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+Project Gutenberg's The Love Story of Abner Stone, by Edwin Carlile Litsey
+
+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 Love Story of Abner Stone
+
+Author: Edwin Carlile Litsey
+
+Release Date: March 22, 2009 [EBook #28383]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOVE STORY OF ABNER STONE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Garcia, Carla Foust, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Kentuckiana Digital Library)
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note
+
+
+Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice. Printer
+errors have been changed and are listed at the end. All other
+inconsistencies are as in the original.
+
+
+
+
+THE LOVE STORY OF ABNER STONE
+
+
+
+
+   THE LOVE STORY
+
+   OF
+
+   ABNER STONE
+
+   _By_
+   EDWIN CARLILE LITSEY
+
+
+
+   NEW YORK
+   A. S. BARNES AND COMPANY
+   MCMII
+
+
+
+
+   _Copyright, 1902_
+   BY A. S. BARNES AND COMPANY
+   _Published June, 1902_
+
+   ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
+
+   REPRINTED JULY, 1902
+
+   UNIVERSITY PRESS · JOHN WILSON
+   AND SON · CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+TO HER
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+It seems a little strange that I, Abner Stone, now verging upon my
+seventieth year, should bring pen, ink, and paper before me, with the
+avowed purpose of setting down the love story of my life, which I had
+thought locked fast in my heart forever. A thing very sacred to me; of
+the world, it is true, yet still apart from it, the blessed memory of it
+all has abode in my breast with the unfading distinctness of an old
+picture done in oils, and has brightened the years I have thus far lived
+on the shadowed slope of life. And now has come the firm belief that the
+world may be made better by the telling of this story--as my life has
+been made better by having lived it--and so I shall essay the brief and
+simple task before my fingers have grown too stiff to hold the pen,
+trusting that some printer of books will be good enough to put my story
+into a little volume for all who would care to read. And I, as I pursue
+the work which I have appointed unto myself, shall again stroll through
+the meadows and forests of dear Kentucky, shall tread her dusty highways
+under the spell of a bygone June, and shall sit within the portals of an
+old home whose floors are now pressed by an alien foot. Now, ere I have
+scarce begun, the recollections come upon me like a flood, and this page
+becomes blurred to my failing sight. O Memory! Memory! and the visions
+of thine!
+
+
+
+
+THE LOVE STORY _of_ ABNER STONE
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+It is a long path which stretches from forty-five to seventy. A path
+easy enough to make, for each day's journey through life is a part of
+it, but very difficult to retrace. When we turn at that advanced
+mile-stone and look back, things seem misty. For there is many a twist
+and angle in the highway of a life, and often the things which we would
+forget stand out the clearest. But I would not drive from my brain this
+quiet afternoon the visions which enfold it,--the blessed recollections
+of over a score of years ago. For the sweet voice which speaks in my
+ear as I write I have never ceased to hear; the face which the mirror of
+my mind ever reflects before my eyes I have looked upon with
+never-tiring eagerness, and the tender hand which I can imagine betimes
+creeping into my own, is the chiefest blessing of a life nearly spent.
+
+There is no haunting memory of past misdeeds to shadow the quiet rest of
+my last days. As I bid my mind go back over the path which my feet have
+trod, no ghost uprises to confront it; no voice cries out for
+retribution or justice; not even does a dumb animal whine at a blow
+inflicted, nor a worm which my foot has wantonly pressed, appear. I
+would show forth no self-praise in this, but rather a devout
+thankfulness unto the Creator who made me as I am, with a heart of mercy
+for all living things, and a reverent love for all His wonderful works.
+The beauty of tree, and flowering plant, and lowly creeper abides with
+me as an everlasting joy, and the song of the humblest singer the forest
+shelters finds a response in my heart. Without my window now, as I sit
+down to make a history of part of my life, a brown-coated English
+sparrow is chattering in a strange jargon to his mate on the limb of an
+Early Harvest apple tree, and I pause a moment to listen to his shrill
+little voice, and to watch the black patch under his throat puff up and
+down.
+
+It is the fall of the year, and the afternoon is gray. At times an arrow
+of sunlight breaks through the shields of clouds, and kisses the brown
+earth with a quivering spot of light. Across the sloping, unkept lawn,
+about midway between the house and the whitewashed gate leading from the
+yard, a rabbit hops, aimlessly, his back humped up, and his white tail
+showing plainly amid his sombre surroundings. I can see the muscles
+about his nostrils twitching, as he stops now and again to nibble at a
+withered tuft of grass. A lonely jay flits from one tree to another; a
+cardinal speeds by my window, a line of color across a dark background;
+and one by one the dry leaves drop noiselessly down, making thicker the
+soft covering which Nature is spreading over the breast of Mother Earth.
+
+It may be that I shall not see the resurrection of another spring. Each
+winter that has passed for the last few years has grown a little harder
+for me, and my breathing becomes difficult in the damp, cold weather.
+Perhaps my eyes shall not again behold the glorious flood of light and
+color which follows the footsteps of spring; perhaps when the earth is
+wrapped once more in its mantle of leaves they shall lie over my breast
+as well. For man's years upon this earth are measured in Holy Writ as
+threescore and ten, and come December fourth next, I shall have lived my
+allotted time. My ways have not all been ways of pleasantness, nor all
+my paths peace. But I am glad to have lived; to have known the hopes of
+youth and the trials of manhood. To have felt within my soul that
+emotion which rules the earth and the universes, and which is Heaven's
+undefiled gift to Man. From books I have gained knowledge; from the
+lessons of life I have learned wisdom; from love I have found the way
+which leads to life eternal.
+
+Old age is treacherous, and it comes to me now that maybe I have delayed
+my work too long. For the mind of age does not move with the nimbleness
+of a young colt, but rather with the labored efforts of a beast of
+burden whose limbs are stiff from a life of toil. But this I know, that
+there is a period in my existence which the years cannot dim. I have
+lived it over again and again, winter and summer, summer and winter,
+here in my quiet country home among the hills. There has been nothing to
+my life but that; first, the living of it, and then the memory of it.
+
+It is my love story.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+In the spring of 1860, I was a lodger in a respectable boarding-house on
+Chestnut Street, in Louisville. My father--God rest his soul--had passed
+away ten years before, and I was able to live comfortably upon the
+income of my modest inheritance, as I was his sole child, and my dear
+mother was to me but an elusive memory of childhood. Sometimes, in still
+evenings just before I lit my student's lamp, and I sat alone musing, I
+would catch vague glimpses of a sweet, pure face with calm, gray
+eyes--but that was all. No figure, no voice, not even her hair, but
+sometimes my mind would picture an aureole around her head. I have
+often wondered why she was taken from me before I could have known her,
+but I have also striven not to be rebellious. But she must have been an
+unusual woman, for my father never recovered from her loss, and to the
+day of his death he wore a tress of her hair in a locket over his heart.
+I have it now, and I wear it always.
+
+I was of a timid disposition, and retiring nature, and so my
+acquaintances were few, and of close friends I had not one. My mornings
+and evenings were spent with my books, and in the afternoons I took
+solitary walks, often wandering out into the country, if the weather was
+fine, for the blue sky had a charm for me, and I loved to look at the
+distant hills,--the hazy and purple undulations which marked the
+horizon. And Nature was never the same to me. Always changing, always
+some beauty before undiscovered bursting on my sight, and her limitless
+halls were full of paintings and of songs of which I would never tire.
+Then, as evening closed in, and I would reluctantly turn back to my
+crowded quarters, the sordid streets and the cramped appearance of
+everything would fret me, and almost make me envious of the sparrow
+perched on the telegraph wire over my head. For he, at least, was lifted
+above this thoughtless, hurrying throng among which I was compelled to
+pass, and the piteous, supplicating voice of the blind beggar at the
+corner did not remind him that even thus he might some day become. And
+thus, when my feet brought me to the line of traffic, as I returned
+home, I would unconsciously hasten my steps, for the moil and toil of a
+city's strife I could not bear.
+
+In the spring of 1860, these long walks to the country became more
+frequent. I had been cooped up for four rigorous months, a
+predisposition to taking cold always before me as a warning that I must
+be careful in bad weather. And the confines of a fourteen by eighteen
+room naturally become irksome after weeks and weeks of intimate
+acquaintance. It is true there were two windows to my apartment. A
+glance from one only showed me the side of a house adjoining the one in
+which I stayed, but the other gave me a view of a thoroughfare, and by
+this window I sat through many a bleak winter day, watching the
+passers-by. One night there was a sleet, and when I looked out the next
+morning, everything was covered in a gray coat of ice. A young maple
+grew directly under my window, and its poor head was bent over as though
+in sorrow at the treatment it had to endure, and its branches hung
+listlessly in their icy case, with a frozen raindrop at the end of each
+twig. The sidewalks were treacherous, and I found some amusement in
+watching the pedestrians as they warily proceeded along the slippery
+pavement, most of them treading as though walking on egg-shells. There
+went an old gentleman who must have had business down town, for I had
+seen him pass every day. This morning he carried a stick in his hand,
+and I discovered that it was pointed with some sharp substance that
+would assist him, for every time he lifted it up, it left a little white
+spot in the coating of ice. There went a schoolboy, helter-skelter,
+swinging his books by a strap, running and sliding along the pavement in
+profound contempt for its dangers. A jaunty little Miss with fur wraps
+and veiled face, but through the thin obstruction I could plainly see
+two rosy cheeks, and a pair of dancing eyes. Her tiny feet, likewise,
+passed on without fear, and she disappeared. Heaven grant they may rest
+as firm on every path through life!
+
+Next came an aged woman, who moved with faltering feet, and always kept
+one hand upon the iron fence enclosing the small yard, as a support.
+Each step was taken slowly, and with trepidation, and I wished for the
+moment that I was beside her, to lend her my arm. Some errand of mercy
+or dire necessity called her forth on such a perilous venture, and I
+felt that, whatever the motive be, it would shield her from mishap. And
+so they passed, youth and age, as the day wore on. In the afternoon the
+old gentleman re-passed, and I saw that his back was a little more
+stooped, and he leaned heavier on his stick. For each day adds weight to
+the shoulders of age.
+
+And now a miserable cur came sniffing along the gutter on the opposite
+side of the street. His ribs showed plainly through his dirty yellow
+coat, the scrubby hair along his back stood on end, and his tail was
+held closely between his legs. And so he tipped along, half-starved,
+vainly seeking some morsel of food. He stopped and looked up, shivering
+visibly as the cold wind pierced him through and through, then trotted
+to the middle of the street, and began nosing something lying there. A
+handsome coupé darted around the corner, taking the centre of the road.
+The starving cur never moved, so intent was he on obtaining food, and
+thus it happened that a pitiful yelp of pain reached my ears, muffled by
+the closed window. The coupé whirled on its journey, and below, in the
+chill, desolate grayness of a winter afternoon, an ugly pup sat howling
+at the leaden skies, his right foreleg upheld, part of it dangling in a
+very unnatural manner. A pang of compassion for the dumb unfortunate
+stirred in my breast, but I sat still and watched. He tried to walk, but
+the effort was a failure, and again he sat down and howled, this time
+with his meagre face upturned to my window. The street was empty, as far
+as I could see, for twilight was almost come, and cheery firesides were
+more tempting than slippery pavements and stinging winds. The muffled
+tones of distress became weaker and more despairing, and I could endure
+them no longer. I quickly arose and cast off my dressing-gown and
+slippers. In less than a minute I had on shoes, coat, and great-coat,
+and was quietly stealing down the stairs. Tenderly I took the shivering,
+whining form up in my arms, casting my eyes around and breathing a sigh
+of relief that no one had seen, and thanking my stars, as I entered my
+room, that I had not encountered my landlady, who had a great aversion
+to cats and dogs.
+
+It was little enough of surgery I knew, veterinary or otherwise, but a
+simpleton could have seen that a broken leg was at least one of the
+injuries my charge had suffered. I laid the dirty yellow object down on
+the heavy rug before the fire, and he stopped the whining, and his
+trembling, too, as soon as the soothing heat began to permeate his
+half-frozen body. I knew there was a pine board in my closet, and from
+this I made some splints and bound up the broken limb as gently as I
+could, but my fingers were not very deft nor my skill more than
+ordinary, and as a consequence a few fresh howls were the result. But at
+last it was done, and then I made an examination of the other limbs,
+finding them as nature intended they should be, with the exception of a
+few scars and their unnatural boniness. So I got one of my old coats and
+made a bed on the corner of the hearth, to which I proceeded to
+transfer my rescued cur. He was grateful, as dogs ever are for a
+kindness, and licked my hands as I put him down. And he found strength
+somehow to wag his tail in token of thankfulness, so I felt repaid for
+my act of mercy, and very well satisfied. A surreptitious visit to the
+dining-room resulted in a purloined chunk of cold roast beef, and two or
+three dry, hard biscuits, which I found in the corner of a cupboard. Thus
+laden with my plunder, I started back, and in the hall came face to face
+with my boarding-house mistress.
+
+"Why, Mr. Stone, what in the world!" she began, before I could open my
+mouth or put my hands behind my back.
+
+"I--that is--Mrs. Moss, I have a friend with me to-night who is very
+eccentric. He has been out in the cold quite a while, and he dislikes
+meeting strangers, so that I thought I would let him thaw out in my
+room while I came down and got us a little bite. You needn't expect us
+at supper, for I have enough here for both."
+
+"If it pleases you, Mr. Stone, I have no objections. But I should be
+glad to send your meals to your room as long as your friend remains."
+
+I had reached the foot of the stair, and was now going up it.
+
+"He leaves to-morrow, Mrs. Moss,--I think. Thank you for your kindness,"
+and I dodged into my room and shut the door.
+
+My charge was waiting where I had left him, with bright eyes of
+anticipation. I took a newspaper and spread it on the floor close up to
+him, and depositing the result of my foraging expedition on this, I
+stood up and watched him attack the beef with a vigor I did not suppose
+he possessed.
+
+"Enjoy it, you little wretch!" I muttered, as he bolted one mouthful
+after another. "I came nearer telling a lie for you, than I ever did in
+my life before."
+
+Then I made myself comfortable again, drew up my easy-chair, and lit my
+lamp, and with pipe and book beguiled the hours till bed-time.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+I named him Fido, after much deliberation and great hesitancy. My
+principal objection to this name was that nearly every diminutive dog
+bore it, but then it was old fashioned, and I had a weakness for
+old-fashioned things, if this taste could be spoken of in such a manner.
+I had really intended setting him adrift after his leg was strong, but
+during the days of his convalescence I became so strongly attached to
+him that I completely forgot my former idea. He was great company for
+me, and after I had given him several baths, and all he could eat every
+day, he wasn't such a bad-looking dog, after all. The hair on his back
+lay down now, and his pinched body rounded out till I began to fear
+obesity, while his tail took on a handsome curl. Altogether, I was
+rather proud of him. But the result of my crude attempt at surgery
+became manifest when I finally removed the splints. The limb had grown
+together, it is true, but it was dreadfully crooked, and a large knot
+appeared where the fracture had been. When he tried to walk, I
+discovered that this leg was a trifle shorter than its mate, and poor
+Fido limped a little, but I believe this only added to my affection.
