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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/472-h.zip b/472-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..44ad63b --- /dev/null +++ b/472-h.zip diff --git a/472-h/472-h.htm b/472-h/472-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..702fe38 --- /dev/null +++ b/472-h/472-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10152 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of The House Behind the Cedards, +by Charles W. Chesnutt +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: small ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.finis { text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The House Behind the Cedars, by Charles W. Chesnutt + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The House Behind the Cedars + +Author: Charles W. Chesnutt + +Posting Date: October 9, 2008 [EBook #472] +Release Date: March, 1996 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOUSE BEHIND THE CEDARS *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Keller. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE HOUSE BEHIND THE CEDARS +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CHARLES W. CHESNUTT +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">A STRANGER FROM SOUTH CAROLINA</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">AN EVENING VISIT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">THE OLD JUDGE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">DOWN THE RIVER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">THE TOURNAMENT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">THE QUEEN OF LOVE AND BEAUTY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">'MID NEW SURROUNDINGS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">THE COURTSHIP</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">DOUBTS AND FEARS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">THE DREAM</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">A LETTER AND A JOURNEY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">TRYON GOES TO PATESVILLE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">AN INJUDICIOUS PAYMENT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">A LOYAL FRIEND</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">MINE OWN PEOPLE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">THE BOTTOM FALLS OUT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">TWO LETTERS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">UNDER THE OLD REGIME</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">GOD MADE US ALL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">DIGGING UP ROOTS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap21">A GILDED OPPORTUNITY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap22">IMPERATIVE BUSINESS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap23">THE GUEST OF HONOR</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap24">SWING YOUR PARTNERS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap25">BALANCE ALL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap26">THE SCHOOLHOUSE IN THE WOODS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap27">AN INTERESTING ACQUAINTANCE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap28">THE LOST KNIFE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap29">PLATO EARNS HALF A DOLLAR</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap30">AN UNUSUAL HONOR</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXXI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap31">IN DEEP WATERS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXXII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap32">THE POWER OF LOVE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXXIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap33">A MULE AND A CART</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE HOUSE BEHIND THE CEDARS +</H1> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A STRANGER FROM SOUTH CAROLINA +</H3> + +<P> +Time touches all things with destroying hand; and if he seem now and +then to bestow the bloom of youth, the sap of spring, it is but a brief +mockery, to be surely and swiftly followed by the wrinkles of old age, +the dry leaves and bare branches of winter. And yet there are places +where Time seems to linger lovingly long after youth has departed, and +to which he seems loath to bring the evil day. Who has not known some +even-tempered old man or woman who seemed to have drunk of the fountain +of youth? Who has not seen somewhere an old town that, having long +since ceased to grow, yet held its own without perceptible decline? +</P> + +<P> +Some such trite reflection—as apposite to the subject as most random +reflections are—passed through the mind of a young man who came out of +the front door of the Patesville Hotel about nine o'clock one fine +morning in spring, a few years after the Civil War, and started down +Front Street toward the market-house. Arriving at the town late the +previous evening, he had been driven up from the steamboat in a +carriage, from which he had been able to distinguish only the shadowy +outlines of the houses along the street; so that this morning walk was +his first opportunity to see the town by daylight. He was dressed in a +suit of linen duck—the day was warm—a panama straw hat, and patent +leather shoes. In appearance he was tall, dark, with straight, black, +lustrous hair, and very clean-cut, high-bred features. When he paused +by the clerk's desk on his way out, to light his cigar, the day clerk, +who had just come on duty, glanced at the register and read the last +entry:— +</P> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> + "'JOHN WARWICK, CLARENCE, SOUTH CAROLINA.'<BR> +</H4> + +<BR> + +<P> +"One of the South Ca'lina bigbugs, I reckon—probably in cotton, or +turpentine." The gentleman from South Carolina, walking down the +street, glanced about him with an eager look, in which curiosity and +affection were mingled with a touch of bitterness. He saw little that +was not familiar, or that he had not seen in his dreams a hundred times +during the past ten years. There had been some changes, it is true, +some melancholy changes, but scarcely anything by way of addition or +improvement to counterbalance them. Here and there blackened and +dismantled walls marked the place where handsome buildings once had +stood, for Sherman's march to the sea had left its mark upon the town. +The stores were mostly of brick, two stories high, joining one another +after the manner of cities. Some of the names on the signs were +familiar; others, including a number of Jewish names, were quite +unknown to him. +</P> + +<P> +A two minutes' walk brought Warwick—the name he had registered under, +and as we shall call him—to the market-house, the central feature of +Patesville, from both the commercial and the picturesque points of +view. Standing foursquare in the heart of the town, at the +intersection of the two main streets, a "jog" at each street corner +left around the market-house a little public square, which at this hour +was well occupied by carts and wagons from the country and empty drays +awaiting hire. Warwick was unable to perceive much change in the +market-house. Perhaps the surface of the red brick, long unpainted, +had scaled off a little more here and there. There might have been a +slight accretion of the moss and lichen on the shingled roof. But the +tall tower, with its four-faced clock, rose as majestically and +uncompromisingly as though the land had never been subjugated. Was it +so irreconcilable, Warwick wondered, as still to peal out the curfew +bell, which at nine o'clock at night had clamorously warned all +negroes, slave or free, that it was unlawful for them to be abroad +after that hour, under penalty of imprisonment or whipping? Was the +old constable, whose chief business it had been to ring the bell, still +alive and exercising the functions of his office, and had age lessened +or increased the number of times that obliging citizens performed this +duty for him during his temporary absences in the company of convivial +spirits? A few moments later, Warwick saw a colored policeman in the +old constable's place—a stronger reminder than even the burned +buildings that war had left its mark upon the old town, with which Time +had dealt so tenderly. +</P> + +<P> +The lower story of the market-house was open on all four of its sides +to the public square. Warwick passed through one of the wide brick +arches and traversed the building with a leisurely step. He looked in +vain into the stalls for the butcher who had sold fresh meat twice a +week, on market days, and he felt a genuine thrill of pleasure when he +recognized the red bandana turban of old Aunt Lyddy, the ancient negro +woman who had sold him gingerbread and fried fish, and told him weird +tales of witchcraft and conjuration, in the old days when, as an idle +boy, he had loafed about the market-house. He did not speak to her, +however, or give her any sign of recognition. He threw a glance toward +a certain corner where steps led to the town hall above. On this +stairway he had once seen a manacled free negro shot while being taken +upstairs for examination under a criminal charge. Warwick recalled +vividly how the shot had rung out. He could see again the livid look +of terror on the victim's face, the gathering crowd, the resulting +confusion. The murderer, he recalled, had been tried and sentenced to +imprisonment for life, but was pardoned by a merciful governor after +serving a year of his sentence. As Warwick was neither a prophet nor +the son of a prophet, he could not foresee that, thirty years later, +even this would seem an excessive punishment for so slight a +misdemeanor. +</P> + +<P> +Leaving the market-house, Warwick turned to the left, and kept on his +course until he reached the next corner. After another turn to the +right, a dozen paces brought him in front of a small weather-beaten +frame building, from which projected a wooden sign-board bearing the +inscription:— +</P> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> + ARCHIBALD STRAIGHT,<BR> + LAWYER.<BR> +</H4> + +<P> +He turned the knob, but the door was locked. Retracing his steps past a +vacant lot, the young man entered a shop where a colored man was +employed in varnishing a coffin, which stood on two trestles in the +middle of the floor. Not at all impressed by the melancholy +suggestiveness of his task, he was whistling a lively air with great +gusto. Upon Warwick's entrance this effusion came to a sudden end, and +the coffin-maker assumed an air of professional gravity. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-mawnin', suh," he said, lifting his cap politely. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-morning," answered Warwick. "Can you tell me anything about +Judge Straight's office hours?" +</P> + +<P> +"De ole jedge has be'n a little onreg'lar sence de wah, suh; but he +gin'ally gits roun' 'bout ten o'clock er so. He's be'n kin' er feeble +fer de las' few yeahs. An' I reckon," continued the undertaker +solemnly, his glance unconsciously seeking a row of fine caskets +standing against the wall,—"I reckon he'll soon be goin' de way er all +de earth. 'Man dat is bawn er 'oman hath but a sho't time ter lib, an' +is full er mis'ry. He cometh up an' is cut down lack as a flower.' +'De days er his life is three-sco' an' ten'—an' de ole jedge is libbed +mo' d'n dat, suh, by five yeahs, ter say de leas'." +</P> + +<P> +"'Death,'" quoted Warwick, with whose mood the undertaker's remarks +were in tune, "'is the penalty that all must pay for the crime of +living.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Dat 's a fac', suh, dat 's a fac'; so dey mus'—so dey mus'. An' den +all de dead has ter be buried. An' we does ou' sheer of it, suh, we +does ou' sheer. We conduc's de obs'quies er all de bes' w'ite folks er +de town, suh." +</P> + +<P> +Warwick left the undertaker's shop and retraced his steps until he had +passed the lawyer's office, toward which he threw an affectionate +glance. A few rods farther led him past the old black Presbyterian +church, with its square tower, embowered in a stately grove; past the +Catholic church, with its many crosses, and a painted wooden figure of +St. James in a recess beneath the gable; and past the old Jefferson +House, once the leading hotel of the town, in front of which political +meetings had been held, and political speeches made, and political hard +cider drunk, in the days of "Tippecanoe and Tyler too." +</P> + +<P> +The street down which Warwick had come intersected Front Street at a +sharp angle in front of the old hotel, forming a sort of flatiron block +at the junction, known as Liberty Point,—perhaps because slave +auctions were sometimes held there in the good old days. Just before +Warwick reached Liberty Point, a young woman came down Front Street +from the direction of the market-house. When their paths converged, +Warwick kept on down Front Street behind her, it having been already +his intention to walk in this direction. +</P> + +<P> +Warwick's first glance had revealed the fact that the young woman was +strikingly handsome, with a stately beauty seldom encountered. As he +walked along behind her at a measured distance, he could not help +noting the details that made up this pleasing impression, for his mind +was singularly alive to beauty, in whatever embodiment. The girl's +figure, he perceived, was admirably proportioned; she was evidently at +the period when the angles of childhood were rounding into the +promising curves of adolescence. Her abundant hair, of a dark and +glossy brown, was neatly plaited and coiled above an ivory column that +rose straight from a pair of gently sloping shoulders, clearly outlined +beneath the light muslin frock that covered them. He could see that +she was tastefully, though not richly, dressed, and that she walked +with an elastic step that revealed a light heart and the vigor of +perfect health. Her face, of course, he could not analyze, since he +had caught only the one brief but convincing glimpse of it. +</P> + +<P> +The young woman kept on down Front Street, Warwick maintaining his +distance a few rods behind her. They passed a factory, a warehouse or +two, and then, leaving the brick pavement, walked along on mother +earth, under a leafy arcade of spreading oaks and elms. Their way led +now through a residential portion of the town, which, as they advanced, +gradually declined from staid respectability to poverty, open and +unabashed. Warwick observed, as they passed through the respectable +quarter, that few people who met the girl greeted her, and that some +others whom she passed at gates or doorways gave her no sign of +recognition; from which he inferred that she was possibly a visitor in +the town and not well acquainted. +</P> + +<P> +Their walk had continued not more than ten minutes when they crossed a +creek by a wooden bridge and came to a row of mean houses standing +flush with the street. At the door of one, an old black woman had +stooped to lift a large basket, piled high with laundered clothes. The +girl, as she passed, seized one end of the basket and helped the old +woman to raise it to her head, where it rested solidly on the cushion +of her head-kerchief. During this interlude, Warwick, though he had +slackened his pace measurably, had so nearly closed the gap between +himself and them as to hear the old woman say, with the dulcet negro +intonation:— +</P> + +<P> +"T'anky', honey; de Lawd gwine bless you sho'. You wuz alluz a good +gal, and de Lawd love eve'ybody w'at he'p de po' ole nigger. You gwine +ter hab good luck all yo' bawn days." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope you're a true prophet, Aunt Zilphy," laughed the girl in +response. +</P> + +<P> +The sound of her voice gave Warwick a thrill. It was soft and sweet and +clear—quite in harmony with her appearance. That it had a faint +suggestiveness of the old woman's accent he hardly noticed, for the +current Southern speech, including his own, was rarely without a touch +of it. The corruption of the white people's speech was one +element—only one—of the negro's unconscious revenge for his own +debasement. +</P> + +<P> +The houses they passed now grew scattering, and the quarter of the town +more neglected. Warwick felt himself wondering where the girl might be +going in a neighborhood so uninviting. When she stopped to pull a +half-naked negro child out of a mudhole and set him upon his feet, he +thought she might be some young lady from the upper part of the town, +bound on some errand of mercy, or going, perhaps, to visit an old +servant or look for a new one. Once she threw a backward glance at +Warwick, thus enabling him to catch a second glimpse of a singularly +pretty face. Perhaps the young woman found his presence in the +neighborhood as unaccountable as he had deemed hers; for, finding his +glance fixed upon her, she quickened her pace with an air of startled +timidity. +</P> + +<P> +"A woman with such a figure," thought Warwick, "ought to be able to +face the world with the confidence of Phryne confronting her judges." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +By this time Warwick was conscious that something more than mere grace +or beauty had attracted him with increasing force toward this young +woman. A suggestion, at first faint and elusive, of something +familiar, had grown stronger when he heard her voice, and became more +and more pronounced with each rod of their advance; and when she +stopped finally before a gate, and, opening it, went into a yard shut +off from the street by a row of dwarf cedars, Warwick had already +discounted in some measure the surprise he would have felt at seeing +her enter there had he not walked down Front Street behind her. There +was still sufficient unexpectedness about the act, however, to give him +a decided thrill of pleasure. +</P> + +<P> +"It must be Rena," he murmured. "Who could have dreamed that she would +blossom out like that? It must surely be Rena!" +</P> + +<P> +He walked slowly past the gate and peered through a narrow gap in the +cedar hedge. The girl was moving along a sanded walk, toward a gray, +unpainted house, with a steep roof, broken by dormer windows. The +trace of timidity he had observed in her had given place to the more +assured bearing of one who is upon his own ground. The garden walks +were bordered by long rows of jonquils, pinks, and carnations, +inclosing clumps of fragrant shrubs, lilies, and roses already in +bloom. Toward the middle of the garden stood two fine magnolia-trees, +with heavy, dark green, glistening leaves, while nearer the house two +mighty elms shaded a wide piazza, at one end of which a honeysuckle +vine, and at the other a Virginia creeper, running over a wooden +lattice, furnished additional shade and seclusion. On dark or wintry +days, the aspect of this garden must have been extremely sombre and +depressing, and it might well have seemed a fit place to hide some +guilty or disgraceful secret. But on the bright morning when Warwick +stood looking through the cedars, it seemed, with its green frame and +canopy and its bright carpet of flowers, an ideal retreat from the +fierce sunshine and the sultry heat of the approaching summer. +</P> + +<P> +The girl stooped to pluck a rose, and as she bent over it, her profile +was clearly outlined. She held the flower to her face with a +long-drawn inhalation, then went up the steps, crossed the piazza, +opened the door without knocking, and entered the house with the air of +one thoroughly at home. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said the young man to himself, "it's Rena, sure enough." +</P> + +<P> +The house stood on a corner, around which the cedar hedge turned, +continuing along the side of the garden until it reached the line of +the front of the house. The piazza to a rear wing, at right angles to +the front of the house, was open to inspection from the side street, +which, to judge from its deserted look, seemed to be but little used. +Turning into this street and walking leisurely past the back yard, +which was only slightly screened from the street by a china-tree, +Warwick perceived the young woman standing on the piazza, facing an +elderly woman, who sat in a large rocking-chair, plying a pair of +knitting-needles on a half-finished stocking. Warwick's walk led him +within three feet of the side gate, which he felt an almost +irresistible impulse to enter. Every detail of the house and garden +was familiar; a thousand cords of memory and affection drew him +thither; but a stronger counter-motive prevailed. With a great effort +he restrained himself, and after a momentary pause, walked slowly on +past the house, with a backward glance, which he turned away when he +saw that it was observed. +</P> + +<P> +Warwick's attention had been so fully absorbed by the house behind the +cedars and the women there, that he had scarcely noticed, on the other +side of the neglected by-street, two men working by a large open +window, in a low, rude building with a clapboarded roof, directly +opposite the back piazza occupied by the two women. Both the men were +busily engaged in shaping barrel-staves, each wielding a sharp-edged +drawing-knife on a piece of seasoned oak clasped tightly in a wooden +vise. +</P> + +<P> +"I jes' wonder who dat man is, an' w'at he 's doin' on dis street," +observed the younger of the two, with a suspicious air. He had noticed +the gentleman's involuntary pause and his interest in the opposite +house, and had stopped work for a moment to watch the stranger as he +went on down the street. +</P> + +<P> +"Nev' min' 'bout dat man," said the elder one. "You 'ten' ter yo' wuk +an' finish dat bairl-stave. You spen's enti'ely too much er yo' time +stretchin' yo' neck atter other people. An' you need n' 'sturb yo'se'f +'bout dem folks 'cross de street, fer dey ain't yo' kin', an' you're +wastin' yo' time both'in' yo' min' wid 'em, er wid folks w'at comes on +de street on account of 'em. Look sha'p now, boy, er you'll git dat +stave trim' too much." +</P> + +<P> +The younger man resumed his work, but still found time to throw a +slanting glance out of the window. The gentleman, he perceived, stood +for a moment on the rotting bridge across the old canal, and then +walked slowly ahead until he turned to the right into Back Street, a +few rods farther on. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AN EVENING VISIT +</H3> + +<P> +Toward evening of the same day, Warwick took his way down Front Street +in the gathering dusk. By the time night had spread its mantle over the +earth, he had reached the gate by which he had seen the girl of his +morning walk enter the cedar-bordered garden. He stopped at the gate +and glanced toward the house, which seemed dark and silent and deserted. +</P> + +<P> +"It's more than likely," he thought, "that they are in the kitchen. I +reckon I'd better try the back door." +</P> + +<P> +But as he drew cautiously near the corner, he saw a man's figure +outlined in the yellow light streaming from the open door of a small +house between Front Street and the cooper shop. Wishing, for reasons +of his own, to avoid observation, Warwick did not turn the corner, but +walked on down Front Street until he reached a point from which he +could see, at a long angle, a ray of light proceeding from the kitchen +window of the house behind the cedars. +</P> + +<P> +"They are there," he muttered with a sigh of relief, for he had feared +they might be away. "I suspect I'll have to go to the front door, +after all. No one can see me through the trees." +</P> + +<P> +He retraced his steps to the front gate, which he essayed to open. +There was apparently some defect in the latch, for it refused to work. +Warwick remembered the trick, and with a slight sense of amusement, +pushed his foot under the gate and gave it a hitch to the left, after +which it opened readily enough. He walked softly up the sanded path, +tiptoed up the steps and across the piazza, and rapped at the front +door, not too loudly, lest this too might attract the attention of the +man across the street. There was no response to his rap. He put his +ear to the door and heard voices within, and the muffled sound of +footsteps. After a moment he rapped again, a little louder than before. +</P> + +<P> +There was an instant cessation of the sounds within. He rapped a third +time, to satisfy any lingering doubt in the minds of those who he felt +sure were listening in some trepidation. A moment later a ray of light +streamed through the keyhole. +</P> + +<P> +"Who's there?" a woman's voice inquired somewhat sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"A gentleman," answered Warwick, not holding it yet time to reveal +himself. "Does Mis' Molly Walden live here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," was the guarded answer. "I'm Mis' Walden. What's yo'r +business?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have a message to you from your son John." +</P> + +<P> +A key clicked in the lock. The door opened, and the elder of the two +women Warwick had seen upon the piazza stood in the doorway, peering +curiously and with signs of great excitement into the face of the +stranger. +</P> + +<P> +"You 've got a message from my son, you say?" she asked with tremulous +agitation. "Is he sick, or in trouble?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. He's well and doing well, and sends his love to you, and hopes +you've not forgotten him." +</P> + +<P> +"Fergot him? No, God knows I ain't fergot him! But come in, sir, an' +tell me somethin' mo' about him." +</P> + +<P> +Warwick went in, and as the woman closed the door after him, he threw a +glance round the room. On the wall, over the mantelpiece, hung a steel +engraving of General Jackson at the battle of New Orleans, and, on the +opposite wall, a framed fashion-plate from "Godey's Lady's Book." In +the middle of the room an octagonal centre-table with a single leg, +terminating in three sprawling feet, held a collection of curiously +shaped sea-shells. There was a great haircloth sofa, somewhat the worse +for wear, and a well-filled bookcase. The screen standing before the +fireplace was covered with Confederate bank-notes of various +denominations and designs, in which the heads of Jefferson Davis and +other Confederate leaders were conspicuous. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Imperious Caesar, dead, and turned to clay,<BR> + Might stop a hole to keep the wind away,"<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +murmured the young man, as his eye fell upon this specimen of +decorative art. +</P> + +<P> +The woman showed her visitor to a seat. She then sat down facing him +and looked at him closely. "When did you last see my son?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I've never met your son," he replied. +</P> + +<P> +Her face fell. "Then the message comes through you from somebody else?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, directly from your son." +</P> + +<P> +She scanned his face with a puzzled look. This bearded young +gentleman, who spoke so politely and was dressed so well, surely—no, +it could not be! and yet— +</P> + +<P> +Warwick was smiling at her through a mist of tears. An electric spark +of sympathy flashed between them. They rose as if moved by one +impulse, and were clasped in each other's arms. +</P> + +<P> +"John, my John! It IS John!" +</P> + +<P> +"Mother—my dear old mother!" +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't think," she sobbed, "that I'd ever see you again." +</P> + +<P> +He smoothed her hair and kissed her. "And are you glad to see me, +mother?" +</P> + +<P> +"Am I glad to see you? It's like the dead comin' to life. I thought +I'd lost you forever, John, my son, my darlin' boy!" she answered, +hugging him strenuously. +</P> + +<P> +"I couldn't live without seeing you, mother," he said. He meant it, +too, or thought he did, although he had not seen her for ten years. +</P> + +<P> +"You've grown so tall, John, and are such a fine gentleman! And you +ARE a gentleman now, John, ain't you—sure enough? Nobody knows the +old story?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, mother, I've taken a man's chance in life, and have tried to +make the most of it; and I haven't felt under any obligation to spoil +it by raking up old stories that are best forgotten. There are the dear +old books: have they been read since I went away?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, honey, there's be'n nobody to read 'em, excep' Rena, an' she don't +take to books quite like you did. But I've kep' 'em dusted clean, an' +kep' the moths an' the bugs out; for I hoped you'd come back some day, +an' knowed you'd like to find 'em all in their places, jus' like you +left 'em." +</P> + +<P> +"That's mighty nice of you, mother. You could have done no more if you +had loved them for themselves. But where is Rena? I saw her on the +street to-day, but she didn't know me from Adam; nor did I guess it was +she until she opened the gate and came into the yard." +</P> + +<P> +"I've be'n so glad to see you that I'd fergot about her," answered the +mother. "Rena, oh, Rena!" +</P> + +<P> +The girl was not far away; she had been standing in the next room, +listening intently to every word of the conversation, and only kept +from coming in by a certain constraint that made a brother whom she had +not met for so many years seem almost as much a stranger as if he had +not been connected with her by any tie. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, mamma," she answered, coming forward. +</P> + +<P> +"Rena, child, here's yo'r brother John, who's come back to see us. +Tell 'im howdy." +</P> + +<P> +As she came forward, Warwick rose, put his arm around her waist, drew +her toward him, and kissed her affectionately, to her evident +embarrassment. She was a tall girl, but he towered above her in quite a +protecting fashion; and she thought with a thrill how fine it would be +to have such a brother as this in the town all the time. How proud she +would be, if she could but walk up the street with such a brother by +her side! She could then hold up her head before all the world, +oblivious to the glance of pity or contempt. She felt a very +pronounced respect for this tall gentleman who held her blushing face +between his hands and looked steadily into her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"You're the little sister I used to read stories to, and whom I +promised to come and see some day. Do you remember how you cried when +I went away?" +</P> + +<P> +"It seems but yesterday," she answered. "I've still got the dime you +gave me." +</P> + +<P> +He kissed her again, and then drew her down beside him on the sofa, +where he sat enthroned between the two loving and excited women. No +king could have received more sincere or delighted homage. He was a +man, come into a household of women,—a man of whom they were proud, +and to whom they looked up with fond reverence. For he was not only a +son,—a brother—but he represented to them the world from which +circumstances had shut them out, and to which distance lent even more +than its usual enchantment; and they felt nearer to this far-off world +because of the glory which Warwick reflected from it. +</P> + +<P> +"You're a very pretty girl," said Warwick, regarding his sister +thoughtfully. "I followed you down Front Street this morning, and +scarcely took my eyes off you all the way; and yet I didn't know you, +and scarcely saw your face. You improve on acquaintance; to-night, I +find you handsomer still." +</P> + +<P> +"Now, John," said his mother, expostulating mildly, "you'll spile her, +if you don't min'." +</P> + +<P> +The girl was beaming with gratified vanity. What woman would not find +such praise sweet from almost any source, and how much more so from +this great man, who, from his exalted station in the world, must surely +know the things whereof he spoke! She believed every word of it; she +knew it very well indeed, but wished to hear it repeated and itemized +and emphasized. +</P> + +<P> +"No, he won't, mamma," she asserted, "for he's flattering me. He talks +as if I was some rich young lady, who lives on the Hill,"—the Hill was +the aristocratic portion of the town,—"instead of a poor." +</P> + +<P> +"Instead of a poor young girl, who has the hill to climb," replied her +brother, smoothing her hair with his hand. Her hair was long and +smooth and glossy, with a wave like the ripple of a summer breeze upon +the surface of still water. It was the girl's great pride, and had +been sedulously cared for. "What lovely hair! It has just the wave +that yours lacks, mother." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," was the regretful reply, "I've never be'n able to git that wave +out. But her hair's be'n took good care of, an' there ain't nary gal +in town that's got any finer." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't worry about the wave, mother. It's just the fashionable ripple, +and becomes her immensely. I think my little Albert favors his Aunt +Rena somewhat." +</P> + +<P> +"Your little Albert!" they cried. "You've got a child?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes," he replied calmly, "a very fine baby boy." +</P> + +<P> +They began to purr in proud contentment at this information, and made +minute inquiries about the age and weight and eyes and nose and other +important details of this precious infant. They inquired more coldly +about the child's mother, of whom they spoke with greater warmth when +they learned that she was dead. They hung breathless on Warwick's +words as he related briefly the story of his life since he had left, +years before, the house behind the cedars—how with a stout heart and +an abounding hope he had gone out into a seemingly hostile world, and +made fortune stand and deliver. His story had for the women the charm +of an escape from captivity, with all the thrill of a pirate's tale. +With the whole world before him, he had remained in the South, the land +of his fathers, where, he conceived, he had an inalienable birthright. +By some good chance he had escaped military service in the Confederate +army, and, in default of older and more experienced men, had +undertaken, during the rebellion, the management of a large estate, +which had been left in the hands of women and slaves. He had filled +the place so acceptably, and employed his leisure to such advantage, +that at the close of the war he found himself—he was modest enough to +think, too, in default of a better man—the husband of the orphan +daughter of the gentleman who had owned the plantation, and who had +lost his life upon the battlefield. Warwick's wife was of good family, +and in a more settled condition of society it would not have been easy +for a young man of no visible antecedents to win her hand. A year or +two later, he had taken the oath of allegiance, and had been admitted +to the South Carolina bar. Rich in his wife's right, he had been able +to practice his profession upon a high plane, without the worry of +sordid cares, and with marked success for one of his age. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose," he concluded, "that I have got along at the bar, as +elsewhere, owing to the lack of better men. Many of the good lawyers +were killed in the war, and most of the remainder were disqualified; +while I had the advantage of being alive, and of never having been in +arms against the government. People had to have lawyers, and they gave +me their business in preference to the carpet-baggers. Fortune, you +know, favors the available man." +</P> + +<P> +His mother drank in with parted lips and glistening eyes the story of +his adventures and the record of his successes. As Rena listened, the +narrow walls that hemmed her in seemed to draw closer and closer, as +though they must crush her. Her brother watched her keenly. He had +been talking not only to inform the women, but with a deeper purpose, +conceived since his morning walk, and deepened as he had followed, +during his narrative, the changing expression of Rena's face and noted +her intense interest in his story, her pride in his successes, and the +occasional wistful look that indexed her self-pity so completely. +</P> + +<P> +"An' I s'pose you're happy, John?" asked his mother. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, mother, happiness is a relative term, and depends, I imagine, +upon how nearly we think we get what we think we want. I have had my +chance and haven't thrown it away, and I suppose I ought to be happy. +But then, I have lost my wife, whom I loved very dearly, and who loved +me just as much, and I'm troubled about my child." +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" they demanded. "Is there anything the matter with him?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, not exactly. He's well enough, as babies go, and has a good +enough nurse, as nurses go. But the nurse is ignorant, and not always +careful. A child needs some woman of its own blood to love it and look +after it intelligently." +</P> + +<P> +Mis' Molly's eyes were filled with tearful yearning. She would have +given all the world to warm her son's child upon her bosom; but she +knew this could not be. +</P> + +<P> +"Did your wife leave any kin?" she asked with an effort. +</P> + +<P> +"No near kin; she was an only child." +</P> + +<P> +"You'll be gettin' married again," suggested his mother. +</P> + +<P> +"No," he replied; "I think not." +</P> + +<P> +Warwick was still reading his sister's face, and saw the spark of hope +that gleamed in her expressive eye. +</P> + +<P> +"If I had some relation of my own that I could take into the house with +me," he said reflectively, "the child might be healthier and happier, +and I should be much more at ease about him." +</P> + +<P> +The mother looked from son to daughter with a dawning apprehension and +a sudden pallor. When she saw the yearning in Rena's eyes, she threw +herself at her son's feet. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, John," she cried despairingly, "don't take her away from me! +Don't take her, John, darlin', for it'd break my heart to lose her!" +</P> + +<P> +Rena's arms were round her mother's neck, and Rena's voice was sounding +in her ears. "There, there, mamma! Never mind! I won't leave you, +mamma—dear old mamma! Your Rena'll stay with you always, and never, +never leave you." +</P> + +<P> +John smoothed his mother's hair with a comforting touch, patted her +withered cheek soothingly, lifted her tenderly to her place by his +side, and put his arm about her. +</P> + +<P> +"You love your children, mother?" +</P> + +<P> +"They're all I've got," she sobbed, "an' they cos' me all I had. When +the las' one's gone, I'll want to go too, for I'll be all alone in the +world. Don't take Rena, John; for if you do, I'll never see her again, +an' I can't bear to think of it. How would you like to lose yo'r one +child?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, well, mother, we'll say no more about it. And now tell me all +about yourself, and about the neighbors, and how you got through the +war, and who's dead and who's married—and everything." +</P> + +<P> +The change of subject restored in some degree Mis' Molly's equanimity, +and with returning calmness came a sense of other responsibilities. +</P> + +<P> +"Good gracious, Rena!" she exclaimed. "John 's be'n in the house an +hour, and ain't had nothin' to eat yet! Go in the kitchen an' spread a +clean tablecloth, an' git out that 'tater pone, an' a pitcher o' that +las' kag o' persimmon beer, an' let John take a bite an' a sip." +</P> + +<P> +Warwick smiled at the mention of these homely dainties. "I thought of +your sweet-potato pone at the hotel to-day, when I was at dinner, and +wondered if you'd have some in the house. There was never any like +yours; and I've forgotten the taste of persimmon beer entirely." +</P> + +<P> +Rena left the room to carry out her hospitable commission. Warwick, +taking advantage of her absence, returned after a while to the former +subject. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, mother," he said calmly, "I wouldn't think of taking Rena +away against your wishes. A mother's claim upon her child is a high +and holy one. Of course she will have no chance here, where our story +is known. The war has wrought great changes, has put the bottom rail +on top, and all that—but it hasn't wiped THAT out. Nothing but death +can remove that stain, if it does not follow us even beyond the grave. +Here she must forever be—nobody! With me she might have got out into +the world; with her beauty she might have made a good marriage; and, if +I mistake not, she has sense as well as beauty." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," sighed the mother, "she's got good sense. She ain't as quick as +you was, an' don't read as many books, but she's keerful an' +painstakin', an' always tries to do what's right. She's be'n thinkin' +about goin' away somewhere an' tryin' to git a school to teach, er +somethin', sence the Yankees have started 'em everywhere for po' white +folks an' niggers too. But I don't like fer her to go too fur." +</P> + +<P> +"With such beauty and brains," continued Warwick, "she could leave this +town and make a place for herself. The place is already made. She has +only to step into my carriage—after perhaps a little preparation—and +ride up the hill which I have had to climb so painfully. It would be a +great pleasure to me to see her at the top. But of course it is +impossible—a mere idle dream. YOUR claim comes first; her duty chains +her here." +</P> + +<P> +"It would be so lonely without her," murmured the mother weakly, "an' I +love her so—my las' one!" +</P> + +<P> +"No doubt—no doubt," returned Warwick, with a sympathetic sigh; "of +course you love her. It's not to be thought of for a moment. It's a +pity that she couldn't have a chance here—but how could she! I had +thought she might marry a gentleman, but I dare say she'll do as well +as the rest of her friends—as well as Mary B., for instance, who +married—Homer Pettifoot, did you say? Or maybe Billy Oxendine might +do for her. As long as she has never known any better, she'll probably +be as well satisfied as though she married a rich man, and lived in a +fine house, and kept a carriage and servants, and moved with the best +in the land." +</P> + +<P> +The tortured mother could endure no more. The one thing she desired +above all others was her daughter's happiness. Her own life had not +been governed by the highest standards, but about her love for her +beautiful daughter there was no taint of selfishness. The life her son +had described had been to her always the ideal but unattainable life. +Circumstances, some beyond her control, and others for which she was +herself in a measure responsible, had put it forever and inconceivably +beyond her reach. It had been conquered by her son. It beckoned to +her daughter. The comparison of this free and noble life with the +sordid existence of those around her broke down the last barrier of +opposition. +</P> + +<P> +"O Lord!" she moaned, "what shall I do with out her? It'll be lonely, +John—so lonely!" +</P> + +<P> +"You'll have your home, mother," said Warwick tenderly, accepting the +implied surrender. "You'll have your friends and relatives, and the +knowledge that your children are happy. I'll let you hear from us +often, and no doubt you can see Rena now and then. But you must let +her go, mother,—it would be a sin against her to refuse." +</P> + +<P> +"She may go," replied the mother brokenly. "I'll not stand in her +way—I've got sins enough to answer for already." +</P> + +<P> +Warwick watched her pityingly. He had stirred her feelings to unwonted +depths, and his sympathy went out to her. If she had sinned, she had +been more sinned against than sinning, and it was not his part to judge +her. He had yielded to a sentimental weakness in deciding upon this +trip to Patesville. A matter of business had brought him within a +day's journey of the town, and an over-mastering impulse had compelled +him to seek the mother who had given him birth and the old town where +he had spent the earlier years of his life. No one would have +acknowledged sooner than he the folly of this visit. Men who have +elected to govern their lives by principles of abstract right and +reason, which happen, perhaps, to be at variance with what society +considers equally right and reasonable, should, for fear of +complications, be careful about descending from the lofty heights of +logic to the common level of impulse and affection. Many years before, +Warwick, when a lad of eighteen, had shaken the dust of the town from +his feet, and with it, he fondly thought, the blight of his +inheritance, and had achieved elsewhere a worthy career. But during +all these years of absence he had cherished a tender feeling for his +mother, and now again found himself in her house, amid the familiar +surroundings of his childhood. His visit had brought joy to his +mother's heart, and was now to bring its shrouded companion, sorrow. +His mother had lived her life, for good or ill. A wider door was open +to his sister—her mother must not bar the entrance. +</P> + +<P> +"She may go," the mother repeated sadly, drying her tears. "I'll give +her up for her good." +</P> + +<P> +"The table 's ready, mamma," said Rena, coming to the door. +</P> + +<P> +The lunch was spread in the kitchen, a large unplastered room at the +rear, with a wide fireplace at one end. Only yesterday, it seemed to +Warwick, he had sprawled upon the hearth, turning sweet potatoes before +the fire, or roasting groundpeas in the ashes; or, more often, reading, +by the light of a blazing pine-knot or lump of resin, some volume from +the bookcase in the hall. From Bulwer's novel, he had read the story +of Warwick the Kingmaker, and upon leaving home had chosen it for his +own. He was a new man, but he had the blood of an old race, and he +would select for his own one of its worthy names. Overhead loomed the +same smoky beams, decorated with what might have been, from all +appearances, the same bunches of dried herbs, the same strings of +onions and red peppers. Over in the same corner stood the same +spinning-wheel, and through the open door of an adjoining room he saw +the old loom, where in childhood he had more than once thrown the +shuttle. The kitchen was different from the stately dining-room of the +old colonial mansion where he now lived; but it was homelike, and it +was familiar. The sight of it moved his heart, and he felt for the +moment a sort of a blind anger against the fate which made it necessary +that he should visit the home of his childhood, if at all, like a thief +in the night. But he realized, after a moment, that the thought was +pure sentiment, and that one who had gained so much ought not to +complain if he must give up a little. He who would climb the heights +of life must leave even the pleasantest valleys behind. +</P> + +<P> +"Rena," asked her mother, "how'd you like to go an' pay yo'r brother +John a visit? I guess I might spare you for a little while." +</P> + +<P> +The girl's eyes lighted up. She would not have gone if her mother had +wished her to stay, but she would always have regarded this as the lost +opportunity of her life. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you sure you don't care, mamma?" she asked, hoping and yet +doubting. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'll manage to git along somehow or other. You can go an' stay +till you git homesick, an' then John'll let you come back home." +</P> + +<P> +But Mis' Molly believed that she would never come back, except, like +her brother, under cover of the night. She must lose her daughter as +well as her son, and this should be the penance for her sin. That her +children must expiate as well the sins of their fathers, who had sinned +so lightly, after the manner of men, neither she nor they could +foresee, since they could not read the future. +</P> + +<P> +The next boat by which Warwick could take his sister away left early in +the morning of the next day but one. He went back to his hotel with +the understanding that the morrow should be devoted to getting Rena +ready for her departure, and that Warwick would visit the household +again the following evening; for, as has been intimated, there were +several reasons why there should be no open relations between the fine +gentleman at the hotel and the women in the house behind the cedars, +who, while superior in blood and breeding to the people of the +neighborhood in which they lived, were yet under the shadow of some +cloud which clearly shut them out from the better society of the town. +Almost any resident could have given one or more of these reasons, of +which any one would have been sufficient to most of them; and to some +of them Warwick's mere presence in the town would have seemed a bold +and daring thing. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE OLD JUDGE +</H3> + +<P> +On the morning following the visit to his mother, Warwick visited the +old judge's office. The judge was not in, but the door stood open, and +Warwick entered to await his return. There had been fewer changes in +the office, where he had spent many, many hours, than in the town +itself. The dust was a little thicker, the papers in the pigeon-holes +of the walnut desk were a little yellower, the cobwebs in the corners a +little more aggressive. The flies droned as drowsily and the murmur of +the brook below was just as audible. Warwick stood at the rear window +and looked out over a familiar view. Directly across the creek, on the +low ground beyond, might be seen the dilapidated stone foundation of +the house where once had lived Flora Macdonald, the Jacobite refugee, +the most romantic character of North Carolina history. Old Judge +Straight had had a tree cut away from the creek-side opposite his +window, so that this historic ruin might be visible from his office; +for the judge could trace the ties of blood that connected him +collaterally with this famous personage. His pamphlet on Flora +Macdonald, printed for private circulation, was highly prized by those +of his friends who were fortunate enough to obtain a copy. To the left +of the window a placid mill-pond spread its wide expanse, and to the +right the creek disappeared under a canopy of overhanging trees. +</P> + +<P> +A footstep sounded in the doorway, and Warwick, turning, faced the old +judge. Time had left greater marks upon the lawyer than upon his +office. His hair was whiter, his stoop more pronounced; when he spoke +to Warwick, his voice had some of the shrillness of old age; and in his +hand, upon which the veins stood out prominently, a decided tremor was +perceptible. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-morning, Judge Straight," said the young man, removing his hat +with the graceful Southern deference of the young for the old. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-morning, sir," replied the judge with equal courtesy. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't remember me, I imagine," suggested Warwick. +</P> + +<P> +"Your face seems familiar," returned the judge cautiously, "but I +cannot for the moment recall your name. I shall be glad to have you +refresh my memory." +</P> + +<P> +"I was John Walden, sir, when you knew me." +</P> + +<P> +The judge's face still gave no answering light of recognition. +</P> + +<P> +"Your old office-boy," continued the younger man. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, indeed, so you were!" rejoined the judge warmly, extending his +hand with great cordiality, and inspecting Warwick more closely through +his spectacles. "Let me see—you went away a few years before the war, +wasn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir, to South Carolina." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes, I remember now! I had been thinking it was to the North. +So many things have happened since then, that it taxes an old man's +memory to keep track of them all. Well, well! and how have you been +getting along?" +</P> + +<P> +Warwick told his story in outline, much as he had given it to his +mother and sister, and the judge seemed very much interested. +</P> + +<P> +"And you married into a good family?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"And have children?" +</P> + +<P> +"One." +</P> + +<P> +"And you are visiting your mother?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not exactly. I have seen her, but I am stopping at a hotel." +</P> + +<P> +"H'm! Are you staying long?" +</P> + +<P> +"I leave to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"It's well enough. I wouldn't stay too long. The people of a small +town are inquisitive about strangers, and some of them have long +memories. I remember we went over the law, which was in your favor; but +custom is stronger than law—in these matters custom IS law. It was a +great pity that your father did not make a will. Well, my boy, I wish +you continued good luck; I imagined you would make your way." +</P> + +<P> +Warwick went away, and the old judge sat for a moment absorbed in +reflection. "Right and wrong," he mused, "must be eternal verities, +but our standards for measuring them vary with our latitude and our +epoch. We make our customs lightly; once made, like our sins, they +grip us in bands of steel; we become the creatures of our creations. +By one standard my old office-boy should never have been born. Yet he +is a son of Adam, and came into existence in the way ordained by God +from the beginning of the world. In equity he would seem to be entitled +to his chance in life; it might have been wiser, though, for him to +seek it farther afield than South Carolina. It was too near home, even +though the laws were with him." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DOWN THE RIVER +</H3> + +<P> +Neither mother nor daughter slept a great deal during the night of +Warwick's first visit. Mis' Molly anointed her sacrifice with tears and +cried herself to sleep. Rena's emotions were more conflicting; she was +sorry to leave her mother, but glad to go with her brother. The mere +journey she was about to make was a great event for the two women to +contemplate, to say nothing of the golden vision that lay beyond, for +neither of them had ever been out of the town or its vicinity. +</P> + +<P> +The next day was devoted to preparations for the journey. Rena's +slender wardrobe was made ready and packed in a large valise. Towards +sunset, Mis' Molly took off her apron, put on her slat-bonnet,—she was +ever the pink of neatness,—picked her way across the street, which was +muddy from a rain during the day, traversed the foot-bridge that +spanned the ditch in front of the cooper shop, and spoke first to the +elder of the two men working there. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-evenin', Peter." +</P> + +<P> +"Good-evenin', ma'm," responded the man briefly, and not relaxing at +all the energy with which he was trimming a barrel-stave. +</P> + +<P> +Mis' Molly then accosted the younger workman, a dark-brown young man, +small in stature, but with a well-shaped head, an expressive forehead, +and features indicative of kindness, intelligence, humor, and +imagination. "Frank," she asked, "can I git you to do somethin' fer me +soon in the mo'nin'?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yas 'm, I reckon so," replied the young man, resting his hatchet on +the chopping-block. "W'at is it, Mis' Molly?" +</P> + +<P> +"My daughter 's goin' away on the boat, an' I 'lowed you would n' min' +totin' her kyarpet-bag down to the w'arf, onless you'd ruther haul it +down on yo'r kyart. It ain't very heavy. Of co'se I'll pay you fer +yo'r trouble." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank y', ma'm," he replied. He knew that she would not pay him, for +the simple reason that he would not accept pay for such a service. "Is +she gwine fur?" he asked, with a sorrowful look, which he could not +entirely disguise. +</P> + +<P> +"As fur as Wilmin'ton an' beyon'. She'll be visitin' her brother John, +who lives in—another State, an' wants her to come an' see him." +</P> + +<P> +"Yas 'm, I'll come. I won' need de kyart—I'll tote de bag. 'Bout +w'at time shill I come over?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, 'long 'bout seven o'clock or half pas'. She's goin' on the Old +North State, an' it leaves at eight." +</P> + +<P> +Frank stood looking after Mis' Molly as she picked her way across the +street, until he was recalled to his duty by a sharp word from his +father. +</P> + +<P> +"'Ten' ter yo' wuk, boy, 'ten' ter yo' wuk. You 're wastin' yo' +time—wastin' yo' time!" +</P> + +<P> +Yes, he was wasting his time. The beautiful young girl across the +street could never be anything to him. But he had saved her life once, +and had dreamed that he might render her again some signal service that +might win her friendship, and convince her of his humble devotion. For +Frank was not proud. A smile, which Peter would have regarded as +condescending to a free man, who, since the war, was as good as anybody +else; a kind word, which Peter would have considered offensively +patronizing; a piece of Mis' Molly's famous potato pone from Rena's +hands,—a bone to a dog, Peter called it once;—were ample rewards for +the thousand and one small services Frank had rendered the two women +who lived in the house behind the cedars. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Frank went over in the morning a little ahead of the appointed time, +and waited on the back piazza until his services were required. +</P> + +<P> +"You ain't gwine ter be gone long, is you, Miss Rena?" he inquired, +when Rena came out dressed for the journey in her best frock, with +broad white collar and cuffs. +</P> + +<P> +Rena did not know. She had been asking herself the same question. All +sorts of vague dreams had floated through her mind during the last few +hours, as to what the future might bring forth. But she detected the +anxious note in Frank's voice, and had no wish to give this faithful +friend of the family unnecessary pain. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no, Frank, I reckon not. I'm supposed to be just going on a short +visit. My brother has lost his wife, and wishes me to come and stay +with him awhile, and look after his little boy." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm feared you'll lack it better dere, Miss Rena," replied Frank +sorrowfully, dropping his mask of unconcern, "an' den you won't come +back, an' none er yo' frien's won't never see you no mo'." +</P> + +<P> +"You don't think, Frank," asked Rena severely, "that I would leave my +mother and my home and all my friends, and NEVER come back again?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, no 'ndeed," interposed Mis' Molly wistfully, as she hovered +around her daughter, giving her hair or her gown a touch here and +there; "she'll be so homesick in a month that she'll be willin' to walk +home." +</P> + +<P> +"You would n' never hafter do dat, Miss Rena," returned Frank, with a +disconsolate smile. "Ef you ever wanter come home, an' can't git back +no other way, jes' let ME know, an' I'll take my mule an' my kyart an' +fetch you back, ef it's from de een' er de worl'." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, Frank, I believe you would," said the girl kindly. "You're +a true friend, Frank, and I'll not forget you while I'm gone." +</P> + +<P> +The idea of her beautiful daughter riding home from the end of the +world with Frank, in a cart, behind a one-eyed mule, struck Mis' Molly +as the height of the ridiculous—she was in a state of excitement where +tears or laughter would have come with equal ease—and she turned away +to hide her merriment. Her daughter was going to live in a fine house, +and marry a rich man, and ride in her carriage. Of course a negro +would drive the carriage, but that was different from riding with one +in a cart. +</P> + +<P> +When it was time to go, Mis' Molly and Rena set out on foot for the +river, which was only a short distance away. Frank followed with the +valise. There was no gathering of friends to see Rena off, as might +have been the case under different circumstances. Her departure had +some of the characteristics of a secret flight; it was as important +that her destination should not be known, as it had been that her +brother should conceal his presence in the town. +</P> + +<P> +Mis' Molly and Rena remained on the bank until the steamer announced, +with a raucous whistle, its readiness to depart. Warwick was seen for +a moment on the upper deck, from which he greeted them with a smile and +a slight nod. He had bidden his mother an affectionate farewell the +evening before. Rena gave her hand to Frank. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-by, Frank," she said, with a kind smile; "I hope you and mamma +will be good friends while I'm gone." +</P> + +<P> +The whistle blew a second warning blast, and the deck hands prepared to +draw in the gang-plank. Rena flew into her mother's arms, and then, +breaking away, hurried on board and retired to her state-room, from +which she did not emerge during the journey. The window-blinds were +closed, darkening the room, and the stewardess who came to ask if she +should bring her some dinner could not see her face distinctly, but +perceived enough to make her surmise that the young lady had been +weeping. +</P> + +<P> +"Po' chile," murmured the sympathetic colored woman, "I reckon some er +her folks is dead, er her sweetheart 's gone back on her, er e'se she's +had some kin' er bad luck er 'nuther. W'ite folks has deir troubles +jes' ez well ez black folks, an' sometimes feels 'em mo', 'cause dey +ain't ez use' ter 'em." +</P> + +<P> +Mis' Molly went back in sadness to the lonely house behind the cedars, +henceforth to be peopled for her with only the memory of those she had +loved. She had paid with her heart's blood another installment on the +Shylock's bond exacted by society for her own happiness of the past and +her children's prospects for the future. +</P> + +<P> +The journey down the sluggish river to the seaboard in the +flat-bottomed, stern-wheel steamer lasted all day and most of the +night. During the first half-day, the boat grounded now and then upon +a sand-bank, and the half-naked negro deck-hands toiled with ropes and +poles to release it. Several times before Rena fell asleep that night, +the steamer would tie up at a landing, and by the light of huge pine +torches she watched the boat hands send the yellow turpentine barrels +down the steep bank in a long string, or pass cord-wood on board from +hand to hand. The excited negroes, their white teeth and eyeballs +glistening in the surrounding darkness to which their faces formed no +relief; the white officers in brown linen, shouting, swearing, and +gesticulating; the yellow, flickering torchlight over all,—made up a +scene of which the weird interest would have appealed to a more blase +traveler than this girl upon her first journey. +</P> + +<P> +During the day, Warwick had taken his meals in the dining-room, with +the captain and the other cabin passengers. It was learned that he was +a South Carolina lawyer, and not a carpet-bagger. Such credentials were +unimpeachable, and the passengers found him a very agreeable traveling +companion. Apparently sound on the subject of negroes, Yankees, and +the righteousness of the lost cause, he yet discussed these themes in a +lofty and impersonal manner that gave his words greater weight than if +he had seemed warped by a personal grievance. His attitude, in fact, +piqued the curiosity of one or two of the passengers. +</P> + +<P> +"Did your people lose any niggers?" asked one of them. +</P> + +<P> +"My father owned a hundred," he replied grandly. +</P> + +<P> +Their respect for his views was doubled. It is easy to moralize about +the misfortunes of others, and to find good in the evil that they +suffer;—only a true philosopher could speak thus lightly of his own +losses. +</P> + +<P> +When the steamer tied up at the wharf at Wilmington, in the early +morning, the young lawyer and a veiled lady passenger drove in the same +carriage to a hotel. After they had breakfasted in a private room, +Warwick explained to his sister the plan he had formed for her future. +Henceforth she must be known as Miss Warwick, dropping the old name +with the old life. He would place her for a year in a boarding-school +at Charleston, after which she would take her place as the mistress of +his house. Having imparted this information, he took his sister for a +drive through the town. There for the first time Rena saw great ships, +which, her brother told her, sailed across the mighty ocean to distant +lands, whose flags he pointed out drooping lazily at the mast-heads. +The business portion of the town had "an ancient and fishlike smell," +and most of the trade seemed to be in cotton and naval stores and +products of the sea. The wharves were piled high with cotton bales, +and there were acres of barrels of resin and pitch and tar and spirits +of turpentine. The market, a long, low, wooden structure, in the middle +of the principal street, was filled with a mass of people of all +shades, from blue-black to Saxon blonde, gabbling and gesticulating +over piles of oysters and clams and freshly caught fish of varied hue. +By ten o'clock the sun was beating down so fiercely that the glitter of +the white, sandy streets dazzled and pained the eyes unaccustomed to +it, and Rena was glad to be driven back to the hotel. The travelers +left together on an early afternoon train. +</P> + +<P> +Thus for the time being was severed the last tie that bound Rena to her +narrow past, and for some time to come the places and the people who +had known her once were to know her no more. +</P> + +<P> +Some few weeks later, Mis' Molly called upon old Judge Straight with +reference to the taxes on her property. +</P> + +<P> +"Your son came in to see me the other day," he remarked. "He seems to +have got along." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, judge, he's done fine, John has; an' he's took his sister +away with him." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" exclaimed the judge. Then after a pause he added, "I hope she +may do as well." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, sir," she said, with a curtsy, as she rose to go. "We've +always knowed that you were our friend and wished us well." +</P> + +<P> +The judge looked after her as she walked away. Her bearing had a touch +of timidity, a shade of affectation, and yet a certain pathetic dignity. +</P> + +<P> +"It is a pity," he murmured, with a sigh, "that men cannot select their +mothers. My young friend John has builded, whether wisely or not, very +well; but he has come back into the old life and carried away a part of +it, and I fear that this addition will weaken the structure." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE TOURNAMENT +</H3> + +<P> +The annual tournament of the Clarence Social Club was about to begin. +The county fairground, where all was in readiness, sparkled with the +youth and beauty of the town, standing here and there under the trees +in animated groups, or moving toward the seats from which the pageant +might be witnessed. A quarter of a mile of the race track, to right +and left of the judges' stand, had been laid off for the lists. +Opposite the grand stand, which occupied a considerable part of this +distance, a dozen uprights had been erected at measured intervals. +Projecting several feet over the track from each of these uprights was +an iron crossbar, from which an iron hook depended. Between the +uprights stout posts were planted, of such a height that their tops +could be easily reached by a swinging sword-cut from a mounted rider +passing upon the track. The influence of Walter Scott was strong upon +the old South. The South before the war was essentially feudal, and +Scott's novels of chivalry appealed forcefully to the feudal heart. +During the month preceding the Clarence tournament, the local +bookseller had closed out his entire stock of "Ivanhoe," consisting of +five copies, and had taken orders for seven copies more. The +tournament scene in this popular novel furnished the model after which +these bloodless imitations of the ancient passages-at-arms were +conducted, with such variations as were required to adapt them to a +different age and civilization. +</P> + +<P> +The best people gradually filled the grand stand, while the poorer +white and colored folks found seats outside, upon what would now be +known as the "bleachers," or stood alongside the lists. The knights, +masquerading in fanciful costumes, in which bright-colored garments, +gilt paper, and cardboard took the place of knightly harness, were +mounted on spirited horses. Most of them were gathered at one end of +the lists, while others practiced their steeds upon the unoccupied +portion of the race track. +</P> + +<P> +The judges entered the grand stand, and one of them, after looking at +his watch, gave a signal. Immediately a herald, wearing a bright yellow +sash, blew a loud blast upon a bugle, and, big with the importance of +his office, galloped wildly down the lists. An attendant on horseback +busied himself hanging upon each of the pendent hooks an iron ring, of +some two inches in diameter, while another, on foot, placed on top of +each of the shorter posts a wooden ball some four inches through. +</P> + +<P> +"It's my first tournament," observed a lady near the front of the grand +stand, leaning over and addressing John Warwick, who was seated in the +second row, in company with a very handsome girl. "It is somewhat +different from Ashby-de-la-Zouch." +</P> + +<P> +"It is the renaissance of chivalry, Mrs. Newberry," replied the young +lawyer, "and, like any other renaissance, it must adapt itself to new +times and circumstances. For instance, when we build a Greek portico, +having no Pentelic marble near at hand, we use a pine-tree, one of +nature's columns, which Grecian art at its best could only copy and +idealize. Our knights are not weighted down with heavy armor, but much +more appropriately attired, for a day like this, in costumes that +recall the picturesqueness, without the discomfort, of the old knightly +harness. For an iron-headed lance we use a wooden substitute, with +which we transfix rings instead of hearts; while our trusty blades hew +their way through wooden blocks instead of through flesh and blood. It +is a South Carolina renaissance which has points of advantage over the +tournaments of the olden time." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm afraid, Mr. Warwick," said the lady, "that you're the least bit +heretical about our chivalry—or else you're a little too deep for me." +</P> + +<P> +"The last would be impossible, Mrs. Newberry; and I'm sure our chivalry +has proved its valor on many a hard-fought field. The spirit of a +thing, after all, is what counts; and what is lacking here? We have +the lists, the knights, the prancing steeds, the trial of strength and +skill. If our knights do not run the physical risks of +Ashby-de-la-Zouch, they have all the mental stimulus. Wounded vanity +will take the place of wounded limbs, and there will be broken hopes in +lieu of broken heads. How many hearts in yonder group of gallant +horsemen beat high with hope! How many possible Queens of Love and +Beauty are in this group of fair faces that surround us!" +</P> + +<P> +The lady was about to reply, when the bugle sounded again, and the +herald dashed swiftly back upon his prancing steed to the waiting group +of riders. The horsemen formed three abreast, and rode down the lists +in orderly array. As they passed the grand stand, each was conscious +of the battery of bright eyes turned upon him, and each gave by his +bearing some idea of his ability to stand fire from such weapons. One +horse pranced proudly, another caracoled with grace. One rider +fidgeted nervously, another trembled and looked the other way. Each +horseman carried in his hand a long wooden lance and wore at his side a +cavalry sabre, of which there were plenty to be had since the war, at +small expense. Several left the ranks and drew up momentarily beside +the grand stand, where they took from fair hands a glove or a flower, +which was pinned upon the rider's breast or fastened upon his hat—a +ribbon or a veil, which was tied about the lance like a pennon, but far +enough from the point not to interfere with the usefulness of the +weapon. +</P> + +<P> +As the troop passed the lower end of the grand stand, a horse, excited +by the crowd, became somewhat unmanageable, and in the effort to curb +him, the rider dropped his lance. The prancing animal reared, brought +one of his hoofs down upon the fallen lance with considerable force, +and sent a broken piece of it flying over the railing opposite the +grand stand, into the middle of a group of spectators standing there. +The flying fragment was dodged by those who saw it coming, but brought +up with a resounding thwack against the head of a colored man in the +second row, who stood watching the grand stand with an eager and +curious gaze. He rubbed his head ruefully, and made a good-natured +response to the chaffing of his neighbors, who, seeing no great harm +done, made witty and original remarks about the advantage of being +black upon occasions where one's skull was exposed to danger. Finding +that the blow had drawn blood, the young man took out a red bandana +handkerchief and tied it around his head, meantime letting his eye roam +over the faces in the grand stand, as though in search of some one that +he expected or hoped to find there. +</P> + +<P> +The knights, having reached the end of the lists, now turned and rode +back in open order, with such skillful horsemanship as to evoke a storm +of applause from the spectators. The ladies in the grand stand waved +their handkerchiefs vigorously, and the men clapped their hands. The +beautiful girl seated by Warwick's side accidentally let a little +square of white lace-trimmed linen slip from her hand. It fluttered +lightly over the railing, and, buoyed up by the air, settled slowly +toward the lists. A young rider in the approaching rear rank saw the +handkerchief fall, and darting swiftly forward, caught it on the point +of his lance ere it touched the ground. He drew up his horse and made +a movement as though to extend the handkerchief toward the lady, who +was blushing profusely at the attention she had attracted by her +carelessness. The rider hesitated a moment, glanced interrogatively at +Warwick, and receiving a smile in return, tied the handkerchief around +the middle of his lance and quickly rejoined his comrades at the head +of the lists. +</P> + +<P> +The young man with the bandage round his head, on the benches across +the lists, had forced his way to the front row and was leaning against +the railing. His restless eye was attracted by the falling +handkerchief, and his face, hitherto anxious, suddenly lit up with +animation. +</P> + +<P> +"Yas, suh, yas, suh, it's her!" he muttered softly. "It's Miss Rena, +sho's you bawn. She looked lack a' angel befo', but now, up dere +'mongs' all dem rich, fine folks, she looks lack a whole flock er +angels. Dey ain' one er dem ladies w'at could hol' a candle ter her. +I wonder w'at dat man's gwine ter do wid her handkercher? I s'pose +he's her gent'eman now. I wonder ef she'd know me er speak ter me ef +she seed me? I reckon she would, spite er her gittin' up so in de +worl'; fer she wuz alluz good ter ev'ybody, an' dat let even ME in," he +concluded with a sigh. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is the lady, Tryon?" asked one of the young men, addressing the +knight who had taken the handkerchief. +</P> + +<P> +"A Miss Warwick," replied the knight pleasantly, "Miss Rowena Warwick, +the lawyer's sister." +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't know he had a sister," rejoined the first speaker. "I envy +you your lady. There are six Rebeccas and eight Rowenas of my own +acquaintance in the grand stand, but she throws them all into the +shade. She hasn't been here long, surely; I haven't seen her before." +</P> + +<P> +"She has been away at school; she came only last night," returned the +knight of the crimson sash, briefly. He was already beginning to feel +a proprietary interest in the lady whose token he wore, and did not +care to discuss her with a casual acquaintance. +</P> + +<P> +The herald sounded the charge. A rider darted out from the group and +galloped over the course. As he passed under each ring, he tried to +catch it on the point of his lance,—a feat which made the management +of the horse with the left hand necessary, and required a true eye and +a steady arm. The rider captured three of the twelve rings, knocked +three others off the hooks, and left six undisturbed. Turning at the +end of the lists, he took the lance with the reins in the left hand and +drew his sword with the right. He then rode back over the course, +cutting at the wooden balls upon the posts. Of these he clove one in +twain, to use the parlance of chivalry, and knocked two others off +their supports. His performance was greeted with a liberal measure of +applause, for which he bowed in smiling acknowledgment as he took his +place among the riders. +</P> + +<P> +Again the herald's call sounded, and the tourney went forward. Rider +after rider, with varying skill, essayed his fortune with lance and +sword. Some took a liberal proportion of the rings; others merely +knocked them over the boundaries, where they were collected by agile +little negro boys and handed back to the attendants. A balking horse +caused the spectators much amusement and his rider no little chagrin. +</P> + +<P> +The lady who had dropped the handkerchief kept her eye upon the knight +who had bound it round his lance. "Who is he, John?" she asked the +gentleman beside her. +</P> + +<P> +"That, my dear Rowena, is my good friend and client, George Tryon, of +North Carolina. If he had been a stranger, I should have said that he +took a liberty; but as things stand, we ought to regard it as a +compliment. The incident is quite in accord with the customs of +chivalry. If George were but masked and you were veiled, we should +have a romantic situation,—you the mysterious damsel in distress, he +the unknown champion. The parallel, my dear, might not be so hard to +draw, even as things are. But look, it is his turn now; I'll wager +that he makes a good run." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll take you up on that, Mr. Warwick," said Mrs. Newberry from +behind, who seemed to have a very keen ear for whatever Warwick said. +</P> + +<P> +Rena's eyes were fastened on her knight, so that she might lose no +single one of his movements. As he rode down the lists, more than one +woman found him pleasant to look upon. He was a tall, fair young man, +with gray eyes, and a frank, open face. He wore a slight mustache, and +when he smiled, showed a set of white and even teeth. He was mounted +on a very handsome and spirited bay mare, was clad in a picturesque +costume, of which velvet knee-breeches and a crimson scarf were the +most conspicuous features, and displayed a marked skill in +horsemanship. At the blast of the bugle his horse started forward, +and, after the first few rods, settled into an even gallop. Tryon's +lance, held truly and at the right angle, captured the first ring, then +the second and third. His coolness and steadiness seemed not at all +disturbed by the applause which followed, and one by one the remaining +rings slipped over the point of his lance, until at the end he had +taken every one of the twelve. Holding the lance with its booty of +captured rings in his left hand, together with the bridle rein, he drew +his sabre with the right and rode back over the course. His horse moved +like clockwork, his eye was true and his hand steady. Three of the +wooden balls fell from the posts, split fairly in the middle, while +from the fourth he sliced off a goodly piece and left the remainder +standing in its place. +</P> + +<P> +This performance, by far the best up to this point, and barely escaping +perfection, elicited a storm of applause. The rider was not so well +known to the townspeople as some of the other participants, and his +name passed from mouth to mouth in answer to numerous inquiries. The +girl whose token he had worn also became an object of renewed interest, +because of the result to her in case the knight should prove victor in +the contest, of which there could now scarcely be a doubt; for but +three riders remained, and it was very improbable that any one of them +would excel the last. Wagers for the remainder of the tourney stood +anywhere from five, and even from ten to one, in favor of the knight of +the crimson sash, and when the last course had been run, his backers +were jubilant. No one of those following him had displayed anything +like equal skill. +</P> + +<P> +The herald now blew his bugle and declared the tournament closed. The +judges put their heads together for a moment. The bugle sounded again, +and the herald announced in a loud voice that Sir George Tryon, having +taken the greatest number of rings and split the largest number of +balls, was proclaimed victor in the tournament and entitled to the +flowery chaplet of victory. +</P> + +<P> +Tryon, having bowed repeatedly in response to the liberal applause, +advanced to the judges' stand and received the trophy from the hands of +the chief judge, who exhorted him to wear the garland worthily, and to +yield it only to a better man. +</P> + +<P> +"It will be your privilege, Sir George," announced the judge, "as the +chief reward of your valor, to select from the assembled beauty of +Clarence the lady whom you wish to honor, to whom we will all do homage +as the Queen of Love and Beauty." +</P> + +<P> +Tryon took the wreath and bowed his thanks. Then placing the trophy on +the point of his lance, he spoke earnestly for a moment to the herald, +and rode past the grand stand, from which there was another outburst of +applause. Returning upon his tracks, the knight of the crimson sash +paused before the group where Warwick and his sister sat, and lowered +the wreath thrice before the lady whose token he had won. +</P> + +<P> +"Oyez! Oyez!" cried the herald; "Sir George Tryon, the victor in the +tournament, has chosen Miss Rowena Warwick as the Queen of Love and +Beauty, and she will be crowned at the feast to-night and receive the +devoirs of all true knights." +</P> + +<P> +The fair-ground was soon covered with scattered groups of the +spectators of the tournament. In one group a vanquished knight +explained in elaborate detail why it was that he had failed to win the +wreath. More than one young woman wondered why some one of the home +young men could not have taken the honors, or, if the stranger must win +them, why he could not have selected some belle of the town as Queen of +Love and Beauty instead of this upstart girl who had blown into the +town over night, as one might say. +</P> + +<P> +Warwick and his sister, standing under a spreading elm, held a little +court of their own. A dozen gentlemen and several ladies had sought an +introduction before Tryon came up. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose John would have a right to call me out, Miss Warwick," said +Tryon, when he had been formally introduced and had shaken hands with +Warwick's sister, "for taking liberties with the property and name of a +lady to whom I had not had an introduction; but I know John so well +that you seemed like an old acquaintance; and when I saw you, and +recalled your name, which your brother had mentioned more than once, I +felt instinctively that you ought to be the queen. I entered my name +only yesterday, merely to swell the number and make the occasion more +interesting. These fellows have been practicing for a month, and I had +no hope of winning. I should have been satisfied, indeed, if I hadn't +made myself ridiculous; but when you dropped your handkerchief, I felt +a sudden inspiration; and as soon as I had tied it upon my lance, +victory perched upon my saddle-bow, guided my lance and sword, and +rings and balls went down before me like chaff before the wind. Oh, it +was a great inspiration, Miss Warwick!" +</P> + +<P> +Rena, for it was our Patesville acquaintance fresh from +boarding-school, colored deeply at this frank and fervid flattery, and +could only murmur an inarticulate reply. Her year of instruction, +while distinctly improving her mind and manners, had scarcely prepared +her for so sudden an elevation into a grade of society to which she had +hitherto been a stranger. She was not without a certain courage, +however, and her brother, who remained at her side, helped her over the +most difficult situations. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll forgive you, George," replied Warwick, "if you'll come home to +luncheon with us." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm mighty sorry—awfully sorry," returned Tryon, with evident regret, +"but I have another engagement, which I can scarcely break, even by the +command of royalty. At what time shall I call for Miss Warwick this +evening? I believe that privilege is mine, along with the other honors +and rewards of victory,—unless she is bound to some one else." +</P> + +<P> +"She is entirely free," replied Warwick. "Come as early as you like, +and I'll talk to you until she's ready." +</P> + +<P> +Tryon bowed himself away, and after a number of gentlemen and a few +ladies had paid their respects to the Queen of Love and Beauty, and +received an introduction to her, Warwick signaled to the servant who +had his carriage in charge, and was soon driving homeward with his +sister. No one of the party noticed a young negro, with a handkerchief +bound around his head, who followed them until the carriage turned into +the gate and swept up the wide drive that led to Warwick's doorstep. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Rena," said Warwick, when they found themselves alone, "you have +arrived. Your debut into society is a little more spectacular than I +should have wished, but we must rise to the occasion and make the most +of it. You are winning the first fruits of your opportunity. You are +the most envied woman in Clarence at this particular moment, and, +unless I am mistaken, will be the most admired at the ball to-night." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE QUEEN OF LOVE AND BEAUTY +</H3> + +<P> +Shortly after luncheon, Rena had a visitor in the person of Mrs. +Newberry, a vivacious young widow of the town, who proffered her +services to instruct Rena in the etiquette of the annual ball. