diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:11:14 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:11:14 -0700 |
| commit | 9543bb2d16dbd8a9125c30361585c8a8a0c3c9d6 (patch) | |
| tree | 9cd792699456d74d5921628c6e0646256a71ed1a | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 38826-8.txt | 6223 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 38826-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 113871 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 38826-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 731257 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 38826-h/38826-h.htm | 6419 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 38826-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 182049 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 38826-h/images/ep.jpg | bin | 0 -> 88424 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 38826-h/images/frontis.jpg | bin | 0 -> 199200 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 38826-h/images/illus1.jpg | bin | 0 -> 72076 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 38826-h/images/tp.jpg | bin | 0 -> 71531 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 38826.txt | 6223 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 38826.zip | bin | 0 -> 113869 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
14 files changed, 18881 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/38826-8.txt b/38826-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bd8d1ac --- /dev/null +++ b/38826-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6223 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Bolanyo, by Opie Percival Read, Illustrated +by Charles Francis Browne + + +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: Bolanyo + + +Author: Opie Percival Read + + + +Release Date: February 10, 2012 [eBook #38826] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOLANYO*** + + +E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made +available by Internet Archive/American Libraries +(http://www.archive.org/details/americana) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 38826-h.htm or 38826-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38826/38826-h/38826-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38826/38826-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive/American Libraries. See + http://www.archive.org/details/bolanyonovel00readrich + + + + + +BOLANYO + +A Novel + +by + +OPIE READ + +Author of A Kentucky Colonel The Jucklins etc + + + + + + + +Chicago +Printed for +Way & Williams +MDCCCXCVII + +Copyright, 1897, by Way & Williams. + +The Cover Designed by Mr. Maxfield Parrish. +Decorations by Mr. Charles Francis Browne. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER. PAGE. + + I. ON THE RIVER 1 + + II. IN THE AIR 13 + + III. THE BLACK GIANT 20 + + IV. THE SENATOR 28 + + V. A MOMENT OF FORGIVENESS 36 + + VI. INTRODUCED TO MRS. ESTELL 50 + + VII. THE NOTORIOUS BUGG PETERS 66 + + VIII. THE STATE TREASURER 82 + + IX. PUBLIC ENTERTAINERS 99 + + X. MR. PETTICORD 117 + + XI. THE CHARM OF AN OLD TOWN 131 + + XII. A MATTER OF BUSINESS 154 + + XIII. THE PLACE OF THE GOBLINS 164 + + XIV. OLD JOE VARK 172 + + XV. OLD AUNT PATSEY 187 + + XVI. THE PLAY 203 + + XVII. A SLOW STEP ON THE STAIRS 219 + + XVIII. TO MEET THE MANAGER 226 + + XIX. BURN THE JUNIPER 233 + + XX. GLEANING THE FIELD 241 + + XXI. THE WORK OF THE SCOUNDREL 251 + + XXII. IN THE THICKET 258 + + XXIII. THE RINGING OF THE BELL 269 + + XXIV. MAGNOLIA LAND 280 + + XXV. DOWN A DARK ALLEY 291 + + XXVI. CONCLUSION--IN THE GARDEN 300 + + + + +BOLANYO + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +ON THE RIVER. + + +On the night of the 26th of April our company closed an engagement at +the St. Charles Theatre in New Orleans; and before the clocks began to +strike the hour of twelve, our bags and baggage had been tumbled on +board a steamboat headed for St. Louis. The prospects of the National +Dramatic Company had been bright; competent critics had pronounced our +new play a work of true and sympathetic art, before production, but had +slashed at our tender vitals when the piece had passed from rehearsal to +presentation. The bad beginning in the East had not truthfully foretold +a good ending in the South. The people had failed to sympathize with our +"Work of Sympathetic Art." Hope had leaped from town to town; was always +sure to fall, but always quick to rise again; and, now, three nights in +St. Louis would close the season, and doubtless end the career of the +National Dramatic Company. The captain of the Red Fox, a dingy, +waterlogged and laborious craft, had kindly offered to let us come +aboard at half his usual rate. He assured our manager that this +concession afforded a real pleasure; that he held a keen interest in our +profession, having years ago done a clog dance as a negro minstrel. +Necessity oozed oil upon this unconscious sarcasm, and with grateful +dignity the captain's offer was accepted. + +By two o'clock we were creaking and churning against the current, and, +alone in a begrimed cubby-hole, with a looking-glass shaking against the +frail wall, I lay down with a sigh to take stock of myself. Hope had +been agile, but now it did not bound with so light a spring. Could it be +that I had begun to question my ability as an actor? It was true that +the critics had slit me with their knives, but the people had frequently +applauded, and, after all, the people deliver the verdict. The judge may +charge, but the jury pronounces. I knew then, as I know now, that there +must be a reserve force behind all forms of art; that one essential of +artistic expression is to create the belief that you are not doing your +best, that you are not under a strain. And I thought that I had +accomplished this, but the critics had said that my restraint was weak +and my passion overwrought. I had not come out as a star. As a stock +comedian I had been granted a kindly mention, and had accepted the place +of leading man, but this had given offense and had called forth an +unjust tirade of censure. Perhaps I had assumed a little too much, but +the man who is not ready to assume will never accomplish anything, and +from a lower station must be content to contemplate the success of those +who were less delicate. + +When morning came I looked out upon the canefields, green to the edge of +the horizon. The breakfast bell rang, but I hung back, not for lack of +appetite, but for the reason that the other members of the company had +ceased to be companionable. Even a meager applause can excite, if not +envy, a certain degree of contempt; and the small stint of approbation +which, like a mere crumb, had fallen to me could not have aroused the +jealousy, but surely sharpened the sarcasms, of my fellow-players. In a +side remark intended for me, and which struck me like a shaft, +Culpepper, as vain a fellow as ever mismumbled an author's lines, +remarked to Miss Hatch that an elephant would stretch his chain to +reach a bonbon. And, stroking as brutish a pug as ever found soft +luxury in a woman's lap, she replied that it was a pity that the average +theatrical elephant, foisted upon an easy manager, could only rival the +real beast in clumsiness and in his appetite for sweets. So I waited, +gazing out upon the edgeless spread of cane-land, until my companions in +"sympathetic art" had indulged in the usual growl over their morning +meal, and then I went out to breakfast. At the table sat one person, an +oldish man with a dash of red in his countenance. As I sat down he +looked up, and, with a pleasing smile, inquired if I were Mr. Maurice +Belford. And when I had told him yes, he said: + +"I thought so, or 'mistrusted' as much, as Old Bill Brooks used to say," +he added, laughing. "Didn't know old Bill, I take it? Used to travel a +good deal up and down the river, and was a great hand to go to a show. +And he'd always set 'em through. No, sir, he wouldn't leave you. And +this puts me in mind that I saw you play the other night. You caught +me, I tell you. That character of _Tobe Wilson_, the gambler, was about +as true a thing as I ever saw." + +"I am much pleased to hear you say so," I replied, warming toward him. +"But the critics said it was overdone and unreal," I added. + +"The critics said so; who are they?" + +"The newspaper representatives who come to the theater to find fault," I +answered. + +"Oh, that's it, eh? I didn't see what any of 'em said, and it wouldn't +make any difference if I had. I've been a pilot on this river mighty +nigh ever since I was a boy, and if I don't know what a real gambler is, +I'd like for some man to point one out to me." + +"I am really delighted to meet you, for surely your opinion is worth a +great deal." + +"Don't know about that," he replied, "but I know what a gambler is. Why, +I set all the way through your show. Fellow wanted me to go out with +him, but I wouldn't. And right by me set Senator Giles Talcom, of +Mississippi. I live in Bolanyo, his town. It's improved mightily in the +last twenty-five years. Got a new city hall, and some Dutchmen from the +north are talking about starting a brewery. Now, Talcom is a smart man +and he liked your show; said he was sorry you are to skip Bolanyo on +your way up the river. As soon as I git a bite to eat I'm going up to +take the wheel. Wouldn't you like to sit in the pilot house?" + +Glad to accept the invitation of one who had the insight to recognize an +artistic delineation of character, and the graciousness to declare it, I +went with him to the pilot house. He took the wheel from a man who, I +thought, did not look upon me kindly, and continued to talk, while with +an intentness that traced a frown upon his brow he estimated the +strength of the current, or the depth of the water on a shoal. The +river was low; the winter had been comparatively dry; the early spring +thaw had spent its force, and there was as yet no premonitory swell of +the great summer rise. The morning was sunless and soft, and far away a +dragon-shaped mist lay low upon the land, a giant's nightmare, fading in +the pale light of a reluctant day. + +"The old river's dead," said the pilot, with the reverberations of a +knell in the tone of his voice. "Look at that thing fluttering along +over there, where the Lee and the Natchez used to plow. No, sir, the old +Mississippi ain't much better than a sewer now. But she was a roarer +back yonder in my time, I tell you. Ah, Lord, some great men have +piloted palaces along here." + +"Whom do you regard as the greatest?" I inquired, expecting to hear him +pronounce a name well known to the stage and to literature. + +"Well, of course there's a difference of opinion among them that don't +know, but with them that do know there never was a pilot that could +hold a candle to old Lige Patton." + +"I don't believe I ever heard of him," I replied. + +"Hah!" He turned his eyes upon me, with the up-river search still strong +in his gaze, but as with a snatch he jerked them away and threw them +upon a split in the current far ahead. "That might be," he assented, +slowly turning his wheel. "I can jump off here most anywhere and find +you a man that never heard of Julius Cæsar." + +I preferred to remain silent under this rebuke, and he did not speak +again until we had sheered off to the left of the split in the current, +a snag, and then he said: + +"Lige didn't weigh more than a hundred and sixty pounds at his best, and +the boys used to say there wan't no meat on him at all, nothing but +nerve. Game!" He cleared his throat, gave me a mere glance and +continued: "It was said that a panther once met him in the woods, and +gave vent to a most unearthly squall, which meant, 'excuse me, Mr. +Patton,' and took to his heels and never was heard of in that section +after that--the panther wan't--although he had been mighty popular among +the pigs and sheep of that neighborhood. But Lige never killed many men. +Never killed except when he was overpersuaded. Gave up a good position +once and went all the way to Jackson to call the governor of Mississippi +a liar. And what was that for? Why, the governor issued a thanksgiving +proclamation in spite of the fact that the river had been low for three +months, making it pretty tough work for the pilots; and Lige, he +declared that a governor who said that the people ought to be thankful +was a liar. And I've got a little more religion now than I had at that +time, but blamed if I don't still think he was right. I spoke a while +ago of Senator Talcom, who lives in my town. Well, sir, Lige give Talcom +his start in the world. It was this way: Lige wan't altogether a lamb +when he was drinking; he sorter looked for a fight, but, understand, he +didn't want to kill anybody, unless _over_persuaded. Talcom was a young +fellow, at that time, and had just come to town. And, somehow, he got in +Lige's way, and they fought. And if there ever was a man that had more +wire than Lige, it was Talcom. It must have been some sort of an +accident, but, somehow, he got the upper hand of Lige, got him down, got +out his knife, and was about to cut his throat, when Lige said: 'Young +fellow, you may put out my light as soon as you please, for you can do +it, but there's one thing, and one thing only, that I'd like to live +for, and that is to see what you are going to make of yourself.' Blamed +if this didn't tickle Talcom, and he got up and flung his knife away. +And, now to the point, sir; Lige went all around and told it that Talcom +whipped him, and that was the making of Talcom. Now look at him--been in +the State Senate year after year. Yes, sir," he added, "I reckon that in +one way and another Lige Patton developed more men than anybody that +ever struck this country." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +IN THE AIR. + + +At the noon hour my friend was relieved, and together we went down to +dinner. Miss Hatch and Culpepper fell to whispering as soon as I sat +down, opposite them. I knew that I was under a spiteful discussion, but, +with the appearance of paying no heed to them, I remarked to the pilot, +who sat beside me: + +"You have often noticed, I suppose, that human nature by turns partakes +of the nature of all other animals, particularly of the black cat and +the yellow dog?" + +"I don't know that I get you, exactly, but go ahead," he replied. + +This afforded Miss Hatch and Culpepper an opportunity to titter. I did +not look at them, but addressed myself to the pilot. + +"I confess that my meaning might have been clearer, but behind it lies a +sufficient cause for its utterance." + +He put down his knife and looked at me helplessly, shook his head as if +puzzled, and fell to eating with this not very comforting observation: + +"Jerk me out of bed any time of night, along here, and I can tell you +where I am, and I am pretty good at foreseeing a change in the channel, +but once in a while I strike a thing that I can't figger out, and I +reckon you've just handed me one." + +Miss Hatch was now so occupied with feeding her dog that she had no time +to titter at my discomfiture, but I caught sight of Culpepper's hateful +and invidious smile. + +The meal was finished in silence, and I thought that the pilot had +forgotten my clouded remark, but when he had resumed his place at the +wheel, he cut his sharp old eye at me and said: + +"But there are a good many things I can see, and one of them is, that +you and them other show folks don't get along together very well." + +"It's their fault," I replied. + +"Of course," he rejoined, giving me a mere glimpse of his old eye, and +this time it was not merely shrewd--it was rascally. + +"I have done my best to merit their friendship," I said, somewhat +sharply. "But they spurn me, they insinuate that I am an elephant on the +manager's hands, when you yourself have been kind enough to tell me that +my part of the performance was--" + +"Good, first-rate," he broke in. "But in the play you almost have a set +of love jimjams on account of that woman, and let her reform you, and +all that sort of thing. It beats me," he added, shaking his head. "I +don't see how a man can love and cavort with a woman one minute, and +hate her the next. I pass, when it comes to that." + +"The stage is a strange world," I replied. + +"Yes, seems so. Hard way to earn money, hugging someone you don't like. +Why, I know a woman I wouldn't hug for a thousand dollars. You appear to +be a man of fair average sense. Why don't you go into some other +business--why don't you go to work?" + +"Work!" I cried, and I laughed so loud that a half naked boy on the +shore tossed up his hat and shouted a salute to my merriment. + +With his face hard set, and with his eyes sweeping the river, he waited +for my attention, and then he said: "Yes, work. Of course it's all right +for idle and shiftless fellows to go around this way, but it strikes +me--of course I don't know--but it strikes me that if you were to get +down to it, you might make something of yourself. It would be all right +if you could make a great actor out of yourself, for then it would be +worth your while, but always to be an under dog in the fight--" + +"You are not a flatterer," I broke in. + +"Well, I don't flatter men very much. Flattery, like feathers and +ribbons, was intended for women; but even they are getting too much +sense to swallow it. Come to think about it, they don't look for it as +much as men do." + +We had turned a bend, and the pilot, pointing, directed my eye toward a +town. "There's old Bolanyo," he said. "One of the best towns on the +river, one way and another. I live there when I'm at home. And that's +where Senator Talcom lives, and that's where he had his fight with Lige +Patton. I'm going to hop off there to see my folks. House so plain up +there is the new city hall--must have cost forty-five thousand. Can't +see Talcom's house; it's off in the far edge of the town. It's almost a +farm, and I reckon he's got the finest magnolia garden in this whole +section. Old Bowie, father of the Bowie knife, fought a duel right over +yonder. Got his man. Stevens is coming up to relieve me now in a minute. +Coming now, I believe. Just step outside," he added, as his assistant +appeared at the door, "and I'll show you the places of interest, and +then trot down in time to hop off." + +We stood near the pilot house, and, continuing to talk, he pointed out, +with the finger of local pride, a number of buildings which he believed +would be of interest to me, but his words fell without meaning. A +lulling essence was exhaled by the town. A spirit of rest and +contentment lay upon her lazy wharf. I heard the languid song of the +indolent "white trash," and the happy-go-lucky haw-haw of the trifling +negro. Through the lattice of a thin cloud the sun shot a glance, and +the gilded plow on the courthouse dome stood at the end of a furrow of +fire. + +"Well, got to leave you." + +He seized my hand, and at that moment I thought that I was jerked off my +feet, high in the air, and then came a thunder clap so loud, so +deafening that my senses were killed, conscious only that my body was a +dead weight and that my mind had been shattered and blown away. It +seemed that I was propelled through a long and vague interval of time, +and then a plunge and a chill, and my senses fluttered with painful +life. The sharp knowledge of an awful calamity shot through me--the boat +had exploded her boilers and I had been blown into the river. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE BLACK GIANT. + + +I remember to have struggled, and to have been tumbled over and over by +the current. I might have caught at a straw, but no array of sins came +up for review, though there were enough of them scattered between my +cradle bed and the bed of this engulfing river. But I thought of many a +foolish thing, a pair of red-top boots, a whistle made of willow, a +'coon skin tacked against the wall of a negro's cabin; but I do not +remember being taken out of the water, so I must have endured all the +popular agonies of drowning. I have a faint recollection of being borne +along at full length, of seeing lights and of hearing voices. Sometimes +the voices were close and loud in my ears, and again they were far +away. Struggling reason sank once more, an obliterating darkness fell; +and when, after a long time, the light returned, I realized that I was +in a room, lying on a bed. My nostrils were filled with the pungent +scent of liniments. A tight bandage was about my head; and a heavy sense +of soreness told me that my right side was crushed. I thought to say +something, but the pungent odor grew stronger in my nostrils, and I sank +to sleep. When I awoke again the day was broad. And never before had I +realized what broad day meant; it was the opposite of the sharp and +narrow lights that had shot out of the thick darkness enshrouding my +mind. Everything was clear to me now. The explosion had occurred at the +moment when the pilot took my hand. But was I now on board another +steamer? No, my apartment was too spacious and too stately. There were +pictures on the walls, and on the mantel stood a marble statuette--the +Diver. Undoubtedly I had been brought into a private house, for no +hospital would offer such luxury to a stranger. I heard footsteps and +voices. The door was carefully opened and two men entered the room. Upon +seeing my eyes turned toward them they advanced cheerfully. I tried to +say good morning, but the words stuck in my throat. One of the men +placed his fingers on my wrist and asked me how I felt. This time my +effort at speech was more of a success, and I managed to tell him that I +was beginning to feel very well, that I was thankful for the light, and +that I hoped he would not administer any more of that stifling liniment. + +"The ether," he said, speaking to his companion; and then to me he +added, "No, you won't need any more of that. Well," he continued, +turning again to his companion, "he's doing first rate. I'll be around +again about eleven o'clock." + +A sudden alarm came upon me. "Let me ask you a question," I cried as he +turned to leave. "Haven't you cut off one of my legs?" + +"No, sir-ree," he good-humoredly laughed. + +"But I want you to be sure about it," I persisted. "Just this minute I +tried to find them both but couldn't." + +"Here, doctor," said the other man, "show him that his legs are all +right. Don't leave him in this fix." + +"Yes, of course," said the doctor, and lifting the cover he proved that +I had not been robbed by the surgeon's knife. "Got both arms, too, you +see." + +"But I'm pretty badly hurt." + +"Well, the blow-up didn't do you any particular good, but you are coming +along all right. All we've got to guard against now is a rise in +temperature, and there'll be no danger of that if you keep quiet." + +"But the other members of the company. Tell me about them." + +"They're all right--the most of them. You shall have all the details in +due time, but now you must keep quiet." + +They went out, closing the door softly, and I dozed off to sleep; and +when I awoke I was thankful to find that the day was still broad. I was +conscious that someone was in the room, and, slightly turning, I beheld +an enormous negro, standing in the middle of the floor, looking at me. + +"You have had a good sleep, Sir," he said, "and I have waited for you to +awake so that I could give you some refreshment." + +He spoke with a precision that was almost painful, as if he were +translating a sentence from a dead language, and my look must have +betrayed my astonishment, for his thick lips parted in a smile, broad, +but sedate. He appeared to be pleased at my surprise, and, smiling +again, he bowed and quitted the room, but soon returned with a tray +which he placed on a chair near the bed. + +"Here is something which the physician has pronounced good for you to +eat," he said, "but don't try to sit up. Here, let me get my arm under +you, this way. Now we have it." + +"Take it away, I'm not hungry," I said, after finding the position too +painful to endure. He eased me down, put the chair back and stood +looking at me. + +"Won't you sit down?" + +"No, I thank you, Sir." + +"But it makes me tired to see you stand." + +"Then, Sir, I will sit down." He brought another chair, and, seating +himself, he turned his searching eyes upon me. He was so enormous and he +towered so, even after sitting down, that he inspired a feeling of +creepy dread, his eyes so black and his smile so grave; and I was sure +that in his presence the day could not long continue to be broad; +indeed, I could see that the light at the window was slowly fading. + +"I asked them if I might come and nurse you," he said. "There were other +stricken ones that I might have nursed, but I heard that you were an +actor, and then I knew where my duty lay." + +"I am thankful for your partiality to my profession, at any rate," I +replied. + +He smiled, and his great teeth gleamed in the fading light. "I was not +influenced by the partiality of the flesh, but by the duty laid upon the +spirit. Most anyone could nurse your body, but I begged the privilege of +nursing your soul as well." + +"Ah, and you think an actor's soul is in especial need of nursing?" + +"With your permission we will leave that for some future converse. I +have been enjoined not to engage you in a talk that might bring +weariness upon you. For a few nights to come there may be danger, and +until that time is--is--shall have been passed, I will sit with you." + +"But who are you?" I inquired. + +"I am the humblest servant of the church wherein I preach the gospel +that sinners may be brought to repentance; and my name is Washington +Smith. But I must talk no more, and you must keep quiet." + +"But where am I? Tell me that." + +"You are in good hands, and the Lord and his servants are watching over +you. But I must request you not to speak again to-night." + +He took up the tray and went out, and when he returned he sat down, +though not upon a chair, but upon the floor, with his back against the +wall. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE SENATOR. + + +Whenever I awoke in the course of that long and dreary night, it was to +find the black giant standing near the bedside. Once his hand, like the +wing of a buzzard, passed over me, and I muttered a complaint. "I just +wanted to determine whether or not you had a fever, Sir," he said. "You +were talking in your sleep, and I thought it best to investigate the +state of your temperature. But you are all right." + +I was half asleep and doubtless could not at morning have remembered a +strain of music or a bit of pleasantry, but at daylight his stilted +words were clear in my mind. I looked about for him but he was gone. +Breakfast was brought in by a negress, tall enough to be his wife. I +asked her if she were, and, showing me her teeth, she assured me that +she was an old maid; that no man, even if one of the best preachers in +the Lord's church, should be her master. She said that she had married +one man on trial, but that, after living with her a year or more, he had +robbed her of a silver piece and run away; and now she was going to +teach her daughter never to take a man except on suspicion, and to be +mighty careful even then. The amusement that she offered assisted me to +eat. She talked incessantly during the time, and as she took up the tray +to go out, the doctor and the gentleman who had advised him to prove to +me that I was still possessed of both legs came into the room. + +"Oh, he's all right," said the woman. "Yas, sah, an' you got ter take +'em wid 'spicion even if da is hurt." + +The doctor pronounced me much improved, cut short his visit, and left me +with his friend, at whom I now looked with considerable interest. He +was of a manly build, dressed in a black "Prince Albert" coat, buttoned +below, but opened out wide at the breast. The ends of his grayish +mustache were slightly twisted, and on his chin was a "dab" of whiskers. +He appeared to be proud of his bearing, and proud of the belief that no +one could discover the seat of his pride. He moved about rather +gracefully, carrying a soft hat in his hand, as if he were ready to +salute a gentleman or bow profoundly to a lady. + +"Pardon me, Sir," I began, and he turned toward me with a slight bow and +with a slow motion made with his hat, "but will you tell me who is the +master of this house?" + +"I am," he answered, with a smile. + +"But who are you, your name, please?" + +"Has no one told you? Hah, don't you know yet?" His voice conveyed a +sense of injury that so important a preliminary had been overlooked. + +"No one has told me." + +"Then, Sir, I have the pleasure of introducing myself. I am Giles +Talcom." + +"Oh, Senator Talcom." + +His eyes snapped, he touched his "dab" of beard, and said: + +"At your service, Sir." + +We shook hands, and he sat down. "I have heard of you, Senator." + +"Yes, I have introduced into the Mississippi Senate a great many +reformatory measures, some of which have been adopted by our sister +States." + +"And you are the man who whipped Lige Patton." + +"What!" he cried, snapping his eyes at me. "Hah, you got that nonsense +from old Zack Mason, the pilot. Confound his old hide, he never will +forget that. I was quite a young man in those days, Sir. I came here +from Virginia, almost straight from the University, and was, if my +examination should prove satisfactory, to take charge of a young ladies' +school. But on the day before the examination took place Mr. Patton +took it into his head to walk over me. He didn't, and, sir, without any +examination at all, the good people gave me the _male_ academy. The +trustees (most of them had been river men, you understand) said that I +was too valuable a piece of timber to waste on a female seminary. They +said it was too much like chasing butterflies with a bloodhound. I +didn't keep the school long; I came into my inheritance, went into +politics, and here I am." + +"Senator, I am under lasting obligations to you for--" + +"Not at all, Sir, not at all. I spent a very pleasant evening with you +at the St. Charles Theatre in New Orleans, and I said then, as I always +do when a man has entertained me, I hope to be able to do something for +him. And, Sir, while the opportunity was brought about by a sad +misfortune, yet--yet I am really gratified at being the instrument, you +understand, of giving you shelter and attention at this sad hour." + +"How long have I been here?" + +"Three days. But don't let that worry you. You are to remain until you +feel perfectly able to proceed on your way." + +"Were many people killed?" + +"Quite a number. Two were found yesterday at the island twenty miles +below. A large number were hurt, but they are being cared for. Our city +is making great strides, but we have no hospital as yet, so our citizens +threw open their doors to receive the wounded. And the dead have been +cared for." + +"How did our company fare?" + +"Sir, I appreciate your modesty and unselfishness in not asking about +your brethren first of all. The manager was killed, but the others +escaped with slight injuries. Mr. Culpepper called to see you, but you +were asleep at the time. And the old pilot, who escaped with a few +bruises, has sent you his congratulations. He says that united he and +you stood, and that divided you both fell." + +"There is something else I should like to ask, about the big negro who +stays here at night?" + +"Oh, Washington Smith. But don't make a mistake and call him Wash. He is +a humble servant of the church, but a dignified citizen of the Republic. +Strange fellow. A number of years ago he presented a singular petition +to the city council, begging for an education, and agreeing to work for +the corporation in return for the money expended in his behalf. Most of +the councilmen condemned the petition as a piece of impudence, but I was +a member at the time, and I looked on it with favor, Sir. My enemies +said that I was bidding for the negro vote. I raised money enough to +send Washington to the Fisk University, and I can say with truth that I +have never regretted the step, for he has held before me a constant +example of gratitude. But I have talked to you long enough," he added, +arising. "I don't want to tire you out--I want to see you on your feet +again. And it won't be long. As soon as you are able to sit up we'll +put you into a rocking chair, draw you into the parlor and Mrs. Estell +will read to you." + +He gave me a bow, accompanying the act with a slow and graceful sweep of +his hat, and withdrew, leaving me to muse over the prospect of being +compelled to submit to a torture administered by a Mrs. Estell. I could +put up with the reading of a girl in her first poetic era, but I +shuddered at the thought of a woman in her second sentimental +childhood. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +A MOMENT OF FORGIVENESS. + + +Culpepper called in the afternoon, and when he saw me lying there with +my head tied up, he was brusk for a moment to cover the whimper in his +voice. With genuine affection he took my hand, and all the enmity I had +held against him was gone in a moment. He said that the boilers of the +Red Fox had blown off the end of our season, and had shattered the +greatest dramatic combination that ever looked with horror at a piece of +paper in the hand of a village sheriff. + +"And the poor old elephant is flat on his back," I said. + +"Now, here, old chap, none of that. It was only a guy. Why, we all liked +you, but hang it all, Maurice, you did appear just a little stuck on +yourself, not on account of your acting, but--" + +"But on account of my despair," I broke in. "The nerves of my failure +were exposed, and nothing is prouder than a nerve. I have told you that +before I made a venture I studied for the stage, viewing it as a classic +and high-born profession. I went through the best schools, and--" + +"Now, here, old chap, don't talk about schools. They are only intended +for society women, you know. The main trouble is, you didn't begin early +enough. You were a dramatic critic and then thought you'd study for the +stage." + +"But my work as an actor is popular with the people," I protested. + +"Yes, some people, old chap, but you mustn't pay much attention to that. +In his own generation a man is not really great until the critics have +pronounced him so. The critics can gradually bring the people around to +an appreciation of a true artist, but popularity doesn't compel the +critics to deliver a favorable verdict. It isn't with acting as it is +with writing, you know. An actor is of the present, and a writer may be +of the future. Wouldn't you rather have the good opinion of a few +high-class men and women than the enthusiastic commendation of the +rabble?" + +"Yes, wouldn't you?" + +"No, I wouldn't, old chap, for I am after what money there is in it. I +don't expect to be an artist, you know--I don't care to be--too much +hard work; too much restraint in it." + +"Culpepper"--I looked at him earnestly, for I was moved by a spirit of +truth--"I would rather stand high as the exponent of any art that I +might choose than to have all the money you could heap about me." + +"Ah, that's where you are weak, old chap; but it's well enough that +there are such men--they give the other fellows a chance. And now, +pardon me, Maurice, but you'll never be a great actor." + +He said this with such kindliness that I did not feel even the quiver of +a resentment. In fact, while left to commune with myself, and under that +strange sharpening of self-judgment which illness or a nervous shock may +sometimes bring about, I had seen my incurable faults and had consigned +myself to mediocrity. + +"Have I hurt you, old chap?" + +"No," said I, philosopher enough to laugh, "you simply agree with my own +estimate." + +"That so? Good. But I tell you what I believe you can do, and do it down +to the ground--write for the stage. You've got a good sense of humor and +a first-rate conception of character; you are poetic and can soon +acquire a knowledge of construction. Want me to shake on it? Of course." + +We shook hands, not that he had tickled my vanity, but because he had +sent back the echo which my secret mind had shouted. + +"But, Culpepper, there is always a trouble in the way. I can't work +while jerked about the country--I've tried it--and just at present I +can't afford to stay long enough in one place." + +"That's all right, set your mind on it and the opportunity will come." + +"By the way, I have a treat in store. Hope you'll be here to share it +with me. I am promised a reading by Mrs. Estell, when I am able to be +dragged into another room." + +He laughed. "Know what I'd do?" said he. "I'd pretend weakness until the +proper time, and then I'd take to my heels. Oh, by the way, I've had +your trunk sent up. It fell over on the sand and wasn't injured. Say, +haven't told you about Mrs. Hatch. She wasn't hurt--we were at the +stern, and you must have been over the boilers. Well, she's gone on to +Memphis in a rush. Old Norton telegraphed her. She sent her regards; +said she was sorry she hadn't time to see you. Newspapers made a big +spread of this affair. Biggest send-off we ever had. Eh? At first they +had everybody killed." + +He spoke feelingly of our manager, pointed out virtues that he did not +possess, and forgave his inability to pay salaries. "Yes, Sir, Tabb +wasn't a bad fellow," he went on. "By the by, he made a bet that he +would ride home, and he has won it. Well," he said, getting up, "I leave +to-night. Wouldn't go without seeing you." + +He held out his hand and, taking it, I told him not to forget the +"Elephant." + +"Come, old chap, don't do that," he replied, assuming a bruskness, and +turning about to hide his eyes from me. "You know it was only a guy. And +haven't I come to tell you that you can make a great man of yourself? +Well, once more, take care of yourself." + +Now that he was gone, I could look back and see that Culpepper had +always been a good fellow. And with a sort of pitying contempt I +acknowledged that I had set myself up as a target for ridicule. But I +did not merit the supercilious airs with which Miss Hatch had treated +me, and toward her I had not entered into a forgiving mood, though now +I know that had she entered the room while I was indulging these +reflections, I should graciously have agreed that she, too, had always +been one of the "best of fellows." + +The Senator came in just before supper-time, bringing a newspaper, which +he said was still damp with the dew of recent events. He carried his +soft hat in his hand, nor did he put it down when, unfolding the paper, +he stood to catch the light at the window. He said that he supposed I +must be anxious to hear from the great world of politics, and he +proceeded to read an editorial forecast of the election for congressman +from the state-at-large, halting to comment upon the views set forth and +making slow gestures with his hat. It was a local journal, but it had +reproduced the political opinions of other publications, and these the +Senator read with sharp avidity. I asked him if he thought he could find +any theatrical news, but he cut me off with his hat, and gave me a +paragraph on beet sugar, which he deplored as an outrage, intended to +lessen the value of the plantations down the river. The light was +fading, and I was not sorry. He stood closer to the window, that he +might better harvest the last glimmer of the fading day, and in my cold +dread of his lighting a lamp, I did not hear what he read, simply +catching now and then such political frayed ends as _per capita_ and _ad +valorem_. + +"Ah," said he, "here is a liberal extract from Tomlinson's great speech. +But it's getting most too dark. Shall I light a lamp?" + +I replied that I was afraid that he might tire himself pursuing his kind +desire to entertain me. + +"Oh, not at all, not at all, I assure you," he quickly spoke up. "But I +guess you've had as much as you ought to digest at present. Feed, but +don't gorge, is my motto. A hungry calf can run faster than a foundered +horse. I tell you," he added, putting the paper under his arm and +coming toward me, "there's going to be a warm election here this fall. +Of course I'm a candidate for reëlection--the Senate couldn't get along +without me--and I don't know that I've got but one very bitter enemy, +and he is none other than the editor of this sheet, Sir," he said, +striking the newspaper with his hat. "For a long time he was my friend +and supporter, but he ran against me two years ago, and I beat him so +badly that since then he has been my enemy. He is a cur, and as sure as +he lives I'll get even with him. And as the season approaches I expect +every day to find in his paper a scurrilous article about me; all he +wants is a pretext. Ah, here is Washington, with your supper." + +Cutting with his hat a black scallop in the twilight, the Senator +withdrew. The giant placed the tray of dishes upon a chair and lighted a +hanging lamp. And then he stood in the middle of the floor, his arms +folded, looking at me. + +"Won't you please sit down?" I pleaded. + +"I am to be commanded, Sir," he replied, seating himself, and under his +ponderous bulk the chair creaked. + +"Come now," said I, "throw away your stilts and walk on the ground. I +have quite enough of that on the stage." + +He looked at me, slowly shutting and opening his eyes as if determined +that even his wink should be deliberate. "And don't you think, Sir, that +it would be well if you could say that you have had quite enough of the +stage itself?" + +"I don't know but you are right, Brother Washington. At any rate the +stage has had quite enough of me. I am called the elephant." + +"Not on account of your size, Sir?" + +"No, on account of my weight." + +"Ah, and the hearts of all men who know not the Lord shall at last be as +heavy as the elephant." + +"Very true, no doubt. I wish you'd pour this coffee for me." + +He came forward with a solemn tread, poured out the coffee, and returned +to the chair but did not sit down until I commanded him. + +"As heavy as an elephant," he repeated, slowly winking at me. + +"In working for the soul of the white man, Brother Washington," said I, +"you have set about to return a good for an evil. The white man enslaved +your body and now you would free his soul." + +"Sir, the first shipload of negroes sent to this country was the first +blessing that fell upon the Ethiopian race. In slavery we served an +apprenticeship to enlightenment. Wisdom could not have reached us +through any other channel. The negro was not born with the germ of +self-civilization." + +"You are a philosopher, at any rate." + +"No, humbler, and yet greater, than a philosopher," he replied. + +"All right, I'm ready to grant anything. By the way, tell me something +about the Senator and his family." + +"If he has told you nothing, I am at liberty to tell nothing, for, as +yet, you are a stranger." + +"Oh, I see. He's a shrewd politician, isn't he?" + +"He is a gentleman and he is not dull. He was my friend w'en dem +scoun'rels--" + +I looked at him in surprise. His fall into the dialect of his brethren +had come like a slap. He bowed his head, and I know that had not the +blackness of his skin prevented it he would have blushed in his +disgrace. He did not look up again until I spoke to him, and then he +showed me a sorrow-stricken countenance. + +"Don't take it so hard, Brother Washington. Such lapses must come once +in a while. You remind me of an old fellow who lost his religion +occasionally by swearing." + +"Haw-haw," he laughed. "One in my church right now. Swore at his mule +the other day and then dropped down in the corner of the fence and +offered to mortgage his crop to the Lord for one more chance. Yas, +Sah--I mean yes, Sir," he added, the shadow of disgrace falling again +upon his countenance. "If you have finished your supper I will remove +the dishes," he said. + +"Thank you," and as he took up the tray I continued, "And by the way, +you needn't sit with me to-night. I don't need you; I am not so badly +hurt as they thought I was; and, in fact, I can sleep better if left +absolutely alone." + +"It shall be as you desire, Sir," he said, turning upon me with a look +of kindly reproach. "But I will pray for you." + +"Oh, that's all right." + +He passed out into the hall, but I called him back to the door. "Brother +Washington, I didn't mean to be flippant when I said 'that's all right.' +I respect your sincerity." + +I thought that he glanced about for a place to rest the tray, to halt +and resume his predetermined fight against the flesh and the devil of my +unholy calling. + +"Ah, shut the door, Brother Washington." + +"I thought, Sir, that you had reconsidered--" + +"Not to-day--some other time." + +He looked at me, making no motion that I could see; but I heard the +tremulous rattle of the teacup in the saucer. There was so much of +pleading in his look, so much that was martyr-like in his silence, that +out of pity it arose to my mind to call him back, but then came the cool +though just decision that his ardent yearning was but a spirit of +ambitious conquest. + +"Some other time, Washington," I said, as he turned to look at me. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +INTRODUCED TO MRS. ESTELL. + + +A week passed by with no sign of a setback and one morning the doctor +said that I might sit up. Brother Washington eased me into a rocking +chair, and stood as if expecting me to command him to continue the work +of my conversion. But I told him to sit down, a position which he always +assumed in sorrow, seeming to regard it as a retreat when his spirit +cried for a charge. + +The Senator came in with a hearty good morning, and instructed +Washington to draw my chair into the parlor. The sore trial of listening +to Mrs. Estell had come. I had not seen her, had made no inquiry +concerning her, but I had thought of her, and not with kindness. The +pleasure of getting again into my clothes had been marred by fancy's +sketch of her--sharp of voice and sour of face--a woman whose husband +had willingly died, leaving her, unfortunately, to inflict man with her +elocution. I wanted to sit alone and enjoy the sweet scents blown from +the garden; through the window I had seen a mocking-bird alight on the +top of a magnolia tree, and in silence I wanted to listen to his song. +But the Senator was my benefactor. He had found me a wounded outcast, +lying unconscious on the sand, and had made his mansion my hospital; and +I could not lift an ungrateful finger in protest against a torture which +in his belief was an act of kindness. + +"Now easy, Washington," said the Senator as he held the door open. +"That's it, come ahead." + +The parlor was at the end of a long and lofty hall. The Senator opened +the door. The chair was drawn across the threshold, and I found myself +in the midst of dark, old-fashioned furniture and the portraits of +Statesmen and of ladies done by Frenchmen who had come to this country +to leave a trail of art along the shores of the mighty river. + +"Not too near the window, Washington," said the Senator. "About here. +Now you can go about your business and I will introduce Mrs. Estell." + +They left me sitting with my back toward the door. I wondered why there +should be such an air of ceremony. Was it the custom in Bolanyo to +dignify a torture with a stately introduction? But I had not long to +muse. I heard the Senator returning. "Ah, Mr. Belford," he said, +stepping into the room, "let me present you to my daughter, Mrs. +Estell." + +I looked round with a start, and a living line from old Chaucer, in +golden letters, hung bright before me--"Her glad eyes." I bowed; and I +must have spluttered my astonishment, for the Senator broke out in a +loud and ringing laugh. + +"Sit down, Florence," he said, drawing forward a chair for her. And +then to me, while softly laughing, he observed: + +"Oh, I saw you were distressed at the idea of being read to, and I could +have explained that you needn't look forward to any infliction, but I +thought I'd wait and let you find it out for yourself. Why, Sir, this +child couldn't bore anybody." + +"Mr. Belford, don't listen to him when he calls me a child," she spoke +up. "I am a staid married woman." + +I had not, as yet, sufficiently recovered from my astonishment to +venture a word, so I merely bowed, and read anew old Chaucer's glowing +line. + +"Yes, a child," said the Senator, "but a woman; yes, Sir, as manly a +woman as you ever saw--chase a fox or shake a 'possum out of a persimmon +tree. Well, I must go down town and see what's going on. Don't sit up +too long, Mr. Belford. Send for Washington and he'll pull you back into +the other room." + +"Mrs. Estell, I was never more agreeably surprised," said I, when the +Senator had taken his leave. "I expected to be tormented by an +elocutionist." + +"If an elocutionist is your terror, you needn't be afraid of me," she +replied. "I have read to father and my husband, and that is the extent +of my--shall I say, inflictions." + +"Husband," I repeated. "Are you really married?" + +"Surely. Why not?" + +"You are so young--" + +"I am not old enough to be flattered by that remark," she broke in. +"Yes, I have been married two years. My husband is the State Treasurer, +and is at the capital now, but will be home next week. He stays over +there a good deal of the time, and I go with him once in a while, but I +don't like it there. I like my old home better." + +"I don't blame you for that. It must be a charming place. Have you any +brothers or sisters?" + +"No, Sir. It was reserved for me to be the only and, therefore, the +spoiled child. I don't remember my mother. There's her portrait." + +I looked at a picture that had struck me when first I glanced at the +wall. How truthfully the Frenchman had caught a sweet and gentle spirit; +how exquisite was the art that had vivified those loving eyes with the +speaking light of life. + +"Charming," I said sincerely, and she did not look upon it as flattery, +but accepted it as a truth. I looked at her and she did not avoid my +eye, but met it, strong and full, with her own, and I felt that, though +gentle, she was fearless. Sometimes the tone of her voice was serious +and the expression of her face thoughtful, but her eyes appeared to have +been always glad. + +"When are you going to begin reading to me?" I asked, after we had sat +for a time in a contemplative silence. + +"I'm not going to read to you. Don't you see I haven't brought a book?" + +"Then play something," I requested, looking toward the piano. + +"I don't play; and now I must tell you, Mr. Belford, that I haven't a +single accomplishment. I can't sing, and I never cared for dancing; I +don't draw, wouldn't attempt to paint, and I can't speak a word of +Italian. I was never intended for anything but a real companion for my +father, and a dutiful wife to my husband. I am wholly unadorned." + +"No, you are adorned with the highest qualities. Any woman can learn to +play a piano, to speak Italian and to make an attempt at painting, but +every woman cannot be a perfect companion for a man." + +"And a dutiful wife to her husband," she said, laughing. "But to be +dutiful is not so serious a matter.--not so serious to us as I fancy it +is to you stage people." + +"Well, no," I admitted; "and also more serious than the views held by +thousands of good people who live in the large cities." + +She shrugged her shoulders. "Nature doesn't grant divorces," she said. +"Birds are not divorced." + +"But they change mates every year," I replied. + +"Oh, do they? The shameless creatures." + +We laughed, looking straight into each other's eyes. I thought that she +would make a splendid figure on the stage, and I told her so, expecting +to hear her cry out against it, but she did not. She was pleased. "I +have had that sort of longing," she said, "but I never expressed it, +knowing that it would meet with a storm of disapproval. It wouldn't do," +she continued, shaking her head. "I know that I could never reach the +top, and a lower place--" + +"Would make your proud heart sore," I cried, with bitterness. + +She gave me a quick look of compassion, but said nothing; she let me +continue: "I have had the cold clamps put on my impetuous soul, and, +trying to conquer the evil opinion of the critic, I have worked and +studied under the stimulus of despair. But I have given up the fight; I +am going to quit the stage." + +I leaned toward her, hoping for a protest, but she quietly said, "I +don't blame you," and I settled myself back with a sigh. She had seen me +act. + +"What line of work do you intend to take up?" she inquired. + +"I am going to write plays." + +"And will you be satisfied if you don't write the best?" + +"I hadn't thought of that. Yes, in that line I think that I shall be +satisfied with merely a success." + +And then with a wisdom that made me stare at her, she said: "We can find +contentment in the middle ground of a second choice, for then the heart +has had its day of suffering." + +"What do you read to your father?" I asked. + +"Dull books in leather," she answered. "And I have sometimes feared that +this schooling has unfitted me for the light and pleasing society of my +friends. They called me an old maid before I was twenty. Oh, I've got +something to show you," she cried, jumping up and running out of the +room; and soon she returned with a little chicken held against her +cheek. "A hawk carried its mother away, and all of its brothers and +sisters were drowned in the rain. Listen to the little thing. Isn't it +sweet? I had a pet duck once and I loved it until it got big enough to +go out and get its feet muddy and then--I granted it a divorce. And +after a while this little thing will grow up and leave me, won't you, +pet? No, you won't, will you? There, I knew you wouldn't. You'll always +be little and lovable, and will stay with me. Come on, now, and let's go +back to the kitchen." She tripped out a girl, singing as she went, but +she came back a woman; and of the ways, the air and the ambitions of the +town I gathered more from a few moments of her talk than her father +could have given me in an hour's oration. He knew the men, but she knew +the whims; and while men may build the houses and make the laws, it is +the whim that makes the atmosphere. And for this reason an old town is +always more interesting than a new one. The subtle influence of odd +characters long since gone continues to live in the air. The Spaniards +had settled on the site of Bolanyo, and though naught but the faint +tracings of a fortified camp were left to mark the manner of their +occupation, still the town felt the honor of almost an ancient origin. + +We talked until nearly noontime; until there came a light tap at the +open door. I looked up and there stood the black giant. + +"Pardon me," he said, "but I am afraid you have been up long enough." + +"Hannibal, your unbending discipline--" I began, but with lifting his +mighty hand he shut me off. + +"I am a soldier of the Lord and Hannibal was a soldier of the devil," he +said. "Please don't compare us." + +Mrs. Estell jumped up, laughing. "You'll have to do as he tells you, Mr. +Belford." + +I had no time to argue against his authority, for already he had +advanced and put his hands on the back of my chair. She walked beside me +down the hall, and as the giant was easing the chair across the +threshold of my room she said: + +"I hope you'll soon get well, and when you do, we'll go fox-hunting, you +and papa and I. Won't that be fun?" + +"I don't know," I answered, from the inside of the room. "Oh, yes, it +will be fun for you and your father." + +The negro took hold of the door as if impatient to shut it, and I looked +at him hard enough, I thought, to have bored him through, but, giving me +simply the heed of his slow wink, he continued to stand there. + +"Of course, you can ride a horse," she said; and quickly she added: +"Gracious alive, Washington, don't look at me that way. Good-bye, Mr. +Belford." + +The negro closed the door. "Damn it, man, what do you mean?" I cried. +"Confound you, can't you see--" + +"Sir," he said, standing over me with his arms folded, "do you know what +you are saying?" + +"Yes, I do, and I want to tell you right now, and once for all, that I +appreciate your kindness, but will not submit to your insolence. Do you +understand?" + +"I hear you, Sir." + +"But do you understand; that's the question?" + +"I understand, but you don't," he said. "Now, listen to me. There is the +noblest young woman in the world; when she was a child I was her horse, +the black beast who delighted to do her bidding. I know her--I know she +is hungry for someone to talk to. Now, do you understand?" + +I did, but I said "No." I knew that she was hungry; but if I could give +her food, why should this monster dash it to the ground? + +"If you don't, the theatre is a more innocent place than I think it +is," he replied. + +I looked up at him and he winked at me slowly. "But you say she is +noble," I said. + +"She is, Sir, and strong; but a marriage tie cannot hold an unwilling +mind. Don't misunderstand me, Sir. The greatest harm you could do would +be to make her still more dissatisfied. With the presumption of an old +servant, I may say something that sounds impertinent, but I am a +preacher and a moralist. Thomas Rodney Estell is regarded here as a +great man; he has been State Treasurer nearly ten years, and he and the +Senator are warm friends." + +"Well?" I said. + +He looked up at the ceiling and replied: "A girl may marry her father's +friend, but it is not often that she loves him." + +"Washington, are you in league with the devil?" + +This struck through the superficial coating of his education, into his +real negro nature and made him roar with laughter. "No, Sah, I'm er +feard o' him;" but feeling the disgrace of his dialect he sobered and +said: "I think you understand me now, Mr. Belford." + +"Yes, I do, and I don't blame you. But before we go further let me tell +you this: I have been on the stage, which is quite enough to fix my +character in the opinion of many a good but narrow-minded person, but I +am from a long line of Puritan stock, and in my blood there is a strong +sense of moral responsibility. I have never made an intentional show of +those puritanic influences; I have striven rather to hide them from the +contempt of my lighter-hearted companions; but a sagacious old +stage-strutter once held up my overreligious ancestors as the cause of +my failure to catch the subtle art of a high grade of work. He declared +that all great English-speaking actors could trace their blood back to +the cart's tail." + +"I don't understand, Mr. Belford--the reference to the cart's tail." + +"To ease their consciences and to serve the Lord with becoming +activity, it was the custom of the Puritans, in the olden day, to +condemn actors and tie them to the tail of a cart, and whip them through +the street." + +"I have never read about it, Mr. Belford." + +"I suppose not. Church history doesn't dwell upon it." + +He turned toward the door, faced about and said: "The woman will bring +your dinner. I am going out among my people and shall not be here again +until to-morrow." + +"You needn't come then, Washington." + +"Yes, to pull your chair into the parlor." + +"That's so. Thank you." + +He stood for a moment in silence, and, without speaking, he stepped +back, and, with a grave nod and a slow wink, he softly shut the door. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE NOTORIOUS BUGG PETERS. + + +I mended so rapidly that within a week I was able to walk about. +Washington had every day drawn my chair into the parlor; but when I no +longer was in need of this physical service, he continued his visits to +give me the benefit of his spiritual strength. And once, when he came +into my room, like a dark reproach, I chopped off his moral droning with +the command to "get out!" He obeyed in silence, and I thought that I had +given our relationship a mortal wound. But in the garden the next day he +came up with unusual cheeriness and invited me to his church to hear him +preach upon the strength of the Spirit and the weakness of the human +family. + +One day the Senator took me out in his buggy. He drove me through the +town, and what a delight it was once more to look upon the affairs of +man. The buildings were for the most part old, and many of them were +dingy from neglect, but the air was restful and romantic. At every turn, +after leaving the business center, we came upon magnolia trees, now in +full bloom. Here was a garden whose low brick walls were green and gray +with time, a patch of moss and a cluster of snails; and away over yonder +was a blush on the landscape--a jungle of roses. There were flowers +everywhere, and far from the mansions of the lordly was many a log hut, +beautiful in a tangle of vines. We drove down the river, toward a +densely timbered flat, but did not penetrate its malarious shade, the +Senator choosing to turn to the left to drive me to a distant hill +whereon stood the school for girls, the one of which he might have taken +charge, had not his fight with Lige Patton proved him fitted for a more +manly charge--the male academy. As we were driving along, a tall, gaunt +man climbed over a fence, stepped out into the road and signaled us to +stop. The Senator drew up, laughing. The man came forward, put his hands +on the buggy tire, took them off, "dusted" them to brush off the dirt, +and put them on the tire again. The Senator introduced Mr. Peters, and +our detainer looked up, grinned and said: + +"Yes, Sir, the notorious Bugg Peters." + +His face was thin and sallow, his long hair looked like hay, and his +eyes were simply two pale yellow spots. + +"Out ridin' for your health, Senator?" + +"No, just thought I'd show my friend, Mr. Belford, the town and the +country." + +"Ah, hah! Oh, yes, he's one of the men that was blowed up. And he's +stayin' at your house. Ah, hah! He's about the last of 'em, ain't he? I +heard that all that wan't dead had put off somewhere. Never was blowed +up, that is, by a boat, but I've went through mighty nigh everything +else. Almost hugged to death by a bear down in the canebrake just +before the June rise eight year ago. Don't reckon your friend was ever +hugged by a bear," he went on, speaking of me as if I were not there. + +"No," I answered. + +"Then you've got a good deal to look forward to," he replied, +recognizing that, like Paul, I was permitted to speak for myself. "I've +had a good many things to happen to me, first and last, but I don't know +of anything worse than a bear's hug, unless it is son-in-laws." + +The Senator began to laugh and I looked at Mr. Peters for an +explanation. He did not keep me waiting. + +"I've got seven son-in-laws down yonder in my house right now," he said, +"dusting" his hands again and putting them back on on the tire. "Every +time a gal of mine gits married she goes away for a few days with her +husband, and then fetches him back with the ague; and he settles down in +my house and there he shakes. Got seven of them down there now a-shakin' +fit to kill themselves. If you'll step over there on that rise, you can +look down in the bottoms and see my house, and I'll bet you it's +a-tremblin' like a leaf right now. Them seven fellers keep it a-shakin' +all the time. Yes, Sir. Now, when Mag took a man, I says, says I, 'Mag, +I have always looked on you as the smartest one of the family, and I +want you to do me a favor; I want you to see if you can't take that +feller of your'n so far away that he can't git back.' And, Sir, I sold +my oats and give her the money, and she cleared out, but in less than a +month here she come, with her husband shakin' like a wet dog. I told him +to go in and find shakin' room if he could, and he crowded his way up to +the fireplace, and there he sets this minute, a-shakin' like a pound of +calfsfoot jelly." + +"Look here, Bugg," said the Senator, laughing, "why don't you move out +of the bottoms?" + +"What, and go up in the hills and ketch some new-fangled disease that I +don't know nothin' about? I reckon not, Senator. I've learned to let +well enough alone, and jest ordinary everyday chills is good enough for +me. Mister, how long are you goin' to be with us?" he inquired of me. + +"I don't know exactly. I wanted to go yesterday, but the Senator +wouldn't hear to it." + +"Well, I don't reckon you are able to do much knockin' about yet. Don't +believe I'd be snatched, anyway. Like for you to come down to see us +before you go. I can show you about the finest and shakinest set of +son-in-laws you ever saw. Did think somethin' of showin' 'em at the +State Fair this fall. But say, gentle_men_, you must sorter excuse me +for stoppin' you; but I wanted to see the Senator on business." + +The Senator gathered up the lines as if he had a suspicion of the +business referred to, and therefore desired to drive on, but Mr. Peters +in a distressful tone of voice implored him to wait a moment. "I want to +ask a favor," he said. "Wouldn't do it if it wan't for the fact that +they are all down there shakin' for dear life. I want to give you my +note for ten dollars for thirty days. You know I'll take it up." + +"Yes, if you should happen to find it," the Senator replied. + +"Come, now, Senator, don't talk that way. You might give this here man +that was blowed up a bad opinion of me. I've got the good opinion of +everybody else, and I don't want the bad respects of a man that has fell +down in amongst us." + +"Bugg, how many of your thirty-day notes do you suppose I've got?" + +"Why, none," he declared in great surprise. + +"I can show you twenty at least," said the Senator. + +"Well, now," Mr. Peters began to drawl, "this here is news to me, and +mighty sad news at that. Huh, I don't see how I could have made such a +mistake." + +"I was the one that made the mistake," the Senator replied. + +"Now don't say that, Talcom. Dang it, haven't I always voted for you? +Why, Sir, at the last election I went to the polls with a chill on me, +and I shook so hard it took two men to hold me still long enough to +shove my ticket in. Oh, I don't deny that I might owe you a note or +so--may be the addition of another son-in-law kept me from payin' +it--but all my gals are married now, and I don't look for any big +increase in the family till my sister and her husband come from over in +Arkansas to live with me; and as they ain't well and will have to pick +their way along the best they can, I'll have time to take up a half a +dozen notes by the time they git here." + +"What do you want with the money, Bugg?" + +"Why, I need about five bushels of wheat. That's what I want with it." + +"Well, here," said the Senator, taking out a notebook, "I'll give you an +order on my overseer for five bushels of wheat." + +"Talcom, by gosh you move me, and I am fit right now to drap a tear in +the palm of your hand. Yes, Sir, you can come nearer makin' me cry than +any man I ever run across." + +The Senator gave him the order, and we drove on, leaving him in the road +to whine his gratitude and loudly to swear that at the next election he +would vote all right, even if it should take a dozen men to hold him up. + +"Why do you permit such fellows to rob you?" I asked. + +"Belford, I can't help myself. That poor wretch comes near telling the +truth about his sons-in-law. Of course, he's as shiftless as a stray +dog, but he's kind-hearted and has a sense of humor that tickles me. +And, after all, it doesn't seem right that I should have an abundance +and that other men within sight of me should be in want." He took off +his hat to wave it gracefully at a lady as she passed, and still holding +it in his hand, he continued: "It's luck, Belford, nothing but luck. +I've never had any management. I have a set of books, but half the time +I don't know where I stand. My plantation pays, not because it's well +managed, but because the land's rich. I bought it, together with the +house I live in, with money that was left me, and the fact that I am not +compelled to scuffle for a living is no particular credit to me. It's +simply luck. I've got sense enough not to reach too high. Some time ago +they wanted to run me for governor, but I knew what that meant. It meant +two or perhaps four years in the State House, and then relegation to the +shade of a 'has been.' I like politics, I like to fight for measures, +and my position as State Senator suits me exactly; and I believe I can +hold it for a number of years to come. It is true that I am largely +preyed upon--" + +"By white and black," I suggested. + +"Yes, in a measure. How are you, Uncle Gabe?" he called, bowing to an +old man. + +"By the notorious Bugg--and by Washington," I ventured. + +"Ah, Washington is different. I give money to his church, and he is +free to come and go as he pleases. I was the means of his education, +and, though ignoring politics, he controls a large negro vote. Look out +over there, you boys, that mule might kick you. Aunt Sally, glad to see +you (bowing to a countrywoman who came jogging along on a horse). Folks +all well? All but Uncle John, eh? Hope he'll be out again soon." + +We were far beyond the outskirts of the town, on a rise commanding a +delightful view of groves, gardens, old houses, a fort in ruins, the +easy-going city and the river. We passed the school for young ladies, +and the Senator waved his hat at a vision of white and pink on the +portico. "My daughter Florence was graduated here," said he. "And, by +the way, you haven't met Estell. He was to have come home several days +ago, but business kept him. Florence is looking for him to-day, I +believe. Strong man, about your size--not quite so tall. You are a good +deal of a man when you are yourself, I take it." + +"I have done pretty fair work in a gymnasium," I replied. + +We turned into a broad road that led to town, and which passed the +Senator's house. It was a military road, my companion said, and had been +marked by the passage of old Jackson's troops. + +"Senator, my obligations to you are very deep indeed, and I have +refrained from saying anything--" + +"Well, then, don't say anything now. It's all right. Boat blew up at the +door of our city, and why shouldn't we care for the unfortunates?" + +"But before going away I want to give you some sort of an expression +of--" + +"That's all right, Sir. There's time enough." + +"No, I shall go to-morrow." + +"Better wait a day or two. Have you an engagement in view?" + +"No, and I shall not look for one. I have decided to quit the stage." + +"Well, Sir, I don't know but you are wise. It must be an uncertain sort +of life. But what are you going to do?" + +"I am going to write plays." + +"That's well enough; easy work I should think. All you've got to do is +to hatch out your plot and then stand your people around it. And look +here, Belford, there are characters enough about here to make one of the +best plays you ever saw. Why not stay here and do your writing? The fact +is, we like you, and don't want you to go away." + +"But I _must_ go." + +"You say so, but I don't look at it that way. Of course, if you are +tired of our slow and dull city, Sir, you--" + +"Tired?" I broke in. "It is the most soothing town on the face of the +earth. The days melt one into another like the mellow words of an +ancient rhetorician." + +"Belford, I guess you are about ready to begin work on that play," he +said, laughing. "There's always a strong enthusiasm behind that sort of +talk. By the way, do you think you could take hold of an opera house +and manage it?" + +"Yes, I think so--I know I could. Why?" + +"We appear to be getting at it, Belford. We have a very good opera house +here, almost new. A man from New Orleans built it, went broke in a +bigger speculation, leased it to a Dutchman who fiddled in the +orchestra, and now the house is without a manager. Suppose you take it?" + +"I'd take it in a minute, Senator, but the fact is, I'm broke." + +"Dollars melted like the mellow words of an ancient rhetorician, eh?" + +For a few moments we drove on in silence, the Senator making with his +hat half-circle greetings to constituents who stood in a dooryard or who +met us in the road. "Ha! Lester," he cried at a man who came along in a +wagon behind a span of mules; and then to me he said: "A few years ago +that fellow took it into his head that I was a little too conspicuous--I +had called him a liar, or something of the sort, don't remember exactly +what--and gave it out that he was going to horsewhip me. And I sent him +word to buy his whip from Alf Murray, first-class harness dealer, and a +friend of mine, and that I would meet him at his earliest convenience. I +don't know whether he patronized my friend in the purchase of a whip, +but I know that when I met him on the public square the next day he had +one as long as a bull-snake. And, Sir, I believe that he had intended to +hit me with it." + +"What caused him to change his mind?" I inquired, with no interest in +the matter. + +"Why, I knocked him down, and when he was able to get up and look around +again the whip was gone. Since that time we've been good friends. Now, +about the opera house. You say you've got no money. Now, let me tell you +what I'll do. I'll advance the money and go in as a partner. The money I +am compelled to spend during each campaign is beginning to eat +seriously into the income from my plantation, and I would like to ease +up the pressure. My part might not be a great deal, but it would help. +What do you say?" + +"I could go off into all sorts of extravagances, Senator. I could say +that you have made my blood leap, that you--" + +"But that wouldn't be businesslike. What do you say?" + +"That I snap at your proposition." + +"All right, I'll go down to-morrow and rent the house." + +"But you don't care to have your name known in it, do you?" + +"Why not? It's all right. These people like a good show, and if we give +them the best, it will make me still more useful and popular. Yes, Sir, +its all right, and we'll draw up the papers to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE STATE TREASURER. + + +The town had been attractive, but now it sprung into endearment. Emotion +was strong within me and my spirits rose, to find a new interest in +everything and to pick up many a jest by the roadside. I caught the song +of an old man who stood near the turnpike, trimming a young orchard; and +the laughter of a child that was romping on the grass when we stopped at +a toll gate threw sparkles of new life in the air. One sweet thrill of +selfishness had made the whole world musical and glad. + +"Senator, whose house is that over yonder, to the left?" + +"Mine," he answered. "Oh, yes, this is the first time you've had an +opportunity to view it from a distance. We are out too far to have the +advantage of gas and city water, but we've got room to swing round in, +and that's worth everything. Lumber dealer came one day and wanted to +know what I'd take for those walnuts. I told him that I'd take human +life if it was necessary. Hang me, if I didn't feel like setting the +dogs on him. I do believe," he said, shading his eyes, "that yonder are +Estell and Florence. Yes, Sir, he's got home." + +At the gate, beneath the walnut trees, a man and a woman stood looking +toward us. The woman was Mrs. Estell. I had recognized her before the +Senator directed my attention; I should have known her a mile away. Her +gracefulness was so original that she must have been unconscious of its +effect. The soft climate of the South had touched her with its ease, but +she seemed ever on the verge of breaking away from it; and sometimes she +did, not with mere gayety, but with unconquerable strength. She +enforced upon me the belief that she had taken fencing lessons. + +"And suppose he should object to our compact?" was a surmise that passed +through my mind; and I did not realize that I had given it actual +utterance until the Senator surprised me by saying: + +"None of his business. Our affair. Taking care of the funds of the State +gives him about all he can look after. Helloa, there, Estell, why don't +you come out to meet a fellow?" + +"On the keen jump, now," Estell replied, coming slowly to meet us, his +wife walking with him. It might have been the eye of prejudice that made +him look so old, though why should there have been an eye of prejudice? +His mustache was cropped off, stiff and gray, and his skin was thin on +his cheeks and thick under his chin. The Senator introduced us, with +heartiness and a flourish, and the moment I took Estell's hand I knew +that from his lofty position among the money bags of the State he could +not look down and find an interest in me. His nature was financial, his +instincts commercial; and I can say with truth that commerce embodied in +a strong and aggressive personality has always made me shudder. I am +afraid of the man who delights to make figures; I feel that I am in his +power. I might not hesitate to dispute with a most learned theologian, +to hang with him upon the quirks of his creed, but with a pencil and a +piece of paper a banker's clerk can cower me. + +The Senator assisted me to alight, the Treasurer lending a pretense of +his aid; and we went without delay to the dining-room where dinner was +waiting. The Estells sat opposite the Senator and me; and the master of +the house and his son-in-law began to talk over the affairs of State. + +"Hope you had a pleasant drive," Mrs. Estell said to me. + +"Charming; we had a fine view of the town, saw the old fort, and passed +your college." + +"Stupid old place, isn't it? But then, it's dear, just like stupid +people. Did you ever notice how dear stupid people are? They are +sometimes our dearest ones. I suppose they feel that about the only +thing they can do is to make themselves dear." + +Estell was saying something about $246,-724, or something that sounded +like that amount, but he dropped it to ask: "Florence, what are you +talking about?" + +"Stupid people. But you are not interested." + +"No, of course not, but I was trying to get at an exact amount, and you +bothered me for a moment." + +"It's all right, let it go," said the Senator. "By the way, Mr. Belford +and I have entered into a business arrangement. We are going to run the +opera house and share profits." + +Mrs. Estell cried "good." Estell gave her a look of reproof, I thought. +"You mean that you are going to share losses," he said. "The thing was +an elephant on Sanderson's hands." + +"But it won't be on ours," the Senator spoke up. "We know how to run it. +Don't we, Belford?" + +"I think we do," I answered. "My fellow-players called me the manager's +elephant, and in this case I don't know but we might be pitting Greek +against Greek, or elephant against elephant." + +Mrs. Estell laughed and so did the Senator, but Estell drank his coffee +in silence. The subject was permitted to fall, but it was taken up again +shortly afterward, when we had lighted our cigars in the library. + +"So you think of going into the show business?" said the State +Treasurer, resting his head on the back of his chair and looking up at +the ceiling. + +"Well, not actively," the Senator replied. "That is, I'm not to be +active in the work." + +"Oh, I suppose it's all right," admitted Estell; "but it's a new line +and new lines are dangerous." + +"But if dangerous, not without interest," the Senator was quick to +retort. "It's settled, at any rate. I'm going to try it." + +Mrs. Estell had not accompanied us. I heard her talking to a dog in the +hall, and I listened with pleasure, for her voice was strong, deep and +singularly musical. + +"The next session of the Legislature will be a very busy one, I am +inclined to think," Estell remarked. + +"Always is," the Senator replied, laughing. "The better part of a new +session is generally taken up with the work of repealing the laws passed +by an older Assembly." + +I was wondering whether Estell would ever become deeply enough +interested in my existence to warrant a straight look from his pale and +abstracted eye, when he withdrew his gaze from the ceiling, directed it +at me and said that he was glad to see me so far advanced toward +recovery. It was a mere commonplace which may not have arisen from a +real interest, and which politeness could no longer defer, but it gave +me a better opinion of him. + +"I suppose," said I, not knowing what else to say, "that you find your +occupation one of almost painful exactness." + +I think that he gave me a look of contempt. I am quite sure that, if he +did not, his eye failed him of his intention. + +"I wouldn't stay there ten minutes if it meant play," he replied, and +turning to the Senator he said: "Saw old Dan Hilliard the other day." + +"No!" the Senator exclaimed. "You don't mean _old_ Dan Hilliard?" + +"Yes, I do--old Dan Hilliard." + +"Hanged if I didn't think he was dead. Well, I'll swear! Old Dan +Hilliard! Humph! Why, I met his wife one day about three years ago and +she told me that Dan was dying, that he couldn't live till night. Now +what do you suppose he wanted to get well for?" + +"To distress his friends, I reckon. Wanted to get five dollars from me, +and said if I'd give him the money you would pay him back." + +My eyes with wandering about the room alighted on two foils, crossed +above a bookcase. I was right. The young woman had taken fencing +lessons. And just at that moment she entered the room, a great dog +following her. At the door she turned about to drive him back. He tried +to spring by her; she caught him, lifted him from the floor and with a +swing she tumbled him out into the hall. + +"What _are_ you doing?" the Treasurer cried, with a nervous jump; and +the Senator, who sat facing the door, fell back with a laugh so full of +contagion that I caught it before I had time to strengthen my gravity +with the reflection that I might give Estell a cause to think that I was +intruding myself into a family affair. + +"I am teaching old Tiger to behave himself," she replied, with a smile. + +"I thought you had knocked down a steer," said Estell, settling himself +in his rocking chair. He shut his eyes, and to me he looked like a man +who longed for rest, but who had almost despaired of finding it. +"Florence," he spoke up, opening his eyes and slightly turning his head +toward her, "see if you can find my slippers, please. You needn't go +yourself," he added. "Send for them." + +"I don't know where they are, and nobody else can find them," she +replied; and hastening out, she ran up the stairs, humming an +undefinable tune. + +"Tom," said the Senator, "you have about worn yourself out. Why don't +you go off somewhere?" + +"Can't--haven't time." + +"That's the biggest fallacy that man ever introduced as an economy. Did +you ever know a man too busy to die?" + +"No, but I sometimes think I am." + +"Why don't you give up the infernal office? Nothing in it, anyway." + +"Why don't you give up _your_ infernal office?" + +"What!" cried the Senator, and he began to run his fingers through his +beard. "Now that would be a devil of a come off, wouldn't it! How is a +State to get along without laws? Hah! Look at the measures that owe +their origin to me. Tom, it's all right to be tired, but it's dangerous +to trample on common sense. Why don't I give up my office, indeed! Now +what could have put that fool notion into your head? Have you heard +anybody say that I ought to give it up? If you have, out with it, and +I'll make him produce his cause or eat his words. Out with it." + +"Oh, I don't know that I've heard anybody say that you ought to give it +up," Estell replied, opening his eyes, but closing them again before he +had completed the sentence. + +"You don't _know_ that you have," the Senator retorted, twisting his +beard to a sharp and fierce-looking point. "Estell, old fellow, there +are times for joking, but this is not one of them. I make no objection +to fair and honorable criticism, Sir; you know that. I grant every man +the right to pass upon my acts in office--_in_ office, understand; but +when a man says I ought to resign, why he must show cause, or I'll stuff +him like a sausage with his own garrulity. That's me, Estell, and you +know it." + +"Talcom, I reckon that's you. But now to be exact, I haven't heard +anybody say you ought not to be in office." + +"Good enough, Tom. It's all right. Yes, Sir, it's all right," said the +Statesman, with no trace of his recent disquiet, but with pleasant, +kindly eyes and a countenance made smooth by the justice of his cause +and the pride with which he regarded his determination to defend his +good name. "But, Tom, you really need rest. Oh, of course, I don't mean +that you should give up public life. No, Sir," he went on, looking at +me, "when a man has once been a servant of the people, he is never +satisfied to fall back among the powerless 'masters.' And, Sir--of +course it wouldn't do to say it everywhere, but I will say it here in +confidence--I have often looked at some poor, obscure devil and have +said to myself, 'Why the deuce do you want to live? You can't possibly +enjoy yourself, for nobody pays any attention to you.'" + +And then spoke a voice at the door. I looked around and there Mrs. +Estell stood, holding a slipper in each hand, her arms hanging limp. I +did not catch the words she uttered first, but these I heard and always +shall remember: "And perhaps he has a wife who worships him, and +children that think he's a god. And if I were a man I would rather be in +his place than to have a world of flattery." + +With a swift step and a graceful bend she laid the slippers at her +husband's feet. The Senator clapped his hands and so did I, but Estell +neither moved nor opened his eyes until he heard the slippers tap upon +the floor, and then he turned his head to say, "I'm much obliged to +you." + +And at that moment she broke away from the soft and dignifying +influences of a Southern atmosphere; she sprang upon a chair, snatched +the foils from the wall, laid one of them across my knees, sprang back +and with mock tragedy cried, "Defend yourself." But before I could get +out of my astonishment to say a word, and as the dull eyes of her +husband looked up sharp with surprise, she bowed with a condescending +grace and with mimic magnanimity threw down the foil and said: "Ah, I +forgot. You are wounded and a prisoner." + +The Senator looked on with pride; his face glowed and his eyes snapped, +but Estell grunted: "Mr. er-er-Belford," he began, again becoming +vaguely conscious that I was on the face of the earth, "the Senator had +no son; and that explains why he made a tomboy of his daughter." He +laughed weakly as he said this, and as a piece of good humor it was a +failure, but it proved to me that he was not wholly ill-natured. + +"That's all right," the Senator replied, with his eyes on Mrs. Estell, +who had again mounted a chair to replace the foils on the wall. "That's +all right, but her tomboyishness has made her decidedly human, and, +Sir," he added, as the young woman stepped down, "I guess she succeeded +in winning the love of one of the best men in the State. Eh. How's that, +old fellow?" + +"Not quite so bad as I expected," Estell answered, rousing up. "You +could have studied longer and framed it worse. By the way, Mr. +Belmont--" + +"Belford," his wife suggested, standing with her hands resting on the +back of his chair. + +"Yes, thank you. But, by the way, Mr. Belford, where are you from, Sir? +I take it that you are not a Southern man." + +"I was born near the old city of Chester, England," I answered. "But I +came to this country when a boy. And among Americans I sometimes assert +that I'm English, but among Englishmen I am often proud to say that I am +an American." + +"Good enough," said the Senator. "First rate. That's all you need to say +around here, Sir. Our most famous orator, S. S. Prentiss, used to say, +when reproached with the fact that he was not born in Mississippi, that +any fool could have been born here, but that he had sense enough to come +to the State of his own accord. Belford, we've had some great orators. +We've had men, Sir, that could make you laugh at your own sorrow and +then compel you to look with grief upon your own laughter. But they are +gone, Sir." He got up and stood with one hand thrust into his bosom. +"They are gone, and the world will never look upon their like again. +Why, Sir, Prentiss, with his oration on starving Ireland, made the whole +world weep. Ah, and who makes it weep now? It does not weep, for there +is a measure of relief in tears. It groans, and in a groan there is no +sentiment--the groan is the language of despair. The oppressive +corporation, the heartless money grabber--but I won't talk about it," he +broke off, sitting down and running his fingers through his beard. + +"Yes, it's bad," Estell drawled, "but what are we going to do about it, +heigho?" he yawned. "You people may discuss the ills of the world, but +I'm going up-stairs and take a nap." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +PUBLIC ENTERTAINERS. + + +Early the next day the Senator and I went down to look at the opera +house. It was about midway in a block that faced the public square. Of +course there was nothing attractive in its outward appearance, and I +expected to find a raw interior, but I was more than happily surprised. +The auditorium was well appointed, the chairs were of the best and the +decorations were modest and artistic. I felt that it was only the +poorest of management that could have brought about the financial +failure of the house. And now that I had seen the place there arose a +fear that the agent might set the price too high. But when we called +upon him the Senator explained with so many gestures intended to +depress him, and with so many shrewd words thrown out to convince him +that we came as benefactors, that he soon was willing to accept our +terms. The papers were drawn up at once. + +"And, now, by the way," said the Senator, "I don't want to be known in +this transaction, for, come to think it over, there are many people in +my senatorial district who hold a prejudice against the show business. +So I'll be a silent partner, and a mighty silent one, I want you to +understand." + +The agent said that he understood, and the Senator continued: "The +editor of that mongrel sheet, the _Times_, would twist this thing out of +all shape, Sir. He would fight the house to injure me, and he'd jump on +me to hurt the house. Mr. Belford here will be the manager, and I guess +he knows all about it." + +I was forced to tell him that I was not a business man, that I could +secure the attractions, but that he must see that the books were kept +properly. "That's all right," he said. "I can't do it myself, but I'll +take them home and turn them over to my daughter. She may not know how +to keep them in the regular way, but you may gamble that they'll be kept +right." + +I agreed to this, but as we were going out the thought occurred to me +that Estell might object. + +"Oh, that will be all right," the Senator declared when I spoke of it. +"He may not be taken with the idea, but it will give Florence a +practical thing to think about, and he can see that it will be good for +her." + +"But if it's just the same to you, Senator, I'd rather you wouldn't +speak to him about it when I'm present. Even the slightest objection on +his part would be embarrassing to me." + +"You are right, Belford, and I appreciate your sensitiveness. Yes, Sir, +you are right. But he won't object." + +As we drew near to the house we saw Estell standing under a walnut +tree. "Go on in," said the Senator, "and I will have a talk with him. +It's a matter of no importance, you understand. We can hire a man to +keep the books. But I'll speak to him." + +I passed on into the library. The dog, that had presumed to disobey the +mistress of the house, lay stretched upon the floor, and as I entered he +looked up contemptuously, and then to all appearances resumed his nap. +Presently Mrs. Estell came in. + +"You are back early," she said. "What are you doing here?" This was +spoken to the dog. He raised his head and gave her an appealing look. +"They want you out there to catch a chicken to send to a sick man." + +The dog brightened, jumped up and trotted out, and soon a squawk and a +command from a negro woman announced that he had done his work. + +"It is all arranged," I said. + +"I knew it would be," she replied. "My father gets nearly everything he +goes after." + +"And he is now after Mr. Estell, to get his consent--" + +"Consent!" she broke in. "Consent about what?" + +"Why, the Senator thought it would be a good idea to bring the books up +here and let you keep them." + +"I'd like that. It would give me something to think about." + +"That's what your father said." + +"Oh, and he's gone to ask Mr. Estell. He won't care. He may object at +first--he objects to nearly everything at first." + +"I don't believe he takes to me very kindly," I ventured to remark. + +She laughed. "Oh, he doesn't take to anyone at first. I had known him +ever since I was a child, and I was grown before he appeared to think +anything of me. But he doesn't seem a bit like his old self. He used to +be lively and liked to go out, but now he's worried all the time and +doesn't care to go anywhere. I don't know what's the trouble with him, +I'm sure. Isn't that a pretty little theatre? And what do you think of +the prospects? Don't you think they're good? I do." + +"So do I. The town is large enough, and I believe we can make the +venture pay." + +"I'm sure of it," she said. "It has never been managed properly. None +but the poorest plays came here, and no wonder it failed. I do hope it +will be a success. It will give father something new to talk about. I'm +so tired of politics. Always the same thing, anxiety and treachery and +everything unpleasant. Mr. Estell was offered an excellent place in a +New Orleans bank, some time ago, and I begged him to take it, but he +wouldn't. And I can't understand why. There's no money and no particular +honor in the place he has now. But you would think his life depended on +it. He had strong opposition at the last election, and I thought he'd go +wild. Here they come." + +The Senator slyly winked at me as he entered the room. But Estell did +not appear to see me until he had sat down, and then he looked at me and +said: + +"You and Talcom are trying to involve the whole family in that show +enterprise, eh?" + +"We'd like to involve the whole community in it," I answered. + +"Yes. And it would be a nice thing for a friend to meet me and say: +'Helloa, Estell, understand your wife, the former belle of Bolanyo, is +keeping books for a show.'" + +"If you object, Mr. Estell," I began, but he shut me off. + +"Object? Why, I don't object to anything that Talcom does. What's the +use? Oh, it's all right. And I suppose we'll have show bills pasted up +all over the house. Might take a few of them to Jackson with me and +stick 'em up in the Treasurer's office; might get the Governor to put up +a few in the Executive Chambers. And I know the walls of the Senate +will be lined with them." + +I was about to say something in resentment of this dry ridicule when the +Senator looked at me with a comedian's squint of the eye. "Oh, yes," +said he, "and we'll have the Governor issue a proclamation commanding +all the State officers to attend our performances. By the way, he is a +bachelor. We'll marry him to a--" + +"Soubrette," I suggested, to help him out. The Senator laughed and +Estell chuckled wearily as his wife, in her good humor, shook his chair. +Dating from this trifling incident the Treasurer appeared to like me +better; at least, he paid me more attention, and at dinner he told a +joke (which the Senator afterward informed me was his favorite bit of +humor), and I laughed as if I really enjoyed it. I felt more kindly +toward him, but the eye of prejudice made him old, for constantly I +wondered how she could ever have given her consent to marry him. I had +been told, by the Senator, I think, that his family was high, that his +people were once of the great and lordly set of the South, and of course +I knew that in the marriage arrangement the name of family meant more +than mental or physical suitability; and yet I could not rid myself of +the belief that a violence had been committed against sentiment the day +she gave her hand to her father's friend. + +After dinner the Senator and I went into the library to talk over our +venture, and Estell trod heavily up the stairs to take his nap. I +wondered whether his wife were coming with us. She did not; she went out +into the magnolia garden; and through the window I watched her as she +walked about beneath the trees. To me she was such a picture, so lithe a +piece of Nature's art, that in my study of her I did not think of a +danger that might lie in wait for me; but in matters that tend to lead +the heart astray we rarely think until too late and then each thought is +an added pain. + +The Senator was saying something and I looked around at him. "Yes, Sir, +I think we'll run all right. Bound to if we put our energies into it. +Let's see; you'll have to go North and book the attractions, won't you?" + +"Yes, I ought to, but it's now almost too far along in the season. It +would involve considerable expense, and I think that the best plan is to +do my best with correspondence and take it in time next year." + +"Shouldn't wonder but you are right. Yes, and that will give you time to +work on your play. It will be quite a feather in our cap to have a play +written by our manager." + +"Yes, a successful play," I replied. + +"Oh, don't you worry about that. We'll make it a success all right +enough, for we've got the characters here under our gaze." + +"And the notorious Bugg Peters is one of them," I suggested. + +He began to run his fingers through his beard. "Well, I don't know about +that, Belford. It doesn't seem to me, though, that we ought to mar a +play with as trifling a fellow as he is. Why, that fellow is no account +on the face of the earth! Why, he's common! And, Sir, the people +wouldn't go to see a play that had him in it. We can get better +material, honorable and upright men, Sir. Why, he'd take all the dignity +out of it; he'd bring ridicule on the South. By gracious, Sir, they'd +think that he's--he's real!" + +"Well, but isn't he?" + +"Oh, in a way, yes. But he's not a representative man, you understand; +and I want to tell you, Belford, that the stage is in need of +representative men. Why, Sir, every newspaper is talking about the +elevation of the stage, the need of it, mind you; and I don't see how +you can elevate the stage if you put such men as Bugg Peters on it. Why, +confound his hide, do you know there's not a bigger liar in this State? +And do you know that he owes me?--well, I won't attempt to say how much. +We'll give him wheat, Sir, to keep him and his shaking sons-in-law from +starving, but we cannot--I repeat--we cannot put him on our stage. It's +nothing to laugh at, Belford. It's a serious matter. I'll show you some +characters--I'll find them for you. Why, here's Washington. Come in, +come in." + +The preacher came forward and stood gravely looking down upon us. "Sit +down," said the Senator. "That is, unless Mr. Belford objects," he +added, looking at me. + +"Why should I object?" I asked, in surprise. + +"Oh, some people object to--" + +"A negro sitting down in the presence of white gentlemen, unless he +drops his hat at the door and then sits on a trunk or a box," Washington +spoke up, smiling. "But," he added, "the Senator is more liberal. +However, I do not wish to sit down. I have come on an important errand." + +"Ah, ha! How much do you need?" the Senator inquired. + +The preacher roared with as genuine a laugh as ever was blown across a +cotton field. + +"We don't need so very much," he said, his gravity returning with a +suddenness that made him appear almost ridiculously solemn. "We need +something, however, and when our own resources had fallen short, I told +my brethren that I knew where to come. The truth is, we need a new bell +for the church, and lack twenty-five dollars of having enough to pay for +it." + +"A new bell! Why, what's the matter with the old one?" + +"It is cracked, Sir." + +"Cracked! Why I'll bet a thousand dollars you can hear it fifteen miles. +Why don't you take the money that a bell would cost and give it to the +poorer members of your congregation?" + +"The poor we have with us always, Senator. We need a new bell." + +"Yes, and you'll ring it at all times of night and keep me awake. Why do +they have to be rung, too, so much? Hang me, if I don't believe you've +got one old fellow over there that gets up and rings it in his sleep; +and many a time I've felt like filling his black hide with shot. When do +you want the devilish thing?" + +"You mean the bell, Sir?" + +"Yes. When do you have to get it?" + +"It has been ordered and it must be paid for on its arrival." + +"Oh, you've ordered it. Well, now, if you hadn't ordered it you'd +never've got a cent out of me. Don't believe I've got that much money +about me," he added, stretching out his leg and thrusting his hand into +his pocket, to draw forth a roll of bank notes; and on beholding this +great display of wealth the negro's thick eyelids snapped. "Here you +are," said the Senator, giving him the sum required. "And you tell that +old fellow that if he rings the new bell in his sleep, he'll wake up +with his black hide full of shot." + +"Thank you, Senator. You mean Brother Sampson, Sir?" + +"Hah? Sampson? I don't know his name, but I guess Sampson's about right. +Wait a minute. Mr. Belford is going to remain with us. He is going to +take charge of the theatre here, and in going about the neighborhood you +may tell the people that we are--I say we because I want to see the town +well entertained--tell the people that they are to have a series of the +finest entertainments ever known in this part of the country. And, by +the way, Belford, I forgot to speak of it, but you'd better board here +at the house." + +I looked up to meet the negro's eyes; a stare of blunt rebuke, as if the +proposal had come from me, in violation of a compact made with him. I +caught a vision of Mrs. Estell as I had seen her through the window, +walking beneath the magnolia trees; I heard the warning voice of reason, +and I saw lurking in ambush the sweetest and perhaps the deadliest of +all dangers. I had seen much of the immorality of life, of passion that +knew no law, but not for a moment did there live in my mind a suspicion +that this woman could forget the exacting demands of a matron's duty. I +felt that the danger lay for me alone; that the warm and sympathetic +relationship of friend of the family and partner of the father would +establish me almost as a member of the house-hold; that a sisterly +regard would at most define the depth of the interest that she could +take in my affairs, and even this must come with slow and almost +unconscious ripening. It was true that I had come a stranger, that an +old community, and especially in the South, is skeptical of a new man's +respectability, but I had fallen helpless upon their hospitality, and my +misfortune was stronger than an introduction. + +It did not seem that I had time to reason as I sat there encountering +the gaze of that black agent of a moral code; my reflections might have +come like flying splinters, but as I look back and again bring up the +scene, I feel that they must have fallen as one impression, a cold and +benumbing weight. + +"It will be a long walk out here for Mr. Belford, and he has not +regained his strength," the negro said, still gazing at me. + +"Nonsense!" the Senator replied. "He will be as strong as a buck in a +day or two, and, besides, he is used to his room out here and might as +well keep it. Confound your impudence, Washington, you always oppose +me." + +"I beg your pardon, Senator." + +"That's all right, but I'm going to have my own way about my own +affairs. Do you understand?" + +"Better than you think, Sir." + +"What's that?" + +"I mean that I understand perfectly." + +"Well, say what you mean." + +"Senator," said I, "he is right. I'd better get a room down town. +Walking in and out--and I couldn't think of riding--would take up too +much of my time, and I expect to be very busy after the season opens." + +"Well, now, there may be something in that. Yes, Sir, there's a good +deal to be attended to. Suit yourself. Perhaps it would be better. +Washington, you go on and pay for your diabolical arrangement to keep me +awake." + +The negro bowed and gave me a look, but not of victory--of gratitude. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +MR. PETTICORD. + + +Early the next day I was formally installed as manager of the Bolanyo +Opera House. The Senator directed the ceremony, marking long meter with +his hat, and by his solemn mien appearing to demand of me a serious and +majestic chant, the tune of Old Hundred, to express a deep sense of my +responsibility--a mere fancy, of course; but as a matter of fact, he did +seem to believe that we ought to make a sentiment of this commonplace +and businesslike procedure. But I told him that we would waive the +rights of a mysterious incantation and look upon the affair as a +commercial transaction. + +"Yes, of course," he said. "But you know there has always been a sort +of mystery about the stage. It holds us to the past, makes us children, +afraid of ghosts. It has a peculiar smell; and one thing about it is, +that all the people on the stage seem to be foreigners, it makes no +difference how well you may have been acquainted with them. I don't know +that it's true in all cases. Come to think of it, you don't seem strange +to me." + +"There has always been a prejudice against the stage, in England and +America," I replied. "Our race cannot associate art and religion, when, +in fact, there's true religion in every phase of art." + +"Well, now, I don't know about that, Belford. The Pagans worshiped idols +and some of their idols were works of art, but there was no true +religion in that. But be that as it may, we're going to make a success +of this thing." + +A number of boys, having scented an unusual activity, were hanging about +the door, and one of them made bold to ask if there was going to be a +show. The Senator answered him. "Yes, there is, my little man, and +we'll want you to take around some bills when it comes, next fall. Whose +son are you, anyway?" + +"Mr. Vark's." + +"Oh, yes, the shoemaker down stairs. Well, run along now." + +The boys scampered off, and the Senator, looking about, declared that we +were making great progress. "Yes, Sir, we'll coin money here; and do you +know, Belford, I am beginning to believe that money is a pretty good +thing after all? Yes, Sir, I have about arrived at that conclusion. It +won't take a man to Heaven, but it arms him against a hell on earth. Let +me see, there was something else I intended to say. Oh, yes. Now it's +all right to be friendly with everybody, but intimacy is a dangerous +thing. Encourage it and the first thing you know the loafers about town +will begin to call you by your first name. That kills a man if he's in +any sort of public life. Why, Sir, if I had let those fellows call me +Giles, I couldn't have remained in the Senate more than one term; would +have killed me, Sir, as dead as a door nail. In this human family a man +thinks more of you in the long run if you compel him to bow to you than +if you permit him to put his arm on your shoulder. Our natures respect +exclusiveness. We may make fun of what we conceive to be a groundless +dignity, but at its face we bow to it. Well, you can now begin your +correspondence. I have put money to your credit at the bank, and there's +nothing to keep you from going ahead. There are some other little +details that can be arranged at our leisure. And now, as to a boarding +place. Our hotels are not first class. And here's what I regard as a +good idea. This room off here you can fit up as a sleeping apartment, +and you can take your meals at a restaurant. Suit you?" + +"Perfectly. And I want to thank you for your--" + +"Wait till the end of next season, Sir; we haven't time now. And, by +the way, I want you to come out to the house as often as you can +conveniently. Just come and go as you please. Well, Mr. Manager, I'll +bid you good-morning." + +My room was airy, and, proportioned in that wastefulness of space which +marks one of the interior differences between the town and the great +city, it afforded the luxury of many an imaginary path over which I +could walk in meditation upon my play; and that piece of work was +uppermost in my mind. It was my hope to exist as a manager until I could +pip the shell as a dramatist--selfish, I confess; and so is art a +selfishness, and so is every high-born longing in the breast of man. +Indeed, philanthropy itself cannot escape the accusation: To give to the +needy awakens the applause of the conscience. + +A slight tapping attracted my attention, and looking round I saw +standing in the doorway a tall, gaunt man with a beard so red as to +shoot out the suggestion that it had been put on hot and that sufficient +time had not elapsed for it to cool. I invited him in; and, stepping +forward, he handed me a card on which in black type and with heavy +impression was printed the name Lucian C. Petticord, followed by the +information (also heavy and black) that I was in the presence of the +Editor of the Bolanyo _Daily Times_, and the enemy of Senator Giles +Talcom. + +"Sit down, Mr. Petticord. Glad to meet you," I added, with lie number +one. + +"Thank you," he said, seating himself. "Match about you?" + +I found a match for him, and lighting the stub of a cigar, he said +"Thanks," crossed his legs and hooked his thumbs in the arm-holes of his +"vest." + +"How do you like our town?" he asked. + +"Charming place," I answered. + +"Used to be, but hard times hit it a crack and it's been staggering ever +since. Had two banks--one of them failed. Tough, I tell you, but we'll +come out all right. Just heard of your deal. Ought to make the thing +pay, I should think. Got to spend some little money, of course. By the +way, is old man Talcom interested in it?" + +"Well, only as a friend," I answered, with lie number two. + +"I heard he was. Always was a sort of a theatrical fellow." + +"He is a gentleman, if that's what you mean." + +"Yes, in a way," he drawled. "Oh, I know him." + +"Then, Sir, you know one of the most generous of men." + +"Yes, generous in a way. Pretty keen, though--he's not throwing anything +over his shoulder this year, and he didn't last year either, for that +matter." + +"I didn't know," said I, "that throwing a thing over one's shoulder was +esteemed as an example of generosity." + +He rolled his cigar about between his fiery lips. "I take it that you +know what I mean," he replied. "I mean that Brother Giles ain't giving +anything away without cause." + +"Who is?" I asked, and I looked at him hard, but, in the vernacular of +the neighborhood, I did not "faze" him. + +"In general, nobody; and in particular, not Brother Giles. Well, it's +all right. Glad he ain't interested financially. Presume, however, he +advanced you the necessary money." + +"Pardon me, but if he did it doesn't concern you." + +"Oh, it's all right; no business of mine except as a matter of news." + +"But what doesn't concern the public is not news," I replied. + +"No, that's a fact, but then, there comes up a difference of opinion as +to what does concern the public." He paused for a few moments and then +continued: "Thought I'd step over and see if I could get an ad from you. +Do all my own work in that line; do all the editorials and write most of +the local leaders. It keeps me busy, but I'm getting out the best paper +the city ever had. And my ad rates are not high when the circulation is +considered." + +"I shall give you an advertisement later on," said I, "but just at +present there could be no object in it. It's out of season and there's +nothing to advertise." + +"But you'll want a write-up announcing the change of management. The +people will be interested in it, you know." + +"Yes, but doesn't that very fact make it a piece of legitimate news?" + +"Well, yes, in a way. But you know I can't afford to print news for +nothing. I'm not printing news for my health, you know. Write you up in +good shape for ten dollars." + +It was the easiest way out of what appeared to be the beginning of an +unpleasant entanglement, and I told him that he might proceed with his +"write-up." It was a sort of bribery, the purchase of his good opinion +in the hope of securing his silence, for I knew that there must be war, +and perhaps a complete change of geographical lines, so far as I was +concerned, if the newspaper should offensively associate the Senator +and the playhouse. But as I sat there, the subject of a "pleasant +interview"--meeting smile with smile--I actually ached to kick that red +gargoyle down the stairs. + +"Well," he said, blowing the cigar stub out of his mouth and letting it +fall where it might, "I'll get back to work. Come over sometime." + +"Thank you. I may see more of you when the season opens." + +"Guess that's right. Haven't got a cut of yourself, have you?" + +"No, and I don't care for one." + +"You're wrong there; good cut's a first-rate thing--catches the women, +and I want to tell you that unless you catch the women you don't catch +anybody. Well, good day." + +Almost as soothing as a melody was his passing footstep down the stairs. +But he halted, and I heard him talking to someone who evidently was +coming up. I was afraid that he had turned to come back, and I stood in +a tremor of dread, when in stepped old Zack Mason, the steamboat pilot. +"Hah, united we stood and divided we went up!" he cried, grasping my +hand. "How are you?--first-rate, I know. Oh, this climate will bring a +man out of the kinks if he isn't killed instantly. All this atmosphere +needs is a few minutes' start. A man can grow a set of new lungs down +here. How are you, anyway? Didn't hurt me much--made a trip since then +on a snag-boat. Tickled to death to see you again. How are you, anyway?" + +During all this time he held me with a grip so tight as to assure me +that not even an explosion could blow us apart. And whenever I attempted +to tell him how I was, or to impress him with my share of the pleasure +derived from our meeting, he gripped me tighter, to hold me under the +outpour of his congratulations. "Felt like a brother had left me that +day when you were snatched out of my hand. Said to myself, as I flew +through the air, 'he's got a little bit the start of me and I don't +believe I'll ever see him again.' And last night, when I got home and +heard you were around all right, I went straight over to old Jim +Bradley's and swallowed a drink as long as a pelican's neck. I want to +tell you that Jim's got the stuff right there in his house--been here +ever since the Mississippi River was a creek; and he's got licker older +than Adam's off ox. And I'll tell you what we'll do this minute--we'll +go right over there and take a snort as loud as the sneeze of a +hippopotamus." + +By this time I had forced him back into his chair, but he showed such a +keenness to get at me again that I had to remind him that I had been but +a short time out of bed. + +"Well, now, I'd about forgotten that," he declared. "But I don't want +you to handle me after you get plum back at yourself. You are as strong +as a panther right now. But that's neither here nor there. The question +is, will you come over with me to see old Jim? I've got a lay-off for +about a week, and I've got to have a little fun as I go along. Eat, +drink and be merry, for to-morrow you may be blowed up. And we'll see +old Joe Vark over there. Joe's got a shoeshop right down here--best +shoemaker that ever pounded the hide of a steer--works till he gets +ready to have fun, and then he whoops it up. He's smarter than a +serpent, even if he ain't always as harmless as a dove. They started a +little public library here once, and the first thing they knew old Joe +had nearly all the books stacked up in his shop; and he read them, too. +Come on and we'll go down to old Jim Bradley's; and he's all right, too. +What do you say?" + +"To tell you the truth, I'd rather go with you than to do almost +anything; it would fit me like a glove; but I can't. I've had to quit. +One drink would mean a spree, and that would ruin everything." + +"Yes, but here," he insisted, "the liquor that Bradley keeps won't put a +man off on a spree. It's a fact. It would take a man two weeks to get +drunk on it, and by that time he'd have enough. Come on." + +"No, I can't go." + +"Well, if you can't drink without taking too much I'm the last man in +the world to persuade you. Glad to see you, anyway. And I reckon you're +going to give us a first-rate line of shows. Met the Senator just now +and he told me. He's another man that can't drink. I can drink and I can +let it alone--that is, I know I can drink, and I think I can let it +alone. Well," he said, getting up and taking my hand, "I'm glad to have +seen you again, anyway. Take care of yourself, and when your first show +opens up I'll come round with the boys and we'll whoop things up." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE CHARM OF AN OLD TOWN. + + +The spiritual atmosphere of Bolanyo was like the charm of an old book +that we prize only for the almost secret art of its expression, an art +too ethereal to be caught and inspected. Sometimes it was drowsy, with +all the dreamy laziness of a hamlet in the south of Spain, but there +were days when it seemed to rebel against its own ease and unconcern, +when a sense of Americanism asserted itself to demand a share in the +bustling affairs of noisy commerce. Court day was a time of special +activity. It was then that the local market felt a stimulating thrill. +My window looked out upon the public square, a macadamized space, white +and dazzling in the sun. Sometimes the scene was busy and interesting +in variety; wagons loaded with hay still fragrant of the meadow; a brisk +horse trotted up and down in front of an auctioneer; negroes with live +chickens tied in bunches; a drunken man making a speech on the wretched +condition of the country; a "fakir" on the corner selling a soap that +would remove a stain from even a tarnished reputation. + +Life along the levee was ever interesting to me, for it was there that I +could study the slowly vanishing type of boatmen, once so distinctive as +to threaten the coming of a new and haughty aristocracy. Singing the +song of long ago, with their eyes fixed upon the river, the old negroes +stumbled over the railway track that a new progress had thrown across +their domain. Great red warehouses were falling into decay, and rank +weeds were growing in the bow of a half-submerged steamer that years ago +had won a great race on the river. Everywhere lay the rotting ends and +broken ravelings of the past, but nowhere, not even in the oddest +corner, could there be found the thread of a hope for the future. The +business interests of the town had grown away from the river, leaving it +to melancholy poetry and to death. And here I loitered, day after day, +in a vague contentment extracted from a distress more vague. To a +thoughtful mind there is more of interest in decay than in progress; the +"Decline and Fall" is a greater book than could have been written on the +"Origin and Rise." + +I could find no one to tell me much of the history of Bolanyo; no one +appeared to take an interest in that part of its existence which lay +behind the halcyon and now almost holy day of the steamboat. I knew +that, in a corrupted form, it retained the name given originally to the +Spanish fortification. But that was enough to know, for the exact dates +of the historian might have made it, in comparison with places of real +antiquity, a toadstool of yesterday. + +I saw the Senator nearly every day, in the office or on the street. +Election was not far away, and he had begun to mingle more freely with +the people; and though his manner was as cordial and as solicitous as on +the day when driving with me he had saluted everyone whom he met in the +road, he was far from being familiar, and no one, except his most +intimate friends, presumed to call him Giles. + +The sight of his house, pillared and stately, on the summit of the +graceful rise, was always a pleasure, and while strolling about, with no +intention of calling (having, doubtless, called the day before), I kept +it in view, for my eyes were never weary with looking upon it, so white +and peaceful. It was not a palace, not really a mansion, and in the rich +communities of the North it would not have been noteworthy except as a +sort of quaint renaissance in home building, but to me it had not been +set there by the hand of man, but by the Genii of the Lamp. + +Upon calling one afternoon, I was told by the negro woman that the +Senator was asleep, and, not wishing to have him disturbed, I walked +out into the garden, where Washington was at work among the flowers. +With the instinct of his race, he was humming a tune, and he did not +hear me until I spoke to him, and then, uplifting his hand with a sign +of caution, he pointed at a tree not far away. My eyes leaped to follow +him, for I felt that the young woman was near, and there on a bench she +sat, her head against the tree, her hat on the ground--asleep. + +"Don't make a noise," he said, in tones but little louder than a +whisper. "Sarah, the colored woman there in the house, say--says the +young lady didn't sleep hardly at all last night, and she went to sleep +out there just now." + +"She isn't ill, is she?" I asked. + +"Sick? No, Sir, she is well, but she's got to sleep some time. How do +you like my flowers?" + +"They are very beautiful." + +"Yes, Sir, but don't talk quite so loud. Seems to me like you are +trying to wake her up. I didn't want to take money for this work," he +went on, bending over and pulling up a weed, "for I like to do it, but +they insist on paying me. Yes, Sir. And I reckon--I suppose we have here +the finest clump of magnolias in all this part of the country. This one, +right here, was set out the day Miss Florence was born, twenty-four +years ago, now." + +"And it is the most graceful tree of them all," I replied. + +He cut his black eyes at me. "Yes, Sir, I believe it is, but, even if it +wasn't, you might say it was. I beg your pardon, Sir, but you just as +well board here. Oh, all the whole human family is not blind. If the +rest of them are, I'm not." + +"Look here, Washington." + +"I'm looking, Sir," he said, his eyes full upon me. + +"You were very kind to me, and I am grateful, but I don't want your +guardianship, and I won't have your insinuations." + +"Why, bless you, Sir, I don't want to be your guardian, and I don't +intend to insinuate. I spoke to you once about a danger, and I was +afraid you had forgotten it. Don't misunderstand me. I believe you are +an honorable man, but honor is not always careful enough when it comes +to talking to a lady, and none but an honorable man could make trouble +on this occasion. The only trouble you can make--there (nodding toward +the bench whereon the young woman sat, in fluffy white), the only +trouble you can cause there," he repeated, "would be to make her still +more dissatisfied with life. And a trouble might fall hard on you, Sir. +Let me tell you something in confidence. People have said that my +wedding to the church was what kept me from a marriage of the flesh. I +let them believe so, but it is not true. Mr. Belford, a soul that is now +cool and quiet in this black breast was once raging and on fire. It was +a long time ago. I had just begun to preach. I lived at the house of a +friend--over yonder." + +He waved his hand toward a distant hill on which was clustered a negro +settlement. + +"And there was a woman with a face like cream when the cow has eaten the +first buds of the clover; and her eyes were as bright as the star that +hung above the manger, and her laugh was as sweet as the notes that +dripped like honey from the harp of David." + +He stood erect, a pose of black dignity, his arms folded on his breast, +and in one hand he held the weed that he had uprooted from among the +flowers. I did not question the sincerity of his religious zeal; from +what I had heard and from what I had seen of him I was persuaded that +with honesty he had dedicated his life to the service of his creed, but +now I felt that he was making a conscious picture of his sentiment and +his sacrifice. The bigotry of applauded self-righteousness was in the +look that he bent upon me, and my blood rose in resentment, but I said +nothing; I let him proceed. + +"This woman was a wife, beyond my reach, and I felt that there was no +danger for me, and therefore I was not careful, but the first thing I +knew I was called upon to choose between the spirit of the Lord and the +flesh of the devil." + +"Washington, you are talking what is popularly known as rot. How can you +compare a handsome woman with the flesh of the devil?" + +"The devil's flesh may be beautiful, Sir; and beautiful flesh may not be +conscious that it was laid on by the devil." + +"But if the devil can tint the flesh and make it beautiful, he is an +artist." + +"Yes," he said, "and the devil might arm an agent with a paint brush." + +"More rot, Washington. The beautiful things are of the Lord and not of +the devil. The devil may have made the weed you hold in your hand, but +the flowers belong to God." + +With a shudder he dropped the weed, as if suddenly it had burnt him. +"Well, the end of your love story; how did it come out?" + +"It made the woman dissatisfied with the cold clod she was living with; +and if I had not let my duty rule me there might have been a scandal, +and then my day of usefulness would have been gone." + +"Yes; I suppose that a preacher must necessarily look upon a woman as a +sort of trap door. He may recover from the disgrace of wine, but +woman--" I glanced toward the bench, to find Mrs. Estell engaged in the +very human act of rubbing her eyes. I did not wait to finish the +sentence, but stepped off briskly; and, looking round before she +recognized my coming, I saw that Washington had dropped his dignity and +was bending among the flowers. She was not startled when she saw me; she +did not even show surprise, for my odd-hour presence had become +commonplace. + +"I'm glad you came," she said in quiet frankness, and with a smile of +welcome. "Sit down. Isn't it a sleepy day?" + +"Yes. And even the soft air is gently snoring among the leaves," I +replied, rather pleased with the fancy. + +"Don't talk that way," she said. "You'll put me to sleep again." She +turned her face away to hide a yawn. "Have you begun work on your play?" + +"Well, yes, I have taken some very important steps. Day before yesterday +I got some paper, got a pint of ink yesterday, and I expect to get a box +of pens to-day." + +"Oh, you are making great progress. You are going to let me read it, I +suppose?" + +"Yes, after I've had it typewritten." + +"Oh, I won't want to read it then--all the character of the work will be +gone--I couldn't find any of your moods and troubles in it; couldn't +tell where it was easy nor where you got stuck. I always think that +handwriting holds something for me alone, but a typewritten thing is +intended for everybody. The other day I got a typewritten letter from +Mr. Estell, and I sent it back to him without reading it. Of course, he +had to dictate it. And he sent an apology by the next mail." + +"Also dictated?" I asked. + +"It would have been just like him," she laughed, "but it was scratched +with a pen. I hate anything that's dictated; I actually hate it. Some +time ago I read that a favorite author of mine dictated his books or +worked the typewriter himself, and since then I can't read him. It seems +to me that the mellowest work was done by the poets when they wrote with +a quill. Imagine Byron setting fire to a page with a typewriter!" + +There was the humor of scorn in her "glad eyes" as she looked up at me. +"So, if I am to read your play, it must not be when the typewriter has +hammered _you_ out of it," she said. + +"I will read it to you. How will that do?" + +"From the original sheets? That will do; that is, if you want to. I +don't want you to feel that it's a duty." + +"Oh, no; it will be a pleasure. The path of duty is too straight for +me." + +"It's the winding path that leads to the sweetest flowers," she said, +with a motion of her hand toward a clump of roses not far away. + +There were a hundred points on which I had yearned to question her, and +the most vital of them all--why had she taken the name of that +unsympathetic man?--arose to my mind, but instantly it sank again. Her +manner toward me was cordial and intimate, but in it I recognized a +command against familiarity; that quiet something which tells a man more +than a volume of words could imply. I wanted to believe that she was +persuaded by her father. I was willing to believe almost anything except +that she could ever have loved him. It was not alone the eye of +prejudice that made him look old; it was actual age. He was older than +the Senator. But his people had been great--the lords of old Virginia. +I would wait, and perhaps at some time in the future she might forget a +high-strung woman's caution; she might drop a thoughtless word, a +firefly to glow in the dark. + +The negro preacher came walking slowly down the patch, to give his +attention to another part of the garden. He was humming a tune, with his +eyes on the ground, and he neither spoke nor halted, but at my feet he +dropped a weed. + +"You have a faithful gardener," I remarked, when Washington had passed +beyond the reach of a low tone. + +"Yes; there was only one George Washington, and there's only one +Washington Smith." + +"But don't you think he's a little too zealous?" + +"Too zealous? How?" she inquired, turning her eyes full upon me. + +"Well, I don't know that zealous is the word. Perhaps I should have said +intolerant." + +"Oh, he is intolerant--yes. He believes that he's one of the anointed." + +"That's all very well, but he oughtn't to believe that he is appointed +to look after the souls of other men." + +"Then he would have no mission," she replied. "The true strength of the +preacher is his sense of responsibility." + +"Pardon me, I didn't know you were of the strictly orthodox fold." + +"Didn't you? Don't you know I go to church every Sunday?" + +"Yes, I ought to. I have more than once waited for you to come home." +She looked at me in surprise, and I made haste to add: "The Senator and +I have needed you to arbitrate our disputes, you know." + +"Oh, yes, and I think you were wise in acknowledging that he had brought +you into his party. We all take a great interest in our converts. +Everybody is looking forward to the coming of your dramatic season," she +went on after a moment's pause. "And I think you'll become quite a +favorite in society. I heard Mrs. Atkinson speak of you. She's our +leader. She saw you somewhere. Of course there was some little prejudice +against you, at first, but that has worn off. And there's a splendid +catch here for you--Miss Rodney--distantly related to the Estell family. +She has seen you, too. She says you must be very romantic; and she asked +me all sorts of questions." + +"Of course I want to be agreeable, _but_--" + +"But what?" + +"I simply don't care anything for society." + +"Our stupid society, you mean." + +"No, I mean any society. I like individuals but I don't care for sets." + +"Oh, and you are going to rob me of the distinction of showing you off. +Very well, Sir." + +"I wouldn't be a distinction--more of a humiliation." + +"We'll see when the time comes. You have no idea what a source of--what +shall I say? Pleasure--gratification you have been to me." + +"Do you really mean it?" + +"Mean it? Why shouldn't I? You have helped me to pick things to pieces; +and we can have a great time when you know the people here well enough +to gossip about them. It's always interesting to hear what a stranger +has to say of one's old acquaintances." + +"Yes, if he speaks what he conceives to be the truth. The truth is spicy +and not infrequently malicious." + +"You make me laugh. Do you suppose I want to hear anyone speak ill of my +friends?" + +"Why, yes. You might demur, but you would listen." + +"Yes, I believe I would," she laughed, "and isn't it mean? I've tried so +hard to be good, but I can't." + +"It is hard to be good, and--" I hesitated. + +"And what?" + +"Will you pardon an impudence?" + +"Yes, if it's not _too_ bad." + +"Hard to be good and beautiful." + +Her face was turned from me, but I saw a red tint rise and spread over +her neck. She spoke without looking at me, and her voice was steady and +deep. "I helped you to set a trap and then walked into it, and therefore +I've no right to feel offended, but if my treatment of you leads up to +such compliments, I must change it." + +"No!" I cried, abashed; and the negro on his knees at a tulip bed, down +the path, looked up at me. "It was simply a jest; there has never been +anything in your manner to warrant it. Let me tell you that at times I +am a barbarian; I lose respect for polite customs. I have known ladies +who liked to be told that they were beautiful--women who were charmed to +have their pictures in a magazine among a collection of "types" +celebrated for beauty. I--" was she laughing at me? She was. + +"The fact that you take it so to heart wipes out the impudence," she +said, still laughing. + +I felt that my crime existed in the fact that her husband was more than +twenty year older than herself. And I have reason to believe that the +young woman who marries an old man, and who is constantly striving to +maintain her own self-respect, has a fancied or perhaps a real cause to +stand in dread of a compliment. It may be sincere, but in its candor +lies an insinuation and a reproach. But when Mrs. Estell saw that no +insinuation was intended, she was even more free than she had been +before. She laughed with such gayety that Washington went about his work +and paid no further heed to us. We talked about the people of the town, +the leader of society and the young woman who had been put forward as a +splendid catch for me; and once I ventured near the verge of an awkward +sentiment. In making a gesture she accidentally touched my hand, and +with the thrill of the moment I could have leaped high in the air. But +it took only a flash of reason to assure me that I was a fool. I will +say, though, and without evil, that I would have given all my prospects, +the theatre and the play--anything--to have clasped her in my arms. No, +not anything. I would not have given up the respect which I hoped she +had for me. Ah, how many hearts are this moment aching for a love that +the law has hedged about with Duty! And this to me was monstrous, for I +was of a mimic life, where love pretended that there were locksmiths to +be laughed at, but where in reality the law itself was vain. + +The Senator came striding down the path, and seeing me, he cried: "Ha! +Mr. Manager, why didn't you have them wake me? Don't want to waste any +more daylight than I am compelled to, but the fact is, I've been at work +pretty hard of late. A campaign always stirs me up." + +We made room for him and he sat down, continuing to talk. "Didn't hear +about my speech out at Briar Flat last night, did you? Well, Sir, we +had a lively time. You see the Convention is really the election, and to +win I must get votes enough to secure the nomination. There's a Cheap +John of a fellow announced as a candidate against anybody our party may +put up, a schemer out after the country vote. Well, he came to our +meeting--had no earthly business there, mind you, but he came. He +interrupted me several times with his fool questions, and at last I +said, 'See here, Mister Whatever-your-name-may-be, I am perfectly +willing to answer any question that one of these farmers may ask, but +I've got no time for a man who farms with his mouth.' Well, Sir, the +boys laughed and he got red hot. He stood up and cried out that any man +who said he wasn't a practical farmer and a gentleman was a liar. Huh! +Well! I handed my hat to a friend and--" + +"Now, father," Mrs. Estell broke in, "you promised me--" + +"Hold on, now; it wasn't a fight. Nothing of the sort. I know what I +promised you, and I'll keep my word. Yes, I handed my hat to a friend +and stepped down to where the fellow stood, with his back against the +wall. I asked him--I was polite--if he meant to insinuate that I was a +liar. There was no violation of a promise in that, was there, Florence?" + +"No, Sir, not if you asked him politely," she answered, laughing. + +"It was polite, I assure you. Well, he studied a moment, and then +declared that he never did insinuate, that he came right out and said +what he meant. And, Belford, I rather admired him for that. But, er--the +fact is--" + +"You struck him," Mrs. Estell interjected. "Didn't you?" + +"Well, that depends upon the way you look at it. Now, here, Florence, +you wouldn't want to know that a man had stood up in front of a whole +houseful of people and called your father a liar. I mean that under such +circumstances you wouldn't blame me for--for tapping him." + +"Of course not," she replied. + +"Ah, ha, and I did tap him. Belford, I hit that fellow a crack that +he'll remember the longest day he lives. Fell? Why, Sir, he fell like a +beef; and when they had taken him away, the meeting was kind enough to +name me as its unanimous choice." + +The negro woman who had announced her suspicion of all men came out upon +the veranda to ring the supper bell, and, astonished to realize that the +sun was no longer shining, I bounced up with a declaration that I must +get back to town. + +"No, Sir, not till you have had supper," the Senator replied. "Why, what +can you be thinking about to run away at a time like this? Come on," he +added, taking my arm and turning me toward the house. "I want to have a +talk with you after supper--on business. Come, Florence." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A MATTER OF BUSINESS. + + +In the library, after supper, I waited for the Senator to introduce the +talk which we were to have on business; but he wandered off into a +political reminiscence of a day when a man found out what his +convictions were and then looked about for a chance to defend them with +his life. He told me, as comfortably he sat with his feet in the +slippers which his daughter had brought for him, that he could recall an +old fellow who wrote out his principles in blood drawn from his breast. +"Yes, Sir, and it created a big hurrah at the time. Copies of his creed +were sought after, in the original ink, and so many of them were sent +out that the suspicions of a young doctor were aroused. He calculated +that the amount of blood thus put in outward circulation would leave an +insufficient circulation within, though the body of the politician still +appeared to be strong and active. And it was then that a most startling +discovery was made. The rascal had not used his own blood, but a red +powder and the juice of the pokeberry. Well, Sir, this stirred up the +community from one end to the other; the people swore that they had been +defrauded, and they demanded that he should make good the counterfeits +or get out of the race. His circulating medium was not strong enough to +warrant the output, so he retired in disgrace. Yes, Sir. Belford, do you +know that I can see that fellow Petticord's hand every time I go to a +political meeting? I can. He is all the time trying to tunnel under me, +and it keeps me busy stepping about to keep from falling in. I am +afraid, Sir, that sooner or later I'll have to kill that scoundrel." + +"Father!" spoke his daughter, turning from the window. + +"I beg your pardon, Florence. I don't mean to kill +him--er--er--offensively, you understand, but, perhaps, necessarily. Of +course we are inflicted more or less as we journey through this life, +but I can't reconcile myself to the belief that we are called upon to +stand everything. Let us say that sometimes the devil giveth and the +Lord taketh away. Now, if I could only provoke him into a fight--I beg +your pardon." + +Mrs. Estell had put her hand on his shoulder. She looked at me with a +smile, but the Senator glanced up to meet an expression of reproof. + +"Provoke him into a fight?" she said. + +"Figuratively, you understand. I wouldn't provoke him except +figuratively. But I don't see why my footsteps are to be constantly +dogged by that red wolf. Why doesn't he come out in his paper and give +me a chance? What are you going to do?" She had stepped upon a chair and +was taking down the foils. "Belford, I reckon you'll have to defend +yourself. I won't fight; I'm a noncombatant." + +I fenced with her, having had some little experience, but she was too +quick and too skillful for me. The Senator laughed, and his face was +aglow with pride to see her drive me into a corner, where I was willing +enough to surrender. + +"He isn't strong enough yet," she said, in excuse of my defeat. + +"Oh, yes, he is," the Senator cried. "He's as strong as a deck hand, but +he hasn't the skill. Just feel of that girl's arm, Belford. Don't be +afraid of her--she won't hurt you." + +I put my hand on her arm, so round and firm, so warm through the gauze +sleeve she wore; and I thought it well for me that neither the father +nor the daughter observed my agitation. + +A negro came to tell the Senator that a Mr. Spencer wanted to speak to +him at the gate. "Politics," said the law maker, as he took up his hat. +"And that fellow wouldn't get off his horse to meet the President. Stay +right where you are till I come back, Belford. I want to have a talk +with you--on business." + +He went out and Mrs. Estell sat down in his armchair. Her face was +flushed and her eyes were a delight to behold. + +"I'll be glad when this miserable campaign is over," she said. "It +upsets everything, spoils our evenings, and bores everybody that comes +to the house." + +"It doesn't bore me," I replied. + +"No; I gave him his orders not to talk politics to you." + +"That's a compliment, surely." + +"Oh, I don't know. I told him he ought to see that you didn't understand +the political situation. And after he'd converted you he was willing +enough to grant you freedom. Mr. Belford, why haven't you told me more +about yourself?" + +And this gave me the opportunity to ask her why she had not told me more +about herself, her days of romance. + +"I have had no such days," she said. "I was born here and I live here +and that is all. But you have been everywhere; you came from an old and +poetic country." + +"And you," I replied, "have always lived in a poetic country." + +"No, dreamy and visionary, but hardly poetic. Poetry means action and +adventure. You have never told me about _her_?" + +"Her? What her do you mean?" + +"Oh, any her. There must have been one." + +"No; I can't recall one." + +"Really? And you so sentimental?" + +"I'm not sentimental. A sentimentalist would tint the truth while I +would rather view it in its natural color, be it dun or even black. Do +you believe we ought to be held responsible for everything?" + +"Yes, nearly everything." + +"But suppose a man forgets to lock the door of his heart, and a woman +out in the dark, feeling about, accidentally lifts up the latch and +comes in. She is pure and innocent and she does not know that she is +warming herself at the hearth of a heart. Ought he to put her out and +shut the door?" + +"No, he should make the fire still warmer and brighter, if she has come +out of the cold and the dark." + +"But suppose her lawful place is beside another fire?" + +"Then she would not stray from it." + +"But say that she is walking in her sleep?" + +"She would run away as soon as she awakes." + +"Ah, but suppose she does not awake. Should he put her out?" + +"I--I don't know. He must not leave his door unlocked--he should--should +even bar his windows." + +We heard the Senator coming down the hallway and were silent. "Now what +do you reckon that fool fellow wanted? Well, Sir, it beats anything. +Told me that he had named a boy for me--said that it ought to be worth +five dollars and a barrel of flour. Why, dog my cats--beg your pardon +(bowing to Mrs. Estell). But I say, if it were to get out--no, keep your +seat, I'll sit over here--get out that I am giving five dollars and a +barrel of flour for each boy named for me, why, I'd be broke in six +months. A long time ago a yellow-looking chap from the swamps came to +tell me that he had given my name to as fine a boy as the country ever +saw. I was a little easier flattered in those days than I am now, and it +tickled me mightily; and what did I do but give the fellow a +twenty-dollar gold piece. Well, Sir, about six months after that he went +to a friend of mine, a candidate to fill an unexpired term of county +clerk, and declared that he had just named a splendid specimen of a boy +for him. And now what do you suppose we found out? The villain changed +that boy's name every time a campaign came along. Yes, Sir, and he was +about ten years old when he was given my name." + +"By the way, there was something you wanted talk to me about," I said, +to remind him that the hour was growing late. "Something on business, I +understood you to say." + +"Yes, but there's plenty of time. Let me see, now, what it was I had on +my mind. Something I wanted to say about--well, Sir, it has escaped me." + +"Then it couldn't have been very important," said Mrs. Estell. + +"It couldn't, eh? Now that's where you are wrong. In this life we are +prone to forget the most important things. My old grandfather used to +forget his wife when she went visiting with him, and go on home without +her. But come to consider more closely, it wasn't exactly a business +matter I wanted to talk to you about, Belford. I wanted to tell you that +day after to-morrow we'll go fox-hunting. I sent over to the plantation +to have the hounds put in good condition, and they'll be ready for us. +Ever ride after the hounds?" + +"Only in a mimic chase--a bag of anis-seed." + +"Oh, what nonsense! Do you know what ought to be done with a man that +would get up such a disgrace on the greatest of all sport? Ought to be +deprived of his citizenship, his vote; and I don't know of anything much +worse than that. Now, you be here day after to-morrow morning, and I'll +show you what it is to live like a white man." + +He was so earnest and so set in his conviction that no work, however +important, should be permitted to stand as a stumbling-block in the road +leading to the field of this essential sport, that I yielded, but +reluctantly, until Mrs. Estell dropped a word of persuasion, and then I +could not have found the moral nerve to urge even the most courteous +objection. + +When I took my leave, soon afterward, the Senator walked out with me, +through the gate and down the road; and when he halted to turn back, I +looked round and saw Mrs. Estell standing on the portico, with a lamp +held aloft to light his way. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE PLACE OF THE GOBLINS. + + +Down the road not far from Talcom's house there stood a stone chimney, +tall and white, in the midst of a dark thicket of scrub locust, the mark +of a fire that years ago had burnt a miser and melted his gold. It was a +desolate place, even in the sunlight, for the air that breathed an +enchantment in the Senator's magnolia garden came hither to whine and +moan. And whenever at night I passed this place I was chilled with a +nervous fear that a goblin might jump out and grab me. I knew that there +were no goblins, in the sun, but the night is the mother of many an imp +that the day refuses to father. + +I walked slower as I came abreast of the thicket, to prove to myself +that I was not afraid, yet ready to take to my heels, when suddenly I +halted, statue-still, with a gasp and a loud beating of the heart. A +great black figure plunged out of the bushes, into the road, and in +another moment I am sure that I should have run like a deer had not a +voice familiar to my ear exclaimed: + +"Fo' de Lawd, I didn' know I wuz comin' through dat place. Walkin' +'cross de pasture thinkin', an' de fust thing I knowed--" + +"That you, Washington?" I cried. + +"Yes, Sir. Oh, it's Mr. Belford," he said, coming forward. + +"You almost scared the life out of me." + +"Yes, Sir, and scared myself, too. I am on my way from prayer meeting, +and my mind was so occupied that I didn't think of the thicket until I +was into it. Going to town? I'll walk a piece with you if you have no +objections." + +"None at all; be glad to have you. It made you forget your education," +said I, as we walked along. + +"It did that, Sir. It makes no difference how many colleges a colored +man has gone through nor how many books he has read, scare him and he is +what the white people call a nigger. My mother used to tell me stories +about that place back there, and I can't forget them. But Miss Florence +isn't afraid of it, Sir. When a child she often played there alone, +after dark, and the Senator would have to go after her. Pardon me, but +why did you cry 'No!' so loud in the garden!" + +"Why, it must have been when I was reciting something." + +He grunted and we strode on in silence until he said: "Mr. Belford, I +have heard that there is no moral responsibility among the people that +play on the stage--that the winning or losing of love means little to +them. Is it true?" + +"Washington, I have read of a hundred scandals in the church. Were they +true?" + +He did not answer at once; he strode for a long time in silence, and +then he spoke: "There are bad people everywhere, and some of them carry +the outward form of the cross, but it is made of light paper and not of +heavy wood. But there are many who carry the true cross. Let us, +however, put that aside, for I must turn back when we get to the first +gaslight down yonder, and there is something I want to say to you if I +can get at it properly." + +"Out with it; don't try to lead up to it." + +"You are in love with Mrs. Estell," he bluntly said, and I had expected +something to the point, but nothing so straightforward and undiplomatic; +and I could have knocked him down for his impertinence, but I swallowed +my wrath and waited for him to proceed. + +"I can see it." + +"But can she?" I compelled myself, quietly, to ask. + +"No. If she were to see it, she would never step into your presence +again." + +"But the Senator! Can he see it?" + +"No. Honor makes him blind to such a sight. He could not understand +such a violation of hospitality. He has made you almost a member of his +family; your misfortune demanded his sympathy, and he gave you his +confidence." + +"Then you stand alone with your eyes open?" I replied. + +"I may stand alone, but other eyes are open--and they wink at one +another." + +"What! Do you mean that the neighbors--" + +"Yes," he broke in, "that is what I mean--the neighbors." + +"Washington, you were graduated from the Fisk University, I understand, +an institution made possible by the generosity of a band of jubilee +singers; and, having been educated at the instance of song, I should +think that you would have aspired to poesy rather than to stilted talk +and a detective's disposition to pry into affairs that don't concern +you." + +With the slouching habit of his race, he had been dragging his feet +along, but now his heels struck hard upon the road. He sighed like a +steam valve, to lessen the pressure of his boiling resentment, but he +did not speak. I expected him to turn back in silence, as we were now +beneath the light of the street lamp, but he did not; he strode forward +as if vaguely in quest of some sort of support, and put his hand on the +lamp-post, a hand so black that it looked like a bulge of the iron. And +then he turned to me. "Mr. Belford," he said, "an educated negro is an +insult to every unthinking white man. And unless he jabbers they call +him stilted. Let me tell you, Sir, that I have stretched myself on the +floor to read by the firelight because I couldn't afford to buy a +candle--struggling to conquer the dialect of my father--and now you +reproach me with it. My poor and ignorant people wouldn't listen to me +if I talked as they do. Heaven, to them, is a place of magnificence, and +the man who paints the picture of Paradise for them must use extravagant +colors. Sir, I am no more stilted than you are; you serve the devil on +stilts." + +I had to laugh, and then I apologized. "There is a good deal of truth in +what you say," said I. "The actor struts, and just as you do, to impress +the unthinking. But let us drop it. I'm sorry I offended you. But, +really, I don't like your interference." + +"It is not an interference. I am an old servant of that family. Look +here!" He snatched his hand from the lamp-post and folded his arms. +"What do you intend shall be the outcome?" + +"I don't know--I don't see--" + +"Don't see the end," he interposed. "But don't you think that the end of +everything ought to be kept well in view?" + +"Yes, I do. But sometimes a beginning is so delightful that we are +afraid to look toward the end. But I realize my own selfishness, and I +acknowledge to you that in spite of what you may term the immoral +atmosphere of a player's life--I confess, or, rather, I affirm, that in +my blood there is a strong current of good old English puritanism; and +I will swear to you that I would cut my own throat rather than to bring +disgrace upon that family." + +He put his mighty hands upon my shoulders, and, turning my face to the +light, he looked hard into my eyes. + +"No man could say more, Mr. Belford. But what are you going to do?" + +"I am going to stay away from--from her." + +"When, Mr. Belford; when will you begin to stay away?" + +"I have promised to go fox-hunting day after to-morrow." + +"And after that?" + +"I will not go to the house." + +He took my hand, and I forgot that he was a stilted and officious negro. +"Good-night, Mr. Belford." He turned away, but faced about and said: "I +am going to a cabin on the hillside--to pray for you. Good-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +OLD JOE VARK. + + +The town was going to bed; the late moon was rising, and in the magnolia +gardens there seemed to waver a bright and shadowy silence--a night when +every sound was afar off, a half mysterious echo--the closing of a +window shutter, the subdued footfall of a thief, the indistinct notes of +an old song lagging in the soft and lazy air. I walked about the +courthouse, its pillars classic in the shadow, its gilded cupola gaudy +in the light. I did not turn to my habitation across the square, to +sniff the lifeless atmosphere and the sickish paint of the opera house; +I bent my way to the river where the moon was free. And upon a rotting +yawl I sat down to think, shoulder to shoulder with the ghost of a dead +commerce. Far across the stream a mud scow fretted and fluttered like a +duck in distress, making just enough of noise to cry "silence" in the +ear of night. + +There is religion in the reverie of even an atheist; and in the +meditation of a free-thinker, whose grandfather was a believer, there is +almost a confession of faith. I thought of all that the negro had said; +I reviewed his earnestness and saw his look of trouble; I pictured +Talcom in his trustfulness; I saw his daughter in her unsuspecting +innocence, impulsive, almost eccentric, and yet a type of the South. I +thought of it all, and I swore that I would keep faith with the +preacher. I swore it with my hand held up, I ground myself down until I +felt the rotting old boat crumbling beneath me, and yet it seemed that +some devil arose in the air maliciously to whisper, "No you won't." And +in this reproach, intended to tantalize the conscience, there was a +shameful sweetness, a promise that again I should sit in the garden with +her. But I went to bed strong, and I arose with strength the next +morning. I would chase a fox with her, and then, I should see her no +more, except by accident. + +The Senator had enjoined me not to appear overglad to make +acquaintances; not to invite the approach of the idle, lest they should +become familiar, but it was hard to maintain dignity in the presence of +such good humor and friendliness. A man whom I might have passed a +hundred times, without suspecting his importance, would stop me to say +that his name was Hopgood or Leatherington or Yancey; to assure me that +his grandfather, after having come out of the Mexican War, had served as +Clerk of the Circuit Court; that he was pleased to welcome me to +Bolanyo; that it was about his time of day (looking at his watch) to +take a drink, and that he would be pleased to have me join him. I had +not the nerve nor the dignity to cool these warm advances, rich in a +yellowing sort of humor, the sad fun of a dying importance; and I found +that the Senator, himself, while pretending to preserve the austerity of +a high position, brought matters close to earth by putting his arm about +some old fellow to laugh over an ancient and shady joke. In the town +there was one man who scouted the idea of self-importance, except when +drunk, and then he sometimes assumed to own the community. This man was +Joe Vark, a shoemaker. + +In the forenoon, the day after my moral vow had been taken, I went into +his shop. He was sitting on his low bench; and he looked up, with a +number of shoe-pegs showing between his lips, and mumbled me an +invitation to sit down. He was short, with a fine head and thin, light +hair. His wrinkled face was rather pale and clean of beard. Beside him +lay a book, held partly open by an old shoe sole. + +"Well, how are they coming?" he inquired, talking through his teeth. + +"All right," I answered, and he looked up with a twinkle in his eye. I +waited for him to say something, but he went on with his work, taking a +peg from his lips and driving it into a shoe. + +"You were not born here, were you, Mr. Vark?" + +He drove five or six pegs, until there were no more between his lips, +loosened the strap with which he held the shoe upon a piece of iron, +whistled softly as he examined his work, looked up at me and said: + +"No, I came here from Pennsylvania a long time ago. And it was years +before they granted me the privilege of being natural when I was drunk. +Oh, it was all right to get drunk, mind you, but they wanted me to be +quiet; and I hold that a man who acts about the same, drunk or sober, is +dangerous to a community. Oh, they meet you with a warm shake, but it +takes years to become one of them. But after you do get to be one of +them you are proud of it. Yes, Sir, and about all I've got to boast of +is that I've been here more than thirty years. I'm not worth a cent, +you understand, but I'm as proud as a peacock What of? That I've lived +here thirty years. What of it? Everything of it. I can take a few drinks +and be natural. Not long ago I had a little row and I snatched a +comparative stranger from one side of the street to the other. And what +did they do with me? Why, I had been here so long that the judge +couldn't do anything. He fined the other fellow for being a stranger and +that settled it." + +He put more pegs between his lips, adjusted the shoe on the iron and +resumed his work. The shop was small and dingy, and the floor, almost +hidden by scraps of leather, had doubtless never been swept. An encased +stairway from the outside made a low, dark corner, and here, on a shelf, +the old man kept an array of books. It was said that he sometimes +indulged in a reading spree, just after a season of liquor; and then he +slammed his door in the face of the present and lived locked up with +the long ago. + +I did not disturb him, but waited for his spirit to move of its own +accord. He pegged the shoe, removed the strap, and from a small bottle +that hung on the wall within reach he blackened the edge of the sole; he +inserted a hook, pulled out the last, and set the shoe aside to dry. +Then he took up an old boot and said: "This thing is beyond all repair. +Ought to have been thrown away years ago. But the fool would leave it +here, and I'm expecting him every minute. Heigho, I don't know what to +do with it. Guess I'll put it aside until he comes, and then beg him to +take it down and throw it into the river." + +He threw the boot aside, took up a piece of leather and began to examine +it. Then, brushing everything aside, he picked up a clay pipe, and as he +was filling it, I handed him a lighted match. + +"Thank you." He lighted his pipe, puffing it with a loud smack of the +lips, and then settled himself down to talk. "No use of a man killing +himself with work. I've been here too long for that. How are you and +Talcom getting along?" + +"First rate. I have never met a more genial companion--never bores, +always interesting." + +"Yes, Talcom is a good fellow. He'll recommend a gold brick, and then, +to prove his sincerity, he'll turn round and buy it himself. He held me +off for a long time. Of course I never expected him to make a brother of +me--our lines keep us too far apart for that--but he's friendly, and has +done me many a favor. But I lived here a long time under suspicion, and +whenever anything was stolen they naturally looked to me. But, +gradually, I convinced them that I was inclined to be honest." + +"By going to church?" I inquired. + +"Oh, no, by accepting a challenge from a rival shoemaker to fight a +duel. The fellow backed down; his custom came to me, and he went away. I +am under great obligations to that man--best friend I ever had; don't +know what would have become of me if he hadn't backed out." + +"But you would have fought him." + +"Well, I don't know about that. I do know, however, that I felt like +hugging him when he refused to fight. Yes," he went on, after a short +pause and an industrious puffing at his pipe, "Talcom is all right. But +you never can tell which way he'll jump in his likes and dislikes. He +may like a man and he may not, and he's as sudden as a gun going off. +You caught him--not by anything you could have said or done, but you +just happened to fit him." + +"All hands at home?" came a voice as whining as a mendicant's plea, and, +looking up, I recognized the gaunt and drooping form of the notorious +Bugg Peters. He stood for a moment in the doorway, and then came forward +with a slouching lurch, with a grin and nod at me and a bow of profound +respect for the "boss" of the shop. + +"Look here, Bugg," said the shoemaker, "I can't do anything with that +old boot. It's beyond all repair. Take it out somewhere and throw it +away." + +"Fur mercy sake, Joe, don't talk like that," protested the notorious +one, dropping upon a bench and humping over as if his upper muscles had +given away. "Don't snatch all the hope right out of a feller's hand. +That boot belongs to my youngest son-in-law, and unless he gets it +mended to-day he can't come to town to-morrow. Joe, you've just got to +fix it. Say, got about as fine a chunk of a boy down at my house as you +ever see'd in your life. Nan's." + +"Nan's? How many does that make?" the shoemaker asked. + +"Let me see. Why, it makes somewhere in the neighborhood of six for Nan. +And her old man is settin' right there by the fireplace now a-shakin' +fitten to kill himself. He ain't no account at all except in the fall of +the year, and then I take him out in the woods and let him shake down +persimmons. Mister (speaking to me), they tell me you are goin' to start +a show here, and I'll fetch my folks to see it if I can raise a few +chickens and sell 'em. Thought I'd get some aigs to-day. Got three old +hens and I thought I'd put 'em to work. But, look here, Joe, you ain't +in earnest about not bein' able to do nothin' with that boot?" + +"Yes, I am, Bugg. Throw it away." + +"Now, when did you expect a man to get so rich as to fling away his +property? Doesn't the Scripture say, 'Waste not, for to-morrow you may +die?' Grab a-hold of her, Joe, and patch her up. All you've got to do is +to put leather where there ain't none." + +"Yes, all I've got to do is to build a boot in the air." + +"Well, but ain't that your business, hah?" + +"Yes, if I'm paid for it; but you haven't paid for the last pair of +shoes I half-soled. And you said you'd pay on the following Wednesday." + +"Did I say that? But I didn't tell you pointedly. You can always count +on me when I tell you pointedly. A man that won't pay when he tells you +pointedly is a liar. Whose boots are them right there--them old ones? +They'd just about fit my son-in-law. Yes, Sir; and he can put 'em on and +come up to town and enjoy himself. What will you take for 'em, Joe?" + +"Two dollars, Bugg." + +"Cheap enough, and I'll take 'em. Pass 'em over." + +"But when will you pay for them?" + +"Let me see. I'll pay for 'em Thursday." + +"Pointedly?" the shoemaker inquired, with a wink at me. + +"Well, now, if it's to be pointedly I'd better make it Thursday week. +How does that hit you?" + +"Take them along, but I'll never get the money." + +He tumbled forward from his seat, grabbed up the boots, and, holding +them close to his bosom, he said: + +"Joe, don't--don't insult me by sayin' that you'll never get your money. +It's a sad thing to give your word pointedly and I've give you mine." + +He took out a string, tied the boots together at the straps and threw +them across his shoulder. Then he sat down. "Yes, Sir," he said, "when a +man gives me his word pointedly and fails to keep it, I put him down in +my liar book. Say, Mister, I hear 'em say you are goin' to give your +show in a house. Don't see how you can give much of a show unless you've +got room to gallop around in, but I reckon you'll do the best you can. +Joe, let me take a few of them books along with me," he added, nodding +toward the shelf. And the shoemaker's hand, with a movement as quick as +the frisk of a squirrel's tail, flew upon the bench at his side and +rattled the tools, as if grabbing for a hammer to throw at the head of +the outrageous customer. His face was hard and his eyes were set with +anger, and if for a moment there was not murder in his heart, he gave +me a bit of fine acting. But his epileptic resentment passed away with a +jerk, and looking up at the dumfounded Peters, he said, "Bugg, I guess +you'd better go." + +"Why, what's the matter, Joe?" + +"Guess you'd better go. I can stand to be robbed of leather, but when +you try to extend your theft to the things that make me superior to you +ignorant yaps, I feel like mashing your head." + +"Your driftwood is comin' so swift that I can't ketch it, Joe." + +"He means that you must not touch his books," I put in. + +"Oh, that's all right," Peters replied. "I'm not hankerin' after 'em. +Just thought I'd take a few of 'em along to get 'em out of the way. Joe, +if you happen down in my range drap in and see Nan's boy. Tickle you +mighty nigh to death." + +He slouched away, and the shoemaker resumed his work. I had been sitting +there in a strong draught of the town's atmosphere, with two characters +for my play; and, taking my leave, I felt that I hugged a greater +possession than Peters had found when he tied the boots together and +threw them across his shoulder. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +OLD AUNT PATSEY. + + +Like a boy in his yearning to have Santa Claus come, I went early to bed +to force the dawning of another day. I resorted to the tricks that men +have employed to induce drowsiness; I counted sheep bounding over a +fence, a hundred, a thousand, until their number exceeded the +Patriarch's fold, and yet I lay there wide awake, with my nerves +starting at every noise, before it reached my ears. I strove to trace +the filmy thread that lies between consciousness and sleep, and I +fancied that it was a raveling from a rainbow, with one end in the +sunset, the other in the sunrise. I reached a place where the thread was +broken and now the world was dark, but, feeling about, I found the two +ends of the silken line, and put them together, and when they touched, +the world flashed up in a blaze of light--the sun was shining. + +No exact hour had been fixed for the meet at the Senator's house, and I +was beset by the fear that a desire not to be early might make me late. +Common sense dictated a middle resort, but in my nervous anxiety I had +no common sense. Why so sensitive and timorous now when I had been so +bold a few days before? I had promised the negro preacher and myself +that this day should see the end of a relationship. + +I set out earlier than the time I had fixed, expecting to loiter along +the road, to breathe sweet air beneath the roses that hung above the old +garden walls; but, giving no heed to the roses, I passed them hurriedly, +as a hasty reader skips a beautiful sentence in eagerness to snatch the +excitement of a closing scene. I passed the lamp-post and thought of the +negro's black hand, a knot on the iron; I came abreast of the old +chimney and the thicket, the lair of the goblins at night. And here I +halted to gaze at the Senator's house, the pillared portico, the cool +yard, the martin box on a tall pole, the magnolia garden. And now my +progress toward the gate was slow, with the minute and senseless +observation of little things; a bit of sheep's wool on a brier bush; an +old shoe half buried in the sandy drain beside the road; the heavy +gate-latch, made by a clumsy blacksmith; the uneven bricks in the short +walk between the gate and the portico; a stone and a shell on the step, +where someone had cracked a nut. + +I was admitted by the negress whose motto was "suspicion." She gave me a +broad grin and nodded toward the parlor; and I heard strange voices and +laughter. Just as I reached the door, Mrs. Estell stepped out into the +hall. A magnolia bloom fell from her hand, and she laughed as she +stooped to pick it up, and when she looked at me her face was red, +though not with embarrassment, but with stooping, for she spoke and her +voice was deep and clear and her eyes were not abashed. + +"Oh, you are just in time, Mr. Belford. I want you to meet some friends +of mine, and my aunt is here, too. I know you'll like her, she's so +queer." + +I would have staid to ask her why she supposed me to be attracted by +queer persons, but she touched my arm, and as an automaton I turned +toward the parlor and stepped into the room, to meet Mr. Elkin, a frail +and timid-looking young fellow with plastered hair; Miss Rodney, a +pinkish creature of uncertain age, the "splendid catch" which Mrs. +Estell had set aside for me; and Mrs. Braxon, the aunt. She looked +queer, and I could not have denied that she interested me. She was very +tall, straight and stiff, with eyes that suggested a savage. Into her +aged mouth the artifice of the dentist had put the teeth of youth, and, +not yet accustomed to them, she imposed upon her lips the double +exertion of talking with her jaws shut. + +"Well," she said, looking hard at me, "and you are the man that Giles +has been telling me so much about? But, conscience alive, he ought to +have something to talk of besides politics." + +"You are his favorite sister, I believe," I replied, with the giggle of +Miss Rodney in my ears. + +"Do you? Well, I married his brother, if that's what you mean." + +"Is he living?" I inquired. + +"Florence," she said, "it's strange that you haven't told Mr. +What's-his-name anything about me. Every time I come here I come as a +stranger, a rank stranger." + +"Why, Aunt Patsey, I told him--" + +"She told me a great deal about you, Mrs. Braxon," I put in, "but my +memory is, you might say, not good." + +"Oh, yes, and I suppose Giles Talcom told you all about me, too; told +you that I was his favorite sister, didn't he? Well, it's all right. +Miss Rodney, what _are_ you giggling about?" + +"Why, nothing at all, Mrs. Braxon," the young woman declared, growing +pinker. The old lady looked at Elkin, and he started and slammed his +knees together. I glanced at Mrs. Estell, and she hid her eyes from me, +afraid to laugh. + +"Where do you live?" I inquired of the old lady. + +"Up in the Tennessee hills, and every time I come down in this low +ground I want to get back. The laziest folks I ever saw in my life, and +the niggers ain't worth their salt. And the way Giles pets that black +preacher makes me sick, a-buying of his church bells to keep folks awake +at night. I'd make him chop down them good-for-nothing trees out there +and plant onions. That's what I'd do with him. Florence, where did Giles +go?" + +"Why, he sent word over to the plantation to have his hounds brought +last night, but, somehow, the message wasn't delivered, and so he has +gone after them himself. We want to start from here--" + +"After the hounds? Start where?" + +"Fox-hunting." + +The old woman cleared her throat with an ach, ach. "Fox-hunting? Is it +possible that he keeps up that foolishness? Chasing a fox, when there's +so much to be done in this world? I read in a paper yesterday that a +woman had starved to death in New Orleans, and here you all are, going +to chase a fox." + +"Why, Mrs. Braxon," the young man spoke up, "we can't help that. If we +let the fox go it won't bring the woman back to life." + +She looked at him and his knees flew together. "But you could be raising +something for folks to eat." + +"Yes, ma'am, but we raise more now than we can sell." + +She looked at him with a bow and a smirk of contempt. "More than you can +sell. Yes, of course. More than you can sell to a woman that's starving. +Yes, of course." + +"But nobody starves to death in Bolanyo, Aunt Patsey," Mrs. Estell +remarked. "We take care of our poor; and it was a mere accident that the +woman starved in New Orleans." + +"Oh, you do? A mere accident. Of course. Are you going to chase a fox?" +the old woman asked, with her eyes on Miss Rodney. + +"I have been invited to go, and--" + +"Of course. But, go on, and don't let anything I say prevent you. I +staid at home, year in and year out, and never went anywhere, while my +husband was a-galloping over the country, a-blowing of his horn and +a-chasing of foxes; and folks in a town not more than twenty miles away +were as hungry as they could be. But, after he died, I didn't stay at +home, I tell you. I went out and looked for hungry folks, and I fed 'em, +too. Talk to me about chasing a fox." + +"Auntie," said Mrs. Estell, smiling upon the old lady, indeed, +approaching her and bending with graceful tenderness over her chair, +"you try to make people believe that you are hard to get along with, but +you are the sweetest thing. She snaps and snarls to hide the tenderness +of her heart, Mr. Belford." + +"I do nothing of the sort. For goodness' sake, child, take your hands +off me. Stop fussing with me. Go over there and sit down. A body would +think that I'm so old that you are standing here ready to catch me when +I start to fall over. Go along with you!" + +Mrs. Estell, laughing, pressed her radiant cheek against the widow's +whitening hair. "I like to have half tearful fun with you, Aunt Patsey," +she said. + +"Oh, you do. Well, get away and don't pretend that you think anything of +me. I have no money to leave you." + +Elkin laughed. The old woman looked at him and he clapped his knees +together. "I--I--beg your pardon," he stammered. + +"She's so delightful," said Miss Rodney, leaning toward me. "Quite a +character for the stage, papa says. And when does your house open?" + +"Not before October," I answered. + +"And not until he can get a good company," said Mrs. Estell, standing in +front of us. "I have enough interest in the house to demand that much. +Oh, there comes father with the hounds and I'm not ready yet." + +She ran away, and though the sun was in the window, the room was darker +now, and a shadow seemed to lie where she had stood. We heard the +Senator's horn and the impatient cry of the hounds. + +"I'd rather hunt a bear than a fox," said the young man. "I went with a +party of fellows down in the canebrake last fall and a bear killed four +dogs. Just grabbed 'em up like this (hugging himself) and crushed 'em. +Just broke their bones. Just grabbed 'em up this way and mashed 'em. +Didn't look like it was any trouble at all. Just--just squeezed the life +out of 'em. I had--I had a dog named Ring--great big dog--and he +grabbed him up this way, the bear did, and old Ring just gave one howl +and that was the end of it. Bear didn't appear to mind it. Just seemed +like he was enjoying himself, but we hadn't agreed to keep him in all +the dogs he wanted to kill, so we shot him." + +"You did?" said the old lady, smirking at him. "Do tell. And you'd +rather stand there and see him kill those poor dogs than to chase a +fox." + +"Oh, I--I don't mean that I like to see the dogs killed, Mrs. Braxon, I +mean I--" + +"Would rather see a bear with his arms full of poor dogs than to chase a +fox. Yes, I know what you mean." + +In came the Senator. He bowed to the ladies, cried "Ha!" to the young +man and seized my hand as if a year had elapsed since we parted. +"Belford, I've got a horse for you that can clear any fence in the +State." + +"With me on his back?" I asked. + +"Yes, I hope so. You can try, you know, and if you can't keep your seat +why you must fall as easily as you can. Sister Patsey, you look as +bright as a dollar." + +"Go on with your blarney, Giles. I've got no dollar to leave to you." + +"And bless your life, I'm glad of it. But it's time we were going. +Where's Florence?" + +"Gone to get ready for your nonsense," Mrs. Braxon answered. "Oh, you +men! Not half of you are worth your salt." + +"No," said the Senator. "And if there comes a time when men are worth +their salt and women are worth their pepper, humanity will be well +seasoned, eh, Belford? But we must be making a move. Elkin, help Miss +Rodney to mount, please." + +"Yes, and I guess I've got to buckle my girth tighter," said the young +man. "Come, Miss Minnie, and let me help you up." + +Just as they passed out there came a slow step down the hall. "Why, it's +Estell!" cried the Senator. "Why, hello, Tom, we didn't expect you for a +week. And, Sir, here's your Aunt Patsey." + +Estell was carrying a cane in his right hand and he stuck out one +finger for me to shake. But when in the same manner he presumed to greet +the old lady, she stormed at him: "Look here, Tom Estell, don't give me +no one finger to shake. Andrew Jackson gave me his whole hand when I was +a child, and I want no one finger now. That's like it," she added, as he +put his cane under his arm and gave her his hand. + +Mrs. Estell entered the room. "Why, you old surprise party," she cried. +He stepped forward, but, catching sight of her riding habit, he halted. + +"What does all this mean?" he asked. + +"Why, we were going fox-hunting, dear." + +"You--you going?" + +"Why, yes. You have never objected." + +"But I do now." + +"Very well," she replied, beginning to pull at her gloves. + +"Tom," cried the Senator, "what the devil--I mean the deuce--is the +matter with you?" + +And then Aunt Patsey broke out, jumping from her chair and shaking her +finger at Estell: "You are trying to smother the God-given spirit of +that child, and you ought to be ashamed of yourself. You hate to see her +run--you want to see her dodder about like an old man. What earthly harm +can there be in her going fox-hunting? Better men than you ever dared be +have chased foxes and have let their wives go, too. Don't you dare say a +word to me--don't you dare!" + +Estell turned about and strode with sullen step to the foot of the +stairs, the Senator passing him without saying a word. I was standing at +the door, and I stepped aside to let Mrs. Estell pass, but she lingered +in the parlor, as if to speak to her aunt, as if, in truth, she would +put her arms about the old woman's neck; and I turned my back, to face +the State Treasurer, standing at the foot of the stairs. Our eyes met, +but he was silent, and I had nothing to say. Mrs. Estell came out into +the hall, but returned almost instantly to the old woman, and Estell +trod wearily to the upper floor. His wife came out, and she looked up +with duty's self-conscious smile. + +"May I speak a word?" I asked. "Just one?" + +"Two," she answered. + +"I promised to read my play to you." + +"Yes; and you will--" + +"Not keep my promise." + +We were walking slowly toward the stairway, she slightly in advance. But +now her feet were quick, until she reached the stair, and then she +halted, turned to me, and said: + +"Mr. Belford, any man can make a promise, but sometimes it requires a +_gentleman_ to break one." + +I had no reply to make; I was the interloper. I bowed to her, and, +snatching my hat from the halltree, I passed out upon the portico. + +"Yes, I am mighty sorry," the Senator was saying to Elkin and Miss +Rodney, who sat upon their horses at the gate--"sorry as I ever was in +my life, but my horse stuck a nail in his foot and can hardly walk. Of +course I could get another horse, but take Felix out of the chase and +the whole thing falls flat. And my best hound is sick, too. Sometimes it +does seem that everything stands in the way. But we'll have it, now, +very soon. Get down, and stay to dinner. Ah, Belford, you going? Well, +I'll see you in a day or two." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE PLAY. + + +I dreaded the embarrassment of meeting the Senator again; and it was +with a sense of nervousness that I looked from my office window, the +next morning, to see him getting out of his buggy. He came briskly up +the stairs, spoke heartily to someone whom he met on the landing, halted +at my open door, and, hat in hand, made me a sweeping bow. + +"Ha, early to work is the thing," he said, stepping into the room and +glancing about. "More pictures of famous players, I see. Well, we'll +have them strutting about our stage the first thing they know. How do +you feel?" he asked, drawing up a chair and sitting down. + +"First rate--too well, I might say. This air makes me content to sit and +dream." + +"Good; it is better to find contentment even in a dream than to snap our +nerves in two with chasing what we might regard substantial happiness. +Why, confound it all, Belford, there is no such thing as substantial +happiness. Anything substantial is too material, too gross; and +happiness is a certain spiritual condition of the mind. Therefore, I +say, let the old South dream if she feels like it. There used to be an +old fellow that lived about here--Mose Parish. Well, the time came for +Mose to die; but he wasn't scared, not a bit of it. A preacher came to +talk to him, and old Mose listened for a while, and then he said: 'Oh, +no, I never did much of anything--never built a steamboat nor a house, +but I've had a good deal of fun, and I hold that when a man is having +fun he can't have it all alone; he's helping some other fellow.'" + +We talked about hundreds of things, and touched occasionally upon our +business venture, but nothing led to a subject which I felt, and which +he seemed to feel, was too delicate to be mentioned. He gossiped of +young Elkin's affection for Miss Rodney; he said that Elkin's love put +him in mind of an ass with gilded ears. He spoke of the coming election +and the surety with which he and Tom Estell would win; but when he took +his leave he did not invite me to call at the house. I met him day after +day, in the office, in the street, in the rotunda of the hotel; and he +always greeted me with a warm and earnest cordiality, but at parting he +would say, "I'll see you again soon;" and never that I should come to +see him. + +I walked a great deal, musing over my play, and more than once in +rebellion my feet wandered from their usual path to tread the sacred and +forbidden ground that lay in the neighborhood of the Senator's home. +Near the close of day, I sometimes saw him sitting on the portico, with +his chair tipped back, his feet against a classic pillar, smoking his +pipe--a vandalic American indulging a national posture to the shame of +a Grecian memory. Once I saw his daughter standing near him, where the +fading sunlight fell, gazing afar off, shading her eyes with her hand. +And she might have seen me had I not bent behind a bush; had I been less +a thief. + +One hot afternoon the Senator came into the office, fanning himself with +his hat. + +"No dreaming now, Belford," said he. "It's too hot even to doze. What's +all that you've got spread out there?" + +"Our play," I answered. + +"Oh, yes. And, by George, there seems to be enough of it. Let me hear a +chapter or two. Isn't in chapters, though, is it? Fire away and let me +hear what it sounds like. You look like a commissioner of deeds, with +all this stuff scattered about you. But go ahead." + +"I'd rather wait, Senator, until it's completed. In fact, I'd rather +you'd wait and see it played," I replied, remembering what he had said +about elevating the stage and fearing that he might object to some of +my characters. + +"All right. But just now you said _our_ play. What do you mean by that?" + +"I mean that a half interest belongs to you." + +"Why, Lord bless you, my boy, I don't want to rob you." + +"And I don't intend that you shall rob yourself. You have given me the +opportunity to do the work, you have--" + +"Hold on, Belford. We are partners in this house. You are doing your +share. Why, Sir, haven't you secured the Lamptons to play here a whole +week during our county fair? And doesn't that newspaper notice they sent +along say that they are the finest representation of dramatic talent now +on the road? Haven't you signed a contract with Sanderson Hicks to give +us the Lady of Lyons? And I want to tell you that a man who saw such +opportunities and seized them by the forelock is doing his duty all +right. Oh, it's no laughing matter, Sir." + +"That's all very well, Senator, but you are to own half the play. I want +you to look after the business end of it." + +"All right, Sir; all right. Yes, it would be better to have some man +take hold of that part of it--some man, you understand, who isn't afraid +to insist upon his rights. And Belford," he added, putting his hand on +my shoulder, "if I hadn't insisted on mine, they would have trampled me +under foot long ago. Yes, Sir (stepping back and shaking his hat), long +ago. Have you decided as to who shall have it?" + +"Well, it's easy enough for me to decide. But the decision of the other +party might not be so easy to get." + +"Oh, there won't be any trouble about that. No, Sir; that is, if they +want to put on a good play. We have something here, Sir (slapping his +hand upon the manuscript), that ought to stir the dramatic world from +center to circumference. Oh, you may smile, but it will, for I want to +tell you that I have never been associated with a failure. And there's +a good deal in that; as sure as you live there is. Luck begets luck, and +failure suckles a failure. Yes, Sir. Have you made any overtures?" + +"Not exactly. I wrote to Copeland Maffet and sent him a scenario--" + +"A what?" + +"An outline of the piece. And he writes that he will be in Memphis on +the 17th of next month, and that he would like to hear the play." + +"Of course he would. We knew that all the time. We'll hop on a boat and +go up there. Good man, is he?" + +"One of the best; he doesn't do things by halves." + +"All right, Sir, he's our man, that is, if he's willing to pay for a +good thing. Well, I believe I'll go on out home. It's cooler there. By +the way, come out with me. There's no one on the place except Sister +Patsey, and I'm lonesome. Come on, we'll ride out." + +I was afraid to look at him; I was afraid to hesitate, to frame an +excuse, and without saying a word I went down stairs with him and got +into the buggy. + +He did not drive directly to his home; he halted at several places--in +front of a lawyer's office, a butcher's shop, to ask advice concerning +his political contest, a shrewd way to flatter and stimulate a lax +supporter. We drove to a wagonmaker's shop, off in the edge of the town, +and when the workman had been fed with big words, we set out at a brisk +trot, with a gang of boys behind us, shouting in a cloud of dust. Ahead +I could see nothing but the sun-dazzled roadway, sloping down into the +open country, but we turned a corner thick with cherry trees and the +Senator's house leaped into view. + +It seemed a long time since I had heard the click of the gate-latch; +since I had stood upon the stone steps to breathe the cool, sweet air of +the hall. + +"I think the library is about the coolest place in the house," said the +Senator. "Step in, and I'll see if I can find some fans. There are some +on the table. Take that big palm leaf. Pardon me if I unbutton my +collar. I'm as hot as a dog in August with a tin pan tied to his tail. +But you appear to be cool enough." + +"I didn't expect to hear you Southerners complain of the heat. I thought +you could stand it." + +"We do stand it, but we complain. I doubt whether an Anglo-Saxon can +ever learn to like real hot weather. Oh, we prate about the sunny South +and we like sunshine, but, by George, Sir, we hug the shade. Have you +got a pretty good plot for your play?" + +"Yes, I think so." + +"We must have a good plot, you know; we must have everything turn out +all right. Any fighting in it?" + +"Well, there are several spirited scenes." + +"That's good. But it strikes me that there ought to be some sort of a +fight. One fellow ought to call another fellow a liar, or something of +the sort. It would be a good thing for a fellow to snatch out his +pistol and have it grabbed and turned against him, don't you see? That +sort of a thing always catches the people." + +"But you advocated the elevation of the stage, don't you remember?" + +He got out of his chair, and walked up and down the room, with his +collar unbuttoned, his broad, black cravat hanging loose. + +"That's the point, Belford; that's the very point. To elevate the stage +is to make it natural. Why, last season an actor ruined a play for this +town by drawing a pistol with his left hand." + +"But that was not so very unnatural," I replied. "He might have been +left-handed. Many a left-handed man has had a fight." + +He paused in his walk, to stand before me, and thoughtfully to balance +himself alternately upon his heels and toes. + +"But, Belford, that's not the point. Of course there may be a +left-handed man in a fight, but nine chances to one a man is +right-handed, and the stage must take the course that is the most +probable. No, Sir, you don't want to shock a critical sense of fitness +by having a man pull a pistol with his left hand. Such breaks always +tend to wound a sensitive nature. Any man in your drama pull a pistol +that way, Belford?" + +"No, if a pistol is drawn at all it shall be in the accepted form." + +"All right," he said, resuming his walk. "Any ragged girl talk like a +clodhopper until she is insulted and then talk like a princess? Anybody +say 'stronger?' No human being except a fool on the stage ever said +'stronger' for stranger. Any fat woman in short skirts trying to be a +girl? Any tramp with more ability than an ancient philosopher? Any +female detective that doesn't know she loves a suspected thief until she +has had him put in jail? Got any of those things?" + +"I'll take an oath that I have none of those tantalizing features, +Senator." + +"Then, Sir, it will be a go. Yes, Sir, the world can't stop it. Why, +come in, Patsey. Remember Mr. Belford, don't you?" + +I shook hands with the old lady, placed a chair for her and gave her my +fan, and she rewarded me with an old-time courtesy. + +"Gracious me," she said, "it's so hot down here that I wonder everybody +doesn't take to the hills. I wouldn't live in this flat country." + +"Why, Sister Patsey," the Senator spoke up, "Bolanyo is on a hill." + +"A hill? Giles, you don't know what a real hill looks like, it's been so +long since you saw one. Why, where I live you can sometimes look down on +a cloud." + +"Yes, and it's a good deal better to live above a cloud than to be under +one, Sister Patsey." + +"Now, what does he mean? One of his sly tricks, I'll be bound. I never +come down here that everybody ain't up to tricks or running for office, +but I do reckon they are one and the same thing. Sakes alive, and the +laziest folks that ever moped on the face of the earth. And that +good-for-nothing wretch that calls himself the Notorious Bugg, +a-talking about his sons-in-law a-shaking all the time. He came here +yesterday and wanted meat, the lazy whelp. Well, I would have given him +scalding water, and a heap of it." + +"But you didn't, Sister Patsey," the Senator spoke up. "You called him +back and gave him a bag of sweet cakes." + +"I did, eh? I sent them to the poor little children, and if he takes a +bite of one of them cakes I hope it will choke him to death. He says he +doesn't want to go to the hills and catch a new-fangled disease. Why, +plague take his picture, I've lived in the hills all my life. If he +comes again while I'm on the place I'll scald him. I'll do it, Giles, as +sure as he comes, and you'd better tell him to stay away." + +"If he comes again, Sister Patsey, you'll give him hot cakes instead of +hot water." + +"Did you hear that, Mr. Belford? _Did_ you hear that?" the old lady +snapped. "Ah, ah, I do think, Giles, you are the most aggravating man I +ever saw, except your brother, and he almost worried the life out of +me." + +"But he is dead, Sister Patsey, and you are still enjoying pretty fair +health. Yes, he went first." + +The Senator glanced at me with a wink; the old lady caught his twinkle +of mischief, and, throwing back her head, she laughed until the tears +ran out of her eyes. + +"Belford," said the Senator, "the evening breeze has sprung up. Suppose +we sit out on the portico. And, by the way, I've got some tobacco raised +from Havana seed. I'll get it." + +"Bring me a pipe, too, Giles," the old lady called after him. "I'm not +going to be left out, and you needn't think it, either." + +When the Senator had strode off down the hall, she turned to me with a +quick eagerness and said: "He is almost dying to apologize to you for +Tom Estell's behavior, and he doesn't know how to get at it. I never saw +a man so cut up. And he thought he could get at it better out here, but +by the way he fidgets about I know he hasn't. Now, there, don't you say +a word, Sir, but let me talk. I don't know what's the matter with +Estell, I really don't. Now, what earthly harm could there have been in +her going fox-hunting, and her father along, too? No, I don't understand +him. Why, he must think that a woman is a fool to be willing to stay at +home all the time just because he's old." + +"Why did she marry him?" I could not help but ask. + +She snapped her eyes and cleared her throat. "Ah, Lord, it distressed me +nearly to death. Why did she, indeed? Giles was the cause of it. He +picked out a nice old gentleman for his daughter's husband--a man of +high family, a good politician. She cried over it, with her head in my +lap, but Giles didn't see a tear, and she wouldn't let me say a word to +him. And, to tell the truth, I didn't think it was so very bad; and it +_wasn't_ until he got to be so cranky. She always was a peculiar child; +and I reckon after all she made up her mind that she might as well +marry one man as another, so far as love was concerned. But just look at +me, a-sitting up here and telling of things that I oughtn't to say a +word about. Here he comes. Giles, did you bring my pipe? Well, it's a +good thing you did, Sir." + +Out in the breeze that came stirring through the magnolia garden we sat +and smoked, the Senator with his chair tipped back and his feet high up +against a fluted column. We talked in pleasant and almost confidential +freedom, of many a home interest, both solemn and humorous, but the name +of the young woman lay under a silence that no one dared to disturb. +When I arose to take my leave they urged me to stay to supper, but my +heart had grown heavy with the approach of night, and, with a lie in +self-defense, I pleaded an engagement in the town. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +A SLOW STEP ON THE STAIRS. + + +In the cool of the morning, and often at night when the gulf breeze was +blowing, I leaned back from my labor to muse upon the Senator's peculiar +attitude toward me. A certain sort of innocence or honor had +unquestionably blunted his eyesight and wrapped his reason in a silken +gauze, but he had seen and felt the interference of his daughter's +husband. And now why should he have pressed me to come again to his +house, even though the wife were away? The old woman had said that he +was trying to find a way that might lead to an easy apology. Apology for +what? A husband's clumsy resentment. And did he not know that my +entering the house again could easily be construed as a connivance on +his part? The politician is so absorbed a student of man and his +masculine ways that sometimes he may be forgetful of the delicate film +that surrounds a woman's name. But in the South a woman's name is so +secure that what in colder regions might be a film is here a sheet of +steel; and overconfidence might seem a want of due consideration. + +One evening I heard a slow and heavy step on the stair; and I waited, +annoyed and nervous with the deliberate and solemn approach of the +unwelcome visitor. I counted the steps, wondering when they would cease. +I threw down my pen and got out of my chair. There was a shuffling of +awkward feet at the open door. + +"Come in, Washington," I cried, and when he had entered I turned angrily +upon him. + +"Oh, you have come to reproach me, to prove to my face that I am a +liar." + +He had dropped his hat upon entering the door, and now he stood with +his head bowed meekly. + +"Mr. Belford, if your heart smites you, don't blame me." + +"But you have come to bid it smite me." + +"No, but to ease it if it has been smiting you." + +"Ah, sit down, Washington." + +"I prefer to stand." + +"But pick up your hat. Your humility embarrasses me." + +"Let it lie there, Mr. Belford." + +"Well, can't you do something? Damn it--" + +"Mr. Belford, I don't ask you to respect me, but I command you to +respect my holy calling." + +"Rot! Well, go on; I do respect it. I beg your pardon. But why do you +come here to hit me with the moral sandbag of a priest? Don't you know +that any calling can be made offensive?" + +"The gospel is always offensive to the sinner." + +"Look here, you black impostor, I'll not put up with your insolence. Get +out." + +He stepped backward to the door, took up his hat, put it under his arm, +and bowed to me. + +"Wait a moment, Washington. Confound it, you always make me strut and +talk like an actor. Let's get down off our high horses and turn them +loose to graze. What did you come to say?" + +"I came to beg you not to be worried because you were not able to keep +your word with me." + +"That's kind, but how do you know I was not able to keep it?" + +"Old Miss Patsey told me that the Senator brought you home with him." + +"And you know that _she_ was not at home." + +"Yes, I knew that she was over at the State capital, with her husband." + +"They didn't tell me where she was." + +"No, it was not necessary. They do not blame you," he added, after a +moment's pause. + +"Then you are the only one who does blame me, except, perhaps, the +Treasurer." + +"Yes, the Treasurer who locked up the money of the State but forgot that +a diamond was within reach of--" + +"A thief," I suggested, and he bowed his head. + +"Washington," said I, "you tell me that the Senator is blind and that +the young woman herself does not suspect--" He shut me off with his +uplifted hand. + +"What I said then and what might exist now are two different things." + +"Ah, then she does know now; she has gathered some of the wisdom that +you have strewn about. You had seized the opportunity to be wise, and I +had hoped that you would be harmless. But your wisdom is offensive. It +seems that you would rejoice to have a hold on me." + +"For what purpose, Mr. Belford?" + +"Well, it isn't very clearly defined." + +"No, Sir, and it never can be. Perhaps, after all, my discovery, if you +please to call it such, wasn't due to wisdom but to an animal instinct. +And even then it was a venture. You could have denied it better." + +He came walking slowly forward, with his eyes fixed upon my +writing-table. + +"That is one thing I can't learn to do well," he said, gazing at my +work. "My hand was too hard and stiff from labor before I went to +school." + +"Then you don't write your sermons?" + +"No, Sir, and Peter didn't write his." + +"But you went to a college and Peter didn't." + +"Ah, but Paul was learned of men, and Paul was the Master's greatest +follower." + +"Washington, you are surely a remarkable man. How old were you at the +time you entered the university?" + +"I don't know, Mr. Belford; I don't know how old I am now." + +"Well, I have fought against you, but I can't help believing that you +are sincere. Here are five dollars for your church." + +"Thankee, Sah; bleeged ter yer, Sah. I--I--I am profoundly grateful, +Sir," he hastened to add, bowing in humiliation. "You must pardon the +rude echo of my father's tongue. Good-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +TO MEET THE MANAGER. + + +The Senator went with me to Memphis to meet Copeland Maffet. I was +nervous and apprehensive of failure, but the old gentleman was steady +and strong with the assurance of success. "You are worried," he said to +me as we stood at the bow of the steamer. "Throw it off, for you are now +associated with a man who has never been introduced to a failure. No, +Sir, and they can't down us. When I first came out for office they told +me that I had no earthly show. And what did I do? I took one fellow by +the shoulders, turned him round and kicked him off the courthouse steps. +One of my friends? Yes, he claimed he was, but let me tell you, Belford, +that a man's gone if he lets his so-called friends run to him with +discouragements. The only friend worthy of the name is the man who +doesn't believe you can be beaten. I'd rather have a strong enemy than a +weak friend." + +We found Maffet waiting for us at a hotel. The Senator greeted him out +of the gorgeousness of his effusive nature, and refused to be daunted by +the cool, business air of the manager. + +"Mr. Maffet," said the Statesman, "we have brought you something, Sir, +that will astonish you. And, Sir, you'll not regret that you came all +the way from New York to get a chance to put in your bid." + +"I have other business that brought me here, Mr.--" + +"That's all right, but you'll forget all about your other business +before we are done with you. Ah, Belford, I've got a little knocking +round to do, and I'll leave you to read your play to Mr. Maffet. Good +old name. By the way, Mr. Maffet, are you related, Sir, to the Maffets +of Virginia?" + +"I think not. My people settled in Vermont," said the manager. + +"Same old family, Sir; best stock in England. Won't you join us in a +drink of some sort, Sir?" + +"No, thank you, I've just got up from the table." + +"Ah, yes, Sir. But make yourself perfectly at home in this town. I know +a great many people here, and all my friends will be glad to welcome +you. And you'll find my friend here (motioning toward me) as bright as a +judge and as straight as a string. Well, I'll be back by the time you +get through with your reading." + +I went with the manager to his room, and if he had been cool before, he +now was freezing. + +"Well, go ahead." + +I read the first act, glancing at him from time to time; but no change +passed over his implacable countenance. He sat with his eyes shut. + +"Go ahead." + +I read the second act; but the droll representatives of a fun-growing +soil did not crack the crust of his countenance. + +"Well, go on." + +I had now lost hope, and with scarcely a pause I hurried to the end of +the last act. He opened his eyes, got up, walked to the window, looked +out, whistled softly and then turned to me. + +"You've got some great people there. The comedy part is excellent." + +"Ah, you don't laugh at comedy," I was bold enough to declare. + +"Well, not when I'm buying it. Let me have it a moment." + +He stepped forward with a look of interest in his eyes, and took the +play. + +"In Magnolia Land, by--what's this? By The Elephant? What do you mean by +that?" + +"My pen name." + +"Oh, it's all right enough; odd, and that counts." + +"And if you decide to take the play, I don't want my name known; and if +any speculation should arise as to who the Elephant may be, you are to +say you don't know, even if anyone should assert positively that I am +the man. I want it to be a winner before I acknowledge it." + +"All right. It will raise newspaper talk, and that would help. Yes, I'll +agree to put it on if we can come to terms, and especially if you'll +consent to consider the suggestions which I may send to you. A play, you +know, is never finished. I'll read it over carefully and make notes. As +this is your first venture you can't very well expect an advance +royalty." + +I had not expected it, and I did not ask it. Indeed, I was delighted +with the prospect of a production, and I began to think that there must +be something in my alliance with a man who never had made the +acquaintance of a failure. We agreed upon a percentage of gross +receipts, and went down stairs to dictate the contract to the hotel +stenographer. And just as we were ready for his name the Senator walked +in. + +"We insist that it shall be put on in good shape," said he, assuming +that the deal had of course been made. "Let me see the contract. Yes," +he said, when he had looked at the top, the middle and the bottom, "that +appears to be about the proper thing. Just let me put my name on it. But +we must have witnesses, eh? Well, you just wait till I go out and bring +in two of as fine gentlemen as you ever saw, from two of our oldest +families, Sir. One of them can write as fine a hand as you can catch up +with anywhere; he used to be Clerk of our House of Representatives. Wait +till I go after them." + +"Oh, anybody will do, Colonel," the manager replied. "I haven't time to +wait on an old family." + +"All right," said the Senator, with his hat in the air. "If you don't +recognize the advantage of respectability, I shall not insist upon it. +We'll get these two hotel clerks back here. They look like gentlemen, +Sir." + +Many a day had gone by since my longing heart had fluttered with +lightness. And now it was beating high with an exultant hope; but its +time of joy was short. The memory of a deep voice weighted it with +sadness--a voice and the words: "Any man can make a promise, but +sometimes it requires a _gentleman_ to break one." + +As we stood in the bow of the boat and gazed toward the lights on the +wharf at Bolanyo, the Senator put his hand upon my arm and said: "My +boy, that fellow Maffet is a shrewd fellow, from shrewd Yankee stock, +and he would have cheated you out of your teeth if I hadn't come along. +Yes, Sir, out of your teeth." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +BURN THE JUNIPER. + + +In the enthusiasm of my dramatic occupation the figures forming in my +mind had draped, as with a merciful curtain, the picture in my +heart--had hidden the eyes. But now that the figures were sent away the +curtain, too, was gone, and the image was bold with a new vividness. I +resorted to numerous devices, walking, rowing, reading, but the picture +was always before me, thrown from within; and at night, alone in my +room, I could see in its vibrations the beating of my pulse. + +The day of the scramble for office passed by, and the Senator and his +son-in-law were elected; but Estell's majority was so small that his +opponent declared that a fraud had been practiced, and gave warning that +he would take his case to the courts. I met the Senator nearly every +day, and sometimes we parted in embarrassment, when it would have seemed +so natural for him to say "Come out to see me." But he did not say it; +and out of his silence there came the information that his daughter was +at home. + +At last, in October, the theatrical season arrived, with a third-rate +company to present "Virginius." I employed the columns of Petticord's +newspaper, against the Senator's advice, had the town and a large part +of the county well "papered," and when the opening night came round the +house was crowded. I put young Elkin into the box office, and he must +have been born for the place, for, although acquainted with almost every +man, woman and child in the town, he recognized no one at the window. + +Nervously I watched the people coming in, my gaze leaping from face to +face. I turned away to attend to something, and when I came back and +looked at the house I knew that _she_ was there, though I did not see +her. The curtain went up and the play proceeded. On a sudden someone +well in front cried out "Burn the juniper!" And then arose the yell, +"Throw him out!" Several officers ran forward, and presently, in the +midst of great confusion, they came back, almost dragging old Mason, the +pilot, and Joe Vark, the shoemaker. Vark was the real offender, it +appeared, and Mason was snatched up as an accessory. I went out with +them, pleading with the officers not to use them roughly; and when we +reached the pavement I demanded their release. The officers, glad enough +to go back to the play, turned the culprits over to me. Both were drunk. + +"Vark," said I, "do you want to break up the performance?" + +"Burn the juniper!" he shouted. + +"Now, here, Joe," the pilot pleaded, "let's get something that we all +understand--something like 'let her slide' or 'let her rip'--something +we can all join in on." + +"I want them to burn the juniper. In the old days when the atmosphere in +the theatre got foul they cried 'burn the juniper,' and I want it burned +now. The air in there is foul with political rascality and scoundrelism. +Burn the juniper!" he yelled at the top of his voice. + +"Blame it all, Joe," Mason persisted, "let's get something that's down +among the people." + +"Gentlemen," said I, "you must keep quiet or I'll have you taken away. +Vark, you don't want to injure me, do you?" + +"No, I'm your friend, but you'll have to live here thirty years before I +can declare my infatuation for you. Give a hundred dollars for a bonfire +of juniper. And the long-lost sword of Mars was discovered by the +bleeding hoof of a heifer, and was given to Attila. Burn the juniper!" + +"Look here, boys, come back in and behave yourselves. Remember that the +house is full of ladies, and that ought to make any man thoughtful in +the South. Will you promise to behave if I let you go back?" + +"I can't promise without juniper," the shoemaker declared. "The twelve +vultures represented the twelve hundred years of the glory of Rome. Burn +the juniper. Say, Belford, tell you what we'll do--we'll go down to Old +Bradley's and take a drink as long as the horn of a wild steer. What do +you say?" + +"I can't go with you, Vark." + +"Then I'll go back into the house and burn the juniper. No, I won't, +Belford. You are a good fellow. There's nothing stuck up about you. And +I'm sorry for that break I made in there. Shake. Now, come on, Mason, +and we'll burn Old Bradley." + +They went away, arm in arm, and out of a group of mottled idlers formed +about the door came slouching the figure of the Notorious Bugg. + +"Jest thought I'd stand here till the worst come to the worst, Mr. +Belford," said he. "I lowed to myself that if they jumped on you things +would then happen fast and sudden. Hold on a minute and let me tell you. +I reckon I'm as peaceable a man as you ever seen till I get too badly +stirred, and then I can't compare myself to nothin' but a regular mowin' +machine. Oh, I didn't want to come out till I had to. I wouldn't mind +whalin' both of 'em, but the fact is, I wan't prepared to meet old Joe. +I owe him for a pair of boots, and the most danger-some lookin' thing I +ever seen is a feller that I owe. When I owe a man it appears like he +can grow ten feet in a night, and sometimes when I step out into society +I find myself in a wilderness of giants, I tell you. But I was jest +about to thrash both them fellers when they went away, and in view of +that fact I think you ought to let me go into your show." + +I did not take issue with his appeal; I passed him in, amused at the +thought that two of my characters had been thrown out of my house and +that another one had entered, firm in the rascally belief that he had +convinced me of his courage and his determination to risk his blood in +the defense of my dignity. + +The final curtain fell, and I stood near the door, not to receive +congratulations upon the bad performance, but to seek food for my eyes. +Miss Rodney stopped to tell me of her delightful evening. Bugg Peters +hung back to say that the "hoarse feller with the table cloth wrapped +round him wan't no slouch." I saw the Senator coming, gesticulating, +talking. I saw _her_. I saw her face turn pale and then to pink as she +approached. The Senator did not appear to see me, so busy was he with +explaining to an acquaintance the merit of the performance; and he would +have led her by, but in a burst of frank energy she broke loose from him +and held out her hand to me. + +"Why, Belford," said the Senator, "I didn't see you. Great show, Sir. +Fine piece of work, eh, Florence?" + +"I didn't think so, but I confess that I'm not much of a judge," she +answered, smiling at me. + +"Oh, well, it has its faults, and so have we all, but it was an infamous +shame that we couldn't open here without a disturbance." + +"Yes," said I, "but those two men gave a better piece of acting than we +could find on any stage." + +"Oh, yes. Good fellows when sober, Sir. The pilot's family is all right. +I don't know anything about Vark's people, but he'll do well enough when +sober, Sir. Well, Florence." + +He led her away, and she looked back with a nod and a smile--a bright +and graceful picture as she passed through the outer door. And all that +night I saw her, always led away, but always looking back with a nod and +a smile. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +GLEANING THE FIELD. + + +A vagabond artist came to town and I employed him to make sketches of +Peters, Mason and Vark. It was easy to get a pose from the pilot and the +notorious one, but after his "juniper spree" the shoemaker had locked +himself in his shop. But we hammered his door day after day, and one +morning we heard the sliding of the bolt. + +"Come in," said Vark. "But let me tell you that I am in no shape to do +work." + +He had spread a blanket on the floor, with a bundle of leather at one +end, and with books scattered about. I took up two volumes to find the +plays of Marlowe and the snarling complaint of old Hobbs. + +"What do you want, boys?" + +"I want you to stand for a few moments just as you are," said I. + +"For a picture? What do you want with a picture of me? I'm nobody." + +"Oh, yes. You've lived here thirty years, you know." + +"All right, go ahead. I don't suppose there ever was a man so no-account +that he didn't think his picture was worth something. But I wish you'd +hurry up and get through with me. I wouldn't have let you in, but I +didn't want to be rude to a stranger. Scratch fast, you chap!" he added, +speaking to the artist. "What are you going to do with the sketch? Hang +it up for a scarecrow? Done with me? Take it away. I don't want to see +it." + +He turned us out and bolted his door; and I heard him swear at his rusty +joints as he got down upon the blanket and wallowed in the midst of his +books. + +I procured a number of photographs of gardens and of time-softened +houses; I jotted down numerous hints of "atmosphere," wrote a full +description of Washington and of Aunt Patsey and sent the whole to +Maffet And it seemed that these acts of gleaning were long to be +protracted, for odd bits of characteristic color were constantly +arising, as tinted mists from the soil. In no-wise could they find a +place in the action or the dialogue, but they would aid the stage +craftsman to clothe his trickery in the garb of truth. But these +color-mists came only of their own will, and never would they arise at +command, to enshroud and to soften the vividness of the picture that +tantalized me. Love may be a divine essence, calm as God-ordered peace, +when it flows from the legitimate heart--it may be--but my love was +_wolfish_. + +The Senator was very much elated over the success of our Virginius +engagement. Early one morning as I sat looking from the window, with my +nostrils full of the dusty smell of sprinkled floors newly swept, he +came whistling up the stairs. + +"Ha! dreaming," he cried. "I can see it in your face. But you can +afford to dream. Keep your seat. I don't care to sit down. Well, Sir, +old Zeb Harkrider hailed me this morning to tell me that a good many of +our citizens didn't like our show. I said: 'Look here, Zeb, I thought I +kicked you off the courthouse steps for bringing me news that I didn't +want to hear a long time ago. Don't you remember it?' He remembered. He +didn't say so, but he stepped back. 'Why, I didn't know you were +interested in it,' said he. I had to lie just a little, Belford. I hold, +Sir, that we are justified in occasionally slipping a lie on our left +arm and using it for a shield, to protect our private grounds against +invasion. Yes, I lied to him a little; I told him that my only interest +lay in the fact that it was my desire to see our people well +entertained, and that the habit of constant grumbling would finally +blind us to the beauties of even the best of things. So I got rid of +him. And do you realize that Petticord didn't do us justice? Confound +his insolence, you passed in his entire brigade, and yet he says that +only those who were easily pleased came near getting the worth of their +money. That scoundrel suspects that I have a hand in this, and he would +almost be willing to cut his own throat in order to do me a harmful +turn. But I will get him one of these days--yes, Sir, I'll get him or +drive him out of this community. My boy, you don't seem to be in very +good spirits. What's the matter? Getting tired of Bolanyo?" + +I answered with what the humorist of the "profession" would have phrased +a "property laugh." "No, Senator, I am not getting tired. In fact, I +would rather be here than in any place under the sun." + +"Strong, but that's right. I was afraid that you felt yourself chained." + +"You might fasten me here with links of rusty iron, but in my eyes +they'd be a chain of gold." + +"What's that?" + +He startled me with the sharp eye of comprehension, and I felt myself +droop under the look that he gave me. "I mean that this soft and +restful air and the sweet breath of the gardens would exalt a soul in +spite of the restraints of the body." + +Innocence flew back to his eye, "That's good, Belford; I have felt it +many a time. I have thought in moments of ambition that my talents as a +Legislator were crippled here, that I might go to Congress, and perhaps +make a National name for myself, but then came the idea that to broaden +my scope might forever spoil my love for old Bolanyo." + +He stood there meditating, with nothing more to say; he took out a small +bunch of keys, looked at them and returned them to his pocket; he put +his hands behind him; he went to the window and looked out upon the +deliberate commerce of the town--wagons loaded with hay, carts of +kindling wood, negroes with chickens, groups of story-telling +countrymen. + +"But I didn't know that the town could take quite so strong a hold on a +stranger," he said, with his eyes in the street. "But, Belford," and +now he turned to me, "you are a man of quick endearments, and so am I; +and that is one of the reasons why I like you, and a reason, I might +say, why I condemn myself. But I like a man or don't, almost at the +start. They call me a shrewd politician, and I am, but I'm one of the +easiest men taken in you ever saw. Oh, I can tell whether or not a man +is a rascal, and I sometimes buy his ware knowing that I myself am sold, +but I can't help it. One single note in a man's voice sometimes catches +me--a little thing that he doesn't know himself. Belford, I want you to +go to the State capital with me sometime, after the Legislature meets. +I'll show you some of the most picturesque and genial old blatherskites +you ever saw. Well, I've got some knocking around to do. See you again +soon." + +And it was thus that we always parted--with "See you again soon," and +never with "You must come to see me." I wondered whether his daughter +had warned him against the impropriety of inviting me to the house. I +mused over the sharp light of comprehension in his eye, and made an +additional trouble for myself with speculating upon the degree of his +suspicion. + +In the afternoon I walked far out beyond the limits of the town, not at +first in the direction of the Senator's house, but I cut a quarter +circle to the left and came upon the road that led past his gate. So +self-forgetful had been my employment that I did not realize until I +stepped into the shade of a cottonwood how hot it had been out on the +blazing commons. On the dying grass I sat, with my feet in a gully, +fanning with my hat, harvesting delicious shudders of coolness. From +afar off came the hum of a thrashing machine, and almost in my ear an +insect sang the melancholy tune that tells of autumn's coming. I heard +the slow and heavy trot of an old horse, and around a bend in the road a +buggy came, and in it a woman. I got up with my blood leaping. I +stepped to the roadside and stood there, with my face turned away, and +suddenly the horse fell back to a walk, in obedience to an impulsive +pull upon the lines, my eager and outlawed heart had told me. I turned +about. Her eyes were averted, and her face was red, and she would have +passed without a word, without a look, but I stepped out boldly and +cried: "Just a moment, please. The hame strap has come unbuckled." + +"Oh, thank you," she said, and the horse stopped. I stepped in front and +began to pull at the strap. + +"Quite a surprise to see you, Mrs. Estell." + +"Yes. But I don't know why it should be. I drive about a good deal." + +"And I walk about a good deal, and yet this is the first time--" + +"Can't you fasten it?" + +"Yes; now it's all right." I stood partly in front of the horse, with my +hand on the shaft. She gathered up the lines. + +"Mrs. Estell, I hope you are not offended at me." + +She laughed with music though not with mirth, and then her face grew +serious as she said: "Of course not, Mr. Belford." + +Where was the freedom, the outbreak of energy she had shown in the opera +house; where was the look of frankness? All now was reserve, a cool and +sacred respect for the law that held her tied with a frost-covered rope. +I did not presume that she loved me, but I knew that she hated _him_. + +"Have you buckled the strap?" + +"Yes, madam." + +"Thank you." + +At that moment a buggy with two men in it came rattling by. One man +turned to look back, and I recognized Petticord, the editor. + +"Mrs. Estell, I hope sometime to tell you--" + +"Don't tell me anything, Mr. Belford. Let me go, please. Good-bye." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +THE WORK OF A SCOUNDREL. + + +I was more than miserable all that night; I was wretched. I had betrayed +myself, and now to show even the slightest interest in her was to imply +an insult. But what could I hope for at best? My chain might be gold, +but it was a chain after all, and must be broken. I would tell the +Senator that I must go away; and the next day I sat, expecting his step +on the stairs. And late in the day there came a step, but not his. It +was not a step, but a bound and a rush. Young Elkin sprung into the room +with a copy of Petticord's paper in his hand. + +"Look what that scoundrel has done!" he cried. + +I snatched the paper. One glance and everything whirled round. I +remember that Elkin caught hold of me; I can recall that I leaned +against the casement of the window to hold the paper where the light was +strong. I went out, down the back way, and through an alley into a +silent street. I passed the lamp-post where the negro preacher and I had +parted one night; I passed the goblin thicket. And now a cold dread fell +upon me. What sort of light should now I find in the eyes of that old +man? I shuddered at the thought of meeting him. I would rather have met +a lion. His rage would drive me mad. + +The door was opened by the negress. She nodded toward the library. All +was still. I stepped lightly to the door. The Senator was moving about +as if looking for something. I tapped on the door facing and he looked +round. + +"Ah, come in, Belford." + +A tremor seized me. He had not seen the paper. "I was looking for an oil +can," said he. "Put it down somewhere just a moment ago. Here it is. +Looks as if we'd have a little rain." + +He took up a pistol and began to oil the lock, moving the hammer up and +down to assure himself that it worked easily. "I guess that's all right. +Now what did I do with that other pistol?" + +"In my room," a voice replied. I turned about with a start. Mrs. Estell +stood in the door. She bowed. A cool smile parted her pale lips. + +"Bring it, please," said the Senator. + +She dropped a graceful courtesy, one that might have been seen in the +gracious days of our grandmothers, and ran up the stairway. When she +returned the Senator was standing near the door, but she passed him and +handed the pistol to me. She gave me a look, and if now her eyes were +glad, they were glad like a fire that rejoices to burn. Just one look +and then she bowed and withdrew without a word. + +"Let me oil it and by that time the buggy will be ready," said the +Senator. "I think you will find it all right," he remarked, as he +returned the pistol to me. The negress appeared at the door. "Buggy +ready? All right. Come, Belford." + +Not a word was spoken until we were far into the town, and then the +Senator said: "If there's but one he belongs to me. Do you understand?" + +"Yes, but he doesn't belong to you unless you can shoot first." + +He looked at me, and beneath his gray mustache was a smile as sharp as a +sword. + +The horse was trotting at the top of his speed. We whirled round a +corner, the wheels ground against the curb and we leaped out. A negro +with his arms full of newspapers stood on the pavement. + +"Throw them in the gutter!" the Senator commanded, and the negro obeyed. +Up the stairway we rushed, into a corridor. The Senator tried a door. It +would not open. + +"He has locked himself in. Here, we'll break it down with this." + +We gathered up a heavy bench, battered the door down and rushed into the +room. The place was vacant. We looked at each other. A gust of wind +stirred the papers lying about; a "bunch of copy" fluttered on the +editor's desk. + +"We'll find him." + +We went into the business office. No one was there. We stepped out into +the street, and there we were arrested on a peace warrant sworn out by +Petticord. + +"We must respect the law," the Senator remarked as we walked off with +the constable. "I mean the active presence of the law," he added, +evidently recalling the fact that we had broken down a door. "We'll go +over here and give bond, but we'll get him. Yes, Sir, we'll get him as +sure as you are born." + +Bonds were prepared, accepted, and we were released. The Justice +followed us out. "Giles," said he, "I am awfully sorry that you didn't +have a chance to kill him. Never was a greater outrage perpetrated in +this community." + +"Yes, but I'll get him, Perry," the Senator replied. + +"Get him? Of course! Mr. Belford, this makes you a permanent resident of +our city, Sir. You can't afford to go away now, even if you have thought +of such a thing. Giles, he swore out the warrant and got on a train at +once, and I reckon his wife will run his paper. Is Estell at home?" + +"No, he is over at Jackson. He'll be home to-night." + +"Well, I'm sorry--but look here, Giles, after all it is simply an +annoyance. That fellow Petticord has no weight." + +"A man of no family whatever," said the Senator. "And, Sir, neither is a +dog, but we may be forced to kill him. Come, Belford." + +Together we walked back to the buggy. A street lamp, the first one +lighted, flashed across the way, and I thought of the coming of Estell. + +"Get in," said the old gentleman, "and I will drive you to--to your +office." And as we drove along he added: "I don't know what to say. But +don't think that I attach any blame to you. My daughter's word as to +your conduct toward her, your consideration and your gentleness weigh +like holy writ. And you know why I have not invited you to the house. +But we'll say nothing about that." + +"No, we can't talk of that, Senator. But there is something I must say. +Let the horse walk, please. First let me tell you that I respect you +more--love you more, if you will permit me to say it--than any man on +the earth. I--" + +"Don't, don't, Belford," he protested with a catch like a sob in his +voice. "Don't." + +And we drove in silence until we reached a corner near the opera house, +and then I requested him to let me get out. He gave me his hand; I +gripped it hard, and we parted without a word. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +IN THE THICKET. + + +Alone in my room I sat, with the window shades pulled down, waiting for +the coming of another day. And for what end? To meet the gaze of vulgar +eyes. The tavern bells had rung the supper hour, and doors were closing +about the public square. I heard the "haw haw" and the shuffling dance +of negroes on the pavement. I heard Washington's step on the stair and I +lighted the gas and waited, for now he was not an unwelcome visitor. He +tapped at the door like a small bird pecking on a tree. I bade him come +in, and as he entered he dropped his hat on the floor. + +"Don't do that," I commanded, "don't give me any more affectation. You +despise your father's dialect but you preserve his tricks of slavish +humility." + +"Humility is more the virtue of the Christian than the trick of the +slave, Mr. Belford," he replied. "But tell me why you are so free and +simple when you talk to other people and so--pardon me if I use the word +theatric--so theatric with me." + +"Because you rob me of my naturalness and compel me to strut. But let me +be natural now. Are you just from the house?" + +"Yes, I came straight down here." + +"Had the Senator returned?" + +"Yes, but he soon went away again--after Mr. Estell came." + +"Did you see them meet?" + +"No, I had gone out to help the woman bring in the clothes because it +looked like rain." + +"And did the woman tell you anything about Mrs. Estell?" + +"That she had locked herself in her room was all." + +"And you didn't hear any talk between the Senator and Estell?" + +"Only at the gate when the Senator drove off. Then he said: 'Don't look +for me until you see me.' A boy went with him to bring the buggy back." + +"Where could he have gone?" + +"To take the train for New Orleans, to look for his man. He had a +telegram." + +"And what did Estell say?" + +"He swore as the Senator drove. 'By God,' he cried, 'you have gone after +the wrong man.' But perhaps I ought not to have told you this." + +I strove to be calm, but almost in a rage I was now walking up and down +the room. + +"Yes, you should. And the imbecile said that. He ought to have his lying +old tongue torn out." + +"Be cautious, Mr. Belford. The man--" + +"The man what?" I demanded. + +"May think he has a cause. Wait a moment, please. A cause to believe +that you are in the young woman's heart, and what more would he need to +make him bitter toward you? Be reasonable." + +"You are right, Washington; you are right. But when we meet, what then?" + +"You must not meet." + +"But we might." + +"You must go away." + +"What, to blast her name?" + +"No, to save a life. Perhaps two lives." + +"I will not go away. There will be but one life to forfeit--mine." + +"Would that save her name, Mr. Belford?" + + +"Look here, you don't mean that the people believe that newspaper's +insinuation." + +"They don't. Representatives of the best families have called to show +their faith, but what would they think if Estell should shoot you?" + +"And what would they think if I should run away? No, I will stay." + +"Then I have nothing more to say, Mr. Belford." + +He strode out, catching up his hat at the door, and I counted the steps +as he trod down the stairs. + +Early the next morning I walked out from the town, but at no time did I +turn toward the Senator's house. I went down the road that led through +the cypress land, into the deep silence of the swamp. I passed the house +of the Notorious Bugg, and I saw it trembling (a mere fancy, of course) +with the shake of the aguish sons-in-law. A road, impassable except in +the driest of seasons, wound about among deep pools of yellow slime. The +ground shook under my careful tread, and the slightest jar was +sufficient to disturb an acre of spongy desolation. I sat on a log with +the feeling that no eye could see me. Sometimes the silence was so +strained that it sang in my ear; sometimes I was startled by the +flapping and the shriek of a gaunt bird, skimming the surface of the +ooze. In this creepy solitude I took myself to task. Behind an error of +the heart there stands a sophist, a Libanius, to offer a specious +consolation--a voice ever ready to say, "It was not your fault; you do +not create your own desires and neither can you control them." This is +true enough, but a man can control his actions. I should have gone away, +for the commonest of sense had pointed out the weakness, the crime, of +remaining. And what had I hoped for? To tell her that I would wait, with +a hope ever warm in my heart. I could not see a crime in that. But I +could not tell her--she would not permit me to lead up to so +embarrassing a subject. Washington was right. It was my duty to go away, +not to save myself, but to keep Estell's hands free of blood. + +Strong in my resolve, I walked briskly toward the town, and, coming out +of the swamp, I was still strong, but my heart fluttered when from a +rise of ground I saw the Senator's house, far away. To the left of the +road lay a piece of land, wild with briers and a growth of new timber, a +thicket checkered with cattle paths. Up the road I saw a man coming, +and, as he drew nearer, I recognized the slouching figure of Bugg +Peters. I did not care to meet him, to be compelled to answer or evade +his questions, so I turned aside into the thicket and brushed my way +along a narrow path. On a sudden I leaped aside into a tangle of bushes. +A pistol or gun had fired it seemed almost at my elbow. I listened, but +heard not a sound. I thought I saw smoke arising off to my left, but it +might have been mist, for the day was dark with vapors and low-hanging +clouds. I was uneasy, and not knowing whither my path might lead, I +turned back; and just as I reached the road a man and a boy, struggling +through the undergrowth, ran past me. They said nothing, but, looking +back with fright in their faces, ran off toward town. I looked about for +Peters, but did not see him. I wondered what it all could mean. + +Upon entering the town I avoided the busier streets, and passed through +quiet by-ways. At the foot of the rear stairway leading to my room +stood a man. + +"Hold on," he said, and then shouted to someone above. A man came +running down the steps. + +"What's wanted?" I inquired. + +"You," replied one of the men. "Come with us." + +"But what do you want?" + +"Come on quietly and you'll find out. Do you want us to handcuff you?" + +I went with them, stupefied with astonishment. They would answer no +questions. They took me to the jail, and then I was informed that I had +been arrested on a warrant sworn out by J. W. Hilliard, charging me with +the murder of Thomas Estell. In a daze I was pushed into a cell. I +couldn't think; I had an impression that I had lost a part--the serious +part--of my mind. I looked at the little things about me, a burnt match +on the floor, a cobweb in an upper corner. I took up a tin candlestick +and picked at a ridge of sperm; I sat down upon a cot, wondering if it +would break under me, and I felt it shake and spring like the spongeland +in the swamp. I heard the tavern bells ring, and I heard the tradesmen +slamming their doors. And I even said to myself, "I shall be +horror-stricken when I realize it all." + +There came footsteps down the corridor, and I heard someone say, "All +right, I won't stay long. Turn up your lamp. I can't see him." + +The blaze of a lamp hanging in the corridor crept higher and I saw the +shoemaker standing in front of my grated door. + +"Mr. Belford, this is rough." + +"Yes, it will be when I am able to believe it." + +"I reckon it's so, and it won't take you long to believe it. But if you +ever had cause to be cool, you've got that cause now. Brighten up. +Several people have called to see you--the nigger preacher, too--but +they couldn't get in." + +"How did you get in?" + +"The jailer owes me. Yes, and I worked my prerogative because I thought +you'd like to see even a shoemaker." + +"Tell me--tell me all about it." + +"Why, Hilliard and his son was coming through the thicket. They heard a +pistol close to them, they stumbled on Estell lying dead in the path, +and they saw you making for the big road. And that slab-sided Peters +says he saw you turn into the thicket. He heard the shot, and he ran in +to see what was up, but couldn't find anything. It is a shame the way +both those fellows were permitted to stand around and talk about it. It +has made them mighty important. I dangled a debt over Bugg's head and +silenced him, but I couldn't do anything with Hilliard. That scoundrel +paid me about two months ago. Bad! It puts the Senator in an awkward +position. He can't express an opinion, you know. Good thing he's away, +gunning after Petticord. Oh, Bolanyo is coming up. They found Estell +with his head almost blown off. Seems as if somebody must have poked a +pistol out of the bushes almost against the side of his head. I am +telling you all this so you may in a measure be prepared at the inquest +to-morrow morning. His watch and some small change was found, so it +wasn't a murder for gain. No pistol was found on him, so he wasn't +expecting a fight." + +"Look here, Vark, you don't believe I killed that man?" + +"I haven't said so, but I'll tell you this--the people believe it. You +know it takes a great deal of argument to prove a stranger innocent and +mighty little evidence to show him guilty. In an old community it's a +great crime to be a stranger. Well, I must go. The best thing you can do +is to keep your head cool." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +THE RINGING OF THE BELL. + + +I sat down, in a full sense of it all, and reasoned upon the ugly +happenings that stood to accuse me. Coincidents sometimes fit snugger +than arrangements that have been carefully planned; they slip into place +with a perverse trueness of adjustment. Thus I speculated, and I was +astonished at my coolness. I turned about from my argument to notice +that a heavy rain was falling. The courthouse bell was ringing +furiously. The jailor came hastening down the corridor. + +"What does that bell mean?" I inquired. + +"God help you man, it means you!" he cried. "The signal for the mob." + +"What! To hang me?" + +"Yes, and I can't help you." + +"But you can turn me out. Open this door!" + +"I can't do that, Sir. They would hang me. They are coming." + +There were no cries outside. There was the heavy tramping of feet and a +tap on the door as if a quiet visitor sought admission. + +"Who is that?" the jailor demanded, walking slowly down the corridor. + +"Open the door, Hill." + +"But who is it?" + +"A party of friends. Open the door to your neighbors." + +"But is it to the law--the sheriff?" + +"The sheriff is locked up in the courthouse. We want to be quiet about +this thing, but--the sledge, Dave." + +"Hold on, boys, don't break the door. What do you want?" + +"A man." + +And the man stood in the cell, placing a cool estimate upon each word +and astonished at himself. + +"Well, boys, I can't help myself, and when you take him you'll find him +a piece of as dead grit as you ever run against." + +I heard the bolt. He threw the door open. There was no rush, no noise, +and not a word was spoken until the jailor opened the door of my cell, +and then a man in a black mask quietly said: "We must trouble you to go +along with us." + +It was of no use to protest and I did not reply. With a small rope they +tied my hands behind me and led me out into the street. And now there +arose a yell. Rain was pouring down. The pine torches were extinguished. +The lamps about the public square had been turned out. The mob was going +to do its work by the light of a single lantern, borne by a man who +strode beside me. In front of the courthouse stood a tree. Under it a +large box was placed. A rope, with one end on the box, the other end +lost in the darkness of the tree, looked in the rain like a waterspout. +I heard someone say, "Keep quiet, everybody!" The lantern was placed on +the box. + +"Let me assist you to get up," said a polite man. I looked about, but +saw no kindly face; I saw a circle of black masks. Suddenly the lantern +was knocked off the box. A scramble followed in the dark and the rain. +Someone seized my hands, something cold touched them, bore down hard and +the rope fell apart. "Run through the courthouse," a whisper shot like a +needle into my ear. I wheeled about; I knocked men down; and in the +midst of a fury, an outcry, a stampede in hell, I stumbled up the +courthouse steps, ran headlong through the black corridor, out the other +side, into an alley. I scrambled over a fence, fell upon a shopkeeper's +waste ground, stumbled over boxes, climbed over another fence--ran. Away +from the square the gas-lamps were burning, and I shunned the light. The +rain continued to pour, and the roadways were deserted. The speed of +despair soon took me beyond the limits of the town, and now the +darkness was intense. The sandiness of the soil gave warning that I was +near the river, and I halted to listen, but the splash of the rain was +all that I heard. Far behind me was a yellow smear--the town. But what +was in front I knew not. I felt my way along. The ground sloped--the +river. "If I could only find a boat," I mused. I walked up the shore, +close to the water's edge, the ripples sucking the sand from under my +feet. Once I fell with a splash, and I bore off to the right, to keep +clear of the water, but a high bank had arisen between me and the +outlying fields of darkness. Suddenly there came a loud splash. The +sandy banks were caving in. I thought of turning back, and then came a +splash behind me. I was caught in a trap of sand. There was nothing to +do but to wait. I could not climb out, for I was now beneath a shelf, +hollowed out under the bank, a crumbling roof. I sat down to wait for +daylight. The river was rising. I was afraid to move. A yawn might have +called down an avalanche of sand. I could have plunged into the river, +but I could not have swam against the current; I should have been swept +down beyond Bolanyo, to be snatched up at daylight and hanged. And +daylight was coming. The rain had ceased, but the air was heavy and I +knew that the light would be slow. The yellow river grew distinct, close +to the shore, and gradually, but with many a hang-back, it seemed, the +light grew strong enough to reveal the walls and the roof of my prison. +Overhead the sand was held by streaks of clay, but this support, I saw, +must soon give in, for the current was eating fast. Up the stream, only +a few feet away, was a whirlpool, where the bank had caved, and just +below a strong suck was forming, but here was a slope, and I might climb +out over it, though the way was treacherous. I did not hesitate, and +struggling, clutching, on my knees, up again, the sand rolling under me, +I fought and gained the firm ground above. Not a house was within sight. +But I could see the plow on the dome in Bolanyo, miles away; and now it +was a vulture, dark-limned against a darker sky. I trod across a gullied +field, into the woods, to find a place to lie in hiding until night. I +thought of blood-hounds. But the rain, the river and the caving sand +were almost a sure protection against their merciless scent. Still I was +frightened, and I walked for a long distance in a stream of water, with +the old story of a runaway slave fresh in my mind. I could not even +guess at the time of day. At the jail they had taken my watch, my +penknife, money, everything. In a thick patch of briers I lay down +beside a log and slept, and opening my eyes I saw a star. I bore off +from the river, walking as fast as I could. I came upon a patch of yams, +the southerner's vaunted sweet potato, and fed ravenously on the milky +root. I passed numerous negro cabins and dogs barked at me. At daylight +I hid again and slept. + +In the evening of the fourth day I made bold to enter a negro's hut, +always the refuge and the asylum of the outcast, and appealed to the +generosity of an enormous fellow who reminded me of Washington. I told +him I was a fugitive fleeing from the wrath of political enemies, and my +story moved his simple and unsuspecting heart. He gave me food and a +bed. + +Thus I wandered night after night, heavy of heart, and yet with a prayer +of gratitude. At last I reached the State of Illinois. One day in a +cross-roads grocery where I had halted to split wood for a bit of +cheese, I saw a handbill posted on the door. It set forth the enormity +of my crime, attempted to describe me--tall, dark brown eyes, hair +almost black, a straight nose and about thirty years of age; and they +had paid me the compliment to add the word "graceful." They had added, +also, that the sum of six thousand dollars would be paid for my capture. +The groceryman and his friends were talking politics; and doubtless they +had never given more than a moment's thought to a murder committed away +down in Mississippi. + +I believed that a city was my safest refuge, and I made straight for +Chicago. There I might secure some sort of employment, and, under +another name, earn money enough to take me to the wilds of the unknown +West. I felt that a light would one day be thrown upon the mystery. But +I knew that they would hang me, if they could, and then marvel at the +light, should it ever come. I appreciated the fact that the hunt for me +would not be given up. Six thousand dollars serve well to keep the blood +of justice circulating. + +I arrived in Chicago one evening, having spent more than two months on +the devious path that led from Bolanyo; and the first attention to mark +my arrival was the stare of a policeman. This threw me into a tremor and +a cold sweat of fear; but he passed on without speaking to me, and I +turned aside to walk slowly, and then almost to run in the opposite +direction. + +My appearance was against me. I was almost ragged, and I knew that it +would be useless to apply for any except the meanest sort of employment. +Times were hard, and even day labor was not easy to find. But at last, +after a week of persistent application, of hunger, of shivering in the +raw air, I was put to work in a livery-stable. They called me a +"chambermaid," a "happy hit" in which they found no end of fun. +Sometimes their jokes were rough, but I bore them with a pretense of +good nature, passing on to my task; and one day my zeal found reward in +the notice of the proprietor. + +"Jarvis," said he, "you go about your work as if your mind is on it. Do +you reckon you've got sense enough to drive a cab?" + +"I think so, Sir." + +"Well, have your stubble shaved off and I'll give you a trial." + +"I'd rather not have the beard off, Sir. I have trouble with my +throat." + +"Well, we'll try you, anyway." + +"In livery?" I could not help asking. + +"What, ain't proud, are you?" + +"Oh, no, but I'd rather not wear livery." + +"It strikes me that anything would be an improvement over the clothes +you've got on. But I guess we can fix you out. You must be from the +country. An American farmer may wear patches, but he won't put on +livery. We'll put you on a special, and you may start in to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +MAGNOLIA LAND. + + +My wages were small, and I saved every possible penny; I gave up +smoking, slept in the stable, and rarely paid more than fifteen cents +for a meal. In my mind I settled upon the island of Vancouver, and I +resolved to go as soon as I could save money enough to buy a suit of +clothes and a railway ticket to Seattle. And from my exile I would dare +write to the Senator. "Why not now?" I thought as I sat on my cab. "But +he might believe the story set up by circumstances; he might long ago +have condemned me as guilty of Estell's blood. And what must _she_ +think?" The beginning of my musings mattered not, for the end was always +the same, with the woman. And in the night, when the fierce wind howled +about the barn, with the stamping and snorting of horses beneath me, I +lay in the dark and the cold, and gazed into my heart's illuminated +memory. Her face was always frank and, though her lips were dumb, her +eyes were full of whispers. "But what must she think now?" always came +to drive her away into the dark and the cold. + +In impatience, and sometimes in fear, I watched the slow growth of my +savings. Once a man, a detective I was sure, came to the stable to ask, +he said, concerning a woman whom I had that day driven to a railway +station. He may have told the truth, but he put me in distress, and the +next day when I counted my money I said, "I will go to-morrow." But on +that day a paragraph leaped out of a newspaper and smote me. "In +Magnolia Land" was soon to be produced at McVicker's Theatre. I had +cause to believe that I was suspected of at least some sort of +crookedness, since in my mind it was almost settled that the man had +come to the stable to look me over in the hope of finding a "bargain," +but I was resolved to take the risk to see the play. And I read the +newspapers at night and at morning, nervous with the fear of finding an +announcement that the drama was the work of a man now charged with the +murder of Mississippi's Treasurer. As the time drew near the press agent +multiplied his licks; the play was by a man who chose to call himself +"The Elephant;" it had been read by "several of our leading dramatists +and pronounced a masterpiece of originality, character, and strength." +But to me the faith of Manager Maffet did not hold the piece above an +ordinary experiment, a truth set forth by the meagerness of his "paper;" +and, as nothing was said of the cast, I knew that my lines were not to +be given over to well-known "people." + +Would the day, which had sounded so near, never come! "Who are you?" a +snail inquired of a wild pigeon. "I am Time," the pigeon answered. +"No," said the snail. "You may have been Time and you may be again, some +day, but _I_ am Time now." + +In the evening I drove a drunken man to his home, four miles on the +North Side, and when I helped him out in front of his door, he tried to +hold me, to tell me that I was his friend, but I broke loose from him, +and almost furiously I drove to the theatre. I had not time to go to the +stable; I hired a boy to look after my horse, and hastened to buy a +balcony ticket. The night was warm for the time of the year, but a +threat of rain was in the air, and I was afraid that the house would be +small, but the people kept sprinkling in, and I stood in a corner to +watch them, uneasy and annoyed whenever anyone passed along, without +even looking in toward the box office. The orchestra began with Dixie, +and my blood tingled as I went up the stairs. Viewed from my seat, the +lower part of the house appeared to be well filled and the balcony was +crowded. I had not taken account of those who had gone in before I +arrived. No program had been given to me and I was almost afraid to ask +for one. I did not permit myself to speculate upon my misfortune, an +outcast sneaking in to see his own play; I did not muse upon fate; I sat +there with my pulse beating fast. But I did indulge the comfort of the +thought that should the play prove a failure no one could discover the +humiliation of the author. + +The music ceased, the curtain went up, my heart leaped, and the soft +beauty of the scene brought tears to my eyes. Could I believe it, there +were Culpepper and Miss Hatch, their mouths full of "The Elephant's" +words. A droll line, and the people laughed; a sentiment, and they +applauded. So the ice was broken. The curtain went down with generous +applause. Culpepper and Miss Hatch were called out; but I could hardly +see them, for the foolish tears in my eyes. I knew that the acts to come +were better and my heart swelled with the thought. There were many +faults, of course, but good humor and enthusiasm do not hunt for flaws, +and I laughed and cried and yearned to grasp the hand of a friend. + +"What do you think of it?" I asked of a rough man who sat beside me. + +"Great," he answered. + +"Would you mind shaking hands with me?" + +"I don't know you," he replied, "but I'm a good ways from home, and +we'll call it a go. Put her there." + +He thrust forth his hand. I grasped it and pressed it hard--the first I +had touched in sentiment for many a day; and I was loth to let it go, +but he was forbearing. "Shake again whenever you want to," he said. "A +man that cries at a putty thing ain't a bad feller." + +At the end of the third act there was a roar for the author, and at that +moment I felt almost willing to risk my neck to thank those generous +hearts. + +It was over--and the great organ lifted its voice in triumph as the +audience arose. But if I strode out with the tread of a conqueror, it +was not unmixed with a sorrowful limp, the halting walk of one who sees +the black word "bitterness" written upon the bright banner of his +victory. A cold rain was falling. I stood against the wall to catch the +echo of my achievement, the "good," "enjoyed it so much," "beautiful," +of the hastening throng. The loud cab-calls ceased, and I stepped +forward to drive my vehicle to the stable, when, glancing back, I saw +something that almost wrung a cry from my heart. Beneath the awning +stood the Senator and his daughter. I ran to my cab, threw money to the +boy, seized the horse by the bridle, led him to the curb in front of the +Senator, and bowing under the glistening drip I said, "Cab, Sir?" + +"Yes, I think so," he replied. "We haven't far to go, just around yonder +to the Great Northern Hotel. Let me help you in, Florence. I reckon they +are right in saying that this place has about the worst climate in the +world." + +I held the door open until they were seated, and stood there in a +tremble after I had closed it, yearning to make myself known to them. +But the success of the play could not mean that I was innocent of an old +man's death. They might never have believed me guilty. "I could throw +myself upon their mercy," I mused. "But what if they should turn away +with a cold word and a shudder?" Reason is the offspring of wisdom, but +it has always been a coward. + +"What are you waiting for?" the Senator inquired, with a tap on the +window. "Drive on, please." + +I mounted, not trusting myself to speak, and drove slowly away, with my +eager ear bent low. + +"Never saw anything like that play," said the Senator, "never did. But I +tell you I was scared at first. Why, when that fellow Bugg Peters came +out there I thought surely he would ruin the whole thing. And he was +Bugg, up and up. Yes, thought he would spoil it all. Why, Florence, that +fellow is the biggest liar on the earth!" + +"But he is art, as we saw him to-night, Father." + +"Well, yes. He said the very things that Bugg would have said. Yes, art +all right enough, but whenever he _is_, art has turned out to be a +monstrous liar. It does seem to me, however, that Bolanyo could have +furnished a batch of more respectable characters--more representative, +don't you understand--people of better standing. Washington is all +right, an advancement, a high type of his race, but the pilot and the +shoemaker are--oh, well, they don't represent us. And that old woman's +meant for your Aunt Patsey as sure as you live. But in spite of these +minor faults it is a beautiful play." + +"I wonder," she said, after a moment of silence, "I wonder where Mr. +Belford is to-night; if he could only have seen his victory; if--" + +"Say, there, driver," the Senator cried, "why don't you go ahead? What +do you want to halt along here for? I don't want to hurt your feelings, +you understand, but I could have more than walked there by this time. +Drive up, please." + +We were now near the hotel. I drew up at the curb, jumped down and +opened the cab door. The Senator got out. I did not look at him. I did +not dare to feed my hungry eyes upon her face. He took her hand, and +when she had stepped upon the pavement, she turned about. "Oh, wait a +moment," she said, "my dress is caught. No, it isn't." + +"I will settle with you in a moment," he remarked, looking back at me, +as with haste, though with most gallant gentleness, he urged his +daughter toward the door, out of the rain. I looked hard at her now, +with my heart full of another night, when she had glanced back at me; I +waited, gazing, enchained by her grace, until she reached the door, and +then I sprung upon the cab and drove away. The Senator shouted, but I +did not look around, until, turning a corner, I glanced back, to see him +standing bare-headed in the rain, waving his hat at me. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +DOWN A DARK ALLEY. + + +She had wondered where I was, and the soft echo of her sympathy filled +my heart with a psalm. Surely she could not have suspected me of +Estell's blood. But the Senator--why did he break in as if impatient of +my name? Had he grown weary with hearing it? But his interruption, it +was not hard to believe, was more of a sorrow than an impatience. + +I was near the stable now, but I stopped the horse, almost of a mind to +turn back, to touch her hand, even if compelled to run away to hide +again in fear and shame. I glanced down at my mean garb, I thought of +the fierce aspect of my beard-gnarled face, and pride, not fear, forced +me to hesitate. "But I will go early in the morning," I mused, as I +drove on, still debating, the horse slow under the restraint of my +sullenness. "I will shave my face and--" + +A man stepped out from the shadow into the light and raised his +hand--the man who had put me in a tremor of fear. "I want to see you a +moment," he said. + +I was near the sidewalk, at the mouth of an alley, and without a moment +of speculation as to what the fellow might mean I leaped from the cab +and darted into the alley. He raised a cry and I heard another noise, a +pistol shot, perhaps. I plunged through an opening and scrambled over a +great pile of scrap-iron; I tore open a frail gate and came out upon a +street. People were passing, but they paid but little attention to me. I +crossed the street, entered another alley, made as quick time as I +could, and came out near the river. + +All through the night I hastened onward, sometimes on a railway track +and often in the mud of the prairie. My running away might have been +foolish; the man might simply have wanted to make an inquiry. And, +indeed, if he had settled upon me why had he waited so long? It was easy +enough to reason, but reason when slower than action is a miserable +cripple. I had money enough to pay my way out West, but caution dictated +a fear of open travel, so I was resolved to walk in lonely places until +I felt that to trust a railway train would be less of a risk. The rain +increased with the coming of daylight, and I was driven to seek the +shelter of a barn. A man came out to milk the cows. + +"I have invited myself in out of the rain," said I, as he gave me a +suspicious look. + +"All right. A man ought to have sense enough to come in out of the rain. +Which way are you traveling?" + +"Looking for work," I answered. + +"Well, you ought to be able to find it. But most men hunting for work +these days put me in mind of a horse goin' along the road lookin' for +somethin' to get scared at. A feller came along yesterday and said he +was hungry; but when I showed him some work I wanted done he skulked +off. Are you hungry enough to help build a fence?" + +"No, but I'm hungry enough to pay for something to eat." + +"Oh, well, then, I guess you're all right. Just go on to the house and +make yourself to home." + +I went to the house; and while sitting by the fire, the wind high and +the rain lashing at the window, I formed the resolve to go back to +Bolanyo. I would surrender myself to the authorities, to claim the right +of trial by jury and to accept the result. And reason was not now a +coward, a cripple, but more like a man, cool, bold and strong. I +reviewed with pity the morbid fear that held me back from Maffet; I felt +now that in safety I could have made myself known to him. The Senator +had come to look after my interest, and surely he would not have frowned +upon me. Yes, I would go back to Bolanyo. I was sick of the rabbitlike +freedom of an outlaw. + +"How far is it to the railway station?" I inquired of the farmer. + +"Well," he drawled, "I don't know for certain." + +I knew that it was not in his Yankee nature to give me a direct answer, +so I waited. + +"There's a milk station a little nearer than the other one. Want to get +on the train?" + +"Oh, no, I want to go over to the station to see how it looks in the +rain." + +"Which, the milk station or the other one? Ain't much to see over there, +but the land's worth all of a hundred dollars an acre. But when we came +out here from Connecticut it could have been bought for a song and they +wouldn't have insisted on your carryin' the tune so mighty well. If you +want to go jest to look, the milk station is as good as any and a good +deal better than some; but if you want to get on the express train you'd +better go to the other one." + +"How far is it?" + +"Which, the other one?" + +"Yes, the other one. How far is it?" + +"Well, if you walk, it's--" + +"I don't want to walk; I want you to drive me." + +"Oh, well, if that's the case I guess we can fix it. I'll drive you over +for half a dollar. The train will be along about dark or a little after. +You've got plenty of time." + +"Have you a razor?" + +"I guess I had the best razor you ever saw, but the woman (he meant his +wife) took it one day and raked all the edge off it. But I've got +another one, a rattler." + +"Would you mind my shaving with it?" + +"Well, do you shave left-handed or right-handed?" + +"Right-handed." + +"That's what I was afraid of. I shave left-handed, and if you change +after the razor is set, why, it rather warps it, so to speak. Neighbor +of mine had a razor ruined that way. It might not ruin mine, but I'm +inclined to believe it would suffer about ten cents' worth." + +"All right, I'll stand the damage. You grab after every penny in sight, +I see." + +"Well, I hadn't thought of that, but now that you put me in mind of it, +I guess I will. And why not? Wheat down, can't give oats away, and hogs +a-squealin' because they ain't worth nothin'. Everybody's got his teeth +on edge agin the farmer, and if he don't grab at every penny in sight +they'll have to lift him into a wagon and haul him to the poorhouse. +I'll get the razor." + +I heard him fussing about in an adjoining room, with a complaint, +directed at his wife, that nothing could ever be found on the place, and +presently he returned with the razor, a strop, a bar of soap and a dish +of hot water. I looked at his bearded face and was tickled with conquest +to notice his embarrassment. It was, however, but a brief season of +defeat for him. His humorous shrewdness flew to his aid. "I guess," +said he, "that my beard grows faster than anybody's you ever saw. I +shaved not long ago, and shaved with my left hand, too--to keep my razor +in the same shape and temper, you understand--but my beard grows so fast +that I don't look like it. One of my neighbors tells me that I could +make money growin' hair to stuff buggy cushions with, and maybe I could, +but I never tried it; never had the time, somehow. Now, just hit her a +lick or two on that strop and you'll be all right." + +"You say your people came from Connecticut?" + +"Yes, Sir, from right up the river." + +"Did any of the family go on further South?" + +"I think so. I had an uncle, younger a good deal than my daddy. He went +South, married there and died in the war, on the rebel side. But he left +Connecticut long before I was born. We tried to look up the family some +time ago; I thought we'd like to have a warm place to go sometime in +the winter; and, Sir, I got a letter from my cousin, tellin' me to come. +He lives in Mississippi--name's Bugg Peters. Why, what are you so +astonished at, Mister? It's a fact, and my name's Sam Peters. Well, I'll +go out and hitch up the horse by the time you get shaved." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +CONCLUSION--IN THE GARDEN. + + +Through the dark the train came with a stuttering roar. I turned to +shake hands with Peters, but he had stepped from the platform to hold +his horse. + +"Good-bye," he shouted. "This horse has seen the train every day since +he was born, but he'll run away if I don't hold him. But it runs in his +family to be afraid of the railroad. His brother was killed by a train. +Wish you well, and if you ever come this way again, stop off." + +He was a skinflint and a rascal, but he had shortened a dreary day, and +at parting I regretted that I had not told him of my acquaintance with +his kinsman in the South. + +With a change of cars, at daylight, I could reach Memphis late in the +afternoon, in time to continue my journey by boat to Bolanyo. I lay +back, with my hat pulled down over my face, and strove to compose myself +to sleep, and I dozed, but awoke at the solemn words of a judge, +rumbling with the rhythm of the train. Sometimes I argued that I was a +fool to trust myself to the humor of an excitable people; but soon I +discovered that this speculation was forced, that my mind refused to +treat it seriously, that my hope stood, not at the bar, under the +protection of the law, but in the Senator's garden. And from this +height, in the redolent air, I could not force myself down to muse upon +a long season in a cell, waiting for the court to convene. + +Daylight came. I got off at a station, to step on board another train. I +counted my money and found that I might have enough, upon reaching +Memphis, to buy a suit of cheap clothes. But the most strenuous denial +must be practiced; I could not afford food nor even a newspaper. + +It was nearly four o'clock when the train arrived at Memphis. I hastened +to the landing and learned that a boat would leave within half an hour +and that fifty cents would secure a deck passage to Bolanyo. I was +fitted out by a riverside clothier, and, after a quick "snack" of fish +on a houseboat, I stepped on board the steamer that had brought the +Senator and me with "Magnolia Land" up the river. I stood at the bow, +and my heart leaped at the sight of the first green tinge in the woods. +How soft and delicious was the atmosphere, after the raw wind of the +prairies and the lake. How gently the sun went down, without a shiver, +without a breath too cool. + +I saw the lights of Bolanyo. And I felt about for something to +touch--something to brace me against the surging of an overpowering +emotion. I tried to picture the jail; I strove to recall the yell of the +mob, the awful night, the tread of merciless feet; but I saw a blossom +nodding in the sweet air; I heard a voice that filled my soul with +trembling melody. + +The boat touched the shore, and I leaped upon the landing, before the +plank could be thrown out. And now a caution was necessary. To be +recognized meant a night in jail, perhaps another mob, and it was my +plan to go by lonely ways to the Senator's house and to surrender myself +to him. In my haste I was almost breathless. I passed the lonely +lamp-post and the thicket; I stood at the gate. I opened it without +noise, and, with my heart bounding, I stole up the steps, raised the +door-knocker and let it fall; and with the noise, the breaking of the +metrical throb of the silence, I sprung aside, almost choking. Someone +came slowly down the hall and fumbled at the lock. Would the door ever +be opened? It was, and Washington stood before me. + +"Ah!" he cried, seizing me in his arms. + +"Come right in yere, Sah, Lawd bless yo' life. Let me hep you. Laws er +massy, de man kai hardly walk. Yes, Sah, right yere in de libery." + +He lifted me in his mighty arms, carried me into the library and eased +me down upon a chair. "Now, Sah--Sir--let us try to be cool; let us be +strong with the love of the Lord in our hearts." + +He snatched up a hat and stood over me, fanning my face. "Yes, let us +thank our heavenly father." + +"Where are they--she?" I asked. + +"You must be cool, Mr. Belford. Your excitement might--might be bad for +you all. The Senator is out somewhere and so is Miss Florence. But you +shall see them soon. Just quiet yourself down." + +"I must see them--him at once, to surrender myself." + +"Surrender yourself? What for, Mr. Belford?" + +"Washington, don't force me to say it. You know. I have come back to +give myself up, to stand my trial." + +He ceased his fanning, stepped back and looked at me. "Mr. Belford, +haven't you seen the papers?" + +"I have seen nothing. I have come to give myself up." + +The hat fell from his hand. "Mr. Belford, you must prepare yourself to +hear something. Let me be slow so that it may not excite you." + +"Out with it. I can stand anything." + +"Yes, Sir, but I must remember my failing, my father's rude tongue. But +I will try to tell you in a civilized way. Once I told you of a woman I +loved--now do not be impatient. You must wait, and if you are not cool +you shall not see anyone. The husband of this woman was a sinner, and +his wife kept urging him to join my church. One night not long ago, +moved by the spirit, I talked to the hearts of men, and he was stricken +with conviction. And the next day he came to me. He said that he was in +the thicket and heard a pistol fire, and that not long afterward he came +upon Estell's body with a pistol lying beside it. He looked about. No +one was in sight. He thrust his hand into the dead man's pocket and drew +out a pocketbook and some papers. Then he took up the pistol, but was +afraid to touch the watch, knowing that it would be death to be found +with it. Just then he thought he heard someone coming and he ran away, +with the pocketbook, the papers and the pistol. And one of the papers +was a statement written by Estell. He confessed that he had engaged in +wild speculations, and that he was two hundred thousand dollars short in +his account with the State. He spoke of the commission which would be +appointed to go through his books, and said that he could not face the +disgrace--that death was his only recourse. It has all come out in the +newspapers, and the men who would have hanged you are willing now to +make the most gracious amends. They talk about you constantly, and they +come every day to ask if we have had any news of you. Why, yesterday a +town meeting was held and our ablest speakers blew the horn of your +praise." + +"Where is _she_?" I demanded. + +"She is out at present. Just be calm, and when the time comes you shall +see her. The Senator went North to see the play. She went with him, and +she hasn't been strong since; she was weak enough before. The Senator +wrote to the man who has the play, some time ago, and told him that he +would be held severely responsible for any mention of you in relation to +the murder as it was then thought. And the editor? He sent a retraction +to his paper; he acknowledged that he was a liar, and the Senator has +let him come back to settle up his affairs." + +"Did she--did she grieve?" + +"Her life since then has been one of deepest grief, Mr. Belford, but not +for _him_. And she sits in the garden every evening--waiting--and--and +she is there now, Sir." + +I leaped from the chair; I ran into the garden, calling her name--not +Mrs. Estell--but "Florence! Florence!" + +"Oh, who--who is calling me?" a voice cried, and I saw her clinging to a +tree for support, near the bench where we had often sat. I ran to her, +and the garden lamp light was in her eyes as she looked at me. I stood +in silence, looking at her. I took her hand, and in silence we sat down. +It was a long time before we spoke. + +"Oh, that awful night!" she said, with her head bent low. "There was no +one to help you, and when I heard the bell ring I seized a knife from +the kitchen and threw a shawl over my head and ran down there to stab +the man that tied the rope. I knocked the lantern over and I cut the +cords--" + +Half blind, I saw my tears gleaming in her hair. "And when you stepped +out of the carriage the night of the play you thought your dress was +caught. It was--I caught it to kiss it." + +"Oh!" she cried--and that was all. We sat in silence, my tears gleaming +in her hair. And we heard a voice and a step and we stood up. The +Senator came, with his hand thrust forth, feeling as if he were blind. +And on my shoulder he put his arm, and it was heavy. And "My--my boy," +was all he could say--"My boy." + + + + THIS BOOK HAS BEEN PRINTED + DURING MAY, 1897, BY THE + BLAKELY PRINTING COMPANY, + CHICAGO, FOR WAY & WILLIAMS. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOLANYO*** + + +******* This file should be named 38826-8.txt or 38826-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/8/8/2/38826 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://www.gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: +http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/38826-8.zip b/38826-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..34d201c --- /dev/null +++ b/38826-8.zip diff --git a/38826-h.zip b/38826-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..de0a8ae --- /dev/null +++ b/38826-h.zip diff --git a/38826-h/38826-h.htm b/38826-h/38826-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..df8167a --- /dev/null +++ b/38826-h/38826-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6419 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Bolanyo, by Opie Percival Read</title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + +.linenum { + position: absolute; + top: auto; + left: 4%; +} /* poetry number */ + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.sidenote { + width: 20%; + padding-bottom: .5em; + padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; + padding-right: .5em; + margin-left: 1em; + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; + color: black; + background: #eeeeee; + border: dashed 1px; +} + +.bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + +.bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + +.bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + +.br {border-right: solid 2px;} + +.bbox {border: solid 2px;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.u {text-decoration: underline;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.figleft { + float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 1em; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +.figright { + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1em; + margin-bottom: + 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem br {display: none;} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +.poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i2 { + display: block; + margin-left: 2em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i4 { + display: block; + margin-left: 4em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + + hr.full { width: 100%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 4px; + border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + pre {font-size: 85%;} + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Bolanyo, by Opie Percival Read, Illustrated +by Charles Francis Browne</h1> +<pre> +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 <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Bolanyo</p> +<p>Author: Opie Percival Read</p> +<p>Release Date: February 10, 2012 [eBook #38826]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOLANYO***</p> +<p> </p> +<h4>E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan,<br /> + and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br /> + from page images generously made available by<br /> + Internet Archive/American Libraries<br /> + (<a href="http://www.archive.org/details/americana">http://www.archive.org/details/americana</a>)</h4> +<p> </p> +<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10"> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Note: + </td> + <td> + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive/American Libraries. See + <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/bolanyonovel00readrich"> + http://www.archive.org/details/bolanyonovel00readrich</a> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<div class="figright"> +<img src="images/tp.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + + +<h1>BOLANYO</h1> + +<h3><i>A NOVEL</i></h3> + +<h2><i>by</i> OPIE READ</h2> + +<h3><i>author of</i> A Kentucky Colonel The Jucklins etc</h3> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><i>CHICAGO<br /> +Printed for</i><br /> +Way & Williams</p> + +<p class="center">MDCCCXCVII</p> + +<p class="center">COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY WAY & WILLIAMS.</p> + +<p class="center">THE COVER DESIGNED BY MR. MAXFIELD PARRISH.<br /> +DECORATIONS BY MR. CHARLES FRANCIS BROWNE.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/frontis.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<table> +<tr><td align="right">CHAPTER. </td><td></td><td align="right">PAGE.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">I. </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_I">ON THE RIVER </a></td><td align="right">1</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">II. </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_II">IN THE AIR </a></td><td align="right">13</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">III. </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_III">THE BLACK GIANT </a></td><td align="right">20</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">IV. </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">THE SENATOR </a></td><td align="right">28</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">V. </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_V">A MOMENT OF FORGIVENESS </a></td><td align="right">36</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VI. </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">INTRODUCED TO MRS. ESTELL </a></td><td align="right">50</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VII. </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">THE NOTORIOUS BUGG PETERS </a></td><td align="right">66</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VIII. </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">THE STATE TREASURER </a></td><td align="right">82</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">IX. </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">PUBLIC ENTERTAINERS </a></td><td align="right">99</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">X. </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_X">MR. PETTICORD </a></td><td align="right">117</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XI. </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">THE CHARM OF AN OLD TOWN </a></td><td align="right">131</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XII. </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">A MATTER OF BUSINESS </a></td><td align="right">154</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XIII. </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">THE PLACE OF THE GOBLINS </a></td><td align="right">164</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XIV. </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">OLD JOE VARK </a></td><td align="right">172</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XV. </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">OLD AUNT PATSEY </a></td><td align="right">187</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XVI. </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">THE PLAY </a></td><td align="right">203</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XVII. </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">A SLOW STEP ON THE STAIRS </a></td><td align="right">219</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XVIII. </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">TO MEET THE MANAGER </a></td><td align="right">226</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XIX. </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">BURN THE JUNIPER </a></td><td align="right">233</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XX. </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">GLEANING THE FIELD </a></td><td align="right">241</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XXI. </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">THE WORK OF THE SCOUNDREL </a></td><td align="right">251</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XXII. </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">IN THE THICKET </a></td><td align="right">258</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XXIII. </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">THE RINGING OF THE BELL </a></td><td align="right">269</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XXIV. </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">MAGNOLIA LAND </a></td><td align="right">280</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XXV. </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">DOWN A DARK ALLEY </a></td><td align="right">291</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XXVI. </td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">CONCLUSION—IN THE GARDEN </a></td><td align="right">300</td></tr> +</table> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>BOLANYO</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>ON THE RIVER.</h3> + + +<p>On the night of the 26th of April our company closed an engagement at +the St. Charles Theatre in New Orleans; and before the clocks began to +strike the hour of twelve, our bags and baggage had been tumbled on +board a steamboat headed for St. Louis. The prospects of the National +Dramatic Company had been bright; competent critics had pronounced our +new play a work of true and sympathetic art, before production, but had +slashed at our tender vitals when the piece had passed from rehearsal to +presentation. The bad beginning in the East had not truthfully foretold +a good ending in the South. The people had failed to sympathize with our +"Work of Sympathetic Art." Hope had leaped from town to town; was always +sure to fall, but always quick to rise again; and, now, three nights in +St. Louis would close the season, and doubtless end the career of the +National Dramatic Company. The captain of the Red Fox, a dingy, +waterlogged and laborious craft, had kindly offered to let us come +aboard at half his usual rate. He assured our manager that this +concession afforded a real pleasure; that he held a keen interest in our +profession, having years ago done a clog dance as a negro minstrel. +Necessity oozed oil upon this unconscious sarcasm, and with grateful +dignity the captain's offer was accepted.</p> + +<p>By two o'clock we were creaking and churning against the current, and, +alone in a begrimed cubby-hole, with a looking-glass shaking against the +frail wall, I lay down with a sigh to take stock of myself. Hope had +been agile, but now it did not bound with so light a spring. Could it be +that I had begun to question my ability as an actor? It was true that +the critics had slit me with their knives, but the people had frequently +applauded, and, after all, the people deliver the verdict. The judge may +charge, but the jury pronounces. I knew then, as I know now, that there +must be a reserve force behind all forms of art; that one essential of +artistic expression is to create the belief that you are not doing your +best, that you are not under a strain. And I thought that I had +accomplished this, but the critics had said that my restraint was weak +and my passion overwrought. I had not come out as a star. As a stock +comedian I had been granted a kindly mention, and had accepted the place +of leading man, but this had given offense and had called forth an +unjust tirade of censure. Perhaps I had assumed a little too much, but +the man who is not ready to assume will never accomplish anything, and +from a lower station must be content to contemplate the success of those +who were less delicate.</p> + +<p>When morning came I looked out upon the canefields, green to the edge of +the horizon. The breakfast bell rang, but I hung back, not for lack of +appetite, but for the reason that the other members of the company had +ceased to be companionable. Even a meager applause can excite, if not +envy, a certain degree of contempt; and the small stint of approbation +which, like a mere crumb, had fallen to me could not have aroused the +jealousy, but surely sharpened the sarcasms, of my fellow-players. In a +side remark intended for me, and which struck me like a shaft, +Culpepper, as vain a fellow as ever mismumbled an author's lines, +remarked to Miss Hatch that an elephant would stretch his chain to +reach a bonbon. And, stroking as brutish a pug as ever found soft +luxury in a woman's lap, she replied that it was a pity that the average +theatrical elephant, foisted upon an easy manager, could only rival the +real beast in clumsiness and in his appetite for sweets. So I waited, +gazing out upon the edgeless spread of cane-land, until my companions in +"sympathetic art" had indulged in the usual growl over their morning +meal, and then I went out to breakfast. At the table sat one person, an +oldish man with a dash of red in his countenance. As I sat down he +looked up, and, with a pleasing smile, inquired if I were Mr. Maurice +Belford. And when I had told him yes, he said:</p> + +<p>"I thought so, or 'mistrusted' as much, as Old Bill Brooks used to say," +he added, laughing. "Didn't know old Bill, I take it? Used to travel a +good deal up and down the river, and was a great hand to go to a show. +And he'd always set 'em through. No, sir, he wouldn't leave you. And +this puts me in mind that I saw you play the other night. You caught +me, I tell you. That character of <i>Tobe Wilson</i>, the gambler, was about +as true a thing as I ever saw."</p> + +<p>"I am much pleased to hear you say so," I replied, warming toward him. +"But the critics said it was overdone and unreal," I added.</p> + +<p>"The critics said so; who are they?"</p> + +<p>"The newspaper representatives who come to the theater to find fault," I +answered.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's it, eh? I didn't see what any of 'em said, and it wouldn't +make any difference if I had. I've been a pilot on this river mighty +nigh ever since I was a boy, and if I don't know what a real gambler is, +I'd like for some man to point one out to me."</p> + +<p>"I am really delighted to meet you, for surely your opinion is worth a +great deal."</p> + +<p>"Don't know about that," he replied, "but I know what a gambler is. Why, +I set all the way through your show. Fellow wanted me to go out with +him, but I wouldn't. And right by me set Senator Giles Talcom, of +Mississippi. I live in Bolanyo, his town. It's improved mightily in the +last twenty-five years. Got a new city hall, and some Dutchmen from the +north are talking about starting a brewery. Now, Talcom is a smart man +and he liked your show; said he was sorry you are to skip Bolanyo on +your way up the river. As soon as I git a bite to eat I'm going up to +take the wheel. Wouldn't you like to sit in the pilot house?"</p> + +<p>Glad to accept the invitation of one who had the insight to recognize an +artistic delineation of character, and the graciousness to declare it, I +went with him to the pilot house. He took the wheel from a man who, I +thought, did not look upon me kindly, and continued to talk, while with +an intentness that traced a frown upon his brow he estimated the +strength of the current, or the depth of the water on a shoal. The +river was low; the winter had been comparatively dry; the early spring +thaw had spent its force, and there was as yet no premonitory swell of +the great summer rise. The morning was sunless and soft, and far away a +dragon-shaped mist lay low upon the land, a giant's nightmare, fading in +the pale light of a reluctant day.</p> + +<p>"The old river's dead," said the pilot, with the reverberations of a +knell in the tone of his voice. "Look at that thing fluttering along +over there, where the Lee and the Natchez used to plow. No, sir, the old +Mississippi ain't much better than a sewer now. But she was a roarer +back yonder in my time, I tell you. Ah, Lord, some great men have +piloted palaces along here."</p> + +<p>"Whom do you regard as the greatest?" I inquired, expecting to hear him +pronounce a name well known to the stage and to literature.</p> + +<p>"Well, of course there's a difference of opinion among them that don't +know, but with them that do know there never was a pilot that could +hold a candle to old Lige Patton."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe I ever heard of him," I replied.</p> + +<p>"Hah!" He turned his eyes upon me, with the up-river search still strong +in his gaze, but as with a snatch he jerked them away and threw them +upon a split in the current far ahead. "That might be," he assented, +slowly turning his wheel. "I can jump off here most anywhere and find +you a man that never heard of Julius Cæsar."</p> + +<p>I preferred to remain silent under this rebuke, and he did not speak +again until we had sheered off to the left of the split in the current, +a snag, and then he said:</p> + +<p>"Lige didn't weigh more than a hundred and sixty pounds at his best, and +the boys used to say there wan't no meat on him at all, nothing but +nerve. Game!" He cleared his throat, gave me a mere glance and +continued: "It was said that a panther once met him in the woods, and +gave vent to a most unearthly squall, which meant, 'excuse me, Mr. +Patton,' and took to his heels and never was heard of in that section +after that—the panther wan't—although he had been mighty popular among +the pigs and sheep of that neighborhood. But Lige never killed many men. +Never killed except when he was overpersuaded. Gave up a good position +once and went all the way to Jackson to call the governor of Mississippi +a liar. And what was that for? Why, the governor issued a thanksgiving +proclamation in spite of the fact that the river had been low for three +months, making it pretty tough work for the pilots; and Lige, he +declared that a governor who said that the people ought to be thankful +was a liar. And I've got a little more religion now than I had at that +time, but blamed if I don't still think he was right. I spoke a while +ago of Senator Talcom, who lives in my town. Well, sir, Lige give Talcom +his start in the world. It was this way: Lige wan't altogether a lamb +when he was drinking; he sorter looked for a fight, but, understand, he +didn't want to kill anybody, unless <i>over</i>persuaded. Talcom was a young +fellow, at that time, and had just come to town. And, somehow, he got in +Lige's way, and they fought. And if there ever was a man that had more +wire than Lige, it was Talcom. It must have been some sort of an +accident, but, somehow, he got the upper hand of Lige, got him down, got +out his knife, and was about to cut his throat, when Lige said: 'Young +fellow, you may put out my light as soon as you please, for you can do +it, but there's one thing, and one thing only, that I'd like to live +for, and that is to see what you are going to make of yourself.' Blamed +if this didn't tickle Talcom, and he got up and flung his knife away. +And, now to the point, sir; Lige went all around and told it that Talcom +whipped him, and that was the making of Talcom. Now look at him—been in +the State Senate year after year. Yes, sir," he added, "I reckon that in +one way and another Lige Patton developed more men than anybody that +ever struck this country."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>IN THE AIR.</h3> + + +<p>At the noon hour my friend was relieved, and together we went down to +dinner. Miss Hatch and Culpepper fell to whispering as soon as I sat +down, opposite them. I knew that I was under a spiteful discussion, but, +with the appearance of paying no heed to them, I remarked to the pilot, +who sat beside me:</p> + +<p>"You have often noticed, I suppose, that human nature by turns partakes +of the nature of all other animals, particularly of the black cat and +the yellow dog?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know that I get you, exactly, but go ahead," he replied.</p> + +<p>This afforded Miss Hatch and Culpepper an opportunity to titter. I did +not look at them, but addressed myself to the pilot.</p> + +<p>"I confess that my meaning might have been clearer, but behind it lies a +sufficient cause for its utterance."</p> + +<p>He put down his knife and looked at me helplessly, shook his head as if +puzzled, and fell to eating with this not very comforting observation:</p> + +<p>"Jerk me out of bed any time of night, along here, and I can tell you +where I am, and I am pretty good at foreseeing a change in the channel, +but once in a while I strike a thing that I can't figger out, and I +reckon you've just handed me one."</p> + +<p>Miss Hatch was now so occupied with feeding her dog that she had no time +to titter at my discomfiture, but I caught sight of Culpepper's hateful +and invidious smile.</p> + +<p>The meal was finished in silence, and I thought that the pilot had +forgotten my clouded remark, but when he had resumed his place at the +wheel, he cut his sharp old eye at me and said:</p> + +<p>"But there are a good many things I can see, and one of them is, that +you and them other show folks don't get along together very well."</p> + +<p>"It's their fault," I replied.</p> + +<p>"Of course," he rejoined, giving me a mere glimpse of his old eye, and +this time it was not merely shrewd—it was rascally.</p> + +<p>"I have done my best to merit their friendship," I said, somewhat +sharply. "But they spurn me, they insinuate that I am an elephant on the +manager's hands, when you yourself have been kind enough to tell me that +my part of the performance was—"</p> + +<p>"Good, first-rate," he broke in. "But in the play you almost have a set +of love jimjams on account of that woman, and let her reform you, and +all that sort of thing. It beats me," he added, shaking his head. "I +don't see how a man can love and cavort with a woman one minute, and +hate her the next. I pass, when it comes to that."</p> + +<p>"The stage is a strange world," I replied.</p> + +<p>"Yes, seems so. Hard way to earn money, hugging someone you don't like. +Why, I know a woman I wouldn't hug for a thousand dollars. You appear to +be a man of fair average sense. Why don't you go into some other +business—why don't you go to work?"</p> + +<p>"Work!" I cried, and I laughed so loud that a half naked boy on the +shore tossed up his hat and shouted a salute to my merriment.</p> + +<p>With his face hard set, and with his eyes sweeping the river, he waited +for my attention, and then he said: "Yes, work. Of course it's all right +for idle and shiftless fellows to go around this way, but it strikes +me—of course I don't know—but it strikes me that if you were to get +down to it, you might make something of yourself. It would be all right +if you could make a great actor out of yourself, for then it would be +worth your while, but always to be an under dog in the fight—"</p> + +<p>"You are not a flatterer," I broke in.</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't flatter men very much. Flattery, like feathers and +ribbons, was intended for women; but even they are getting too much +sense to swallow it. Come to think about it, they don't look for it as +much as men do."</p> + +<p>We had turned a bend, and the pilot, pointing, directed my eye toward a +town. "There's old Bolanyo," he said. "One of the best towns on the +river, one way and another. I live there when I'm at home. And that's +where Senator Talcom lives, and that's where he had his fight with Lige +Patton. I'm going to hop off there to see my folks. House so plain up +there is the new city hall—must have cost forty-five thousand. Can't +see Talcom's house; it's off in the far edge of the town. It's almost a +farm, and I reckon he's got the finest magnolia garden in this whole +section. Old Bowie, father of the Bowie knife, fought a duel right over +yonder. Got his man. Stevens is coming up to relieve me now in a minute. +Coming now, I believe. Just step outside," he added, as his assistant +appeared at the door, "and I'll show you the places of interest, and +then trot down in time to hop off."</p> + +<p>We stood near the pilot house, and, continuing to talk, he pointed out, +with the finger of local pride, a number of buildings which he believed +would be of interest to me, but his words fell without meaning. A +lulling essence was exhaled by the town. A spirit of rest and +contentment lay upon her lazy wharf. I heard the languid song of the +indolent "white trash," and the happy-go-lucky haw-haw of the trifling +negro. Through the lattice of a thin cloud the sun shot a glance, and +the gilded plow on the courthouse dome stood at the end of a furrow of +fire.</p> + +<p>"Well, got to leave you."</p> + +<p>He seized my hand, and at that moment I thought that I was jerked off my +feet, high in the air, and then came a thunder clap so loud, so +deafening that my senses were killed, conscious only that my body was a +dead weight and that my mind had been shattered and blown away. It +seemed that I was propelled through a long and vague interval of time, +and then a plunge and a chill, and my senses fluttered with painful +life. The sharp knowledge of an awful calamity shot through me—the boat +had exploded her boilers and I had been blown into the river.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>THE BLACK GIANT.</h3> + + +<p>I remember to have struggled, and to have been tumbled over and over by +the current. I might have caught at a straw, but no array of sins came +up for review, though there were enough of them scattered between my +cradle bed and the bed of this engulfing river. But I thought of many a +foolish thing, a pair of red-top boots, a whistle made of willow, a +'coon skin tacked against the wall of a negro's cabin; but I do not +remember being taken out of the water, so I must have endured all the +popular agonies of drowning. I have a faint recollection of being borne +along at full length, of seeing lights and of hearing voices. Sometimes +the voices were close and loud in my ears, and again they were far +away. Struggling reason sank once more, an obliterating darkness fell; +and when, after a long time, the light returned, I realized that I was +in a room, lying on a bed. My nostrils were filled with the pungent +scent of liniments. A tight bandage was about my head; and a heavy sense +of soreness told me that my right side was crushed. I thought to say +something, but the pungent odor grew stronger in my nostrils, and I sank +to sleep. When I awoke again the day was broad. And never before had I +realized what broad day meant; it was the opposite of the sharp and +narrow lights that had shot out of the thick darkness enshrouding my +mind. Everything was clear to me now. The explosion had occurred at the +moment when the pilot took my hand. But was I now on board another +steamer? No, my apartment was too spacious and too stately. There were +pictures on the walls, and on the mantel stood a marble statuette—the +Diver. Undoubtedly I had been brought into a private house, for no +hospital would offer such luxury to a stranger. I heard footsteps and +voices. The door was carefully opened and two men entered the room. Upon +seeing my eyes turned toward them they advanced cheerfully. I tried to +say good morning, but the words stuck in my throat. One of the men +placed his fingers on my wrist and asked me how I felt. This time my +effort at speech was more of a success, and I managed to tell him that I +was beginning to feel very well, that I was thankful for the light, and +that I hoped he would not administer any more of that stifling liniment.</p> + +<p>"The ether," he said, speaking to his companion; and then to me he +added, "No, you won't need any more of that. Well," he continued, +turning again to his companion, "he's doing first rate. I'll be around +again about eleven o'clock."</p> + +<p>A sudden alarm came upon me. "Let me ask you a question," I cried as he +turned to leave. "Haven't you cut off one of my legs?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir-ree," he good-humoredly laughed.</p> + +<p>"But I want you to be sure about it," I persisted. "Just this minute I +tried to find them both but couldn't."</p> + +<p>"Here, doctor," said the other man, "show him that his legs are all +right. Don't leave him in this fix."</p> + +<p>"Yes, of course," said the doctor, and lifting the cover he proved that +I had not been robbed by the surgeon's knife. "Got both arms, too, you +see."</p> + +<p>"But I'm pretty badly hurt."</p> + +<p>"Well, the blow-up didn't do you any particular good, but you are coming +along all right. All we've got to guard against now is a rise in +temperature, and there'll be no danger of that if you keep quiet."</p> + +<p>"But the other members of the company. Tell me about them."</p> + +<p>"They're all right—the most of them. You shall have all the details in +due time, but now you must keep quiet."</p> + +<p>They went out, closing the door softly, and I dozed off to sleep; and +when I awoke I was thankful to find that the day was still broad. I was +conscious that someone was in the room, and, slightly turning, I beheld +an enormous negro, standing in the middle of the floor, looking at me.</p> + +<p>"You have had a good sleep, Sir," he said, "and I have waited for you to +awake so that I could give you some refreshment."</p> + +<p>He spoke with a precision that was almost painful, as if he were +translating a sentence from a dead language, and my look must have +betrayed my astonishment, for his thick lips parted in a smile, broad, +but sedate. He appeared to be pleased at my surprise, and, smiling +again, he bowed and quitted the room, but soon returned with a tray +which he placed on a chair near the bed.</p> + +<p>"Here is something which the physician has pronounced good for you to +eat," he said, "but don't try to sit up. Here, let me get my arm under +you, this way. Now we have it."</p> + +<p>"Take it away, I'm not hungry," I said, after finding the position too +painful to endure. He eased me down, put the chair back and stood +looking at me.</p> + +<p>"Won't you sit down?"</p> + +<p>"No, I thank you, Sir."</p> + +<p>"But it makes me tired to see you stand."</p> + +<p>"Then, Sir, I will sit down." He brought another chair, and, seating +himself, he turned his searching eyes upon me. He was so enormous and he +towered so, even after sitting down, that he inspired a feeling of +creepy dread, his eyes so black and his smile so grave; and I was sure +that in his presence the day could not long continue to be broad; +indeed, I could see that the light at the window was slowly fading.</p> + +<p>"I asked them if I might come and nurse you," he said. "There were other +stricken ones that I might have nursed, but I heard that you were an +actor, and then I knew where my duty lay."</p> + +<p>"I am thankful for your partiality to my profession, at any rate," I +replied.</p> + +<p>He smiled, and his great teeth gleamed in the fading light. "I was not +influenced by the partiality of the flesh, but by the duty laid upon the +spirit. Most anyone could nurse your body, but I begged the privilege of +nursing your soul as well."</p> + +<p>"Ah, and you think an actor's soul is in especial need of nursing?"</p> + +<p>"With your permission we will leave that for some future converse. I +have been enjoined not to engage you in a talk that might bring +weariness upon you. For a few nights to come there may be danger, and +until that time is—is—shall have been passed, I will sit with you."</p> + +<p>"But who are you?" I inquired.</p> + +<p>"I am the humblest servant of the church wherein I preach the gospel +that sinners may be brought to repentance; and my name is Washington +Smith. But I must talk no more, and you must keep quiet."</p> + +<p>"But where am I? Tell me that."</p> + +<p>"You are in good hands, and the Lord and his servants are watching over +you. But I must request you not to speak again to-night."</p> + +<p>He took up the tray and went out, and when he returned he sat down, +though not upon a chair, but upon the floor, with his back against the +wall.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>THE SENATOR.</h3> + + +<p>Whenever I awoke in the course of that long and dreary night, it was to +find the black giant standing near the bedside. Once his hand, like the +wing of a buzzard, passed over me, and I muttered a complaint. "I just +wanted to determine whether or not you had a fever, Sir," he said. "You +were talking in your sleep, and I thought it best to investigate the +state of your temperature. But you are all right."</p> + +<p>I was half asleep and doubtless could not at morning have remembered a +strain of music or a bit of pleasantry, but at daylight his stilted +words were clear in my mind. I looked about for him but he was gone. +Breakfast was brought in by a negress, tall enough to be his wife. I +asked her if she were, and, showing me her teeth, she assured me that +she was an old maid; that no man, even if one of the best preachers in +the Lord's church, should be her master. She said that she had married +one man on trial, but that, after living with her a year or more, he had +robbed her of a silver piece and run away; and now she was going to +teach her daughter never to take a man except on suspicion, and to be +mighty careful even then. The amusement that she offered assisted me to +eat. She talked incessantly during the time, and as she took up the tray +to go out, the doctor and the gentleman who had advised him to prove to +me that I was still possessed of both legs came into the room.</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's all right," said the woman. "Yas, sah, an' you got ter take +'em wid 'spicion even if da is hurt."</p> + +<p>The doctor pronounced me much improved, cut short his visit, and left me +with his friend, at whom I now looked with considerable interest. He +was of a manly build, dressed in a black "Prince Albert" coat, buttoned +below, but opened out wide at the breast. The ends of his grayish +mustache were slightly twisted, and on his chin was a "dab" of whiskers. +He appeared to be proud of his bearing, and proud of the belief that no +one could discover the seat of his pride. He moved about rather +gracefully, carrying a soft hat in his hand, as if he were ready to +salute a gentleman or bow profoundly to a lady.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, Sir," I began, and he turned toward me with a slight bow and +with a slow motion made with his hat, "but will you tell me who is the +master of this house?"</p> + +<p>"I am," he answered, with a smile.</p> + +<p>"But who are you, your name, please?"</p> + +<p>"Has no one told you? Hah, don't you know yet?" His voice conveyed a +sense of injury that so important a preliminary had been overlooked.</p> + +<p>"No one has told me."</p> + +<p>"Then, Sir, I have the pleasure of introducing myself. I am Giles +Talcom."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Senator Talcom."</p> + +<p>His eyes snapped, he touched his "dab" of beard, and said:</p> + +<p>"At your service, Sir."</p> + +<p>We shook hands, and he sat down. "I have heard of you, Senator."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I have introduced into the Mississippi Senate a great many +reformatory measures, some of which have been adopted by our sister +States."</p> + +<p>"And you are the man who whipped Lige Patton."</p> + +<p>"What!" he cried, snapping his eyes at me. "Hah, you got that nonsense +from old Zack Mason, the pilot. Confound his old hide, he never will +forget that. I was quite a young man in those days, Sir. I came here +from Virginia, almost straight from the University, and was, if my +examination should prove satisfactory, to take charge of a young ladies' +school. But on the day before the examination took place Mr. Patton +took it into his head to walk over me. He didn't, and, sir, without any +examination at all, the good people gave me the <i>male</i> academy. The +trustees (most of them had been river men, you understand) said that I +was too valuable a piece of timber to waste on a female seminary. They +said it was too much like chasing butterflies with a bloodhound. I +didn't keep the school long; I came into my inheritance, went into +politics, and here I am."</p> + +<p>"Senator, I am under lasting obligations to you for—"</p> + +<p>"Not at all, Sir, not at all. I spent a very pleasant evening with you +at the St. Charles Theatre in New Orleans, and I said then, as I always +do when a man has entertained me, I hope to be able to do something for +him. And, Sir, while the opportunity was brought about by a sad +misfortune, yet—yet I am really gratified at being the instrument, you +understand, of giving you shelter and attention at this sad hour."</p> + +<p>"How long have I been here?"</p> + +<p>"Three days. But don't let that worry you. You are to remain until you +feel perfectly able to proceed on your way."</p> + +<p>"Were many people killed?"</p> + +<p>"Quite a number. Two were found yesterday at the island twenty miles +below. A large number were hurt, but they are being cared for. Our city +is making great strides, but we have no hospital as yet, so our citizens +threw open their doors to receive the wounded. And the dead have been +cared for."</p> + +<p>"How did our company fare?"</p> + +<p>"Sir, I appreciate your modesty and unselfishness in not asking about +your brethren first of all. The manager was killed, but the others +escaped with slight injuries. Mr. Culpepper called to see you, but you +were asleep at the time. And the old pilot, who escaped with a few +bruises, has sent you his congratulations. He says that united he and +you stood, and that divided you both fell."</p> + +<p>"There is something else I should like to ask, about the big negro who +stays here at night?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Washington Smith. But don't make a mistake and call him Wash. He is +a humble servant of the church, but a dignified citizen of the Republic. +Strange fellow. A number of years ago he presented a singular petition +to the city council, begging for an education, and agreeing to work for +the corporation in return for the money expended in his behalf. Most of +the councilmen condemned the petition as a piece of impudence, but I was +a member at the time, and I looked on it with favor, Sir. My enemies +said that I was bidding for the negro vote. I raised money enough to +send Washington to the Fisk University, and I can say with truth that I +have never regretted the step, for he has held before me a constant +example of gratitude. But I have talked to you long enough," he added, +arising. "I don't want to tire you out—I want to see you on your feet +again. And it won't be long. As soon as you are able to sit up we'll +put you into a rocking chair, draw you into the parlor and Mrs. Estell +will read to you."</p> + +<p>He gave me a bow, accompanying the act with a slow and graceful sweep of +his hat, and withdrew, leaving me to muse over the prospect of being +compelled to submit to a torture administered by a Mrs. Estell. I could +put up with the reading of a girl in her first poetic era, but I +shuddered at the thought of a woman in her second sentimental +childhood.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>A MOMENT OF FORGIVENESS.</h3> + + +<p>Culpepper called in the afternoon, and when he saw me lying there with +my head tied up, he was brusk for a moment to cover the whimper in his +voice. With genuine affection he took my hand, and all the enmity I had +held against him was gone in a moment. He said that the boilers of the +Red Fox had blown off the end of our season, and had shattered the +greatest dramatic combination that ever looked with horror at a piece of +paper in the hand of a village sheriff.</p> + +<p>"And the poor old elephant is flat on his back," I said.</p> + +<p>"Now, here, old chap, none of that. It was only a guy. Why, we all liked +you, but hang it all, Maurice, you did appear just a little stuck on +yourself, not on account of your acting, but—"</p> + +<p>"But on account of my despair," I broke in. "The nerves of my failure +were exposed, and nothing is prouder than a nerve. I have told you that +before I made a venture I studied for the stage, viewing it as a classic +and high-born profession. I went through the best schools, and—"</p> + +<p>"Now, here, old chap, don't talk about schools. They are only intended +for society women, you know. The main trouble is, you didn't begin early +enough. You were a dramatic critic and then thought you'd study for the +stage."</p> + +<p>"But my work as an actor is popular with the people," I protested.</p> + +<p>"Yes, some people, old chap, but you mustn't pay much attention to that. +In his own generation a man is not really great until the critics have +pronounced him so. The critics can gradually bring the people around to +an appreciation of a true artist, but popularity doesn't compel the +critics to deliver a favorable verdict. It isn't with acting as it is +with writing, you know. An actor is of the present, and a writer may be +of the future. Wouldn't you rather have the good opinion of a few +high-class men and women than the enthusiastic commendation of the +rabble?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, wouldn't you?"</p> + +<p>"No, I wouldn't, old chap, for I am after what money there is in it. I +don't expect to be an artist, you know—I don't care to be—too much +hard work; too much restraint in it."</p> + +<p>"Culpepper"—I looked at him earnestly, for I was moved by a spirit of +truth—"I would rather stand high as the exponent of any art that I +might choose than to have all the money you could heap about me."</p> + +<p>"Ah, that's where you are weak, old chap; but it's well enough that +there are such men—they give the other fellows a chance. And now, +pardon me, Maurice, but you'll never be a great actor."</p> + +<p>He said this with such kindliness that I did not feel even the quiver of +a resentment. In fact, while left to commune with myself, and under that +strange sharpening of self-judgment which illness or a nervous shock may +sometimes bring about, I had seen my incurable faults and had consigned +myself to mediocrity.