+
+Winter held on till March, and then reluctantly gave way before the
+approach of spring. The wind blew; the sun shone at intervals; the ice
+began to melt, and muddy rivulets formed in the streets. When the ground
+dried up a little, I began my afternoon walks, Fido limping cheerfully
+along beside me. One day my commiseration for his affliction almost
+vanished. We had strolled away out past the streets, and had been
+walking along a pike, when the refreshing green of a clover meadow on my
+left caused me to climb the fence and seek a closer acquaintance. Fido
+wriggled through a crack at the bottom, and as I sat on the top rail for
+a moment, the little rascal suddenly gave tongue and shot out across the
+meadow after a young rabbit, which was making good time through the low
+clover. That lame leg didn't impede my yellow pup's running qualities,
+and I had to call him severely by name before he gave up the chase. He
+came panting back to me with his dripping tongue hanging out, and with
+as innocent a look on his face as one could imagine. I felt that he
+needed a gentle chastising, but there was nothing lying around wherewith
+to administer it, and I did not search for the necessary switch. But I
+wasted no more sympathy on that crooked right leg.
+
+I became interested in the view before me, and forgot that time was
+passing. The clover meadow stretched away to a low bluff, at the base of
+which I could see the shining surface of a small stream. Far to my right
+a field was being broken up for corn. The fresh scent of the newly
+turned earth came to my nostrils like perfume. On the farther side of
+the field a patient mule was plodding along, dragging his burden, a
+plough, behind him, and I heard the guiding cries of the driver as he
+spoke in no gentle voice to the animal which was wearing its life away
+for its master's gain. A meadow lark arose a little to one side. I
+noticed his yellow vest, sprinkled with dark spots, as he flew with
+drooping tail for a few rods, then sank down again in the clover. From
+somewhere in the distance a Bob White's clear notes welled up through
+the silence. A flutter of wings near by, and I turned my head to see a
+bluebird flit gently to the top of a stake in the fence-corner not far
+away. They were abroad, these harbingers of spring, and I knew that
+balmy breezes and bursting buds came quickly in their wake. How sweet it
+was to know that earth's winding-sheet had been rent from her breast
+once more; that the shackles had been torn from her streams and the
+fetters loosed from her trees; to feel that where there had been barren
+desolation and lifeless refuse of last year's math would soon appear
+green shoots of grass, and growing flowers; that the tender leaves of
+the trees would whisper each to each in a language which we cannot
+understand, but which we love to hear. Especially at eventide, when the
+heat of the day is softened by twilight shadows, and a gentle breeze
+comes wandering along, touching with fairy fingers the careworn face and
+tired hands.
+
+The sun had sunk below the horizon. As I now directed my gaze to the
+western sky, one of those rarely beautiful phenomena which sometimes
+accompany sunset in early spring, was spread before me. Spanning the
+clear sky, stretching from western horizon to zenith, and from zenith to
+eastern horizon, was a narrow, filmy band of cloud. And by some subtle
+reflection of which we do not know, the whole had caught the golden
+sheen of the hidden sun, and glowed, pale gold and pink and saffron. The
+sky was clear but for this encircling cloud-band, and my fancy saw it as
+a ring girding the earth with celestial glory,--a fitting path for
+spirit feet when they tread the upward heights. I watched it pale, with
+upturned face, its changing tints in themselves a miracle, and thought
+of the wonders which lay beyond it, which we are taught to seek. Thought
+of what was on the other side of that steadily purpling curtain
+stretched above me which no human eye might pierce. Groves of peace and
+endless song and light which never paled; my mother's face--
+
+A star blossomed out in the tranquil depths above me, white and pure as
+a thought of God; some dun-colored boats were drifting in an azure sea
+out in the west, and a whippoorwill's plaintive wail sounded through the
+dusk from adown the fence-row. Up from the still earth there floated to
+my nostrils the incense of a dew-drenched landscape,--fresh, odorous,
+wonderfully sweet,--and a fire-fly's zigzag lantern came travelling
+towards me across the darkening meadow. Everything had become very
+still. It was that magic hour when the voices of the things of the day
+are hushed, and the things of the night have not yet awakened. Only at
+intervals the whippoorwill's call arose, like a pulse of pain. The voice
+of the ploughman in the adjoining field came no more to my ears; a
+respite from labor had come to both man and beast. The birds were still.
+There was no flutter of wings, no piping cry. The earth rested for a
+spell, and a solemn quietude stole over the scented fields.
+
+I knew that I ought to be going--that I ought to have gone long ago, but
+still I sat on the topmost rail of the fence, which stretched away like
+a many-horned worm on either side of me. Supper was already cold, but I
+had been a little late on several occasions before, and Mrs. Moss had
+very kindly laid something aside for me. I was one whom she called "a
+queer man who saw nothing outside of his books," and while this was not
+altogether true, inasmuch as I was even now missing both supper and
+books for another delight in which my soul revelled, still she bore with
+my eccentricities, and I was thankful to her. "You should fall in love,
+Mr. Stone," she said to me one day, half jestingly, "and that would get
+you out of some of your staid ways." I replied with a smile that, as she
+did not take young ladies to board, there was small chance of that, and
+had thought of her remark no more. But now, in the tender gloaming of an
+April day, I felt that I did love, and with as ardent a passion as any
+man ever owned. I loved the rich sunlight, which I had watched fade
+away, but which still lingered in my breast. I loved the greening of
+Nature, and the yellowing of her harvest. I loved the soul-expanding
+influence of sky and air, and the far-reaching, billowy fields. All
+things that grew, and all things that moved in this, God's kingdom, I
+loved. What else was there to love? A woman? Yes; but they lived for me
+only in the pages of history and romance, and it was not likely that I,
+a bookworm bachelor of forty-five, would ever meet the one to stir my
+heart. And I feared them, a little. Out here, under the sky, with no one
+to hear but Fido and the dumb silence, I can make this confession. I
+knew she lived, somewhere, the one to whom my heart would cry, because
+this is the plan of the Creator, but I was glad that our lines of life
+had not crossed.
+
+So please Him, thus would I live content.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+
+The last bright streamer had disappeared, but still there remained a
+faint, chaste glow above the dark line of hills. An unseen Hand had sown
+the sky thickly with stars, and more fell to their appointed places as
+the moments passed. A bull-frog boomed out his guttural note, and Fido
+began to whine and gnaw at the rail just below my feet. He was getting
+hungry, and I acquiesced to his wordless plea to go home. Night had now
+come, and the air was chilly, so I buttoned my coat close up to my chin,
+and moved briskly. We were some distance from home, but the lights of
+the city were reflected in the sky, and besides, it was not dark,
+because of the stars, and the road over which we went had but one end.
+
+I ate in quiet satisfaction the lunch which Mrs. Moss had saved for me,
+but when I tried to interest myself in Emerson, a few minutes later, I
+found that one of my favorites bored me. This sudden lack of
+appreciation of the great essayist annoyed me, and I forced my eyes to
+traverse line after line, hoping that the pleasing charm which they had
+always held for me would return. But this policy proved futile, so at
+length I quietly closed the book and put it down on the table, disgusted
+with myself. Perhaps my mind required something in lighter vein, and
+there was my bookcase, with its glass doors open, as they usually were.
+But the delightful metre of the "Lady of the Lake" seemed halting and
+tame to me that night, and this volume I did not close as gently as I
+had the former one, but flung it carelessly on the table and walked
+nervously to the window and raised the sash. For a moment--only a
+moment--I stood there, trying to find a few stars through the curtain of
+factory smoke which hung overhead, and letting the cool air blow about
+me. Then I put the window down, and came back to my easy-chair,
+satisfied, for I had solved the riddle of my unrest.
+
+That afternoon's walk had showed me of what I was depriving myself. It
+dawned upon me in that moment that the pastoral joys which I had known
+that day were dearer to my soul than printed pages and the
+mind-narrowing captivity of four walls. Out there were unbounded
+possibilities for the mind and soul, lessons to be learned, pages to be
+read, secrets to discover,--a message in each soft gurgle of the brook;
+a whisper from each stirring leaf; a hidden story in the dreamy face of
+each flower. All of these became voices in my ears; I could listen to
+their singing and sighing for hours. What an awakening it was! I had
+been dreaming for over half my life, and with a sigh I looked at the
+well-worn tomes in my bookcase, which must now take second place in my
+heart. They had served me well. True and tried friends, into whose faces
+I had looked in both joy and sorrow, and never failed of consolation or
+delight. I would never desert them--God forbid! They were grappled to my
+soul with hooks which would neither bend nor break, and which could not
+fall away. Still would I come to them and caress them with loving
+fingers as I held them in my lap; still would I ask their advice and
+store my mind of their knowledge, for they had lightened too many hours
+of my life to be forsaken now,--it would be like giving up a friend of
+twoscore years for one newly found. And I loved them none the less,--in
+the full flush of the secret which I had discovered I knew this, and I
+walked over to where the long rows stood like phalanxes, and ran my
+hands lovingly over the sheepskin and vellum backs. And, 'pon my soul,
+they seemed to respond to my fingers, as though I had touched hands with
+a friend! They may have been dumb, but they were not lifeless; for the
+spirits of their creators still lingered between the leaves, and made
+them live--for me. Good friends, rest easy on your shelves; one by one
+each of you shall come down, as you have always done, and commune with
+me. When Nature sleeps, then we shall revel.
+
+I sat down again, and stretched my feet out towards the low fire. With
+pipe newly filled, I caressed it between my joined hands, and thought.
+After a half hour of smoking and ruminating, I came to a conclusion. I
+would move to the country for the summer! What a dolt I had been all
+these years! The matter of board need not be considered, for that was
+cheaper in the country than in town. When winter came again, I could
+return to my present quarters, if I chose. What I wanted was a quiet old
+farmhouse with as few people in it as possible, and located in the
+blue-grass region of the State. Then life would be one endless
+delight,--days afield, and peaceful, noiseless nights. To be awakened in
+the morning by the matin song of the thrush; to breathe the intoxicating
+odor of honeysuckle and jessamine; to step out into the dew-washed
+grass, instead of upon the hard pavement, and to receive the countless
+benedictions of the outstretched arms of the trees as I walked beneath
+them. Where had my mind been a-wandering all of these years that I had
+not thought of this before? But I was too sensible to mar my present joy
+with useless regrets. The future was bright with anticipation and rich
+with promise, and my heart grew light.
+
+And Fido--poor Fido--would be glad of the change, too, for I am sure it
+must have taxed his love for me to stay in the goods-box which I had
+converted into a kennel and placed in the small backyard. Mrs.
+Moss,--honest soul,--when giving her reluctant consent to this, consoled
+herself by thinking that she was only yielding to another of my
+vagaries.
+
+There was no one else to consider, and so I put the thing down in my
+mind as settled. I would leave this soul-dwarfing, cramped, smoke-hung
+atmosphere, and take up my abode where the air was pure, and where the
+sun could shine. Mrs. Moss would lose a good, quiet boarder, it is
+true; but my consideration for Mrs. Moss's feelings would not cause me
+to sacrifice myself. Some one else would come and take the room which
+had been mine for ten years, and I would soon be forgotten.
+
+The revelation which I had experienced put me in such high spirits at
+the glorious prospects before me that I could not think of going to bed
+when eleven o'clock sounded from the mantel-tree. Instead, I believe I
+actually chuckled, as I slipped my hand into the pocket of my
+dressing-gown for my tobacco-pouch, and proceeded to fill my pipe again.
+Method had always been the rule of my life, but that night I put it by
+for a space. The question paramount was--where should I go? Certainly
+most any farm housewife would give me a room upstairs for a small money
+consideration a month, but I was a little particular, and wanted to
+live and move among _folks_, for which I was fitted by birth and
+education. I knew that blood as blue and as genteel flowed through
+country veins as through city arteries; but how was I to find these
+people out? I didn't know a dozen persons in Louisville outside of my
+boarding-house. The hands of the clock were getting dangerously near
+together at the top of the dial before a solution came.
+
+Suddenly I bethought me of Reuben Walker, that staid, long-headed fellow
+who had graduated with me back in forty. The nearest approach I ever had
+to a friend. He had gone to practise law in Springfield, down there in
+Washington County, and had made something of a name for himself, too. I
+hadn't seen him since forty-five, hadn't written to him since fifty, but
+he was the only man living I knew who could help me. So I forthwith
+indited a note to Reuben Walker, Esq., Attorney-at-Law, reminding him of
+our former intimacy, regretting that we had allowed ourselves to drift
+apart, and asking if he knew of a quiet country home where I might spend
+the summer. I reasoned that it was a country lawyer's business to know
+everybody in his county, and I hoped that Reuben remembered me well
+enough to refer me only to the kind with whom I would care to affiliate.
+I did not write letters often, my correspondence averaging perhaps a
+half dozen epistles a year, and so I signed my name to this one before
+reading it over. Then I recollected one of the earliest injunctions of
+my father: "Be very careful what you sign your name to," so I
+deliberately reread the missive before me. It was all right; I had said
+all that was necessary, but just as I was bending the sheet to fold it
+I stopped, spread it out again, and, taking up my quill, wrote as a
+postscript:
+
+"I much prefer a home where there are _no_ young ladies."
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+
+In due time an answer came. It was with considerable anxiety that I
+broke the seal, but there was a smile upon my face when I finished
+reading the short, friendly letter which he had sent me. He knew a place
+that would suit me exactly. Mr. and Mrs. Grundy were an elderly couple
+who lived about eight miles north of Springfield. They belonged to the
+aristocracy of the county, and lived in a two-story brick house on a
+magnificent farm. They were warm friends of Reuben's, and he felt no
+hesitancy in declaring that they would board me throughout the summer
+and fall. So positive was he of this fact that he wrote me to come
+whenever I pleased, and he would have everything arranged by the time I
+got there. He added a postscript, in answer to mine, stating that his
+friends were childless, and he did not think I would be bothered by any
+young ladies.
+
+My elation at the success of my plans thus far was so apparent that it
+was openly remarked upon at the tea-table that evening. And so I told
+them all then and there of the change I was about to make. Of course
+there was a chorus of regrets that I was to leave, which I could not
+believe genuine, since I was so unsociable. But meeting Mrs. Moss in the
+hall as I started to my room, I explained to her that my health demanded
+an immediate change of air, and that for no other reason would I have
+gone. This the good lady accepted smilingly, and wished me much
+happiness in my new home.
+
+There were not many preparations for me to make. My books and my
+wardrobe packed, my landlady paid, a modest demand on my bankers, and I
+was ready. It was in the latter part of April, in the midst of a steady
+downpour of rain, that I took my seat in the four-horse coach, with Fido
+between my feet. I remember the feeling which came to me when the huge
+vehicle started. I felt that I was almost leaving the earth, despite the
+rumbling and the jolting, when I thought of my destination. The heavy
+clouds and the swishing rain held no gloom for me. For above the clouds
+was the broad, blue sky, with the sun somewhere in it, and somewhere
+beyond the curtain of the rain was light and warmth and blooming fields.