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, my dear," said Mrs. Newberry, "the first thing to do is to get +your coronation robe ready. It simply means a gown with a long train. +You have a lovely white waist. Get right into my buggy, and we'll go +down town to get the cloth, take it over to Mrs. Marshall's, and have +her run you up a skirt this afternoon." +</P> + +<P> +Rena placed herself unreservedly in the hands of Mrs. Newberry, who +introduced her to the best dressmaker of the town, a woman of much +experience in such affairs, who improvised during the afternoon a gown +suited to the occasion. Mrs. Marshall had made more than a dozen ball +dresses during the preceding month; being a wise woman and +understanding her business thoroughly, she had made each one of them so +that with a few additional touches it might serve for the Queen of Love +and Beauty. This was her first direct order for the specific garment. +</P> + +<P> +Tryon escorted Rena to the ball, which was held in the principal public +hall of the town, and attended by all the best people. The champion +still wore the costume of the morning, in place of evening dress, save +that long stockings and dancing-pumps had taken the place of +riding-boots. Rena went through the ordeal very creditably. Her shyness +was palpable, but it was saved from awkwardness by her native grace and +good sense. She made up in modesty what she lacked in aplomb. Her +months in school had not eradicated a certain self-consciousness born +of her secret. The brain-cells never lose the impressions of youth, and +Rena's Patesville life was not far enough removed to have lost its +distinctness of outline. Of the two, the present was more of a dream, +the past was the more vivid reality. At school she had learned +something from books and not a little from observation. She had been +able to compare herself with other girls, and to see wherein she +excelled or fell short of them. With a sincere desire for improvement, +and a wish to please her brother and do him credit, she had sought to +make the most of her opportunities. Building upon a foundation of +innate taste and intelligence, she had acquired much of the +self-possession which comes from a knowledge of correct standards of +deportment. She had moreover learned without difficulty, for it suited +her disposition, to keep silence when she could not speak to advantage. +A certain necessary reticence about the past added strength to a +natural reserve. Thus equipped, she held her own very well in the +somewhat trying ordeal of the ball, at which the fiction of queenship +and the attendant ceremonies, which were pretty and graceful, made her +the most conspicuous figure. Few of those who watched her move with +easy grace through the measures of the dance could have guessed how +nearly her heart was in her mouth during much of the time. +</P> + +<P> +"You're doing splendidly, my dear," said Mrs. Newberry, who had +constituted herself Rena's chaperone. +</P> + +<P> +"I trust your Gracious Majesty is pleased with the homage of your +devoted subjects," said Tryon, who spent much of his time by her side +and kept up the character of knight in his speech and manner. +</P> + +<P> +"Very much," replied the Queen of Love and Beauty, with a somewhat +tired smile. It was pleasant, but she would be glad, she thought, when +it was all over. +</P> + +<P> +"Keep up your courage," whispered her brother. "You are not only queen, +but the belle of the ball. I am proud of you. A dozen women here +would give a year off the latter end of life to be in your shoes +to-night." +</P> + +<P> +Rena felt immensely relieved when the hour arrived at which she could +take her departure, which was to be the signal for the breaking-up of +the ball. She was driven home in Tryon's carriage, her brother +accompanying them. The night was warm, and the drive homeward under +the starlight, in the open carriage, had a soothing effect upon Rena's +excited nerves. The calm restfulness of the night, the cool blue +depths of the unclouded sky, the solemn croaking of the frogs in a +distant swamp, were much more in harmony with her nature than the +crowded brilliancy of the ball-room. She closed her eyes, and, leaning +back in the carriage, thought of her mother, who she wished might have +seen her daughter this night. A momentary pang of homesickness pierced +her tender heart, and she furtively wiped away the tears that came into +her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-night, fair Queen!" exclaimed Tryon, breaking into her reverie as +the carriage rolled up to the doorstep, "and let your loyal subject +kiss your hand in token of his fealty. May your Majesty never abdicate +her throne, and may she ever count me her humble servant and devoted +knight." +</P> + +<P> +"And now, sister," said Warwick, when Tryon had been driven away, "now +that the masquerade is over, let us to sleep, and to-morrow take up the +serious business of life. Your day has been a glorious success!" +</P> + +<P> +He put his arm around her and gave her a kiss and a brotherly hug. +</P> + +<P> +"It is a dream," she murmured sleepily, "only a dream. I am Cinderella +before the clock has struck. Good-night, dear John." +</P> + +<P> +"Good-night, Rowena." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +'MID NEW SURROUNDINGS +</H3> + +<P> +Warwick's residence was situated in the outskirts of the town. It was +a fine old plantation house, built in colonial times, with a stately +colonnade, wide verandas, and long windows with Venetian blinds. It +was painted white, and stood back several rods from the street, in a +charming setting of palmettoes, magnolias, and flowering shrubs. Rena +had always thought her mother's house large, but now it seemed cramped +and narrow, in comparison with this roomy mansion. The furniture was +old-fashioned and massive. The great brass andirons on the wide hearth +stood like sentinels proclaiming and guarding the dignity of the +family. The spreading antlers on the wall testified to a mighty hunter +in some past generation. The portraits of Warwick's wife's +ancestors—high featured, proud men and women, dressed in the fashions +of a bygone age—looked down from tarnished gilt frames. It was all +very novel to her, and very impressive. When she ate off china, with +silver knives and forks that had come down as heirlooms, escaping +somehow the ravages and exigencies of the war time,—Warwick told her +afterwards how he had buried them out of reach of friend or foe,—she +thought that her brother must be wealthy, and she felt very proud of +him and of her opportunity. The servants, of whom there were several +in the house, treated her with a deference to which her eight months in +school had only partly accustomed her. At school she had been one of +many to be served, and had herself been held to obedience. Here, for +the first time in her life, she was mistress, and tasted the sweets of +power. +</P> + +<P> +The household consisted of her brother and herself, a cook, a coachman, +a nurse, and her brother's little son Albert. The child, with a fine +instinct, had put out his puny arms to Rena at first sight, and she had +clasped the little man to her bosom with a motherly caress. She had +always loved weak creatures. Kittens and puppies had ever found a +welcome and a meal at Rena's hands, only to be chased away by Mis' +Molly, who had had a wider experience. No shiftless poor white, no +half-witted or hungry negro, had ever gone unfed from Mis' Molly's +kitchen door if Rena were there to hear his plaint. Little Albert was +pale and sickly when she came, but soon bloomed again in the sunshine +of her care, and was happy only in her presence. Warwick found +pleasure in their growing love for each other, and was glad to perceive +that the child formed a living link to connect her with his home. +</P> + +<P> +"Dat chile sutt'nly do lub Miss Rena, an' dat's a fac', sho 's you +bawn," remarked 'Lissa the cook to Mimy the nurse one day. "You'll get +yo' nose put out er j'int, ef you don't min'." +</P> + +<P> +"I ain't frettin', honey," laughed the nurse good-naturedly. She was +not at all jealous. She had the same wages as before, and her labors +were materially lightened by the aunt's attention to the child. This +gave Mimy much more time to flirt with Tom the coachman. +</P> + +<P> +It was a source of much gratification to Warwick that his sister seemed +to adapt herself so easily to the new conditions. Her graceful +movements, the quiet elegance with which she wore even the simplest +gown, the easy authoritativeness with which she directed the servants, +were to him proofs of superior quality, and he felt correspondingly +proud of her. His feeling for her was something more than brotherly +love,—he was quite conscious that there were degrees in brotherly +love, and that if she had been homely or stupid, he would never have +disturbed her in the stagnant life of the house behind the cedars. +There had come to him from some source, down the stream of time, a rill +of the Greek sense of proportion, of fitness, of beauty, which is +indeed but proportion embodied, the perfect adaptation of means to +ends. He had perceived, more clearly than she could have appreciated +it at that time, the undeveloped elements of discord between Rena and +her former life. He had imagined her lending grace and charm to his +own household. Still another motive, a purely psychological one, had +more or less consciously influenced him. He had no fear that the +family secret would ever be discovered,—he had taken his precautions +too thoroughly, he thought, for that; and yet he could not but feel, at +times, that if peradventure—it was a conceivable hypothesis—it should +become known, his fine social position would collapse like a house of +cards. Because of this knowledge, which the world around him did not +possess, he had felt now and then a certain sense of loneliness; and +there was a measure of relief in having about him one who knew his +past, and yet whose knowledge, because of their common interest, would +not interfere with his present or jeopardize his future. For he had +always been, in a figurative sense, a naturalized foreigner in the +world of wide opportunity, and Rena was one of his old compatriots, +whom he was glad to welcome into the populous loneliness of his adopted +country. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE COURTSHIP +</H3> + +<P> +In a few weeks the echoes of the tournament died away, and Rena's life +settled down into a pleasant routine, which she found much more +comfortable than her recent spectacular prominence. Her queenship, +while not entirely forgiven by the ladies of the town, had gained for +her a temporary social prominence. Among her own sex, Mrs. Newberry +proved a warm and enthusiastic friend. Rumor whispered that the lively +young widow would not be unwilling to console Warwick in the loneliness +of the old colonial mansion, to which his sister was a most excellent +medium of approach. Whether this was true or not it is unnecessary to +inquire, for it is no part of this story, except as perhaps indicating +why Mrs. Newberry played the part of the female friend, without whom no +woman is ever launched successfully in a small and conservative +society. Her brother's standing gave her the right of social entry; +the tournament opened wide the door, and Mrs. Newberry performed the +ceremony of introduction. Rena had many visitors during the month +following the tournament, and might have made her choice from among a +dozen suitors; but among them all, her knight of the handkerchief found +most favor. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +George Tryon had come to Clarence a few months before upon business +connected with the settlement of his grandfather's estate. A rather +complicated litigation had grown up around the affair, various phases +of which had kept Tryon almost constantly in the town. He had placed +matters in Warwick's hands, and had formed a decided friendship for his +attorney, for whom he felt a frank admiration. Tryon was only +twenty-three, and his friend's additional five years, supplemented by a +certain professional gravity, commanded a great deal of respect from +the younger man. When Tryon had known Warwick for a week, he had been +ready to swear by him. Indeed, Warwick was a man for whom most people +formed a liking at first sight. To this power of attraction he owed +most of his success—first with Judge Straight, of Patesville, then +with the lawyer whose office he had entered at Clarence, with the woman +who became his wife, and with the clients for whom he transacted +business. Tryon would have maintained against all comers that Warwick +was the finest fellow in the world. When he met Warwick's sister, the +foundation for admiration had already been laid. If Rena had proved to +be a maiden lady of uncertain age and doubtful personal attractiveness, +Tryon would probably have found in her a most excellent lady, worthy of +all respect and esteem, and would have treated her with profound +deference and sedulous courtesy. When she proved to be a young and +handsome woman, of the type that he admired most, he was capable of any +degree of infatuation. His mother had for a long time wanted him to +marry the orphan daughter of an old friend, a vivacious blonde, who +worshiped him. He had felt friendly towards her, but had shrunk from +matrimony. He did not want her badly enough to give up his freedom. +The war had interfered with his education, and though fairly well +instructed, he had never attended college. In his own opinion, he +ought to see something of the world, and have his youthful fling. +Later on, when he got ready to settle down, if Blanche were still in +the humor, they might marry, and sink to the humdrum level of other old +married people. The fact that Blanche Leary was visiting his mother +during his unexpectedly long absence had not operated at all to hasten +his return to North Carolina. He had been having a very good time at +Clarence, and, at the distance of several hundred miles, was safe for +the time being from any immediate danger of marriage. +</P> + +<P> +With Rena's advent, however, he had seen life through different +glasses. His heart had thrilled at first sight of this tall girl, with +the ivory complexion, the rippling brown hair, and the inscrutable +eyes. When he became better acquainted with her, he liked to think +that her thoughts centred mainly in himself; and in this he was not far +wrong. He discovered that she had a short upper lip, and what seemed +to him an eminently kissable mouth. After he had dined twice at +Warwick's, subsequently to the tournament,—his lucky choice of Rena +had put him at once upon a household footing with the family,—his +views of marriage changed entirely. It now seemed to him the duty, as +well as the high and holy privilege of a young man, to marry and +manfully to pay his debt to society. When in Rena's presence, he could +not imagine how he had ever contemplated the possibility of marriage +with Blanche Leary,—she was utterly, entirely, and hopelessly unsuited +to him. For a fair man of vivacious temperament, this stately dark +girl was the ideal mate. Even his mother would admit this, if she +could only see Rena. To win this beautiful girl for his wife would be +a worthy task. He had crowned her Queen of Love and Beauty; since then +she had ascended the throne of his heart. He would make her queen of +his home and mistress of his life. +</P> + +<P> +To Rena this brief month's courtship came as a new education. Not only +had this fair young man crowned her queen, and honored her above all +the ladies in town; but since then he had waited assiduously upon her, +had spoken softly to her, had looked at her with shining eyes, and had +sought to be alone with her. The time soon came when to touch his hand +in greeting sent a thrill through her frame,—a time when she listened +for his footstep and was happy in his presence. He had been bold +enough at the tournament; he had since become somewhat bashful and +constrained. He must be in love, she thought, and wondered how soon he +would speak. If it were so sweet to walk with him in the garden, or +along the shaded streets, to sit with him, to feel the touch of his +hand, what happiness would it not be to hear him say that he loved +her—to bear his name, to live with him always. To be thus loved and +honored by this handsome young man,—she could hardly believe it +possible. He would never speak—he would discover her secret and +withdraw. She turned pale at the thought,—ah, God! something would +happen,—it was too good to be true. The Prince would never try on the +glass slipper. +</P> + +<P> +Tryon first told his love for Rena one summer evening on their way home +from church. They were walking in the moonlight along the quiet +street, which, but for their presence, seemed quite deserted. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Warwick—Rowena," he said, clasping with his right hand the hand +that rested on his left arm, "I love you! Do you—love me?" +</P> + +<P> +To Rena this simple avowal came with much greater force than a more +formal declaration could have had. It appealed to her own simple +nature. Indeed, few women at such a moment criticise the form in which +the most fateful words of life—but one—are spoken. Words, while +pleasant, are really superfluous. Her whispered "Yes" spoke volumes. +</P> + +<P> +They walked on past the house, along the country road into which the +street soon merged. When they returned, an hour later, they found +Warwick seated on the piazza, in a rocking-chair, smoking a fragrant +cigar. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, children," he observed with mock severity, "you are late in +getting home from church. The sermon must have been extremely long." +</P> + +<P> +"We have been attending an after-meeting," replied Tryon joyfully, "and +have been discussing an old text, 'Little children, love one another,' +and its corollary, 'It is not good for man to live alone.' John, I am +the happiest man alive. Your sister has promised to marry me. I +should like to shake my brother's hand." +</P> + +<P> +Never does one feel so strongly the universal brotherhood of man as +when one loves some other fellow's sister. Warwick sprang from his +chair and clasped Tryon's extended hand with real emotion. He knew of +no man whom he would have preferred to Tryon as a husband for his +sister. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear George—my dear sister," he exclaimed, "I am very, very glad. +I wish you every happiness. My sister is the most fortunate of women." +</P> + +<P> +"And I am the luckiest of men," cried Tryon. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you every happiness," repeated Warwick; adding, with a touch of +solemnity, as a certain thought, never far distant, occurred to him, "I +hope that neither of you may ever regret your choice." +</P> + +<P> +Thus placed upon the footing of an accepted lover, Tryon's visits to +the house became more frequent. He wished to fix a time for the +marriage, but at this point Rena developed a strange reluctance. +</P> + +<P> +"Can we not love each other for a while?" she asked. "To be engaged is +a pleasure that comes but once; it would be a pity to cut it too short." +</P> + +<P> +"It is a pleasure that I would cheerfully dispense with," he replied, +"for the certainty of possession. I want you all to myself, and all the +time. Things might happen. If I should die, for instance, before I +married you"— +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, don't suppose such awful things," she cried, putting her hand over +his mouth. +</P> + +<P> +He held it there and kissed it until she pulled it away. +</P> + +<P> +"I should consider," he resumed, completing the sentence, "that my life +had been a failure." +</P> + +<P> +"If I should die," she murmured, "I should die happy in the knowledge +that you had loved me." +</P> + +<P> +"In three weeks," he went on, "I shall have finished my business in +Clarence, and there will be but one thing to keep me here. When shall +it be? I must take you home with me." +</P> + +<P> +"I will let you know," she replied, with a troubled sigh, "in a week +from to-day." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll call your attention to the subject every day in the mean time," +he asserted. "I shouldn't like you to forget it." +</P> + +<P> +Rena's shrinking from the irrevocable step of marriage was due to a +simple and yet complex cause. Stated baldly, it was the consciousness +of her secret; the complexity arose out of the various ways in which it +seemed to bear upon her future. Our lives are so bound up with those +of our fellow men that the slightest departure from the beaten path +involves a multiplicity of small adjustments. It had not been +difficult for Rena to conform her speech, her manners, and in a measure +her modes of thought, to those of the people around her; but when this +readjustment went beyond mere externals and concerned the vital issues +of life, the secret that oppressed her took on a more serious aspect, +with tragic possibilities. A discursive imagination was not one of her +characteristics, or the danger of a marriage of which perfect frankness +was not a condition might well have presented itself before her heart +had become involved. Under the influence of doubt and fear acting upon +love, the invisible bar to happiness glowed with a lambent flame that +threatened dire disaster. +</P> + +<P> +"Would he have loved me at all," she asked herself, "if he had known +the story of my past? Or, having loved me, could he blame me now for +what I cannot help?" +</P> + +<P> +There were two shoals in the channel of her life, upon either of which +her happiness might go to shipwreck. Since leaving the house behind +the cedars, where she had been brought into the world without her own +knowledge or consent, and had first drawn the breath of life by the +involuntary contraction of certain muscles, Rena had learned, in a +short time, many things; but she was yet to learn that the innocent +suffer with the guilty, and feel the punishment the more keenly because +unmerited. She had yet to learn that the old Mosaic formula, "The sins +of the fathers shall be visited upon the children," was graven more +indelibly upon the heart of the race than upon the tables of Sinai. +</P> + +<P> +But would her lover still love her, if he knew all? She had read some +of the novels in the bookcase in her mother's hall, and others at +boarding-school. She had read that love was a conqueror, that neither +life nor death, nor creed nor caste, could stay his triumphant course. +Her secret was no legal bar to their union. If Rena could forget the +secret, and Tryon should never know it, it would be no obstacle to +their happiness. But Rena felt, with a sinking of the heart, that +happiness was not a matter of law or of fact, but lay entirely within +the domain of sentiment. We are happy when we think ourselves happy, +and with a strange perversity we often differ from others with regard +to what should constitute our happiness. Rena's secret was the worm in +the bud, the skeleton in the closet. +</P> + +<P> +"He says that he loves me. He DOES love me. Would he love me, if he +knew?" She stood before an oval mirror brought from France by one of +Warwick's wife's ancestors, and regarded her image with a coldly +critical eye. She was as little vain as any of her sex who are endowed +with beauty. She tried to place herself, in thus passing upon her own +claims to consideration, in the hostile attitude of society toward her +hidden disability. There was no mark upon her brow to brand her as +less pure, less innocent, less desirable, less worthy to be loved, than +these proud women of the past who had admired themselves in this old +mirror. +</P> + +<P> +"I think a man might love me for myself," she murmured pathetically, +"and if he loved me truly, that he would marry me. If he would not +marry me, then it would be because he didn't love me. I'll tell George +my secret. If he leaves me, then he does not love me." +</P> + +<P> +But this resolution vanished into thin air before it was fully +formulated. The secret was not hers alone; it involved her brother's +position, to whom she owed everything, and in less degree the future of +her little nephew, whom she had learned to love so well. She had the +choice of but two courses of action, to marry Tryon or to dismiss him. +The thought that she might lose him made him seem only more dear; to +think that he might leave her made her sick at heart. In one week she +was bound to give him an answer; he was more likely to ask for it at +their next meeting. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DOUBTS AND FEARS +</H3> + +<P> +Rena's heart was too heavy with these misgivings for her to keep them +to herself. On the morning after the conversation with Tryon in which +she had promised him an answer within a week, she went into her +brother's study, where he usually spent an hour after breakfast before +going to his office. He looked up amiably from the book before him and +read trouble in her face. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Rena, dear," he asked with a smile, "what's the matter? Is +there anything you want—money, or what? I should like to have +Aladdin's lamp—though I'd hardly need it—that you might have no wish +unsatisfied." +</P> + +<P> +He had found her very backward in asking for things that she needed. +Generous with his means, he thought nothing too good for her. Her +success had gratified his pride, and justified his course in taking her +under his protection. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, John. You give me already more than I need. It is +something else, John. George wants me to say when I will marry him. I +am afraid to marry him, without telling him. If he should find out +afterwards, he might cast me off, or cease to love me. If he did not +know it, I should be forever thinking of what he would do if he SHOULD +find it out; or, if I should die without his having learned it, I +should not rest easy in my grave for thinking of what he would have +done if he HAD found it out." +</P> + +<P> +Warwick's smile gave place to a grave expression at this somewhat +comprehensive statement. He rose and closed the door carefully, lest +some one of the servants might overhear the conversation. More +liberally endowed than Rena with imagination, and not without a vein of +sentiment, he had nevertheless a practical side that outweighed them +both. With him, the problem that oppressed his sister had been in the +main a matter of argument, of self-conviction. Once persuaded that he +had certain rights, or ought to have them, by virtue of the laws of +nature, in defiance of the customs of mankind, he had promptly sought +to enjoy them. This he had been able to do by simply concealing his +antecedents and making the most of his opportunities, with no +troublesome qualms of conscience whatever. But he had already +perceived, in their brief intercourse, that Rena's emotions, while less +easily stirred, touched a deeper note than his, and dwelt upon it with +greater intensity than if they had been spread over the larger field to +which a more ready sympathy would have supplied so many points of +access;—hers was a deep and silent current flowing between the narrow +walls of a self-contained life, his the spreading river that ran +through a pleasant landscape. Warwick's imagination, however, enabled +him to put himself in touch with her mood and recognize its bearings +upon her conduct. He would have preferred her taking the practical +point of view, to bring her round to which he perceived would be a +matter of diplomacy. +</P> + +<P> +"How long have these weighty thoughts been troubling your small head?" +he asked with assumed lightness. +</P> + +<P> +"Since he asked me last night to name our wedding day." +</P> + +<P> +"My dear child," continued Warwick, "you take too tragic a view of +life. Marriage is a reciprocal arrangement, by which the contracting +parties give love for love, care for keeping, faith for faith. It is a +matter of the future, not of the past. What a poor soul it is that has +not some secret chamber, sacred to itself; where one can file away the +things others have no right to know, as well as things that one himself +would fain forget! We are under no moral obligation to inflict upon +others the history of our past mistakes, our wayward thoughts, our +secret sins, our desperate hopes, or our heartbreaking disappointments. +Still less are we bound to bring out from this secret chamber the dusty +record of our ancestry. +</P> + +<P> + 'Let the dead past bury its dead.'<BR> +</P> + +<P> +George Tryon loves you for yourself alone; it is not your ancestors +that he seeks to marry." +</P> + +<P> +"But would he marry me if he knew?" she persisted. +</P> + +<P> +Warwick paused for reflection. He would have preferred to argue the +question in a general way, but felt the necessity of satisfying her +scruples, as far as might be. He had liked Tryon from the very +beginning of their acquaintance. In all their intercourse, which had +been very close for several months, he had been impressed by the young +man's sunny temper, his straightforwardness, his intellectual honesty. +Tryon's deference to Warwick as the elder man had very naturally proved +an attraction. Whether this friendship would have stood the test of +utter frankness about his own past was a merely academic speculation +with which Warwick did not trouble himself. With his sister the +question had evidently become a matter of conscience,—a difficult +subject with which to deal in a person of Rena's temperament. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear sister," he replied, "why should he know? We haven't asked +him for his pedigree; we don't care to know it. If he cares for ours, +he should ask for it, and it would then be time enough to raise the +question. You love him, I imagine, and wish to make him happy?" +</P> + +<P> +It is the highest wish of the woman who loves. The enamored man seeks +his own happiness; the loving woman finds no sacrifice too great for +the loved one. The fiction of chivalry made man serve woman; the fact +of human nature makes woman happiest when serving where she loves. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, oh, yes," Rena exclaimed with fervor, clasping her hands +unconsciously. "I'm afraid he'd be unhappy if he knew, and it would +make me miserable to think him unhappy." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then," said Warwick, "suppose we should tell him our secret and +put ourselves in his power, and that he should then conclude that he +couldn't marry you? Do you imagine he would be any happier than he is +now, or than if he should never know?" +</P> + +<P> +Ah, no! she could not think so. One could not tear love out of one's +heart without pain and suffering. +</P> + +<P> +There was a knock at the door. Warwick opened it to the nurse, who +stood with little Albert in her arms. +</P> + +<P> +"Please, suh," said the girl, with a curtsy, "de baby 's be'n oryin' +an' frettin' fer Miss Rena, an' I 'lowed she mought want me ter fetch +'im, ef it wouldn't 'sturb her." +</P> + +<P> +"Give me the darling," exclaimed Rena, coming forward and taking the +child from the nurse. "It wants its auntie. Come to its auntie, bless +its little heart!" +</P> + +<P> +Little Albert crowed with pleasure and put up his pretty mouth for a +kiss. Warwick found the sight a pleasant one. If he could but quiet +his sister's troublesome scruples, he might erelong see her fondling +beautiful children of her own. Even if Rena were willing to risk her +happiness, and he to endanger his position, by a quixotic frankness, +the future of his child must not be compromised. +</P> + +<P> +"You wouldn't want to make George unhappy," Warwick resumed when the +nurse retired. "Very well; would you not be willing, for his sake, to +keep a secret—your secret and mine, and that of the innocent child in +your arms? Would you involve all of us in difficulties merely to +secure your own peace of mind? Doesn't such a course seem just the +least bit selfish? Think the matter over from that point of view, and +we'll speak of it later in the day. I shall be with George all the +morning, and I may be able, by a little management, to find out his +views on the subject of birth and family, and all that. Some men are +very liberal, and love is a great leveler. I'll sound him, at any +rate." +</P> + +<P> +He kissed the baby and left Rena to her own reflections, to which his +presentation of the case had given a new turn. It had never before +occurred to her to regard silence in the light of self-sacrifice. It +had seemed a sort of sin; her brother's argument made of it a virtue. +It was not the first time, nor the last, that right and wrong had been +a matter of view-point. +</P> + +<P> +Tryon himself furnished the opening for Warwick's proposed examination. +The younger man could not long remain silent upon the subject uppermost +in his mind. "I am anxious, John," he said, "to have Rowena name the +happiest day of my life—our wedding day. When the trial in Edgecombe +County is finished, I shall have no further business here, and shall be +ready to leave for home. I should like to take my bride with me, and +surprise my mother." +</P> + +<P> +Mothers, thought Warwick, are likely to prove inquisitive about their +sons' wives, especially when taken unawares in matters of such +importance. This seemed a good time to test the liberality of Tryon's +views, and to put forward a shield for his sister's protection. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you sure, George, that your mother will find the surprise +agreeable when you bring home a bride of whom you know so little and +your mother nothing at all?" +</P> + +<P> +Tryon had felt that it would be best to surprise his mother. She would +need only to see Rena to approve of her, but she was so far prejudiced +in favor of Blanche Leary that it would be wisest to present the +argument after having announced the irrevocable conclusion. Rena +herself would be a complete justification for the accomplished deed. +</P> + +<P> +"I think you ought to know, George," continued Warwick, without waiting +for a reply to his question, "that my sister and I are not of an old +family, or a rich family, or a distinguished family; that she can bring +you nothing but herself; that we have no connections of which you could +boast, and no relatives to whom we should be glad to introduce you. +You must take us for ourselves alone—we are new people." +</P> + +<P> +"My dear John," replied the young man warmly, "there is a great deal of +nonsense about families. If a man is noble and brave and strong, if a +woman is beautiful and good and true, what matters it about his or her +ancestry? If an old family can give them these things, then it is +valuable; if they possess them without it, then of what use is it, +except as a source of empty pride, which they would be better without? +If all new families were like yours, there would be no advantage in +belonging to an old one. All I care to know of Rowena's family is that +she is your sister; and you'll pardon me, old fellow, if I add that she +hardly needs even you,—she carries the stamp of her descent upon her +face and in her heart." +</P> + +<P> +"It makes me glad to hear you speak in that way," returned Warwick, +delighted by the young man's breadth and earnestness. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I mean every word of it," replied Tryon. "Ancestors, indeed, for +Rowena! I will tell you a family secret, John, to prove how little I +care for ancestors. My maternal great-great-grandfather, a hundred and +fifty years ago, was hanged, drawn, and quartered for stealing cattle +across the Scottish border. How is that for a pedigree? Behold in me +the lineal descendant of a felon!" +</P> + +<P> +Warwick felt much relieved at this avowal. His own statement had not +touched the vital point involved; it had been at the best but a +half-truth; but Tryon's magnanimity would doubtless protect Rena from +any close inquiry concerning her past. It even occurred to Warwick for +a moment that he might safely disclose the secret to Tryon; but an +appreciation of certain facts of history and certain traits of human +nature constrained him to put the momentary thought aside. It was a +great relief, however, to imagine that Tryon might think lightly of +this thing that he need never know. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Rena," he said to his sister when he went home at noon: "I've +sounded George." +</P> + +<P> +"What did he say?" she asked eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"I told him we were people of no family, and that we had no relatives +that we were proud of. He said he loved you for yourself, and would +never ask you about your ancestry." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I am so glad!" exclaimed Rena joyfully. This report left her very +happy for about three hours, or until she began to analyze carefully +her brother's account of what had been said. Warwick's statement had +not been specific,—he had not told Tryon THE thing. George's reply, +in turn, had been a mere generality. The concrete fact that oppressed +her remained unrevealed, and her doubt was still unsatisfied. +</P> + +<P> +Rena was occupied with this thought when her lover next came to see +her. Tryon came up the sanded walk from the gate and spoke pleasantly +to the nurse, a good-looking yellow girl who was seated on the front +steps, playing with little Albert. He took the boy from her arms, and +she went to call Miss Warwick. +</P> + +<P> +Rena came out, followed by the nurse, who offered to take the child. +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind, Mimy, leave him with me," said Tryon. +</P> + +<P> +The nurse walked discreetly over into the garden, remaining within +call, but beyond the hearing of conversation in an ordinary tone. +</P> + +<P> +"Rena, darling," said her lover, "when shall it be? Surely you won't +ask me to wait a week. Why, that's a lifetime!" +</P> + +<P> +Rena was struck by a brilliant idea. She would test her lover. Love +was a very powerful force; she had found it the greatest, grandest, +sweetest thing in the world. Tryon had said that he loved her; he had +said scarcely anything else for several weeks, surely nothing else +worth remembering. She would test his love by a hypothetical question. +</P> + +<P> +"You say you love me," she said, glancing at him with a sad +thoughtfulness in her large dark eyes. "How much do you love me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I love you all one can love. True love has no degrees; it is all or +nothing!" +</P> + +<P> +"Would you love me," she asked, with an air of coquetry that masked her +concern, pointing toward the girl in the shrubbery, "if I were Albert's +nurse yonder?" +</P> + +<P> +"If you were Albert's nurse," he replied, with a joyous laugh, "he +would have to find another within a week, for within a week we should +be married." +</P> + +<P> +The answer seemed to fit the question, but in fact, Tryon's mind and +Rena's did not meet. That two intelligent persons should each attach a +different meaning to so simple a form of words as Rena's question was +the best ground for her misgiving with regard to the marriage. But +love blinded her. She was anxious to be convinced. She interpreted the +meaning of his speech by her own thought and by the ardor of his +glance, and was satisfied with the answer. +</P> + +<P> +"And now, darling," pleaded Tryon, "will you not fix the day that shall +make me happy? I shall be ready to go away in three weeks. Will you +go with me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she answered, in a tumult of joy. She would never need to tell +him her secret now. It would make no difference with him, so far as +she was concerned; and she had no right to reveal her brother's secret. +She was willing to bury the past in forgetfulness, now that she knew it +would have no interest for her lover. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE DREAM +</H3> + +<P> +The marriage was fixed for the thirtieth of the month, immediately +after which Tryon and his bride were to set out for North Carolina. +Warwick would have liked it much if Tryon had lived in South Carolina; +but the location of his North Carolina home was at some distance from +Patesville, with which it had no connection by steam or rail, and +indeed lay altogether out of the line of travel to Patesville. Rena +had no acquaintance with people of social standing in North Carolina; +and with the added maturity and charm due to her improved +opportunities, it was unlikely that any former resident of Patesville +who might casually meet her would see in the elegant young matron from +South Carolina more than a passing resemblance to a poor girl who had +once lived in an obscure part of the old town. It would of course be +necessary for Rena to keep away from Patesville; save for her mother's +sake, she would hardly be tempted to go back. +</P> + +<P> +On the twentieth of the month, Warwick set out with Tryon for the +county seat of the adjoining county, to try one of the lawsuits which +had required Tryon's presence in South Carolina for so long a time. +Their destination was a day's drive from Clarence, behind a good horse, +and the trial was expected to last a week. +</P> + +<P> +"This week will seem like a year," said Tryon ruefully, the evening +before their departure, "but I'll write every day, and shall expect a +letter as often." +</P> + +<P> +"The mail goes only twice a week, George," replied Rena. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I shall have three letters in each mail." +</P> + +<P> +Warwick and Tryon were to set out in the cool of the morning, after an +early breakfast. Rena was up at daybreak that she might preside at the +breakfast-table and bid the travelers good-by. +</P> + +<P> +"John," said Rena to her brother in the morning, "I dreamed last night +that mother was ill." +</P> + +<P> +"Dreams, you know, Rena," answered Warwick lightly, "go by contraries. +Yours undoubtedly signifies that our mother, God bless her simple soul! +is at the present moment enjoying her usual perfect health. She was +never sick in her life." +</P> + +<P> +For a few months after leaving Patesville with her brother, Rena had +suffered tortures of homesickness; those who have felt it know the +pang. The severance of old ties had been abrupt and complete. At the +school where her brother had taken her, there had been nothing to +relieve the strangeness of her surroundings—no schoolmate from her own +town, no relative or friend of the family near by. Even the +compensation of human sympathy was in a measure denied her, for Rena +was too fresh from her prison-house to doubt that sympathy would fail +before the revelation of the secret the consciousness of which +oppressed her at that time like a nightmare. It was not strange that +Rena, thus isolated, should have been prostrated by homesickness for +several weeks after leaving Patesville. When the paroxysm had passed, +there followed a dull pain, which gradually subsided into a resignation +as profound, in its way, as had been her longing for home. She loved, +she suffered, with a quiet intensity of which her outward demeanor gave +no adequate expression. From some ancestral source she had derived a +strain of the passive fatalism by which alone one can submit +uncomplainingly to the inevitable. By the same token, when once a thing +had been decided, it became with her a finality, which only some +extraordinary stress of emotion could disturb. She had acquiesced in +her brother's plan; for her there was no withdrawing; her homesickness +was an incidental thing which must be endured, as patiently as might +be, until time should have brought a measure of relief. +</P> + +<P> +Warwick had made provision for an occasional letter from Patesville, by +leaving with his mother a number of envelopes directed to his address. +She could have her letters written, inclose them in these envelopes, +and deposit them in the post-office with her own hand. Thus the place +of Warwick's residence would remain within her own knowledge, and his +secret would not be placed at the mercy of any wandering Patesvillian +who might perchance go to that part of South Carolina. By this simple +means Rena had kept as closely in touch with her mother as Warwick had +considered prudent; any closer intercourse was not consistent with +their present station in life. +</P> + +<P> +The night after Warwick and Tryon had ridden away, Rena dreamed again +that her mother was ill. Better taught people than she, in regions +more enlightened than the South Carolina of that epoch, are disturbed +at times by dreams. Mis' Molly had a profound faith in them. If God, +in ancient times, had spoken to men in visions of the night, what +easier way could there be for Him to convey his meaning to people of +all ages? Science, which has shattered many an idol and destroyed many +a delusion, has made but slight inroads upon the shadowy realm of +dreams. For Mis' Molly, to whom science would have meant nothing and +psychology would have been a meaningless term, the land of dreams was +carefully mapped and bounded. Each dream had some special +significance, or was at least susceptible of classification under some +significant head. Dreams, as a general rule, went by contraries; but a +dream three times repeated was a certain portent of the thing defined. +Rena's few years of schooling at Patesville and her months at +Charleston had scarcely disturbed these hoary superstitions which lurk +in the dim corners of the brain. No lady in Clarence, perhaps, would +have remained undisturbed by a vivid dream, three times repeated, of +some event bearing materially upon her own life. +</P> + +<P> +The first repetition of a dream was decisive of nothing, for two dreams +meant no more than one. The power of the second lay in the suspense, +the uncertainty, to which it gave rise. Two doubled the chance of a +third. The day following this second dream was an anxious one for +Rena. She could not for an instant dismiss her mother from her +thoughts, which were filled too with a certain self-reproach. She had +left her mother alone; if her mother were really ill, there was no one +at home to tend her with loving care. This feeling grew in force, +until by nightfall Rena had become very unhappy, and went to bed with +the most dismal forebodings. In this state of mind, it is not +surprising that she now dreamed that her mother was lying at the point +of death, and that she cried out with heart-rending pathos:— +</P> + +<P> +"Rena, my darlin', why did you forsake yo'r pore old mother? Come back +to me, honey; I'll die ef I don't see you soon." +</P> + +<P> +The stress of subconscious emotion engendered by the dream was powerful +enough to wake Rena, and her mother's utterance seemed to come to her +with the force of a fateful warning and a great reproach. Her mother +was sick and needed her, and would die if she did not come. She felt +that she must see her mother,—it would be almost like murder to remain +away from her under such circumstances. +</P> + +<P> +After breakfast she went into the business part of the town and +inquired at what time a train would leave that would take her toward +Patesville. Since she had come away from the town, a railroad had been +opened by which the long river voyage might be avoided, and, making +allowance for slow trains and irregular connections, the town of +Patesville could be reached by an all-rail route in about twelve hours. +Calling at the post-office for the family mail, she found there a +letter from her mother, which she tore open in great excitement. It was +written in an unpracticed hand and badly spelled, and was in effect as +follows:— +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +MY DEAR DAUGHTER,—I take my pen in hand to let you know that I am not +very well. I have had a kind of misery in my side for two weeks, with +palpitations of the heart, and I have been in bed for three days. I'm +feeling mighty poorly, but Dr. Green says that I'll get over it in a +few days. Old Aunt Zilphy is staying with me, and looking after things +tolerably well. I hope this will find you and John enjoying good +health. Give my love to John, and I hope the Lord will bless him and +you too. Cousin Billy Oxendine has had a rising on his neck, and has +had to have it lanced. Mary B. has another young one, a boy this time. +Old man Tom Johnson was killed last week while trying to whip black Jim +Brown, who lived down on the Wilmington Road. Jim has run away. There +has been a big freshet in the river, and it looked at one time as if +the new bridge would be washed away. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +Frank comes over every day or two and asks about you. He says to tell +you that he don't believe you are coming back any more, but you are to +remember him, and that foolishness he said about bringing you back from +the end of the world with his mule and cart. He's very good to me, and +brings over shavings and kindling-wood, and made me a new well-bucket +for nothing. It's a comfort to talk to him about you, though I haven't +told him where you are living. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +I hope this will find you and John both well, and doing well. I should +like to see you, but if it's the Lord's will that I shouldn't, I shall +be thankful anyway that you have done what was the best for yourselves +and your children, and that I have given you up for your own good. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> + Your affectionate mother,<BR> + MARY WALDEN.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Rena shed tears over this simple letter, which, to her excited +imagination, merely confirmed the warning of her dream. At the date of +its writing her mother had been sick in bed, with the symptoms of a +serious illness. She had no nurse but a purblind old woman. Three +days of progressive illness had evidently been quite sufficient to +reduce her parent to the condition indicated by the third dream. The +thought that her mother might die without the presence of any one who +loved her pierced Rena's heart like a knife and lent wings to her feet. +She wished for the enchanted horse of which her brother had read to her +so many years before on the front piazza of the house behind the +cedars, that she might fly through the air to her dying mother's side. +She determined to go at once to Patesville. +</P> + +<P> +Returning home, she wrote a letter to Warwick inclosing their mother's +letter, and stating that she had dreamed an alarming dream for three +nights in succession; that she had left the house in charge of the +servants and gone to Patesville; and that she would return as soon as +her mother was out of danger. +</P> + +<P> +To her lover she wrote that she had been called away to visit a +sick-bed, and would return very soon, perhaps by the time he got back +to Clarence. These letters Rena posted on her way to the train, which +she took at five o'clock in the afternoon. This would bring her to +Patesville early in the morning of the following day. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A LETTER AND A JOURNEY +</H3> + +<P> +War has been called the court of last resort. A lawsuit may with equal +aptness be compared to a battle—the parallel might be drawn very +closely all along the line. First we have the casus belli, the cause +of action; then the various protocols and proclamations and general +orders, by way of pleas, demurrers, and motions; then the preliminary +skirmishes at the trial table; and then the final struggle, in which +might is quite as likely to prevail as right, victory most often +resting with the strongest battalions, and truth and justice not seldom +overborne by the weight of odds upon the other side. +</P> + +<P> +The lawsuit which Warwick and Tryon had gone to try did not, however, +reach this ultimate stage, but, after a three days' engagement, +resulted in a treaty of peace. The case was compromised and settled, +and Tryon and Warwick set out on their homeward drive. They stopped at +a farm-house at noon, and while at table saw the stage-coach from the +town they had just left, bound for their own destination. In the +mail-bag under the driver's seat were Rena's two letters; they had been +delivered at the town in the morning, and immediately remailed to +Clarence, in accordance with orders left at the post-office the evening +before. Tryon and Warwick drove leisurely homeward through the pines, +all unconscious of the fateful squares of white paper moving along the +road a few miles before them, which a mother's yearning and a +daughter's love had thrown, like the apple of discord, into the narrow +circle of their happiness. +</P> + +<P> +They reached Clarence at four o'clock. Warwick got down from the buggy +at his office. Tryon drove on to his hotel, to make a hasty toilet +before visiting his sweetheart. +</P> + +<P> +Warwick glanced at his mail, tore open the envelope addressed in his +sister's handwriting, and read the contents with something like dismay. +She had gone away on the eve of her wedding, her lover knew not where, +to be gone no one knew how long, on a mission which could not be +frankly disclosed. A dim foreboding of disaster flashed across his +mind. He thrust the letter into his pocket, with others yet unopened, +and started toward his home. Reaching the gate, he paused a moment and +then walked on past the house. Tryon would probably be there in a few +minutes, and he did not care to meet him without first having had the +opportunity for some moments of reflection. He must fix upon some line +of action in this emergency. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile Tryon had reached his hotel and opened his mail. The letter +from Rena was read first, with profound disappointment. He had really +made concessions in the settlement of that lawsuit—had yielded several +hundred dollars of his just dues, in order that he might get back to +Rena three days earlier. Now he must cool his heels in idleness for at +least three days before she would return. It was annoying, to say the +least. He wished to know where she had gone, that he might follow her +and stay near her until she should be ready to come back. He might ask +Warwick—no, she might have had some good reason for not having +mentioned her destination. She had probably gone to visit some of the +poor relations of whom her brother had spoken so frankly, and she would +doubtless prefer that he should not see her amid any surroundings but +the best. Indeed, he did not know that he would himself care to +endanger, by suggestive comparisons, the fine aureole of superiority +that surrounded her. She represented in her adorable person and her +pure heart the finest flower of the finest race that God had ever +made—the supreme effort of creative power, than which there could be +no finer. The flower would soon be his; why should he care to dig up +the soil in which it grew? +</P> + +<P> +Tryon went on opening his letters. There were several bills and +circulars, and then a letter from his mother, of which he broke the +seal:— +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +MY DEAREST GEORGE,—This leaves us well. Blanche is still with me, and +we are impatiently awaiting your return. In your absence she seems +almost like a daughter to me. She joins me in the hope that your +lawsuits are progressing favorably, and that you will be with us soon.... +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +On your way home, if it does not keep you away from us too long, would +it not be well for you to come by way of Patesville, and find out +whether there is any prospect of our being able to collect our claim +against old Mr. Duncan McSwayne's estate? You must have taken the +papers with you, along with the rest, for I do not find them here. +Things ought to be settled enough now for people to realize on some of +their securities. Your grandfather always believed the note was good, +and meant to try to collect it, but the war interfered. He said to me, +before he died, that if the note was ever collected, he would use the +money to buy a wedding present for your wife. Poor father! he is dead +and gone to heaven; but I am sure that even there he would be happier +if he knew the note was paid and the money used as he intended. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +If you go to Patesville, call on my cousin, Dr. Ed. Green, and tell him +who you are. Give him my love. I haven't seen him for twenty years. +He used to be very fond of the ladies, a very gallant man. He can +direct you to a good lawyer, no doubt. Hoping to see you soon, +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> + Your loving mother,<BR> + ELIZABETH TRYON.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +P. S. Blanche joins me in love to you. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +This affectionate and motherly letter did not give Tryon unalloyed +satisfaction. He was glad to hear that his mother was well, but he had +hoped that Blanche Leary might have finished her visit by this time. +The reasonable inference from the letter was that Blanche meant to +await his return. Her presence would spoil the fine romantic flavor of +the surprise he had planned for his mother; it would never do to expose +his bride to an unannounced meeting with the woman whom he had tacitly +rejected. There would be one advantage in such a meeting: the +comparison of the two women would be so much in Rena's favor that his +mother could not hesitate for a moment between them. The situation, +however, would have elements of constraint, and he did not care to +expose either Rena or Blanche to any disagreeable contingency. It +would be better to take his wife on a wedding trip, and notify his +mother, before he returned home, of his marriage. In the extremely +improbable case that she should disapprove his choice after having seen +his wife, the ice would at least have been broken before his arrival at +home. +</P> + +<P> +"By Jove!" he exclaimed suddenly, striking his knee with his hand, "why +shouldn't I run up to Patesville while Rena's gone? I can leave here +at five o'clock, and get there some time to-morrow morning. I can +transact my business during the day, and get back the day after +to-morrow; for Rena might return ahead of time, just as we did, and I +shall want to be here when she comes; I'd rather wait a year for a +legal opinion on a doubtful old note than to lose one day with my love. +The train goes in twenty minutes. My bag is already packed. I'll just +drop a line to George and tell him where I've gone." +</P> + +<P> +He put Rena's letter into his breast pocket, and turning to his trunk, +took from it a handful of papers relating to the claim in reference to +which he was going to Patesville. These he thrust into the same pocket +with Rena's letter; he wished to read both letter and papers while on +the train. It would be a pleasure merely to hold the letter before his +eyes and look at the lines traced by her hand. The papers he wished to +study, for the more practical purpose of examining into the merits of +his claim against the estate of Duncan McSwayne. +</P> + +<P> +When Warwick reached home, he inquired if Mr. Tryon had called. +</P> + +<P> +"No, suh," answered the nurse, to whom he had put the question; "he +ain't be'n here yet, suh." +</P> + +<P> +Warwick was surprised and much disturbed. +</P> + +<P> +"De baby 's be'n cryin' for Miss Rena," suggested the nurse, "an' I +s'pec' he'd like to see you, suh. Shall I fetch 'im?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, bring him to me." +</P> + +<P> +He took the child in his arms and went out upon the piazza. Several +porch pillows lay invitingly near. He pushed them toward the steps +with his foot, sat down upon one, and placed little Albert upon +another. He was scarcely seated when a messenger from the hotel came +up the walk from the gate and handed him a note. At the same moment he +heard the long shriek of the afternoon train leaving the station on the +opposite side of the town. +</P> + +<P> +He tore the envelope open anxiously, read the note, smiled a sickly +smile, and clenched the paper in his hand unconsciously. There was +nothing he could do. The train had gone; there was no telegraph to +Patesville, and no letter could leave Clarence for twenty-four hours. +The best laid schemes go wrong at times—the stanchest ships are +sometimes wrecked, or skirt the breakers perilously. Life is a sea, +full of strange currents and uncharted reefs—whoever leaves the +traveled path must run the danger of destruction. Warwick was a +lawyer, however, and accustomed to balance probabilities. +</P> + +<P> +"He may easily be in Patesville a day or two without meeting her. She +will spend most of her time at mother's bedside, and he will be +occupied with his own affairs." +</P> + +<P> +If Tryon should meet her—well, he was very much in love, and he had +spoken very nobly of birth and blood. Warwick would have preferred, +nevertheless, that Tryon's theories should not be put to this +particular test. Rena's scruples had so far been successfully +combated; the question would be opened again, and the situation +unnecessarily complicated, if Tryon should meet Rena in Patesville. +</P> + +<P> +"Will he or will he not?" he asked himself. He took a coin from his +pocket and spun it upon the floor. "Heads, he sees her; tails, he does +not." +</P> + +<P> +The coin spun swiftly and steadily, leaving upon the eye the impression +of a revolving sphere. Little Albert, left for a moment to his own +devices, had crept behind his father and was watching the whirling disk +with great pleasure. He felt that he would like to possess this +interesting object. The coin began to move more slowly, and was +wabbling to its fall, when the child stretched forth his chubby fist +and caught it ere it touched the floor. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TRYON GOES TO PATESVILLE +</H3> + +<P> +Tryon arrived in the early morning and put up at the Patesville Hotel, +a very comfortable inn. After a bath, breakfast, and a visit to the +barbershop, he inquired of the hotel clerk the way to the office of Dr. +Green, his mother's cousin. +</P> + +<P> +"On the corner, sir," answered the clerk, "by the market-house, just +over the drugstore. The doctor drove past here only half an hour ago. +You'll probably catch him in his office." +</P> + +<P> +Tryon found the office without difficulty. He climbed the stair, but +found no one in except a young colored man seated in the outer office, +who rose promptly as Tryon entered. +</P> + +<P> +"No, suh," replied the man to Tryon's question, "he ain't hyuh now. +He's gone out to see a patient, suh, but he'll be back soon. Won't you +set down in de private office an' wait fer 'im, suh?" +</P> + +<P> +Tryon had not slept well during his journey, and felt somewhat +fatigued. Through the open door of the next room he saw an inviting +armchair, with a window at one side, and upon the other a table strewn +with papers and magazines. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he answered, "I'll wait." +</P> + +<P> +He entered the private office, sank into the armchair, and looked out +of the window upon the square below. The view was mildly interesting. +The old brick market-house with the tower was quite picturesque. On a +wagon-scale at one end the public weighmaster was weighing a load of +hay. In the booths under the wide arches several old negro women were +frying fish on little charcoal stoves—the odor would have been +appetizing to one who had not breakfasted. On the shady side stood +half a dozen two-wheeled carts, loaded with lightwood and drawn by +diminutive steers, or superannuated army mules branded on the flank +with the cabalistic letters "C. S. A.," which represented a vanished +dream, or "U. S. A.," which, as any negro about the market-house would +have borne witness, signified a very concrete fact. Now and then a +lady or gentleman passed with leisurely step—no one ever hurried in +Patesville—or some poor white sandhiller slouched listlessly along +toward store or bar-room. +</P> + +<P> +Tryon mechanically counted the slabs of gingerbread on the nearest +market-stall, and calculated the cubical contents of several of the +meagre loads of wood. Having exhausted the view, he turned to the +table at his elbow and picked up a medical journal, in which he read +first an account of a marvelous surgical operation. Turning the leaves +idly, he came upon an article by a Southern writer, upon the perennial +race problem that has vexed the country for a century. The writer +maintained that owing to a special tendency of the negro blood, however +diluted, to revert to the African type, any future amalgamation of the +white and black races, which foolish and wicked Northern negrophiles +predicted as the ultimate result of the new conditions confronting the +South, would therefore be an ethnological impossibility; for the +smallest trace of negro blood would inevitably drag down the superior +race to the level of the inferior, and reduce the fair Southland, +already devastated by the hand of the invader, to the frightful level +of Hayti, the awful example of negro incapacity. To forefend their +beloved land, now doubly sanctified by the blood of her devoted sons +who had fallen in the struggle to maintain her liberties and preserve +her property, it behooved every true Southron to stand firm against the +abhorrent tide of radicalism, to maintain the supremacy and purity of +his all-pervading, all-conquering race, and to resist by every +available means the threatened domination of an inferior and degraded +people, who were set to rule hereditary freemen ere they had themselves +scarce ceased to be slaves. +</P> + +<P> +When Tryon had finished the article, which seemed to him a +well-considered argument, albeit a trifle bombastic, he threw the book +upon the table. Finding the armchair wonderfully comfortable, and +feeling the fatigue of his journey, he yielded to a drowsy impulse, +leaned his head on the cushioned back of the chair, and fell asleep. +According to the habit of youth, he dreamed, and pursuant to his own +individual habit, he dreamed of Rena. They were walking in the +moonlight, along the quiet road in front of her brother's house. The +air was redolent with the perfume of flowers. His arm was around her +waist. He had asked her if she loved him, and was awaiting her answer +in tremulous but confident expectation. She opened her lips to speak. +The sound that came from them seemed to be:— +</P> + +<P> +"Is Dr. Green in? No? Ask him, when he comes back, please, to call at +our house as soon as he can." +</P> + +<P> +Tryon was in that state of somnolence in which one may dream and yet be +aware that one is dreaming,—the state where one, during a dream, +dreams that one pinches one's self to be sure that one is not dreaming. +He was therefore aware of a ringing quality about the words he had just +heard that did not comport with the shadowy converse of a dream—an +incongruity in the remark, too, which marred the harmony of the vision. +The shock was sufficient to disturb Tryon's slumber, and he struggled +slowly back to consciousness. When fully awake, he thought he heard a +light footfall descending the stairs. +</P> + +<P> +"Was there some one here?" he inquired of the attendant in the outer +office, who was visible through the open door. +</P> + +<P> +"Yas, suh," replied the boy, "a young cullud 'oman wuz in jes' now, +axin' fer de doctuh." +</P> + +<P> +Tryon felt a momentary touch of annoyance that a negro woman should +have intruded herself into his dream at its most interesting point. +Nevertheless, the voice had been so real, his imagination had +reproduced with such exactness the dulcet tones so dear to him, that he +turned his head involuntarily and looked out of the window. He could +just see the flutter of a woman's skirt disappearing around the corner. +</P> + +<P> +A moment later the doctor came bustling in,—a plump, rosy man of fifty +or more, with a frank, open countenance and an air of genial good +nature. Such a doctor, Tryon fancied, ought to enjoy a wide popularity. +His mere presence would suggest life and hope and healthfulness. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear boy," exclaimed the doctor cordially, after Tryon had +introduced himself, "I'm delighted to meet you—or any one of the old +blood. Your mother and I were sweethearts, long ago, when we both wore +pinafores, and went to see our grandfather at Christmas; and I met her +more than once, and paid her more than one compliment, after she had +grown to be a fine young woman. You're like her! too, but not quite so +handsome—you've more of what I suppose to be the Tryon favor, though I +never met your father. So one of old Duncan McSwayne's notes went so +far as that? Well, well, I don't know where you won't find them. One +of them turned up here the other day from New York. +</P> + +<P> +"The man you want to see," he added later in the conversation, "is old +Judge Straight. He's getting somewhat stiff in the joints, but he +knows more law, and more about the McSwayne estate, than any other two +lawyers in town. If anybody can collect your claim, Judge Straight +can. I'll send my boy Dave over to his office. Dave," he called to +his attendant, "run over to Judge Straight's office and see if he's +there. +</P> + +<P> +"There was a freshet here a few weeks ago," he want on, when the +colored man had departed, "and they had to open the flood-gates and let +the water out of the mill pond, for if the dam had broken, as it did +twenty years ago, it would have washed the pillars from under the +judge's office and let it down in the creek, and"— +</P> + +<P> +"Jedge Straight ain't in de office jes' now, suh," reported the +doctor's man Dave, from the head of the stairs. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you ask when he'd be back?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, suh, you didn't tell me ter, suh." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, now, go back and inquire. +</P> + +<P> +"The niggers," he explained to Tryon, "are getting mighty trifling +since they've been freed. Before the war, that boy would have been +around there and back before you could say Jack Robinson; now, the lazy +rascal takes his time just like a white man." +</P> + +<P> +Dave returned more promptly than from his first trip. "Jedge +Straight's dere now, suh," he said. "He's done come in." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll take you right around and introduce you," said the doctor, +running on pleasantly, like a babbling brook. "I don't know whether +the judge ever met your mother or not, but he knows a gentleman when he +sees one, and will be glad to meet you and look after your affair. See +to the patients, Dave, and say I'll be back shortly, and don't forget +any messages left for me. Look sharp, now! You know your failing!" +</P> + +<P> +They found Judge Straight in his office. He was seated by the rear +window, and had fallen into a gentle doze—the air of Patesville was +conducive to slumber. A visitor from some bustling city might have +rubbed his eyes, on any but a market-day, and imagined the whole town +asleep—that the people were somnambulists and did not know it. The +judge, an old hand, roused himself so skillfully, at the sound of +approaching footsteps, that his visitors could not guess but that he +had been wide awake. He shook hands with the doctor, and acknowledged +the introduction to Tryon with a rare old-fashioned courtesy, which the +young man thought a very charming survival of the manners of a past and +happier age. +</P> + +<P> +"No," replied the judge, in answer to a question by Dr. Green, "I never +met his mother; I was a generation ahead of her. I was at school with +her father, however, fifty years ago—fifty years ago! No doubt that +seems to you a long time, young gentleman?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is a long time, sir," replied Tryon. "I must live more than twice +as long as I have in order to cover it." +</P> + +<P> +"A long time, and a troubled time," sighed the judge. "I could wish +that I might see this unhappy land at peace with itself before I die. +Things are in a sad tangle; I can't see the way out. But the worst +enemy has been slain, in spite of us. We are well rid of slavery." +</P> + +<P> +"But the negro we still have with us," remarked the doctor, "for here +comes my man Dave. What is it, Dave?" he asked sharply, as the negro +stuck his head in at the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Doctuh Green," he said, "I fuhgot ter tell you, suh, dat dat young +'oman wuz at de office agin jes' befo' you come in, an' said fer you to +go right down an' see her mammy ez soon ez you could." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, yes, and you've just remembered it! I'm afraid you're entirely +too forgetful for a doctor's office. You forgot about old Mrs. +Latimer, the other day, and when I got there she had almost choked to +death. Now get back to the office, and remember, the next time you +forget anything, I'll hire another boy; remember that! That boy's +head," he remarked to his companions, after Dave had gone, "reminds me +of nothing so much as a dried gourd, with a handful of cowpeas rattling +around it, in lieu of gray matter. An old woman out in Redbank got a +fishbone in her throat, the other day, and nearly choked to death +before I got there. A white woman, sir, came very near losing her life +because of a lazy, trifling negro!" +</P> + +<P> +"I should think you would discharge him, sir," suggested Tryon. +</P> + +<P> +"What would be the use?" rejoined the doctor. "All negroes are alike, +except that now and then there's a pretty woman along the border-line. +Take this patient of mine, for instance,—I'll call on her after +dinner, her case is not serious,—thirty years ago she would have made +any man turn his head to look at her. You know who I mean, don't you, +judge?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. I think so," said the judge promptly. "I've transacted a little +business for her now and then." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know whether you've seen the daughter or not—I'm sure you +haven't for the past year or so, for she's been away. But she's in +town now, and, by Jove, the girl is really beautiful. And I'm a judge +of beauty. Do you remember my wife thirty years ago, judge?" +</P> + +<P> +"She was a very handsome woman, Ed," replied the other judicially. "If +I had been twenty years younger, I should have cut you out." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean you would have tried. But as I was saying, this girl is a +beauty; I reckon we might guess where she got some of it, eh, Judge? +Human nature is human nature, but it's a d—d shame that a man should +beget a child like that and leave it to live the life open for a negro. +If she had been born white, the young fellows would be tumbling over +one another to get her. Her mother would have to look after her pretty +closely as things are, if she stayed here; but she disappeared +mysteriously a year or two ago, and has been at the North, I'm told, +passing for white. She'll probably marry a Yankee; he won't know any +better, and it will serve him right—she's only too white for them. +She has a very striking figure, something on the Greek order, stately +and slow-moving. She has the manners of a lady, too—a beautiful +woman, if she is a nigger!" +</P> + +<P> +"I quite agree with you, Ed," remarked the judge dryly, "that the +mother had better look closely after the daughter." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, no, judge," replied the other, with a flattered smile, "my +admiration for beauty is purely abstract. Twenty-five years ago, when +I was younger"— +</P> + +<P> +"When you were young," corrected the judge. +</P> + +<P> +"When you and I were younger," continued the doctor +ingeniously,—"twenty-five years ago, I could not have answered for +myself. But I would advise the girl to stay at the North, if she can. +She's certainly out of place around here." +</P> + +<P> +Tryon found the subject a little tiresome, and the doctor's enthusiasm +not at all contagious. He could not possibly have been interested in a +colored girl, under any circumstances, and he was engaged to be married +to the most beautiful white woman on earth. To mention a negro woman +in the same room where he was thinking of Rena seemed little short of +profanation. His friend the doctor was a jovial fellow, but it was +surely doubtful taste to refer to his wife in such a conversation. He +was very glad when the doctor dropped the subject and permitted him to +go more into detail about the matter which formed his business in +Patesville. He took out of his pocket the papers concerning the +McSwayne claim and laid them on the judge's desk. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll find everything there, sir,—the note, the contract, and some +correspondence that will give you the hang of the thing. Will you be +able to look over them to-day? I should like," he added a little +nervously, "to go back to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"What!" exclaimed Dr. Green vivaciously, "insult our town by staying +only one day? It won't be long enough to get acquainted with our young +ladies. Patesville girls are famous for their beauty. But perhaps +there's a loadstone in South Carolina to draw you back? Ah, you change +color! To my mind there's nothing finer than the ingenuous blush of +youth. But we'll spare you if you'll answer one question—is it +serious?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm to be married in two weeks, sir," answered Tryon. The statement +sounded very pleasant, in spite of the slight embarrassment caused by +the inquiry. +</P> + +<P> +"Good boy!" rejoined the doctor, taking his arm familiarly—they were +both standing now. "You ought to have married a Patesville girl, but +you people down towards the eastern counties seldom come this way, and +we are evidently too late to catch you." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll look your papers over this morning," said the judge, "and when I +come from dinner will stop at the court house and examine the records +and see whether there's anything we can get hold of. If you'll drop in +around three or four o'clock, I may be able to give you an opinion." +</P> + +<P> +"Now, George," exclaimed the doctor, "we'll go back to the office for a +spell, and then I'll take you home with me to luncheon." +</P> + +<P> +Tryon hesitated. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you must come! Mrs. Green would never forgive me if I didn't +bring you. Strangers are rare birds in our society, and when they come +we make them welcome. Our enemies may overturn our institutions, and +try to put the bottom rail on top, but they cannot destroy our Southern +hospitality. There are so many carpet-baggers and other social vermin +creeping into the South, with the Yankees trying to force the niggers +on us, that it's a genuine pleasure to get acquainted with another real +Southern gentleman, whom one can invite into one's house without fear +of contamination, and before whom one can express his feelings freely +and be sure of perfect sympathy." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AN INJUDICIOUS PAYMENT +</H3> + +<P> +When Judge Straight's visitors had departed, he took up the papers +which had been laid loosely on the table as they were taken out of +Tryon's breast-pocket, and commenced their perusal. There was a note +for five hundred dollars, many years overdue, but not yet outlawed by +lapse of time; a contract covering the transaction out of which the +note had grown; and several letters and copies of letters modifying the +terms of the contract. The judge had glanced over most of the papers, +and was getting well into the merits of the case, when he unfolded a +letter which read as follows:— +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +MY DEAREST GEORGE,—I am going away for about a week, to visit the +bedside of an old friend, who is very ill, and may not live. Do not be +alarmed about me, for I shall very likely be back by the time you are. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> + Yours lovingly,<BR> + ROWENA WARWICK.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The judge was unable to connect this letter with the transaction which +formed the subject of his examination. Age had dimmed his perceptions +somewhat, and it was not until he had finished the letter, and read it +over again, and noted the signature at the bottom a second time, that +he perceived that the writing was in a woman's hand, that the ink was +comparatively fresh, and that the letter was dated only a couple of +days before. While he still held the sheet in his hand, it dawned upon +him slowly that he held also one of the links in a chain of possible +tragedy which he himself, he became uncomfortably aware, had had a hand +in forging. +</P> + +<P> +"It is the Walden woman's daughter, as sure as fate! Her name is Rena. +Her brother goes by the name of Warwick. She has come to visit her +sick mother. My young client, Green's relation, is her lover—is +engaged to marry her—is in town, and is likely to meet her!" +</P> + +<P> +The judge was so absorbed in the situation thus suggested that he laid +the papers down and pondered for a moment the curious problem involved. +He was quite aware that two races had not dwelt together, side by side, +for nearly three hundred years, without mingling their blood in greater +or less degree; he was old enough, and had seen curious things enough, +to know that in this mingling the current had not always flowed in one +direction. Certain old decisions with which he was familiar; old +scandals that had crept along obscure channels; old facts that had come +to the knowledge of an old practitioner, who held in the hollow of his +hand the honor of more than one family, made him know that there was +dark blood among the white people—not a great deal, and that very much +diluted, and, so long as it was sedulously concealed or vigorously +denied, or lost in the mists of tradition, or ascribed to a foreign or +an aboriginal strain, having no perceptible effect upon the racial type. +</P> + +<P> +Such people were, for the most part, merely on the ragged edge of the +white world, seldom rising above the level of overseers, or +slave-catchers, or sheriff's officers, who could usually be relied upon +to resent the drop of black blood that tainted them, and with the zeal +of the proselyte to visit their hatred of it upon the unfortunate +blacks that fell into their hands. One curse of negro slavery was, and +one part of its baleful heritage is, that it poisoned the fountains of +human sympathy. Under a system where men might sell their own children +without social reprobation or loss of prestige, it was not surprising +that some of them should hate their distant cousins. There were not in +Patesville half a dozen persons capable of thinking Judge Straight's +thoughts upon the question before him, and perhaps not another who +would have adopted the course he now pursued toward this anomalous +family in the house behind the cedars. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, here we are again, as the clown in the circus remarks," murmured +the judge. "Ten years ago, in a moment of sentimental weakness and of +quixotic loyalty to the memory of an old friend,—who, by the way, had +not cared enough for his own children to take them away from the South, +as he might have done, or to provide for them handsomely, as he perhaps +meant to do,—I violated the traditions of my class and stepped from +the beaten path to help the misbegotten son of my old friend out of the +slough of despond, in which he had learned, in some strange way, that +he was floundering. Ten years later, the ghost of my good deed returns +to haunt me, and makes me doubt whether I have wrought more evil than +good. I wonder," he mused, "if he will find her out?" +</P> + +<P> +The judge was a man of imagination; he had read many books and had +personally outlived some prejudices. He let his mind run on the +various phases of the situation. +</P> + +<P> +"If he found her out, would he by any possibility marry her?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is not likely," he answered himself. "If he made the discovery +here, the facts would probably leak out in the town. It is something +that a man might do in secret, but only a hero or a fool would do +openly." +</P> + +<P> +The judge sighed as he contemplated another possibility. He had lived +for seventy years under the old regime. The young man was a +gentleman—so had been the girl's father. Conditions were changed, but +human nature was the same. Would the young man's love turn to disgust +and repulsion, or would it merely sink from the level of worship to +that of desire? Would the girl, denied marriage, accept anything less? +Her mother had,—but conditions were changed. Yes, conditions were +changed, so far as the girl was concerned; there was a possible future +for her under the new order of things; but white people had not changed +their opinion of the negroes, except for the worse. The general belief +was that they were just as inferior as before, and had, moreover, been +spoiled by a disgusting assumption of equality, driven into their thick +skulls by Yankee malignity bent upon humiliating a proud though +vanquished foe. +</P> + +<P> +If the judge had had sons and daughters of his own, he might not have +done what he now proceeded to do. But the old man's attitude toward +society was chiefly that of an observer, and the narrow stream of +sentiment left in his heart chose to flow toward the weaker party in +this unequal conflict,—a young woman fighting for love and opportunity +against the ranked forces of society, against immemorial tradition, +against pride of family and of race. +</P> + +<P> +"It may be the unwisest thing I ever did," he said to himself, turning +to his desk and taking up a quill pen, "and may result in more harm +than good; but I was always from childhood in sympathy with the under +dog. There is certainly as much reason in my helping the girl as the +boy, for being a woman, she is less able to help herself." +</P> + +<P> +He dipped his pen into the ink and wrote the following lines:— +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +MADAM,—If you value your daughter's happiness, keep her at home for +the next day or two. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +This note he dried by sprinkling it with sand from a box near at hand, +signed with his own name, and, with a fine courtesy, addressed to "Mrs. +Molly Walden." Having first carefully sealed it in an envelope, he +stepped to the open door, and spied, playing marbles on the street near +by, a group of negro boys, one of whom the judge called by name. +</P> + +<P> +"Here, Billy," he said, handing the boy the note, "take this to Mis' +Molly Walden. Do you know where she lives—down on Front Street, in +the house behind the cedars?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yas, suh, I knows de place." +</P> + +<P> +"Make haste, now. When you come back and tell me what she says, I'll +give you ten cents. On second thoughts, I shall be gone to lunch, so +here's your money," he added, handing the lad the bit of soiled paper +by which the United States government acknowledged its indebtedness to +the bearer in the sum of ten cents. +</P> + +<P> +Just here, however, the judge made his mistake. Very few mortals can +spare the spring of hope, the motive force of expectation. The boy +kept the note in his hand, winked at his companions, who had gathered +as near as their awe of the judge would permit, and started down the +street. As soon as the judge had disappeared, Billy beckoned to his +friends, who speedily overtook him. When the party turned the corner +of Front Street and were safely out of sight of Judge Straight's +office, the capitalist entered the grocery store and invested his +unearned increment in gingerbread. When the ensuing saturnalia was +over, Billy finished the game of marbles which the judge had +interrupted, and then set out to execute his commission. He had nearly +reached his objective point when he met upon the street a young white +lady, whom he did not know, and for whom, the path being narrow at that +point, he stepped out into the gutter. He reached the house behind the +cedars, went round to the back door, and handed the envelope to Mis' +Molly, who was seated on the rear piazza, propped up by pillows in a +comfortable rocking-chair. +</P> + +<P> +"Laws-a-massy!" she exclaimed weakly, "what is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's a lettuh, ma'm," answered the boy, whose expanding nostrils had +caught a pleasant odor from the kitchen, and who was therefore in no +hurry to go away. +</P> + +<P> +"Who's it fur?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"It's fuh you, ma'm," replied the lad. +</P> + +<P> +"An' who's it from?" she inquired, turning the envelope over and over, +and examining it with the impotent curiosity of one who cannot read. +</P> + +<P> +"F'm ole Jedge Straight, ma'm. He tole me ter fetch it ter you. Is +you got a roasted 'tater you could gimme, ma'm?" +</P> + +<P> +"Shorely, chile. I'll have Aunt Zilphy fetch you a piece of 'tater +pone, if you'll hol' on a minute." +</P> + +<P> +She called to Aunt Zilphy, who soon came hobbling out of the kitchen +with a large square of the delicacy,—a flat cake made of mashed sweet +potatoes, mixed with beaten eggs, sweetened and flavored to suit the +taste, and baked in a Dutch oven upon the open hearth. +</P> + +<P> +The boy took the gratuity, thanked her, and turned to go. Mis' Molly +was still scanning the superscription of the letter. "I wonder," she +murmured, "what old Judge Straight can be writin' to me about. Oh, +boy!