</p> + +<p>"Have I hurt you, old chap?"</p> + +<p>"No," said I, philosopher enough to laugh, "you simply agree with my own +estimate."</p> + +<p>"That so? Good. But I tell you what I believe you can do, and do it down +to the ground—write for the stage. You've got a good sense of humor and +a first-rate conception of character; you are poetic and can soon +acquire a knowledge of construction. Want me to shake on it? Of course."</p> + +<p>We shook hands, not that he had tickled my vanity, but because he had +sent back the echo which my secret mind had shouted.</p> + +<p>"But, Culpepper, there is always a trouble in the way. I can't work +while jerked about the country—I've tried it—and just at present I +can't afford to stay long enough in one place."</p> + +<p>"That's all right, set your mind on it and the opportunity will come."</p> + +<p>"By the way, I have a treat in store. Hope you'll be here to share it +with me. I am promised a reading by Mrs. Estell, when I am able to be +dragged into another room."</p> + +<p>He laughed. "Know what I'd do?" said he. "I'd pretend weakness until the +proper time, and then I'd take to my heels. Oh, by the way, I've had +your trunk sent up. It fell over on the sand and wasn't injured. Say, +haven't told you about Mrs. Hatch. She wasn't hurt—we were at the +stern, and you must have been over the boilers. Well, she's gone on to +Memphis in a rush. Old Norton telegraphed her. She sent her regards; +said she was sorry she hadn't time to see you. Newspapers made a big +spread of this affair. Biggest send-off we ever had. Eh? At first they +had everybody killed."</p> + +<p>He spoke feelingly of our manager, pointed out virtues that he did not +possess, and forgave his inability to pay salaries. "Yes, Sir, Tabb +wasn't a bad fellow," he went on. "By the by, he made a bet that he +would ride home, and he has won it. Well," he said, getting up, "I leave +to-night. Wouldn't go without seeing you."</p> + +<p>He held out his hand and, taking it, I told him not to forget the +"Elephant."</p> + +<p>"Come, old chap, don't do that," he replied, assuming a bruskness, and +turning about to hide his eyes from me. "You know it was only a guy. And +haven't I come to tell you that you can make a great man of yourself? +Well, once more, take care of yourself."</p> + +<p>Now that he was gone, I could look back and see that Culpepper had +always been a good fellow. And with a sort of pitying contempt I +acknowledged that I had set myself up as a target for ridicule. But I +did not merit the supercilious airs with which Miss Hatch had treated +me, and toward her I had not entered into a forgiving mood, though now +I know that had she entered the room while I was indulging these +reflections, I should graciously have agreed that she, too, had always +been one of the "best of fellows."</p> + +<p>The Senator came in just before supper-time, bringing a newspaper, which +he said was still damp with the dew of recent events. He carried his +soft hat in his hand, nor did he put it down when, unfolding the paper, +he stood to catch the light at the window. He said that he supposed I +must be anxious to hear from the great world of politics, and he +proceeded to read an editorial forecast of the election for congressman +from the state-at-large, halting to comment upon the views set forth and +making slow gestures with his hat. It was a local journal, but it had +reproduced the political opinions of other publications, and these the +Senator read with sharp avidity. I asked him if he thought he could find +any theatrical news, but he cut me off with his hat, and gave me a +paragraph on beet sugar, which he deplored as an outrage, intended to +lessen the value of the plantations down the river. The light was +fading, and I was not sorry. He stood closer to the window, that he +might better harvest the last glimmer of the fading day, and in my cold +dread of his lighting a lamp, I did not hear what he read, simply +catching now and then such political frayed ends as <i>per capita</i> and <i>ad +valorem</i>.</p> + +<p>"Ah," said he, "here is a liberal extract from Tomlinson's great speech. +But it's getting most too dark. Shall I light a lamp?"</p> + +<p>I replied that I was afraid that he might tire himself pursuing his kind +desire to entertain me.</p> + +<p>"Oh, not at all, not at all, I assure you," he quickly spoke up. "But I +guess you've had as much as you ought to digest at present. Feed, but +don't gorge, is my motto. A hungry calf can run faster than a foundered +horse. I tell you," he added, putting the paper under his arm and +coming toward me, "there's going to be a warm election here this fall. +Of course I'm a candidate for reëlection—the Senate couldn't get along +without me—and I don't know that I've got but one very bitter enemy, +and he is none other than the editor of this sheet, Sir," he said, +striking the newspaper with his hat. "For a long time he was my friend +and supporter, but he ran against me two years ago, and I beat him so +badly that since then he has been my enemy. He is a cur, and as sure as +he lives I'll get even with him. And as the season approaches I expect +every day to find in his paper a scurrilous article about me; all he +wants is a pretext. Ah, here is Washington, with your supper."</p> + +<p>Cutting with his hat a black scallop in the twilight, the Senator +withdrew. The giant placed the tray of dishes upon a chair and lighted a +hanging lamp. And then he stood in the middle of the floor, his arms +folded, looking at me.</p> + +<p>"Won't you please sit down?" I pleaded.</p> + +<p>"I am to be commanded, Sir," he replied, seating himself, and under his +ponderous bulk the chair creaked.</p> + +<p>"Come now," said I, "throw away your stilts and walk on the ground. I +have quite enough of that on the stage."</p> + +<p>He looked at me, slowly shutting and opening his eyes as if determined +that even his wink should be deliberate. "And don't you think, Sir, that +it would be well if you could say that you have had quite enough of the +stage itself?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know but you are right, Brother Washington. At any rate the +stage has had quite enough of me. I am called the elephant."</p> + +<p>"Not on account of your size, Sir?"</p> + +<p>"No, on account of my weight."</p> + +<p>"Ah, and the hearts of all men who know not the Lord shall at last be as +heavy as the elephant."</p> + +<p>"Very true, no doubt. I wish you'd pour this coffee for me."</p> + +<p>He came forward with a solemn tread, poured out the coffee, and returned +to the chair but did not sit down until I commanded him.</p> + +<p>"As heavy as an elephant," he repeated, slowly winking at me.</p> + +<p>"In working for the soul of the white man, Brother Washington," said I, +"you have set about to return a good for an evil. The white man enslaved +your body and now you would free his soul."</p> + +<p>"Sir, the first shipload of negroes sent to this country was the first +blessing that fell upon the Ethiopian race. In slavery we served an +apprenticeship to enlightenment. Wisdom could not have reached us +through any other channel. The negro was not born with the germ of +self-civilization."</p> + +<p>"You are a philosopher, at any rate."</p> + +<p>"No, humbler, and yet greater, than a philosopher," he replied.</p> + +<p>"All right, I'm ready to grant anything. By the way, tell me something +about the Senator and his family."</p> + +<p>"If he has told you nothing, I am at liberty to tell nothing, for, as +yet, you are a stranger."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I see. He's a shrewd politician, isn't he?"</p> + +<p>"He is a gentleman and he is not dull. He was my friend w'en dem +scoun'rels—"</p> + +<p>I looked at him in surprise. His fall into the dialect of his brethren +had come like a slap. He bowed his head, and I know that had not the +blackness of his skin prevented it he would have blushed in his +disgrace. He did not look up again until I spoke to him, and then he +showed me a sorrow-stricken countenance.</p> + +<p>"Don't take it so hard, Brother Washington. Such lapses must come once +in a while. You remind me of an old fellow who lost his religion +occasionally by swearing."</p> + +<p>"Haw-haw," he laughed. "One in my church right now. Swore at his mule +the other day and then dropped down in the corner of the fence and +offered to mortgage his crop to the Lord for one more chance. Yas, +Sah—I mean yes, Sir," he added, the shadow of disgrace falling again +upon his countenance. "If you have finished your supper I will remove +the dishes," he said.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," and as he took up the tray I continued, "And by the way, +you needn't sit with me to-night. I don't need you; I am not so badly +hurt as they thought I was; and, in fact, I can sleep better if left +absolutely alone."</p> + +<p>"It shall be as you desire, Sir," he said, turning upon me with a look +of kindly reproach. "But I will pray for you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's all right."</p> + +<p>He passed out into the hall, but I called him back to the door. "Brother +Washington, I didn't mean to be flippant when I said 'that's all right.' +I respect your sincerity."</p> + +<p>I thought that he glanced about for a place to rest the tray, to halt +and resume his predetermined fight against the flesh and the devil of my +unholy calling.</p> + +<p>"Ah, shut the door, Brother Washington."</p> + +<p>"I thought, Sir, that you had reconsidered—"</p> + +<p>"Not to-day—some other time."</p> + +<p>He looked at me, making no motion that I could see; but I heard the +tremulous rattle of the teacup in the saucer. There was so much of +pleading in his look, so much that was martyr-like in his silence, that +out of pity it arose to my mind to call him back, but then came the cool +though just decision that his ardent yearning was but a spirit of +ambitious conquest.</p> + +<p>"Some other time, Washington," I said, as he turned to look at me.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>INTRODUCED TO MRS. ESTELL.</h3> + + +<p>A week passed by with no sign of a setback and one morning the doctor +said that I might sit up. Brother Washington eased me into a rocking +chair, and stood as if expecting me to command him to continue the work +of my conversion. But I told him to sit down, a position which he always +assumed in sorrow, seeming to regard it as a retreat when his spirit +cried for a charge.</p> + +<p>The Senator came in with a hearty good morning, and instructed +Washington to draw my chair into the parlor. The sore trial of listening +to Mrs. Estell had come. I had not seen her, had made no inquiry +concerning her, but I had thought of her, and not with kindness. The +pleasure of getting again into my clothes had been marred by fancy's +sketch of her—sharp of voice and sour of face—a woman whose husband +had willingly died, leaving her, unfortunately, to inflict man with her +elocution. I wanted to sit alone and enjoy the sweet scents blown from +the garden; through the window I had seen a mocking-bird alight on the +top of a magnolia tree, and in silence I wanted to listen to his song. +But the Senator was my benefactor. He had found me a wounded outcast, +lying unconscious on the sand, and had made his mansion my hospital; and +I could not lift an ungrateful finger in protest against a torture which +in his belief was an act of kindness.</p> + +<p>"Now easy, Washington," said the Senator as he held the door open. +"That's it, come ahead."</p> + +<p>The parlor was at the end of a long and lofty hall. The Senator opened +the door. The chair was drawn across the threshold, and I found myself +in the midst of dark, old-fashioned furniture and the portraits of +Statesmen and of ladies done by Frenchmen who had come to this country +to leave a trail of art along the shores of the mighty river.</p> + +<p>"Not too near the window, Washington," said the Senator. "About here. +Now you can go about your business and I will introduce Mrs. Estell."</p> + +<p>They left me sitting with my back toward the door. I wondered why there +should be such an air of ceremony. Was it the custom in Bolanyo to +dignify a torture with a stately introduction? But I had not long to +muse. I heard the Senator returning. "Ah, Mr. Belford," he said, +stepping into the room, "let me present you to my daughter, Mrs. +Estell."</p> + +<p>I looked round with a start, and a living line from old Chaucer, in +golden letters, hung bright before me—"Her glad eyes." I bowed; and I +must have spluttered my astonishment, for the Senator broke out in a +loud and ringing laugh.</p> + +<p>"Sit down, Florence," he said, drawing forward a chair for her. And +then to me, while softly laughing, he observed:</p> + +<p>"Oh, I saw you were distressed at the idea of being read to, and I could +have explained that you needn't look forward to any infliction, but I +thought I'd wait and let you find it out for yourself. Why, Sir, this +child couldn't bore anybody."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Belford, don't listen to him when he calls me a child," she spoke +up. "I am a staid married woman."</p> + +<p>I had not, as yet, sufficiently recovered from my astonishment to +venture a word, so I merely bowed, and read anew old Chaucer's glowing +line.</p> + +<p>"Yes, a child," said the Senator, "but a woman; yes, Sir, as manly a +woman as you ever saw—chase a fox or shake a 'possum out of a persimmon +tree. Well, I must go down town and see what's going on. Don't sit up +too long, Mr. Belford. Send for Washington and he'll pull you back into +the other room."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Estell, I was never more agreeably surprised," said I, when the +Senator had taken his leave. "I expected to be tormented by an +elocutionist."</p> + +<p>"If an elocutionist is your terror, you needn't be afraid of me," she +replied. "I have read to father and my husband, and that is the extent +of my—shall I say, inflictions."</p> + +<p>"Husband," I repeated. "Are you really married?"</p> + +<p>"Surely. Why not?"</p> + +<p>"You are so young—"</p> + +<p>"I am not old enough to be flattered by that remark," she broke in. +"Yes, I have been married two years. My husband is the State Treasurer, +and is at the capital now, but will be home next week. He stays over +there a good deal of the time, and I go with him once in a while, but I +don't like it there. I like my old home better."</p> + +<p>"I don't blame you for that. It must be a charming place. Have you any +brothers or sisters?"</p> + +<p>"No, Sir. It was reserved for me to be the only and, therefore, the +spoiled child. I don't remember my mother. There's her portrait."</p> + +<p>I looked at a picture that had struck me when first I glanced at the +wall. How truthfully the Frenchman had caught a sweet and gentle spirit; +how exquisite was the art that had vivified those loving eyes with the +speaking light of life.</p> + +<p>"Charming," I said sincerely, and she did not look upon it as flattery, +but accepted it as a truth. I looked at her and she did not avoid my +eye, but met it, strong and full, with her own, and I felt that, though +gentle, she was fearless. Sometimes the tone of her voice was serious +and the expression of her face thoughtful, but her eyes appeared to have +been always glad.</p> + +<p>"When are you going to begin reading to me?" I asked, after we had sat +for a time in a contemplative silence.</p> + +<p>"I'm not going to read to you. Don't you see I haven't brought a book?"</p> + +<p>"Then play something," I requested, looking toward the piano.</p> + +<p>"I don't play; and now I must tell you, Mr. Belford, that I haven't a +single accomplishment. I can't sing, and I never cared for dancing; I +don't draw, wouldn't attempt to paint, and I can't speak a word of +Italian. I was never intended for anything but a real companion for my +father, and a dutiful wife to my husband. I am wholly unadorned."</p> + +<p>"No, you are adorned with the highest qualities. Any woman can learn to +play a piano, to speak Italian and to make an attempt at painting, but +every woman cannot be a perfect companion for a man."</p> + +<p>"And a dutiful wife to her husband," she said, laughing. "But to be +dutiful is not so serious a matter.—not so serious to us as I fancy it +is to you stage people."</p> + +<p>"Well, no," I admitted; "and also more serious than the views held by +thousands of good people who live in the large cities."</p> + +<p>She shrugged her shoulders. "Nature doesn't grant divorces," she said. +"Birds are not divorced."</p> + +<p>"But they change mates every year," I replied.</p> + +<p>"Oh, do they? The shameless creatures."</p> + +<p>We laughed, looking straight into each other's eyes. I thought that she +would make a splendid figure on the stage, and I told her so, expecting +to hear her cry out against it, but she did not. She was pleased. "I +have had that sort of longing," she said, "but I never expressed it, +knowing that it would meet with a storm of disapproval. It wouldn't do," +she continued, shaking her head. "I know that I could never reach the +top, and a lower place—"</p> + +<p>"Would make your proud heart sore," I cried, with bitterness.</p> + +<p>She gave me a quick look of compassion, but said nothing; she let me +continue: "I have had the cold clamps put on my impetuous soul, and, +trying to conquer the evil opinion of the critic, I have worked and +studied under the stimulus of despair. But I have given up the fight; I +am going to quit the stage."</p> + +<p>I leaned toward her, hoping for a protest, but she quietly said, "I +don't blame you," and I settled myself back with a sigh. She had seen me +act.</p> + +<p>"What line of work do you intend to take up?" she inquired.</p> + +<p>"I am going to write plays."</p> + +<p>"And will you be satisfied if you don't write the best?"</p> + +<p>"I hadn't thought of that. Yes, in that line I think that I shall be +satisfied with merely a success."</p> + +<p>And then with a wisdom that made me stare at her, she said: "We can find +contentment in the middle ground of a second choice, for then the heart +has had its day of suffering."</p> + +<p>"What do you read to your father?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Dull books in leather," she answered. "And I have sometimes feared that +this schooling has unfitted me for the light and pleasing society of my +friends. They called me an old maid before I was twenty. Oh, I've got +something to show you," she cried, jumping up and running out of the +room; and soon she returned with a little chicken held against her +cheek. "A hawk carried its mother away, and all of its brothers and +sisters were drowned in the rain. Listen to the little thing. Isn't it +sweet? I had a pet duck once and I loved it until it got big enough to +go out and get its feet muddy and then—I granted it a divorce. And +after a while this little thing will grow up and leave me, won't you, +pet? No, you won't, will you? There, I knew you wouldn't. You'll always +be little and lovable, and will stay with me. Come on, now, and let's go +back to the kitchen." She tripped out a girl, singing as she went, but +she came back a woman; and of the ways, the air and the ambitions of the +town I gathered more from a few moments of her talk than her father +could have given me in an hour's oration. He knew the men, but she knew +the whims; and while men may build the houses and make the laws, it is +the whim that makes the atmosphere. And for this reason an old town is +always more interesting than a new one. The subtle influence of odd +characters long since gone continues to live in the air. The Spaniards +had settled on the site of Bolanyo, and though naught but the faint +tracings of a fortified camp were left to mark the manner of their +occupation, still the town felt the honor of almost an ancient origin.</p> + +<p>We talked until nearly noontime; until there came a light tap at the +open door. I looked up and there stood the black giant.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me," he said, "but I am afraid you have been up long enough."</p> + +<p>"Hannibal, your unbending discipline—" I began, but with lifting his +mighty hand he shut me off.</p> + +<p>"I am a soldier of the Lord and Hannibal was a soldier of the devil," he +said. "Please don't compare us."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Estell jumped up, laughing. "You'll have to do as he tells you, Mr. +Belford."</p> + +<p>I had no time to argue against his authority, for already he had +advanced and put his hands on the back of my chair. She walked beside me +down the hall, and as the giant was easing the chair across the +threshold of my room she said:</p> + +<p>"I hope you'll soon get well, and when you do, we'll go fox-hunting, you +and papa and I. Won't that be fun?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," I answered, from the inside of the room. "Oh, yes, it +will be fun for you and your father."</p> + +<p>The negro took hold of the door as if impatient to shut it, and I looked +at him hard enough, I thought, to have bored him through, but, giving me +simply the heed of his slow wink, he continued to stand there.</p> + +<p>"Of course, you can ride a horse," she said; and quickly she added: +"Gracious alive, Washington, don't look at me that way. Good-bye, Mr. +Belford."</p> + +<p>The negro closed the door. "Damn it, man, what do you mean?" I cried. +"Confound you, can't you see—"</p> + +<p>"Sir," he said, standing over me with his arms folded, "do you know what +you are saying?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I do, and I want to tell you right now, and once for all, that I +appreciate your kindness, but will not submit to your insolence. Do you +understand?"</p> + +<p>"I hear you, Sir."</p> + +<p>"But do you understand; that's the question?"</p> + +<p>"I understand, but you don't," he said. "Now, listen to me. There is the +noblest young woman in the world; when she was a child I was her horse, +the black beast who delighted to do her bidding. I know her—I know she +is hungry for someone to talk to. Now, do you understand?"</p> + +<p>I did, but I said "No." I knew that she was hungry; but if I could give +her food, why should this monster dash it to the ground?</p> + +<p>"If you don't, the theatre is a more innocent place than I think it +is," he replied.</p> + +<p>I looked up at him and he winked at me slowly. "But you say she is +noble," I said.</p> + +<p>"She is, Sir, and strong; but a marriage tie cannot hold an unwilling +mind. Don't misunderstand me, Sir. The greatest harm you could do would +be to make her still more dissatisfied. With the presumption of an old +servant, I may say something that sounds impertinent, but I am a +preacher and a moralist. Thomas Rodney Estell is regarded here as a +great man; he has been State Treasurer nearly ten years, and he and the +Senator are warm friends."</p> + +<p>"Well?" I said.</p> + +<p>He looked up at the ceiling and replied: "A girl may marry her father's +friend, but it is not often that she loves him."</p> + +<p>"Washington, are you in league with the devil?"</p> + +<p>This struck through the superficial coating of his education, into his +real negro nature and made him roar with laughter. "No, Sah, I'm er +feard o' him;" but feeling the disgrace of his dialect he sobered and +said: "I think you understand me now, Mr. Belford."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I do, and I don't blame you. But before we go further let me tell +you this: I have been on the stage, which is quite enough to fix my +character in the opinion of many a good but narrow-minded person, but I +am from a long line of Puritan stock, and in my blood there is a strong +sense of moral responsibility. I have never made an intentional show of +those puritanic influences; I have striven rather to hide them from the +contempt of my lighter-hearted companions; but a sagacious old +stage-strutter once held up my overreligious ancestors as the cause of +my failure to catch the subtle art of a high grade of work. He declared +that all great English-speaking actors could trace their blood back to +the cart's tail."</p> + +<p>"I don't understand, Mr. Belford—the reference to the cart's tail."</p> + +<p>"To ease their consciences and to serve the Lord with becoming +activity, it was the custom of the Puritans, in the olden day, to +condemn actors and tie them to the tail of a cart, and whip them through +the street."</p> + +<p>"I have never read about it, Mr. Belford."</p> + +<p>"I suppose not. Church history doesn't dwell upon it."</p> + +<p>He turned toward the door, faced about and said: "The woman will bring +your dinner. I am going out among my people and shall not be here again +until to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"You needn't come then, Washington."</p> + +<p>"Yes, to pull your chair into the parlor."</p> + +<p>"That's so. Thank you."</p> + +<p>He stood for a moment in silence, and, without speaking, he stepped +back, and, with a grave nod and a slow wink, he softly shut the door.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>THE NOTORIOUS BUGG PETERS.</h3> + + +<p>I mended so rapidly that within a week I was able to walk about. +Washington had every day drawn my chair into the parlor; but when I no +longer was in need of this physical service, he continued his visits to +give me the benefit of his spiritual strength. And once, when he came +into my room, like a dark reproach, I chopped off his moral droning with +the command to "get out!" He obeyed in silence, and I thought that I had +given our relationship a mortal wound. But in the garden the next day he +came up with unusual cheeriness and invited me to his church to hear him +preach upon the strength of the Spirit and the weakness of the human +family.</p> + +<p>One day the Senator took me out in his buggy. He drove me through the +town, and what a delight it was once more to look upon the affairs of +man. The buildings were for the most part old, and many of them were +dingy from neglect, but the air was restful and romantic. At every turn, +after leaving the business center, we came upon magnolia trees, now in +full bloom. Here was a garden whose low brick walls were green and gray +with time, a patch of moss and a cluster of snails; and away over yonder +was a blush on the landscape—a jungle of roses. There were flowers +everywhere, and far from the mansions of the lordly was many a log hut, +beautiful in a tangle of vines. We drove down the river, toward a +densely timbered flat, but did not penetrate its malarious shade, the +Senator choosing to turn to the left to drive me to a distant hill +whereon stood the school for girls, the one of which he might have taken +charge, had not his fight with Lige Patton proved him fitted for a more +manly charge—the male academy. As we were driving along, a tall, gaunt +man climbed over a fence, stepped out into the road and signaled us to +stop. The Senator drew up, laughing. The man came forward, put his hands +on the buggy tire, took them off, "dusted" them to brush off the dirt, +and put them on the tire again. The Senator introduced Mr. Peters, and +our detainer looked up, grinned and said:</p> + +<p>"Yes, Sir, the notorious Bugg Peters."</p> + +<p>His face was thin and sallow, his long hair looked like hay, and his +eyes were simply two pale yellow spots.</p> + +<p>"Out ridin' for your health, Senator?"</p> + +<p>"No, just thought I'd show my friend, Mr. Belford, the town and the +country."</p> + +<p>"Ah, hah! Oh, yes, he's one of the men that was blowed up. And he's +stayin' at your house. Ah, hah! He's about the last of 'em, ain't he? I +heard that all that wan't dead had put off somewhere. Never was blowed +up, that is, by a boat, but I've went through mighty nigh everything +else. Almost hugged to death by a bear down in the canebrake just +before the June rise eight year ago. Don't reckon your friend was ever +hugged by a bear," he went on, speaking of me as if I were not there.</p> + +<p>"No," I answered.</p> + +<p>"Then you've got a good deal to look forward to," he replied, +recognizing that, like Paul, I was permitted to speak for myself. "I've +had a good many things to happen to me, first and last, but I don't know +of anything worse than a bear's hug, unless it is son-in-laws."</p> + +<p>The Senator began to laugh and I looked at Mr. Peters for an +explanation. He did not keep me waiting.</p> + +<p>"I've got seven son-in-laws down yonder in my house right now," he said, +"dusting" his hands again and putting them back on on the tire. "Every +time a gal of mine gits married she goes away for a few days with her +husband, and then fetches him back with the ague; and he settles down in +my house and there he shakes. Got seven of them down there now a-shakin' +fit to kill themselves. If you'll step over there on that rise, you can +look down in the bottoms and see my house, and I'll bet you it's +a-tremblin' like a leaf right now. Them seven fellers keep it a-shakin' +all the time. Yes, Sir. Now, when Mag took a man, I says, says I, 'Mag, +I have always looked on you as the smartest one of the family, and I +want you to do me a favor; I want you to see if you can't take that +feller of your'n so far away that he can't git back.' And, Sir, I sold +my oats and give her the money, and she cleared out, but in less than a +month here she come, with her husband shakin' like a wet dog. I told him +to go in and find shakin' room if he could, and he crowded his way up to +the fireplace, and there he sets this minute, a-shakin' like a pound of +calfsfoot jelly."</p> + +<p>"Look here, Bugg," said the Senator, laughing, "why don't you move out +of the bottoms?"</p> + +<p>"What, and go up in the hills and ketch some new-fangled disease that I +don't know nothin' about? I reckon not, Senator. I've learned to let +well enough alone, and jest ordinary everyday chills is good enough for +me. Mister, how long are you goin' to be with us?" he inquired of me.</p> + +<p>"I don't know exactly. I wanted to go yesterday, but the Senator +wouldn't hear to it."</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't reckon you are able to do much knockin' about yet. Don't +believe I'd be snatched, anyway. Like for you to come down to see us +before you go. I can show you about the finest and shakinest set of +son-in-laws you ever saw. Did think somethin' of showin' 'em at the +State Fair this fall. But say, gentle<i>men</i>, you must sorter excuse me +for stoppin' you; but I wanted to see the Senator on business."</p> + +<p>The Senator gathered up the lines as if he had a suspicion of the +business referred to, and therefore desired to drive on, but Mr. Peters +in a distressful tone of voice implored him to wait a moment. "I want to +ask a favor," he said. "Wouldn't do it if it wan't for the fact that +they are all down there shakin' for dear life. I want to give you my +note for ten dollars for thirty days. You know I'll take it up."</p> + +<p>"Yes, if you should happen to find it," the Senator replied.</p> + +<p>"Come, now, Senator, don't talk that way. You might give this here man +that was blowed up a bad opinion of me. I've got the good opinion of +everybody else, and I don't want the bad respects of a man that has fell +down in amongst us."</p> + +<p>"Bugg, how many of your thirty-day notes do you suppose I've got?"</p> + +<p>"Why, none," he declared in great surprise.</p> + +<p>"I can show you twenty at least," said the Senator.</p> + +<p>"Well, now," Mr. Peters began to drawl, "this here is news to me, and +mighty sad news at that. Huh, I don't see how I could have made such a +mistake."</p> + +<p>"I was the one that made the mistake," the Senator replied.</p> + +<p>"Now don't say that, Talcom. Dang it, haven't I always voted for you? +Why, Sir, at the last election I went to the polls with a chill on me, +and I shook so hard it took two men to hold me still long enough to +shove my ticket in. Oh, I don't deny that I might owe you a note or +so—may be the addition of another son-in-law kept me from payin' +it—but all my gals are married now, and I don't look for any big +increase in the family till my sister and her husband come from over in +Arkansas to live with me; and as they ain't well and will have to pick +their way along the best they can, I'll have time to take up a half a +dozen notes by the time they git here."</p> + +<p>"What do you want with the money, Bugg?"</p> + +<p>"Why, I need about five bushels of wheat. That's what I want with it."</p> + +<p>"Well, here," said the Senator, taking out a notebook, "I'll give you an +order on my overseer for five bushels of wheat."</p> + +<p>"Talcom, by gosh you move me, and I am fit right now to drap a tear in +the palm of your hand. Yes, Sir, you can come nearer makin' me cry than +any man I ever run across."</p> + +<p>The Senator gave him the order, and we drove on, leaving him in the road +to whine his gratitude and loudly to swear that at the next election he +would vote all right, even if it should take a dozen men to hold him up.</p> + +<p>"Why do you permit such fellows to rob you?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Belford, I can't help myself. That poor wretch comes near telling the +truth about his sons-in-law. Of course, he's as shiftless as a stray +dog, but he's kind-hearted and has a sense of humor that tickles me. +And, after all, it doesn't seem right that I should have an abundance +and that other men within sight of me should be in want." He took off +his hat to wave it gracefully at a lady as she passed, and still holding +it in his hand, he continued: "It's luck, Belford, nothing but luck. +I've never had any management. I have a set of books, but half the time +I don't know where I stand. My plantation pays, not because it's well +managed, but because the land's rich. I bought it, together with the +house I live in, with money that was left me, and the fact that I am not +compelled to scuffle for a living is no particular credit to me. It's +simply luck. I've got sense enough not to reach too high. Some time ago +they wanted to run me for governor, but I knew what that meant. It meant +two or perhaps four years in the State House, and then relegation to the +shade of a 'has been.' I like politics, I like to fight for measures, +and my position as State Senator suits me exactly; and I believe I can +hold it for a number of years to come. It is true that I am largely +preyed upon—"</p> + +<p>"By white and black," I suggested.</p> + +<p>"Yes, in a measure. How are you, Uncle Gabe?" he called, bowing to an +old man.</p> + +<p>"By the notorious Bugg—and by Washington," I ventured.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Washington is different. I give money to his church, and he is +free to come and go as he pleases. I was the means of his education, +and, though ignoring politics, he controls a large negro vote. Look out +over there, you boys, that mule might kick you. Aunt Sally, glad to see +you (bowing to a countrywoman who came jogging along on a horse). Folks +all well? All but Uncle John, eh? Hope he'll be out again soon."</p> + +<p>We were far beyond the outskirts of the town, on a rise commanding a +delightful view of groves, gardens, old houses, a fort in ruins, the +easy-going city and the river. We passed the school for young ladies, +and the Senator waved his hat at a vision of white and pink on the +portico. "My daughter Florence was graduated here," said he. "And, by +the way, you haven't met Estell. He was to have come home several days +ago, but business kept him. Florence is looking for him to-day, I +believe. Strong man, about your size—not quite so tall. You are a good +deal of a man when you are yourself, I take it."</p> + +<p>"I have done pretty fair work in a gymnasium," I replied.</p> + +<p>We turned into a broad road that led to town, and which passed the +Senator's house. It was a military road, my companion said, and had been +marked by the passage of old Jackson's troops.</p> + +<p>"Senator, my obligations to you are very deep indeed, and I have +refrained from saying anything—"</p> + +<p>"Well, then, don't say anything now. It's all right. Boat blew up at the +door of our city, and why shouldn't we care for the unfortunates?"</p> + +<p>"But before going away I want to give you some sort of an expression +of—"</p> + +<p>"That's all right, Sir. There's time enough."</p> + +<p>"No, I shall go to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"Better wait a day or two. Have you an engagement in view?"</p> + +<p>"No, and I shall not look for one. I have decided to quit the stage."</p> + +<p>"Well, Sir, I don't know but you are wise. It must be an uncertain sort +of life. But what are you going to do?"</p> + +<p>"I am going to write plays."</p> + +<p>"That's well enough; easy work I should think. All you've got to do is +to hatch out your plot and then stand your people around it. And look +here, Belford, there are characters enough about here to make one of the +best plays you ever saw. Why not stay here and do your writing? The fact +is, we like you, and don't want you to go away."</p> + +<p>"But I <i>must</i> go."</p> + +<p>"You say so, but I don't look at it that way. Of course, if you are +tired of our slow and dull city, Sir, you—"</p> + +<p>"Tired?" I broke in. "It is the most soothing town on the face of the +earth. The days melt one into another like the mellow words of an +ancient rhetorician."</p> + +<p>"Belford, I guess you are about ready to begin work on that play," he +said, laughing. "There's always a strong enthusiasm behind that sort of +talk. By the way, do you think you could take hold of an opera house +and manage it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think so—I know I could. Why?"</p> + +<p>"We appear to be getting at it, Belford. We have a very good opera house +here, almost new. A man from New Orleans built it, went broke in a +bigger speculation, leased it to a Dutchman who fiddled in the +orchestra, and now the house is without a manager. Suppose you take it?"</p> + +<p>"I'd take it in a minute, Senator, but the fact is, I'm broke."</p> + +<p>"Dollars melted like the mellow words of an ancient rhetorician, eh?"</p> + +<p>For a few moments we drove on in silence, the Senator making with his +hat half-circle greetings to constituents who stood in a dooryard or who +met us in the road. "Ha! Lester," he cried at a man who came along in a +wagon behind a span of mules; and then to me he said: "A few years ago +that fellow took it into his head that I was a little too conspicuous—I +had called him a liar, or something of the sort, don't remember exactly +what—and gave it out that he was going to horsewhip me. And I sent him +word to buy his whip from Alf Murray, first-class harness dealer, and a +friend of mine, and that I would meet him at his earliest convenience. I +don't know whether he patronized my friend in the purchase of a whip, +but I know that when I met him on the public square the next day he had +one as long as a bull-snake. And, Sir, I believe that he had intended to +hit me with it."</p> + +<p>"What caused him to change his mind?" I inquired, with no interest in +the matter.</p> + +<p>"Why, I knocked him down, and when he was able to get up and look around +again the whip was gone. Since that time we've been good friends. Now, +about the opera house. You say you've got no money. Now, let me tell you +what I'll do. I'll advance the money and go in as a partner. The money I +am compelled to spend during each campaign is beginning to eat +seriously into the income from my plantation, and I would like to ease +up the pressure. My part might not be a great deal, but it would help. +What do you say?"</p> + +<p>"I could go off into all sorts of extravagances, Senator. I could say +that you have made my blood leap, that you—"</p> + +<p>"But that wouldn't be businesslike. What do you say?"</p> + +<p>"That I snap at your proposition."</p> + +<p>"All right, I'll go down to-morrow and rent the house."</p> + +<p>"But you don't care to have your name known in it, do you?"</p> + +<p>"Why not? It's all right. These people like a good show, and if we give +them the best, it will make me still more useful and popular. Yes, Sir, +its all right, and we'll draw up the papers to-morrow."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>THE STATE TREASURER.</h3> + + +<p>The town had been attractive, but now it sprung into endearment. Emotion +was strong within me and my spirits rose, to find a new interest in +everything and to pick up many a jest by the roadside. I caught the song +of an old man who stood near the turnpike, trimming a young orchard; and +the laughter of a child that was romping on the grass when we stopped at +a toll gate threw sparkles of new life in the air. One sweet thrill of +selfishness had made the whole world musical and glad.</p> + +<p>"Senator, whose house is that over yonder, to the left?"</p> + +<p>"Mine," he answered. "Oh, yes, this is the first time you've had an +opportunity to view it from a distance. We are out too far to have the +advantage of gas and city water, but we've got room to swing round in, +and that's worth everything. Lumber dealer came one day and wanted to +know what I'd take for those walnuts. I told him that I'd take human +life if it was necessary. Hang me, if I didn't feel like setting the +dogs on him. I do believe," he said, shading his eyes, "that yonder are +Estell and Florence. Yes, Sir, he's got home."</p> + +<p>At the gate, beneath the walnut trees, a man and a woman stood looking +toward us. The woman was Mrs. Estell. I had recognized her before the +Senator directed my attention; I should have known her a mile away. Her +gracefulness was so original that she must have been unconscious of its +effect. The soft climate of the South had touched her with its ease, but +she seemed ever on the verge of breaking away from it; and sometimes she +did, not with mere gayety, but with unconquerable strength. She +enforced upon me the belief that she had taken fencing lessons.</p> + +<p>"And suppose he should object to our compact?" was a surmise that passed +through my mind; and I did not realize that I had given it actual +utterance until the Senator surprised me by saying:</p> + +<p>"None of his business. Our affair. Taking care of the funds of the State +gives him about all he can look after. Helloa, there, Estell, why don't +you come out to meet a fellow?"</p> + +<p>"On the keen jump, now," Estell replied, coming slowly to meet us, his +wife walking with him. It might have been the eye of prejudice that made +him look so old, though why should there have been an eye of prejudice? +His mustache was cropped off, stiff and gray, and his skin was thin on +his cheeks and thick under his chin. The Senator introduced us, with +heartiness and a flourish, and the moment I took Estell's hand I knew +that from his lofty position among the money bags of the State he could +not look down and find an interest in me. His nature was financial, his +instincts commercial; and I can say with truth that commerce embodied in +a strong and aggressive personality has always made me shudder. I am +afraid of the man who delights to make figures; I feel that I am in his +power. I might not hesitate to dispute with a most learned theologian, +to hang with him upon the quirks of his creed, but with a pencil and a +piece of paper a banker's clerk can cower me.</p> + +<p>The Senator assisted me to alight, the Treasurer lending a pretense of +his aid; and we went without delay to the dining-room where dinner was +waiting. The Estells sat opposite the Senator and me; and the master of +the house and his son-in-law began to talk over the affairs of State.</p> + +<p>"Hope you had a pleasant drive," Mrs. Estell said to me.</p> + +<p>"Charming; we had a fine view of the town, saw the old fort, and passed +your college."</p> + +<p>"Stupid old place, isn't it? But then, it's dear, just like stupid +people. Did you ever notice how dear stupid people are? They are +sometimes our dearest ones. I suppose they feel that about the only +thing they can do is to make themselves dear."</p> + +<p>Estell was saying something about $246,-724, or something that sounded +like that amount, but he dropped it to ask: "Florence, what are you +talking about?"</p> + +<p>"Stupid people. But you are not interested."</p> + +<p>"No, of course not, but I was trying to get at an exact amount, and you +bothered me for a moment."</p> + +<p>"It's all right, let it go," said the Senator. "By the way, Mr. Belford +and I have entered into a business arrangement. We are going to run the +opera house and share profits."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Estell cried "good." Estell gave her a look of reproof, I thought. +"You mean that you are going to share losses," he said. "The thing was +an elephant on Sanderson's hands."</p> + +<p>"But it won't be on ours," the Senator spoke up. "We know how to run it. +Don't we, Belford?"</p> + +<p>"I think we do," I answered. "My fellow-players called me the manager's +elephant, and in this case I don't know but we might be pitting Greek +against Greek, or elephant against elephant."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Estell laughed and so did the Senator, but Estell drank his coffee +in silence. The subject was permitted to fall, but it was taken up again +shortly afterward, when we had lighted our cigars in the library.</p> + +<p>"So you think of going into the show business?" said the State +Treasurer, resting his head on the back of his chair and looking up at +the ceiling.</p> + +<p>"Well, not actively," the Senator replied. "That is, I'm not to be +active in the work."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I suppose it's all right," admitted Estell; "but it's a new line +and new lines are dangerous."</p> + +<p>"But if dangerous, not without interest," the Senator was quick to +retort. "It's settled, at any rate. I'm going to try it."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Estell had not accompanied us. I heard her talking to a dog in the +hall, and I listened with pleasure, for her voice was strong, deep and +singularly musical.</p> + +<p>"The next session of the Legislature will be a very busy one, I am +inclined to think," Estell remarked.</p> + +<p>"Always is," the Senator replied, laughing. "The better part of a new +session is generally taken up with the work of repealing the laws passed +by an older Assembly."</p> + +<p>I was wondering whether Estell would ever become deeply enough +interested in my existence to warrant a straight look from his pale and +abstracted eye, when he withdrew his gaze from the ceiling, directed it +at me and said that he was glad to see me so far advanced toward +recovery. It was a mere commonplace which may not have arisen from a +real interest, and which politeness could no longer defer, but it gave +me a better opinion of him.</p> + +<p>"I suppose," said I, not knowing what else to say, "that you find your +occupation one of almost painful exactness."</p> + +<p>I think that he gave me a look of contempt. I am quite sure that, if he +did not, his eye failed him of his intention.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't stay there ten minutes if it meant play," he replied, and +turning to the Senator he said: "Saw old Dan Hilliard the other day."</p> + +<p>"No!" the Senator exclaimed. "You don't mean <i>old</i> Dan Hilliard?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I do—old Dan Hilliard."</p> + +<p>"Hanged if I didn't think he was dead. Well, I'll swear! Old Dan +Hilliard! Humph! Why, I met his wife one day about three years ago and +she told me that Dan was dying, that he couldn't live till night. Now +what do you suppose he wanted to get well for?"</p> + +<p>"To distress his friends, I reckon. Wanted to get five dollars from me, +and said if I'd give him the money you would pay him back."</p> + +<p>My eyes with wandering about the room alighted on two foils, crossed +above a bookcase. I was right. The young woman had taken fencing +lessons. And just at that moment she entered the room, a great dog +following her. At the door she turned about to drive him back. He tried +to spring by her; she caught him, lifted him from the floor and with a +swing she tumbled him out into the hall.</p> + +<p>"What <i>are</i> you doing?" the Treasurer cried, with a nervous jump; and +the Senator, who sat facing the door, fell back with a laugh so full of +contagion that I caught it before I had time to strengthen my gravity +with the reflection that I might give Estell a cause to think that I was +intruding myself into a family affair.</p> + +<p>"I am teaching old Tiger to behave himself," she replied, with a smile.</p> + +<p>"I thought you had knocked down a steer," said Estell, settling himself +in his rocking chair. He shut his eyes, and to me he looked like a man +who longed for rest, but who had almost despaired of finding it. +"Florence," he spoke up, opening his eyes and slightly turning his head +toward her, "see if you can find my slippers, please. You needn't go +yourself," he added. "Send for them."</p> + +<p>"I don't know where they are, and nobody else can find them," she +replied; and hastening out, she ran up the stairs, humming an +undefinable tune.</p> + +<p>"Tom," said the Senator, "you have about worn yourself out. Why don't +you go off somewhere?"</p> + +<p>"Can't—haven't time."</p> + +<p>"That's the biggest fallacy that man ever introduced as an economy. Did +you ever know a man too busy to die?"</p> + +<p>"No, but I sometimes think I am."</p> + +<p>"Why don't you give up the infernal office? Nothing in it, anyway."</p> + +<p>"Why don't you give up <i>your</i> infernal office?"</p> + +<p>"What!" cried the Senator, and he began to run his fingers through his +beard. "Now that would be a devil of a come off, wouldn't it! How is a +State to get along without laws? Hah! Look at the measures that owe +their origin to me. Tom, it's all right to be tired, but it's dangerous +to trample on common sense. Why don't I give up my office, indeed! Now +what could have put that fool notion into your head? Have you heard +anybody say that I ought to give it up? If you have, out with it, and +I'll make him produce his cause or eat his words. Out with it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know that I've heard anybody say that you ought to give it +up," Estell replied, opening his eyes, but closing them again before he +had completed the sentence.</p> + +<p>"You don't <i>know</i> that you have," the Senator retorted, twisting his +beard to a sharp and fierce-looking point. "Estell, old fellow, there +are times for joking, but this is not one of them. I make no objection +to fair and honorable criticism, Sir; you know that. I grant every man +the right to pass upon my acts in office—<i>in</i> office, understand; but +when a man says I ought to resign, why he must show cause, or I'll stuff +him like a sausage with his own garrulity. That's me, Estell, and you +know it."</p> + +<p>"Talcom, I reckon that's you. But now to be exact, I haven't heard +anybody say you ought not to be in office."</p> + +<p>"Good enough, Tom. It's all right. Yes, Sir, it's all right," said the +Statesman, with no trace of his recent disquiet, but with pleasant, +kindly eyes and a countenance made smooth by the justice of his cause +and the pride with which he regarded his determination to defend his +good name. "But, Tom, you really need rest. Oh, of course, I don't mean +that you should give up public life. No, Sir," he went on, looking at +me, "when a man has once been a servant of the people, he is never +satisfied to fall back among the powerless 'masters.' And, Sir—of +course it wouldn't do to say it everywhere, but I will say it here in +confidence—I have often looked at some poor, obscure devil and have +said to myself, 'Why the deuce do you want to live? You can't possibly +enjoy yourself, for nobody pays any attention to you.'"</p> + +<p>And then spoke a voice at the door. I looked around and there Mrs. +Estell stood, holding a slipper in each hand, her arms hanging limp. I +did not catch the words she uttered first, but these I heard and always +shall remember: "And perhaps he has a wife who worships him, and +children that think he's a god. And if I were a man I would rather be in +his place than to have a world of flattery."</p> + +<p>With a swift step and a graceful bend she laid the slippers at her +husband's feet. The Senator clapped his hands and so did I, but Estell +neither moved nor opened his eyes until he heard the slippers tap upon +the floor, and then he turned his head to say, "I'm much obliged to +you."</p> + +<p>And at that moment she broke away from the soft and dignifying +influences of a Southern atmosphere; she sprang upon a chair, snatched +the foils from the wall, laid one of them across my knees, sprang back +and with mock tragedy cried, "Defend yourself." But before I could get +out of my astonishment to say a word, and as the dull eyes of her +husband looked up sharp with surprise, she bowed with a condescending +grace and with mimic magnanimity threw down the foil and said: "Ah, I +forgot. You are wounded and a prisoner."</p> + +<p>The Senator looked on with pride; his face glowed and his eyes snapped, +but Estell grunted: "Mr. er-er-Belford," he began, again becoming +vaguely conscious that I was on the face of the earth, "the Senator had +no son; and that explains why he made a tomboy of his daughter." He +laughed weakly as he said this, and as a piece of good humor it was a +failure, but it proved to me that he was not wholly ill-natured.</p> + +<p>"That's all right," the Senator replied, with his eyes on Mrs. Estell, +who had again mounted a chair to replace the foils on the wall. "That's +all right, but her tomboyishness has made her decidedly human, and, +Sir," he added, as the young woman stepped down, "I guess she succeeded +in winning the love of one of the best men in the State. Eh. How's that, +old fellow?"</p> + +<p>"Not quite so bad as I expected," Estell answered, rousing up. "You +could have studied longer and framed it worse. By the way, Mr. +Belmont—"</p> + +<p>"Belford," his wife suggested, standing with her hands resting on the +back of his chair.</p> + +<p>"Yes, thank you. But, by the way, Mr. Belford, where are you from, Sir? +I take it that you are not a Southern man."</p> + +<p>"I was born near the old city of Chester, England," I answered. "But I +came to this country when a boy. And among Americans I sometimes assert +that I'm English, but among Englishmen I am often proud to say that I am +an American."</p> + +<p>"Good enough," said the Senator. "First rate. That's all you need to say +around here, Sir. Our most famous orator, S. S. Prentiss, used to say, +when reproached with the fact that he was not born in Mississippi, that +any fool could have been born here, but that he had sense enough to come +to the State of his own accord. Belford, we've had some great orators. +We've had men, Sir, that could make you laugh at your own sorrow and +then compel you to look with grief upon your own laughter. But they are +gone, Sir." He got up and stood with one hand thrust into his bosom. +"They are gone, and the world will never look upon their like again. +Why, Sir, Prentiss, with his oration on starving Ireland, made the whole +world weep. Ah, and who makes it weep now? It does not weep, for there +is a measure of relief in tears. It groans, and in a groan there is no +sentiment—the groan is the language of despair. The oppressive +corporation, the heartless money grabber—but I won't talk about it," he +broke off, sitting down and running his fingers through his beard.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it's bad," Estell drawled, "but what are we going to do about it, +heigho?" he yawned. "You people may discuss the ills of the world, but +I'm going up-stairs and take a nap."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>PUBLIC ENTERTAINERS.</h3> + + +<p>Early the next day the Senator and I went down to look at the opera +house. It was about midway in a block that faced the public square. Of +course there was nothing attractive in its outward appearance, and I +expected to find a raw interior, but I was more than happily surprised. +The auditorium was well appointed, the chairs were of the best and the +decorations were modest and artistic. I felt that it was only the +poorest of management that could have brought about the financial +failure of the house. And now that I had seen the place there arose a +fear that the agent might set the price too high. But when we called +upon him the Senator explained with so many gestures intended to +depress him, and with so many shrewd words thrown out to convince him +that we came as benefactors, that he soon was willing to accept our +terms. The papers were drawn up at once.</p> + +<p>"And, now, by the way," said the Senator, "I don't want to be known in +this transaction, for, come to think it over, there are many people in +my senatorial district who hold a prejudice against the show business. +So I'll be a silent partner, and a mighty silent one, I want you to +understand."</p> + +<p>The agent said that he understood, and the Senator continued: "The +editor of that mongrel sheet, the <i>Times</i>, would twist this thing out of +all shape, Sir. He would fight the house to injure me, and he'd jump on +me to hurt the house. Mr. Belford here will be the manager, and I guess +he knows all about it."</p> + +<p>I was forced to tell him that I was not a business man, that I could +secure the attractions, but that he must see that the books were kept +properly. "That's all right," he said. "I can't do it myself, but I'll +take them home and turn them over to my daughter. She may not know how +to keep them in the regular way, but you may gamble that they'll be kept +right."</p> + +<p>I agreed to this, but as we were going out the thought occurred to me +that Estell might object.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that will be all right," the Senator declared when I spoke of it. +"He may not be taken with the idea, but it will give Florence a +practical thing to think about, and he can see that it will be good for +her."</p> + +<p>"But if it's just the same to you, Senator, I'd rather you wouldn't +speak to him about it when I'm present. Even the slightest objection on +his part would be embarrassing to me."</p> + +<p>"You are right, Belford, and I appreciate your sensitiveness. Yes, Sir, +you are right. But he won't object."</p> + +<p>As we drew near to the house we saw Estell standing under a walnut +tree. "Go on in," said the Senator, "and I will have a talk with him. +It's a matter of no importance, you understand. We can hire a man to +keep the books. But I'll speak to him."</p> + +<p>I passed on into the library. The dog, that had presumed to disobey the +mistress of the house, lay stretched upon the floor, and as I entered he +looked up contemptuously, and then to all appearances resumed his nap. +Presently Mrs. Estell came in.</p> + +<p>"You are back early," she said. "What are you doing here?" This was +spoken to the dog. He raised his head and gave her an appealing look. +"They want you out there to catch a chicken to send to a sick man."</p> + +<p>The dog brightened, jumped up and trotted out, and soon a squawk and a +command from a negro woman announced that he had done his work.</p> + +<p>"It is all arranged," I said.</p> + +<p>"I knew it would be," she replied. "My father gets nearly everything he +goes after."</p> + +<p>"And he is now after Mr. Estell, to get his consent—"</p> + +<p>"Consent!" she broke in. "Consent about what?"</p> + +<p>"Why, the Senator thought it would be a good idea to bring the books up +here and let you keep them."</p> + +<p>"I'd like that. It would give me something to think about."</p> + +<p>"That's what your father said."</p> + +<p>"Oh, and he's gone to ask Mr. Estell. He won't care. He may object at +first—he objects to nearly everything at first."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe he takes to me very kindly," I ventured to remark.</p> + +<p>She laughed. "Oh, he doesn't take to anyone at first. I had known him +ever since I was a child, and I was grown before he appeared to think +anything of me. But he doesn't seem a bit like his old self. He used to +be lively and liked to go out, but now he's worried all the time and +doesn't care to go anywhere. I don't know what's the trouble with him, +I'm sure. Isn't that a pretty little theatre? And what do you think of +the prospects? Don't you think they're good? I do."</p> + +<p>"So do I. The town is large enough, and I believe we can make the +venture pay."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure of it," she said. "It has never been managed properly. None +but the poorest plays came here, and no wonder it failed. I do hope it +will be a success. It will give father something new to talk about. I'm +so tired of politics. Always the same thing, anxiety and treachery and +everything unpleasant. Mr. Estell was offered an excellent place in a +New Orleans bank, some time ago, and I begged him to take it, but he +wouldn't. And I can't understand why. There's no money and no particular +honor in the place he has now. But you would think his life depended on +it. He had strong opposition at the last election, and I thought he'd go +wild. Here they come."</p> + +<p>The Senator slyly winked at me as he entered the room. But Estell did +not appear to see me until he had sat down, and then he looked at me and +said:</p> + +<p>"You and Talcom are trying to involve the whole family in that show +enterprise, eh?"</p> + +<p>"We'd like to involve the whole community in it," I answered.</p> + +<p>"Yes. And it would be a nice thing for a friend to meet me and say: +'Helloa, Estell, understand your wife, the former belle of Bolanyo, is +keeping books for a show.'"</p> + +<p>"If you object, Mr. Estell," I began, but he shut me off.</p> + +<p>"Object? Why, I don't object to anything that Talcom does. What's the +use? Oh, it's all right. And I suppose we'll have show bills pasted up +all over the house. Might take a few of them to Jackson with me and +stick 'em up in the Treasurer's office; might get the Governor to put up +a few in the Executive Chambers. And I know the walls of the Senate +will be lined with them."</p> + +<p>I was about to say something in resentment of this dry ridicule when the +Senator looked at me with a comedian's squint of the eye. "Oh, yes," +said he, "and we'll have the Governor issue a proclamation commanding +all the State officers to attend our performances. By the way, he is a +bachelor. We'll marry him to a—"</p> + +<p>"Soubrette," I suggested, to help him out. The Senator laughed and +Estell chuckled wearily as his wife, in her good humor, shook his chair. +Dating from this trifling incident the Treasurer appeared to like me +better; at least, he paid me more attention, and at dinner he told a +joke (which the Senator afterward informed me was his favorite bit of +humor), and I laughed as if I really enjoyed it. I felt more kindly +toward him, but the eye of prejudice made him old, for constantly I +wondered how she could ever have given her consent to marry him. I had +been told, by the Senator, I think, that his family was high, that his +people were once of the great and lordly set of the South, and of course +I knew that in the marriage arrangement the name of family meant more +than mental or physical suitability; and yet I could not rid myself of +the belief that a violence had been committed against sentiment the day +she gave her hand to her father's friend.</p> + +<p>After dinner the Senator and I went into the library to talk over our +venture, and Estell trod heavily up the stairs to take his nap. I +wondered whether his wife were coming with us. She did not; she went out +into the magnolia garden; and through the window I watched her as she +walked about beneath the trees. To me she was such a picture, so lithe a +piece of Nature's art, that in my study of her I did not think of a +danger that might lie in wait for me; but in matters that tend to lead +the heart astray we rarely think until too late and then each thought is +an added pain.</p> + +<p>The Senator was saying something and I looked around at him. "Yes, Sir, +I think we'll run all right. Bound to if we put our energies into it. +Let's see; you'll have to go North and book the attractions, won't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I ought to, but it's now almost too far along in the season. It +would involve considerable expense, and I think that the best plan is to +do my best with correspondence and take it in time next year."</p> + +<p>"Shouldn't wonder but you are right. Yes, and that will give you time to +work on your play. It will be quite a feather in our cap to have a play +written by our manager."</p> + +<p>"Yes, a successful play," I replied.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't you worry about that. We'll make it a success all right +enough, for we've got the characters here under our gaze."</p> + +<p>"And the notorious Bugg Peters is one of them," I suggested.</p> + +<p>He began to run his fingers through his beard. "Well, I don't know about +that, Belford. It doesn't seem to me, though, that we ought to mar a +play with as trifling a fellow as he is. Why, that fellow is no account +on the face of the earth! Why, he's common! And, Sir, the people +wouldn't go to see a play that had him in it. We can get better +material, honorable and upright men, Sir. Why, he'd take all the dignity +out of it; he'd bring ridicule on the South. By gracious, Sir, they'd +think that he's—he's real!"</p> + +<p>"Well, but isn't he?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, in a way, yes. But he's not a representative man, you understand; +and I want to tell you, Belford, that the stage is in need of +representative men. Why, Sir, every newspaper is talking about the +elevation of the stage, the need of it, mind you; and I don't see how +you can elevate the stage if you put such men as Bugg Peters on it. Why, +confound his hide, do you know there's not a bigger liar in this State? +And do you know that he owes me?—well, I won't attempt to say how much. +We'll give him wheat, Sir, to keep him and his shaking sons-in-law from +starving, but we cannot—I repeat—we cannot put him on our stage. It's +nothing to laugh at, Belford. It's a serious matter. I'll show you some +characters—I'll find them for you. Why, here's Washington. Come in, +come in."</p> + +<p>The preacher came forward and stood gravely looking down upon us. "Sit +down," said the Senator. "That is, unless Mr. Belford objects," he +added, looking at me.</p> + +<p>"Why should I object?" I asked, in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Oh, some people object to—"</p> + +<p>"A negro sitting down in the presence of white gentlemen, unless he +drops his hat at the door and then sits on a trunk or a box," Washington +spoke up, smiling. "But," he added, "the Senator is more liberal. +However, I do not wish to sit down. I have come on an important errand."</p> + +<p>"Ah, ha! How much do you need?" the Senator inquired.</p> + +<p>The preacher roared with as genuine a laugh as ever was blown across a +cotton field.</p> + +<p>"We don't need so very much," he said, his gravity returning with a +suddenness that made him appear almost ridiculously solemn. "We need +something, however, and when our own resources had fallen short, I told +my brethren that I knew where to come. The truth is, we need a new bell +for the church, and lack twenty-five dollars of having enough to pay for +it."</p> + +<p>"A new bell! Why, what's the matter with the old one?"</p> + +<p>"It is cracked, Sir."</p> + +<p>"Cracked! Why I'll bet a thousand dollars you can hear it fifteen miles. +Why don't you take the money that a bell would cost and give it to the +poorer members of your congregation?"</p> + +<p>"The poor we have with us always, Senator. We need a new bell."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and you'll ring it at all times of night and keep me awake. Why do +they have to be rung, too, so much? Hang me, if I don't believe you've +got one old fellow over there that gets up and rings it in his sleep; +and many a time I've felt like filling his black hide with shot. When do +you want the devilish thing?"</p> + +<p>"You mean the bell, Sir?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. When do you have to get it?"</p> + +<p>"It has been ordered and it must be paid for on its arrival."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you've ordered it. Well, now, if you hadn't ordered it you'd +never've got a cent out of me. Don't believe I've got that much money +about me," he added, stretching out his leg and thrusting his hand into +his pocket, to draw forth a roll of bank notes; and on beholding this +great display of wealth the negro's thick eyelids snapped. "Here you +are," said the Senator, giving him the sum required. "And you tell that +old fellow that if he rings the new bell in his sleep, he'll wake up +with his black hide full of shot."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Senator. You mean Brother Sampson, Sir?"</p> + +<p>"Hah? Sampson? I don't know his name, but I guess Sampson's about right. +Wait a minute. Mr. Belford is going to remain with us. He is going to +take charge of the theatre here, and in going about the neighborhood you +may tell the people that we are—I say we because I want to see the town +well entertained—tell the people that they are to have a series of the +finest entertainments ever known in this part of the country. And, by +the way, Belford, I forgot to speak of it, but you'd better board here +at the house."</p> + +<p>I looked up to meet the negro's eyes; a stare of blunt rebuke, as if the +proposal had come from me, in violation of a compact made with him. I +caught a vision of Mrs. Estell as I had seen her through the window, +walking beneath the magnolia trees; I heard the warning voice of reason, +and I saw lurking in ambush the sweetest and perhaps the deadliest of +all dangers. I had seen much of the immorality of life, of passion that +knew no law, but not for a moment did there live in my mind a suspicion +that this woman could forget the exacting demands of a matron's duty. I +felt that the danger lay for me alone; that the warm and sympathetic +relationship of friend of the family and partner of the father would +establish me almost as a member of the house-hold; that a sisterly +regard would at most define the depth of the interest that she could +take in my affairs, and even this must come with slow and almost +unconscious ripening. It was true that I had come a stranger, that an +old community, and especially in the South, is skeptical of a new man's +respectability, but I had fallen helpless upon their hospitality, and my +misfortune was stronger than an introduction.</p> + +<p>It did not seem that I had time to reason as I sat there encountering +the gaze of that black agent of a moral code; my reflections might have +come like flying splinters, but as I look back and again bring up the +scene, I feel that they must have fallen as one impression, a cold and +benumbing weight.</p> + +<p>"It will be a long walk out here for Mr. Belford, and he has not +regained his strength," the negro said, still gazing at me.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" the Senator replied. "He will be as strong as a buck in a +day or two, and, besides, he is used to his room out here and might as +well keep it. Confound your impudence, Washington, you always oppose +me."</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, Senator."</p> + +<p>"That's all right, but I'm going to have my own way about my own +affairs. Do you understand?"</p> + +<p>"Better than you think, Sir."</p> + +<p>"What's that?"</p> + +<p>"I mean that I understand perfectly."</p> + +<p>"Well, say what you mean."</p> + +<p>"Senator," said I, "he is right. I'd better get a room down town. +Walking in and out—and I couldn't think of riding—would take up too +much of my time, and I expect to be very busy after the season opens."</p> + +<p>"Well, now, there may be something in that. Yes, Sir, there's a good +deal to be attended to. Suit yourself. Perhaps it would be better. +Washington, you go on and pay for your diabolical arrangement to keep me +awake."</p> + +<p>The negro bowed and gave me a look, but not of victory—of gratitude.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>MR. PETTICORD.</h3> + + +<p>Early the next day I was formally installed as manager of the Bolanyo +Opera House. The Senator directed the ceremony, marking long meter with +his hat, and by his solemn mien appearing to demand of me a serious and +majestic chant, the tune of Old Hundred, to express a deep sense of my +responsibility—a mere fancy, of course; but as a matter of fact, he did +seem to believe that we ought to make a sentiment of this commonplace +and businesslike procedure. But I told him that we would waive the +rights of a mysterious incantation and look upon the affair as a +commercial transaction.</p> + +<p>"Yes, of course," he said. "But you know there has always been a sort +of mystery about the stage. It holds us to the past, makes us children, +afraid of ghosts. It has a peculiar smell; and one thing about it is, +that all the people on the stage seem to be foreigners, it makes no +difference how well you may have been acquainted with them. I don't know +that it's true in all cases. Come to think of it, you don't seem strange +to me."</p> + +<p>"There has always been a prejudice against the stage, in England and +America," I replied. "Our race cannot associate art and religion, when, +in fact, there's true religion in every phase of art."</p> + +<p>"Well, now, I don't know about that, Belford. The Pagans worshiped idols +and some of their idols were works of art, but there was no true +religion in that. But be that as it may, we're going to make a success +of this thing."</p> + +<p>A number of boys, having scented an unusual activity, were hanging about +the door, and one of them made bold to ask if there was going to be a +show. The Senator answered him. "Yes, there is, my little man, and +we'll want you to take around some bills when it comes, next fall. Whose +son are you, anyway?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Vark's."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, the shoemaker down stairs. Well, run along now."</p> + +<p>The boys scampered off, and the Senator, looking about, declared that we +were making great progress. "Yes, Sir, we'll coin money here; and do you +know, Belford, I am beginning to believe that money is a pretty good +thing after all? Yes, Sir, I have about arrived at that conclusion. It +won't take a man to Heaven, but it arms him against a hell on earth. Let +me see, there was something else I intended to say. Oh, yes. Now it's +all right to be friendly with everybody, but intimacy is a dangerous +thing. Encourage it and the first thing you know the loafers about town +will begin to call you by your first name. That kills a man if he's in +any sort of public life. Why, Sir, if I had let those fellows call me +Giles, I couldn't have remained in the Senate more than one term; would +have killed me, Sir, as dead as a door nail. In this human family a man +thinks more of you in the long run if you compel him to bow to you than +if you permit him to put his arm on your shoulder. Our natures respect +exclusiveness. We may make fun of what we conceive to be a groundless +dignity, but at its face we bow to it. Well, you can now begin your +correspondence. I have put money to your credit at the bank, and there's +nothing to keep you from going ahead. There are some other little +details that can be arranged at our leisure. And now, as to a boarding +place. Our hotels are not first class. And here's what I regard as a +good idea. This room off here you can fit up as a sleeping apartment, +and you can take your meals at a restaurant. Suit you?"</p> + +<p>"Perfectly. And I want to thank you for your—"</p> + +<p>"Wait till the end of next season, Sir; we haven't time now. And, by +the way, I want you to come out to the house as often as you can +conveniently. Just come and go as you please. Well, Mr. Manager, I'll +bid you good-morning."</p> + +<p>My room was airy, and, proportioned in that wastefulness of space which +marks one of the interior differences between the town and the great +city, it afforded the luxury of many an imaginary path over which I +could walk in meditation upon my play; and that piece of work was +uppermost in my mind. It was my hope to exist as a manager until I could +pip the shell as a dramatist—selfish, I confess; and so is art a +selfishness, and so is every high-born longing in the breast of man. +Indeed, philanthropy itself cannot escape the accusation: To give to the +needy awakens the applause of the conscience.</p> + +<p>A slight tapping attracted my attention, and looking round I saw +standing in the doorway a tall, gaunt man with a beard so red as to +shoot out the suggestion that it had been put on hot and that sufficient +time had not elapsed for it to cool. I invited him in; and, stepping +forward, he handed me a card on which in black type and with heavy +impression was printed the name Lucian C. Petticord, followed by the +information (also heavy and black) that I was in the presence of the +Editor of the Bolanyo <i>Daily Times</i>, and the enemy of Senator Giles +Talcom.</p> + +<p>"Sit down, Mr. Petticord. Glad to meet you," I added, with lie number +one.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," he said, seating himself. "Match about you?"</p> + +<p>I found a match for him, and lighting the stub of a cigar, he said +"Thanks," crossed his legs and hooked his thumbs in the arm-holes of his +"vest."</p> + +<p>"How do you like our town?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Charming place," I answered.</p> + +<p>"Used to be, but hard times hit it a crack and it's been staggering ever +since. Had two banks—one of them failed. Tough, I tell you, but we'll +come out all right. Just heard of your deal. Ought to make the thing +pay, I should think. Got to spend some little money, of course. By the +way, is old man Talcom interested in it?"</p> + +<p>"Well, only as a friend," I answered, with lie number two.</p> + +<p>"I heard he was. Always was a sort of a theatrical fellow."</p> + +<p>"He is a gentleman, if that's what you mean."</p> + +<p>"Yes, in a way," he drawled. "Oh, I know him."</p> + +<p>"Then, Sir, you know one of the most generous of men."</p> + +<p>"Yes, generous in a way. Pretty keen, though—he's not throwing anything +over his shoulder this year, and he didn't last year either, for that +matter."</p> + +<p>"I didn't know," said I, "that throwing a thing over one's shoulder was +esteemed as an example of generosity."</p> + +<p>He rolled his cigar about between his fiery lips. "I take it that you +know what I mean," he replied. "I mean that Brother Giles ain't giving +anything away without cause."</p> + +<p>"Who is?" I asked, and I looked at him hard, but, in the vernacular of +the neighborhood, I did not "faze" him.</p> + +<p>"In general, nobody; and in particular, not Brother Giles. Well, it's +all right. Glad he ain't interested financially. Presume, however, he +advanced you the necessary money."</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, but if he did it doesn't concern you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's all right; no business of mine except as a matter of news."</p> + +<p>"But what doesn't concern the public is not news," I replied.</p> + +<p>"No, that's a fact, but then, there comes up a difference of opinion as +to what does concern the public." He paused for a few moments and then +continued: "Thought I'd step over and see if I could get an ad from you. +Do all my own work in that line; do all the editorials and write most of +the local leaders. It keeps me busy, but I'm getting out the best paper +the city ever had. And my ad rates are not high when the circulation is +considered."</p> + +<p>"I shall give you an advertisement later on," said I, "but just at +present there could be no object in it. It's out of season and there's +nothing to advertise."</p> + +<p>"But you'll want a write-up announcing the change of management. The +people will be interested in it, you know."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but doesn't that very fact make it a piece of legitimate news?"</p> + +<p>"Well, yes, in a way. But you know I can't afford to print news for +nothing. I'm not printing news for my health, you know. Write you up in +good shape for ten dollars."</p> + +<p>It was the easiest way out of what appeared to be the beginning of an +unpleasant entanglement, and I told him that he might proceed with his +"write-up." It was a sort of bribery, the purchase of his good opinion +in the hope of securing his silence, for I knew that there must be war, +and perhaps a complete change of geographical lines, so far as I was +concerned, if the newspaper should offensively associate the Senator +and the playhouse. But as I sat there, the subject of a "pleasant +interview"—meeting smile with smile—I actually ached to kick that red +gargoyle down the stairs.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, blowing the cigar stub out of his mouth and letting it +fall where it might, "I'll get back to work. Come over sometime."</p> + +<p>"Thank you. I may see more of you when the season opens."</p> + +<p>"Guess that's right. Haven't got a cut of yourself, have you?"</p> + +<p>"No, and I don't care for one."</p> + +<p>"You're wrong there; good cut's a first-rate thing—catches the women, +and I want to tell you that unless you catch the women you don't catch +anybody. Well, good day."</p> + +<p>Almost as soothing as a melody was his passing footstep down the stairs. +But he halted, and I heard him talking to someone who evidently was +coming up. I was afraid that he had turned to come back, and I stood in +a tremor of dread, when in stepped old Zack Mason, the steamboat pilot. +"Hah, united we stood and divided we went up!" he cried, grasping my +hand. "How are you?—first-rate, I know. Oh, this climate will bring a +man out of the kinks if he isn't killed instantly. All this atmosphere +needs is a few minutes' start. A man can grow a set of new lungs down +here. How are you, anyway? Didn't hurt me much—made a trip since then +on a snag-boat. Tickled to death to see you again. How are you, anyway?"</p> + +<p>During all this time he held me with a grip so tight as to assure me +that not even an explosion could blow us apart. And whenever I attempted +to tell him how I was, or to impress him with my share of the pleasure +derived from our meeting, he gripped me tighter, to hold me under the +outpour of his congratulations. "Felt like a brother had left me that +day when you were snatched out of my hand. Said to myself, as I flew +through the air, 'he's got a little bit the start of me and I don't +believe I'll ever see him again.' And last night, when I got home and +heard you were around all right, I went straight over to old Jim +Bradley's and swallowed a drink as long as a pelican's neck. I want to +tell you that Jim's got the stuff right there in his house—been here +ever since the Mississippi River was a creek; and he's got licker older +than Adam's off ox. And I'll tell you what we'll do this minute—we'll +go right over there and take a snort as loud as the sneeze of a +hippopotamus."</p> + +<p>By this time I had forced him back into his chair, but he showed such a +keenness to get at me again that I had to remind him that I had been but +a short time out of bed.</p> + +<p>"Well, now, I'd about forgotten that," he declared. "But I don't want +you to handle me after you get plum back at yourself. You are as strong +as a panther right now. But that's neither here nor there. The question +is, will you come over with me to see old Jim? I've got a lay-off for +about a week, and I've got to have a little fun as I go along. Eat, +drink and be merry, for to-morrow you may be blowed up. And we'll see +old Joe Vark over there. Joe's got a shoeshop right down here—best +shoemaker that ever pounded the hide of a steer—works till he gets +ready to have fun, and then he whoops it up. He's smarter than a +serpent, even if he ain't always as harmless as a dove. They started a +little public library here once, and the first thing they knew old Joe +had nearly all the books stacked up in his shop; and he read them, too. +Come on and we'll go down to old Jim Bradley's; and he's all right, too. +What do you say?"</p> + +<p>"To tell you the truth, I'd rather go with you than to do almost +anything; it would fit me like a glove; but I can't. I've had to quit. +One drink would mean a spree, and that would ruin everything."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but here," he insisted, "the liquor that Bradley keeps won't put a +man off on a spree. It's a fact. It would take a man two weeks to get +drunk on it, and by that time he'd have enough. Come on."</p> + +<p>"No, I can't go."</p> + +<p>"Well, if you can't drink without taking too much I'm the last man in +the world to persuade you. Glad to see you, anyway. And I reckon you're +going to give us a first-rate line of shows. Met the Senator just now +and he told me. He's another man that can't drink. I can drink and I can +let it alone—that is, I know I can drink, and I think I can let it +alone. Well," he said, getting up and taking my hand, "I'm glad to have +seen you again, anyway. Take care of yourself, and when your first show +opens up I'll come round with the boys and we'll whoop things up."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>THE CHARM OF AN OLD TOWN.</h3> + + +<p>The spiritual atmosphere of Bolanyo was like the charm of an old book +that we prize only for the almost secret art of its expression, an art +too ethereal to be caught and inspected. Sometimes it was drowsy, with +all the dreamy laziness of a hamlet in the south of Spain, but there +were days when it seemed to rebel against its own ease and unconcern, +when a sense of Americanism asserted itself to demand a share in the +bustling affairs of noisy commerce. Court day was a time of special +activity. It was then that the local market felt a stimulating thrill. +My window looked out upon the public square, a macadamized space, white +and dazzling in the sun. Sometimes the scene was busy and interesting +in variety; wagons loaded with hay still fragrant of the meadow; a brisk +horse trotted up and down in front of an auctioneer; negroes with live +chickens tied in bunches; a drunken man making a speech on the wretched +condition of the country; a "fakir" on the corner selling a soap that +would remove a stain from even a tarnished reputation.</p> + +<p>Life along the levee was ever interesting to me, for it was there that I +could study the slowly vanishing type of boatmen, once so distinctive as +to threaten the coming of a new and haughty aristocracy. Singing the +song of long ago, with their eyes fixed upon the river, the old negroes +stumbled over the railway track that a new progress had thrown across +their domain. Great red warehouses were falling into decay, and rank +weeds were growing in the bow of a half-submerged steamer that years ago +had won a great race on the river. Everywhere lay the rotting ends and +broken ravelings of the past, but nowhere, not even in the oddest +corner, could there be found the thread of a hope for the future. The +business interests of the town had grown away from the river, leaving it +to melancholy poetry and to death. And here I loitered, day after day, +in a vague contentment extracted from a distress more vague. To a +thoughtful mind there is more of interest in decay than in progress; the +"Decline and Fall" is a greater book than could have been written on the +"Origin and Rise."</p> + +<p>I could find no one to tell me much of the history of Bolanyo; no one +appeared to take an interest in that part of its existence which lay +behind the halcyon and now almost holy day of the steamboat. I knew +that, in a corrupted form, it retained the name given originally to the +Spanish fortification. But that was enough to know, for the exact dates +of the historian might have made it, in comparison with places of real +antiquity, a toadstool of yesterday.</p> + +<p>I saw the Senator nearly every day, in the office or on the street. +Election was not far away, and he had begun to mingle more freely with +the people; and though his manner was as cordial and as solicitous as on +the day when driving with me he had saluted everyone whom he met in the +road, he was far from being familiar, and no one, except his most +intimate friends, presumed to call him Giles.</p> + +<p>The sight of his house, pillared and stately, on the summit of the +graceful rise, was always a pleasure, and while strolling about, with no +intention of calling (having, doubtless, called the day before), I kept +it in view, for my eyes were never weary with looking upon it, so white +and peaceful. It was not a palace, not really a mansion, and in the rich +communities of the North it would not have been noteworthy except as a +sort of quaint renaissance in home building, but to me it had not been +set there by the hand of man, but by the Genii of the Lamp.</p> + +<p>Upon calling one afternoon, I was told by the negro woman that the +Senator was asleep, and, not wishing to have him disturbed, I walked +out into the garden, where Washington was at work among the flowers. +With the instinct of his race, he was humming a tune, and he did not +hear me until I spoke to him, and then, uplifting his hand with a sign +of caution, he pointed at a tree not far away. My eyes leaped to follow +him, for I felt that the young woman was near, and there on a bench she +sat, her head against the tree, her hat on the ground—asleep.</p> + +<p>"Don't make a noise," he said, in tones but little louder than a +whisper. "Sarah, the colored woman there in the house, say—says the +young lady didn't sleep hardly at all last night, and she went to sleep +out there just now."</p> + +<p>"She isn't ill, is she?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Sick? No, Sir, she is well, but she's got to sleep some time. How do +you like my flowers?"</p> + +<p>"They are very beautiful."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Sir, but don't talk quite so loud. Seems to me like you are +trying to wake her up. I didn't want to take money for this work," he +went on, bending over and pulling up a weed, "for I like to do it, but +they insist on paying me. Yes, Sir. And I reckon—I suppose we have here +the finest clump of magnolias in all this part of the country. This one, +right here, was set out the day Miss Florence was born, twenty-four +years ago, now."</p> + +<p>"And it is the most graceful tree of them all," I replied.</p> + +<p>He cut his black eyes at me. "Yes, Sir, I believe it is, but, even if it +wasn't, you might say it was. I beg your pardon, Sir, but you just as +well board here. Oh, all the whole human family is not blind. If the +rest of them are, I'm not."</p> + +<p>"Look here, Washington."</p> + +<p>"I'm looking, Sir," he said, his eyes full upon me.</p> + +<p>"You were very kind to me, and I am grateful, but I don't want your +guardianship, and I won't have your insinuations."</p> + +<p>"Why, bless you, Sir, I don't want to be your guardian, and I don't +intend to insinuate. I spoke to you once about a danger, and I was +afraid you had forgotten it. Don't misunderstand me. I believe you are +an honorable man, but honor is not always careful enough when it comes +to talking to a lady, and none but an honorable man could make trouble +on this occasion. The only trouble you can make—there (nodding toward +the bench whereon the young woman sat, in fluffy white), the only +trouble you can cause there," he repeated, "would be to make her still +more dissatisfied with life. And a trouble might fall hard on you, Sir. +Let me tell you something in confidence. People have said that my +wedding to the church was what kept me from a marriage of the flesh. I +let them believe so, but it is not true. Mr. Belford, a soul that is now +cool and quiet in this black breast was once raging and on fire. It was +a long time ago. I had just begun to preach. I lived at the house of a +friend—over yonder."</p> + +<p>He waved his hand toward a distant hill on which was clustered a negro +settlement.</p> + +<p>"And there was a woman with a face like cream when the cow has eaten the +first buds of the clover; and her eyes were as bright as the star that +hung above the manger, and her laugh was as sweet as the notes that +dripped like honey from the harp of David."</p> + +<p>He stood erect, a pose of black dignity, his arms folded on his breast, +and in one hand he held the weed that he had uprooted from among the +flowers. I did not question the sincerity of his religious zeal; from +what I had heard and from what I had seen of him I was persuaded that +with honesty he had dedicated his life to the service of his creed, but +now I felt that he was making a conscious picture of his sentiment and +his sacrifice. The bigotry of applauded self-righteousness was in the +look that he bent upon me, and my blood rose in resentment, but I said +nothing; I let him proceed.</p> + +<p>"This woman was a wife, beyond my reach, and I felt that there was no +danger for me, and therefore I was not careful, but the first thing I +knew I was called upon to choose between the spirit of the Lord and the +flesh of the devil."</p> + +<p>"Washington, you are talking what is popularly known as rot. How can you +compare a handsome woman with the flesh of the devil?"</p> + +<p>"The devil's flesh may be beautiful, Sir; and beautiful flesh may not be +conscious that it was laid on by the devil."</p> + +<p>"But if the devil can tint the flesh and make it beautiful, he is an +artist."</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, "and the devil might arm an agent with a paint brush."</p> + +<p>"More rot, Washington. The beautiful things are of the Lord and not of +the devil. The devil may have made the weed you hold in your hand, but +the flowers belong to God."</p> + +<p>With a shudder he dropped the weed, as if suddenly it had burnt him. +"Well, the end of your love story; how did it come out?"</p> + +<p>"It made the woman dissatisfied with the cold clod she was living with; +and if I had not let my duty rule me there might have been a scandal, +and then my day of usefulness would have been gone."</p> + +<p>"Yes; I suppose that a preacher must necessarily look upon a woman as a +sort of trap door. He may recover from the disgrace of wine, but +woman—" I glanced toward the bench, to find Mrs. Estell engaged in the +very human act of rubbing her eyes. I did not wait to finish the +sentence, but stepped off briskly; and, looking round before she +recognized my coming, I saw that Washington had dropped his dignity and +was bending among the flowers. She was not startled when she saw me; she +did not even show surprise, for my odd-hour presence had become +commonplace.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you came," she said in quiet frankness, and with a smile of +welcome. "Sit down. Isn't it a sleepy day?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. And even the soft air is gently snoring among the leaves," I +replied, rather pleased with the fancy.</p> + +<p>"Don't talk that way," she said. "You'll put me to sleep again." She +turned her face away to hide a yawn. "Have you begun work on your play?"</p> + +<p>"Well, yes, I have taken some very important steps. Day before yesterday +I got some paper, got a pint of ink yesterday, and I expect to get a box +of pens to-day."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you are making great progress. You are going to let me read it, I +suppose?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, after I've had it typewritten."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I won't want to read it then—all the character of the work will be +gone—I couldn't find any of your moods and troubles in it; couldn't +tell where it was easy nor where you got stuck. I always think that +handwriting holds something for me alone, but a typewritten thing is +intended for everybody. The other day I got a typewritten letter from +Mr. Estell, and I sent it back to him without reading it. Of course, he +had to dictate it. And he sent an apology by the next mail."</p> + +<p>"Also dictated?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"It would have been just like him," she laughed, "but it was scratched +with a pen. I hate anything that's dictated; I actually hate it. Some +time ago I read that a favorite author of mine dictated his books or +worked the typewriter himself, and since then I can't read him. It seems +to me that the mellowest work was done by the poets when they wrote with +a quill. Imagine Byron setting fire to a page with a typewriter!"</p> + +<p>There was the humor of scorn in her "glad eyes" as she looked up at me. +"So, if I am to read your play, it must not be when the typewriter has +hammered <i>you</i> out of it," she said.</p> + +<p>"I will read it to you. How will that do?"</p> + +<p>"From the original sheets? That will do; that is, if you want to. I +don't want you to feel that it's a duty."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no; it will be a pleasure. The path of duty is too straight for +me."</p> + +<p>"It's the winding path that leads to the sweetest flowers," she said, +with a motion of her hand toward a clump of roses not far away.</p> + +<p>There were a hundred points on which I had yearned to question her, and +the most vital of them all—why had she taken the name of that +unsympathetic man?—arose to my mind, but instantly it sank again. Her +manner toward me was cordial and intimate, but in it I recognized a +command against familiarity; that quiet something which tells a man more +than a volume of words could imply. I wanted to believe that she was +persuaded by her father. I was willing to believe almost anything except +that she could ever have loved him. It was not alone the eye of +prejudice that made him look old; it was actual age. He was older than +the Senator. But his people had been great—the lords of old Virginia. +I would wait, and perhaps at some time in the future she might forget a +high-strung woman's caution; she might drop a thoughtless word, a +firefly to glow in the dark.</p> + +<p>The negro preacher came walking slowly down the patch, to give his +attention to another part of the garden. He was humming a tune, with his +eyes on the ground, and he neither spoke nor halted, but at my feet he +dropped a weed.</p> + +<p>"You have a faithful gardener," I remarked, when Washington had passed +beyond the reach of a low tone.</p> + +<p>"Yes; there was only one George Washington, and there's only one +Washington Smith."</p> + +<p>"But don't you think he's a little too zealous?"</p> + +<p>"Too zealous? How?" she inquired, turning her eyes full upon me.</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't know that zealous is the word. Perhaps I should have said +intolerant."</p> + +<p>"Oh, he is intolerant—yes. He believes that he's one of the anointed."</p> + +<p>"That's all very well, but he oughtn't to believe that he is appointed +to look after the souls of other men."</p> + +<p>"Then he would have no mission," she replied. "The true strength of the +preacher is his sense of responsibility."</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, I didn't know you were of the strictly orthodox fold."</p> + +<p>"Didn't you? Don't you know I go to church every Sunday?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I ought to. I have more than once waited for you to come home." +She looked at me in surprise, and I made haste to add: "The Senator and +I have needed you to arbitrate our disputes, you know."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, and I think you were wise in acknowledging that he had brought +you into his party. We all take a great interest in our converts. +Everybody is looking forward to the coming of your dramatic season," she +went on after a moment's pause. "And I think you'll become quite a +favorite in society. I heard Mrs. Atkinson speak of you. She's our +leader. She saw you somewhere. Of course there was some little prejudice +against you, at first, but that has worn off. And there's a splendid +catch here for you—Miss Rodney—distantly related to the Estell family. +She has seen you, too. She says you must be very romantic; and she asked +me all sorts of questions."</p> + +<p>"Of course I want to be agreeable, <i>but</i>—"</p> + +<p>"But what?"</p> + +<p>"I simply don't care anything for society."</p> + +<p>"Our stupid society, you mean."</p> + +<p>"No, I mean any society. I like individuals but I don't care for sets."</p> + +<p>"Oh, and you are going to rob me of the distinction of showing you off. +Very well, Sir."</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't be a distinction—more of a humiliation."</p> + +<p>"We'll see when the time comes. You have no idea what a source of—what +shall I say? Pleasure—gratification you have been to me."</p> + +<p>"Do you really mean it?"</p> + +<p>"Mean it? Why shouldn't I? You have helped me to pick things to pieces; +and we can have a great time when you know the people here well enough +to gossip about them. It's always interesting to hear what a stranger +has to say of one's old acquaintances."</p> + +<p>"Yes, if he speaks what he conceives to be the truth. The truth is spicy +and not infrequently malicious."</p> + +<p>"You make me laugh. Do you suppose I want to hear anyone speak ill of my +friends?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes. You might demur, but you would listen."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I believe I would," she laughed, "and isn't it mean? I've tried so +hard to be good, but I can't."</p> + +<p>"It is hard to be good, and—" I hesitated.</p> + +<p>"And what?"</p> + +<p>"Will you pardon an impudence?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, if it's not <i>too</i> bad."</p> + +<p>"Hard to be good and beautiful."</p> + +<p>Her face was turned from me, but I saw a red tint rise and spread over +her neck. She spoke without looking at me, and her voice was steady and +deep. "I helped you to set a trap and then walked into it, and therefore +I've no right to feel offended, but if my treatment of you leads up to +such compliments, I must change it."</p> + +<p>"No!" I cried, abashed; and the negro on his knees at a tulip bed, down +the path, looked up at me. "It was simply a jest; there has never been +anything in your manner to warrant it. Let me tell you that at times I +am a barbarian; I lose respect for polite customs. I have known ladies +who liked to be told that they were beautiful—women who were charmed to +have their pictures in a magazine among a collection of "types" +celebrated for beauty. I—" was she laughing at me? She was.</p> + +<p>"The fact that you take it so to heart wipes out the impudence," she +said, still laughing.</p> + +<p>I felt that my crime existed in the fact that her husband was more than +twenty year older than herself. And I have reason to believe that the +young woman who marries an old man, and who is constantly striving to +maintain her own self-respect, has a fancied or perhaps a real cause to +stand in dread of a compliment. It may be sincere, but in its candor +lies an insinuation and a reproach. But when Mrs. Estell saw that no +insinuation was intended, she was even more free than she had been +before. She laughed with such gayety that Washington went about his work +and paid no further heed to us. We talked about the people of the town, +the leader of society and the young woman who had been put forward as a +splendid catch for me; and once I ventured near the verge of an awkward +sentiment. In making a gesture she accidentally touched my hand, and +with the thrill of the moment I could have leaped high in the air. But +it took only a flash of reason to assure me that I was a fool. I will +say, though, and without evil, that I would have given all my prospects, +the theatre and the play—anything—to have clasped her in my arms. No, +not anything. I would not have given up the respect which I hoped she +had for me. Ah, how many hearts are this moment aching for a love that +the law has hedged about with Duty! And this to me was monstrous, for I +was of a mimic life, where love pretended that there were locksmiths to +be laughed at, but where in reality the law itself was vain.</p> + +<p>The Senator came striding down the path, and seeing me, he cried: "Ha! +Mr. Manager, why didn't you have them wake me? Don't want to waste any +more daylight than I am compelled to, but the fact is, I've been at work +pretty hard of late. A campaign always stirs me up."