+My heart was beating riotously, for this trip was really an adventure to
+me, who had not been anywhere for nearly twenty years. The coach was
+empty but for us, Fido and me, and it will seem queer to some when I
+say that I was very thankful for this. But I did not care to talk to
+people who were nothing to me, and who I might never see again. I much
+preferred to be in solitude, and muse upon all that my new life would
+hold for me. The rain stopped all at once, so suddenly that I would have
+been surprised had it not been April, and through the soiled glass of
+the coach door, now thickly streaked where the raindrops had run down
+it, came a blunted arrow of sunshine.
+
+My trip would have been a tiresome one under ordinary circumstances, but
+I did not feel the least fatigue during all the long journey. I shall
+never forget the morning we rolled into Springfield, and drew up before
+a small frame building opposite the court square. A plain board
+suspended above the doorway of this building bore the simple
+inscription, "Reuben Walker, Attorney-at-Law." Here was the place where
+my friend gave legal counsel in exchange for legal money. I caught sight
+of his broad, humorous face ere the coach had given its final jolt as it
+came to a standstill. Directly in front of the office before which we
+stopped were two large locust-trees, and under these trees that bright
+spring morning quite a little company had gathered. There was a sudden
+explosion of laughter as the stage-driver descended from his perch and
+opened the door for me to alight, and a quick glance showed me that some
+joker had reached the climax of his narrative just at that moment.
+Before I could rise from my seat, the coach door was darkened by a
+figure, a strong hand was thrust into mine, and I was fairly dragged
+into the arms of Reuben Walker, who gave me hearty greeting. To this I
+responded quite as heartily. Fido had whisked out of his narrow
+quarters, and had begun to stretch himself in many wild contortions. I
+proceeded to reckon with my stage-driver, then Reuben took me by the
+hand, and leading me up to the men whom he had just left, he made me
+acquainted with each and every one. Most of them I have forgotten, for
+they went out of my life as speedily as they entered it; but one I
+remember yet, for he was afterwards governor of our beloved
+commonwealth. This was Proctor Knott, and he it was who had exploded the
+joke just as I arrived. I quietly joined the company, and listened to
+some more of this gifted young lawyer's yarns. The ringing of the
+court-house bell soon after caused a dispersion of the crowd. Some of
+them went with the lawyers to the court-room, others strolled down town,
+and Reuben and I were left alone.
+
+"Come in, come in, Abner," he said, bluffly, and he led the way into his
+office.
+
+A square table covered with green baize stood in the centre of the room.
+A box filled with sawdust sat upon the floor to serve as a cuspidor;
+three or four splint-bottomed chairs completed the office furniture. One
+of these I occupied, placing my hat upon the table, and Reuben took
+another, stretching out his short, fat legs, and crossing his hands over
+his bulging front.
+
+"I'm glad to see you, Abner, 'pon my honor," he began, smiling so that
+his rubicund visage glowed with good feeling. "How did you take a notion
+to come to the woods?"
+
+"I was cramped," I answered truthfully. "The city's smoke was stifling
+me, and I wanted a breath of fresh air."
+
+"You'll get enough of that down at Henry Grundy's. That's the only cool
+place in the county in midsummer. And if you'll take my advice and
+straddle one of his thoroughbreds once a day, you'll get some color in
+your face. I've fixed everything for you. You're to have a front room on
+the ground floor, and pay twelve dollars a month. That's cheaper than
+stealing it. But you don't want to make a hermit of yourself when you
+get down there. Come up and spend a week or two with me. Miss 'Pheme
+[his wife] will be mighty glad to see you. She makes me walk chalk, but
+she'll be easy on you. You're going to be with mighty fine folks,--the
+cream of the county. They were very particular at first, but I vouched
+for you, and that settled it. Henry said he'd be in this morning after
+you. He's a Presbyterian and a Democrat, and talks to you as though you
+were deaf, but he's harmless. Why don't you tell me 'bout yourself?"
+
+I saw at once that my good friend still insisted on doing all the
+talking,--one of the traits of his young manhood,--and when I told him
+that he hadn't drawn breath for five minutes, he seemed surprised.
+
+"There's not much to tell about myself, Reuben," I replied. "I've been
+living alone,--reading, smoking, and thinking a little. Then I fancied
+that I'd like the country, and here I am."
+
+"Where'd you get that?" He jerked one squat thumb toward my crippled
+retainer.
+
+"Picked him up out of the street several months ago, after he'd been run
+over by a carriage."
+
+"Same soft heart as ever, Abner. Remember when one of the boys at school
+poked that nest of damned little English sparrows out of the gutter?
+There was about sixteen of 'em, and you gathered the ugly little devils
+up into your new hat and tried to raise 'em. Don't--you--re-member,
+Abner?"
+
+His fat sides shook, as he ejaculated the last sentence with difficulty.
+
+"Yes," I answered, smiling. "My efforts were useless, for the little
+fellows all died. I felt sorry for them."
+
+"I wish they were all in--hello! yonder's Henry, by jolly!"
+
+I looked out of the window, and saw an old-fashioned rockaway draw up
+beside the curbing. The horse which drew it was a high-headed bay; the
+harness and the vehicle were spotless. A negro lad of near twenty, black
+as the night before creation, sat on the front seat, and on the rear
+seat was a man worth looking at twice. As the negro hastily scrambled
+down and opened the door, this gentleman alighted. He was a trifle over
+six feet tall; his face was wrinkled and kindly; his brows were gray and
+shaggy, and his eyes were gray. A patriarchal white beard flowed down
+over his breast, and his suit was of black broadcloth. Such an evident
+air of gentility sat upon him, that I mentally congratulated myself that
+I was to be associated with him. An instant later I heard his stentorian
+voice in the hall.
+
+"Walker! Walker! Is that fellow Stone here yet? I can't wait all morning
+for him, for there's plenty of ploughin', and plenty of lazy niggers
+back at the farm! Hello! Why, is this Stone?"
+
+And the hand that closed over mine was strong with the strength of the
+soil.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+
+"I must get some things for the boss, then we'll start home," announced
+Mr. Grundy, after we were seated side by side in the rockaway. I noticed
+with gratification that his voice had sunk a few notes. He had looked
+askance at my yellow pup when I lifted him to a place at our feet, but
+had only queried, "Is that part of your baggage?" and had not demurred.
+His next speech was rather mystifying, for I had understood from Reuben
+that this man was certainly lord of his manor, and presided in a lordly
+way.
+
+"The boss?" I asked, with a puzzled look, whereat he burst into a laugh
+that hurt my ears.
+
+"Bless me! I forgot that you were a bachelor," he replied, when his
+risibles had subsided sufficiently for him to talk. "If you ever marry,
+you'll find out who's boss. The niggers call me boss and Marse, but
+_Sallie's_ boss of our plantation!"
+
+We drove about town for perhaps half an hour, purchasing a supply of
+groceries, then our horse's head was turned towards the open country.
+
+"Antony'll take us home in less than an hour," said Mr. Grundy, eyeing
+with pride the easy, far-reaching strides of the big bay. "That's the
+best horse in my stables, Stone; there can't anything in the county
+catch him. I've taken premiums with him at every fair in the circuit
+ever since he was a yearling. It's a day's work for a nigger to drive
+him to town and back, for he pulls on the lines every inch of the way,
+and it takes good muscles to hold him in."
+
+My companion did most of the talking on the road home. I addressed a few
+polite questions, then fell to viewing the country through which we were
+being whirled. The world was waking after its annual nap. The odor and
+charm of spring pervaded the air. Tree-buds were bursting, and tender
+leaves were spreading their tiny hands to the gentle sky. Immense
+expanses of green wheat waved by the roadside, and each small blade
+bowed its head to me in welcome. A pair of bluebirds flitted from stake
+to stake of a rail fence at our right. Yonder two gentle undulations
+prepared for corn swelled and fell away. Wherever I looked was freshness
+and verdure, and the starting into life of green things beneath the
+magic wand of spring. She holds the key to earth's resurrection, and she
+alone can unlock the myriad gateways of the sod. And what a host comes
+forth when her luring breath falls upon the barren ground!--cereals,
+flowers, mosses, vines, and the thousand little things which have no
+name. Forth they come exulting,--the nightshade and the lily, the
+thistle and the rose. And on the broad bosom of their mother there is
+room for each, and from her breast each draws its life.
+
+A gray turret surrounded by evergreens drew my eyes to the left. I
+pointed to it with the question, "Can you tell me what that is?"
+
+"St. Rose,--a convent founded by the Dominicans in the early part of the
+century. We'll drive over some day and take a look at it. That's the
+church you see,--a fine piece of masonry."
+
+Then I grew silent again, becoming absorbed in the changing landscape.
+The road now led along the margin of a creek, bounded on the farther
+side by densely wooded hills. We had been gradually descending for
+several miles, and had now reached a great basin, wherein lay the
+fertile lands of my host. A sudden turn to the right, and a beautiful
+valley stretched before us. Part of it had yielded to the plough, and
+the brown, friable soil bespoke richness and boundless possibilities for
+corn. Farther on were meadows, reaching like green carpets close up to
+the whitewashed fences. And in the distance--behold my future home! It
+sat upon the crest of a gentle eminence back of those verdant lowlands,
+and was almost hidden by elms and oaks. These trees filled the big yard,
+too, and some were burdened with tangled grape-vines. Leaving the
+highway, a curving road led us up to the yard gate. As we drove slowly
+up the avenue to the large two-story brick house, a sense of unexpected
+happiness and quiet stole over me. Here was the Mecca of my vague
+desires. Here, in the midst of pastoral beauty, a kind Providence had
+sent me, and here, with the blue-grass all around, and peace in my
+heart, I would be happy.
+
+"Mother!"
+
+The powerful voice at my elbow made me jump. By the time we reached the
+ground, the double front doors were open, and standing there was one of
+the sweetest-looking old women I had ever seen. She was clad in
+dignified black, with a white kerchief at her throat, and her gray hair
+drawn smoothly back from a kind, broad brow. Hat in hand, I mounted the
+huge stone steps which led to the porch, while that big voice came from
+below.
+
+"This is Stone, mother! Show him his room and make him comfortable! I'm
+off to see 'bout the young lambs that came last night!"
+
+It was a hospitable, friendly greeting which I received from the
+mistress of the house. Her voice was low and pleasant to the ear, and
+there was culture in every tone. The room into which she ushered me was
+delightfully cool and shadowy. The ceiling was high, the windows broad
+and deep, with green slat-curtains. The rocking-chair and the sofa near
+one of the windows were covered with haircloth. The centre-table was a
+beautiful piece of mahogany; sitting in the middle of it was a vase of
+jonquils. In one corner was a bookcase, empty--ready for my treasures.
+Everything was as it should be. I at once expressed my thanks and my
+satisfaction, and the good lady retired, saying that I was doubtless
+weary, and needed to rest a little.
+
+Left alone, I stood still a moment, and looked about me. The paper upon
+the walls represented red-top clover in bloom, and I was glad of this.
+Hanging about the room were some old-time portraits in gilt frames, and
+some pictures representing historical events. Some dried-up cat-tails
+lifted their brown heads from another vase on one end of the tall
+mantel. A screen covered with wall-paper stood before the fireplace.
+Hastily I lifted it aside, and there--yes, there was the blackened
+chimney, the andirons, and the stone-laid hearth. If I have a weak
+point, it is an old-fashioned fireplace.
+
+Dinner came just as I finished my toilet, and I followed Mrs. Grundy out
+into the broad hall, onto a latticed porch, and into the dining-room.
+The good things that were piled upon that table would have fed a
+regiment, but all who sat down were my host and hostess, and myself. Mr.
+Grundy asked a blessing, and his voice was just as loud as though he
+were hallooing to one of his negroes across a field. Surely the Lord
+heard that petition. In two minutes my plate was heaped high, and I had
+to put back other dishes till a later moment. When he had fairly settled
+himself to the business of eating, my host began to talk.
+
+"Walker tells me that you're not used to mixing with people much, Stone,
+but I'm afraid it'll be lonely for you 'way out here. We don't have much
+company, and of course the niggers don't count. You can ride about the
+farm with me if you want to, and mother can hold her own at talking.
+When S'lome gets back, things'll be different. She's a whole houseful
+herself."
+
+I almost dropped the piece of ham I was conveying to my mouth. Had
+Reuben betrayed me! What did this talk of "mother" and "Salome" mean?
+When he first spoke the word "mother," I had paid no particular
+attention to it; but when coupled with that other name, it took a deeper
+meaning.
+
+"I--I--I understood you had no children," I said, trying to conceal my
+dismay by bending over my plate.
+
+"Quite true, quite true, Stone. We've never had a child born to us. I
+got in the habit of calling the boss mother, from S'lome."
+
+"Who is Salome?" I asked, but my voice was so weak that it scarcely
+conveyed the question.
+
+"Bless me! didn't Walker tell you? I'll wring the rascal's neck for
+forgettin' S'lome. Why, man, she's the pride of this farm, and the queen
+of every heart on it! S'lome? Who's S'lome? Ask any nigger or dog in the
+county, and they'll tell you. She's our 'dopted daughter, man, off to
+Bellwood for her second year, and'll be home the fifth of June, God
+bless her!"
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+
+Like most country folks, my new friends went to bed shortly after
+sundown. About nine o'clock, I took my pipe and my tobacco-pouch, and
+crept noiselessly out to the front porch. I had noticed a quaint settee
+there upon my arrival that morning, and I had no trouble in finding it
+now, for a ghostly moonlight had settled over everything. My mind was
+confronted by a question of decidedly more moment than any under which
+it had at any time before labored, and I had to think it out before I
+could sleep. If my cherished and faithful pipe, together with solitude
+and the wondrous silence of a night in spring, could not bring a
+solution to me, then the question was certainly beyond me.
+
+"--And'll be home the fifth of June, God bless her!"
+
+I think they were the last distinct words I heard at that meal. I
+remember mumbling something about the pleasure in store for me, and
+while my tongue pronounced this statement, my conscience denounced me as
+a liar. It would be no pleasure. An upstart of a boarding-school girl,
+with her airy ways, her college slang and her ear-piercing laughter,
+tearing around the house like a young cyclone, having girl friends and
+boy friends hanging around continually,--the thought was not
+encouraging, and I groaned in spirit, and puffed away, setting misty
+shallops afloat upon the sea of moonlight. And these little shallops
+must have borne away as cargo my fretting and my fears, for presently I
+fell into a philosophic mood, and the future looked brighter. One thing
+was sure--I could not run away. That would be cowardice, as well as an
+affront to hospitality. And did the worthy man snoring in a near-by room
+once know that I thought of leaving because his idol was coming, he
+would doubtless hasten my departure by turning loose upon me the pack of
+fox-hounds I had heard clamoring for their supper a few hours before.