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yas 'm," answered the messenger, looking back. +</P> + +<P> +"Can you read writin'?" +</P> + +<P> +"No 'm." +</P> + +<P> +"All right. Never mind." +</P> + +<P> +She laid the letter carefully on the chimney-piece of the kitchen. "I +reckon it's somethin' mo' 'bout the taxes," she thought, "or maybe +somebody wants to buy one er my lots. Rena'll be back terreckly, an' +she kin read it an' find out. I'm glad my child'en have be'n to school. +They never could have got where they are now if they hadn't." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A LOYAL FRIEND +</H3> + +<P> +Mention has been made of certain addressed envelopes which John +Warwick, on the occasion of his visit to Patesville, had left with his +illiterate mother, by the use of which she might communicate with her +children from time to time. On one occasion, Mis' Molly, having had a +letter written, took one of these envelopes from the chest where she +kept her most valued possessions, and was about to inclose the letter +when some one knocked at the back door. She laid the envelope and +letter on a table in her bedroom, and went to answer the knock. The +wind, blowing across the room through the open windows, picked up the +envelope and bore it into the street. Mis' Molly, on her return, +missed it, looked for it, and being unable to find it, took another +envelope. An hour or two later another gust of wind lifted the bit of +paper from the ground and carried it into the open door of the cooper +shop. Frank picked it up, and observing that it was clean and unused, +read the superscription. In his conversations with Mis' Molly, which +were often about Rena,—the subject uppermost in both their minds,—he +had noted the mystery maintained by Mis' Molly about her daughter's +whereabouts, and had often wondered where she might be. Frank was an +intelligent fellow, and could put this and that together. The envelope +was addressed to a place in South Carolina. He was aware, from some +casual remark of Mis' Molly's, that Rena had gone to live in South +Carolina. Her son's name was John—that he had changed his last name +was more than likely. Frank was not long in reaching the conclusion +that Rena was to be found near the town named on the envelope, which he +carefully preserved for future reference. +</P> + +<P> +For a whole year Frank had yearned for a smile or a kind word from the +only woman in the world. Peter, his father, had rallied him somewhat +upon his moodiness after Rena's departure. +</P> + +<P> +"Now 's de time, boy, fer you ter be lookin' roun' fer some nice gal er +yo' own color, w'at'll 'preciate you, an' won't be 'shamed er you. +You're wastin' time, boy, wastin' time, shootin' at a mark outer yo' +range." +</P> + +<P> +But Frank said nothing in reply, and afterwards the old man, who was +not without discernment, respected his son's mood and was silent in +turn; while Frank fed his memory with his imagination, and by their +joint aid kept hope alive. +</P> + +<P> +Later an opportunity to see her presented itself. Business in the +cooper shop was dull. A barrel factory had been opened in the town, +and had well-nigh paralyzed the cooper's trade. The best mechanic +could hardly compete with a machine. One man could now easily do the +work of Peter's shop. An agent appeared in town seeking laborers for +one of the railroads which the newly organized carpet-bag governments +were promoting. Upon inquiry Frank learned that their destination was +near the town of Clarence, South Carolina. He promptly engaged himself +for the service, and was soon at work in the neighborhood of Warwick's +home. There he was employed steadily until a certain holiday, upon +which a grand tournament was advertised to take place in a neighboring +town. Work was suspended, and foremen and laborers attended the +festivities. +</P> + +<P> +Frank had surmised that Rena would be present on such an occasion. He +had more than guessed, too, that she must be looked for among the white +people rather than among the black. Hence the interest with which he +had scanned the grand stand. The result has already been recounted. He +had recognized her sweet face; he had seen her enthroned among the +proudest and best. He had witnessed and gloried in her triumph. He +had seen her cheek flushed with pleasure, her eyes lit up with smiles. +He had followed her carriage, had made the acquaintance of Mimy the +nurse, and had learned all about the family. When finally he left the +neighborhood to return to Patesville, he had learned of Tryon's +attentions, and had heard the servants' gossip with reference to the +marriage, of which they knew the details long before the principals had +approached the main fact. Frank went away without having received one +smile or heard one word from Rena; but he had seen her: she was happy; +he was content in the knowledge of her happiness. She was doubtless +secure in the belief that her secret was unknown. Why should he, by +revealing his presence, sow the seeds of doubt or distrust in the +garden of her happiness? He sacrificed the deepest longing of a +faithful heart, and went back to the cooper shop lest perchance she +might accidentally come upon him some day and suffer the shock which he +had sedulously spared her. +</P> + +<P> +"I would n' want ter skeer her," he mused, "er make her feel bad, an' +dat's w'at I'd mos' lackly do ef she seed me. She'll be better off wid +me out'n de road. She'll marry dat rich w'ite gent'eman,—he won't +never know de diffe'nce,—an' be a w'ite lady, ez she would 'a' be'n, +ef some ole witch had n' changed her in her cradle. But maybe some +time she'll 'member de little nigger w'at use' ter nuss her w'en she +woz a chile, an' fished her out'n de ole canal, an' would 'a' died fer +her ef it would 'a' done any good." +</P> + +<P> +Very generously too, and with a fine delicacy, he said nothing to Mis' +Molly of his having seen her daughter, lest she might be disquieted by +the knowledge that he shared the family secret,—no great mystery now, +this pitiful secret, but more far-reaching in its consequences than any +blood-curdling crime. The taint of black blood was the unpardonable +sin, from the unmerited penalty of which there was no escape except by +concealment. If there be a dainty reader of this tale who scorns a +lie, and who writes the story of his life upon his sleeve for all the +world to read, let him uncurl his scornful lip and come down from the +pedestal of superior morality, to which assured position and wide +opportunity have lifted him, and put himself in the place of Rena and +her brother, upon whom God had lavished his best gifts, and from whom +society would have withheld all that made these gifts valuable. To +undertake what they tried to do required great courage. Had they +possessed the sneaking, cringing, treacherous character traditionally +ascribed to people of mixed blood—the character which the blessed +institutions of a free slave-holding republic had been well adapted to +foster among them; had they been selfish enough to sacrifice to their +ambition the mother who gave them birth, society would have been +placated or humbugged, and the voyage of their life might have been one +of unbroken smoothness. +</P> + +<P> +When Rena came back unexpectedly at the behest of her dream, Frank +heard again the music of her voice, felt the joy of her presence and +the benison of her smile. There was, however, a subtle difference in +her bearing. Her words were not less kind, but they seemed to come +from a remoter source. She was kind, as the sun is warm or the rain +refreshing; she was especially kind to Frank, because he had been good +to her mother. If Frank felt the difference in her attitude, he +ascribed it to the fact that she had been white, and had taken on +something of the white attitude toward the negro; and Frank, with an +equal unconsciousness, clothed her with the attributes of the superior +race. Only her drop of black blood, he conceived, gave him the right +to feel toward her as he would never have felt without it; and if Rena +guessed her faithful devotee's secret, the same reason saved his +worship from presumption. A smile and a kind word were little enough +to pay for a life's devotion. +</P> + +<P> +On the third day of Rena's presence in Patesville, Frank was driving up +Front Street in the early afternoon, when he nearly fell off his cart +in astonishment as he saw seated in Dr. Green's buggy, which was +standing in front of the Patesville Hotel, the young gentleman who had +won the prize at the tournament, and who, as he had learned, was to +marry Rena. Frank was quite certain that she did not know of Tryon's +presence in the town. Frank had been over to Mis' Molly's in the +morning, and had offered his services to the sick woman, who had +rapidly become convalescent upon her daughter's return. Mis' Molly had +spoken of some camphor that she needed. Frank had volunteered to get +it. Rena had thanked him, and had spoken of going to the drugstore +during the afternoon. It was her intention to leave Patesville on the +following day. +</P> + +<P> +"Ef dat man sees her in dis town," said Frank to himself, "dere'll be +trouble. She don't know HE'S here, an' I'll bet he don't know SHE'S +here." +</P> + +<P> +Then Frank was assailed by a very strong temptation. If, as he +surmised, the joint presence of the two lovers in Patesville was a mere +coincidence, a meeting between them would probably result in the +discovery of Rena's secret. +</P> + +<P> +"If she's found out," argued the tempter, "she'll come back to her +mother, and you can see her every day." +</P> + +<P> +But Frank's love was not of the selfish kind. He put temptation aside, +and applied the whip to the back of his mule with a vigor that +astonished the animal and moved him to unwonted activity. In an +unusually short space of time he drew up before Mis' Molly's back gate, +sprang from the cart, and ran up to Mis' Molly on the porch. +</P> + +<P> +"Is Miss Rena here?" he demanded breathlessly. +</P> + +<P> +"No, Frank; she went up town 'bout an hour ago to see the doctor an' +git me some camphor gum." +</P> + +<P> +Frank uttered a groan, rushed from the house, sprang into the cart, and +goaded the terrified mule into a gallop that carried him back to the +market house in half the time it had taken him to reach Mis' Molly's. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder what in the worl 's the matter with Frank," mused Mis' Molly, +in vague alarm. "Ef he hadn't be'n in such a hurry, I'd 'a' axed him +to read Judge Straight's letter. But Rena'll be home soon." +</P> + +<P> +When Frank reached the doctor's office, he saw Tryon seated in the +doctor's buggy, which was standing by the window of the drugstore. +Frank ran upstairs and asked the doctor's man if Miss Walden had been +there. +</P> + +<P> +"Yas," replied Dave, "she wuz here a little w'ile ago, an' said she wuz +gwine downstairs ter de drugsto'. I would n' be s'prise' ef you'd fin' +her dere now." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MINE OWN PEOPLE +</H3> + +<P> +The drive by which Dr. Green took Tryon to his own house led up Front +Street about a mile, to the most aristocratic portion of the town, +situated on the hill known as Haymount, or, more briefly, "The Hill." +The Hill had lost some of its former glory, however, for the blight of +a four years' war was everywhere. After reaching the top of this +wooded eminence, the road skirted for some little distance the brow of +the hill. Below them lay the picturesque old town, a mass of vivid +green, dotted here and there with gray roofs that rose above the +tree-tops. Two long ribbons of streets stretched away from the Hill to +the faint red line that marked the high bluff beyond the river at the +farther side of the town. The market-house tower and the slender +spires of half a dozen churches were sharply outlined against the green +background. The face of the clock was visible, but the hours could +have been read only by eyes of phenomenal sharpness. Around them +stretched ruined walls, dismantled towers, and crumbling +earthworks—footprints of the god of war, one of whose temples had +crowned this height. For many years before the rebellion a Federal +arsenal had been located at Patesville. Seized by the state troops upon +the secession of North Carolina, it had been held by the Confederates +until the approach of Sherman's victorious army, whereupon it was +evacuated and partially destroyed. The work of destruction begun by +the retreating garrison was completed by the conquerors, and now only +ruined walls and broken cannon remained of what had once been the chief +ornament and pride of Patesville. +</P> + +<P> +The front of Dr. Green's spacious brick house, which occupied an +ideally picturesque site, was overgrown by a network of clinging vines, +contrasting most agreeably with the mellow red background. A low brick +wall, also overrun with creepers, separated the premises from the +street and shut in a well-kept flower garden, in which Tryon, who knew +something of plants, noticed many rare and beautiful specimens. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Green greeted Tryon cordially. He did not have the doctor's +memory with which to fill out the lady's cheeks or restore the lustre +of her hair or the sparkle of her eyes, and thereby justify her +husband's claim to be a judge of beauty; but her kind-hearted +hospitality was obvious, and might have made even a plain woman seem +handsome. She and her two fair daughters, to whom Tryon was duly +presented, looked with much favor upon their handsome young kinsman; +for among the people of Patesville, perhaps by virtue of the prevalence +of Scottish blood, the ties of blood were cherished as things of value, +and never forgotten except in case of the unworthy—an exception, by +the way, which one need hardly go so far to seek. +</P> + +<P> +The Patesville people were not exceptional in the weaknesses and +meannesses which are common to all mankind, but for some of the finer +social qualities they were conspicuously above the average. Kindness, +hospitality, loyalty, a chivalrous deference to women,—all these +things might be found in large measure by those who saw Patesville with +the eyes of its best citizens, and accepted their standards of +politics, religion, manners, and morals. +</P> + +<P> +The doctor, after the introductions, excused himself for a moment. +Mrs. Green soon left Tryon with the young ladies and went to look after +luncheon. Her first errand, however, was to find the doctor. +</P> + +<P> +"Is he well off, Ed?" she asked her husband. +</P> + +<P> +"Lots of land, and plenty of money, if he is ever able to collect it. +He has inherited two estates." +</P> + +<P> +"He's a good-looking fellow," she mused. "Is he married?" +</P> + +<P> +"There you go again," replied her husband, shaking his forefinger at +her in mock reproach. "To a woman with marriageable daughters all roads +lead to matrimony, the centre of a woman's universe. All men must be +sized up by their matrimonial availability. No, he isn't married." +</P> + +<P> +"That's nice," she rejoined reflectively. "I think we ought to ask him +to stay with us while he is in town, don't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"He's not married," rejoined the doctor slyly, "but the next best +thing—he's engaged." +</P> + +<P> +"Come to think of it," said the lady, "I'm afraid we wouldn't have the +room to spare, and the girls would hardly have time to entertain him. +But we'll have him up several times. I like his looks. I wish you had +sent me word he was coming; I'd have had a better luncheon." +</P> + +<P> +"Make him a salad," rejoined the doctor, "and get out a bottle of the +best claret. Thank God, the Yankees didn't get into my wine cellar! +The young man must be treated with genuine Southern hospitality,—even +if he were a Mormon and married ten times over." +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed, he would not, Ed,—the idea! I'm ashamed of you. Hurry back +to the parlor and talk to him. The girls may want to primp a little +before luncheon; we don't have a young man every day." +</P> + +<P> +"Beauty unadorned," replied the doctor, "is adorned the most. My +profession qualifies me to speak upon the subject. They are the two +handsomest young women in Patesville, and the daughters of the most +beautiful"— +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you dare to say the word," interrupted Mrs. Green, with placid +good nature. "I shall never grow old while I am living with a big boy +like you. But I must go and make the salad." +</P> + +<P> +At dinner the conversation ran on the family connections and their +varying fortunes in the late war. Some had died upon the battlefield, +and slept in unknown graves; some had been financially ruined by their +faith in the "lost cause," having invested their all in the securities +of the Confederate Government. Few had anything left but land, and +land without slaves to work it was a drug in the market. +</P> + +<P> +"I was offered a thousand acres, the other day, at twenty-five cents an +acre," remarked the doctor. "The owner is so land-poor that he can't +pay the taxes. They have taken our negroes and our liberties. It may +be better for our grandchildren that the negroes are free, but it's +confoundedly hard on us to take them without paying for them. They may +exalt our slaves over us temporarily, but they have not broken our +spirit, and cannot take away our superiority of blood and breeding. In +time we shall regain control. The negro is an inferior creature; God +has marked him with the badge of servitude, and has adjusted his +intellect to a servile condition. We will not long submit to his +domination. I give you a toast, sir: The Anglo-Saxon race: may it +remain forever, as now, the head and front of creation, never yielding +its rights, and ready always to die, if need be, in defense of its +liberties!" +</P> + +<P> +"With all my heart, sir," replied Tryon, who felt in this company a +thrill of that pleasure which accompanies conscious superiority,—"with +all my heart, sir, if the ladies will permit me." +</P> + +<P> +"We will join you," they replied. The toast was drunk with great +enthusiasm. +</P> + +<P> +"And now, my dear George," exclaimed the doctor, "to change one good +subject for another, tell us who is the favored lady?" +</P> + +<P> +"A Miss Rowena Warwick, sir," replied Tryon, vividly conscious of four +pairs of eyes fixed upon him, but, apart from the momentary +embarrassment, welcoming the subject as the one he would most like to +speak upon. +</P> + +<P> +"A good, strong old English name," observed the doctor. +</P> + +<P> +"The heroine of 'Ivanhoe'!" exclaimed Miss Harriet. +</P> + +<P> +"Warwick the Kingmaker!" said Miss Mary. "Is she tall and fair, and +dignified and stately?" +</P> + +<P> +"She is tall, dark rather than fair, and full of tender grace and sweet +humility." +</P> + +<P> +"She should have been named Rebecca instead of Rowena," rejoined Miss +Mary, who was well up in her Scott. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell us something about her people," asked Mrs. Green,—to which +inquiry the young ladies looked assent. +</P> + +<P> +In this meeting of the elect of his own class and kin Warwick felt a +certain strong illumination upon the value of birth and blood. Finding +Rena among people of the best social standing, the subsequent +intimation that she was a girl of no family had seemed a small matter +to one so much in love. Nevertheless, in his present company he felt a +decided satisfaction in being able to present for his future wife a +clean bill of social health. +</P> + +<P> +"Her brother is the most prominent lawyer of Clarence. They live in a +fine old family mansion, and are among the best people of the town." +</P> + +<P> +"Quite right, my boy," assented the doctor. "None but the best are good +enough for the best. You must bring her to Patesville some day. But +bless my life!" he exclaimed, looking at his watch, "I must be going. +Will you stay with the ladies awhile, or go back down town with me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think I had better go with you, sir. I shall have to see Judge +Straight." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well. But you must come back to supper, and we'll have a few +friends in to meet you. You must see some of the best people." +</P> + +<P> +The doctor's buggy was waiting at the gate. As they were passing the +hotel on their drive down town, the clerk came out to the curbstone and +called to the doctor. +</P> + +<P> +"There's a man here, doctor, who's been taken suddenly ill. Can you +come in a minute?" +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose I'll have to. Will you wait for me here, George, or will +you drive down to the office? I can walk the rest of the way." +</P> + +<P> +"I think I'll wait here, doctor," answered Tryon. "I'll step up to my +room a moment. I'll be back by the time you're ready." +</P> + +<P> +It was while they were standing before the hotel, before alighting from +the buggy, that Frank Fowler, passing on his cart, saw Tryon and set +out as fast as he could to warn Mis' Molly and her daughter of his +presence in the town. +</P> + +<P> +Tryon went up to his room, returned after a while, and resumed his seat +in the buggy, where he waited fifteen minutes longer before the doctor +was ready. When they drew up in front of the office, the doctor's man +Dave was standing in the doorway, looking up the street with an anxious +expression, as though struggling hard to keep something upon his mind. +</P> + +<P> +"Anything wanted, Dave?" asked the doctor. +</P> + +<P> +"Dat young 'oman's be'n heah ag'in, suh, an' wants ter see you bad. +She's in de drugstore dere now, suh. Bless Gawd!" he added to himself +fervently, "I 'membered dat. Dis yer recommemb'ance er mine is gwine +ter git me inter trouble ef I don' look out, an' dat's a fac', sho'." +</P> + +<P> +The doctor sprang from the buggy with an agility remarkable in a man of +sixty. "Just keep your seat, George," he said to Tryon, "until I have +spoken to the young woman, and then we'll go across to Straight's. Or, +if you'll drive along a little farther, you can see the girl through +the window. She's worth the trouble, if you like a pretty face." +</P> + +<P> +Tryon liked one pretty face; moreover, tinted beauty had never appealed +to him. More to show a proper regard for what interested the doctor +than from any curiosity of his own, he drove forward a few feet, until +the side of the buggy was opposite the drugstore window, and then +looked in. +</P> + +<P> +Between the colored glass bottles in the window he could see a young +woman, a tall and slender girl, like a lily on its stem. She stood +talking with the doctor, who held his hat in his hand with as much +deference as though she were the proudest dame in town. Her face was +partly turned away from the window, but as Tryon's eye fell upon her, +he gave a great start. Surely, no two women could be so much alike. +The height, the graceful droop of the shoulders, the swan-like poise of +the head, the well-turned little ear,—surely, no two women could have +them all identical! But, pshaw! the notion was absurd, it was merely +the reflex influence of his morning's dream. +</P> + +<P> +She moved slightly; it was Rena's movement. Surely he knew the gown, +and the style of hair-dressing! She rested her hand lightly on the +back of a chair. The ring that glittered on her finger could be none +other than his own. +</P> + +<P> +The doctor bowed. The girl nodded in response, and, turning, left the +store. Tryon leaned forward from the buggy-seat and kept his eye fixed +on the figure that moved across the floor of the drugstore. As she came +out, she turned her face casually toward the buggy, and there could no +longer be any doubt as to her identity. +</P> + +<P> +When Rena's eyes fell upon the young man in the buggy, she saw a face +as pale as death, with starting eyes, in which love, which once had +reigned there, had now given place to astonishment and horror. She +stood a moment as if turned to stone. One appealing glance she +gave,—a look that might have softened adamant. When she saw that it +brought no answering sign of love or sorrow or regret, the color faded +from her cheek, the light from her eye, and she fell fainting to the +ground. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE BOTTOM FALLS OUT +</H3> + +<P> +The first effect of Tryon's discovery was, figuratively speaking, to +knock the bottom out of things for him. It was much as if a boat on +which he had been floating smoothly down the stream of pleasure had +sunk suddenly and left him struggling in deep waters. The full +realization of the truth, which followed speedily, had for the moment +reversed his mental attitude toward her, and love and yearning had +given place to anger and disgust. His agitation could hardly have +escaped notice had not the doctor's attention, and that of the crowd +that quickly gathered, been absorbed by the young woman who had fallen. +During the time occupied in carrying her into the drugstore, restoring +her to consciousness, and sending her home in a carriage, Tryon had +time to recover in some degree his self-possession. When Rena had been +taken home, he slipped away for a long walk, after which he called at +Judge Straight's office and received the judge's report upon the matter +presented. Judge Straight had found the claim, in his opinion, a good +one; he had discovered property from which, in case the claim were +allowed, the amount might be realized. The judge, who had already been +informed of the incident at the drugstore, observed Tryon's +preoccupation and guessed shrewdly at its cause, but gave no sign. +Tryon left the matter of the note unreservedly in the lawyer's hands, +with instructions to communicate to him any further developments. +</P> + +<P> +Returning to the doctor's office, Tryon listened to that genial +gentleman's comments on the accident, his own concern in which he, by a +great effort, was able to conceal. The doctor insisted upon his +returning to the Hill for supper. Tryon pleaded illness. The doctor +was solicitous, felt his pulse, examined his tongue, pronounced him +feverish, and prescribed a sedative. Tryon sought refuge in his room +at the hotel, from which he did not emerge again until morning. +</P> + +<P> +His emotions were varied and stormy. At first he could see nothing but +the fraud of which he had been made the victim. A negro girl had been +foisted upon him for a white woman, and he had almost committed the +unpardonable sin against his race of marrying her. Such a step, he +felt, would have been criminal at any time; it would have been the most +odious treachery at this epoch, when his people had been subjugated and +humiliated by the Northern invaders, who had preached negro equality +and abolished the wholesome laws decreeing the separation of the races. +But no Southerner who loved his poor, downtrodden country, or his race, +the proud Anglo-Saxon race which traced the clear stream of its blood +to the cavaliers of England, could tolerate the idea that even in +distant generations that unsullied current could be polluted by the +blood of slaves. The very thought was an insult to the white people of +the South. For Tryon's liberality, of which he had spoken so nobly and +so sincerely, had been confined unconsciously, and as a matter of +course, within the boundaries of his own race. The Southern mind, in +discussing abstract questions relative to humanity, makes always, +consciously or unconsciously, the mental reservation that the +conclusions reached do not apply to the negro, unless they can be made +to harmonize with the customs of the country. +</P> + +<P> +But reasoning thus was not without effect upon a mind by nature +reasonable above the average. Tryon's race impulse and social prejudice +had carried him too far, and the swing of the mental pendulum brought +his thoughts rapidly back in the opposite direction. Tossing uneasily +on the bed, where he had thrown himself down without undressing, the +air of the room oppressed him, and he threw open the window. The cool +night air calmed his throbbing pulses. The moonlight, streaming +through the window, flooded the room with a soft light, in which he +seemed to see Rena standing before him, as she had appeared that +afternoon, gazing at him with eyes that implored charity and +forgiveness. He burst into tears,—bitter tears, that strained his +heartstrings. He was only a youth. She was his first love, and he had +lost her forever. She was worse than dead to him; for if he had seen +her lying in her shroud before him, he could at least have cherished +her memory; now, even this consolation was denied him. +</P> + +<P> +The town clock—which so long as it was wound up regularly recked +nothing of love or hate, joy or sorrow—solemnly tolled out the hour of +midnight and sounded the knell of his lost love. Lost she was, as +though she had never been, as she had indeed had no right to be. He +resolutely determined to banish her image from his mind. See her again +he could not; it would be painful to them both; it could be productive +of no good to either. He had felt the power and charm of love, and no +ordinary shook could have loosened its hold; but this catastrophe, +which had so rudely swept away the groundwork of his passion, had +stirred into new life all the slumbering pride of race and ancestry +which characterized his caste. How much of this sensitive superiority +was essential and how much accidental; how much of it was due to the +ever-suggested comparison with a servile race; how much of it was +ignorance and self-conceit; to what extent the boasted purity of his +race would have been contaminated by the fair woman whose image filled +his memory,—of these things he never thought. He was not influenced +by sordid considerations; he would have denied that his course was +controlled by any narrow prudence. If Rena had been white, pure white +(for in his creed there was no compromise), he would have braved any +danger for her sake. Had she been merely of illegitimate birth, he +would have overlooked the bar sinister. Had her people been simply +poor and of low estate, he would have brushed aside mere worldly +considerations, and would have bravely sacrificed convention for love; +for his liberality was not a mere form of words. But the one objection +which he could not overlook was, unhappily, the one that applied to the +only woman who had as yet moved his heart. He tried to be angry with +her, but after the first hour he found it impossible. He was a man of +too much imagination not to be able to put himself, in some measure at +least, in her place,—to perceive that for her the step which had +placed her in Tryon's world was the working out of nature's great law +of self-preservation, for which he could not blame her. But for the +sheerest accident,—no, rather, but for a providential +interference,—he would have married her, and might have gone to the +grave unconscious that she was other than she seemed. +</P> + +<P> +The clock struck the hour of two. With a shiver he closed the window, +undressed by the moonlight, drew down the shade, and went to bed. He +fell into an unquiet slumber, and dreamed again of Rena. He must learn +to control his waking thoughts; his dreams could not be curbed. In that +realm Rena's image was for many a day to remain supreme. He dreamed of +her sweet smile, her soft touch, her gentle voice. In all her fair +young beauty she stood before him, and then by some hellish magic she +was slowly transformed into a hideous black hag. With agonized eyes he +watched her beautiful tresses become mere wisps of coarse wool, wrapped +round with dingy cotton strings; he saw her clear eyes grow bloodshot, +her ivory teeth turn to unwholesome fangs. With a shudder he awoke, to +find the cold gray dawn of a rainy day stealing through the window. +</P> + +<P> +He rose, dressed himself, went down to breakfast, then entered the +writing-room and penned a letter which, after reading it over, he tore +into small pieces and threw into the waste basket. A second shared the +same fate. Giving up the task, he left the hotel and walked down to +Dr. Green's office. +</P> + +<P> +"Is the doctor in?" he asked of the colored attendant. +</P> + +<P> +"No, suh," replied the man; "he's gone ter see de young cullud gal w'at +fainted w'en de doctah was wid you yistiddy." +</P> + +<P> +Tryon sat down at the doctor's desk and hastily scrawled a note, +stating that business compelled his immediate departure. He thanked +the doctor for courtesies extended, and left his regards for the +ladies. Returning to the hotel, he paid his bill and took a hack for +the wharf, from which a boat was due to leave at nine o'clock. +</P> + +<P> +As the hack drove down Front Street, Tryon noted idly the houses that +lined the street. When he reached the sordid district in the lower +part of the town, there was nothing to attract his attention until the +carriage came abreast of a row of cedar-trees, beyond which could be +seen the upper part of a large house with dormer windows. Before the +gate stood a horse and buggy, which Tryon thought he recognized as Dr. +Green's. He leaned forward and addressed the driver. +</P> + +<P> +"Can you tell me who lives there?" Tryon asked, pointing to the house. +</P> + +<P> +"A callud 'oman, suh," the man replied, touching his hat. "Mis' Molly +Walden an' her daughter Rena." +</P> + +<P> +The vivid impression he received of this house, and the spectre that +rose before him of a pale, broken-hearted girl within its gray walls, +weeping for a lost lover and a vanished dream of happiness, did not +argue well for Tryon's future peace of mind. Rena's image was not to +be easily expelled from his heart; for the laws of nature are higher +and more potent than merely human institutions, and upon anything like +a fair field are likely to win in the long ran. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TWO LETTERS +</H3> + +<P> +Warwick awaited events with some calmness and some philosophy,—he +could hardly have had the one without the other; and it required much +philosophy to make him wait a week in patience for information upon a +subject in which he was so vitally interested. The delay pointed to +disaster. Bad news being expected, delay at least put off the evil day. +At the end of the week he received two letters,—one addressed in his +own hand writing and postmarked Patesville, N. C.; the other in the +handwriting of George Tryon. He opened the Patesville letter, which +ran as follows:— +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +MY DEAR SON,—Frank is writing this letter for me. I am not well, but, +thank the Lord, I am better than I was. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +Rena has had a heap of trouble on account of me and my sickness. If I +could of dreamt that I was going to do so much harm, I would of died +and gone to meet my God without writing one word to spoil my girl's +chances in life; but I didn't know what was going to happen, and I hope +the Lord will forgive me. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +Frank knows all about it, and so I am having him write this letter for +me, as Rena is not well enough yet. Frank has been very good to me and +to Rena. He was down to your place and saw Rena there, and never said +a word about it to nobody, not even to me, because he didn't want to do +Rena no harm. Frank is the best friend I have got in town, because he +does so much for me and don't want nothing in return. (He tells me not +to put this in about him, but I want you to know it.) +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +And now about Rena. She come to see me, and I got better right away, +for it was longing for her as much as anything else that made me sick, +and I was mighty mizzable. When she had been here three days and was +going back next day, she went up town to see the doctor for me, and +while she was up there she fainted and fell down in the street, and Dr. +Green sent her home in his buggy and come down to see her. He couldn't +tell what was the matter with her, but she has been sick ever since and +out of her head some of the time, and keeps on calling on somebody by +the name of George, which was the young white man she told me she was +going to marry. It seems he was in town the day Rena was took sick, +for Frank saw him up street and run all the way down here to tell me, +so that she could keep out of his way, while she was still up town +waiting for the doctor and getting me some camphor gum for my camphor +bottle. Old Judge Straight must have knowed something about it, for he +sent me a note to keep Rena in the house, but the little boy he sent it +by didn't bring it till Rena was already gone up town, and, as I +couldn't read, of course I didn't know what it said. Dr. Green heard +Rena running on while she was out of her head, and I reckon he must +have suspicioned something, for he looked kind of queer and went away +without saying nothing. Frank says she met this man on the street, and +when he found out she wasn't white, he said or done something that +broke her heart and she fainted and fell down. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +I am writing you this letter because I know you will be worrying about +Rena not coming back. If it wasn't for Frank, I hardly know how I +could write to you. Frank is not going to say nothing about Rena's +passing for white and meeting this man, and neither am I; and I don't +suppose Judge Straight will say nothing, because he is our good friend; +and Dr. Green won't say nothing about it, because Frank says Dr. +Green's cook Nancy says this young man named George stopped with him +and was some cousin or relation to the family, and they wouldn't want +people to know that any of their kin was thinking about marrying a +colored girl, and the white folks have all been mad since J. B. +Thompson married his black housekeeper when she got religion and +wouldn't live with him no more. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +All the rest of the connection are well. I have just been in to see +how Rena is. She is feeling some better, I think, and says give you +her love and she will write you a letter in a few days, as soon as she +is well enough. She bust out crying while she was talking, but I +reckon that is better than being out of her head. I hope this may find +you well, and that this man of Rena's won't say nor do nothing down +there to hurt you. He has not wrote to Rena nor sent her no word. I +reckon he is very mad. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> + Your affectionate mother,<BR> + MARY WALDEN.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +This letter, while confirming Warwick's fears, relieved his suspense. +He at least knew the worst, unless there should be something still more +disturbing in Tryon's letter, which he now proceeded to open, and which +ran as follows:— +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +JOHN WARWICK, ESQ. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +Dear Sir,—When I inform you, as you are doubtless informed ere the +receipt of this, that I saw your sister in Patesville last week and +learned the nature of those antecedents of yours and hers at which you +hinted so obscurely in a recent conversation, you will not be surprised +to learn that I take this opportunity of renouncing any pretensions to +Miss Warwick's hand, and request you to convey this message to her, +since it was through you that I formed her acquaintance. I think +perhaps that few white men would deem it necessary to make an +explanation under the circumstances, and I do not know that I need say +more than that no one, considering where and how I met your sister, +would have dreamed of even the possibility of what I have learned. I +might with justice reproach you for trifling with the most sacred +feelings of a man's heart; but I realize the hardship of your position +and hers, and can make allowances. I would never have sought to know +this thing; I would doubtless have been happier had I gone through life +without finding it out; but having the knowledge, I cannot ignore it, +as you must understand perfectly well. I regret that she should be +distressed or disappointed,—she has not suffered alone. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +I need scarcely assure you that I shall say nothing about this affair, +and that I shall keep your secret as though it were my own. +Personally, I shall never be able to think of you as other than a white +man, as you may gather from the tone of this letter; and while I cannot +marry your sister, I wish her every happiness, and remain, +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> + Yours very truly,<BR> + GEORGE TRYON.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Warwick could not know that this formal epistle was the last of a dozen +that Tryon had written and destroyed during the week since the meeting +in Patesville,—hot, blistering letters, cold, cutting letters, +scornful, crushing letters. Though none of them was sent, except this +last, they had furnished a safety-valve for his emotions, and had left +him in a state of mind that permitted him to write the foregoing. +</P> + +<P> +And now, while Rena is recovering from her illness, and Tryon from his +love, and while Fate is shuffling the cards for another deal, a few +words may be said about the past life of the people who lived in the +rear of the flower garden, in the quaint old house beyond the cedars, +and how their lives were mingled with those of the men and women around +them and others that were gone. For connected with our kind we must +be; if not by our virtues, then by our vices,—if not by our services, +at least by our needs. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XVIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +UNDER THE OLD REGIME +</H3> + +<P> +For many years before the civil war there had lived, in the old house +behind the cedars, a free colored woman who went by the name of Molly +Walden—her rightful name, for her parents were free-born and legally +married. She was a tall woman, straight as an arrow. Her complexion +in youth was of an old ivory tint, which at the period of this story, +time had darkened measurably. Her black eyes, now faded, had once +sparkled with the fire of youth. High cheek-bones, straight black +hair, and a certain dignified reposefulness of manner pointed to an +aboriginal descent. Tradition gave her to the negro race. Doubtless +she had a strain of each, with white blood very visibly predominating +over both. In Louisiana or the West Indies she would have been called +a quadroon, or more loosely, a creole; in North Carolina, where fine +distinctions were not the rule in matters of color, she was +sufficiently differentiated when described as a bright mulatto. +</P> + +<P> +Molly's free birth carried with it certain advantages, even in the +South before the war. Though degraded from its high estate, and shorn +of its choicest attributes, the word "freedom" had nevertheless a +cheerful sound, and described a condition that left even to colored +people who could claim it some liberty of movement and some control of +their own persons. They were not citizens, yet they were not slaves. +No negro, save in books, ever refused freedom; many of them ran +frightful risks to achieve it. Molly's parents were of the class, more +numerous in North Carolina than elsewhere, known as "old issue free +negroes," which took its rise in the misty colonial period, when race +lines were not so closely drawn, and the population of North Carolina +comprised many Indians, runaway negroes, and indentured white servants +from the seaboard plantations, who mingled their blood with great +freedom and small formality. Free colored people in North Carolina +exercised the right of suffrage as late as 1835, and some of them, in +spite of galling restrictions, attained to a considerable degree of +prosperity, and dreamed of a still brighter future, when the growing +tyranny of the slave power crushed their hopes and crowded the free +people back upon the black mass just beneath them. Mis' Molly's father +had been at one time a man of some means. In an evil hour, with an +overweening confidence in his fellow men, he indorsed a note for a +white man who, in a moment of financial hardship, clapped his colored +neighbor on the back and called him brother. Not poverty, but wealth, +is the most potent leveler. In due time the indorser was called upon to +meet the maturing obligation. This was the beginning of a series of +financial difficulties which speedily involved him in ruin. He died +prematurely, a disappointed and disheartened man, leaving his family in +dire poverty. +</P> + +<P> +His widow and surviving children lived on for a little while at the +house he had owned, just outside of the town, on one of the main +traveled roads. By the wayside, near the house, there was a famous deep +well. The slim, barefoot girl, with sparkling eyes and voluminous +hair, who played about the yard and sometimes handed water in a gourd +to travelers, did not long escape critical observation. A gentleman +drove by one day, stopped at the well, smiled upon the girl, and said +kind words. He came again, more than once, and soon, while scarcely +more than a child in years, Molly was living in her own house, hers by +deed of gift, for her protector was rich and liberal. Her mother +nevermore knew want. Her poor relations could always find a meal in +Molly's kitchen. She did not flaunt her prosperity in the world's +face; she hid it discreetly behind the cedar screen. Those who wished +could know of it, for there were few secrets in Patesville; those who +chose could as easily ignore it. There were few to trouble themselves +about the secluded life of an obscure woman of a class which had no +recognized place in the social economy. She worshiped the ground upon +which her lord walked, was humbly grateful for his protection, and +quite as faithful as the forbidden marriage vow could possibly have +made her. She led her life in material peace and comfort, and with a +certain amount of dignity. Of her false relation to society she was +not without some vague conception; but the moral point involved was so +confused with other questions growing out—of slavery and caste as to +cause her, as a rule, but little uneasiness; and only now and then, in +the moments of deeper feeling that come sometimes to all who live and +love, did there break through the mists of ignorance and prejudice +surrounding her a flash of light by which she saw, so far as she was +capable of seeing, her true position, which in the clear light of truth +no special pleading could entirely justify. For she was free, she had +not the slave's excuse. With every inducement to do evil and few +incentives to do well, and hence entitled to charitable judgment, she +yet had freedom of choice, and therefore could not wholly escape blame. +Let it be said, in further extenuation, that no other woman lived in +neglect or sorrow because of her. She robbed no one else. For what +life gave her she returned an equivalent; and what she did not pay, her +children settled to the last farthing. +</P> + +<P> +Several years before the war, when Mis' Molly's daughter Rena was a few +years old, death had suddenly removed the source of their prosperity. +</P> + +<P> +The household was not left entirely destitute. Mis' Molly owned her +home, and had a store of gold pieces in the chest beneath her bed. A +small piece of real estate stood in the name of each of the children, +the income from which contributed to their maintenance. Larger +expectations were dependent upon the discovery of a promised will, +which never came to light. Mis' Molly wore black for several years +after this bereavement, until the teacher and the preacher, following +close upon the heels of military occupation, suggested to the colored +people new standards of life and character, in the light of which Mis' +Molly laid her mourning sadly and shamefacedly aside. She had eaten of +the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. After the war she formed the habit +of church-going, and might have been seen now and then, with her +daughter, in a retired corner of the gallery of the white Episcopal +church. Upon the ground floor was a certain pew which could be seen +from her seat, where once had sat a gentleman whose pleasures had not +interfered with the practice of his religion. She might have had a +better seat in a church where a Northern missionary would have preached +a sermon better suited to her comprehension and her moral needs, but +she preferred the other. She was not white, alas! she was shut out +from this seeming paradise; but she liked to see the distant glow of +the celestial city, and to recall the days when she had basked in its +radiance. She did not sympathize greatly with the new era opened up +for the emancipated slaves; she had no ideal love of liberty; she was +no broader and no more altruistic than the white people around her, to +whom she had always looked up; and she sighed for the old days, because +to her they had been the good days. Now, not only was her king dead, +but the shield of his memory protected her no longer. +</P> + +<P> +Molly had lost one child, and his grave was visible from the kitchen +window, under a small clump of cedars in the rear of the two-acre lot. +For even in the towns many a household had its private cemetery in +those old days when the living were close to the dead, and ghosts were +not the mere chimeras of a sick imagination, but real though +unsubstantial entities, of which it was almost disgraceful not to have +seen one or two. Had not the Witch of Endor called up the shade of +Samuel the prophet? Had not the spirit of Mis' Molly's dead son +appeared to her, as well as the ghostly presence of another she had +loved? +</P> + +<P> +In 1855, Mis' Molly's remaining son had grown into a tall, slender lad +of fifteen, with his father's patrician features and his mother's +Indian hair, and no external sign to mark him off from the white boys +on the street. He soon came to know, however, that there was a +difference. He was informed one day that he was black. He denied the +proposition and thrashed the child who made it. The scene was repeated +the next day, with a variation,—he was himself thrashed by a larger +boy. When he had been beaten five or six times, he ceased to argue the +point, though to himself he never admitted the charge. His playmates +might call him black; the mirror proved that God, the Father of all, +had made him white; and God, he had been taught, made no +mistakes,—having made him white, He must have meant him to be white. +</P> + +<P> +In the "hall" or parlor of his mother's house stood a quaintly carved +black walnut bookcase, containing a small but remarkable collection of +books, which had at one time been used, in his hours of retreat and +relaxation from business and politics, by the distinguished gentleman +who did not give his name to Mis' Molly's children,—to whom it would +have been a valuable heritage, could they have had the right to bear +it. Among the books were a volume of Fielding's complete works, in +fine print, set in double columns; a set of Bulwer's novels; a +collection of everything that Walter Scott—the literary idol of the +South—had ever written; Beaumont and Fletcher's plays, cheek by jowl +with the history of the virtuous Clarissa Harlowe; the Spectator and +Tristram Shandy, Robinson Crusoe and the Arabian Nights. On these +secluded shelves Roderick Random, Don Quixote, and Gil Blas for a long +time ceased their wanderings, the Pilgrim's Progress was suspended, +Milton's mighty harmonies were dumb, and Shakespeare reigned over a +silent kingdom. An illustrated Bible, with a wonderful Apocrypha, was +flanked on one side by Volney's Ruins of Empire and on the other by +Paine's Age of Reason, for the collector of the books had been a man of +catholic taste as well as of inquiring mind, and no one who could have +criticised his reading ever penetrated behind the cedar hedge. A +history of the French Revolution consorted amiably with a homespun +chronicle of North Carolina, rich in biographical notices of +distinguished citizens and inscriptions from their tombstones, upon +reading which one might well wonder why North Carolina had not long ago +eclipsed the rest of the world in wealth, wisdom, glory, and renown. +On almost every page of this monumental work could be found the most +ardent panegyrics of liberty, side by side with the slavery statistics +of the State,—an incongruity of which the learned author was +deliciously unconscious. +</P> + +<P> +When John Walden was yet a small boy, he had learned all that could be +taught by the faded mulatto teacher in the long, shiny black frock +coat, whom local public opinion permitted to teach a handful of free +colored children for a pittance barely enough to keep soul and body +together. When the boy had learned to read, he discovered the library, +which for several years had been without a reader, and found in it the +portal of a new world, peopled with strange and marvelous beings. Lying +prone upon the floor of the shaded front piazza, behind the fragrant +garden, he followed the fortunes of Tom Jones and Sophia; he wept over +the fate of Eugene Aram; he penetrated with Richard the Lion-heart into +Saladin's tent, with Gil Blas into the robbers' cave; he flew through +the air on the magic carpet or the enchanted horse, or tied with +Sindbad to the roc's leg. Sometimes he read or repeated the simpler +stories to his little sister, sitting wide-eyed by his side. When he +had read all the books,—indeed, long before he had read them all,—he +too had tasted of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge: contentment took +its flight, and happiness lay far beyond the sphere where he was born. +The blood of his white fathers, the heirs of the ages, cried out for +its own, and after the manner of that blood set about getting the +object of its desire. +</P> + +<P> +Near the corner of Mackenzie Street, just one block north of the +Patesville market-house, there had stood for many years before the war, +on the verge of the steep bank of Beaver Creek, a small frame office +building, the front of which was level with the street, while the rear +rested on long brick pillars founded on the solid rock at the edge of +the brawling stream below. Here, for nearly half a century, Archibald +Straight had transacted legal business for the best people of +Northumberland County. Full many a lawsuit had he won, lost, or +settled; many a spendthrift had he saved from ruin, and not a few +families from disgrace. Several times honored by election to the +bench, he had so dispensed justice tempered with mercy as to win the +hearts of all good citizens, and especially those of the poor, the +oppressed, and the socially disinherited. The rights of the humblest +negro, few as they might be, were as sacred to him as those of the +proudest aristocrat, and he had sentenced a man to be hanged for the +murder of his own slave. An old-fashioned man, tall and spare of +figure and bowed somewhat with age, he was always correctly clad in a +long frock coat of broadcloth, with a high collar and a black stock. +Courtly in address to his social equals (superiors he had none), he was +kind and considerate to those beneath him. He owned a few domestic +servants, no one of whom had ever felt the weight of his hand, and for +whose ultimate freedom he had provided in his will. In the +long-drawn-out slavery agitation he had taken a keen interest, rather +as observer than as participant. As the heat of controversy increased, +his lack of zeal for the peculiar institution led to his defeat for the +bench by a more active partisan. His was too just a mind not to +perceive the arguments on both sides; but, on the whole, he had stood +by the ancient landmarks, content to let events drift to a conclusion +he did not expect to see; the institutions of his fathers would +probably last his lifetime. +</P> + +<P> +One day Judge Straight was sitting in his office reading a recently +published pamphlet,—presenting an elaborate pro-slavery argument, +based upon the hopeless intellectual inferiority of the negro, and the +physical and moral degeneration of mulattoes, who combined the worst +qualities of their two ancestral races,—when a barefooted boy walked +into the office, straw hat in hand, came boldly up to the desk at which +the old judge was sitting, and said as the judge looked up through his +gold-rimmed glasses,— +</P> + +<P> +"Sir, I want to be a lawyer!" +</P> + +<P> +"God bless me!" exclaimed the judge. "It is a singular desire, from a +singular source, and expressed in a singular way. Who the devil are +you, sir, that wish so strange a thing as to become a +lawyer—everybody's servant?" +</P> + +<P> +"And everybody's master, sir," replied the lad stoutly. +</P> + +<P> +"That is a matter of opinion, and open to argument," rejoined the +judge, amused and secretly flattered by this tribute to his profession, +"though there may be a grain of truth in what you say. But what is your +name, Mr. Would-be-lawyer?" +</P> + +<P> +"John Walden, sir," answered the lad. +</P> + +<P> +"John Walden?—Walden?" mused the judge. "What Walden can that be? Do +you belong in town?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Humph! I can't imagine who you are. It's plain that you are a lad of +good blood, and yet I don't know whose son you can be. What is your +father's name?" +</P> + +<P> +The lad hesitated, and flushed crimson. +</P> + +<P> +The old gentleman noted his hesitation. "It is a wise son," he +thought, "that knows his own father. He is a bright lad, and will have +this question put to him more than once. I'll see how he will answer +it." +</P> + +<P> +The boy maintained an awkward silence, while the old judge eyed him +keenly. +</P> + +<P> +"My father's dead," he said at length, in a low voice. "I'm Mis' Molly +Walden's son." He had expected, of course, to tell who he was, if +asked, but had not foreseen just the form of the inquiry; and while he +had thought more of his race than of his illegitimate birth, he +realized at this moment as never before that this question too would be +always with him. As put now by Judge Straight, it made him wince. He +had not read his father's books for nothing. +</P> + +<P> +"God bless my soul!" exclaimed the judge in genuine surprise at this +answer; "and you want to be a lawyer!" The situation was so much worse +than he had suspected that even an old practitioner, case-hardened by +years of life at the trial table and on the bench, was startled for a +moment into a comical sort of consternation, so apparent that a lad +less stout-hearted would have weakened and fled at the sight of it. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir. Why not?" responded the boy, trembling a little at the +knees, but stoutly holding his ground. +</P> + +<P> +"He wants to be a lawyer, and he asks me why not!" muttered the judge, +speaking apparently to himself. He rose from his chair, walked across +the room, and threw open a window. The cool morning air brought with +it the babbling of the stream below and the murmur of the mill near by. +He glanced across the creek to the ruined foundation of an old house on +the low ground beyond the creek. Turning from the window, he looked +back at the boy, who had remained standing between him and the door. +At that moment another lad came along the street and stopped opposite +the open doorway. The presence of the two boys in connection with the +book he had been reading suggested a comparison. The judge knew the +lad outside as the son of a leading merchant of the town. The merchant +and his wife were both of old families which had lived in the community +for several generations, and whose blood was presumably of the purest +strain; yet the boy was sallow, with amorphous features, thin shanks, +and stooping shoulders. The youth standing in the judge's office, on +the contrary, was straight, shapely, and well-grown. His eye was +clear, and he kept it fixed on the old gentleman with a look in which +there was nothing of cringing. He was no darker than many a white boy +bronzed by the Southern sun; his hair and eyes were black, and his +features of the high-bred, clean-cut order that marks the patrician +type the world over. What struck the judge most forcibly, however, was +the lad's resemblance to an old friend and companion and client. He +recalled a certain conversation with this old friend, who had said to +him one day: +</P> + +<P> +"Archie, I'm coming in to have you draw my will. There are some +children for whom I would like to make ample provision. I can't give +them anything else, but money will make them free of the world." +</P> + +<P> +The judge's friend had died suddenly before carrying out this good +intention. The judge had taken occasion to suggest the existence of +these children, and their father's intentions concerning them, to the +distant relatives who had inherited his friend's large estate. They +had chosen to take offense at the suggestion. One had thought it in +shocking bad taste; another considered any mention of such a subject an +insult to his cousin's memory. A third had said, with flashing eyes, +that the woman and her children had already robbed the estate of +enough; that it was a pity the little niggers were not slaves—that +they would have added measurably to the value of the property. Judge +Straight's manner indicated some disapproval of their attitude, and the +settlement of the estate was placed in other hands than his. Now, this +son, with his father's face and his father's voice, stood before his +father's friend, demanding entrance to the golden gate of opportunity, +which society barred to all who bore the blood of the despised race. +</P> + +<P> +As he kept on looking at the boy, who began at length to grow somewhat +embarrassed under this keen scrutiny, the judge's mind reverted to +certain laws and judicial decisions that he had looked up once or twice +in his lifetime. Even the law, the instrument by which tyranny riveted +the chains upon its victims, had revolted now and then against the +senseless and unnatural prejudice by which a race ascribing its +superiority to right of blood permitted a mere suspicion of servile +blood to outweigh a vast preponderance of its own. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, indeed, should he not be a lawyer, or anything else that a man +might be, if it be in him?" asked the judge, speaking rather to himself +than to the boy. "Sit down," he ordered, pointing to a chair on the +other side of the room. That he should ask a colored lad to be seated +in his presence was of itself enough to stamp the judge as eccentric. +"You want to be a lawyer," he went on, adjusting his spectacles. "You +are aware, of course, that you are a negro?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am white," replied the lad, turning back his sleeve and holding out +his arm, "and I am free, as all my people were before me." +</P> + +<P> +The old lawyer shook his head, and fixed his eyes upon the lad with a +slightly quizzical smile. "You are black." he said, "and you are not +free. You cannot travel without your papers; you cannot secure +accommodations at an inn; you could not vote, if you were of age; you +cannot be out after nine o'clock without a permit. If a white man +struck you, you could not return the blow, and you could not testify +against him in a court of justice. You are black, my lad, and you are +not free. Did you ever hear of the Dred Scott decision, delivered by +the great, wise, and learned Judge Taney?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir," answered the boy. +</P> + +<P> +"It is too long to read," rejoined the judge, taking up the pamphlet he +had laid down upon the lad's entrance, "but it says in substance, as +quoted by this author, that negroes are beings 'of an inferior order, +and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social +or political relations; in fact, so inferior that they have no rights +which the white man is bound to respect, and that the negro may justly +and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit.' That is the law +of this nation, and that is the reason why you cannot be a lawyer." +</P> + +<P> +"It may all be true," replied the boy, "but it don't apply to me. It +says 'the negro.' A negro is black; I am white, and not black." +</P> + +<P> +"Black as ink, my lad," returned the lawyer, shaking his head. "'One +touch of nature makes the whole world kin,' says the poet. Somewhere, +sometime, you had a black ancestor. One drop of black blood makes the +whole man black." +</P> + +<P> +"Why shouldn't it be the other way, if the white blood is so much +superior?" inquired the lad. +</P> + +<P> +"Because it is more convenient as it is—and more profitable." +</P> + +<P> +"It is not right," maintained the lad. +</P> + +<P> +"God bless me!" exclaimed the old gentleman, "he is invading the field +of ethics! He will be questioning the righteousness of slavery next! +I'm afraid you wouldn't make a good lawyer, in any event. Lawyers go +by the laws—they abide by the accomplished fact; to them, whatever is, +is right. The laws do not permit men of color to practice law, and +public sentiment would not allow one of them to study it." +</P> + +<P> +"I had thought," said the lad, "that I might pass for white. There are +white people darker than I am." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, well, that is another matter; but"— +</P> + +<P> +The judge stopped for a moment, struck by the absurdity of his arguing +such a question with a mulatto boy. He really must be falling into +premature dotage. The proper thing would be to rebuke the lad for his +presumption and advise him to learn to take care of horses, or make +boots, or lay bricks. But again he saw his old friend in the lad's +face, and again he looked in vain for any sign of negro blood. The +least earmark would have turned the scale, but he could not find it. +</P> + +<P> +"That is another matter," he repeated. "Here you have started as +black, and must remain so. But if you wish to move away, and sink your +past into oblivion, the case might be different. Let us see what the +law is; you might not need it if you went far enough, but it is well +enough to be within it—liberty is sweeter when founded securely on the +law." +</P> + +<P> +He took down a volume bound in legal calf and glanced through it. "The +color line is drawn in North Carolina at four generations removed from +the negro; there have been judicial decisions to that effect. I +imagine that would cover your case. But let us see what South Carolina +may say about it," he continued, taking another book. "I think the law +is even more liberal there. Ah, this is the place:— +</P> + +<P> +"'The term mulatto,'" he read, "'is not invariably applicable to every +admixture of African blood with the European, nor is one having all the +features of a white to be ranked with the degraded class designated by +the laws of this State as persons of color, because of some remote +taint of the negro race. Juries would probably be justified in holding +a person to be white in whom the admixture of African blood did not +exceed one eighth. And even where color or feature are doubtful, it is +a question for the jury to decide by reputation, by reception into +society, and by their exercise of the privileges of the white man, as +well as by admixture of blood.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Then I need not be black?" the boy cried, with sparkling eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"No," replied the lawyer, "you need not be black, away from Patesville. +You have the somewhat unusual privilege, it seems, of choosing between +two races, and if you are a lad of spirit, as I think you are, it will +not take you long to make your choice. As you have all the features of +a white man, you would, at least in South Carolina, have simply to +assume the place and exercise the privileges of a white man. You +might, of course, do the same thing anywhere, as long as no one knew +your origin. But the matter has been adjudicated there in several +cases, and on the whole I think South Carolina is the place for you. +They're more liberal there, perhaps because they have many more blacks +than whites, and would like to lessen the disproportion." +</P> + +<P> +"From this time on," said the boy, "I am white." +</P> + +<P> +"Softly, softly, my Caucasian fellow citizen," returned the judge, +chuckling with quiet amusement. "You are white in the abstract, before +the law. You may cherish the fact in secret, but I would not advise +you to proclaim it openly just yet. You must wait until you go +away—to South Carolina." +</P> + +<P> +"And can I learn to be a lawyer, sir?" asked the lad. +</P> + +<P> +"It seems to me that you ought to be reasonably content for one day +with what you have learned already. You cannot be a lawyer until you +are white, in position as well as in theory, nor until you are +twenty-one years old. I need an office boy. If you are willing to +come into my office, sweep it, keep my books dusted, and stay here when +I am out, I do not care. To the rest of the town you will be my +servant, and still a negro. If you choose to read my books when no one +is about and be white in your own private opinion, I have no objection. +When you have made up your mind to go away, perhaps what you have read +may help you. But mum 's the word! If I hear a whisper of this from +any other source, out you go, neck and crop! I am willing to help you +make a man of yourself, but it can only be done under the rose." +</P> + +<P> +For two years John Walden openly swept the office and surreptitiously +read the law books of old Judge Straight. When he was eighteen, he +asked his mother for a sum of money, kissed her good-by, and went out +into the world. When his sister, then a pretty child of seven, cried +because her big brother was going away, he took her up in his arms, +gave her a silver dime with a hole in it for a keepsake, hugged her +close, and kissed her. +</P> + +<P> +"Nev' min', sis," he said soothingly. "Be a good little gal, an' some +o' these days I'll come back to see you and bring you somethin' fine." +</P> + +<P> +In after years, when Mis' Molly was asked what had become of her son, +she would reply with sad complacency,— +</P> + +<P> +"He's gone over on the other side." +</P> + +<P> +As we have seen, he came back ten years later. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Many years before, when Mis' Molly, then a very young woman, had taken +up her residence in the house behind the cedars, the gentleman +heretofore referred to had built a cabin on the opposite corner, in +which he had installed a trusted slave by the name of Peter Fowler and +his wife Nancy. Peter was a good mechanic, and hired his time from his +master with the provision that Peter and his wife should do certain +work for Mis' Molly and serve as a sort of protection for her. In +course of time Peter, who was industrious and thrifty, saved enough +money to purchase his freedom and that of his wife and their one child, +and to buy the little house across the street, with the cooper shop +behind it. After they had acquired their freedom, Peter and Nancy did +no work for Mis' Molly save as they were paid for it, and as a rule +preferred not to work at all for the woman who had been practically +their mistress; it made them seem less free. Nevertheless, the two +households had remained upon good terms, even after the death of the +man whose will had brought them together, and who had remained Peter's +patron after he had ceased to be his master. There was no intimate +association between the two families. Mis' Molly felt herself +infinitely superior to Peter and his wife,—scarcely less superior than +her poor white neighbors felt themselves to Mis' Molly. Mis' Molly +always meant to be kind, and treated Peter and Nancy with a certain +good-natured condescension. They resented this, never openly or +offensively, but always in a subconscious sort of way, even when they +did not speak of it among themselves—much as they had resented her +mistress-ship in the old days. For after all, they argued, in spite of +her airs and graces, her white face and her fine clothes, was she not a +negro, even as themselves? and since the slaves had been freed, was not +one negro as good as another? +</P> + +<P> +Peter's son Frank had grown up with little Rena. He was several years +older than she, and when Rena was a small child Mis' Molly had often +confided her to his care, and he had watched over her and kept her from +harm. When Frank became old enough to go to work in the cooper shop, +Rena, then six or seven, had often gone across to play among the clean +white shavings. Once Frank, while learning the trade, had let slip a +sharp steel tool, which flying toward Rena had grazed her arm and sent +the red blood coursing along the white flesh and soaking the muslin +sleeve. He had rolled up the sleeve and stanched the blood and dried +her tears. For a long time thereafter her mother kept her away from +the shop and was very cold to Frank. One day the little girl wandered +down to the bank of the old canal. It had been raining for several +days, and the water was quite deep in the channel. The child slipped +and fell into the stream. From the open window of the cooper shop +Frank heard a scream. He ran down to the canal and pulled her out, and +carried her all wet and dripping to the house. From that time he had +been restored to favor. He had watched the girl grow up to womanhood +in the years following the war, and had been sorry when she became too +old to play about the shop. +</P> + +<P> +He never spoke to her of love,—indeed, he never thought of his passion +in such a light. There would have been no legal barrier to their union; +there would have been no frightful menace to white supremacy in the +marriage of the negro and the octoroon: the drop of dark blood bridged +the chasm. But Frank knew that she did not love him, and had not hoped +that she might. His was one of those rare souls that can give with +small hope of return. When he had made the scar upon her arm, by the +same token she had branded him her slave forever; when he had saved her +from a watery grave, he had given his life to her. There are depths of +fidelity and devotion in the negro heart that have never been fathomed +or fully appreciated. Now and then in the kindlier phases of slavery +these qualities were brightly conspicuous, and in them, if wisely +appealed to, lies the strongest hope of amity between the two races +whose destiny seems bound up together in the Western world. Even a +dumb brute can be won by kindness. Surely it were worth while to try +some other weapon than scorn and contumely and hard words upon people +of our common race,—the human race, which is bigger and broader than +Celt or Saxon, barbarian or Greek, Jew or Gentile, black or white; for +we are all children of a common Father, forget it as we may, and each +one of us is in some measure his brother's keeper. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XIX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +GOD MADE US ALL +</H3> + +<P> +Rena was convalescent from a two-weeks' illness when her brother came +to see her. He arrived at Patesville by an early morning train before +the town was awake, and walked unnoticed from the station to his +mother's house. His meeting with his sister was not without emotion: +he embraced her tenderly, and Rena became for a few minutes a very +Niobe of grief. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it was cruel, cruel!" she sobbed. "I shall never get over it." +</P> + +<P> +"I know it, my dear," replied Warwick soothingly,—"I know it, and I'm +to blame for it. If I had never taken you away from here, you would +have escaped this painful experience. But do not despair; all is not +lost. Tryon will not marry you, as I hoped he might, while I feared +the contrary; but he is a gentleman, and will be silent. Come back and +try again." +</P> + +<P> +"No, John. I couldn't go through it a second time. I managed very +well before, when I thought our secret was unknown; but now I could +never be sure. It would be borne on every wind, for aught I knew, and +every rustling leaf might whisper it. The law, you said, made us +white; but not the law, nor even love, can conquer prejudice. HE spoke +of my beauty, my grace, my sweetness! I looked into his eyes and +believed him. And yet he left me without a word! What would I do in +Clarence now? I came away engaged to be married, with even the day +set; I should go back forsaken and discredited; even the servants would +pity me." +</P> + +<P> +"Little Albert is pining for you," suggested Warwick. "We could make +some explanation that would spare your feelings." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, do not tempt me, John! I love the child, and am grieved to leave +him. I'm grateful, too, John, for what you have done for me. I am not +sorry that I tried it. It opened my eyes, and I would rather die of +knowledge than live in ignorance. But I could not go through it again, +John; I am not strong enough. I could do you no good; I have made you +trouble enough already. Get a mother for Albert—Mrs. Newberry would +marry you, secret and all, and would be good to the child. Forget me, +John, and take care of yourself. Your friend has found you out through +me—he may have told a dozen people. You think he will be silent;—I +thought he loved me, and he left me without a word, and with a look +that told me how he hated and despised me. I would not have believed +it—even of a white man." +</P> + +<P> +"You do him an injustice," said her brother, producing Tryon's letter. +"He did not get off unscathed. He sent you a message." +</P> + +<P> +She turned her face away, but listened while he read the letter. "He +did not love me," she cried angrily, when he had finished, "or he would +not have cast me off—he would not have looked at me so. The law would +have let him marry me. I seemed as white as he did. He might have +gone anywhere with me, and no one would have stared at us curiously; no +one need have known. The world is wide—there must be some place where +a man could live happily with the woman he loved." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Rena, there is; and the world is wide enough for you to get along +without Tryon." +</P> + +<P> +"For a day or two," she went on, "I hoped he might come back. But his +expression in that awful moment grew upon me, haunted me day and night, +until I shuddered at the thought that I might ever see him again. He +looked at me as though I were not even a human being. I do not love +him any longer, John; I would not marry him if I were white, or he were +as I am. He did not love me—or he would have acted differently. He +might have loved me and have left me—he could not have loved me and +have looked at me so!" +</P> + +<P> +She was weeping hysterically. There was little he could say to comfort +her. Presently she dried her tears. Warwick was reluctant to leave +her in Patesville. Her childish happiness had been that of ignorance; +she could never be happy there again. She had flowered in the sunlight; +she must not pine away in the shade. +</P> + +<P> +"If you won't come back with me, Rena, I'll send you to some school at +the North, where you can acquire a liberal education, and prepare +yourself for some career of usefulness. You may marry a better man +than even Tryon." +</P> + +<P> +"No," she replied firmly, "I shall never marry any man, and I'll not +leave mother again. God is against it; I'll stay with my own people." +</P> + +<P> +"God has nothing to do with it," retorted Warwick. "God is too often a +convenient stalking-horse for human selfishness. If there is anything +to be done, so unjust, so despicable, so wicked that human reason +revolts at it, there is always some smug hypocrite to exclaim, 'It is +the will of God.'" +</P> + +<P> +"God made us all," continued Rena dreamily, "and for some good purpose, +though we may not always see it. He made some people white, and +strong, and masterful, and—heartless. He made others black and +homely, and poor and weak"— +</P> + +<P> +"And a lot of others 'poor white' and shiftless," smiled Warwick. +</P> + +<P> +"He made us, too," continued Rena, intent upon her own thought, "and He +must have had a reason for it. Perhaps He meant us to bring the others +together in his own good time. A man may make a new place for +himself—a woman is born and bound to hers. God must have meant me to +stay here, or He would not have sent me back. I shall accept things as +they are. Why should I seek the society of people whose +friendship—and love—one little word can turn to scorn? I was right, +John; I ought to have told him. Suppose he had married me and then had +found it out?" +</P> + +<P> +To Rena's argument of divine foreordination Warwick attached no weight +whatever. He had seen God's heel planted for four long years upon the +land which had nourished slavery. Had God ordained the crime that the +punishment might follow? It would have been easier for Omnipotence to +prevent the crime. The experience of his sister had stirred up a +certain bitterness against white people—a feeling which he had put +aside years ago, with his dark blood, but which sprang anew into life +when the fact of his own origin was brought home to him so forcibly +through his sister's misfortune. His sworn friend and promised +brother-in-law had thrown him over promptly, upon the discovery of the +hidden drop of dark blood. How many others of his friends would do the +same, if they but knew of it? He had begun to feel a little of the +spiritual estrangement from his associates that he had noticed in Rena +during her life at Clarence. The fact that several persons knew his +secret had spoiled the fine flavor of perfect security hitherto marking +his position. George Tryon was a man of honor among white men, and had +deigned to extend the protection of his honor to Warwick as a man, +though no longer as a friend; to Rena as a woman, but not as a wife. +Tryon, however, was only human, and who could tell when their paths in +life might cross again, or what future temptation Tryon might feel to +use a damaging secret to their disadvantage? Warwick had cherished +certain ambitions, but these he must now put behind him. In the +obscurity of private life, his past would be of little moment; in the +glare of a political career, one's antecedents are public property, and +too great a reserve in regard to one's past is regarded as a confession +of something discreditable. Frank, too, knew the secret—a good, +faithful fellow, even where there was no obligation of fidelity; he +ought to do something for Frank to show their appreciation of his +conduct. But what assurance was there that Frank would always be +discreet about the affairs of others? Judge Straight knew the whole +story, and old men are sometimes garrulous. Dr. Green suspected the +secret; he had a wife and daughters. If old Judge Straight could have +known Warwick's thoughts, he would have realized the fulfillment of his +prophecy. Warwick, who had builded so well for himself, had weakened +the structure of his own life by trying to share his good fortune with +his sister. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen, Rena," he said, with a sudden impulse, "we'll go to the North +or West—I'll go with you—far away from the South and the Southern +people, and start life over again. It will be easier for you, it will +not be hard for me—I am young, and have means. There are no strong +ties to bind me to the South. I would have a larger outlook elsewhere." +</P> + +<P> +"And what about our mother?" asked Rena. +</P> + +<P> +It would be necessary to leave her behind, they both perceived clearly +enough, unless they were prepared to surrender the advantage of their +whiteness and drop back to the lower rank. The mother bore the mark of +the Ethiopian—not pronouncedly, but distinctly; neither would Mis' +Molly, in all probability, care to leave home and friends and the +graves of her loved ones. She had no mental resources to supply the +place of these; she was, moreover, too old to be transplanted; she +would not fit into Warwick's scheme for a new life. +</P> + +<P> +"I left her once," said Rena, "and it brought pain and sorrow to all +three of us. She is not strong, and I will not leave her here to die +alone. This shall be my home while she lives, and if I leave it again, +it shall be for only a short time, to go where I can write to her +freely, and hear from her often. Don't worry about me, John,—I shall +do very well." +</P> + +<P> +Warwick sighed. He was sincerely sorry to leave his sister, and yet he +saw that for the time being her resolution was not to be shaken. He +must bide his time. Perhaps, in a few months, she would tire of the +old life. His door would be always open to her, and he would charge +himself with her future. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then," he said, concluding the argument, "we'll say no more +about it for the present. I'll write to you later. I was afraid that +you might not care to go back just now, and so I brought your trunk +along with me." +</P> + +<P> +He gave his mother the baggage-check. She took it across to Frank, +who, during the day, brought the trunk from the depot. Mis' Molly +offered to pay him for the service, but he would accept nothing. +</P> + +<P> +"Lawd, no, Mis' Molly; I did n' hafter go out'n my way ter git dat +trunk. I had a load er sperrit-bairls ter haul ter de still, an' de +depot wuz right on my way back. It'd be robbin' you ter take pay fer a +little thing lack dat." +</P> + +<P> +"My son John's here," said Mis' Molly "an' he wants to see you. Come +into the settin'-room. We don't want folks to know he's in town; but +you know all our secrets, an' we can trust you like one er the family." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad to see you again, Frank," said Warwick, extending his hand +and clasping Frank's warmly. "You've grown up since I saw you last, +but it seems you are still our good friend." +</P> + +<P> +"Our very good friend," interjected Rena. +</P> + +<P> +Frank threw her a grateful glance. "Yas, suh," he said, looking +Warwick over with a friendly eye, "an' you is growed some, too. I seed +you, you know, down dere where you live; but I did n' let on, fer you +an' Mis' Rena wuz w'ite as anybody; an' eve'ybody said you wuz good ter +cullud folks, an' he'ped 'em in deir lawsuits an' one way er 'nuther, +an' I wuz jes' plum' glad ter see you gettin' 'long so fine, dat I wuz, +certain sho', an' no mistake about it." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, Frank, and I want you to understand how much I appreciate"— +</P> + +<P> +"How much we all appreciate," corrected Rena. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, how much we all appreciate, and how grateful we all are for your +kindness to mother for so many years. I know from her and from my +sister how good you've been to them." +</P> + +<P> +"Lawd, suh!" returned Frank deprecatingly, "you're makin' a mountain +out'n a molehill. I ain't done nuthin' ter speak of—not half ez much +ez I would 'a' done. I wuz glad ter do w'at little I could, fer +frien'ship's sake." +</P> + +<P> +"We value your friendship, Frank, and we'll not forget it." +</P> + +<P> +"No, Frank," added Rena, "we will never forget it, and you shall always +be our good friend." +</P> + +<P> +Frank left the room and crossed the street with swelling heart. He +would have given his life for Rena. A kind word was doubly sweet from +her lips; no service would be too great to pay for her friendship. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +When Frank went out to the stable next morning to feed his mule, his +eyes opened wide with astonishment. In place of the decrepit, one-eyed +army mule he had put up the night before, a fat, sleek specimen of +vigorous mulehood greeted his arrival with the sonorous hehaw of lusty +youth. Hanging on a peg near by was a set of fine new harness, and +standing under the adjoining shed, as he perceived, a handsome new cart. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, well!" exclaimed Frank; "ef I did n' mos' know whar dis mule, +an' dis kyart, an' dis harness come from, I'd 'low dere 'd be'n +witcheraf' er cunjin' wukkin' here. But, oh my, dat is a fine mule!—I +mos' wush I could keep 'im." +</P> + +<P> +He crossed the road to the house behind the cedars, and found Mis' +Molly in the kitchen. "Mis' Molly," he protested, "I ain't done nuthin' +ter deserve dat mule. W'at little I done fer you wa'n't done fer pay. +I'd ruther not keep dem things." +</P> + +<P> +"Fer goodness' sake, Frank!" exclaimed his neighbor, with a +well-simulated air of mystification, "what are you talkin' about?" +</P> + +<P> +"You knows w'at I'm talkin' about, Mis' Molly; you knows well ernuff +I'm talkin' about dat fine mule an' kyart an' harness over dere in my +stable." +</P> + +<P> +"How should I know anything about 'em?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Mis' Molly! You folks is jes' tryin' ter fool me, an' make me +take somethin' fer nuthin'. I lef' my ole mule an' kyart an' harness in +de stable las' night, an' dis mawnin' dey 're gone, an' new ones in +deir place. Co'se you knows whar dey come from!" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, now, Frank, sence you mention it, I did see a witch flyin' roun' +here las' night on a broom-stick, an' it 'peared ter me she lit on yo'r +barn, an' I s'pose she turned yo'r old things into new ones. I wouldn't +bother my mind about it if I was you, for she may turn 'em back any +night, you know; an' you might as well have the use of 'em in the mean +while." +</P> + +<P> +"Dat's all foolishness, Mis' Molly, an' I'm gwine ter fetch dat mule +right over here an' tell yo' son ter gimme my ole one back." +</P> + +<P> +"My son's gone," she replied, "an' I don't know nothin' about yo'r old +mule. And what would I do with a mule, anyhow? I ain't got no barn to +put him in." +</P> + +<P> +"I suspect you don't care much for us after all, Frank," said Rena +reproachfully—she had come in while they were talking. "You meet with +a piece of good luck, and you're afraid of it, lest it might have come +from us." +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Miss Rena, you oughtn't ter say dat," expostulated Frank, his +reluctance yielding immediately. "I'll keep de mule an' de kyart an' de +harness—fac', I'll have ter keep 'em, 'cause I ain't got no others. +But dey 're gwine ter be yo'n ez much ez mine. W'enever you wants +anything hauled, er wants yo' lot ploughed, er anything—dat's yo' +mule, an' I'm yo' man an' yo' mammy's." +</P> + +<P> +So Frank went back to the stable, where he feasted his eyes on his new +possessions, fed and watered the mule, and curried and brushed his coat +until it shone like a looking-glass. +</P> + +<P> +"Now dat," remarked Peter, at the breakfast-table, when informed of the +transaction, "is somethin' lack rale w'ite folks." +</P> + +<P> +No real white person had ever given Peter a mule or a cart. He had +rendered one of them unpaid service for half a lifetime, and had paid +for the other half; and some of them owed him substantial sums for work +performed. But "to him that hath shall be given"—Warwick paid for the +mule, and the real white folks got most of the credit. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DIGGING UP ROOTS +</H3> + +<P> +When the first great shock of his discovery wore off, the fact of +Rena's origin lost to Tryon some of its initial repugnance—indeed, the +repugnance was not to the woman at all, as their past relations were +evidence, but merely to the thought of her as a wife. It could hardly +have failed to occur to so reasonable a man as Tryon that Rena's case +could scarcely be unique. Surely in the past centuries of free manners +and easy morals that had prevailed in remote parts of the South, there +must have been many white persons whose origin would not have borne too +microscopic an investigation. Family trees not seldom have a crooked +branch; or, to use a more apposite figure, many a flock has its black +sheep. Being a man of lively imagination, Tryon soon found himself +putting all sorts of hypothetical questions about a matter which he had +already definitely determined. If he had married Rena in ignorance of +her secret, and had learned it afterwards, would he have put her aside? +If, knowing her history, he had nevertheless married her, and she had +subsequently displayed some trait of character that would suggest the +negro, could he have forgotten or forgiven the taint? Could he still +have held her in love and honor? If not, could he have given her the +outward seeming of affection, or could he have been more than coldly +tolerant? He was glad that he had been spared this ordeal. With an +effort he put the whole matter definitely and conclusively aside, as he +had done a hundred times already. +</P> + +<P> +Returning to his home, after an absence of several months in South +Carolina, it was quite apparent to his mother's watchful eye that he +was in serious trouble. He was absent-minded, monosyllabic, sighed +deeply and often, and could not always conceal the traces of secret +tears. For Tryon was young, and possessed of a sensitive soul—a +source of happiness or misery, as the Fates decree. To those thus +dowered, the heights of rapture are accessible, the abysses of despair +yawn threateningly; only the dull monotony of contentment is denied. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Tryon vainly sought by every gentle art a woman knows to win her +son's confidence. "What is the matter, George, dear?" she would ask, +stroking his hot brow with her small, cool hand as he sat moodily +nursing his grief. "Tell your mother, George. Who else could comfort +you so well as she?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it's nothing, mother,—nothing at all," he would reply, with a +forced attempt at lightness. "It's only your fond imagination, you best +of mothers." +</P> + +<P> +It was Mrs. Tryon's turn to sigh and shed a clandestine tear. Until +her son had gone away on this trip to South Carolina, he had kept no +secrets from her: his heart had been an open book, of which she knew +every page; now, some painful story was inscribed therein which he +meant she should not read. If she could have abdicated her empire to +Blanche Leary or have shared it with her, she would have yielded +gracefully; but very palpably some other influence than Blanche's had +driven joy from her son's countenance and lightness from his heart. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Miss Blanche Leary, whom Tryon found in the house upon his return, was +a demure, pretty little blonde, with an amiable disposition, a talent +for society, and a pronounced fondness for George Tryon. A poor girl, +of an excellent family impoverished by the war, she was distantly +related to Mrs. Tryon, had for a long time enjoyed that lady's favor, +and was her choice for George's wife when he should be old enough to +marry. A woman less interested than Miss Leary would have perceived +that there was something wrong with Tryon. Miss Leary had no doubt that +there was a woman at the bottom of it,—for about what else should +youth worry but love? or if one's love affairs run smoothly, why should +one worry about anything at all? Miss Leary, in the nineteen years of +her mundane existence, had not been without mild experiences of the +heart, and had hovered for some time on the verge of disappointment +with respect to Tryon himself. A sensitive pride would have driven +more than one woman away at the sight of the man of her preference +sighing like a furnace for some absent fair one. But Mrs. Tryon was so +cordial, and insisted so strenuously upon her remaining, that Blanche's +love, which was strong, conquered her pride, which was no more than a +reasonable young woman ought to have who sets success above mere +sentiment. She remained in the house and bided her opportunity. If +George practically ignored her for a time, she did not throw herself at +all in his way. She went on a visit to some girls in the neighborhood +and remained away a week, hoping that she might be missed. Tryon +expressed no regret at her departure and no particular satisfaction +upon her return. If the house was duller in her absence, he was but +dimly conscious of the difference. He was still fighting a battle in +which a susceptible heart and a reasonable mind had locked horns in a +well-nigh hopeless conflict. Reason, common-sense, the instinctive +ready-made judgments of his training and environment,—the deep-seated +prejudices of race and caste,—commanded him to dismiss Rena from his +thoughts. His stubborn heart simply would not let go. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XXI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A GILDED OPPORTUNITY +</H3> + +<P> +Although the whole fabric of Rena's new life toppled and fell with her +lover's defection, her sympathies, broadened by culture and still more +by her recent emotional experience, did not shrink, as would have been +the case with a more selfish soul, to the mere limits of her personal +sorrow, great as this seemed at the moment. She had learned to love, +and when the love of one man failed her, she turned to humanity, as a +stream obstructed in its course overflows the adjacent country. Her +early training had not directed her thoughts to the darker people with +whose fate her own was bound up so closely, but rather away from them. +She had been taught to despise them because they were not so white as +she was, and had been slaves while she was free. Her life in her +brother's home, by removing her from immediate contact with them, had +given her a different point of view,—one which emphasized their +shortcomings, and thereby made vastly clearer to her the gulf that +separated them from the new world in which she lived; so that when +misfortune threw her back upon them, the reaction brought her nearer +than before. Where once she had seemed able to escape from them, they +were now, it appeared, her inalienable race. Thus doubly equipped, she +was able to view them at once with the mental eye of an outsider and +the sympathy of a sister: she could see their faults, and judge them +charitably; she knew and appreciated their good qualities. With her +quickened intelligence she could perceive how great was their need and +how small their opportunity; and with this illumination came the desire +to contribute to their help. She had not the breadth or culture to see +in all its ramifications the great problem which still puzzles +statesmen and philosophers; but she was conscious of the wish, and of +the power, in a small way, to do something for the advancement of those +who had just set their feet upon the ladder of progress. +</P> + +<P> +This new-born desire to be of service to her rediscovered people was +not long without an opportunity for expression. Yet the Fates willed +that her future should be but another link in a connected chain: she +was to be as powerless to put aside her recent past as she had been to +escape from the influence of her earlier life. There are sordid souls +that eat and drink and breed and die, and imagine they have lived. But +Rena's life since her great awakening had been that of the emotions, +and her temperament made of it a continuous life. Her successive +states of consciousness were not detachable, but united to form a +single if not an entirely harmonious whole. To her sensitive spirit +to-day was born of yesterday, to-morrow would be but the offspring of +to day. +</P> + +<P> +One day, along toward noon, her mother received a visit from Mary B. +Pettifoot, a second cousin, who lived on Back Street, only a short +distance from the house behind the cedars. Rena had gone out, so that +the visitor found Mis' Molly alone. +</P> + +<P> +"I heared you say, Cousin Molly," said Mary B. (no one ever knew what +the B. in Mary's name stood for,—it was a mere ornamental flourish), +"that Rena was talkin' 'bout teachin' school. I've got a good chance +fer her, ef she keers ter take it. My cousin Jeff Wain 'rived in town +this mo'nin', f'm 'way down in Sampson County, ter git a teacher fer +the nigger school in his deestric'. I s'pose he mought 'a' got one f'm +'roun' Newbern, er Goldsboro, er some er them places eas', but he +'lowed he'd like to visit some er his kin an' ole frien's, an' so kill +two birds with one stone." +</P> + +<P> +"I seed a strange mulatter man, with a bay hoss an' a new buggy, +drivin' by here this mo'nin' early, from down to'ds the river," +rejoined Mis' Molly. "I wonder if that wuz him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Did he have on a linen duster?" asked Mary B. +</P> + +<P> +"Yas, an' 'peared to be a very well sot up man," replied Mis' Molly, +"'bout thirty-five years old, I should reckon." +</P> + +<P> +"That wuz him," assented Mary B. "He's got a fine hoss an' buggy, an' +a gol' watch an' chain, an' a big plantation, an' lots er hosses an' +mules an' cows an' hawgs. He raise' fifty bales er cotton las' year, +an' he's be'n ter the legislatur'." +</P> + +<P> +"My gracious!" exclaimed Mis' Molly, struck with awe at this catalogue +of the stranger's possessions—he was evidently worth more than a great +many "rich" white people,—all white people in North Carolina in those +days were either "rich" or "poor," the distinction being one of caste +rather than of wealth. "Is he married?" she inquired with interest? +</P> + +<P> +"No,—single. You mought 'low it was quare that he should n' be +married at his age; but he was crossed in love oncet,"—Mary B. heaved +a self-conscious sigh,—"an' has stayed single ever sence. That wuz +ten years ago, but as some husban's is long-lived, an' there ain' no +mo' chance fer 'im now than there wuz then, I reckon some nice gal +mought stan' a good show er ketchin' 'im, ef she'd play her kyards +right." +</P> + +<P> +To Mis' Molly this was news of considerable importance. She had not +thought a great deal of Rena's plan to teach; she considered it +lowering for Rena, after having been white, to go among the negroes any +more than was unavoidable. This opportunity, however, meant more than +mere employment for her daughter. She had felt Rena's disappointment +keenly, from the practical point of view, and, blaming herself for it, +held herself all the more bound to retrieve the misfortune in any +possible way. If she had not been sick, Rena would not have dreamed +the fateful dream that had brought her to Patesville; for the +connection between the vision and the reality was even closer in Mis' +Molly's eyes than in Rena's. If the mother had not sent the letter +announcing her illness and confirming the dream, Rena would not have +ruined her promising future by coming to Patesville. But the harm had +been done, and she was responsible, ignorantly of course, but none the +less truly, and it only remained for her to make amends, as far as +possible. Her highest ambition, since Rena had grown up, had been to +see her married and comfortably settled in life. She had no hope that +Tryon would come back. Rena had declared that she would make no +further effort to get away from her people; and, furthermore, that she +would never marry. To this latter statement Mis' Molly secretly +attached but little importance. That a woman should go single from the +cradle to the grave did not accord with her experience in life of the +customs of North Carolina. She respected a grief she could not +entirely fathom, yet did not for a moment believe that Rena would +remain unmarried. +</P> + +<P> +"You'd better fetch him roun' to see me, Ma'y B.," she said, "an' let's +see what he looks like. I'm pertic'lar 'bout my gal. She says she +ain't goin' to marry nobody; but of co'se we know that's all +foolishness." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll fetch him roun' this evenin' 'bout three o'clock," said the +visitor, rising. "I mus' hurry back now an' keep him comp'ny. Tell +Rena ter put on her bes' bib an' tucker; for Mr. Wain is pertic'lar +too, an' I've already be'n braggin' 'bout her looks." +</P> + +<P> +When Mary B., at the appointed hour, knocked at Mis' Molly's front +door,—the visit being one of ceremony, she had taken her cousin round +to the Front Street entrance and through the flower garden,—Mis' Molly +was prepared to receive them. After a decent interval, long enough to +suggest that she had not been watching their approach and was not +over-eager about the visit, she answered the knock and admitted them +into the parlor. Mr. Wain was formally introduced, and seated himself +on the ancient haircloth sofa, under the framed fashion-plate, while +Mary B. sat by the open door and fanned herself with a palm-leaf fan. +</P> + +<P> +Mis' Molly's impression of Wain was favorable. His complexion was of a +light brown—not quite so fair as Mis' Molly would have preferred; but +any deficiency in this regard, or in the matter of the stranger's +features, which, while not unpleasing, leaned toward the broad mulatto +type, was more than compensated in her eyes by very straight black +hair, and, as soon appeared, a great facility of complimentary speech. +On his introduction Mr. Wain bowed low, assumed an air of great +admiration, and expressed his extreme delight in making the +acquaintance of so distinguished-looking a lady. +</P> + +<P> +"You're flatt'rin' me, Mr. Wain," returned Mis' Molly, with a gratified +smile. "But you want to meet my daughter befo' you commence th'owin' +bokays. Excuse my leavin' you—I'll go an' fetch her." +</P> + +<P> +She returned in a moment, followed by Rena. "Mr. Wain, 'low me to +int'oduce you to my daughter Rena. Rena, this is Ma'y B.'s cousin on +her pappy's side, who's come up from Sampson to git a school-teacher." +</P> + +<P> +Rena bowed gracefully. Wain stared a moment in genuine astonishment, +and then bent himself nearly double, keeping his eyes fixed meanwhile +upon Rena's face. He had expected to see a pretty yellow girl, but had +been prepared for no such radiant vision of beauty as this which now +confronted him. +</P> + +<P> +"Does—does you mean ter say, Mis' Walden, dat—dat dis young lady is +yo' own daughter?" he stammered, rallying his forces for action. +</P> + +<P> +"Why not, Mr. Wain?" asked Mis' Molly, bridling with mock resentment. +"Do you mean ter 'low that she wuz changed in her cradle, er is she too +good-lookin' to be my daughter?" +</P> + +<P> +"My deah Mis' Walden! it 'ud be wastin' wo'ds fer me ter say dat dey +ain' no young lady too good-lookin' ter be yo' daughter; but you're +lookin' so young yo'sef dat I'd ruther take her fer yo' sister." +</P> + +<P> +"Yas," rejoined Mis' Molly, with animation, "they ain't many years +between us. I wuz ruther young myself when she wuz bo'n." +</P> + +<P> +"An', mo'over," Wain went on, "it takes me a minute er so ter git my +min' use' ter thinkin' er Mis' Rena as a cullud young lady. I mought +'a' seed her a hund'ed times, an' I'd 'a' never dreamt but w'at she wuz +a w'ite young lady, f'm one er de bes' families." +</P> + +<P> +"Yas, Mr. Wain," replied Mis' Molly complacently, "all three er my +child'en wuz white, an' one of 'em has be'n on the other side fer many +long years. Rena has be'n to school, an' has traveled, an' has had +chances—better chances than anybody roun' here knows." +</P> + +<P> +"She's jes' de lady I'm lookin' fer, ter teach ou' school," rejoined +Wain, with emphasis. "Wid her schoolin' an' my riccommen', she kin git +a fus'-class ce'tifikit an' draw fo'ty dollars a month; an' a lady er +her color kin keep a lot er little niggers straighter 'n a darker lady +could. We jus' got ter have her ter teach ou' school—ef we kin git +her." +</P> + +<P> +Rena's interest in the prospect of employment at her chosen work was so +great that she paid little attention to Wain's compliments. Mis' Molly +led Mary B. away to the kitchen on some pretext, and left Rena to +entertain the gentleman. She questioned him eagerly about the school, +and he gave the most glowing accounts of the elegant school-house, the +bright pupils, and the congenial society of the neighborhood. He spoke +almost entirely in superlatives, and, after making due allowance for +what Rena perceived to be a temperamental tendency to exaggeration, she +concluded that she would find in the school a worthy field of +usefulness, and in this polite and good-natured though somewhat wordy +man a coadjutor upon whom she could rely in her first efforts; for she +was not over-confident of her powers, which seemed to grow less as the +way opened for their exercise. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think I'm competent to teach the school?" she asked of the +visitor, after stating some of her qualifications. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, dere 's no doubt about it, Miss Rena," replied Wain, who had +listened with an air of great wisdom, though secretly aware that he was +too ignorant of letters to form a judgment; "you kin teach de school +all right, an' could ef you didn't know half ez much. You won't have +no trouble managin' de child'en, nuther. Ef any of 'em gits onruly, +jes' call on me fer he'p, an' I'll make 'em walk Spanish. I'm chuhman +er de school committee, an' I'll lam de hide off'n any scholar dat don' +behave. You kin trus' me fer dat, sho' ez I'm a-settin' here." +</P> + +<P> +"Then," said Rena, "I'll undertake it, and do my best. I'm sure you'll +not be too exacting." +</P> + +<P> +"Yo' bes', Miss Rena,'ll be de bes' dey is. Don' you worry ner fret. +Dem niggers won't have no other teacher after dey've once laid eyes on +you: I'll guarantee dat. Dere won't be no trouble, not a bit." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Cousin Molly," said Mary B. to Mis' Molly in the kitchen, "how +does the plan strike you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ef Rena's satisfied, I am," replied Mis' Molly. "But you'd better say +nothin' about ketchin' a beau, or any such foolishness, er else she'd +be just as likely not to go nigh Sampson County." +</P> + +<P> +"Befo' Cousin Jeff goes back," confided Mary B., "I'd like ter give 'im +a party, but my house is too small. I wuz wonderin'," she added +tentatively, "ef I could n' borry yo' house." +</P> + +<P> +"Shorely, Ma'y B. I'm int'rested in Mr. Wain on Rena's account, an' +it's as little as I kin do to let you use my house an' help you git +things ready." +</P> + +<P> +The date of the party was set for Thursday night, as Wain was to leave +Patesville on Friday morning, taking with him the new teacher. The +party would serve the double purpose of a compliment to the guest and a +farewell to Rena, and it might prove the precursor, the mother secretly +hoped, of other festivities to follow at some later date. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XXII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IMPERATIVE BUSINESS +</H3> + +<P> +One Wednesday morning, about six weeks after his return home, Tryon +received a letter from Judge Straight with reference to the note left +with him at Patesville for collection. This communication properly +required an answer, which might have been made in writing within the +compass of ten lines. No sooner, however, had Tryon read the letter +than he began to perceive reasons why it should be answered in person. +He had left Patesville under extremely painful circumstances, vowing +that he would never return; and yet now the barest pretext, by which no +one could have been deceived except willingly, was sufficient to turn +his footsteps thither again. He explained to his mother—with a +vagueness which she found somewhat puzzling, but ascribed to her own +feminine obtuseness in matters of business—the reasons that +imperatively demanded his presence in Patesville. With an early start +he could drive there in one day,—he had an excellent roadster, a light +buggy, and a recent rain had left the road in good condition,—a day +would suffice for the transaction of his business, and the third day +would bring him home again. He set out on his journey on Thursday +morning, with this programme very clearly outlined. +</P> + +<P> +Tryon would not at first have admitted even to himself that Rena's +presence in Patesville had any bearing whatever upon his projected +visit. The matter about which Judge Straight had written might, it was +clear, be viewed in several aspects. The judge had written him +concerning the one of immediate importance. It would be much easier to +discuss the subject in all its bearings, and clean up the whole matter, +in one comprehensive personal interview. +</P> + +<P> +The importance of this business, then, seemed very urgent for the first +few hours of Tryon's journey. Ordinarily a careful driver and merciful +to his beast, his eagerness to reach Patesville increased gradually +until it became necessary to exercise some self-restraint in order not +to urge his faithful mare beyond her powers; and soon he could no +longer pretend obliviousness of the fact that some attraction stronger +than the whole amount of Duncan McSwayne's note was urging him +irresistibly toward his destination. The old town beyond the distant +river, his heart told him clamorously, held the object in all the world +to him most dear. Memory brought up in vivid detail every moment of +his brief and joyous courtship, each tender word, each enchanting +smile, every fond caress. He lived his past happiness over again down +to the moment of that fatal discovery. What horrible fate was it that +had involved him—nay, that had caught this sweet delicate girl in such +a blind alley? A wild hope flashed across his mind: perhaps the +ghastly story might not be true; perhaps, after all, the girl was no +more a negro than she seemed. He had heard sad stories of white +children, born out of wedlock, abandoned by sinful parents to the care +or adoption of colored women, who had reared them as their own, the +children's future basely sacrificed to hide the parents' shame. He +would confront this reputed mother of his darling and wring the truth +from her. He was in a state of mind where any sort of a fairy tale +would have seemed reasonable. He would almost have bribed some one to +tell him that the woman he had loved, the woman he still loved (he felt +a thrill of lawless pleasure in the confession), was not the descendant +of slaves,—that he might marry her, and not have before his eyes the +gruesome fear that some one of their children might show even the +faintest mark of the despised race. +</P> + +<P> +At noon he halted at a convenient hamlet, fed and watered his mare, and +resumed his journey after an hour's rest. By this time he had +well-nigh forgotten about the legal business that formed the ostensible +occasion for his journey, and was conscious only of a wild desire to +see the woman whose image was beckoning him on to Patesville as fast as +his horse could take him. +</P> + +<P> +At sundown he stopped again, about ten miles from the town, and cared +for his now tired beast. He knew her capacity, however, and calculated +that she could stand the additional ten miles without injury. The mare +set out with reluctance, but soon settled resignedly down into a steady +jog. +</P> + +<P> +Memory had hitherto assailed Tryon with the vision of past joys. As he +neared the town, imagination attacked him with still more moving +images. He had left her, this sweet flower of womankind—white or not, +God had never made a fairer!—he had seen her fall to the hard +pavement, with he knew not what resulting injury. He had left her +tender frame—the touch of her finger-tips had made him thrill with +happiness—to be lifted by strange hands, while he with heartless pride +had driven deliberately away, without a word of sorrow or regret. He +had ignored her as completely as though she had never existed. That he +had been deceived was true. But had he not aided in his own deception? +Had not Warwick told him distinctly that they were of no family, and +was it not his own fault that he had not followed up the clue thus +given him? Had not Rena compared herself to the child's nurse, and had +he not assured her that if she were the nurse, he would marry her next +day? The deception had been due more to his own blindness than to any +lack of honesty on the part of Rena and her brother. In the light of +his present feelings they seemed to have been absurdly outspoken. He +was glad that he had kept his discovery to himself. He had considered +himself very magnanimous not to have exposed the fraud that was being +perpetrated upon society: it was with a very comfortable feeling that +he now realized that the matter was as profound a secret as before. +</P> + +<P> +"She ought to have been born white," he muttered, adding weakly, "I +would to God that I had never found her out!" +</P> + +<P> +Drawing near the bridge that crossed the river to the town, he pictured +to himself a pale girl, with sorrowful, tear-stained eyes, pining away +in the old gray house behind the cedars for love of him, dying, +perhaps, of a broken heart. He would hasten to her; he would dry her +tears with kisses; he would express sorrow for his cruelty. +</P> + +<P> +The tired mare had crossed the bridge and was slowly toiling up Front +Street; she was near the limit of her endurance, and Tryon did not urge +her. +</P> + +<P> +They might talk the matter over, and if they must part, part at least +they would in peace and friendship. If he could not marry her, he +would never marry any one else; it would be cruel for him to seek +happiness while she was denied it, for, having once given her heart to +him, she could never, he was sure,—so instinctively fine was her +nature,—she could never love any one less worthy than himself, and +would therefore probably never marry. He knew from a Clarence +acquaintance, who had written him a letter, that Rena had not +reappeared in that town. +</P> + +<P> +If he should discover—the chance was one in a thousand—that she was +white; or if he should find it too hard to leave her—ah, well! he was +a white man, one of a race born to command. He would make her white; +no one beyond the old town would ever know the difference. If, +perchance, their secret should be disclosed, the world was wide; a man +of courage and ambition, inspired by love, might make a career +anywhere. Circumstances made weak men; strong men mould circumstances +to do their bidding. He would not let his darling die of grief, +whatever the price must be paid for her salvation. She was only a few +rods away from him now. In a moment he would see her; he would take +her tenderly in his arms, and heart to heart they would mutually +forgive and forget, and, strengthened by their love, would face the +future boldly and bid the world do its worst. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap23"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XXIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE GUEST OF HONOR +</H3> + +<P> +The evening of the party arrived. The house had been thoroughly +cleaned in preparation for the event, and decorated with the choicest +treasures of the garden. By eight o'clock the guests had gathered. +They were all mulattoes,—all people of mixed blood were called +"mulattoes" in North Carolina. There were dark mulattoes and bright +mulattoes. Mis' Molly's guests were mostly of the bright class, most +of them more than half white, and few of them less. In Mis' Molly's +small circle, straight hair was the only palliative of a dark +complexion. Many of the guests would not have been casually +distinguishable from white people of the poorer class. Others bore +unmistakable traces of Indian ancestry,—for Cherokee and Tuscarora +blood was quite widely diffused among the free negroes of North +Carolina, though well-nigh lost sight of by the curious custom of the +white people to ignore anything but the negro blood in those who were +touched by its potent current. Very few of those present had been +slaves. The free colored people of Patesville were numerous enough +before the war to have their own "society," and human enough to despise +those who did not possess advantages equal to their own; and at this +time they still looked down upon those who had once been held in +bondage. The only black man present occupied a chair which stood on a +broad chest in one corner, and extracted melody from a fiddle to which +a whole generation of the best people of Patesville had danced and made +merry. Uncle Needham seldom played for colored gatherings, but made an +exception in Mis' Molly's case; she was not white, but he knew her +past; if she was not the rose, she had at least been near the rose. +When the company had gathered, Mary B., as mistress of ceremonies, +whispered to Uncle Needham, who tapped his violin sharply with the bow. +</P> + +<P> +"Ladies an' gent'emens, take yo' pa'dners fer a Fuhginny reel!" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Wain, as the guest of honor, opened the ball with his hostess. He +wore a broadcloth coat and trousers, a heavy glittering chain across +the spacious front of his white waistcoat, and a large red rose in his +buttonhole. If his boots were slightly run down at the heel, so +trivial a detail passed unnoticed in the general splendor of his +attire. Upon a close or hostile inspection there would have been some +features of his ostensibly good-natured face—the shifty eye, the full +and slightly drooping lower lip—which might have given a student of +physiognomy food for reflection. But whatever the latent defects of +Wain's character, he proved himself this evening a model of geniality, +presuming not at all upon his reputed wealth, but winning golden +opinions from those who came to criticise, of whom, of course, there +were a few, the company being composed of human beings. +</P> + +<P> +When the dance began, Wain extended his large, soft hand to Mary B., +yellow, buxom, thirty, with white and even teeth glistening behind her +full red lips. A younger sister of Mary B.'s was paired with Billy +Oxendine, a funny little tailor, a great gossip, and therefore a +favorite among the women. Mis' Molly graciously consented, after many +protestations of lack of skill and want of practice, to stand up +opposite Homer Pettifoot, Mary B.'s husband, a tall man, with a slight +stoop, a bald crown, and full, dreamy eyes,—a man of much imagination +and a large fund of anecdote. Two other couples completed the set; +others were restrained by bashfulness or religious scruples, which did +not yield until later in the evening. +</P> + +<P> +The perfumed air from the garden without and the cut roses within +mingled incongruously with the alien odors of musk and hair oil, of +which several young barbers in the company were especially redolent. +There was a play of sparkling eyes and glancing feet. Mary B. danced +with the languorous grace of an Eastern odalisque, Mis' Molly with the +mincing, hesitating step of one long out of practice. Wain performed +saltatory prodigies. This was a golden opportunity for the display in +which his soul found delight. He introduced variations hitherto +unknown to the dance. His skill and suppleness brought a glow of +admiration into the eyes of the women, and spread a cloud of jealousy +over the faces of several of the younger men, who saw themselves +eclipsed. +</P> + +<P> +Rena had announced in advance her intention to take no active part in +the festivities. "I don't feel like dancing, mamma—I shall never +dance again." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, now, Rena," answered her mother, "of co'se you're too dignified, +sence you've be'n 'sociatin' with white folks, to be hoppin' roun' an' +kickin' up like Ma'y B. an' these other yaller gals; but of co'se, too, +you can't slight the comp'ny entirely, even ef it ain't jest exac'ly +our party,—you'll have to pay 'em some little attention, 'specially +Mr. Wain, sence you're goin' down yonder with 'im." +</P> + +<P> +Rena conscientiously did what she thought politeness required. She +went the round of the guests in the early part of the evening and +exchanged greetings with them. To several requests for dances she +replied that she was not dancing. She did not hold herself aloof +because of pride; any instinctive shrinking she might have felt by +reason of her recent association with persons of greater refinement was +offset by her still more newly awakened zeal for humanity; they were +her people, she must not despise them. But the occasion suggested +painful memories of other and different scenes in which she had lately +participated. Once or twice these memories were so vivid as almost to +overpower her. She slipped away from the company, and kept in the +background as much as possible without seeming to slight any one. +</P> + +<P> +The guests as well were dimly conscious of a slight barrier between +Mis' Molly's daughter and themselves. The time she had spent apart +from these friends of her youth had rendered it impossible for her ever +to meet them again upon the plane of common interests and common +thoughts. It was much as though one, having acquired the vernacular of +his native country, had lived in a foreign land long enough to lose the +language of his childhood without acquiring fully that of his adopted +country. Miss Rowena Warwick could never again become quite the Rena +Walden who had left the house behind the cedars no more than a year and +a half before. Upon this very difference were based her noble +aspirations for usefulness,—one must stoop in order that one may lift +others. Any other young woman present would have been importuned +beyond her powers of resistance. Rena's reserve was respected. +</P> + +<P> +When supper was announced, somewhat early in the evening, the dancers +found seats in the hall or on the front piazza. Aunt Zilphy, assisted +by Mis' Molly and Mary B., passed around the refreshments, which +consisted of fried chicken, buttered biscuits, pound-cake, and eggnog. +When the first edge of appetite was taken off, the conversation waxed +animated. Homer Pettifoot related, with minute detail, an old, +threadbare hunting lie, dating, in slightly differing forms, from the +age of Nimrod, about finding twenty-five partridges sitting in a row on +a rail, and killing them all with a single buckshot, which passed +through twenty-four and lodged in the body of the twenty-fifth, from +which it was extracted and returned to the shot pouch for future +service. +</P> + +<P> +This story was followed by a murmur of incredulity—of course, the +thing was possible, but Homer's faculty for exaggeration was so well +known that any statement of his was viewed with suspicion. Homer +seemed hurt at this lack of faith, and was disposed to argue the point, +but the sonorous voice of Mr. Wain on the other side of the room cut +short his protestations, in much the same way that the rising sun +extinguishes the light of lesser luminaries. +</P> + +<P> +"I wuz a member er de fus' legislatur' after de wah," Wain was saying. +"When I went up f'm Sampson in de fall, I had to pass th'ough +Smithfiel', I got in town in de afternoon, an' put up at de bes' hotel. +De lan'lo'd did n' have no s'picion but what I wuz a white man, an' he +gimme a room, an' I had supper an' breakfas', an' went on ter Rolly +nex' mornin'. W'en de session wuz over, I come along back, an' w'en I +got ter Smithfiel', I driv' up ter de same hotel. I noticed, as soon +as I got dere, dat de place had run down consid'able—dere wuz weeds +growin' in de yard, de winders wuz dirty, an' ev'ything roun' dere +looked kinder lonesome an' shif'less. De lan'lo'd met me at de do'; he +looked mighty down in de mouth, an' sezee:— +</P> + +<P> +"'Look a-here, w'at made you come an' stop at my place widout tellin' +me you wuz a black man? Befo' you come th'ough dis town I had a +fus'-class business. But w'en folks found out dat a nigger had put up +here, business drapped right off, an' I've had ter shet up my hotel. +You oughter be 'shamed er yo'se'f fer ruinin' a po' man w'at had n' +never done no harm ter you. You've done a mean, low-lived thing, an' a +jes' God'll punish you fer it.' +</P> + +<P> +"De po' man acshully bust inter tears," continued Mr. Wain +magnanimously, "an' I felt so sorry fer 'im—he wuz a po' white man +tryin' ter git up in de worl'—dat I hauled out my purse an' gin 'im +ten dollars, an' he 'peared monst'ous glad ter git it." +</P> + +<P> +"How good-hearted! How kin'!" murmured the ladies. "It done credit to +yo' feelin's." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't b'lieve a word er dem lies," muttered one young man to another +sarcastically. "He could n' pass fer white, 'less'n it wuz a mighty +dark night." +</P> + +<P> +Upon this glorious evening of his life, Mr. Jefferson Wain had one +distinctly hostile critic, of whose presence he was blissfully +unconscious. Frank Fowler had not been invited to the party,—his +family did not go with Mary B.'s set. Rena had suggested to her mother +that he be invited, but Mis' Molly had demurred on the ground that it +was not her party, and that she had no right to issue invitations. It +is quite likely that she would have sought an invitation for Frank from +Mary B.; but Frank was black, and would not harmonize with the rest of +the company, who would not have Mis' Molly's reasons for treating him +well. She had compromised the matter by stepping across the way in the +afternoon and suggesting that Frank might come over and sit on the back +porch and look at the dancing and share in the supper. +</P> + +<P> +Frank was not without a certain honest pride. He was sensitive enough, +too, not to care to go where he was not wanted. He would have curtly +refused any such maimed invitation to any other place. But would he +not see Rena in her best attire, and might she not perhaps, in passing, +speak a word to him? +</P> + +<P> +"Thank y', Mis' Molly," he replied, "I'll prob'ly come over." +</P> + +<P> +"You're a big fool, boy," observed his father after Mis' Molly had gone +back across the street, "ter be stickin' roun' dem yaller niggers +'cross de street, an' slobb'rin' an' slav'rin' over 'em, an' hangin' +roun' deir back do' wuss 'n ef dey wuz w'ite folks. I'd see 'em dead +fus'!" +</P> + +<P> +Frank himself resisted the temptation for half an hour after the music +began, but at length he made his way across the street and stationed +himself at the window opening upon the back piazza. When Rena was in +the room, he had eyes for her only, but when she was absent, he fixed +his attention mainly upon Wain. With jealous clairvoyance he observed +that Wain's eyes followed Rena when she left the room, and lit up when +she returned. Frank had heard that Rena was going away with this man, +and he watched Wain closely, liking him less the longer he looked at +him. To his fancy, Wain's style and skill were affectation, his +good-nature mere hypocrisy, and his glance at Rena the eye of the hawk +upon his quarry. He had heard that Wain was unmarried, and he could +not see how, this being so, he could help wishing Rena for a wife. +Frank would have been content to see her marry a white man, who would +have raised her to a plane worthy of her merits. In this man's shifty +eye he read the liar—his wealth and standing were probably as false as +his seeming good-humor. +</P> + +<P> +"Is that you, Frank?" said a soft voice near at hand. +</P> + +<P> +He looked up with a joyful thrill. Rena was peering intently at him, +as if trying to distinguish his features in the darkness. It was a +bright moonlight night, but Frank stood in the shadow of the piazza. +</P> + +<P> +"Yas 'm, it's me, Miss Rena. Yo' mammy said I could come over an' see +you-all dance. You ain' be'n out on de flo' at all, ter-night." +</P> + +<P> +"No, Frank, I don't care for dancing. I shall not dance to-night." +</P> + +<P> +This answer was pleasing to Frank. If he could not hope to dance with +her, at least the men inside—at least this snake in the grass from +down the country—should not have that privilege. +</P> + +<P> +"But you must have some supper, Frank," said Rena. "I'll bring it +myself." +</P> + +<P> +"No, Miss Rena, I don' keer fer nothin'—I did n' come over ter +eat—r'al'y I didn't." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense, Frank, there's plenty of it. I have no appetite, and you +shall have my portion." +</P> + +<P> +She brought him a slice of cake and a glass of eggnog. When Mis' +Molly, a minute later, came out upon the piazza, Frank left the yard +and walked down the street toward the old canal. Rena had spoken +softly to him; she had fed him with her own dainty hands. He might +never hope that she would see in him anything but a friend; but he +loved her, and he would watch over her and protect her, wherever she +might be. He did not believe that she would ever marry the grinning +hypocrite masquerading back there in Mis' Molly's parlor; but the man +would bear watching. +</P> + +<P> +Mis' Molly had come to call her daughter into the house. "Rena," she +said, "Mr. Wain wants ter know if you won't dance just one dance with +him." +</P> + +<P> +"Yas, Rena," pleaded Mary B., who followed Miss Molly out to the +piazza, "jes' one dance. I don't think you're treatin' my comp'ny jes' +right, Cousin Rena." +</P> + +<P> +"You're goin' down there with 'im," added her mother, "an' it 'd be +just as well to be on friendly terms with 'im." +</P> + +<P> +Wain himself had followed the women. "Sho'ly, Miss Rena, you're gwine +ter honah me wid one dance? I'd go 'way f'm dis pa'ty sad at hea't ef +I had n' stood up oncet wid de young lady er de house." +</P> + +<P> +As Rena, weakly persuaded, placed her hand on Wain's arm and entered +the house, a buggy, coming up Front Street, paused a moment at the +corner, and then turning slowly, drove quietly up the nameless +by-street, concealed by the intervening cedars, until it reached a +point from which the occupant could view, through the open front +window, the interior of the parlor. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap24"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XXIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SWING YOUR PARTNERS +</H3> + +<P> +Moved by tenderness and thoughts of self-sacrifice, which had occupied +his mind to the momentary exclusion of all else, Tryon had scarcely +noticed, as he approached the house behind the cedars, a strain of +lively music, to which was added, as he drew still nearer, the +accompaniment of other festive sounds. He suddenly awoke, however, to +the fact that these signs of merriment came from the house at which he +had intended to stop;—he had not meant that Rena should pass another +sleepless night of sorrow, or that he should himself endure another +needless hour of suspense. +</P> + +<P> +He drew rein at the corner. Shocked surprise, a nascent anger, a vague +alarm, an insistent curiosity, urged him nearer. Turning the mare into +the side street and keeping close to the fence, he drove ahead in the +shadow of the cedars until he reached a gap through which he could see +into the open door and windows of the brightly lighted hall. +</P> + +<P> +There was evidently a ball in progress. The fiddle was squeaking +merrily so a tune that he remembered well,—it was associated with one +of the most delightful evenings of his life, that of the tournament +ball. A mellow negro voice was calling with a rhyming accompaniment +the figures of a quadrille. Tryon, with parted lips and slowly +hardening heart, leaned forward from the buggy-seat, gripping the rein +so tightly that his nails cut into the opposing palm. Above the +clatter of noisy conversation rose the fiddler's voice:— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Swing yo' pa'dners; doan be shy,<BR> + Look yo' lady in de eye!<BR> + Th'ow yo' ahm aroun' huh wais';<BR> + Take yo' time—dey ain' no has'e!"<BR> +</P> + +<P> +To the middle of the floor, in full view through an open window, +advanced the woman who all day long had been the burden of his +thoughts—not pale with grief and hollow-eyed with weeping, but flushed +with pleasure, around her waist the arm of a burly, grinning mulatto, +whose face was offensively familiar to Tryon. +</P> + +<P> +With a muttered curse of concentrated bitterness, Tryon struck the mare +a sharp blow with the whip. The sensitive creature, spirited even in +her great weariness, resented the lash and started off with the bit in +her teeth. Perceiving that it would be difficult to turn in the narrow +roadway without running into the ditch at the left, Tryon gave the mare +rein and dashed down the street, scarcely missing, as the buggy crossed +the bridge, a man standing abstractedly by the old canal, who sprang +aside barely in time to avoid being run over. +</P> + +<P> +Meantime Rena was passing through a trying ordeal. After the first few +bars, the fiddler plunged into a well-known air, in which Rena, keenly +susceptible to musical impressions, recognized the tune to which, as +Queen of Love and Beauty, she had opened the dance at her entrance into +the world of life and love, for it was there she had met George Tryon. +The combination of music and movement brought up the scene with great +distinctness. Tryon, peering angrily through the cedars, had not been +more conscious than she of the external contrast between her partners +on this and the former occasion. She perceived, too, as Tryon from the +outside had not, the difference between Wain's wordy flattery (only +saved by his cousin's warning from pointed and fulsome adulation), and +the tenderly graceful compliment, couched in the romantic terms of +chivalry, with which the knight of the handkerchief had charmed her +ear. It was only by an immense effort that she was able to keep her +emotions under control until the end of the dance, when she fled to her +chamber and burst into tears. It was not the cruel Tryon who had +blasted her love with his deadly look that she mourned, but the gallant +young knight who had worn her favor on his lance and crowned her Queen +of Love and Beauty. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Tryon's stay in Patesville was very brief. He drove to the hotel and +put up for the night. During many sleepless hours his mind was in a +turmoil with a very different set of thoughts from those which had +occupied it on the way to town. Not the least of them was a profound +self-contempt for his own lack of discernment. How had he been so +blind as not to have read long ago the character of this wretched girl +who had bewitched him? To-night his eyes had been opened—he had seen +her with the mask thrown off, a true daughter of a race in which the +sensuous enjoyment of the moment took precedence of taste or sentiment +or any of the higher emotions. Her few months of boarding-school, her +brief association with white people, had evidently been a mere veneer +over the underlying negro, and their effects had slipped away as soon +as the intercourse had ceased. With the monkey-like imitativeness of +the negro she had copied the manners of white people while she lived +among them, and had dropped them with equal facility when they ceased +to serve a purpose. Who but a negro could have recovered so soon from +what had seemed a terrible bereavement?—she herself must have felt it +at the time, for otherwise she would not have swooned. A woman of +sensibility, as this one had seemed to be, should naturally feel more +keenly, and for a longer time than a man, an injury to the affections; +but he, a son of the ruling race, had been miserable for six weeks +about a girl who had so far forgotten him as already to plunge headlong +into the childish amusements of her own ignorant and degraded people. +What more, indeed, he asked himself savagely,—what more could be +expected of the base-born child of the plaything of a gentleman's idle +hour, who to this ignoble origin added the blood of a servile race? +And he, George Tryon, had honored her with his love; he had very nearly +linked his fate and joined his blood to hers by the solemn sanctions of +church and state. Tryon was not a devout man, but he thanked God with +religious fervor that he had been saved a second time from a mistake +which would have wrecked his whole future. If he had yielded to the +momentary weakness of the past night,—the outcome of a sickly +sentimentality to which he recognized now, in the light of reflection, +that he was entirely too prone,—he would have regretted it soon +enough. The black streak would have been sure to come out in some +form, sooner or later, if not in the wife, then in her children. He +saw clearly enough, in this hour of revulsion, that with his +temperament and training such a union could never have been happy. If +all the world had been ignorant of the dark secret, it would always +have been in his own thoughts, or at least never far away. Each fault +of hers that the close daily association of husband and wife might +reveal,—the most flawless of sweethearts do not pass scathless through +the long test of matrimony,—every wayward impulse of his children, +every defect of mind, morals, temper, or health, would have been +ascribed to the dark ancestral strain. Happiness under such conditions +would have been impossible. +</P> + +<P> +When Tryon lay awake in the early morning, after a few brief hours of +sleep, the business which had brought him to Patesville seemed, in the +cold light of reason, so ridiculously inadequate that he felt almost +ashamed to have set up such a pretext for his journey. The prospect, +too, of meeting Dr. Green and his family, of having to explain his +former sudden departure, and of running a gauntlet of inquiry +concerning his marriage to the aristocratic Miss Warwick of South +Carolina; the fear that some one at Patesville might have suspected a +connection between Rena's swoon and his own flight,—these +considerations so moved this impressionable and impulsive young man +that he called a bell-boy, demanded an early breakfast, ordered his +horse, paid his reckoning, and started upon his homeward journey +forthwith. A certain distrust of his own sensibility, which he felt to +be curiously inconsistent with his most positive convictions, led him +to seek the river bridge by a roundabout route which did not take him +past the house where, a few hours before, he had seen the last fragment +of his idol shattered beyond the hope of repair. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The party broke up at an early hour, since most of the guests were +working-people, and the travelers were to make an early start next day. +About nine in the morning, Wain drove round to Mis' Molly's. Rena's +trunk was strapped behind the buggy, and she set out, in the company of +Wain, for her new field of labor. The school term was only two months +in length, and she did not expect to return until its expiration. Just +before taking her seat in the buggy, Rena felt a sudden sinking of the +heart. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, mother," she whispered, as they stood wrapped in a close embrace, +"I'm afraid to leave you. I left you once, and it turned out so +miserably." +</P> + +<P> +"It'll turn out better this time, honey," replied her mother +soothingly. "Good-by, child. Take care of yo'self an' yo'r money, and +write to yo'r mammy." +</P> + +<P> +One kiss all round, and Rena was lifted into the buggy. Wain seized +the reins, and under his skillful touch the pretty mare began to prance +and curvet with restrained impatience. Wain could not resist the +opportunity to show off before the party, which included Mary B.'s +entire family and several other neighbors, who had gathered to see the +travelers off. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-by ter Patesville! Good-by, folkses all!" he cried, with a wave +of his disengaged hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-by, mother! Good-by, all!" cried Rena, as with tears in her +heart and a brave smile on her face she left her home behind her for +the second time. +</P> + +<P> +When they had crossed the river bridge, the travelers came to a long +stretch of rising ground, from the summit of which they could look back +over the white sandy road for nearly a mile. Neither Rena nor her +companion saw Frank Fowler behind the chinquapin bush at the foot of +the hill, nor the gaze of mute love and longing with which he watched +the buggy mount the long incline. He had not been able to trust +himself to bid her farewell. He had seen her go away once before with +every prospect of happiness, and come back, a dove with a wounded wing, +to the old nest behind the cedars. She was going away again, with a +man whom he disliked and distrusted. If she had met misfortune before, +what were her prospects for happiness now? +</P> + +<P> +The buggy paused at the top of the hill, and Frank, shading his eyes +with his hand, thought he could see her turn and look behind. Look +back, dear child, towards your home and those who love you! For who +knows more than this faithful worshiper what threads of the past Fate +is weaving into your future, or whether happiness or misery lies before +you? +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap25"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XXV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BALANCE ALL +</H3> + +<P> +The road to Sampson County lay for the most part over the pine-clad +sandhills,—an alternation of gentle rises and gradual descents, with +now and then a swamp of greater or less extent. Long stretches of the +highway led through the virgin forest, for miles unbroken by a clearing +or sign of human habitation. +</P> + +<P> +They traveled slowly, with frequent pauses in shady places, for the +weather was hot. The journey, made leisurely, required more than a +day, and might with slight effort be prolonged into two. They stopped +for the night at a small village, where Wain found lodging for Rena +with an acquaintance of his, and for himself with another, while a +third took charge of the horse, the accommodation for travelers being +limited. Rena's appearance and manners were the subject of much +comment. It was necessary to explain to several curious white people +that Rena was a woman of color. A white woman might have driven with +Wain without attracting remark,—most white ladies had negro coachmen. +That a woman of Rena's complexion should eat at a negro's table, or +sleep beneath a negro's roof, was a seeming breach of caste which only +black blood could excuse. The explanation was never questioned. No +white person of sound mind would ever claim to be a negro. +</P> + +<P> +They resumed their journey somewhat late in the morning. Rena would +willingly have hastened, for she was anxious to plunge into her new +work; but Wain seemed disposed to prolong the pleasant drive, and +beguiled the way for a time with stories of wonderful things he had +done and strange experiences of a somewhat checkered career. He was +shrewd enough to avoid any subject which would offend a modest young +woman, but too obtuse to perceive that much of what he said would not +commend him to a person of refinement. He made little reference to his +possessions, concerning which so much had been said at Patesville; and +this reticence was a point in his favor. If he had not been so much +upon his guard and Rena so much absorbed by thoughts of her future +work, such a drive would have furnished a person of her discernment a +very fair measure of the man's character. To these distractions must be +added the entire absence of any idea that Wain might have amorous +designs upon her; and any shortcomings of manners or speech were +excused by the broad mantle of charity which Rena in her new-found zeal +for the welfare of her people was willing to throw over all their +faults. They were the victims of oppression; they were not responsible +for its results. +</P> + +<P> +Toward the end of the second day, while nearing their destination, the +travelers passed a large white house standing back from the road at the +foot of a lane. Around it grew widespreading trees and well-kept +shrubbery. The fences were in good repair. Behind the house and +across the road stretched extensive fields of cotton and waving corn. +They had passed no other place that showed such signs of thrift and +prosperity. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, what a lovely place!" exclaimed Rena. "That is yours, isn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; we ain't got to my house yet," he answered. "Dat house b'longs +ter de riches' people roun' here. Dat house is over in de nex' county. +We're right close to de line now." +</P> + +<P> +Shortly afterwards they turned off from the main highway they had been +pursuing, and struck into a narrower road to the left. +</P> + +<P> +"De main road," explained Wain, "goes on to Clinton, 'bout five miles +er mo' away. Dis one we're turnin' inter now will take us to my place, +which is 'bout three miles fu'ther on. We'll git dere now in an hour +er so." +</P> + +<P> +Wain lived in an old plantation house, somewhat dilapidated, and +surrounded by an air of neglect and shiftlessness, but still preserving +a remnant of dignity in its outlines and comfort in its interior +arrangements. Rena was assigned a large room on the second floor. She +was somewhat surprised at the make-up of the household. Wain's +mother—an old woman, much darker than her son—kept house for him. A +sister with two children lived in the house. The element of surprise +lay in the presence of two small children left by Wain's wife, of whom +Rena now heard for the first time. He had lost his wife, he informed +Rena sadly, a couple of years before. +</P> + +<P> +"Yas, Miss Rena," she sighed, "de Lawd give her, an' de Lawd tuck her +away. Blessed be de name er de Lawd." He accompanied this sententious +quotation with a wicked look from under his half-closed eyelids that +Rena did not see. +</P> + +<P> +The following morning Wain drove her in his buggy over to the county +town, where she took the teacher's examination. She was given a seat +in a room with a number of other candidates for certificates, but the +fact leaking out from some remark of Wain's that she was a colored +girl, objection was quietly made by several of the would-be teachers to +her presence in the room, and she was requested to retire until the +white teachers should have been examined. An hour or two later she was +given a separate examination, which she passed without difficulty. The +examiner, a gentleman of local standing, was dimly conscious that she +might not have found her exclusion pleasant, and was especially polite. +It would have been strange, indeed, if he had not been impressed by her +sweet face and air of modest dignity, which were all the more striking +because of her social disability. He fell into conversation with her, +became interested in her hopes and aims, and very cordially offered to +be of service, if at any time he might, in connection with her school. +</P> + +<P> +"You have the satisfaction," he said, "of receiving the only +first-grade certificate issued to-day. You might teach a higher grade +of pupils than you will find at Sandy Run, but let us hope that you may +in time raise them to your own level." +</P> + +<P> +"Which I doubt very much," he muttered to himself, as she went away +with Wain. "What a pity that such a woman should be a nigger! If she +were anything to me, though, I should hate to trust her anywhere near +that saddle-colored scoundrel. He's a thoroughly bad lot, and will +bear watching." +</P> + +<P> +Rena, however, was serenely ignorant of any danger from the +accommodating Wain. Absorbed in her own thoughts and plans, she had +not sought to look beneath the surface of his somewhat overdone +politeness. In a few days she began her work as teacher, and sought to +forget in the service of others the dull sorrow that still gnawed at +her heart. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap26"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XXVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE SCHOOLHOUSE IN THE WOODS +</H3> + +<P> +Blanche Leary, closely observant of Tryon's moods, marked a decided +change in his manner after his return from his trip to Patesville. His +former moroseness had given way to a certain defiant lightness, broken +now and then by an involuntary sigh, but maintained so well, on the +whole, that his mother detected no lapses whatever. The change was +characterized by another feature agreeable to both the women: Tryon +showed decidedly more interest than ever before in Miss Leary's +society. Within a week he asked her several times to play a selection +on the piano, displaying, as she noticed, a decided preference for gay +and cheerful music, and several times suggesting a change when she +chose pieces of a sentimental cast. More than once, during the second +week after his return, he went out riding with her; she was a graceful +horsewoman, perfectly at home in the saddle, and appearing to advantage +in a riding-habit. She was aware that Tryon watched her now and then, +with an eye rather critical than indulgent. +</P> + +<P> +"He is comparing me with some other girl," she surmised. "I seem to +stand the test very well. I wonder who the other is, and what was the +trouble?" +</P> + +<P> +Miss Leary exerted all her powers to interest and amuse the man she had +set out to win, and who seemed nearer than ever before. Tryon, to his +pleased surprise, discovered in her mind depths that he had never +suspected. She displayed a singular affinity for the tastes that were +his—he could not, of course, know how carefully she had studied them. +The old wound, recently reopened, seemed to be healing rapidly, under +conditions more conducive than before to perfect recovery. No longer, +indeed, was he pursued by the picture of Rena discovered and +unmasked—this he had definitely banished from the realm of sentiment +to that of reason. The haunting image of Rena loving and beloved, amid +the harmonious surroundings of her brother's home, was not so readily +displaced. Nevertheless, he reached in several weeks a point from which +he could consider her as one thinks of a dear one removed by the hand +of death, or smitten by some incurable ailment of mind or body. +Erelong, he fondly believed, the recovery would be so far complete that +he could consign to the tomb of pleasant memories even the most +thrilling episodes of his ill-starred courtship. +</P> + +<P> +"George," said Mrs. Tryon one morning while her son was in this +cheerful mood, "I'm sending Blanche over to Major McLeod's to do an +errand for me. Would you mind driving her over? The road may be rough +after the storm last night, and Blanche has an idea that no one drives +so well as you." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, yes, mother, I'll be glad to drive Blanche over. I want to see +the major myself." +</P> + +<P> +They were soon bowling along between the pines, behind the handsome +mare that had carried Tryon so well at the Clarence tournament. +Presently he drew up sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"A tree has fallen squarely across the road," he exclaimed. "We shall +have to turn back a little way and go around." +</P> + +<P> +They drove back a quarter of a mile and turned into a by-road leading +to the right through the woods. The solemn silence of the pine forest +is soothing or oppressive, according to one's mood. Beneath the cool +arcade of the tall, overarching trees a deep peace stole over Tryon's +heart. He had put aside indefinitely and forever an unhappy and +impossible love. The pretty and affectionate girl beside him would +make an ideal wife. Of her family and blood he was sure. She was his +mother's choice, and his mother had set her heart upon their marriage. +Why not speak to her now, and thus give himself the best possible +protection against stray flames of love? +</P> + +<P> +"Blanche," he said, looking at her kindly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, George?" Her voice was very gentle, and slightly tremulous. +Could she have divined his thought? Love is a great clairvoyant. +</P> + +<P> +"Blanche, dear, I"— +</P> + +<P> +A clatter of voices broke upon the stillness of the forest and +interrupted Tryon's speech. A sudden turn to the left brought the +buggy to a little clearing, in the midst of which stood a small log +schoolhouse. Out of the schoolhouse a swarm of colored children were +emerging, the suppressed energy of the school hour finding vent in +vocal exercise of various sorts. A group had already formed a ring, +and were singing with great volume and vigor:— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "Miss Jane, she loves sugar an' tea,<BR> + Miss Jane, she loves candy.<BR> + Miss Jane, she can whirl all around<BR> + An' kiss her love quite handy.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + "De oak grows tall,<BR> + De pine grows slim,<BR> + So rise you up, my true love,<BR> + An' let me come in."<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"What a funny little darkey!" exclaimed Miss Leary, pointing to a +diminutive lad who was walking on his hands, with his feet balanced in +the air. At sight of the buggy and its occupants this sable acrobat, +still retaining his inverted position, moved toward the newcomers, and, +reversing himself with a sudden spring, brought up standing beside the +buggy. +</P> + +<P> +"Hoddy, Mars Geo'ge!" he exclaimed, bobbing his head and kicking his +heel out behind in approved plantation style. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Plato," replied the young man, "what are you doing here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Gwine ter school, Mars Geo'ge," replied the lad; "larnin' ter read an' +write, suh, lack de w'ite folks." +</P> + +<P> +"Wat you callin' dat w'ite man marster fur?" whispered a tall yellow +boy to the acrobat addressed as Plato. "You don' b'long ter him no +mo'; you're free, an' ain' got sense ernuff ter know it." +</P> + +<P> +Tryon threw a small coin to Plato, and holding another in his hand +suggestively, smiled toward the tall yellow boy, who looked regretfully +at the coin, but stood his ground; he would call no man master, not +even for a piece of money. +</P> + +<P> +During this little colloquy, Miss Leary had kept her face turned toward +the schoolhouse. +</P> + +<P> +"What a pretty girl!" she exclaimed. "There," she added, as Tryon +turned his head toward her, "you are too late. She has retired into +her castle. Oh, Plato!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yas, missis," replied Plato, who was prancing round the buggy in great +glee, on the strength of his acquaintance with the white folks. +</P> + +<P> +"Is your teacher white?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, ma'm, she ain't w'ite; she's black. She looks lack she's w'ite, +but she's black." +</P> + +<P> +Tryon had not seen the teacher's face, but the incident had jarred the +old wound; Miss Leary's description of the teacher, together with +Plato's characterization, had stirred lightly sleeping memories. He +was more or less abstracted during the remainder of the drive, and did +not recur to the conversation that had been interrupted by coming upon +the schoolhouse. +</P> + +<P> +The teacher, glancing for a moment through the open door of the +schoolhouse, had seen a handsome young lady staring at her,—Miss Leary +had a curiously intent look when she was interested in anything, with +no intention whatever to be rude,—and beyond the lady the back and +shoulder of a man, whose face was turned the other way. There was a +vague suggestion of something familiar about the equipage, but Rena +shrank from this close scrutiny and withdrew out of sight before she +had had an opportunity to identify the vague resemblance to something +she had known. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Leary had missed by a hair's-breadth the psychological moment, and +felt some resentment toward the little negroes who had interrupted her +lover's train of thought. Negroes have caused a great deal of trouble +among white people. How deeply the shadow of the Ethiopian had fallen +upon her own happiness, Miss Leary of course could not guess. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap27"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XXVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AN INTERESTING ACQUAINTANCE +</H3> + +<P> +A few days later, Rena looked out of the window near her desk and saw a +low basket phaeton, drawn by a sorrel pony, driven sharply into the +clearing and drawn up beside an oak sapling. The occupant of the +phaeton, a tall, handsome, well-preserved lady in middle life, with +slightly gray hair, alighted briskly from the phaeton, tied the pony to +the sapling with a hitching-strap, and advanced to the schoolhouse door. +</P> + +<P> +Rena wondered who the lady might be. She had a benevolent aspect, +however, and came forward to the desk with a smile, not at all +embarrassed by the wide-eyed inspection of the entire school. +</P> + +<P> +"How do you do?" she said, extending her hand to the teacher. "I live +in the neighborhood and am interested in the colored people—a good +many of them once belonged to me. I heard something of your school, +and thought I should like to make your acquaintance." +</P> + +<P> +"It is very kind of you, indeed," murmured Rena respectfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," continued the lady, "I am not one of those who sit back and +blame their former slaves because they were freed. They are free +now,—it is all decided and settled,—and they ought to be taught +enough to enable them to make good use of their freedom. But really, +my dear,—you mustn't feel offended if I make a mistake,—I am going to +ask you something very personal." She looked suggestively at the +gaping pupils. +</P> + +<P> +"The school may take the morning recess now," announced the teacher. +The pupils filed out in an orderly manner, most of them stationing +themselves about the grounds in such places as would keep the teacher +and the white lady in view. Very few white persons approved of the +colored schools; no other white person had ever visited this one. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you really colored?" asked the lady, when the children had +withdrawn. +</P> + +<P> +A year and a half earlier, Rena would have met the question by some +display of self-consciousness. Now, she replied simply and directly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, ma'am, I am colored." +</P> + +<P> +The lady, who had been studying her as closely as good manners would +permit, sighed regretfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it's a shame. No one would ever think it. If you chose to +conceal it, no one would ever be the wiser. What is your name, child, +and where were you brought up? You must have a romantic history." +</P> + +<P> +Rena gave her name and a few facts in regard to her past. The lady was +so much interested, and put so many and such searching questions, that +Rena really found it more difficult to suppress the fact that she had +been white, than she had formerly had in hiding her African origin. +There was about the girl an air of real refinement that pleased the +lady,—the refinement not merely of a fine nature, but of contact with +cultured people; a certain reserve of speech and manner quite +inconsistent with Mrs. Tryon's experience of colored women. The lady +was interested and slightly mystified. A generous, impulsive +spirit,—her son's own mother,—she made minute inquiries about the +school and the pupils, several of whom she knew by name. Rena stated +that the two months' term was nearing its end, and that she was +training the children in various declamations and dialogues for the +exhibition at the close. +</P> + +<P> +"I shall attend it," declared the lady positively. "I'm sure you are +doing a good work, and it's very noble of you to undertake it when you +might have a very different future. If I can serve you at any time, +don't hesitate to call upon me. I live in the big white house just +before you turn out of the Clinton road to come this way. I'm only a +widow, but my son George lives with me and has some influence in the +neighborhood. He drove by here yesterday with the lady he is going to +marry. It was she who told me about you." +</P> + +<P> +Was it the name, or some subtle resemblance in speech or feature, that +recalled Tryon's image to Rena's mind? It was not so far away—the +image of the loving Tryon—that any powerful witchcraft was required to +call it up. His mother was a widow; Rena had thought, in happier days, +that she might be such a kind lady as this. But the cruel Tryon who +had left her—his mother would be some hard, cold, proud woman, who +would regard a negro as but little better than a dog, and who would not +soil her lips by addressing a colored person upon any other terms than +as a servant. She knew, too, that Tryon did not live in Sampson +County, though the exact location of his home was not clear to her. +</P> + +<P> +"And where are you staying, my dear?" asked the good lady. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm boarding at Mrs. Wain's," answered Rena. +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Wain's?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, they live in the old Campbell place." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes—Aunt Nancy. She's a good enough woman, but we don't think +much of her son Jeff. He married my Amanda after the war—she used to +belong to me, and ought to have known better. He abused her most +shamefully, and had to be threatened with the law. She left him a year +or so ago and went away; I haven't seen her lately. Well, good-by, +child; I'm coming to your exhibition. If you ever pass my house, come +in and see me." +</P> + +<P> +The good lady had talked for half an hour, and had brought a ray of +sunshine into the teacher's monotonous life, heretofore lighted only by +the uncertain lamp of high resolve. She had satisfied a pardonable +curiosity, and had gone away without mentioning her name. +</P> + +<P> +Rena saw Plato untying the pony as the lady climbed into the phaeton. +</P> + +<P> +"Who was the lady, Plato?" asked the teacher when the visitor had +driven away. +</P> + +<P> +"Dat 'uz my ole mist'iss, ma'm," returned Plato proudly,—"ole Mis' +'Liza." +</P> + +<P> +"Mis' 'Liza who?" asked Rena. +</P> + +<P> +"Mis' 'Liza Tryon. I use' ter b'long ter her. Dat 'uz her son, my +young Mars Geo'ge, w'at driv pas' hyuh yistiddy wid 'is sweetheart." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap28"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XXVIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE LOST KNIFE +</H3> + +<P> +Rena had found her task not a difficult one so far as discipline was +concerned. Her pupils were of a docile race, and school to them had +all the charm of novelty. The teacher commanded some awe because she +was a stranger, and some, perhaps, because she was white; for the +theory of blackness as propounded by Plato could not quite +counter-balance in the young African mind the evidence of their own +senses. She combined gentleness with firmness; and if these had not +been sufficient, she had reserves of character which would have given +her the mastery over much less plastic material than these ignorant but +eager young people. The work of instruction was simple enough, for most +of the pupils began with the alphabet, which they acquired from +Webster's blue-backed spelling-book, the palladium of Southern +education at that epoch. The much abused carpet-baggers had put the +spelling-book within reach of every child of school age in North +Carolina,—a fact which is often overlooked when the carpet-baggers are +held up to public odium. Even the devil should have his due, and is +not so black as he is painted. +</P> + +<P> +At the time when she learned that Tryon lived in the neighborhood, Rena +had already been subjected for several weeks to a trying ordeal. Wain +had begun to persecute her with marked attentions. She had at first +gone to board at his house,—or, by courtesy, with his mother. For a +week or two she had considered his attentions in no other light than +those of a member of the school committee sharing her own zeal and +interested in seeing the school successfully carried on. In this +character Wain had driven her to the town for her examination; he had +busied himself about putting the schoolhouse in order, and in various +matters affecting the conduct of the school. He had jocularly offered +to come and whip the children for her, and had found it convenient to +drop in occasionally, ostensibly to see what progress the work was +making. +</P> + +<P> +"Dese child'en," he would observe sonorously, in the presence of the +school, "oughter be monst'ous glad ter have de chance er settin' under +yo' instruction, Miss Rena. I'm sho' eve'body in dis neighbo'hood +'preciates de priv'lege er havin' you in ou' mids'." +</P> + +<P> +Though slightly embarrassing to the teacher, these public +demonstrations were endurable so long as they could be regarded as mere +official appreciation of her work. Sincerely in earnest about her +undertaking, she had plunged into it with all the intensity of a +serious nature which love had stirred to activity. A pessimist might +have sighed sadly or smiled cynically at the notion that a poor, weak +girl, with a dangerous beauty and a sensitive soul, and troubles enough +of her own, should hope to accomplish anything appreciable toward +lifting the black mass still floundering in the mud where slavery had +left it, and where emancipation had found it,—the mud in which, for +aught that could be seen to the contrary, her little feet, too, were +hopelessly entangled. It might have seemed like expecting a man to +lift himself by his boot-straps. +</P> + +<P> +But Rena was no philosopher, either sad or cheerful. She could not +even have replied to this argument, that races must lift themselves, +and the most that can be done by others is to give them opportunity and +fair play. Hers was a simpler reasoning,—the logic by which the world +is kept going onward and upward when philosophers are at odds and +reformers are not forthcoming. She knew that for every child she +taught to read and write she opened, if ever so little, the door of +opportunity, and she was happy in the consciousness of performing a +duty which seemed all the more imperative because newly discovered. +Her zeal, indeed, for the time being was like that of an early +Christian, who was more willing than not to die for his faith. Rena +had fully and firmly made up her mind to sacrifice her life upon this +altar. Her absorption in the work had not been without its reward, for +thereby she had been able to keep at a distance the spectre of her lost +love. Her dreams she could not control, but she banished Tryon as far +as possible from her waking thoughts. +</P> + +<P> +When Wain's attentions became obviously personal, Rena's new vestal +instinct took alarm, and she began to apprehend his character more +clearly. She had long ago learned that his pretensions to wealth were a +sham. He was nominal owner of a large plantation, it is true; but the +land was worn out, and mortgaged to the limit of its security value. +His reputed droves of cattle and hogs had dwindled to a mere handful of +lean and listless brutes. +</P> + +<P> +Her clear eye, when once set to take Wain's measure, soon fathomed his +shallow, selfish soul, and detected, or at least divined, behind his +mask of good-nature a lurking brutality which filled her with vague +distrust, needing only occasion to develop it into active +apprehension,—occasion which was not long wanting. She avoided being +alone with him at home by keeping carefully with the women of the +house. If she were left alone,—and they soon showed a tendency to +leave her on any pretext whenever Wain came near,—she would seek her +own room and lock the door. She preferred not to offend Wain; she was +far away from home and in a measure in his power, but she dreaded his +compliments and sickened at his smile. She was also compelled to hear +his relations sing his praises. +</P> + +<P> +"My son Jeff," old Mrs. Wain would say, "is de bes' man you ever seed. +His fus' wife had de easies' time an' de happies' time er ary woman in +dis settlement. He's grieve' fer her a long time, but I reckon he's +gittin' over it, an' de nex' 'oman w'at marries him'll git a box er +pyo' gol', ef I does say it as is his own mammy." +</P> + +<P> +Rena had thought Wain rather harsh with his household, except in her +immediate presence. His mother and sister seemed more or less afraid +of him, and the children often anxious to avoid him. +</P> + +<P> +One day, he timed his visit to the schoolhouse so as to walk home with +Rena through the woods. When she became aware of his purpose, she +called to one of the children who was loitering behind the others, +"Wait a minute, Jenny. I'm going your way, and you can walk along with +me." +</P> + +<P> +Wain with difficulty hid a scowl behind a smiling front. When they had +gone a little distance along the road through the woods, he clapped his +hand upon his pocket. +</P> + +<P> +"I declare ter goodness," he exclaimed, "ef I ain't dropped my +pocket-knife! I thought I felt somethin' slip th'ough dat hole in my +pocket jes' by the big pine stump in the schoolhouse ya'd. Jinny, +chile, run back an' hunt fer my knife, an' I'll give yer five cents ef +yer find it. Me an' Miss Rena'll walk on slow 'tel you ketches us." +</P> + +<P> +Rena did not dare to object, though she was afraid to be alone with +this man. If she could have had a moment to think, she would have +volunteered to go back with Jenny and look for the knife, which, +although a palpable subterfuge on her part, would have been one to +which Wain could not object; but the child, dazzled by the prospect of +reward, had darted back so quickly that this way of escape was cut off. +She was evidently in for a declaration of love, which she had taken +infinite pains to avoid. Just the form it would assume, she could not +foresee. She was not long left in suspense. No sooner was the child +well out of sight than Wain threw his arms suddenly about her waist and +smilingly attempted to kiss her. +</P> + +<P> +Speechless with fear and indignation, she tore herself from his grasp +with totally unexpected force, and fled incontinently along the forest +path. Wain—who, to do him justice, had merely meant to declare his +passion in what he had hoped might prove a not unacceptable +fashion—followed in some alarm, expostulating and apologizing as he +went. But he was heavy and Rena was light, and fear lent wings to her +feet. He followed her until he saw her enter the house of Elder +Johnson, the father of several of her pupils, after which he sneaked +uneasily homeward, somewhat apprehensive of the consequences of his +abrupt wooing, which was evidently open to an unfavorable construction. +When, an hour later, Rena sent one of the Johnson children for some of +her things, with a message explaining that the teacher had been invited +to spend a few days at Elder Johnson's, Wain felt a pronounced measure +of relief. For an hour he had even thought it might be better to +relinquish his pursuit. With a fatuousness born of vanity, however, no +sooner had she sent her excuse than he began to look upon her visit to +Johnson's as a mere exhibition of coyness, which, together with her +conduct in the woods, was merely intended to lure him on. +</P> + +<P> +Right upon the heels of the perturbation caused by Wain's conduct, Rena +discovered that Tryon lived in the neighborhood; that not only might +she meet him any day upon the highway, but that he had actually driven +by the schoolhouse. That he knew or would know of her proximity there +could be no possible doubt, since she had freely told his mother her +name and her home. A hot wave of shame swept over her at the thought +that George Tryon might imagine she were following him, throwing +herself in his way, and at the thought of the construction which he +might place upon her actions. Caught thus between two emotional fires, +at the very time when her school duties, owing to the approaching +exhibition, demanded all her energies, Rena was subjected to a physical +and mental strain that only youth and health could have resisted, and +then only for a short time. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap29"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XXIX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PLATO EARNS HALF A DOLLAR +</H3> + +<P> +Tryon's first feeling, when his mother at the dinner-table gave an +account of her visit to the schoolhouse in the woods, was one of +extreme annoyance. Why, of all created beings, should this particular +woman be chosen to teach the colored school at Sandy Run? Had she +learned that he lived in the neighborhood, and had she sought the place +hoping that he might consent to renew, on different terms, relations +which could never be resumed upon their former footing? Six weeks +before, he would not have believed her capable of following him; but +his last visit to Patesville had revealed her character in such a light +that it was difficult to predict what she might do. It was, however, +no affair of his. He was done with her; he had dismissed her from his +own life, where she had never properly belonged, and he had filled her +place, or would soon fill it, with another and worthier woman. Even +his mother, a woman of keen discernment and delicate intuitions, had +been deceived by this girl's specious exterior. She had brought away +from her interview of the morning the impression that Rena was a fine, +pure spirit, born out of place, through some freak of Fate, devoting +herself with heroic self-sacrifice to a noble cause. Well, he had +imagined her just as pure and fine, and she had deliberately, with a +negro's low cunning, deceived him into believing that she was a white +girl. The pretended confession of the brother, in which he had spoken +of the humble origin of the family, had been, consciously or +unconsciously, the most disingenuous feature of the whole miserable +performance. They had tried by a show of frankness to satisfy their +own consciences,—they doubtless had enough of white blood to give them +a rudimentary trace of such a moral organ,—and by the same act to +disarm him against future recriminations, in the event of possible +discovery. How was he to imagine that persons of their appearance and +pretensions were tainted with negro blood? The more he dwelt upon the +subject, the more angry he became with those who had surprised his +virgin heart and deflowered it by such low trickery. The man who +brought the first negro into the British colonies had committed a crime +against humanity and a worse crime against his own race. The father of +this girl had been guilty of a sin against society for which +others—for which he, George Tryon—must pay the penalty. As slaves, +negroes were tolerable. As freemen, they were an excrescence, an alien +element incapable of absorption into the body politic of white men. He +would like to send them all back to the Africa from which their +forefathers had come,—unwillingly enough, he would admit,—and he +would like especially to banish this girl from his own neighborhood; +not indeed that her presence would make any difference to him, except +as a humiliating reminder of his own folly and weakness with which he +could very well dispense. +</P> + +<P> +Of this state of mind Tryon gave no visible manifestation beyond a +certain taciturnity, so much at variance with his recent liveliness +that the ladies could not fail to notice it. No effort upon the part +of either was able to affect his mood, and they both resigned +themselves to await his lordship's pleasure to be companionable. +</P> + +<P> +For a day or two, Tryon sedulously kept away from the neighborhood of +the schoolhouse at Sandy Rim. He really had business which would have +taken him in that direction, but made a detour of five miles rather +than go near his abandoned and discredited sweetheart. +</P> + +<P> +But George Tryon was wisely distrustful of his own impulses. Driving +one day along the road to Clinton, he overhauled a diminutive black +figure trudging along the road, occasionally turning a handspring by +way of diversion. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Plato," called Tryon, "do you want a lift?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hoddy, Mars Geo'ge. Kin I ride wid you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Jump up." +</P> + +<P> +Plato mounted into the buggy with the agility to be expected from a lad +of his acrobatic accomplishments. The two almost immediately fell into +conversation upon perhaps the only subject of common interest between +them. Before the town was reached, Tryon knew, so far as Plato could +make it plain, the estimation in which the teacher was held by pupils +and parents. He had learned the hours of opening and dismissal of the +school, where the teacher lived, her habits of coming to and going from +the schoolhouse, and the road she always followed. +</P> + +<P> +"Does she go to church or anywhere else with Jeff Wain, Plato?" asked +Tryon. +</P> + +<P> +"No, suh, she don' go nowhar wid nobody excep'n' ole Elder Johnson er +Mis' Johnson, an' de child'en. She use' ter stop at Mis' Wain's, but +she's stayin' wid Elder Johnson now. She alluz makes some er de +child'en go home wid er f'm school," said Plato, proud to find in Mars +Geo'ge an appreciative listener,—"sometimes one an' sometimes anudder. +I's be'n home wid 'er twice, ann it'll be my tu'n ag'in befo' long." +</P> + +<P> +"Plato," remarked Tryon impressively, as they drove into the town, "do +you think you could keep a secret?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yas, Mars Geo'ge, ef you says I shill." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you see this fifty-cent piece?" Tryon displayed a small piece of +paper money, crisp and green in its newness. +</P> + +<P> +"Yas, Mars Geo'ge," replied Plato, fixing his eyes respectfully on the +government's promise to pay. Fifty cents was a large sum of money. +His acquaintance with Mars Geo'ge gave him the privilege of looking at +money. When he grew up, he would be able, in good times, to earn fifty +cents a day. +</P> + +<P> +"I am going to give this to you, Plato." +</P> + +<P> +Plato's eyes opened wide as saucers. "Me, Mars Geo'ge?" he asked in +amazement. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Plato. I'm going to write a letter while I'm in town, and want +you to take it. Meet me here in half an hour, and I'll give you the +letter. Meantime, keep your mouth shut." +</P> + +<P> +"Yas, Mars Geo'ge," replied Plato with a grin that distended that organ +unduly. That he did not keep it shut may be inferred from the fact +that within the next half hour he had eaten and drunk fifty cents' +worth of candy, ginger-pop, and other available delicacies that +appealed to the youthful palate. Having nothing more to spend, and the +high prices prevailing for some time after the war having left him +capable of locomotion, Plato was promptly on hand at the appointed time +and place. +</P> + +<P> +Tryon placed a letter in Plato's hand, still sticky with molasses +candy,—he had inclosed it in a second cover by way of protection. +"Give that letter," he said, "to your teacher; don't say a word about +it to a living soul; bring me an answer, and give it into my own hand, +and you shall have another half dollar." +</P> + +<P> +Tryon was quite aware that by a surreptitious correspondence he ran +some risk of compromising Rena. But he had felt, as soon as he had +indulged his first opportunity to talk of her, an irresistible impulse +to see her and speak to her again. He could scarcely call at her +boarding-place,—what possible proper excuse could a young white man +have for visiting a colored woman? At the schoolhouse she would be +surrounded by her pupils, and a private interview would be as +difficult, with more eyes to remark and more tongues to comment upon +it. He might address her by mail, but did not know how often she sent +to the nearest post-office. A letter mailed in the town must pass +through the hands of a postmaster notoriously inquisitive and +evil-minded, who was familiar with Tryon's handwriting and had ample +time to attend to other people's business. To meet the teacher alone +on the road seemed scarcely feasible, according to Plato's statement. +A messenger, then, was not only the least of several evils, but really +the only practicable way to communicate with Rena. He thought he could +trust Plato, though miserably aware that he could not trust himself +where this girl was concerned. +</P> + +<P> +The letter handed by Tryon to Plato, and by the latter delivered with +due secrecy and precaution, ran as follows:— +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +DEAR MISS WARWICK,—You may think it strange that I should address you +after what has passed between us; but learning from my mother of your +presence in the neighborhood, I am constrained to believe that you do +not find my proximity embarrassing, and I cannot resist the wish to +meet you at least once more, and talk over the circumstances of our +former friendship. From a practical point of view this may seem +superfluous, as the matter has been definitely settled. I have no +desire to find fault with you; on the contrary, I wish to set myself +right with regard to my own actions, and to assure you of my good +wishes. In other words, since we must part, I would rather we parted +friends than enemies. If nature and society—or Fate, to put it +another way—have decreed that we cannot live together, it is +nevertheless possible that we may carry into the future a pleasant +though somewhat sad memory of a past friendship. Will you not grant me +one interview? I appreciate the difficulty of arranging it; I have +found it almost as hard to communicate with you by letter. I will suit +myself to your convenience and meet you at any time and place you may +designate. Please answer by bearer, who I think is trustworthy, and +believe me, whatever your answer may be, +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> + Respectfully yours,<BR> + G. T.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The next day but one Tryon received through the mail the following +reply to his letter:— +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +GEORGE TRYON, ESQ. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +Dear Sir,—I have requested your messenger to say that I will answer +your letter by mail, which I shall now proceed to do. I assure you +that I was entirely ignorant of your residence in this neighborhood, or +it would have been the last place on earth in which I should have set +foot. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +As to our past relations, they were ended by your own act. I frankly +confess that I deceived you; I have paid the penalty, and have no +complaint to make. I appreciate the delicacy which has made you +respect my brother's secret, and thank you for it. I remember the +whole affair with shame and humiliation, and would willingly forget it. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +As to a future interview, I do not see what good it would do either of +us. You are white, and you have given me to understand that I am +black. I accept the classification, however unfair, and the +consequences, however unjust, one of which is that we cannot meet in +the same parlor, in the same church, at the same table, or anywhere, in +social intercourse; upon a steamboat we would not sit at the same +table; we could not walk together on the street, or meet publicly +anywhere and converse, without unkind remark. As a white man, this +might not mean a great deal to you; as a woman, shut out already by my +color from much that is desirable, my good name remains my most +valuable possession. I beg of you to let me alone. The best possible +proof you can give me of your good wishes is to relinquish any desire +or attempt to see me. I shall have finished my work here in a few +days. I have other troubles, of which you know nothing, and any +meeting with you would only add to a burden which is already as much as +I can bear. To speak of parting is superfluous—we have already +parted. It were idle to dream of a future friendship between people so +widely different in station. Such a friendship, if possible in itself, +would never be tolerated by the lady whom you are to marry, with whom +you drove by my schoolhouse the other day. A gentleman so loyal to his +race and its traditions as you have shown yourself could not be less +faithful to the lady to whom he has lost his heart and his memory in +three short months. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +No, Mr. Tryon, our romance is ended, and better so. We could never +have been happy. I have found a work in which I may be of service to +others who have fewer opportunities than mine have been. Leave me in +peace, I beseech you, and I shall soon pass out of your neighborhood as +I have passed out of your life, and hope to pass out of your memory. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> + Yours very truly,<BR> + ROWENA WALDEN.<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap30"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XXX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AN UNUSUAL HONOR +</H3> + +<P> +To Rena's high-strung and sensitive nature, already under very great +tension from her past experience, the ordeal of the next few days was a +severe one. On the one hand, Jeff Wain's infatuation had rapidly +increased, in view of her speedy departure. From Mrs. Tryon's remark +about Wain's wife Amanda, and from things Rena had since learned, she +had every reason to believe that this wife was living, and that Wain +must be aware of the fact. In the light of this knowledge, Wain's +former conduct took on a blacker significance than, upon reflection, +she had charitably clothed it with after the first flush of +indignation. That he had not given up his design to make love to her +was quite apparent, and, with Amanda alive, his attentions, always +offensive since she had gathered their import, became in her eyes the +expression of a villainous purpose, of which she could not speak to +others, and from which she felt safe only so long as she took proper +precautions against it. In a week her school would be over, and then +she would get Elder Johnson, or some one else than Wain, to take her +back to Patesville. True, she might abandon her school and go at once; +but her work would be incomplete, she would have violated her contract, +she would lose her salary for the month, explanations would be +necessary, and would not be forthcoming. She might feign +sickness,—indeed, it would scarcely be feigning, for she felt far from +well; she had never, since her illness, quite recovered her former +vigor—but the inconvenience to others would be the same, and her +self-sacrifice would have had, at its very first trial, a lame and +impotent conclusion. She had as yet no fear of personal violence from +Wain; but, under the circumstances, his attentions were an insult. He +was evidently bent upon conquest, and vain enough to think he might +achieve it by virtue of his personal attractions. If he could have +understood how she loathed the sight of his narrow eyes, with their +puffy lids, his thick, tobacco-stained lips, his doubtful teeth, and +his unwieldy person, Wain, a monument of conceit that he was, might +have shrunk, even in his own estimation, to something like his real +proportions. Rena believed that, to defend herself from persecution at +his hands, it was only necessary that she never let him find her alone. +This, however, required constant watchfulness. Relying upon his own +powers, and upon a woman's weakness and aversion to scandal, from which +not even the purest may always escape unscathed, and convinced by her +former silence that he had nothing serious to fear, Wain made it a +point to be present at every public place where she might be. He +assumed, in conversation with her which she could not avoid, and stated +to others, that she had left his house because of a previous promise to +divide the time of her stay between Elder Johnson's house and his own. +He volunteered to teach a class in the Sunday-school which Rena +conducted at the colored Methodist church, and when she remained to +service, occupied a seat conspicuously near her own. In addition to +these public demonstrations, which it was impossible to escape, or, it +seemed, with so thick-skinned an individual as Wain, even to +discourage, she was secretly and uncomfortably conscious that she could +scarcely stir abroad without the risk of encountering one of two men, +each of whom was on the lookout for an opportunity to find her alone. +</P> + +<P> +The knowledge of Tryon's presence in the vicinity had been almost as +much as Rena could bear. To it must be added the consciousness that +he, too, was pursuing her, to what end she could not tell. After his +letter to her brother, and the feeling therein displayed, she found it +necessary to crush once or twice a wild hope that, her secret being +still unknown save to a friendly few, he might return and claim her. +Now, such an outcome would be impossible. He had become engaged to +another woman,—this in itself would be enough to keep him from her, if +it were not an index of a vastly more serious barrier, a proof that he +had never loved her. If he had loved her truly, he would never have +forgotten her in three short months,—three long months they had +heretofore seemed to her, for in them she had lived a lifetime of +experience. Another impassable barrier lay in the fact that his mother +had met her, and that she was known in the neighborhood. Thus cut off +from any hope that she might be anything to him, she had no wish to +meet her former lover; no possible good could come of such a meeting; +and yet her fluttering heart told her that if he should come, as his +letter foreshadowed that he might,—if he should come, the loving +George of old, with soft words and tender smiles and specious talk of +friendship—ah! then, her heart would break! She must not meet him—at +any cost she must avoid him. +</P> + +<P> +But this heaping up of cares strained her endurance to the +breaking-point. Toward the middle of the last week, she knew that she +had almost reached the limit, and was haunted by a fear that she might +break down before the week was over. Now her really fine nature rose +to the emergency, though she mustered her forces with a great effort. +If she could keep Wain at his distance and avoid Tryon for three days +longer, her school labors would be ended and she might retire in peace +and honor. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Rena," said Plato to her on Tuesday, "ain't it 'bout time I wuz +gwine home wid you ag'in?" +</P> + +<P> +"You may go with me to-morrow, Plato," answered the teacher. +</P> + +<P> +After school Plato met an anxious eyed young man in the woods a short +distance from the schoolhouse. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Plato, what news?" +</P> + +<P> +"I's gwine ter see her home ter-morrer, Mars Geo'ge." +</P> + +<P> +"To-morrow!" replied Tryon; "how very fortunate! I wanted you to go to +town to-morrow to take an important message for me. I'm sorry, +Plato—you might have earned another dollar." +</P> + +<P> +To lie is a disgraceful thing, and yet there are times when, to a +lover's mind, love dwarfs all ordinary laws. Plato scratched his head +disconsolately, but suddenly a bright thought struck him. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't I go ter town fer you atter I've seed her home, Mars Geo'ge?" +</P> + +<P> +"N-o, I'm afraid it would be too late," returned Tryon doubtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Den I'll haf ter ax 'er ter lemme go nex' day," said Plato, with +resignation. The honor might be postponed or, if necessary, foregone; +the opportunity to earn a dollar was the chance of a lifetime and must +not be allowed to slip. +</P> + +<P> +"No, Plato," rejoined Tryon, shaking his head, "I shouldn't want to +deprive you of so great a pleasure." Tryon was entirely sincere in +this characterization of Plato's chance; he would have given many a +dollar to be sure of Plato's place and Plato's welcome. Rena's letter +had re-inflamed his smouldering passion; only opposition was needed to +fan it to a white heat. Wherein lay the great superiority of his +position, if he was denied the right to speak to the one person in the +world whom he most cared to address? He felt some dim realization of +the tyranny of caste, when he found it not merely pressing upon an +inferior people who had no right to expect anything better, but barring +his own way to something that he desired. He meant her no harm—but he +must see her. He could never marry her now—but he must see her. He +was conscious of a certain relief at the thought that he had not asked +Blanche Leary to be his wife. His hand was unpledged. He could not +marry the other girl, of course, but they must meet again. The rest he +would leave to Fate, which seemed reluctant to disentangle threads +which it had woven so closely. +</P> + +<P> +"I think, Plato, that I see an easier way out of the difficulty. Your +teacher, I imagine, merely wants some one to see her safely home. +Don't you think, if you should go part of the way, that I might take +your place for the rest, while you did my errand?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, sho'ly, Mars Geo'ge, you could take keer er her better 'n I +could—better 'n anybody could—co'se you could!" +</P> + +<P> +Mars Geo'ge was white and rich, and could do anything. Plato was proud +of the fact that he had once belonged to Mars Geo'ge. He could not +conceive of any one so powerful as Mars Geo'ge, unless it might be God, +of whom Plato had heard more or less, and even here the comparison +might not be quite fair to Mars Geo'ge, for Mars Geo'ge was the younger +of the two. It would undoubtedly be a great honor for the teacher to +be escorted home by Mars Geo'ge. The teacher was a great woman, no +doubt, and looked white; but Mars Geo'ge was the real article. Mars +Geo'ge had never been known to go with a black woman before, and the +teacher would doubtless thank Plato for arranging that so great an +honor should fall upon her. Mars Geo'ge had given him fifty cents +twice, and would now give him a dollar. Noble Mars Geo'ge! Fortunate +teacher! Happy Plato! +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, Plato. I think we can arrange it so that you can kill the +two rabbits at one shot. Suppose that we go over the road that she will +take to go home." +</P> + +<P> +They soon arrived at the schoolhouse. School had been out an hour, and +the clearing was deserted. Plato led the way by the road through the +woods to a point where, amid somewhat thick underbrush, another path +intersected the road they were following. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Plato," said Tryon, pausing here, "this would be a good spot for +you to leave the teacher and for me to take your place. This path +leads to the main road, and will take you to town very quickly. I +shouldn't say anything to the teacher about it at all; but when you and +she get here, drop behind and run along this path until you meet +me,—I'll be waiting a few yards down the road,—and then run to town +as fast as your legs will carry you. As soon as you are gone, I'll +come out and tell the teacher that I've sent you away on an errand, and +will myself take your place. You shall have a dollar, and I'll ask her +to let you go home with her the next day. But you mustn't say a word +about it, Plato, or you won't get the dollar, and I'll not ask the +teacher to let you go home with her again." +</P> + +<P> +"All right, Mars Geo'ge, I ain't gwine ter say no mo' d'n ef de cat had +my tongue." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap31"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XXXI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IN DEEP WATERS +</H3> + +<P> +Rena was unusually fatigued at the close of her school on Wednesday +afternoon. She had been troubled all day with a headache, which, +beginning with a dull pain, had gradually increased in intensity until +every nerve was throbbing like a trip-hammer. The pupils seemed +unusually stupid. A discouraging sense of the insignificance of any +part she could perform towards the education of three million people +with a school term of two months a year hung over her spirit like a +pall. As the object of Wain's attentions, she had begun to feel +somewhat like a wild creature who hears the pursuers on its track, and +has the fear of capture added to the fatigue of flight. But when this +excitement had gone too far and had neared the limit of exhaustion came +Tryon's letter, with the resulting surprise and consternation. Rena +had keyed herself up to a heroic pitch to answer it; but when the +inevitable reaction came, she was overwhelmed with a sickening sense of +her own weakness. The things which in another sphere had constituted +her strength and shield were now her undoing, and exposed her to +dangers from which they lent her no protection. Not only was this her +position in theory, but the pursuers were already at her heels. As the +day wore on, these dark thoughts took on an added gloom, until, when +the hour to dismiss school arrived, she felt as though she had not a +friend in the world. This feeling was accentuated by a letter which +she had that morning received from her mother, in which Mis' Molly +spoke very highly of Wain, and plainly expressed the hope that her +daughter might like him so well that she would prefer to remain in +Sampson County. +</P> + +<P> +Plato, bright-eyed and alert, was waiting in the school-yard until the +teacher should be ready to start. Having warned away several smaller +children who had hung around after school as though to share his +prerogative of accompanying the teacher, Plato had swung himself into +the low branches of an oak at the edge of the clearing, from which he +was hanging by his legs, head downward. He dropped from this reposeful +attitude when the teacher appeared at the door, and took his place at +her side. +</P> + +<P> +A premonition of impending trouble caused the teacher to hesitate. She +wished that she had kept more of the pupils behind. Something +whispered that danger lurked in the road she customarily followed. +Plato seemed insignificantly small and weak, and she felt miserably +unable to cope with any difficult or untoward situation. +</P> + +<P> +"Plato," she suggested, "I think we'll go round the other way to-night, +if you don't mind." +</P> + +<P> +Visions of Mars Geo'ge disappointed, of a dollar unearned and unspent, +flitted through the narrow brain which some one, with the irony of +ignorance or of knowledge, had mocked with the name of a great +philosopher. Plato was not an untruthful lad, but he seldom had the +opportunity to earn a dollar. His imagination, spurred on by the +instinct of self-interest, rose to the emergency. +</P> + +<P> +"I's feared you mought git snake-bit gwine roun' dat way, Miss Rena. +My brer Jim kill't a water-moccasin down dere yistiddy 'bout ten feet +long." +</P> + +<P> +Rena had a horror of snakes, with which the swamp by which the other +road ran was infested. Snakes were a vivid reality; her presentiment +was probably a mere depression of spirits due to her condition of +nervous exhaustion. A cloud had come up and threatened rain, and the +wind was rising ominously. The old way was the shorter; she wanted +above all things to get to Elder Johnson's and go to bed. Perhaps +sleep would rest her tired brain—she could not imagine herself feeling +worse, unless she should break down altogether. +</P> + +<P> +She plunged into the path and hastened forward so as to reach home +before the approaching storm. So completely was she absorbed in her +own thoughts that she scarcely noticed that Plato himself seemed +preoccupied. Instead of capering along like a playful kitten or puppy, +he walked by her side unusually silent. When they had gone a short +distance and were approaching a path which intersected their road at +something near a right angle, the teacher missed Plato. He had dropped +behind a moment before; now he had disappeared entirely. Her vague +alarm of a few moments before returned with redoubled force. +</P> + +<P> +"Plato!" she called; "Plato!" +</P> + +<P> +There was no response, save the soughing of the wind through the +swaying treetops. She stepped hastily forward, wondering if this were +some childish prank. If so, it was badly timed, and she would let +Plato feel the weight of her displeasure. +</P> + +<P> +Her forward step had brought her to the junction of the two paths, +where she paused doubtfully. The route she had been following was the +most direct way home, but led for quite a distance through the forest, +which she did not care to traverse alone. The intersecting path would +soon take her to the main road, where she might find shelter or +company, or both. Glancing around again in search of her missing +escort, she became aware that a man was approaching her from each of +the two paths. In one she recognized the eager and excited face of +George Tryon, flushed with anticipation of their meeting, and yet grave +with uncertainty of his reception. Advancing confidently along the +other path she saw the face of Jeff Wain, drawn, as she imagined in her +anguish, with evil passions which would stop at nothing. +</P> + +<P> +What should she do? There was no sign of Plato—for aught she could +see or hear of him, the earth might have swallowed him up. Some deadly +serpent might have stung him. Some wandering rabbit might have tempted +him aside. Another thought struck her. Plato had been very +quiet—there had been something on his conscience—perhaps he had +betrayed her! But to which of the two men, and to what end? +</P> + +<P> +The problem was too much for her overwrought brain. She turned and +fled. A wiser instinct might have led her forward. In the two +conflicting dangers she might have found safety. The road after all +was a public way. Any number of persons might meet there accidentally. +But she saw only the darker side of the situation. To turn to Tryon +for protection before Wain had by some overt act manifested the evil +purpose which she as yet only suspected would be, she imagined, to +acknowledge a previous secret acquaintance with Tryon, thus placing her +reputation at Wain's mercy, and to charge herself with a burden of +obligation toward a man whom she wished to avoid and had refused to +meet. If, on the other hand, she should go forward to meet Wain, he +would undoubtedly offer to accompany her homeward. Tryon would +inevitably observe the meeting, and suppose it prearranged. Not for +the world would she have him think so—why she should care for his +opinion, she did not stop to argue. She turned and fled, and to avoid +possible pursuit, struck into the underbrush at an angle which she +calculated would bring her in a few rods to another path which would +lead quickly into the main road. She had run only a few yards when she +found herself in the midst of a clump of prickly shrubs and briars. +Meantime the storm had burst; the rain fell in torrents. Extricating +herself from the thorns, she pressed forward, but instead of coming out +upon the road, found herself penetrating deeper and deeper into the +forest. +</P> + +<P> +The storm increased in violence. The air grew darker and darker. It +was near evening, the clouds were dense, the thick woods increased the +gloom. Suddenly a blinding flash of lightning pierced the darkness, +followed by a sharp clap of thunder. There was a crash of falling +timber. Terror-stricken, Rena flew forward through the forest, the +underbrush growing closer and closer as she advanced. Suddenly the +earth gave way beneath her feet and she sank into a concealed morass. +By clasping the trunk of a neighboring sapling she extricated herself +with an effort, and realized with a horrible certainty that she was +lost in the swamp. +</P> + +<P> +Turning, she tried to retrace her steps. A flash of lightning +penetrated the gloom around her, and barring her path she saw a huge +black snake,—harmless enough, in fact, but to her excited imagination +frightful in appearance. With a wild shriek she turned again, +staggered forward a few yards, stumbled over a projecting root, and +fell heavily to the earth. +</P> + +<P> +When Rena had disappeared in the underbrush, Tryon and Wain had each +instinctively set out in pursuit of her, but owing to the gathering +darkness, the noise of the storm, and the thickness of the underbrush, +they missed not only Rena but each other, and neither was aware of the +other's presence in the forest. Wain kept up the chase until the rain +drove him to shelter. Tryon, after a few minutes, realized that she +had fled to escape him, and that to pursue her would be to defeat +rather than promote his purpose. He desisted, therefore, and returning +to the main road, stationed himself at a point where he could watch +Elder Johnson's house, and having waited for a while without any signs +of Rena, concluded that she had taken refuge in some friendly cabin. +Turning homeward disconsolately as night came on, he intercepted Plato +on his way back from town, and pledged him to inviolable secrecy so +effectually that Plato, when subsequently questioned, merely answered +that he had stopped a moment to gather some chinquapins, and when he +had looked around the teacher was gone. +</P> + +<P> +Rena not appearing at supper-time nor for an hour later, the elder, +somewhat anxious, made inquiries about the neighborhood, and finding +his guest at no place where she might be expected to stop, became +somewhat alarmed. Wain's house was the last to which he went. He had +surmised that there was some mystery connected with her leaving Wain's, +but had never been given any definite information about the matter. In +response to his inquiries, Wain expressed surprise, but betrayed a +certain self-consciousness which did not escape the elder's eye. +Returning home, he organized a search party from his own family and +several near neighbors, and set out with dogs and torches to scour the +woods for the missing teacher. A couple of hours later, they found her +lying unconscious in the edge of the swamp, only a few rods from a +well-defined path which would soon have led her to the open highway. +Strong arms lifted her gently and bore her home. Mrs. Johnson +undressed her and put her to bed, administering a homely remedy, of +which whiskey was the principal ingredient, to counteract the effects +of the exposure. There was a doctor within five miles, but no one +thought of sending for him, nor was it at all likely that it would have +been possible to get him for such a case at such an hour. +</P> + +<P> +Rena's illness, however, was more deeply seated than her friends could +imagine. A tired body, in sympathy with an overwrought brain, had left +her peculiarly susceptible to the nervous shock of her forest +experience. The exposure for several hours in her wet clothing to the +damps and miasma of the swamp had brought on an attack of brain fever. +The next morning, she was delirious. One of the children took word to +the schoolhouse that the teacher was sick and there would be no school +that day. A number of curious and sympathetic people came in from time +to time and suggested various remedies, several of which old Mrs. +Johnson, with catholic impartiality, administered to the helpless +teacher, who from delirium gradually sunk into a heavy stupor scarcely +distinguishable from sleep. It was predicted that she would probably +be well in the morning; if not, it would then be time to consider +seriously the question of sending for a doctor. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap32"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XXXII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE POWER OF LOVE +</H3> + +<P> +After Tryon's failure to obtain an interview with Rena through Plato's +connivance, he decided upon a different course of procedure. In a few +days her school term would be finished. He was not less desirous to +see her, was indeed as much more eager as opposition would be likely to +make a very young man who was accustomed to having his own way, and +whose heart, as he had discovered, was more deeply and permanently +involved than he had imagined. His present plan was to wait until the +end of the school; then, when Rena went to Clinton on the Saturday or +Monday to draw her salary for the month, he would see her in the town, +or, if necessary, would follow her to Patesville. No power on earth +should keep him from her long, but he had no desire to interfere in any +way with the duty which she owed to others. When the school was over +and her work completed, then he would have his innings. Writing +letters was too unsatisfactory a method of communication—he must see +her face to face. +</P> + +<P> +The first of his three days of waiting had passed, when, about ten +o'clock on the morning of the second day, which seemed very long in +prospect, while driving along the road toward Clinton, he met Plato, +with a rabbit trap in his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Plato," he asked, "why are you absent from the classic shades of +the academy to-day?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hoddy, Mars Geo'ge. W'at wuz dat you say?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why are you not at school to-day?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ain' got no teacher, Mars Geo'ge. Teacher's gone!" +</P> + +<P> +"Gone!" exclaimed Tryon, with a sudden leap of the heart. "Gone where? +What do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"Teacher got los' in de swamp, night befo' las', 'cause Plato wa'n't +dere ter show her de way out'n de woods. Elder Johnson foun' 'er wid +dawgs and tawches, an' fotch her home an' put her ter bed. No school +yistiddy. She wuz out'n her haid las' night, an' dis mawnin' she wuz +gone." +</P> + +<P> +"Gone where?" +</P> + +<P> +"Dey don' nobody know whar, suh." +</P> + +<P> +Leaving Plato abruptly, Tryon hastened down the road toward Elder +Johnson's cabin. This was no time to stand on punctilio. The girl had +been lost in the woods in the storm, amid the thunder and lightning and +the pouring rain. She was sick with fright and exposure, and he was +the cause of it all. Bribery, corruption, and falsehood had brought +punishment in their train, and the innocent had suffered while the +guilty escaped. He must learn at once what had become of her. Reaching +Elder Johnson's house, he drew up by the front fence and gave the +customary halloa, which summoned a woman to the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-morning," he said, nodding unconsciously, with the careless +politeness of a gentleman to his inferiors. "I'm Mr. Tryon. I have +come to inquire about the sick teacher." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, suh," the woman replied respectfully, "she got los' in de woods +night befo' las', an' she wuz out'n her min' most er de time yistiddy. +Las' night she must 'a' got out er bed an' run away w'en eve'ybody wuz +soun' asleep, fer dis mawnin' she wuz gone, an' none er us knows whar +she is." +</P> + +<P> +"Has any search been made for her?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yas, suh, my husban' an' de child'en has been huntin' roun' all de +mawnin', an' he's gone ter borry a hoss now ter go fu'ther. But Lawd +knows dey ain' no tellin' whar she'd go, 'less'n she got her min' back +sence she lef'." +</P> + +<P> +Tryon's mare was in good condition. He had money in his pocket and +nothing to interfere with his movements. He set out immediately on the +road to Patesville, keeping a lookout by the roadside, and stopping +each person he met to inquire if a young woman, apparently ill, had +been seen traveling along the road on foot. No one had met such a +traveler. When he had gone two or three miles, he drove through a +shallow branch that crossed the road. The splashing of his horse's +hoofs in the water prevented him from hearing a low groan that came +from the woods by the roadside. +</P> + +<P> +He drove on, making inquiries at each farmhouse and of every person +whom he encountered. Shortly after crossing the branch, he met a young +negro with a cartload of tubs and buckets and piggins, and asked him if +he had seen on the road a young white woman with dark eyes and hair, +apparently sick or demented. The young man answered in the negative, +and Tryon pushed forward anxiously. +</P> + +<P> +At noon he stopped at a farmhouse and swallowed a hasty meal. His +inquiries here elicited no information, and he was just leaving when a +young man came in late to dinner and stated, in response to the usual +question, that he had met, some two hours before, a young woman who +answered Tryon's description, on the Lillington road, which crossed the +main road to Patesville a short distance beyond the farmhouse. He had +spoken to the woman. At first she had paid no heed to his question. +When addressed a second time, she had answered in a rambling and +disconnected way, which indicated to his mind that there was something +wrong with her. +</P> + +<P> +Tryon thanked his informant and hastened to the Lillington road. +Stopping as before to inquire, he followed the woman for several hours, +each mile of the distance taking him farther away from Patesville. +From time to time he heard of the woman. Toward nightfall he found +her. She was white enough, with the sallowness of the sandhill poor +white. She was still young, perhaps, but poverty and a hard life made +her look older than she ought. She was not fair, and she was not Rena. +When Tryon came up to her, she was sitting on the doorsill of a +miserable cabin, and held in her hand a bottle, the contents of which +had never paid any revenue tax. She had walked twenty miles that day, +and had beguiled the tedium of the journey by occasional potations, +which probably accounted for the incoherency of speech which several of +those who met her had observed. When Tryon drew near, she tendered him +the bottle with tipsy cordiality. He turned in disgust and retraced +his steps to the Patesville road, which he did not reach until +nightfall. As it was too dark to prosecute the search with any chance +of success, he secured lodging for the night, intending to resume his +quest early in the morning. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap33"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XXXIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A MULE AND A CART +</H3> + +<P> +Frank Fowler's heart was filled with longing for a sight of Rena's +face. When she had gone away first, on the ill-fated trip to South +Carolina, her absence had left an aching void in his life; he had +missed her cheerful smile, her pleasant words, her graceful figure +moving about across the narrow street. His work had grown monotonous +during her absence; the clatter of hammer and mallet, that had seemed +so merry when punctuated now and then by the strains of her voice, +became a mere humdrum rapping of wood upon wood and iron upon iron. He +had sought work in South Carolina with the hope that he might see her. +He had satisfied this hope, and had tried in vain to do her a service; +but Fate had been against her; her castle of cards had come tumbling +down. He felt that her sorrow had brought her nearer to him. The +distance between them depended very much upon their way of looking at +things. He knew that her experience had dragged her through the valley +of humiliation. His unselfish devotion had reacted to refine and +elevate his own spirit. When he heard the suggestion, after her second +departure, that she might marry Wain, he could not but compare himself +with this new aspirant. He, Frank, was a man, an honest man—a better +man than the shifty scoundrel with whom she had ridden away. She was +but a woman, the best and sweetest and loveliest of all women, but yet +a woman. After a few short years of happiness or sorrow,—little of +joy, perhaps, and much of sadness, which had begun already,—they would +both be food for worms. White people, with a deeper wisdom perhaps +than they used in their own case, regarded Rena and himself as very +much alike. They were certainly both made by the same God, in much the +same physical and mental mould; they breathed the same air, ate the +same food, spoke the same speech, loved and hated, laughed and cried, +lived and would die, the same. If God had meant to rear any impassable +barrier between people of contrasting complexions, why did He not +express the prohibition as He had done between other orders of creation? +</P> + +<P> +When Rena had departed for Sampson County, Frank had reconciled himself +to her absence by the hope of her speedy return. He often stepped +across the street to talk to Mis' Molly about her. Several letters had +passed between mother and daughter, and in response to Frank's +inquiries his neighbor uniformly stated that Rena was well and doing +well, and sent her love to all inquiring friends. But Frank observed +that Mis' Molly, when pressed as to the date of Rena's return, grew +more and more indefinite; and finally the mother, in a burst of +confidential friendship, told Frank of all her hopes with reference to +the stranger from down the country. +</P> + +<P> +"Yas, Frank," she concluded, "it'll be her own fault ef she don't +become a lady of proputty, fer Mr. Wain is rich, an' owns a big +plantation, an' hires a lot of hands, and is a big man in the county. +He's crazy to git her, an' it all lays in her own han's." +</P> + +<P> +Frank did not find this news reassuring. He believed that Wain was a +liar and a scoundrel. He had nothing more than his intuitions upon +which to found this belief, but it was none the less firm. If his +estimate of the man's character were correct, then his wealth might be +a fiction, pure and simple. If so, the truth should be known to Mis' +Molly, so that instead of encouraging a marriage with Wain, she would +see him in his true light, and interpose to rescue her daughter from +his importunities. A day or two after this conversation, Frank met in +the town a negro from Sampson County, made his acquaintance, and +inquired if he knew a man by the name of Jeff Wain. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Jeff Wain!" returned the countryman slightingly; "yas, I knows +'im, an' don' know no good of 'im. One er dese yer biggity, braggin' +niggers—talks lack he own de whole county, an' ain't wuth no mo' d'n I +is—jes' a big bladder wid a handful er shot rattlin' roun' in it. Had +a wife, when I wuz dere, an' beat her an' 'bused her so she had ter run +away." +</P> + +<P> +This was alarming information. Wain had passed in the town as a single +man, and Frank had had no hint that he had ever been married. There +was something wrong somewhere. Frank determined that he would find out +the truth and, if possible, do something to protect Rena against the +obviously evil designs of the man who had taken her away. The barrel +factory had so affected the cooper's trade that Peter and Frank had +turned their attention more or less to the manufacture of small +woodenware for domestic use. Frank's mule was eating off its own head, +as the saying goes. It required but little effort to persuade Peter +that his son might take a load of buckets and tubs and piggins into the +country and sell them or trade them for country produce at a profit. +</P> + +<P> +In a few days Frank had his stock prepared, and set out on the road to +Sampson County. He went about thirty miles the first day, and camped +by the roadside for the night, resuming the journey at dawn. After +driving for an hour through the tall pines that overhung the road like +the stately arch of a cathedral aisle, weaving a carpet for the earth +with their brown spines and cones, and soothing the ear with their +ceaseless murmur, Frank stopped to water his mule at a point where the +white, sandy road, widening as it went, sloped downward to a +clear-running branch. On the right a bay-tree bending over the stream +mingled the heavy odor of its flowers with the delicate perfume of a +yellow jessamine vine that had overrun a clump of saplings on the left. +From a neighboring tree a silver-throated mocking-bird poured out a +flood of riotous melody. A group of minnows; startled by the splashing +of the mule's feet, darted away into the shadow of the thicket, their +quick passage leaving the amber water filled with laughing light. +</P> + +<P> +The mule drank long and lazily, while over Frank stole thoughts in +harmony with the peaceful scene,—thoughts of Rena, young and +beautiful, her friendly smile, her pensive dark eyes. He would soon +see her now, and if she had any cause for fear or unhappiness, he would +place himself at her service—for a day, a week, a month, a year, a +lifetime, if need be. +</P> + +<P> +His reverie was broken by a slight noise from the thicket at his left. +"I wonder who dat is?" he muttered. "It soun's mighty quare, ter say +de leas'." +</P> + +<P> +He listened intently for a moment, but heard nothing further. "It must +'a' be'n a rabbit er somethin' scamp'in' th'ough de woods. G'long +dere, Caesar!" +</P> + +<P> +As the mule stepped forward, the sound was repeated. This time it was +distinctly audible, the long, low moan of some one in sickness or +distress. +</P> + +<P> +"Dat ain't no rabbit," said Frank to himself. "Dere's somethin' wrong +dere. Stan' here, Caesar, till I look inter dis matter." +</P> + +<P> +Pulling out from the branch, Frank sprang from the saddle and pushed +his way cautiously through the outer edge of the thicket. +</P> + +<P> +"Good Lawd!" he exclaimed with a start, "it's a woman—a w'ite woman!" +</P> + +<P> +The slender form of a young woman lay stretched upon the ground in a +small open space a few yards in extent. Her face was turned away, and +Frank could see at first only a tangled mass of dark brown hair, matted +with twigs and leaves and cockleburs, and hanging in wild profusion +around her neck. +</P> + +<P> +Frank stood for a moment irresolute, debating the serious question +whether he should investigate further with a view to rendering +assistance, or whether he should put as great a distance as possible +between himself and this victim, as she might easily be, of some +violent crime, lest he should himself be suspected of it—a not +unlikely contingency, if he were found in the neighborhood and the +woman should prove unable to describe her assailant. While he +hesitated, the figure moved restlessly, and a voice murmured:— +</P> + +<P> +"Mamma, oh, mamma!" +</P> + +<P> +The voice thrilled Frank like an electric shock. Trembling in every +limb, he sprang forward toward the prostrate figure. The woman turned +her head, and he saw that it was Rena. Her gown was torn and dusty, +and fringed with burs and briars. When she had wandered forth, half +delirious, pursued by imaginary foes, she had not stopped to put on her +shoes, and her little feet were blistered and swollen and bleeding. +Frank knelt by her side and lifted her head on his arm. He put his +hand upon her brow; it was burning with fever. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Rena! Rena! don't you know me?" +</P> + +<P> +She turned her wild eyes on him suddenly. "Yes, I know you, Jeff Wain. +Go away from me! Go away!" +</P> + +<P> +Her voice rose to a scream; she struggled in his grasp and struck at +him fiercely with her clenched fists. Her sleeve fell back and +disclosed the white scar made by his own hand so many years before. +</P> + +<P> +"You're a wicked man," she panted. "Don't touch me! I hate you and +despise you!" +</P> + +<P> +Frank could only surmise how she had come here, in such a condition. +When she spoke of Wain in this manner, he drew his own conclusions. +Some deadly villainy of Wain's had brought her to this pass. Anger +stirred his nature to the depths, and found vent in curses on the +author of Rena's misfortunes. +</P> + +<P> +"Damn him!" he groaned. "I'll have his heart's blood fer dis, ter de +las' drop!" +</P> + +<P> +Rena now laughed and put up her arms appealingly. "George," she cried, +in melting tones, "dear George, do you love me? How much do you love +me? Ah, you don't love me!" she moaned; "I'm black; you don't love me; +you despise me!" +</P> + +<P> +Her voice died away into a hopeless wail. Frank knelt by her side, his +faithful heart breaking with pity, great tears rolling untouched down +his dusky cheeks. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, my honey, my darlin'," he sobbed, "Frank loves you better 'n all +de worl'." +</P> + +<P> +Meantime the sun shone on as brightly as before, the mocking-bird sang +yet more joyously. A gentle breeze sprang up and wafted the odor of bay +and jessamine past them on its wings. The grand triumphal sweep of +nature's onward march recked nothing of life's little tragedies. +</P> + +<P> +When the first burst of his grief was over, Frank brought water from +the branch, bathed Rena's face and hands and feet, and forced a few +drops between her reluctant lips. He then pitched the cartload of +tubs, buckets, and piggins out into the road, and gathering dried +leaves and pine-straw, spread them in the bottom of the cart. He +stooped, lifted her frail form in his arms, and laid it on the leafy +bed. Cutting a couple of hickory withes, he arched them over the cart, +and gathering an armful of jessamine quickly wove it into an awning to +protect her from the sun. She was quieter now, and seemed to fall +asleep. +</P> + +<P> +"Go ter sleep, honey," he murmured caressingly, "go ter sleep, an' +Frank'll take you home ter yo' mammy!" +</P> + +<P> +Toward noon he was met by a young white man, who peered inquisitively +into the canopied cart. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello!" exclaimed the stranger, "who've you got there?" +</P> + +<P> +"A sick woman, suh." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, she's white, as I'm a sinner!" he cried, after a closer +inspection. "Look a-here, nigger, what are you doin' with this white +woman?" +</P> + +<P> +"She's not w'ite, boss,—she's a bright mulatter." +</P> + +<P> +"Yas, mighty bright," continued the stranger suspiciously. "Where are +you goin' with her?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm takin' her ter Patesville, ter her mammy." +</P> + +<P> +The stranger passed on. Toward evening Frank heard hounds baying in +the distance. A fox, weary with running, brush drooping, crossed the +road ahead of the cart. Presently, the hounds straggled across the +road, followed by two or three hunters on horseback, who stopped at +sight of the strangely canopied cart. They stared at the sick girl and +demanded who she was. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't b'lieve she's black at all," declared one, after Frank's brief +explanation. "This nigger has a bad eye,—he's up ter some sort of +devilment. What ails the girl?" +</P> + +<P> +"'Pears ter be some kind of a fever," replied Frank; adding +diplomatically, "I don't know whether it's ketchin' er no—she's be'n +out er her head most er de time." +</P> + +<P> +They drew off a little at this. "I reckon it's all right," said the +chief spokesman. The hounds were baying clamorously in the distance. +The hunters followed the sound and disappeared m the woods. +</P> + +<P> +Frank drove all day and all night, stopping only for brief periods of +rest and refreshment. At dawn, from the top of the long white hill, he +sighted the river bridge below. At sunrise he rapped at Mis' Molly's +door. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Upon rising at dawn, Tryon's first step, after a hasty breakfast, was +to turn back toward Clinton. He had wasted half a day in following the +false scent on the Lillington road. It seemed, after reflection, +unlikely that a woman seriously ill should have been able to walk any +considerable distance before her strength gave out. In her delirium, +too, she might have wandered in a wrong direction, imagining any road +to lead to Patesville. It would be a good plan to drive back home, +continuing his inquiries meantime, and ascertain whether or not she had +been found by those who were seeking her, including many whom Tryon's +inquiries had placed upon the alert. If she should prove still +missing, he would resume the journey to Patesville and continue the +search in that direction. She had probably not wandered far from the +highroad; even in delirium she would be likely to avoid the deep woods, +with which her illness was associated. +</P> + +<P> +He had retraced more than half the distance to Clinton when he overtook +a covered wagon. The driver, when questioned, said that he had met a +young negro with a mule, and a cart in which lay a young woman, white +to all appearance, but claimed by the negro to be a colored girl who +had been taken sick on the road, and whom he was conveying home to her +mother at Patesville. From a further description of the cart Tryon +recognized it as the one he had met the day before. The woman could be +no other than Rena. He turned his mare and set out swiftly on the road +to Patesville. +</P> + +<P> +If anything could have taken more complete possession of George Tryon +at twenty-three than love successful and triumphant, it was love +thwarted and denied. Never in the few brief delirious weeks of his +courtship had he felt so strongly drawn to the beautiful sister of the +popular lawyer, as he was now driven by an aching heart toward the same +woman stripped of every adventitions advantage and placed, by custom, +beyond the pale of marriage with men of his own race. Custom was +tyranny. Love was the only law. Would God have made hearts to so +yearn for one another if He had meant them to stay forever apart? If +this girl should die, it would be he who had killed her, by his +cruelty, no less surely than if with his own hand he had struck her +down. He had been so dazzled by his own superiority, so blinded by his +own glory, that he had ruthlessly spurned and spoiled the image of God +in this fair creature, whom he might have had for his own +treasure,—whom, please God, he would yet have, at any cost, to love +and cherish while they both should live. There were difficulties—they +had seemed insuperable, but love would surmount them. Sacrifices must +be made, but if the world without love would be nothing, then why not +give up the world for love? He would hasten to Patesville. He would +find her; he would tell her that he loved her, that she was all the +world to him, that he had come to marry her, and take her away where +they might be happy together. He pictured to himself the joy that +would light up her face; he felt her soft arms around his neck, her +tremulous kisses upon his lips. If she were ill, his love would woo +her back to health,—if disappointment and sorrow had contributed to +her illness, joy and gladness should lead to her recovery. +</P> + +<P> +He urged the mare forward; if she would but keep up her present pace, +he would reach Patesville by nightfall. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Dr. Green had just gone down the garden path to his buggy at the gate. +Mis' Molly came out to the back piazza, where Frank, weary and haggard, +sat on the steps with Homer Pettifoot and Billy Oxendine, who, hearing +of Rena's return, had come around after their day's work. +</P> + +<P> +"Rena wants to see you, Frank," said Mis' Molly, with a sob. +</P> + +<P> +He walked in softly, reverently, and stood by her bedside. She turned +her gentle eyes upon him and put out her slender hand, which he took in +his own broad palm. +</P> + +<P> +"Frank," she murmured, "my good friend—my best friend—you loved me +best of them all." +</P> + +<P> +The tears rolled untouched down his cheeks. "I'd 'a' died, fer you, +Miss Rena," he said brokenly. +</P> + +<P> +Mary B. threw open a window to make way for the passing spirit, and the +red and golden glory of the setting sun, triumphantly ending his daily +course, flooded the narrow room with light. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Between sunset and dark a traveler, seated in a dusty buggy drawn by a +tired horse, crossed the long river bridge and drove up Front Street. +Just as the buggy reached the gate in front of the house behind the +cedars, a woman was tying a piece of crape upon the door-knob. Pale +with apprehension, Tryon sat as if petrified, until a tall, +side-whiskered mulatto came down the garden walk to the front gate. +</P> + +<P> +"Who's dead?" demanded Tryon hoarsely, scarcely recognizing his own +voice. +</P> + +<P> +"A young cullud 'oman, sah," answered Homer Pettifoot, touching his +hat, "Mis' Molly Walden's daughter Rena." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The House Behind the Cedars, by Charles W. Chesnutt + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOUSE BEHIND THE CEDARS *** + +***** This file should be named 472-h.htm or 472-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/7/472/ + +Produced by Charles Keller. 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Chesnutt + +Posting Date: October 9, 2008 [EBook #472] +Release Date: March, 1996 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOUSE BEHIND THE CEDARS *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Keller. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + +THE HOUSE BEHIND THE CEDARS + + +BY + +CHARLES W. CHESNUTT + + + +CONTENTS + + I A STRANGER FROM SOUTH CAROLINA + II AN EVENING VISIT + III THE OLD JUDGE + IV DOWN THE RIVER + V THE TOURNAMENT + VI THE QUEEN OF LOVE AND BEAUTY + VII 'MID NEW SURROUNDINGS + VIII THE COURTSHIP + IX DOUBTS AND FEARS + X THE DREAM + XI A LETTER AND A JOURNEY + XII TRYON GOES TO PATESVILLE + XIII AN INJUDICIOUS PAYMENT + XIV A LOYAL FRIEND + XV MINE OWN PEOPLE + XVI THE BOTTOM FALLS OUT + XVII TWO LETTERS + XVIII UNDER THE OLD REGIME + XIX GOD MADE US ALL + XX DIGGING UP ROOTS + XXI A GILDED OPPORTUNITY + XXII IMPERATIVE BUSINESS + XXIII THE GUEST OF HONOR + XXIV SWING YOUR PARTNERS + XXV BALANCE ALL + XXVI THE SCHOOLHOUSE IN THE WOODS + XXVII AN INTERESTING ACQUAINTANCE + XXVIII THE LOST KNIFE + XXIX PLATO EARNS HALF A DOLLAR + XXX AN UNUSUAL HONOR + XXXI IN DEEP WATERS + XXXII THE POWER OF LOVE + XXXIII A MULE AND A CART + + + + + +THE HOUSE BEHIND THE CEDARS + + + +I + +A STRANGER FROM SOUTH CAROLINA + +Time touches all things with destroying hand; and if he seem now and +then to bestow the bloom of youth, the sap of spring, it is but a brief +mockery, to be surely and swiftly followed by the wrinkles of old age, +the dry leaves and bare branches of winter. And yet there are places +where Time seems to linger lovingly long after youth has departed, and +to which he seems loath to bring the evil day. Who has not known some +even-tempered old man or woman who seemed to have drunk of the fountain +of youth? Who has not seen somewhere an old town that, having long +since ceased to grow, yet held its own without perceptible decline? + +Some such trite reflection--as apposite to the subject as most random +reflections are--passed through the mind of a young man who came out of +the front door of the Patesville Hotel about nine o'clock one fine +morning in spring, a few years after the Civil War, and started down +Front Street toward the market-house. Arriving at the town late the +previous evening, he had been driven up from the steamboat in a +carriage, from which he had been able to distinguish only the shadowy +outlines of the houses along the street; so that this morning walk was +his first opportunity to see the town by daylight. He was dressed in a +suit of linen duck--the day was warm--a panama straw hat, and patent +leather shoes. In appearance he was tall, dark, with straight, black, +lustrous hair, and very clean-cut, high-bred features. When he paused +by the clerk's desk on his way out, to light his cigar, the day clerk, +who had just come on duty, glanced at the register and read the last +entry:-- + + "'JOHN WARWICK, CLARENCE, SOUTH CAROLINA.' + + +"One of the South Ca'lina bigbugs, I reckon--probably in cotton, or +turpentine." The gentleman from South Carolina, walking down the +street, glanced about him with an eager look, in which curiosity and +affection were mingled with a touch of bitterness. He saw little that +was not familiar, or that he had not seen in his dreams a hundred times +during the past ten years. There had been some changes, it is true, +some melancholy changes, but scarcely anything by way of addition or +improvement to counterbalance them. Here and there blackened and +dismantled walls marked the place where handsome buildings once had +stood, for Sherman's march to the sea had left its mark upon the town. +The stores were mostly of brick, two stories high, joining one another +after the manner of cities. Some of the names on the signs were +familiar; others, including a number of Jewish names, were quite +unknown to him. + +A two minutes' walk brought Warwick--the name he had registered under, +and as we shall call him--to the market-house, the central feature of +Patesville, from both the commercial and the picturesque points of +view. Standing foursquare in the heart of the town, at the +intersection of the two main streets, a "jog" at each street corner +left around the market-house a little public square, which at this hour +was well occupied by carts and wagons from the country and empty drays +awaiting hire. Warwick was unable to perceive much change in the +market-house. Perhaps the surface of the red brick, long unpainted, +had scaled off a little more here and there. There might have been a +slight accretion of the moss and lichen on the shingled roof. But the +tall tower, with its four-faced clock, rose as majestically and +uncompromisingly as though the land had never been subjugated. Was it +so irreconcilable, Warwick wondered, as still to peal out the curfew +bell, which at nine o'clock at night had clamorously warned all +negroes, slave or free, that it was unlawful for them to be abroad +after that hour, under penalty of imprisonment or whipping? Was the +old constable, whose chief business it had been to ring the bell, still +alive and exercising the functions of his office, and had age lessened +or increased the number of times that obliging citizens performed this +duty for him during his temporary absences in the company of convivial +spirits? A few moments later, Warwick saw a colored policeman in the +old constable's place--a stronger reminder than even the burned +buildings that war had left its mark upon the old town, with which Time +had dealt so tenderly. + +The lower story of the market-house was open on all four of its sides +to the public square. Warwick passed through one of the wide brick +arches and traversed the building with a leisurely step. He looked in +vain into the stalls for the butcher who had sold fresh meat twice a +week, on market days, and he felt a genuine thrill of pleasure when he +recognized the red bandana turban of old Aunt Lyddy, the ancient negro +woman who had sold him gingerbread and fried fish, and told him weird +tales of witchcraft and conjuration, in the old days when, as an idle +boy, he had loafed about the market-house. He did not speak to her, +however, or give her any sign of recognition. He threw a glance toward +a certain corner where steps led to the town hall above. On this +stairway he had once seen a manacled free negro shot while being taken +upstairs for examination under a criminal charge. Warwick recalled +vividly how the shot had rung out. He could see again the livid look +of terror on the victim's face, the gathering crowd, the resulting +confusion. The murderer, he recalled, had been tried and sentenced to +imprisonment for life, but was pardoned by a merciful governor after +serving a year of his sentence. As Warwick was neither a prophet nor +the son of a prophet, he could not foresee that, thirty years later, +even this would seem an excessive punishment for so slight a +misdemeanor. + +Leaving the market-house, Warwick turned to the left, and kept on his +course until he reached the next corner. After another turn to the +right, a dozen paces brought him in front of a small weather-beaten +frame building, from which projected a wooden sign-board bearing the +inscription:-- + + ARCHIBALD STRAIGHT, + LAWYER. + +He turned the knob, but the door was locked. Retracing his steps past a +vacant lot, the young man entered a shop where a colored man was +employed in varnishing a coffin, which stood on two trestles in the +middle of the floor. Not at all impressed by the melancholy +suggestiveness of his task, he was whistling a lively air with great +gusto. Upon Warwick's entrance this effusion came to a sudden end, and +the coffin-maker assumed an air of professional gravity. + +"Good-mawnin', suh," he said, lifting his cap politely. + +"Good-morning," answered Warwick. "Can you tell me anything about +Judge Straight's office hours?" + +"De ole jedge has be'n a little onreg'lar sence de wah, suh; but he +gin'ally gits roun' 'bout ten o'clock er so. He's be'n kin' er feeble +fer de las' few yeahs. An' I reckon," continued the undertaker +solemnly, his glance unconsciously seeking a row of fine caskets +standing against the wall,--"I reckon he'll soon be goin' de way er all +de earth. 'Man dat is bawn er 'oman hath but a sho't time ter lib, an' +is full er mis'ry. He cometh up an' is cut down lack as a flower.' +'De days er his life is three-sco' an' ten'--an' de ole jedge is libbed +mo' d'n dat, suh, by five yeahs, ter say de leas'." + +"'Death,'" quoted Warwick, with whose mood the undertaker's remarks +were in tune, "'is the penalty that all must pay for the crime of +living.'" + +"Dat 's a fac', suh, dat 's a fac'; so dey mus'--so dey mus'. An' den +all de dead has ter be buried. An' we does ou' sheer of it, suh, we +does ou' sheer. We conduc's de obs'quies er all de bes' w'ite folks er +de town, suh." + +Warwick left the undertaker's shop and retraced his steps until he had +passed the lawyer's office, toward which he threw an affectionate +glance. A few rods farther led him past the old black Presbyterian +church, with its square tower, embowered in a stately grove; past the +Catholic church, with its many crosses, and a painted wooden figure of +St. James in a recess beneath the gable; and past the old Jefferson +House, once the leading hotel of the town, in front of which political +meetings had been held, and political speeches made, and political hard +cider drunk, in the days of "Tippecanoe and Tyler too." + +The street down which Warwick had come intersected Front Street at a +sharp angle in front of the old hotel, forming a sort of flatiron block +at the junction, known as Liberty Point,--perhaps because slave +auctions were sometimes held there in the good old days. Just before +Warwick reached Liberty Point, a young woman came down Front Street +from the direction of the market-house. When their paths converged, +Warwick kept on down Front Street behind her, it having been already +his intention to walk in this direction. + +Warwick's first glance had revealed the fact that the young woman was +strikingly handsome, with a stately beauty seldom encountered. As he +walked along behind her at a measured distance, he could not help +noting the details that made up this pleasing impression, for his mind +was singularly alive to beauty, in whatever embodiment. The girl's +figure, he perceived, was admirably proportioned; she was evidently at +the period when the angles of childhood were rounding into the +promising curves of adolescence. Her abundant hair, of a dark and +glossy brown, was neatly plaited and coiled above an ivory column that +rose straight from a pair of gently sloping shoulders, clearly outlined +beneath the light muslin frock that covered them. He could see that +she was tastefully, though not richly, dressed, and that she walked +with an elastic step that revealed a light heart and the vigor of +perfect health. Her face, of course, he could not analyze, since he +had caught only the one brief but convincing glimpse of it. + +The young woman kept on down Front Street, Warwick maintaining his +distance a few rods behind her. They passed a factory, a warehouse or +two, and then, leaving the brick pavement, walked along on mother +earth, under a leafy arcade of spreading oaks and elms. Their way led +now through a residential portion of the town, which, as they advanced, +gradually declined from staid respectability to poverty, open and +unabashed. Warwick observed, as they passed through the respectable +quarter, that few people who met the girl greeted her, and that some +others whom she passed at gates or doorways gave her no sign of +recognition; from which he inferred that she was possibly a visitor in +the town and not well acquainted. + +Their walk had continued not more than ten minutes when they crossed a +creek by a wooden bridge and came to a row of mean houses standing +flush with the street. At the door of one, an old black woman had +stooped to lift a large basket, piled high with laundered clothes. The +girl, as she passed, seized one end of the basket and helped the old +woman to raise it to her head, where it rested solidly on the cushion +of her head-kerchief. During this interlude, Warwick, though he had +slackened his pace measurably, had so nearly closed the gap between +himself and them as to hear the old woman say, with the dulcet negro +intonation:-- + +"T'anky', honey; de Lawd gwine bless you sho'. You wuz alluz a good +gal, and de Lawd love eve'ybody w'at he'p de po' ole nigger. You gwine +ter hab good luck all yo' bawn days." + +"I hope you're a true prophet, Aunt Zilphy," laughed the girl in +response. + +The sound of her voice gave Warwick a thrill. It was soft and sweet and +clear--quite in harmony with her appearance. That it had a faint +suggestiveness of the old woman's accent he hardly noticed, for the +current Southern speech, including his own, was rarely without a touch +of it. The corruption of the white people's speech was one +element--only one--of the negro's unconscious revenge for his own +debasement. + +The houses they passed now grew scattering, and the quarter of the town +more neglected. Warwick felt himself wondering where the girl might be +going in a neighborhood so uninviting. When she stopped to pull a +half-naked negro child out of a mudhole and set him upon his feet, he +thought she might be some young lady from the upper part of the town, +bound on some errand of mercy, or going, perhaps, to visit an old +servant or look for a new one. Once she threw a backward glance at +Warwick, thus enabling him to catch a second glimpse of a singularly +pretty face. Perhaps the young woman found his presence in the +neighborhood as unaccountable as he had deemed hers; for, finding his +glance fixed upon her, she quickened her pace with an air of startled +timidity. + +"A woman with such a figure," thought Warwick, "ought to be able to +face the world with the confidence of Phryne confronting her judges." + + +By this time Warwick was conscious that something more than mere grace +or beauty had attracted him with increasing force toward this young +woman. A suggestion, at first faint and elusive, of something +familiar, had grown stronger when he heard her voice, and became more +and more pronounced with each rod of their advance; and when she +stopped finally before a gate, and, opening it, went into a yard shut +off from the street by a row of dwarf cedars, Warwick had already +discounted in some measure the surprise he would have felt at seeing +her enter there had he not walked down Front Street behind her. There +was still sufficient unexpectedness about the act, however, to give him +a decided thrill of pleasure. + +"It must be Rena," he murmured. "Who could have dreamed that she would +blossom out like that? It must surely be Rena!" + +He walked slowly past the gate and peered through a narrow gap in the +cedar hedge. The girl was moving along a sanded walk, toward a gray, +unpainted house, with a steep roof, broken by dormer windows. The +trace of timidity he had observed in her had given place to the more +assured bearing of one who is upon his own ground. The garden walks +were bordered by long rows of jonquils, pinks, and carnations, +inclosing clumps of fragrant shrubs, lilies, and roses already in +bloom. Toward the middle of the garden stood two fine magnolia-trees, +with heavy, dark green, glistening leaves, while nearer the house two +mighty elms shaded a wide piazza, at one end of which a honeysuckle +vine, and at the other a Virginia creeper, running over a wooden +lattice, furnished additional shade and seclusion. On dark or wintry +days, the aspect of this garden must have been extremely sombre and +depressing, and it might well have seemed a fit place to hide some +guilty or disgraceful secret. But on the bright morning when Warwick +stood looking through the cedars, it seemed, with its green frame and +canopy and its bright carpet of flowers, an ideal retreat from the +fierce sunshine and the sultry heat of the approaching summer. + +The girl stooped to pluck a rose, and as she bent over it, her profile +was clearly outlined. She held the flower to her face with a +long-drawn inhalation, then went up the steps, crossed the piazza, +opened the door without knocking, and entered the house with the air of +one thoroughly at home. + +"Yes," said the young man to himself, "it's Rena, sure enough." + +The house stood on a corner, around which the cedar hedge turned, +continuing along the side of the garden until it reached the line of +the front of the house. The piazza to a rear wing, at right angles to +the front of the house, was open to inspection from the side street, +which, to judge from its deserted look, seemed to be but little used. +Turning into this street and walking leisurely past the back yard, +which was only slightly screened from the street by a china-tree, +Warwick perceived the young woman standing on the piazza, facing an +elderly woman, who sat in a large rocking-chair, plying a pair of +knitting-needles on a half-finished stocking. Warwick's walk led him +within three feet of the side gate, which he felt an almost +irresistible impulse to enter. Every detail of the house and garden +was familiar; a thousand cords of memory and affection drew him +thither; but a stronger counter-motive prevailed. With a great effort +he restrained himself, and after a momentary pause, walked slowly on +past the house, with a backward glance, which he turned away when he +saw that it was observed. + +Warwick's attention had been so fully absorbed by the house behind the +cedars and the women there, that he had scarcely noticed, on the other +side of the neglected by-street, two men working by a large open +window, in a low, rude building with a clapboarded roof, directly +opposite the back piazza occupied by the two women. Both the men were +busily engaged in shaping barrel-staves, each wielding a sharp-edged +drawing-knife on a piece of seasoned oak clasped tightly in a wooden +vise. + +"I jes' wonder who dat man is, an' w'at he 's doin' on dis street," +observed the younger of the two, with a suspicious air. He had noticed +the gentleman's involuntary pause and his interest in the opposite +house, and had stopped work for a moment to watch the stranger as he +went on down the street. + +"Nev' min' 'bout dat man," said the elder one. "You 'ten' ter yo' wuk +an' finish dat bairl-stave. You spen's enti'ely too much er yo' time +stretchin' yo' neck atter other people. An' you need n' 'sturb yo'se'f +'bout dem folks 'cross de street, fer dey ain't yo' kin', an' you're +wastin' yo' time both'in' yo' min' wid 'em, er wid folks w'at comes on +de street on account of 'em. Look sha'p now, boy, er you'll git dat +stave trim' too much." + +The younger man resumed his work, but still found time to throw a +slanting glance out of the window. The gentleman, he perceived, stood +for a moment on the rotting bridge across the old canal, and then +walked slowly ahead until he turned to the right into Back Street, a +few rods farther on. + + + +II + +AN EVENING VISIT + +Toward evening of the same day, Warwick took his way down Front Street +in the gathering dusk. By the time night had spread its mantle over the +earth, he had reached the gate by which he had seen the girl of his +morning walk enter the cedar-bordered garden. He stopped at the gate +and glanced toward the house, which seemed dark and silent and deserted. + +"It's more than likely," he thought, "that they are in the kitchen. I +reckon I'd better try the back door." + +But as he drew cautiously near the corner, he saw a man's figure +outlined in the yellow light streaming from the open door of a small +house between Front Street and the cooper shop. Wishing, for reasons +of his own, to avoid observation, Warwick did not turn the corner, but +walked on down Front Street until he reached a point from which he +could see, at a long angle, a ray of light proceeding from the kitchen +window of the house behind the cedars. + +"They are there," he muttered with a sigh of relief, for he had feared +they might be away. "I suspect I'll have to go to the front door, +after all. No one can see me through the trees." + +He retraced his steps to the front gate, which he essayed to open. +There was apparently some defect in the latch, for it refused to work. +Warwick remembered the trick, and with a slight sense of amusement, +pushed his foot under the gate and gave it a hitch to the left, after +which it opened readily enough. He walked softly up the sanded path, +tiptoed up the steps and across the piazza, and rapped at the front +door, not too loudly, lest this too might attract the attention of the +man across the street. There was no response to his rap. He put his +ear to the door and heard voices within, and the muffled sound of +footsteps. After a moment he rapped again, a little louder than before. + +There was an instant cessation of the sounds within. He rapped a third +time, to satisfy any lingering doubt in the minds of those who he felt +sure were listening in some trepidation. A moment later a ray of light +streamed through the keyhole. + +"Who's there?" a woman's voice inquired somewhat sharply. + +"A gentleman," answered Warwick, not holding it yet time to reveal +himself. "Does Mis' Molly Walden live here?" + +"Yes," was the guarded answer. "I'm Mis' Walden. What's yo'r +business?" + +"I have a message to you from your son John." + +A key clicked in the lock. The door opened, and the elder of the two +women Warwick had seen upon the piazza stood in the doorway, peering +curiously and with signs of great excitement into the face of the +stranger. + +"You 've got a message from my son, you say?" she asked with tremulous +agitation. "Is he sick, or in trouble?" + +"No. He's well and doing well, and sends his love to you, and hopes +you've not forgotten him." + +"Fergot him? No, God knows I ain't fergot him! But come in, sir, an' +tell me somethin' mo' about him." + +Warwick went in, and as the woman closed the door after him, he threw a +glance round the room. On the wall, over the mantelpiece, hung a steel +engraving of General Jackson at the battle of New Orleans, and, on the +opposite wall, a framed fashion-plate from "Godey's Lady's Book." In +the middle of the room an octagonal centre-table with a single leg, +terminating in three sprawling feet, held a collection of curiously +shaped sea-shells. There was a great haircloth sofa, somewhat the worse +for wear, and a well-filled bookcase. The screen standing before the +fireplace was covered with Confederate bank-notes of various +denominations and designs, in which the heads of Jefferson Davis and +other Confederate leaders were conspicuous. + + "Imperious Caesar, dead, and turned to clay, + Might stop a hole to keep the wind away," + +murmured the young man, as his eye fell upon this specimen of +decorative art. + +The woman showed her visitor to a seat. She then sat down facing him +and looked at him closely. "When did you last see my son?" she asked. + +"I've never met your son," he replied. + +Her face fell. "Then the message comes through you from somebody else?" + +"No, directly from your son." + +She scanned his face with a puzzled look. This bearded young +gentleman, who spoke so politely and was dressed so well, surely--no, +it could not be! and yet-- + +Warwick was smiling at her through a mist of tears. An electric spark +of sympathy flashed between them. They rose as if moved by one +impulse, and were clasped in each other's arms. + +"John, my John! It IS John!" + +"Mother--my dear old mother!" + +"I didn't think," she sobbed, "that I'd ever see you again." + +He smoothed her hair and kissed her. "And are you glad to see me, +mother?" + +"Am I glad to see you? It's like the dead comin' to life. I thought +I'd lost you forever, John, my son, my darlin' boy!" she answered, +hugging him strenuously. + +"I couldn't live without seeing you, mother," he said. He meant it, +too, or thought he did, although he had not seen her for ten years. + +"You've grown so tall, John, and are such a fine gentleman! And you +ARE a gentleman now, John, ain't you--sure enough? Nobody knows the +old story?" + +"Well, mother, I've taken a man's chance in life, and have tried to +make the most of it; and I haven't felt under any obligation to spoil +it by raking up old stories that are best forgotten. There are the dear +old books: have they been read since I went away?" + +"No, honey, there's be'n nobody to read 'em, excep' Rena, an' she don't +take to books quite like you did. But I've kep' 'em dusted clean, an' +kep' the moths an' the bugs out; for I hoped you'd come back some day, +an' knowed you'd like to find 'em all in their places, jus' like you +left 'em." + +"That's mighty nice of you, mother. You could have done no more if you +had loved them for themselves. But where is Rena? I saw her on the +street to-day, but she didn't know me from Adam; nor did I guess it was +she until she opened the gate and came into the yard." + +"I've be'n so glad to see you that I'd fergot about her," answered the +mother. "Rena, oh, Rena!" + +The girl was not far away; she had been standing in the next room, +listening intently to every word of the conversation, and only kept +from coming in by a certain constraint that made a brother whom she had +not met for so many years seem almost as much a stranger as if he had +not been connected with her by any tie. + +"Yes, mamma," she answered, coming forward. + +"Rena, child, here's yo'r brother John, who's come back to see us. +Tell 'im howdy." + +As she came forward, Warwick rose, put his arm around her waist, drew +her toward him, and kissed her affectionately, to her evident +embarrassment. She was a tall girl, but he towered above her in quite a +protecting fashion; and she thought with a thrill how fine it would be +to have such a brother as this in the town all the time. How proud she +would be, if she could but walk up the street with such a brother by +her side! She could then hold up her head before all the world, +oblivious to the glance of pity or contempt. She felt a very +pronounced respect for this tall gentleman who held her blushing face +between his hands and looked steadily into her eyes. + +"You're the little sister I used to read stories to, and whom I +promised to come and see some day. Do you remember how you cried when +I went away?" + +"It seems but yesterday," she answered. "I've still got the dime you +gave me." + +He kissed her again, and then drew her down beside him on the sofa, +where he sat enthroned between the two loving and excited women. No +king could have received more sincere or delighted homage. He was a +man, come into a household of women,--a man of whom they were proud, +and to whom they looked up with fond reverence. For he was not only a +son,--a brother--but he represented to them the world from which +circumstances had shut them out, and to which distance lent even more +than its usual enchantment; and they felt nearer to this far-off world +because of the glory which Warwick reflected from it. + +"You're a very pretty girl," said Warwick, regarding his sister +thoughtfully. "I followed you down Front Street this morning, and +scarcely took my eyes off you all the way; and yet I didn't know you, +and scarcely saw your face. You improve on acquaintance; to-night, I +find you handsomer still." + +"Now, John," said his mother, expostulating