang of convicts, consigned to Fetters. +They had been brought down in the regular "Jim Crow" car, for the +colonel saw coloured women and children come out ahead of them. The +colonel watched the wretches, in coarse striped garments, with chains +on their legs and shackles on their hands, unloaded from the train and +into the waiting wagons. There were burly Negroes and flat-shanked, +scrawny Negroes. Some wore the ashen hue of long confinement. Some +were shamefaced, some reckless, some sullen. A few white convicts +among them seemed doubly ashamed--both of their condition and of their +company; they kept together as much as they were permitted, and looked +with contempt at their black companions in misfortune. Fetters's man +and Haines, armed with whips, and with pistols in their belts, were +present to oversee the unloading, and the colonel could see them point +him out to the State officers who had come in charge of the convicts, +and see them look at him with curious looks. The scene was not +edifying. There were criminals in New York, he knew very well, but he +had never seen one. They were not marched down Broadway in stripes and +chains. There were certain functions of society, as of the body, which +were more decently performed in retirement. There was work in the +State for the social reformer, and the colonel, undismayed by his +temporary defeat, metaphorically girded up his loins, went home, and, +still metaphorically, set out to put a spoke in Fetters's wheel. + + + + +_Twenty-seven_ + + +His first step was to have Caxton look up and abstract for him the +criminal laws of the State. They were bad enough, in all conscience. +Men could be tried without jury and condemned to infamous punishments, +involving stripes and chains, for misdemeanours which in more +enlightened States were punished with a small fine or brief detention. +There were, for instance, no degrees of larceny, and the heaviest +punishment might be inflicted, at the discretion of the judge, for the +least offense. + +The vagrancy law, of which the colonel had had some experience, was an +open bid for injustice and "graft" and clearly designed to profit the +strong at the expense of the weak. The crop-lien laws were little more +than the instruments of organised robbery. To these laws the colonel +called the attention of some of his neighbours with whom he was on +terms of intimacy. The enlightened few had scarcely known of their +existence, and quite agreed that the laws were harsh and ought to be +changed. + +But when the colonel, pursuing his inquiry, undertook to investigate +the operation of these laws, he found an appalling condition. The +statutes were mild and beneficent compared with the results obtained +under cover of them. Caxton spent several weeks about the State +looking up the criminal records, and following up the sentences +inflicted, working not merely for his fee, but sharing the colonel's +indignation at the state of things unearthed. Convict labour was +contracted out to private parties, with little or no effective State +supervision, on terms which, though exceedingly profitable to the +State, were disastrous to free competitive labour. More than one +lawmaker besides Fetters was numbered among these contractors. + +Leaving the realm of crime, they found that on hundreds of farms, +ignorant Negroes, and sometimes poor whites, were held in bondage +under claims of debt, or under contracts of exclusive employment for +long terms of years--contracts extorted from ignorance by craft, aided +by State laws which made it a misdemeanour to employ such persons +elsewhere. Free men were worked side by side with convicts from the +penitentiary, and women and children herded with the most depraved +criminals, thus breeding a criminal class to prey upon the State. + +In the case of Fetters alone the colonel found a dozen instances where +the law, bad as it was, had not been sufficient for Fetters's purpose, +but had been plainly violated. Caxton discovered a discharged guard of +Fetters, who told him of many things that had taken place at Sycamore; +and brought another guard one evening, at that time employed there, +who told him, among other things, that Bud Johnson's life, owing to +his surliness and rebellious conduct, and some spite which Haines +seemed to bear against him, was simply a hell on earth--that even a +strong Negro could not stand it indefinitely. + +A case was made up and submitted to the grand jury. Witnesses were +summoned at the colonel's instance. At the last moment they all +weakened, even the discharged guard, and their testimony was not +sufficient to justify an indictment. + +The colonel then sued out a writ of habeas corpus for the body of Bud +Johnson, and it was heard before the common pleas court at Clarendon, +with public opinion divided between the colonel and Fetters. The court +held that under his contract, for which he had paid the consideration, +Fetters was entitled to Johnson's services. + +The colonel, defeated but still undismayed, ordered Caxton to prepare +a memorial for presentation to the federal authorities, calling their +attention to the fact that peonage, a crime under the Federal +statutes, was being flagrantly practised in the State. This allegation +was supported by a voluminous brief, giving names and dates and +particular instances of barbarity. The colonel was not without some +quiet support in this movement; there were several public-spirited men +in the county, including his able lieutenant Caxton, Dr. Price and old +General Thornton, none of whom were under any obligation to Fetters, +and who all acknowledged that something ought to be done to purge the +State of a great disgrace. + +There was another party, of course, which deprecated any scandal which +would involve the good name of the State or reflect upon the South, +and who insisted that in time these things would pass away and there +would be no trace of them in future generations. But the colonel +insisted that so also would the victims of the system pass away, who, +being already in existence, were certainly entitled to as much +consideration as generations yet unborn; it was hardly fair to +sacrifice them to a mere punctilio. The colonel had reached the +conviction that the regenerative forces of education and +enlightenment, in order to have any effect in his generation, must be +reinforced by some positive legislative or executive action, or else +the untrammelled forces of graft and greed would override them; and he +was human enough, at this stage of his career to wish to see the +result of his labours, or at least a promise of result. + +The colonel's papers were forwarded to the proper place, whence they +were referred from official to official, and from department to +department. That it might take some time to set in motion the +machinery necessary to reach the evil, the colonel knew very well, and +hence was not impatient at any reasonable delay. Had he known that his +presentation had created a sensation in the highest quarter, but that +owing to the exigencies of national politics it was not deemed wise, +at that time, to do anything which seemed like an invasion of State +rights or savoured of sectionalism, he might not have been so serenely +confident of the outcome. Nor had Fetters known as much, would he have +done the one thing which encouraged the colonel more than anything +else. Caxton received a message one day from Judge Bullard, +representing Fetters, in which Fetters made the offer that if Colonel +French would stop his agitation on the labour laws, and withdraw any +papers he had filed, and promise to drop the whole matter, he would +release Bud Johnson. + +The colonel did not hesitate a moment. He had gone into this fight for +Johnson--or rather to please Miss Laura. He had risen now to higher +game; nothing less than the system would satisfy him. + +"But, Colonel," said Caxton, "it's pretty hard on the nigger. They'll +kill him before his time's up. If you'll give me a free hand, I'll get +him anyway." + +"How?" + +"Perhaps it's just as well you shouldn't know. But I have friends at +Sycamore." + +"You wouldn't break the law?" asked the colonel. + +"Fetters is breaking the law," replied Caxton. "He's holding Johnson +for debt--and whether that is lawful or not, he certainly has no right +to kill him." + +"You're right," replied the colonel. "Get Johnson away, I don't care +how. The end justifies the means--that's an argument that goes down +here. Get him away, and send him a long way off, and he can write for +his wife to join him. His escape need not interfere with our other +plans. We have plenty of other cases against Fetters." + +Within a week, Johnson, with the connivance of a bribed guard, a +poor-white man from Clarendon, had escaped from Fetters and seemingly +vanished from Beaver County. Fetters's lieutenants were active in +their search for him, but sought in vain. + + + + +_Twenty-eight_ + + +Ben Dudley awoke the morning after the assembly ball, with a violent +headache and a sense of extreme depression, which was not relieved by +the sight of his reflection in the looking-glass of the bureau in the +hotel bedroom where he found himself. + +One of his eyes was bloodshot, and surrounded by a wide area of +discolouration, and he was conscious of several painful contusions on +other portions of his body. His clothing was badly disordered and +stained with blood; and, all in all, he was scarcely in a condition to +appear in public. He made such a toilet as he could, and, anxious to +avoid observation, had his horse brought from the livery around to the +rear door of the hotel, and left for Mink Run by the back streets. He +did not return to town for a week, and when he made his next +appearance there, upon strictly a business visit, did not go near the +Treadwells', and wore such a repellent look that no one ventured to +speak to him about his encounter with Fetters and McRae. He was +humiliated and ashamed, and angry with himself and all the world. He +had lost Graciella already; any possibility that might have remained +of regaining her affection, was destroyed by his having made her name +the excuse for a barroom broil. His uncle was not well, and with the +decline of his health, his monomania grew more acute and more +absorbing, and he spent most of his time in the search for the +treasure and in expostulations with Viney to reveal its whereabouts. +The supervision of the plantation work occupied Ben most of the time, +and during his intervals of leisure he sought to escape unpleasant +thoughts by busying himself with the model of his cotton gin. + +His life had run along in this way for about two weeks after the +ball, when one night Barclay Fetters, while coming to town from his +father's plantation at Sycamore, in company with Turner, his father's +foreman, was fired upon from ambush, in the neighbourhood of Mink +Run, and seriously wounded. Groaning heavily and in a state of +semi-unconsciousness he was driven by Turner, in the same buggy in +which he had been shot, to Doctor Price's house, which lay between +Mink Run and the town. + +The doctor examined the wound, which was serious. A charge of buckshot +had been fired at close range, from a clump of bushes by the wayside, +and the charge had taken effect in the side of the face. The sight of +one eye was destroyed beyond a peradventure, and that of the other +endangered by a possible injury to the optic nerve. A sedative was +administered, as many as possible of the shot extracted, and the +wounds dressed. Meantime a messenger was despatched to Sycamore for +Fetters, senior, who came before morning post-haste. To his anxious +inquiries the doctor could give no very hopeful answer. + +"He's not out of danger," said Doctor Price, "and won't be for several +days. I haven't found several of those shot, and until they're located +I can't tell what will happen. Your son has a good constitution, but +it has been abused somewhat and is not in the best condition to throw +off an injury." + +"Do the best you can for him, Doc," said Fetters, "and I'll make it +worth your while. And as for the double-damned scoundrel that shot him +in the dark, I'll rake this county with a fine-toothed comb till he's +found. If Bark dies, the murderer shall hang as high as Haman, if it +costs me a million dollars, or, if Bark gets well, he shall have the +limit of the law. No man in this State shall injure me or mine and go +unpunished." + +The next day Ben Dudley was arrested at Mink Run, on a warrant sworn +out by Fetters, senior, charging Dudley with attempted murder. The +accused was brought to Clarendon, and lodged in Beaver County jail. + +Ben sent for Caxton, from whom he learned that his offense was not +subject to bail until it became certain that Barclay Fetters would +recover. For in the event of his death, the charge would be murder; in +case of recovery, the offense would be merely attempted murder, or +shooting with intent to kill, for which bail was allowable. Meantime +he would have to remain in jail. + +In a day or two young Fetters was pronounced out of danger, so far as +his life was concerned, and Colonel French, through Caxton, offered to +sign Ben's bail bond. To Caxton's surprise Dudley refused to accept +bail at the colonel's hands. + +"I don't want any favours from Colonel French," he said decidedly. "I +prefer to stay in jail rather than to be released on his bond." + +So he remained in jail. + +Graciella was not so much surprised at Ben's refusal to accept bail. +She had reasoned out, with a fine instinct, the