+
+And, too, there were five weeks yet before this wonderful being would
+arrive. During this time I would walk, and accustom myself to riding,
+and when this paragon did come, I would leave her in full and free
+possession of the house throughout the day. It was not near so bad as it
+had looked at first. By eleven o'clock I felt able to sleep, if not
+entirely reconciled to the new order of things. "Sufficient unto the
+day--" I thought, with a sigh, and knocking the ashes from my cold pipe
+into the palm of my hand, I threw them over the railing of the porch,
+and went to bed.
+
+The days passed for me now like a procession of pleasant dreams. The
+more I became acquainted with my host and hostess, the more I identified
+myself with their way of living, and the more I realized that I had
+fallen among people of exceedingly gentle blood. They were aristocratic,
+and perhaps a little too high headed for their near neighbors, and had
+but few callers, and no visitors. The practically limitless farm was
+under the direct general supervision of old Henry Grundy, and he was
+consequently a very busy man, and seldom at home except at meal-times. I
+soon learned that the slaves all loved him, for he was slow to anger,
+and always just. Out of the thirty negroes on the place, I was given a
+youth of perhaps eighteen to be my body-servant. He was to black my
+boots, keep my clothes dusted, hold my stirrup, take care of my horse,
+and do anything else I wanted him to do. This negro I dubbed Inky, in
+deference to his pronounced color.
+
+I was allowed to sleep late in the morning,--a privilege for which I was
+grateful. Often I would accompany the master on his tours of inspection,
+riding a dapple-gray gelding which was placed at my disposal, and which
+was exceedingly well behaved, as became an animal of his good breeding.
+Then solitary walks became part of my daily routine. Accompanied only by
+Fido, and carrying a walking-stick of stout hickory, I explored the
+hills and valleys which stretched for miles in every direction.
+Oftentimes I was gone all day, and the good people whom I had begun
+almost to love were very indulgent to me, never complaining when I was
+late to a meal, or when my roving spirit kept me out till after
+nightfall. I had a key to the front door, and was careful to enter
+noiselessly on these occasions. I had never been back to Springfield,
+and so had had no opportunity to upbraid Reuben for his treachery. But,
+indeed, upon rereading his letter, I saw that he had told me the truth,
+and at the same time had made me the victim of a joke. These people had
+no children, and my friend had simply forbore mentioning the adopted
+daughter.
+
+Salome,--a beautiful name and an unusual one. I found myself thinking
+upon it one afternoon, as I lay stretched upon a bed of moss in one of
+the deepest recesses of the hills. I had never heard it before out of
+the Scriptures. She who wore it ought to be a beautiful girl. "Salome,
+Salome," I caught myself murmuring, gazing dreamily up through the
+lace-like young foliage above me to where two fluffy clouds were
+wandering arm in arm along the pathways of the air. What would she look
+like, this Salome? Would she be fair or dark, and would her ways be
+gentle or tomboyish? A sudden realization of the trend of my thoughts
+made my cheeks tingle ever so slightly, and I brought my eyes to bear
+upon Fido. This ever-restless canine had chased a timid little
+ground-squirrel into a hole when we first arrived at this spot, and had
+subsequently torn up enough leaves and dirt to fill a moderate-size
+grave in his efforts to dislodge his quarry. He did not know that I was
+watching him, and his antics were therefore perfectly natural. He had
+dug a slanting ditch perhaps a foot deep in the soft loam, and when my
+eyes fell upon him had stopped for a moment to get his wind. He stood
+planted firmly on his four short legs, his tail vibrating incessantly,
+like the pendulum of a clock. His muzzle was grimy with soil; his head
+cocked on one side, and his ears pricked, while his beady little eyes
+narrowly watched the hole before him. His lolling tongue was dripping,
+and he was panting like a lizard. And I thought to myself, if men would
+attack an obstacle like that dumb brute, there would be fewer failures
+in life. All at once, and without warning, the pup leaped to the attack
+once more, and the way he worked would have done credit to a galley
+slave. His shoulders undulated with the ferocity of his movements, and
+dirt flew in a shower from between his hind legs. Now and again he would
+pause, and thrust his nose as far up in the hole as he could get it. A
+moment thus, while the wagging tail still moved, then he would draw
+back, snort the dirt from his nostrils, and with an eager whine renew
+his efforts.
+
+With the deepening shadows came the thought that I was several miles
+from home, so I arose reluctantly, picked up my stick, and, with Fido
+limping at my heels, walked slowly back through the enchanted aisles of
+Nature.
+
+The Saturday night following, a week before her arrival, I heard the
+story of Salome.
+
+I was on the old settee after supper, as usual. Here I always came to
+smoke my pipe after the evening meal. Somewhat to my surprise, Mr.
+Grundy came out and sat down beside me. Frequently he and his wife came
+out for a short time in the early evening, but this night it was nearly
+nine o'clock when I heard the old gentleman's heavy step in the hall. I
+made room for him when I saw that it was his intention to sit down, and
+offered him my tobacco, for I saw that he held a cob pipe in his
+hands,--another unusual thing. He took my tobacco in silence, and in
+silence filled his pipe and lit it. I felt that he had something to say
+to me, so I waited patiently, and we both puffed away.
+
+"S'lome's comin' a week from to-night," he said, at last. His voice was
+softer than I had ever heard it, and a caressing note lurked in it.
+"Seems a long time to us since she went away last September. S'lome's
+comin' home," he repeated, as though the very sentence brought joy.
+
+"It's right for me to tell you 'bout her, Stone, since you're to be one
+of us for quite a spell. It's a sort o' sad story, but me an' mother've
+tried to make her forget the beginning of her life. It may be that you
+don't like young girls much, seein' that you've never married, but
+there'll be a kind spot in your heart for S'lome when you hear 'bout
+her. You see, it began away back yonder when I was a young fellow at
+school. Bob Summerton was a classmate of mine, and my best friend. His
+one prevailin' weakness was a woman's pretty face. He was a poor fellow,
+and had no business marryin' when he did. His wife, highly connected,
+but without any near relations, was killed in a railway accident. Their
+little girl, who had been born six months before, escaped unhurt. Bob
+was a Kentuckian, from the soles of his feet up, and one day, when
+S'lome was only three years old, he was shot by a coward for defending a
+woman's good name. He telegraphed me to come, and I reached him in time
+for him to consign to my keepin' the child soon to be orphaned again. It
+nearly broke my heart, Stone,"--the strong man choked back something in
+his throat,--"but even at that tender age the young thing's grief was
+pitiful. I brought her here, and me and mother--well, we've done what we
+could to make her happy--God bless her!"
+
+The last words were in a husky whisper, and I knew that tears which had
+started from the heart were glistening in the eyes of that grand old
+gentleman.
+
+"She's not so big, and she's not so little," he went on, presently, for
+I knew of nothing to say at this juncture. "Just kind o' medium size,
+and as sweet as the Lord's blessed sunshine. She ain't ashamed to keep
+the house clean, and help mother, either. It's always May-time 'bout the
+old place when she's here, Stone. She's tender-hearted as a lamb, and'll
+nuss a chicken with the gapes for half a day. But the horse don't run
+on this farm that she's afraid to ride. And when me or mother are
+ailin', she'll sit by us night and day--says she's 'fraid to trust a
+nigger with medicine. And she's got our hearts so 't they'd almost stop
+beatin' if she told 'em to. She's ridden on a load o' hay many a time,
+and has gone to the wheat-field to help us with the thrashin'. And she's
+comin' home next Saturday, Stone."
+
+He stopped again, and I knew that he was thinking. Presently he arose,
+and stretched his arms with a yawn.
+
+"You'll like her, Stone, if you're a human. Good-night."
+
+"Good-night," I answered, and his heavy boots thumped across the porch
+to the hall door.
+
+That night, for the first time in my life, a girl's face crept into my
+dreams.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+
+The next week passed more swiftly than any of its predecessors had done
+since I came to this idyllic spot. House-cleaning began on Monday, and
+under Mrs. Grundy's experienced eye the half-dozen negresses employed in
+the work moved with alacrity and precision. But what with beating
+carpets, scrubbing floors, and turning things topsy-turvy in general,
+the task was not accomplished with any considerable despatch. A man is a
+cumbrous article at house-cleaning time, as any housewife will aver, and
+Mr. Grundy, recognizing this fact, betook himself to the neighboring
+Little Beach River to fish, and let "the boss" tear up things to her
+heart's content. His request that I should accompany him was almost a
+warning, so I assented, for my room was not to be spared in the general
+overhauling. Inky and Jim--Mr. Grundy's factotum--went along to pitch
+our tent and attend to the cooking.
+
+I was not a disciple of Walton, and as a consequence my success was
+anything but extraordinary; still I derived a hearty enjoyment from the
+outing.
+
+Did you ever lazy along a river-bank in May, and just live, and fish,
+and smoke, and do nothing else? If you have not, you have missed a very
+great pleasure. If you fail to catch many fish, it doesn't matter much.
+There is a certain spell in the air which defies _ennui_, and a kind of
+tonic steals into your blood which makes it tingle through your veins,
+much as the rising sap in the young trees, I imagine. You rise in the
+morning and bathe your eyes open in a near-by spring, whose crystal cool
+water is like the touch of a healing hand. Then comes breakfast of
+bacon, coffee, and good, light bread. Then your pipe comes as naturally
+as a deep breath of the forest-scented air, and you take your rod and
+minnows and wander up the bank through the weeds and the dewy grass.
+Under the shadow of that old, half-sunken log is where the bass stay.
+The water is deep and clear, and your hook sinks with a low gurgle, like
+an infant's laughter. What matters it whether a bite comes at once, or
+not? You sit in a hollow formed by a curving tree-root, rest your back
+against the tree-trunk, and are very contented. The other side of the
+stream is lined with endless stretches of trees,--sycamore, elm, dogwood
+with their starry eyes peering in innate vanity over the bank into the
+mirror beneath them, and underbrush of all descriptions. Where the tide
+has once been, and receded, is a stretch of yellow clay, now glistening
+from the dews of night. After a while the sun strikes this, and the wet
+surface glows like gold. Then your wandering eye--for you have forgotten
+your cork--observes a bubble as it rises and bursts midway across the
+stream, and you idly watch the widening circle which radiates from it.
+Then in the centre of the circle the tiniest dark spot appears, which
+gradually assumes the shape of a black, shining head. It remains
+stationary for a while, then slowly moves to the opposite bank. A
+disc-like shell is lifted, two broad feet dig their claws into the mud,
+and Mr. Turtle drags himself up high and dry for a sunning.
+
+The delightful silence is suddenly broken by the harshest of
+chattering, and a crested kingfisher descends like a shot from some
+dead limb high up in the very tree under which you are sitting, and,
+skimming low over the surface of the water, finally disappears without
+his prey. Then the pole is almost jerked from your careless hands, and,
+if you have luck, a fine bass is floundering at your feet in a few
+moments. Then another spell of sitting and dreaming, while you lay your
+pipe aside for a while, and look up to where a squadron of fleecy
+argosies are drifting calmly along to some unknown bourn, bearing,
+mayhap, behind their filmy bulwarks the simple prayers of trusting
+children.
+
+Dinner-time comes too quickly, but it is over soon, and you seek a new
+haunt, and stretch your legs out, and thank the Lord that you are alive.
+Above you and around you is the fragrant new life of blooming things,
+and the odor of the woods is as rare and sweet as some strange perfume.
+As the sun goes down slowly, the shadows lengthen across the river. The
+little wood violets nod on their slender stems by your side, and dusk
+creeps upon you like a caress. The bird notes grow still, and a gentle
+rustling comes from the leaves, and falls upon you like a benediction
+from Nature. After supper you lie upon your bunk in the tent, and
+drowsily watch the stars wink at you through the open door. Then the
+bull-frogs' lullaby begins, and you drift into dreamland listening to
+that deep chorus from the river banks.
+
+I passed four days like this,--elysian days to me. Friday we went back
+home, and the next day she came.
+
+The household was astir very early that morning, as was natural and
+proper that it should be, considering the event which was to happen.
+Contrary to my custom, I was up before the sun, and I smiled, in an
+amused way, at the extra touches which I almost unconsciously put to my
+dress. I actually halted over my necktie, but decided at last upon a
+black string, as most becoming to my age and quiet habits. The gray
+streaks about my temples seemed to show more plainly than usual, as I
+carefully brushed my hair. I put on some clean cuffs, too, though the
+ones I had been wearing were not soiled.
+
+At breakfast everybody was happy. Mrs. Grundy beamed from behind the
+tea-urn, and put three spoonfuls of sugar into my tea instead of two.
+Mr. Grundy succeeded in upsetting his cup of black coffee, and laughed
+at it as though it were a joke, and even the mulatto maid who moved
+deftly about the table wore a broad grin. One thing was on the mind of
+each: Salome was coming home.
+
+The carriage was waiting at the front door when breakfast was over. Two
+darkies had been rubbing on it for an hour, and not a speck could be
+seen anywhere. There were two horses hitched to it this time, as fitted
+the occasion. A span of high-strung blacks, with white feet, and they
+gave the negro at their heads all he could do to keep them from going.
+They chafed their bits, and stamped, and fretted at the delay, their
+tiny feet eager to be speeding away. The master was going alone to meet
+his darling. Springfield had no railway, and Salome was to arrive at
+Lebanon, eighteen miles distant, by noon. Mr. Grundy came out arrayed in
+his best, as though he was going to meet the Queen of England. His
+strong old face was alight with a great happiness, as he bent and kissed
+his wife, then leaped down the steps like a school-boy. He shouted back
+his adieus to each of us; the negro on the front seat gathered up his
+lines, and braced his feet; the negro standing at the head of the team
+loosened his hold, and stepped swiftly to one side. There was a prancing
+of slender limbs, a tossing of two black heads, and they were gone.
+There were tears of joy in the eyes of the good woman at my side when I
+looked at her.
+
+"She's coming, Mr. Stone, and we're all so happy!"
+
+That was all she could say. Her voice broke, and with a smile on her
+sweet old face she turned away into the house to hide her emotion.
+
+The day was a restless one for me. I took a book, and went down to a
+rustic seat under an elm tree. But the book lay open on my crossed knees
+without my eyes ever seeking its pages. I was thinking of Salome--of the
+wonderful charm which made every one love her. Elderly women, married
+women, I had known and liked, but school-girls were my especial
+abomination. Truth to tell, I had never known any, and I did not want to
+know any. Even this paragon I would have gladly escaped had there been a
+way. But flight was impossible, and since I must meet her, it was quite
+natural to wonder what she was like, and to brood upon the mystery of
+her ensnaring all about her. I was ashamed of my restlessness. The
+rustic chair grew uncomfortable, and I paced up and down. The damp grass
+deadened the shine of my boots, and I walked back to the house and
+summoned Inky to put them in shape again. Even this African's face was
+beaming like a freshly polished stove, and I became almost irritated.
+
+"What are you grinning about?" I demanded, as he bent to his work with
+blacking and brush.
+
+"Miss S'lome's comin' home, Marse," he panted, rolling his white eyes at
+me in ecstasy.
+
+"Are you very glad?" I continued.
+
+"Yas,'r, I is. Miss Salome's jes' so sweet that honey can't tech 'er.