mildly, "you'll spile her, +if you don't min'." + +The girl was beaming with gratified vanity. What woman would not find +such praise sweet from almost any source, and how much more so from +this great man, who, from his exalted station in the world, must surely +know the things whereof he spoke! She believed every word of it; she +knew it very well indeed, but wished to hear it repeated and itemized +and emphasized. + +"No, he won't, mamma," she asserted, "for he's flattering me. He talks +as if I was some rich young lady, who lives on the Hill,"--the Hill was +the aristocratic portion of the town,--"instead of a poor." + +"Instead of a poor young girl, who has the hill to climb," replied her +brother, smoothing her hair with his hand. Her hair was long and +smooth and glossy, with a wave like the ripple of a summer breeze upon +the surface of still water. It was the girl's great pride, and had +been sedulously cared for. "What lovely hair! It has just the wave +that yours lacks, mother." + +"Yes," was the regretful reply, "I've never be'n able to git that wave +out. But her hair's be'n took good care of, an' there ain't nary gal +in town that's got any finer." + +"Don't worry about the wave, mother. It's just the fashionable ripple, +and becomes her immensely. I think my little Albert favors his Aunt +Rena somewhat." + +"Your little Albert!" they cried. "You've got a child?" + +"Oh, yes," he replied calmly, "a very fine baby boy." + +They began to purr in proud contentment at this information, and made +minute inquiries about the age and weight and eyes and nose and other +important details of this precious infant. They inquired more coldly +about the child's mother, of whom they spoke with greater warmth when +they learned that she was dead. They hung breathless on Warwick's +words as he related briefly the story of his life since he had left, +years before, the house behind the cedars--how with a stout heart and +an abounding hope he had gone out into a seemingly hostile world, and +made fortune stand and deliver. His story had for the women the charm +of an escape from captivity, with all the thrill of a pirate's tale. +With the whole world before him, he had remained in the South, the land +of his fathers, where, he conceived, he had an inalienable birthright. +By some good chance he had escaped military service in the Confederate +army, and, in default of older and more experienced men, had +undertaken, during the rebellion, the management of a large estate, +which had been left in the hands of women and slaves. He had filled +the place so acceptably, and employed his leisure to such advantage, +that at the close of the war he found himself--he was modest enough to +think, too, in default of a better man--the husband of the orphan +daughter of the gentleman who had owned the plantation, and who had +lost his life upon the battlefield. Warwick's wife was of good family, +and in a more settled condition of society it would not have been easy +for a young man of no visible antecedents to win her hand. A year or +two later, he had taken the oath of allegiance, and had been admitted +to the South Carolina bar. Rich in his wife's right, he had been able +to practice his profession upon a high plane, without the worry of +sordid cares, and with marked success for one of his age. + +"I suppose," he concluded, "that I have got along at the bar, as +elsewhere, owing to the lack of better men. Many of the good lawyers +were killed in the war, and most of the remainder were disqualified; +while I had the advantage of being alive, and of never having been in +arms against the government. People had to have lawyers, and they gave +me their business in preference to the carpet-baggers. Fortune, you +know, favors the available man." + +His mother drank in with parted lips and glistening eyes the story of +his adventures and the record of his successes. As Rena listened, the +narrow walls that hemmed her in seemed to draw closer and closer, as +though they must crush her. Her brother watched her keenly. He had +been talking not only to inform the women, but with a deeper purpose, +conceived since his morning walk, and deepened as he had followed, +during his narrative, the changing expression of Rena's face and noted +her intense interest in his story, her pride in his successes, and the +occasional wistful look that indexed her self-pity so completely. + +"An' I s'pose you're happy, John?" asked his mother. + +"Well, mother, happiness is a relative term, and depends, I imagine, +upon how nearly we think we get what we think we want. I have had my +chance and haven't thrown it away, and I suppose I ought to be happy. +But then, I have lost my wife, whom I loved very dearly, and who loved +me just as much, and I'm troubled about my child." + +"Why?" they demanded. "Is there anything the matter with him?" + +"No, not exactly. He's well enough, as babies go, and has a good +enough nurse, as nurses go. But the nurse is ignorant, and not always +careful. A child needs some woman of its own blood to love it and look +after it intelligently." + +Mis' Molly's eyes were filled with tearful yearning. She would have +given all the world to warm her son's child upon her bosom; but she +knew this could not be. + +"Did your wife leave any kin?" she asked with an effort. + +"No near kin; she was an only child." + +"You'll be gettin' married again," suggested his mother. + +"No," he replied; "I think not." + +Warwick was still reading his sister's face, and saw the spark of hope +that gleamed in her expressive eye. + +"If I had some relation of my own that I could take into the house with +me," he said reflectively, "the child might be healthier and happier, +and I should be much more at ease about him." + +The mother looked from son to daughter with a dawning apprehension and +a sudden pallor. When she saw the yearning in Rena's eyes, she threw +herself at her son's feet. + +"Oh, John," she cried despairingly, "don't take her away from me! +Don't take her, John, darlin', for it'd break my heart to lose her!" + +Rena's arms were round her mother's neck, and Rena's voice was sounding +in her ears. "There, there, mamma! Never mind! I won't leave you, +mamma--dear old mamma! Your Rena'll stay with you always, and never, +never leave you." + +John smoothed his mother's hair with a comforting touch, patted her +withered cheek soothingly, lifted her tenderly to her place by his +side, and put his arm about her. + +"You love your children, mother?" + +"They're all I've got," she sobbed, "an' they cos' me all I had. When +the las' one's gone, I'll want to go too, for I'll be all alone in the +world. Don't take Rena, John; for if you do, I'll never see her again, +an' I can't bear to think of it. How would you like to lose yo'r one +child?" + +"Well, well, mother, we'll say no more about it. And now tell me all +about yourself, and about the neighbors, and how you got through the +war, and who's dead and who's married--and everything." + +The change of subject restored in some degree Mis' Molly's equanimity, +and with returning calmness came a sense of other responsibilities. + +"Good gracious, Rena!" she exclaimed. "John 's be'n in the house an +hour, and ain't had nothin' to eat yet! Go in the kitchen an' spread a +clean tablecloth, an' git out that 'tater pone, an' a pitcher o' that +las' kag o' persimmon beer, an' let John take a bite an' a sip." + +Warwick smiled at the mention of these homely dainties. "I thought of +your sweet-potato pone at the hotel to-day, when I was at dinner, and +wondered if you'd have some in the house. There was never any like +yours; and I've forgotten the taste of persimmon beer entirely." + +Rena left the room to carry out her hospitable commission. Warwick, +taking advantage of her absence, returned after a while to the former +subject. + +"Of course, mother," he said calmly, "I wouldn't think of taking Rena +away against your wishes. A mother's claim upon her child is a high +and holy one. Of course she will have no chance here, where our story +is known. The war has wrought great changes, has put the bottom rail +on top, and all that--but it hasn't wiped THAT out. Nothing but death +can remove that stain, if it does not follow us even beyond the grave. +Here she must forever be--nobody! With me she might have got out into +the world; with her beauty she might have made a good marriage; and, if +I mistake not, she has sense as well as beauty." + +"Yes," sighed the mother, "she's got good sense. She ain't as quick as +you was, an' don't read as many books, but she's keerful an' +painstakin', an' always tries to do what's right. She's be'n thinkin' +about goin' away somewhere an' tryin' to git a school to teach, er +somethin', sence the Yankees have started 'em everywhere for po' white +folks an' niggers too. But I don't like fer her to go too fur." + +"With such beauty and brains," continued Warwick, "she could leave this +town and make a place for herself. The place is already made. She has +only to step into my carriage--after perhaps a little preparation--and +ride up the hill which I have had to climb so painfully. It would be a +great pleasure to me to see her at the top. But of course it is +impossible--a mere idle dream. YOUR claim comes first; her duty chains +her here." + +"It would be so lonely without her," murmured the mother weakly, "an' I +love her so--my las' one!" + +"No doubt--no doubt," returned Warwick, with a sympathetic sigh; "of +course you love her. It's not to be thought of for a moment. It's a +pity that she couldn't have a chance here--but how could she! I had +thought she might marry a gentleman, but I dare say she'll do as well +as the rest of her friends--as well as Mary B., for instance, who +married--Homer Pettifoot, did you say? Or maybe Billy Oxendine might +do for her. As long as she has never known any better, she'll probably +be as well satisfied as though she married a rich man, and lived in a +fine house, and kept a carriage and servants, and moved with the best +in the land." + +The tortured mother could endure no more. The one thing she desired +above all others was her daughter's happiness. Her own life had not +been governed by the highest standards, but about her love for her +beautiful daughter there was no taint of selfishness. The life her son +had described had been to her always the ideal but unattainable life. +Circumstances, some beyond her control, and others for which she was +herself in a measure responsible, had put it forever and inconceivably +beyond her reach. It had been conquered by her son. It beckoned to +her daughter. The comparison of this free and noble life with the +sordid existence of those around her broke down the last barrier of +opposition. + +"O Lord!" she moaned, "what shall I do with out her? It'll be lonely, +John--so lonely!" + +"You'll have your home, mother," said Warwick tenderly, accepting the +implied surrender. "You'll have your friends and relatives, and the +knowledge that your children are happy. I'll let you hear from us +often, and no doubt you can see Rena now and then. But you must let +her go, mother,--it would be a sin against her to refuse." + +"She may go," replied the mother brokenly. "I'll not stand in her +way--I've got sins enough to answer for already." + +Warwick watched her pityingly. He had stirred her feelings to unwonted +depths, and his sympathy went out to her. If she had sinned, she had +been more sinned against than sinning, and it was not his part to judge +her. He had yielded to a sentimental weakness in deciding upon this +trip to Patesville. A matter of business had brought him within a +day's journey of the town, and an over-mastering impulse had compelled +him to seek the mother who had given him birth and the old town where +he had spent the earlier years of his life. No one would have +acknowledged sooner than he the folly of this visit. Men who have +elected to govern their lives by principles of abstract right and +reason, which happen, perhaps, to be at variance with what society +considers equally right and reasonable, should, for fear of +complications, be careful about descending from the lofty heights of +logic to the common level of impulse and affection. Many years before, +Warwick, when a lad of eighteen, had shaken the dust of the town from +his feet, and with it, he fondly thought, the blight of his +inheritance, and had achieved elsewhere a worthy career. But during +all these years of absence he had cherished a tender feeling for his +mother, and now again found himself in her house, amid the familiar +surroundings of his childhood. His visit had brought joy to his +mother's heart, and was now to bring its shrouded companion, sorrow. +His mother had lived her life, for good or ill. A wider door was open +to his sister--her mother must not bar the entrance. + +"She may go," the mother repeated sadly, drying her tears. "I'll give +her up for her good." + +"The table 's ready, mamma," said Rena, coming to the door. + +The lunch was spread in the kitchen, a large unplastered room at the +rear, with a wide fireplace at one end. Only yesterday, it seemed to +Warwick, he had sprawled upon the hearth, turning sweet potatoes before +the fire, or roasting groundpeas in the ashes; or, more often, reading, +by the light of a blazing pine-knot or lump of resin, some volume from +the bookcase in the hall. From Bulwer's novel, he had read the story +of Warwick the Kingmaker, and upon leaving home had chosen it for his +own. He was a new man, but he had the blood of an old race, and he +would select for his own one of its worthy names. Overhead loomed the +same smoky beams, decorated with what might have been, from all +appearances, the same bunches of dried herbs, the same strings of +onions and red peppers. Over in the same corner stood the same +spinning-wheel, and through the open door of an adjoining room he saw +the old loom, where in childhood he had more than once thrown the +shuttle. The kitchen was different from the stately dining-room of the +old colonial mansion where he now lived; but it was homelike, and it +was familiar. The sight of it moved his heart, and he felt for the +moment a sort of a blind anger against the fate which made it necessary +that he should visit the home of his childhood, if at all, like a thief +in the night. But he realized, after a moment, that the thought was +pure sentiment, and that one who had gained so much ought not to +complain if he must give up a little. He who would climb the heights +of life must leave even the pleasantest valleys behind. + +"Rena," asked her mother, "how'd you like to go an' pay yo'r brother +John a visit? I guess I might spare you for a little while." + +The girl's eyes lighted up. She would not have gone if her mother had +wished her to stay, but she would always have regarded this as the lost +opportunity of her life. + +"Are you sure you don't care, mamma?" she asked, hoping and yet +doubting. + +"Oh, I'll manage to git along somehow or other. You can go an' stay +till you git homesick, an' then John'll let you come back home." + +But Mis' Molly believed that she would never come back, except, like +her brother, under cover of the night. She must lose her daughter as +well as her son, and this should be the penance for her sin. That her +children must expiate as well the sins of their fathers, who had sinned +so lightly, after the manner of men, neither she nor they could +foresee, since they could not read the future. + +The next boat by which Warwick could take his sister away left early in +the morning of the next day but one. He went back to his hotel with +the understanding that the morrow should be devoted to getting Rena +ready for her departure, and that Warwick would visit the household +again the following evening; for, as has been intimated, there were +several reasons why there should be no open relations between the fine +gentleman at the hotel and the women in the house behind the cedars, +who, while superior in blood and breeding to the people of the +neighborhood in which they lived, were yet under the shadow of some +cloud which clearly shut them out from the better society of the town. +Almost any resident could have given one or more of these reasons, of +which any one would have been sufficient to most of them; and to some +of them Warwick's mere presence in the town would have seemed a bold +and daring thing. + + + +III + +THE OLD JUDGE + +On the morning following the visit to his mother, Warwick visited the +old judge's office. The judge was not in, but the door stood open, and +Warwick entered to await his return. There had been fewer changes in +the office, where he had spent many, many hours, than in the town +itself. The dust was a little thicker, the papers in the pigeon-holes +of the walnut desk were a little yellower, the cobwebs in the corners a +little more aggressive. The flies droned as drowsily and the murmur of +the brook below was just as audible. Warwick stood at the rear window +and looked out over a familiar view. Directly across the creek, on the +low ground beyond, might be seen the dilapidated stone foundation of +the house where once had lived Flora Macdonald, the Jacobite refugee, +the most romantic character of North Carolina history. Old Judge +Straight had had a tree cut away from the creek-side opposite his +window, so that this historic ruin might be visible from his office; +for the judge could trace the ties of blood that connected him +collaterally with this famous personage. His pamphlet on Flora +Macdonald, printed for private circulation, was highly prized by those +of his friends who were fortunate enough to obtain a copy. To the left +of the window a placid mill-pond spread its wide expanse, and to the +right the creek disappeared under a canopy of overhanging trees. + +A footstep sounded in the doorway, and Warwick, turning, faced the old +judge. Time had left greater marks upon the lawyer than upon his +office. His hair was whiter, his stoop more pronounced; when he spoke +to Warwick, his voice had some of the shrillness of old age; and in his +hand, upon which the veins stood out prominently, a decided tremor was +perceptible. + +"Good-morning, Judge Straight," said the young man, removing his hat +with the graceful Southern deference of the young for the old. + +"Good-morning, sir," replied the judge with equal courtesy. + +"You don't remember me, I imagine," suggested Warwick. + +"Your face seems familiar," returned the judge cautiously, "but I +cannot for the moment recall your name. I shall be glad to have you +refresh my memory." + +"I was John Walden, sir, when you knew me." + +The judge's face still gave no answering light of recognition. + +"Your old office-boy," continued the younger man. + +"Ah, indeed, so you were!" rejoined the judge warmly, extending his +hand with great cordiality, and inspecting Warwick more closely through +his spectacles. "Let me see--you went away a few years before the war, +wasn't it?" + +"Yes, sir, to South Carolina." + +"Yes, yes, I remember now! I had been thinking it was to the North. +So many things have happened since then, that it taxes an old man's +memory to keep track of them all. Well, well! and how have you been +getting along?" + +Warwick told his story in outline, much as he had given it to his +mother and sister, and the judge seemed very much interested. + +"And you married into a good family?" he asked. + +"Yes, sir." + +"And have children?" + +"One." + +"And you are visiting your mother?" + +"Not exactly. I have seen her, but I am stopping at a hotel." + +"H'm! Are you staying long?" + +"I leave to-morrow." + +"It's well enough. I wouldn't stay too long. The people of a small +town are inquisitive about strangers, and some of them have long +memories. I remember we went over the law, which was in your favor; but +custom is stronger than law--in these matters custom IS law. It was a +great pity that your father did not make a will. Well, my boy, I wish +you continued good luck; I imagined you would make your way." + +Warwick went away, and the old judge sat for a moment absorbed in +reflection. "Right and wrong," he mused, "must be eternal verities, +but our standards for measuring them vary with our latitude and our +epoch. We make our customs lightly; once made, like our sins, they +grip us in bands of steel; we become the creatures of our creations. +By one standard my old office-boy should never have been born. Yet he +is a son of Adam, and came into existence in the way ordained by God +from the beginning of the world. In equity he would seem to be entitled +to his chance in life; it might have been wiser, though, for him to +seek it farther afield than South Carolina. It was too near home, even +though the laws were with him." + + + +IV + +DOWN THE RIVER + +Neither mother nor daughter slept a great deal during the night of +Warwick's first visit. Mis' Molly anointed her sacrifice with tears and +cried herself to sleep. Rena's emotions were more conflicting; she was +sorry to leave her mother, but glad to go with her brother. The mere +journey she was about to make was a great event for the two women to +contemplate, to say nothing of the golden vision that lay beyond, for +neither of them had ever been out of the town or its vicinity. + +The next day was devoted to preparations for the journey. Rena's +slender wardrobe was made ready and packed in a large valise. Towards +sunset, Mis' Molly took off her apron, put on her slat-bonnet,--she was +ever the pink of neatness,--picked her way across the street, which was +muddy from a rain during the day, traversed the foot-bridge that +spanned the ditch in front of the cooper shop, and spoke first to the +elder of the two men working there. + +"Good-evenin', Peter." + +"Good-evenin', ma'm," responded the man briefly, and not relaxing at +all the energy with which he was trimming a barrel-stave. + +Mis' Molly then accosted the younger workman, a dark-brown young man, +small in stature, but with a well-shaped head, an expressive forehead, +and features indicative of kindness, intelligence, humor, and +imagination. "Frank," she asked, "can I git you to do somethin' fer me +soon in the mo'nin'?" + +"Yas 'm, I reckon so," replied the young man, resting his hatchet on +the chopping-block. "W'at is it, Mis' Molly?" + +"My daughter 's goin' away on the boat, an' I 'lowed you would n' min' +totin' her kyarpet-bag down to the w'arf, onless you'd ruther haul it +down on yo'r kyart. It ain't very heavy. Of co'se I'll pay you fer +yo'r trouble." + +"Thank y', ma'm," he replied. He knew that she would not pay him, for +the simple reason that he would not accept pay for such a service. "Is +she gwine fur?" he asked, with a sorrowful look, which he could not +entirely disguise. + +"As fur as Wilmin'ton an' beyon'. She'll be visitin' her brother John, +who lives in--another State, an' wants her to come an' see him." + +"Yas 'm, I'll come. I won' need de kyart--I'll tote de bag. 'Bout +w'at time shill I come over?" + +"Well, 'long 'bout seven o'clock or half pas'. She's goin' on the Old +North State, an' it leaves at eight." + +Frank stood looking after Mis' Molly as she picked her way across the +street, until he was recalled to his duty by a sharp word from his +father. + +"'Ten' ter yo' wuk, boy, 'ten' ter yo' wuk. You 're wastin' yo' +time--wastin' yo' time!" + +Yes, he was wasting his time. The beautiful young girl across the +street could never be anything to him. But he had saved her life once, +and had dreamed that he might render her again some signal service that +might win her friendship, and convince her of his humble devotion. For +Frank was not proud. A smile, which Peter would have regarded as +condescending to a free man, who, since the war, was as good as anybody +else; a kind word, which Peter would have considered offensively +patronizing; a piece of Mis' Molly's famous potato pone from Rena's +hands,--a bone to a dog, Peter called it once;--were ample rewards for +the thousand and one small services Frank had rendered the two women +who lived in the house behind the cedars. + + +Frank went over in the morning a little ahead of the appointed time, +and waited on the back piazza until his services were required. + +"You ain't gwine ter be gone long, is you, Miss Rena?" he inquired, +when Rena came out dressed for the journey in her best frock, with +broad white collar and cuffs. + +Rena did not know. She had been asking herself the same question. All +sorts of vague dreams had floated through her mind during the last few +hours, as to what the future might bring forth. But she detected the +anxious note in Frank's voice, and had no wish to give this faithful +friend of the family unnecessary pain. + +"Oh, no, Frank, I reckon not. I'm supposed to be just going on a short +visit. My brother has lost his wife, and wishes me to come and stay +with him awhile, and look after his little boy." + +"I'm feared you'll lack it better dere, Miss Rena," replied Frank +sorrowfully, dropping his mask of unconcern, "an' den you won't come +back, an' none er yo' frien's won't never see you no mo'." + +"You don't think, Frank," asked Rena severely, "that I would leave my +mother and my home and all my friends, and NEVER come back again?" + +"Why, no 'ndeed," interposed Mis' Molly wistfully, as she hovered +around her daughter, giving her hair or her gown a touch here and +there; "she'll be so homesick in a month that she'll be willin' to walk +home." + +"You would n' never hafter do dat, Miss Rena," returned Frank, with a +disconsolate smile. "Ef you ever wanter come home, an' can't git back +no other way, jes' let ME know, an' I'll take my mule an' my kyart an' +fetch you back, ef it's from de een' er de worl'." + +"Thank you, Frank, I believe you would," said the girl kindly. "You're +a true friend, Frank, and I'll not forget you while I'm gone." + +The idea of her beautiful daughter riding home from the end of the +world with Frank, in a cart, behind a one-eyed mule, struck Mis' Molly +as the height of the ridiculous--she was in a state of excitement where +tears or laughter would have come with equal ease--and she turned away +to hide her merriment. Her daughter was going to live in a fine house, +and marry a rich man, and ride in her carriage. Of course a negro +would drive the carriage, but that was different from riding with one +in a cart. + +When it was time to go, Mis' Molly and Rena set out on foot for the +river, which was only a short distance away. Frank followed with the +valise. There was no gathering of friends to see Rena off, as might +have been the case under different circumstances. Her departure had +some of the characteristics of a secret flight; it was as important +that her destination should not be known, as it had been that her +brother should conceal his presence in the town. + +Mis' Molly and Rena remained on the bank until the steamer announced, +with a raucous whistle, its readiness to depart. Warwick was seen for +a moment on the upper deck, from which he greeted them with a smile and +a slight nod. He had bidden his mother an affectionate farewell the +evening before. Rena gave her hand to Frank. + +"Good-by, Frank," she said, with a kind smile; "I hope you and mamma +will be good friends while I'm gone." + +The whistle blew a second warning blast, and the deck hands prepared to +draw in the gang-plank. Rena flew into her mother's arms, and then, +breaking away, hurried on board and retired to her state-room, from +which she did not emerge during the journey. The window-blinds were +closed, darkening the room, and the stewardess who came to ask if she +should bring her some dinner could not see her face distinctly, but +perceived enough to make her surmise that the young lady had been +weeping. + +"Po' chile," murmured the sympathetic colored woman, "I reckon some er +her folks is dead, er her sweetheart 's gone back on her, er e'se she's +had some kin' er bad luck er 'nuther. W'ite folks has deir troubles +jes' ez well ez black folks, an' sometimes feels 'em mo', 'cause dey +ain't ez use' ter 'em." + +Mis' Molly went back in sadness to the lonely house behind the cedars, +henceforth to be peopled for her with only the memory of those she had +loved. She had paid with her heart's blood another installment on the +Shylock's bond exacted by society for her own happiness of the past and +her children's prospects for the future. + +The journey down the sluggish river to the seaboard in the +flat-bottomed, stern-wheel steamer lasted all day and most of the +night. During the first half-day, the boat grounded now and then upon +a sand-bank, and the half-naked negro deck-hands toiled with ropes and +poles to release it. Several times before Rena fell asleep that night, +the steamer would tie up at a landing, and by the light of huge pine +torches she watched the boat hands send the yellow turpentine barrels +down the steep bank in a long string, or pass cord-wood on board from +hand to hand. The excited negroes, their white teeth and eyeballs +glistening in the surrounding darkness to which their faces formed no +relief; the white officers in brown linen, shouting, swearing, and +gesticulating; the yellow, flickering torchlight over all,--made up a +scene of which the weird interest would have appealed to a more blase +traveler than this girl upon her first journey. + +During the day, Warwick had taken his meals in the dining-room, with +the captain and the other cabin passengers. It was learned that he was +a South Carolina lawyer, and not a carpet-bagger. Such credentials were +unimpeachable, and the passengers found him a very agreeable traveling +companion. Apparently sound on the subject of negroes, Yankees, and +the righteousness of the lost cause, he yet discussed these themes in a +lofty and impersonal manner that gave his words greater weight than if +he had seemed warped by a personal grievance. His attitude, in fact, +piqued the curiosity of one or two of the passengers. + +"Did your people lose any niggers?" asked one of them. + +"My father owned a hundred," he replied grandly. + +Their respect for his views was doubled. It is easy to moralize about +the misfortunes of others, and to find good in the evil that they +suffer;--only a true philosopher could speak thus lightly of his own +losses. + +When the steamer tied up at the wharf at Wilmington, in the early +morning, the young lawyer and a veiled lady passenger drove in the same +carriage to a hotel. After they had breakfasted in a private room, +Warwick explained to his sister the plan he had formed for her future. +Henceforth she must be known as Miss Warwick, dropping the old name +with the old life. He would place her for a year in a boarding-school +at Charleston, after which she would take her place as the mistress of +his house. Having imparted this information, he took his sister for a +drive through the town. There for the first time Rena saw great ships, +which, her brother told her, sailed across the mighty ocean to distant +lands, whose flags he pointed out drooping lazily at the mast-heads. +The business portion of the town had "an ancient and fishlike smell," +and most of the trade seemed to be in cotton and naval stores and +products of the sea. The wharves were piled high with cotton bales, +and there were acres of barrels of resin and pitch and tar and spirits +of turpentine. The market, a long, low, wooden structure, in the middle +of the principal street, was filled with a mass of people of all +shades, from blue-black to Saxon blonde, gabbling and gesticulating +over piles of oysters and clams and freshly caught fish of varied hue. +By ten o'clock the sun was beating down so fiercely that the glitter of +the white, sandy streets dazzled and pained the eyes unaccustomed to +it, and Rena was glad to be driven back to the hotel. The travelers +left together on an early afternoon train. + +Thus for the time being was severed the last tie that bound Rena to her +narrow past, and for some time to come the places and the people who +had known her once were to know her no more. + +Some few weeks later, Mis' Molly called upon old Judge Straight with +reference to the taxes on her property. + +"Your son came in to see me the other day," he remarked. "He seems to +have got along." + +"Oh, yes, judge, he's done fine, John has; an' he's took his sister +away with him." + +"Ah!" exclaimed the judge. Then after a pause he added, "I hope she +may do as well." + +"Thank you, sir," she said, with a curtsy, as she rose to go. "We've +always knowed that you were our friend and wished us well." + +The judge looked after her as she walked away. Her bearing had a touch +of timidity, a shade of affectation, and yet a certain pathetic dignity. + +"It is a pity," he murmured, with a sigh, "that men cannot select their +mothers. My young friend John has builded, whether wisely or not, very +well; but he has come back into the old life and carried away a part of +it, and I fear that this addition will weaken the structure." + + + +V + +THE TOURNAMENT + +The annual tournament of the Clarence Social Club was about to begin. +The county fairground, where all was in readiness, sparkled with the +youth and beauty of the town, standing here and there under the trees +in animated groups, or moving toward the seats from which the pageant +might be witnessed. A quarter of a mile of the race track, to right +and left of the judges' stand, had been laid off for the lists. +Opposite the grand stand, which occupied a considerable part of this +distance, a dozen uprights had been erected at measured intervals. +Projecting several feet over the track from each of these uprights was +an iron crossbar, from which an iron hook depended. Between the +uprights stout posts were planted, of such a height that their tops +could be easily reached by a swinging sword-cut from a mounted rider +passing upon the track. The influence of Walter Scott was strong upon +the old South. The South before the war was essentially feudal, and +Scott's novels of chivalry appealed forcefully to the feudal heart. +During the month preceding the Clarence tournament, the local +bookseller had closed out his entire stock of "Ivanhoe," consisting of +five copies, and had taken orders for seven copies more. The +tournament scene in this popular novel furnished the model after which +these bloodless imitations of the ancient passages-at-arms were +conducted, with such variations as were required to adapt them to a +different age and civilization. + +The best people gradually filled the grand stand, while the poorer +white and colored folks found seats outside, upon what would now be +known as the "bleachers," or stood alongside the lists. The knights, +masquerading in fanciful costumes, in which bright-colored garments, +gilt paper, and cardboard took the place of knightly harness, were +mounted on spirited horses. Most of them were gathered at one end of +the lists, while others practiced their steeds upon the unoccupied +portion of the race track. + +The judges entered the grand stand, and one of them, after looking at +his watch, gave a signal. Immediately a herald, wearing a bright yellow +sash, blew a loud blast upon a bugle, and, big with the importance of +his office, galloped wildly down the lists. An attendant on horseback +busied himself hanging upon each of the pendent hooks an iron ring, of +some two inches in diameter, while another, on foot, placed on top of +each of the shorter posts a wooden ball some four inches through. + +"It's my first tournament," observed a lady near the front of the grand +stand, leaning over and addressing John Warwick, who was seated in the +second row, in company with a very handsome girl. "It is somewhat +different from Ashby-de-la-Zouch." + +"It is the renaissance of chivalry, Mrs. Newberry," replied the young +lawyer, "and, like any other renaissance, it must adapt itself to new +times and circumstances. For instance, when we build a Greek portico, +having no Pentelic marble near at hand, we use a pine-tree, one of +nature's columns, which Grecian art at its best could only copy and +idealize. Our knights are not weighted down with heavy armor, but much +more appropriately attired, for a day like this, in costumes that +recall the picturesqueness, without the discomfort, of the old knightly +harness. For an iron-headed lance we use a wooden substitute, with +which we transfix rings instead of hearts; while our trusty blades hew +their way through wooden blocks instead of through flesh and blood. It +is a South Carolina renaissance which has points of advantage over the +tournaments of the olden time." + +"I'm afraid, Mr. Warwick," said the lady, "that you're the least bit +heretical about our chivalry--or else you're a little too deep for me." + +"The last would be impossible, Mrs. Newberry; and I'm sure our chivalry +has proved its valor on many a hard-fought field. The spirit of a +thing, after all, is what counts; and what is lacking here? We have +the lists, the knights, the prancing steeds, the trial of strength and +skill. If our knights do not run the physical risks of +Ashby-de-la-Zouch, they have all the mental stimulus. Wounded vanity +will take the place of wounded limbs, and there will be broken hopes in +lieu of broken heads. How many hearts in yonder group of gallant +horsemen beat high with hope! How many possible Queens of Love and +Beauty are in this group of fair faces that surround us!" + +The lady was about to reply, when the bugle sounded again, and the +herald dashed swiftly back upon his prancing steed to the waiting group +of riders. The horsemen formed three abreast, and rode down the lists +in orderly array. As they passed the grand stand, each was conscious +of the battery of bright eyes turned upon him, and each gave by his +bearing some idea of his ability to stand fire from such weapons. One +horse pranced proudly, another caracoled with grace. One rider +fidgeted nervously, another trembled and looked the other way. Each +horseman carried in his hand a long wooden lance and wore at his side a +cavalry sabre, of which there were plenty to be had since the war, at +small expense. Several left the ranks and drew up momentarily beside +the grand stand, where they took from fair hands a glove or a flower, +which was pinned upon the rider's breast or fastened upon his hat--a +ribbon or a veil, which was tied about the lance like a pennon, but far +enough from the point not to interfere with the usefulness of the +weapon. + +As the troop passed the lower end of the grand stand, a horse, excited +by the crowd, became somewhat unmanageable, and in the effort to curb +him, the rider dropped his lance. The prancing animal reared, brought +one of his hoofs down upon the fallen lance with considerable force, +and sent a broken piece of it flying over the railing opposite the +grand stand, into the middle of a group of spectators standing there. +The flying fragment was dodged by those who saw it coming, but brought +up with a resounding thwack against the head of a colored man in the +second row, who stood watching the grand stand with an eager and +curious gaze. He rubbed his head ruefully, and made a good-natured +response to the chaffing of his neighbors, who, seeing no great harm +done, made witty and original remarks about the advantage of being +black upon occasions where one's skull was exposed to danger. Finding +that the blow had drawn blood, the young man took out a red bandana +handkerchief and tied it around his head, meantime letting his eye roam +over the faces in the grand stand, as though in search of some one that +he expected or hoped to find there. + +The knights, having reached the end of the lists, now turned and rode +back in open order, with such skillful horsemanship as to evoke a storm +of applause from the spectators. The ladies in the grand stand waved +their handkerchiefs vigorously, and the men clapped their hands. The +beautiful girl seated by Warwick's side accidentally let a little +square of white lace-trimmed linen slip from her hand. It fluttered +lightly over the railing, and, buoyed up by the air, settled slowly +toward the lists. A young rider in the approaching rear rank saw the +handkerchief fall, and darting swiftly forward, caught it on the point +of his lance ere it touched the ground. He drew up his horse and made +a movement as though to extend the handkerchief toward the lady, who +was blushing profusely at the attention she had attracted by her +carelessness. The rider hesitated a moment, glanced interrogatively at +Warwick, and receiving a smile in return, tied the handkerchief around +the middle of his lance and quickly rejoined his comrades at the head +of the lists. + +The young man with the bandage round his head, on the benches across +the lists, had forced his way to the front row and was leaning against +the railing. His restless eye was attracted by the falling +handkerchief, and his face, hitherto anxious, suddenly lit up with +animation. + +"Yas, suh, yas, suh, it's her!" he muttered softly. "It's Miss Rena, +sho's you bawn. She looked lack a' angel befo', but now, up dere +'mongs' all dem rich, fine folks, she looks lack a whole flock er +angels. Dey ain' one er dem ladies w'at could hol' a candle ter her. +I wonder w'at dat man's gwine ter do wid her handkercher? I s'pose +he's her gent'eman now. I wonder ef she'd know me er speak ter me ef +she seed me? I reckon she would, spite er her gittin' up so in de +worl'; fer she wuz alluz good ter ev'ybody, an' dat let even ME in," he +concluded with a sigh. + +"Who is the lady, Tryon?" asked one of the young men, addressing the +knight who had taken the handkerchief. + +"A Miss Warwick," replied the knight pleasantly, "Miss Rowena Warwick, +the lawyer's sister." + +"I didn't know he had a sister," rejoined the first speaker. "I envy +you your lady. There are six Rebeccas and eight Rowenas of my own +acquaintance in the grand stand, but she throws them all into the +shade. She hasn't been here long, surely; I haven't seen her before." + +"She has been away at school; she came only last night," returned the +knight of the crimson sash, briefly. He was already beginning to feel +a proprietary interest in the lady whose token he wore, and did not +care to discuss her with a casual acquaintance. + +The herald sounded the charge. A rider darted out from the group and +galloped over the course. As he passed under each ring, he tried to +catch it on the point of his lance,--a feat which made the management +of the horse with the left hand necessary, and required a true eye and +a steady arm. The rider captured three of the twelve rings, knocked +three others off the hooks, and left six undisturbed. Turning at the +end of the lists, he took the lance with the reins in the left hand and +drew his sword with the right. He then rode back over the course, +cutting at the wooden balls upon the posts. Of these he clove one in +twain, to use the parlance of chivalry, and knocked two others off +their supports. His performance was greeted with a liberal measure of +applause, for which he bowed in smiling acknowledgment as he took his +place among the riders. + +Again the herald's call sounded, and the tourney went forward. Rider +after rider, with varying skill, essayed his fortune with lance and +sword. Some took a liberal proportion of the rings; others merely +knocked them over the boundaries, where they were collected by agile +little negro boys and handed back to the attendants. A balking horse +caused the spectators much amusement and his rider no little chagrin. + +The lady who had dropped the handkerchief kept her eye upon the knight +who had bound it round his lance. "Who is he, John?" she asked the +gentleman beside her. + +"That, my dear Rowena, is my good friend and client, George Tryon, of +North Carolina. If he had been a stranger, I should have said that he +took a liberty; but as things stand, we ought to regard it as a +compliment. The incident is quite in accord with the customs of +chivalry. If George were but masked and you were veiled, we should +have a romantic situation,--you the mysterious damsel in distress, he +the unknown champion. The parallel, my dear, might not be so hard to +draw, even as things are. But look, it is his turn now; I'll wager +that he makes a good run." + +"I'll take you up on that, Mr. Warwick," said Mrs. Newberry from +behind, who seemed to have a very keen ear for whatever Warwick said. + +Rena's eyes were fastened on her knight, so that she might lose no +single one of his movements. As he rode down the lists, more than one +woman found him pleasant to look upon. He was a tall, fair young man, +with gray eyes, and a frank, open face. He wore a slight mustache, and +when he smiled, showed a set of white and even teeth. He was mounted +on a very handsome and spirited bay mare, was clad in a picturesque +costume, of which velvet knee-breeches and a crimson scarf were the +most conspicuous features, and displayed a marked skill in +horsemanship. At the blast of the bugle his horse started forward, +and, after the first few rods, settled into an even gallop. Tryon's +lance, held truly and at the right angle, captured the first ring, then +the second and third. His coolness and steadiness seemed not at all +disturbed by the applause which followed, and one by one the remaining +rings slipped over the point of his lance, until at the end he had +taken every one of the twelve. Holding the lance with its booty of +captured rings in his left hand, together with the bridle rein, he drew +his sabre with the right and rode back over the course. His horse moved +like clockwork, his eye was true and his hand steady. Three of the +wooden balls fell from the posts, split fairly in the middle, while +from the fourth he sliced off a goodly piece and left the remainder +standing in its place. + +This performance, by far the best up to this point, and barely escaping +perfection, elicited a storm of applause. The rider was not so well +known to the townspeople as some of the other participants, and his +name passed from mouth to mouth in answer to numerous inquiries. The +girl whose token he had worn also became an object of renewed interest, +because of the result to her in case the knight should prove victor in +the contest, of which there could now scarcely be a doubt; for but +three riders remained, and it was very improbable that any one of them +would excel the last. Wagers for the remainder of the tourney stood +anywhere from five, and even from ten to one, in favor of the knight of +the crimson sash, and when the last course had been run, his backers +were jubilant. No one of those following him had displayed anything +like equal skill. + +The herald now blew his bugle and declared the tournament closed. The +judges put their heads together for a moment. The bugle sounded again, +and the herald announced in a loud voice that Sir George Tryon, having +taken the greatest number of rings and split the largest number of +balls, was proclaimed victor in the tournament and entitled to the +flowery chaplet of victory. + +Tryon, having bowed repeatedly in response to the liberal applause, +advanced to the judges' stand and received the trophy from the hands of +the chief judge, who exhorted him to wear the garland worthily, and to +yield it only to a better man. + +"It will be your privilege, Sir George," announced the judge, "as the +chief reward of your valor, to select from the assembled beauty of +Clarence the lady whom you wish to honor, to whom we will all do homage +as the Queen of Love and Beauty." + +Tryon took the wreath and bowed his thanks. Then placing the trophy on +the point of his lance, he spoke earnestly for a moment to the herald, +and rode past the grand stand, from which there was another outburst of +applause. Returning upon his tracks, the knight of the crimson sash +paused before the group where Warwick and his sister sat, and lowered +the wreath thrice before the lady whose token he had won. + +"Oyez! Oyez!" cried the herald; "Sir George Tryon, the victor in the +tournament, has chosen Miss Rowena Warwick as the Queen of Love and +Beauty, and she will be crowned at the feast to-night and receive the +devoirs of all true knights." + +The fair-ground was soon covered with scattered groups of the +spectators of the tournament. In one group a vanquished knight +explained in elaborate detail why it was that he had failed to win the +wreath. More than one young woman wondered why some one of the home +young men could not have taken the honors, or, if the stranger must win +them, why he could not have selected some belle of the town as Queen of +Love and Beauty instead of this upstart girl who had blown into the +town over night, as one might say. + +Warwick and his sister, standing under a spreading elm, held a little +court of their own. A dozen gentlemen and several ladies had sought an +introduction before Tryon came up. + +"I suppose John would have a right to call me out, Miss Warwick," said +Tryon, when he had been formally introduced and had shaken hands with +Warwick's sister, "for taking liberties with the property and name of a +lady to whom I had not had an introduction; but I know John so well +that you seemed like an old acquaintance; and when I saw you, and +recalled your name, which your brother had mentioned more than once, I +felt instinctively that you ought to be the queen. I entered my name +only yesterday, merely to swell the number and make the occasion more +interesting. These fellows have been practicing for a month, and I had +no hope of winning. I should have been satisfied, indeed, if I hadn't +made myself ridiculous; but when you dropped your handkerchief, I felt +a sudden inspiration; and as soon as I had tied it upon my lance, +victory perched upon my saddle-bow, guided my lance and sword, and +rings and balls went down before me like chaff before the wind. Oh, it +was a great inspiration, Miss Warwick!" + +Rena, for it was our Patesville acquaintance fresh from +boarding-school, colored deeply at this frank and fervid flattery, and +could only murmur an inarticulate reply. Her year of instruction, +while distinctly improving her mind and manners, had scarcely prepared +her for so sudden an elevation into a grade of society to which she had +hitherto been a stranger. She was not without a certain courage, +however, and her brother, who remained at her side, helped her over the +most difficult situations. + +"We'll forgive you, George," replied Warwick, "if you'll come home to +luncheon with us." + +"I'm mighty sorry--awfully sorry," returned Tryon, with evident regret, +"but I have another engagement, which I can scarcely break, even by the +command of royalty. At what time shall I call for Miss Warwick this +evening? I believe that privilege is mine, along with the other honors +and rewards of victory,--unless she is bound to some one else." + +"She is entirely free," replied Warwick. "Come as early as you like, +and I'll talk to you until she's ready." + +Tryon bowed himself away, and after a number of gentlemen and a few +ladies had paid their respects to the Queen of Love and Beauty, and +received an introduction to her, Warwick signaled to the servant who +had his carriage in charge, and was soon driving homeward with his +sister. No one of the party noticed a young negro, with a handkerchief +bound around his head, who followed them until the carriage turned into +the gate and swept up the wide drive that led to Warwick's doorstep. + +"Well, Rena," said Warwick, when they found themselves alone, "you have +arrived. Your debut into society is a little more spectacular than I +should have wished, but we must rise to the occasion and make the most +of it. You are winning the first fruits of your opportunity. You are +the most envied woman in Clarence at this particular moment, and, +unless I am mistaken, will be the most admired at the ball to-night." + + + +VI + +THE QUEEN OF LOVE AND BEAUTY + +Shortly after luncheon, Rena had a visitor in the person of Mrs. +Newberry, a vivacious young widow of the town, who proffered her +services to instruct Rena in the etiquette of the annual ball. + +"Now, my dear," said Mrs. Newberry, "the first thing to do is to get +your coronation robe ready. It simply means a gown with a long train. +You have a lovely white waist. Get right into my buggy, and we'll go +down town to get the cloth, take it over to Mrs. Marshall's, and have +her run you up a skirt this afternoon." + +Rena placed herself unreservedly in the hands of Mrs. Newberry, who +introduced her to the best dressmaker of the town, a woman of much +experience in such affairs, who improvised during the afternoon a gown +suited to the occasion. Mrs. Marshall had made more than a dozen ball +dresses during the preceding month; being a wise woman and +understanding her business thoroughly, she had made each one of them so +that with a few additional touches it might serve for the Queen of Love +and Beauty. This was her first direct order for the specific garment. + +Tryon escorted Rena to the ball, which was held in the principal public +hall of the town, and attended by all the best people. The champion +still wore the costume of the morning, in place of evening dress, save +that long stockings and dancing-pumps had taken the place of +riding-boots. Rena went through the ordeal very creditably. Her shyness +was palpable, but it was saved from awkwardness by her native grace and +good sense. She made up in modesty what she lacked in aplomb. Her +months in school had not eradicated a certain self-consciousness born +of her secret. The brain-cells never lose the impressions of youth, and +Rena's Patesville life was not far enough removed to have lost its +distinctness of outline. Of the two, the present was more of a dream, +the past was the more vivid reality. At school she had learned +something from books and not a little from observation. She had been +able to compare herself with other girls, and to see wherein she +excelled or fell short of them. With a sincere desire for improvement, +and a wish to please her brother and do him credit, she had sought to +make the most of her opportunities. Building upon a foundation of +innate taste and intelligence, she had acquired much of the +self-possession which comes from a knowledge of correct standards of +deportment. She had moreover learned without difficulty, for it suited +her disposition, to keep silence when she could not speak to advantage. +A certain necessary reticence about the past added strength to a +natural reserve. Thus equipped, she held her own very well in the +somewhat trying ordeal of the ball, at which the fiction of queenship +and the attendant ceremonies, which were pretty and graceful, made her +the most conspicuous figure. Few of those who watched her move with +easy grace through the measures of the dance could have guessed how +nearly her heart was in her mouth during much of the time. + +"You're doing splendidly, my dear," said Mrs. Newberry, who had +constituted herself Rena's chaperone. + +"I trust your Gracious Majesty is pleased with the homage of your +devoted subjects," said Tryon, who spent much of his time by her side +and kept up the character of knight in his speech and manner. + +"Very much," replied the Queen of Love and Beauty, with a somewhat +tired smile. It was pleasant, but she would be glad, she thought, when +it was all over. + +"Keep up your courage," whispered her brother. "You are not only queen, +but the belle of the ball. I am proud of you. A dozen women here +would give a year off the latter end of life to be in your shoes +to-night." + +Rena felt immensely relieved when the hour arrived at which she could +take her departure, which was to be the signal for the breaking-up of +the ball. She was driven home in Tryon's carriage, her brother +accompanying them. The night was warm, and the drive homeward under +the starlight, in the open carriage, had a soothing effect upon Rena's +excited nerves. The calm restfulness of the night, the cool blue +depths of the unclouded sky, the solemn croaking of the frogs in a +distant swamp, were much more in harmony with her nature than the +crowded brilliancy of the ball-room. She closed her eyes, and, leaning +back in the carriage, thought of her mother, who she wished might have +seen her daughter this night. A momentary pang of homesickness pierced +her tender heart, and she furtively wiped away the tears that came into +her eyes. + +"Good-night, fair Queen!" exclaimed Tryon, breaking into her reverie as +the carriage rolled up to the doorstep, "and let your loyal subject +kiss your hand in token of his fealty. May your Majesty never abdicate +her throne, and may she ever count me her humble servant and devoted +knight." + +"And now, sister," said Warwick, when Tryon had been driven away, "now +that the masquerade is over, let us to sleep, and to-morrow take up the +serious business of life. Your day has been a glorious success!" + +He put his arm around her and gave her a kiss and a brotherly hug. + +"It is a dream," she murmured sleepily, "only a dream. I am Cinderella +before the clock has struck. Good-night, dear John." + +"Good-night, Rowena." + + + +VII + +'MID NEW SURROUNDINGS + +Warwick's residence was situated in the outskirts of the town. It was +a fine old plantation house, built in colonial times, with a stately +colonnade, wide verandas, and long windows with Venetian blinds. It +was painted white, and stood back several rods from the street, in a +charming setting of palmettoes, magnolias, and flowering shrubs. Rena +had always thought her mother's house large, but now it seemed cramped +and narrow, in comparison with this roomy mansion. The furniture was +old-fashioned and massive. The great brass andirons on the wide hearth +stood like sentinels proclaiming and guarding the dignity of the +family. The spreading antlers on the wall testified to a mighty hunter +in some past generation. The portraits of Warwick's wife's +ancestors--high featured, proud men and women, dressed in the fashions +of a bygone age--looked down from tarnished gilt frames. It was all +very novel to her, and very impressive. When she ate off china, with +silver knives and forks that had come down as heirlooms, escaping +somehow the ravages and exigencies of the war time,--Warwick told her +afterwards how he had buried them out of reach of friend or foe,--she +thought that her brother must be wealthy, and she felt very proud of +him and of her opportunity. The servants, of whom there were several +in the house, treated her with a deference to which her eight months in +school had only partly accustomed her. At school she had been one of +many to be served, and had herself been held to obedience. Here, for +the first time in her life, she was mistress, and tasted the sweets of +power. + +The household consisted of her brother and herself, a cook, a coachman, +a nurse, and her brother's little son Albert. The child, with a fine +instinct, had put out his puny arms to Rena at first sight, and she had +clasped the little man to her bosom with a motherly caress. She had +always loved weak creatures. Kittens and puppies had ever found a +welcome and a meal at Rena's hands, only to be chased away by Mis' +Molly, who had had a wider experience. No shiftless poor white, no +half-witted or hungry negro, had ever gone unfed from Mis' Molly's +kitchen door if Rena were there to hear his plaint. Little Albert was +pale and sickly when she came, but soon bloomed again in the sunshine +of her care, and was happy only in her presence. Warwick found +pleasure in their growing love for each other, and was glad to perceive +that the child formed a living link to connect her with his home. + +"Dat chile sutt'nly do lub Miss Rena, an' dat's a fac', sho 's you +bawn," remarked 'Lissa the cook to Mimy the nurse one day. "You'll get +yo' nose put out er j'int, ef you don't min'." + +"I ain't frettin', honey," laughed the nurse good-naturedly. She was +not at all jealous. She had the same wages as before, and her labors +were materially lightened by the aunt's attention to the child. This +gave Mimy much more time to flirt with Tom the coachman. + +It was a source of much gratification to Warwick that his sister seemed +to adapt herself so easily to the new conditions. Her graceful +movements, the quiet elegance with which she wore even the simplest +gown, the easy authoritativeness with which she directed the servants, +were to him proofs of superior quality, and he felt correspondingly +proud of her. His feeling for her was something more than brotherly +love,--he was quite conscious that there were degrees in brotherly +love, and that if she had been homely or stupid, he would never have +disturbed her in the stagnant life of the house behind the cedars. +There had come to him from some source, down the stream of time, a rill +of the Greek sense of proportion, of fitness, of beauty, which is +indeed but proportion embodied, the perfect adaptation of means to +ends. He had perceived, more clearly than she could have appreciated +it at that time, the undeveloped elements of discord between Rena and +her former life. He had imagined her lending grace and charm to his +own household. Still another motive, a purely psychological one, had +more or less consciously influenced him. He had no fear that the +family secret would ever be discovered,--he had taken his precautions +too thoroughly, he thought, for that; and yet he could not but feel, at +times, that if peradventure--it was a conceivable hypothesis--it should +become known, his fine social position would collapse like a house of +cards. Because of this knowledge, which the world around him did not +possess, he had felt now and then a certain sense of loneliness; and +there was a measure of relief in having about him one who knew his +past, and yet whose knowledge, because of their common interest, would +not interfere with his present or jeopardize his future. For he had +always been, in a figurative sense, a naturalized foreigner in the +world of wide opportunity, and Rena was one of his old compatriots, +whom he was glad to welcome into the populous loneliness of his adopted +country. + + + +VIII + +THE COURTSHIP + +In a few weeks the echoes of the tournament died away, and Rena's life +settled down into a pleasant routine, which she found much more +comfortable than her recent spectacular prominence. Her queenship, +while not entirely forgiven by the ladies of the town, had gained for +her a temporary social prominence. Among her own sex, Mrs. Newberry +proved a warm and enthusiastic friend. Rumor whispered that the lively +young widow would not be unwilling to console Warwick in the loneliness +of the old colonial mansion, to which his sister was a most excellent +medium of approach. Whether this was true or not it is unnecessary to +inquire, for it is no part of this story, except as perhaps indicating +why Mrs. Newberry played the part of the female friend, without whom no +woman is ever launched successfully in a small and conservative +society. Her brother's standing gave her the right of social entry; +the tournament opened wide the door, and Mrs. Newberry performed the +ceremony of introduction. Rena had many visitors during the month +following the tournament, and might have made her choice from among a +dozen suitors; but among them all, her knight of the handkerchief found +most favor. + + +George Tryon had come to Clarence a few months before upon business +connected with the settlement of his grandfather's estate. A rather +complicated litigation had grown up around the affair, various phases +of which had kept Tryon almost constantly in the town. He had placed +matters in Warwick's hands, and had formed a decided friendship for his +attorney, for whom he felt a frank admiration. Tryon was only +twenty-three, and his friend's additional five years, supplemented by a +certain professional gravity, commanded a great deal of respect from +the younger man. When Tryon had known Warwick for a week, he had been +ready to swear by him. Indeed, Warwick was a man for whom most people +formed a liking at first sight. To this power of attraction he owed +most of his success--first with Judge Straight, of Patesville, then +with the lawyer whose office he had entered at Clarence, with the woman +who became his wife, and with the clients for whom he transacted +business. Tryon would have maintained against all comers that Warwick +was the finest fellow in the world. When he met Warwick's sister, the +foundation for admiration had already been laid. If Rena had proved to +be a maiden lady of uncertain age and doubtful personal attractiveness, +Tryon would probably have found in her a most excellent lady, worthy of +all respect and esteem, and would have treated her with profound +deference and sedulous courtesy. When she proved to be a young and +handsome woman, of the type that he admired most, he was capable of any +degree of infatuation. His mother had for a long time wanted him to +marry the orphan daughter of an old friend, a vivacious blonde, who +worshiped him. He had felt friendly towards her, but had shrunk from +matrimony. He did not want her badly enough to give up his freedom. +The war had interfered with his education, and though fairly well +instructed, he had never attended college. In his own opinion, he +ought to see something of the world, and have his youthful fling. +Later on, when he got ready to settle down, if Blanche were still in +the humor, they might marry, and sink to the humdrum level of other old +married people. The fact that Blanche Leary was visiting his mother +during his unexpectedly long absence had not operated at all to hasten +his return to North Carolina. He had been having a very good time at +Clarence, and, at the distance of several hundred miles, was safe for +the time being from any immediate danger of marriage. + +With Rena's advent, however, he had seen life through different +glasses. His heart had thrilled at first sight of this tall girl, with +the ivory complexion, the rippling brown hair, and the inscrutable +eyes. When he became better acquainted with her, he liked to think +that her thoughts centred mainly in himself; and in this he was not far +wrong. He discovered that she had a short upper lip, and what seemed +to him an eminently kissable mouth. After he had dined twice at +Warwick's, subsequently to the tournament,--his lucky choice of Rena +had put him at once upon a household footing with the family,--his +views of marriage changed entirely. It now seemed to him the duty, as +well as the high and holy privilege of a young man, to marry and +manfully to pay his debt to society. When in Rena's presence, he could +not imagine how he had ever contemplated the possibility of marriage +with Blanche Leary,--she was utterly, entirely, and hopelessly unsuited +to him. For a fair man of vivacious temperament, this stately dark +girl was the ideal mate. Even his mother would admit this, if she +could only see Rena. To win this beautiful girl for his wife would be +a worthy task. He had crowned her Queen of Love and Beauty; since then +she had ascended the throne of his heart. He would make her queen of +his home and mistress of his life. + +To Rena this brief month's courtship came as a new education. Not only +had this fair young man crowned her queen, and honored her above all +the ladies in town; but since then he had waited assiduously upon her, +had spoken softly to her, had looked at her with shining eyes, and had +sought to be alone with her. The time soon came when to touch his hand +in greeting sent a thrill through her frame,--a time when she listened +for his footstep and was happy in his presence. He had been bold +enough at the tournament; he had since become somewhat bashful and +constrained. He must be in love, she thought, and wondered how soon he +would speak. If it were so sweet to walk with him in the garden, or +along the shaded streets, to sit with him, to feel the touch of his +hand, what happiness would it not be to hear him say that he loved +her--to bear his name, to live with him always. To be thus loved and +honored by this handsome young man,--she could hardly believe it +possible. He would never speak--he would discover her secret and +withdraw. She turned pale at the thought,--ah, God! something would +happen,--it was too good to be true. The Prince would never try on the +glass slipper. + +Tryon first told his love for Rena one summer evening on their way home +from church. They were walking in the moonlight along the quiet +street, which, but for their presence, seemed quite deserted. + +"Miss Warwick--Rowena," he said, clasping with his right hand the hand +that rested on his left arm, "I love you! Do you--love me?" + +To Rena this simple avowal came with much greater force than a more +formal declaration could have had. It appealed to her own simple +nature. Indeed, few women at such a moment criticise the form in which +the most fateful words of life--but one--are spoken. Words, while +pleasant, are really superfluous. Her whispered "Yes" spoke volumes. + +They walked on past the house, along the country road into which the +street soon merged. When they returned, an hour later, they found +Warwick seated on the piazza, in a rocking-chair, smoking a fragrant +cigar. + +"Well, children," he observed with mock severity, "you are late in +getting home from church. The sermon must have been extremely long." + +"We have been attending an after-meeting," replied Tryon joyfully, "and +have been discussing an old text, 'Little children, love one another,' +and its corollary, 'It is not good for man to live alone.' John, I am +the happiest man alive. Your sister has promised to marry me. I +should like to shake my brother's hand." + +Never does one feel so strongly the universal brotherhood of man as +when one loves some other fellow's sister. Warwick sprang from his +chair and clasped Tryon's extended hand with real emotion. He knew of +no man whom he would have preferred to Tryon as a husband for his +sister. + +"My dear George--my dear sister," he exclaimed, "I am very, very glad. +I wish you every happiness. My sister is the most fortunate of women." + +"And I am the luckiest of men," cried Tryon. + +"I wish you every happiness," repeated Warwick; adding, with a touch of +solemnity, as a certain thought, never far distant, occurred to him, "I +hope that neither of you may ever regret your choice." + +Thus placed upon the footing of an accepted lover, Tryon's visits to +the house became more frequent. He wished to fix a time for the +marriage, but at this point Rena developed a strange reluctance. + +"Can we not love each other for a while?" she asked. "To be engaged is +a pleasure that comes but once; it would be a pity to cut it too short." + +"It is a pleasure that I would cheerfully dispense with," he replied, +"for the certainty of possession. I want you all to myself, and all the +time. Things might happen. If I should die, for instance, before I +married you"-- + +"Oh, don't suppose such awful things," she cried, putting her hand over +his mouth. + +He held it there and kissed it until she pulled it away. + +"I should consider," he resumed, completing the sentence, "that my life +had been a failure." + +"If I should die," she murmured, "I should die happy in the knowledge +that you had loved me." + +"In three weeks," he went on, "I shall have finished my business in +Clarence, and there will be but one thing to keep me here. When shall +it be? I must take you home with me." + +"I will let you know," she replied, with a troubled sigh, "in a week +from to-day." + +"I'll call your attention to the subject every day in the mean time," +he asserted. "I shouldn't like you to forget it." + +Rena's shrinking from the irrevocable step of marriage was due to a +simple and yet complex cause. Stated baldly, it was the consciousness +of her secret; the complexity arose out of the various ways in which it +seemed to bear upon her future. Our lives are so bound up with those +of our fellow men that the slightest departure from the beaten path +involves a multiplicity of small adjustments. It had not been +difficult for Rena to conform her speech, her manners, and in a measure +her modes of thought, to those of the people around her; but when this +readjustment went beyond mere externals and concerned the vital issues +of life, the secret that oppressed her took on a more serious aspect, +with tragic possibilities. A discursive imagination was not one of her +characteristics, or the danger of a marriage of which perfect frankness +was not a condition might well have presented itself before her heart +had become involved. Under the influence of doubt and fear acting upon +love, the invisible bar to happiness glowed with a lambent flame that +threatened dire disaster. + +"Would he have loved me at all," she asked herself, "if he had known +the story of my past? Or, having loved me, could he blame me now for +what I cannot help?" + +There were two shoals in the channel of her life, upon either of which +her happiness might go to shipwreck. Since leaving the house behind +the cedars, where she had been brought into the world without her own +knowledge or consent, and had first drawn the breath of life by the +involuntary contraction of certain muscles, Rena had learned, in a +short time, many things; but she was yet to learn that the innocent +suffer with the guilty, and feel the punishment the more keenly because +unmerited. She had yet to learn that the old Mosaic formula, "The sins +of the fathers shall be visited upon the children," was graven more +indelibly upon the heart of the race than upon the tables of Sinai. + +But would her lover still love her, if he knew all? She had read some +of the novels in the bookcase in her mother's hall, and others at +boarding-school. She had read that love was a conqueror, that neither +life nor death, nor creed nor caste, could stay his triumphant course. +Her secret was no legal bar to their union. If Rena could forget the +secret, and Tryon should never know it, it would be no obstacle to +their happiness. But Rena felt, with a sinking of the heart, that +happiness was not a matter of law or of fact, but lay entirely within +the domain of sentiment. We are happy when we think ourselves happy, +and with a strange perversity we often differ from others with regard +to what should constitute our happiness. Rena's secret was the worm in +the bud, the skeleton in the closet. + +"He says that he loves me. He DOES love me. Would he love me, if he +knew?" She stood before an oval mirror brought from France by one of +Warwick's wife's ancestors, and regarded her image with a coldly +critical eye. She was as little vain as any of her sex who are endowed +with beauty. She tried to place herself, in thus passing upon her own +claims to consideration, in the hostile attitude of society toward her +hidden disability. There was no mark upon her brow to brand her as +less pure, less innocent, less desirable, less worthy to be loved, than +these proud women of the past who had admired themselves in this old +mirror. + +"I think a man might love me for myself," she murmured pathetically, +"and if he loved me truly, that he would marry me. If he would not +marry me, then it would be because he didn't love me. I'll tell George +my secret. If he leaves me, then he does not love me." + +But this resolution vanished into thin air before it was fully +formulated. The secret was not hers alone; it involved her brother's +position, to whom she owed everything, and in less degree the future of +her little nephew, whom she had learned to love so well. She had the +choice of but two courses of action, to marry Tryon or to dismiss him. +The thought that she might lose him made him seem only more dear; to +think that he might leave her made her sick at heart. In one week she +was bound to give him an answer; he was more likely to ask for it at +their next meeting. + + + +IX + +DOUBTS AND FEARS + +Rena's heart was too heavy with these misgivings for her to keep them +to herself. On the morning after the conversation with Tryon in which +she had promised him an answer within a week, she went into her +brother's study, where he usually spent an hour after breakfast before +going to his office. He looked up amiably from the book before him and +read trouble in her face. + +"Well, Rena, dear," he asked with a smile, "what's the matter? Is +there anything you want--money, or what? I should like to have +Aladdin's lamp--though I'd hardly need it--that you might have no wish +unsatisfied." + +He had found her very backward in asking for things that she needed. +Generous with his means, he thought nothing too good for her. Her +success had gratified his pride, and justified his course in taking her +under his protection. + +"Thank you, John. You give me already more than I need. It is +something else, John. George wants me to say when I will marry him. I +am afraid to marry him, without telling him. If he should find out +afterwards, he might cast me off, or cease to love me. If he did not +know it, I should be forever thinking of what he would do if he SHOULD +find it out; or, if I should die without his having learned it, I +should not rest easy in my grave for thinking of what he would have +done if he HAD found it out." + +Warwick's smile gave place to a grave expression at this somewhat +comprehensive statement. He rose and closed the door carefully, lest +some one of the servants might overhear the conversation. More +liberally endowed than Rena with imagination, and not without a vein of +sentiment, he had nevertheless a practical side that outweighed them +both. With him, the problem that oppressed his sister had been in the +main a matter of argument, of self-conviction. Once persuaded that he +had certain rights, or ought to have them, by virtue of the laws of +nature, in defiance of the customs of mankind, he had promptly sought +to enjoy them. This he had been able to do by simply concealing his +antecedents and making the most of his opportunities, with no +troublesome qualms of conscience whatever. But he had already +perceived, in their brief intercourse, that Rena's emotions, while less +easily stirred, touched a deeper note than his, and dwelt upon it with +greater intensity than if they had been spread over the larger field to +which a more ready sympathy would have supplied so many points of +access;--hers was a deep and silent current flowing between the narrow +walls of a self-contained life, his the spreading river that ran +through a pleasant landscape. Warwick's imagination, however, enabled +him to put himself in touch with her mood and recognize its bearings +upon her conduct. He would have preferred her taking the practical +point of view, to bring her round to which he perceived would be a +matter of diplomacy. + +"How long have these weighty thoughts been troubling your small head?" +he asked with assumed lightness. + +"Since he asked me last night to name our wedding day." + +"My dear child," continued Warwick, "you take too tragic a view of +life. Marriage is a reciprocal arrangement, by which the contracting +parties give love for love, care for keeping, faith for faith. It is a +matter of the future, not of the past. What a poor soul it is that has +not some secret chamber, sacred to itself; where one can file away the +things others have no right to know, as well as things that one himself +would fain forget! We are under no moral obligation to inflict upon +others the history of our past mistakes, our wayward thoughts, our +secret sins, our desperate hopes, or our heartbreaking disappointments. +Still less are we bound to bring out from this secret chamber the dusty +record of our ancestry. + + 'Let the dead past bury its dead.' + +George Tryon loves you for yourself alone; it is not your ancestors +that he seeks to marry." + +"But would he marry me if he knew?" she persisted. + +Warwick paused for reflection. He would have preferred to argue the +question in a general way, but felt the necessity of satisfying her +scruples, as far as might be. He had liked Tryon from the very +beginning of their acquaintance. In all their intercourse, which had +been very close for several months, he had been impressed by the young +man's sunny temper, his straightforwardness, his intellectual honesty. +Tryon's deference to Warwick as the elder man had very naturally proved +an attraction. Whether this friendship would have stood the test of +utter frankness about his own past was a merely academic speculation +with which Warwick did not trouble himself. With his sister the +question had evidently become a matter of conscience,--a difficult +subject with which to deal in a person of Rena's temperament. + +"My dear sister," he replied, "why should he know? We haven't asked +him for his pedigree; we don't care to know it. If he cares for ours, +he should ask for it, and it would then be time enough to raise the +question. You love him, I imagine, and wish to make him happy?" + +It is the highest wish of the woman who loves. The enamored man seeks +his own happiness; the loving woman finds no sacrifice too great for +the loved one. The fiction of chivalry made man serve woman; the fact +of human nature makes woman happiest when serving where she loves. + +"Yes, oh, yes," Rena exclaimed with fervor, clasping her hands +unconsciously. "I'm afraid he'd be unhappy if he knew, and it would +make me miserable to think him unhappy." + +"Well, then," said Warwick, "suppose we should tell him our secret and +put ourselves in his power, and that he should then conclude that he +couldn't marry you? Do you imagine he would be any happier than he is +now, or than if he should never know?" + +Ah, no! she could not think so. One could not tear love out of one's +heart without pain and suffering. + +There was a knock at the door. Warwick opened it to the nurse, who +stood with little Albert in her arms. + +"Please, suh," said the girl, with a curtsy, "de baby 's be'n oryin' +an' frettin' fer Miss Rena, an' I 'lowed she mought want me ter fetch +'im, ef it wouldn't 'sturb her." + +"Give me the darling," exclaimed Rena, coming forward and taking the +child from the nurse. "It wants its auntie. Come to its auntie, bless +its little heart!" + +Little Albert crowed with pleasure and put up his pretty mouth for a +kiss. Warwick found the sight a pleasant one. If he could but quiet +his sister's troublesome scruples, he might erelong see her fondling +beautiful children of her own. Even if Rena were willing to risk her +happiness, and he to endanger his position, by a quixotic frankness, +the future of his child must not be compromised. + +"You wouldn't want to make George unhappy," Warwick resumed when the +nurse retired. "Very well; would you not be willing, for his sake, to +keep a secret--your secret and mine, and that of the innocent child in +your arms? Would you involve all of us in difficulties merely to +secure your own peace of mind? Doesn't such a course seem just the +least bit selfish? Think the matter over from that point of view, and +we'll speak of it later in the day. I shall be with George all the +morning, and I may be able, by a little management, to find out his +views on the subject of birth and family, and all that. Some men are +very liberal, and love is a great leveler. I'll sound him, at any +rate." + +He kissed the baby and left Rena to her own reflections, to which his +presentation of the case had given a new turn. It had never before +occurred to her to regard silence in the light of self-sacrifice. It +had seemed a sort of sin; her brother's argument made of it a virtue. +It was not the first time, nor the last, that right and wrong had been +a matter of view-point. + +Tryon himself furnished the opening for Warwick's proposed examination. +The younger man could not long remain silent upon the subject uppermost +in his mind. "I am anxious, John," he said, "to have Rowena name the +happiest day of my life--our wedding day. When the trial in Edgecombe +County is finished, I shall have no further business here, and shall be +ready to leave for home. I should like to take my bride with me, and +surprise my mother." + +Mothers, thought Warwick, are likely to prove inquisitive about their +sons' wives, especially when taken unawares in matters of such +importance. This seemed a good time to test the liberality of Tryon's +views, and to put forward a shield for his sister's protection. + +"Are you sure, George, that your mother will find the surprise +agreeable when you bring home a bride of whom you know so little and +your mother nothing at all?" + +Tryon had felt that it would be best to surprise his mother. She would +need only to see Rena to approve of her, but she was so far prejudiced +in favor of Blanche Leary that it would be wisest to present the +argument after having announced the irrevocable conclusion. Rena +herself would be a complete justification for the accomplished deed. + +"I think you ought to know, George," continued Warwick, without waiting +for a reply to his question, "that my sister and I are not of an old +family, or a rich family, or a distinguished family; that she can bring +you nothing but herself; that we have no connections of which you could +boast, and no relatives to whom we should be glad to introduce you. +You must take us for ourselves alone--we are new people." + +"My dear John," replied the young man warmly, "there is a great deal of +nonsense about families. If a man is noble and brave and strong, if a +woman is beautiful and good and true, what matters it about his or her +ancestry? If an old family can give them these things, then it is +valuable; if they possess them without it, then of what use is it, +except as a source of empty pride, which they would be better without? +If all new families were like yours, there would be no advantage in +belonging to an old one. All I care to know of Rowena's family is that +she is your sister; and you'll pardon me, old fellow, if I add that she +hardly needs even you,--she carries the stamp of her descent upon her +face and in her heart." + +"It makes me glad to hear you speak in that way," returned Warwick, +delighted by the young man's breadth and earnestness. + +"Oh, I mean every word of it," replied Tryon. "Ancestors, indeed, for +Rowena! I will tell you a family secret, John, to prove how little I +care for ancestors. My maternal great-great-grandfather, a hundred and +fifty years ago, was hanged, drawn, and quartered for stealing cattle +across the Scottish border. How is that for a pedigree? Behold in me +the lineal descendant of a felon!" + +Warwick felt much relieved at this avowal. His own statement had not +touched the vital point involved; it had been at the best but a +half-truth; but Tryon's magnanimity would doubtless protect Rena from +any close inquiry concerning her past. It even occurred to Warwick for +a moment that he might safely disclose the secret to Tryon; but an +appreciation of certain facts of history and certain traits of human +nature constrained him to put the momentary thought aside. It was a +great relief, however, to imagine that Tryon might think lightly of +this thing that he need never know. + +"Well, Rena," he said to his sister when he went home at noon: "I've +sounded George." + +"What did he say?" she asked eagerly. + +"I told him we were people of no family, and that we had no relatives +that we were proud of. He said he loved you for yourself, and would +never ask you about your ancestry." + +"Oh, I am so glad!" exclaimed Rena joyfully. This report left her very +happy for about three hours, or until she began to analyze carefully +her brother's account of what had been said. Warwick's statement had +not been specific,--he had not told Tryon THE thing. George's reply, +in turn, had been a mere generality. The concrete fact that oppressed +her remained unrevealed, and her doubt was still unsatisfied. + +Rena was occupied with this thought when her lover next came to see +her. Tryon came up the sanded walk from the gate and spoke pleasantly +to the nurse, a good-looking yellow girl who was seated on the front +steps, playing with little Albert. He took the boy from her arms, and +she went to call Miss Warwick. + +Rena came out, followed by the nurse, who offered to take the child. + +"Never mind, Mimy, leave him with me," said Tryon. + +The nurse walked discreetly over into the garden, remaining within +call, but beyond the hearing of conversation in an ordinary tone. + +"Rena, darling," said her lover, "when shall it be? Surely you won't +ask me to