train of emotions +which had brought her lover to grief, and her own share in stirring +them up. She could not believe that Ben was capable of shooting a man +from ambush; but even if he had, it would have been for love of her; +and if he had not, she had nevertheless been the moving cause of the +disaster. She would not willingly have done young Mr. Fetters an +injury. He had favoured her by his attentions, and, if all stories +were true, he had behaved better than Ben, in the difficulty between +them, and had suffered more. But she loved Ben, as she grew to +realise, more and more. She wanted to go and see Ben in jail but her +aunt did not think it proper. Appearances were all against Ben, and he +had not purged himself by any explanation. So Graciella sat down and +wrote him a long letter. She knew very well that the one thing that +would do him most good would be the announcement of her Aunt Laura's +engagement to Colonel French. There was no way to bring this about, +except by first securing her aunt's permission. This would make +necessary a frank confession, to which, after an effort, she nerved +herself. + +"Aunt Laura," she said, at a moment when they were alone together, "I +know why Ben will not accept bail from Colonel French, and why he will +not tell his side of the quarrel between himself and Mr. Fetters. He +was foolish enough to imagine that Colonel French was coming to the +house to see me, and that I preferred the colonel to him. And, Aunt +Laura, I have a confession to make; I have done something for which I +want to beg your pardon. I listened that night, and overheard the +colonel ask you to be his wife. Please, dear Aunt Laura, forgive me, +and let me write and tell Ben--just Ben, in confidence. No one else +need know it." + +Miss Laura was shocked and pained, and frankly said so, but could not +refuse the permission, on condition that Ben should be pledged to keep +her secret, which, for reasons of her own, she was not yet ready to +make public. She, too, was fond of Ben, and hoped that he might clear +himself of the accusation. So Graciella wrote the letter. She was no +more frank in it, however, on one point, than she had been with her +aunt, for she carefully avoided saying that she _had_ taken Colonel +French's attentions seriously, or built any hopes upon them, but +chided Ben for putting such a construction upon her innocent actions, +and informed him, as proof of his folly, and in the strictest +confidence, that Colonel French was engaged to her Aunt Laura. She +expressed her sorrow for his predicament, her profound belief in his +innocence, and her unhesitating conviction that he would be acquitted +of the pending charge. + +To this she expected by way of answer a long letter of apology, +explanation, and protestations of undying love. + +She received, instead, a brief note containing a cold acknowledgment +of her letter, thanking her for her interest in his welfare, and +assuring her that he would respect Miss Laura's confidence. There was +no note of love or reproachfulness--mere cold courtesy. + +Graciella was cut to the quick, so much so that she did not even +notice Ben's mistakes in spelling. It would have been better had he +overwhelmed her with reproaches--it would have shown at least that he +still loved her. She cried bitterly, and lay awake very late that +night, wondering what else she could do for Ben that a self-respecting +young lady might. For the first time, she was more concerned about Ben +than about herself. If by marrying him immediately she could have +saved him from danger and disgrace she would have done so without one +selfish thought--unless it were selfish to save one whom she loved. + + * * * * * + +The preliminary hearing in the case of the State _vs._ Benjamin Dudley +was held as soon as Doctor Price pronounced Barclay Fetters out of +danger. The proceedings took place before Squire Reddick, the same +justice from whom the colonel had bought Peter's services, and from +whom he had vainly sought to secure Bud Johnson's release. + +In spite of Dudley's curt refusal of his assistance, the colonel, to +whom Miss Laura had conveyed a hint of the young man's frame of mind, +had instructed Caxton to spare no trouble or expense in the prisoner's +interest. There was little doubt, considering Fetters's influence and +vindictiveness, that Dudley would be remanded, though the evidence +against him was purely circumstantial; but it was important that the +evidence should be carefully scrutinised, and every legal safeguard +put to use. + +The case looked bad for the prisoner. Barclay Fetters was not present, +nor did the prosecution need him; his testimony could only have been +cumulative. + +Turner described the circumstances of the shooting from the trees by +the roadside near Mink Run, and the driving of the wounded man to +Doctor Price's. + +Doctor Price swore to the nature of the wound, its present and +probable consequences, which involved the loss of one eye and perhaps +the other, and produced the shot he had extracted. + +McRae testified that he and Barclay Fetters had gone down between +dances, from the Opera Ball, to the hotel bar, to get a glass of +seltzer. They had no sooner entered the bar than the prisoner, who had +evidently been drinking heavily and showed all the signs of +intoxication, had picked a quarrel with them and assaulted Mr. +Fetters. Fetters, with the aid of the witness, had defended himself. +In the course of the altercation, the prisoner had used violent and +profane language, threatening, among other things, to kill Fetters. +All this testimony was objected to, but was admitted as tending to +show a motive for the crime. This closed the State's case. + +Caxton held a hurried consultation with his client. Should they put in +any evidence, which would be merely to show their hand, since the +prisoner would in any event undoubtedly be bound over? Ben was unable +to deny what had taken place at the hotel, for he had no distinct +recollection of it--merely a blurred impression, like the memory of a +bad dream. He could not swear that he had not threatened Fetters. The +State's witnesses had refrained from mentioning the lady's name; he +could do no less. So far as the shooting was concerned, he had had no +weapon with which to shoot. His gun had been stolen that very day, and +had not been recovered. + +"The defense will offer no testimony," declared Caxton, at the result +of the conference. + +The justice held the prisoner to the grand jury, and fixed the bond at +ten thousand dollars. Graciella's information had not been without its +effect, and when Caxton suggested that he could still secure bail, he +had little difficulty in inducing Ben to accept Colonel French's +friendly offices. The bail bond was made out and signed, and the +prisoner released. + +Caxton took Ben to his office after the hearing. There Ben met the +colonel, thanked him for his aid and friendship, and apologised for +his former rudeness. + +"I was in a bad way, sir," he said, "and hardly knew what I was doing. +But I know I didn't shoot Bark Fetters, and never thought of such a +thing." + +"I'm sure you didn't, my boy," said the colonel, laying his hand, in +familiar fashion, upon the young fellow's shoulder, "and we'll prove +it before we quit. There are some ladies who believe the same thing, +and would like to hear you say it." + +"Thank you, sir," said Ben. "I should like to tell them, but I +shouldn't want to enter their house until I am cleared of this charge. +I think too much of them to expose them to any remarks about +harbouring a man out on bail for a penitentiary offense. I'll write to +them, sir, and thank them for their trust and friendship, and you can +tell them for me, if you will, that I'll come to see them when not +only I, but everybody else, can say that I am fit to go." + +"Your feelings do you credit," returned the colonel warmly, "and +however much they would like to see you, I'm sure the ladies will +appreciate your delicacy. As your friend and theirs, you must permit +me to serve you further, whenever the opportunity offers, until this +affair is finished." + +Ben thanked the colonel from a full heart, and went back to Mink Run, +where, in the effort to catch up the plantation work, which had +fallen behind in his absence, he sought to forget the prison +atmosphere and lose the prison pallor. The disgrace of having been in +jail was indelible, and the danger was by no means over. The sympathy +of his friends would have been priceless to him, but to remain away +from them would be not only the honourable course to pursue, but a +just punishment for his own folly. For Graciella, after all, was only +a girl--a young girl, and scarcely yet to be judged harshly for her +actions; while he was a man grown, who knew better, and had not acted +according to his lights. + +Three days after Ben Dudley's release on bail, Clarendon was treated +to another sensation. Former constable Haines, now employed as an +overseer at Fetters's convict farm, while driving in a buggy to +Clarendon, where he spent his off-duty spells, was shot from ambush +near Mink Run, and his right arm shattered in such a manner as to +require amputation. + + + + +_Twenty-nine_ + + +Colonel French's interest in Ben Dudley's affairs had not been +permitted to interfere with his various enterprises. Work on the chief +of these, the cotton mill, had gone steadily forward, with only +occasional delays, incident to the delivery of material, the weather, +and the health of the workmen, which was often uncertain for a day or +two after pay day. The coloured foreman of the brick-layers had been +seriously ill; his place had been filled by a white man, under whom +the walls were rising rapidly. Jim Green, the foreman whom the colonel +had formerly discharged, and the two white brick-layers who had quit +at the same time, applied for reinstatement. The colonel took the two +men on again, but declined to restore Green, who had been discharged +for insubordination. + +Green went away swearing vengeance. At Clay Johnson's saloon he hurled +invectives at the colonel, to all who would listen, and with anger +and bad whiskey, soon worked himself into a frame of mind that was +ripe for any mischief. Some of his utterances were reported to the +colonel, who was not without friends--the wealthy seldom are; but he +paid no particular attention to them, except to keep a watchman at the +mill at night, lest this hostility should seek an outlet in some +attempt to injure the property. The precaution was not amiss, for once +the watchman shot at a figure prowling about the mill. The lesson was +sufficient, apparently, for there was no immediate necessity to repeat +it. + +The shooting of Haines, while not so sensational as that of Barclay +Fetters, had given rise to considerable feeling against Ben Dudley. +That two young men should quarrel, and exchange shots, would not +ordinarily have been a subject of extended remark. But two attempts at +assassination constituted a much graver affair. That Dudley was +responsible for this second assault was the generally accepted +opinion. Fetters's friends and hirelings were openly hostile to young +Dudley, and Haines had been heard to say, in his cups, at Clay +Jackson's saloon, that when young Dudley was tried and convicted and +sent to the penitentiary, he would be hired out to Fetters, who had +the country contract, and that he, Haines, would be delighted to have +Dudley in his gang. The feeling against Dudley grew from day to day, +and threats and bets were openly made that he would not live to be +tried. There was no direct proof against him, but the moral and +circumstantial evidence was quite sufficient to convict him in the +eyes of Fetter's friends and supporters. The colonel was sometimes +mentioned, in connection with the affair as a friend of Ben's, for +whom he had given bail, and as an enemy of Fetters, to whom his +antagonism in various ways had become a matter of public knowledge and +interest. + +One day, while the excitement attending the second shooting was thus +growing, Colonel French received through the mail a mysteriously +worded note, vaguely hinting at some matter of public importance which +the writer wished to communicate to him, and requesting a private +interview for the purpose, that evening, at the colonel's house. The +note, which had every internal evidence of sincerity, was signed by +Henry Taylor, the principal of the coloured school, whom the colonel +had met several times in reference to the proposed industrial school. +From the tenor of the communication, and what he knew about Taylor, +the colonel had no doubt that the matter was one of importance, at +least not one to be dismissed without examination. He thereupon +stepped into Caxton's office and wrote an answer to the letter, fixing +eight o'clock that evening as the time, and his own library as the +place, of a meeting with the teacher. This letter he deposited in the +post-office personally--it was only a step from Caxton's office. Upon +coming out of the post-office he saw the teacher standing on an +opposite corner. When the colonel had passed out of sight, Taylor +crossed the street, entered the post-office, and soon emerged with the +letter. He had given no sign that he saw the colonel, but had looked +rather ostentatiously the other way when that gentleman had glanced in +his direction. + +At the appointed hour there was a light step on the colonel's piazza. +The colonel was on watch, and opened the door himself, ushering Taylor +into his