+She picked a br'ar out 'n my foot once, Marse; out 'n my ugly, black
+foot. An' she hel' it in her lap, too, an' it nuvver hurt a speck."
+
+I did not say anything more. I knew now why the birds were singing so
+sweetly that morning, and why the squirrels in the yard were frisking so
+gayly. Everything was glad because she was coming home.
+
+The big bell on the tall pole behind the house rang at eleven that day
+instead of half past. And away out in the fields hearts were quickened
+in black bosoms. The slaves left the plough in the furrow, and the corn
+undropped, and hurried home. The summons at this unusual hour meant
+that something out of the ordinary had happened. It was the master's
+order, and as they all came trooping in with inquiring faces, and stood
+grouped near the back porch, Mrs. Grundy appeared, and told them briefly
+that their young mistress was coming that afternoon, and that there
+would be no more work that day. They cheered the news with many a lusty
+shout, and the pickaninnies rolled over each other, and the youths
+turned handsprings, while upon each face was a look of high good humor.
+
+About four o'clock Mrs. Grundy and I repaired to the settee to watch the
+road, which could be seen for perhaps a mile, winding through the
+valley. Then around the corner of the house began to appear the vassals
+of this Kentucky lord. The stain of the soil had been washed from their
+hands and faces, and their cotton shirts were clean, though patched and
+worn. The negresses, also, appeared, with their kinky hair done up
+in multitudes of "horns," and tied with bits of the most
+extravagant-colored ribbon that their wearers possessed. Every one was
+attired in his best, as though on a holiday occasion, which, in truth,
+this was.
+
+"Dar dey come!"
+
+A six-year-old piece of midnight suddenly made this announcement in a
+shrill treble key, and all eyes were turned at once towards the highway.
+A carriage and a span of blacks were sweeping up the road. Mrs. Grundy
+gave some orders in a low, yet positive tone, and in a trice two rows of
+slaves were standing along each side of the avenue. They were going to
+give her a royal welcome. Mrs. Grundy stood upon the lowest step, and I
+modestly remained upon the porch, leaning against one of the massive
+pillars. I can scarcely describe my feelings at that time now, but I
+think my nerves were in a condition similar to that of the small boy
+when he makes his first speech at school. They had reached the meadow,
+and were coming up the slow incline. I could see nothing as yet but a
+straw hat, a white blur beneath it, and a brown travelling suit. Through
+the wide-open yard gate they rolled. Then those who had been called
+together to welcome her gave cheer after cheer, and waved their hands
+and hats above their heads.
+
+"Hi, Miss S'lome!" from a sturdy field hand.
+
+"Hi, baby!" from an old mammy.
+
+"Howdy, Missus!" from a housemaid.
+
+"Hi, Mi' 'Ome!" from a pickaninny in arms.
+
+And so the welcome greetings fell upon her. And from out the
+pandemonium a high, sweet voice thrilled into my ears.
+
+"Hello, Sambo! Here's Aunt Cynthy! Look how 'Lindy has grown!"
+
+It was almost like the confused panorama of a dream. The horses stopped;
+a lithe figure leaped, unaided, to the ground; I heard that dear word
+"mother,"--and Salome was home.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+
+I descended the steps, and stood at a respectful distance. I saw a gray
+head and a brown one side by side, and caught faintly the whispered love
+of youth and age. Arms were at length unclasped, and Mrs. Grundy
+presented me. A sudden up-flashing of dark eyes was the first impression
+I received from the face turned towards me. She made me a low courtesy,
+and held out her hand, and I took it and bowed over it with the best
+grace of which I was master.
+
+"I am glad to see you, Miss Salome," I said, truthfully, for my feelings
+had undergone a wonderful revulsion, despite my indifference of that
+morning. Sometimes a moment is long enough to change one's whole being.
+
+"I am so pleased to find you here." Her voice was low, well bred, and
+modulated. "Mother and father are very lonely after I go away. They love
+me far more than I deserve," and she smiled back at them as they stood
+hand in hand watching us. "Now, if you will excuse me, I will shake
+hands with all of these good friends."
+
+She nodded pleasantly in response to my bow, and moved away with a
+certain gliding step. Straight to an old black mammy she went, and threw
+herself into the good creature's arms. Then right and left she turned,
+while they crowded around her, shaking hands with all. Some horny hands
+she took could have crushed hers like a flower; but everywhere were
+expressions of love and respect. And she was the gladdest thing there.
+The genuine affection she felt for all the negroes was shown in her
+cordial greetings.
+
+The carriage was driven away, the blacks dispersed, and the rest of us
+retired to "mother's room," which was situated back of mine. The two old
+people hovered about their returned darling like parent birds over a
+strayed fledgeling which had come back to the nest. I took a seat apart,
+and, joining in the conversation but rarely, studied the girl who sat in
+a large rocking chair, and who talked as volubly and as entertainingly
+as any one could have wished. She was, as Mr. Grundy had said, of medium
+build. Her form was youthful, but possessed of that subtle roundness
+which betokens the approach of womanhood. Two dainty feet darted in and
+out beneath her skirt as she rocked to and fro. Her face was not
+beautiful, but the features were delicate and fine. Her lips were as red
+as rich blood could make them, the upper one pouting ever so slightly,
+and the soft brown hair was parted in the middle and drawn back from an
+exquisite forehead. The dark brown eyes were the girl's chief charm.
+They danced and sparkled in impish mischief, and had a way of shooting
+sudden glances which made themselves felt as keenly as arrows. And
+crowning it all was a sweet grace and womanliness which was good to see.
+From that hour my opinion of a school-girl changed.
+
+After supper all of us gathered on the front porch. Mr. and Mrs. Grundy
+occupied the settee; Salome and I sat upon the porch at the top of the
+steps, she leaning against one pillar, and I against the other, across
+from her. Of course she did the talking, and while most of it was about
+the things which had happened at school, I found myself listening with
+increasing interest. I soon discovered that it was the music of her
+voice which held me,--soft, rich, speaking in perfect accents. Her
+narrative was frequently interrupted by bursts of bubbling laughter, as
+some amusing incident was remembered and related. Very suddenly she
+stopped.
+
+"Listen!" she said, and turned her head sideways, holding up one finger.
+
+Through the silence which followed came the twanging notes of a banjo.
+
+"It's Uncle Zeb!" she announced, in a loud whisper. Then to me,
+impulsively, "Don't _you_ like music, Mr. Stone?"
+
+She leaned towards me, as though it was a vital question which she had
+propounded.
+
+"Very dearly," I answered promptly. "This is the first that I have heard
+since coming here."
+
+"It's a jig, and he's playing it for me--the old darling! I must go to
+him, or he would be hurt."
+
+She arose swiftly, and gathered up her skirts.
+
+"Will you come, Mr. Stone, since you love music? We won't stay long."
+
+I mumbled something, and got up, a trifle confused. Such perfect candor
+and lack of artificiality was a revelation to me. She placed her
+disengaged hand upon my arm at the bottom of the steps.
+
+"Uncle Zeb almost raised me," she explained, as we took our way around
+the house towards the darkey cabins. "He's taken me to the fields with
+him many a time, and I was brought up on that tune you hear him playing.
+He always plays it when I come home--look at them now!"
+
+The cabins were all built in a locust grove to the rear of the house.
+To-night the negroes had lighted a bonfire, and were making merry in the
+old-time, ante-bellum way. Seated upon broken-down chairs, or strewn
+upon the grass in various attitudes, these dusky children of misfortune
+watched the performance of an exceedingly black old uncle, who, sitting
+upon a bench before his cabin, was picking the strings of a banjo almost
+as old as himself. His bald head, surrounded by a fringe of gray wool,
+shone brightly in the firelight, he was rocking his body rhythmically
+backwards and forwards, and keeping time with one foot upon the hard
+earth. As we came into the circle of firelight we were discovered, and
+there was a quick movement, and a deferential giving way. My companion
+took her hand from my arm, and the action seemed to draw me much nearer
+the earth than I had been for the past two or three minutes. The
+musician stopped playing when he became aware of our presence.
+
+"Bress de Lawd, honey chile! Am dat you? 'Pears to me a' angel mus' 'a'
+drapped down frum de sky!"
+
+"This is your little child, Uncle Zeb," she answered with feeling, "and
+I have come out here to listen to you play."
+
+"De ol' man can't play 'less de feet's a-goin'," he replied, shaking his
+head solemnly. "You know you's al'ays danced fur ol' Zeb."
+
+A darker color came to her cheeks, and she turned smilingly to me.
+
+"Uncle Zeb taught me a jig when I was a wee thing in pinafores. He will
+never play for me unless I dance for him. You know he thinks I am still
+a child of eight or ten. If you think it's not--real nice, I won't ask
+you to stay."
+
+The roguish upcasting of starry eyes, and the deprecating little manner,
+tied my tongue for the instant.
+
+"I shall be glad to stay, if you will permit me."
+
+This much I managed to utter, and as she bowed assent, I went and leaned
+against the cabin wall, by the side of Uncle Zeb. This was done partly
+to give her all the room she needed, and partly to secure a support for
+myself, for a strange weakness had begun to assail my limbs.
+
+There was an eager, anticipative move on the part of the negroes. They
+nudged each other, and whispered, grinned broadly, and shifted their
+positions to where they could obtain an unobstructed view. Salome stood
+bareheaded, with arms akimbo, waiting for the music. The travelling suit
+had been discarded, and she was dressed in a simple blue dimity frock
+which showed the perfect curves of her figure to charming advantage.
+Uncle Zeb, with characteristic leisure, was in no hurry to begin. He
+twisted the screws and thrummed the strings in a very wise manner. At
+length the instrument was tuned to his satisfaction, and then his
+claw-like fingers began to move with astonishing rapidity. I looked at
+Salome. She was standing perfectly still. Then, as the music quickened,
+I saw her supple body begin to sway, like a lily's stem when a zephyr
+breathes upon it. Her hands dropped to her sides, and daintily lifting
+her gown above her feet, she began to dance. Gently at first, and with
+such ease that she barely moved. Then the step receded, advanced, and
+grew faster. Her tiny feet twinkled, and tapped the earth in perfect
+time and rhythm. Such living grace I had never looked upon! The bending
+form, the flushed face, and the dancing feet, the grouped negroes and
+the old musician,--the picture was burned into my memory like painting
+is burned upon china in a kiln. My breath came quicker, and my face grew
+hot. I scarcely knew when she stopped, but for the wild cheers of the
+spectators. Then, flushed and laughing, she came and cast herself upon
+the bench by Uncle Zeb.
+
+"Yo' do it better eb'ry time, chile!" declared the old fellow, highly
+delighted that she had danced to his playing.
+
+"And you gave it better than ever before! Did I shock you, Mr. Stone?"
+She turned to me with a look of deep contrition.
+
+I sat down beside her, and spoke my mind.
+
+"I never saw anything like it. But don't fear that you shocked me. I
+wish that I could see the same thing every evening."
+
+"You're good not to mind it. Mother and father think it sweet, and I
+dance for them sometimes. Now, if you don't mind, we will go back. I'm a
+little tired to-night from my journey. Good-night, Uncle Zeb," she
+patted the old man's hand. "Good-night, Lindy, Jane, Dinah, Sambo,
+Tom--all of you!" She waved her hand, and, to a chorus of answering
+good-nights, we moved away.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+
+The grandfather's clock which stood in the hall struck twelve. My eyes
+seemed loath to close in sleep. It is true I had not gone to bed till
+half-past eleven, but usually Sleep sat upon my pillow, and proceeded to
+blindfold me a few minutes after my going to bed. To-night, upon
+reaching my room, I had read and smoked, and smoked and read, until my
+nerves had been brought back to their normal state. It fretted me not a
+trifle to know that a girl from boarding-school had upset me. But the
+ingenuous frankness of this young being, the unaffectedness which waited
+upon her every movement, had wrought such demolition to my theories
+that I was slow in recovering my equipoise of thought. At length I
+strolled through a mazy vista to oblivion, surrounded by a dancing
+throng of seraphs.
+
+My rest was untroubled, and when I threw open my window-shutter the next
+morning, and gazed out with sleep-blurred eyes, my first impression was
+that things had become topsy-turvy, and that a soft sky studded with
+stars lay before me. But as reason swiftly dominated my brain, I saw
+that instead of the phenomenon which had at first seemed apparent, there
+was only the bluegrass lawn thickly sown with dandelions, as though some
+prodigal Croesus had strown his wealth of gold broadcast. Perhaps the
+lowly, modest yellow flowers were but imitating the glittering orbs
+which had looked down upon them throughout the night--who knows? For is
+not reasoning man oftentimes just as vain, when he seeks to clothe
+himself with a majesty which is not for mortals?
+
+For several days I adhered to the plans which I had laid out before the
+coming of Salome. I rode with the master about the farm, took my
+solitary walks with Fido, as usual, and spent most of each evening in my
+room, alone. If left to the dictates of my own will, there is no telling
+how long this would have continued. But one morning, at breakfast, my
+host surprised me with the words:
+
+"Stone, you remember the old St. Rose church you spoke of? It's worth
+looking at, but the Lord knows when I'll have a chance to go with you.
+S'lome's a great favorite with the sisters over at St. Catherine's,
+which is about a half mile from St. Rose, and I heard her tell mother
+yesterday that she was going to ride over to pay her respects this
+morning. Me and my folks are Presbyterians, but nearly all of our
+neighbors are Catholics, and good people, and we like them. Now if you'd
+like to go 'long, I don't s'pect S'lome'd mind showin' you 'bout the
+place."
+
+He looked at the daintily clad figure at my side with an interrogative
+smile.
+
+"It would be a great favor to me," I put in hastily. "I had been
+thinking of late I would have to go alone, but if Miss Salome would not
+object, I should be pleased to go with her."
+
+"Of course you may," she answered readily. "I love both places very
+much, and the sisters are so sweet. Sister Hyacintha is my favorite,--a
+dear old nun with the face of a saint. Do you like old-timey, quiet
+places, Mr. Stone? St. Rose church is perhaps the oldest building in the
+county. St. Catherine's is not half a mile from it, and the sisters
+conduct a boarding-school there. Had I been a Catholic, I doubtless
+would have received my education at that place."
+
+I quickly assured her that I looked forward with much pleasure to our
+little trip, and asked her if we were to go horseback, or in the
+carriage.
+
+"Oh, horseback!" she exclaimed, with the delight of a child. "I believe
+you are a good horseman," she added archly.
+
+"Only fair," I responded, smiling. "Still I would much prefer to go that
+way. I enjoy the exercise so much."
+
+And so it was arranged. I had no dress for this sort of thing, and I
+felt a trifle out of place when she joined me on the porch arrayed in a
+complete riding habit of black. From her gauntlets to her silver-handled
+whip, her attire was complete. I flushed.
+
+"You know I am not accustomed to riding--will you pardon my
+appearance?"
+
+"It makes no difference whatever!" She laughed merrily. "The feathers
+don't make the bird, and I am perfectly satisfied."