wait a week. Why, that's a lifetime!" + +Rena was struck by a brilliant idea. She would test her lover. Love +was a very powerful force; she had found it the greatest, grandest, +sweetest thing in the world. Tryon had said that he loved her; he had +said scarcely anything else for several weeks, surely nothing else +worth remembering. She would test his love by a hypothetical question. + +"You say you love me," she said, glancing at him with a sad +thoughtfulness in her large dark eyes. "How much do you love me?" + +"I love you all one can love. True love has no degrees; it is all or +nothing!" + +"Would you love me," she asked, with an air of coquetry that masked her +concern, pointing toward the girl in the shrubbery, "if I were Albert's +nurse yonder?" + +"If you were Albert's nurse," he replied, with a joyous laugh, "he +would have to find another within a week, for within a week we should +be married." + +The answer seemed to fit the question, but in fact, Tryon's mind and +Rena's did not meet. That two intelligent persons should each attach a +different meaning to so simple a form of words as Rena's question was +the best ground for her misgiving with regard to the marriage. But +love blinded her. She was anxious to be convinced. She interpreted the +meaning of his speech by her own thought and by the ardor of his +glance, and was satisfied with the answer. + +"And now, darling," pleaded Tryon, "will you not fix the day that shall +make me happy? I shall be ready to go away in three weeks. Will you +go with me?" + +"Yes," she answered, in a tumult of joy. She would never need to tell +him her secret now. It would make no difference with him, so far as +she was concerned; and she had no right to reveal her brother's secret. +She was willing to bury the past in forgetfulness, now that she knew it +would have no interest for her lover. + + + +X + +THE DREAM + +The marriage was fixed for the thirtieth of the month, immediately +after which Tryon and his bride were to set out for North Carolina. +Warwick would have liked it much if Tryon had lived in South Carolina; +but the location of his North Carolina home was at some distance from +Patesville, with which it had no connection by steam or rail, and +indeed lay altogether out of the line of travel to Patesville. Rena +had no acquaintance with people of social standing in North Carolina; +and with the added maturity and charm due to her improved +opportunities, it was unlikely that any former resident of Patesville +who might casually meet her would see in the elegant young matron from +South Carolina more than a passing resemblance to a poor girl who had +once lived in an obscure part of the old town. It would of course be +necessary for Rena to keep away from Patesville; save for her mother's +sake, she would hardly be tempted to go back. + +On the twentieth of the month, Warwick set out with Tryon for the +county seat of the adjoining county, to try one of the lawsuits which +had required Tryon's presence in South Carolina for so long a time. +Their destination was a day's drive from Clarence, behind a good horse, +and the trial was expected to last a week. + +"This week will seem like a year," said Tryon ruefully, the evening +before their departure, "but I'll write every day, and shall expect a +letter as often." + +"The mail goes only twice a week, George," replied Rena. + +"Then I shall have three letters in each mail." + +Warwick and Tryon were to set out in the cool of the morning, after an +early breakfast. Rena was up at daybreak that she might preside at the +breakfast-table and bid the travelers good-by. + +"John," said Rena to her brother in the morning, "I dreamed last night +that mother was ill." + +"Dreams, you know, Rena," answered Warwick lightly, "go by contraries. +Yours undoubtedly signifies that our mother, God bless her simple soul! +is at the present moment enjoying her usual perfect health. She was +never sick in her life." + +For a few months after leaving Patesville with her brother, Rena had +suffered tortures of homesickness; those who have felt it know the +pang. The severance of old ties had been abrupt and complete. At the +school where her brother had taken her, there had been nothing to +relieve the strangeness of her surroundings--no schoolmate from her own +town, no relative or friend of the family near by. Even the +compensation of human sympathy was in a measure denied her, for Rena +was too fresh from her prison-house to doubt that sympathy would fail +before the revelation of the secret the consciousness of which +oppressed her at that time like a nightmare. It was not strange that +Rena, thus isolated, should have been prostrated by homesickness for +several weeks after leaving Patesville. When the paroxysm had passed, +there followed a dull pain, which gradually subsided into a resignation +as profound, in its way, as had been her longing for home. She loved, +she suffered, with a quiet intensity of which her outward demeanor gave +no adequate expression. From some ancestral source she had derived a +strain of the passive fatalism by which alone one can submit +uncomplainingly to the inevitable. By the same token, when once a thing +had been decided, it became with her a finality, which only some +extraordinary stress of emotion could disturb. She had acquiesced in +her brother's plan; for her there was no withdrawing; her homesickness +was an incidental thing which must be endured, as patiently as might +be, until time should have brought a measure of relief. + +Warwick had made provision for an occasional letter from Patesville, by +leaving with his mother a number of envelopes directed to his address. +She could have her letters written, inclose them in these envelopes, +and deposit them in the post-office with her own hand. Thus the place +of Warwick's residence would remain within her own knowledge, and his +secret would not be placed at the mercy of any wandering Patesvillian +who might perchance go to that part of South Carolina. By this simple +means Rena had kept as closely in touch with her mother as Warwick had +considered prudent; any closer intercourse was not consistent with +their present station in life. + +The night after Warwick and Tryon had ridden away, Rena dreamed again +that her mother was ill. Better taught people than she, in regions +more enlightened than the South Carolina of that epoch, are disturbed +at times by dreams. Mis' Molly had a profound faith in them. If God, +in ancient times, had spoken to men in visions of the night, what +easier way could there be for Him to convey his meaning to people of +all ages? Science, which has shattered many an idol and destroyed many +a delusion, has made but slight inroads upon the shadowy realm of +dreams. For Mis' Molly, to whom science would have meant nothing and +psychology would have been a meaningless term, the land of dreams was +carefully mapped and bounded. Each dream had some special +significance, or was at least susceptible of classification under some +significant head. Dreams, as a general rule, went by contraries; but a +dream three times repeated was a certain portent of the thing defined. +Rena's few years of schooling at Patesville and her months at +Charleston had scarcely disturbed these hoary superstitions which lurk +in the dim corners of the brain. No lady in Clarence, perhaps, would +have remained undisturbed by a vivid dream, three times repeated, of +some event bearing materially upon her own life. + +The first repetition of a dream was decisive of nothing, for two dreams +meant no more than one. The power of the second lay in the suspense, +the uncertainty, to which it gave rise. Two doubled the chance of a +third. The day following this second dream was an anxious one for +Rena. She could not for an instant dismiss her mother from her +thoughts, which were filled too with a certain self-reproach. She had +left her mother alone; if her mother were really ill, there was no one +at home to tend her with loving care. This feeling grew in force, +until by nightfall Rena had become very unhappy, and went to bed with +the most dismal forebodings. In this state of mind, it is not +surprising that she now dreamed that her mother was lying at the point +of death, and that she cried out with heart-rending pathos:-- + +"Rena, my darlin', why did you forsake yo'r pore old mother? Come back +to me, honey; I'll die ef I don't see you soon." + +The stress of subconscious emotion engendered by the dream was powerful +enough to wake Rena, and her mother's utterance seemed to come to her +with the force of a fateful warning and a great reproach. Her mother +was sick and needed her, and would die if she did not come. She felt +that she must see her mother,--it would be almost like murder to remain +away from her under such circumstances. + +After breakfast she went into the business part of the town and +inquired at what time a train would leave that would take her toward +Patesville. Since she had come away from the town, a railroad had been +opened by which the long river voyage might be avoided, and, making +allowance for slow trains and irregular connections, the town of +Patesville could be reached by an all-rail route in about twelve hours. +Calling at the post-office for the family mail, she found there a +letter from her mother, which she tore open in great excitement. It was +written in an unpracticed hand and badly spelled, and was in effect as +follows:-- + + +MY DEAR DAUGHTER,--I take my pen in hand to let you know that I am not +very well. I have had a kind of misery in my side for two weeks, with +palpitations of the heart, and I have been in bed for three days. I'm +feeling mighty poorly, but Dr. Green says that I'll get over it in a +few days. Old Aunt Zilphy is staying with me, and looking after things +tolerably well. I hope this will find you and John enjoying good +health. Give my love to John, and I hope the Lord will bless him and +you too. Cousin Billy Oxendine has had a rising on his neck, and has +had to have it lanced. Mary B. has another young one, a boy this time. +Old man Tom Johnson was killed last week while trying to whip black Jim +Brown, who lived down on the Wilmington Road. Jim has run away. There +has been a big freshet in the river, and it looked at one time as if +the new bridge would be washed away. + +Frank comes over every day or two and asks about you. He says to tell +you that he don't believe you are coming back any more, but you are to +remember him, and that foolishness he said about bringing you back from +the end of the world with his mule and cart. He's very good to me, and +brings over shavings and kindling-wood, and made me a new well-bucket +for nothing. It's a comfort to talk to him about you, though I haven't +told him where you are living. + +I hope this will find you and John both well, and doing well. I should +like to see you, but if it's the Lord's will that I shouldn't, I shall +be thankful anyway that you have done what was the best for yourselves +and your children, and that I have given you up for your own good. + + Your affectionate mother, + MARY WALDEN. + + +Rena shed tears over this simple letter, which, to her excited +imagination, merely confirmed the warning of her dream. At the date of +its writing her mother had been sick in bed, with the symptoms of a +serious illness. She had no nurse but a purblind old woman. Three +days of progressive illness had evidently been quite sufficient to +reduce her parent to the condition indicated by the third dream. The +thought that her mother might die without the presence of any one who +loved her pierced Rena's heart like a knife and lent wings to her feet. +She wished for the enchanted horse of which her brother had read to her +so many years before on the front piazza of the house behind the +cedars, that she might fly through the air to her dying mother's side. +She determined to go at once to Patesville. + +Returning home, she wrote a letter to Warwick inclosing their mother's +letter, and stating that she had dreamed an alarming dream for three +nights in succession; that she had left the house in charge of the +servants and gone to Patesville; and that she would return as soon as +her mother was out of danger. + +To her lover she wrote that she had been called away to visit a +sick-bed, and would return very soon, perhaps by the time he got back +to Clarence. These letters Rena posted on her way to the train, which +she took at five o'clock in the afternoon. This would bring her to +Patesville early in the morning of the following day. + + + +XI + +A LETTER AND A JOURNEY + +War has been called the court of last resort. A lawsuit may with equal +aptness be compared to a battle--the parallel might be drawn very +closely all along the line. First we have the casus belli, the cause +of action; then the various protocols and proclamations and general +orders, by way of pleas, demurrers, and motions; then the preliminary +skirmishes at the trial table; and then the final struggle, in which +might is quite as likely to prevail as right, victory most often +resting with the strongest battalions, and truth and justice not seldom +overborne by the weight of odds upon the other side. + +The lawsuit which Warwick and Tryon had gone to try did not, however, +reach this ultimate stage, but, after a three days' engagement, +resulted in a treaty of peace. The case was compromised and settled, +and Tryon and Warwick set out on their homeward drive. They stopped at +a farm-house at noon, and while at table saw the stage-coach from the +town they had just left, bound for their own destination. In the +mail-bag under the driver's seat were Rena's two letters; they had been +delivered at the town in the morning, and immediately remailed to +Clarence, in accordance with orders left at the post-office the evening +before. Tryon and Warwick drove leisurely homeward through the pines, +all unconscious of the fateful squares of white paper moving along the +road a few miles before them, which a mother's yearning and a +daughter's love had thrown, like the apple of discord, into the narrow +circle of their happiness. + +They reached Clarence at four o'clock. Warwick got down from the buggy +at his office. Tryon drove on to his hotel, to make a hasty toilet +before visiting his sweetheart. + +Warwick glanced at his mail, tore open the envelope addressed in his +sister's handwriting, and read the contents with something like dismay. +She had gone away on the eve of her wedding, her lover knew not where, +to be gone no one knew how long, on a mission which could not be +frankly disclosed. A dim foreboding of disaster flashed across his +mind. He thrust the letter into his pocket, with others yet unopened, +and started toward his home. Reaching the gate, he paused a moment and +then walked on past the house. Tryon would probably be there in a few +minutes, and he did not care to meet him without first having had the +opportunity for some moments of reflection. He must fix upon some line +of action in this emergency. + +Meanwhile Tryon had reached his hotel and opened his mail. The letter +from Rena was read first, with profound disappointment. He had really +made concessions in the settlement of that lawsuit--had yielded several +hundred dollars of his just dues, in order that he might get back to +Rena three days earlier. Now he must cool his heels in idleness for at +least three days before she would return. It was annoying, to say the +least. He wished to know where she had gone, that he might follow her +and stay near her until she should be ready to come back. He might ask +Warwick--no, she might have had some good reason for not having +mentioned her destination. She had probably gone to visit some of the +poor relations of whom her brother had spoken so frankly, and she would +doubtless prefer that he should not see her amid any surroundings but +the best. Indeed, he did not know that he would himself care to +endanger, by suggestive comparisons, the fine aureole of superiority +that surrounded her. She represented in her adorable person and her +pure heart the finest flower of the finest race that God had ever +made--the supreme effort of creative power, than which there could be +no finer. The flower would soon be his; why should he care to dig up +the soil in which it grew? + +Tryon went on opening his letters. There were several bills and +circulars, and then a letter from his mother, of which he broke the +seal:-- + + +MY DEAREST GEORGE,--This leaves us well. Blanche is still with me, and +we are impatiently awaiting your return. In your absence she seems +almost like a daughter to me. She joins me in the hope that your +lawsuits are progressing favorably, and that you will be with us soon. +. . . + +On your way home, if it does not keep you away from us too long, would +it not be well for you to come by way of Patesville, and find out +whether there is any prospect of our being able to collect our claim +against old Mr. Duncan McSwayne's estate? You must have taken the +papers with you, along with the rest, for I do not find them here. +Things ought to be settled enough now for people to realize on some of +their securities. Your grandfather always believed the note was good, +and meant to try to collect it, but the war interfered. He said to me, +before he died, that if the note was ever collected, he would use the +money to buy a wedding present for your wife. Poor father! he is dead +and gone to heaven; but I am sure that even there he would be happier +if he knew the note was paid and the money used as he intended. + +If you go to Patesville, call on my cousin, Dr. Ed. Green, and tell him +who you are. Give him my love. I haven't seen him for twenty years. +He used to be very fond of the ladies, a very gallant man. He can +direct you to a good lawyer, no doubt. Hoping to see you soon, + + Your loving mother, + ELIZABETH TRYON. + +P. S. Blanche joins me in love to you. + + +This affectionate and motherly letter did not give Tryon unalloyed +satisfaction. He was glad to hear that his mother was well, but he had +hoped that Blanche Leary might have finished her visit by this time. +The reasonable inference from the letter was that Blanche meant to +await his return. Her presence would spoil the fine romantic flavor of +the surprise he had planned for his mother; it would never do to expose +his bride to an unannounced meeting with the woman whom he had tacitly +rejected. There would be one advantage in such a meeting: the +comparison of the two women would be so much in Rena's favor that his +mother could not hesitate for a moment between them. The situation, +however, would have elements of constraint, and he did not care to +expose either Rena or Blanche to any disagreeable contingency. It +would be better to take his wife on a wedding trip, and notify his +mother, before he returned home, of his marriage. In the extremely +improbable case that she should disapprove his choice after having seen +his wife, the ice would at least have been broken before his arrival at +home. + +"By Jove!" he exclaimed suddenly, striking his knee with his hand, "why +shouldn't I run up to Patesville while Rena's gone? I can leave here +at five o'clock, and get there some time to-morrow morning. I can +transact my business during the day, and get back the day after +to-morrow; for Rena might return ahead of time, just as we did, and I +shall want to be here when she comes; I'd rather wait a year for a +legal opinion on a doubtful old note than to lose one day with my love. +The train goes in twenty minutes. My bag is already packed. I'll just +drop a line to George and tell him where I've gone." + +He put Rena's letter into his breast pocket, and turning to his trunk, +took from it a handful of papers relating to the claim in reference to +which he was going to Patesville. These he thrust into the same pocket +with Rena's letter; he wished to read both letter and papers while on +the train. It would be a pleasure merely to hold the letter before his +eyes and look at the lines traced by her hand. The papers he wished to +study, for the more practical purpose of examining into the merits of +his claim against the estate of Duncan McSwayne. + +When Warwick reached home, he inquired if Mr. Tryon had called. + +"No, suh," answered the nurse, to whom he had put the question; "he +ain't be'n here yet, suh." + +Warwick was surprised and much disturbed. + +"De baby 's be'n cryin' for Miss Rena," suggested the nurse, "an' I +s'pec' he'd like to see you, suh. Shall I fetch 'im?" + +"Yes, bring him to me." + +He took the child in his arms and went out upon the piazza. Several +porch pillows lay invitingly near. He pushed them toward the steps +with his foot, sat down upon one, and placed little Albert upon +another. He was scarcely seated when a messenger from the hotel came +up the walk from the gate and handed him a note. At the same moment he +heard the long shriek of the afternoon train leaving the station on the +opposite side of the town. + +He tore the envelope open anxiously, read the note, smiled a sickly +smile, and clenched the paper in his hand unconsciously. There was +nothing he could do. The train had gone; there was no telegraph to +Patesville, and no letter could leave Clarence for twenty-four hours. +The best laid schemes go wrong at times--the stanchest ships are +sometimes wrecked, or skirt the breakers perilously. Life is a sea, +full of strange currents and uncharted reefs--whoever leaves the +traveled path must run the danger of destruction. Warwick was a +lawyer, however, and accustomed to balance probabilities. + +"He may easily be in Patesville a day or two without meeting her. She +will spend most of her time at mother's bedside, and he will be +occupied with his own affairs." + +If Tryon should meet her--well, he was very much in love, and he had +spoken very nobly of birth and blood. Warwick would have preferred, +nevertheless, that Tryon's theories should not be put to this +particular test. Rena's scruples had so far been successfully +combated; the question would be opened again, and the situation +unnecessarily complicated, if Tryon should meet Rena in Patesville. + +"Will he or will he not?" he asked himself. He took a coin from his +pocket and spun it upon the floor. "Heads, he sees her; tails, he does +not." + +The coin spun swiftly and steadily, leaving upon the eye the impression +of a revolving sphere. Little Albert, left for a moment to his own +devices, had crept behind his father and was watching the whirling disk +with great pleasure. He felt that he would like to possess this +interesting object. The coin began to move more slowly, and was +wabbling to its fall, when the child stretched forth his chubby fist +and caught it ere it touched the floor. + + + +XII + +TRYON GOES TO PATESVILLE + +Tryon arrived in the early morning and put up at the Patesville Hotel, +a very comfortable inn. After a bath, breakfast, and a visit to the +barbershop, he inquired of the hotel clerk the way to the office of Dr. +Green, his mother's cousin. + +"On the corner, sir," answered the clerk, "by the market-house, just +over the drugstore. The doctor drove past here only half an hour ago. +You'll probably catch him in his office." + +Tryon found the office without difficulty. He climbed the stair, but +found no one in except a young colored man seated in the outer office, +who rose promptly as Tryon entered. + +"No, suh," replied the man to Tryon's question, "he ain't hyuh now. +He's gone out to see a patient, suh, but he'll be back soon. Won't you +set down in de private office an' wait fer 'im, suh?" + +Tryon had not slept well during his journey, and felt somewhat +fatigued. Through the open door of the next room he saw an inviting +armchair, with a window at one side, and upon the other a table strewn +with papers and magazines. + +"Yes," he answered, "I'll wait." + +He entered the private office, sank into the armchair, and looked out +of the window upon the square below. The view was mildly interesting. +The old brick market-house with the tower was quite picturesque. On a +wagon-scale at one end the public weighmaster was weighing a load of +hay. In the booths under the wide arches several old negro women were +frying fish on little charcoal stoves--the odor would have been +appetizing to one who had not breakfasted. On the shady side stood +half a dozen two-wheeled carts, loaded with lightwood and drawn by +diminutive steers, or superannuated army mules branded on the flank +with the cabalistic letters "C. S. A.," which represented a vanished +dream, or "U. S. A.," which, as any negro about the market-house would +have borne witness, signified a very concrete fact. Now and then a +lady or gentleman passed with leisurely step--no one ever hurried in +Patesville--or some poor white sandhiller slouched listlessly along +toward store or bar-room. + +Tryon mechanically counted the slabs of gingerbread on the nearest +market-stall, and calculated the cubical contents of several of the +meagre loads of wood. Having exhausted the view, he turned to the +table at his elbow and picked up a medical journal, in which he read +first an account of a marvelous surgical operation. Turning the leaves +idly, he came upon an article by a Southern writer, upon the perennial +race problem that has vexed the country for a century. The writer +maintained that owing to a special tendency of the negro blood, however +diluted, to revert to the African type, any future amalgamation of the +white and black races, which foolish and wicked Northern negrophiles +predicted as the ultimate result of the new conditions confronting the +South, would therefore be an ethnological impossibility; for the +smallest trace of negro blood would inevitably drag down the superior +race to the level of the inferior, and reduce the fair Southland, +already devastated by the hand of the invader, to the frightful level +of Hayti, the awful example of negro incapacity. To forefend their +beloved land, now doubly sanctified by the blood of her devoted sons +who had fallen in the struggle to maintain her liberties and preserve +her property, it behooved every true Southron to stand firm against the +abhorrent tide of radicalism, to maintain the supremacy and purity of +his all-pervading, all-conquering race, and to resist by every +available means the threatened domination of an inferior and degraded +people, who were set to rule hereditary freemen ere they had themselves +scarce ceased to be slaves. + +When Tryon had finished the article, which seemed to him a +well-considered argument, albeit a trifle bombastic, he threw the book +upon the table. Finding the armchair wonderfully comfortable, and +feeling the fatigue of his journey, he yielded to a drowsy impulse, +leaned his head on the cushioned back of the chair, and fell asleep. +According to the habit of youth, he dreamed, and pursuant to his own +individual habit, he dreamed of Rena. They were walking in the +moonlight, along the quiet road in front of her brother's house. The +air was redolent with the perfume of flowers. His arm was around her +waist. He had asked her if she loved him, and was awaiting her answer +in tremulous but confident expectation. She opened her lips to speak. +The sound that came from them seemed to be:-- + +"Is Dr. Green in? No? Ask him, when he comes back, please, to call at +our house as soon as he can." + +Tryon was in that state of somnolence in which one may dream and yet be +aware that one is dreaming,--the state where one, during a dream, +dreams that one pinches one's self to be sure that one is not dreaming. +He was therefore aware of a ringing quality about the words he had just +heard that did not comport with the shadowy converse of a dream--an +incongruity in the remark, too, which marred the harmony of the vision. +The shock was sufficient to disturb Tryon's slumber, and he struggled +slowly back to consciousness. When fully awake, he thought he heard a +light footfall descending the stairs. + +"Was there some one here?" he inquired of the attendant in the outer +office, who was visible through the open door. + +"Yas, suh," replied the boy, "a young cullud 'oman wuz in jes' now, +axin' fer de doctuh." + +Tryon felt a momentary touch of annoyance that a negro woman should +have intruded herself into his dream at its most interesting point. +Nevertheless, the voice had been so real, his imagination had +reproduced with such exactness the dulcet tones so dear to him, that he +turned his head involuntarily and looked out of the window. He could +just see the flutter of a woman's skirt disappearing around the corner. + +A moment later the doctor came bustling in,--a plump, rosy man of fifty +or more, with a frank, open countenance and an air of genial good +nature. Such a doctor, Tryon fancied, ought to enjoy a wide popularity. +His mere presence would suggest life and hope and healthfulness. + +"My dear boy," exclaimed the doctor cordially, after Tryon had +introduced himself, "I'm delighted to meet you--or any one of the old +blood. Your mother and I were sweethearts, long ago, when we both wore +pinafores, and went to see our grandfather at Christmas; and I met her +more than once, and paid her more than one compliment, after she had +grown to be a fine young woman. You're like her! too, but not quite so +handsome--you've more of what I suppose to be the Tryon favor, though I +never met your father. So one of old Duncan McSwayne's notes went so +far as that? Well, well, I don't know where you won't find them. One +of them turned up here the other day from New York. + +"The man you want to see," he added later in the conversation, "is old +Judge Straight. He's getting somewhat stiff in the joints, but he +knows more law, and more about the McSwayne estate, than any other two +lawyers in town. If anybody can collect your claim, Judge Straight +can. I'll send my boy Dave over to his office. Dave," he called to +his attendant, "run over to Judge Straight's office and see if he's +there. + +"There was a freshet here a few weeks ago," he want on, when the +colored man had departed, "and they had to open the flood-gates and let +the water out of the mill pond, for if the dam had broken, as it did +twenty years ago, it would have washed the pillars from under the +judge's office and let it down in the creek, and"-- + +"Jedge Straight ain't in de office jes' now, suh," reported the +doctor's man Dave, from the head of the stairs. + +"Did you ask when he'd be back?" + +"No, suh, you didn't tell me ter, suh." + +"Well, now, go back and inquire. + +"The niggers," he explained to Tryon, "are getting mighty trifling +since they've been freed. Before the war, that boy would have been +around there and back before you could say Jack Robinson; now, the lazy +rascal takes his time just like a white man." + +Dave returned more promptly than from his first trip. "Jedge +Straight's dere now, suh," he said. "He's done come in." + +"I'll take you right around and introduce you," said the doctor, +running on pleasantly, like a babbling brook. "I don't know whether +the judge ever met your mother or not, but he knows a gentleman when he +sees one, and will be glad to meet you and look after your affair. See +to the patients, Dave, and say I'll be back shortly, and don't forget +any messages left for me. Look sharp, now! You know your failing!" + +They found Judge Straight in his office. He was seated by the rear +window, and had fallen into a gentle doze--the air of Patesville was +conducive to slumber. A visitor from some bustling city might have +rubbed his eyes, on any but a market-day, and imagined the whole town +asleep--that the people were somnambulists and did not know it. The +judge, an old hand, roused himself so skillfully, at the sound of +approaching footsteps, that his visitors could not guess but that he +had been wide awake. He shook hands with the doctor, and acknowledged +the introduction to Tryon with a rare old-fashioned courtesy, which the +young man thought a very charming survival of the manners of a past and +happier age. + +"No," replied the judge, in answer to a question by Dr. Green, "I never +met his mother; I was a generation ahead of her. I was at school with +her father, however, fifty years ago--fifty years ago! No doubt that +seems to you a long time, young gentleman?" + +"It is a long time, sir," replied Tryon. "I must live more than twice +as long as I have in order to cover it." + +"A long time, and a troubled time," sighed the judge. "I could wish +that I might see this unhappy land at peace with itself before I die. +Things are in a sad tangle; I can't see the way out. But the worst +enemy has been slain, in spite of us. We are well rid of slavery." + +"But the negro we still have with us," remarked the doctor, "for here +comes my man Dave. What is it, Dave?" he asked sharply, as the negro +stuck his head in at the door. + +"Doctuh Green," he said, "I fuhgot ter tell you, suh, dat dat young +'oman wuz at de office agin jes' befo' you come in, an' said fer you to +go right down an' see her mammy ez soon ez you could." + +"Ah, yes, and you've just remembered it! I'm afraid you're entirely +too forgetful for a doctor's office. You forgot about old Mrs. +Latimer, the other day, and when I got there she had almost choked to +death. Now get back to the office, and remember, the next time you +forget anything, I'll hire another boy; remember that! That boy's +head," he remarked to his companions, after Dave had gone, "reminds me +of nothing so much as a dried gourd, with a handful of cowpeas rattling +around it, in lieu of gray matter. An old woman out in Redbank got a +fishbone in her throat, the other day, and nearly choked to death +before I got there. A white woman, sir, came very near losing her life +because of a lazy, trifling negro!" + +"I should think you would discharge him, sir," suggested Tryon. + +"What would be the use?" rejoined the doctor. "All negroes are alike, +except that now and then there's a pretty woman along the border-line. +Take this patient of mine, for instance,--I'll call on her after +dinner, her case is not serious,--thirty years ago she would have made +any man turn his head to look at her. You know who I mean, don't you, +judge?" + +"Yes. I think so," said the judge promptly. "I've transacted a little +business for her now and then." + +"I don't know whether you've seen the daughter or not--I'm sure you +haven't for the past year or so, for she's been away. But she's in +town now, and, by Jove, the girl is really beautiful. And I'm a judge +of beauty. Do you remember my wife thirty years ago, judge?" + +"She was a very handsome woman, Ed," replied the other judicially. "If +I had been twenty years younger, I should have cut you out." + +"You mean you would have tried. But as I was saying, this girl is a +beauty; I reckon we might guess where she got some of it, eh, Judge? +Human nature is human nature, but it's a d--d shame that a man should +beget a child like that and leave it to live the life open for a negro. +If she had been born white, the young fellows would be tumbling over +one another to get her. Her mother would have to look after her pretty +closely as things are, if she stayed here; but she disappeared +mysteriously a year or two ago, and has been at the North, I'm told, +passing for white. She'll probably marry a Yankee; he won't know any +better, and it will serve him right--she's only too white for them. +She has a very striking figure, something on the Greek order, stately +and slow-moving. She has the manners of a lady, too--a beautiful +woman, if she is a nigger!" + +"I quite agree with you, Ed," remarked the judge dryly, "that the +mother had better look closely after the daughter." + +"Ah, no, judge," replied the other, with a flattered smile, "my +admiration for beauty is purely abstract. Twenty-five years ago, when +I was younger"-- + +"When you were young," corrected the judge. + +"When you and I were younger," continued the doctor +ingeniously,--"twenty-five years ago, I could not have answered for +myself. But I would advise the girl to stay at the North, if she can. +She's certainly out of place around here." + +Tryon found the subject a little tiresome, and the doctor's enthusiasm +not at all contagious. He could not possibly have been interested in a +colored girl, under any circumstances, and he was engaged to be married +to the most beautiful white woman on earth. To mention a negro woman +in the same room where he was thinking of Rena seemed little short of +profanation. His friend the doctor was a jovial fellow, but it was +surely doubtful taste to refer to his wife in such a conversation. He +was very glad when the doctor dropped the subject and permitted him to +go more into detail about the matter which formed his business in +Patesville. He took out of his pocket the papers concerning the +McSwayne claim and laid them on the judge's desk. + +"You'll find everything there, sir,--the note, the contract, and some +correspondence that will give you the hang of the thing. Will you be +able to look over them to-day? I should like," he added a little +nervously, "to go back to-morrow." + +"What!" exclaimed Dr. Green vivaciously, "insult our town by staying +only one day? It won't be long enough to get acquainted with our young +ladies. Patesville girls are famous for their beauty. But perhaps +there's a loadstone in South Carolina to draw you back? Ah, you change +color! To my mind there's nothing finer than the ingenuous blush of +youth. But we'll spare you if you'll answer one question--is it +serious?" + +"I'm to be married in two weeks, sir," answered Tryon. The statement +sounded very pleasant, in spite of the slight embarrassment caused by +the inquiry. + +"Good boy!" rejoined the doctor, taking his arm familiarly--they were +both standing now. "You ought to have married a Patesville girl, but +you people down towards the eastern counties seldom come this way, and +we are evidently too late to catch you." + +"I'll look your papers over this morning," said the judge, "and when I +come from dinner will stop at the court house and examine the records +and see whether there's anything we can get hold of. If you'll drop in +around three or four o'clock, I may be able to give you an opinion." + +"Now, George," exclaimed the doctor, "we'll go back to the office for a +spell, and then I'll take you home with me to luncheon." + +Tryon hesitated. + +"Oh, you must come! Mrs. Green would never forgive me if I didn't +bring you. Strangers are rare birds in our society, and when they come +we make them welcome. Our enemies may overturn our institutions, and +try to put the bottom rail on top, but they cannot destroy our Southern +hospitality. There are so many carpet-baggers and other social vermin +creeping into the South, with the Yankees trying to force the niggers +on us, that it's a genuine pleasure to get acquainted with another real +Southern gentleman, whom one can invite into one's house without fear +of contamination, and before whom one can express his feelings freely +and be sure of perfect sympathy." + + + +XIII + +AN INJUDICIOUS PAYMENT + +When Judge Straight's visitors had departed, he took up the papers +which had been laid loosely on the table as they were taken out of +Tryon's breast-pocket, and commenced their perusal. There was a note +for five hundred dollars, many years overdue, but not yet outlawed by +lapse of time; a contract covering the transaction out of which the +note had grown; and several letters and copies of letters modifying the +terms of the contract. The judge had glanced over most of the papers, +and was getting well into the merits of the case, when he unfolded a +letter which read as follows:-- + + +MY DEAREST GEORGE,--I am going away for about a week, to visit the +bedside of an old friend, who is very ill, and may not live. Do not be +alarmed about me, for I shall very likely be back by the time you are. + + Yours lovingly, + ROWENA WARWICK. + + +The judge was unable to connect this letter with the transaction which +formed the subject of his examination. Age had dimmed his perceptions +somewhat, and it was not until he had finished the letter, and read it +over again, and noted the signature at the bottom a second time, that +he perceived that the writing was in a woman's hand, that the ink was +comparatively fresh, and that the letter was dated only a couple of +days before. While he still held the sheet in his hand, it dawned upon +him slowly that he held also one of the links in a chain of possible +tragedy which he himself, he became uncomfortably aware, had had a hand +in forging. + +"It is the Walden woman's daughter, as sure as fate! Her name is Rena. +Her brother goes by the name of Warwick. She has come to visit her +sick mother. My young client, Green's relation, is her lover--is +engaged to marry her--is in town, and is likely to meet her!" + +The judge was so absorbed in the situation thus suggested that he laid +the papers down and pondered for a moment the curious problem involved. +He was quite aware that two races had not dwelt together, side by side, +for nearly three hundred years, without mingling their blood in greater +or less degree; he was old enough, and had seen curious things enough, +to know that in this mingling the current had not always flowed in one +direction. Certain old decisions with which he was familiar; old +scandals that had crept along obscure channels; old facts that had come +to the knowledge of an old practitioner, who held in the hollow of his +hand the honor of more than one family, made him know that there was +dark blood among the white people--not a great deal, and that very much +diluted, and, so long as it was sedulously concealed or vigorously +denied, or lost in the mists of tradition, or ascribed to a foreign or +an aboriginal strain, having no perceptible effect upon the racial type. + +Such people were, for the most part, merely on the ragged edge of the +white world, seldom rising above the level of overseers, or +slave-catchers, or sheriff's officers, who could usually be relied upon +to resent the drop of black blood that tainted them, and with the zeal +of the proselyte to visit their hatred of it upon the unfortunate +blacks that fell into their hands. One curse of negro slavery was, and +one part of its baleful heritage is, that it poisoned the fountains of +human sympathy. Under a system where men might sell their own children +without social reprobation or loss of prestige, it was not surprising +that some of them should hate their distant cousins. There were not in +Patesville half a dozen persons capable of thinking Judge Straight's +thoughts upon the question before him, and perhaps not another who +would have adopted the course he now pursued toward this anomalous +family in the house behind the cedars. + +"Well, here we are again, as the clown in the circus remarks," murmured +the judge. "Ten years ago, in a moment of sentimental weakness and of +quixotic loyalty to the memory of an old friend,--who, by the way, had +not cared enough for his own children to take them away from the South, +as he might have done, or to provide for them handsomely, as he perhaps +meant to do,--I violated the traditions of my class and stepped from +the beaten path to help the misbegotten son of my old friend out of the +slough of despond, in which he had learned, in some strange way, that +he was floundering. Ten years later, the ghost of my good deed returns +to haunt me, and makes me doubt whether I have wrought more evil than +good. I wonder," he mused, "if he will find her out?" + +The judge was a man of imagination; he had read many books and had +personally outlived some prejudices. He let his mind run on the +various phases of the situation. + +"If he found her out, would he by any possibility marry her?" + +"It is not likely," he answered himself. "If he made the discovery +here, the facts would probably leak out in the town. It is something +that a man might do in secret, but only a hero or a fool would do +openly." + +The judge sighed as he contemplated another possibility. He had lived +for seventy years under the old regime. The young man was a +gentleman--so had been the girl's father. Conditions were changed, but +human nature was the same. Would the young man's love turn to disgust +and repulsion, or would it merely sink from the level of worship to +that of desire? Would the girl, denied marriage, accept anything less? +Her mother had,--but conditions were changed. Yes, conditions were +changed, so far as the girl was concerned; there was a possible future +for her under the new order of things; but white people had not changed +their opinion of the negroes, except for the worse. The general belief +was that they were just as inferior as before, and had, moreover, been +spoiled by a disgusting assumption of equality, driven into their thick +skulls by Yankee malignity bent upon humiliating a proud though +vanquished foe. + +If the judge had had sons and daughters of his own, he might not have +done what he now proceeded to do. But the old man's attitude toward +society was chiefly that of an observer, and the narrow stream of +sentiment left in his heart chose to flow toward the weaker party in +this unequal conflict,--a young woman fighting for love and opportunity +against the ranked forces of society, against immemorial tradition, +against pride of family and of race. + +"It may be the unwisest thing I ever did," he said to himself, turning +to his desk and taking up a quill pen, "and may result in more harm +than good; but I was always from childhood in sympathy with the under +dog. There is certainly as much reason in my helping the girl as the +boy, for being a woman, she is less able to help herself." + +He dipped his pen into the ink and wrote the following lines:-- + + +MADAM,--If you value your daughter's happiness, keep her at home for +the next day or two. + + +This note he dried by sprinkling it with sand from a box near at hand, +signed with his own name, and, with a fine courtesy, addressed to "Mrs. +Molly Walden." Having first carefully sealed it in an envelope, he +stepped to the open door, and spied, playing marbles on the street near +by, a group of negro boys, one of whom the judge called by name. + +"Here, Billy," he said, handing the boy the note, "take this to Mis' +Molly Walden. Do you know where she lives--down on Front Street, in +the house behind the cedars?" + +"Yas, suh, I knows de place." + +"Make haste, now. When you come back and tell me what she says, I'll +give you ten cents. On second thoughts, I shall be gone to lunch, so +here's your money," he added, handing the lad the bit of soiled paper +by which the United States government acknowledged its indebtedness to +the bearer in the sum of ten cents. + +Just here, however, the judge made his mistake. Very few mortals can +spare the spring of hope, the motive force of expectation. The boy +kept the note in his hand, winked at his companions, who had gathered +as near as their awe of the judge would permit, and started down the +street. As soon as the judge had disappeared, Billy beckoned to his +friends, who speedily overtook him. When the party turned the corner +of Front Street and were safely out of sight of Judge Straight's +office, the capitalist entered the grocery store and invested his +unearned increment in gingerbread. When the ensuing saturnalia was +over, Billy finished the game of marbles which the judge had +interrupted, and then set out to execute his commission. He had nearly +reached his objective point when he met upon the street a young white +lady, whom he did not know, and for whom, the path being narrow at that +point, he stepped out into the gutter. He reached the house behind the +cedars, went round to the back door, and handed the envelope to Mis' +Molly, who was seated on the rear piazza, propped up by pillows in a +comfortable rocking-chair. + +"Laws-a-massy!" she exclaimed weakly, "what is it?" + +"It's a lettuh, ma'm," answered the boy, whose expanding nostrils had +caught a pleasant odor from the kitchen, and who was therefore in no +hurry to go away. + +"Who's it fur?" she asked. + +"It's fuh you, ma'm," replied the lad. + +"An' who's it from?" she inquired, turning the envelope over and over, +and examining it with the impotent curiosity of one who cannot read. + +"F'm ole Jedge Straight, ma'm. He tole me ter fetch it ter you. Is +you got a roasted 'tater you could gimme, ma'm?" + +"Shorely, chile. I'll have Aunt Zilphy fetch you a piece of 'tater +pone, if you'll hol' on a minute." + +She called to Aunt Zilphy, who soon came hobbling out of the kitchen +with a large square of the delicacy,--a flat cake made of mashed sweet +potatoes, mixed with beaten eggs, sweetened and flavored to suit the +taste, and baked in a Dutch oven upon the open hearth. + +The boy took the gratuity, thanked her, and turned to go. Mis' Molly +was still scanning the superscription of the letter. "I wonder," she +murmured, "what old Judge Straight can be writin' to me about. Oh, +boy!" + +"Yas 'm," answered the messenger, looking back. + +"Can you read writin'?" + +"No 'm." + +"All right. Never mind." + +She laid the letter carefully on the chimney-piece of the kitchen. "I +reckon it's somethin' mo' 'bout the taxes," she thought, "or maybe +somebody wants to buy one er my lots. Rena'll be back terreckly, an' +she kin read it an' find out. I'm glad my child'en have be'n to school. +They never could have got where they are now if they hadn't." + + + +XIV + +A LOYAL FRIEND + +Mention has been made of certain addressed envelopes which John +Warwick, on the occasion of his visit to Patesville, had left with his +illiterate mother, by the use of which she might communicate with her +children from time to time. On one occasion, Mis' Molly, having had a +letter written, took one of these envelopes from the chest where she +kept her most valued possessions, and was about to inclose the letter +when some one knocked at the back door. She laid the envelope and +letter on a table in her bedroom, and went to answer the knock. The +wind, blowing across the room through the open windows, picked up the +envelope and bore it into the street. Mis' Molly, on her return, +missed it, looked for it, and being unable to find it, took another +envelope. An hour or two later another gust of wind lifted the bit of +paper from the ground and carried it into the open door of the cooper +shop. Frank picked it up, and observing that it was clean and unused, +read the superscription. In his conversations with Mis' Molly, which +were often about Rena,--the subject uppermost in both their minds,--he +had noted the mystery maintained by Mis' Molly about her daughter's +whereabouts, and had often wondered where she might be. Frank was an +intelligent fellow, and could put this and that together. The envelope +was addressed to a place in South Carolina. He was aware, from some +casual remark of Mis' Molly's, that Rena had gone to live in South +Carolina. Her son's name was John--that he had changed his last name +was more than likely. Frank was not long in reaching the conclusion +that Rena was to be found near the town named on the envelope, which he +carefully preserved for future reference. + +For a whole year Frank had yearned for a smile or a kind word from the +only woman in the world. Peter, his father, had rallied him somewhat +upon his moodiness after Rena's departure. + +"Now 's de time, boy, fer you ter be lookin' roun' fer some nice gal er +yo' own color, w'at'll 'preciate you, an' won't be 'shamed er you. +You're wastin' time, boy, wastin' time, shootin' at a mark outer yo' +range." + +But Frank said nothing in reply, and afterwards the old man, who was +not without discernment, respected his son's mood and was silent in +turn; while Frank fed his memory with his imagination, and by their +joint aid kept hope alive. + +Later an opportunity to see her presented itself. Business in the +cooper shop was dull. A barrel factory had been opened in the town, +and had well-nigh paralyzed the cooper's trade. The best mechanic +could hardly compete with a machine. One man could now easily do the +work of Peter's shop. An agent appeared in town seeking laborers for +one of the railroads which the newly organized carpet-bag governments +were promoting. Upon inquiry Frank learned that their destination was +near the town of Clarence, South Carolina. He promptly engaged himself +for the service, and was soon at work in the neighborhood of Warwick's +home. There he was employed steadily until a certain holiday, upon +which a grand tournament was advertised to take place in a neighboring +town. Work was suspended, and foremen and laborers attended the +festivities. + +Frank had surmised that Rena would be present on such an occasion. He +had more than guessed, too, that she must be looked for among the white +people rather than among the black. Hence the interest with which he +had scanned the grand stand. The result has already been recounted. He +had recognized her sweet face; he had seen her enthroned among the +proudest and best. He had witnessed and gloried in her triumph. He +had seen her cheek flushed with pleasure, her eyes lit up with smiles. +He had followed her carriage, had made the acquaintance of Mimy the +nurse, and had learned all about the family. When finally he left the +neighborhood to return to Patesville, he had learned of Tryon's +attentions, and had heard the servants' gossip with reference to the +marriage, of which they knew the details long before the principals had +approached the main fact. Frank went away without having received one +smile or heard one word from Rena; but he had seen her: she was happy; +he was content in the knowledge of her happiness. She was doubtless +secure in the belief that her secret was unknown. Why should he, by +revealing his presence, sow the seeds of doubt or distrust in the +garden of her happiness? He sacrificed the deepest longing of a +faithful heart, and went back to the cooper shop lest perchance she +might accidentally come upon him some day and suffer the shock which he +had sedulously spared her. + +"I would n' want ter skeer her," he mused, "er make her feel bad, an' +dat's w'at I'd mos' lackly do ef she seed me. She'll be better off wid +me out'n de road. She'll marry dat rich w'ite gent'eman,--he won't +never know de diffe'nce,--an' be a w'ite lady, ez she would 'a' be'n, +ef some ole witch had n' changed her in her cradle. But maybe some +time she'll 'member de little nigger w'at use' ter nuss her w'en she +woz a chile, an' fished her out'n de ole canal, an' would 'a' died fer +her ef it would 'a' done any good." + +Very generously too, and with a fine delicacy, he said nothing to Mis' +Molly of his having seen her daughter, lest she might be disquieted by +the knowledge that he shared the family secret,--no great mystery now, +this pitiful secret, but more far-reaching in its consequences than any +blood-curdling crime. The taint of black blood was the unpardonable +sin, from the unmerited penalty of which there was no escape except by +concealment. If there be a dainty reader of this tale who scorns a +lie, and who writes the story of his life upon his sleeve for all the +world to read, let him uncurl his scornful lip and come down from the +pedestal of superior morality, to which assured position and wide +opportunity have lifted him, and put himself in the place of Rena and +her brother, upon whom God had lavished his best gifts, and from whom +society would have withheld all that made these gifts valuable. To +undertake what they tried to do required great courage. Had they +possessed the sneaking, cringing, treacherous character traditionally +ascribed to people of mixed blood--the character which the blessed +institutions of a free slave-holding republic had been well adapted to +foster among them; had they been selfish enough to sacrifice to their +ambition the mother who gave them birth, society would have been +placated or humbugged, and the voyage of their life might have been one +of unbroken smoothness. + +When Rena came back unexpectedly at the behest of her dream, Frank +heard again the music of her voice, felt the joy of her presence and +the benison of her smile. There was, however, a subtle difference in +her bearing. Her words were not less kind, but they seemed to come +from a remoter source. She was kind, as the sun is warm or the rain +refreshing; she was especially kind to Frank, because he had been good +to her mother. If Frank felt the difference in her attitude, he +ascribed it to the fact that she had been white, and had taken on +something of the white attitude toward the negro; and Frank, with an +equal unconsciousness, clothed her with the attributes of the superior +race. Only her drop of black blood, he conceived, gave him the right +to feel toward her as he would never have felt without it; and if Rena +guessed her faithful devotee's secret, the same reason saved his +worship from presumption. A smile and a kind word were little enough +to pay for a life's devotion. + +On the third day of Rena's presence in Patesville, Frank was driving up +Front Street in the early afternoon, when he nearly fell off his cart +in astonishment as he saw seated in Dr. Green's buggy, which was +standing in front of the Patesville Hotel, the young gentleman who had +won the prize at the tournament, and who, as he had learned, was to +marry Rena. Frank was quite certain that she did not know of Tryon's +presence in the town. Frank had been over to Mis' Molly's in the +morning, and had offered his services to the sick woman, who had +rapidly become convalescent upon her daughter's return. Mis' Molly had +spoken of some camphor that she needed. Frank had volunteered to get +it. Rena had thanked him, and had spoken of going to the drugstore +during the afternoon. It was her intention to leave Patesville on the +following day. + +"Ef dat man sees her in dis town," said Frank to himself, "dere'll be +trouble. She don't know HE'S here, an' I'll bet he don't know SHE'S +here." + +Then Frank was assailed by a very strong temptation. If, as he +surmised, the joint presence of the two lovers in Patesville was a mere +coincidence, a meeting between them would probably result in the +discovery of Rena's secret. + +"If she's found out," argued the tempter, "she'll come back to her +mother, and you can see her every day." + +But Frank's love was not of the selfish kind. He put temptation aside, +and applied the whip to the back of his mule with a vigor that +astonished the animal and moved him to unwonted activity. In an +unusually short space of time he drew up before Mis' Molly's back gate, +sprang from the cart, and ran up to Mis' Molly on the porch. + +"Is Miss Rena here?" he demanded breathlessly. + +"No, Frank; she went up town 'bout an hour ago to see the doctor an' +git me some camphor gum." + +Frank uttered a groan, rushed from the house, sprang into the cart, and +goaded the terrified mule into a gallop that carried him back to the +market house in half the time it had taken him to reach Mis' Molly's. + +"I wonder what in the worl 's the matter with Frank," mused Mis' Molly, +in vague alarm. "Ef he hadn't be'n in such a hurry, I'd 'a' axed him +to read Judge Straight's letter. But Rena'll be home soon." + +When Frank reached the doctor's office, he saw Tryon seated in the +doctor's buggy, which was standing by the window of the drugstore. +Frank ran upstairs and asked the doctor's man if Miss Walden had been +there. + +"Yas," replied Dave, "she wuz here a little w'ile ago, an' said she wuz +gwine downstairs ter de drugsto'. I would n' be s'prise' ef you'd fin' +her dere now." + + + +XV + +MINE OWN PEOPLE + +The drive by which Dr. Green took Tryon to his own house led up Front +Street about a mile, to the most aristocratic portion of the town, +situated on the hill known as Haymount, or, more briefly, "The Hill." +The Hill had lost some of its former glory, however, for the blight of +a four years' war was everywhere. After reaching the top of this +wooded eminence, the road skirted for some little distance the brow of +the hill. Below them lay the picturesque old town, a mass of vivid +green, dotted here and there with gray roofs that rose above the +tree-tops. Two long ribbons of streets stretched away from the Hill to +the faint red line that marked the high bluff beyond the river at the +farther side of the town. The market-house tower and the slender +spires of half a dozen churches were sharply outlined against the green +background. The face of the clock was visible, but the hours could +have been read only by eyes of phenomenal sharpness. Around them +stretched ruined walls, dismantled towers, and crumbling +earthworks--footprints of the god of war, one of whose temples had +crowned this height. For many years before the rebellion a Federal +arsenal had been located at Patesville. Seized by the state troops upon +the secession of North Carolina, it had been held by the Confederates +until the approach of Sherman's victorious army, whereupon it was +evacuated and partially destroyed. The work of destruction begun by +the retreating garrison was completed by the conquerors, and now only +ruined walls and broken cannon remained of what had once been the chief +ornament and pride of Patesville. + +The front of Dr. Green's spacious brick house, which occupied an +ideally picturesque site, was overgrown by a network of clinging vines, +contrasting most agreeably with the mellow red background. A low brick +wall, also overrun with creepers, separated the premises from the +street and shut in a well-kept flower garden, in which Tryon, who knew +something of plants, noticed many rare and beautiful specimens. + +Mrs. Green greeted Tryon cordially. He did not have the doctor's +memory with which to fill out the lady's cheeks or restore the lustre +of her hair or the sparkle of her eyes, and thereby justify her +husband's claim to be a judge of beauty; but her kind-hearted +hospitality was obvious, and might have made even a plain woman seem +handsome. She and her two fair daughters, to whom Tryon was duly +presented, looked with much favor upon their handsome young kinsman; +for among the people of Patesville, perhaps by virtue of the prevalence +of Scottish blood, the ties of blood were cherished as things of value, +and never forgotten except in case of the unworthy--an exception, by +the way, which one need hardly go so far to seek. + +The Patesville people were not exceptional in the weaknesses and +meannesses which are common to all mankind, but for some of the finer +social qualities they were conspicuously above the average. Kindness, +hospitality, loyalty, a chivalrous deference to women,--all these +things might be found in large measure by those who saw Patesville with +the eyes of its best citizens, and accepted their standards of +politics, religion, manners, and morals. + +The doctor, after the introductions, excused himself for a moment. +Mrs. Green soon left Tryon with the young ladies and went to look after +luncheon. Her first errand, however, was to find the doctor. + +"Is he well off, Ed?" she asked her husband. + +"Lots of land, and plenty of money, if he is ever able to collect it. +He has inherited two estates." + +"He's a good-looking fellow," she mused. "Is he married?" + +"There you go again," replied her husband, shaking his forefinger at +her in mock reproach. "To a woman with marriageable daughters all roads +lead to matrimony, the centre of a woman's universe. All men must be +sized up by their matrimonial availability. No, he isn't married." + +"That's nice," she rejoined reflectively. "I think we ought to ask him +to stay with us while he is in town, don't you?" + +"He's not married," rejoined the doctor slyly, "but the next best +thing--he's engaged." + +"Come to think of it," said the lady, "I'm afraid we wouldn't have the +room to spare, and the girls would hardly have time to entertain him. +But we'll have him up several times. I like his looks. I wish you had +sent me word he was coming; I'd have had a better luncheon." + +"Make him a salad," rejoined the doctor, "and get out a bottle of the +best claret. Thank God, the Yankees didn't get into my wine cellar! +The young man must be treated with genuine Southern hospitality,--even +if he were a Mormon and married ten times over." + +"Indeed, he would not, Ed,--the idea! I'm ashamed of you. Hurry back +to the parlor and talk to him. The girls may want to primp a little +before luncheon; we don't have a young man every day." + +"Beauty unadorned," replied the doctor, "is adorned the most. My +profession qualifies me to speak upon the subject. They are the two +handsomest young women in Patesville, and the daughters of the most +beautiful"-- + +"Don't you dare to say the word," interrupted Mrs. Green, with placid +good nature. "I shall never grow old while I am living with a big boy +like you. But I must go and make the salad." + +At dinner the conversation ran on the family connections and their +varying fortunes in the late war. Some had died upon the battlefield, +and slept in unknown graves; some had been financially ruined by their +faith in the "lost cause," having invested their all in the securities +of the Confederate Government. Few had anything left but land, and +land without slaves to work it was a drug in the market. + +"I was offered a thousand acres, the other day, at twenty-five cents an +acre," remarked the doctor. "The owner is so land-poor that he can't +pay the taxes. They have taken our negroes and our liberties. It may +be better for our grandchildren that the negroes are free, but it's +confoundedly hard on us to take them without paying for them. They may +exalt our slaves over us temporarily, but they have not broken our +spirit, and cannot take away our superiority of blood and breeding. In +time we shall regain control. The negro is an inferior creature; God +has marked him with the badge of servitude, and has adjusted his +intellect to a servile condition. We will not long submit to his +domination. I give you a toast, sir: The Anglo-Saxon race: may it +remain forever, as now, the head and front of creation, never yielding +its rights, and ready always to die, if need be, in defense of its +liberties!" + +"With all my heart, sir," replied Tryon, who felt in this company a +thrill of that pleasure which accompanies conscious superiority,--"with +all my heart, sir, if the ladies will permit me." + +"We will join you," they replied. The toast was drunk with great +enthusiasm. + +"And now, my dear George," exclaimed the doctor, "to change one good +subject for another, tell us who is the favored lady?" + +"A Miss Rowena Warwick, sir," replied Tryon, vividly conscious of four +pairs of eyes fixed upon him, but, apart from the momentary +embarrassment, welcoming the subject as the one he would most like to +speak upon. + +"A good, strong old English name," observed the doctor. + +"The heroine of 'Ivanhoe'!" exclaimed Miss Harriet. + +"Warwick the Kingmaker!" said Miss Mary. "Is she tall and fair, and +dignified and stately?" + +"She is tall, dark rather than fair, and full of tender grace and sweet +humility." + +"She should have been named Rebecca instead of Rowena," rejoined Miss +Mary, who was well up in her Scott. + +"Tell us something about her people," asked Mrs. Green,--to which +inquiry the young ladies looked assent. + +In this meeting of the elect of his own class and kin Warwick felt a +certain strong illumination upon the value of birth and blood. Finding +Rena among people of the best social standing, the subsequent +intimation that she was a girl of no family had seemed a small matter +to one so much in love. Nevertheless, in his present company he felt a +decided satisfaction in being able to present for his future wife a +clean bill of social health. + +"Her brother is the most prominent lawyer of Clarence. They live in a +fine old family mansion, and are among the best people of the town." + +"Quite right, my boy," assented the doctor. "None but the best are good +enough for the best. You must bring her to Patesville some day. But +bless my life!" he exclaimed, looking at his watch, "I must be going. +Will you stay with the ladies awhile, or go back down town with me?" + +"I think I had better go with you, sir. I shall have to see Judge +Straight." + +"Very well. But you must come back to supper, and we'll have a few +friends in to meet you. You must see some of the best people." + +The doctor's buggy was waiting at the gate. As they were passing the +hotel on their drive down town, the clerk came out to the curbstone and +called to the doctor. + +"There's a man here, doctor, who's been taken suddenly ill. Can you +come in a minute?" + +"I suppose I'll have to. Will you wait for me here, George, or will +you drive down to the office? I can walk the rest of the way." + +"I think I'll wait here, doctor," answered Tryon. "I'll step up to my +room a moment. I'll be back by the time you're ready." + +It was while they were standing before the hotel, before alighting from +the buggy, that Frank Fowler, passing on his cart, saw Tryon and set +out as fast as he could to warn Mis' Molly and her daughter of his +presence in the town. + +Tryon went up to his room, returned after a while, and resumed his seat +in the buggy, where he waited fifteen minutes longer before the doctor +was ready. When they drew up in front of the office, the doctor's man +Dave was standing in the doorway, looking up the street with an anxious +expression, as though struggling hard to keep something upon his mind. + +"Anything wanted, Dave?" asked the doctor. + +"Dat young 'oman's be'n heah ag'in, suh, an' wants ter see you bad. +She's in de drugstore dere now, suh. Bless Gawd!" he added to himself +fervently, "I 'membered dat. Dis yer recommemb'ance er mine is gwine +ter git me inter trouble ef I don' look out, an' dat's a fac', sho'." + +The doctor sprang from the buggy with an agility remarkable in a man of +sixty. "Just keep your seat, George," he said to Tryon, "until I have +spoken to the young woman, and then we'll go across to Straight's. Or, +if you'll drive along a little farther, you can see the girl through +the window. She's worth the trouble, if you like a pretty face." + +Tryon liked one pretty face; moreover, tinted beauty had never appealed +to him. More to show a proper regard for what interested the doctor +than from any curiosity of his own, he drove forward a few feet, until +the side of the buggy was opposite the drugstore window, and then +looked in. + +Between the colored glass bottles in the window he could see a young +woman, a tall and slender girl, like a lily on its stem. She stood +talking with the doctor, who held his hat in his hand with as much +deference as though she were the proudest dame in town. Her face was +partly turned away from the window, but as Tryon's eye fell upon her, +he gave a great start. Surely, no two women could be so much alike. +The height, the graceful droop of the shoulders, the swan-like poise of +the head, the well-turned little ear,--surely, no two women could have +them all identical! But, pshaw! the notion was absurd, it was merely +the reflex influence of his morning's dream. + +She moved slightly; it was Rena's movement. Surely he knew the gown, +and the style of hair-dressing! She rested her hand lightly on the +back of a chair. The ring that glittered on her finger could be none +other than his own. + +The doctor bowed. The girl nodded in response, and, turning, left the +store. Tryon leaned forward from the buggy-seat and kept his eye fixed +on the figure that moved across the floor of the drugstore. As she came +out, she turned her face casually toward the buggy, and there could no +longer be any doubt as to her identity. + +When Rena's eyes fell upon the young man in the buggy, she saw a face +as pale as death, with starting eyes, in which love, which once had +reigned there, had now given place to astonishment and horror. She +stood a moment as if turned to stone. One appealing glance she +gave,--a look that might have softened adamant. When she saw that it +brought no answering sign of love or sorrow or regret, the color faded +from her cheek, the light from her eye, and she fell fainting to the +ground. + + + +XVI + +THE BOTTOM FALLS OUT + +The first effect of Tryon's discovery was, figuratively speaking, to +knock the bottom out of things for him. It was much as if a boat on +which he had been floating smoothly down the stream of pleasure had +sunk suddenly and left him struggling in deep waters. The full +realization of the truth, which followed speedily, had for the moment +reversed his mental attitude toward her, and love and yearning had +given place to anger and disgust. His agitation could hardly have +escaped notice had not the doctor's attention, and that of the crowd +that quickly gathered, been absorbed by the young woman who had fallen. +During the time occupied in carrying her into the drugstore, restoring +her to consciousness, and sending her home in a carriage, Tryon had +time to recover in some degree his self-possession. When Rena had been +taken home, he slipped away for a long walk, after which he called at +Judge Straight's office and received the judge's report upon the matter +presented. Judge Straight had found the claim, in his opinion, a good +one; he had discovered property from which, in case the claim were +allowed, the amount might be realized. The judge, who had already been +informed of the incident at the drugstore, observed Tryon's +preoccupation and guessed shrewdly at its cause, but gave no sign. +Tryon left the matter of the note unreservedly in the lawyer's hands, +with instructions to communicate to him any further developments. + +Returning to the doctor's office, Tryon listened to that genial +gentleman's comments on the accident, his own concern in which he, by a +great effort, was able to conceal. The doctor insisted upon his +returning to the Hill for supper. Tryon pleaded illness. The doctor +was solicitous, felt his pulse, examined his tongue, pronounced him +feverish, and prescribed a sedative. Tryon sought refuge in his room +at the hotel, from which he did not emerge again until morning. + +His emotions were varied and stormy. At first he could see nothing but +the fraud of which he had been made the victim. A negro girl had been +foisted upon him for a white woman, and he had almost committed the +unpardonable sin against his race of marrying her. Such a step, he +felt, would have been criminal at any time; it would have been the most +odious treachery at this epoch, when his people had been subjugated and +humiliated by the Northern invaders, who had preached negro equality +and abolished the wholesome laws decreeing the separation of the races. +But no Southerner who loved his poor, downtrodden country, or his race, +the proud Anglo-Saxon race which traced the clear stream of its blood +to the cavaliers of England, could tolerate the idea that even in +distant generations that unsullied current could be polluted by the +blood of slaves. The very thought was an insult to the white people of +the South. For Tryon's liberality, of which he had spoken so nobly and +so sincerely, had been confined unconsciously, and as a matter of +course, within the boundaries of his own race. The Southern mind, in +discussing abstract questions relative to humanity, makes always, +consciously or unconsciously, the mental reservation that the +conclusions reached do not apply to the negro, unless they can be made +to harmonize with the customs of the country. + +But reasoning thus was not without effect upon a mind by nature +reasonable above the average. Tryon's race impulse and social prejudice +had carried him too far, and the swing of the mental pendulum brought +his thoughts rapidly back in the opposite direction. Tossing uneasily +on the bed, where he had thrown himself down without undressing, the +air of the room oppressed him, and he threw open the window. The cool +night air calmed his throbbing pulses. The moonlight, streaming +through the window, flooded the room with a soft light, in which he +seemed to see Rena standing before him, as she had appeared that +afternoon, gazing at him with eyes that implored charity and +forgiveness. He burst into tears,--bitter tears, that strained his +heartstrings. He was only a youth. She was his first love, and he had +lost her forever. She was worse than dead to him; for if he had seen +her lying in her shroud before him, he could at least have cherished +her memory; now, even this consolation was denied him. + +The town clock--which so long as it was wound up regularly recked +nothing of love or hate, joy or sorrow--solemnly tolled out the hour of +midnight and sounded the knell of his lost love. Lost she was, as +though she had never been, as she had indeed had no right to be. He +resolutely determined to banish her image from his mind. See her again +he could not; it would be painful to them both; it could be productive +of no good to either. He had felt the power and charm of love, and no +ordinary shook could have loosened its hold; but this catastrophe, +which had so rudely swept away the groundwork of his passion, had +stirred into new life all the slumbering pride of race and ancestry +which characterized his caste. How much of this sensitive superiority +was essential and how much accidental; how much of it was due to the +ever-suggested comparison with a servile race; how much of it was +ignorance and self-conceit; to what extent the boasted purity of his +race would have been contaminated by the fair woman whose image filled +his memory,--of these things he never thought. He was not influenced +by sordid considerations; he would have denied that his course was +controlled by any narrow prudence. If Rena had been white, pure white +(for in his creed there was no compromise), he would have braved any +danger for her sake. Had she been merely of illegitimate birth, he +would have overlooked the bar sinister. Had her people been simply +poor and of low estate, he would have brushed aside mere worldly +considerations, and would have bravely sacrificed convention for love; +for his liberality was not a mere form of words. But the one objection +which he could not overlook was, unhappily, the one that applied to the +only woman who had as yet moved his heart. He tried to be angry with +her, but after the first hour he found it impossible. He was a man of +too much imagination not to be able to put himself, in some measure at +least, in her place,--to perceive that for her the step which had +placed her in Tryon's world was the working out of nature's great law +of self-preservation, for which he could not blame her. But for the +sheerest accident,--no, rather, but for a providential +interference,--he would have married her, and might have gone to the +grave unconscious that she was other than she seemed. + +The clock struck the hour of two. With a shiver he closed the window, +undressed by the moonlight, drew down the shade, and went to bed. He +fell into an unquiet slumber, and dreamed again of Rena. He must learn +to control his waking thoughts; his dreams could not be curbed. In that +realm Rena's image was for many a day to remain supreme. He dreamed of +her sweet smile, her soft touch, her gentle voice. In all her fair +young beauty she stood before him, and then by some hellish magic she +was slowly transformed into a hideous black hag. With agonized eyes he +watched her beautiful tresses become mere wisps of coarse wool, wrapped +round with dingy cotton strings; he saw her clear eyes grow bloodshot, +her ivory teeth turn to unwholesome fangs. With a shudder he awoke, to +find the cold gray dawn of a rainy day stealing through the window. + +He rose, dressed himself, went down to breakfast, then entered the +writing-room and penned a letter which, after reading it over, he tore +into small pieces and threw into the waste basket. A second shared the +same fate. Giving up the task, he left the hotel and walked down to +Dr. Green's office. + +"Is the doctor in?" he asked of the colored attendant. + +"No, suh," replied the man; "he's gone ter see de young cullud gal w'at +fainted w'en de doctah was wid you yistiddy." + +Tryon sat down at the doctor's desk and hastily scrawled a note, +stating that business compelled his immediate departure. He thanked +the doctor for courtesies extended, and left his regards for the +ladies. Returning to the hotel, he paid his bill and took a hack for +the wharf, from which a boat was due to leave at nine o'clock. + +As the hack drove down Front Street, Tryon noted idly the houses that +lined the street. When he reached the sordid district in the lower +part of the town, there was nothing to attract his attention until the +carriage came abreast of a row of cedar-trees, beyond which could be +seen the upper part of a large house with dormer windows. Before the +gate stood a horse and buggy, which Tryon thought he recognized as Dr. +Green's. He leaned forward and addressed the driver. + +"Can you tell me who lives there?" Tryon asked, pointing to the house. + +"A callud 'oman, suh," the man replied, touching his hat. "Mis' Molly +Walden an' her daughter Rena." + +The vivid impression he received of this house, and the spectre that +rose before him of a pale, broken-hearted girl within its gray walls, +weeping for a lost lover and a vanished dream of happiness, did not +argue well for Tryon's future peace of mind. Rena's image was not to +be easily expelled from his heart; for the laws of nature are higher +and more potent than merely human institutions, and upon anything like +a fair field are likely to win in the long ran. + + + +XVII + +TWO LETTERS + +Warwick awaited events with some calmness and some philosophy,--he +could hardly have had the one without the other; and it required much +philosophy to make him wait a week in patience for information upon a +subject in which he was so vitally interested. The delay pointed to +disaster. Bad news being expected, delay at least put off the evil day. +At the end of the week he received two letters,--one addressed in his +own hand writing and postmarked Patesville, N. C.; the other in the +handwriting of George Tryon. He opened the Patesville letter, which +ran as follows:-- + + +MY DEAR SON,--Frank is writing this letter for me. I am not well, but, +thank the Lord, I am better than I was. + +Rena has had a heap of trouble on account of me and my sickness. If I +could of dreamt that I was going to do so much harm, I would of died +and gone to meet my God without writing one word to spoil my girl's +chances in life; but I didn't know what was going to happen, and I hope +the Lord will forgive me. + +Frank knows all about it, and so I am having him write this letter for +me, as Rena is not well enough yet. Frank has been very good to me and +to Rena. He was down to your place and saw Rena there, and never said +a word about it to nobody, not even to me, because he didn't want to do +Rena no harm. Frank is the best friend I have got in town, because he +does so much for me and don't want nothing in return. (He tells me not +to put this in about him, but I want you to know it.) + +And now about Rena. She come to see me, and I got better right away, +for it was longing for her as much as anything else that made me sick, +and I was mighty mizzable. When she had been here three days and was +going back next day, she went up town to see the doctor for me, and +while she was up there she fainted and fell down in the street, and Dr. +Green sent her home in his buggy and come down to see her. He couldn't +tell what was the matter with her, but she has been sick ever since and +out of her head some of the time, and keeps on calling on somebody by +the name of George, which was the young white man she told me she was +going to marry. It seems he was in town the day Rena was took sick, +for Frank saw him up street and run all the way down here to tell me, +so that she could keep out of his way, while she was still up town +waiting for the doctor and getting me some camphor gum for my camphor +bottle. Old Judge Straight must have knowed something about it, for he +sent me a note to keep Rena in the house, but the little boy he sent it +by didn't bring it till Rena was already gone up town, and, as I +couldn't read, of course I didn't know what it said. Dr. Green heard +Rena running on while she was out of her head, and I reckon he must +have suspicioned something, for he looked kind of queer and went away +without saying nothing. Frank says she met this man on the street, and +when he found out she wasn't white, he said or done something that +broke her heart and she fainted and fell down. + +I am writing you this letter because I know you will be worrying about +Rena not coming back. If it wasn't for Frank, I hardly know how I +could write to you. Frank is not going to say nothing about Rena's +passing for white and meeting this man, and neither am I; and I don't +suppose Judge Straight will say nothing, because he is our good friend; +and Dr. Green won't say nothing about it, because Frank says Dr. +Green's cook Nancy says this young man named George stopped with him +and was some cousin or relation to the family, and they wouldn't want +people to know that any of their kin was thinking about marrying a +colored girl, and the white folks have all been mad since J. B. +Thompson married his black housekeeper when she got religion and +wouldn't live with him no more. + +All the rest of the connection are well. I have just been in to see +how Rena is. She is feeling some better, I think, and says give you +her love and she will write you a letter in a few days, as soon as she +is well enough. She bust out crying while she was talking, but I +reckon that is better than being out of her head. I hope this may find +you well, and that this man of Rena's won't say nor do nothing down +there to hurt you. He has not wrote to Rena nor sent her no word. I +reckon he is very mad. + + Your affectionate mother, + MARY WALDEN. + + +This letter, while confirming Warwick's fears, relieved his suspense. +He at least knew the worst, unless there should be something still more +disturbing in Tryon's letter, which he now proceeded to open, and which +ran as follows:-- + + +JOHN WARWICK, ESQ. + +Dear Sir,--When I inform you, as you are doubtless informed ere the +receipt of this, that I saw your sister in Patesville last week and +learned the nature of those antecedents of yours and hers at which you +hinted so obscurely in a recent conversation, you will not be surprised +to learn that I take this opportunity of renouncing any pretensions to +Miss Warwick's hand, and request you to convey this message to her, +since it was through you that I formed her acquaintance. I think +perhaps that few white men would deem it necessary to make an +explanation under the circumstances, and I do not know that I need say +more than that no one, considering where and how I met your sister, +would have dreamed of even the possibility of what I have learned. I +might with justice reproach you for trifling with the most sacred +feelings of a man's heart; but I realize the hardship of your position +and hers, and can make allowances. I would never have sought to know +this thing; I would doubtless have been happier had I gone through life +without finding it out; but having the knowledge, I cannot ignore it, +as you must understand perfectly well. I regret that she should be +distressed or disappointed,--she has not suffered alone. + +I need scarcely assure you that I shall say nothing about this affair, +and that I shall keep your secret as though it were my own. +Personally, I shall never be able to think of you as other than a white +man, as you may gather from the tone of this letter; and while I cannot +marry your sister, I wish her every happiness, and remain, + + Yours very truly, + GEORGE TRYON. + + +Warwick could not know that this formal epistle was the last of a dozen +that Tryon had written and destroyed during the week since the meeting +in Patesville,--hot, blistering letters, cold, cutting letters, +scornful, crushing letters. Though none of them was sent, except this +last, they had furnished a safety-valve for his emotions, and had left +him in a state of mind that permitted him to write the foregoing. + +And now, while Rena is recovering from her illness, and Tryon from his +love, and while Fate is shuffling the cards for another deal, a few +words may be said about the past life of the people