library, a very handsome and comfortable room, the door of +which he carefully closed behind them. + +The teacher looked around cautiously. + +"Are we alone, sir?" + +"Yes, entirely so." + +"And can any one hear us?" + +"No. What have you got to tell me?" + +"Colonel French," replied the other, "I'm in a hard situation, and I +want you to promise that you'll never let on to any body that I told +you what I'm going to say." + +"All right, Mr. Taylor, if it is a proper promise to make. You can +trust my discretion." + +"Yes, sir, I'm sure I can. We coloured folks, sir, are often accused +of trying to shield criminals of our own race, or of not helping the +officers of the law to catch them. Maybe we does, suh," he said, +lapsing in his earnestness, into bad grammar, "maybe we does +sometimes, but not without reason." + +"What reason?" asked the colonel. + +"Well, sir, fer the reason that we ain't always shore that a coloured +man will get a fair trial, or any trial at all, or that he'll get a +just sentence after he's been tried. We have no hand in makin' the +laws, or in enforcin' 'em; we are not summoned on jury; and yet we're +asked to do the work of constables and sheriffs who are paid for +arrestin' criminals, an' for protectin' 'em from mobs, which they +don't do." + +"I have no doubt every word you say is true, Mr. Taylor, and such a +state of things is unjust, and will some day be different, if I can +help to make it so. But, nevertheless, all good citizens, whatever +their colour, ought to help to preserve peace and good order." + +"Yes, sir, so they ought; and I want to do just that; I want to +co-operate, and a whole heap of us want to co-operate with the good +white people to keep down crime and lawlessness. I know there's good +white people who want to see justice done--but they ain't always +strong enough to run things; an' if any one of us coloured folks tells +on another one, he's liable to lose all his frien's. But I believe, +sir, that I can trust you to save me harmless, and to see that nothin' +mo' than justice is done to the coloured man." + +"Yes, Taylor, you can trust me to do all that I can, and I think I +have considerable influence. Now, what's on your mind? Do you know who +shot Haines and Mr. Fetters?" + +"Well, sir, you're a mighty good guesser. It ain't so much Mr. Fetters +an' Mr. Haines I'm thinkin' about, for that place down the country is +a hell on earth, an' they're the devils that runs it. But there's a +friend of yo'rs in trouble, for something he didn' do, an' I wouldn' +stan' for an innocent man bein' sent to the penitentiary--though many +a po' Negro has been. Yes, sir, I know that Mr. Ben Dudley didn' shoot +them two white men." + +"So do I," rejoined the colonel. "Who did?" + +"It was Bud Johnson, the man you tried to get away from Mr. +Fetters--yo'r coachman tol' us about it, sir, an' we know how good a +friend of ours you are, from what you've promised us about the school. +An' I wanted you to know, sir. You are our friend, and have showed +confidence in us, and I wanted to prove to you that we are not +ungrateful, an' that we want to be good citizens." + +"I had heard," said the colonel, "that Johnson had escaped and left +the county." + +"So he had, sir, but he came back. They had 'bused him down at that +place till he swore he'd kill every one that had anything to do with +him. It was Mr. Turner he shot at the first time and he hit young Mr. +Fetters by accident. He stole a gun from ole Mr. Dudley's place at +Mink Run, shot Mr. Fetters with it, and has kept it ever since, and +shot Mr. Haines with it. I suppose they'd 'a' ketched him before, if +it hadn't be'n for suspectin' young Mr. Dudley." + +"Where is Johnson now," asked the colonel. + +"He's hidin' in an old log cabin down by the swamp back of Mink Run. +He sleeps in the daytime, and goes out at night to get food and watch +for white men from Mr. Fetters's place." + +"Does his wife know where he is?" + +"No, sir; he ain't never let her know." + +"By the way, Taylor," asked the colonel, "how do _you_ know all this?" + +"Well, sir," replied the teacher, with something which, in an +uneducated Negro would have been a very pronounced chuckle, "there's +mighty little goin' on roun' here that I _don't_ find out, sooner or +later." + +"Taylor," said the colonel, rising to terminate the interview, "you +have rendered a public service, have proved yourself a good citizen, +and have relieved Mr. Dudley of serious embarrassment. I will see that +steps are taken to apprehend Johnson, and will keep your participation +in the matter secret, since you think it would hurt your influence +with your people. And I promise you faithfully that every effort shall +be made to see that Johnson has a fair trial and no more than a just +punishment." + +He gave the Negro his hand. + +"Thank you, sir, thank you, sir," replied the teacher, returning the +colonel's clasp. "If there were more white men like you, the coloured +folks would have no more trouble." + +The colonel let Taylor out, and watched him as he looked cautiously up +and down the street to see that he was not observed. That coloured +folks, or any other kind, should ever cease to have trouble, was a +vain imagining. But the teacher had made a well-founded complaint of +injustice which ought to be capable of correction; and he had +performed a public-spirited action, even though he had felt +constrained to do it in a clandestine manner. + +About his own part in the affair the colonel was troubled. It was +becoming clear to him that the task he had undertaken was no light +one--not the task of apprehending Johnson and clearing Dudley, but +that of leavening the inert mass of Clarendon with the leaven of +enlightenment. With the best of intentions, and hoping to save a life, +he had connived at turning a murderer loose upon the community. It was +true that the community, through unjust laws, had made him a murderer, +but it was no part of the colonel's plan to foster or promote evil +passions, or to help the victims of the law to make reprisals. His aim +was to bring about, by better laws and more liberal ideas, peace, +harmony, and universal good will. There was a colossal work for him to +do, and for all whom he could enlist with him in this cause. The very +standards of right and wrong had been confused by the race issue, and +must be set right by the patient appeal to reason and humanity. +Primitive passions and private vengeance must be subordinated to law +and order and the higher good. A new body of thought must be built up, +in which stress must be laid upon the eternal verities, in the light +of which difficulties which now seemed unsurmountable would be +gradually overcome. + +But this halcyon period was yet afar off, and the colonel roused +himself to the duty of the hour. With the best intentions he had let +loose upon the community, in a questionable way, a desperate +character. It was no less than his plain duty to put the man under +restraint. To rescue from Fetters a man whose life was threatened, was +one thing. To leave a murderer at large now would be to endanger +innocent lives, and imperil Ben Dudley's future. + +The arrest of Bud Johnson brought an end to the case against Ben +Dudley. The prosecuting attorney, who was under political obligations +to Fetters, seemed reluctant to dismiss the case, until Johnson's +guilt should have been legally proved; but the result of the Negro's +preliminary hearing rendered this position no longer tenable; the case +against Ben was nolled, and he could now hold up his head as a free +man, with no stain upon his character. + +Indeed, the reaction in his favour as one unjustly indicted, went far +to wipe out from the public mind the impression that he was a drunkard +and a rowdy. It was recalled that he was of good family and that his +forebears had rendered valuable service to the State, and that he had +never been seen to drink before, or known to be in a fight, but that +on the contrary he was quiet and harmless to a fault. Indeed, the +Clarendon public would have admired a little more spirit in a young +man, even to the extent of condoning an occasional lapse into license. + +There was sincere rejoicing at the Treadwell house when Ben, now free +in mind, went around to see the ladies. Miss Laura was warmly +sympathetic and congratulatory; and Graciella, tearfully happy, tried +to make up by a sweet humility, through which shone the true +womanliness of a hitherto undeveloped character, for the past stings +and humiliations to which her selfish caprice had subjected her lover. +Ben resumed his visits, if not with quite their former frequency, and +it was only a day or two later that the colonel found him and +Graciella, with his own boy Phil, grouped in familiar fashion on the +steps, where Ben was demonstrating with some pride of success, the +operation of his model, into which he was feeding cotton when the +colonel came up. + +The colonel stood a moment and looked at the machine. + +"It's quite ingenious," he said. "Explain the principle." + +Ben described the mechanism, in brief, well-chosen words which +conveyed the thought clearly and concisely, and revealed a fine mind +for mechanics and at the same time an absolute lack of technical +knowledge. + +"It would never be of any use, sir," he said, at the end, "for +everybody has the other kind. But it's another way, and I think a +better." + +"It is clever," said the colonel thoughtfully, as he went into the +house. + +The colonel had not changed his mind at all since asking Miss Laura to +be his wife. The glow of happiness still warmed her cheek, the spirit +of youth still lingered in her eyes and in her smile. He might go a +thousand miles before meeting a woman who would please him more, take +better care of Phil, or preside with more dignity over his household. +Her simple grace would adapt itself to wealth as easily as it had +accommodated itself to poverty. It would be a pleasure to travel with +her to new scenes and new places, to introduce her into a wider world, +to see her expand in the generous sunlight of ease and freedom from +responsibility. + +True to his promise, the colonel made every effort to see that Bud +Johnson should be protected against mob violence and given a fair +trial. There was some intemperate talk among the partisans of Fetters, +and an ominous gathering upon the streets the day after the arrest, +but Judge Miller, of the Beaver County circuit, who was in Clarendon +that day, used his influence to discountenance any disorder, and +promised a speedy trial of the prisoner. The crime was not the worst +of crimes, and there was no excuse for riot or lynch law. The accused +could not escape his just punishment. + +As a result of the judge's efforts, supplemented by the colonel's and +those of Doctor Price and several ministers, any serious fear of +disorder was removed, and a handful of Fetters's guards who had come +up from his convict farm and foregathered with some choice spirits of +the town at Clay Jackson's saloon, went back without attempting to do +what they had avowedly come to town to accomplish. + + + + +_Thirty_ + + +One morning the colonel, while overseeing the work at the new mill +building, stepped on the rounded handle of a chisel, which had been +left lying carelessly on the floor, and slipped and fell, spraining +his ankle severely. He went home in his buggy, which was at the mill, +and sent for Doctor Price, who put his foot in a plaster bandage and +ordered him to keep quiet for a week. + +Peter and Phil went around to the Treadwells' to inform the ladies of +the accident. On reaching the house after the accident, the colonel +had taken off his coat, and sent Peter to bring him one from the +closet off his bedroom. + +When the colonel put on the coat, he felt some papers in the inside +pocket, and taking them out, recognised the two old letters he had +taken from the lining of his desk several months before. The +housekeeper, in a moment of unusual zeal, had discovered and mended +the tear in the sleeve, and Peter had by chance selected this +particular coat to bring to his master. When Peter started, with Phil, +to go to the Treadwells', the colonel gave him the two letters. + +"Give these," he said, "to Miss Laura, and tell her I found them in +the old desk." + +It was not long before Miss Laura came, with Graciella, to call on the +colonel. When they had expressed the proper sympathy, and had been +assured that the hurt was not dangerous, Miss Laura spoke of another +matter. + +"Henry," she said, with an air of suppressed excitement, "I have made +a discovery. I don't quite know what it means, or whether it amounts +to anything, but in one of the envelopes you sent me just now there +was a paper signed by Mr. Fetters. I do not know how it could have +been left in the desk; we had searched it, years ago, in every nook +and cranny, and found nothing." + +The colonel explained the circumstances of his discovery of the +papers, but prudently refrained from mentioning how long ago they had +taken place. + +Miss Laura handed him a thin, oblong, yellowish slip of paper, which +had been folded in the middle; it was a printed form, upon which +several words had been filled in with a pen. + +"It was enclosed in this," she said, handing him another paper. + +The colonel took the papers and glanced over them. + +"Mother thinks," said Miss Laura anxiously, "that they are the papers +we were looking for, that prove that Fetters was in father's debt." + +The colonel had been thinking rapidly. The papers were, indeed, a +promissory note from Fetters to Mr. Treadwell, and a contract and +memorandum of certain joint transactions in turpentine and cotton +futures. The note was dated twenty years back. Had it been produced at +the time of Mr. Treadwell's death, it would not have been difficult +to collect, and would have meant to his survivors the difference +between poverty and financial independence. Now it was barred by the +lapse of time. + +Miss Laura was waiting in eager expectation. Outwardly calm, her eyes +were bright, her cheeks were glowing, her bosom rose and fell +excitedly. Could he tell her that this seemingly fortunate accident +was merely the irony of fate--a mere cruel reminder of a former +misfortune? No, she could not believe it! + +"It has made me happy, Henry," she said, while he still kept his eyes +bent on the papers to conceal his perplexity, "it has made me very +happy to think that I may not come to you empty-handed." + +"Dear woman," he thought, "you shall not. If the note is not good, it +shall be made good." + +"Laura," he said aloud, "I am no lawyer, but Caxton shall look at +these to-day, and I shall be very much mistaken if they do not bring +you a considerable sum of money. Say nothing about them, however, +until Caxton reports. He will be here to see me to-day and by +to-morrow you shall have his opinion." + +Miss Laura went away with a radiantly hopeful face, and as she and +Graciella went down the street, the colonel noted that her step was +scarcely less springy than her niece's. It was worth the amount of +Fetters's old note to make her happy; and since he meant to give her +all that she might want, what better way than to do it by means of +this bit of worthless paper? It would be a harmless deception, and it +would save the pride of three gentlewomen, with whom pride was not a +disease, to poison and scorch and blister, but an inspiration to +courtesy, and kindness, and right living. Such a pride was worth +cherishing even at a sacrifice, which was, after all, no sacrifice. + +He had already sent word to Caxton of his accident, requesting him to +call at the house on other business. Caxton came in the afternoon, and +when the matter concerning which he had come had been disposed of, +Colonel French produced Fetters's note. + +"Caxton," he said, "I wish to pay this note and let it seem to have +come from Fetters." + +Caxton looked at the note. + +"Why should you pay it?" he asked. "I mean," he added, noting a change +in the colonel's expression, "why shouldn't Fetters pay it?" + +"Because it is outlawed," he replied, "and we could hardly expect him +to pay for anything he didn't have to pay. The statute of limitations +runs against it after fifteen years--and it's older than that, much +older than that." + +Caxton made a rapid mental calculation. + +"That is the law in New York," he said, "but here the statute doesn't +begin to run for twenty years. The twenty years for which this note +was given expires to-day." + +"Then it is good?" demanded the colonel, looking at his watch. + +"It is good," said Caxton, "provided there is no defence to it except +the statute, and provided I can file a petition on it in the county +clerk's office by four o'clock, the time at which the office closes. +It is now twenty minutes of four." + +"Can you make it?" + +"I'll try." + +Caxton, since his acquaintance with Colonel French, had learned +something more about the value of half an hour than he had ever before +appreciated, and here was an opportunity to test his knowledge. He +literally ran the quarter of a mile that lay between the colonel's +residence and the court house, to the open-eyed astonishment of those +whom he passed, some of whom wondered whether he were crazy, and +others whether he had committed a crime. He dashed into the clerk's +office, seized a pen, and the first piece of paper handy, and began to +write a petition. The clerk had stepped into the hall, and when he +came leisurely in at three minutes to four, Caxton discovered that he +had written his petition on the back of a blank marriage license. He +folded it, ran his pen through the printed matter, endorsed it, +"Estate of Treadwell _vs._ Fetters," signed it with the name of Ellen +Treadwell, as executrix, by himself as her attorney, swore to it +before the clerk, and handed it to that official, who raised his +eyebrows as soon as he saw the endorsement. + +"Now, Mr. Munroe," said Caxton, "if you'll enter that on the docket, +now, as of to-day, I'll be obliged to you. I'd rather have the +transaction all finished up while I wait. Your fee needn't wait the +termination of the suit. I'll pay it now and take a receipt for it." + +The clerk whistled to himself as he read the petition in order to make +the entry. + +"That's an old-timer," he said. "It'll make the old man cuss." + +"Yes," said Caxton. "Do me a favour, and don't say anything about it +for a day or two. I don't think the suit will ever come to trial." + + + + +_Thirty-one_ + + +On the day following these events, the colonel, on the arm of old +Peter, hobbled out upon his front porch, and seating himself in a big +rocking chair, in front of which a cushion had been adjusted for his +injured ankle, composed himself to read some arrears of mail which had +come in the day before, and over which he had only glanced casually. +When he was comfortably settled, Peter and Phil walked down the steps, +upon the lowest of which they seated themselves. The colonel had +scarcely begun to read before he called to the old man. + +"Peter," he said, "I wish you'd go upstairs, and look in my room, and +bring me a couple of light-coloured cigars from the box on my +bureau--the mild ones, you know, Peter." + +"Yas, suh, I knows, suh, de mil' ones, dem wid de gol' ban's 'roun' +'em. Now you stay right hyuh, chile, till Peter come back." + +Peter came up the steps and disappeared in the doorway. + +The colonel opened a letter from Kirby, in which that energetic and +versatile gentleman assured the colonel that he had evolved a great +scheme, in which there were millions for those who would go into it. +He had already interested Mrs. Jerviss, who had stated she would be +governed by what the colonel did in the matter. The letter went into +some detail upon this subject, and then drifted off into club and +social gossip. Several of the colonel's friends had inquired +particularly about him. One had regretted the loss to their whist +table. Another wanted the refusal of his box at the opera, if he were +not coming back for the winter. + +"I think you're missed in a certain quarter, old fellow. I know a lady +who would be more than delighted to see you. I am invited to her house +to dinner, ostensibly to talk about our scheme, in reality to talk +about you. + +"But this is all by the way. The business is the thing. Take my +proposition under advisement. We all made money together before; we +can make it again. My option has ten days to run. Wire me before it is +up what reply to make. I know what you'll say, but I want your 'ipse +dixit.'" + +The colonel knew too what his reply would be, and that it would be +very different from Kirby's anticipation. He would write it, he +thought, next day, so that Kirby should not be kept in suspense, or so +that he might have time to enlist other capital in the enterprise. The +colonel felt really sorry to disappoint his good friends. He would +write and inform Kirby of his plans, including that of his approaching +marriage. + +He had folded the letter and laid it down, and had picked up a +newspaper, when Peter returned with the cigars and a box of matches. + +"Mars Henry?" he asked, "w'at's gone wid de chile?" + +"Phil?" replied the colonel, looking toward the step, from which the +boy had disappeared. "I suppose he went round the house." + +"Mars Phil! O Mars Phil!" called the old man. + +There was no reply. + +Peter looked round the corner of the house, but Phil was nowhere +visible. The old man went round to the back yard, and called again, +but did not find the child. + +"I hyuhs de train comin'; I 'spec's he's gone up ter de railroad +track," he said, when he had returned to the front of the house. "I'll +run up dere an' fetch 'im back." + +"Yes, do, Peter," returned the colonel. "He's probably all right, but +you'd better see about him." + +Little Phil, seeing his father absorbed in the newspaper, and not +wishing to disturb him, had amused himself by going to the gate and +looking down the street toward the railroad track. He had been doing +this scarcely a moment, when he saw a black cat come out of a +neighbour's gate and go down the street. + +Phil instantly recalled Uncle Peter's story of the black cat. Perhaps +this was the same one! + +Phil had often been warned about the railroad. + +"Keep 'way f'm dat railroad track, honey," the old man had repeated +more than once. "It's as dange'ous as a gun, and a gun is dange'ous +widout lock, stock, er bairl: I knowed a man oncet w'at beat 'is wife +ter def wid a ramrod, an' wuz hung fer it in a' ole fiel' down by de +ha'nted house. Dat gun couldn't hol' powder ner shot, but was +dange'ous 'nuff ter kill two folks. So you jes' better keep 'way f'm +dat railroad track, chile." + +But Phil was a child, with the making of a man, and the wisest of men +sometimes forget. For the moment Phil saw nothing but the cat, and +wished for nothing more than to talk to it. + +So Phil, unperceived by the colonel, set out to overtake the black +cat. The cat seemed in no hurry, and Phil had very nearly caught up +with him--or her, as the case might be--when the black cat, having +reached the railroad siding, walked under a flat car which stood +there, and leaping to one of the truck bars, composed itself, +presumably for a nap. In order to get close enough to the cat for +conversational purposes, Phil stooped under the overhanging end of the +car, and kneeled down beside the truck. + +"Kitty, Kitty!" he called, invitingly. + +The black cat opened her big yellow eyes with every evidence of lazy +amiability. + +Peter shuffled toward the corner as fast as his rickety old limbs +would carry him. When he reached the corner he saw a car standing on +the track. There was a brakeman at one end, holding a coupling link in +one hand, and a coupling pin in the other, his eye on an engine and +train of cars only a rod or two away, advancing to pick up the single +car. At the same moment Peter caught sight of little Phil, kneeling +under the car at the other end. + +Peter shouted, but the brakeman was absorbed in his own task, which +required close attention in order to assure his own safety. The +engineer on the cab, at the other end of the train, saw an old Negro +excitedly gesticulating, and pulled a lever mechanically, but too late +to stop the momentum of the train, which was not equipped with air +brakes, even if these would have proved effective to stop it in so +short a distance. + +Just before the two cars came together, Peter threw himself forward to +seize the child. As he did so, the cat sprang from the truck bar; the +old man stumbled over the cat, and fell across the rail. The car moved +only a few feet, but quite far enough to work injury. + +A dozen people, including the train crew, quickly gathered. Willing +hands drew them out and laid them upon the grass under the spreading +elm at the corner of the street. A judge, a merchant and a Negro +labourer lifted old Peter's body as tenderly as though it had been +that of a beautiful woman. The colonel, somewhat uneasy, he scarcely +knew why, had started to limp painfully toward the corner, when he was +met by a messenger who informed him of the accident. Forgetting his +pain, he hurried to the scene, only to find his heart's delight lying +pale, bleeding and unconscious, beside the old Negro who had +sacrificed his life to save him. + +A doctor, who had been hastily summoned, pronounced Peter dead. Phil +showed no superficial injury, save a cut upon the head, from which the +bleeding was soon stanched. A Negro's strong arms bore the child to +the house, while the bystanders remained about Peter's body until the +arrival of Major McLean, recently elected coroner, who had been +promptly notified of the accident. Within a few minutes after the +officer's appearance, a jury was summoned from among the bystanders, +the evidence of the trainmen and several other witnesses was taken, +and a verdict of accidental death rendered. There was no suggestion of +blame attaching to any one; it had been an accident, pure and simple, +which ordinary and reasonable prudence could not have foreseen. + +By the colonel's command, the body of his old servant was then +conveyed to the house and laid out in the front parlour. Every honour, +every token of respect, should be paid to his remains. + + + + +_Thirty-two_ + + +Meanwhile the colonel, forgetting his own hurt, hovered, with several +physicians, among them Doctor Price, around the bedside of his child. +The slight cut upon the head, the physicians declared, was not, of +itself, sufficient to account for the rapid sinking which set in +shortly after the boy's removal to the house. There had evidently been +some internal injury, the nature of which could not be ascertained. +Phil remained unconscious for several hours, but toward the end of the +day opened his blue eyes and fixed them upon his father, who was +sitting by the bedside. + +"Papa," he said, "am I going to die?" + +"No, no, Phil," said his father hopefully. "You are going to get well +in a few days, I hope." + +Phil was silent for a moment, and looked around him