+
+My mount was the same animal I had been used to, and the horse which had
+been led out for her was a wiry, dapple-gray mare of impatient blood. I
+knew the correct thing to do, and while I feared that I could not
+perform the service successfully, I determined to try. So as she walked
+towards the fretful mare which a negro was with difficulty restraining,
+I stepped forward, doffed my hat, and with "Permit me, Miss Salome," I
+bent, and hollowed my hand for the reception of her foot. With the
+naturalness and grace of a queen she placed the sole upon my palm, and I
+lifted her to the spring as though she had been a feather, and she sank
+into the saddle and grasped the reins, which she proceeded to draw taut
+with no uncertain hold. With my cheeks burning slightly--I was not used
+to waiting upon women--I sought my saddle, and we cantered away.
+
+How well the poet knew when he sang--
+
+   "What is so rare as a day in June?"
+
+The bright morning sun blessed us with a benison of light; the sweet,
+cool, scented air laid its thousand tiny hands lightly upon our faces,
+and the green stretches of country all around us spoke of an earthly
+paradise. For a while we said nothing, for that sorceress, June, had
+thrown her web about us, and we were moving as through the vistas of a
+dream. Once I glanced at my companion, and I saw such a peaceful, happy,
+yet thoroughly unconscious look upon her face that I stayed the casual
+remark upon my tongue which I felt that courtesy required. Then it
+dawned upon me with the suddenness of a revelation that her nature was
+attuned to mine, and all at once I knew that the sylvan sounds and
+scenes which were the delight of my soul were as manna to hers as well.
+And I had shunned her!
+
+"I fear you will think me a poor escort," she said at length, smiling at
+me with a trace of sadness. "But I have been away so long, and all these
+meadows, and trees, and brooks are friends--you don't know how I love
+them. I have lived with them and in them since I could walk, and it is
+like seeing dear ones in the flesh to come back and be with them, and
+hold silent communion with them. Does this sound strange to you?"
+
+"No." And yet I looked at her half perplexedly. My idols were being
+shattered one by one. "No, it is not strange to me that such feelings
+exist, for they are my own. That was why I sought this old-fashioned
+Kentucky home. I lived in Louisville until I came here, and my soul was
+being crushed out of me between four brick walls. I have been happy
+here; I did not know what happiness was until I came here--except that
+derived from books. But that sort of happiness you feel; this sort you
+live, and your being is broadened by it. But you--I confess it sounds
+strange to me to hear you say such things."
+
+"Why should I not know them as well as you? My opportunities have been
+greater."
+
+"I don't know; I have no reason to give. In my ignorance and selfishness
+I had thought that I was alone in this; that no one could listen to
+Nature's secrets but myself. I have been wrong, and I am glad that I
+have been undeceived."
+
+The congeniality which became quickly established between us made our
+seven-mile ride very short. Our horses were in good mettle, and the road
+was fine. Before I knew where we were, we turned into a by-road bordered
+by locust trees, and cantered down to St. Catherine's Academy. The lawn
+before the three-story brick building was beautifully kept. I hitched
+our horses, and as we strolled up the pavement towards the entrance, I
+saw two or three figures moving about the premises, clad in the becoming
+black-and-white garb of the order. Presently one sister espied us, and
+immediately started our way. She was very old, and moved with slow,
+short steps. Salome ran to her with a little cry of joy, bent down and
+kissed the wrinkled face, and, as I came up, introduced me to Sister
+Hyacintha. I shall never forget the patient, joyful, almost heavenly
+look on the face of this good woman. She led us to the porch, and gave
+us chairs, and she and Salome talked, while I listened. As it was
+nearing the noon hour, we were prevailed upon to stay and take lunch. In
+the afternoon we were shown through the building, and took a walk over
+the grounds. Time slipped by stealthily, and the sun was hovering above
+the western horizon when Salome remembered that St. Rose was yet to be
+seen.
+
+A short ride over a narrow dirt road winding through masses of verdure
+brought us to the confines of the old church, which, perched upon a
+hill, reared its turret aloft in the purple air. I fastened our horses
+to some of the numerous hitching-posts placed along the roadside for the
+use of worshippers, and we turned to the iron gate leading into the
+premises. As this clanged behind us we both felt keenly the jar it
+created, for everything was so still and peaceful that the slightest
+noise was irrelevant, and we felt bound to talk in whispers. We found
+ourselves upon a gravel walk bordered by cedars; to our left was the
+road, to our right the white stones of a vast burying ground rose up
+like spectral sentinels of the tomb.
+
+Salome put her hand upon my arm. The path was steep, and I should have
+offered her assistance, but I had not thought of it. Not a word was
+spoken until we had reached the end of the path. Here the brow of the
+hill curved around in the form of a semicircle, and was studded with
+cedars, like emeralds in a crown. Before us, not a dozen steps away,
+rose the ancient edifice we had come to view. It was made of solid
+masonry, and seemed good for hundreds of years to come.
+
+"Here we are."
+
+Salome was panting a little as she said this, in a barely audible voice.
+I looked at the gray pile in silent contemplation. Its style suggested
+massiveness, although the building was not of any great size. The part
+comprising the vestibule and bell-tower was octagon in shape, and the
+turret was at least a hundred feet in air. Behind this were the
+ivy-covered walls of the body of the church. It was at that time when
+the earth grows still before drawing her night robes about her. In the
+western sky the sun's last streamers flared out like a gorgeous fan, and
+on their tips some shy diamonds glittered evasively. From the fields
+around us came the sweet breath of the spring, smelling of the richer
+fragrance of early summer. The birds were still; the stamping of our
+horses in the road below was the only sound.
+
+"Shall we go in?"
+
+I started, although the tones were low and like the music of rippling
+water. When I turned my head, the brown eyes looking into mine had a
+mournful expression. The impressiveness of it all was upon her, too.
+There must have been a certain look of inquiry upon my face, for she
+went on, in the same wonderful voice:
+
+"It's never locked, you know. I like that custom about a Catholic
+church. So often the soul would enter into a holy place and be alone in
+prayer. Shall we enter? I think there is enough light for us to see."
+
+In reply, I drew closer to her, and held out my arm. She took it
+lightly, and in the deepening twilight we walked to the broad, wooden
+door. It yielded reluctantly to the pressure of my hand, on account of
+its size and weight, and together we entered the shadows of the sacred
+place.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+
+The door settled heavily into place behind us, and we were in almost
+complete darkness. Somewhere in front of us was a glimmer of light. I
+felt the slight figure at my side drawing me forward, and I put myself
+under her guidance. Crossing the vestibule, we passed into the room
+beyond. Although we trod lightly, the bare floor sent up sounds which
+echoed loudly, it seemed to us. A ghostly light filled the chamber into
+which we had come, and made it look much larger than it really was. The
+roof was lost above us, but there, before us, were the plain, brown,
+wooden benches forming the pews, and the nave leading down to the altar
+railing. Along this a worn strip of carpet was placed. Slowly we went
+forward, awed by the silent majesty of a place of worship. All at once
+there came to me a realization of the peculiar position in which I was
+placed--walking down a church aisle with a beautiful girl upon my
+arm--and my face grew red. I could tell it by the hot tingling at my
+neck and temples, but the gloom was deep enough to hide it from her. The
+sudden force of what such a proceeding as this might mean made my
+heart--my staid, old, methodical heart--throb unwontedly. I hoped that
+the gloved hand resting so near to it did not feel its throbbings,
+although they sounded in my ears like a hammer on an anvil.
+
+We had reached the railing. Before us rose the altar, with its images
+and its unlit tapers, its cloth of gold, and its silver appurtenances. A
+stretch of carpeted floor lay between it and us. Directly this side the
+railing was a narrow ledge. Salome suddenly bent her knees and rested
+them upon this, placed her elbows upon the railing and bent her head in
+her hands. For a moment I gazed at the black bowed figure, then found
+myself imitating her attitude. In the stillness of the old church we
+knelt alone. Around us was utter silence, and the paling light of a dead
+day. Perhaps in the dark corners the ghosts of confessed sins were
+lurking; above the spot where we knelt many a "_Benedicite_" had fallen
+upon humble hearts waiting to receive it. She was praying. Perhaps
+confessing to the Great Absolver the sinless sins which bore no crimson
+stain, and praying His favor for the ones she loved. As well might a
+flower of the fields bow down and breathe out tales of grave misdeeds,
+for her heart was like a flower--yea, like the closed cup of a lily at
+night, garbed in purity as white as holiness.
+
+I watched her through the fingers I had placed over my face. This surely
+was no sin, for my own heart was not still enough for prayer. She was
+very still, and only her small ear and a portion of her cheek were
+visible. What did this half-stifling feeling mean which rose up in my
+throat? I had never seen a woman in prayer, alone. Away back through the
+dimly lit aisles which led to a distant boyhood my mind had sometimes
+strayed, and viewed a small white figure kneeling at its mother's side
+at bedtime. That was myself, and her petitions were doubtless sent up by
+the little cot where I lay asleep. A young girl praying! It is as sacred
+as the miracle of birth. And by this simple act, this girl had placed in
+me a greater trust than words could speak. She deemed me good enough to
+be by her side when she approached her Creator--and was I worthy? I
+knew I was not. And though my life had been free from those polluting
+sins which glow like rubies in the souls of some men, I felt that here I
+had no fitting place, that her prayers would be clogged by the
+unholiness of my presence. She knelt, immovable as the statued Christ
+which hung almost over our heads. The glow in the stained-glass windows
+to our left had turned to a gray blur; the outlines of her figure were
+growing indistinct. As suddenly and as quickly as she had knelt, she
+arose, and with the freedom of a child took my arm as we retraced our
+steps.
+
+A young moon was tilted over in the sky near the horizon as we gained
+the open. The limitless depths above us were aglow with millions of
+sparkling stars. We stood for a moment before going down to our horses.
+
+"We'll be a little late getting back."
+
+Again it was my companion who broke the silence.
+
+"I'm sorry, for it will be because of me."
+
+She laughed,--the bubbling notes so like the falling of a forest rivulet
+over a low rock ledge.
+
+"It will not matter, unless we count the loss of sleep. Mother and
+father know how I love the night, and when they know where I am, and
+whom I am with, they are not concerned."
+
+"I would gladly lose a night's rest for an experience like this. You
+have made me very much your debtor. How solemn and beautiful it all is!"
+My eyes took in all visible things in a comprehensive glance. "Do you
+come here often?"
+
+"No; I only care to come at the close of day, and my parents are getting
+too old to be dragged around to humor my whims. It is too far to come
+alone, and so I miss it."
+
+"Then did I really perform some sort of service for you in accompanying
+you here? I had imagined the favor all on your side."
+
+"Let's call it square," she smiled. "I showed you the place, and you
+acted as my protector and escort. A very even bargain, I think. We had
+better go now. We will have a fine ride home."
+
+It was very dark on the cedar-bordered walk down which we went, and
+while I longed to offer assistance, I refrained. When we came to the
+road, however, we found that there was enough light. The horses were
+restless at their posts, and we mounted with considerable difficulty
+after I had unhitched them. But Salome, peerless horsewoman that she
+was, quickly had hers in hand, and mine soon became tractable of its
+own accord. We proceeded at a smart canter until we reached the
+turnpike. There Salome suggested a gallop, and I could do nothing but
+assent, although fast riding was something to which I was not
+accustomed. But I gradually accommodated myself to the long, undulating
+leaps of my mount, and then began to enjoy it. It was highly
+exhilarating as well as novel. Salome sat as though part of the animal
+she managed so well, and as we swept along I kept my eyes upon her in a
+kind of wonder. It was so new to me, and the skill with which her small
+hand managed her mettled horse was nothing short of a marvel.
+
+We did not talk much during this part of our ride. Occasionally she
+would fling a remark across at me above the thud of the hammering feet,
+but I think the beauty of the night and the wonderful silence sat upon
+our minds, and made our tongues unwilling for speech. Sometimes the
+road was open and clear, and then I could see her eyes, like veiled
+stars. And around and about us were fields of growing corn and ripening
+wheat, and infolding us close, as in a filmy garment, was that
+indescribable odor of green things and of dew-wet turf. Then the pike
+would sweep around a curve, like the stretch of a winding river, and
+bordering each side of the highway were clumps and rows of gigantic
+forest-trees. Oftentimes their boughs would intertwine above, and what
+seemed to be the black mouth of a tunnel would confront us. Into this
+apparent pit of darkness we would dash, but the horses never shied. They
+knew well the ground their fleet hoofs were spurning, and they knew that
+farther on was home,--a good stall, and a rack full of musky clover hay.
+Under the trees I could not see Salome. Now and again some sparks of
+fire would shoot out when a hoof struck a stone. Then out into the open
+again. The pace our steeds had assumed of their own free will was no
+mean one, and when scarcely an hour had gone we were riding slowly
+through the meadow to the big whitewashed gate giving entrance to the
+yard. The young moon had grown weary, and tumbled out of the sky; but
+the stars seemed brighter--they looked as though the dew which sparkled
+on the grass below us had washed their tiny faces on its way to earth.
+The Milky Way appeared as a phantom lace curtain stretched across the
+sky.
+
+I opened the gate from my horse, and held it back for Salome to pass
+through. When she had done this, I followed, and the gate clanged back.
+The noise of its shutting notified Inky and Jim of our arrival, for they
+were waiting sleepily as we came up to the fine stone steps of the old
+home, and at once took charge of the horses. I helped Salome up the
+steps by placing my hand beneath her elbow. We stood for a moment on the
+edge of the porch.
+
+"We must move around gently," I suggested. "The old folks have doubtless
+been asleep an hour."
+
+"Bless their dear hearts!" she answered with earnest fervor. "Mother
+says you move like a mouse," she resumed, and I could see the faint
+glint of her teeth as she smiled. "My room is upstairs, and I am not so
+likely to disturb them. Have you enjoyed your day?"
+
+"It has been _very_ pleasant," I answered warmly. "I feel more grateful
+to you than I can say for being so nice to a stranger who happens to be
+a guest in your home. But I love the woods, and the fields, and the
+pure, fresh air which blows straight down from heaven. This much we have
+in common. Will you let me go with you again--sometimes? I would not
+bore you, nor presume too much."
+
+In my great earnestness I had come closer to her.
+
+"I am out of doors a great deal, and you may go with me often, if you
+wish. I enjoyed having you to-day."
+
+This was said just as seriously as my question had been put. Then, in
+one of those rare changes of which her nature was capable, she added:
+
+"You know I need a protector in my various rambles, and you shall be my
+esquire when I go forth in state to see my flower subjects scattered all
+over the farm. My knight-errant, too, to espouse my cause should snake,
+or dog, or an enraged animal of the pastures seek to do me harm."
+
+"Gladly, your majesty," I answered gallantly, falling into the spirit
+which her words betokened, and bowing low. "Behold your vassal; command
+me when you will."
+
+A whispered "good-night," a faint echo of that enchanting laugh, and she
+had slipped through the door and was gone.
+
+I did not tarry long, for the beauty of the night had suddenly paled.