</p> + +<p>We made room for him and he sat down, continuing to talk. "Didn't hear +about my speech out at Briar Flat last night, did you? Well, Sir, we +had a lively time. You see the Convention is really the election, and to +win I must get votes enough to secure the nomination. There's a Cheap +John of a fellow announced as a candidate against anybody our party may +put up, a schemer out after the country vote. Well, he came to our +meeting—had no earthly business there, mind you, but he came. He +interrupted me several times with his fool questions, and at last I +said, 'See here, Mister Whatever-your-name-may-be, I am perfectly +willing to answer any question that one of these farmers may ask, but +I've got no time for a man who farms with his mouth.' Well, Sir, the +boys laughed and he got red hot. He stood up and cried out that any man +who said he wasn't a practical farmer and a gentleman was a liar. Huh! +Well! I handed my hat to a friend and—"</p> + +<p>"Now, father," Mrs. Estell broke in, "you promised me—"</p> + +<p>"Hold on, now; it wasn't a fight. Nothing of the sort. I know what I +promised you, and I'll keep my word. Yes, I handed my hat to a friend +and stepped down to where the fellow stood, with his back against the +wall. I asked him—I was polite—if he meant to insinuate that I was a +liar. There was no violation of a promise in that, was there, Florence?"</p> + +<p>"No, Sir, not if you asked him politely," she answered, laughing.</p> + +<p>"It was polite, I assure you. Well, he studied a moment, and then +declared that he never did insinuate, that he came right out and said +what he meant. And, Belford, I rather admired him for that. But, er—the +fact is—"</p> + +<p>"You struck him," Mrs. Estell interjected. "Didn't you?"</p> + +<p>"Well, that depends upon the way you look at it. Now, here, Florence, +you wouldn't want to know that a man had stood up in front of a whole +houseful of people and called your father a liar. I mean that under such +circumstances you wouldn't blame me for—for tapping him."</p> + +<p>"Of course not," she replied.</p> + +<p>"Ah, ha, and I did tap him. Belford, I hit that fellow a crack that +he'll remember the longest day he lives. Fell? Why, Sir, he fell like a +beef; and when they had taken him away, the meeting was kind enough to +name me as its unanimous choice."</p> + +<p>The negro woman who had announced her suspicion of all men came out upon +the veranda to ring the supper bell, and, astonished to realize that the +sun was no longer shining, I bounced up with a declaration that I must +get back to town.</p> + +<p>"No, Sir, not till you have had supper," the Senator replied. "Why, what +can you be thinking about to run away at a time like this? Come on," he +added, taking my arm and turning me toward the house. "I want to have a +talk with you after supper—on business. Come, Florence."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3>A MATTER OF BUSINESS.</h3> + + +<p>In the library, after supper, I waited for the Senator to introduce the +talk which we were to have on business; but he wandered off into a +political reminiscence of a day when a man found out what his +convictions were and then looked about for a chance to defend them with +his life. He told me, as comfortably he sat with his feet in the +slippers which his daughter had brought for him, that he could recall an +old fellow who wrote out his principles in blood drawn from his breast. +"Yes, Sir, and it created a big hurrah at the time. Copies of his creed +were sought after, in the original ink, and so many of them were sent +out that the suspicions of a young doctor were aroused. He calculated +that the amount of blood thus put in outward circulation would leave an +insufficient circulation within, though the body of the politician still +appeared to be strong and active. And it was then that a most startling +discovery was made. The rascal had not used his own blood, but a red +powder and the juice of the pokeberry. Well, Sir, this stirred up the +community from one end to the other; the people swore that they had been +defrauded, and they demanded that he should make good the counterfeits +or get out of the race. His circulating medium was not strong enough to +warrant the output, so he retired in disgrace. Yes, Sir. Belford, do you +know that I can see that fellow Petticord's hand every time I go to a +political meeting? I can. He is all the time trying to tunnel under me, +and it keeps me busy stepping about to keep from falling in. I am +afraid, Sir, that sooner or later I'll have to kill that scoundrel."</p> + +<p>"Father!" spoke his daughter, turning from the window.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, Florence. I don't mean to kill +him—er—er—offensively, you understand, but, perhaps, necessarily. Of +course we are inflicted more or less as we journey through this life, +but I can't reconcile myself to the belief that we are called upon to +stand everything. Let us say that sometimes the devil giveth and the +Lord taketh away. Now, if I could only provoke him into a fight—I beg +your pardon."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Estell had put her hand on his shoulder. She looked at me with a +smile, but the Senator glanced up to meet an expression of reproof.</p> + +<p>"Provoke him into a fight?" she said.</p> + +<p>"Figuratively, you understand. I wouldn't provoke him except +figuratively. But I don't see why my footsteps are to be constantly +dogged by that red wolf. Why doesn't he come out in his paper and give +me a chance? What are you going to do?" She had stepped upon a chair and +was taking down the foils. "Belford, I reckon you'll have to defend +yourself. I won't fight; I'm a noncombatant."</p> + +<p>I fenced with her, having had some little experience, but she was too +quick and too skillful for me. The Senator laughed, and his face was +aglow with pride to see her drive me into a corner, where I was willing +enough to surrender.</p> + +<p>"He isn't strong enough yet," she said, in excuse of my defeat.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, he is," the Senator cried. "He's as strong as a deck hand, but +he hasn't the skill. Just feel of that girl's arm, Belford. Don't be +afraid of her—she won't hurt you."</p> + +<p>I put my hand on her arm, so round and firm, so warm through the gauze +sleeve she wore; and I thought it well for me that neither the father +nor the daughter observed my agitation.</p> + +<p>A negro came to tell the Senator that a Mr. Spencer wanted to speak to +him at the gate. "Politics," said the law maker, as he took up his hat. +"And that fellow wouldn't get off his horse to meet the President. Stay +right where you are till I come back, Belford. I want to have a talk +with you—on business."</p> + +<p>He went out and Mrs. Estell sat down in his armchair. Her face was +flushed and her eyes were a delight to behold.</p> + +<p>"I'll be glad when this miserable campaign is over," she said. "It +upsets everything, spoils our evenings, and bores everybody that comes +to the house."</p> + +<p>"It doesn't bore me," I replied.</p> + +<p>"No; I gave him his orders not to talk politics to you."</p> + +<p>"That's a compliment, surely."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know. I told him he ought to see that you didn't understand +the political situation. And after he'd converted you he was willing +enough to grant you freedom. Mr. Belford, why haven't you told me more +about yourself?"</p> + +<p>And this gave me the opportunity to ask her why she had not told me more +about herself, her days of romance.</p> + +<p>"I have had no such days," she said. "I was born here and I live here +and that is all. But you have been everywhere; you came from an old and +poetic country."</p> + +<p>"And you," I replied, "have always lived in a poetic country."</p> + +<p>"No, dreamy and visionary, but hardly poetic. Poetry means action and +adventure. You have never told me about <i>her</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Her? What her do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, any her. There must have been one."</p> + +<p>"No; I can't recall one."</p> + +<p>"Really? And you so sentimental?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not sentimental. A sentimentalist would tint the truth while I +would rather view it in its natural color, be it dun or even black. Do +you believe we ought to be held responsible for everything?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, nearly everything."</p> + +<p>"But suppose a man forgets to lock the door of his heart, and a woman +out in the dark, feeling about, accidentally lifts up the latch and +comes in. She is pure and innocent and she does not know that she is +warming herself at the hearth of a heart. Ought he to put her out and +shut the door?"</p> + +<p>"No, he should make the fire still warmer and brighter, if she has come +out of the cold and the dark."</p> + +<p>"But suppose her lawful place is beside another fire?"</p> + +<p>"Then she would not stray from it."</p> + +<p>"But say that she is walking in her sleep?"</p> + +<p>"She would run away as soon as she awakes."</p> + +<p>"Ah, but suppose she does not awake. Should he put her out?"</p> + +<p>"I—I don't know. He must not leave his door unlocked—he should—should +even bar his windows."</p> + +<p>We heard the Senator coming down the hallway and were silent. "Now what +do you reckon that fool fellow wanted? Well, Sir, it beats anything. +Told me that he had named a boy for me—said that it ought to be worth +five dollars and a barrel of flour. Why, dog my cats—beg your pardon +(bowing to Mrs. Estell). But I say, if it were to get out—no, keep your +seat, I'll sit over here—get out that I am giving five dollars and a +barrel of flour for each boy named for me, why, I'd be broke in six +months. A long time ago a yellow-looking chap from the swamps came to +tell me that he had given my name to as fine a boy as the country ever +saw. I was a little easier flattered in those days than I am now, and it +tickled me mightily; and what did I do but give the fellow a +twenty-dollar gold piece. Well, Sir, about six months after that he went +to a friend of mine, a candidate to fill an unexpired term of county +clerk, and declared that he had just named a splendid specimen of a boy +for him. And now what do you suppose we found out? The villain changed +that boy's name every time a campaign came along. Yes, Sir, and he was +about ten years old when he was given my name."</p> + +<p>"By the way, there was something you wanted talk to me about," I said, +to remind him that the hour was growing late. "Something on business, I +understood you to say."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but there's plenty of time. Let me see, now, what it was I had on +my mind. Something I wanted to say about—well, Sir, it has escaped me."</p> + +<p>"Then it couldn't have been very important," said Mrs. Estell.</p> + +<p>"It couldn't, eh? Now that's where you are wrong. In this life we are +prone to forget the most important things. My old grandfather used to +forget his wife when she went visiting with him, and go on home without +her. But come to consider more closely, it wasn't exactly a business +matter I wanted to talk to you about, Belford. I wanted to tell you that +day after to-morrow we'll go fox-hunting. I sent over to the plantation +to have the hounds put in good condition, and they'll be ready for us. +Ever ride after the hounds?"</p> + +<p>"Only in a mimic chase—a bag of anis-seed."</p> + +<p>"Oh, what nonsense! Do you know what ought to be done with a man that +would get up such a disgrace on the greatest of all sport? Ought to be +deprived of his citizenship, his vote; and I don't know of anything much +worse than that. Now, you be here day after to-morrow morning, and I'll +show you what it is to live like a white man."</p> + +<p>He was so earnest and so set in his conviction that no work, however +important, should be permitted to stand as a stumbling-block in the road +leading to the field of this essential sport, that I yielded, but +reluctantly, until Mrs. Estell dropped a word of persuasion, and then I +could not have found the moral nerve to urge even the most courteous +objection.</p> + +<p>When I took my leave, soon afterward, the Senator walked out with me, +through the gate and down the road; and when he halted to turn back, I +looked round and saw Mrs. Estell standing on the portico, with a lamp +held aloft to light his way.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h3>THE PLACE OF THE GOBLINS.</h3> + + +<p>Down the road not far from Talcom's house there stood a stone chimney, +tall and white, in the midst of a dark thicket of scrub locust, the mark +of a fire that years ago had burnt a miser and melted his gold. It was a +desolate place, even in the sunlight, for the air that breathed an +enchantment in the Senator's magnolia garden came hither to whine and +moan. And whenever at night I passed this place I was chilled with a +nervous fear that a goblin might jump out and grab me. I knew that there +were no goblins, in the sun, but the night is the mother of many an imp +that the day refuses to father.</p> + +<p>I walked slower as I came abreast of the thicket, to prove to myself +that I was not afraid, yet ready to take to my heels, when suddenly I +halted, statue-still, with a gasp and a loud beating of the heart. A +great black figure plunged out of the bushes, into the road, and in +another moment I am sure that I should have run like a deer had not a +voice familiar to my ear exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Fo' de Lawd, I didn' know I wuz comin' through dat place. Walkin' +'cross de pasture thinkin', an' de fust thing I knowed—"</p> + +<p>"That you, Washington?" I cried.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Sir. Oh, it's Mr. Belford," he said, coming forward.</p> + +<p>"You almost scared the life out of me."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Sir, and scared myself, too. I am on my way from prayer meeting, +and my mind was so occupied that I didn't think of the thicket until I +was into it. Going to town? I'll walk a piece with you if you have no +objections."</p> + +<p>"None at all; be glad to have you. It made you forget your education," +said I, as we walked along.</p> + +<p>"It did that, Sir. It makes no difference how many colleges a colored +man has gone through nor how many books he has read, scare him and he is +what the white people call a nigger. My mother used to tell me stories +about that place back there, and I can't forget them. But Miss Florence +isn't afraid of it, Sir. When a child she often played there alone, +after dark, and the Senator would have to go after her. Pardon me, but +why did you cry 'No!' so loud in the garden!"</p> + +<p>"Why, it must have been when I was reciting something."</p> + +<p>He grunted and we strode on in silence until he said: "Mr. Belford, I +have heard that there is no moral responsibility among the people that +play on the stage—that the winning or losing of love means little to +them. Is it true?"</p> + +<p>"Washington, I have read of a hundred scandals in the church. Were they +true?"</p> + +<p>He did not answer at once; he strode for a long time in silence, and +then he spoke: "There are bad people everywhere, and some of them carry +the outward form of the cross, but it is made of light paper and not of +heavy wood. But there are many who carry the true cross. Let us, +however, put that aside, for I must turn back when we get to the first +gaslight down yonder, and there is something I want to say to you if I +can get at it properly."</p> + +<p>"Out with it; don't try to lead up to it."</p> + +<p>"You are in love with Mrs. Estell," he bluntly said, and I had expected +something to the point, but nothing so straightforward and undiplomatic; +and I could have knocked him down for his impertinence, but I swallowed +my wrath and waited for him to proceed.</p> + +<p>"I can see it."</p> + +<p>"But can she?" I compelled myself, quietly, to ask.</p> + +<p>"No. If she were to see it, she would never step into your presence +again."</p> + +<p>"But the Senator! Can he see it?"</p> + +<p>"No. Honor makes him blind to such a sight. He could not understand +such a violation of hospitality. He has made you almost a member of his +family; your misfortune demanded his sympathy, and he gave you his +confidence."</p> + +<p>"Then you stand alone with your eyes open?" I replied.</p> + +<p>"I may stand alone, but other eyes are open—and they wink at one +another."</p> + +<p>"What! Do you mean that the neighbors—"</p> + +<p>"Yes," he broke in, "that is what I mean—the neighbors."</p> + +<p>"Washington, you were graduated from the Fisk University, I understand, +an institution made possible by the generosity of a band of jubilee +singers; and, having been educated at the instance of song, I should +think that you would have aspired to poesy rather than to stilted talk +and a detective's disposition to pry into affairs that don't concern +you."</p> + +<p>With the slouching habit of his race, he had been dragging his feet +along, but now his heels struck hard upon the road. He sighed like a +steam valve, to lessen the pressure of his boiling resentment, but he +did not speak. I expected him to turn back in silence, as we were now +beneath the light of the street lamp, but he did not; he strode forward +as if vaguely in quest of some sort of support, and put his hand on the +lamp-post, a hand so black that it looked like a bulge of the iron. And +then he turned to me. "Mr. Belford," he said, "an educated negro is an +insult to every unthinking white man. And unless he jabbers they call +him stilted. Let me tell you, Sir, that I have stretched myself on the +floor to read by the firelight because I couldn't afford to buy a +candle—struggling to conquer the dialect of my father—and now you +reproach me with it. My poor and ignorant people wouldn't listen to me +if I talked as they do. Heaven, to them, is a place of magnificence, and +the man who paints the picture of Paradise for them must use extravagant +colors. Sir, I am no more stilted than you are; you serve the devil on +stilts."</p> + +<p>I had to laugh, and then I apologized. "There is a good deal of truth in +what you say," said I. "The actor struts, and just as you do, to impress +the unthinking. But let us drop it. I'm sorry I offended you. But, +really, I don't like your interference."</p> + +<p>"It is not an interference. I am an old servant of that family. Look +here!" He snatched his hand from the lamp-post and folded his arms. +"What do you intend shall be the outcome?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know—I don't see—"</p> + +<p>"Don't see the end," he interposed. "But don't you think that the end of +everything ought to be kept well in view?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I do. But sometimes a beginning is so delightful that we are +afraid to look toward the end. But I realize my own selfishness, and I +acknowledge to you that in spite of what you may term the immoral +atmosphere of a player's life—I confess, or, rather, I affirm, that in +my blood there is a strong current of good old English puritanism; and +I will swear to you that I would cut my own throat rather than to bring +disgrace upon that family."</p> + +<p>He put his mighty hands upon my shoulders, and, turning my face to the +light, he looked hard into my eyes.</p> + +<p>"No man could say more, Mr. Belford. But what are you going to do?"</p> + +<p>"I am going to stay away from—from her."</p> + +<p>"When, Mr. Belford; when will you begin to stay away?"</p> + +<p>"I have promised to go fox-hunting day after to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"And after that?"</p> + +<p>"I will not go to the house."</p> + +<p>He took my hand, and I forgot that he was a stilted and officious negro. +"Good-night, Mr. Belford." He turned away, but faced about and said: "I +am going to a cabin on the hillside—to pray for you. Good-night."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h3>OLD JOE VARK.</h3> + + +<p>The town was going to bed; the late moon was rising, and in the magnolia +gardens there seemed to waver a bright and shadowy silence—a night when +every sound was afar off, a half mysterious echo—the closing of a +window shutter, the subdued footfall of a thief, the indistinct notes of +an old song lagging in the soft and lazy air. I walked about the +courthouse, its pillars classic in the shadow, its gilded cupola gaudy +in the light. I did not turn to my habitation across the square, to +sniff the lifeless atmosphere and the sickish paint of the opera house; +I bent my way to the river where the moon was free. And upon a rotting +yawl I sat down to think, shoulder to shoulder with the ghost of a dead +commerce. Far across the stream a mud scow fretted and fluttered like a +duck in distress, making just enough of noise to cry "silence" in the +ear of night.</p> + +<p>There is religion in the reverie of even an atheist; and in the +meditation of a free-thinker, whose grandfather was a believer, there is +almost a confession of faith. I thought of all that the negro had said; +I reviewed his earnestness and saw his look of trouble; I pictured +Talcom in his trustfulness; I saw his daughter in her unsuspecting +innocence, impulsive, almost eccentric, and yet a type of the South. I +thought of it all, and I swore that I would keep faith with the +preacher. I swore it with my hand held up, I ground myself down until I +felt the rotting old boat crumbling beneath me, and yet it seemed that +some devil arose in the air maliciously to whisper, "No you won't." And +in this reproach, intended to tantalize the conscience, there was a +shameful sweetness, a promise that again I should sit in the garden with +her. But I went to bed strong, and I arose with strength the next +morning. I would chase a fox with her, and then, I should see her no +more, except by accident.</p> + +<p>The Senator had enjoined me not to appear overglad to make +acquaintances; not to invite the approach of the idle, lest they should +become familiar, but it was hard to maintain dignity in the presence of +such good humor and friendliness. A man whom I might have passed a +hundred times, without suspecting his importance, would stop me to say +that his name was Hopgood or Leatherington or Yancey; to assure me that +his grandfather, after having come out of the Mexican War, had served as +Clerk of the Circuit Court; that he was pleased to welcome me to +Bolanyo; that it was about his time of day (looking at his watch) to +take a drink, and that he would be pleased to have me join him. I had +not the nerve nor the dignity to cool these warm advances, rich in a +yellowing sort of humor, the sad fun of a dying importance; and I found +that the Senator, himself, while pretending to preserve the austerity of +a high position, brought matters close to earth by putting his arm about +some old fellow to laugh over an ancient and shady joke. In the town +there was one man who scouted the idea of self-importance, except when +drunk, and then he sometimes assumed to own the community. This man was +Joe Vark, a shoemaker.</p> + +<p>In the forenoon, the day after my moral vow had been taken, I went into +his shop. He was sitting on his low bench; and he looked up, with a +number of shoe-pegs showing between his lips, and mumbled me an +invitation to sit down. He was short, with a fine head and thin, light +hair. His wrinkled face was rather pale and clean of beard. Beside him +lay a book, held partly open by an old shoe sole.</p> + +<p>"Well, how are they coming?" he inquired, talking through his teeth.</p> + +<p>"All right," I answered, and he looked up with a twinkle in his eye. I +waited for him to say something, but he went on with his work, taking a +peg from his lips and driving it into a shoe.</p> + +<p>"You were not born here, were you, Mr. Vark?"</p> + +<p>He drove five or six pegs, until there were no more between his lips, +loosened the strap with which he held the shoe upon a piece of iron, +whistled softly as he examined his work, looked up at me and said:</p> + +<p>"No, I came here from Pennsylvania a long time ago. And it was years +before they granted me the privilege of being natural when I was drunk. +Oh, it was all right to get drunk, mind you, but they wanted me to be +quiet; and I hold that a man who acts about the same, drunk or sober, is +dangerous to a community. Oh, they meet you with a warm shake, but it +takes years to become one of them. But after you do get to be one of +them you are proud of it. Yes, Sir, and about all I've got to boast of +is that I've been here more than thirty years. I'm not worth a cent, +you understand, but I'm as proud as a peacock What of? That I've lived +here thirty years. What of it? Everything of it. I can take a few drinks +and be natural. Not long ago I had a little row and I snatched a +comparative stranger from one side of the street to the other. And what +did they do with me? Why, I had been here so long that the judge +couldn't do anything. He fined the other fellow for being a stranger and +that settled it."</p> + +<p>He put more pegs between his lips, adjusted the shoe on the iron and +resumed his work. The shop was small and dingy, and the floor, almost +hidden by scraps of leather, had doubtless never been swept. An encased +stairway from the outside made a low, dark corner, and here, on a shelf, +the old man kept an array of books. It was said that he sometimes +indulged in a reading spree, just after a season of liquor; and then he +slammed his door in the face of the present and lived locked up with +the long ago.</p> + +<p>I did not disturb him, but waited for his spirit to move of its own +accord. He pegged the shoe, removed the strap, and from a small bottle +that hung on the wall within reach he blackened the edge of the sole; he +inserted a hook, pulled out the last, and set the shoe aside to dry. +Then he took up an old boot and said: "This thing is beyond all repair. +Ought to have been thrown away years ago. But the fool would leave it +here, and I'm expecting him every minute. Heigho, I don't know what to +do with it. Guess I'll put it aside until he comes, and then beg him to +take it down and throw it into the river."</p> + +<p>He threw the boot aside, took up a piece of leather and began to examine +it. Then, brushing everything aside, he picked up a clay pipe, and as he +was filling it, I handed him a lighted match.</p> + +<p>"Thank you." He lighted his pipe, puffing it with a loud smack of the +lips, and then settled himself down to talk. "No use of a man killing +himself with work. I've been here too long for that. How are you and +Talcom getting along?"</p> + +<p>"First rate. I have never met a more genial companion—never bores, +always interesting."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Talcom is a good fellow. He'll recommend a gold brick, and then, +to prove his sincerity, he'll turn round and buy it himself. He held me +off for a long time. Of course I never expected him to make a brother of +me—our lines keep us too far apart for that—but he's friendly, and has +done me many a favor. But I lived here a long time under suspicion, and +whenever anything was stolen they naturally looked to me. But, +gradually, I convinced them that I was inclined to be honest."</p> + +<p>"By going to church?" I inquired.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, by accepting a challenge from a rival shoemaker to fight a +duel. The fellow backed down; his custom came to me, and he went away. I +am under great obligations to that man—best friend I ever had; don't +know what would have become of me if he hadn't backed out."</p> + +<p>"But you would have fought him."</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't know about that. I do know, however, that I felt like +hugging him when he refused to fight. Yes," he went on, after a short +pause and an industrious puffing at his pipe, "Talcom is all right. But +you never can tell which way he'll jump in his likes and dislikes. He +may like a man and he may not, and he's as sudden as a gun going off. +You caught him—not by anything you could have said or done, but you +just happened to fit him."</p> + +<p>"All hands at home?" came a voice as whining as a mendicant's plea, and, +looking up, I recognized the gaunt and drooping form of the notorious +Bugg Peters. He stood for a moment in the doorway, and then came forward +with a slouching lurch, with a grin and nod at me and a bow of profound +respect for the "boss" of the shop.</p> + +<p>"Look here, Bugg," said the shoemaker, "I can't do anything with that +old boot. It's beyond all repair. Take it out somewhere and throw it +away."</p> + +<p>"Fur mercy sake, Joe, don't talk like that," protested the notorious +one, dropping upon a bench and humping over as if his upper muscles had +given away. "Don't snatch all the hope right out of a feller's hand. +That boot belongs to my youngest son-in-law, and unless he gets it +mended to-day he can't come to town to-morrow. Joe, you've just got to +fix it. Say, got about as fine a chunk of a boy down at my house as you +ever see'd in your life. Nan's."</p> + +<p>"Nan's? How many does that make?" the shoemaker asked.</p> + +<p>"Let me see. Why, it makes somewhere in the neighborhood of six for Nan. +And her old man is settin' right there by the fireplace now a-shakin' +fitten to kill himself. He ain't no account at all except in the fall of +the year, and then I take him out in the woods and let him shake down +persimmons. Mister (speaking to me), they tell me you are goin' to start +a show here, and I'll fetch my folks to see it if I can raise a few +chickens and sell 'em. Thought I'd get some aigs to-day. Got three old +hens and I thought I'd put 'em to work. But, look here, Joe, you ain't +in earnest about not bein' able to do nothin' with that boot?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am, Bugg. Throw it away."</p> + +<p>"Now, when did you expect a man to get so rich as to fling away his +property? Doesn't the Scripture say, 'Waste not, for to-morrow you may +die?' Grab a-hold of her, Joe, and patch her up. All you've got to do is +to put leather where there ain't none."</p> + +<p>"Yes, all I've got to do is to build a boot in the air."</p> + +<p>"Well, but ain't that your business, hah?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, if I'm paid for it; but you haven't paid for the last pair of +shoes I half-soled. And you said you'd pay on the following Wednesday."</p> + +<p>"Did I say that? But I didn't tell you pointedly. You can always count +on me when I tell you pointedly. A man that won't pay when he tells you +pointedly is a liar. Whose boots are them right there—them old ones? +They'd just about fit my son-in-law. Yes, Sir; and he can put 'em on and +come up to town and enjoy himself. What will you take for 'em, Joe?"</p> + +<p>"Two dollars, Bugg."</p> + +<p>"Cheap enough, and I'll take 'em. Pass 'em over."</p> + +<p>"But when will you pay for them?"</p> + +<p>"Let me see. I'll pay for 'em Thursday."</p> + +<p>"Pointedly?" the shoemaker inquired, with a wink at me.</p> + +<p>"Well, now, if it's to be pointedly I'd better make it Thursday week. +How does that hit you?"</p> + +<p>"Take them along, but I'll never get the money."</p> + +<p>He tumbled forward from his seat, grabbed up the boots, and, holding +them close to his bosom, he said:</p> + +<p>"Joe, don't—don't insult me by sayin' that you'll never get your money. +It's a sad thing to give your word pointedly and I've give you mine."</p> + +<p>He took out a string, tied the boots together at the straps and threw +them across his shoulder. Then he sat down. "Yes, Sir," he said, "when a +man gives me his word pointedly and fails to keep it, I put him down in +my liar book. Say, Mister, I hear 'em say you are goin' to give your +show in a house. Don't see how you can give much of a show unless you've +got room to gallop around in, but I reckon you'll do the best you can. +Joe, let me take a few of them books along with me," he added, nodding +toward the shelf. And the shoemaker's hand, with a movement as quick as +the frisk of a squirrel's tail, flew upon the bench at his side and +rattled the tools, as if grabbing for a hammer to throw at the head of +the outrageous customer. His face was hard and his eyes were set with +anger, and if for a moment there was not murder in his heart, he gave +me a bit of fine acting. But his epileptic resentment passed away with a +jerk, and looking up at the dumfounded Peters, he said, "Bugg, I guess +you'd better go."</p> + +<p>"Why, what's the matter, Joe?"</p> + +<p>"Guess you'd better go. I can stand to be robbed of leather, but when +you try to extend your theft to the things that make me superior to you +ignorant yaps, I feel like mashing your head."</p> + +<p>"Your driftwood is comin' so swift that I can't ketch it, Joe."</p> + +<p>"He means that you must not touch his books," I put in.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's all right," Peters replied. "I'm not hankerin' after 'em. +Just thought I'd take a few of 'em along to get 'em out of the way. Joe, +if you happen down in my range drap in and see Nan's boy. Tickle you +mighty nigh to death."</p> + +<p>He slouched away, and the shoemaker resumed his work. I had been sitting +there in a strong draught of the town's atmosphere, with two characters +for my play; and, taking my leave, I felt that I hugged a greater +possession than Peters had found when he tied the boots together and +threw them across his shoulder.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<h3>OLD AUNT PATSEY.</h3> + + +<p>Like a boy in his yearning to have Santa Claus come, I went early to bed +to force the dawning of another day. I resorted to the tricks that men +have employed to induce drowsiness; I counted sheep bounding over a +fence, a hundred, a thousand, until their number exceeded the +Patriarch's fold, and yet I lay there wide awake, with my nerves +starting at every noise, before it reached my ears. I strove to trace +the filmy thread that lies between consciousness and sleep, and I +fancied that it was a raveling from a rainbow, with one end in the +sunset, the other in the sunrise. I reached a place where the thread was +broken and now the world was dark, but, feeling about, I found the two +ends of the silken line, and put them together, and when they touched, +the world flashed up in a blaze of light—the sun was shining.</p> + +<p>No exact hour had been fixed for the meet at the Senator's house, and I +was beset by the fear that a desire not to be early might make me late. +Common sense dictated a middle resort, but in my nervous anxiety I had +no common sense. Why so sensitive and timorous now when I had been so +bold a few days before? I had promised the negro preacher and myself +that this day should see the end of a relationship.</p> + +<p>I set out earlier than the time I had fixed, expecting to loiter along +the road, to breathe sweet air beneath the roses that hung above the old +garden walls; but, giving no heed to the roses, I passed them hurriedly, +as a hasty reader skips a beautiful sentence in eagerness to snatch the +excitement of a closing scene. I passed the lamp-post and thought of the +negro's black hand, a knot on the iron; I came abreast of the old +chimney and the thicket, the lair of the goblins at night. And here I +halted to gaze at the Senator's house, the pillared portico, the cool +yard, the martin box on a tall pole, the magnolia garden. And now my +progress toward the gate was slow, with the minute and senseless +observation of little things; a bit of sheep's wool on a brier bush; an +old shoe half buried in the sandy drain beside the road; the heavy +gate-latch, made by a clumsy blacksmith; the uneven bricks in the short +walk between the gate and the portico; a stone and a shell on the step, +where someone had cracked a nut.</p> + +<p>I was admitted by the negress whose motto was "suspicion." She gave me a +broad grin and nodded toward the parlor; and I heard strange voices and +laughter. Just as I reached the door, Mrs. Estell stepped out into the +hall. A magnolia bloom fell from her hand, and she laughed as she +stooped to pick it up, and when she looked at me her face was red, +though not with embarrassment, but with stooping, for she spoke and her +voice was deep and clear and her eyes were not abashed.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you are just in time, Mr. Belford. I want you to meet some friends +of mine, and my aunt is here, too. I know you'll like her, she's so +queer."</p> + +<p>I would have staid to ask her why she supposed me to be attracted by +queer persons, but she touched my arm, and as an automaton I turned +toward the parlor and stepped into the room, to meet Mr. Elkin, a frail +and timid-looking young fellow with plastered hair; Miss Rodney, a +pinkish creature of uncertain age, the "splendid catch" which Mrs. +Estell had set aside for me; and Mrs. Braxon, the aunt. She looked +queer, and I could not have denied that she interested me. She was very +tall, straight and stiff, with eyes that suggested a savage. Into her +aged mouth the artifice of the dentist had put the teeth of youth, and, +not yet accustomed to them, she imposed upon her lips the double +exertion of talking with her jaws shut.</p> + +<p>"Well," she said, looking hard at me, "and you are the man that Giles +has been telling me so much about? But, conscience alive, he ought to +have something to talk of besides politics."</p> + +<p>"You are his favorite sister, I believe," I replied, with the giggle of +Miss Rodney in my ears.</p> + +<p>"Do you? Well, I married his brother, if that's what you mean."</p> + +<p>"Is he living?" I inquired.</p> + +<p>"Florence," she said, "it's strange that you haven't told Mr. +What's-his-name anything about me. Every time I come here I come as a +stranger, a rank stranger."</p> + +<p>"Why, Aunt Patsey, I told him—"</p> + +<p>"She told me a great deal about you, Mrs. Braxon," I put in, "but my +memory is, you might say, not good."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, and I suppose Giles Talcom told you all about me, too; told +you that I was his favorite sister, didn't he? Well, it's all right. +Miss Rodney, what <i>are</i> you giggling about?"</p> + +<p>"Why, nothing at all, Mrs. Braxon," the young woman declared, growing +pinker. The old lady looked at Elkin, and he started and slammed his +knees together. I glanced at Mrs. Estell, and she hid her eyes from me, +afraid to laugh.</p> + +<p>"Where do you live?" I inquired of the old lady.</p> + +<p>"Up in the Tennessee hills, and every time I come down in this low +ground I want to get back. The laziest folks I ever saw in my life, and +the niggers ain't worth their salt. And the way Giles pets that black +preacher makes me sick, a-buying of his church bells to keep folks awake +at night. I'd make him chop down them good-for-nothing trees out there +and plant onions. That's what I'd do with him. Florence, where did Giles +go?"</p> + +<p>"Why, he sent word over to the plantation to have his hounds brought +last night, but, somehow, the message wasn't delivered, and so he has +gone after them himself. We want to start from here—"</p> + +<p>"After the hounds? Start where?"</p> + +<p>"Fox-hunting."</p> + +<p>The old woman cleared her throat with an ach, ach. "Fox-hunting? Is it +possible that he keeps up that foolishness? Chasing a fox, when there's +so much to be done in this world? I read in a paper yesterday that a +woman had starved to death in New Orleans, and here you all are, going +to chase a fox."</p> + +<p>"Why, Mrs. Braxon," the young man spoke up, "we can't help that. If we +let the fox go it won't bring the woman back to life."</p> + +<p>She looked at him and his knees flew together. "But you could be raising +something for folks to eat."</p> + +<p>"Yes, ma'am, but we raise more now than we can sell."</p> + +<p>She looked at him with a bow and a smirk of contempt. "More than you can +sell. Yes, of course. More than you can sell to a woman that's starving. +Yes, of course."</p> + +<p>"But nobody starves to death in Bolanyo, Aunt Patsey," Mrs. Estell +remarked. "We take care of our poor; and it was a mere accident that the +woman starved in New Orleans."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you do? A mere accident. Of course. Are you going to chase a fox?" +the old woman asked, with her eyes on Miss Rodney.</p> + +<p>"I have been invited to go, and—"</p> + +<p>"Of course. But, go on, and don't let anything I say prevent you. I +staid at home, year in and year out, and never went anywhere, while my +husband was a-galloping over the country, a-blowing of his horn and +a-chasing of foxes; and folks in a town not more than twenty miles away +were as hungry as they could be. But, after he died, I didn't stay at +home, I tell you. I went out and looked for hungry folks, and I fed 'em, +too. Talk to me about chasing a fox."</p> + +<p>"Auntie," said Mrs. Estell, smiling upon the old lady, indeed, +approaching her and bending with graceful tenderness over her chair, +"you try to make people believe that you are hard to get along with, but +you are the sweetest thing. She snaps and snarls to hide the tenderness +of her heart, Mr. Belford."</p> + +<p>"I do nothing of the sort. For goodness' sake, child, take your hands +off me. Stop fussing with me. Go over there and sit down. A body would +think that I'm so old that you are standing here ready to catch me when +I start to fall over. Go along with you!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Estell, laughing, pressed her radiant cheek against the widow's +whitening hair. "I like to have half tearful fun with you, Aunt Patsey," +she said.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you do. Well, get away and don't pretend that you think anything of +me. I have no money to leave you."</p> + +<p>Elkin laughed. The old woman looked at him and he clapped his knees +together. "I—I—beg your pardon," he stammered.</p> + +<p>"She's so delightful," said Miss Rodney, leaning toward me. "Quite a +character for the stage, papa says. And when does your house open?"</p> + +<p>"Not before October," I answered.</p> + +<p>"And not until he can get a good company," said Mrs. Estell, standing in +front of us. "I have enough interest in the house to demand that much. +Oh, there comes father with the hounds and I'm not ready yet."</p> + +<p>She ran away, and though the sun was in the window, the room was darker +now, and a shadow seemed to lie where she had stood. We heard the +Senator's horn and the impatient cry of the hounds.</p> + +<p>"I'd rather hunt a bear than a fox," said the young man. "I went with a +party of fellows down in the canebrake last fall and a bear killed four +dogs. Just grabbed 'em up like this (hugging himself) and crushed 'em. +Just broke their bones. Just grabbed 'em up this way and mashed 'em. +Didn't look like it was any trouble at all. Just—just squeezed the life +out of 'em. I had—I had a dog named Ring—great big dog—and he +grabbed him up this way, the bear did, and old Ring just gave one howl +and that was the end of it. Bear didn't appear to mind it. Just seemed +like he was enjoying himself, but we hadn't agreed to keep him in all +the dogs he wanted to kill, so we shot him."</p> + +<p>"You did?" said the old lady, smirking at him. "Do tell. And you'd +rather stand there and see him kill those poor dogs than to chase a +fox."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I—I don't mean that I like to see the dogs killed, Mrs. Braxon, I +mean I—"</p> + +<p>"Would rather see a bear with his arms full of poor dogs than to chase a +fox. Yes, I know what you mean."</p> + +<p>In came the Senator. He bowed to the ladies, cried "Ha!" to the young +man and seized my hand as if a year had elapsed since we parted. +"Belford, I've got a horse for you that can clear any fence in the +State."</p> + +<p>"With me on his back?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I hope so. You can try, you know, and if you can't keep your seat +why you must fall as easily as you can. Sister Patsey, you look as +bright as a dollar."</p> + +<p>"Go on with your blarney, Giles. I've got no dollar to leave to you."</p> + +<p>"And bless your life, I'm glad of it. But it's time we were going. +Where's Florence?"</p> + +<p>"Gone to get ready for your nonsense," Mrs. Braxon answered. "Oh, you +men! Not half of you are worth your salt."</p> + +<p>"No," said the Senator. "And if there comes a time when men are worth +their salt and women are worth their pepper, humanity will be well +seasoned, eh, Belford? But we must be making a move. Elkin, help Miss +Rodney to mount, please."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and I guess I've got to buckle my girth tighter," said the young +man. "Come, Miss Minnie, and let me help you up."</p> + +<p>Just as they passed out there came a slow step down the hall. "Why, it's +Estell!" cried the Senator. "Why, hello, Tom, we didn't expect you for a +week. And, Sir, here's your Aunt Patsey."</p> + +<p>Estell was carrying a cane in his right hand and he stuck out one +finger for me to shake. But when in the same manner he presumed to greet +the old lady, she stormed at him: "Look here, Tom Estell, don't give me +no one finger to shake. Andrew Jackson gave me his whole hand when I was +a child, and I want no one finger now. That's like it," she added, as he +put his cane under his arm and gave her his hand.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Estell entered the room. "Why, you old surprise party," she cried. +He stepped forward, but, catching sight of her riding habit, he halted.</p> + +<p>"What does all this mean?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Why, we were going fox-hunting, dear."</p> + +<p>"You—you going?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes. You have never objected."</p> + +<p>"But I do now."</p> + +<p>"Very well," she replied, beginning to pull at her gloves.</p> + +<p>"Tom," cried the Senator, "what the devil—I mean the deuce—is the +matter with you?"</p> + +<p>And then Aunt Patsey broke out, jumping from her chair and shaking her +finger at Estell: "You are trying to smother the God-given spirit of +that child, and you ought to be ashamed of yourself. You hate to see her +run—you want to see her dodder about like an old man. What earthly harm +can there be in her going fox-hunting? Better men than you ever dared be +have chased foxes and have let their wives go, too. Don't you dare say a +word to me—don't you dare!"</p> + +<p>Estell turned about and strode with sullen step to the foot of the +stairs, the Senator passing him without saying a word. I was standing at +the door, and I stepped aside to let Mrs. Estell pass, but she lingered +in the parlor, as if to speak to her aunt, as if, in truth, she would +put her arms about the old woman's neck; and I turned my back, to face +the State Treasurer, standing at the foot of the stairs. Our eyes met, +but he was silent, and I had nothing to say. Mrs. Estell came out into +the hall, but returned almost instantly to the old woman, and Estell +trod wearily to the upper floor. His wife came out, and she looked up +with duty's self-conscious smile.</p> + +<p>"May I speak a word?" I asked. "Just one?"</p> + +<p>"Two," she answered.</p> + +<p>"I promised to read my play to you."</p> + +<p>"Yes; and you will—"</p> + +<p>"Not keep my promise."</p> + +<p>We were walking slowly toward the stairway, she slightly in advance. But +now her feet were quick, until she reached the stair, and then she +halted, turned to me, and said:</p> + +<p>"Mr. Belford, any man can make a promise, but sometimes it requires a +<i>gentleman</i> to break one."</p> + +<p>I had no reply to make; I was the interloper. I bowed to her, and, +snatching my hat from the halltree, I passed out upon the portico.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am mighty sorry," the Senator was saying to Elkin and Miss +Rodney, who sat upon their horses at the gate—"sorry as I ever was in +my life, but my horse stuck a nail in his foot and can hardly walk. Of +course I could get another horse, but take Felix out of the chase and +the whole thing falls flat. And my best hound is sick, too. Sometimes it +does seem that everything stands in the way. But we'll have it, now, +very soon. Get down, and stay to dinner. Ah, Belford, you going? Well, +I'll see you in a day or two."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<h3>THE PLAY.</h3> + + +<p>I dreaded the embarrassment of meeting the Senator again; and it was +with a sense of nervousness that I looked from my office window, the +next morning, to see him getting out of his buggy. He came briskly up +the stairs, spoke heartily to someone whom he met on the landing, halted +at my open door, and, hat in hand, made me a sweeping bow.</p> + +<p>"Ha, early to work is the thing," he said, stepping into the room and +glancing about. "More pictures of famous players, I see. Well, we'll +have them strutting about our stage the first thing they know. How do +you feel?" he asked, drawing up a chair and sitting down.</p> + +<p>"First rate—too well, I might say. This air makes me content to sit and +dream."</p> + +<p>"Good; it is better to find contentment even in a dream than to snap our +nerves in two with chasing what we might regard substantial happiness. +Why, confound it all, Belford, there is no such thing as substantial +happiness. Anything substantial is too material, too gross; and +happiness is a certain spiritual condition of the mind. Therefore, I +say, let the old South dream if she feels like it. There used to be an +old fellow that lived about here—Mose Parish. Well, the time came for +Mose to die; but he wasn't scared, not a bit of it. A preacher came to +talk to him, and old Mose listened for a while, and then he said: 'Oh, +no, I never did much of anything—never built a steamboat nor a house, +but I've had a good deal of fun, and I hold that when a man is having +fun he can't have it all alone; he's helping some other fellow.'"</p> + +<p>We talked about hundreds of things, and touched occasionally upon our +business venture, but nothing led to a subject which I felt, and which +he seemed to feel, was too delicate to be mentioned. He gossiped of +young Elkin's affection for Miss Rodney; he said that Elkin's love put +him in mind of an ass with gilded ears. He spoke of the coming election +and the surety with which he and Tom Estell would win; but when he took +his leave he did not invite me to call at the house. I met him day after +day, in the office, in the street, in the rotunda of the hotel; and he +always greeted me with a warm and earnest cordiality, but at parting he +would say, "I'll see you again soon;" and never that I should come to +see him.</p> + +<p>I walked a great deal, musing over my play, and more than once in +rebellion my feet wandered from their usual path to tread the sacred and +forbidden ground that lay in the neighborhood of the Senator's home. +Near the close of day, I sometimes saw him sitting on the portico, with +his chair tipped back, his feet against a classic pillar, smoking his +pipe—a vandalic American indulging a national posture to the shame of +a Grecian memory. Once I saw his daughter standing near him, where the +fading sunlight fell, gazing afar off, shading her eyes with her hand. +And she might have seen me had I not bent behind a bush; had I been less +a thief.</p> + +<p>One hot afternoon the Senator came into the office, fanning himself with +his hat.</p> + +<p>"No dreaming now, Belford," said he. "It's too hot even to doze. What's +all that you've got spread out there?"</p> + +<p>"Our play," I answered.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes. And, by George, there seems to be enough of it. Let me hear a +chapter or two. Isn't in chapters, though, is it? Fire away and let me +hear what it sounds like. You look like a commissioner of deeds, with +all this stuff scattered about you. But go ahead."</p> + +<p>"I'd rather wait, Senator, until it's completed. In fact, I'd rather +you'd wait and see it played," I replied, remembering what he had said +about elevating the stage and fearing that he might object to some of +my characters.</p> + +<p>"All right. But just now you said <i>our</i> play. What do you mean by that?"</p> + +<p>"I mean that a half interest belongs to you."</p> + +<p>"Why, Lord bless you, my boy, I don't want to rob you."</p> + +<p>"And I don't intend that you shall rob yourself. You have given me the +opportunity to do the work, you have—"</p> + +<p>"Hold on, Belford. We are partners in this house. You are doing your +share. Why, Sir, haven't you secured the Lamptons to play here a whole +week during our county fair? And doesn't that newspaper notice they sent +along say that they are the finest representation of dramatic talent now +on the road? Haven't you signed a contract with Sanderson Hicks to give +us the Lady of Lyons? And I want to tell you that a man who saw such +opportunities and seized them by the forelock is doing his duty all +right. Oh, it's no laughing matter, Sir."</p> + +<p>"That's all very well, Senator, but you are to own half the play. I want +you to look after the business end of it."</p> + +<p>"All right, Sir; all right. Yes, it would be better to have some man +take hold of that part of it—some man, you understand, who isn't afraid +to insist upon his rights. And Belford," he added, putting his hand on +my shoulder, "if I hadn't insisted on mine, they would have trampled me +under foot long ago. Yes, Sir (stepping back and shaking his hat), long +ago. Have you decided as to who shall have it?"</p> + +<p>"Well, it's easy enough for me to decide. But the decision of the other +party might not be so easy to get."</p> + +<p>"Oh, there won't be any trouble about that. No, Sir; that is, if they +want to put on a good play. We have something here, Sir (slapping his +hand upon the manuscript), that ought to stir the dramatic world from +center to circumference. Oh, you may smile, but it will, for I want to +tell you that I have never been associated with a failure. And there's +a good deal in that; as sure as you live there is. Luck begets luck, and +failure suckles a failure. Yes, Sir. Have you made any overtures?"</p> + +<p>"Not exactly. I wrote to Copeland Maffet and sent him a scenario—"</p> + +<p>"A what?"</p> + +<p>"An outline of the piece. And he writes that he will be in Memphis on +the 17th of next month, and that he would like to hear the play."</p> + +<p>"Of course he would. We knew that all the time. We'll hop on a boat and +go up there. Good man, is he?"</p> + +<p>"One of the best; he doesn't do things by halves."</p> + +<p>"All right, Sir, he's our man, that is, if he's willing to pay for a +good thing. Well, I believe I'll go on out home. It's cooler there. By +the way, come out with me. There's no one on the place except Sister +Patsey, and I'm lonesome. Come on, we'll ride out."</p> + +<p>I was afraid to look at him; I was afraid to hesitate, to frame an +excuse, and without saying a word I went down stairs with him and got +into the buggy.</p> + +<p>He did not drive directly to his home; he halted at several places—in +front of a lawyer's office, a butcher's shop, to ask advice concerning +his political contest, a shrewd way to flatter and stimulate a lax +supporter. We drove to a wagonmaker's shop, off in the edge of the town, +and when the workman had been fed with big words, we set out at a brisk +trot, with a gang of boys behind us, shouting in a cloud of dust. Ahead +I could see nothing but the sun-dazzled roadway, sloping down into the +open country, but we turned a corner thick with cherry trees and the +Senator's house leaped into view.</p> + +<p>It seemed a long time since I had heard the click of the gate-latch; +since I had stood upon the stone steps to breathe the cool, sweet air of +the hall.</p> + +<p>"I think the library is about the coolest place in the house," said the +Senator. "Step in, and I'll see if I can find some fans. There are some +on the table. Take that big palm leaf. Pardon me if I unbutton my +collar. I'm as hot as a dog in August with a tin pan tied to his tail. +But you appear to be cool enough."</p> + +<p>"I didn't expect to hear you Southerners complain of the heat. I thought +you could stand it."</p> + +<p>"We do stand it, but we complain. I doubt whether an Anglo-Saxon can +ever learn to like real hot weather. Oh, we prate about the sunny South +and we like sunshine, but, by George, Sir, we hug the shade. Have you +got a pretty good plot for your play?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think so."</p> + +<p>"We must have a good plot, you know; we must have everything turn out +all right. Any fighting in it?"</p> + +<p>"Well, there are several spirited scenes."</p> + +<p>"That's good. But it strikes me that there ought to be some sort of a +fight. One fellow ought to call another fellow a liar, or something of +the sort. It would be a good thing for a fellow to snatch out his +pistol and have it grabbed and turned against him, don't you see? That +sort of a thing always catches the people."</p> + +<p>"But you advocated the elevation of the stage, don't you remember?"</p> + +<p>He got out of his chair, and walked up and down the room, with his +collar unbuttoned, his broad, black cravat hanging loose.</p> + +<p>"That's the point, Belford; that's the very point. To elevate the stage +is to make it natural. Why, last season an actor ruined a play for this +town by drawing a pistol with his left hand."</p> + +<p>"But that was not so very unnatural," I replied. "He might have been +left-handed. Many a left-handed man has had a fight."</p> + +<p>He paused in his walk, to stand before me, and thoughtfully to balance +himself alternately upon his heels and toes.</p> + +<p>"But, Belford, that's not the point. Of course there may be a +left-handed man in a fight, but nine chances to one a man is +right-handed, and the stage must take the course that is the most +probable. No, Sir, you don't want to shock a critical sense of fitness +by having a man pull a pistol with his left hand. Such breaks always +tend to wound a sensitive nature. Any man in your drama pull a pistol +that way, Belford?"</p> + +<p>"No, if a pistol is drawn at all it shall be in the accepted form."</p> + +<p>"All right," he said, resuming his walk. "Any ragged girl talk like a +clodhopper until she is insulted and then talk like a princess? Anybody +say 'stronger?' No human being except a fool on the stage ever said +'stronger' for stranger. Any fat woman in short skirts trying to be a +girl? Any tramp with more ability than an ancient philosopher? Any +female detective that doesn't know she loves a suspected thief until she +has had him put in jail? Got any of those things?"</p> + +<p>"I'll take an oath that I have none of those tantalizing features, +Senator."</p> + +<p>"Then, Sir, it will be a go. Yes, Sir, the world can't stop it. Why, +come in, Patsey. Remember Mr. Belford, don't you?"</p> + +<p>I shook hands with the old lady, placed a chair for her and gave her my +fan, and she rewarded me with an old-time courtesy.</p> + +<p>"Gracious me," she said, "it's so hot down here that I wonder everybody +doesn't take to the hills. I wouldn't live in this flat country."</p> + +<p>"Why, Sister Patsey," the Senator spoke up, "Bolanyo is on a hill."</p> + +<p>"A hill? Giles, you don't know what a real hill looks like, it's been so +long since you saw one. Why, where I live you can sometimes look down on +a cloud."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and it's a good deal better to live above a cloud than to be under +one, Sister Patsey."</p> + +<p>"Now, what does he mean? One of his sly tricks, I'll be bound. I never +come down here that everybody ain't up to tricks or running for office, +but I do reckon they are one and the same thing. Sakes alive, and the +laziest folks that ever moped on the face of the earth. And that +good-for-nothing wretch that calls himself the Notorious Bugg, +a-talking about his sons-in-law a-shaking all the time. He came here +yesterday and wanted meat, the lazy whelp. Well, I would have given him +scalding water, and a heap of it."</p> + +<p>"But you didn't, Sister Patsey," the Senator spoke up. "You called him +back and gave him a bag of sweet cakes."</p> + +<p>"I did, eh? I sent them to the poor little children, and if he takes a +bite of one of them cakes I hope it will choke him to death. He says he +doesn't want to go to the hills and catch a new-fangled disease. Why, +plague take his picture, I've lived in the hills all my life. If he +comes again while I'm on the place I'll scald him. I'll do it, Giles, as +sure as he comes, and you'd better tell him to stay away."</p> + +<p>"If he comes again, Sister Patsey, you'll give him hot cakes instead of +hot water."</p> + +<p>"Did you hear that, Mr. Belford? <i>Did</i> you hear that?" the old lady +snapped. "Ah, ah, I do think, Giles, you are the most aggravating man I +ever saw, except your brother, and he almost worried the life out of +me."</p> + +<p>"But he is dead, Sister Patsey, and you are still enjoying pretty fair +health. Yes, he went first."</p> + +<p>The Senator glanced at me with a wink; the old lady caught his twinkle +of mischief, and, throwing back her head, she laughed until the tears +ran out of her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Belford," said the Senator, "the evening breeze has sprung up. Suppose +we sit out on the portico. And, by the way, I've got some tobacco raised +from Havana seed. I'll get it."</p> + +<p>"Bring me a pipe, too, Giles," the old lady called after him. "I'm not +going to be left out, and you needn't think it, either."</p> + +<p>When the Senator had strode off down the hall, she turned to me with a +quick eagerness and said: "He is almost dying to apologize to you for +Tom Estell's behavior, and he doesn't know how to get at it. I never saw +a man so cut up. And he thought he could get at it better out here, but +by the way he fidgets about I know he hasn't. Now, there, don't you say +a word, Sir, but let me talk. I don't know what's the matter with +Estell, I really don't. Now, what earthly harm could there have been in +her going fox-hunting, and her father along, too? No, I don't understand +him. Why, he must think that a woman is a fool to be willing to stay at +home all the time just because he's old."</p> + +<p>"Why did she marry him?" I could not help but ask.</p> + +<p>She snapped her eyes and cleared her throat. "Ah, Lord, it distressed me +nearly to death. Why did she, indeed? Giles was the cause of it. He +picked out a nice old gentleman for his daughter's husband—a man of +high family, a good politician. She cried over it, with her head in my +lap, but Giles didn't see a tear, and she wouldn't let me say a word to +him. And, to tell the truth, I didn't think it was so very bad; and it +<i>wasn't</i> until he got to be so cranky. She always was a peculiar child; +and I reckon after all she made up her mind that she might as well +marry one man as another, so far as love was concerned. But just look at +me, a-sitting up here and telling of things that I oughtn't to say a +word about. Here he comes. Giles, did you bring my pipe? Well, it's a +good thing you did, Sir."</p> + +<p>Out in the breeze that came stirring through the magnolia garden we sat +and smoked, the Senator with his chair tipped back and his feet high up +against a fluted column. We talked in pleasant and almost confidential +freedom, of many a home interest, both solemn and humorous, but the name +of the young woman lay under a silence that no one dared to disturb. +When I arose to take my leave they urged me to stay to supper, but my +heart had grown heavy with the approach of night, and, with a lie in +self-defense, I pleaded an engagement in the town.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<h3>A SLOW STEP ON THE STAIRS.</h3> + + +<p>In the cool of the morning, and often at night when the gulf breeze was +blowing, I leaned back from my labor to muse upon the Senator's peculiar +attitude toward me. A certain sort of innocence or honor had +unquestionably blunted his eyesight and wrapped his reason in a silken +gauze, but he had seen and felt the interference of his daughter's +husband. And now why should he have pressed me to come again to his +house, even though the wife were away? The old woman had said that he +was trying to find a way that might lead to an easy apology. Apology for +what? A husband's clumsy resentment. And did he not know that my +entering the house again could easily be construed as a connivance on +his part? The politician is so absorbed a student of man and his +masculine ways that sometimes he may be forgetful of the delicate film +that surrounds a woman's name. But in the South a woman's name is so +secure that what in colder regions might be a film is here a sheet of +steel; and overconfidence might seem a want of due consideration.</p> + +<p>One evening I heard a slow and heavy step on the stair; and I waited, +annoyed and nervous with the deliberate and solemn approach of the +unwelcome visitor. I counted the steps, wondering when they would cease. +I threw down my pen and got out of my chair. There was a shuffling of +awkward feet at the open door.</p> + +<p>"Come in, Washington," I cried, and when he had entered I turned angrily +upon him.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you have come to reproach me, to prove to my face that I am a +liar."</p> + +<p>He had dropped his hat upon entering the door, and now he stood with +his head bowed meekly.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Belford, if your heart smites you, don't blame me."</p> + +<p>"But you have come to bid it smite me."</p> + +<p>"No, but to ease it if it has been smiting you."</p> + +<p>"Ah, sit down, Washington."</p> + +<p>"I prefer to stand."</p> + +<p>"But pick up your hat. Your humility embarrasses me."</p> + +<p>"Let it lie there, Mr. Belford."</p> + +<p>"Well, can't you do something? Damn it—"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Belford, I don't ask you to respect me, but I command you to +respect my holy calling."</p> + +<p>"Rot! Well, go on; I do respect it. I beg your pardon. But why do you +come here to hit me with the moral sandbag of a priest? Don't you know +that any calling can be made offensive?"</p> + +<p>"The gospel is always offensive to the sinner."</p> + +<p>"Look here, you black impostor, I'll not put up with your insolence. Get +out."</p> + +<p>He stepped backward to the door, took up his hat, put it under his arm, +and bowed to me.</p> + +<p>"Wait a moment, Washington. Confound it, you always make me strut and +talk like an actor. Let's get down off our high horses and turn them +loose to graze. What did you come to say?"</p> + +<p>"I came to beg you not to be worried because you were not able to keep +your word with me."</p> + +<p>"That's kind, but how do you know I was not able to keep it?"</p> + +<p>"Old Miss Patsey told me that the Senator brought you home with him."</p> + +<p>"And you know that <i>she</i> was not at home."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I knew that she was over at the State capital, with her husband."</p> + +<p>"They didn't tell me where she was."</p> + +<p>"No, it was not necessary. They do not blame you," he added, after a +moment's pause.</p> + +<p>"Then you are the only one who does blame me, except, perhaps, the +Treasurer."</p> + +<p>"Yes, the Treasurer who locked up the money of the State but forgot that +a diamond was within reach of—"</p> + +<p>"A thief," I suggested, and he bowed his head.</p> + +<p>"Washington," said I, "you tell me that the Senator is blind and that +the young woman herself does not suspect—" He shut me off with his +uplifted hand.</p> + +<p>"What I said then and what might exist now are two different things."</p> + +<p>"Ah, then she does know now; she has gathered some of the wisdom that +you have strewn about. You had seized the opportunity to be wise, and I +had hoped that you would be harmless. But your wisdom is offensive. It +seems that you would rejoice to have a hold on me."</p> + +<p>"For what purpose, Mr. Belford?"</p> + +<p>"Well, it isn't very clearly defined."</p> + +<p>"No, Sir, and it never can be. Perhaps, after all, my discovery, if you +please to call it such, wasn't due to wisdom but to an animal instinct. +And even then it was a venture. You could have denied it better."</p> + +<p>He came walking slowly forward, with his eyes fixed upon my +writing-table.</p> + +<p>"That is one thing I can't learn to do well," he said, gazing at my +work. "My hand was too hard and stiff from labor before I went to +school."</p> + +<p>"Then you don't write your sermons?"</p> + +<p>"No, Sir, and Peter didn't write his."</p> + +<p>"But you went to a college and Peter didn't."</p> + +<p>"Ah, but Paul was learned of men, and Paul was the Master's greatest +follower."</p> + +<p>"Washington, you are surely a remarkable man. How old were you at the +time you entered the university?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know, Mr. Belford; I don't know how old I am now."</p> + +<p>"Well, I have fought against you, but I can't help believing that you +are sincere. Here are five dollars for your church."</p> + +<p>"Thankee, Sah; bleeged ter yer, Sah. I—I—I am profoundly grateful, +Sir," he hastened to add, bowing in humiliation. "You must pardon the +rude echo of my father's tongue. Good-night."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<h3>TO MEET THE MANAGER.</h3> + + +<p>The Senator went with me to Memphis to meet Copeland Maffet. I was +nervous and apprehensive of failure, but the old gentleman was steady +and strong with the assurance of success. "You are worried," he said to +me as we stood at the bow of the steamer. "Throw it off, for you are now +associated with a man who has never been introduced to a failure. No, +Sir, and they can't down us. When I first came out for office they told +me that I had no earthly show. And what did I do? I took one fellow by +the shoulders, turned him round and kicked him off the courthouse steps. +One of my friends? Yes, he claimed he was, but let me tell you, Belford, +that a man's gone if he lets his so-called friends run to him with +discouragements. The only friend worthy of the name is the man who +doesn't believe you can be beaten. I'd rather have a strong enemy than a +weak friend."</p> + +<p>We found Maffet waiting for us at a hotel. The Senator greeted him out +of the gorgeousness of his effusive nature, and refused to be daunted by +the cool, business air of the manager.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Maffet," said the Statesman, "we have brought you something, Sir, +that will astonish you. And, Sir, you'll not regret that you came all +the way from New York to get a chance to put in your bid."</p> + +<p>"I have other business that brought me here, Mr.—"</p> + +<p>"That's all right, but you'll forget all about your other business +before we are done with you. Ah, Belford, I've got a little knocking +round to do, and I'll leave you to read your play to Mr. Maffet. Good +old name. By the way, Mr. Maffet, are you related, Sir, to the Maffets +of Virginia?"</p> + +<p>"I think not. My people settled in Vermont," said the manager.</p> + +<p>"Same old family, Sir; best stock in England. Won't you join us in a +drink of some sort, Sir?"</p> + +<p>"No, thank you, I've just got up from the table."</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes, Sir. But make yourself perfectly at home in this town. I know +a great many people here, and all my friends will be glad to welcome +you. And you'll find my friend here (motioning toward me) as bright as a +judge and as straight as a string. Well, I'll be back by the time you +get through with your reading."</p> + +<p>I went with the manager to his room, and if he had been cool before, he +now was freezing.</p> + +<p>"Well, go ahead."</p> + +<p>I read the first act, glancing at him from time to time; but no change +passed over his implacable countenance. He sat with his eyes shut.</p> + +<p>"Go ahead."</p> + +<p>I read the second act; but the droll representatives of a fun-growing +soil did not crack the crust of his countenance.</p> + +<p>"Well, go on."</p> + +<p>I had now lost hope, and with scarcely a pause I hurried to the end of +the last act. He opened his eyes, got up, walked to the window, looked +out, whistled softly and then turned to me.</p> + +<p>"You've got some great people there. The comedy part is excellent."</p> + +<p>"Ah, you don't laugh at comedy," I was bold enough to declare.</p> + +<p>"Well, not when I'm buying it. Let me have it a moment."</p> + +<p>He stepped forward with a look of interest in his eyes, and took the +play.</p> + +<p>"In Magnolia Land, by—what's this? By The Elephant? What do you mean by +that?"</p> + +<p>"My pen name."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's all right enough; odd, and that counts."</p> + +<p>"And if you decide to take the play, I don't want my name known; and if +any speculation should arise as to who the Elephant may be, you are to +say you don't know, even if anyone should assert positively that I am +the man. I want it to be a winner before I acknowledge it."</p> + +<p>"All right. It will raise newspaper talk, and that would help. Yes, I'll +agree to put it on if we can come to terms, and especially if you'll +consent to consider the suggestions which I may send to you. A play, you +know, is never finished. I'll read it over carefully and make notes. As +this is your first venture you can't very well expect an advance +royalty."</p> + +<p>I had not expected it, and I did not ask it. Indeed, I was delighted +with the prospect of a production, and I began to think that there must +be something in my alliance with a man who never had made the +acquaintance of a failure. We agreed upon a percentage of gross +receipts, and went down stairs to dictate the contract to the hotel +stenographer. And just as we were ready for his name the Senator walked +in.</p> + +<p>"We insist that it shall be put on in good shape," said he, assuming +that the deal had of course been made. "Let me see the contract. Yes," +he said, when he had looked at the top, the middle and the bottom, "that +appears to be about the proper thing. Just let me put my name on it. But +we must have witnesses, eh? Well, you just wait till I go out and bring +in two of as fine gentlemen as you ever saw, from two of our oldest +families, Sir. One of them can write as fine a hand as you can catch up +with anywhere; he used to be Clerk of our House of Representatives. Wait +till I go after them."</p> + +<p>"Oh, anybody will do, Colonel," the manager replied. "I haven't time to +wait on an old family."</p> + +<p>"All right," said the Senator, with his hat in the air. "If you don't +recognize the advantage of respectability, I shall not insist upon it. +We'll get these two hotel clerks back here. They look like gentlemen, +Sir."</p> + +<p>Many a day had gone by since my longing heart had fluttered with +lightness. And now it was beating high with an exultant hope; but its +time of joy was short. The memory of a deep voice weighted it with +sadness—a voice and the words: "Any man can make a promise, but +sometimes it requires a <i>gentleman</i> to break one."</p> + +<p>As we stood in the bow of the boat and gazed toward the lights on the +wharf at Bolanyo, the Senator put his hand upon my arm and said: "My +boy, that fellow Maffet is a shrewd fellow, from shrewd Yankee stock, +and he would have cheated you out of your teeth if I hadn't come along. +Yes, Sir, out of your teeth."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + +<h3>BURN THE JUNIPER.</h3> + + +<p>In the enthusiasm of my dramatic occupation the figures forming in my +mind had draped, as with a merciful curtain, the picture in my +heart—had hidden the eyes. But now that the figures were sent away the +curtain, too, was gone, and the image was bold with a new vividness. I +resorted to numerous devices, walking, rowing, reading, but the picture +was always before me, thrown from within; and at night, alone in my +room, I could see in its vibrations the beating of my pulse.</p> + +<p>The day of the scramble for office passed by, and the Senator and his +son-in-law were elected; but Estell's majority was so small that his +opponent declared that a fraud had been practiced, and gave warning that +he would take his case to the courts. I met the Senator nearly every +day, and sometimes we parted in embarrassment, when it would have seemed +so natural for him to say "Come out to see me." But he did not say it; +and out of his silence there came the information that his daughter was +at home.</p> + +<p>At last, in October, the theatrical season arrived, with a third-rate +company to present "Virginius." I employed the columns of Petticord's +newspaper, against the Senator's advice, had the town and a large part +of the county well "papered," and when the opening night came round the +house was crowded. I put young Elkin into the box office, and he must +have been born for the place, for, although acquainted with almost every +man, woman and child in the town, he recognized no one at the window.</p> + +<p>Nervously I watched the people coming in, my gaze leaping from face to +face. I turned away to attend to something, and when I came back and +looked at the house I knew that <i>she</i> was there, though I did not see +her. The curtain went up and the play proceeded. On a sudden someone +well in front cried out "Burn the juniper!" And then arose the yell, +"Throw him out!" Several officers ran forward, and presently, in the +midst of great confusion, they came back, almost dragging old Mason, the +pilot, and Joe Vark, the shoemaker. Vark was the real offender, it +appeared, and Mason was snatched up as an accessory. I went out with +them, pleading with the officers not to use them roughly; and when we +reached the pavement I demanded their release. The officers, glad enough +to go back to the play, turned the culprits over to me. Both were drunk.</p> + +<p>"Vark," said I, "do you want to break up the performance?"</p> + +<p>"Burn the juniper!" he shouted.</p> + +<p>"Now, here, Joe," the pilot pleaded, "let's get something that we all +understand—something like 'let her slide' or 'let her rip'—something +we can all join in on."</p> + +<p>"I want them to burn the juniper. In the old days when the atmosphere in +the theatre got foul they cried 'burn the juniper,' and I want it burned +now. The air in there is foul with political rascality and scoundrelism. +Burn the juniper!" he yelled at the top of his voice.</p> + +<p>"Blame it all, Joe," Mason persisted, "let's get something that's down +among the people."</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen," said I, "you must keep quiet or I'll have you taken away. +Vark, you don't want to injure me, do you?"</p> + +<p>"No, I'm your friend, but you'll have to live here thirty years before I +can declare my infatuation for you. Give a hundred dollars for a bonfire +of juniper. And the long-lost sword of Mars was discovered by the +bleeding hoof of a heifer, and was given to Attila. Burn the juniper!"</p> + +<p>"Look here, boys, come back in and behave yourselves. Remember that the +house is full of ladies, and that ought to make any man thoughtful in +the South. Will you promise to behave if I let you go back?"</p> + +<p>"I can't promise without juniper," the shoemaker declared. "The twelve +vultures represented the twelve hundred years of the glory of Rome. Burn +the juniper. Say, Belford, tell you what we'll do—we'll go down to Old +Bradley's and take a drink as long as the horn of a wild steer. What do +you say?"</p> + +<p>"I can't go with you, Vark."</p> + +<p>"Then I'll go back into the house and burn the juniper. No, I won't, +Belford. You are a good fellow. There's nothing stuck up about you. And +I'm sorry for that break I made in there. Shake. Now, come on, Mason, +and we'll burn Old Bradley."</p> + +<p>They went away, arm in arm, and out of a group of mottled idlers formed +about the door came slouching the figure of the Notorious Bugg.</p> + +<p>"Jest thought I'd stand here till the worst come to the worst, Mr. +Belford," said he. "I lowed to myself that if they jumped on you things +would then happen fast and sudden. Hold on a minute and let me tell you. +I reckon I'm as peaceable a man as you ever seen till I get too badly +stirred, and then I can't compare myself to nothin' but a regular mowin' +machine. Oh, I didn't want to come out till I had to. I wouldn't mind +whalin' both of 'em, but the fact is, I wan't prepared to meet old Joe. +I owe him for a pair of boots, and the most danger-some lookin' thing I +ever seen is a feller that I owe. When I owe a man it appears like he +can grow ten feet in a night, and sometimes when I step out into society +I find myself in a wilderness of giants, I tell you. But I was jest +about to thrash both them fellers when they went away, and in view of +that fact I think you ought to let me go into your show."</p> + +<p>I did not take issue with his appeal; I passed him in, amused at the +thought that two of my characters had been thrown out of my house and +that another one had entered, firm in the rascally belief that he had +convinced me of his courage and his determination to risk his blood in +the defense of my dignity.</p> + +<p>The final curtain fell, and I stood near the door, not to receive +congratulations upon the bad performance, but to seek food for my eyes. +Miss Rodney stopped to tell me of her delightful evening. Bugg Peters +hung back to say that the "hoarse feller with the table cloth wrapped +round him wan't no slouch." I saw the Senator coming, gesticulating, +talking. I saw <i>her</i>. I saw her face turn pale and then to pink as she +approached. The Senator did not appear to see me, so busy was he with +explaining to an acquaintance the merit of the performance; and he would +have led her by, but in a burst of frank energy she broke loose from him +and held out her hand to me.</p> + +<p>"Why, Belford," said the Senator, "I didn't see you. Great show, Sir. +Fine piece of work, eh, Florence?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't think so, but I confess that I'm not much of a judge," she +answered, smiling at me.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, it has its faults, and so have we all, but it was an infamous +shame that we couldn't open here without a disturbance."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said I, "but those two men gave a better piece of acting than we +could find on any stage."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes. Good fellows when sober, Sir. The pilot's family is all right. +I don't know anything about Vark's people, but he'll do well enough when +sober, Sir. Well, Florence."</p> + +<p>He led her away, and she looked back with a nod and a smile—a bright +and graceful picture as she passed through the outer door. And all that +night I saw her, always led away, but always looking back with a nod and +a smile.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + +<h3>GLEANING THE FIELD.</h3> + + +<p>A vagabond artist came to town and I employed him to make sketches of +Peters, Mason and Vark. It was easy to get a pose from the pilot and the +notorious one, but after his "juniper spree" the shoemaker had locked +himself in his shop. But we hammered his door day after day, and one +morning we heard the sliding of the bolt.</p> + +<p>"Come in," said Vark. "But let me tell you that I am in no shape to do +work."</p> + +<p>He had spread a blanket on the floor, with a bundle of leather at one +end, and with books scattered about. I took up two volumes to find the +plays of Marlowe and the snarling complaint of old Hobbs.</p> + +<p>"What do you want, boys?"</p> + +<p>"I want you to stand for a few moments just as you are," said I.</p> + +<p>"For a picture? What do you want with a picture of me? I'm nobody."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes. You've lived here thirty years, you know."</p> + +<p>"All right, go ahead. I don't suppose there ever was a man so no-account +that he didn't think his picture was worth something. But I wish you'd +hurry up and get through with me. I wouldn't have let you in, but I +didn't want to be rude to a stranger. Scratch fast, you chap!" he added, +speaking to the artist. "What are you going to do with the sketch? Hang +it up for a scarecrow? Done with me? Take it away. I don't want to see +it."</p> + +<p>He turned us out and bolted his door; and I heard him swear at his rusty +joints as he got down upon the blanket and wallowed in the midst of his +books.</p> + +<p>I procured a number of photographs of gardens and of time-softened +houses; I jotted down numerous hints of "atmosphere," wrote a full +description of Washington and of Aunt Patsey and sent the whole to +Maffet And it seemed that these acts of gleaning were long to be +protracted, for odd bits of characteristic color were constantly +arising, as tinted mists from the soil. In no-wise could they find a +place in the action or the dialogue, but they would aid the stage +craftsman to clothe his trickery in the garb of truth. But these +color-mists came only of their own will, and never would they arise at +command, to enshroud and to soften the vividness of the picture that +tantalized me. Love may be a divine essence, calm as God-ordered peace, +when it flows from the legitimate heart—it may be—but my love was +<i>wolfish</i>.</p> + +<p>The Senator was very much elated over the success of our Virginius +engagement. Early one morning as I sat looking from the window, with my +nostrils full of the dusty smell of sprinkled floors newly swept, he +came whistling up the stairs.</p> + +<p>"Ha! dreaming," he cried. "I can see it in your face. But you can +afford to dream. Keep your seat. I don't care to sit down. Well, Sir, +old Zeb Harkrider hailed me this morning to tell me that a good many of +our citizens didn't like our show. I said: 'Look here, Zeb, I thought I +kicked you off the courthouse steps for bringing me news that I didn't +want to hear a long time ago. Don't you remember it?' He remembered. He +didn't say so, but he stepped back. 'Why, I didn't know you were +interested in it,' said he. I had to lie just a little, Belford. I hold, +Sir, that we are justified in occasionally slipping a lie on our left +arm and using it for a shield, to protect our private grounds against +invasion. Yes, I lied to him a little; I told him that my only interest +lay in the fact that it was my desire to see our people well +entertained, and that the habit of constant grumbling would finally +blind us to the beauties of even the best of things. So I got rid of +him. And do you realize that Petticord didn't do us justice? Confound +his insolence, you passed in his entire brigade, and yet he says that +only those who were easily pleased came near getting the worth of their +money. That scoundrel suspects that I have a hand in this, and he would +almost be willing to cut his own throat in order to do me a harmful +turn. But I will get him one of these days—yes, Sir, I'll get him or +drive him out of this community. My boy, you don't seem to be in very +good spirits. What's the matter? Getting tired of Bolanyo?"</p> + +<p>I answered with what the humorist of the "profession" would have phrased +a "property laugh." "No, Senator, I am not getting tired. In fact, I +would rather be here than in any place under the sun."</p> + +<p>"Strong, but that's right. I was afraid that you felt yourself chained."</p> + +<p>"You might fasten me here with links of rusty iron, but in my eyes +they'd be a chain of gold."</p> + +<p>"What's that?"</p> + +<p>He startled me with the sharp eye of comprehension, and I felt myself +droop under the look that he gave me. "I mean that this soft and +restful air and the sweet breath of the gardens would exalt a soul in +spite of the restraints of the body."</p> + +<p>Innocence flew back to his eye, "That's good, Belford; I have felt it +many a time. I have thought in moments of ambition that my talents as a +Legislator were crippled here, that I might go to Congress, and perhaps +make a National name for myself, but then came the idea that to broaden +my scope might forever spoil my love for old Bolanyo."</p> + +<p>He stood there meditating, with nothing more to say; he took out a small +bunch of keys, looked at them and returned them to his pocket; he put +his hands behind him; he went to the window and looked out upon the +deliberate commerce of the town—wagons loaded with hay, carts of +kindling wood, negroes with chickens, groups of story-telling +countrymen.</p> + +<p>"But I didn't know that the town could take quite so strong a hold on a +stranger," he said, with his eyes in the street. "But, Belford," and +now he turned to me, "you are a man of quick endearments, and so am I; +and that is one of the reasons why I like you, and a reason, I might +say, why I condemn myself. But I like a man or don't, almost at the +start. They call me a shrewd politician, and I am, but I'm one of the +easiest men taken in you ever saw. Oh, I can tell whether or not a man +is a rascal, and I sometimes buy his ware knowing that I myself am sold, +but I can't help it. One single note in a man's voice sometimes catches +me—a little thing that he doesn't know himself. Belford, I want you to +go to the State capital with me sometime, after the Legislature meets. +I'll show you some of the most picturesque and genial old blatherskites +you ever saw. Well, I've got some knocking around to do. See you again +soon."</p> + +<p>And it was thus that we always parted—with "See you again soon," and +never with "You must come to see me." I wondered whether his daughter +had warned him against the impropriety of inviting me to the house. I +mused over the sharp light of comprehension in his eye, and made an +additional trouble for myself with speculating upon the degree of his +suspicion.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon I walked far out beyond the limits of the town, not at +first in the direction of the Senator's house, but I cut a quarter +circle to the left and came upon the road that led past his gate. So +self-forgetful had been my employment that I did not realize until I +stepped into the shade of a cottonwood how hot it had been out on the +blazing commons. On the dying grass I sat, with my feet in a gully, +fanning with my hat, harvesting delicious shudders of coolness. From +afar off came the hum of a thrashing machine, and almost in my ear an +insect sang the melancholy tune that tells of autumn's coming. I heard +the slow and heavy trot of an old horse, and around a bend in the road a +buggy came, and in it a woman. I got up with my blood leaping. I +stepped to the roadside and stood there, with my face turned away, and +suddenly the horse fell back to a walk, in obedience to an impulsive +pull upon the lines, my eager and outlawed heart had told me. I turned +about. Her eyes were averted, and her face was red, and she would have +passed without a word, without a look, but I stepped out boldly and +cried: "Just a moment, please. The hame strap has come unbuckled."</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you," she said, and the horse stopped. I stepped in front and +began to pull at the strap.</p> + +<p>"Quite a surprise to see you, Mrs. Estell."</p> + +<p>"Yes. But I don't know why it should be. I drive about a good deal."</p> + +<p>"And I walk about a good deal, and yet this is the first time—"</p> + +<p>"Can't you fasten it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; now it's all right." I stood partly in front of the horse, with my +hand on the shaft. She gathered up the lines.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Estell, I hope you are not offended at me."</p> + +<p>She laughed with music though not with mirth, and then her face grew +serious as she said: "Of course not, Mr. Belford."</p> + +<p>Where was the freedom, the outbreak of energy she had shown in the opera +house; where was the look of frankness? All now was reserve, a cool and +sacred respect for the law that held her tied with a frost-covered rope. +I did not presume that she loved me, but I knew that she hated <i>him</i>.</p> + +<p>"Have you buckled the strap?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, madam."</p> + +<p>"Thank you."</p> + +<p>At that moment a buggy with two men in it came rattling by. One man +turned to look back, and I recognized Petticord, the editor.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Estell, I hope sometime to tell you—"</p> + +<p>"Don't tell me anything, Mr. Belford. Let me go, please. Good-bye."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + +<h3>THE WORK OF A SCOUNDREL.</h3> + + +<p>I was more than miserable all that night; I was wretched. I had betrayed +myself, and now to show even the slightest interest in her was to imply +an insult. But what could I hope for at best? My chain might be gold, +but it was a chain after all, and must be broken. I would tell the +Senator that I must go away; and the next day I sat, expecting his step +on the stairs. And late in the day there came a step, but not his. It +was not a step, but a bound and a rush. Young Elkin sprung into the room +with a copy of Petticord's paper in his hand.</p> + +<p>"Look what that scoundrel has done!" he cried.</p> + +<p>I snatched the paper. One glance and everything whirled round. I +remember that Elkin caught hold of me; I can recall that I leaned +against the casement of the window to hold the paper where the light was +strong. I went out, down the back way, and through an alley into a +silent street. I passed the lamp-post where the negro preacher and I had +parted one night; I passed the goblin thicket. And now a cold dread fell +upon me. What sort of light should now I find in the eyes of that old +man? I shuddered at the thought of meeting him. I would rather have met +a lion. His rage would drive me mad.</p> + +<p>The door was opened by the negress. She nodded toward the library. All +was still. I stepped lightly to the door. The Senator was moving about +as if looking for something. I tapped on the door facing and he looked +round.</p> + +<p>"Ah, come in, Belford."</p> + +<p>A tremor seized me. He had not seen the paper. "I was looking for an oil +can," said he. "Put it down somewhere just a moment ago. Here it is. +Looks as if we'd have a little rain."</p> + +<p>He took up a pistol and began to oil the lock, moving the hammer up and +down to assure himself that it worked easily. "I guess that's all right. +Now what did I do with that other pistol?"</p> + +<p>"In my room," a voice replied. I turned about with a start. Mrs. Estell +stood in the door. She bowed. A cool smile parted her pale lips.</p> + +<p>"Bring it, please," said the Senator.</p> + +<p>She dropped a graceful courtesy, one that might have been seen in the +gracious days of our grandmothers, and ran up the stairway. When she +returned the Senator was standing near the door, but she passed him and +handed the pistol to me. She gave me a look, and if now her eyes were +glad, they were glad like a fire that rejoices to burn. Just one look +and then she bowed and withdrew without a word.</p> + +<p>"Let me oil it and by that time the buggy will be ready," said the +Senator. "I think you will find it all right," he remarked, as he +returned the pistol to me. The negress appeared at the door. "Buggy +ready? All right. Come, Belford."</p> + +<p>Not a word was spoken until we were far into the town, and then the +Senator said: "If there's but one he belongs to me. Do you understand?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but he doesn't belong to you unless you can shoot first."</p> + +<p>He looked at me, and beneath his gray mustache was a smile as sharp as a +sword.</p> + +<p>The horse was trotting at the top of his speed. We whirled round a +corner, the wheels ground against the curb and we leaped out. A negro +with his arms full of newspapers stood on the pavement.</p> + +<p>"Throw them in the gutter!" the Senator commanded, and the negro obeyed. +Up the stairway we rushed, into a corridor. The Senator tried a door. It +would not open.</p> + +<p>"He has locked himself in. Here, we'll break it down with this."</p> + +<p>We gathered up a heavy bench, battered the door down and rushed into the +room. The place was vacant. We looked at each other. A gust of wind +stirred the papers lying about; a "bunch of copy" fluttered on the +editor's desk.</p> + +<p>"We'll find him."</p> + +<p>We went into the business office. No one was there. We stepped out into +the street, and there we were arrested on a peace warrant sworn out by +Petticord.</p> + +<p>"We must respect the law," the Senator remarked as we walked off with +the constable. "I mean the active presence of the law," he added, +evidently recalling the fact that we had broken down a door. "We'll go +over here and give bond, but we'll get him. Yes, Sir, we'll get him as +sure as you are born."</p> + +<p>Bonds were prepared, accepted, and we were released. The Justice +followed us out. "Giles," said he, "I am awfully sorry that you didn't +have a chance to kill him. Never was a greater outrage perpetrated in +this community."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but I'll get him, Perry," the Senator replied.</p> + +<p>"Get him? Of course! Mr. Belford, this makes you a permanent resident of +our city, Sir. You can't afford to go away now, even if you have thought +of such a thing. Giles, he swore out the warrant and got on a train at +once, and I reckon his wife will run his paper. Is Estell at home?"</p> + +<p>"No, he is over at Jackson. He'll be home to-night."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm sorry—but look here, Giles, after all it is simply an +annoyance. That fellow Petticord has no weight."</p> + +<p>"A man of no family whatever," said the Senator. "And, Sir, neither is a +dog, but we may be forced to kill him. Come, Belford."</p> + +<p>Together we walked back to the buggy. A street lamp, the first one +lighted, flashed across the way, and I thought of the coming of Estell.</p> + +<p>"Get in," said the old gentleman, "and I will drive you to—to your +office." And as we drove along he added: "I don't know what to say. But +don't think that I attach any blame to you. My daughter's word as to +your conduct toward her, your consideration and your gentleness weigh +like holy writ. And you know why I have not invited you to the house. +But we'll say nothing about that."</p> + +<p>"No, we can't talk of that, Senator. But there is something I must say. +Let the horse walk, please. First let me tell you that I respect you +more—love you more, if you will permit me to say it—than any man on +the earth. I—"</p> + +<p>"Don't, don't, Belford," he protested with a catch like a sob in his +voice. "Don't."</p> + +<p>And we drove in silence until we reached a corner near the opera house, +and then I requested him to let me get out. He gave me his hand; I +gripped it hard, and we parted without a word.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> + +<h3>IN THE THICKET.</h3> + + +<p>Alone in my room I sat, with the window shades pulled down, waiting for +the coming of another day. And for what end? To meet the gaze of vulgar +eyes. The tavern bells had rung the supper hour, and doors were closing +about the public square. I heard the "haw haw" and the shuffling dance +of negroes on the pavement. I heard Washington's step on the stair and I +lighted the gas and waited, for now he was not an unwelcome visitor. He +tapped at the door like a small bird pecking on a tree. I bade him come +in, and as he entered he dropped his hat on the floor.</p> + +<p>"Don't do that," I commanded, "don't give me any more affectation. You +despise your father's dialect but you preserve his tricks of slavish +humility."</p> + +<p>"Humility is more the virtue of the Christian than the trick of the +slave, Mr. Belford," he replied. "But tell me why you are so free and +simple when you talk to other people and so—pardon me if I use the word +theatric—so theatric with me."</p> + +<p>"Because you rob me of my naturalness and compel me to strut. But let me +be natural now. Are you just from the house?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I came straight down here."</p> + +<p>"Had the Senator returned?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but he soon went away again—after Mr. Estell came."</p> + +<p>"Did you see them meet?"</p> + +<p>"No, I had gone out to help the woman bring in the clothes because it +looked like rain."</p> + +<p>"And did the woman tell you anything about Mrs. Estell?"</p> + +<p>"That she had locked herself in her room was all."</p> + +<p>"And you didn't hear any talk between the Senator and Estell?"</p> + +<p>"Only at the gate when the Senator drove off. Then he said: 'Don't look +for me until you see me.' A boy went with him to bring the buggy back."</p> + +<p>"Where could he have gone?"</p> + +<p>"To take the train for New Orleans, to look for his man. He had a +telegram."</p> + +<p>"And what did Estell say?"</p> + +<p>"He swore as the Senator drove. 'By God,' he cried, 'you have gone after +the wrong man.' But perhaps I ought not to have told you this."</p> + +<p>I strove to be calm, but almost in a rage I was now walking up and down +the room.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you should. And the imbecile said that. He ought to have his lying +old tongue torn out."</p> + +<p>"Be cautious, Mr. Belford. The man—"</p> + +<p>"The man what?" I demanded.</p> + +<p>"May think he has a cause. Wait a moment, please. A cause to believe +that you are in the young woman's heart, and what more would he need to +make him bitter toward you? Be reasonable."</p> + +<p>"You are right, Washington; you are right. But when we meet, what then?"</p> + +<p>"You must not meet."</p> + +<p>"But we might."</p> + +<p>"You must go away."</p> + +<p>"What, to blast her name?"</p> + +<p>"No, to save a life. Perhaps two lives."</p> + +<p>"I will not go away. There will be but one life to forfeit—mine."</p> + +<p>"Would that save her name, Mr. Belford?"</p> + + +<p>"Look here, you don't mean that the people believe that newspaper's +insinuation."</p> + +<p>"They don't. Representatives of the best families have called to show +their faith, but what would they think if Estell should shoot you?"</p> + +<p>"And what would they think if I should run away? No, I will stay."</p> + +<p>"Then I have nothing more to say, Mr. Belford."</p> + +<p>He strode out, catching up his hat at the door, and I counted the steps +as he trod down the stairs.</p> + +<p>Early the next morning I walked out from the town, but at no time did I +turn toward the Senator's house. I went down the road that led through +the cypress land, into the deep silence of the swamp. I passed the house +of the Notorious Bugg, and I saw it trembling (a mere fancy, of course) +with the shake of the aguish sons-in-law. A road, impassable except in +the driest of seasons, wound about among deep pools of yellow slime. The +ground shook under my careful tread, and the slightest jar was +sufficient to disturb an acre of spongy desolation. I sat on a log with +the feeling that no eye could see me. Sometimes the silence was so +strained that it sang in my ear; sometimes I was startled by the +flapping and the shriek of a gaunt bird, skimming the surface of the +ooze. In this creepy solitude I took myself to task. Behind an error of +the heart there stands a sophist, a Libanius, to offer a specious +consolation—a voice ever ready to say, "It was not your fault; you do +not create your own desires and neither can you control them." This is +true enough, but a man can control his actions. I should have gone away, +for the commonest of sense had pointed out the weakness, the crime, of +remaining. And what had I hoped for? To tell her that I would wait, with +a hope ever warm in my heart. I could not see a crime in that. But I +could not tell her—she would not permit me to lead up to so +embarrassing a subject. Washington was right. It was my duty to go away, +not to save myself, but to keep Estell's hands free of blood.</p> + +<p>Strong in my resolve, I walked briskly toward the town, and, coming out +of the swamp, I was still strong, but my heart fluttered when from a +rise of ground I saw the Senator's house, far away. To the left of the +road lay a piece of land, wild with briers and a growth of new timber, a +thicket checkered with cattle paths. Up the road I saw a man coming, +and, as he drew nearer, I recognized the slouching figure of Bugg +Peters. I did not care to meet him, to be compelled to answer or evade +his questions, so I turned aside into the thicket and brushed my way +along a narrow path. On a sudden I leaped aside into a tangle of bushes. +A pistol or gun had fired it seemed almost at my elbow. I listened, but +heard not a sound. I thought I saw smoke arising off to my left, but it +might have been mist, for the day was dark with vapors and low-hanging +clouds. I was uneasy, and not knowing whither my path might lead, I +turned back; and just as I reached the road a man and a boy, struggling +through the undergrowth, ran past me. They said nothing, but, looking +back with fright in their faces, ran off toward town. I looked about for +Peters, but did not see him. I wondered what it all could mean.