curiously. He gave +no sign of being in pain. + +"Is Miss Laura here?" + +"Yes, Phil, she's in the next room, and will be here in a moment." + +At that instant Miss Laura came in and kissed him. The caress gave him +pleasure, and he smiled sweetly in return. + +"Papa, was Uncle Peter hurt?" + +"Yes, Phil." + +"Where is he, papa? Was he hurt badly?" + +"He is lying in another room, Phil, but he is not in any pain." + +"Papa," said Phil, after a pause, "if I should die, and if Uncle Peter +should die, you'll remember your promise and bury him near me, won't +you, dear?" + +"Yes, Phil," he said, "but you are not going to die!" + +But Phil died, dozing off into a peaceful sleep in which he passed +quietly away with a smile upon his face. + +It required all the father's fortitude to sustain the blow, with the +added agony of self-reproach that he himself had been unwittingly the +cause of it. Had he not sent old Peter into the house, the child would +not have been left alone. Had he kept his eye upon Phil until Peter's +return the child would not have strayed away. He had neglected his +child, while the bruised and broken old black man in the room below +had given his life to save him. He could do nothing now to show the +child his love or Peter his gratitude, and the old man had neither +wife nor child in whom the colonel's bounty might find an object. But +he would do what he could. He would lay his child's body in the old +family lot in the cemetery, among the bones of his ancestors, and +there too, close at hand, old Peter should have honourable sepulture. +It was his due, and would be the fulfilment of little Phil's last +request. + +The child was laid out in the parlour, amid a mass of flowers. Miss +Laura, for love of him and of the colonel, with her own hands prepared +his little body for the last sleep. The undertaker, who hovered +around, wished, with a conventional sense of fitness, to remove old +Peter's body to a back room. But the colonel said no. + +"They died together; together they shall lie here, and they shall be +buried together." + +He gave instructions as to the location of the graves in the cemetery +lot. The undertaker looked thoughtful. + +"I hope, sir," said the undertaker, "there will be no objection. It's +not customary--there's a coloured graveyard--you might put up a nice +tombstone there--and you've been away from here a long time, sir." + +"If any one objects," said the colonel, "send him to me. The lot is +mine, and I shall do with it as I like. My great-great-grandfather +gave the cemetery to the town. Old Peter's skin was black, but his +heart was white as any man's! And when a man reaches the grave, he is +not far from God, who is no respecter of persons, and in whose +presence, on the judgment day, many a white man shall be black, and +many a black man white." + +The funeral was set for the following afternoon. The graves were to be +dug in the morning. The undertaker, whose business was dependent upon +public favour, and who therefore shrank from any step which might +affect his own popularity, let it be quietly known that Colonel French +had given directions to bury Peter in Oak Cemetery. + +It was inevitable that there should be some question raised about so +novel a proceeding. The colour line in Clarendon, as in all Southern +towns, was, on the surface at least, rigidly drawn, and extended from +the cradle to the grave. No Negro's body had ever profaned the sacred +soil of Oak Cemetery. The protestants laid the matter before the +Cemetery trustees, and a private meeting was called in the evening to +consider the proposed interment. + +White and black worshipped the same God, in different churches. There +had been a time when coloured people filled the galleries of the white +churches, and white ladies had instilled into black children the +principles of religion and good morals. But as white and black had +grown nearer to each other in condition, they had grown farther apart +in feeling. It was difficult for the poor lady, for instance, to +patronise the children of the well-to-do Negro or mulatto; nor was the +latter inclined to look up to white people who had started, in his +memory, from a position but little higher than his own. In an era of +change, the benefits gained thereby seemed scarcely to offset the +difficulties of readjustment. + +The situation was complicated by a sense of injury on both sides. +Cherishing their theoretical equality of citizenship, which they could +neither enforce nor forget, the Negroes resented, noisly or silently, +as prudence dictated, its contemptuous denial by the whites; and +these, viewing this shadowy equality as an insult to themselves, had +sought by all the machinery of local law to emphasise and perpetuate +their own superiority. The very word "equality" was an offence. +Society went back to Egypt and India for its models; to break caste +was a greater sin than to break any or all of the ten commandments. +White and coloured children studied the same books in different +schools. White and black people rode on the same trains in separate +cars. Living side by side, and meeting day by day, the law, made and +administered by white men, had built a wall between them. + +And white and black buried their dead in separate graveyards. Not +until they reached God's presence could they stand side by side in any +relation of equality. There was a Negro graveyard in Clarendon, where, +as a matter of course the coloured dead were buried. It was not an +ideal locality. The land was low and swampy, and graves must be used +quickly, ere the water collected in them. The graveyard was unfenced, +and vagrant cattle browsed upon its rank herbage. The embankment of +the railroad encroached upon one side of it, and the passing engines +sifted cinders and ashes over the graves. But no Negro had ever +thought of burying his dead elsewhere, and if their cemetery was not +well kept up, whose fault was it but their own? + +The proposition, therefore, of a white man, even of Colonel French's +standing, to bury a Negro in Oak Cemetery, was bound to occasion +comment, if nothing more. There was indeed more. Several citizens +objected to the profanation, and laid their protest before the mayor, +who quietly called a meeting of the board of cemetery trustees, of +which he was the chairman. + +The trustees were five in number. The board, with the single exception +of the mayor, was self-perpetuating, and the members had been chosen, +as vacancies occurred by death, at long intervals, from among the +aristocracy, who had always controlled it. The mayor, a member and +chairman of the board by virtue of his office, had sprung from the +same class as Fetters, that of the aspiring poor whites, who, freed +from the moral incubus of slavery, had by force of numbers and +ambition secured political control of the State and relegated not only +the Negroes, but the old master class, to political obscurity. A +shrewd, capable man was the mayor, who despised Negroes and distrusted +aristocrats, and had the courage of his convictions. He represented in +the meeting the protesting element of the community. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "Colonel French has ordered this Negro to be +buried in Oak Cemetery. We all appreciate the colonel's worth, and +what he is doing for the town. But he has lived at the North for many +years, and has got somewhat out of our way of thinking. We do not want +to buy the prosperity of this town at the price of our principles. The +attitude of the white people on the Negro question is fixed and +determined for all time, and nothing can ever alter it. To bury this +Negro in Oak Cemetery is against our principles." + +"The mayor's statement of the rule is quite correct," replied old +General Thornton, a member of the board, "and not open to question. +But all rules have their exceptions. It was against the law, for some +years before the war, to manumit a slave; but an exception to that +salutary rule was made in case a Negro should render some great +service to the State or the community. You will recall that when, in a +sister State, a Negro climbed the steep roof of St. Michael's church +and at the risk of his own life saved that historic structure, the +pride of Charleston, from destruction by fire, the muncipality granted +him his freedom." + +"And we all remember," said Mr. Darden, another of the trustees, "we +all remember, at least I'm sure General Thornton does, old Sally, who +used to belong to the McRae family, and was a member of the +Presbyterian Church, and who, because of her age and infirmities--she +was hard of hearing and too old to climb the stairs to the +gallery--was given a seat in front of the pulpit, on the main floor." + +"That was all very well," replied the mayor, stoutly, "when the +Negroes belonged to you, and never questioned your authority. But +times are different now. They think themselves as good as we are. We +had them pretty well in hand until Colonel French came around, with +his schools, and his high wages, and now they are getting so fat and +sassy that there'll soon be no living with them. The last election did +something, but we'll have to do something more, and that soon, to keep +them in their places. There's one in jail now, alive, who has shot and +disfigured and nearly killed two good white men, and such an example +of social equality as burying one in a white graveyard will demoralise +them still further. We must preserve the purity and prestige of our +race, and we can only do it by keeping the Negroes down." + +"After all," said another member, "the purity of our race is not apt +to suffer very seriously from the social equality of a graveyard." + +"And old Peter will be pretty effectually kept down, wherever he is +buried," added another. + +These sallies provoked a smile which lightened the tension. A member +suggested that Colonel French be sent for. + +"It seems a pity to disturb him in his grief," said another. + +"It's only a couple of squares," suggested another. "Let's call in a +body and pay our respects. We can bring up the matter incidentally, +while there." + +The muscles of the mayor's chin hardened. + +"Colonel French has never been at my house," he said, "and I shouldn't +care to seem to intrude." + +"Come on, mayor," said Mr. Darden, taking the official by the arm, +"these fine distinctions are not becoming in the presence of death. +The colonel will be glad to see you." + +The mayor could not resist this mark of intimacy on the part of one of +the old aristocracy, and walked somewhat proudly through the street +arm in arm with Mr. Darden. They paid their respects to the colonel, +who was bearing up, with the composure to be expected of a man of +strong will and forceful character, under a grief of which he was +exquisitely sensible. Touched by a strong man's emotion, which nothing +could conceal, no one had the heart to mention, in the presence of the +dead, the object of their visit, and they went away without giving the +colonel any inkling that his course had been seriously criticised. Nor +was the meeting resumed after they left the house, even the mayor +seeming content to let the matter go by default. + + + + +_Thirty-three_ + + +Fortune favoured Caxton in the matter of the note. Fetters was in +Clarendon the following morning. Caxton saw him passing, called him +into his office, and produced the note. + +"That's no good," said Fetters contemptuously. "It was outlawed +yesterday. I suppose you allowed I'd forgotten it. On the contrary, +I've a memorandum of it in my pocketbook, and I struck it off the list +last night. I always pay my lawful debts, when they're properly +demanded. If this note had been presented yesterday, I'd have paid it. +To-day it's too late. It ain't a lawful debt." + +"Do you really mean to say, Mr. Fetters, that you have deliberately +robbed those poor women of this money all these years, and are not +ashamed of it, not even when you're found out, and that you are going +to take refuge behind the statute?" + +"Now, see here, Mr. Caxton," returned Fetters, without apparent +emotion, "you want to be careful about the language you use. I might +sue you for slander. You're a young man, that hopes to have a future +and live in this county, where I expect to live and have law business +done long after some of your present clients have moved away. I didn't +owe the estate of John Treadwell one cent--you ought to be lawyer +enough to know that. He owed me money, and paid me with a note. I +collected the note. I owed him money and paid it with a note. Whoever +heard of anybody's paying a note that wasn't presented?" + +"It's a poor argument, Mr. Fetters. You would have let those ladies +starve to death before you would have come forward and paid that +debt." + +"They've never asked me for charity, so I wasn't called on to offer +it. And you know now, don't you, that if I'd paid the amount of that +note, and then it had turned up afterward in somebody else's hands, +I'd have had to pay it over again; now wouldn't I?" + +Caxton could not deny it. Fetters had robbed the Treadwell estate, but +his argument was unanswerable. + +"Yes," said Caxton, "I suppose you would." + +"I'm sorry for the women," said Fetters, "and I've stood ready to pay +that note all these years, and it ain't my fault that it hasn't been +presented. Now it's outlawed, and you couldn't expect a man to just +give away that much money. It ain't a lawful debt, and the law's good +enough for me." + +"You're awfully sorry for the ladies, aren't you?" said Caxton, with +thinly