+Everything had grown darker, and, by habit, I thought of my easy-chair
+and pipe, and went in also. Salome was standing at the farther end of
+the long, broad hall, with a lighted candle in her hand. Her hat had
+been removed, and her tangled hair was half down. The riding habit had
+also disappeared, and she was robed in some sort of a loose house gown
+which fell away into a train. Her back was towards me, and she had one
+foot on the first step of the curved stairway which went up from that
+point. She heard me turn the key in the lock, and looked back. I went
+towards her; why, I do not know. She waited until I had come quite
+close.
+
+"I haven't anything very particular to say," I began, I fear very
+confusedly. But my foolish feet had led me to her, obedient to the
+dictates of a foolish mind, and I had to speak first.
+
+"I have been in mother's room," she answered, opening her eyes very
+wide, as a child does when it hears a sound in the dark. "I went for
+this wrapper, and would you believe it, I did not waken either of them!
+Mother sleeps very lightly, too!"
+
+"You have performed quite a feat," I assured her, at once put at ease by
+her genuineness. "Have you planned anything for to-morrow?"
+
+"Father has some sheep on the lower farm that are sick, and I am going
+to take them some salt, because that is good for their blood."
+
+"May I help you salt the sheep? I'll carry the salt, if you will let me
+go."
+
+She turned her head sideways, with a slight uplifting of the brows, as
+though hesitating.
+
+"Ye-e-e-s, I guess so," she replied at last, doubtfully. "Do you know
+anything about sheep?"
+
+"Nothing more than I have read. They are very docile, I believe, and a
+great many of our clothes come from their backs."
+
+"But that isn't all." There was the wisdom of Solomon on the fresh young
+face, shadowed by disarranged tresses. "Some of them have horns, like a
+cow, only they grow back instead of out. And they'll run you sometimes,
+when they take a notion. Can you run, Mr. Stone?"
+
+The picture which came to my mind of the staid and dignified Abner Stone
+flying across a meadow with coat-tails streaming, and an irate ram at
+his heels, brought a broad smile to my face.
+
+"Yes; I _can_ run. But I promise not to desert you if danger comes."
+
+"Then be ready in the morning. I will say good-night again, for I know
+you must tell this day's doings to your pipe before you retire."
+
+Our entire conversation at the foot of the stair had been in low
+whispers, and I whispered back her good-night, and turned to go. Then,
+like Lot's wife, I looked behind me. She had reached the first landing,
+where the stairway curved. She saw me, and peered forward, holding the
+candle above her head. The loose sleeve of her dress fell back with the
+motion, and the bare symmetry of her rounded forearm gleamed upon the
+blackness like ivory upon ebony. I waved my hand; she waved hers, then
+was gone.
+
+I sank into a chair and bowed my head in my hands, my soul torn by the
+pangs of a new birth.
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+
+Only a few old negroes were astir when I stepped from the house the next
+morning. Even the master had not arisen. The stars and the sun's
+forerunners were having a battle on the broad field overhead; one by one
+the stars were vanquished and their lamps extinguished. I stood upon the
+lowest step of the flight in front of the house, and watched the misty,
+uncertain shapes of trees and bushes gradually evolve themselves into
+distinguishable outlines. The process was slow, because a kind of vapor
+lay upon everything, and it resisted strenuously the onslaught of the
+sun. But it gave way, as darkness ever must before light, and, as if by
+magic, the curtain which night had placed was rolled away, and little by
+little the landscape was revealed. Along the creek, which ran just
+beyond the pike, and parallel with it, hung a dense wall of fog, against
+which it seemed the arrows of day fell, blunted. The air was cool and
+fresh, and I drew it deep down into my lungs, feeling the sluggish blood
+start afresh with each draught.
+
+With the dawning of that day came the dawning of a new life for me. I
+realized that I had been living in a darkened room, and that a window
+had suddenly been thrown open, letting in upon me a shower of golden
+light, with the songs of birds and the incense of flowers. My old life
+had been a contented one, had known the pleasures to be derived from
+association with books and God's great out-door miracles. The new life,
+whose silver dawn was beginning to tip my soul with a strange radiance,
+held untold joys which belong rightly to heaven, and which numbed my
+mind as I strove blindly after comprehension. I was as a little child
+left all at once alone upon the world. I stood, helpless, trying to
+centralize my disordered thoughts, with a strange oppressed feeling in
+my breast which deep respirations could not drive away. I was deeply,
+deeply troubled, and my mind was in a maze. But one idea possessed me,
+and that doggedly asserted itself, overriding the tumult in my brain. I
+was longing, madly longing, to see again her whom I _loved_. The word in
+my mind was like the touch of a white-hot iron, and I started as if
+stung, and fell to pacing nervously up and down. It could not be; it
+could not be! That child of nineteen,--I a man of forty-five! The idea
+was monstrous! What an old fool I had been! I did not know my own mind,
+that was all. I would be all right in a day or two. But still that
+sinking feeling weighed above my heart, and my usually calm pulse was
+rioting with something other than exercise.
+
+"Let it be love!" I cried at last, in my troubled soul. "The painful
+bliss of this half hour's experience is worth the cost of denial, for
+she shall never know!"
+
+Thus did I, poor worm, commune in my fool's heaven, recking not, nor
+knowing, that I was setting at naught the plans of my Creator.
+
+At breakfast I was myself, although my hand trembled when I conveyed
+food to my mouth, and I felt my cheeks coloring when she came in a
+little late, arrayed in a pink-flowered, flowing gown, and looking as
+fresh as though she had just risen, bathed in dew, from the
+blue-and-crimson cup of a morning-glory.
+
+"How did you rest after your night ride?" she smiled, sitting by me and
+resting her elbows on the edge of the table, then pillowing her round
+chin in her pink palms.
+
+"I slept better for my outing," I answered promptly, lying with the ease
+of a schoolboy. The truth was, my sleep had been broken and poor.
+
+"It's a good thing for Stone that you're back," thundered Mr. Grundy.
+"You're so everlastingly fond of running over all creation, and he has
+the rovingest disposition I ever saw. Goin' down to salt those sheep
+this mornin', S'lome?"
+
+"Yes, sir. I made a compact with Mr. Stone last night to act as my
+esquire on all my expeditions. You've often said I should have some one
+to go along with me."
+
+"Don't let her impose on you, Stone," responded the old gentleman,
+throwing a quick wink in my direction. "She's young, you know, and
+don't know as much as mother. She'll have you climbing an oak tree to
+get a young hawk out of its nest likely as not."
+
+Salome laughed, while I boldly assured them that I would make the effort
+should she desire such a thing. Mrs. Grundy was quiet, as usual. She
+contented herself listening to the conversation of the others, and
+seldom took her eyes off the girl it was plain to see she worshipped.
+
+"Get ready for a walk this morning, Mr. Stone!" called Salome, a short
+time after breakfast, peeping over the balustrades at the top of the
+stair. "The lower farm is about two miles, and the walk will be good for
+us."
+
+"I'll get my hat and stick; are you coming now?"
+
+"As soon as I can get in another dress. I'll meet you in the locust
+grove. Tell Tom to get you the salt, and I'll be there before you have
+missed me."
+
+She was gone with a pattering of little feet.
+
+I went into my room for my stick and hat with a grim smile upon my face.
+The steady ground which I had thought beneath me was becoming shifting
+sand. I went slowly around the house to the negro quarters with bowed
+head, briefly gave Tom his mistress' orders, and stood apathetically
+while the darky hastened away to obey.
+
+A quick scurrying in the grass, and the pressure of two small paws upon
+my trousers' leg brought me to myself, and I bent down to pat the yellow
+head of Fido, who had espied me, and instantly besought recognition.
+
+"You poor, dumb, faithful thing," I apostrophized, looking at the bright
+eyes which shone love into mine. "You are spared this agony of soul,
+and the futile efforts to solve problems which cannot be known. You love
+me, and I love you; why could we both not be content?"
+
+"Is Fido going, too?"
+
+I composed my face with an effort, and straightened up as the cheery
+voice hailed me. She was coming towards me like a woodland sprite,
+floating, it seemed to me, for her gliding step was so free from any
+pronounced undulation. Her dress of blue checked gingham just escaped
+the ground, and she wore a gingham sunbonnet with two long strings,
+which she held in either hand. The sunbonnet was tilted back, and her
+laughing face, with its rich, delicate under-color of old wine, was fit
+for a god to kiss.
+
+"Yes, we will take him along if you do not object. He was the companion
+of my rambles before you came. We will make a congenial three."
+
+Tom approached with a bucket of salt, which, after an exaggerated scrape
+of the foot and a pull at his forelock, he handed to me, and we set out.
+
+Our way led through the orchard at the back of the house, where grew, I
+think, all sorts of apples known to man. Each bough was freighted with
+its burden of round, green fruit, and here and there an Early Harvest
+tree was spattered with golden patches, where the ripened apples hung in
+their green bower. Beyond the orchard lay a woods pasture, formed of a
+succession of gentle swells, the heavy bluegrass turf soft as an
+Oriental carpet to the feet, while scattered about were hundreds of
+magnificent trees, mostly oak and poplar. Dotting the sward were
+numerous little white balls on long stems,--dandelions gone to seed.
+These Salome plucked constantly, and, filling her cheeks with wind,
+would blow like Boreas, until her face was purple. When I inquired the
+purpose of this queer performance, I was shyly informed that it was to
+tell if her sweetheart loved her. If she blew every one of the pappus
+off at one breath, he loved her; if she didn't, he didn't love her. She
+was certainly very much concerned about the matter, for every ball she
+came to she plucked and blew. Sometimes all the pappus disappeared, and
+sometimes they didn't, and so she never reached a decided conclusion.
+
+The pasture crossed, a rail fence rose up before us. I at once stepped
+forward to let down a gap, but Salome halted me.
+
+"The idea!" she declared. "I don't mind that at all. You stand just
+where you are, and turn your back; I'll call you when I'm over."
+
+I blushed, and obeyed.
+
+A wheat-field of billowy gold stretched before us when I joined her. A
+narrow path ran through it, curving sinuously, as a path made by chance
+will. This we followed, Salome going in front. The wheat was ready for
+the reaper, and the full heads were swelled to bursting. Salome gathered
+some, threshed them between her hands, blew out the chaff, and offered
+me part of the grain, eating the other herself. It was pasty, but not
+unpleasant, and I ate it because it was her gift. We were walking
+peacefully along, through the waist-high grain, when Salome gave a
+little scream and jumped back, plump into my arms. Even in my excitement
+I saw the tail of a black snake vanishing across the path. I released
+her quickly, of course, but the touch of her figure was like wine in my
+veins.
+
+"I beg your pardon!" she said humbly; "but the ugly thing frightened
+me. It darted out so quickly, and I almost stepped upon it. You couldn't
+get one of the negroes to follow this path any farther. They are very
+superstitious, you know, and are firm believers in signs."
+
+"I'm sorry you were startled so; perhaps I had better go in front," I
+ventured.
+
+"No; you sha'n't. I'm not really afraid of snakes, except when I run
+upon one unexpectedly. I kill them when I get a chance."
+
+And so she started out again in advance of me, and began telling the
+various beliefs of the negroes. I learned from her that their lives were
+almost governed by "signs," and that some very trivial thing would deter
+them from a certain course of action. There were ways to escape the
+spell of witches, to avoid snakes, and to keep from being led into a
+morass by jack-o'-lanterns. This folk-lore of the darkies was
+exceedingly interesting to me, told in the charming manner which
+characterized the speech of my companion.
+
+The wheat-field ended at the pike, and here another fence was passed in
+the same manner as the first one. Then we swung down the dusty road
+together, side by side. To the right and left of us dog-fennel was
+blooming, and the "Jimpson" weed flared its white trumpets in a brave
+show. Occasionally a daisy lifted its yellow, modest head, and Salome
+took great delight in getting me to tell her which was daisy and which
+was fennel. My ignorance caused many a blunder, to her high amusement;
+but at last I discovered that the daisy's head was larger than that of
+its humble brother. A half-mile's walk along the pike brought us to an
+old sagging gate, which I pushed open, and we went through. A grassy
+hill was before us, sloping down to a cool hollow where a spring
+bubbled out from beneath a moss-grown old rock.
+
+There were trees and bushes, and a soft green bank, and we joined hands
+and ran like two school-children till we reached the spring. Of course
+she must have a drink, so down she knelt, and plunged her pouting lips
+into the cool water. Her hair, tangled and loosened by our run, fell in
+wavy strands about her face. When she had drunk her fill, it was my
+turn, and so I stretched out full length, and carefully put my lips just
+where hers had been. Never had water tasted so sweet! I was taking it
+in, in long, cool swallows, when a sudden pressure on the back of my
+head bobbed my face deep into the spring. I turned my head with a smile,
+to find her standing back and laughing like a child at the trick she had
+played.
+
+"You rascal!" I fumed good-naturedly, "I'll pay you back!"
+
+Another peal of laughter was her only answer, caused, no doubt, by my
+wet face and the water dripping from my chin.
+
+"Yonder come the sheep," she said. "Get up, and let's salt them."
+
+I arose and picked up the bucket. Coming slowly up the hollow were five
+or six shabby-looking sheep. Their wool stood on them in patches, and
+they seemed scarcely able to walk.
+
+"What's the matter with them?" I queried.
+
+"See how rusty the poor things look!" Her voice told of deep concern.
+"Father says they have the scab, and it must be a dreadful disease, like
+leprosy. Let's go meet them, and save them the trouble of walking so
+far."
+
+I could not help smiling at the tender heart this speech betrayed, but
+I went with her. As we neared the sorry-looking group, Salome took a
+handful of salt and placed it upon a large flat stone. They rushed at it
+eagerly, despite their weakened state, and lapped it with their tongues.
+We put out more salt, at a dozen different places, so that all might
+have enough, then went back to the bank by the spring, and while she sat
+down in the shade and held her bonnet in her lap, I reclined by her
+side, and looked up at her, content.
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+
+"Do you love the country as much as you seem to?" she asked, gazing
+blissfully up at the dense foliage of the elm tree under which we were
+resting.
+
+"I could not love it more; it is a wonder which never ends, and an
+enduring delight. If I could think that Paradise was like this day, and
+this place, I would not care when death came."
+
+"I'm so glad," she answered, with the simplicity and directness of a
+child. "I have been in cities, and I don't see how a soul can live
+there. It seems to me that mine would cramp and dwindle until it died if
+I had to live in a big town. Even the large and beautiful places of
+worship speak more of the human than of the divine. It seems that men
+go because they must, and that women go to show their clothes. This is
+my religion and my temple." She smiled in real joy as she waved her hand
+about her in a gesture comprehending everything bounded by the horizon.
+"Look at the roof of my temple. Was there ever one so high built by
+mortals, and was there ever a pigment mixed that could give it the tint
+which mine holds? And it is not always the same. To-day it is a pale
+blue, marked with delicate lines of cloud. At twilight it will darken to
+azure; to-night it will be studded with a million gems. And no prayer
+falls back from that roof upon the head of the sender, for the stars are
+the portholes through which they go to heaven. Do you never think that
+way?"