</p> + +<p>Upon entering the town I avoided the busier streets, and passed through +quiet by-ways. At the foot of the rear stairway leading to my room +stood a man.</p> + +<p>"Hold on," he said, and then shouted to someone above. A man came +running down the steps.</p> + +<p>"What's wanted?" I inquired.</p> + +<p>"You," replied one of the men. "Come with us."</p> + +<p>"But what do you want?"</p> + +<p>"Come on quietly and you'll find out. Do you want us to handcuff you?"</p> + +<p>I went with them, stupefied with astonishment. They would answer no +questions. They took me to the jail, and then I was informed that I had +been arrested on a warrant sworn out by J. W. Hilliard, charging me with +the murder of Thomas Estell. In a daze I was pushed into a cell. I +couldn't think; I had an impression that I had lost a part—the serious +part—of my mind. I looked at the little things about me, a burnt match +on the floor, a cobweb in an upper corner. I took up a tin candlestick +and picked at a ridge of sperm; I sat down upon a cot, wondering if it +would break under me, and I felt it shake and spring like the spongeland +in the swamp. I heard the tavern bells ring, and I heard the tradesmen +slamming their doors. And I even said to myself, "I shall be +horror-stricken when I realize it all."</p> + +<p>There came footsteps down the corridor, and I heard someone say, "All +right, I won't stay long. Turn up your lamp. I can't see him."</p> + +<p>The blaze of a lamp hanging in the corridor crept higher and I saw the +shoemaker standing in front of my grated door.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Belford, this is rough."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it will be when I am able to believe it."</p> + +<p>"I reckon it's so, and it won't take you long to believe it. But if you +ever had cause to be cool, you've got that cause now. Brighten up. +Several people have called to see you—the nigger preacher, too—but +they couldn't get in."</p> + +<p>"How did you get in?"</p> + +<p>"The jailer owes me. Yes, and I worked my prerogative because I thought +you'd like to see even a shoemaker."</p> + +<p>"Tell me—tell me all about it."</p> + +<p>"Why, Hilliard and his son was coming through the thicket. They heard a +pistol close to them, they stumbled on Estell lying dead in the path, +and they saw you making for the big road. And that slab-sided Peters +says he saw you turn into the thicket. He heard the shot, and he ran in +to see what was up, but couldn't find anything. It is a shame the way +both those fellows were permitted to stand around and talk about it. It +has made them mighty important. I dangled a debt over Bugg's head and +silenced him, but I couldn't do anything with Hilliard. That scoundrel +paid me about two months ago. Bad! It puts the Senator in an awkward +position. He can't express an opinion, you know. Good thing he's away, +gunning after Petticord. Oh, Bolanyo is coming up. They found Estell +with his head almost blown off. Seems as if somebody must have poked a +pistol out of the bushes almost against the side of his head. I am +telling you all this so you may in a measure be prepared at the inquest +to-morrow morning. His watch and some small change was found, so it +wasn't a murder for gain. No pistol was found on him, so he wasn't +expecting a fight."</p> + +<p>"Look here, Vark, you don't believe I killed that man?"</p> + +<p>"I haven't said so, but I'll tell you this—the people believe it. You +know it takes a great deal of argument to prove a stranger innocent and +mighty little evidence to show him guilty. In an old community it's a +great crime to be a stranger. Well, I must go. The best thing you can do +is to keep your head cool."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> + +<h3>THE RINGING OF THE BELL.</h3> + + +<p>I sat down, in a full sense of it all, and reasoned upon the ugly +happenings that stood to accuse me. Coincidents sometimes fit snugger +than arrangements that have been carefully planned; they slip into place +with a perverse trueness of adjustment. Thus I speculated, and I was +astonished at my coolness. I turned about from my argument to notice +that a heavy rain was falling. The courthouse bell was ringing +furiously. The jailor came hastening down the corridor.</p> + +<p>"What does that bell mean?" I inquired.</p> + +<p>"God help you man, it means you!" he cried. "The signal for the mob."</p> + +<p>"What! To hang me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and I can't help you."</p> + +<p>"But you can turn me out. Open this door!"</p> + +<p>"I can't do that, Sir. They would hang me. They are coming."</p> + +<p>There were no cries outside. There was the heavy tramping of feet and a +tap on the door as if a quiet visitor sought admission.</p> + +<p>"Who is that?" the jailor demanded, walking slowly down the corridor.</p> + +<p>"Open the door, Hill."</p> + +<p>"But who is it?"</p> + +<p>"A party of friends. Open the door to your neighbors."</p> + +<p>"But is it to the law—the sheriff?"</p> + +<p>"The sheriff is locked up in the courthouse. We want to be quiet about +this thing, but—the sledge, Dave."</p> + +<p>"Hold on, boys, don't break the door. What do you want?"</p> + +<p>"A man."</p> + +<p>And the man stood in the cell, placing a cool estimate upon each word +and astonished at himself.</p> + +<p>"Well, boys, I can't help myself, and when you take him you'll find him +a piece of as dead grit as you ever run against."</p> + +<p>I heard the bolt. He threw the door open. There was no rush, no noise, +and not a word was spoken until the jailor opened the door of my cell, +and then a man in a black mask quietly said: "We must trouble you to go +along with us."</p> + +<p>It was of no use to protest and I did not reply. With a small rope they +tied my hands behind me and led me out into the street. And now there +arose a yell. Rain was pouring down. The pine torches were extinguished. +The lamps about the public square had been turned out. The mob was going +to do its work by the light of a single lantern, borne by a man who +strode beside me. In front of the courthouse stood a tree. Under it a +large box was placed. A rope, with one end on the box, the other end +lost in the darkness of the tree, looked in the rain like a waterspout. +I heard someone say, "Keep quiet, everybody!" The lantern was placed on +the box.</p> + +<p>"Let me assist you to get up," said a polite man. I looked about, but +saw no kindly face; I saw a circle of black masks. Suddenly the lantern +was knocked off the box. A scramble followed in the dark and the rain. +Someone seized my hands, something cold touched them, bore down hard and +the rope fell apart. "Run through the courthouse," a whisper shot like a +needle into my ear. I wheeled about; I knocked men down; and in the +midst of a fury, an outcry, a stampede in hell, I stumbled up the +courthouse steps, ran headlong through the black corridor, out the other +side, into an alley. I scrambled over a fence, fell upon a shopkeeper's +waste ground, stumbled over boxes, climbed over another fence—ran. Away +from the square the gas-lamps were burning, and I shunned the light. The +rain continued to pour, and the roadways were deserted. The speed of +despair soon took me beyond the limits of the town, and now the +darkness was intense. The sandiness of the soil gave warning that I was +near the river, and I halted to listen, but the splash of the rain was +all that I heard. Far behind me was a yellow smear—the town. But what +was in front I knew not. I felt my way along. The ground sloped—the +river. "If I could only find a boat," I mused. I walked up the shore, +close to the water's edge, the ripples sucking the sand from under my +feet. Once I fell with a splash, and I bore off to the right, to keep +clear of the water, but a high bank had arisen between me and the +outlying fields of darkness. Suddenly there came a loud splash. The +sandy banks were caving in. I thought of turning back, and then came a +splash behind me. I was caught in a trap of sand. There was nothing to +do but to wait. I could not climb out, for I was now beneath a shelf, +hollowed out under the bank, a crumbling roof. I sat down to wait for +daylight. The river was rising. I was afraid to move. A yawn might have +called down an avalanche of sand. I could have plunged into the river, +but I could not have swam against the current; I should have been swept +down beyond Bolanyo, to be snatched up at daylight and hanged. And +daylight was coming. The rain had ceased, but the air was heavy and I +knew that the light would be slow. The yellow river grew distinct, close +to the shore, and gradually, but with many a hang-back, it seemed, the +light grew strong enough to reveal the walls and the roof of my prison. +Overhead the sand was held by streaks of clay, but this support, I saw, +must soon give in, for the current was eating fast. Up the stream, only +a few feet away, was a whirlpool, where the bank had caved, and just +below a strong suck was forming, but here was a slope, and I might climb +out over it, though the way was treacherous. I did not hesitate, and +struggling, clutching, on my knees, up again, the sand rolling under me, +I fought and gained the firm ground above. Not a house was within sight. +But I could see the plow on the dome in Bolanyo, miles away; and now it +was a vulture, dark-limned against a darker sky. I trod across a gullied +field, into the woods, to find a place to lie in hiding until night. I +thought of blood-hounds. But the rain, the river and the caving sand +were almost a sure protection against their merciless scent. Still I was +frightened, and I walked for a long distance in a stream of water, with +the old story of a runaway slave fresh in my mind. I could not even +guess at the time of day. At the jail they had taken my watch, my +penknife, money, everything. In a thick patch of briers I lay down +beside a log and slept, and opening my eyes I saw a star. I bore off +from the river, walking as fast as I could. I came upon a patch of yams, +the southerner's vaunted sweet potato, and fed ravenously on the milky +root. I passed numerous negro cabins and dogs barked at me. At daylight +I hid again and slept.</p> + +<p>In the evening of the fourth day I made bold to enter a negro's hut, +always the refuge and the asylum of the outcast, and appealed to the +generosity of an enormous fellow who reminded me of Washington. I told +him I was a fugitive fleeing from the wrath of political enemies, and my +story moved his simple and unsuspecting heart. He gave me food and a +bed.</p> + +<p>Thus I wandered night after night, heavy of heart, and yet with a prayer +of gratitude. At last I reached the State of Illinois. One day in a +cross-roads grocery where I had halted to split wood for a bit of +cheese, I saw a handbill posted on the door. It set forth the enormity +of my crime, attempted to describe me—tall, dark brown eyes, hair +almost black, a straight nose and about thirty years of age; and they +had paid me the compliment to add the word "graceful." They had added, +also, that the sum of six thousand dollars would be paid for my capture. +The groceryman and his friends were talking politics; and doubtless they +had never given more than a moment's thought to a murder committed away +down in Mississippi.</p> + +<p>I believed that a city was my safest refuge, and I made straight for +Chicago. There I might secure some sort of employment, and, under +another name, earn money enough to take me to the wilds of the unknown +West. I felt that a light would one day be thrown upon the mystery. But +I knew that they would hang me, if they could, and then marvel at the +light, should it ever come. I appreciated the fact that the hunt for me +would not be given up. Six thousand dollars serve well to keep the blood +of justice circulating.</p> + +<p>I arrived in Chicago one evening, having spent more than two months on +the devious path that led from Bolanyo; and the first attention to mark +my arrival was the stare of a policeman. This threw me into a tremor and +a cold sweat of fear; but he passed on without speaking to me, and I +turned aside to walk slowly, and then almost to run in the opposite +direction.</p> + +<p>My appearance was against me. I was almost ragged, and I knew that it +would be useless to apply for any except the meanest sort of employment. +Times were hard, and even day labor was not easy to find. But at last, +after a week of persistent application, of hunger, of shivering in the +raw air, I was put to work in a livery-stable. They called me a +"chambermaid," a "happy hit" in which they found no end of fun. +Sometimes their jokes were rough, but I bore them with a pretense of +good nature, passing on to my task; and one day my zeal found reward in +the notice of the proprietor.</p> + +<p>"Jarvis," said he, "you go about your work as if your mind is on it. Do +you reckon you've got sense enough to drive a cab?"</p> + +<p>"I think so, Sir."</p> + +<p>"Well, have your stubble shaved off and I'll give you a trial."</p> + +<p>"I'd rather not have the beard off, Sir. I have trouble with my +throat."</p> + +<p>"Well, we'll try you, anyway."</p> + +<p>"In livery?" I could not help asking.</p> + +<p>"What, ain't proud, are you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, but I'd rather not wear livery."</p> + +<p>"It strikes me that anything would be an improvement over the clothes +you've got on. But I guess we can fix you out. You must be from the +country. An American farmer may wear patches, but he won't put on +livery. We'll put you on a special, and you may start in to-morrow."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> + +<h3>MAGNOLIA LAND.</h3> + + +<p>My wages were small, and I saved every possible penny; I gave up +smoking, slept in the stable, and rarely paid more than fifteen cents +for a meal. In my mind I settled upon the island of Vancouver, and I +resolved to go as soon as I could save money enough to buy a suit of +clothes and a railway ticket to Seattle. And from my exile I would dare +write to the Senator. "Why not now?" I thought as I sat on my cab. "But +he might believe the story set up by circumstances; he might long ago +have condemned me as guilty of Estell's blood. And what must <i>she</i> +think?" The beginning of my musings mattered not, for the end was always +the same, with the woman. And in the night, when the fierce wind howled +about the barn, with the stamping and snorting of horses beneath me, I +lay in the dark and the cold, and gazed into my heart's illuminated +memory. Her face was always frank and, though her lips were dumb, her +eyes were full of whispers. "But what must she think now?" always came +to drive her away into the dark and the cold.</p> + +<p>In impatience, and sometimes in fear, I watched the slow growth of my +savings. Once a man, a detective I was sure, came to the stable to ask, +he said, concerning a woman whom I had that day driven to a railway +station. He may have told the truth, but he put me in distress, and the +next day when I counted my money I said, "I will go to-morrow." But on +that day a paragraph leaped out of a newspaper and smote me. "In +Magnolia Land" was soon to be produced at McVicker's Theatre. I had +cause to believe that I was suspected of at least some sort of +crookedness, since in my mind it was almost settled that the man had +come to the stable to look me over in the hope of finding a "bargain," +but I was resolved to take the risk to see the play. And I read the +newspapers at night and at morning, nervous with the fear of finding an +announcement that the drama was the work of a man now charged with the +murder of Mississippi's Treasurer. As the time drew near the press agent +multiplied his licks; the play was by a man who chose to call himself +"The Elephant;" it had been read by "several of our leading dramatists +and pronounced a masterpiece of originality, character, and strength." +But to me the faith of Manager Maffet did not hold the piece above an +ordinary experiment, a truth set forth by the meagerness of his "paper;" +and, as nothing was said of the cast, I knew that my lines were not to +be given over to well-known "people."</p> + +<p>Would the day, which had sounded so near, never come! "Who are you?" a +snail inquired of a wild pigeon. "I am Time," the pigeon answered. +"No," said the snail. "You may have been Time and you may be again, some +day, but <i>I</i> am Time now."</p> + +<p>In the evening I drove a drunken man to his home, four miles on the +North Side, and when I helped him out in front of his door, he tried to +hold me, to tell me that I was his friend, but I broke loose from him, +and almost furiously I drove to the theatre. I had not time to go to the +stable; I hired a boy to look after my horse, and hastened to buy a +balcony ticket. The night was warm for the time of the year, but a +threat of rain was in the air, and I was afraid that the house would be +small, but the people kept sprinkling in, and I stood in a corner to +watch them, uneasy and annoyed whenever anyone passed along, without +even looking in toward the box office. The orchestra began with Dixie, +and my blood tingled as I went up the stairs. Viewed from my seat, the +lower part of the house appeared to be well filled and the balcony was +crowded. I had not taken account of those who had gone in before I +arrived. No program had been given to me and I was almost afraid to ask +for one. I did not permit myself to speculate upon my misfortune, an +outcast sneaking in to see his own play; I did not muse upon fate; I sat +there with my pulse beating fast. But I did indulge the comfort of the +thought that should the play prove a failure no one could discover the +humiliation of the author.</p> + +<p>The music ceased, the curtain went up, my heart leaped, and the soft +beauty of the scene brought tears to my eyes. Could I believe it, there +were Culpepper and Miss Hatch, their mouths full of "The Elephant's" +words. A droll line, and the people laughed; a sentiment, and they +applauded. So the ice was broken. The curtain went down with generous +applause. Culpepper and Miss Hatch were called out; but I could hardly +see them, for the foolish tears in my eyes. I knew that the acts to come +were better and my heart swelled with the thought. There were many +faults, of course, but good humor and enthusiasm do not hunt for flaws, +and I laughed and cried and yearned to grasp the hand of a friend.</p> + +<p>"What do you think of it?" I asked of a rough man who sat beside me.</p> + +<p>"Great," he answered.</p> + +<p>"Would you mind shaking hands with me?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know you," he replied, "but I'm a good ways from home, and +we'll call it a go. Put her there."</p> + +<p>He thrust forth his hand. I grasped it and pressed it hard—the first I +had touched in sentiment for many a day; and I was loth to let it go, +but he was forbearing. "Shake again whenever you want to," he said. "A +man that cries at a putty thing ain't a bad feller."</p> + +<p>At the end of the third act there was a roar for the author, and at that +moment I felt almost willing to risk my neck to thank those generous +hearts.</p> + +<p>It was over—and the great organ lifted its voice in triumph as the +audience arose. But if I strode out with the tread of a conqueror, it +was not unmixed with a sorrowful limp, the halting walk of one who sees +the black word "bitterness" written upon the bright banner of his +victory. A cold rain was falling. I stood against the wall to catch the +echo of my achievement, the "good," "enjoyed it so much," "beautiful," +of the hastening throng. The loud cab-calls ceased, and I stepped +forward to drive my vehicle to the stable, when, glancing back, I saw +something that almost wrung a cry from my heart. Beneath the awning +stood the Senator and his daughter. I ran to my cab, threw money to the +boy, seized the horse by the bridle, led him to the curb in front of the +Senator, and bowing under the glistening drip I said, "Cab, Sir?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think so," he replied. "We haven't far to go, just around yonder +to the Great Northern Hotel. Let me help you in, Florence. I reckon they +are right in saying that this place has about the worst climate in the +world."</p> + +<p>I held the door open until they were seated, and stood there in a +tremble after I had closed it, yearning to make myself known to them. +But the success of the play could not mean that I was innocent of an old +man's death. They might never have believed me guilty. "I could throw +myself upon their mercy," I mused. "But what if they should turn away +with a cold word and a shudder?" Reason is the offspring of wisdom, but +it has always been a coward.</p> + +<p>"What are you waiting for?" the Senator inquired, with a tap on the +window. "Drive on, please."</p> + +<p>I mounted, not trusting myself to speak, and drove slowly away, with my +eager ear bent low.</p> + +<p>"Never saw anything like that play," said the Senator, "never did. But I +tell you I was scared at first. Why, when that fellow Bugg Peters came +out there I thought surely he would ruin the whole thing. And he was +Bugg, up and up. Yes, thought he would spoil it all. Why, Florence, that +fellow is the biggest liar on the earth!"</p> + +<p>"But he is art, as we saw him to-night, Father."</p> + +<p>"Well, yes. He said the very things that Bugg would have said. Yes, art +all right enough, but whenever he <i>is</i>, art has turned out to be a +monstrous liar. It does seem to me, however, that Bolanyo could have +furnished a batch of more respectable characters—more representative, +don't you understand—people of better standing. Washington is all +right, an advancement, a high type of his race, but the pilot and the +shoemaker are—oh, well, they don't represent us. And that old woman's +meant for your Aunt Patsey as sure as you live. But in spite of these +minor faults it is a beautiful play."</p> + +<p>"I wonder," she said, after a moment of silence, "I wonder where Mr. +Belford is to-night; if he could only have seen his victory; if—"</p> + +<p>"Say, there, driver," the Senator cried, "why don't you go ahead? What +do you want to halt along here for? I don't want to hurt your feelings, +you understand, but I could have more than walked there by this time. +Drive up, please."</p> + +<p>We were now near the hotel. I drew up at the curb, jumped down and +opened the cab door. The Senator got out. I did not look at him. I did +not dare to feed my hungry eyes upon her face. He took her hand, and +when she had stepped upon the pavement, she turned about. "Oh, wait a +moment," she said, "my dress is caught. No, it isn't."</p> + +<p>"I will settle with you in a moment," he remarked, looking back at me, +as with haste, though with most gallant gentleness, he urged his +daughter toward the door, out of the rain. I looked hard at her now, +with my heart full of another night, when she had glanced back at me; I +waited, gazing, enchained by her grace, until she reached the door, and +then I sprung upon the cab and drove away. The Senator shouted, but I +did not look around, until, turning a corner, I glanced back, to see him +standing bare-headed in the rain, waving his hat at me.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV.</h2> + +<h3>DOWN A DARK ALLEY.</h3> + + +<p>She had wondered where I was, and the soft echo of her sympathy filled +my heart with a psalm. Surely she could not have suspected me of +Estell's blood. But the Senator—why did he break in as if impatient of +my name? Had he grown weary with hearing it? But his interruption, it +was not hard to believe, was more of a sorrow than an impatience.</p> + +<p>I was near the stable now, but I stopped the horse, almost of a mind to +turn back, to touch her hand, even if compelled to run away to hide +again in fear and shame. I glanced down at my mean garb, I thought of +the fierce aspect of my beard-gnarled face, and pride, not fear, forced +me to hesitate. "But I will go early in the morning," I mused, as I +drove on, still debating, the horse slow under the restraint of my +sullenness. "I will shave my face and—"</p> + +<p>A man stepped out from the shadow into the light and raised his +hand—the man who had put me in a tremor of fear. "I want to see you a +moment," he said.</p> + +<p>I was near the sidewalk, at the mouth of an alley, and without a moment +of speculation as to what the fellow might mean I leaped from the cab +and darted into the alley. He raised a cry and I heard another noise, a +pistol shot, perhaps. I plunged through an opening and scrambled over a +great pile of scrap-iron; I tore open a frail gate and came out upon a +street. People were passing, but they paid but little attention to me. I +crossed the street, entered another alley, made as quick time as I +could, and came out near the river.</p> + +<p>All through the night I hastened onward, sometimes on a railway track +and often in the mud of the prairie. My running away might have been +foolish; the man might simply have wanted to make an inquiry. And, +indeed, if he had settled upon me why had he waited so long? It was easy +enough to reason, but reason when slower than action is a miserable +cripple. I had money enough to pay my way out West, but caution dictated +a fear of open travel, so I was resolved to walk in lonely places until +I felt that to trust a railway train would be less of a risk. The rain +increased with the coming of daylight, and I was driven to seek the +shelter of a barn. A man came out to milk the cows.</p> + +<p>"I have invited myself in out of the rain," said I, as he gave me a +suspicious look.</p> + +<p>"All right. A man ought to have sense enough to come in out of the rain. +Which way are you traveling?"</p> + +<p>"Looking for work," I answered.</p> + +<p>"Well, you ought to be able to find it. But most men hunting for work +these days put me in mind of a horse goin' along the road lookin' for +somethin' to get scared at. A feller came along yesterday and said he +was hungry; but when I showed him some work I wanted done he skulked +off. Are you hungry enough to help build a fence?"</p> + +<p>"No, but I'm hungry enough to pay for something to eat."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, then, I guess you're all right. Just go on to the house and +make yourself to home."</p> + +<p>I went to the house; and while sitting by the fire, the wind high and +the rain lashing at the window, I formed the resolve to go back to +Bolanyo. I would surrender myself to the authorities, to claim the right +of trial by jury and to accept the result. And reason was not now a +coward, a cripple, but more like a man, cool, bold and strong. I +reviewed with pity the morbid fear that held me back from Maffet; I felt +now that in safety I could have made myself known to him. The Senator +had come to look after my interest, and surely he would not have frowned +upon me. Yes, I would go back to Bolanyo. I was sick of the rabbitlike +freedom of an outlaw.</p> + +<p>"How far is it to the railway station?" I inquired of the farmer.</p> + +<p>"Well," he drawled, "I don't know for certain."</p> + +<p>I knew that it was not in his Yankee nature to give me a direct answer, +so I waited.</p> + +<p>"There's a milk station a little nearer than the other one. Want to get +on the train?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, I want to go over to the station to see how it looks in the +rain."</p> + +<p>"Which, the milk station or the other one? Ain't much to see over there, +but the land's worth all of a hundred dollars an acre. But when we came +out here from Connecticut it could have been bought for a song and they +wouldn't have insisted on your carryin' the tune so mighty well. If you +want to go jest to look, the milk station is as good as any and a good +deal better than some; but if you want to get on the express train you'd +better go to the other one."</p> + +<p>"How far is it?"</p> + +<p>"Which, the other one?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, the other one. How far is it?"</p> + +<p>"Well, if you walk, it's—"</p> + +<p>"I don't want to walk; I want you to drive me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, if that's the case I guess we can fix it. I'll drive you over +for half a dollar. The train will be along about dark or a little after. +You've got plenty of time."</p> + +<p>"Have you a razor?"</p> + +<p>"I guess I had the best razor you ever saw, but the woman (he meant his +wife) took it one day and raked all the edge off it. But I've got +another one, a rattler."</p> + +<p>"Would you mind my shaving with it?"</p> + +<p>"Well, do you shave left-handed or right-handed?"</p> + +<p>"Right-handed."</p> + +<p>"That's what I was afraid of. I shave left-handed, and if you change +after the razor is set, why, it rather warps it, so to speak. Neighbor +of mine had a razor ruined that way. It might not ruin mine, but I'm +inclined to believe it would suffer about ten cents' worth."</p> + +<p>"All right, I'll stand the damage. You grab after every penny in sight, +I see."</p> + +<p>"Well, I hadn't thought of that, but now that you put me in mind of it, +I guess I will. And why not? Wheat down, can't give oats away, and hogs +a-squealin' because they ain't worth nothin'. Everybody's got his teeth +on edge agin the farmer, and if he don't grab at every penny in sight +they'll have to lift him into a wagon and haul him to the poorhouse. +I'll get the razor."</p> + +<p>I heard him fussing about in an adjoining room, with a complaint, +directed at his wife, that nothing could ever be found on the place, and +presently he returned with the razor, a strop, a bar of soap and a dish +of hot water. I looked at his bearded face and was tickled with conquest +to notice his embarrassment. It was, however, but a brief season of +defeat for him. His humorous shrewdness flew to his aid. "I guess," +said he, "that my beard grows faster than anybody's you ever saw. I +shaved not long ago, and shaved with my left hand, too—to keep my razor +in the same shape and temper, you understand—but my beard grows so fast +that I don't look like it. One of my neighbors tells me that I could +make money growin' hair to stuff buggy cushions with, and maybe I could, +but I never tried it; never had the time, somehow. Now, just hit her a +lick or two on that strop and you'll be all right."</p> + +<p>"You say your people came from Connecticut?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Sir, from right up the river."</p> + +<p>"Did any of the family go on further South?"</p> + +<p>"I think so. I had an uncle, younger a good deal than my daddy. He went +South, married there and died in the war, on the rebel side. But he left +Connecticut long before I was born. We tried to look up the family some +time ago; I thought we'd like to have a warm place to go sometime in +the winter; and, Sir, I got a letter from my cousin, tellin' me to come. +He lives in Mississippi—name's Bugg Peters. Why, what are you so +astonished at, Mister? It's a fact, and my name's Sam Peters. Well, I'll +go out and hitch up the horse by the time you get shaved."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> + +<h3>CONCLUSION—IN THE GARDEN.</h3> + + +<p>Through the dark the train came with a stuttering roar. I turned to +shake hands with Peters, but he had stepped from the platform to hold +his horse.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye," he shouted. "This horse has seen the train every day since +he was born, but he'll run away if I don't hold him. But it runs in his +family to be afraid of the railroad. His brother was killed by a train. +Wish you well, and if you ever come this way again, stop off."</p> + +<p>He was a skinflint and a rascal, but he had shortened a dreary day, and +at parting I regretted that I had not told him of my acquaintance with +his kinsman in the South.</p> + +<p>With a change of cars, at daylight, I could reach Memphis late in the +afternoon, in time to continue my journey by boat to Bolanyo. I lay +back, with my hat pulled down over my face, and strove to compose myself +to sleep, and I dozed, but awoke at the solemn words of a judge, +rumbling with the rhythm of the train. Sometimes I argued that I was a +fool to trust myself to the humor of an excitable people; but soon I +discovered that this speculation was forced, that my mind refused to +treat it seriously, that my hope stood, not at the bar, under the +protection of the law, but in the Senator's garden. And from this +height, in the redolent air, I could not force myself down to muse upon +a long season in a cell, waiting for the court to convene.</p> + +<p>Daylight came. I got off at a station, to step on board another train. I +counted my money and found that I might have enough, upon reaching +Memphis, to buy a suit of cheap clothes. But the most strenuous denial +must be practiced; I could not afford food nor even a newspaper.</p> + +<p>It was nearly four o'clock when the train arrived at Memphis. I hastened +to the landing and learned that a boat would leave within half an hour +and that fifty cents would secure a deck passage to Bolanyo. I was +fitted out by a riverside clothier, and, after a quick "snack" of fish +on a houseboat, I stepped on board the steamer that had brought the +Senator and me with "Magnolia Land" up the river. I stood at the bow, +and my heart leaped at the sight of the first green tinge in the woods. +How soft and delicious was the atmosphere, after the raw wind of the +prairies and the lake. How gently the sun went down, without a shiver, +without a breath too cool.</p> + +<p>I saw the lights of Bolanyo. And I felt about for something to +touch—something to brace me against the surging of an overpowering +emotion. I tried to picture the jail; I strove to recall the yell of the +mob, the awful night, the tread of merciless feet; but I saw a blossom +nodding in the sweet air; I heard a voice that filled my soul with +trembling melody.</p> + +<p>The boat touched the shore, and I leaped upon the landing, before the +plank could be thrown out. And now a caution was necessary. To be +recognized meant a night in jail, perhaps another mob, and it was my +plan to go by lonely ways to the Senator's house and to surrender myself +to him. In my haste I was almost breathless. I passed the lonely +lamp-post and the thicket; I stood at the gate. I opened it without +noise, and, with my heart bounding, I stole up the steps, raised the +door-knocker and let it fall; and with the noise, the breaking of the +metrical throb of the silence, I sprung aside, almost choking. Someone +came slowly down the hall and fumbled at the lock. Would the door ever +be opened? It was, and Washington stood before me.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" he cried, seizing me in his arms.</p> + +<p>"Come right in yere, Sah, Lawd bless yo' life. Let me hep you. Laws er +massy, de man kai hardly walk. Yes, Sah, right yere in de libery."</p> + +<p>He lifted me in his mighty arms, carried me into the library and eased +me down upon a chair. "Now, Sah—Sir—let us try to be cool; let us be +strong with the love of the Lord in our hearts."</p> + +<p>He snatched up a hat and stood over me, fanning my face. "Yes, let us +thank our heavenly father."</p> + +<p>"Where are they—she?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"You must be cool, Mr. Belford. Your excitement might—might be bad for +you all. The Senator is out somewhere and so is Miss Florence. But you +shall see them soon. Just quiet yourself down."</p> + +<p>"I must see them—him at once, to surrender myself."</p> + +<p>"Surrender yourself? What for, Mr. Belford?"</p> + +<p>"Washington, don't force me to say it. You know. I have come back to +give myself up, to stand my trial."</p> + +<p>He ceased his fanning, stepped back and looked at me. "Mr. Belford, +haven't you seen the papers?"</p> + +<p>"I have seen nothing. I have come to give myself up."</p> + +<p>The hat fell from his hand. "Mr. Belford, you must prepare yourself to +hear something. Let me be slow so that it may not excite you."</p> + +<p>"Out with it. I can stand anything."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Sir, but I must remember my failing, my father's rude tongue. But +I will try to tell you in a civilized way. Once I told you of a woman I +loved—now do not be impatient. You must wait, and if you are not cool +you shall not see anyone. The husband of this woman was a sinner, and +his wife kept urging him to join my church. One night not long ago, +moved by the spirit, I talked to the hearts of men, and he was stricken +with conviction. And the next day he came to me. He said that he was in +the thicket and heard a pistol fire, and that not long afterward he came +upon Estell's body with a pistol lying beside it. He looked about. No +one was in sight. He thrust his hand into the dead man's pocket and drew +out a pocketbook and some papers. Then he took up the pistol, but was +afraid to touch the watch, knowing that it would be death to be found +with it. Just then he thought he heard someone coming and he ran away, +with the pocketbook, the papers and the pistol. And one of the papers +was a statement written by Estell. He confessed that he had engaged in +wild speculations, and that he was two hundred thousand dollars short in +his account with the State. He spoke of the commission which would be +appointed to go through his books, and said that he could not face the +disgrace—that death was his only recourse. It has all come out in the +newspapers, and the men who would have hanged you are willing now to +make the most gracious amends. They talk about you constantly, and they +come every day to ask if we have had any news of you. Why, yesterday a +town meeting was held and our ablest speakers blew the horn of your +praise."</p> + +<p>"Where is <i>she</i>?" I demanded.</p> + +<p>"She is out at present. Just be calm, and when the time comes you shall +see her. The Senator went North to see the play. She went with him, and +she hasn't been strong since; she was weak enough before. The Senator +wrote to the man who has the play, some time ago, and told him that he +would be held severely responsible for any mention of you in relation to +the murder as it was then thought. And the editor? He sent a retraction +to his paper; he acknowledged that he was a liar, and the Senator has +let him come back to settle up his affairs."</p> + +<p>"Did she—did she grieve?"</p> + +<p>"Her life since then has been one of deepest grief, Mr. Belford, but not +for <i>him</i>. And she sits in the garden every evening—waiting—and—and +she is there now, Sir."</p> + +<p>I leaped from the chair; I ran into the garden, calling her name—not +Mrs. Estell—but "Florence! Florence!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, who—who is calling me?" a voice cried, and I saw her clinging to a +tree for support, near the bench where we had often sat. I ran to her, +and the garden lamp light was in her eyes as she looked at me. I stood +in silence, looking at her. I took her hand, and in silence we sat down. +It was a long time before we spoke.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that awful night!" she said, with her head bent low. "There was no +one to help you, and when I heard the bell ring I seized a knife from +the kitchen and threw a shawl over my head and ran down there to stab +the man that tied the rope. I knocked the lantern over and I cut the +cords—"</p> + +<p>Half blind, I saw my tears gleaming in her hair. "And when you stepped +out of the carriage the night of the play you thought your dress was +caught. It was—I caught it to kiss it."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" she cried—and that was all. We sat in silence, my tears gleaming +in her hair. And we heard a voice and a step and we stood up. The +Senator came, with his hand thrust forth, feeling as if he were blind. +And on my shoulder he put his arm, and it was heavy. And "My—my boy," +was all he could say—"My boy."</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p class="center">THIS BOOK HAS BEEN PRINTED<br /> +DURING MAY, 1897, BY THE<br /> +BLAKELY PRINTING COMPANY,<br /> +CHICAGO, FOR WAY & WILLIAMS.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/ep.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOLANYO***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 38826-h.txt or 38826-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/8/8/2/38826">http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/8/2/38826</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution.</p> + + + +<pre> +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/license">http://www.gutenberg.org/license)</a>. + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS,' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's +eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, +compressed (zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over +the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org">http://www.gutenberg.org</a> + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000, +are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to +download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular +search system you may utilize the following addresses and just +download by the etext year. + +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/</a> + + (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, + 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90) + +EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are +filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part +of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is +identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single +digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/38826-h/images/cover.jpg b/38826-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fac2685 --- /dev/null +++ b/38826-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/38826-h/images/ep.jpg b/38826-h/images/ep.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0eb550f --- /dev/null +++ b/38826-h/images/ep.jpg diff --git a/38826-h/images/frontis.jpg b/38826-h/images/frontis.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..09a6fda --- /dev/null +++ b/38826-h/images/frontis.jpg diff --git a/38826-h/images/illus1.jpg b/38826-h/images/illus1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3197631 --- /dev/null +++ b/38826-h/images/illus1.jpg diff --git a/38826-h/images/tp.jpg b/38826-h/images/tp.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d4799f8 --- /dev/null +++ b/38826-h/images/tp.jpg diff --git a/38826.txt b/38826.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9cecefe --- /dev/null +++ b/38826.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6223 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Bolanyo, by Opie Percival Read, Illustrated +by Charles Francis Browne + + +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: Bolanyo + + +Author: Opie Percival Read + + + +Release Date: February 10, 2012 [eBook #38826] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOLANYO*** + + +E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made +available by Internet Archive/American Libraries +(http://www.archive.org/details/americana) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 38826-h.htm or 38826-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38826/38826-h/38826-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38826/38826-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive/American Libraries. See + http://www.archive.org/details/bolanyonovel00readrich + + + + + +BOLANYO + +A Novel + +by + +OPIE READ + +Author of A Kentucky Colonel The Jucklins etc + + + + + + + +Chicago +Printed for +Way & Williams +MDCCCXCVII + +Copyright, 1897, by Way & Williams. + +The Cover Designed by Mr. Maxfield Parrish. +Decorations by Mr. Charles Francis Browne. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER. PAGE. + + I. ON THE RIVER 1 + + II. IN THE AIR 13 + + III. THE BLACK GIANT 20 + + IV. THE SENATOR 28 + + V. A MOMENT OF FORGIVENESS 36 + + VI. INTRODUCED TO MRS. ESTELL 50 + + VII. THE NOTORIOUS BUGG PETERS 66 + + VIII. THE STATE TREASURER 82 + + IX. PUBLIC ENTERTAINERS 99 + + X. MR. PETTICORD 117 + + XI. THE CHARM OF AN OLD TOWN 131 + + XII. A MATTER OF BUSINESS 154 + + XIII. THE PLACE OF THE GOBLINS 164 + + XIV. OLD JOE VARK 172 + + XV. OLD AUNT PATSEY 187 + + XVI. THE PLAY 203 + + XVII. A SLOW STEP ON THE STAIRS 219 + + XVIII. TO MEET THE MANAGER 226 + + XIX. BURN THE JUNIPER 233 + + XX. GLEANING THE FIELD 241 + + XXI. THE WORK OF THE SCOUNDREL 251 + + XXII. IN THE THICKET 258 + + XXIII. THE RINGING OF THE BELL 269 + + XXIV. MAGNOLIA LAND 280 + + XXV. DOWN A DARK ALLEY 291 + + XXVI. CONCLUSION--IN THE GARDEN 300 + + + + +BOLANYO + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +ON THE RIVER. + + +On the night of the 26th of April our company closed an engagement at +the St. Charles Theatre in New Orleans; and before the clocks began to +strike the hour of twelve, our bags and baggage had been tumbled on +board a steamboat headed for St. Louis. The prospects of the National +Dramatic Company had been bright; competent critics had pronounced our +new play a work of true and sympathetic art, before production, but had +slashed at our tender vitals when the piece had passed from rehearsal to +presentation. The bad beginning in the East had not truthfully foretold +a good ending in the South. The people had failed to sympathize with our +"Work of Sympathetic Art." Hope had leaped from town to town; was always +sure to fall, but always quick to rise again; and, now, three nights in +St. Louis would close the season, and doubtless end the career of the +National Dramatic Company. The captain of the Red Fox, a dingy, +waterlogged and laborious craft, had kindly offered to let us come +aboard at half his usual rate. He assured our manager that this +concession afforded a real pleasure; that he held a keen interest in our +profession, having years ago done a clog dance as a negro minstrel. +Necessity oozed oil upon this unconscious sarcasm, and with grateful +dignity the captain's offer was accepted. + +By two o'clock we were creaking and churning against the current, and, +alone in a begrimed cubby-hole, with a looking-glass shaking against the +frail wall, I lay down with a sigh to take stock of myself. Hope had +been agile, but now it did not bound with so light a spring. Could it be +that I had begun to question my ability as an actor? It was true that +the critics had slit me with their knives, but the people had frequently +applauded, and, after all, the people deliver the verdict. The judge may +charge, but the jury pronounces. I knew then, as I know now, that there +must be a reserve force behind all forms of art; that one essential of +artistic expression is to create the belief that you are not doing your +best, that you are not under a strain. And I thought that I had +accomplished this, but the critics had said that my restraint was weak +and my passion overwrought. I had not come out as a star. As a stock +comedian I had been granted a kindly mention, and had accepted the place +of leading man, but this had given offense and had called forth an +unjust tirade of censure. Perhaps I had assumed a little too much, but +the man who is not ready to assume will never accomplish anything, and +from a lower station must be content to contemplate the success of those +who were less delicate. + +When morning came I looked out upon the canefields, green to the edge of +the horizon. The breakfast bell rang, but I hung back, not for lack of +appetite, but for the reason that the other members of the company had +ceased to be companionable. Even a meager applause can excite, if not +envy, a certain degree of contempt; and the small stint of approbation +which, like a mere crumb, had fallen to me could not have aroused the +jealousy, but surely sharpened the sarcasms, of my fellow-players. In a +side remark intended for me, and which struck me like a shaft, +Culpepper, as vain a fellow as ever mismumbled an author's lines, +remarked to Miss Hatch that an elephant would stretch his chain to +reach a bonbon. And, stroking as brutish a pug as ever found soft +luxury in a woman's lap, she replied that it was a pity that the average +theatrical elephant, foisted upon an easy manager, could only rival the +real beast in clumsiness and in his appetite for sweets. So I waited, +gazing out upon the edgeless spread of cane-land, until my companions in +"sympathetic art" had indulged in the usual growl over their morning +meal, and then I went out to breakfast. At the table sat one person, an +oldish man with a dash of red in his countenance. As I sat down he +looked up, and, with a pleasing smile, inquired if I were Mr. Maurice +Belford. And when I had told him yes, he said: + +"I thought so, or 'mistrusted' as much, as Old Bill Brooks used to say," +he added, laughing. "Didn't know old Bill, I take it? Used to travel a +good deal up and down the river, and was a great hand to go to a show. +And he'd always set 'em through. No, sir, he wouldn't leave you. And +this puts me in mind that I saw you play the other night. You caught +me, I tell you. That character of _Tobe Wilson_, the gambler, was about +as true a thing as I ever saw." + +"I am much pleased to hear you say so," I replied, warming toward him. +"But the critics said it was overdone and unreal," I added. + +"The critics said so; who are they?" + +"The newspaper representatives who come to the theater to find fault," I +answered. + +"Oh, that's it, eh? I didn't see what any of 'em said, and it wouldn't +make any difference if I had. I've been a pilot on this river mighty +nigh ever since I was a boy, and if I don't know what a real gambler is, +I'd like for some man to point one out to me." + +"I am really delighted to meet you, for surely your opinion is worth a +great deal." + +"Don't know about that," he replied, "but I know what a gambler is. Why, +I set all the way through your show. Fellow wanted me to go out with +him, but I wouldn't. And right by me set Senator Giles Talcom, of +Mississippi. I live in Bolanyo, his town. It's improved mightily in the +last twenty-five years. Got a new city hall, and some Dutchmen from the +north are talking about starting a brewery. Now, Talcom is a smart man +and he liked your show; said he was sorry you are to skip Bolanyo on +your way up the river. As soon as I git a bite to eat I'm going up to +take the wheel. Wouldn't you like to sit in the pilot house?" + +Glad to accept the invitation of one who had the insight to recognize an +artistic delineation of character, and the graciousness to declare it, I +went with him to the pilot house. He took the wheel from a man who, I +thought, did not look upon me kindly, and continued to talk, while with +an intentness that traced a frown upon his brow he estimated the +strength of the current, or the depth of the water on a shoal. The +river was low; the winter had been comparatively dry; the early spring +thaw had spent its force, and there was as yet no premonitory swell of +the great summer rise. The morning was sunless and soft, and far away a +dragon-shaped mist lay low upon the land, a giant's nightmare, fading in +the pale light of a reluctant day. + +"The old river's dead," said the pilot, with the reverberations of a +knell in the tone of his voice. "Look at that thing fluttering along +over there, where the Lee and the Natchez used to plow. No, sir, the old +Mississippi ain't much better than a sewer now. But she was a roarer +back yonder in my time, I tell you. Ah, Lord, some great men have +piloted palaces along here." + +"Whom do you regard as the greatest?" I inquired, expecting to hear him +pronounce a name well known to the stage and to literature. + +"Well, of course there's a difference of opinion among them that don't +know, but with them that do know there never was a pilot that could +hold a candle to old Lige Patton." + +"I don't believe I ever heard of him," I replied. + +"Hah!" He turned his eyes upon me, with the up-river search still strong +in his gaze, but as with a snatch he jerked them away and threw them +upon a split in the current far ahead. "That might be," he assented, +slowly turning his wheel. "I can jump off here most anywhere and find +you a man that never heard of Julius Caesar." + +I preferred to remain silent under this rebuke, and he did not speak +again until we had sheered off to the left of the split in the current, +a snag, and then he said: + +"Lige didn't weigh more than a hundred and sixty pounds at his best, and +the boys used to say there wan't no meat on him at all, nothing but +nerve. Game!" He cleared his throat, gave me a mere glance and +continued: "It was said that a panther once met him in the woods, and +gave vent to a most unearthly squall, which meant, 'excuse me, Mr. +Patton,' and took to his heels and never was heard of in that section +after that--the panther wan't--although he had been mighty popular among +the pigs and sheep of that neighborhood. But Lige never killed many men. +Never killed except when he was overpersuaded. Gave up a good position +once and went all the way to Jackson to call the governor of Mississippi +a liar. And what was that for? Why, the governor issued a thanksgiving +proclamation in spite of the fact that the river had been low for three +months, making it pretty tough work for the pilots; and Lige, he +declared that a governor who said that the people ought to be thankful +was a liar. And I've got a little more religion now than I had at that +time, but blamed if I don't still think he was right. I spoke a while +ago of Senator Talcom, who lives in my town. Well, sir, Lige give Talcom +his start in the world. It was this way: Lige wan't altogether a lamb +when he was drinking; he sorter looked for a fight, but, understand, he +didn't want to kill anybody, unless _over_persuaded. Talcom was a young +fellow, at that time, and had just come to town. And, somehow, he got in +Lige's way, and they fought. And if there ever was a man that had more +wire than Lige, it was Talcom. It must have been some sort of an +accident, but, somehow, he got the upper hand of Lige, got him down, got +out his knife, and was about to cut his throat, when Lige said: 'Young +fellow, you may put out my light as soon as you please, for you can do +it, but there's one thing, and one thing only, that I'd like to live +for, and that is to see what you are going to make of yourself.' Blamed +if this didn't tickle Talcom, and he got up and flung his knife away. +And, now to the point, sir; Lige went all around and told it that Talcom +whipped him, and that was the making of Talcom. Now look at him--been in +the State Senate year after year. Yes, sir," he added, "I reckon that in +one way and another Lige Patton developed more men than anybody that +ever struck this country." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +IN THE AIR. + + +At the noon hour my friend was relieved, and together we went down to +dinner. Miss Hatch and Culpepper fell to whispering as soon as I sat +down, opposite them. I knew that I was under a spiteful discussion, but, +with the appearance of paying no heed to them, I remarked to the pilot, +who sat beside me: + +"You have often noticed, I suppose, that human nature by turns partakes +of the nature of all other animals, particularly of the black cat and +the yellow dog?" + +"I don't know that I get you, exactly, but go ahead," he replied. + +This afforded Miss Hatch and Culpepper an opportunity to titter. I did +not look at them, but addressed myself to the pilot. + +"I confess that my meaning might have been clearer, but behind it lies a +sufficient cause for its utterance." + +He put down his knife and looked at me helplessly, shook his head as if +puzzled, and fell to eating with this not very comforting observation: + +"Jerk me out of bed any time of night, along here, and I can tell you +where I am, and I am pretty good at foreseeing a change in the channel, +but once in a while I strike a thing that I can't figger out, and I +reckon you've just handed me one." + +Miss Hatch was now so occupied with feeding her dog that she had no time +to titter at my discomfiture, but I caught sight of Culpepper's hateful +and invidious smile. + +The meal was finished in silence, and I thought that the pilot had +forgotten my clouded remark, but when he had resumed his place at the +wheel, he cut his sharp old eye at me and said: + +"But there are a good many things I can see, and one of them is, that +you and them other show folks don't get along together very well." + +"It's their fault," I replied. + +"Of course," he rejoined, giving me a mere glimpse of his old eye, and +this time it was not merely shrewd--it was rascally. + +"I have done my best to merit their friendship," I said, somewhat +sharply. "But they spurn me, they insinuate that I am an elephant on the +manager's hands, when you yourself have been kind enough to tell me that +my part of the performance was--" + +"Good, first-rate," he broke in. "But in the play you almost have a set +of love jimjams on account of that woman, and let her reform you, and +all that sort of thing. It beats me," he added, shaking his head. "I +don't see how a man can love and cavort with a woman one minute, and +hate her the next. I pass, when it comes to that." + +"The stage is a strange world," I replied. + +"Yes, seems so. Hard way to earn money, hugging someone you don't like. +Why, I know a woman I wouldn't hug for a thousand dollars. You appear to +be a man of fair average sense. Why don't you go into some other +business--why don't you go to work?" + +"Work!" I cried, and I laughed so loud that a half naked boy on the +shore tossed up his hat and shouted a salute to my merriment. + +With his face hard set, and with his eyes sweeping the river, he waited +for my attention, and then he said: "Yes, work. Of course it's all right +for idle and shiftless fellows to go around this way, but it strikes +me--of course I don't know--but it strikes me that if you were to get +down to it, you might make something of yourself. It would be all right +if you could make a great actor out of yourself, for then it would be +worth your while, but always to be an under dog in the fight--" + +"You are not a flatterer," I broke in. + +"Well, I don't flatter men very much. Flattery, like feathers and +ribbons, was intended for women; but even they are getting too much +sense to swallow it. Come to think about it, they don't look for it as +much as men do." + +We had turned a bend, and the pilot, pointing, directed my eye toward a +town. "There's old Bolanyo," he said. "One of the best towns on the +river, one way and another. I live there when I'm at home. And that's +where Senator Talcom lives, and that's where he had his fight with Lige +Patton. I'm going to hop off there to see my folks. House so plain up +there is the new city hall--must have cost forty-five thousand. Can't +see Talcom's house; it's off in the far edge of the town. It's almost a +farm, and I reckon he's got the finest magnolia garden in this whole +section. Old Bowie, father of the Bowie knife, fought a duel right over +yonder. Got his man. Stevens is coming up to relieve me now in a minute. +Coming now, I believe. Just step outside," he added, as his assistant +appeared at the door, "and I'll show you the places of interest, and +then trot down in time to hop off." + +We stood near the pilot house, and, continuing to talk, he pointed out, +with the finger of local pride, a number of buildings which he believed +would be of interest to me, but his words fell without meaning. A +lulling essence was exhaled by the town. A spirit of rest and +contentment lay upon her lazy wharf. I heard the languid song of the +indolent "white trash," and the happy-go-lucky haw-haw of the trifling +negro. Through the lattice of a thin cloud the sun shot a glance, and +the gilded plow on the courthouse dome stood at the end of a furrow of +fire. + +"Well, got to leave you." + +He seized my hand, and at that moment I thought that I was jerked off my +feet, high in the air, and then came a thunder clap so loud, so +deafening that my senses were killed, conscious only that my body was a +dead weight and that my mind had been shattered and blown away. It +seemed that I was propelled through a long and vague interval of time, +and then a plunge and a chill, and my senses fluttered with painful +life. The sharp knowledge of an awful calamity shot through me--the boat +had exploded her boilers and I had been blown into the river. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE BLACK GIANT. + + +I remember to have struggled, and to have been tumbled over and over by +the current. I might have caught at a straw, but no array of sins came +up for review, though there were enough of them scattered between my +cradle bed and the bed of this engulfing river. But I thought of many a +foolish thing, a pair of red-top boots, a whistle made of willow, a +'coon skin tacked against the wall of a negro's cabin; but I do not +remember being taken out of the water, so I must have endured all the +popular agonies of drowning. I have a faint recollection of being borne +along at full length, of seeing lights and of hearing voices. Sometimes +the voices were close and loud in my ears, and again they were far +away. Struggling reason sank once more, an obliterating darkness fell; +and when, after a long time, the light returned, I realized that I was +in a room, lying on a bed. My nostrils were filled with the pungent +scent of liniments. A tight bandage was about my head; and a heavy sense +of soreness told me that my right side was crushed. I thought to say +something, but the pungent odor grew stronger in my nostrils, and I sank +to sleep. When I awoke again the day was broad. And never before had I +realized what broad day meant; it was the opposite of the sharp and +narrow lights that had shot out of the thick darkness enshrouding my +mind. Everything was clear to me now. The explosion had occurred at the +moment when the pilot took my hand. But was I now on board another +steamer? No, my apartment was too spacious and too stately. There were +pictures on the walls, and on the mantel stood a marble statuette--the +Diver. Undoubtedly I had been brought into a private house, for no +hospital would offer such luxury to a stranger. I heard footsteps and +voices. The door was carefully opened and two men entered the room. Upon +seeing my eyes turned toward them they advanced cheerfully. I tried to +say good morning, but the words stuck in my throat. One of the men +placed his fingers on my wrist and asked me how I felt. This time my +effort at speech was more of a success, and I managed to tell him that I +was beginning to feel very well, that I was thankful for the light, and +that I hoped he would not administer any more of that stifling liniment. + +"The ether," he said, speaking to his companion; and then to me he +added, "No, you won't need any more of that. Well," he continued, +turning again to his companion, "he's doing first rate. I'll be around +again about eleven o'clock." + +A sudden alarm came upon me. "Let me ask you a question," I cried as he +turned to leave. "Haven't you cut off one of my legs?" + +"No, sir-ree," he good-humoredly laughed. + +"But I want you to be sure about it," I persisted. "Just this minute I +tried to find them both but couldn't." + +"Here, doctor," said the other man, "show him that his legs are all +right. Don't leave him in this fix." + +"Yes, of course," said the doctor, and lifting the cover he proved that +I had not been robbed by the surgeon's knife. "Got both arms, too, you +see." + +"But I'm pretty badly hurt." + +"Well, the blow-up didn't do you any particular good, but you are coming +along all right. All we've got to guard against now is a rise in +temperature, and there'll be no danger of that if you keep quiet." + +"But the other members of the company. Tell me about them." + +"They're all right--the most of them. You shall have all the details in +due time, but now you must keep quiet." + +They went out, closing the door softly, and I dozed off to sleep; and +when I awoke I was thankful to find that the day was still broad. I was +conscious that someone was in the room, and, slightly turning, I beheld +an enormous negro, standing in the middle of the floor, looking at me. + +"You have had a good sleep, Sir," he said, "and I have waited for you to +awake so that I could give you some refreshment." + +He spoke with a precision that was almost painful, as if he were +translating a sentence from a dead language, and my look must have +betrayed my astonishment, for his thick lips parted in a smile, broad, +but sedate. He appeared to be pleased at my surprise, and, smiling +again, he bowed and quitted the room, but soon returned with a tray +which he placed on a chair near the bed. + +"Here is something which the physician has pronounced good for you to +eat," he said, "but don't try to sit up. Here, let me get my arm under +you, this way. Now we have it." + +"Take it away, I'm not hungry," I said, after finding the position too +painful to endure. He eased me down, put the chair back and stood +looking at me. + +"Won't you sit down?" + +"No, I thank you, Sir." + +"But it makes me tired to see you stand." + +"Then, Sir, I will sit down." He brought another chair, and, seating +himself, he turned his searching eyes upon me. He was so enormous and he +towered so, even after sitting down, that he inspired a feeling of +creepy dread, his eyes so black and his smile so grave; and I was sure +that in his presence the day could not long continue to be broad; +indeed, I could see that the light at the window was slowly fading. + +"I asked them if I might come and nurse you," he said. "There were other +stricken ones that I might have nursed, but I heard that you were an +actor, and then I knew where my duty lay." + +"I am thankful for your partiality to my profession, at any rate," I +replied. + +He smiled, and his great teeth gleamed in the fading light. "I was not +influenced by the partiality of the flesh, but by the duty laid upon the +spirit. Most anyone could nurse your body, but I begged the privilege of +nursing your soul as well." + +"Ah, and you think an actor's soul is in especial need of nursing?" + +"With your permission we will leave that for some future converse. I +have been enjoined not to engage you in a talk that might bring +weariness upon you. For a few nights to come there may be danger, and +until that time is--is--shall have been passed, I will sit with you." + +"But who are you?" I inquired. + +"I am the humblest servant of the church wherein I preach the gospel +that sinners may be brought to repentance; and my name is Washington +Smith. But I must talk no more, and you must keep quiet." + +"But where am I? Tell me that." + +"You are in good hands, and the Lord and his servants are watching over +you. But I must request you not to speak again to-night." + +He took up the tray and went out, and when he returned he sat down, +though not upon a chair, but upon the floor, with his back against the +wall. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE SENATOR. + + +Whenever I awoke in the course of that long and dreary night, it was to +find the black giant standing near the bedside. Once his hand, like the +wing of a buzzard, passed over me, and I muttered a complaint. "I just +wanted to determine whether or not you had a fever, Sir," he said. "You +were talking in your sleep, and I thought it best to investigate the +state of your temperature. But you are all right." + +I was half asleep and doubtless could not at morning have remembered a +strain of music or a bit of pleasantry, but at daylight his stilted +words were clear in my mind. I looked about for him but he was gone. +Breakfast was brought in by a negress, tall enough to be his wife. I +asked her if she were, and, showing me her teeth, she assured me that +she was an old maid; that no man, even if one of the best preachers in +the Lord's church, should be her master. She said that she had married +one man on trial, but that, after living with her a year or more, he had +robbed her of a silver piece and run away; and now she was going to +teach her daughter never to take a man except on suspicion, and to be +mighty careful even then. The amusement that she offered assisted me to +eat. She talked incessantly during the time, and as she took up the tray +to go out, the doctor and the gentleman who had advised him to prove to +me that I was still possessed of both legs came into the room. + +"Oh, he's all right," said the woman. "Yas, sah, an' you got ter take +'em wid 'spicion even if da is hurt." + +The doctor pronounced me much improved, cut short his visit, and left me +with his friend, at whom I now looked with considerable interest. He +was of a manly build, dressed in a black "Prince Albert" coat, buttoned +below, but opened out wide at the breast. The ends of his grayish +mustache were slightly twisted, and on his chin was a "dab" of whiskers. +He appeared to be proud of his bearing, and proud of the belief that no +one could discover the seat of his pride. He moved about rather +gracefully, carrying a soft hat in his hand, as if he were ready to +salute a gentleman or bow profoundly to a lady. + +"Pardon me, Sir," I began, and he turned toward me with a slight bow and +with a slow motion made with his hat, "but will you tell me who is the +master of this house?" + +"I am," he answered, with a smile. + +"But who are you, your name, please?" + +"Has no one told you? Hah, don't you know yet?" His voice conveyed a +sense of injury that so important a preliminary had been overlooked. + +"No one has told me." + +"Then, Sir, I have the pleasure of introducing myself. I am Giles +Talcom." + +"Oh, Senator Talcom." + +His eyes snapped, he touched his "dab" of beard, and said: + +"At your service, Sir." + +We shook hands, and he sat down. "I have heard of you, Senator." + +"Yes, I have introduced into the Mississippi Senate a great many +reformatory measures, some of which have been adopted by our sister +States." + +"And you are the man who whipped Lige Patton." + +"What!" he cried, snapping his eyes at me. "Hah, you got that nonsense +from old Zack Mason, the pilot. Confound his old hide, he never will +forget that. I was quite a young man in those days, Sir. I came here +from Virginia, almost straight from the University, and was, if my +examination should prove satisfactory, to take charge of a young ladies' +school. But on the day before the examination took place Mr. Patton +took it into his head to walk over me. He didn't, and, sir, without any +examination at all, the good people gave me the _male_ academy. The +trustees (most of them had been river men, you understand) said that I +was too valuable a piece of timber to waste on a female seminary. They +said it was too much like chasing butterflies with a bloodhound. I +didn't keep the school long; I came into my inheritance, went into +politics, and here I am." + +"Senator, I am under lasting obligations to you for--" + +"Not at all, Sir, not at all. I spent a very pleasant evening with you +at the St. Charles Theatre in New Orleans, and I said then, as I always +do when a man has entertained me, I hope to be able to do something for +him. And, Sir, while the opportunity was brought about by a sad +misfortune, yet--yet I am really gratified at being the instrument, you +understand, of giving you shelter and attention at this sad hour." + +"How long have I been here?" + +"Three days. But don't let that worry you. You are to remain until you +feel perfectly able to proceed on your way." + +"Were many people killed?" + +"Quite a number. Two were found yesterday at the island twenty miles +below. A large number were hurt, but they are being cared for. Our city +is making great strides, but we have no hospital as yet, so our citizens +threw open their doors to receive the wounded. And the dead have been +cared for." + +"How did our company fare?" + +"Sir, I appreciate your modesty and unselfishness in not asking about +your brethren first of all. The manager was killed, but the others +escaped with slight injuries. Mr. Culpepper called to see you, but you +were asleep at the time. And the old pilot, who escaped with a few +bruises, has sent you his congratulations. He says that united he and +you stood, and that divided you both fell." + +"There is something else I should like to ask, about the big negro who +stays here at night?" + +"Oh, Washington Smith. But don't make a mistake and call him Wash. He is +a humble servant of the church, but a dignified citizen of the Republic. +Strange fellow. A number of years ago he presented a singular petition +to the city council, begging for an education, and agreeing to work for +the corporation in return for the money expended in his behalf. Most of +the councilmen condemned the petition as a piece of impudence, but I was +a member at the time, and I looked on it with favor, Sir. My enemies +said that I was bidding for the negro vote. I raised money enough to +send Washington to the Fisk University, and I can say with truth that I +have never regretted the step, for he has held before me a constant +example of gratitude. But I have talked to you long enough," he added, +arising. "I don't want to tire you out--I want to see you on your feet +again. And it won't be long. As soon as you are able to sit up we'll +put you into a rocking chair, draw you into the parlor and Mrs. Estell +will read to you." + +He gave me a bow, accompanying the act with a slow and graceful sweep of +his hat, and withdrew, leaving me to muse over the prospect of being +compelled to submit to a torture administered by a Mrs. Estell. I could +put up with the reading of a girl in her first poetic era, but I +shuddered at the thought of a woman in her second sentimental +childhood. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +A MOMENT OF FORGIVENESS. + + +Culpepper called in the afternoon, and when he saw me lying there with +my head tied up, he was brusk for a moment to cover the whimper in his +voice. With genuine affection he took my hand, and all the enmity I had +held against him was gone in a moment. He said that the boilers of the +Red Fox had blown off the end of our season, and had shattered the +greatest dramatic combination that ever looked with horror at a piece of +paper in the hand of a village sheriff. + +"And the poor old elephant is flat on his back," I said. + +"Now, here, old chap, none of that. It was only a guy. Why, we all liked +you, but hang it all, Maurice, you did appear just a little stuck on +yourself, not on account of your acting, but--" + +"But on account of my despair," I broke in. "The nerves of my failure +were exposed, and nothing is prouder than a nerve. I have told you that +before I made a venture I studied for the stage, viewing it as a classic +and high-born profession. I went through the best schools, and--" + +"Now, here, old chap, don't talk about schools. They are only intended +for society women, you know. The main trouble is, you didn't begin early +enough. You were a dramatic critic and then thought you'd study for the +stage." + +"But my work as an actor is popular with the people," I protested. + +"Yes, some people, old chap, but you mustn't pay much attention to that. +In his own generation a man is not really great until the critics have +pronounced him so. The critics can gradually bring the people around to +an appreciation of a true artist, but popularity doesn't compel the +critics to deliver a favorable verdict. It isn't with acting as it is +with writing, you know. An actor is of the present, and a writer may be +of the future. Wouldn't you rather have the good opinion of a few +high-class men and women than the enthusiastic commendation of the +rabble?" + +"Yes, wouldn't you?" + +"No, I wouldn't, old chap, for I am after what money there is in it. I +don't expect to be an artist, you know--I don't care to be--too much +hard work; too much restraint in it." + +"Culpepper"--I looked at him earnestly, for I was moved by a spirit of +truth--"I would rather stand high as the exponent of any art that I +might choose than to have all the money you could heap about me." + +"Ah, that's where you are weak, old chap; but it's well enough that +there are such men--they give the other fellows a chance. And now, +pardon me, Maurice, but you'll never be a great actor." + +He said this with such kindliness that I did not feel even the quiver of +a resentment. In fact, while left to commune with myself, and under that +strange sharpening of self-judgment which illness or a nervous shock may +sometimes bring about, I had seen my incurable faults and had consigned +myself to mediocrity. + +"Have I hurt you, old chap?" + +"No," said I, philosopher enough to laugh, "you simply agree with my own +estimate." + +"That so? Good. But I tell you what I believe you can do, and do it down +to the ground--write for the stage. You've got a good sense of humor and +a first-rate conception of character; you are poetic and can soon +acquire a knowledge of construction. Want me to shake on it? Of course." + +We shook hands, not that he had tickled my vanity, but because he had +sent back the echo which my secret mind had shouted. + +"But, Culpepper, there is always a trouble in the way. I can't work +while jerked about the country--I've tried it--and just at present I +can't afford to stay long enough in one place." + +"That's all right, set your mind on it and the opportunity will come." + +"By the way, I have a treat in store. Hope you'll be here to share it +with me. I am promised a reading by Mrs. Estell, when I am able to be +dragged into another room." + +He laughed. "Know what I'd do?" said he. "I'd pretend weakness until the +proper time, and then I'd take to my heels. Oh, by the way, I've had +your trunk sent up. It fell over on the sand and wasn't injured. Say, +haven't told you about Mrs. Hatch. She wasn't hurt--we were at the +stern, and you must have been over the boilers. Well, she's gone on to +Memphis in a rush. Old Norton telegraphed her. She sent her regards; +said she was sorry she hadn't time to see you. Newspapers made a big +spread of this affair. Biggest send-off we ever had. Eh? At first they +had everybody killed." + +He spoke feelingly of our manager, pointed out virtues that he did not +possess, and forgave his inability to pay salaries. "Yes, Sir, Tabb +wasn't a bad fellow," he went on. "By the by, he made a bet that he +would ride home, and he has won it. Well," he said, getting up, "I leave +to-night. Wouldn't go without seeing you." + +He held out his hand and, taking it, I told him not to forget the +"Elephant." + +"Come, old chap, don't do that," he replied, assuming a bruskness, and +turning about to hide his eyes from me. "You know it was only a guy. And +haven't I come to tell you that you can make a great man of yourself? +Well, once more, take care of yourself." + +Now that he was gone, I could look back and see that Culpepper had +always been a good fellow. And with a sort of pitying contempt I +acknowledged that I had set myself up as a target for ridicule. But I +did not merit the supercilious airs with which Miss Hatch had treated +me, and toward her I had not entered into a forgiving mood, though now +I know that had she entered the room while I was indulging these +reflections, I should graciously have agreed that she, too, had always +been one of the "best of fellows." + +The Senator came in just before supper-time, bringing a newspaper, which +he said was still damp with the dew of recent events. He carried his +soft hat in his hand, nor did he put it down when, unfolding the paper, +he stood to catch the light at the window. He said that he supposed I +must be anxious to hear from the great world of politics, and he +proceeded to read an editorial forecast of the election for congressman +from the state-at-large, halting to comment upon the views set forth and +making slow gestures with his hat. It was a local journal, but it had +reproduced the political opinions of other publications, and these the +Senator read with sharp avidity. I asked him if he thought he could find +any theatrical news, but he cut me off with his hat, and gave me a +paragraph on beet sugar, which he deplored as an outrage, intended to +lessen the value of the plantations down the river. The light was +fading, and I was not sorry. He stood closer to the window, that he +might better harvest the last glimmer of the fading day, and in my cold +dread of his lighting a lamp, I did not hear what he read, simply +catching now and then such political frayed ends as _per capita_ and _ad +valorem_. + +"Ah," said he, "here is a liberal extract from Tomlinson's great speech. +But it's getting most too dark. Shall I light a lamp?" + +I replied that I was afraid that he might tire himself pursuing his kind +desire to entertain me. + +"Oh, not at all, not at all, I assure you," he quickly spoke up. "But I +guess you've had as much as you ought to digest at present. Feed, but +don't gorge, is my motto. A hungry calf can run faster than a foundered +horse. I tell you," he added, putting the paper under his arm and +coming toward me, "there's going to be a warm election here this fall. +Of course I'm a candidate for reelection--the Senate couldn't get along +without me--and I don't know that I've got but one very bitter enemy, +and he is none other than the editor of this sheet, Sir," he said, +striking the newspaper with his hat. "For a long time he was my friend +and supporter, but he ran against me two years ago, and I beat him so +badly that since then he has been my enemy. He is a cur, and as sure as +he lives I'll get even with him. And as the season approaches I expect +every day to find in his paper a scurrilous article about me; all he +wants is a pretext. Ah, here is Washington, with your supper." + +Cutting with his hat a black scallop in the twilight, the Senator +withdrew. The giant placed the tray of dishes upon a chair and lighted a +hanging lamp. And then he stood in the middle of the floor, his arms +folded, looking at me. + +"Won't you please sit down?" I pleaded. + +"I am to be commanded, Sir," he replied, seating himself, and under his +ponderous bulk the chair creaked. + +"Come now," said I, "throw away your stilts and walk on the ground. I +have quite enough of that on the stage." + +He looked at me, slowly shutting and opening his eyes as if determined +that even his wink should be deliberate. "And don't you think, Sir, that +it would be well if you could say that you have had quite enough of the +stage itself?" + +"I don't know but you are right, Brother Washington. At any rate the +stage has had quite enough of me. I am called the elephant." + +"Not on account of your size, Sir?" + +"No, on account of my weight." + +"Ah, and the hearts of all men who know not the Lord shall at last be as +heavy as the elephant." + +"Very true, no doubt. I wish you'd pour this coffee for me." + +He came forward with a solemn tread, poured out the coffee, and returned +to the chair but did not sit down until I commanded him. + +"As heavy as an elephant," he repeated, slowly winking at me. + +"In working for the soul of the white man, Brother Washington," said I, +"you have set about to return a good for an evil. The white man enslaved +your body and now you would free his soul." + +"Sir, the first shipload of negroes sent to this country was the first +blessing that fell upon the Ethiopian race. In slavery we served an +apprenticeship to enlightenment. Wisdom could not have reached us +through any other channel. The negro was not born with the germ of +self-civilization." + +"You are a philosopher, at any rate." + +"No, humbler, and yet greater, than a philosopher," he replied. + +"All right, I'm ready to grant anything. By the way, tell me something +about the Senator and his family." + +"If he has told you nothing, I am at liberty to tell nothing, for, as +yet, you are a stranger." + +"Oh, I see. He's a shrewd politician, isn't he?" + +"He is a gentleman and he is not dull. He was my friend w'en dem +scoun'rels--" + +I looked at him in surprise. His fall into the dialect of his brethren +had come like a slap. He bowed his head, and I know that had not the +blackness of his skin prevented it he would have blushed in his +disgrace. He did not look up again until I spoke to him, and then he +showed me a sorrow-stricken countenance. + +"Don't take it so hard, Brother Washington. Such lapses must come once +in a while. You remind me of an old fellow who lost his religion +occasionally by swearing." + +"Haw-haw," he laughed. "One in my church right now. Swore at his mule +the other day and then dropped down in the corner of the fence and +offered to mortgage his crop to the Lord for one more chance. Yas, +Sah--I mean yes, Sir," he added, the shadow of disgrace falling again +upon his countenance. "If you have finished your supper I will remove +the dishes," he said. + +"Thank you," and as he took up the tray I continued, "And by the way, +you needn't sit with me to-night. I don't need you; I am not so badly +hurt as they thought I was; and, in fact, I can sleep better if left +absolutely alone." + +"It shall be as you desire, Sir," he said, turning upon me with a look +of kindly reproach. "But I will pray for you." + +"Oh, that's all right." + +He passed out into the hall, but I called him back to the door. "Brother +Washington, I didn't mean to be flippant when I said 'that's all right.' +I respect your sincerity." + +I thought that he glanced about for a place to rest the tray, to halt +and resume his predetermined fight against the flesh and the devil of my +unholy calling. + +"Ah, shut the door, Brother Washington." + +"I thought, Sir, that you had reconsidered--" + +"Not to-day--some other time." + +He looked at me, making no motion that I could see; but I heard the +tremulous rattle of the teacup in the saucer. There was so much of +pleading in his look, so much that was martyr-like in his silence, that +out of pity it arose to my mind to call him back, but then came the cool +though just decision that his ardent yearning was but a spirit of +ambitious conquest. + +"Some other time, Washington," I said, as he turned to look at me. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +INTRODUCED TO MRS. ESTELL. + + +A week passed by with no sign of a setback and one morning the doctor +said that I might sit up. Brother Washington eased me into a rocking +chair, and stood as if expecting me to command him to continue the work +of my conversion. But I told him to sit down, a position which he always +assumed in sorrow, seeming to regard it as a retreat when his spirit +cried for a charge. + +The Senator came in with a hearty good morning, and instructed +Washington to draw my chair into the parlor. The sore trial of listening +to Mrs. Estell had come. I had not seen her, had made no inquiry +concerning her, but I had thought of her, and not with kindness. The +pleasure of getting again into my clothes had been marred by fancy's +sketch of her--sharp of voice and sour of face--a woman whose husband +had willingly died, leaving her, unfortunately, to inflict man with her +elocution. I wanted to sit alone and enjoy the sweet scents blown from +the garden; through the window I had seen a mocking-bird alight on the +top of a magnolia tree, and in silence I wanted to listen to his song. +But the Senator was my benefactor. He had found me a wounded outcast, +lying unconscious on the sand, and had made his mansion my hospital; and +I could not lift an ungrateful finger in protest against a torture which +in his belief was an act of kindness. + +"Now easy, Washington," said the Senator as he held the door open. +"That's it, come ahead." + +The parlor was at the end of a long and lofty hall. The Senator opened +the door. The chair was drawn across the threshold, and I found myself +in the midst of dark, old-fashioned furniture and the portraits of +Statesmen and of ladies done by Frenchmen who had come to this country +to leave a trail of art along the shores of the mighty river. + +"Not too near the window, Washington," said the Senator. "About here. +Now you can go about your business and I will introduce Mrs. Estell." + +They left me sitting with my back toward the door. I wondered why there +should be such an air of ceremony. Was it the custom in Bolanyo to +dignify a torture with a stately introduction? But I had not long to +muse. I heard the Senator returning. "Ah, Mr. Belford," he said, +stepping into the room, "let me present you to my daughter, Mrs. +Estell." + +I looked round with a start, and a living line from old Chaucer, in +golden letters, hung bright before me--"Her glad eyes." I bowed; and I +must have spluttered my astonishment, for the Senator broke out in a +loud and ringing laugh. + +"Sit down, Florence," he said, drawing forward a chair for her. And +then to me, while softly laughing, he observed: + +"Oh, I saw you were distressed at the idea of being read to, and I could +have explained that you needn't look forward to any infliction, but I +thought I'd wait and let you find it out for yourself. Why, Sir, this +child couldn't bore anybody." + +"Mr. Belford, don't listen to him when he calls me a child," she spoke +up. "I am a staid married woman." + +I had not, as yet, sufficiently recovered from my astonishment to +venture a word, so I merely bowed, and read anew old Chaucer's glowing +line. + +"Yes, a child," said the Senator, "but a woman; yes, Sir, as manly a +woman as you ever saw--chase a fox or shake a 'possum out of a persimmon +tree. Well, I must go down town and see what's going on. Don't sit up +too long, Mr. Belford. Send for Washington and he'll pull you back into +the other room." + +"Mrs. Estell, I was never more agreeably surprised," said I, when the +Senator had taken his leave. "I expected to be tormented by an +elocutionist." + +"If an elocutionist is your terror, you needn't be afraid of me," she +replied. "I have read to father and my husband, and that is the extent +of my--shall I say, inflictions." + +"Husband," I repeated. "Are you really married?" + +"Surely. Why not?" + +"You are so young--" + +"I am not old enough to be flattered by that remark," she broke in. +"Yes, I have been married two years. My husband is the State Treasurer, +and is at the capital now, but will be home next week. He stays over +there a good deal of the time, and I go with him once in a while, but I +don't like it there. I like my old home better." + +"I don't blame you for that. It must be a charming place. Have you any +brothers or sisters?" + +"No, Sir. It was reserved for me to be the only and, therefore, the +spoiled child. I don't remember my mother. There's her portrait." + +I looked at a picture that had struck me when first I glanced at the +wall. How truthfully the Frenchman had caught a sweet and gentle spirit; +how exquisite was the art that had vivified those loving eyes with the +speaking light of life. + +"Charming," I said sincerely, and she did not look upon it as flattery, +but accepted it as a truth. I looked at her and she did not avoid my +eye, but met it, strong and full, with her own, and I felt that, though +gentle, she was fearless. Sometimes the tone of her voice was serious +and the expression of her face thoughtful, but her eyes appeared to have +been always glad. + +"When are you going to begin reading to me?" I asked, after we had sat +for a time in a contemplative silence. + +"I'm not going to read to you. Don't you see I haven't brought a book?" + +"Then play something," I requested, looking toward the piano. + +"I don't play; and now I must tell you, Mr. Belford, that I haven't a +single accomplishment. I can't sing, and I never cared for dancing; I +don't draw, wouldn't attempt to paint, and I can't speak a word of +Italian. I was never intended for anything but a real companion for my +father, and a dutiful wife to my husband. I am wholly unadorned." + +"No, you are adorned with the highest qualities. Any woman can learn to +play a piano, to speak Italian and to make an attempt at painting, but +every woman cannot be a perfect companion for a man." + +"And a dutiful wife to her husband," she said, laughing. "But to be +dutiful is not so serious a matter.--not so serious to us as I fancy it +is to you stage people." + +"Well, no," I admitted; "and also more serious than the views held by +thousands of good people who live in the large cities." + +She shrugged her shoulders. "Nature doesn't grant divorces," she said. +"Birds are not divorced." + +"But they change mates every year," I replied. + +"Oh, do they? The shameless creatures." + +We laughed, looking straight into each other's eyes. I thought that she +would make a splendid figure on the stage, and I told her so, expecting +to hear her cry out against it, but she did not. She was pleased. "I +have had that sort of longing," she said, "but I never expressed it, +knowing that it would meet with a storm of disapproval. It wouldn't do," +she continued, shaking her head. "I know that I could never reach the +top, and a lower place--" + +"Would make your proud heart sore," I cried, with bitterness. + +She gave me a quick look of compassion, but said nothing; she let me +continue: "I have had the cold clamps put on my impetuous soul, and, +trying to conquer the evil opinion of the critic, I have worked and +studied under the stimulus of despair. But I have given up the fight; I +am going to quit the stage." + +I leaned toward her, hoping for a protest, but she quietly said, "I +don't blame you," and I settled myself back with a sigh. She had seen me +act. + +"What line of work do you intend to take up?" she inquired. + +"I am going to write plays." + +"And will you be satisfied if you don't write the best?" + +"I hadn't thought of that. Yes, in that line I think that I shall be +satisfied with merely a success." + +And then with a wisdom that made me stare at her, she said: "We can find +contentment in the middle ground of a second choice, for then the heart +has had its day of suffering." + +"What do you read to your father?" I asked. + +"Dull books in leather," she answered. "And I have sometimes feared that +this schooling has unfitted me for the light and pleasing society of my +friends. They called me an old maid before I was twenty. Oh, I've got +something to show you," she cried, jumping up and running out of the +room; and soon she returned with a little chicken held against her +cheek. "A hawk carried its mother away, and all of its brothers and +sisters were drowned in the rain. Listen to the little thing. Isn't it +sweet? I had a pet duck once and I loved it until it got big enough to +go out and get its feet muddy and then--I granted it a divorce. And +after a while this little thing will grow up and leave me, won't you, +pet? No, you won't, will you? There, I knew you wouldn't. You'll always +be little and lovable, and will stay with me. Come on, now, and let's go +back to the kitchen." She tripped out a girl, singing as she went, but +she came back a woman; and of the ways, the air and the ambitions of the +town I gathered more from a few moments of her talk than her father +could have given me in an hour's oration. He knew the men, but she knew +the whims; and while men may build the houses and make the laws, it is +the whim that makes the atmosphere. And for this reason an old town is +always more interesting than a new one. The subtle influence of odd +characters long since gone continues to live in the air. The Spaniards +had settled on the site of Bolanyo, and though naught but the faint +tracings of a fortified camp were left to mark the manner of their +occupation, still the town felt the honor of almost an ancient origin. + +We talked until nearly noontime; until there came a light tap at the +open door. I looked up and there stood the black giant. + +"Pardon me," he said, "but I am afraid you have been up long enough." + +"Hannibal, your unbending discipline--" I began, but with lifting his +mighty hand he shut me off. + +"I am a soldier of the Lord and Hannibal was a soldier of the devil," he +said. "Please don't compare us." + +Mrs. Estell jumped up, laughing. "You'll have to do as he tells you, Mr. +Belford." + +I had no time to argue against his authority, for already he had +advanced and put his hands on the back of my chair. She walked beside me +down the hall, and as the giant was easing the chair across the +threshold of my room she said: + +"I hope you'll soon get well, and when you do, we'll go fox-hunting, you +and papa and I. Won't that be fun?" + +"I don't know," I answered, from the inside of the room. "Oh, yes, it +will be fun for you and your father." + +The negro took hold of the door as if impatient to shut it, and I looked +at him hard enough, I thought, to have bored him through, but, giving me +simply the heed of his slow wink, he continued to stand there. + +"Of course, you can ride a horse," she said; and quickly she added: +"Gracious alive, Washington, don't look at me that way. Good-bye, Mr. +Belford." + +The negro closed the door. "Damn it, man, what do you mean?" I cried. +"Confound you, can't you see--" + +"Sir," he said, standing over me with his arms folded, "do you know what +you are saying?" + +"Yes, I do, and I want to tell you right now, and once for all, that I +appreciate your kindness, but will not submit to your insolence. Do you +understand?" + +"I hear you, Sir." + +"But do you understand; that's the question?" + +"I understand, but you don't," he said. "Now, listen to me. There is the +noblest young woman in the world; when she was a child I was her horse, +the black beast who delighted to do her bidding. I know her--I know she +is hungry for someone to talk to. Now, do you understand?" + +I did, but I said "No." I knew that she was hungry; but if I could give +her food, why should this monster dash it to the ground? + +"If you don't, the theatre is a more innocent place than I think it +is," he replied. + +I looked up at him and he winked at me slowly. "But you say she is +noble," I said. + +"She is, Sir, and strong; but a marriage tie cannot hold an unwilling +mind. Don't misunderstand me, Sir. The greatest harm you could do would +be to make her still more dissatisfied. With the presumption of an old +servant, I may say something that sounds impertinent, but I am a +preacher and a moralist. Thomas Rodney Estell is regarded here as a +great man; he has been State Treasurer nearly ten years, and he and the +Senator are warm friends." + +"Well?" I said. + +He looked up at the ceiling and replied: "A girl may marry her father's +friend, but it is not often that she loves him." + +"Washington, are you in league with the devil?" + +This struck through the superficial coating of his education, into his +real negro nature and made him roar with laughter. "No, Sah, I'm er +feard o' him;" but feeling the disgrace of his dialect he sobered and +said: "I think you understand me now, Mr. Belford." + +"Yes, I do, and I don't blame you. But before we go further let me tell +you this: I have been on the stage, which is quite enough to fix my +character in the opinion of many a good but narrow-minded person, but I +am from a long line of Puritan stock, and in my blood there is a strong +sense of moral responsibility. I have never made an intentional show of +those puritanic influences; I have striven rather to hide them from the +contempt of my lighter-hearted companions; but a sagacious old +stage-strutter once held up my overreligious ancestors as the cause of +my failure to catch the subtle art of a high grade of work. He declared +that all great English-speaking actors could trace their blood back to +the cart's tail." + +"I don't understand, Mr. Belford--the reference to the cart's tail." + +"To ease their consciences and to serve the Lord with becoming +activity, it was the custom of the Puritans, in the olden day, to +condemn actors and tie them to the tail of a cart, and whip them through +the street." + +"I have never read about it, Mr. Belford." + +"I suppose not. Church history doesn't dwell upon it." + +He turned toward the door, faced about and said: "The woman will bring +your dinner. I am going out among my people and shall not be here again +until to-morrow." + +"You needn't come then, Washington." + +"Yes, to pull your chair into the parlor." + +"That's so. Thank you." + +He stood for a moment in silence, and, without speaking, he stepped +back, and, with a grave nod and a slow wink, he softly shut the door. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE NOTORIOUS BUGG PETERS. + + +I mended so rapidly that within a week I was able to walk about. +Washington had every day drawn my chair into the parlor; but when I no +longer was in need of this physical service, he continued his visits to +give me the benefit of his spiritual strength. And once, when he came +into my room, like a dark reproach, I chopped off his moral droning with +the command to "get out!" He obeyed in silence, and I thought that I had +given our relationship a mortal wound. But in the garden the next day he +came up with unusual cheeriness and invited me to his church to hear him +preach upon the strength of the Spirit and the weakness of the human +family. + +One day the Senator took me out in his buggy. He drove me through the +town, and what a delight it was once more to look upon the affairs of +man. The buildings were for the most part old, and many of them were +dingy from neglect, but the air was restful and romantic. At every turn, +after leaving the business center, we came upon magnolia trees, now in +full bloom. Here was a garden whose low brick walls were green and gray +with time, a patch of moss and a cluster of snails; and away over yonder +was a blush on the landscape--a jungle of roses. There were flowers +everywhere, and far from the mansions of the lordly was many a log hut, +beautiful in a tangle of vines. We drove down the river, toward a +densely timbered flat, but did not penetrate its malarious shade, the +Senator choosing to turn to the left to drive me to a distant hill +whereon stood the school for girls, the one of which he might have taken +charge, had not his fight with Lige Patton proved him fitted for a more +manly charge--the male academy. As we were driving along, a tall, gaunt +man climbed over a fence, stepped out into the road and signaled us to +stop. The Senator drew up, laughing. The man came forward, put his hands +on the buggy tire, took them off, "dusted" them to brush off the dirt, +and put them on the tire again. The Senator introduced Mr. Peters, and +our detainer looked up, grinned and said: + +"Yes, Sir, the notorious Bugg Peters." + +His face was thin and sallow, his long hair looked like hay, and his +eyes were simply two pale yellow spots. + +"Out ridin' for your health, Senator?" + +"No, just thought I'd show my friend, Mr. Belford, the town and the +country." + +"Ah, hah! Oh, yes, he's one of the men that was blowed up. And he's +stayin' at your house. Ah, hah! He's about the last of 'em, ain't he? I +heard that all that wan't dead had put off somewhere. Never was blowed +up, that is, by a boat, but I've went through mighty nigh everything +else. Almost hugged to death by a bear down in the canebrake just +before the June rise eight year ago. Don't reckon your friend was ever +hugged by a bear," he went on, speaking of me as if I were not there. + +"No," I answered. + +"Then you've got a good deal to look forward to," he replied, +recognizing that, like Paul, I was permitted to speak for myself. "I've +had a good many things to happen to me, first and last, but I don't know +of anything worse than a bear's hug, unless it is son-in-laws." + +The Senator began to laugh and I looked at Mr. Peters for an +explanation. He did not keep me waiting. + +"I've got seven son-in-laws down yonder in my house right now," he said, +"dusting" his hands again and putting them back on on the tire. "Every +time a gal of mine gits married she goes away for a few days with her +husband, and then fetches him back with the ague; and he settles down in +my house and there he shakes. Got seven of them down there now a-shakin' +fit to kill themselves. If you'll step over there on that rise, you can +look down in the bottoms and see my house, and I'll bet you it's +a-tremblin' like a leaf right now. Them seven fellers keep it a-shakin' +all the time. Yes, Sir. Now, when Mag took a man, I says, says I, 'Mag, +I have always looked on you as the smartest one of the family, and I +want you to do me a favor; I want you to see if you can't take that +feller of your'n so far away that he can't git back.' And, Sir, I sold +my oats and give her the money, and she cleared out, but in less than a +month here she come, with her husband shakin' like a wet dog. I told him +to go in and find shakin' room if he could, and he crowded his way up to +the fireplace, and there he sets this minute, a-shakin' like a pound of +calfsfoot jelly." + +"Look here, Bugg," said the Senator, laughing, "why don't you move out +of the bottoms?" + +"What, and go up in the hills and ketch some new-fangled disease that I +don't know nothin' about? I reckon not, Senator. I've learned to let +well enough alone, and jest ordinary everyday chills is good enough for +me. Mister, how long are you goin' to be with us?" he inquired of me. + +"I don't know exactly. I wanted to go yesterday, but the Senator +wouldn't hear to it." + +"Well, I don't reckon you are able to do much knockin' about yet. Don't +believe I'd be snatched, anyway. Like for you to come down to see us +before you go. I can show you about the finest and shakinest set of +son-in-laws you ever saw. Did think somethin' of showin' 'em at the +State Fair this fall. But say, gentle_men_, you must sorter excuse me +for stoppin' you; but I wanted to see the Senator on business." + +The Senator gathered up the lines as if he had a suspicion of the +business referred to, and therefore desired to drive on, but Mr. Peters +in a distressful tone of voice implored him to wait a moment. "I want to +ask a favor," he said. "Wouldn't do it if it wan't for the fact that +they are all down there shakin' for dear life. I want to give you my +note for ten dollars for thirty days. You know I'll take it up." + +"Yes, if you should happen to find it," the Senator replied. + +"Come, now, Senator, don't talk that way. You might give this here man +that was blowed up a bad opinion of me. I've got the good opinion of +everybody else, and I don't want the bad respects of a man that has fell +down in amongst us." + +"Bugg, how many of your thirty-day notes do you suppose I've got?" + +"Why, none," he declared in great surprise. + +"I can show you twenty at least," said the Senator. + +"Well, now," Mr. Peters began to drawl, "this here is news to me, and +mighty sad news at that. Huh, I don't see how I could have made such a +mistake." + +"I was the one that made the mistake," the Senator replied. + +"Now don't say that, Talcom. Dang it, haven't I always voted for you? +Why, Sir, at the last election I went to the polls with a chill on me, +and I shook so hard it took two men to hold me still long enough to +shove my ticket in. Oh, I don't deny that I might owe you a note or +so--may be the addition of another son-in-law kept me from payin' +it--but all my gals are married now, and I don't look for any big +increase in the family till my sister and her husband come from over in +Arkansas to live with me; and as they ain't well and will have to pick +their way along the best they can, I'll have time to take up a half a +dozen notes by the time they git here." + +"What do you want with the money, Bugg?" + +"Why, I need about five bushels of wheat. That's what I want with it." + +"Well, here," said the Senator, taking out a notebook, "I'll give you an +order on my overseer for five bushels of wheat." + +"Talcom, by gosh you move me, and I am fit right now to drap a tear in +the palm of your hand. Yes, Sir, you can come nearer makin' me cry than +any man I ever run across." + +The Senator gave him the order, and we drove on, leaving him in the road +to whine his gratitude and loudly to swear that at the next election he +would vote all right, even if it should take a dozen men to hold him up. + +"Why do you permit such fellows to rob you?" I asked. + +"Belford, I can't help myself. That poor wretch comes near telling the +truth about his sons-in-law. Of course, he's as shiftless as a stray +dog, but he's kind-hearted and has a sense of humor that tickles me. +And, after all, it doesn't seem right that I should have an abundance +and that other men within sight of me should be in want." He took off +his hat to wave it gracefully at a lady as she passed, and still holding +it in his hand, he continued: "It's luck, Belford, nothing but luck. +I've never had any management. I have a set of books, but half the time +I don't know where I stand. My plantation pays, not because it's well +managed, but because the land's rich. I bought it, together with the +house I live in, with money that was left me, and the fact that I am not +compelled to scuffle for a living is no particular credit to me. It's +simply luck. I've got sense enough not to reach too high. Some time ago +they wanted to run me for governor, but I knew what that meant. It meant +two or perhaps four years in the State House, and then relegation to the +shade of a 'has been.' I like politics, I like to fight for measures, +and my position as State Senator suits me exactly; and I believe I can +hold it for a number of years to come. It is true that I am largely +preyed upon--" + +"By white and black," I suggested. + +"Yes, in a measure. How are you, Uncle Gabe?" he called, bowing to an +old man. + +"By the notorious Bugg--and by Washington," I ventured. + +"Ah, Washington is different. I give money to his church, and he is +free to come and go as he pleases. I was the means of his education, +and, though ignoring politics, he controls a large negro vote. Look out +over there, you boys, that mule might kick you. Aunt Sally, glad to see +you (bowing to a countrywoman who came jogging along on a horse). Folks +all well? All but Uncle John, eh? Hope he'll be out again soon." + +We were far beyond the outskirts of the town, on a rise commanding a +delightful view of groves, gardens, old houses, a fort in ruins, the +easy-going city and the river. We passed the school for young ladies, +and the Senator waved his hat at a vision of white and pink on the +portico. "My daughter Florence was graduated here," said he. "And, by +the way, you haven't met Estell. He was to have come home several days +ago, but business kept him. Florence is looking for him to-day, I +believe. Strong man, about your size--not quite so tall. You are a good +deal of a man when you are yourself, I take it." + +"I have done pretty fair work in a gymnasium," I replied. + +We turned into a broad road that led to town, and which passed the +Senator's house. It was a military road, my companion said, and had been +marked by the passage of old Jackson's troops. + +"Senator, my obligations to you are very deep indeed, and I have +refrained from saying anything--" + +"Well, then, don't say anything now. It's all right. Boat blew up at the +door of our city, and why shouldn't we care for the unfortunates?" + +"But before going away I want to give you some sort of an expression +of--" + +"That's all right, Sir. There's time enough." + +"No, I shall go to-morrow." + +"Better wait a day or two. Have you an engagement in view?" + +"No, and I shall not look for one. I have decided to quit the stage." + +"Well, Sir, I don't know but you are wise. It must be an uncertain sort +of life. But what are you going to do?" + +"I am going to write plays." + +"That's well enough; easy work I should think. All you've got to do is +to hatch out your plot and then stand your people around it. And look +here, Belford, there are characters enough about here to make one of the +best plays you ever saw. Why not stay here and do your writing? The fact +is, we like you, and don't want you to go away." + +"But I _must_ go." + +"You say so, but I don't look at it that way. Of course, if you are +tired of our slow and dull city, Sir, you--" + +"Tired?" I broke in. "It is the most soothing town on the face of the +earth. The days melt one into another like the mellow words of an +ancient rhetorician." + +"Belford, I guess you are about ready to begin work on that play," he +said, laughing. "There's always a strong enthusiasm behind that sort of +talk. By the way, do you think you could take hold of an opera house +and manage it?" + +"Yes, I think so--I know I could. Why?" + +"We appear to be getting at it, Belford. We have a very good opera house +here, almost new. A man from New Orleans built it, went broke in a +bigger speculation, leased it to a Dutchman who fiddled in the +orchestra, and now the house is without a manager. Suppose you take it?" + +"I'd take it in a minute, Senator, but the fact is, I'm broke." + +"Dollars melted like the mellow words of an ancient rhetorician, eh?" + +For a few moments we drove on in silence, the Senator making with his +hat half-circle greetings to constituents who stood in a dooryard or who +met us in the road. "Ha! Lester," he cried at a man who came along in a +wagon behind a span of mules; and then to me he said: "A few years ago +that fellow took it into his head that I was a little too conspicuous--I +had called him a liar, or something of the sort, don't remember exactly +what--and gave it out that he was going to horsewhip me. And I sent him +word to buy his whip from Alf Murray, first-class harness dealer, and a +friend of mine, and that I would meet him at his earliest convenience. I +don't know whether he patronized my friend in the purchase of a whip, +but I know that when I met him on the public square the next day he had +one as long as a bull-snake. And, Sir, I believe that he had intended to +hit me with it." + +"What caused him to change his mind?" I inquired, with no interest in +the matter. + +"Why, I knocked him down, and when he was able to get up and look around +again the whip was gone. Since that time we've been good friends. Now, +about the opera house. You say you've got no money. Now, let me tell you +what I'll do. I'll advance the money and go in as a partner. The money I +am compelled to spend during each campaign is beginning to eat +seriously into the income from my plantation, and I would like to ease +up the pressure. My part might not be a great deal, but it would help. +What do you say?" + +"I could go off into all sorts of extravagances, Senator. I could say +that you have made my blood leap, that you--" + +"But that wouldn't be businesslike. What do you say?" + +"That I snap at your proposition." + +"All right, I'll go down to-morrow and rent the house." + +"But you don't care to have your name known in it, do you?" + +"Why not? It's all right. These people like a good show, and if we give +them the best, it will make me still more useful and popular. Yes, Sir, +its all right, and we'll draw up the papers to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE STATE TREASURER. + + +The town had been attractive, but now it sprung into endearment. Emotion +was strong within me and my spirits rose, to find a new interest in +everything and to pick up many a jest by the roadside. I caught the song +of an old man who stood near the turnpike, trimming a young orchard; and +the laughter of a child that was romping on the grass when we stopped at +a toll gate threw sparkles of new life in the air. One sweet thrill of +selfishness had made the whole world musical and glad. + +"Senator, whose house is that over yonder, to the left?" + +"Mine," he answered. "Oh, yes, this is the first time you've had an +opportunity to view it from a distance. We are out too far to have the +advantage of gas and city water, but we've got room to swing round in, +and that's worth everything. Lumber dealer came one day and wanted to +know what I'd take for those walnuts. I told him that I'd take human +life if it was necessary. Hang me, if I didn't feel like setting the +dogs on him. I do believe," he said, shading his eyes, "that yonder are +Estell and Florence. Yes, Sir, he's got home." + +At the gate, beneath the walnut trees, a man and a woman stood looking +toward us. The woman was Mrs. Estell. I had recognized her before the +Senator directed my attention; I should have known her a mile away. Her +gracefulness was so original that she must have been unconscious of its +effect. The soft climate of the South had touched her with its ease, but +she seemed ever on the verge of breaking away from it; and sometimes she +did, not with mere gayety, but with unconquerable strength. She +enforced upon me the belief that she had taken fencing lessons. + +"And suppose he should object to our compact?" was a surmise that passed +through my mind; and I did not realize that I had given it actual +utterance until the Senator surprised me by saying: + +"None of his business. Our affair. Taking care of the funds of the State +gives him about all he can look after. Helloa, there, Estell, why don't +you come out to meet a fellow?" + +"On the keen jump, now," Estell replied, coming slowly to meet us, his +wife walking with him. It might have been the eye of prejudice that made +him look so old, though why should there have been an eye of prejudice? +His mustache was cropped off, stiff and gray, and his skin was thin on +his cheeks and thick under his chin. The Senator introduced us, with +heartiness and a flourish, and the moment I took Estell's hand I knew +that from his lofty position among the money bags of the State he could +not look down and find an interest in me. His nature was financial, his +instincts commercial; and I can say with truth that commerce embodied in +a strong and aggressive personality has always made me shudder. I am +afraid of the man who delights to make figures; I feel that I am in his +power. I might not hesitate to dispute with a most learned theologian, +to hang with him upon the quirks of his creed, but with a pencil and a +piece of paper a banker's clerk can cower me. + +The Senator assisted me to alight, the Treasurer lending a pretense of +his aid; and we went without delay to the dining-room where dinner was +waiting. The Estells sat opposite the Senator and me; and the master of +the house and his son-in-law began to talk over the affairs of State. + +"Hope you had a pleasant drive," Mrs. Estell said to me. + +"Charming; we had a fine view of the town, saw the old fort, and passed +your college." + +"Stupid old place, isn't it? But then, it's dear, just like stupid +people. Did you ever notice how dear stupid people are? They are +sometimes our dearest ones. I suppose they feel that about the only +thing they can do is to make themselves dear." + +Estell was saying something about $246,-724, or something that sounded +like that amount, but he dropped it to ask: "Florence, what are you +talking about?" + +"Stupid people. But you are not interested." + +"No, of course not, but I was trying to get at an exact amount, and you +bothered me for a moment." + +"It's all right, let it go," said the Senator. "By the way, Mr. Belford +and I have entered into a business arrangement. We are going to run the +opera house and share profits." + +Mrs. Estell cried "good." Estell gave her a look of reproof, I thought. +"You mean that you are going to share losses," he said. "The thing was +an elephant on Sanderson's hands." + +"But it won't be on ours," the Senator spoke up. "We know how to run it. +Don't we, Belford?" + +"I think we do," I answered. "My fellow-players called me the manager's +elephant, and in this case I don't know but we might be pitting Greek +against Greek, or elephant against elephant." + +Mrs. Estell laughed and so did the Senator, but Estell drank his coffee +in silence. The subject was permitted to fall, but it was taken up again +shortly afterward, when we had lighted our cigars in the library. + +"So you think of going into the show business?" said the State +Treasurer, resting his head on the back of his chair and looking up at +the ceiling. + +"Well, not actively," the Senator replied. "That is, I'm not to be +active in the work." + +"Oh, I suppose it's all right," admitted Estell; "but it's a new line +and new lines are dangerous." + +"But if dangerous, not without interest," the Senator was quick to +retort. "It's settled, at any rate. I'm going to try it." + +Mrs. Estell had not accompanied us. I heard her talking to a dog in the +hall, and I listened with pleasure, for her voice was strong, deep and +singularly musical. + +"The next session of the Legislature will be a very busy one, I am +inclined to think," Estell remarked. + +"Always is," the Senator replied, laughing. "The better part of a new +session is generally taken up with the work of repealing the laws passed +by an older Assembly." + +I was wondering whether Estell would ever become deeply enough +interested in my existence to warrant a straight look from his pale and +abstracted eye, when he withdrew his gaze from the ceiling, directed it +at me and said that he was glad to see me so far advanced toward +recovery. It was a mere commonplace which may not have arisen from a +real interest, and which politeness could no longer defer, but it gave +me a better opinion of him. + +"I suppose," said I, not knowing what else to say, "that you find your +occupation one of almost painful exactness." + +I think that he gave me a look of contempt. I am quite sure that, if he +did not, his eye failed him of his intention. + +"I wouldn't stay there ten minutes if it meant play," he replied, and +turning to the Senator he said: "Saw old Dan Hilliard the other day." + +"No!" the Senator exclaimed. "You don't mean _old_ Dan Hilliard?" + +"Yes, I do--old Dan Hilliard." + +"Hanged if I didn't think he was dead. Well, I'll swear! Old Dan +Hilliard! Humph! Why, I met his wife one day about three years ago and +she told me that Dan was dying, that he couldn't live till night. Now +what do you suppose he wanted to get well for?" + +"To distress his friends, I reckon. Wanted to get five dollars from me, +and said if I'd give him the money you would pay him back." + +My eyes with wandering about the room alighted on two foils, crossed +above a bookcase. I was right. The young woman had taken fencing +lessons. And just at that moment she entered the room, a great dog +following her. At the door she turned about to drive him back. He tried +to spring by her; she caught him, lifted him from the floor and with a +swing she tumbled him out into the hall. + +"What _are_ you doing?" the Treasurer cried, with a nervous jump; and +the Senator, who sat facing the door, fell back with a laugh so full of +contagion that I caught it before I had time to strengthen my gravity +with the reflection that I might give Estell a cause to think that I was +intruding myself into a family affair. + +"I am teaching old Tiger to behave himself," she replied, with a smile. + +"I thought you had knocked down a steer," said Estell, settling himself +in his rocking chair. He shut his eyes, and to me he looked like a man +who longed for rest, but who had almost despaired of finding it. +"Florence," he spoke up, opening his eyes and slightly turning his head +toward her, "see if you can find my slippers, please. You needn't go +yourself," he added. "Send for them." + +"I don't know where they are, and nobody else can find them," she +replied; and hastening out, she ran up the stairs, humming an +undefinable tune. + +"Tom," said the Senator, "you have about worn yourself out. Why don't +you go off somewhere?" + +"Can't--haven't time." + +"That's the biggest fallacy that man ever introduced as an economy. Did +you ever know a man too busy to die?" + +"No, but I sometimes think I am." + +"Why don't you give up the infernal office? Nothing in it, anyway." + +"Why don't you give up _your_ infernal office?" + +"What!" cried the Senator, and he began to run his fingers through his +beard. "Now that would be a devil of a come off, wouldn't it! How is a +State to get along without laws? Hah! Look at the measures that owe +their origin to me. Tom, it's all right to be tired, but it's dangerous +to trample on common sense. Why don't I give up my office, indeed! Now +what could have put that fool notion into your head? Have you heard +anybody say that I ought to give it up? If you have, out with it, and +I'll make him produce his cause or eat his words. Out with it." + +"Oh, I don't know that I've heard anybody say that you ought to give it +up," Estell replied, opening his eyes, but closing them again before he +had completed the sentence. + +"You don't _know_ that you have," the Senator retorted, twisting his +beard to a sharp and fierce-looking point. "Estell, old fellow, there +are times for joking, but this is not one of them. I make no objection +to fair and honorable criticism, Sir; you know that. I grant every man +the right to pass upon my acts in office--_in_ office, understand; but +when a man says I ought to resign, why he must show cause, or I'll stuff +him like a sausage with his own garrulity. That's me, Estell, and you +know it." + +"Talcom, I reckon that's you. But now to be exact, I haven't heard +anybody say you ought not to be in office." + +"Good enough, Tom. It's all right. Yes, Sir, it's all right," said the +Statesman, with no trace of his recent disquiet, but with pleasant, +kindly eyes and a countenance made smooth by the justice of his cause +and the pride with which he regarded his determination to defend his +good name. "But, Tom, you really need rest. Oh, of course, I don't mean +that you should give up public life. No, Sir," he went on, looking at +me, "when a man has once been a servant of the people, he is never +satisfied to fall back among the powerless 'masters.' And, Sir--of +course it wouldn't do to say it everywhere, but I will say it here in +confidence--I have often looked at some poor, obscure devil and have +said to myself, 'Why the deuce do you want to live? You can't possibly +enjoy yourself, for nobody pays any attention to you.'" + +And then spoke a voice at the door. I looked around and there Mrs. +Estell stood, holding a slipper in each hand, her arms hanging limp. I +did not catch the words she uttered first, but these I heard and always +shall remember: "And perhaps he has a wife who worships him, and +children that think he's a god. And if I were a man I would rather be in +his place than to have a world of flattery." + +With a swift step and a graceful bend she laid the slippers at her +husband's feet. The Senator clapped his hands and so did I, but Estell +neither moved nor opened his eyes until he heard the slippers tap upon +the floor, and then he turned his head to say, "I'm much obliged to +you." + +And at that moment she broke away from the soft and dignifying +influences of a Southern atmosphere; she sprang upon a chair, snatched +the foils from the wall, laid one of them across my knees, sprang back +and with mock tragedy cried, "Defend yourself." But before I could get +out of my astonishment to say a word, and as the dull eyes of her +husband looked up sharp with surprise, she bowed with a condescending +grace and with mimic magnanimity threw down the foil and said: "Ah, I +forgot. You are wounded and a prisoner." + +The Senator looked on with pride; his face glowed and his eyes snapped, +but Estell grunted: "Mr. er-er-Belford," he began, again becoming +vaguely conscious that I was on the face of the earth, "the Senator had +no son; and that explains why he made a tomboy of his daughter." He +laughed weakly as he said this, and as a piece of good humor it was a +failure, but it proved to me that he was not wholly ill-natured. + +"That's all right," the Senator replied, with his eyes on Mrs. Estell, +who had again mounted a chair to replace the foils on the wall. "That's +all right, but her tomboyishness has made her decidedly human, and, +Sir," he added, as the young woman stepped down, "I guess she succeeded +in winning the love of one of the best men in the State. Eh. How's that, +old fellow?" + +"Not quite so bad as I expected," Estell answered, rousing up. "You +could have studied longer and framed it worse. By the way, Mr. +Belmont--" + +"Belford," his wife suggested, standing with her hands resting on the +back of his chair. + +"Yes, thank you. But, by the way, Mr. Belford, where are you from, Sir? +I take it that you are not a Southern man." + +"I was born near the old city of Chester, England," I answered. "But I +came to this country when a boy. And among Americans I sometimes assert +that I'm English, but among Englishmen I am often proud to say that I am +an American." + +"Good enough," said the Senator. "First rate. That's all you need to say +around here, Sir. Our most famous orator, S. S. Prentiss, used to say, +when reproached with the fact that he was not born in Mississippi, that +any fool could have been born here, but that he had sense enough to come +to the State of his own accord. Belford, we've had some great orators. +We've had men, Sir, that could make you laugh at your own sorrow and +then compel you to look with grief upon your own laughter. But they are +gone, Sir." He got up and stood with one hand thrust into his bosom. +"They are gone, and the world will never look upon their like again. +Why, Sir, Prentiss, with his oration on starving Ireland, made the whole +world weep. Ah, and who makes it weep now? It does not weep, for there +is a measure of relief in tears. It groans, and in a groan there is no +sentiment--the groan is the language of despair. The oppressive +corporation, the heartless money grabber--but I won't talk about it," he +broke off, sitting down and running his fingers through his beard. + +"Yes, it's bad," Estell drawled, "but what are we going to do about it, +heigho?" he yawned. "You people may discuss the ills of the world, but +I'm going up-stairs and take a nap." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +PUBLIC ENTERTAINERS. + + +Early the next day the Senator and I went down to look at the opera +house. It was about midway in a block that faced the public square. Of +course there was nothing attractive in its outward appearance, and I +expected to find a raw interior, but I was more than happily surprised. +The auditorium was well appointed, the chairs were of the best and the +decorations were modest and artistic. I felt that it was only the +poorest of management that could have brought about the financial +failure of the house. And now that I had seen the place there arose a +fear that the agent might set the price too high. But when we called +upon him the Senator explained with so many gestures intended to +depress him, and with so many shrewd words thrown out to convince him +that we came as benefactors, that he soon was willing to accept our +terms. The papers were drawn up at once. + +"And, now, by the way," said the Senator, "I don't want to be known in +this transaction, for, come to think it over, there are many people in +my senatorial district who hold a prejudice against the show business. +So I'll be a silent partner, and a mighty silent one, I want you to +understand." + +The agent said that he understood, and the Senator continued: "The +editor of that mongrel sheet, the _Times_, would twist this thing out of +all shape, Sir. He would fight the house to injure me, and he'd jump on +me to hurt the house. Mr. Belford here will be the manager, and I guess +he knows all about it." + +I was forced to tell him that I was not a business man, that I could +secure the attractions, but that he must see that the books were kept +properly. "That's all right," he said. "I can't do it myself, but I'll +take them home and turn them over to my daughter. She may not know how +to keep them in the regular way, but you may gamble that they'll be kept +right." + +I agreed to this, but as we were going out the thought occurred to me +that Estell might object. + +"Oh, that will be all right," the Senator declared when I spoke of it. +"He may not be taken with the idea, but it will give Florence a +practical thing to think about, and he can see that it will be good for +her." + +"But if it's just the same to you, Senator, I'd rather you wouldn't +speak to him about it when I'm present. Even the slightest objection on +his part would be embarrassing to me." + +"You are right, Belford, and I appreciate your sensitiveness. Yes, Sir, +you are right. But he won't object." + +As we drew near to the house we saw Estell standing under a walnut +tree. "Go on in," said the Senator, "and I will have a talk with him. +It's a matter of no importance, you understand. We can hire a man to +keep the books. But I'll speak to him." + +I passed on into the library. The dog, that had presumed to disobey the +mistress of the house, lay stretched upon the floor, and as I entered he +looked up contemptuously, and then to all appearances resumed his nap. +Presently Mrs. Estell came in. + +"You are back early," she said. "What are you doing here?" This was +spoken to the dog. He raised his head and gave her an appealing look. +"They want you out there to catch a chicken to send to a sick man." + +The dog brightened, jumped up and trotted out, and soon a squawk and a +command from a negro woman announced that he had done his work. + +"It is all arranged," I said. + +"I knew it would be," she replied. "My father gets nearly everything he +goes after." + +"And he is now after Mr. Estell, to get his consent--" + +"Consent!" she broke in. "Consent about what?" + +"Why, the Senator thought it would be a good idea to bring the books up +here and let you keep them." + +"I'd like that. It would give me something to think about." + +"That's what your father said." + +"Oh, and he's gone to ask Mr. Estell. He won't care. He may object at +first--he objects to nearly everything at first." + +"I don't believe he takes to me very kindly," I ventured to remark. + +She laughed. "Oh, he doesn't take to anyone at first. I had known him +ever since I was a child, and I was grown before he appeared to think +anything of me. But he doesn't seem a bit like his old self. He used to +be lively and liked to go out, but now he's worried all the time and +doesn't care to go anywhere. I don't know what's the trouble with him, +I'm sure. Isn't that a pretty little theatre? And what do you think of +the prospects? Don't you think they're good? I do." + +"So do I. The town is large enough, and I believe we can make the +venture pay." + +"I'm sure of it," she said. "It has never been managed properly. None +but the poorest plays came here, and no wonder it failed. I do hope it +will be a success. It will give father something new to talk about. I'm +so tired of politics. Always the same thing, anxiety and treachery and +everything unpleasant. Mr. Estell was offered an excellent place in a +New Orleans bank, some time ago, and I begged him to take it, but he +wouldn't. And I can't understand why. There's no money and no particular +honor in the place he has now. But you would think his life depended on +it. He had strong opposition at the last election, and I thought he'd go +wild. Here they come." + +The Senator slyly winked at me as he entered the room. But Estell did +not appear to see me until he had sat down, and then he looked at me and +said: + +"You and Talcom are trying to involve the whole family in that show +enterprise, eh?" + +"We'd like to involve the whole community in it," I answered. + +"Yes. And it would be a nice thing for a friend to meet me and say: +'Helloa, Estell, understand your wife, the former belle of Bolanyo, is +keeping books for a show.'" + +"If you object, Mr. Estell," I began, but he shut me off. + +"Object? Why, I don't object to anything that Talcom does. What's the +use? Oh, it's all right. And I suppose we'll have show bills pasted up +all over the house. Might take a few of them to Jackson with me and +stick 'em up in the Treasurer's office; might get the Governor to put up +a few in the Executive Chambers. And I know the walls of the Senate +will be lined with them." + +I was about to say something in resentment of this dry ridicule when the +Senator looked at me with a comedian's squint of the eye. "Oh, yes," +said he, "and we'll have the Governor issue a proclamation commanding +all the State officers to attend our performances. By the way, he is a +bachelor. We'll marry him to a--" + +"Soubrette," I suggested, to help him out. The Senator laughed and +Estell chuckled wearily as his wife, in her good humor, shook his chair. +Dating from this trifling incident the Treasurer appeared to like me +better; at least, he paid me more attention, and at dinner he told a +joke (which the Senator afterward informed me was his favorite bit of +humor), and I laughed as if I really enjoyed it. I felt more kindly +toward him, but the eye of prejudice made him old, for constantly I +wondered how she could ever have given her consent to marry him. I had +been told, by the Senator, I think, that his family was high, that his +people were once of the great and lordly set of the South, and of course +I knew that in the marriage arrangement the name of family meant more +than mental or physical suitability; and yet I could not rid myself of +the belief that a violence had been committed against sentiment the day +she gave her hand to her father's friend. + +After dinner the Senator and I went into the library to talk over our +venture, and Estell trod heavily up the stairs to take his nap. I +wondered whether his wife were coming with us. She did not; she went out +into the magnolia garden; and through the window I watched her as she +walked about beneath the trees. To me she was such a picture, so lithe a +piece of Nature's art, that in my study of her I did not think of a +danger that might lie in wait for me; but in matters that tend to lead +the heart astray we rarely think until too late and then each thought is +an added pain. + +The Senator was saying something and I looked around at him. "Yes, Sir, +I think we'll run all right. Bound to if we put our energies into it. +Let's see; you'll have to go North and book the attractions, won't you?" + +"Yes, I ought to, but it's now almost too far along in the season. It +would involve considerable expense, and I think that the best plan is to +do my best with correspondence and take it in time next year." + +"Shouldn't wonder but you are right. Yes, and that will give you time to +work on your play. It will be quite a feather in our cap to have a play +written by our manager." + +"Yes, a successful play," I replied. + +"Oh, don't you worry about that. We'll make it a success all right +enough, for we've got the characters here under our gaze." + +"And the notorious Bugg Peters is one of them," I suggested. + +He began to run his fingers through his beard. "Well, I don't know about +that, Belford. It doesn't seem to me, though, that we ought to mar a +play with as trifling a fellow as he is. Why, that fellow is no account +on the face of the earth! Why, he's common! And, Sir, the people +wouldn't go to see a play that had him in it. We can get better +material, honorable and upright men, Sir. Why, he'd take all the dignity +out of it; he'd bring ridicule on the South. By gracious, Sir, they'd +think that he's--he's real!" + +"Well, but isn't he?" + +"Oh, in a way, yes. But he's not a representative man, you understand; +and I want to tell you, Belford, that the stage is in need of +representative men. Why, Sir, every newspaper is talking about the +elevation of the stage, the need of it, mind you; and I don't see how +you can elevate the stage if you put such men as Bugg Peters on it. Why, +confound his hide, do you know there's not a bigger liar in this State? +And do you know that he owes me?--well, I won't attempt to say how much. +We'll give him wheat, Sir, to keep him and his shaking sons-in-law from +starving, but we cannot--I repeat--we cannot put him on our stage. It's +nothing to laugh at, Belford. It's a serious matter. I'll show you some +characters--I'll find them for you. Why, here's Washington. Come in, +come in." + +The preacher came forward and stood gravely looking down upon us. "Sit +down," said the Senator. "That is, unless Mr. Belford objects," he +added, looking at me. + +"Why should I object?" I asked, in surprise. + +"Oh, some people object to--" + +"A negro sitting down in the presence of white gentlemen, unless he +drops his hat at the door and then sits on a trunk or a box," Washington +spoke up, smiling. "But," he added, "the Senator is more liberal. +However, I do not wish to sit down. I have come on an important errand." + +"Ah, ha! How much do you need?" the Senator inquired. + +The preacher roared with as genuine a laugh as ever was blown across a +cotton field. + +"We don't need so very much," he said, his gravity returning with a +suddenness that made him appear almost ridiculously solemn. "We need +something, however, and when our own resources had fallen short, I told +my brethren that I knew where to come. The truth is, we need a new bell +for the church, and lack twenty-five dollars of having enough to pay for +it." + +"A new bell! Why, what's the matter with the old one?" + +"It is cracked, Sir." + +"Cracked! Why I'll bet a thousand dollars you can hear it fifteen miles. +Why don't you take the money that a bell would cost and give it to the +poorer members of your congregation?" + +"The poor we have with us always, Senator. We need a new bell." + +"Yes, and you'll ring it at all times of night and keep me awake. Why do +they have to be rung, too, so much? Hang me, if I don't believe you've +got one old fellow over there that gets up and rings it in his sleep; +and many a time I've felt like filling his black hide with shot. When do +you want the devilish thing?" + +"You mean the bell, Sir?" + +"Yes. When do you have to get it?" + +"It has been ordered and it must be paid for on its arrival." + +"Oh, you've ordered it. Well, now, if you hadn't ordered it you'd +never've got a cent out of me. Don't believe I've got that much money +about me," he added, stretching out his leg and thrusting his hand into +his pocket, to draw forth a roll of bank notes; and on beholding this +great display of wealth the negro's thick eyelids snapped. "Here you +are," said the Senator, giving him the sum required. "And you tell that +old fellow that if he rings the new bell in his sleep, he'll wake up +with his black hide full of shot." + +"Thank you, Senator. You mean Brother Sampson, Sir?" + +"Hah? Sampson? I don't know his name, but I guess Sampson's about right. +Wait a minute. Mr. Belford is going to remain with us. He is going to +take charge of the theatre here, and in going about the neighborhood you +may tell the people that we are--I say we because I want to see the town +well entertained--tell the people that they are to have a series of the +finest entertainments ever known in this part of the country. And, by +the way, Belford, I forgot to speak of it, but you'd better board here +at the house." + +I looked up to meet the negro's eyes; a stare of blunt rebuke, as if the +proposal had come from me, in violation of a compact made with him. I +caught a vision of Mrs. Estell as I had seen her through the window, +walking beneath the magnolia trees; I heard the warning voice of reason, +and I saw lurking in ambush the sweetest and perhaps the deadliest of +all dangers. I had seen much of the immorality of life, of passion that +knew no law, but not for a moment did there live in my mind a suspicion +that this woman could forget the exacting demands of a matron's duty. I +felt that the danger lay for me alone; that the warm and sympathetic +relationship of friend of the family and partner of the father would +establish me almost as a member of the house-hold; that a sisterly +regard would at most define the depth of the interest that she could +take in my affairs, and even this must come with slow and almost +unconscious ripening. It was true that I had come a stranger, that an +old community, and especially in the South, is skeptical of a new man's +respectability, but I had fallen helpless upon their hospitality, and my +misfortune was stronger than an introduction. + +It did not seem that I had time to reason as I sat there encountering +the gaze of that black agent of a moral code; my reflections might have +come like flying splinters, but as I look back and again bring up the +scene, I feel that they must have fallen as one impression, a cold and +benumbing weight. + +"It will be a long walk out here for Mr. Belford, and he has not +regained his strength," the negro said, still gazing at me. + +"Nonsense!" the Senator replied. "He will be as strong as a buck in a +day or two, and, besides, he is used to his room out here and might as +well keep it. Confound your impudence, Washington, you always oppose +me." + +"I beg your pardon, Senator." + +"That's all right, but I'm going to have my own way about my own +affairs. Do you understand?" + +"Better than you think, Sir." + +"What's that?" + +"I mean that I understand perfectly." + +"Well, say what you mean." + +"Senator," said I, "he is right. I'd better get a room down town. +Walking in and out--and I couldn't think of riding--would take up too +much of my time, and I expect to be very busy after the season opens." + +"Well, now, there may be something in that. Yes, Sir, there's a good +deal to be attended to. Suit yourself. Perhaps it would be better. +Washington, you go on and pay for your diabolical arrangement to keep me +awake." + +The negro bowed and gave me a look, but not of victory--of gratitude. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +MR. PETTICORD. + + +Early the next day I was formally installed as manager of the Bolanyo +Opera House. The Senator directed the ceremony, marking long meter with +his hat, and by his solemn mien appearing to demand of me a serious and +majestic chant, the tune of Old Hundred, to express a deep sense of my +responsibility--a mere fancy, of course; but as a matter of fact, he did +seem to believe that we ought to make a sentiment of this commonplace +and businesslike procedure. But I told him that we would waive the +rights of a mysterious incantation and look upon the affair as a +commercial transaction. + +"Yes, of course," he said. "But you know there has always been a sort +of mystery about the stage. It holds us to the past, makes us children, +afraid of ghosts. It has a peculiar smell; and one thing about it is, +that all the people on the stage seem to be foreigners, it makes no +difference how well you may have been acquainted with them. I don't know +that it's true in all cases. Come to think of it, you don't seem strange +to me." + +"There has always been a prejudice against the stage, in England and +America," I replied. "Our race cannot associate art and religion, when, +in fact, there's true religion in every phase of art." + +"Well, now, I don't know about that, Belford. The Pagans worshiped idols +and some of their idols were works of art, but there was no true +religion in that. But be that as it may, we're going to make a success +of this thing." + +A number of boys, having scented an unusual activity, were hanging about +the door, and one of them made bold to ask if there was going to be a +show. The Senator answered him. "Yes, there is, my little man, and +we'll want you to take around some bills when it comes, next fall. Whose +son are you, anyway?" + +"Mr. Vark's." + +"Oh, yes, the shoemaker down stairs. Well, run along now." + +The boys scampered off, and the Senator, looking about, declared that we +were making great progress. "Yes, Sir, we'll coin money here; and do you +know, Belford, I am beginning to believe that money is a pretty good +thing after all? Yes, Sir, I have about arrived at that conclusion. It +won't take a man to Heaven, but it arms him against a hell on earth. Let +me see, there was something else I intended to say. Oh, yes. Now it's +all right to be friendly with everybody, but intimacy is a dangerous +thing. Encourage it and the first thing you know the loafers about town +will begin to call you by your first name. That kills a man if he's in +any sort of public life. Why, Sir, if I had let those fellows call me +Giles, I couldn't have remained in the Senate more than one term; would +have killed me, Sir, as dead as a door nail. In this human family a man +thinks more of you in the long run if you compel him to bow to you than +if you permit him to put his arm on your shoulder. Our natures respect +exclusiveness. We may make fun of what we conceive to be a groundless +dignity, but at its face we bow to it. Well, you can now begin your +correspondence. I have put money to your credit at the bank, and there's +nothing to keep you from going ahead. There are some other little +details that can be arranged at our leisure. And now, as to a boarding +place. Our hotels are not first class. And here's what I regard as a +good idea. This room off here you can fit up as a sleeping apartment, +and you can take your meals at a restaurant. Suit you?" + +"Perfectly. And I want to thank you for your--" + +"Wait till the end of next season, Sir; we haven't time now. And, by +the way, I want you to come out to the house as often as you can +conveniently. Just come and go as you please. Well, Mr. Manager, I'll +bid you good-morning." + +My room was airy, and, proportioned in that wastefulness of space which +marks one of the interior differences between the town and the great +city, it afforded the luxury of many an imaginary path over which I +could walk in meditation upon my play; and that piece of work was +uppermost in my mind. It was my hope to exist as a manager until I could +pip the shell as a dramatist--selfish, I confess; and so is art a +selfishness, and so is every high-born longing in the breast of man. +Indeed, philanthropy itself cannot escape the accusation: To give to the +needy awakens the applause of the conscience. + +A slight tapping attracted my attention, and looking round I saw +standing in the doorway a tall, gaunt man with a beard so red as to +shoot out the suggestion that it had been put on hot and that sufficient +time had not elapsed for it to cool. I invited him in; and, stepping +forward, he handed me a card on which in black type and with heavy +impression was printed the name Lucian C. Petticord, followed by the +information (also heavy and black) that I was in the presence of the +Editor of the Bolanyo _Daily Times_, and the enemy of Senator Giles +Talcom. + +"Sit down, Mr. Petticord. Glad to meet you," I added, with lie number +one. + +"Thank you," he said, seating himself. "Match about you?" + +I found a match for him, and lighting the stub of a cigar, he said +"Thanks," crossed his legs and hooked his thumbs in the arm-holes of his +"vest." + +"How do you like our town?" he asked. + +"Charming place," I answered. + +"Used to be, but hard times hit it a crack and it's been staggering ever +since. Had two banks--one of them failed. Tough, I tell you, but we'll +come out all right. Just heard of your deal. Ought to make the thing +pay, I should think. Got to spend some little money, of course. By the +way, is old man Talcom interested in it?" + +"Well, only as a friend," I answered, with lie number two. + +"I heard he was. Always was a sort of a theatrical fellow." + +"He is a gentleman, if that's what you mean." + +"Yes, in a way," he drawled. "Oh, I know him." + +"Then, Sir, you know one of the most generous of men." + +"Yes, generous in a way. Pretty keen, though--he's not throwing anything +over his shoulder this year, and he didn't last year either, for that +matter." + +"I didn't know," said I, "that throwing a thing over one's shoulder was +esteemed as an example of generosity." + +He rolled his cigar about between his fiery lips. "I take it that you +know what I mean," he replied. "I mean that Brother Giles ain't giving +anything away without cause." + +"Who is?" I asked, and I looked at him hard, but, in the vernacular of +the neighborhood, I did not "faze" him. + +"In general, nobody; and in particular, not Brother Giles. Well, it's +all right. Glad he ain't interested financially. Presume, however, he +advanced you the necessary money." + +"Pardon me, but if he did it doesn't concern you." + +"Oh, it's all right; no business of mine except as a matter of news." + +"But what doesn't concern the public is not news," I replied. + +"No, that's a fact, but then, there comes up a difference of opinion as +to what does concern the public." He paused for a few moments and then +continued: "Thought I'd step over and see if I could get an ad from you. +Do all my own work in that line; do all the editorials and write most of +the local leaders. It keeps me busy, but I'm getting out the best paper +the city ever had. And my ad rates are not high when the circulation is +considered." + +"I shall give you an advertisement later on," said I, "but just at +present there could be no object in it. It's out of season and there's +nothing to advertise." + +"But you'll want a write-up announcing the change of management. The +people will be interested in it, you know." + +"Yes, but doesn't that very fact make it a piece of legitimate news?" + +"Well, yes, in a way. But you know I can't afford to print news for +nothing. I'm not printing news for my health, you know. Write you up in +good shape for ten dollars." + +It was the easiest way out of what appeared to be the beginning of an +unpleasant entanglement, and I told him that he might proceed with his +"write-up." It was a sort of bribery, the purchase of his good opinion +in the hope of securing his silence, for I knew that there must be war, +and perhaps a complete change of geographical lines, so far as I was +concerned, if the newspaper should offensively associate the Senator +and the playhouse. But as I sat there, the subject of a "pleasant +interview"--meeting smile with smile--I actually ached to kick that red +gargoyle down the stairs. + +"Well," he said, blowing the cigar stub out of his mouth and letting it +fall where it might, "I'll get back to work. Come over sometime." + +"Thank you. I may see more of you when the season opens." + +"Guess that's right. Haven't got a cut of yourself, have you?" + +"No, and I don't care for one." + +"You're wrong there; good cut's a first-rate thing--catches the women, +and I want to tell you that unless you catch the women you don't catch +anybody. Well, good day." + +Almost as soothing as a melody was his passing footstep down the stairs. +But he halted, and I heard him talking to someone who evidently was +coming up. I was afraid that he had turned to come back, and I stood in +a tremor of dread, when in stepped old Zack Mason, the steamboat pilot. +"Hah, united we stood and divided we went up!" he cried, grasping my +hand. "How are you?--first-rate, I know. Oh, this climate will bring a +man out of the kinks if he isn't killed instantly. All this atmosphere +needs is a few minutes' start. A man can grow a set of new lungs down +here. How are you, anyway? Didn't hurt me much--made a trip since then +on a snag-boat. Tickled to death to see you again. How are you, anyway?" + +During all this time he held me with a grip so tight as to assure me +that not even an explosion could blow us apart. And whenever I attempted +to tell him how I was, or to impress him with my share of the pleasure +derived from our meeting, he gripped me tighter, to hold me under the +outpour of his congratulations. "Felt like a brother had left me that +day when you were snatched out of my hand. Said to myself, as I flew +through the air, 'he's got a little bit the start of me and I don't +believe I'll ever see him again.' And last night, when I got home and +heard you were around all right, I went straight over to old Jim +Bradley's and swallowed a drink as long as a pelican's neck. I want to +tell you that Jim's got the stuff right there in his house--been here +ever since the Mississippi River was a creek; and he's got licker older +than Adam's off ox. And I'll tell you what we'll do this minute--we'll +go right over there and take a snort as loud as the sneeze of a +hippopotamus." + +By this time I had forced him back into his chair, but he showed such a +keenness to get at me again that I had to remind him that I had been but +a short time out of bed. + +"Well, now, I'd about forgotten that," he declared. "But I don't want +you to handle me after you get plum back at yourself. You are as strong +as a panther right now. But that's neither here nor there. The question +is, will you come over with me to see old Jim? I've got a lay-off for +about a week, and I've got to have a little fun as I go along. Eat, +drink and be merry, for to-morrow you may be blowed up. And we'll see +old Joe Vark over there. Joe's got a shoeshop right down here--best +shoemaker that ever pounded the hide of a steer--works till he gets +ready to have fun, and then he whoops it up. He's smarter than a +serpent, even if he ain't always as harmless as a dove. They started a +little public library here once, and the first thing they knew old Joe +had nearly all the books stacked up in his shop; and he read them, too. +Come on and we'll go down to old Jim Bradley's; and he's all right, too. +What do you say?" + +"To tell you the truth, I'd rather go with you than to do almost +anything; it would fit me like a glove; but I can't. I've had to quit. +One drink would mean a spree, and that would ruin everything." + +"Yes, but here," he insisted, "the liquor that Bradley keeps won't put a +man off on a spree. It's a fact. It would take a man two weeks to get +drunk on it, and by that time he'd have enough. Come on." + +"No, I can't go." + +"Well, if you can't drink without taking too much I'm the last man in +the world to persuade you. Glad to see you, anyway. And I reckon you're +going to give us a first-rate line of shows. Met the Senator just now +and he told me. He's another man that can't drink. I can drink and I can +let it alone--that is, I know I can drink, and I think I can let it +alone. Well," he said, getting up and taking my hand, "I'm glad to have +seen you again, anyway. Take care of yourself, and when your first show +opens up I'll come round with the boys and we'll whoop things up." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE CHARM OF AN OLD TOWN. + + +The spiritual atmosphere of Bolanyo was like the charm of an old book +that we prize only for the almost secret art of its expression, an art +too ethereal to be caught and inspected. Sometimes it was drowsy, with +all the dreamy laziness of a hamlet in the south of Spain, but there +were days when it seemed to rebel against its own ease and unconcern, +when a sense of Americanism asserted itself to demand a share in the +bustling affairs of noisy commerce. Court day was a time of special +activity. It was then that the local market felt a stimulating thrill. +My window looked out upon the public square, a macadamized space, white +and dazzling in the sun. Sometimes the scene was busy and interesting +in variety; wagons loaded with hay still fragrant of the meadow; a brisk +horse trotted up and down in front of an auctioneer; negroes with live +chickens tied in bunches; a drunken man making a speech on the wretched +condition of the country; a "fakir" on the corner selling a soap that +would remove a stain from even a tarnished reputation. + +Life along the levee was ever interesting to me, for it was there that I +could study the slowly vanishing type of boatmen, once so distinctive as +to threaten the coming of a new and haughty aristocracy. Singing the +song of long ago, with their eyes fixed upon the river, the old negroes +stumbled over the railway track that a new progress had thrown across +their domain. Great red warehouses were falling into decay, and rank +weeds were growing in the bow of a half-submerged steamer that years ago +had won a great race on the river. Everywhere lay the rotting ends and +broken ravelings of the past, but nowhere, not even in the oddest +corner, could there be found the thread of a hope for the future. The +business interests of the town had grown away from the river, leaving it +to melancholy poetry and to death. And here I loitered, day after day, +in a vague contentment extracted from a distress more vague. To a +thoughtful mind there is more of interest in decay than in progress; the +"Decline and Fall" is a greater book than could have been written on the +"Origin and Rise." + +I could find no one to tell me much of the history of Bolanyo; no one +appeared to take an interest in that part of its existence which lay +behind the halcyon and now almost holy day of the steamboat. I knew +that, in a corrupted form, it retained the name given originally to the +Spanish fortification. But that was enough to know, for the exact dates +of the historian might have made it, in comparison with places of real +antiquity, a toadstool of yesterday. + +I saw the Senator nearly every day, in the office or on the street. +Election was not far away, and he had begun to mingle more freely with +the people; and though his manner was as cordial and as solicitous as on +the day when driving with me he had saluted everyone whom he met in the +road, he was far from being familiar, and no one, except his most +intimate friends, presumed to call him Giles. + +The sight of his house, pillared and stately, on the summit of the +graceful rise, was always a pleasure, and while strolling about, with no +intention of calling (having, doubtless, called the day before), I kept +it in view, for my eyes were never weary with looking upon it, so white +and peaceful. It was not a palace, not really a mansion, and in the rich +communities of the North it would not have been noteworthy except as a +sort of quaint renaissance in home building, but to me it had not been +set there by the hand of man, but by the Genii of the Lamp. + +Upon calling one afternoon, I was told by the negro woman that the +Senator was asleep, and, not wishing to have him disturbed, I walked +out into the garden, where Washington was at work among the flowers. +With the instinct of his race, he was humming a tune, and he did not +hear me until I spoke to him, and then, uplifting his hand with a sign +of caution, he pointed at a tree not far away. My eyes leaped to follow +him, for I felt that the young woman was near, and there on a bench she +sat, her head against the tree, her hat on the ground--asleep. + +"Don't make a noise," he said, in tones but little louder than a +whisper. "Sarah, the colored woman there in the house, say--says the +young lady didn't sleep hardly at all last night, and she went to sleep +out there just now." + +"She isn't ill, is she?" I asked. + +"Sick? No, Sir, she is well, but she's got to sleep some time. How do +you like my flowers?" + +"They are very beautiful." + +"Yes, Sir, but don't talk quite so loud. Seems to me like you are +trying to wake her up. I didn't want to take money for this work," he +went on, bending over and pulling up a weed, "for I like to do it, but +they insist on paying me. Yes, Sir. And I reckon--I suppose we have here +the finest clump of magnolias in all this part of the country. This one, +right here, was set out the day Miss Florence was born, twenty-four +years ago, now." + +"And it is the most graceful tree of them all," I replied. + +He cut his black eyes at me. "Yes, Sir, I believe it is, but, even if it +wasn't, you might say it was. I beg your pardon, Sir, but you just as +well board here. Oh, all the whole human family is not blind. If the +rest of them are, I'm not." + +"Look here, Washington." + +"I'm looking, Sir," he said, his eyes full upon me. + +"You were very kind to me, and I am grateful, but I don't want your +guardianship, and I won't have your insinuations." + +"Why, bless you, Sir, I don't want to be your guardian, and I don't +intend to insinuate. I spoke to you once about a danger, and I was +afraid you had forgotten it. Don't misunderstand me. I believe you are +an honorable man, but honor is not always careful enough when it comes +to talking to a lady, and none but an honorable man could make trouble +on this occasion. The only trouble you can make--there (nodding toward +the bench whereon the young woman sat, in fluffy white), the only +trouble you can cause there," he repeated, "would be to make her still +more dissatisfied with life. And a trouble might fall hard on you, Sir. +Let me tell you something in confidence. People have said that my +wedding to the church was what kept me from a marriage of the flesh. I +let them believe so, but it is not true. Mr. Belford, a soul that is now +cool and quiet in this black breast was once raging and on fire. It was +a long time ago. I had just begun to preach. I lived at the house of a +friend--over yonder." + +He waved his hand toward a distant hill on which was clustered a negro +settlement. + +"And there was a woman with a face like cream when the cow has eaten the +first buds of the clover; and her eyes were as bright as the star that +hung above the manger, and her laugh was as sweet as the notes that +dripped like honey from the harp of David." + +He stood erect, a pose of black dignity, his arms folded on his breast, +and in one hand he held the weed that he had uprooted from among the +flowers. I did not question the sincerity of his religious zeal; from +what I had heard and from what I had seen of him I was persuaded that +with honesty he had dedicated his life to the service of his creed, but +now I felt that he was making a conscious picture of his sentiment and +his sacrifice. The bigotry of applauded self-righteousness was in the +look that he bent upon me, and my blood rose in resentment, but I said +nothing; I let him proceed. + +"This woman was a wife, beyond my reach, and I felt that there was no +danger for me, and therefore I was not careful, but the first thing I +knew I was called upon to choose between the spirit of the Lord and the +flesh of the devil." + +"Washington, you are talking what is popularly known as rot. How can you +compare a handsome woman with the flesh of the devil?" + +"The devil's flesh may be beautiful, Sir; and beautiful flesh may not be +conscious that it was laid on by the devil." + +"But if the devil can tint the flesh and make it beautiful, he is an +artist." + +"Yes," he said, "and the devil might arm an agent with a paint brush." + +"More rot, Washington. The beautiful things are of the Lord and not of +the devil. The devil may have made the weed you hold in your hand, but +the flowers belong to God." + +With a shudder he dropped the weed, as if suddenly it had burnt him. +"Well, the end of your love story; how did it come out?" + +"It made the woman dissatisfied with the cold clod she was living with; +and if I had not let my duty rule me there might have been a scandal, +and then my day of usefulness would have been gone." + +"Yes; I suppose that a preacher must necessarily look upon a woman as a +sort of trap door. He may recover from the disgrace of wine, but +woman--" I glanced toward the bench, to find Mrs. Estell engaged in the +very human act of rubbing her eyes. I did not wait to finish the +sentence, but stepped off briskly; and, looking round before she +recognized my coming, I saw that Washington had dropped his dignity and +was bending among the flowers. She was not startled when she saw me; she +did not even show surprise, for my odd-hour presence had become +commonplace. + +"I'm glad you came," she said in quiet frankness, and with a smile of +welcome. "Sit down. Isn't it a sleepy day?" + +"Yes. And even the soft air is gently snoring among the leaves," I +replied, rather pleased with the fancy. + +"Don't talk that way," she said. "You'll put me to sleep again." She +turned her face away to hide a yawn. "Have you begun work on your play?" + +"Well, yes, I have taken some very important steps. Day before yesterday +I got some paper, got a pint of ink yesterday, and I expect to get a box +of pens to-day." + +"Oh, you are making great progress. You are going to let me read it, I +suppose?" + +"Yes, after I've had it typewritten." + +"Oh, I won't want to read it then--all the character of the work will be +gone--I couldn't find any of your moods and troubles in it; couldn't +tell where it was easy nor where you got stuck. I always think that +handwriting holds something for me alone, but a typewritten thing is +intended for everybody. The other day I got a typewritten letter from +Mr. Estell, and I sent it back to him without reading it. Of course, he +had to dictate it. And he sent an apology by the next mail." + +"Also dictated?" I asked. + +"It would have been just like him," she laughed, "but it was scratched +with a pen. I hate anything that's dictated; I actually hate it. Some +time ago I read that a favorite author of mine dictated his books or +worked the typewriter himself, and since then I can't read him. It seems +to me that the mellowest work was done by the poets when they wrote with +a quill. Imagine Byron setting fire to a page with a typewriter!" + +There was the humor of scorn in her "glad eyes" as she looked up at me. +"So, if I am to read your play, it must not be when the typewriter has +hammered _you_ out of it," she said. + +"I will read it to you. How will that do?" + +"From the original sheets? That will do; that is, if you want to. I +don't want you to feel that it's a duty." + +"Oh, no; it will be a pleasure. The path of duty is too straight for +me." + +"It's the winding path that leads to the sweetest flowers," she said, +with a motion of her hand toward a clump of roses not far away. + +There were a hundred points on which I had yearned to question her, and +the most vital of them all--why had she taken the name of that +unsympathetic man?--arose to my mind, but instantly it sank again. Her +manner toward me was cordial and intimate, but in it I recognized a +command against familiarity; that quiet something which tells a man more +than a volume of words could imply. I wanted to believe that she was +persuaded by her father. I was willing to believe almost anything except +that she could ever have loved him. It was not alone the eye of +prejudice that made him look old; it was actual age. He was older than +the Senator. But his people had been great--the lords of old Virginia. +I would wait, and perhaps at some time in the future she might forget a +high-strung woman's caution; she might drop a thoughtless word, a +firefly to glow in the dark. + +The negro preacher came walking slowly down the patch, to give his +attention to another part of the garden. He was humming a tune, with his +eyes on the ground, and he neither spoke nor halted, but at my feet he +dropped a weed. + +"You have a faithful gardener," I remarked, when Washington had passed +beyond the reach of a low tone. + +"Yes; there was only one George Washington, and there's only one +Washington Smith." + +"But don't you think he's a little too zealous?" + +"Too zealous? How?" she inquired, turning her eyes full upon me. + +"Well, I don't know that zealous is the word. Perhaps I should have said +intolerant." + +"Oh, he is intolerant--yes. He believes that he's one of the anointed." + +"That's all very well, but he oughtn't to believe that he is appointed +to look after the souls of other men." + +"Then he would have no mission," she replied. "The true strength of the +preacher is his sense of responsibility." + +"Pardon me, I didn't know you were of the strictly orthodox fold." + +"Didn't you? Don't you know I go to church every Sunday?" + +"Yes, I ought to. I have more than once waited for you to come home." +She looked at me in surprise, and I made haste to add: "The Senator and +I have needed you to arbitrate our disputes, you know." + +"Oh, yes, and I think you were wise in acknowledging that he had brought +you into his party. We all take a great interest in our converts. +Everybody is looking forward to the coming of your dramatic season," she +went on after a moment's pause. "And I think you'll become quite a +favorite in society. I heard Mrs. Atkinson speak of you. She's our +leader. She saw you somewhere. Of course there was some little prejudice +against you, at first, but that has worn off. And there's a splendid +catch here for you--Miss Rodney--distantly related to the Estell family. +She has seen you, too. She says you must be very romantic; and she asked +me all sorts of questions." + +"Of course I want to be agreeable, _but_--" + +"But what?" + +"I simply don't care anything for society." + +"Our stupid society, you mean." + +"No, I mean any society. I like individuals but I don't care for sets." + +"Oh, and you are going to rob me of the distinction of showing you off. +Very well, Sir." + +"I wouldn't be a distinction--more of a humiliation." + +"We'll see when the time comes. You have no idea what a source of--what +shall I say? Pleasure--gratification you have been to me." + +"Do you really mean it?" + +"Mean it? Why shouldn't I? You have helped me to pick things to pieces; +and we can have a great time when you know the people here well enough +to gossip about them. It's always interesting to hear what a stranger +has to say of one's old acquaintances." + +"Yes, if he speaks what he conceives to be the truth. The truth is spicy +and not infrequently malicious." + +"You make me laugh. Do you suppose I want to hear anyone speak ill of my +friends?" + +"Why, yes. You might demur, but you would listen." + +"Yes, I believe I would," she laughed, "and isn't it mean? I've tried so +hard to be good, but I can't." + +"It is hard to be good, and--" I hesitated. + +"And what?" + +"Will you pardon an impudence?" + +"Yes, if it's not _too_ bad." + +"Hard to be good and beautiful." + +Her face was turned from me, but I saw a red tint rise and spread over +her neck. She spoke without looking at me, and her voice was steady and +deep. "I helped you to set a trap and then walked into it, and therefore +I've no right to feel offended, but if my treatment of you leads up to +such compliments, I must change it." + +"No!" I cried, abashed; and the negro on his knees at a tulip bed, down +the path, looked up at me. "It was simply a jest; there has never been +anything in your manner to warrant it. Let me tell you that at times I +am a barbarian; I lose respect for polite customs. I have known ladies +who liked to be told that they were beautiful--women who were charmed to +have their pictures in a magazine among a collection of "types" +celebrated for beauty. I--" was she laughing at me? She was. + +"The fact that you take it so to heart wipes out the impudence," she +said, still laughing. + +I felt that my crime existed in the fact that her husband was more than +twenty year older than herself. And I have reason to believe that the +young woman who marries an old man, and who is constantly striving to +maintain her own self-respect, has a fancied or perhaps a real cause to +stand in dread of a compliment. It may be sincere, but in its candor +lies an insinuation and a reproach. But when Mrs. Estell saw that no +insinuation was intended, she was even more free than she had been +before. She laughed with such gayety that Washington went about his work +and paid no further heed to us. We talked about the people of the town, +the leader of society and the young woman who had been put forward as a +splendid catch for me; and once I ventured near the verge of an awkward +sentiment. In making a gesture she accidentally touched my hand, and +with the thrill of the moment I could have leaped high in the air. But +it took only a flash of reason to assure me that I was a fool. I will +say, though, and without evil, that I would have given all my prospects, +the theatre and the play--anything--to have clasped her in my arms. No, +not anything. I would not have given up the respect which I hoped she +had for me. Ah, how many hearts are this moment aching for a love that +the law has hedged about with Duty! And this to me was monstrous, for I +was of a mimic life, where love pretended that there were locksmiths to +be laughed at, but where in reality the law itself was vain. + +The Senator came striding down the path, and seeing me, he cried: "Ha! +Mr. Manager, why didn't you have them wake me? Don't want to waste any +more daylight than I am compelled to, but the fact is, I've been at work +pretty hard of late. A campaign always stirs me up." + +We made room for him and he sat down, continuing to talk. "Didn't hear +about my speech out at Briar Flat last night, did you? Well, Sir, we +had a lively time. You see the Convention is really the election, and to +win I must get votes enough to secure the nomination. There's a Cheap +John of a fellow announced as a candidate against anybody our party may +put up, a schemer out after the country vote. Well, he came to our +meeting--had no earthly business there, mind you, but he came. He +interrupted me several times with his fool questions, and at last I +said, 'See here, Mister Whatever-your-name-may-be, I am perfectly +willing to answer any question that one of these farmers may ask, but +I've got no time for a man who farms with his mouth.' Well, Sir, the +boys laughed and he got red hot. He stood up and cried out that any man +who said he wasn't a practical farmer and a gentleman was a liar. Huh! +Well! I handed my hat to a friend and--" + +"Now, father," Mrs. Estell broke in, "you promised me--" + +"Hold on, now; it wasn't a fight. Nothing of the sort. I know what I +promised you, and I'll keep my word. Yes, I handed my hat to a friend +and stepped down to where the fellow stood, with his back against the +wall. I asked him--I was polite--if he meant to insinuate that I was a +liar. There was no violation of a promise in that, was there, Florence?" + +"No, Sir, not if you asked him politely," she answered, laughing. + +"It was polite, I assure you. Well, he studied a moment, and then +declared that he never did insinuate, that he came right out and said +what he meant. And, Belford, I rather admired him for that. But, er--the +fact is--" + +"You struck him," Mrs. Estell interjected. "Didn't you?" + +"Well, that depends upon the way you look at it. Now, here, Florence, +you wouldn't want to know that a man had stood up in front of a whole +houseful of people and called your father a liar. I mean that under such +circumstances you wouldn't blame me for--for tapping him." + +"Of course not," she replied. + +"Ah, ha, and I did tap him. Belford, I hit that fellow a crack that +he'll remember the longest day he lives. Fell? Why, Sir, he fell like a +beef; and when they had taken him away, the meeting was kind enough to +name me as its unanimous choice." + +The negro woman who had announced her suspicion of all men came out upon +the veranda to ring the supper bell, and, astonished to realize that the +sun was no longer shining, I bounced up with a declaration that I must +get back to town. + +"No, Sir, not till you have had supper," the Senator replied. "Why, what +can you be thinking about to run away at a time like this? Come on," he +added, taking my arm and turning me toward the house. "I want to have a +talk with you after supper--on business. Come, Florence." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A MATTER OF BUSINESS. + + +In the library, after supper, I waited for the Senator to introduce the +talk which we were to have on business; but he wandered off into a +political reminiscence of a day when a man found out what his +convictions were and then looked about for a chance to defend them with +his life. He told me, as comfortably he sat with his feet in the +slippers which his daughter had brought for him, that he could recall an +old fellow who wrote out his principles in blood drawn from his breast. +"Yes, Sir, and it created a big hurrah at the time. Copies of his creed +were sought after, in the original ink, and so many of them were sent +out that the suspicions of a young doctor were aroused. He calculated +that the amount of blood thus put in outward circulation would leave an +insufficient circulation within, though the body of the politician still +appeared to be strong and active. And it was then that a most startling +discovery was made. The rascal had not used his own blood, but a red +powder and the juice of the pokeberry. Well, Sir, this stirred up the +community from one end to the other; the people swore that they had been +defrauded, and they demanded that he should make good the counterfeits +or get out of the race. His circulating medium was not strong enough to +warrant the output, so he retired in disgrace. Yes, Sir. Belford, do you +know that I can see that fellow Petticord's hand every time I go to a +political meeting? I can. He is all the time trying to tunnel under me, +and it keeps me busy stepping about to keep from falling in. I am +afraid, Sir, that sooner or later I'll have to kill that scoundrel." + +"Father!" spoke his daughter, turning from the window. + +"I beg your pardon, Florence. I don't mean to kill +him--er--er--offensively, you understand, but, perhaps, necessarily. Of +course we are inflicted more or less as we journey through this life, +but I can't reconcile myself to the belief that we are called upon to +stand everything. Let us say that sometimes the devil giveth and the +Lord taketh away. Now, if I could only provoke him into a fight--I beg +your pardon." + +Mrs. Estell had put her hand on his shoulder. She looked at me with a +smile, but the Senator glanced up to meet an expression of reproof. + +"Provoke him into a fight?" she said. + +"Figuratively, you understand. I wouldn't provoke him except +figuratively. But I don't see why my footsteps are to be constantly +dogged by that red wolf. Why doesn't he come out in his paper and give +me a chance? What are you going to do?" She had stepped upon a chair and +was taking down the foils. "Belford, I reckon you'll have to defend +yourself. I won't fight; I'm a noncombatant." + +I fenced with her, having had some little experience, but she was too +quick and too skillful for me. The Senator laughed, and his face was +aglow with pride to see her drive me into a corner, where I was willing +enough to surrender. + +"He isn't strong enough yet," she said, in excuse of my defeat. + +"Oh, yes, he is," the Senator cried. "He's as strong as a deck hand, but +he hasn't the skill. Just feel of that girl's arm, Belford. Don't be +afraid of her--she won't hurt you." + +I put my hand on her arm, so round and firm, so warm through the gauze +sleeve she wore; and I thought it well for me that neither the father +nor the daughter observed my agitation. + +A negro came to tell the Senator that a Mr. Spencer wanted to speak to +him at the gate. "Politics," said the law maker, as he took up his hat. +"And that fellow wouldn't get off his horse to meet the President. Stay +right where you are till I come back, Belford. I want to have a talk +with you--on business." + +He went out and Mrs. Estell sat down in his armchair. Her face was +flushed and her eyes were a delight to behold. + +"I'll be glad when this miserable campaign is over," she said. "It +upsets everything, spoils our evenings, and bores everybody that comes +to the house." + +"It doesn't bore me," I replied. + +"No; I gave him his orders not to talk politics to you." + +"That's a compliment, surely." + +"Oh, I don't know. I told him he ought to see that you didn't understand +the political situation. And after he'd converted you he was willing +enough to grant you freedom. Mr. Belford, why haven't you told me more +about yourself?" + +And this gave me the opportunity to ask her why she had not told me more +about herself, her days of romance. + +"I have had no such days," she said. "I was born here and I live here +and that is all. But you have been everywhere; you came from an old and +poetic country." + +"And you," I replied, "have always lived in a poetic country." + +"No, dreamy and visionary, but hardly poetic. Poetry means action and +adventure. You have never told me about _her_?" + +"Her? What her do you mean?" + +"Oh, any her. There must have been one." + +"No; I can't recall one." + +"Really? And you so sentimental?" + +"I'm not sentimental. A sentimentalist would tint the truth while I +would rather view it in its natural color, be it dun or even black. Do +you believe we ought to be held responsible for everything?" + +"Yes, nearly everything." + +"But suppose a man forgets to lock the door of his heart, and a woman +out in the dark, feeling about, accidentally lifts up the latch and +comes in. She is pure and innocent and she does not know that she is +warming herself at the hearth of a heart. Ought he to put her out and +shut the door?" + +"No, he should make the fire still warmer and brighter, if she has come +out of the cold and the dark." + +"But suppose her lawful place is beside another fire?" + +"Then she would not stray from it." + +"But say that she is walking in her sleep?" + +"She would run away as soon as she awakes." + +"Ah, but suppose she does not awake. Should he put her out?" + +"I--I don't know. He must not leave his door unlocked--he should--should +even bar his windows." + +We heard the Senator coming down the hallway and were silent. "Now what +do you reckon that fool fellow wanted? Well, Sir, it beats anything. +Told me that he had named a boy for me--said that it ought to be worth +five dollars and a barrel of flour. Why, dog my cats--beg your pardon +(bowing to Mrs. Estell). But I say, if it were to get out--no, keep your +seat, I'll sit over here--get out that I am giving five dollars and a +barrel of flour for each boy named for me, why, I'd be broke in six +months. A long time ago a yellow-looking chap from the swamps came to +tell me that he had given my name to as fine a boy as the country ever +saw. I was a little easier flattered in those days than I am now, and it +tickled me mightily; and what did I do but give the fellow a +twenty-dollar gold piece. Well, Sir, about six months after that he went +to a friend of mine, a candidate to fill an unexpired term of county +clerk, and declared that he had just named a splendid specimen of a boy +for him. And now what do you suppose we found out? The villain changed +that boy's name every time a campaign came along. Yes, Sir, and he was +about ten years old when he was given my name." + +"By the way, there was something you wanted talk to me about," I said, +to remind him that the hour was growing late. "Something on business, I +understood you to say." + +"Yes, but there's plenty of time. Let me see, now, what it was I had on +my mind. Something I wanted to say about--well, Sir, it has escaped me." + +"Then it couldn't have been very important," said Mrs. Estell. + +"It couldn't, eh? Now that's where you are wrong. In this life we are +prone to forget the most important things. My old grandfather used to +forget his wife when she went visiting with him, and go on home without +her. But come to consider more closely, it wasn't exactly a business +matter I wanted to talk to you about, Belford. I wanted to tell you that +day after to-morrow we'll go fox-hunting. I sent over to the plantation +to have the hounds put in good condition, and they'll be ready for us. +Ever ride after the hounds?" + +"Only in a mimic chase--a bag of anis-seed." + +"Oh, what nonsense! Do you know what ought to be done with a man that +would get up such a disgrace on the greatest of all sport? Ought to be +deprived of his citizenship, his vote; and I don't know of anything much +worse than that. Now, you be here day after to-morrow morning, and I'll +show you what it is to live like a white man." + +He was so earnest and so set in his conviction that no work, however +important, should be permitted to stand as a stumbling-block in the road +leading to the field of this essential sport, that I yielded, but +reluctantly, until Mrs. Estell dropped a word of persuasion, and then I +could not have found the moral nerve to urge even the most courteous +objection. + +When I took my leave, soon afterward, the Senator walked out with me, +through the gate and down the road; and when he halted to turn back, I +looked round and saw Mrs. Estell standing on the portico, with a lamp +held aloft to light his way. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE PLACE OF THE GOBLINS. + + +Down the road not far from Talcom's house there stood a stone chimney, +tall and white, in the midst of a dark thicket of scrub locust, the mark +of a fire that years ago had burnt a miser and melted his gold. It was a +desolate place, even in the sunlight, for the air that breathed an +enchantment in the Senator's magnolia garden came hither to whine and +moan. And whenever at night I passed this place I was chilled with a +nervous fear that a goblin might jump out and grab me. I knew that there +were no goblins, in the sun, but the night is the mother of many an imp +that the day refuses to father. + +I walked slower as I came abreast of the thicket, to prove to myself +that I was not afraid, yet ready to take to my heels, when suddenly I +halted, statue-still, with a gasp and a loud beating of the heart. A +great black figure plunged out of the bushes, into the road, and in +another moment I am sure that I should have run like a deer had not a +voice familiar to my ear exclaimed: + +"Fo' de Lawd, I didn' know I wuz comin' through dat place. Walkin' +'cross de pasture thinkin', an' de fust thing I knowed--" + +"That you, Washington?" I cried. + +"Yes, Sir. Oh, it's Mr. Belford," he said, coming forward. + +"You almost scared the life out of me." + +"Yes, Sir, and scared myself, too. I am on my way from prayer meeting, +and my mind was so occupied that I didn't think of the thicket until I +was into it. Going to town? I'll walk a piece with you if you have no +objections." + +"None at all; be glad to have you. It made you forget your education," +said I, as we walked along. + +"It did that, Sir. It makes no difference how many colleges a colored +man has gone through nor how many books he has read, scare him and he is +what the white people call a nigger. My mother used to tell me stories +about that place back there, and I can't forget them. But Miss Florence +isn't afraid of it, Sir. When a child she often played there alone, +after dark, and the Senator would have to go after her. Pardon me, but +why did you cry 'No!' so loud in the garden!" + +"Why, it must have been when I was reciting something." + +He grunted and we strode on in silence until he said: "Mr. Belford, I +have heard that there is no moral responsibility among the people that +play on the stage--that the winning or losing of love means little to +them. Is it true?" + +"Washington, I have read of a hundred scandals in the church. Were they +true?" + +He did not answer at once; he strode for a long time in silence, and +then he spoke: "There are bad people everywhere, and some of them carry +the outward form of the cross, but it is made of light paper and not of +heavy wood. But there are many who carry the true cross. Let us, +however, put that aside, for I must turn back when we get to the first +gaslight down yonder, and there is something I want to say to you if I +can get at it properly." + +"Out with it; don't try to lead up to it." + +"You are in love with Mrs. Estell," he bluntly said, and I had expected +something to the point, but nothing so straightforward and undiplomatic; +and I could have knocked him down for his impertinence, but I swallowed +my wrath and waited for him to proceed. + +"I can see it." + +"But can she?" I compelled myself, quietly, to ask. + +"No. If she were to see it, she would never step into your presence +again." + +"But the Senator! Can he see it?" + +"No. Honor makes him blind to such a sight. He could not understand +such a violation of hospitality. He has made you almost a member of his +family; your misfortune demanded his sympathy, and he gave you his +confidence." + +"Then you stand alone with your eyes open?" I replied. + +"I may stand alone, but other eyes are open--and they wink at one +another." + +"What! Do you mean that the neighbors--" + +"Yes," he broke in, "that is what I mean--the neighbors." + +"Washington, you were graduated from the Fisk University, I understand, +an institution made possible by the generosity of a band of jubilee +singers; and, having been educated at the instance of song, I should +think that you would have aspired to poesy rather than to stilted talk +and a detective's disposition to pry into affairs that don't concern +you." + +With the slouching habit of his race, he had been dragging his feet +along, but now his heels struck hard upon the road. He sighed like a +steam valve, to lessen the pressure of his boiling resentment, but he +did not speak. I expected him to turn back in silence, as we were now +beneath the light of the street lamp, but he did not; he strode forward +as if vaguely in quest of some sort of support, and put his hand on the +lamp-post, a hand so black that it looked like a bulge of the iron. And +then he turned to me. "Mr. Belford," he said, "an educated negro is an +insult to every unthinking white man. And unless he jabbers they call +him stilted. Let me tell you, Sir, that I have stretched myself on the +floor to read by the firelight because I couldn't afford to buy a +candle--struggling to conquer the dialect of my father--and now you +reproach me with it. My poor and ignorant people wouldn't listen to me +if I talked as they do. Heaven, to them, is a place of magnificence, and +the man who paints the picture of Paradise for them must use extravagant +colors. Sir, I am no more stilted than you are; you serve the devil on +stilts." + +I had to laugh, and then I apologized. "There is a good deal of truth in +what you say," said I. "The actor struts, and just as you do, to impress +the unthinking. But let us drop it. I'm sorry I offended you. But, +really, I don't like your interference." + +"It is not an interference. I am an old servant of that family. Look +here!" He snatched his hand from the lamp-post and folded his arms. +"What do you intend shall be the outcome?" + +"I don't know--I don't see--" + +"Don't see the end," he interposed. "But don't you think that the end of +everything ought to be kept well in view?" + +"Yes, I do. But sometimes a beginning is so delightful that we are +afraid to look toward the end. But I realize my own selfishness, and I +acknowledge to you that in spite of what you may term the immoral +atmosphere of a player's life--I confess, or, rather, I affirm, that in +my blood there is a strong current of good old English puritanism; and +I will swear to you that I would cut my own throat rather than to bring +disgrace upon that family." + +He put his mighty hands upon my shoulders, and, turning my face to the +light, he looked hard into my eyes. + +"No man could say more, Mr. Belford. But what are you going to do?" + +"I am going to stay away from--from her." + +"When, Mr. Belford; when will you begin to stay away?" + +"I have promised to go fox-hunting day after to-morrow." + +"And after that?" + +"I will not go to the house." + +He took my hand, and I forgot that he was a stilted and officious negro. +"Good-night, Mr. Belford." He turned away, but faced about and said: "I +am going to a cabin on the hillside--to pray for you. Good-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +OLD JOE VARK. + + +The town was going to bed; the late moon was rising, and in the magnolia +gardens there seemed to waver a bright and shadowy silence--a night when +every sound was afar off, a half mysterious echo--the closing of a +window shutter, the subdued footfall of a thief, the indistinct notes of +an old song lagging in the soft and lazy air. I walked about the +courthouse, its pillars classic in the shadow, its gilded cupola gaudy +in the light. I did not turn to my habitation across the square, to +sniff the lifeless atmosphere and the sickish paint of the opera house; +I bent my way to the river where the moon was free. And upon a rotting +yawl I sat down to think, shoulder to shoulder with the ghost of a dead +commerce. Far across the stream a mud scow fretted and fluttered like a +duck in distress, making just enough of noise to cry "silence" in the +ear of night. + +There is religion in the reverie of even an atheist; and in the +meditation of a free-thinker, whose grandfather was a believer, there is +almost a confession of faith. I thought of all that the negro had said; +I reviewed his earnestness and saw his look of trouble; I pictured +Talcom in his trustfulness; I saw his daughter in her unsuspecting +innocence, impulsive, almost eccentric, and yet a type of the South. I +thought of it all, and I swore that I would keep faith with the +preacher. I swore it with my hand held up, I ground myself down until I +felt the rotting old boat crumbling beneath me, and yet it seemed that +some devil arose in the air maliciously to whisper, "No you won't." And +in this reproach, intended to tantalize the conscience, there was a +shameful sweetness, a promise that again I should sit in the garden with +her. But I went to bed strong, and I arose with strength the next +morning. I would chase a fox with her, and then, I should see her no +more, except by accident. + +The Senator had enjoined me not to appear overglad to make +acquaintances; not to invite the approach of the idle, lest they should +become familiar, but it was hard to maintain dignity in the presence of +such good humor and friendliness. A man whom I might have passed a +hundred times, without suspecting his importance, would stop me to say +that his name was Hopgood or Leatherington or Yancey; to assure me that +his grandfather, after having come out of the Mexican War, had served as +Clerk of the Circuit Court; that he was pleased to welcome me to +Bolanyo; that it was about his time of day (looking at his watch) to +take a drink, and that he would be pleased to have me join him. I had +not the nerve nor the dignity to cool these warm advances, rich in a +yellowing sort of humor, the sad fun of a dying importance; and I found +that the Senator, himself, while pretending to preserve the austerity of +a high position, brought matters close to earth by putting his arm about +some old fellow to laugh over an ancient and shady joke. In the town +there was one man who scouted the idea of self-importance, except when +drunk, and then he sometimes assumed to own the community. This man was +Joe Vark, a shoemaker. + +In the forenoon, the day after my moral vow had been taken, I went into +his shop. He was sitting on his low bench; and he looked up, with a +number of shoe-pegs showing between his lips, and mumbled me an +invitation to sit down. He was short, with a fine head and thin, light +hair. His wrinkled face was rather pale and clean of beard. Beside him +lay a book, held partly open by an old shoe sole. + +"Well, how are they coming?" he inquired, talking through his teeth. + +"All right," I answered, and he looked up with a twinkle in his eye. I +waited for him to say something, but he went on with his work, taking a +peg from his lips and driving it into a shoe. + +"You were not born here, were you, Mr. Vark?" + +He drove five or six pegs, until there were no more between his lips, +loosened the strap with which he held the shoe upon a piece of iron, +whistled softly as he examined his work, looked up at me and said: + +"No, I came here from Pennsylvania a long time ago. And it was years +before they granted me the privilege of being natural when I was drunk. +Oh, it was all right to get drunk, mind you, but they wanted me to be +quiet; and I hold that a man who acts about the same, drunk or sober, is +dangerous to a community. Oh, they meet you with a warm shake, but it +takes years to become one of them. But after you do get to be one of +them you are proud of it. Yes, Sir, and about all I've got to boast of +is that I've been here more than thirty years. I'm not worth a cent, +you understand, but I'm as proud as a peacock What of? That I've lived +here thirty years. What of it? Everything of it. I can take a few drinks +and be natural. Not long ago I had a little row and I snatched a +comparative stranger from one side of the street to the other. And what +did they do with me? Why, I had been here so long that the judge +couldn't do anything. He fined the other fellow for being a stranger and +that settled it." + +He put more pegs between his lips, adjusted the shoe on the iron and +resumed his work. The shop was small and dingy, and the floor, almost +hidden by scraps of leather, had doubtless never been swept. An encased +stairway from the outside made a low, dark corner, and here, on a shelf, +the old man kept an array of books. It was said that he sometimes +indulged in a reading spree, just after a season of liquor; and then he +slammed his door in the face of the present and lived locked up with +the long ago. + +I did not disturb him, but waited for his spirit to move of its own +accord. He pegged the shoe, removed the strap, and from a small bottle +that hung on the wall within reach he blackened the edge of the sole; he +inserted a hook, pulled out the last, and set the shoe aside to dry. +Then he took up an old boot and said: "This thing is beyond all repair. +Ought to have been thrown away years ago. But the fool would leave it +here, and I'm expecting him every minute. Heigho, I don't know what to +do with it. Guess I'll put it aside until he comes, and then beg him to +take it down and throw it into the river." + +He threw the boot aside, took up a piece of leather and began to examine +it. Then, brushing everything aside, he picked up a clay pipe, and as he +was filling it, I handed him a lighted match. + +"Thank you." He lighted his pipe, puffing it with a loud smack of the +lips, and then settled himself down to talk. "No use of a man killing +himself with work. I've been here too long for that. How are you and +Talcom getting along?" + +"First rate. I have never met a more genial companion--never bores, +always interesting." + +"Yes, Talcom is a good fellow. He'll recommend a gold brick, and then, +to prove his sincerity, he'll turn round and buy it himself. He held me +off for a long time. Of course I never expected him to make a brother of +me--our lines keep us too far apart for that--but he's friendly, and has +done me many a favor. But I lived here a long time under suspicion, and +whenever anything was stolen they naturally looked to me. But, +gradually, I convinced them that I was inclined to be honest." + +"By going to church?" I inquired. + +"Oh, no, by accepting a challenge from a rival shoemaker to fight a +duel. The fellow backed down; his custom came to me, and he went away. I +am under great obligations to that man--best friend I ever had; don't +know what would have become of me if he hadn't backed out." + +"But you would have fought him." + +"Well, I don't know about that. I do know, however, that I felt like +hugging him when he refused to fight. Yes," he went on, after a short +pause and an industrious puffing at his pipe, "Talcom is all right. But +you never can tell which way he'll jump in his likes and dislikes. He +may like a man and he may not, and he's as sudden as a gun going off. +You caught him--not by anything you could have said or done, but you +just happened to fit him." + +"All hands at home?" came a voice as whining as a mendicant's plea, and, +looking up, I recognized the gaunt and drooping form of the notorious +Bugg Peters. He stood for a moment in the doorway, and then came forward +with a slouching lurch, with a grin and nod at me and a bow of profound +respect for the "boss" of the shop. + +"Look here, Bugg," said the shoemaker, "I can't do anything with that +old boot. It's beyond all repair. Take it out somewhere and throw it +away." + +"Fur mercy sake, Joe, don't talk like that," protested the notorious +one, dropping upon a bench and humping over as if his upper muscles had +given away. "Don't snatch all the hope right out of a feller's hand. +That boot belongs to my youngest son-in-law, and unless he gets it +mended to-day he can't come to town to-morrow. Joe, you've just got to +fix it. Say, got about as fine a chunk of a boy down at my house as you +ever see'd in your life. Nan's." + +"Nan's? How many does that make?" the shoemaker asked. + +"Let me see. Why, it makes somewhere in the neighborhood of six for Nan. +And her old man is settin' right there by the fireplace now a-shakin' +fitten to kill himself. He ain't no account at all except in the fall of +the year, and then I take him out in the woods and let him shake down +persimmons. Mister (speaking to me), they tell me you are goin' to start +a show here, and I'll fetch my folks to see it if I can raise a few +chickens and sell 'em. Thought I'd get some aigs to-day. Got three old +hens and I thought I'd put 'em to work. But, look here, Joe, you ain't +in earnest about not bein' able to do nothin' with that boot?" + +"Yes, I am, Bugg. Throw it away." + +"Now, when did you expect a man to get so rich as to fling away his +property? Doesn't the Scripture say, 'Waste not, for to-morrow you may +die?' Grab a-hold of her, Joe, and patch her up. All you've got to do is +to put leather where there ain't none." + +"Yes, all I've got to do is to build a boot in the air." + +"Well, but ain't that your business, hah?" + +"Yes, if I'm paid for it; but you haven't paid for the last pair of +shoes I half-soled. And you said you'd pay on the following Wednesday." + +"Did I say that? But I didn't tell you pointedly. You can always count +on me when I tell you pointedly. A man that won't pay when he tells you +pointedly is a liar. Whose boots are them right there--them old ones? +They'd just about fit my son-in-law. Yes, Sir; and he can put 'em on and +come up to town and enjoy himself. What will you take for 'em, Joe?" + +"Two dollars, Bugg." + +"Cheap enough, and I'll take 'em. Pass 'em over." + +"But when will you pay for them?" + +"Let me see. I'll pay for 'em Thursday." + +"Pointedly?" the shoemaker inquired, with a wink at me. + +"Well, now, if it's to be pointedly I'd better make it Thursday week. +How does that hit you?" + +"Take them along, but I'll never get the money." + +He tumbled forward from his seat, grabbed up the boots, and, holding +them close to his bosom, he said: + +"Joe, don't--don't insult me by sayin' that you'll never get your money. +It's a sad thing to give your word pointedly and I've give you mine." + +He took out a string, tied the boots together at the straps and threw +them across his shoulder. Then he sat down. "Yes, Sir," he said, "when a +man gives me his word pointedly and fails to keep it, I put him down in +my liar book. Say, Mister, I hear 'em say you are goin' to give your +show in a house. Don't see how you can give much of a show unless you've +got room to gallop around in, but I reckon you'll do the best you can. +Joe, let me take a few of them books along with me," he added, nodding +toward the shelf. And the shoemaker's hand, with a movement as quick as +the frisk of a squirrel's tail, flew upon the bench at his side and +rattled the tools, as if grabbing for a hammer to throw at the head of +the outrageous customer. His face was hard and his eyes were set with +anger, and if for a moment there was not murder in his heart, he gave +me a bit of fine acting. But his epileptic resentment passed away with a +jerk, and looking up at the dumfounded Peters, he said, "Bugg, I guess +you'd better go." + +"Why, what's the matter, Joe?" + +"Guess you'd better go. I can stand to be robbed of leather, but when +you try to extend your theft to the things that make me superior to you +ignorant yaps, I feel like mashing your head." + +"Your driftwood is comin' so swift that I can't ketch it, Joe." + +"He means that you must not touch his books," I put in. + +"Oh, that's all right," Peters replied. "I'm not hankerin' after 'em. +Just thought I'd take a few of 'em along to get 'em out of the way. Joe, +if you happen down in my range drap in and see Nan's boy. Tickle you +mighty nigh to death." + +He slouched away, and the shoemaker resumed his work. I had been sitting +there in a strong draught of the town's atmosphere, with two characters +for my play; and, taking my leave, I felt that I hugged a greater +possession than Peters had found when he tied the boots together and +threw them across his shoulder. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +OLD AUNT PATSEY. + + +Like a boy in his yearning to have Santa Claus come, I went early to bed +to force the dawning of another day. I resorted to the tricks that men +have employed to induce drowsiness; I counted sheep bounding over a +fence, a hundred, a thousand, until their number exceeded the +Patriarch's fold, and yet I lay there wide awake, with my nerves +starting at every noise, before it reached my ears. I strove to trace +the filmy thread that lies between consciousness and sleep, and I +fancied that it was a raveling from a rainbow, with one end in the +sunset, the other in the sunrise. I reached a place where the thread was +broken and now the world was dark, but, feeling about, I found the two +ends of the silken line, and put them together, and when they touched, +the world flashed up in a blaze of light--the sun was shining. + +No exact hour had been fixed for the meet at the Senator's house, and I +was beset by the fear that a desire not to be early might make me late. +Common sense dictated a middle resort, but in my nervous anxiety I had +no common sense. Why so sensitive and timorous now when I had been so +bold a few days before? I had promised the negro preacher and myself +that this day should see the end of a relationship. + +I set out earlier than the time I had fixed, expecting to loiter along +the road, to breathe sweet air beneath the roses that hung above the old +garden walls; but, giving no heed to the roses, I passed them hurriedly, +as a hasty reader skips a beautiful sentence in eagerness to snatch the +excitement of a closing scene. I passed the lamp-post and thought of the +negro's black hand, a knot on the iron; I came abreast of the old +chimney and the thicket, the lair of the goblins at night. And here I +halted to gaze at the Senator's house, the pillared portico, the cool +yard, the martin box on a tall pole, the magnolia garden. And now my +progress toward the gate was slow, with the minute and senseless +observation of little things; a bit of sheep's wool on a brier bush; an +old shoe half buried in the sandy drain beside the road; the heavy +gate-latch, made by a clumsy blacksmith; the uneven bricks in the short +walk between the gate and the portico; a stone and a shell on the step, +where someone had cracked a nut. + +I was admitted by the negress whose motto was "suspicion." She gave me a +broad grin and nodded toward the parlor; and I heard strange voices and +laughter. Just as I reached the door, Mrs. Estell stepped out into the +hall. A magnolia bloom fell from her hand, and she laughed as she +stooped to pick it up, and when she looked at me her face was red, +though not with embarrassment, but with stooping, for she spoke and her +voice was deep and clear and her eyes were not abashed. + +"Oh, you are just in time, Mr. Belford. I want you to meet some friends +of mine, and my aunt is here, too. I know you'll like her, she's so +queer." + +I would have staid to ask her why she supposed me to be attracted by +queer persons, but she touched my arm, and as an automaton I turned +toward the parlor and stepped into the room, to meet Mr. Elkin, a frail +and timid-looking young fellow with plastered hair; Miss Rodney, a +pinkish creature of uncertain age, the "splendid catch" which Mrs. +Estell had set aside for me; and Mrs. Braxon, the aunt. She looked +queer, and I could not have denied that she interested me. She was very +tall, straight and stiff, with eyes that suggested a savage. Into her +aged mouth the artifice of the dentist had put the teeth of youth, and, +not yet accustomed to them, she imposed upon her lips the double +exertion of talking with her jaws shut. + +"Well," she said, looking hard at me, "and you are the man that Giles +has been telling me so much about? But, conscience alive, he ought to +have something to talk of besides politics." + +"You are his favorite sister, I believe," I replied, with the giggle of +Miss Rodney in my ears. + +"Do you? Well, I married his brother, if that's what you mean." + +"Is he living?" I inquired. + +"Florence," she said, "it's strange that you haven't told Mr. +What's-his-name anything about me. Every time I come here I come as a +stranger, a rank stranger." + +"Why, Aunt Patsey, I told him--" + +"She told me a great deal about you, Mrs. Braxon," I put in, "but my +memory is, you might say, not good." + +"Oh, yes, and I suppose Giles Talcom told you all about me, too; told +you that I was his favorite sister, didn't he? Well, it's all right. +Miss Rodney, what _are_ you giggling about?" + +"Why, nothing at all, Mrs. Braxon," the young woman declared, growing +pinker. The old lady looked at Elkin, and he started and slammed his +knees together. I glanced at Mrs. Estell, and she hid her eyes from me, +afraid to laugh. + +"Where do you live?" I inquired of the old lady. + +"Up in the Tennessee hills, and every time I come down in this low +ground I want to get back. The laziest folks I ever saw in my life, and +the niggers ain't worth their salt. And the way Giles pets that black +preacher makes me sick, a-buying of his church bells to keep folks awake +at night. I'd make him chop down them good-for-nothing trees out there +and plant onions. That's what I'd do with him. Florence, where did Giles +go?" + +"Why, he sent word over to the plantation to have his hounds brought +last night, but, somehow, the message wasn't delivered, and so he has +gone after them himself. We want to start from here--" + +"After the hounds? Start where?" + +"Fox-hunting." + +The old woman cleared her throat with an ach, ach. "Fox-hunting? Is it +possible that he keeps up that foolishness? Chasing a fox, when there's +so much to be done in this world? I read in a paper yesterday that a +woman had starved to death in New Orleans, and here you all are, going +to chase a fox." + +"Why, Mrs. Braxon," the young man spoke up, "we can't help that. If we +let the fox go it won't bring the woman back to life." + +She looked at him and his knees flew together. "But you could be raising +something for folks to eat." + +"Yes, ma'am, but we raise more now than we can sell." + +She looked at him with a bow and a smirk of contempt. "More than you can +sell. Yes, of course. More than you can sell to a woman that's starving. +Yes, of course." + +"But nobody starves to death in Bolanyo, Aunt Patsey," Mrs. Estell +remarked. "We take care of our poor; and it was a mere accident that the +woman starved in New Orleans." + +"Oh, you do? A mere accident. Of course. Are you going to chase a fox?" +the old woman asked, with her eyes on Miss Rodney. + +"I have been invited to go, and--" + +"Of course. But, go on, and don't let anything I say prevent you. I +staid at home, year in and year out, and never went anywhere, while my +husband was a-galloping over the country, a-blowing of his horn and +a-chasing of foxes; and folks in a town not more than twenty miles away +were as hungry as they could be. But, after he died, I didn't stay at +home, I tell you. I went out and looked for hungry folks, and I fed 'em, +too. Talk to me about chasing a fox." + +"Auntie," said Mrs. Estell, smiling upon the old lady, indeed, +approaching her and bending with graceful tenderness over her chair, +"you try to make people believe that you are hard to get along with, but +you are the sweetest thing. She snaps and snarls to hide the tenderness +of her heart, Mr. Belford." + +"I do nothing of the sort. For goodness' sake, child, take your hands +off me. Stop fussing with me. Go over there and sit down. A body would +think that I'm so old that you are standing here ready to catch me when +I start to fall over. Go along with you!" + +Mrs. Estell, laughing, pressed her radiant cheek against the widow's +whitening hair. "I like to have half tearful fun with you, Aunt Patsey," +she said. + +"Oh, you do. Well, get away and don't pretend that you think anything of +me. I have no money to leave you." + +Elkin laughed. The old woman looked at him and he clapped his knees +together. "I--I--beg your pardon," he stammered. + +"She's so delightful," said Miss Rodney, leaning toward me. "Quite a +character for the stage, papa says. And when does your house open?" + +"Not before October," I answered. + +"And not until he can get a good company," said Mrs. Estell, standing in +front of us. "I have enough interest in the house to demand that much. +Oh, there comes father with the hounds and I'm not ready yet." + +She ran away, and though the sun was in the window, the room was darker +now, and a shadow seemed to lie where she had stood. We heard the +Senator's horn and the impatient cry of the hounds. + +"I'd rather hunt a bear than a fox," said the young man. "I went with a +party of fellows down in the canebrake last fall and a bear killed four +dogs. Just grabbed 'em up like this (hugging himself) and crushed 'em. +Just broke their bones. Just grabbed 'em up this way and mashed 'em. +Didn't look like it was any trouble at all. Just--just squeezed the life +out of 'em. I had--I had a dog named Ring--great big dog--and he +grabbed him up this way, the bear did, and old Ring just gave one howl +and that was the end of it. Bear didn't appear to mind it. Just seemed +like he was enjoying himself, but we hadn't agreed to keep him in all +the dogs he wanted to kill, so we shot him." + +"You did?" said the old lady, smirking at him. "Do tell. And you'd +rather stand there and see him kill those poor dogs than to chase a +fox." + +"Oh, I--I don't mean that I like to see the dogs killed, Mrs. Braxon, I +mean I--" + +"Would rather see a bear with his arms full of poor dogs than to chase a +fox. Yes, I know what you mean." + +In came the Senator. He bowed to the ladies, cried "Ha!" to the young +man and seized my hand as if a year had elapsed since we parted. +"Belford, I've got a horse for you that can clear any fence in the +State." + +"With me on his back?" I asked. + +"Yes, I hope so. You can try, you know, and if you can't keep your seat +why you must fall as easily as you can. Sister Patsey, you look as +bright as a dollar." + +"Go on with your blarney, Giles. I've got no dollar to leave to you." + +"And bless your life, I'm glad of it. But it's time we were going. +Where's Florence?" + +"Gone to get ready for your nonsense," Mrs. Braxon answered. "Oh, you +men! Not half of you are worth your salt." + +"No," said the Senator. "And if there comes a time when men are worth +their salt and women are worth their pepper, humanity will be well +seasoned, eh, Belford? But we must be making a move. Elkin, help Miss +Rodney to mount, please." + +"Yes, and I guess I've got to buckle my girth tighter," said the young +man. "Come, Miss Minnie, and let me help you up." + +Just as they passed out there came a slow step down the hall. "Why, it's +Estell!" cried the Senator. "Why, hello, Tom, we didn't expect you for a +week. And, Sir, here's your Aunt Patsey." + +Estell was carrying a cane in his right hand and he stuck out one +finger for me to shake. But when in the same manner he presumed to greet +the old lady, she stormed at him: "Look here, Tom Estell, don't give me +no one finger to shake. Andrew Jackson gave me his whole hand when I was +a child, and I want no one finger now. That's like it," she added, as he +put his cane under his arm and gave her his hand. + +Mrs. Estell entered the room. "Why, you old surprise party," she cried. +He stepped forward, but, catching sight of her riding habit, he halted. + +"What does all this mean?" he asked. + +"Why, we were going fox-hunting, dear." + +"You--you going?" + +"Why, yes. You have never objected." + +"But I do now." + +"Very well," she replied, beginning to pull at her gloves. + +"Tom," cried the Senator, "what the devil--I mean the deuce--is the +matter with you?" + +And then Aunt Patsey broke out, jumping from her chair and shaking her +finger at Estell: "You are trying to smother the God-given spirit of +that child, and you ought to be ashamed of yourself. You hate to see her +run--you want to see her dodder about like an old man. What earthly harm +can there be in her going fox-hunting? Better men than you ever dared be +have chased foxes and have let their wives go, too. Don't you dare say a +word to me--don't you dare!" + +Estell turned about and strode with sullen step to the foot of the +stairs, the Senator passing him without saying a word. I was standing at +the door, and I stepped aside to let Mrs. Estell pass, but she lingered +in the parlor, as if to speak to her aunt, as if, in truth, she would +put her arms about the old woman's neck; and I turned my back, to face +the State Treasurer, standing at the foot of the stairs. Our eyes met, +but he was silent, and I had nothing to say. Mrs. Estell came out into +the hall, but returned almost instantly to the old woman, and Estell +trod wearily to the upper floor. His wife came out, and she looked up +with duty's self-conscious smile. + +"May I speak a word?" I asked. "Just one?" + +"Two," she answered. + +"I promised to read my play to you." + +"Yes; and you will--" + +"Not keep my promise." + +We were walking slowly toward the stairway, she slightly in advance. But +now her feet were quick, until she reached the stair, and then she +halted, turned to me, and said: + +"Mr. Belford, any man can make a promise, but sometimes it requires a +_gentleman_ to break one." + +I had no reply to make; I was the interloper. I bowed to her, and, +snatching my hat from the halltree, I passed out upon the portico. + +"Yes, I am mighty sorry," the Senator was saying to Elkin and Miss +Rodney, who sat upon their horses at the gate--"sorry as I ever was in +my life, but my horse stuck a nail in his foot and can hardly walk. Of +course I could get another horse, but take Felix out of the chase and +the whole thing falls flat. And my best hound is sick, too. Sometimes it +does seem that everything stands in the way. But we'll have it, now, +very soon. Get down, and stay to dinner. Ah, Belford, you going? Well, +I'll see you in a day or two." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE PLAY. + + +I dreaded the embarrassment of meeting the Senator again; and it was +with a sense of nervousness that I looked from my office window, the +next morning, to see him getting out of his buggy. He came briskly up +the stairs, spoke heartily to someone whom he met on the landing, halted +at my open door, and, hat in hand, made me a sweeping bow. + +"Ha, early to work is the thing," he said, stepping into the room and +glancing about. "More pictures of famous players, I see. Well, we'll +have them strutting about our stage the first thing they know. How do +you feel?" he asked, drawing up a chair and sitting down. + +"First rate--too well, I might say. This air makes me content to sit and +dream." + +"Good; it is better to find contentment even in a dream than to snap our +nerves in two with chasing what we might regard substantial happiness. +Why, confound it all, Belford, there is no such thing as substantial +happiness. Anything substantial is too material, too gross; and +happiness is a certain spiritual condition of the mind. Therefore, I +say, let the old South dream if she feels like it. There used to be an +old fellow that lived about here--Mose Parish. Well, the time came for +Mose to die; but he wasn't scared, not a bit of it. A preacher came to +talk to him, and old Mose listened for a while, and then he said: 'Oh, +no, I never did much of anything--never built a steamboat nor a house, +but I've had a good deal of fun, and I hold that when a man is having +fun he can't have it all alone; he's helping some other fellow.'" + +We talked about hundreds of things, and touched occasionally upon our +business venture, but nothing led to a subject which I felt, and which +he seemed to feel, was too delicate to be mentioned. He gossiped of +young Elkin's affection for Miss Rodney; he said that Elkin's love put +him in mind of an ass with gilded ears. He spoke of the coming election +and the surety with which he and Tom Estell would win; but when he took +his leave he did not invite me to call at the house. I met him day after +day, in the office, in the street, in the rotunda of the hotel; and he +always greeted me with a warm and earnest cordiality, but at parting he +would say, "I'll see you again soon;" and never that I should come to +see him. + +I walked a great deal, musing over my play, and more than once in +rebellion my feet wandered from their usual path to tread the sacred and +forbidden ground that lay in the neighborhood of the Senator's home. +Near the close of day, I sometimes saw him sitting on the portico, with +his chair tipped back, his feet against a classic pillar, smoking his +pipe--a vandalic American indulging a national posture to the shame of +a Grecian memory. Once I saw his daughter standing near him, where the +fading sunlight fell, gazing afar off, shading her eyes with her hand. +And she might have seen me had I not bent behind a bush; had I been less +a thief. + +One hot afternoon the Senator came into the office, fanning himself with +his hat. + +"No dreaming now, Belford," said he. "It's too hot even to doze. What's +all that you've got spread out there?" + +"Our play," I answered. + +"Oh, yes. And, by George, there seems to be enough of it. Let me hear a +chapter or two. Isn't in chapters, though, is it? Fire away and let me +hear what it sounds like. You look like a commissioner of deeds, with +all this stuff scattered about you. But go ahead." + +"I'd rather wait, Senator, until it's completed. In fact, I'd rather +you'd wait and see it played," I replied, remembering what he had said +about elevating the stage and fearing that he might object to some of +my characters. + +"All right. But just now you said _our_ play. What do you mean by that?" + +"I mean that a half interest belongs to you." + +"Why, Lord bless you, my boy, I don't want to rob you." + +"And I don't intend that you shall rob yourself. You have given me the +opportunity to do the work, you have--" + +"Hold on, Belford. We are partners in this house. You are doing your +share. Why, Sir, haven't you secured the Lamptons to play here a whole +week during our county fair? And doesn't that newspaper notice they sent +along say that they are the finest representation of dramatic talent now +on the road? Haven't you signed a contract with Sanderson Hicks to give +us the Lady of Lyons? And I want to tell you that a man who saw such +opportunities and seized them by the forelock is doing his duty all +right. Oh, it's no laughing matter, Sir." + +"That's all very well, Senator, but you are to own half the play. I want +you to look after the business end of it." + +"All right, Sir; all right. Yes, it would be better to have some man +take hold of that part of it--some man, you understand, who isn't afraid +to insist upon his rights. And Belford," he added, putting his hand on +my shoulder, "if I hadn't insisted on mine, they would have trampled me +under foot long ago. Yes, Sir (stepping back and shaking his hat), long +ago. Have you decided as to who shall have it?" + +"Well, it's easy enough for me to decide. But the decision of the other +party might not be so easy to get." + +"Oh, there won't be any trouble about that. No, Sir; that is, if they +want to put on a good play. We have something here, Sir (slapping his +hand upon the manuscript), that ought to stir the dramatic world from +center to circumference. Oh, you may smile, but it will, for I want to +tell you that I have never been associated with a failure. And there's +a good deal in that; as sure as you live there is. Luck begets luck, and +failure suckles a failure. Yes, Sir. Have you made any overtures?" + +"Not exactly. I wrote to Copeland Maffet and sent him a scenario--" + +"A what?" + +"An outline of the piece. And he writes that he will be in Memphis on +the 17th of next month, and that he would like to hear the play." + +"Of course he would. We knew that all the time. We'll hop on a boat and +go up there. Good man, is he?" + +"One of the best; he doesn't do things by halves." + +"All right, Sir, he's our man, that is, if he's willing to pay for a +good thing. Well, I believe I'll go on out home. It's cooler there. By +the way, come out with me. There's no one on the place except Sister +Patsey, and I'm lonesome. Come on, we'll ride out." + +I was afraid to look at him; I was afraid to hesitate, to frame an +excuse, and without saying a word I went down stairs with him and got +into the buggy. + +He did not drive directly to his home; he halted at several places--in +front of a lawyer's office, a butcher's shop, to ask advice concerning +his political contest, a shrewd way to flatter and stimulate a lax +supporter. We drove to a wagonmaker's shop, off in the edge of the town, +and when the workman had been fed with big words, we set out at a brisk +trot, with a gang of boys behind us, shouting in a cloud of dust. Ahead +I could see nothing but the sun-dazzled roadway, sloping down into the +open country, but we turned a corner thick with cherry trees and the +Senator's house leaped into view. + +It seemed a long time since I had heard the click of the gate-latch; +since I had stood upon the stone steps to breathe the cool, sweet air of +the hall. + +"I think the library is about the coolest place in the house," said the +Senator. "Step in, and I'll see if I can find some fans. There are some +on the table. Take that big palm leaf. Pardon me if I unbutton my +collar. I'm as hot as a dog in August with a tin pan tied to his tail. +But you appear to be cool enough." + +"I didn't expect to hear you Southerners complain of the heat. I thought +you could stand it." + +"We do stand it, but we complain. I doubt whether an Anglo-Saxon can +ever learn to like real hot weather. Oh, we prate about the sunny South +and we like sunshine, but, by George, Sir, we hug the shade. Have you +got a pretty good plot for your play?" + +"Yes, I think so." + +"We must have a good plot, you know; we must have everything turn out +all right. Any fighting in it?" + +"Well, there are several spirited scenes." + +"That's good. But it strikes me that there ought to be some sort of a +fight. One fellow ought to call another fellow a liar, or something of +the sort. It would be a good thing for a fellow to snatch out his +pistol and have it grabbed and turned against him, don't you see? That +sort of a thing always catches the people." + +"But you advocated the elevation of the stage, don't you remember?" + +He got out of his chair, and walked up and down the room, with his +collar unbuttoned, his broad, black cravat hanging loose. + +"That's the point, Belford; that's the very point. To elevate the stage +is to make it natural. Why, last season an actor ruined a play for this +town by drawing a pistol with his left hand." + +"But that was not so very unnatural," I replied. "He might have been +left-handed. Many a left-handed man has had a fight." + +He paused in his walk, to stand before me, and thoughtfully to balance +himself alternately upon his heels and toes. + +"But, Belford, that's not the point. Of course there may be a +left-handed man in a fight, but nine chances to one a man is +right-handed, and the stage must take the course that is the most +probable. No, Sir, you don't want to shock a critical sense of fitness +by having a man pull a pistol with his left hand. Such breaks always +tend to wound a sensitive nature. Any man in your drama pull a pistol +that way, Belford?" + +"No, if a pistol is drawn at all it shall be in the accepted form." + +"All right," he said, resuming his walk. "Any ragged girl talk like a +clodhopper until she is insulted and then talk like a princess? Anybody +say 'stronger?' No human being except a fool on the stage ever said +'stronger' for stranger. Any fat woman in short skirts trying to be a +girl? Any tramp with more ability than an ancient philosopher? Any +female detective that doesn't know she loves a suspected thief until she +has had him put in jail? Got any of those things?" + +"I'll take an oath that I have none of those tantalizing features, +Senator." + +"Then, Sir, it will be a go. Yes, Sir, the world can't stop it. Why, +come in, Patsey. Remember Mr. Belford, don't you?" + +I shook hands with the old lady, placed a chair for her and gave her my +fan, and she rewarded me with an old-time courtesy. + +"Gracious me," she said, "it's so hot down here that I wonder everybody +doesn't take to the hills. I wouldn't live in this flat country." + +"Why, Sister Patsey," the Senator spoke up, "Bolanyo is on a hill." + +"A hill? Giles, you don't know what a real hill looks like, it's been so +long since you saw one. Why, where I live you can sometimes look down on +a cloud." + +"Yes, and it's a good deal better to live above a cloud than to be under +one, Sister Patsey." + +"Now, what does he mean? One of his sly tricks, I'll be bound. I never +come down here that everybody ain't up to tricks or running for office, +but I do reckon they are one and the same thing. Sakes alive, and the +laziest folks that ever moped on the face of the earth. And that +good-for-nothing wretch that calls himself the Notorious Bugg, +a-talking about his sons-in-law a-shaking all the time. He came here +yesterday and wanted meat, the lazy whelp. Well, I would have given him +scalding water, and a heap of it." + +"But you didn't, Sister Patsey," the Senator spoke up. "You called him +back and gave him a bag of sweet cakes." + +"I did, eh? I sent them to the poor little children, and if he takes a +bite of one of them cakes I hope it will choke him to death. He says he +doesn't want to go to the hills and catch a new-fangled disease. Why, +plague take his picture, I've lived in the hills all my life. If he +comes again while I'm on the place I'll scald him. I'll do it, Giles, as +sure as he comes, and you'd better tell him to stay away." + +"If he comes again, Sister Patsey, you'll give him hot cakes instead of +hot water." + +"Did you hear that, Mr. Belford? _Did_ you hear that?" the old lady +snapped. "Ah, ah, I do think, Giles, you are the most aggravating man I +ever saw, except your brother, and he almost worried the life out of +me." + +"But he is dead, Sister Patsey, and you are still enjoying pretty fair +health. Yes, he went first." + +The Senator glanced at me with a wink; the old lady caught his twinkle +of mischief, and, throwing back her head, she laughed until the tears +ran out of her eyes. + +"Belford," said the Senator, "the evening breeze has sprung up. Suppose +we sit out on the portico. And, by the way, I've got some tobacco raised +from Havana seed. I'll get it." + +"Bring me a pipe, too, Giles," the old lady called after him. "I'm not +going to be left out, and you needn't think it, either." + +When the Senator had strode off down the hall, she turned to me with a +quick eagerness and said: "He is almost dying to apologize to you for +Tom Estell's behavior, and he doesn't know how to get at it. I never saw +a man so cut up. And he thought he could get at it better out here, but +by the way he fidgets about I know he hasn't. Now, there, don't you say +a word, Sir, but let me talk. I don't know what's the matter with +Estell, I really don't. Now, what earthly harm could there have been in +her going fox-hunting, and her father along, too? No, I don't understand +him. Why, he must think that a woman is a fool to be willing to stay at +home all the time just because he's old." + +"Why did she marry him?" I could not help but ask. + +She snapped her eyes and cleared her throat. "Ah, Lord, it distressed me +nearly to death. Why did she, indeed? Giles was the cause of it. He +picked out a nice old gentleman for his daughter's husband--a man of +high family, a good politician. She cried over it, with her head in my +lap, but Giles didn't see a tear, and she wouldn't let me say a word to +him. And, to tell the truth, I didn't think it was so very bad; and it +_wasn't_ until he got to be so cranky. She always was a peculiar child; +and I reckon after all she made up her mind that she might as well +marry one man as another, so far as love was concerned. But just look at +me, a-sitting up here and telling of things that I oughtn't to say a +word about. Here he comes. Giles, did you bring my pipe? Well, it's a +good thing you did, Sir." + +Out in the breeze that came stirring through the magnolia garden we sat +and smoked, the Senator with his chair tipped back and his feet high up +against a fluted column. We talked in pleasant and almost confidential +freedom, of many a home interest, both solemn and humorous, but the name +of the young woman lay under a silence that no one dared to disturb. +When I arose to take my leave they urged me to stay to supper, but my +heart had grown heavy with the approach of night, and, with a lie in +self-defense, I pleaded an engagement in the town. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +A SLOW STEP ON THE STAIRS. + + +In the cool of the morning, and often at night when the gulf breeze was +blowing, I leaned back from my labor to muse upon the Senator's peculiar +attitude toward me. A certain sort of innocence or honor had +unquestionably blunted his eyesight and wrapped his reason in a silken +gauze, but he had seen and felt the interference of his daughter's +husband. And now why should he have pressed me to come again to his +house, even though the wife were away? The old woman had said that he +was trying to find a way that might lead to an easy apology. Apology for +what? A husband's clumsy resentment. And did he not know that my +entering the house again could easily be construed as a connivance on +his part? The politician is so absorbed a student of man and his +masculine ways that sometimes he may be forgetful of the delicate film +that surrounds a woman's name. But in the South a woman's name is so +secure that what in colder regions might be a film is here a sheet of +steel; and overconfidence might seem a want of due consideration. + +One evening I heard a slow and heavy step on the stair; and I waited, +annoyed and nervous with the deliberate and solemn approach of the +unwelcome visitor. I counted the steps, wondering when they would cease. +I threw down my pen and got out of my chair. There was a shuffling of +awkward feet at the open door. + +"Come in, Washington," I cried, and when he had entered I turned angrily +upon him. + +"Oh, you have come to reproach me, to prove to my face that I am a +liar." + +He had dropped his hat upon entering the door, and now he stood with +his head bowed meekly. + +"Mr. Belford, if your heart smites you, don't blame me." + +"But you have come to bid it smite me." + +"No, but to ease it if it has been smiting you." + +"Ah, sit down, Washington." + +"I prefer to stand." + +"But pick up your hat. Your humility embarrasses me." + +"Let it lie there, Mr. Belford." + +"Well, can't you do something? Damn it--" + +"Mr. Belford, I don't ask you to respect me, but I command you to +respect my holy calling." + +"Rot! Well, go on; I do respect it. I beg your pardon. But why do you +come here to hit me with the moral sandbag of a priest? Don't you know +that any calling can be made offensive?" + +"The gospel is always offensive to the sinner." + +"Look here, you black impostor, I'll not put up with your insolence. Get +out." + +He stepped backward to the door, took up his hat, put it under his arm, +and bowed to me. + +"Wait a moment, Washington. Confound it, you always make me strut and +talk like an actor. Let's get down off our high horses and turn them +loose to graze. What did you come to say?" + +"I came to beg you not to be worried because you were not able to keep +your word with me." + +"That's kind, but how do you know I was not able to keep it?" + +"Old Miss Patsey told me that the Senator brought you home with him." + +"And you know that _she_ was not at home." + +"Yes, I knew that she was over at the State capital, with her husband." + +"They didn't tell me where she was." + +"No, it was not necessary. They do not blame you," he added, after a +moment's pause. + +"Then you are the only one who does blame me, except, perhaps, the +Treasurer." + +"Yes, the Treasurer who locked up the money of the State but forgot that +a diamond was within reach of--" + +"A thief," I suggested, and he bowed his head. + +"Washington," said I, "you tell me that the Senator is blind and that +the young woman herself does not suspect--" He shut me off with his +uplifted hand. + +"What I said then and what might exist now are two different things." + +"Ah, then she does know now; she has gathered some of the wisdom that +you have strewn about. You had seized the opportunity to be wise, and I +had hoped that you would be harmless. But your wisdom is offensive. It +seems that you would rejoice to have a hold on me." + +"For what purpose, Mr. Belford?" + +"Well, it isn't very clearly defined." + +"No, Sir, and it never can be. Perhaps, after all, my discovery, if you +please to call it such, wasn't due to wisdom but to an animal instinct. +And even then it was a venture. You could have denied it better." + +He came walking slowly forward, with his eyes fixed upon my +writing-table. + +"That is one thing I can't learn to do well," he said, gazing at my +work. "My hand was too hard and stiff from labor before I went to +school." + +"Then you don't write your sermons?" + +"No, Sir, and Peter didn't write his." + +"But you went to a college and Peter didn't." + +"Ah, but Paul was learned of men, and Paul was the Master's greatest +follower." + +"Washington, you are surely a remarkable man. How old were you at the +time you entered the university?" + +"I don't know, Mr. Belford; I don't know how old I am now." + +"Well, I have fought against you, but I can't help believing that you +are sincere. Here are five dollars for your church." + +"Thankee, Sah; bleeged ter yer, Sah. I--I--I am profoundly grateful, +Sir," he hastened to add, bowing in humiliation. "You must pardon the +rude echo of my father's tongue. Good-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +TO MEET THE MANAGER. + + +The Senator went with me to Memphis to meet Copeland Maffet. I was +nervous and apprehensive of failure, but the old gentleman was steady +and strong with the assurance of success. "You are worried," he said to +me as we stood at the bow of the steamer. "Throw it off, for you are now +associated with a man who has never been introduced to a failure. No, +Sir, and they can't down us. When I first came out for office they told +me that I had no earthly show. And what did I do? I took one fellow by +the shoulders, turned him round and kicked him off the courthouse steps. +One of my friends? Yes, he claimed he was, but let me tell you, Belford, +that a man's gone if he lets his so-called friends run to him with +discouragements. The only friend worthy of the name is the man who +doesn't believe you can be beaten. I'd rather have a strong enemy than a +weak friend." + +We found Maffet waiting for us at a hotel. The Senator greeted him out +of the gorgeousness of his effusive nature, and refused to be daunted by +the cool, business air of the manager. + +"Mr. Maffet," said the Statesman, "we have brought you something, Sir, +that will astonish you. And, Sir, you'll not regret that you came all +the way from New York to get a chance to put in your bid." + +"I have other business that brought me here, Mr.--" + +"That's all right, but you'll forget all about your other business +before we are done with you. Ah, Belford, I've got a little knocking +round to do, and I'll leave you to read your play to Mr. Maffet. Good +old name. By the way, Mr. Maffet, are you related, Sir, to the Maffets +of Virginia?" + +"I think not. My people settled in Vermont," said the manager. + +"Same old family, Sir; best stock in England. Won't you join us in a +drink of some sort, Sir?" + +"No, thank you, I've just got up from the table." + +"Ah, yes, Sir. But make yourself perfectly at home in this town. I know +a great many people here, and all my friends will be glad to welcome +you. And you'll find my friend here (motioning toward me) as bright as a +judge and as straight as a string. Well, I'll be back by the time you +get through with your reading." + +I went with the manager to his room, and if he had been cool before, he +now was freezing. + +"Well, go ahead." + +I read the first act, glancing at him from time to time; but no change +passed over his implacable countenance. He sat with his eyes shut. + +"Go ahead." + +I read the second act; but the droll representatives of a fun-growing +soil did not crack the crust of his countenance. + +"Well, go on." + +I had now lost hope, and with scarcely a pause I hurried to the end of +the last act. He opened his eyes, got up, walked to the window, looked +out, whistled softly and then turned to me. + +"You've got some great people there. The comedy part is excellent." + +"Ah, you don't laugh at comedy," I was bold enough to declare. + +"Well, not when I'm buying it. Let me have it a moment." + +He stepped forward with a look of interest in his eyes, and took the +play. + +"In Magnolia Land, by--what's this? By The Elephant? What do you mean by +that?" + +"My pen name." + +"Oh, it's all right enough; odd, and that counts." + +"And if you decide to take the play, I don't want my name known; and if +any speculation should arise as to who the Elephant may be, you are to +say you don't know, even if anyone should assert positively that I am +the man. I want it to be a winner before I acknowledge it." + +"All right. It will raise newspaper talk, and that would help. Yes, I'll +agree to put it on if we can come to terms, and especially if you'll +consent to consider the suggestions which I may send to you. A play, you +know, is never finished. I'll read it over carefully and make notes. As +this is your first venture you can't very well expect an advance +royalty." + +I had not expected it, and I did not ask it. Indeed, I was delighted +with the prospect of a production, and I began to think that there must +be something in my alliance with a man who never had made the +acquaintance of a failure. We agreed upon a percentage of gross +receipts, and went down stairs to dictate the contract to the hotel +stenographer. And just as we were ready for his name the Senator walked +in. + +"We insist that it shall be put on in good shape," said he, assuming +that the deal had of course been made. "Let me see the contract. Yes," +he said, when he had looked at the top, the middle and the bottom, "that +appears to be about the proper thing. Just let me put my name on it. But +we must have witnesses, eh? Well, you just wait till I go out and bring +in two of as fine gentlemen as you ever saw, from two of our oldest +families, Sir. One of them can write as fine a hand as you can catch up +with anywhere; he used to be Clerk of our House of Representatives. Wait +till I go after them." + +"Oh, anybody will do, Colonel," the manager replied. "I haven't time to +wait on an old family." + +"All right," said the Senator, with his hat in the air. "If you don't +recognize the advantage of respectability, I shall not insist upon it. +We'll get these two hotel clerks back here. They look like gentlemen, +Sir." + +Many a day had gone by since my longing heart had fluttered with +lightness. And now it was beating high with an exultant hope; but its +time of joy was short. The memory of a deep voice weighted it with +sadness--a voice and the words: "Any man can make a promise, but +sometimes it requires a _gentleman_ to break one." + +As we stood in the bow of the boat and gazed toward the lights on the +wharf at Bolanyo, the Senator put his hand upon my arm and said: "My +boy, that fellow Maffet is a shrewd fellow, from shrewd Yankee stock, +and he would have cheated you out of your teeth if I hadn't come along. +Yes, Sir, out of your teeth." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +BURN THE JUNIPER. + + +In the enthusiasm of my dramatic occupation the figures forming in my +mind had draped, as with a merciful curtain, the picture in my +heart--had hidden the eyes. But now that the figures were sent away the +curtain, too, was gone, and the image was bold with a new vividness. I +resorted to numerous devices, walking, rowing, reading, but the picture +was always before me, thrown from within; and at night, alone in my +room, I could see in its vibrations the beating of my pulse. + +The day of the scramble for office passed by, and the Senator and his +son-in-law were elected; but Estell's majority was so small that his +opponent declared that a fraud had been practiced, and gave warning that +he would take his case to the courts. I met the Senator nearly every +day, and sometimes we parted in embarrassment, when it would have seemed +so natural for him to say "Come out to see me." But he did not say it; +and out of his silence there came the information that his daughter was +at home. + +At last, in October, the theatrical season arrived, with a third-rate +company to present "Virginius." I employed the columns of Petticord's +newspaper, against the Senator's advice, had the town and a large part +of the county well "papered," and when the opening night came round the +house was crowded. I put young Elkin into the box office, and he must +have been born for the place, for, although acquainted with almost every +man, woman and child in the town, he recognized no one at the window. + +Nervously I watched the people coming in, my gaze leaping from face to +face. I turned away to attend to something, and when I came back and +looked at the house I knew that _she_ was there, though I did not see +her. The curtain went up and the play proceeded. On a sudden someone +well in front cried out "Burn the juniper!" And then arose the yell, +"Throw him out!" Several officers ran forward, and presently, in the +midst of great confusion, they came back, almost dragging old Mason, the +pilot, and Joe Vark, the shoemaker. Vark was the real offender, it +appeared, and Mason was snatched up as an accessory. I went out with +them, pleading with the officers not to use them roughly; and when we +reached the pavement I demanded their release. The officers, glad enough +to go back to the play, turned the culprits over to me. Both were drunk. + +"Vark," said I, "do you want to break up the performance?" + +"Burn the juniper!" he shouted. + +"Now, here, Joe," the pilot pleaded, "let's get something that we all +understand--something like 'let her slide' or 'let her rip'--something +we can all join in on." + +"I want them to burn the juniper. In the old days when the atmosphere in +the theatre got foul they cried 'burn the juniper,' and I want it burned +now. The air in there is foul with political rascality and scoundrelism. +Burn the juniper!" he yelled at the top of his voice. + +"Blame it all, Joe," Mason persisted, "let's get something that's down +among the people." + +"Gentlemen," said I, "you must keep quiet or I'll have you taken away. +Vark, you don't want to injure me, do you?" + +"No, I'm your friend, but you'll have to live here thirty years before I +can declare my infatuation for you. Give a hundred dollars for a bonfire +of juniper. And the long-lost sword of Mars was discovered by the +bleeding hoof of a heifer, and was given to Attila. Burn the juniper!" + +"Look here, boys, come back in and behave yourselves. Remember that the +house is full of ladies, and that ought to make any man thoughtful in +the South. Will you promise to behave if I let you go back?" + +"I can't promise without juniper," the shoemaker declared. "The twelve +vultures represented the twelve hundred years of the glory of Rome. Burn +the juniper. Say, Belford, tell you what we'll do--we'll go down to Old +Bradley's and take a drink as long as the horn of a wild steer. What do +you say?" + +"I can't go with you, Vark." + +"Then I'll go back into the house and burn the juniper. No, I won't, +Belford. You are a good fellow. There's nothing stuck up about you. And +I'm sorry for that break I made in there. Shake. Now, come on, Mason, +and we'll burn Old Bradley." + +They went away, arm in arm, and out of a group of mottled idlers formed +about the door came slouching the figure of the Notorious Bugg. + +"Jest thought I'd stand here till the worst come to the worst, Mr. +Belford," said he. "I lowed to myself that if they jumped on you things +would then happen fast and sudden. Hold on a minute and let me tell you. +I reckon I'm as peaceable a man as you ever seen till I get too badly +stirred, and then I can't compare myself to nothin' but a regular mowin' +machine. Oh, I didn't want to come out till I had to. I wouldn't mind +whalin' both of 'em, but the fact is, I wan't prepared to meet old Joe. +I owe him for a pair of boots, and the most danger-some lookin' thing I +ever seen is a feller that I owe. When I owe a man it appears like he +can grow ten feet in a night, and sometimes when I step out into society +I find myself in a wilderness of giants, I tell you. But I was jest +about to thrash both them fellers when they went away, and in view of +that fact I think you ought to let me go into your show." + +I did not take issue with his appeal; I passed him in, amused at the +thought that two of my characters had been thrown out of my house and +that another one had entered, firm in the rascally belief that he had +convinced me of his courage and his determination to risk his blood in +the defense of my dignity. + +The final curtain fell, and I stood near the door, not to receive +congratulations upon the bad performance, but to seek food for my eyes. +Miss Rodney stopped to tell me of her delightful evening. Bugg Peters +hung back to say that the "hoarse feller with the table cloth wrapped +round him wan't no slouch." I saw the Senator coming, gesticulating, +talking. I saw _her_. I saw her face turn pale and then to pink as she +approached. The Senator did not appear to see me, so busy was he with +explaining to an acquaintance the merit of the performance; and he would +have led her by, but in a burst of frank energy she broke loose from him +and held out her hand to me. + +"Why, Belford," said the Senator, "I didn't see you. Great show, Sir. +Fine piece of work, eh, Florence?" + +"I didn't think so, but I confess that I'm not much of a judge," she +answered, smiling at me. + +"Oh, well, it has its faults, and so have we all, but it was an infamous +shame that we couldn't open here without a disturbance." + +"Yes," said I, "but those two men gave a better piece of acting than we +could find on any stage." + +"Oh, yes. Good fellows when sober, Sir. The pilot's family is all right. +I don't know anything about Vark's people, but he'll do well enough when +sober, Sir. Well, Florence." + +He led her away, and she looked back with a nod and a smile--a bright +and graceful picture as she passed through the outer door. And all that +night I saw her, always led away, but always looking back with a nod and +a smile. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +GLEANING THE FIELD. + + +A vagabond artist came to town and I employed him to make sketches of +Peters, Mason and Vark. It was easy to get a pose from the pilot and the +notorious one, but after his "juniper spree" the shoemaker had locked +himself in his shop. But we hammered his door day after day, and one +morning we heard the sliding of the bolt. + +"Come in," said Vark. "But let me tell you that I am in no shape to do +work." + +He had spread a blanket on the floor, with a bundle of leather at one +end, and with books scattered about. I took up two volumes to find the +plays of Marlowe and the snarling complaint of old Hobbs. + +"What do you want, boys?" + +"I want you to stand for a few moments just as you are," said I. + +"For a picture? What do you want with a picture of me? I'm nobody." + +"Oh, yes. You've lived here thirty years, you know." + +"All right, go ahead. I don't suppose there ever was a man so no-account +that he didn't think his picture was worth something. But I wish you'd +hurry up and get through with me. I wouldn't have let you in, but I +didn't want to be rude to a stranger. Scratch fast, you chap!" he added, +speaking to the artist. "What are you going to do with the sketch? Hang +it up for a scarecrow? Done with me? Take it away. I don't want to see +it." + +He turned us out and bolted his door; and I heard him swear at his rusty +joints as he got down upon the blanket and wallowed in the midst of his +books. + +I procured a number of photographs of gardens and of time-softened +houses; I jotted down numerous hints of "atmosphere," wrote a full +description of Washington and of Aunt Patsey and sent the whole to +Maffet And it seemed that these acts of gleaning were long to be +protracted, for odd bits of characteristic color were constantly +arising, as tinted mists from the soil. In no-wise could they find a +place in the action or the dialogue, but they would aid the stage +craftsman to clothe his trickery in the garb of truth. But these +color-mists came only of their own will, and never would they arise at +command, to enshroud and to soften the vividness of the picture that +tantalized me. Love may be a divine essence, calm as God-ordered peace, +when it flows from the legitimate heart--it may be--but my love was +_wolfish_. + +The Senator was very much elated over the success of our Virginius +engagement. Early one morning as I sat looking from the window, with my +nostrils full of the dusty smell of sprinkled floors newly swept, he +came whistling up the stairs. + +"Ha! dreaming," he cried. "I can see it in your face. But you can +afford to dream. Keep your seat. I don't care to sit down. Well, Sir, +old Zeb Harkrider hailed me this morning to tell me that a good many of +our citizens didn't like our show. I said: 'Look here, Zeb, I thought I +kicked you off the courthouse steps for bringing me news that I didn't +want to hear a long time ago. Don't you remember it?' He remembered. He +didn't say so, but he stepped back. 'Why, I didn't know you were +interested in it,' said he. I had to lie just a little, Belford. I hold, +Sir, that we are justified in occasionally slipping a lie on our left +arm and using it for a shield, to protect our private grounds against +invasion. Yes, I lied to him a little; I told him that my only interest +lay in the fact that it was my desire to see our people well +entertained, and that the habit of constant grumbling would finally +blind us to the beauties of even the best of things. So I got rid of +him. And do you realize that Petticord didn't do us justice? Confound +his insolence, you passed in his entire brigade, and yet he says that +only those who were easily pleased came near getting the worth of their +money. That scoundrel suspects that I have a hand in this, and he would +almost be willing to cut his own throat in order to do me a harmful +turn. But I will get him one of these days--yes, Sir, I'll get him or +drive him out of this community. My boy, you don't seem to be in very +good spirits. What's the matter? Getting tired of Bolanyo?" + +I answered with what the humorist of the "profession" would have phrased +a "property laugh." "No, Senator, I am not getting tired. In fact, I +would rather be here than in any place under the sun." + +"Strong, but that's right. I was afraid that you felt yourself chained." + +"You might fasten me here with links of rusty iron, but in my eyes +they'd be a chain of gold." + +"What's that?" + +He startled me with the sharp eye of comprehension, and I felt myself +droop under the look that he gave me. "I mean that this soft and +restful air and the sweet breath of the gardens would exalt a soul in +spite of the restraints of the body." + +Innocence flew back to his eye, "That's good, Belford; I have felt it +many a time. I have thought in moments of ambition that my talents as a +Legislator were crippled here, that I might go to Congress, and perhaps +make a National name for myself, but then came the idea that to broaden +my scope might forever spoil my love for old Bolanyo." + +He stood there meditating, with nothing more to say; he took out a small +bunch of keys, looked at them and returned them to his pocket; he put +his hands behind him; he went to the window and looked out upon the +deliberate commerce of the town--wagons loaded with hay, carts of +kindling wood, negroes with chickens, groups of story-telling +countrymen. + +"But I didn't know that the town could take quite so strong a hold on a +stranger," he said, with his eyes in the street. "But, Belford," and +now he turned to me, "you are a man of quick endearments, and so am I; +and that is one of the reasons why I like you, and a reason, I might +say, why I condemn myself. But I like a man or don't, almost at the +start. They call me a shrewd politician, and I am, but I'm one of the +easiest men taken in you ever saw. Oh, I can tell whether or not a man +is a rascal, and I sometimes buy his ware knowing that I myself am sold, +but I can't help it. One single note in a man's voice sometimes catches +me--a little thing that he doesn't know himself. Belford, I want you to +go to the State capital with me sometime, after the Legislature meets. +I'll show you some of the most picturesque and genial old blatherskites +you ever saw. Well, I've got some knocking around to do. See you again +soon." + +And it was thus that we always parted--with "See you again soon," and +never with "You must come to see me." I wondered whether his daughter +had warned him against the impropriety of inviting me to the house. I +mused over the sharp light of comprehension in his eye, and made an +additional trouble for myself with speculating upon the degree of his +suspicion. + +In the afternoon I walked far out beyond the limits of the town, not at +first in the direction of the Senator's house, but I cut a quarter +circle to the left and came upon the road that led past his gate. So +self-forgetful had been my employment that I did not realize until I +stepped into the shade of a cottonwood how hot it had been out on the +blazing commons. On the dying grass I sat, with my feet in a gully, +fanning with my hat, harvesting delicious shudders of coolness. From +afar off came the hum of a thrashing machine, and almost in my ear an +insect sang the melancholy tune that tells of autumn's coming. I heard +the slow and heavy trot of an old horse, and around a bend in the road a +buggy came, and in it a woman. I got up with my blood leaping. I +stepped to the roadside and stood there, with my face turned away, and +suddenly the horse fell back to a walk, in obedience to an impulsive +pull upon the lines, my eager and outlawed heart had told me. I turned +about. Her eyes were averted, and her face was red, and she would have +passed without a word, without a look, but I stepped out boldly and +cried: "Just a moment, please. The hame strap has come unbuckled." + +"Oh, thank you," she said, and the horse stopped. I stepped in front and +began to pull at the strap. + +"Quite a surprise to see you, Mrs. Estell." + +"Yes. But I don't know why it should be. I drive about a good deal." + +"And I walk about a good deal, and yet this is the first time--" + +"Can't you fasten it?" + +"Yes; now it's all right." I stood partly in front of the horse, with my +hand on the shaft. She gathered up the lines. + +"Mrs. Estell, I hope you are not offended at me." + +She laughed with music though not with mirth, and then her face grew +serious as she said: "Of course not, Mr. Belford." + +Where was the freedom, the outbreak of energy she had shown in the opera +house; where was the look of frankness? All now was reserve, a cool and +sacred respect for the law that held her tied with a frost-covered rope. +I did not presume that she loved me, but I knew that she hated _him_. + +"Have you buckled the strap?" + +"Yes, madam." + +"Thank you." + +At that moment a buggy with two men in it came rattling by. One man +turned to look back, and I recognized Petticord, the editor. + +"Mrs. Estell, I hope sometime to tell you--" + +"Don't tell me anything, Mr. Belford. Let me go, please. Good-bye." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +THE WORK OF A SCOUNDREL. + + +I was more than miserable all that night; I was wretched. I had betrayed +myself, and now to show even the slightest interest in her was to imply +an insult. But what could I hope for at best? My chain might be gold, +but it was a chain after all, and must be broken. I would tell the +Senator that I must go away; and the next day I sat, expecting his step +on the stairs. And late in the day there came a step, but not his. It +was not a step, but a bound and a rush. Young Elkin sprung into the room +with a copy of Petticord's paper in his hand. + +"Look what that scoundrel has done!" he cried. + +I snatched the paper. One glance and everything whirled round. I +remember that Elkin caught hold of me; I can recall that I leaned +against the casement of the window to hold the paper where the light was +strong. I went out, down the back way, and through an alley into a +silent street. I passed the lamp-post where the negro preacher and I had +parted one night; I passed the goblin thicket. And now a cold dread fell +upon me. What sort of light should now I find in the eyes of that old +man? I shuddered at the thought of meeting him. I would rather have met +a lion. His rage would drive me mad. + +The door was opened by the negress. She nodded toward the library. All +was still. I stepped lightly to the door. The Senator was moving about +as if looking for something. I tapped on the door facing and he looked +round. + +"Ah, come in, Belford." + +A tremor seized me. He had not seen the paper. "I was looking for an oil +can," said he. "Put it down somewhere just a moment ago. Here it is. +Looks as if we'd have a little rain." + +He took up a pistol and began to oil the lock, moving the hammer up and +down to assure himself that it worked easily. "I guess that's all right. +Now what did I do with that other pistol?" + +"In my room," a voice replied. I turned about with a start. Mrs. Estell +stood in the door. She bowed. A cool smile parted her pale lips. + +"Bring it, please," said the Senator. + +She dropped a graceful courtesy, one that might have been seen in the +gracious days of our grandmothers, and ran up the stairway. When she +returned the Senator was standing near the door, but she passed him and +handed the pistol to me. She gave me a look, and if now her eyes were +glad, they were glad like a fire that rejoices to burn. Just one look +and then she bowed and withdrew without a word. + +"Let me oil it and by that time the buggy will be ready," said the +Senator. "I think you will find it all right," he remarked, as he +returned the pistol to me. The negress appeared at the door. "Buggy +ready? All right. Come, Belford." + +Not a word was spoken until we were far into the town, and then the +Senator said: "If there's but one he belongs to me. Do you understand?" + +"Yes, but he doesn't belong to you unless you can shoot first." + +He looked at me, and beneath his gray mustache was a smile as sharp as a +sword. + +The horse was trotting at the top of his speed. We whirled round a +corner, the wheels ground against the curb and we leaped out. A negro +with his arms full of newspapers stood on the pavement. + +"Throw them in the gutter!" the Senator commanded, and the negro obeyed. +Up the stairway we rushed, into a corridor. The Senator tried a door. It +would not open. + +"He has locked himself in. Here, we'll break it down with this." + +We gathered up a heavy bench, battered the door down and rushed into the +room. The place was vacant. We looked at each other. A gust of wind +stirred the papers lying about; a "bunch of copy" fluttered on the +editor's desk. + +"We'll find him." + +We went into the business office. No one was there. We stepped out into +the street, and there we were arrested on a peace warrant sworn out by +Petticord. + +"We must respect the law," the Senator remarked as we walked off with +the constable. "I mean the active presence of the law," he added, +evidently recalling the fact that we had broken down a door. "We'll go +over here and give bond, but we'll get him. Yes, Sir, we'll get him as +sure as you are born." + +Bonds were prepared, accepted, and we were released. The Justice +followed us out. "Giles," said he, "I am awfully sorry that you didn't +have a chance to kill him. Never was a greater outrage perpetrated in +this community." + +"Yes, but I'll get him, Perry," the Senator replied. + +"Get him? Of course! Mr. Belford, this makes you a permanent resident of +our city, Sir. You can't afford to go away now, even if you have thought +of such a thing. Giles, he swore out the warrant and got on a train at +once, and I reckon his wife will run his paper. Is Estell at home?" + +"No, he is over at Jackson. He'll be home to-night." + +"Well, I'm sorry--but look here, Giles, after all it is simply an +annoyance. That fellow Petticord has no weight." + +"A man of no family whatever," said the Senator. "And, Sir, neither is a +dog, but we may be forced to kill him. Come, Belford." + +Together we walked back to the buggy. A street lamp, the first one +lighted, flashed across the way, and I thought of the coming of Estell. + +"Get in," said the old gentleman, "and I will drive you to--to your +office." And as we drove along he added: "I don't know what to say. But +don't think that I attach any blame to you. My daughter's word as to +your conduct toward her, your consideration and your gentleness weigh +like holy writ. And you know why I have not invited you to the house. +But we'll say nothing about that." + +"No, we can't talk of that, Senator. But there is something I must say. +Let the horse walk, please. First let me tell you that I respect you +more--love you more, if you will permit me to say it--than any man on +the earth. I--" + +"Don't, don't, Belford," he protested with a catch like a sob in his +voice. "Don't." + +And we drove in silence until we reached a corner near the opera house, +and then I requested him to let me get out. He gave me his hand; I +gripped it hard, and we parted without a word. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +IN THE THICKET. + + +Alone in my room I sat, with the window shades pulled down, waiting for +the coming of another day. And for what end? To meet the gaze of vulgar +eyes. The tavern bells had rung the supper hour, and doors were closing +about the public square. I heard the "haw haw" and the shuffling dance +of negroes on the pavement. I heard Washington's step on the stair and I +lighted the gas and waited, for now he was not an unwelcome visitor. He +tapped at the door like a small bird pecking on a tree. I bade him come +in, and as he entered he dropped his hat on the floor. + +"Don't do that," I commanded, "don't give me any more affectation. You +despise your father's dialect but you preserve his tricks of slavish +humility." + +"Humility is more the virtue of the Christian than the trick of the +slave, Mr. Belford," he replied. "But tell me why you are so free and +simple when you talk to other people and so--pardon me if I use the word +theatric--so theatric with me." + +"Because you rob me of my naturalness and compel me to strut. But let me +be natural now. Are you just from the house?" + +"Yes, I came straight down here." + +"Had the Senator returned?" + +"Yes, but he soon went away again--after Mr. Estell came." + +"Did you see them meet?" + +"No, I had gone out to help the woman bring in the clothes because it +looked like rain." + +"And did the woman tell you anything about Mrs. Estell?" + +"That she had locked herself in her room was all." + +"And you didn't hear any talk between the Senator and Estell?" + +"Only at the gate when the Senator drove off. Then he said: 'Don't look +for me until you see me.' A boy went with him to bring the buggy back." + +"Where could he have gone?" + +"To take the train for New Orleans, to look for his man. He had a +telegram." + +"And what did Estell say?" + +"He swore as the Senator drove. 'By God,' he cried, 'you have gone after +the wrong man.' But perhaps I ought not to have told you this." + +I strove to be calm, but almost in a rage I was now walking up and down +the room. + +"Yes, you should. And the imbecile said that. He ought to have his lying +old tongue torn out." + +"Be cautious, Mr. Belford. The man--" + +"The man what?" I demanded. + +"May think he has a cause. Wait a moment, please. A cause to believe +that you are in the young woman's heart, and what more would he need to +make him bitter toward you? Be reasonable." + +"You are right, Washington; you are right. But when we meet, what then?" + +"You must not meet." + +"But we might." + +"You must go away." + +"What, to blast her name?" + +"No, to save a life. Perhaps two lives." + +"I will not go away. There will be but one life to forfeit--mine." + +"Would that save her name, Mr. Belford?" + + +"Look here, you don't mean that the people believe that newspaper's +insinuation." + +"They don't. Representatives of the best families have called to show +their faith, but what would they think if Estell should shoot you?" + +"And what would they think if I should run away? No, I will stay." + +"Then I have nothing more to say, Mr. Belford." + +He strode out, catching up his hat at the door, and I counted the steps +as he trod down the stairs. + +Early the next morning I walked out from the town, but at no time did I +turn toward the Senator's house. I went down the road that led through +the cypress land, into the deep silence of the swamp. I passed the house +of the Notorious Bugg, and I saw it trembling (a mere fancy, of course) +with the shake of the aguish sons-in-law. A road, impassable except in +the driest of seasons, wound about among deep pools of yellow slime. The +ground shook under my careful tread, and the slightest jar was +sufficient to disturb an acre of spongy desolation. I sat on a log with +the feeling that no eye could see me. Sometimes the silence was so +strained that it sang in my ear; sometimes I was startled by the +flapping and the shriek of a gaunt bird, skimming the surface of the +ooze. In this creepy solitude I took myself to task. Behind an error of +the heart there stands a sophist, a Libanius, to offer a specious +consolation--a voice ever ready to say, "It was not your fault; you do +not create your own desires and neither can you control them." This is +true enough, but a man can control his actions. I should have gone away, +for the commonest of sense had pointed out the weakness, the crime, of +remaining. And what had I hoped for? To tell her that I would wait, with +a hope ever warm in my heart. I could not see a crime in that. But I +could not tell her--she would not permit me to lead up to so +embarrassing a subject. Washington was right. It was my duty to go away, +not to save myself, but to keep Estell's hands free of blood. + +Strong in my resolve, I walked briskly toward the town, and, coming out +of the swamp, I was still strong, but my heart fluttered when from a +rise of ground I saw the Senator's house, far away. To the left of the +road lay a piece of land, wild with briers and a growth of new timber, a +thicket checkered with cattle paths. Up the road I saw a man coming, +and, as he drew nearer, I recognized the slouching figure of Bugg +Peters. I did not care to meet him, to be compelled to answer or evade +his questions, so I turned aside into the thicket and brushed my way +along a narrow path. On a sudden I leaped aside into a tangle of bushes. +A pistol or gun had fired it seemed almost at my elbow. I listened, but +heard not a sound. I thought I saw smoke arising off to my left, but it +might have been mist, for the day was dark with vapors and low-hanging +clouds. I was uneasy, and not knowing whither my path might lead, I +turned back; and just as I reached the road a man and a boy, struggling +through the undergrowth, ran past me. They said nothing, but, looking +back with fright in their faces, ran off toward town. I looked about for +Peters, but did not see him. I wondered what it all could mean. + +Upon entering the town I avoided the busier streets, and passed through +quiet by-ways. At the foot of the rear stairway leading to my room +stood a man. + +"Hold on," he said, and then shouted to someone above. A man came +running down the steps. + +"What's wanted?" I inquired. + +"You," replied one of the men. "Come with us." + +"But what do you want?" + +"Come on quietly and you'll find out. Do you want us to handcuff you?" + +I went with them, stupefied with astonishment. They would answer no +questions. They took me to the jail, and then I was informed that I had +been arrested on a warrant sworn out by J. W. Hilliard, charging me with +the murder of Thomas Estell. In a daze I was pushed into a cell. I +couldn't think; I had an impression that I had lost a part--the serious +part--of my mind. I looked at the little things about me, a burnt match +on the floor, a cobweb in an upper corner. I took up a tin candlestick +and picked at a ridge of sperm; I sat down upon a cot, wondering if it +would break under me, and I felt it shake and spring like the spongeland +in the swamp. I heard the tavern bells ring, and I heard the tradesmen +slamming their doors. And I even said to myself, "I shall be +horror-stricken when I realize it all." + +There came footsteps down the corridor, and I heard someone say, "All +right, I won't stay long. Turn up your lamp. I can't see him." + +The blaze of a lamp hanging in the corridor crept higher and I saw the +shoemaker standing in front of my grated door. + +"Mr. Belford, this is rough." + +"Yes, it will be when I am able to believe it." + +"I reckon it's so, and it won't take you long to believe it. But if you +ever had cause to be cool, you've got that cause now. Brighten up. +Several people have called to see you--the nigger preacher, too--but +they couldn't get in." + +"How did you get in?" + +"The jailer owes me. Yes, and I worked my prerogative because I thought +you'd like to see even a shoemaker." + +"Tell me--tell me all about it." + +"Why, Hilliard and his son was coming through the thicket. They heard a +pistol close to them, they stumbled on Estell lying dead in the path, +and they saw you making for the big road. And that slab-sided Peters +says he saw you turn into the thicket. He heard the shot, and he ran in +to see what was up, but couldn't find anything. It is a shame the way +both those fellows were permitted to stand around and talk about it. It +has made them mighty important. I dangled a debt over Bugg's head and +silenced him, but I couldn't do anything with Hilliard. That scoundrel +paid me about two months ago. Bad! It puts the Senator in an awkward +position. He can't express an opinion, you know. Good thing he's away, +gunning after Petticord. Oh, Bolanyo is coming up. They found Estell +with his head almost blown off. Seems as if somebody must have poked a +pistol out of the bushes almost against the side of his head. I am +telling you all this so you may in a measure be prepared at the inquest +to-morrow morning. His watch and some small change was found, so it +wasn't a murder for gain. No pistol was found on him, so he wasn't +expecting a fight." + +"Look here, Vark, you don't believe I killed that man?" + +"I haven't said so, but I'll tell you this--the people believe it. You +know it takes a great deal of argument to prove a stranger innocent and +mighty little evidence to show him guilty. In an old community it's a +great crime to be a stranger. Well, I must go. The best thing you can do +is to keep your head cool." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +THE RINGING OF THE BELL. + + +I sat down, in a full sense of it all, and reasoned upon the ugly +happenings that stood to accuse me. Coincidents sometimes fit snugger +than arrangements that have been carefully planned; they slip into place +with a perverse trueness of adjustment. Thus I speculated, and I was +astonished at my coolness. I turned about from my argument to notice +that a heavy rain was falling. The courthouse bell was ringing +furiously. The jailor came hastening down the corridor. + +"What does that bell mean?" I inquired. + +"God help you man, it means you!" he cried. "The signal for the mob." + +"What! To hang me?" + +"Yes, and I can't help you." + +"But you can turn me out. Open this door!" + +"I can't do that, Sir. They would hang me. They are coming." + +There were no cries outside. There was the heavy tramping of feet and a +tap on the door as if a quiet visitor sought admission. + +"Who is that?" the jailor demanded, walking slowly down the corridor. + +"Open the door, Hill." + +"But who is it?" + +"A party of friends. Open the door to your neighbors." + +"But is it to the law--the sheriff?" + +"The sheriff is locked up in the courthouse. We want to be quiet about +this thing, but--the sledge, Dave." + +"Hold on, boys, don't break the door. What do you want?" + +"A man." + +And the man stood in the cell, placing a cool estimate upon each word +and astonished at himself. + +"Well, boys, I can't help myself, and when you take him you'll find him +a piece of as dead grit as you ever run against." + +I heard the bolt. He threw the door open. There was no rush, no noise, +and not a word was spoken until the jailor opened the door of my cell, +and then a man in a black mask quietly said: "We must trouble you to go +along with us." + +It was of no use to protest and I did not reply. With a small rope they +tied my hands behind me and led me out into the street. And now there +arose a yell. Rain was pouring down. The pine torches were extinguished. +The lamps about the public square had been turned out. The mob was going +to do its work by the light of a single lantern, borne by a man who +strode beside me. In front of the courthouse stood a tree. Under it a +large box was placed. A rope, with one end on the box, the other end +lost in the darkness of the tree, looked in the rain like a waterspout. +I heard someone say, "Keep quiet, everybody!" The lantern was placed on +the box. + +"Let me assist you to get up," said a polite man. I looked about, but +saw no kindly face; I saw a circle of black masks. Suddenly the lantern +was knocked off the box. A scramble followed in the dark and the rain. +Someone seized my hands, something cold touched them, bore down hard and +the rope fell apart. "Run through the courthouse," a whisper shot like a +needle into my ear. I wheeled about; I knocked men down; and in the +midst of a fury, an outcry, a stampede in hell, I stumbled up the +courthouse steps, ran headlong through the black corridor, out the other +side, into an alley. I scrambled over a fence, fell upon a shopkeeper's +waste ground, stumbled over boxes, climbed over another fence--ran. Away +from the square the gas-lamps were burning, and I shunned the light. The +rain continued to pour, and the roadways were deserted. The speed of +despair soon took me beyond the limits of the town, and now the +darkness was intense. The sandiness of the soil gave warning that I was +near the river, and I halted to listen, but the splash of the rain was +all that I heard. Far behind me was a yellow smear--the town. But what +was in front I knew not. I felt my way along. The ground sloped--the +river. "If I could only find a boat," I mused. I walked up the shore, +close to the water's edge, the ripples sucking the sand from under my +feet. Once I fell with a splash, and I bore off to the right, to keep +clear of the water, but a high bank had arisen between me and the +outlying fields of darkness. Suddenly there came a loud splash. The +sandy banks were caving in. I thought of turning back, and then came a +splash behind me. I was caught in a trap of sand. There was nothing to +do but to wait. I could not climb out, for I was now beneath a shelf, +hollowed out under the bank, a crumbling roof. I sat down to wait for +daylight. The river was rising. I was afraid to move. A yawn might have +called down an avalanche of sand. I could have plunged into the river, +but I could not have swam against the current; I should have been swept +down beyond Bolanyo, to be snatched up at daylight and hanged. And +daylight was coming. The rain had ceased, but the air was heavy and I +knew that the light would be slow. The yellow river grew distinct, close +to the shore, and gradually, but with many a hang-back, it seemed, the +light grew strong enough to reveal the walls and the roof of my prison. +Overhead the sand was held by streaks of clay, but this support, I saw, +must soon give in, for the current was eating fast. Up the stream, only +a few feet away, was a whirlpool, where the bank had caved, and just +below a strong suck was forming, but here was a slope, and I might climb +out over it, though the way was treacherous. I did not hesitate, and +struggling, clutching, on my knees, up again, the sand rolling under me, +I fought and gained the firm ground above. Not a house was within sight. +But I could see the plow on the dome in Bolanyo, miles away; and now it +was a vulture, dark-limned against a darker sky. I trod across a gullied +field, into the woods, to find a place to lie in hiding until night. I +thought of blood-hounds. But the rain, the river and the caving sand +were almost a sure protection against their merciless scent. Still I was +frightened, and I walked for a long distance in a stream of water, with +the old story of a runaway slave fresh in my mind. I could not even +guess at the time of day. At the jail they had taken my watch, my +penknife, money, everything. In a thick patch of briers I lay down +beside a log and slept, and opening my eyes I saw a star. I bore off +from the river, walking as fast as I could. I came upon a patch of yams, +the southerner's vaunted sweet potato, and fed ravenously on the milky +root. I passed numerous negro cabins and dogs barked at me. At daylight +I hid again and slept. + +In the evening of the fourth day I made bold to enter a negro's hut, +always the refuge and the asylum of the outcast, and appealed to the +generosity of an enormous fellow who reminded me of Washington. I told +him I was a fugitive fleeing from the wrath of political enemies, and my +story moved his simple and unsuspecting heart. He gave me food and a +bed. + +Thus I wandered night after night, heavy of heart, and yet with a prayer +of gratitude. At last I reached the State of Illinois. One day in a +cross-roads grocery where I had halted to split wood for a bit of +cheese, I saw a handbill posted on the door. It set forth the enormity +of my crime, attempted to describe me--tall, dark brown eyes, hair +almost black, a straight nose and about thirty years of age; and they +had paid me the compliment to add the word "graceful." They had added, +also, that the sum of six thousand dollars would be paid for my capture. +The groceryman and his friends were talking politics; and doubtless they +had never given more than a moment's thought to a murder committed away +down in Mississippi. + +I believed that a city was my safest refuge, and I made straight for +Chicago. There I might secure some sort of employment, and, under +another name, earn money enough to take me to the wilds of the unknown +West. I felt that a light would one day be thrown upon the mystery. But +I knew that they would hang me, if they could, and then marvel at the +light, should it ever come. I appreciated the fact that the hunt for me +would not be given up. Six thousand dollars serve well to keep the blood +of justice circulating. + +I arrived in Chicago one evening, having spent more than two months on +the devious path that led from Bolanyo; and the first attention to mark +my arrival was the stare of a policeman. This threw me into a tremor and +a cold sweat of fear; but he passed on without speaking to me, and I +turned aside to walk slowly, and then almost to run in the opposite +direction. + +My appearance was against me. I was almost ragged, and I knew that it +would be useless to apply for any except the meanest sort of employment. +Times were hard, and even day labor was not easy to find. But at last, +after a week of persistent application, of hunger, of shivering in the +raw air, I was put to work in a livery-stable. They called me a +"chambermaid," a "happy hit" in which they found no end of fun. +Sometimes their jokes were rough, but I bore them with a pretense of +good nature, passing on to my task; and one day my zeal found reward in +the notice of the proprietor. + +"Jarvis," said he, "you go about your work as if your mind is on it. Do +you reckon you've got sense enough to drive a cab?" + +"I think so, Sir." + +"Well, have your stubble shaved off and I'll give you a trial." + +"I'd rather not have the beard off, Sir. I have trouble with my +throat." + +"Well, we'll try you, anyway." + +"In livery?" I could not help asking. + +"What, ain't proud, are you?" + +"Oh, no, but I'd rather not wear livery." + +"It strikes me that anything would be an improvement over the clothes +you've got on. But I guess we can fix you out. You must be from the +country. An American farmer may wear patches, but he won't put on +livery. We'll put you on a special, and you may start in to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +MAGNOLIA LAND. + + +My wages were small, and I saved every possible penny; I gave up +smoking, slept in the stable, and rarely paid more than fifteen cents +for a meal. In my mind I settled upon the island of Vancouver, and I +resolved to go as soon as I could save money enough to buy a suit of +clothes and a railway ticket to Seattle. And from my exile I would dare +write to the Senator. "Why not now?" I thought as I sat on my cab. "But +he might believe the story set up by circumstances; he might long ago +have condemned me as guilty of Estell's blood. And what must _she_ +think?" The beginning of my musings mattered not, for the end was always +the same, with the woman. And in the night, when the fierce wind howled +about the barn, with the stamping and snorting of horses beneath me, I +lay in the dark and the cold, and gazed into my heart's illuminated +memory. Her face was always frank and, though her lips were dumb, her +eyes were full of whispers. "But what must she think now?" always came +to drive her away into the dark and the cold. + +In impatience, and sometimes in fear, I watched the slow growth of my +savings. Once a man, a detective I was sure, came to the stable to ask, +he said, concerning a woman whom I had that day driven to a railway +station. He may have told the truth, but he put me in distress, and the +next day when I counted my money I said, "I will go to-morrow." But on +that day a paragraph leaped out of a newspaper and smote me. "In +Magnolia Land" was soon to be produced at McVicker's Theatre. I had +cause to believe that I was suspected of at least some sort of +crookedness, since in my mind it was almost settled that the man had +come to the stable to look me over in the hope of finding a "bargain," +but I was resolved to take the risk to see the play. And I read the +newspapers at night and at morning, nervous with the fear of finding an +announcement that the drama was the work of a man now charged with the +murder of Mississippi's Treasurer. As the time drew near the press agent +multiplied his licks; the play was by a man who chose to call himself +"The Elephant;" it had been read by "several of our leading dramatists +and pronounced a masterpiece of originality, character, and strength." +But to me the faith of Manager Maffet did not hold the piece above an +ordinary experiment, a truth set forth by the meagerness of his "paper;" +and, as nothing was said of the cast, I knew that my lines were not to +be given over to well-known "people." + +Would the day, which had sounded so near, never come! "Who are you?" a +snail inquired of a wild pigeon. "I am Time," the pigeon answered. +"No," said the snail. "You may have been Time and you may be again, some +day, but _I_ am Time now." + +In the evening I drove a drunken man to his home, four miles on the +North Side, and when I helped him out in front of his door, he tried to +hold me, to tell me that I was his friend, but I broke loose from him, +and almost furiously I drove to the theatre. I had not time to go to the +stable; I hired a boy to look after my horse, and hastened to buy a +balcony ticket. The night was warm for the time of the year, but a +threat of rain was in the air, and I was afraid that the house would be +small, but the people kept sprinkling in, and I stood in a corner to +watch them, uneasy and annoyed whenever anyone passed along, without +even looking in toward the box office. The orchestra began with Dixie, +and my blood tingled as I went up the stairs. Viewed from my seat, the +lower part of the house appeared to be well filled and the balcony was +crowded. I had not taken account of those who had gone in before I +arrived. No program had been given to me and I was almost afraid to ask +for one. I did not permit myself to speculate upon my misfortune, an +outcast sneaking in to see his own play; I did not muse upon fate; I sat +there with my pulse beating fast. But I did indulge the comfort of the +thought that should the play prove a failure no one could discover the +humiliation of the author. + +The music ceased, the curtain went up, my heart leaped, and the soft +beauty of the scene brought tears to my eyes. Could I believe it, there +were Culpepper and Miss Hatch, their mouths full of "The Elephant's" +words. A droll line, and the people laughed; a sentiment, and they +applauded. So the ice was broken. The curtain went down with generous +applause. Culpepper and Miss Hatch were called out; but I could hardly +see them, for the foolish tears in my eyes. I knew that the acts to come +were better and my heart swelled with the thought. There were many +faults, of course, but good humor and enthusiasm do not hunt for flaws, +and I laughed and cried and yearned to grasp the hand of a friend. + +"What do you think of it?" I asked of a rough man who sat beside me. + +"Great," he answered. + +"Would you mind shaking hands with me?" + +"I don't know you," he replied, "but I'm a good ways from home, and +we'll call it a go. Put her there." + +He thrust forth his hand. I grasped it and pressed it hard--the first I +had touched in sentiment for many a day; and I was loth to let it go, +but he was forbearing. "Shake again whenever you want to," he said. "A +man that cries at a putty thing ain't a bad feller." + +At the end of the third act there was a roar for the author, and at that +moment I felt almost willing to risk my neck to thank those generous +hearts. + +It was over--and the great organ lifted its voice in triumph as the +audience arose. But if I strode out with the tread of a conqueror, it +was not unmixed with a sorrowful limp, the halting walk of one who sees +the black word "bitterness" written upon the bright banner of his +victory. A cold rain was falling. I stood against the wall to catch the +echo of my achievement, the "good," "enjoyed it so much," "beautiful," +of the hastening throng. The loud cab-calls ceased, and I stepped +forward to drive my vehicle to the stable, when, glancing back, I saw +something that almost wrung a cry from my heart. Beneath the awning +stood the Senator and his daughter. I ran to my cab, threw money to the +boy, seized the horse by the bridle, led him to the curb in front of the +Senator, and bowing under the glistening drip I said, "Cab, Sir?" + +"Yes, I think so," he replied. "We haven't far to go, just around yonder +to the Great Northern Hotel. Let me help you in, Florence. I reckon they +are right in saying that this place has about the worst climate in the +world." + +I held the door open until they were seated, and stood there in a +tremble after I had closed it, yearning to make myself known to them. +But the success of the play could not mean that I was innocent of an old +man's death. They might never have believed me guilty. "I could throw +myself upon their mercy," I mused. "But what if they should turn away +with a cold word and a shudder?" Reason is the offspring of wisdom, but +it has always been a coward. + +"What are you waiting for?" the Senator inquired, with a tap on the +window. "Drive on, please." + +I mounted, not trusting myself to speak, and drove slowly away, with my +eager ear bent low. + +"Never saw anything like that play," said the Senator, "never did. But I +tell you I was scared at first. Why, when that fellow Bugg Peters came +out there I thought surely he would ruin the whole thing. And he was +Bugg, up and up. Yes, thought he would spoil it all. Why, Florence, that +fellow is the biggest liar on the earth!" + +"But he is art, as we saw him to-night, Father." + +"Well, yes. He said the very things that Bugg would have said. Yes, art +all right enough, but whenever he _is_, art has turned out to be a +monstrous liar. It does seem to me, however, that Bolanyo could have +furnished a batch of more respectable characters--more representative, +don't you understand--people of better standing. Washington is all +right, an advancement, a high type of his race, but the pilot and the +shoemaker are--oh, well, they don't represent us. And that old woman's +meant for your Aunt Patsey as sure as you live. But in spite of these +minor faults it is a beautiful play." + +"I wonder," she said, after a moment of silence, "I wonder where Mr. +Belford is to-night; if he could only have seen his victory; if--" + +"Say, there, driver," the Senator cried, "why don't you go ahead? What +do you want to halt along here for? I don't want to hurt your feelings, +you understand, but I could have more than walked there by this time. +Drive up, please." + +We were now near the hotel. I drew up at the curb, jumped down and +opened the cab door. The Senator got out. I did not look at him. I did +not dare to feed my hungry eyes upon her face. He took her hand, and +when she had stepped upon the pavement, she turned about. "Oh, wait a +moment," she said, "my dress is caught. No, it isn't." + +"I will settle with you in a moment," he remarked, looking back at me, +as with haste, though with most gallant gentleness, he urged his +daughter toward the door, out of the rain. I looked hard at her now, +with my heart full of another night, when she had glanced back at me; I +waited, gazing, enchained by her grace, until she reached the door, and +then I sprung upon the cab and drove away. The Senator shouted, but I +did not look around, until, turning a corner, I glanced back, to see him +standing bare-headed in the rain, waving his hat at me. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +DOWN A DARK ALLEY. + + +She had wondered where I was, and the soft echo of her sympathy filled +my heart with a psalm. Surely she could not have suspected me of +Estell's blood. But the Senator--why did he break in as if impatient of +my name? Had he grown weary with hearing it? But his interruption, it +was not hard to believe, was more of a sorrow than an impatience. + +I was near the stable now, but I stopped the horse, almost of a mind to +turn back, to touch her hand, even if compelled to run away to hide +again in fear and shame. I glanced down at my mean garb, I thought of +the fierce aspect of my beard-gnarled face, and pride, not fear, forced +me to hesitate. "But I will go early in the morning," I mused, as I +drove on, still debating, the horse slow under the restraint of my +sullenness. "I will shave my face and--" + +A man stepped out from the shadow into the light and raised his +hand--the man who had put me in a tremor of fear. "I want to see you a +moment," he said. + +I was near the sidewalk, at the mouth of an alley, and without a moment +of speculation as to what the fellow might mean I leaped from the cab +and darted into the alley. He raised a cry and I heard another noise, a +pistol shot, perhaps. I plunged through an opening and scrambled over a +great pile of scrap-iron; I tore open a frail gate and came out upon a +street. People were passing, but they paid but little attention to me. I +crossed the street, entered another alley, made as quick time as I +could, and came out near the river. + +All through the night I hastened onward, sometimes on a railway track +and often in the mud of the prairie. My running away might have been +foolish; the man might simply have wanted to make an inquiry. And, +indeed, if he had settled upon me why had he waited so long? It was easy +enough to reason, but reason when slower than action is a miserable +cripple. I had money enough to pay my way out West, but caution dictated +a fear of open travel, so I was resolved to walk in lonely places until +I felt that to trust a railway train would be less of a risk. The rain +increased with the coming of daylight, and I was driven to seek the +shelter of a barn. A man came out to milk the cows. + +"I have invited myself in out of the rain," said I, as he gave me a +suspicious look. + +"All right. A man ought to have sense enough to come in out of the rain. +Which way are you traveling?" + +"Looking for work," I answered. + +"Well, you ought to be able to find it. But most men hunting for work +these days put me in mind of a horse goin' along the road lookin' for +somethin' to get scared at. A feller came along yesterday and said he +was hungry; but when I showed him some work I wanted done he skulked +off. Are you hungry enough to help build a fence?" + +"No, but I'm hungry enough to pay for something to eat." + +"Oh, well, then, I guess you're all right. Just go on to the house and +make yourself to home." + +I went to the house; and while sitting by the fire, the wind high and +the rain lashing at the window, I formed the resolve to go back to +Bolanyo. I would surrender myself to the authorities, to claim the right +of trial by jury and to accept the result. And reason was not now a +coward, a cripple, but more like a man, cool, bold and strong. I +reviewed with pity the morbid fear that held me back from Maffet; I felt +now that in safety I could have made myself known to him. The Senator +had come to look after my interest, and surely he would not have frowned +upon me. Yes, I would go back to Bolanyo. I was sick of the rabbitlike +freedom of an outlaw. + +"How far is it to the railway station?" I inquired of the farmer. + +"Well," he drawled, "I don't know for certain." + +I knew that it was not in his Yankee nature to give me a direct answer, +so I waited. + +"There's a milk station a little nearer than the other one. Want to get +on the train?" + +"Oh, no, I want to go over to the station to see how it looks in the +rain." + +"Which, the milk station or the other one? Ain't much to see over there, +but the land's worth all of a hundred dollars an acre. But when we came +out here from Connecticut it could have been bought for a song and they +wouldn't have insisted on your carryin' the tune so mighty well. If you +want to go jest to look, the milk station is as good as any and a good +deal better than some; but if you want to get on the express train you'd +better go to the other one." + +"How far is it?" + +"Which, the other one?" + +"Yes, the other one. How far is it?" + +"Well, if you walk, it's--" + +"I don't want to walk; I want you to drive me." + +"Oh, well, if that's the case I guess we can fix it. I'll drive you over +for half a dollar. The train will be along about dark or a little after. +You've got plenty of time." + +"Have you a razor?" + +"I guess I had the best razor you ever saw, but the woman (he meant his +wife) took it one day and raked all the edge off it. But I've got +another one, a rattler." + +"Would you mind my shaving with it?" + +"Well, do you shave left-handed or right-handed?" + +"Right-handed." + +"That's what I was afraid of. I shave left-handed, and if you change +after the razor is set, why, it rather warps it, so to speak. Neighbor +of mine had a razor ruined that way. It might not ruin mine, but I'm +inclined to believe it would suffer about ten cents' worth." + +"All right, I'll stand the damage. You grab after every penny in sight, +I see." + +"Well, I hadn't thought of that, but now that you put me in mind of it, +I guess I will. And why not? Wheat down, can't give oats away, and hogs +a-squealin' because they ain't worth nothin'. Everybody's got his teeth +on edge agin the farmer, and if he don't grab at every penny in sight +they'll have to lift him into a wagon and haul him to the poorhouse. +I'll get the razor." + +I heard him fussing about in an adjoining room, with a complaint, +directed at his wife, that nothing could ever be found on the place, and +presently he returned with the razor, a strop, a bar of soap and a dish +of hot water. I looked at his bearded face and was tickled with conquest +to notice his embarrassment. It was, however, but a brief season of +defeat for him. His humorous shrewdness flew to his aid. "I guess," +said he, "that my beard grows faster than anybody's you ever saw. I +shaved not long ago, and shaved with my left hand, too--to keep my razor +in the same shape and temper, you understand--but my beard grows so fast +that I don't look like it. One of my neighbors tells me that I could +make money growin' hair to stuff buggy cushions with, and maybe I could, +but I never tried it; never had the time, somehow. Now, just hit her a +lick or two on that strop and you'll be all right." + +"You say your people came from Connecticut?" + +"Yes, Sir, from right up the river." + +"Did any of the family go on further South?" + +"I think so. I had an uncle, younger a good deal than my daddy. He went +South, married there and died in the war, on the rebel side. But he left +Connecticut long before I was born. We tried to look up the family some +time ago; I thought we'd like to have a warm place to go sometime in +the winter; and, Sir, I got a letter from my cousin, tellin' me to come. +He lives in Mississippi--name's Bugg Peters. Why, what are you so +astonished at, Mister? It's a fact, and my name's Sam Peters. Well, I'll +go out and hitch up the horse by the time you get shaved." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +CONCLUSION--IN THE GARDEN. + + +Through the dark the train came with a stuttering roar. I turned to +shake hands with Peters, but he had stepped from the platform to hold +his horse. + +"Good-bye," he shouted. "This horse has seen the train every day since +he was born, but he'll run away if I don't hold him. But it runs in his +family to be afraid of the railroad. His brother was killed by a train. +Wish you well, and if you ever come this way again, stop off." + +He was a skinflint and a rascal, but he had shortened a dreary day, and +at parting I regretted that I had not told him of my acquaintance with +his kinsman in the South. + +With a change of cars, at daylight, I could reach Memphis late in the +afternoon, in time to continue my journey by boat to Bolanyo. I lay +back, with my hat pulled down over my face, and strove to compose myself +to sleep, and I dozed, but awoke at the solemn words of a judge, +rumbling with the rhythm of the train. Sometimes I argued that I was a +fool to trust myself to the humor of an excitable people; but soon I +discovered that this speculation was forced, that my mind refused to +treat it seriously, that my hope stood, not at the bar, under the +protection of the law, but in the Senator's garden. And from this +height, in the redolent air, I could not force myself down to muse upon +a long season in a cell, waiting for the court to convene. + +Daylight came. I got off at a station, to step on board another train. I +counted my money and found that I might have enough, upon reaching +Memphis, to buy a suit of cheap clothes. But the most strenuous denial +must be practiced; I could not afford food nor even a newspaper. + +It was nearly four o'clock when the train arrived at Memphis. I hastened +to the landing and learned that a boat would leave within half an hour +and that fifty cents would secure a deck passage to Bolanyo. I was +fitted out by a riverside clothier, and, after a quick "snack" of fish +on a houseboat, I stepped on board the steamer that had brought the +Senator and me with "Magnolia Land" up the river. I stood at the bow, +and my heart leaped at the sight of the first green tinge in the woods. +How soft and delicious was the atmosphere, after the raw wind of the +prairies and the lake. How gently the sun went down, without a shiver, +without a breath too cool. + +I saw the lights of Bolanyo. And I felt about for something to +touch--something to brace me against the surging of an overpowering +emotion. I tried to picture the jail; I strove to recall the yell of the +mob, the awful night, the tread of merciless feet; but I saw a blossom +nodding in the sweet air; I heard a voice that filled my soul with +trembling melody. + +The boat touched the shore, and I leaped upon the landing, before the +plank could be thrown out. And now a caution was necessary. To be +recognized meant a night in jail, perhaps another mob, and it was my +plan to go by lonely ways to the Senator's house and to surrender myself +to him. In my haste I was almost breathless. I passed the lonely +lamp-post and the thicket; I stood at the gate. I opened it without +noise, and, with my heart bounding, I stole up the steps, raised the +door-knocker and let it fall; and with the noise, the breaking of the +metrical throb of the silence, I sprung aside, almost choking. Someone +came slowly down the hall and fumbled at the lock. Would the door ever +be opened? It was, and Washington stood before me. + +"Ah!" he cried, seizing me in his arms. + +"Come right in yere, Sah, Lawd bless yo' life. Let me hep you. Laws er +massy, de man kai hardly walk. Yes, Sah, right yere in de libery." + +He lifted me in his mighty arms, carried me into the library and eased +me down upon a chair. "Now, Sah--Sir--let us try to be cool; let us be +strong with the love of the Lord in our hearts." + +He snatched up a hat and stood over me, fanning my face. "Yes, let us +thank our heavenly father." + +"Where are they--she?" I asked. + +"You must be cool, Mr. Belford. Your excitement might--might be bad for +you all. The Senator is out somewhere and so is Miss Florence. But you +shall see them soon. Just quiet yourself down." + +"I must see them--him at once, to surrender myself." + +"Surrender yourself? What for, Mr. Belford?" + +"Washington, don't force me to say it. You know. I have come back to +give myself up, to stand my trial." + +He ceased his fanning, stepped back and looked at me. "Mr. Belford, +haven't you seen the papers?" + +"I have seen nothing. I have come to give myself up." + +The hat fell from his hand. "Mr. Belford, you must prepare yourself to +hear something. Let me be slow so that it may not excite you." + +"Out with it. I can stand anything." + +"Yes, Sir, but I must remember my failing, my father's rude tongue. But +I will try to tell you in a civilized way. Once I told you of a woman I +loved--now do not be impatient. You must wait, and if you are not cool +you shall not see anyone. The husband of this woman was a sinner, and +his wife kept urging him to join my church. One night not long ago, +moved by the spirit, I talked to the hearts of men, and he was stricken +with conviction. And the next day he came to me. He said that he was in +the thicket and heard a pistol fire, and that not long afterward he came +upon Estell's body with a pistol lying beside it. He looked about. No +one was in sight. He thrust his hand into the dead man's pocket and drew +out a pocketbook and some papers. Then he took up the pistol, but was +afraid to touch the watch, knowing that it would be death to be found +with it. Just then he thought he heard someone coming and he ran away, +with the pocketbook, the papers and the pistol. And one of the papers +was a statement written by Estell. He confessed that he had engaged in +wild speculations, and that he was two hundred thousand dollars short in +his account with the State. He spoke of the commission which would be +appointed to go through his books, and said that he could not face the +disgrace--that death was his only recourse. It has all come out in the +newspapers, and the men who would have hanged you are willing now to +make the most gracious amends. They talk about you constantly, and they +come every day to ask if we have had any news of you. Why, yesterday a +town meeting was held and our ablest speakers blew the horn of your +praise." + +"Where is _she_?" I demanded. + +"She is out at present. Just be calm, and when the time comes you shall +see her. The Senator went North to see the play. She went with him, and +she hasn't been strong since; she was weak enough before. The Senator +wrote to the man who has the play, some time ago, and told him that he +would be held severely responsible for any mention of you in relation to +the murder as it was then thought. And the editor? He sent a retraction +to his paper; he acknowledged that he was a liar, and the Senator has +let him come back to settle up his affairs." + +"Did she--did she grieve?" + +"Her life since then has been one of deepest grief, Mr. Belford, but not +for _him_. And she sits in the garden every evening--waiting--and--and +she is there now, Sir." + +I leaped from the chair; I ran into the garden, calling her name--not +Mrs. Estell--but "Florence! Florence!" + +"Oh, who--who is calling me?" a voice cried, and I saw her clinging to a +tree for support, near the bench where we had often sat. I ran to her, +and the garden lamp light was in her eyes as she looked at me. I stood +in silence, looking at her. I took her hand, and in silence we sat down. +It was a long time before we spoke. + +"Oh, that awful night!" she said, with her head bent low. "There was no +one to help you, and when I heard the bell ring I seized a knife from +the kitchen and threw a shawl over my head and ran down there to stab +the man that tied the rope. I knocked the lantern over and I cut the +cords--" + +Half blind, I saw my tears gleaming in her hair. "And when you stepped +out of the carriage the night of the play you thought your dress was +caught. It was--I caught it to kiss it." + +"Oh!" she cried--and that was all. We sat in silence, my tears gleaming +in her hair. And we heard a voice and a step and we stood up. The +Senator came, with his hand thrust forth, feeling as if he were blind. +And on my shoulder he put his arm, and it was heavy. And "My--my boy," +was all he could say--"My boy." + + + + THIS BOOK HAS BEEN PRINTED + DURING MAY, 1897, BY THE + BLAKELY PRINTING COMPANY, + CHICAGO, FOR WAY & WILLIAMS. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOLANYO*** + + +******* This file should be named 38826.txt or 38826.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/8/8/2/38826 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://www.gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: +http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/38826.zip b/38826.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fee2385 --- /dev/null +++ b/38826.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..97b308e --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #38826 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38826) |