veiled sarcasm. + +"I surely am; I'm honestly sorry for them." + +"And you'd pay the note if you had to, wouldn't you?" asked Caxton. + +"I surely would. As I say, I always pay my legal debts." + +"All right," said Caxton triumphantly, "then you'll pay this. I filed +suit against you yesterday, which takes the case out of the statute." + +Fetters concealed his discomfiture. + +"Well," he said, with quiet malignity, "I've nothing more to say till +I consult my lawyer. But I want to tell you one thing. You are ruining +a fine career by standing in with this Colonel French. I hear his son +was killed to-day. You can tell him I say it's a judgment on him; for +I hold him responsible for my son's condition. He came down here and +tried to demoralise the labour market. He put false notions in the +niggers' heads. Then he got to meddling with my business, trying to +get away a nigger whose time I had bought. He insulted my agent +Turner, and came all the way down to Sycamore and tried to bully me +into letting the nigger loose, and of course I wouldn't be bullied. +Afterwards, when I offered to let the nigger go, the colonel wouldn't +have it so. I shall always believe he bribed one of my men to get the +nigger off, and then turned him loose to run amuck among the white +people and shoot my boy and my overseer. It was a low-down +performance, and unworthy of a gentleman. No really white man would +treat another white man so. You can tell him I say it's a judgment +that's fallen on him to-day, and that it's not the last one, and that +he'll be sorrier yet that he didn't stay where he was, with his +nigger-lovin' notions, instead of comin' back down here to make +trouble for people that have grown up with the State and made it what +it is." + +Caxton, of course, did not deliver the message. To do so would have +been worse taste than Fetters had displayed in sending it. Having got +the best of the encounter, Caxton had no objection to letting his +defeated antagonist discharge his venom against the absent colonel, +who would never know of it, and who was already breasting the waves of +a sorrow so deep and so strong as almost to overwhelm him. For he had +loved the boy; all his hopes had centred around this beautiful man +child, who had promised so much that was good. His own future had been +planned with reference to him. Now he was dead, and the bereaved +father gave way to his grief. + + + + +_Thirty-four_ + + +The funeral took place next day, from the Episcopal Church, in which +communion the little boy had been baptised, and of which old Peter had +always been an humble member, faithfully appearing every Sunday +morning in his seat in the gallery, long after the rest of his people +had deserted it for churches of their own. On this occasion Peter had, +for the first time, a place on the main floor, a little to one side of +the altar, in front of which, banked with flowers, stood the white +velvet casket which contained all that was mortal of little Phil. The +same beautiful sermon answered for both. In touching words, the +rector, a man of culture, taste and feeling, and a faithful servant of +his Master, spoke of the sweet young life brought to so untimely an +end, and pointed the bereaved father to the best source of +consolation. He paid a brief tribute to the faithful servant and +humble friend, to whom, though black and lowly, the white people of +the town were glad to pay this signal tribute of respect and +appreciation for his heroic deed. The attendance at the funeral, while +it might have been larger, was composed of the more refined and +cultured of the townspeople, from whom, indeed, the church derived +most of its membership and support; and the gallery overflowed with +coloured people, whose hearts had warmed to the great honour thus paid +to one of their race. Four young white men bore Phil's body and the +six pallbearers of old Peter were from among the best white people of +the town. + +The double interment was made in Oak Cemetery. Simultaneously both +bodies were lowered to their last resting-place. Simultaneously ashes +were consigned to ashes and dust to dust. The earth was heaped above +the graves. The mound above little Phil's was buried with flowers, and +old Peter's was not neglected. + +Beyond the cemetery wall, a few white men of the commoner sort watched +the proceedings from a distance, and eyed with grim hostility the +Negroes who had followed the procession. They had no part nor parcel +in this sentimental folly, nor did they approve of it--in fact they +disapproved of it very decidedly. Among them was the colonel's +discharged foreman, Jim Green, who was pronounced in his denunciation. + +"Colonel French is an enemy of his race," he declared to his +sympathetic following. "He hires niggers when white men are idle; and +pays them more than white men who work are earning. And now he is +burying them with white people." + +When the group around the grave began to disperse, the little knot of +disgruntled spectators moved sullenly away. In the evening they might +have been seen, most of them, around Clay Jackson's barroom. Turner, +the foreman at Fetters's convict farm, was in town that evening, and +Jackson's was his favourite haunt. For some reason Turner was more +sociable than usual, and liquor flowed freely, at his expense. There +was a great deal of intemperate talk, concerning the Negro in jail for +shooting Haines and young Fetters, and concerning Colonel French as +the protector of Negroes and the enemy of white men. + + + + +_Thirty-five_ + + +At the same time that the colonel, dry-eyed and heavy-hearted, had +returned to his empty house to nurse his grief, another series of +events was drawing to a climax in the dilapidated house on Mink Run. +Even while the preacher was saying the last words over little Phil's +remains, old Malcolm Dudley's illness had taken a sudden and violent +turn. He had been sinking for several days, but the decline had been +gradual, and there had seemed no particular reason for alarm. But +during the funeral exercises Ben had begun to feel uneasy--some +obscure premonition warned him to hurry homeward. + +As soon as the funeral was over he spoke to Dr. Price, who had been +one of the pallbearers, and the doctor had promised to be at Mink Run +in a little while. Ben rode home as rapidly as he could; as he went up +the lane toward the house a Negro lad came forward to take charge of +the tired horse, and Ben could see from the boy's expression that he +had important information to communicate. + +"Yo' uncle is monst'ous low, sir," said the boy. "You bettah go in an' +see 'im quick, er you'll be too late. Dey ain' nobody wid 'im but ole +Aun' Viney." + +Ben hurried into the house and to his uncle's room, where Malcolm +Dudley lay dying. Outside, the sun was setting, and his red rays, +shining through the trees into the open window, lit the stage for the +last scene of this belated drama. When Ben entered the room, the sweat +of death had gathered on the old man's brow, but his eyes, clear with +the light of reason, were fixed upon old Viney, who stood by the +bedside. The two were evidently so absorbed in their own thoughts as +to be oblivious to anything else, and neither of them paid the +slightest attention to Ben, or to the scared Negro lad, who had +followed him and stood outside the door. But marvellous to hear, Viney +was talking, strangely, slowly, thickly, but passionately and +distinctly. + +"You had me whipped," she said. "Do you remember that? You had me +whipped--whipped--whipped--by a poor white dog I had despised and +spurned! You had said that you loved me, and you had promised to free +me--and you had me whipped! But I have had my revenge!" + +Her voice shook with passion, a passion at which Ben wondered. That +his uncle and she had once been young he knew, and that their +relations had once been closer than those of master and servant; but +this outbreak of feeling from the wrinkled old mulattress seemed as +strange and weird to Ben as though a stone image had waked to speech. +Spellbound, he stood in the doorway, and listened to this ghost of a +voice long dead. + +"Your uncle came with the money and left it, and went away. Only he +and I knew where it was. But I never told you! I could have spoken at +any time for twenty-five years, but I never told you! I have +waited--I have waited for this moment! I have gone into the woods and +fields and talked to myself by the hour, that I might not forget how +to talk--and I have waited my turn, and it is here and now!" + +Ben hung breathlessly upon her words. He drew back beyond her range of +vision, lest she might see him, and the spell be broken. Now, he +thought, she would tell where the gold was hidden! + +"He came," she said, "and left the gold--two heavy bags of it, and a +letter for you. An hour later _he came back and took it all away_, +except the letter! The money was here one hour, but in that hour you +had me whipped, and for that you have spent twenty-five years in +looking for nothing--something that was not here! I have had my +revenge! For twenty-five years I have watched you look for--nothing; +have seen you waste your time, your property, your life, your +mind--for nothing! For ah, Mars' Ma'colm, you had me whipped--_by +another man_!" + +A shadow of reproach crept into the old man's eyes, over which the +mists of death were already gathering. + +"Yes, Viney," he whispered, "you have had your revenge! But I was +sorry, Viney, for what I did, and you were not. And I forgive you, +Viney; but you are unforgiving--even in the presence of death." + +His voice failed, and his eyes closed for the last time. When she saw +that he was dead, by a strange revulsion of feeling the wall of +outraged pride and hatred and revenge, built upon one brutal and +bitterly repented mistake, and labouriously maintained for half a +lifetime in her woman's heart that even slavery could not crush, +crumbled and fell and let pass over it in one great and final flood +the pent-up passions of the past. Bursting into tears--strange tears +from eyes that had long forgot to weep--old Viney threw herself down +upon her knees by the bedside, and seizing old Malcolm's emaciated +hand in both her own, covered it with kisses, fervent kisses, the +ghosts of the passionate kisses of their distant youth. + +With a feeling that his presence was something like sacrilege, Ben +stole away and left her with her dead--the dead master and the dead +past--and thanked God that he lived in another age, and had escaped +this sin. + +As he wandered through the old house, a veil seemed to fall from his +eyes. How old everything was, how shrunken and decayed! The sheen of +the hidden gold had gilded the dilapidated old house, the neglected +plantation, his own barren life. Now that it was gone, things appeared +in their true light. Fortunately he was young enough to retrieve much +of what had been lost. When the old man was buried, he would settle +the estate, sell the land, make some provision for Aunt Viney, and +then, with what was left, go out into the world and try to make a +place for himself and Graciella. For life intrudes its claims even +into the presence of death. + +When the doctor came, a little later, Ben went with him into the death +chamber. Viney was still kneeling by her master's bedside, but +strangely still and silent. The doctor laid his hand on hers and old +Malcolm's, which had remained clasped together. + +"They are both dead," he declared. "I knew their story; my father told +it to me many years ago." + +Ben related what he had overheard. + +"I'm not surprised," said the doctor. "My father attended her when she +had the stroke, and after. He always maintained that Viney could +speak--if she had wished to speak." + + + + +_Thirty-six_ + + +The colonel's eyes were heavy with grief that night, and yet he lay +awake late, and with his sorrow were mingled many consoling thoughts. +The people, his people, had been kind, aye, more than kind. Their warm +hearts had sympathised with his grief. He had sometimes been impatient +of their conservatism, their narrowness, their unreasoning pride of +opinion; but in his bereavement they had manifested a feeling that it +would be beautiful to remember all the days of his life. All the +people, white and black, had united to honour his dead. + +He had wished to help them--had tried already. He had loved the town +as the home of his ancestors, which enshrined their ashes. He would +make of it a monument to mark his son's resting place. His fight +against Fetters and what he represented should take on a new +character; henceforward it should be a crusade to rescue from +threatened barbarism the land which contained the tombs of his loved +ones. Nor would he be alone in the struggle, which he now clearly +foresaw would be a long one. The dear, good woman he had asked to be +his wife could help him. He needed her clear, spiritual vision; and in +his lifelong sorrow he would need her sympathy and companionship; for +she had loved the child and would share his grief. She knew the people +better than he, and was in closer touch with them; she could help him +in his schemes of benevolence, and suggest new ways to benefit the +people. Phil's mother was buried far away, among her own people; could +he consult her, he felt sure she would prefer to remain there. Here +she would be an alien note; and when Laura died she could lie with +them and still be in her own place. + +"Have you heard the news, sir," asked the housekeeper, when he came +down to breakfast the next