+
+I shook my head slowly.
+
+"It is very beautiful," I said, "and equally true, no doubt, but I had
+never thought of it in just that way. I love this life because I can't
+help but love it. The forests, the meadows, the fields, and the brooks
+are what my soul craves; yet if you ask me why, I cannot tell you. I
+have been happier the few short weeks I have spent in your home than I
+was all the rest of my life. Since you have come, my happiness has
+deepened."
+
+I dared not look up, but kept my eyes on the four-leaf clover I was
+plucking to pieces.
+
+"I'm glad I've helped make your visit pleasant."
+
+Her voice was in the same low sweet tones which she had before employed,
+and I knew by this she attached no particular significance to my last
+sentence.
+
+"When mother wrote me that you had come to board with us, I was a little
+displeased, for I was jealous of the sweet accord in which we all dwelt,
+and did not want it marred. But when she told me all about you, and
+your habits, my feelings changed. I do not wish to draw any unjust
+comparisons, but there are very few people with tastes and inclinations
+like yours and mine,--don't you think so?"
+
+This naïve frankness almost amused me.
+
+"I think you are right. I never knew any one who would care for just the
+things we do, and they are certainly the most innocent pleasures which
+the world affords."
+
+A sudden darkening of the landscape and a breath of cool air accentuated
+the silence which fell at this point. We both looked up, and saw the
+edge of a blue-black cloud peeping over the shoulder of a northwestern
+hill.
+
+"I'm afraid we'll get wet," said Salome, rising hastily, and surveying
+her airy garments dubiously. "There isn't even a cabin between here and
+home. I wouldn't care a fig, but mother always hates for me to be out in
+a storm. We can only do our best, and walk rapidly."
+
+With the salt bucket in my left hand, and her hand in my right, I helped
+her up the hill the best I could. Fido limped behind. He had been lost
+nearly all the time since we started,--chasing rabbits, doubtless,--and
+had only made his appearance a few moments before the cloud startled us.
+We gained the pike directly, and as we hurried towards the wheat-field
+the cloud grew with alarming rapidity, and a scroll-work of flame began
+to show about its outer edges.
+
+"Isn't it beautiful?" whispered Salome. "But we're going to catch it."
+
+And we did. Half-way across the wheat-field the first big drops
+splashed against our faces, blown by strong gusts of wind. I gazed
+around helplessly for shelter. A few yards to our right rose the
+cumbersome shape of a last year's straw-rick; it was better than
+nothing.
+
+"Come!" I said, taking her arm firmly. "I'll find you shelter."
+
+She consented silently, and I crushed a path for her through the ripe
+grain until we reached the rick. The rain was beginning to pelt us
+sharply. Furiously I went to work, tearing out straw by the handfuls,
+armfuls, and in a few seconds I had excavated a hole large enough for
+Salome to enter in a crouching posture.
+
+"Get in!" I commanded. I think she little liked the tone of authority I
+had assumed, for if there ever was a petted being, it was she, yet she
+obeyed, and cuddled up in her refuge out of reach of the driving rain.
+
+I sat down by the side of her covert, and rested my back against the
+rick. I also turned up my coat-collar, and pulled my hat well down upon
+my head; but I soon saw that a good soaking was in store for me.
+
+"Why don't you come in, too?" she asked in guileless innocence. "I can
+make room for you, and you will surely get wet out there. Aren't you
+afraid of rheumatism? Father has it if he gets his toe damp."
+
+"I'll get along all right," I replied. "There doesn't much rain strike
+me, and I never had the rheumatism in my life."
+
+I didn't tell her of the trouble with my breathing, and the attack that
+would be almost sure to follow this exposure.
+
+We both grew quiet after this, and listened to the swish of the rain and
+the mighty howling of the wind. It had grown very dark, and the air was
+chilly. The lightning was incessant, and traced zigzag pathways of fire
+across the sombre heavens. The thunder was terrific, and often shook the
+solid earth. I asked Salome if she was not afraid, but she laughed from
+her snug retreat, and said she loved it all. What manner of girl was
+this, who feared nothing, and who loved Nature even when she was at war
+with herself?
+
+The strife of the elements ceased as suddenly as it had begun. The
+thunder rumbled away in the east; the rain stopped falling, and a rift
+of blue showed through the dun masses overhead. This was followed by a
+broad shaft of sunlight, which struck on the golden sea around us with a
+shimmering radiance. I jokingly called Salome a "hayseed" when she
+emerged from her shelter, for her brown hair was sprinkled with wisps of
+straw. She ignored the epithet in her solicitation for my welfare, and
+proceeded straightway to place her hand upon my shoulders and back to
+see if I was wet.
+
+"You're soaking!" she declared in genuine alarm. "You must have a hot
+whiskey toddy and six grains of quinine the minute you get home!"
+
+I made a wry face; but she only shook her head in a determined way, and
+announced that she would see to it in person. As for herself, she was as
+dry as a butterfly which had just emerged from a chrysalis, and I
+congratulated myself upon the care I had taken of her. But before we
+reached home she was in a plight almost equal to my own, for the wind
+had blown the wheat across the path, and it was impossible for me to
+remove it entirely.
+
+As a consequence, her ladyship was at once hustled off to bed by good
+Mrs. Grundy, and treated to the same remedy she had prescribed for me. I
+took a rather stiff toddy, and changed my clothes, and felt no ill
+effects from my experience.
+
+After the first wild flush which had attended the discovery of the
+awakening of my affection for this girl had subsided, I became, in a
+degree, calmer. But it was there, deep in my soul, and I could feel it
+growing, growing, as steadily as my heart was beating. And I was old
+enough to know that in time it would conquer me, and drag me to her feet
+like a fettered slave before his master. My will seemed, in a measure,
+paralyzed, and I made no effort to escape. Something warned me that it
+would be useless. And so I drifted, living in a careless sort of lotos
+dream, which I could have wished would last forever. Now there were
+scented, joyful days, when we strolled through dales and wooded hollows,
+listening to Nature's great orchestra as it played its never-ending
+symphony. Perfect nights, when the heavy air would be redolent of the
+honeysuckles' wafted souls and the breath of sleepy roses. From the
+cabins in the locust grove would float the tinkling of the banjo, the
+untrained guffaw of the negro men, and the wild, half-barbaric notes of
+an old-time melody. And the stars would shine in glory above us, and we
+would sit on the steps and talk of the things we both loved. The old
+folks on the settee would get sleepy and go in, and we would sit there
+by the hour, and still my secret was my own. I think she guessed it, but
+this blissful existence was too sweet to be ended by some foolish words
+which had better remain forever in my heart, even though they ate it
+out.
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+
+August came. It was half gone ere I realized that she would go back to
+Bellwood early in September. How and where the days had gone I could not
+tell. Week after week had slipped by, and, forgetting that time was
+passing, I lived in my fool's paradise, and gave no thought to the days
+that were speeding away on silken wings. Harvest had come and gone; the
+fierce heat of a Kentucky summer made the days sultry, but the nights
+were good to live. I had lived through it all as in a kind of waking
+dream. But in the worship-chamber of my heart I had built an altar, and
+on it was placed the first and only love of my life. The fire which
+glowed there was as pure as Easter dawn, yet it was as intense as the
+still white heat you may see in a furnace. And the time was coming when
+she would go away.
+
+One night I wandered, restless, down into the tree-grown yard. We had
+sat together that night, as usual, but my lips had been mute. The time
+had come when there was but one thing to say, and I had resolved not to
+say it. And so she had left me early, saying, in her impetuous way, that
+I was unsociable. Back and forth the long avenue I paced, thinking of
+the day she came home, of the many, many times we had been together;
+thinking of the pure, unselfish, Christian womanhood which crowned her
+with its consecrating light. Back and forth, back and forth, and her
+sweet young face burned itself into my mind with every step I took. Down
+the avenue, then up, and I leaned against the corrugated trunk of an
+oak, and fastened my eyes upon the windows of her room. The blinds were
+drawn, but she was up, for a light showed through them. Salome!
+Salome!--that was the one thought of my mind, the one bitter cry from my
+aching heart. There was a shadow on the curtain; a bare, uplifted arm
+was silhouetted against it. God bless you, Salome! My Salome!
+Good-night!
+
+The next day I kept to my room, sending word that my head was troubling
+me. In the afternoon I went out and sat upon the porch, turning my
+troubled face towards the peaceful west. The sun was sinking, swathed in
+purple robes. Far stretching on either side were azure seas, with
+dun-colored islands dotting their broad expanses. Below me wound the
+dusty pike, like a yellow ribbon, flanked on one side by the half-dry
+creek, and on the other by a field of tasselled corn. A crow sat upon
+the dead limb of a sycamore, and cawed, and cawed, in noisy unrest. The
+weight which had been placed upon my breast two months before seemed
+like a millstone now. The consciousness of hopelessness made it heavier
+than before.
+
+"Has your headache gone, Mr. Stone?"
+
+She had come to the doorway without my knowledge, and now advanced
+towards me with a tender, questioning look upon her face.
+
+"Yes," I answered in quiet desperation, turning my face from her. "The
+pain has gone to my heart."
+
+She stood beside me, silently, and I felt the muscles hardening in my
+cheeks, as I shut my jaws tight to keep back the flood of words which
+rushed to my lips, and clamored for utterance. Presently I felt that I
+could speak rationally.
+
+"How long before you return to school?"
+
+"Three weeks; I wish I did not have to go."
+
+"Let's walk down to the grape-vine swing," I proposed abruptly, turning
+to her with set face.
+
+She held her sunbonnet in her hand,--the same bonnet she always wore out
+of doors about the farm,--and she settled it on her brown, fluffy hair
+as I arose. The swing was in one corner of the yard, quite away from the
+house, and it had come to be one of our favorite resorts at twilight.
+This afternoon she occupied it, as was her custom, and I sat at the base
+of a walnut tree close by her. Something had fallen upon her usually gay
+spirits, and checked the outpourings of her mind. She sat silent,
+holding to the arms of her swing, and looking with earnest eyes out over
+the varied landscape. I watched her, while the fierce pulsings of my
+temples blurred my eyes, and made her seem as in a sea of mist. The
+noises of the day had lulled to echoes. The peace of a summer twilight
+was stealing stealthily over all the land. From a far-off pasture came
+the silvery tinkle of a sheep-bell; the unutterably mournful cooing of a
+dove was borne from the forest. The whispering leaves above us rustled
+gently before the approach of the Angel of the Dusk. The sylvan solitude
+became as an enchanted spot where none were living but she and I.
+Why--oh, why could it not last forever, just as it was that moment! But
+Time does not halt for love or hate, and she was going away,--out of my
+life, to leave it as a barren rock in a burning desert. The intense
+longing of my gaze caused her to turn towards me. She dropped her eyes,
+while her cheeks grew rosy as the sunset.
+
+"Salome!"
+
+The sweet name fell in trembling accents from my lips. She caught her
+breath quickly, but did not look up. I arose and stood before her, with
+my hands clasped in front of me.
+
+"I love you, Salome!" I said in husky tones, for my voice would barely
+come. "You have called into life that love which God has given every
+man. It possesses me as utterly as the winds of heaven possess the
+earth. It has made me as weak as a child, and, like a child, I have told
+you. I was not strong enough to keep it from you. Should you detest me
+for giving way as I have, I would not blame you. I am a middle-aged man;
+you are a little girl, and I have no right to ask anything from you.
+Your life is before you; mine is over half spent. But I love you, and I
+would die for you, Salome--Salome, my precious one!"
+
+I turned from her, and set my teeth upon my lip, for my confession had
+shaken my soul to its uttermost depths. Not for the earth, nor for
+heaven would I have touched her white hand. Through the swirling blood
+which benumbed my consciousness I felt a presence near me,--her
+presence. I turned with a low cry. She was standing there, close to me.
+Her bonnet had fallen off, and in the deep twilight her brown hair
+glowed like an aureole about a saint. One swift, hurt, appealing glance
+from her uplifted eyes, and she sank, quivering, upon my breast,
+sobbing, "Abner! Abner!"
+
+God of mercy, I thank thee! I thank thee!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Once more we sat on the steps. The bewitching beauty of the August night
+lay around us. The yellow harvest moon sailed on as calmly as though it
+were used to beholding lovers. I held her hand in a kind of stupefied
+satisfaction, feeling as though under the spell of some powerful opiate.
+She was so close to me!--the skirt of her gingham gown had fallen over
+one of my feet. I touched her hair, so tenderly, and smoothed it back
+from her pure forehead. How could it be? This young creature, so full of
+life and health, encompassed with all that wealth and love could
+give--to love me!--me, a simple bookworm and lover of Nature, who had
+come into her life by chance. The golden hours of that enchanted night
+still glow like letters of fire upon the web of memory. It was the one
+perfect period in my quiet and uneventful existence,--the one brief time
+when life was full, and I held to my lips the cup of all earthly
+happiness. And the changing years cannot rob me of the recollection.
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+
+The next day Salome was seized with a severe headache. She did not leave
+the house, and of course I did not see her, as she stayed in her room
+upstairs. We felt no especial concern, although she was not accustomed
+to such attacks, and with the coming of night her head grew easier. I
+went out after supper to pace up and down the avenue, to smoke my pipe,
+and to watch the windows of her room. I remained in the yard till nearly
+eleven, and the light was still burning when I went in. The next morning
+Mrs. Grundy told me that Salome had some fever, and that a doctor had
+been sent for. I heard the news in silent fear, and my heart sank. I
+longed to tell this good old woman what her daughter was to me; but
+Salome had said nothing about it, and I could not speak without her
+consent.
+
+The doctor came, an important-looking young fellow whom I felt inclined
+to kick off the porch the moment he set foot on it. When he descended
+from the sick room he pompously announced that it was only an ordinary
+cold, which would quickly disappear before the remedies which he had
+left. But the days went by, and she grew no better, and I never saw her.
+How my heart hungered for a glance of her sweet face; how my eyes longed
+to look into the clear, brown depths of hers. One morning I was told
+that a leading physician from Louisville had been summoned. Dr. Yandel
+came--and stayed. Typhoid fever is a grim foe which requires vigilance
+as well as medical skill.
+
+I went about like one distraught with a cold hand gripping my heart. It
+was then she asked to see me. I went to her room for a few moments, and
+came out with my face gray, and a pitiful, broken prayer to God. Two
+weeks--and one night they came for me. Like a broken, shattered lily she
+lay, but her lips smiled with their last breath, and whispered--"Abner."
+
+Blinded and weak, I groped my way out into the night, and sat down. My
+yellow dog found me, and crept, whining, between my knees. When I lifted
+my stricken face to the sky, I thought I saw a misty shallop touch the
+strand of heaven, and a slender white figure with brown hair step onto
+the plains of Paradise.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's note
+
+
+The following changes have been made to the text:
+
+Page 16: "hard biscuit" changed to "hard biscuits".
+
+Page 86: "give her royal welcome" changed to "give her a royal welcome".
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Love Story of Abner Stone, by 
+Edwin Carlile Litsey
+
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