morning. + +"No, Mrs. Hughes, what is it?" + +"They lynched the Negro who was in jail for shooting young Mr. Fetters +and the other man." + +The colonel hastily swallowed a cup of coffee and went down town. It +was only a short walk. Already there were excited crowds upon the +street, discussing the events of the night. The colonel sought Caxton, +who was just entering his office. + +"They've done it," said the lawyer. + +"So I understand. When did it happen?" + +"About one o'clock last night. A crowd came in from Sycamore--not all +at once, but by twos and threes, and got together in Clay Johnson's +saloon, with Ben Green, your discharged foreman, and a lot of other +riffraff, and went to the sheriff, and took the keys, and took Johnson +and carried him out to where the shooting was, and----" + +"Spare me the details. He is dead?" + +"Yes." + +A rope, a tree--a puff of smoke, a flash of flame--or a barbaric orgy +of fire and blood--what matter which? At the end there was a lump of +clay, and a hundred murderers where there had been one before. + +"Can we do anything to punish _this_ crime?" + +"We can try." + +And they tried. The colonel went to the sheriff. The sheriff said he +had yielded to force, but he never would have dreamed of shooting to +defend a worthless Negro who had maimed a good white man, had nearly +killed another, and had declared a vendetta against the white race. + +By noon the colonel had interviewed as many prominent men as he could +find, and they became increasingly difficult to find as it became +known that he was seeking them. The town, he said, had been disgraced, +and should redeem itself by prosecuting the lynchers. He may as well +have talked to the empty air. The trail of Fetters was all over the +town. Some of the officials owed Fetters money; others were under +political obligations to him. Others were plainly of the opinion that +the Negro got no more than he deserved; such a wretch was not fit to +live. The coroner's jury returned a verdict of suicide, a grim joke +which evoked some laughter. Doctor McKenzie, to whom the colonel +expressed his feelings, and whom he asked to throw the influence of +his church upon the side of law and order, said: + +"It is too bad. I am sorry, but it is done. Let it rest. No good can +ever come of stirring it up further." + +Later in the day there came news that the lynchers, after completing +their task, had proceeded to the Dudley plantation and whipped all the +Negroes who did not learn of their coming in time to escape, the claim +being that Johnson could not have maintained himself in hiding without +their connivance, and that they were therefore parties to his crimes. + +The colonel felt very much depressed when he went to bed that night, +and lay for a long time turning over in his mind the problem that +confronted him. + +So far he had been beaten, except in the matter of the cotton mill, +which was yet unfinished. His efforts in Bud Johnson's behalf--the +only thing he had undertaken to please the woman he loved, had proved +abortive. His promise to the teacher--well, he had done his part, but +to no avail. He would be ashamed to meet Taylor face to face. With +what conscience could a white man in Clarendon ever again ask a Negro +to disclose the name or hiding place of a coloured criminal? In the +effort to punish the lynchers he stood, to all intents and purposes, +single-handed and alone; and without the support of public opinion he +could do nothing. + +The colonel was beaten, but not dismayed. Perhaps God in his wisdom +had taken Phil away, that his father might give himself more +completely and single-mindedly to the battle before him. Had Phil +lived, a father might have hesitated to expose a child's young and +impressionable mind to the things which these volcanic outbursts of +passion between mismated races might cause at any unforeseen moment. +Now that the way was clear, he could go forward, hand in hand with the +good woman who had promised to wed him, in the work he had laid out. +He would enlist good people to demand better laws, under which Fetters +and his kind would find it harder to prey upon the weak. + +Diligently he would work to lay wide and deep the foundations of +prosperity, education and enlightenment, upon which should rest +justice, humanity and civic righteousness. In this he would find a +worthy career. Patiently would he await the results of his labours, +and if they came not in great measure in his own lifetime, he would be +content to know that after years would see their full fruition. + +So that night he sat down and wrote a long answer to Kirby's letter, +in which he told him of Phil's death and burial, and his own grief. +Something there was, too, of his plans for the future, including his +marriage to a good woman who would help him in them. Kirby, he said, +had offered him a golden opportunity for which he thanked him +heartily. The scheme was good enough for any one to venture upon. But +to carry out his own plans, would require that he invest his money in +the State of his residence, where there were many openings for capital +that could afford to wait upon development for large returns. He sent +his best regards to Mrs. Jerviss, and his assurance that Kirby's plan +was a good one. Perhaps Kirby and she alone could handle it; if not, +there must be plenty of money elsewhere for so good a thing. + +He sealed the letter, and laid it aside to be mailed in the morning. +To his mind it had all the force of a final renunciation, a severance +of the last link that bound him to his old life. + +Long the colonel lay thinking, after he retired to rest, and the +muffled striking of the clock downstairs had marked the hour of +midnight ere he fell asleep. And he had scarcely dozed away, when he +was awakened by a scraping noise, as though somewhere in the house a +heavy object was being drawn across the floor. The sound was not +repeated, however, and thinking it some trick of the imagination, he +soon slept again. + +As the colonel slept this second time, he dreamed of a regenerated +South, filled with thriving industries, and thronged with a prosperous +and happy people, where every man, having enough for his needs, was +willing that every other man should have the same; where law and order +should prevail unquestioned, and where every man could enter, through +the golden gate of hope, the field of opportunity, where lay the +prizes of life, which all might have an equal chance to win or lose. + +For even in his dreams the colonel's sober mind did not stray beyond +the bounds of reason and experience. That all men would ever be equal +he did not even dream; there would always be the strong and the weak, +the wise and the foolish. But that each man, in his little life in +this our little world might be able to make the most of himself, was +an ideal which even the colonel's waking hours would not have +repudiated. + +Following this pleasing thread with the unconscious rapidity of +dreams, the colonel passed, in a few brief minutes, through a long and +useful life to a happy end, when he too rested with his fathers, by +the side of his son, and on his tomb was graven what was said of Ben +Adhem: "Here lies one who loved his fellow men," and the further +words, "and tried to make them happy." + + * * * * * + +Shortly after dawn there was a loud rapping at the colonel's door: + +"Come downstairs and look on de piazza, Colonel," said the agitated +voice of the servant who had knocked. "Come quick, suh." + +There was a vague terror in the man's voice that stirred the colonel +strangely. He threw on a dressing gown and hastened downstairs, and to +the front door of the hall, which stood open. A handsome mahogany +burial casket, stained with earth and disfigured by rough handling, +rested upon the floor of the piazza, where it had been deposited +during the night. Conspicuously nailed to the coffin lid was a sheet +of white paper, upon which were some lines rudely scrawled in a +handwriting that matched the spelling: + + _Kurnell French_: + + _Take notis. Berry yore ole nigger somewhar else. He can't stay + in Oak Semitury. The majority of the white people of this town, + who dident tend yore nigger funarl, woant have him there. + Niggers by there selves, white peepul by there selves, and them + that lives in our town must bide by our rules._ + + _By order of_ + CUMITTY. + + + +The colonel left the coffin standing on the porch, where it remained +all day, an object of curious interest to the scores and hundreds who +walked by to look at it, for the news spread quickly through the town. +No one, however, came in. If there were those who reprobated the +action they were silent. The mob spirit, which had broken out in the +lynching of Johnson, still dominated the town, and no one dared to +speak against it. + +As soon as Colonel French had dressed and breakfasted, he drove over +to the cemetery. Those who had exhumed old Peter's remains had not +been unduly careful. The carelessly excavated earth had been scattered +here and there over the lot. The flowers on old Peter's grave and that +of little Phil had been trampled under foot--whether wantonly or not, +inevitably, in the execution of the ghoulish task. + +The colonel's heart hardened as he stood by his son's grave. Then he +took a long lingering look at the tombs of his ancestors and turned +away with an air of finality. + +From the cemetery he went to the undertaker's, and left an order; +thence to the telegraph office, from which he sent a message to his +former partner in New York; and thence to the Treadwells'. + + + + +_Thirty-seven_ + + +Miss Laura came forward with outstretched hands and tear-stained eyes +to greet him. + +"Henry," she exclaimed, "I am shocked and sorry, I cannot tell you how +much! Nor do I know what else to say, except that the best people do +not--cannot--could not--approve of it!" + +"The best people, Laura," he said with a weary smile, "are an +abstraction. When any deviltry is on foot they are never there to +prevent it--they vanish into thin air at its approach. When it is +done, they excuse it; and they make no effort to punish it. So it is +not too much to say that what they permit they justify, and they +cannot shirk the responsibility. To mar the living--it is the history +of life--but to make war upon the dead!--I am going away, Laura, never +to return. My dream of usefulness is over. To-night I take away my +dead and shake the dust of Clarendon from my feet forever. Will you +come with me?" + +"Henry," she said, and each word tore her heart, "I have been +expecting this--since I heard. But I cannot go; my duty calls me here. +My mother could not be happy anywhere else, nor would I fit into any +other life. And here, too, I am useful--and may still be useful--and +should be missed. I know your feelings, and would not try to keep you. +But, oh, Henry, if all of those who love justice and practise humanity +should go away, what would become of us?" + +"I leave to-night," he returned, "and it is your right to go with me, +or to come to me." + +"No, Henry, nor am I sure that you would wish me to. It was for the +old town's sake that you loved me. I was a part of your dream--a part +of the old and happy past, upon which you hoped to build, as upon the +foundations of the old mill, a broader and a fairer structure. Do you +remember what you told me, that night--that happy night--that you +loved me because in me you found the embodiment of an ideal? Well, +Henry, that is why I did not wish to make our engagement known, for I +knew, I felt, the difficulty of your task, and I foresaw that you +might be disappointed, and I feared that if your ideal should be +wrecked, you might find me a burden. I loved you, Henry--I seem to +have always loved you, but I would not burden you." + +"No, no, Laura--not so! not so!" + +"And you wanted me for Phil's sake, whom we both loved; and now that +your dream is over, and Phil is gone, I should only remind you of +where you lost him, and of your disappointment, and of--this other +thing, and I could not be sure that you loved me or wanted me." + +"Surely you cannot doubt it, Laura?" His voice was firm, but to her +sensitive spirit it did not carry conviction. + +"You remembered me from my youth," she continued tremulously but +bravely, "and it was the image in your memory that you loved. And now, +when you go away, the old town will shrink and fade from your memory +and your heart and you will have none but harsh thoughts of it; nor +can I blame you greatly, for you have grown far away from us, and we +shall need many years to overtake you. Nor do you need me, Henry--I am +too old to learn new ways, and elsewhere than here I should be a +hindrance to you rather than a help. But in the larger life to which +you go, think of me now and then as one who loves you still, and who +will try, in her poor way, with such patience as she has, to carry on +the work which you have begun, and which you--Oh, Henry!" + +He divined her thought, though her tear-filled eyes spoke sorrow +rather than reproach. + +"Yes," he said sadly, "which I have abandoned. Yes, Laura, abandoned, +fully and forever." + +The colonel was greatly moved, but his resolution remained unshaken. + +"Laura," he said, taking both her hands in his, "I swear that I should +be glad to have you with me. Come away! The place is not fit for you +to live in!" + +"No, Henry! it cannot be! I could not go! My duty holds me here! God +would not forgive me if I abandoned it. Go your way; live your life. +Marry some other woman, if you must, who will make you happy. But I +shall keep, Henry--nothing can ever take away from me--the memory of +one happy summer." + +"No, no, Laura, it need not be so! I shall write you. You'll think +better of it. But I go to-night--not one hour longer than I must, will +I remain in this town. I must bid your mother and Graciella good-bye." + +He went into the house. Mrs. Treadwell was excited and sorry, and +would have spoken at length, but the colonel's farewells were brief. + +"I cannot stop to say more than good-bye, dear Mrs. Treadwell. I have +spent a few happy months in my old home, and now I am going away. +Laura will tell you the rest." + +Graciella was tearfully indignant. + +"It was a shame!" she declared. "Peter was a good old nigger, and it +wouldn't have done anybody any harm to leave him there. I'd rather be +buried beside old Peter than near any of the poor white trash that dug +him up--so there! I'm so sorry you're going away; but I hope, +sometime," she added stoutly, "to see you in New York! Don't forget!" + +"I'll send you my address," said the colonel. + + + + +_Thirty-eight_ + + +It was a few weeks later. Old Ralph Dudley and Viney had been buried. +Ben Dudley had ridden in from Mink Run, had hitched his horse in the +back yard as usual, and was seated on the top step of the piazza +beside Graciella. His elbows rested on his knees, and his chin upon +his hand. Graciella had unconsciously imitated his drooping attitude. +Both were enshrouded in the deepest gloom, and had been sunk, for +several minutes, in a silence equally profound. Graciella was the +first to speak. + +"Well, then," she said with a deep sigh, "there is absolutely nothing +left?" + +"Not a thing," he groaned hopelessly, "except my horse and my clothes, +and a few odds and ends which belong to me. Fetters will have the +land--there's not enough to pay the mortgages against it, and I'm in +debt for the funeral expenses." + +"And what are you going to do?" + +"Gracious knows--I wish I did! I came over to consult the family. I +have no trade, no profession, no land and no money. I can get a job at +braking on the railroad--or may be at clerking in a store. I'd have +asked the colonel for something in the mill--but that chance is gone." + +"Gone," echoed Graciella, gloomily. "I see my fate! I shall marry you, +because I can't help loving you, and couldn't live without you; and I +shall never get to New York, but be, all my life, a poor man's wife--a +poor white man's wife." + +"No, Graciella, we might be poor, but not poor-white! Our blood will +still be of the best." + +"It will be all the same. Blood without money may count for one +generation, but it won't hold out for two." + +They relapsed into a gloom so profound, so rayless, that they might +almost be said to have reveled in it. It was lightened, or at least a +diversion was created by Miss Laura's opening the garden gate and +coming up the walk. Ben rose as she approached, and Graciella looked +up. + +"I have been to the post-office," said Miss Laura. "Here is a letter +for you, Ben, addressed in my care. It has the New York postmark." + +"Thank you, Miss Laura." + +Eagerly Ben's hand tore the envelope and drew out the enclosure. +Swiftly his eyes devoured the lines; they were typewritten and easy to +follow. + +"Glory!" he shouted, "glory hallelujah! Listen!" + +He read the letter aloud, while Graciella leaned against his shoulder +and feasted her eyes upon the words. The letter was from Colonel +French: + + _"My dear Ben_: + + _I was very much impressed with the model of a cotton gin and + press which I saw you exhibit one day at Mrs. Treadwells'. You + have a fine genius for mechanics, and the model embodies, I + think, a clever idea, which is worth working up. If your + uncle's death has left you free to dispose of your time, I + should like to have you come on to New York with the model, and + we will take steps to have the invention patented at once, and + form a company for its manufacture. As an evidence of good + faith, I enclose my draft for five hundred dollars, which can + be properly accounted for in our future arrangements._" + +"O Ben!" gasped Graciella, in one long drawn out, ecstatic sigh. + +"O Graciella!" exclaimed Ben, as he threw his arms around her and +kissed her rapturously, regardless of Miss Laura's presence. "Now you +can go to New York as soon as you like!" + + + + +_Thirty-nine_ + + +Colonel French took his dead to the North, and buried both the little +boy and the old servant in the same lot with his young wife, and in +the shadow of the stately mausoleum which marked her resting-place. +There, surrounded by the monuments of the rich and the great, in a +beautiful cemetery, which overlooks a noble harbour where the ships of +all nations move in endless procession, the body of the faithful +servant rests beside that of the dear little child whom he unwittingly +lured to his death and then died in the effort to save. And in all the +great company of those who have laid their dead there in love or in +honour, there is none to question old Peter's presence or the +colonel's right to lay him there. Sometimes, at night, a ray of light +from the uplifted torch of the Statue of Liberty, the gift of a free +people to a free people, falls athwart the white stone which marks his +resting place--fit prophecy and omen of the day when the sun of +liberty shall shine alike upon all men. + +When the colonel went away from Clarendon, he left his affairs in +Caxton's hands, with instructions to settle them up as expeditiously +as possible. The cotton mill project was dropped, and existing +contracts closed on the best terms available. Fetters paid the old +note--even he would not have escaped odium for so bare-faced a +robbery--and Mrs. Treadwell's last days could be spent in comfort and +Miss Laura saved from any fear for her future, and enabled to give +more freely to the poor and needy. Barclay Fetters recovered the use +of one eye, and embittered against the whole Negro race by his +disfigurement, went into public life and devoted his talents and his +education to their debasement. The colonel had relented sufficiently +to contemplate making over to Miss Laura the old family residence in +trust for use as a hospital, with a suitable fund for its maintenance, +but it unfortunately caught fire and burned down--and he was hardly +sorry. He sent Catherine, Bud Johnson's wife, a considerable sum of +money, and she bought a gorgeous suit of mourning, and after a decent +interval consoled herself with a new husband. And he sent word to the +committee of coloured men to whom he had made a definite promise, that +he would be ready to fulfil his obligation in regard to their school +whenever they should have met the conditions. + + * * * * * + +One day, a year or two after leaving Clarendon, as the colonel, in +company with Mrs. French, formerly a member of his firm, now his +partner in a double sense--was riding upon a fast train between New +York and Chicago, upon a trip to visit a western mine in which the +reorganised French and Company, Limited, were interested, he noticed +that the Pullman car porter, a tall and stalwart Negro, was watching +him furtively from time to time. Upon one occasion, when the colonel +was alone in the smoking-room, the porter addressed him. + +"Excuse me, suh," he said, "I've been wondering ever since we left New +York, if you wa'n't Colonel French?" + +"Yes, I'm Mr. French--Colonel French, if you want it so." + +"I 'lowed it must be you, suh, though you've changed the cut of your +beard, and are looking a little older, suh. I don't suppose you +remember me?" + +"I've seen you somewhere," said the colonel--no longer the colonel, +but like the porter, let us have it so. "Where was it?" + +"I'm Henry Taylor, suh, that used to teach school at Clarendon. I +reckon you remember me now." + +"Yes," said the colonel sadly, "I remember you now, Taylor, to my +sorrow. I didn't keep my word about Johnson, did I?" + +"Oh, yes, suh," replied the porter, "I never doubted but what you'd +keep your word. But you see, suh, they were too many for you. There +ain't no one man can stop them folks down there when they once get +started." + +"And what are you doing here, Taylor?" + +"Well, suh, the fact is that after you went away, it got out somehow +that I had told on Bud Johnson. I don't know how they learned it, and +of course I knew you didn't tell it; but somebody must have seen me +going to your house, or else some of my enemies guessed it--and +happened to guess right--and after that the coloured folks wouldn't +send their children to me, and I lost my job, and wasn't able to get +another anywhere in the State. The folks said I was an enemy of my +race, and, what was more important to me, I found that my race was an +enemy to me. So I got out, suh, and I came No'th, hoping to find +somethin' better. This is the best job I've struck yet, but I'm hoping +that sometime or other I'll find something worth while." + +"And what became of the industrial school project?" asked the colonel. +"I've stood ready to keep my promise, and more, but I never heard from +you." + +"Well, suh, after you went away the enthusiasm kind of died out, and +some of the white folks throwed cold water on it, and it fell through, +suh." + +When the porter came along, before the train reached Chicago, the +colonel offered Taylor a handsome tip. + +"Thank you, suh," said the porter, "but I'd rather not take it. I'm a +porter now, but I wa'n't always one, and hope I won't always be one. +And during all the time I taught school in Clarendon, you was the only +white man that ever treated me quite like a man--and our folks just +like people--and if you won't think I'm presuming, I'd rather not take +the money." + +The colonel shook hands with him, and took his address. Shortly +afterward he was able to find him something better than menial +employment, where his education would give him an opportunity for +advancement. Taylor is fully convinced that his people will never get +very far along in the world without the good will of the white people, +but he is still wondering how they will secure it. For he regards +Colonel French as an extremely fortunate accident. + + * * * * * + +And so the colonel faltered, and, having put his hand to the plow, +turned back. But was not his, after all, the only way? For no more now +than when the Man of Sorrows looked out over the Mount of Olives, can +men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles. The seed which the +colonel sowed seemed to fall by the wayside, it is true; but other +eyes have seen with the same light, and while Fetters and his kind +still dominate their section, other hands have taken up the fight +which the colonel dropped. In manufactures the South has gone forward +by leaps and bounds. The strong arm of the Government, guided by a +wise and just executive, has been reached out to crush the poisonous +growth of peonage, and men hitherto silent have raised their voices to +commend. Here and there a brave judge has condemned the infamy of the +chain-gang and convict lease systems. Good men, North and South, have +banded themselves together to promote the cause of popular education. +Slowly, like all great social changes, but visibly, to the eye of +faith, is growing up a new body of thought, favourable to just laws +and their orderly administration. In this changed attitude of mind +lies the hope of the future, the hope of the Republic. + +But Clarendon has had its chance, nor seems yet to have had another. +Other towns, some not far from it, lying nearer the main lines of +travel, have been swept into the current of modern life, but not yet +Clarendon. There the grass grows thicker in the streets. The +meditative cows still graze in the vacant lot between the post-office +and the bank, where the public library was to stand. The old academy +has grown more dilapidated than ever, and a large section of plaster +has fallen from the wall, carrying with it the pencil drawing made in +the colonel's schooldays; and if Miss Laura Treadwell sees that the +graves of the old Frenches are not allowed to grow up in weeds and +grass, the colonel knows nothing of it. The pigs and the +loafers--leaner pigs and lazier loafers--still sleep in the shade, +when the pound keeper and the constable are not active. The limpid +water of the creek still murmurs down the slope and ripples over the +stone foundation of what was to have been the new dam, while the birds +have nested for some years in the vines that soon overgrew the +unfinished walls of the colonel's cotton mill. White men go their way, +and black men theirs, and these ways grow wider apart, and no one +knows the outcome. But there are those who hope, and those who pray, +that this condition will pass, that some day our whole land will be +truly free, and the strong will cheerfully help to bear the burdens of +the weak, and Justice, the seed, and Peace, the flower, of liberty, +will prevail throughout all our borders. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + | Typographical errors corrected in text: | + | | + | Page 114: resposeful replaced with reposeful | + | Page 120: retrogade replaced with retrograde | + | Page 149: h'anted replaced with ha'nted | + | | + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COLONEL'S DREAM*** + + +******* This file should be named 19746.txt or 19746.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/7/4/19746 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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