who lived in the +rear of the flower garden, in the quaint old house beyond the cedars, +and how their lives were mingled with those of the men and women around +them and others that were gone. For connected with our kind we must +be; if not by our virtues, then by our vices,--if not by our services, +at least by our needs. + + + +XVIII + +UNDER THE OLD REGIME + +For many years before the civil war there had lived, in the old house +behind the cedars, a free colored woman who went by the name of Molly +Walden--her rightful name, for her parents were free-born and legally +married. She was a tall woman, straight as an arrow. Her complexion +in youth was of an old ivory tint, which at the period of this story, +time had darkened measurably. Her black eyes, now faded, had once +sparkled with the fire of youth. High cheek-bones, straight black +hair, and a certain dignified reposefulness of manner pointed to an +aboriginal descent. Tradition gave her to the negro race. Doubtless +she had a strain of each, with white blood very visibly predominating +over both. In Louisiana or the West Indies she would have been called +a quadroon, or more loosely, a creole; in North Carolina, where fine +distinctions were not the rule in matters of color, she was +sufficiently differentiated when described as a bright mulatto. + +Molly's free birth carried with it certain advantages, even in the +South before the war. Though degraded from its high estate, and shorn +of its choicest attributes, the word "freedom" had nevertheless a +cheerful sound, and described a condition that left even to colored +people who could claim it some liberty of movement and some control of +their own persons. They were not citizens, yet they were not slaves. +No negro, save in books, ever refused freedom; many of them ran +frightful risks to achieve it. Molly's parents were of the class, more +numerous in North Carolina than elsewhere, known as "old issue free +negroes," which took its rise in the misty colonial period, when race +lines were not so closely drawn, and the population of North Carolina +comprised many Indians, runaway negroes, and indentured white servants +from the seaboard plantations, who mingled their blood with great +freedom and small formality. Free colored people in North Carolina +exercised the right of suffrage as late as 1835, and some of them, in +spite of galling restrictions, attained to a considerable degree of +prosperity, and dreamed of a still brighter future, when the growing +tyranny of the slave power crushed their hopes and crowded the free +people back upon the black mass just beneath them. Mis' Molly's father +had been at one time a man of some means. In an evil hour, with an +overweening confidence in his fellow men, he indorsed a note for a +white man who, in a moment of financial hardship, clapped his colored +neighbor on the back and called him brother. Not poverty, but wealth, +is the most potent leveler. In due time the indorser was called upon to +meet the maturing obligation. This was the beginning of a series of +financial difficulties which speedily involved him in ruin. He died +prematurely, a disappointed and disheartened man, leaving his family in +dire poverty. + +His widow and surviving children lived on for a little while at the +house he had owned, just outside of the town, on one of the main +traveled roads. By the wayside, near the house, there was a famous deep +well. The slim, barefoot girl, with sparkling eyes and voluminous +hair, who played about the yard and sometimes handed water in a gourd +to travelers, did not long escape critical observation. A gentleman +drove by one day, stopped at the well, smiled upon the girl, and said +kind words. He came again, more than once, and soon, while scarcely +more than a child in years, Molly was living in her own house, hers by +deed of gift, for her protector was rich and liberal. Her mother +nevermore knew want. Her poor relations could always find a meal in +Molly's kitchen. She did not flaunt her prosperity in the world's +face; she hid it discreetly behind the cedar screen. Those who wished +could know of it, for there were few secrets in Patesville; those who +chose could as easily ignore it. There were few to trouble themselves +about the secluded life of an obscure woman of a class which had no +recognized place in the social economy. She worshiped the ground upon +which her lord walked, was humbly grateful for his protection, and +quite as faithful as the forbidden marriage vow could possibly have +made her. She led her life in material peace and comfort, and with a +certain amount of dignity. Of her false relation to society she was +not without some vague conception; but the moral point involved was so +confused with other questions growing out--of slavery and caste as to +cause her, as a rule, but little uneasiness; and only now and then, in +the moments of deeper feeling that come sometimes to all who live and +love, did there break through the mists of ignorance and prejudice +surrounding her a flash of light by which she saw, so far as she was +capable of seeing, her true position, which in the clear light of truth +no special pleading could entirely justify. For she was free, she had +not the slave's excuse. With every inducement to do evil and few +incentives to do well, and hence entitled to charitable judgment, she +yet had freedom of choice, and therefore could not wholly escape blame. +Let it be said, in further extenuation, that no other woman lived in +neglect or sorrow because of her. She robbed no one else. For what +life gave her she returned an equivalent; and what she did not pay, her +children settled to the last farthing. + +Several years before the war, when Mis' Molly's daughter Rena was a few +years old, death had suddenly removed the source of their prosperity. + +The household was not left entirely destitute. Mis' Molly owned her +home, and had a store of gold pieces in the chest beneath her bed. A +small piece of real estate stood in the name of each of the children, +the income from which contributed to their maintenance. Larger +expectations were dependent upon the discovery of a promised will, +which never came to light. Mis' Molly wore black for several years +after this bereavement, until the teacher and the preacher, following +close upon the heels of military occupation, suggested to the colored +people new standards of life and character, in the light of which Mis' +Molly laid her mourning sadly and shamefacedly aside. She had eaten of +the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. After the war she formed the habit +of church-going, and might have been seen now and then, with her +daughter, in a retired corner of the gallery of the white Episcopal +church. Upon the ground floor was a certain pew which could be seen +from her seat, where once had sat a gentleman whose pleasures had not +interfered with the practice of his religion. She might have had a +better seat in a church where a Northern missionary would have preached +a sermon better suited to her comprehension and her moral needs, but +she preferred the other. She was not white, alas! she was shut out +from this seeming paradise; but she liked to see the distant glow of +the celestial city, and to recall the days when she had basked in its +radiance. She did not sympathize greatly with the new era opened up +for the emancipated slaves; she had no ideal love of liberty; she was +no broader and no more altruistic than the white people around her, to +whom she had always looked up; and she sighed for the old days, because +to her they had been the good days. Now, not only was her king dead, +but the shield of his memory protected her no longer. + +Molly had lost one child, and his grave was visible from the kitchen +window, under a small clump of cedars in the rear of the two-acre lot. +For even in the towns many a household had its private cemetery in +those old days when the living were close to the dead, and ghosts were +not the mere chimeras of a sick imagination, but real though +unsubstantial entities, of which it was almost disgraceful not to have +seen one or two. Had not the Witch of Endor called up the shade of +Samuel the prophet? Had not the spirit of Mis' Molly's dead son +appeared to her, as well as the ghostly presence of another she had +loved? + +In 1855, Mis' Molly's remaining son had grown into a tall, slender lad +of fifteen, with his father's patrician features and his mother's +Indian hair, and no external sign to mark him off from the white boys +on the street. He soon came to know, however, that there was a +difference. He was informed one day that he was black. He denied the +proposition and thrashed the child who made it. The scene was repeated +the next day, with a variation,--he was himself thrashed by a larger +boy. When he had been beaten five or six times, he ceased to argue the +point, though to himself he never admitted the charge. His playmates +might call him black; the mirror proved that God, the Father of all, +had made him white; and God, he had been taught, made no +mistakes,--having made him white, He must have meant him to be white. + +In the "hall" or parlor of his mother's house stood a quaintly carved +black walnut bookcase, containing a small but remarkable collection of +books, which had at one time been used, in his hours of retreat and +relaxation from business and politics, by the distinguished gentleman +who did not give his name to Mis' Molly's children,--to whom it would +have been a valuable heritage, could they have had the right to bear +it. Among the books were a volume of Fielding's complete works, in +fine print, set in double columns; a set of Bulwer's novels; a +collection of everything that Walter Scott--the literary idol of the +South--had ever written; Beaumont and Fletcher's plays, cheek by jowl +with the history of the virtuous Clarissa Harlowe; the Spectator and +Tristram Shandy, Robinson Crusoe and the Arabian Nights. On these +secluded shelves Roderick Random, Don Quixote, and Gil Blas for a long +time ceased their wanderings, the Pilgrim's Progress was suspended, +Milton's mighty harmonies were dumb, and Shakespeare reigned over a +silent kingdom. An illustrated Bible, with a wonderful Apocrypha, was +flanked on one side by Volney's Ruins of Empire and on the other by +Paine's Age of Reason, for the collector of the books had been a man of +catholic taste as well as of inquiring mind, and no one who could have +criticised his reading ever penetrated behind the cedar hedge. A +history of the French Revolution consorted amiably with a homespun +chronicle of North Carolina, rich in biographical notices of +distinguished citizens and inscriptions from their tombstones, upon +reading which one might well wonder why North Carolina had not long ago +eclipsed the rest of the world in wealth, wisdom, glory, and renown. +On almost every page of this monumental work could be found the most +ardent panegyrics of liberty, side by side with the slavery statistics +of the State,--an incongruity of which the learned author was +deliciously unconscious. + +When John Walden was yet a small boy, he had learned all that could be +taught by the faded mulatto teacher in the long, shiny black frock +coat, whom local public opinion permitted to teach a handful of free +colored children for a pittance barely enough to keep soul and body +together. When the boy had learned to read, he discovered the library, +which for several years had been without a reader, and found in it the +portal of a new world, peopled with strange and marvelous beings. Lying +prone upon the floor of the shaded front piazza, behind the fragrant +garden, he followed the fortunes of Tom Jones and Sophia; he wept over +the fate of Eugene Aram; he penetrated with Richard the Lion-heart into +Saladin's tent, with Gil Blas into the robbers' cave; he flew through +the air on the magic carpet or the enchanted horse, or tied with +Sindbad to the roc's leg. Sometimes he read or repeated the simpler +stories to his little sister, sitting wide-eyed by his side. When he +had read all the books,--indeed, long before he had read them all,--he +too had tasted of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge: contentment took +its flight, and happiness lay far beyond the sphere where he was born. +The blood of his white fathers, the heirs of the ages, cried out for +its own, and after the manner of that blood set about getting the +object of its desire. + +Near the corner of Mackenzie Street, just one block north of the +Patesville market-house, there had stood for many years before the war, +on the verge of the steep bank of Beaver Creek, a small frame office +building, the front of which was level with the street, while the rear +rested on long brick pillars founded on the solid rock at the edge of +the brawling stream below. Here, for nearly half a century, Archibald +Straight had transacted legal business for the best people of +Northumberland County. Full many a lawsuit had he won, lost, or +settled; many a spendthrift had he saved from ruin, and not a few +families from disgrace. Several times honored by election to the +bench, he had so dispensed justice tempered with mercy as to win the +hearts of all good citizens, and especially those of the poor, the +oppressed, and the socially disinherited. The rights of the humblest +negro, few as they might be, were as sacred to him as those of the +proudest aristocrat, and he had sentenced a man to be hanged for the +murder of his own slave. An old-fashioned man, tall and spare of +figure and bowed somewhat with age, he was always correctly clad in a +long frock coat of broadcloth, with a high collar and a black stock. +Courtly in address to his social equals (superiors he had none), he was +kind and considerate to those beneath him. He owned a few domestic +servants, no one of whom had ever felt the weight of his hand, and for +whose ultimate freedom he had provided in his will. In the +long-drawn-out slavery agitation he had taken a keen interest, rather +as observer than as participant. As the heat of controversy increased, +his lack of zeal for the peculiar institution led to his defeat for the +bench by a more active partisan. His was too just a mind not to +perceive the arguments on both sides; but, on the whole, he had stood +by the ancient landmarks, content to let events drift to a conclusion +he did not expect to see; the institutions of his fathers would +probably last his lifetime. + +One day Judge Straight was sitting in his office reading a recently +published pamphlet,--presenting an elaborate pro-slavery argument, +based upon the hopeless intellectual inferiority of the negro, and the +physical and moral degeneration of mulattoes, who combined the worst +qualities of their two ancestral races,--when a barefooted boy walked +into the office, straw hat in hand, came boldly up to the desk at which +the old judge was sitting, and said as the judge looked up through his +gold-rimmed glasses,-- + +"Sir, I want to be a lawyer!" + +"God bless me!" exclaimed the judge. "It is a singular desire, from a +singular source, and expressed in a singular way. Who the devil are +you, sir, that wish so strange a thing as to become a +lawyer--everybody's servant?" + +"And everybody's master, sir," replied the lad stoutly. + +"That is a matter of opinion, and open to argument," rejoined the +judge, amused and secretly flattered by this tribute to his profession, +"though there may be a grain of truth in what you say. But what is your +name, Mr. Would-be-lawyer?" + +"John Walden, sir," answered the lad. + +"John Walden?--Walden?" mused the judge. "What Walden can that be? Do +you belong in town?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Humph! I can't imagine who you are. It's plain that you are a lad of +good blood, and yet I don't know whose son you can be. What is your +father's name?" + +The lad hesitated, and flushed crimson. + +The old gentleman noted his hesitation. "It is a wise son," he +thought, "that knows his own father. He is a bright lad, and will have +this question put to him more than once. I'll see how he will answer +it." + +The boy maintained an awkward silence, while the old judge eyed him +keenly. + +"My father's dead," he said at length, in a low voice. "I'm Mis' Molly +Walden's son." He had expected, of course, to tell who he was, if +asked, but had not foreseen just the form of the inquiry; and while he +had thought more of his race than of his illegitimate birth, he +realized at this moment as never before that this question too would be +always with him. As put now by Judge Straight, it made him wince. He +had not read his father's books for nothing. + +"God bless my soul!" exclaimed the judge in genuine surprise at this +answer; "and you want to be a lawyer!" The situation was so much worse +than he had suspected that even an old practitioner, case-hardened by +years of life at the trial table and on the bench, was startled for a +moment into a comical sort of consternation, so apparent that a lad +less stout-hearted would have weakened and fled at the sight of it. + +"Yes, sir. Why not?" responded the boy, trembling a little at the +knees, but stoutly holding his ground. + +"He wants to be a lawyer, and he asks me why not!" muttered the judge, +speaking apparently to himself. He rose from his chair, walked across +the room, and threw open a window. The cool morning air brought with +it the babbling of the stream below and the murmur of the mill near by. +He glanced across the creek to the ruined foundation of an old house on +the low ground beyond the creek. Turning from the window, he looked +back at the boy, who had remained standing between him and the door. +At that moment another lad came along the street and stopped opposite +the open doorway. The presence of the two boys in connection with the +book he had been reading suggested a comparison. The judge knew the +lad outside as the son of a leading merchant of the town. The merchant +and his wife were both of old families which had lived in the community +for several generations, and whose blood was presumably of the purest +strain; yet the boy was sallow, with amorphous features, thin shanks, +and stooping shoulders. The youth standing in the judge's office, on +the contrary, was straight, shapely, and well-grown. His eye was +clear, and he kept it fixed on the old gentleman with a look in which +there was nothing of cringing. He was no darker than many a white boy +bronzed by the Southern sun; his hair and eyes were black, and his +features of the high-bred, clean-cut order that marks the patrician +type the world over. What struck the judge most forcibly, however, was +the lad's resemblance to an old friend and companion and client. He +recalled a certain conversation with this old friend, who had said to +him one day: + +"Archie, I'm coming in to have you draw my will. There are some +children for whom I would like to make ample provision. I can't give +them anything else, but money will make them free of the world." + +The judge's friend had died suddenly before carrying out this good +intention. The judge had taken occasion to suggest the existence of +these children, and their father's intentions concerning them, to the +distant relatives who had inherited his friend's large estate. They +had chosen to take offense at the suggestion. One had thought it in +shocking bad taste; another considered any mention of such a subject an +insult to his cousin's memory. A third had said, with flashing eyes, +that the woman and her children had already robbed the estate of +enough; that it was a pity the little niggers were not slaves--that +they would have added measurably to the value of the property. Judge +Straight's manner indicated some disapproval of their attitude, and the +settlement of the estate was placed in other hands than his. Now, this +son, with his father's face and his father's voice, stood before his +father's friend, demanding entrance to the golden gate of opportunity, +which society barred to all who bore the blood of the despised race. + +As he kept on looking at the boy, who began at length to grow somewhat +embarrassed under this keen scrutiny, the judge's mind reverted to +certain laws and judicial decisions that he had looked up once or twice +in his lifetime. Even the law, the instrument by which tyranny riveted +the chains upon its victims, had revolted now and then against the +senseless and unnatural prejudice by which a race ascribing its +superiority to right of blood permitted a mere suspicion of servile +blood to outweigh a vast preponderance of its own. + +"Why, indeed, should he not be a lawyer, or anything else that a man +might be, if it be in him?" asked the judge, speaking rather to himself +than to the boy. "Sit down," he ordered, pointing to a chair on the +other side of the room. That he should ask a colored lad to be seated +in his presence was of itself enough to stamp the judge as eccentric. +"You want to be a lawyer," he went on, adjusting his spectacles. "You +are aware, of course, that you are a negro?" + +"I am white," replied the lad, turning back his sleeve and holding out +his arm, "and I am free, as all my people were before me." + +The old lawyer shook his head, and fixed his eyes upon the lad with a +slightly quizzical smile. "You are black." he said, "and you are not +free. You cannot travel without your papers; you cannot secure +accommodations at an inn; you could not vote, if you were of age; you +cannot be out after nine o'clock without a permit. If a white man +struck you, you could not return the blow, and you could not testify +against him in a court of justice. You are black, my lad, and you are +not free. Did you ever hear of the Dred Scott decision, delivered by +the great, wise, and learned Judge Taney?" + +"No, sir," answered the boy. + +"It is too long to read," rejoined the judge, taking up the pamphlet he +had laid down upon the lad's entrance, "but it says in substance, as +quoted by this author, that negroes are beings 'of an inferior order, +and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social +or political relations; in fact, so inferior that they have no rights +which the white man is bound to respect, and that the negro may justly +and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit.' That is the law +of this nation, and that is the reason why you cannot be a lawyer." + +"It may all be true," replied the boy, "but it don't apply to me. It +says 'the negro.' A negro is black; I am white, and not black." + +"Black as ink, my lad," returned the lawyer, shaking his head. "'One +touch of nature makes the whole world kin,' says the poet. Somewhere, +sometime, you had a black ancestor. One drop of black blood makes the +whole man black." + +"Why shouldn't it be the other way, if the white blood is so much +superior?" inquired the lad. + +"Because it is more convenient as it is--and more profitable." + +"It is not right," maintained the lad. + +"God bless me!" exclaimed the old gentleman, "he is invading the field +of ethics! He will be questioning the righteousness of slavery next! +I'm afraid you wouldn't make a good lawyer, in any event. Lawyers go +by the laws--they abide by the accomplished fact; to them, whatever is, +is right. The laws do not permit men of color to practice law, and +public sentiment would not allow one of them to study it." + +"I had thought," said the lad, "that I might pass for white. There are +white people darker than I am." + +"Ah, well, that is another matter; but"-- + +The judge stopped for a moment, struck by the absurdity of his arguing +such a question with a mulatto boy. He really must be falling into +premature dotage. The proper thing would be to rebuke the lad for his +presumption and advise him to learn to take care of horses, or make +boots, or lay bricks. But again he saw his old friend in the lad's +face, and again he looked in vain for any sign of negro blood. The +least earmark would have turned the scale, but he could not find it. + +"That is another matter," he repeated. "Here you have started as +black, and must remain so. But if you wish to move away, and sink your +past into oblivion, the case might be different. Let us see what the +law is; you might not need it if you went far enough, but it is well +enough to be within it--liberty is sweeter when founded securely on the +law." + +He took down a volume bound in legal calf and glanced through it. "The +color line is drawn in North Carolina at four generations removed from +the negro; there have been judicial decisions to that effect. I +imagine that would cover your case. But let us see what South Carolina +may say about it," he continued, taking another book. "I think the law +is even more liberal there. Ah, this is the place:-- + +"'The term mulatto,'" he read, "'is not invariably applicable to every +admixture of African blood with the European, nor is one having all the +features of a white to be ranked with the degraded class designated by +the laws of this State as persons of color, because of some remote +taint of the negro race. Juries would probably be justified in holding +a person to be white in whom the admixture of African blood did not +exceed one eighth. And even where color or feature are doubtful, it is +a question for the jury to decide by reputation, by reception into +society, and by their exercise of the privileges of the white man, as +well as by admixture of blood.'" + +"Then I need not be black?" the boy cried, with sparkling eyes. + +"No," replied the lawyer, "you need not be black, away from Patesville. +You have the somewhat unusual privilege, it seems, of choosing between +two races, and if you are a lad of spirit, as I think you are, it will +not take you long to make your choice. As you have all the features of +a white man, you would, at least in South Carolina, have simply to +assume the place and exercise the privileges of a white man. You +might, of course, do the same thing anywhere, as long as no one knew +your origin. But the matter has been adjudicated there in several +cases, and on the whole I think South Carolina is the place for you. +They're more liberal there, perhaps because they have many more blacks +than whites, and would like to lessen the disproportion." + +"From this time on," said the boy, "I am white." + +"Softly, softly, my Caucasian fellow citizen," returned the judge, +chuckling with quiet amusement. "You are white in the abstract, before +the law. You may cherish the fact in secret, but I would not advise +you to proclaim it openly just yet. You must wait until you go +away--to South Carolina." + +"And can I learn to be a lawyer, sir?" asked the lad. + +"It seems to me that you ought to be reasonably content for one day +with what you have learned already. You cannot be a lawyer until you +are white, in position as well as in theory, nor until you are +twenty-one years old. I need an office boy. If you are willing to +come into my office, sweep it, keep my books dusted, and stay here when +I am out, I do not care. To the rest of the town you will be my +servant, and still a negro. If you choose to read my books when no one +is about and be white in your own private opinion, I have no objection. +When you have made up your mind to go away, perhaps what you have read +may help you. But mum 's the word! If I hear a whisper of this from +any other source, out you go, neck and crop! I am willing to help you +make a man of yourself, but it can only be done under the rose." + +For two years John Walden openly swept the office and surreptitiously +read the law books of old Judge Straight. When he was eighteen, he +asked his mother for a sum of money, kissed her good-by, and went out +into the world. When his sister, then a pretty child of seven, cried +because her big brother was going away, he took her up in his arms, +gave her a silver dime with a hole in it for a keepsake, hugged her +close, and kissed her. + +"Nev' min', sis," he said soothingly. "Be a good little gal, an' some +o' these days I'll come back to see you and bring you somethin' fine." + +In after years, when Mis' Molly was asked what had become of her son, +she would reply with sad complacency,-- + +"He's gone over on the other side." + +As we have seen, he came back ten years later. + + +Many years before, when Mis' Molly, then a very young woman, had taken +up her residence in the house behind the cedars, the gentleman +heretofore referred to had built a cabin on the opposite corner, in +which he had installed a trusted slave by the name of Peter Fowler and +his wife Nancy. Peter was a good mechanic, and hired his time from his +master with the provision that Peter and his wife should do certain +work for Mis' Molly and serve as a sort of protection for her. In +course of time Peter, who was industrious and thrifty, saved enough +money to purchase his freedom and that of his wife and their one child, +and to buy the little house across the street, with the cooper shop +behind it. After they had acquired their freedom, Peter and Nancy did +no work for Mis' Molly save as they were paid for it, and as a rule +preferred not to work at all for the woman who had been practically +their mistress; it made them seem less free. Nevertheless, the two +households had remained upon good terms, even after the death of the +man whose will had brought them together, and who had remained Peter's +patron after he had ceased to be his master. There was no intimate +association between the two families. Mis' Molly felt herself +infinitely superior to Peter and his wife,--scarcely less superior than +her poor white neighbors felt themselves to Mis' Molly. Mis' Molly +always meant to be kind, and treated Peter and Nancy with a certain +good-natured condescension. They resented this, never openly or +offensively, but always in a subconscious sort of way, even when they +did not speak of it among themselves--much as they had resented her +mistress-ship in the old days. For after all, they argued, in spite of +her airs and graces, her white face and her fine clothes, was she not a +negro, even as themselves? and since the slaves had been freed, was not +one negro as good as another? + +Peter's son Frank had grown up with little Rena. He was several years +older than she, and when Rena was a small child Mis' Molly had often +confided her to his care, and he had watched over her and kept her from +harm. When Frank became old enough to go to work in the cooper shop, +Rena, then six or seven, had often gone across to play among the clean +white shavings. Once Frank, while learning the trade, had let slip a +sharp steel tool, which flying toward Rena had grazed her arm and sent +the red blood coursing along the white flesh and soaking the muslin +sleeve. He had rolled up the sleeve and stanched the blood and dried +her tears. For a long time thereafter her mother kept her away from +the shop and was very cold to Frank. One day the little girl wandered +down to the bank of the old canal. It had been raining for several +days, and the water was quite deep in the channel. The child slipped +and fell into the stream. From the open window of the cooper shop +Frank heard a scream. He ran down to the canal and pulled her out, and +carried her all wet and dripping to the house. From that time he had +been restored to favor. He had watched the girl grow up to womanhood +in the years following the war, and had been sorry when she became too +old to play about the shop. + +He never spoke to her of love,--indeed, he never thought of his passion +in such a light. There would have been no legal barrier to their union; +there would have been no frightful menace to white supremacy in the +marriage of the negro and the octoroon: the drop of dark blood bridged +the chasm. But Frank knew that she did not love him, and had not hoped +that she might. His was one of those rare souls that can give with +small hope of return. When he had made the scar upon her arm, by the +same token she had branded him her slave forever; when he had saved her +from a watery grave, he had given his life to her. There are depths of +fidelity and devotion in the negro heart that have never been fathomed +or fully appreciated. Now and then in the kindlier phases of slavery +these qualities were brightly conspicuous, and in them, if wisely +appealed to, lies the strongest hope of amity between the two races +whose destiny seems bound up together in the Western world. Even a +dumb brute can be won by kindness. Surely it were worth while to try +some other weapon than scorn and contumely and hard words upon people +of our common race,--the human race, which is bigger and broader than +Celt or Saxon, barbarian or Greek, Jew or Gentile, black or white; for +we are all children of a common Father, forget it as we may, and each +one of us is in some measure his brother's keeper. + + + +XIX + +GOD MADE US ALL + +Rena was convalescent from a two-weeks' illness when her brother came +to see her. He arrived at Patesville by an early morning train before +the town was awake, and walked unnoticed from the station to his +mother's house. His meeting with his sister was not without emotion: +he embraced her tenderly, and Rena became for a few minutes a very +Niobe of grief. + +"Oh, it was cruel, cruel!" she sobbed. "I shall never get over it." + +"I know it, my dear," replied Warwick soothingly,--"I know it, and I'm +to blame for it. If I had never taken you away from here, you would +have escaped this painful experience. But do not despair; all is not +lost. Tryon will not marry you, as I hoped he might, while I feared +the contrary; but he is a gentleman, and will be silent. Come back and +try again." + +"No, John. I couldn't go through it a second time. I managed very +well before, when I thought our secret was unknown; but now I could +never be sure. It would be borne on every wind, for aught I knew, and +every rustling leaf might whisper it. The law, you said, made us +white; but not the law, nor even love, can conquer prejudice. HE spoke +of my beauty, my grace, my sweetness! I looked into his eyes and +believed him. And yet he left me without a word! What would I do in +Clarence now? I came away engaged to be married, with even the day +set; I should go back forsaken and discredited; even the servants would +pity me." + +"Little Albert is pining for you," suggested Warwick. "We could make +some explanation that would spare your feelings." + +"Ah, do not tempt me, John! I love the child, and am grieved to leave +him. I'm grateful, too, John, for what you have done for me. I am not +sorry that I tried it. It opened my eyes, and I would rather die of +knowledge than live in ignorance. But I could not go through it again, +John; I am not strong enough. I could do you no good; I have made you +trouble enough already. Get a mother for Albert--Mrs. Newberry would +marry you, secret and all, and would be good to the child. Forget me, +John, and take care of yourself. Your friend has found you out through +me--he may have told a dozen people. You think he will be silent;--I +thought he loved me, and he left me without a word, and with a look +that told me how he hated and despised me. I would not have believed +it--even of a white man." + +"You do him an injustice," said her brother, producing Tryon's letter. +"He did not get off unscathed. He sent you a message." + +She turned her face away, but listened while he read the letter. "He +did not love me," she cried angrily, when he had finished, "or he would +not have cast me off--he would not have looked at me so. The law would +have let him marry me. I seemed as white as he did. He might have +gone anywhere with me, and no one would have stared at us curiously; no +one need have known. The world is wide--there must be some place where +a man could live happily with the woman he loved." + +"Yes, Rena, there is; and the world is wide enough for you to get along +without Tryon." + +"For a day or two," she went on, "I hoped he might come back. But his +expression in that awful moment grew upon me, haunted me day and night, +until I shuddered at the thought that I might ever see him again. He +looked at me as though I were not even a human being. I do not love +him any longer, John; I would not marry him if I were white, or he were +as I am. He did not love me--or he would have acted differently. He +might have loved me and have left me--he could not have loved me and +have looked at me so!" + +She was weeping hysterically. There was little he could say to comfort +her. Presently she dried her tears. Warwick was reluctant to leave +her in Patesville. Her childish happiness had been that of ignorance; +she could never be happy there again. She had flowered in the sunlight; +she must not pine away in the shade. + +"If you won't come back with me, Rena, I'll send you to some school at +the North, where you can acquire a liberal education, and prepare +yourself for some career of usefulness. You may marry a better man +than even Tryon." + +"No," she replied firmly, "I shall never marry any man, and I'll not +leave mother again. God is against it; I'll stay with my own people." + +"God has nothing to do with it," retorted Warwick. "God is too often a +convenient stalking-horse for human selfishness. If there is anything +to be done, so unjust, so despicable, so wicked that human reason +revolts at it, there is always some smug hypocrite to exclaim, 'It is +the will of God.'" + +"God made us all," continued Rena dreamily, "and for some good purpose, +though we may not always see it. He made some people white, and +strong, and masterful, and--heartless. He made others black and +homely, and poor and weak"-- + +"And a lot of others 'poor white' and shiftless," smiled Warwick. + +"He made us, too," continued Rena, intent upon her own thought, "and He +must have had a reason for it. Perhaps He meant us to bring the others +together in his own good time. A man may make a new place for +himself--a woman is born and bound to hers. God must have meant me to +stay here, or He would not have sent me back. I shall accept things as +they are. Why should I seek the society of people whose +friendship--and love--one little word can turn to scorn? I was right, +John; I ought to have told him. Suppose he had married me and then had +found it out?" + +To Rena's argument of divine foreordination Warwick attached no weight +whatever. He had seen God's heel planted for four long years upon the +land which had nourished slavery. Had God ordained the crime that the +punishment might follow? It would have been easier for Omnipotence to +prevent the crime. The experience of his sister had stirred up a +certain bitterness against white people--a feeling which he had put +aside years ago, with his dark blood, but which sprang anew into life +when the fact of his own origin was brought home to him so forcibly +through his sister's misfortune. His sworn friend and promised +brother-in-law had thrown him over promptly, upon the discovery of the +hidden drop of dark blood. How many others of his friends would do the +same, if they but knew of it? He had begun to feel a little of the +spiritual estrangement from his associates that he had noticed in Rena +during her life at Clarence. The fact that several persons knew his +secret had spoiled the fine flavor of perfect security hitherto marking +his position. George Tryon was a man of honor among white men, and had +deigned to extend the protection of his honor to Warwick as a man, +though no longer as a friend; to Rena as a woman, but not as a wife. +Tryon, however, was only human, and who could tell when their paths in +life might cross again, or what future temptation Tryon might feel to +use a damaging secret to their disadvantage? Warwick had cherished +certain ambitions, but these he must now put behind him. In the +obscurity of private life, his past would be of little moment; in the +glare of a political career, one's antecedents are public property, and +too great a reserve in regard to one's past is regarded as a confession +of something discreditable. Frank, too, knew the secret--a good, +faithful fellow, even where there was no obligation of fidelity; he +ought to do something for Frank to show their appreciation of his +conduct. But what assurance was there that Frank would always be +discreet about the affairs of others? Judge Straight knew the whole +story, and old men are sometimes garrulous. Dr. Green suspected the +secret; he had a wife and daughters. If old Judge Straight could have +known Warwick's thoughts, he would have realized the fulfillment of his +prophecy. Warwick, who had builded so well for himself, had weakened +the structure of his own life by trying to share his good fortune with +his sister. + +"Listen, Rena," he said, with a sudden impulse, "we'll go to the North +or West--I'll go with you--far away from the South and the Southern +people, and start life over again. It will be easier for you, it will +not be hard for me--I am young, and have means. There are no strong +ties to bind me to the South. I would have a larger outlook elsewhere." + +"And what about our mother?" asked Rena. + +It would be necessary to leave her behind, they both perceived clearly +enough, unless they were prepared to surrender the advantage of their +whiteness and drop back to the lower rank. The mother bore the mark of +the Ethiopian--not pronouncedly, but distinctly; neither would Mis' +Molly, in all probability, care to leave home and friends and the +graves of her loved ones. She had no mental resources to supply the +place of these; she was, moreover, too old to be transplanted; she +would not fit into Warwick's scheme for a new life. + +"I left her once," said Rena, "and it brought pain and sorrow to all +three of us. She is not strong, and I will not leave her here to die +alone. This shall be my home while she lives, and if I leave it again, +it shall be for only a short time, to go where I can write to her +freely, and hear from her often. Don't worry about me, John,--I shall +do very well." + +Warwick sighed. He was sincerely sorry to leave his sister, and yet he +saw that for the time being her resolution was not to be shaken. He +must bide his time. Perhaps, in a few months, she would tire of the +old life. His door would be always open to her, and he would charge +himself with her future. + +"Well, then," he said, concluding the argument, "we'll say no more +about it for the present. I'll write to you later. I was afraid that +you might not care to go back just now, and so I brought your trunk +along with me." + +He gave his mother the baggage-check. She took it across to Frank, +who, during the day, brought the trunk from the depot. Mis' Molly +offered to pay him for the service, but he would accept nothing. + +"Lawd, no, Mis' Molly; I did n' hafter go out'n my way ter git dat +trunk. I had a load er sperrit-bairls ter haul ter de still, an' de +depot wuz right on my way back. It'd be robbin' you ter take pay fer a +little thing lack dat." + +"My son John's here," said Mis' Molly "an' he wants to see you. Come +into the settin'-room. We don't want folks to know he's in town; but +you know all our secrets, an' we can trust you like one er the family." + +"I'm glad to see you again, Frank," said Warwick, extending his hand +and clasping Frank's warmly. "You've grown up since I saw you last, +but it seems you are still our good friend." + +"Our very good friend," interjected Rena. + +Frank threw her a grateful glance. "Yas, suh," he said, looking +Warwick over with a friendly eye, "an' you is growed some, too. I seed +you, you know, down dere where you live; but I did n' let on, fer you +an' Mis' Rena wuz w'ite as anybody; an' eve'ybody said you wuz good ter +cullud folks, an' he'ped 'em in deir lawsuits an' one way er 'nuther, +an' I wuz jes' plum' glad ter see you gettin' 'long so fine, dat I wuz, +certain sho', an' no mistake about it." + +"Thank you, Frank, and I want you to understand how much I appreciate"-- + +"How much we all appreciate," corrected Rena. + +"Yes, how much we all appreciate, and how grateful we all are for your +kindness to mother for so many years. I know from her and from my +sister how good you've been to them." + +"Lawd, suh!" returned Frank deprecatingly, "you're makin' a mountain +out'n a molehill. I ain't done nuthin' ter speak of--not half ez much +ez I would 'a' done. I wuz glad ter do w'at little I could, fer +frien'ship's sake." + +"We value your friendship, Frank, and we'll not forget it." + +"No, Frank," added Rena, "we will never forget it, and you shall always +be our good friend." + +Frank left the room and crossed the street with swelling heart. He +would have given his life for Rena. A kind word was doubly sweet from +her lips; no service would be too great to pay for her friendship. + + +When Frank went out to the stable next morning to feed his mule, his +eyes opened wide with astonishment. In place of the decrepit, one-eyed +army mule he had put up the night before, a fat, sleek specimen of +vigorous mulehood greeted his arrival with the sonorous hehaw of lusty +youth. Hanging on a peg near by was a set of fine new harness, and +standing under the adjoining shed, as he perceived, a handsome new cart. + +"Well, well!" exclaimed Frank; "ef I did n' mos' know whar dis mule, +an' dis kyart, an' dis harness come from, I'd 'low dere 'd be'n +witcheraf' er cunjin' wukkin' here. But, oh my, dat is a fine mule!--I +mos' wush I could keep 'im." + +He crossed the road to the house behind the cedars, and found Mis' +Molly in the kitchen. "Mis' Molly," he protested, "I ain't done nuthin' +ter deserve dat mule. W'at little I done fer you wa'n't done fer pay. +I'd ruther not keep dem things." + +"Fer goodness' sake, Frank!" exclaimed his neighbor, with a +well-simulated air of mystification, "what are you talkin' about?" + +"You knows w'at I'm talkin' about, Mis' Molly; you knows well ernuff +I'm talkin' about dat fine mule an' kyart an' harness over dere in my +stable." + +"How should I know anything about 'em?" she asked. + +"Now, Mis' Molly! You folks is jes' tryin' ter fool me, an' make me +take somethin' fer nuthin'. I lef' my ole mule an' kyart an' harness in +de stable las' night, an' dis mawnin' dey 're gone, an' new ones in +deir place. Co'se you knows whar dey come from!" + +"Well, now, Frank, sence you mention it, I did see a witch flyin' roun' +here las' night on a broom-stick, an' it 'peared ter me she lit on yo'r +barn, an' I s'pose she turned yo'r old things into new ones. I wouldn't +bother my mind about it if I was you, for she may turn 'em back any +night, you know; an' you might as well have the use of 'em in the mean +while." + +"Dat's all foolishness, Mis' Molly, an' I'm gwine ter fetch dat mule +right over here an' tell yo' son ter gimme my ole one back." + +"My son's gone," she replied, "an' I don't know nothin' about yo'r old +mule. And what would I do with a mule, anyhow? I ain't got no barn to +put him in." + +"I suspect you don't care much for us after all, Frank," said Rena +reproachfully--she had come in while they were talking. "You meet with +a piece of good luck, and you're afraid of it, lest it might have come +from us." + +"Now, Miss Rena, you oughtn't ter say dat," expostulated Frank, his +reluctance yielding immediately. "I'll keep de mule an' de kyart an' de +harness--fac', I'll have ter keep 'em, 'cause I ain't got no others. +But dey 're gwine ter be yo'n ez much ez mine. W'enever you wants +anything hauled, er wants yo' lot ploughed, er anything--dat's yo' +mule, an' I'm yo' man an' yo' mammy's." + +So Frank went back to the stable, where he feasted his eyes on his new +possessions, fed and watered the mule, and curried and brushed his coat +until it shone like a looking-glass. + +"Now dat," remarked Peter, at the breakfast-table, when informed of the +transaction, "is somethin' lack rale w'ite folks." + +No real white person had ever given Peter a mule or a cart. He had +rendered one of them unpaid service for half a lifetime, and had paid +for the other half; and some of them owed him substantial sums for work +performed. But "to him that hath shall be given"--Warwick paid for the +mule, and the real white folks got most of the credit. + + + +XX + +DIGGING UP ROOTS + +When the first great shock of his discovery wore off, the fact of +Rena's origin lost to Tryon some of its initial repugnance--indeed, the +repugnance was not to the woman at all, as their past relations were +evidence, but merely to the thought of her as a wife. It could hardly +have failed to occur to so reasonable a man as Tryon that Rena's case +could scarcely be unique. Surely in the past centuries of free manners +and easy morals that had prevailed in remote parts of the South, there +must have been many white persons whose origin would not have borne too +microscopic an investigation. Family trees not seldom have a crooked +branch; or, to use a more apposite figure, many a flock has its black +sheep. Being a man of lively imagination, Tryon soon found himself +putting all sorts of hypothetical questions about a matter which he had +already definitely determined. If he had married Rena in ignorance of +her secret, and had learned it afterwards, would he have put her aside? +If, knowing her history, he had nevertheless married her, and she had +subsequently displayed some trait of character that would suggest the +negro, could he have forgotten or forgiven the taint? Could he still +have held her in love and honor? If not, could he have given her the +outward seeming of affection, or could he have been more than coldly +tolerant? He was glad that he had been spared this ordeal. With an +effort he put the whole matter definitely and conclusively aside, as he +had done a hundred times already. + +Returning to his home, after an absence of several months in South +Carolina, it was quite apparent to his mother's watchful eye that he +was in serious trouble. He was absent-minded, monosyllabic, sighed +deeply and often, and could not always conceal the traces of secret +tears. For Tryon was young, and possessed of a sensitive soul--a +source of happiness or misery, as the Fates decree. To those thus +dowered, the heights of rapture are accessible, the abysses of despair +yawn threateningly; only the dull monotony of contentment is denied. + +Mrs. Tryon vainly sought by every gentle art a woman knows to win her +son's confidence. "What is the matter, George, dear?" she would ask, +stroking his hot brow with her small, cool hand as he sat moodily +nursing his grief. "Tell your mother, George. Who else could comfort +you so well as she?" + +"Oh, it's nothing, mother,--nothing at all," he would reply, with a +forced attempt at lightness. "It's only your fond imagination, you best +of mothers." + +It was Mrs. Tryon's turn to sigh and shed a clandestine tear. Until +her son had gone away on this trip to South Carolina, he had kept no +secrets from her: his heart had been an open book, of which she knew +every page; now, some painful story was inscribed therein which he +meant she should not read. If she could have abdicated her empire to +Blanche Leary or have shared it with her, she would have yielded +gracefully; but very palpably some other influence than Blanche's had +driven joy from her son's countenance and lightness from his heart. + + +Miss Blanche Leary, whom Tryon found in the house upon his return, was +a demure, pretty little blonde, with an amiable disposition, a talent +for society, and a pronounced fondness for George Tryon. A poor girl, +of an excellent family impoverished by the war, she was distantly +related to Mrs. Tryon, had for a long time enjoyed that lady's favor, +and was her choice for George's wife when he should be old enough to +marry. A woman less interested than Miss Leary would have perceived +that there was something wrong with Tryon. Miss Leary had no doubt that +there was a woman at the bottom of it,--for about what else should +youth worry but love? or if one's love affairs run smoothly, why should +one worry about anything at all? Miss Leary, in the nineteen years of +her mundane existence, had not been without mild experiences of the +heart, and had hovered for some time on the verge of disappointment +with respect to Tryon himself. A sensitive pride would have driven +more than one woman away at the sight of the man of her preference +sighing like a furnace for some absent fair one. But Mrs. Tryon was so +cordial, and insisted so strenuously upon her remaining, that Blanche's +love, which was strong, conquered her pride, which was no more than a +reasonable young woman ought to have who sets success above mere +sentiment. She remained in the house and bided her opportunity. If +George practically ignored her for a time, she did not throw herself at +all in his way. She went on a visit to some girls in the neighborhood +and remained away a week, hoping that she might be missed. Tryon +expressed no regret at her departure and no particular satisfaction +upon her return. If the house was duller in her absence, he was but +dimly conscious of the difference. He was still fighting a battle in +which a susceptible heart and a reasonable mind had locked horns in a +well-nigh hopeless conflict. Reason, common-sense, the instinctive +ready-made judgments of his training and environment,--the deep-seated +prejudices of race and caste,--commanded him to dismiss Rena from his +thoughts. His stubborn heart simply would not let go. + + + +XXI + +A GILDED OPPORTUNITY + +Although the whole fabric of Rena's new life toppled and fell with her +lover's defection, her sympathies, broadened by culture and still more +by her recent emotional experience, did not shrink, as would have been +the case with a more selfish soul, to the mere limits of her personal +sorrow, great as this seemed at the moment. She had learned to love, +and when the love of one man failed her, she turned to humanity, as a +stream obstructed in its course overflows the adjacent country. Her +early training had not directed her thoughts to the darker people with +whose fate her own was bound up so closely, but rather away from them. +She had been taught to despise them because they were not so white as +she was, and had been slaves while she was free. Her life in her +brother's home, by removing her from immediate contact with them, had +given her a different point of view,--one which emphasized their +shortcomings, and thereby made vastly clearer to her the gulf that +separated them from the new world in which she lived; so that when +misfortune threw her back upon them, the reaction brought her nearer +than before. Where once she had seemed able to escape from them, they +were now, it appeared, her inalienable race. Thus doubly equipped, she +was able to view them at once with the mental eye of an outsider and +the sympathy of a sister: she could see their faults, and judge them +charitably; she knew and appreciated their good qualities. With her +quickened intelligence she could perceive how great was their need and +how small their opportunity; and with this illumination came the desire +to contribute to their help. She had not the breadth or culture to see +in all its ramifications the great problem which still puzzles +statesmen and philosophers; but she was conscious of the wish, and of +the power, in a small way, to do something for the advancement of those +who had just set their feet upon the ladder of progress. + +This new-born desire to be of service to her rediscovered people was +not long without an opportunity for expression. Yet the Fates willed +that her future should be but another link in a connected chain: she +was to be as powerless to put aside her recent past as she had been to +escape from the influence of her earlier life. There are sordid souls +that eat and drink and breed and die, and imagine they have lived. But +Rena's life since her great awakening had been that of the emotions, +and her temperament made of it a continuous life. Her successive +states of consciousness were not detachable, but united to form a +single if not an entirely harmonious whole. To her sensitive spirit +to-day was born of yesterday, to-morrow would be but the offspring of +to day. + +One day, along toward noon, her mother received a visit from Mary B. +Pettifoot, a second cousin, who lived on Back Street, only a short +distance from the house behind the cedars. Rena had gone out, so that +the visitor found Mis' Molly alone. + +"I heared you say, Cousin Molly," said Mary B. (no one ever knew what +the B. in Mary's name stood for,--it was a mere ornamental flourish), +"that Rena was talkin' 'bout teachin' school. I've got a good chance +fer her, ef she keers ter take it. My cousin Jeff Wain 'rived in town +this mo'nin', f'm 'way down in Sampson County, ter git a teacher fer +the nigger school in his deestric'. I s'pose he mought 'a' got one f'm +'roun' Newbern, er Goldsboro, er some er them places eas', but he +'lowed he'd like to visit some er his kin an' ole frien's, an' so kill +two birds with one stone." + +"I seed a strange mulatter man, with a bay hoss an' a new buggy, +drivin' by here this mo'nin' early, from down to'ds the river," +rejoined Mis' Molly. "I wonder if that wuz him?" + +"Did he have on a linen duster?" asked Mary B. + +"Yas, an' 'peared to be a very well sot up man," replied Mis' Molly, +"'bout thirty-five years old, I should reckon." + +"That wuz him," assented Mary B. "He's got a fine hoss an' buggy, an' +a gol' watch an' chain, an' a big plantation, an' lots er hosses an' +mules an' cows an' hawgs. He raise' fifty bales er cotton las' year, +an' he's be'n ter the legislatur'." + +"My gracious!" exclaimed Mis' Molly, struck with awe at this catalogue +of the stranger's possessions--he was evidently worth more than a great +many "rich" white people,--all white people in North Carolina in those +days were either "rich" or "poor," the distinction being one of caste +rather than of wealth. "Is he married?" she inquired with interest? + +"No,--single. You mought 'low it was quare that he should n' be +married at his age; but he was crossed in love oncet,"--Mary B. heaved +a self-conscious sigh,--"an' has stayed single ever sence. That wuz +ten years ago, but as some husban's is long-lived, an' there ain' no +mo' chance fer 'im now than there wuz then, I reckon some nice gal +mought stan' a good show er ketchin' 'im, ef she'd play her kyards +right." + +To Mis' Molly this was news of considerable importance. She had not +thought a great deal of Rena's plan to teach; she considered it +lowering for Rena, after having been white, to go among the negroes any +more than was unavoidable. This opportunity, however, meant more than +mere employment for her daughter. She had felt Rena's disappointment +keenly, from the practical point of view, and, blaming herself for it, +held herself all the more bound to retrieve the misfortune in any +possible way. If she had not been sick, Rena would not have dreamed +the fateful dream that had brought her to Patesville; for the +connection between the vision and the reality was even closer in Mis' +Molly's eyes than in Rena's. If the mother had not sent the letter +announcing her illness and confirming the dream, Rena would not have +ruined her promising future by coming to Patesville. But the harm had +been done, and she was responsible, ignorantly of course, but none the +less truly, and it only remained for her to make amends, as far as +possible. Her highest ambition, since Rena had grown up, had been to +see her married and comfortably settled in life. She had no hope that +Tryon would come back. Rena had declared that she would make no +further effort to get away from her people; and, furthermore, that she +would never marry. To this latter statement Mis' Molly secretly +attached but little importance. That a woman should go single from the +cradle to the grave did not accord with her experience in life of the +customs of North Carolina. She respected a grief she could not +entirely fathom, yet did not for a moment believe that Rena would +remain unmarried. + +"You'd better fetch him roun' to see me, Ma'y B.," she said, "an' let's +see what he looks like. I'm pertic'lar 'bout my gal. She says she +ain't goin' to marry nobody; but of co'se we know that's all +foolishness." + +"I'll fetch him roun' this evenin' 'bout three o'clock," said the +visitor, rising. "I mus' hurry back now an' keep him comp'ny. Tell +Rena ter put on her bes' bib an' tucker; for Mr. Wain is pertic'lar +too, an' I've already be'n braggin' 'bout her looks." + +When Mary B., at the appointed hour, knocked at Mis' Molly's front +door,--the visit being one of ceremony, she had taken her cousin round +to the Front Street entrance and through the flower garden,--Mis' Molly +was prepared to receive them. After a decent interval, long enough to +suggest that she had not been watching their approach and was not +over-eager about the visit, she answered the knock and admitted them +into the parlor. Mr. Wain was formally introduced, and seated himself +on the ancient haircloth sofa, under the framed fashion-plate, while +Mary B. sat by the open door and fanned herself with a palm-leaf fan. + +Mis' Molly's impression of Wain was favorable. His complexion was of a +light brown--not quite so fair as Mis' Molly would have preferred; but +any deficiency in this regard, or in the matter of the stranger's +features, which, while not unpleasing, leaned toward the broad mulatto +type, was more than compensated in her eyes by very straight black +hair, and, as soon appeared, a great facility of complimentary speech. +On his introduction Mr. Wain bowed low, assumed an air of great +admiration, and expressed his extreme delight in making the +acquaintance of so distinguished-looking a lady. + +"You're flatt'rin' me, Mr. Wain," returned Mis' Molly, with a gratified +smile. "But you want to meet my daughter befo' you commence th'owin' +bokays. Excuse my leavin' you--I'll go an' fetch her." + +She returned in a moment, followed by Rena. "Mr. Wain, 'low me to +int'oduce you to my daughter Rena. Rena, this is Ma'y B.'s cousin on +her pappy's side, who's come up from Sampson to git a school-teacher." + +Rena bowed gracefully. Wain stared a moment in genuine astonishment, +and then bent himself nearly double, keeping his eyes fixed meanwhile +upon Rena's face. He had expected to see a pretty yellow girl, but had +been prepared for no such radiant vision of beauty as this which now +confronted him. + +"Does--does you mean ter say, Mis' Walden, dat--dat dis young lady is +yo' own daughter?" he stammered, rallying his forces for action. + +"Why not, Mr. Wain?" asked Mis' Molly, bridling with mock resentment. +"Do you mean ter 'low that she wuz changed in her cradle, er is she too +good-lookin' to be my daughter?" + +"My deah Mis' Walden! it 'ud be wastin' wo'ds fer me ter say dat dey +ain' no young lady too good-lookin' ter be yo' daughter; but you're +lookin' so young yo'sef dat I'd ruther take her fer yo' sister." + +"Yas," rejoined Mis' Molly, with animation, "they ain't many years +between us. I wuz ruther young myself when she wuz bo'n." + +"An', mo'over," Wain went on, "it takes me a minute er so ter git my +min' use' ter thinkin' er Mis' Rena as a cullud young lady. I mought +'a' seed her a hund'ed times, an' I'd 'a' never dreamt but w'at she wuz +a w'ite young lady, f'm one er de bes' families." + +"Yas, Mr. Wain," replied Mis' Molly complacently, "all three er my +child'en wuz white, an' one of 'em has be'n on the other side fer many +long years. Rena has be'n to school, an' has traveled, an' has had +chances--better chances than anybody roun' here knows." + +"She's jes' de lady I'm lookin' fer, ter teach ou' school," rejoined +Wain, with emphasis. "Wid her schoolin' an' my riccommen', she kin git +a fus'-class ce'tifikit an' draw fo'ty dollars a month; an' a lady er +her color kin keep a lot er little niggers straighter 'n a darker lady +could. We jus' got ter have her ter teach ou' school--ef we kin git +her." + +Rena's interest in the prospect of employment at her chosen work was so +great that she paid little attention to Wain's compliments. Mis' Molly +led Mary B. away to the kitchen on some pretext, and left Rena to +entertain the gentleman. She questioned him eagerly about the school, +and he gave the most glowing accounts of the elegant school-house, the +bright pupils, and the congenial society of the neighborhood. He spoke +almost entirely in superlatives, and, after making due allowance for +what Rena perceived to be a temperamental tendency to exaggeration, she +concluded that she would find in the school a worthy field of +usefulness, and in this polite and good-natured though somewhat wordy +man a coadjutor upon whom she could rely in her first efforts; for she +was not over-confident of her powers, which seemed to grow less as the +way opened for their exercise. + +"Do you think I'm competent to teach the school?" she asked of the +visitor, after stating some of her qualifications. + +"Oh, dere 's no doubt about it, Miss Rena," replied Wain, who had +listened with an air of great wisdom, though secretly aware that he was +too ignorant of letters to form a judgment; "you kin teach de school +all right, an' could ef you didn't know half ez much. You won't have +no trouble managin' de child'en, nuther. Ef any of 'em gits onruly, +jes' call on me fer he'p, an' I'll make 'em walk Spanish. I'm chuhman +er de school committee, an' I'll lam de hide off'n any scholar dat don' +behave. You kin trus' me fer dat, sho' ez I'm a-settin' here." + +"Then," said Rena, "I'll undertake it, and do my best. I'm sure you'll +not be too exacting." + +"Yo' bes', Miss Rena,'ll be de bes' dey is. Don' you worry ner fret. +Dem niggers won't have no other teacher after dey've once laid eyes on +you: I'll guarantee dat. Dere won't be no trouble, not a bit." + +"Well, Cousin Molly," said Mary B. to Mis' Molly in the kitchen, "how +does the plan strike you?" + +"Ef Rena's satisfied, I am," replied Mis' Molly. "But you'd better say +nothin' about ketchin' a beau, or any such foolishness, er else she'd +be just as likely not to go nigh Sampson County." + +"Befo' Cousin Jeff goes back," confided Mary B., "I'd like ter give 'im +a party, but my house is too small. I wuz wonderin'," she added +tentatively, "ef I could n' borry yo' house." + +"Shorely, Ma'y B. I'm int'rested in Mr. Wain on Rena's account, an' +it's as little as I kin do to let you use my house an' help you git +things ready." + +The date of the party was set for Thursday night, as Wain was to leave +Patesville on Friday morning, taking with him the new teacher. The +party would serve the double purpose of a compliment to the guest and a +farewell to Rena, and it might prove the precursor, the mother secretly +hoped, of other festivities to follow at some later date. + + + +XXII + +IMPERATIVE BUSINESS + +One Wednesday morning, about six weeks after his return home, Tryon +received a letter from Judge Straight with reference to the note left +with him at Patesville for collection. This communication properly +required an answer, which might have been made in writing within the +compass of ten lines. No sooner, however, had Tryon read the letter +than he began to perceive reasons why it should be answered in person. +He had left Patesville under extremely painful circumstances, vowing +that he would never return; and yet now the barest pretext, by which no +one could have been deceived except willingly, was sufficient to turn +his footsteps thither again. He explained to his mother--with a +vagueness which she found somewhat puzzling, but ascribed to her own +feminine obtuseness in matters of business--the reasons that +imperatively demanded his presence in Patesville. With an early start +he could drive there in one day,--he had an excellent roadster, a light +buggy, and a recent rain had left the road in good condition,--a day +would suffice for the transaction of his business, and the third day +would bring him home again. He set out on his journey on Thursday +morning, with this programme very clearly outlined. + +Tryon would not at first have admitted even to himself that Rena's +presence in Patesville had any bearing whatever upon his projected +visit. The matter about which Judge Straight had written might, it was +clear, be viewed in several aspects. The judge had written him +concerning the one of immediate importance. It would be much easier to +discuss the subject in all its bearings, and clean up the whole matter, +in one comprehensive personal interview. + +The importance of this business, then, seemed very urgent for the first +few hours of Tryon's journey. Ordinarily a careful driver and merciful +to his beast, his eagerness to reach Patesville increased gradually +until it became necessary to exercise some self-restraint in order not +to urge his faithful mare beyond her powers; and soon he could no +longer pretend obliviousness of the fact that some attraction stronger +than the whole amount of Duncan McSwayne's note was urging him +irresistibly toward his destination. The old town beyond the distant +river, his heart told him clamorously, held the object in all the world +to him most dear. Memory brought up in vivid detail every moment of +his brief and joyous courtship, each tender word, each enchanting +smile, every fond caress. He lived his past happiness over again down +to the moment of that fatal discovery. What horrible fate was it that +had involved him--nay, that had caught this sweet delicate girl in such +a blind alley? A wild hope flashed across his mind: perhaps the +ghastly story might not be true; perhaps, after all, the girl was no +more a negro than she seemed. He had heard sad stories of white +children, born out of wedlock, abandoned by sinful parents to the care +or adoption of colored women, who had reared them as their own, the +children's future basely sacrificed to hide the parents' shame. He +would confront this reputed mother of his darling and wring the truth +from her. He was in a state of mind where any sort of a fairy tale +would have seemed reasonable. He would almost have bribed some one to +tell him that the woman he had loved, the woman he still loved (he felt +a thrill of lawless pleasure in the confession), was not the descendant +of slaves,--that he might marry her, and not have before his eyes the +gruesome fear that some one of their children might show even the +faintest mark of the despised race. + +At noon he halted at a convenient hamlet, fed and watered his mare, and +resumed his journey after an hour's rest. By this time he had +well-nigh forgotten about the legal business that formed the ostensible +occasion for his journey, and was conscious only of a wild desire to +see the woman whose image was beckoning him on to Patesville as fast as +his horse could take him. + +At sundown he stopped again, about ten miles from the town, and cared +for his now tired beast. He knew her capacity, however, and calculated +that she could stand the additional ten miles without injury. The mare +set out with reluctance, but soon settled resignedly down into a steady +jog. + +Memory had hitherto assailed Tryon with the vision of past joys. As he +neared the town, imagination attacked him with still more moving +images. He had left her, this sweet flower of womankind--white or not, +God had never made a fairer!--he had seen her fall to the hard +pavement, with he knew not what resulting injury. He had left her +tender frame--the touch of her finger-tips had made him thrill with +happiness--to be lifted by strange hands, while he with heartless pride +had driven deliberately away, without a word of sorrow or regret. He +had ignored her as completely as though she had never existed. That he +had been deceived was true. But had he not aided in his own deception? +Had not Warwick told him distinctly that they were of no family, and +was it not his own fault that he had not followed up the clue thus +given him? Had not Rena compared herself to the child's nurse, and had +he not assured her that if she were the nurse, he would marry her next +day? The deception had been due more to his own blindness than to any +lack of honesty on the part of Rena and her brother. In the light of +his present feelings they seemed to have been absurdly outspoken. He +was glad that he had kept his discovery to himself. He had considered +himself very magnanimous not to have exposed the fraud that was being +perpetrated upon society: it was with a very comfortable feeling that +he now realized that the matter was as profound a secret as before. + +"She ought to have been born white," he muttered, adding weakly, "I +would to God that I had never found her out!" + +Drawing near the bridge that crossed the river to the town, he pictured +to himself a pale girl, with sorrowful, tear-stained eyes, pining away +in the old gray house behind the cedars for love of him, dying, +perhaps, of a broken heart. He would hasten to her; he would dry her +tears with kisses; he would express sorrow for his cruelty. + +The tired mare had crossed the bridge and was slowly toiling up Front +Street; she was near the limit of her endurance, and Tryon did not urge +her. + +They might talk the matter over, and if they must part, part at least +they would in peace and friendship. If he could not marry her, he +would never marry any one else; it would be cruel for him to seek +happiness while she was denied it, for, having once given her heart to +him, she could never, he was sure,--so instinctively fine was her +nature,--she could never love any one less worthy than himself, and +would therefore probably never marry. He knew from a Clarence +acquaintance, who had written him a letter, that Rena had not +reappeared in that town. + +If he should discover--the chance was one in a thousand--that she was +white; or if he should find it too hard to leave her--ah, well! he was +a white man, one of a race born to command. He would make her white; +no one beyond the old town would ever know the difference. If, +perchance, their secret should be disclosed, the world was wide; a man +of courage and ambition, inspired by love, might make a career +anywhere. Circumstances made weak men; strong men mould circumstances +to do their bidding. He would not let his darling die of grief, +whatever the price must be paid for her salvation. She was only a few +rods away from him now. In a moment he would see her; he would take +her tenderly in his arms, and heart to heart they would mutually +forgive and forget, and, strengthened by their love, would face the +future boldly and bid the world do its worst. + + + +XXIII + +THE GUEST OF HONOR + +The evening of the party arrived. The house had been thoroughly +cleaned in preparation for the event, and decorated with the choicest +treasures of the garden. By eight o'clock the guests had gathered. +They were all mulattoes,--all people of mixed blood were called +"mulattoes" in North Carolina. There were dark mulattoes and bright +mulattoes. Mis' Molly's guests were mostly of the bright class, most +of them more than half white, and few of them less. In Mis' Molly's +small circle, straight hair was the only palliative of a dark +complexion. Many of the guests would not have been casually +distinguishable from white people of the poorer class. Others bore +unmistakable traces of Indian ancestry,--for Cherokee and Tuscarora +blood was quite widely diffused among the free negroes of North +Carolina, though well-nigh lost sight of by the curious custom of the +white people to ignore anything but the negro blood in those who were +touched by its potent current. Very few of those present had been +slaves. The free colored people of Patesville were numerous enough +before the war to have their own "society," and human enough to despise +those who did not possess advantages equal to their own; and at this +time they still looked down upon those who had once been held in +bondage. The only black man present occupied a chair which stood on a +broad chest in one corner, and extracted melody from a fiddle to which +a whole generation of the best people of Patesville had danced and made +merry. Uncle Needham seldom played for colored gatherings, but made an +exception in Mis' Molly's case; she was not white, but he knew her +past; if she was not the rose, she had at least been near the rose. +When the company had gathered, Mary B., as mistress of ceremonies, +whispered to Uncle Needham, who tapped his violin sharply with the bow. + +"Ladies an' gent'emens, take yo' pa'dners fer a Fuhginny reel!" + +Mr. Wain, as the guest of honor, opened the ball with his hostess. He +wore a broadcloth coat and trousers, a heavy glittering chain across +the spacious front of his white waistcoat, and a large red rose in his +buttonhole. If his boots were slightly run down at the heel, so +trivial a detail passed unnoticed in the general splendor of his +attire. Upon a close or hostile inspection there would have been some +features of his ostensibly good-natured face--the shifty eye, the full +and slightly drooping lower lip--which might have given a student of +physiognomy food for reflection. But whatever the latent defects of +Wain's character, he proved himself this evening a model of geniality, +presuming not at all upon his reputed wealth, but winning golden +opinions from those who came to criticise, of whom, of course, there +were a few, the company being composed of human beings. + +When the dance began, Wain extended his large, soft hand to Mary B., +yellow, buxom, thirty, with white and even teeth glistening behind her +full red lips. A younger sister of Mary B.'s was paired with Billy +Oxendine, a funny little tailor, a great gossip, and therefore a +favorite among the women. Mis' Molly graciously consented, after many +protestations of lack of skill and want of practice, to stand up +opposite Homer Pettifoot, Mary B.'s husband, a tall man, with a slight +stoop, a bald crown, and full, dreamy eyes,--a man of much imagination +and a large fund of anecdote. Two other couples completed the set; +others were restrained by bashfulness or religious scruples, which did +not yield until later in the evening. + +The perfumed air from the garden without and the cut roses within +mingled incongruously with the alien odors of musk and hair oil, of +which several young barbers in the company were especially redolent. +There was a play of sparkling eyes and glancing feet. Mary B. danced +with the languorous grace of an Eastern odalisque, Mis' Molly with the +mincing, hesitating step of one long out of practice. Wain performed +saltatory prodigies. This was a golden opportunity for the display in +which his soul found delight. He introduced variations hitherto +unknown to the dance. His skill and suppleness brought a glow of +admiration into the eyes of the women, and spread a cloud of jealousy +over the faces of several of the younger men, who saw themselves +eclipsed. + +Rena had announced in advance her intention to take no active part in +the festivities. "I don't feel like dancing, mamma--I shall never +dance again." + +"Well, now, Rena," answered her mother, "of co'se you're too dignified, +sence you've be'n 'sociatin' with white folks, to be hoppin' roun' an' +kickin' up like Ma'y B. an' these other yaller gals; but of co'se, too, +you can't slight the comp'ny entirely, even ef it ain't jest exac'ly +our party,--you'll have to pay 'em some little attention, 'specially +Mr. Wain, sence you're goin' down yonder with 'im." + +Rena conscientiously did what she thought politeness required. She +went the round of the guests in the early part of the evening and +exchanged greetings with them. To several requests for dances she +replied that she was not dancing. She did not hold herself aloof +because of pride; any instinctive shrinking she might have felt by +reason of her recent association with persons of greater refinement was +offset by her still more newly awakened zeal for humanity; they were +her people, she must not despise them. But the occasion suggested +painful memories of other and different scenes in which she had lately +participated. Once or twice these memories were so vivid as almost to +overpower her. She slipped away from the company, and kept in the +background as much as possible without seeming to slight any one. + +The guests as well were dimly conscious of a slight barrier between +Mis' Molly's daughter and themselves. The time she had spent apart +from these friends of her youth had rendered it impossible for her ever +to meet them again upon the plane of common interests and common +thoughts. It was much as though one, having acquired the vernacular of +his native country, had lived in a foreign land long enough to lose the +language of his childhood without acquiring fully that of his adopted +country. Miss Rowena Warwick could never again become quite the Rena +Walden who had left the house behind the cedars no more than a year and +a half before. Upon this very difference were based her noble +aspirations for usefulness,--one must stoop in order that one may lift +others. Any other young woman present would have been importuned +beyond her powers of resistance. Rena's reserve was respected. + +When supper was announced, somewhat early in the evening, the dancers +found seats in the hall or on the front piazza. Aunt Zilphy, assisted +by Mis' Molly and Mary B., passed around the refreshments, which +consisted of fried chicken, buttered biscuits, pound-cake, and eggnog. +When the first edge of appetite was taken off, the conversation waxed +animated. Homer Pettifoot related, with minute detail, an old, +threadbare hunting lie, dating, in slightly differing forms, from the +age of Nimrod, about finding twenty-five partridges sitting in a row on +a rail, and killing them all with a single buckshot, which passed +through twenty-four and lodged in the body of the twenty-fifth, from +which it was extracted and returned to the shot pouch for future +service. + +This story was followed by a murmur of incredulity--of course, the +thing was possible, but Homer's faculty for exaggeration was so well +known that any statement of his was viewed with suspicion. Homer +seemed hurt at this lack of faith, and was disposed to argue the point, +but the sonorous voice of Mr. Wain on the other side of the room cut +short his protestations, in much the same way that the rising sun +extinguishes the light of lesser luminaries. + +"I wuz a member er de fus' legislatur' after de wah," Wain was saying. +"When I went up f'm Sampson in de fall, I had to pass th'ough +Smithfiel', I got in town in de afternoon, an' put up at de bes' hotel. +De lan'lo'd did n' have no s'picion but what I wuz a white man, an' he +gimme a room, an' I had supper an' breakfas', an' went on ter Rolly +nex' mornin'. W'en de session wuz over, I come along back, an' w'en I +got ter Smithfiel', I driv' up ter de same hotel. I noticed, as soon +as I got dere, dat de place had run down consid'able--dere wuz weeds +growin' in de yard, de winders wuz dirty, an' ev'ything roun' dere +looked kinder lonesome an' shif'less. De lan'lo'd met me at de do'; he +looked mighty down in de mouth, an' sezee:-- + +"'Look a-here, w'at made you come an' stop at my place widout tellin' +me you wuz a black man? Befo' you come th'ough dis town I had a +fus'-class business. But w'en folks found out dat a nigger had put up +here, business drapped right off, an' I've had ter shet up my hotel. +You oughter be 'shamed er yo'se'f fer ruinin' a po' man w'at had n' +never done no harm ter you. You've done a mean, low-lived thing, an' a +jes' God'll punish you fer it.' + +"De po' man acshully bust inter tears," continued Mr. Wain +magnanimously, "an' I felt so sorry fer 'im--he wuz a po' white man +tryin' ter git up in de worl'--dat I hauled out my purse an' gin 'im +ten dollars, an' he 'peared monst'ous glad ter git it." + +"How good-hearted! How kin'!" murmured the ladies. "It done credit to +yo' feelin's." + +"Don't b'lieve a word er dem lies," muttered one young man to another +sarcastically. "He could n' pass fer white, 'less'n it wuz a mighty +dark night." + +Upon this glorious evening of his life, Mr. Jefferson Wain had one +distinctly hostile critic, of whose presence he was blissfully +unconscious. Frank Fowler had not been invited to the party,--his +family did not go with Mary B.'s set. Rena had suggested to her mother +that he be invited, but Mis' Molly had demurred on the ground that it +was not her party, and that she had no right to issue invitations. It +is quite likely that she would have sought an invitation for Frank from +Mary B.; but Frank was black, and would not harmonize with the rest of +the company, who would not have Mis' Molly's reasons for treating him +well. She had compromised the matter by stepping across the way in the +afternoon and suggesting that Frank might come over and sit on the back +porch and look at the dancing and share in the supper. + +Frank was not without a certain honest pride. He was sensitive enough, +too, not to care to go where he was not wanted. He would have curtly +refused any such maimed invitation to any other place. But would he +not see Rena in her best attire, and might she not perhaps, in passing, +speak a word to him? + +"Thank y', Mis' Molly," he replied, "I'll prob'ly come over." + +"You're a big fool, boy," observed his father after Mis' Molly had gone +back across the street, "ter be stickin' roun' dem yaller niggers +'cross de street, an' slobb'rin' an' slav'rin' over 'em, an' hangin' +roun' deir back do' wuss 'n ef dey wuz w'ite folks. I'd see 'em dead +fus'!" + +Frank himself resisted the temptation for half an hour after the music +began, but at length he made his way across the street and stationed +himself at the window opening upon the back piazza. When Rena was in +the room, he had eyes for her only, but when she was absent, he fixed +his attention mainly upon Wain. With jealous clairvoyance he observed +that Wain's eyes followed Rena when she left the room, and lit up when +she returned. Frank had heard that Rena was going away with this man, +and he watched Wain closely, liking him less the longer he looked at +him. To his fancy, Wain's style and skill were affectation, his +good-nature mere hypocrisy, and his glance at Rena the eye of the hawk +upon his quarry. He had heard that Wain was unmarried, and he could +not see how, this being so, he could help wishing Rena for a wife. +Frank would have been content to see her marry a white man, who would +have raised her to a plane worthy of her merits. In this man's shifty +eye he read the liar--his wealth and standing were probably as false as +his seeming good-humor. + +"Is that you, Frank?" said a soft voice near at hand. + +He looked up with a joyful thrill. Rena was peering intently at him, +as if trying to distinguish his features in the darkness. It was a +bright moonlight night, but Frank stood in the shadow of the piazza. + +"Yas 'm, it's me, Miss Rena. Yo' mammy said I could come over an' see +you-all dance. You ain' be'n out on de flo' at all, ter-night." + +"No, Frank, I don't care for dancing. I shall not dance to-night." + +This answer was pleasing to Frank. If he could not hope to dance with +her, at least the men inside--at least this snake in the grass from +down the country--should not have that privilege. + +"But you must have some supper, Frank," said Rena. "I'll bring it +myself." + +"No, Miss Rena, I don' keer fer nothin'--I did n' come over ter +eat--r'al'y I didn't." + +"Nonsense, Frank, there's plenty of it. I have no appetite, and you +shall have my portion." + +She brought him a slice of cake and a glass of eggnog. When Mis' +Molly, a minute later, came out upon the piazza, Frank left the yard +and walked down the street toward the old canal. Rena had spoken +softly to him; she had fed him with her own dainty hands. He might +never hope that she would see in him anything but a friend; but he +loved her, and he would watch over her and protect her, wherever she +might be. He did not believe that she would ever marry the grinning +hypocrite masquerading back there in Mis' Molly's parlor; but the man +would bear watching. + +Mis' Molly had come to call her daughter into the house. "Rena," she +said, "Mr. Wain wants ter know if you won't dance just one dance with +him." + +"Yas, Rena," pleaded Mary B., who followed Miss Molly out to the +piazza, "jes' one dance. I don't think you're treatin' my comp'ny jes' +right, Cousin Rena." + +"You're goin' down there with 'im," added her mother, "an' it 'd be +just as well to be on friendly terms with 'im." + +Wain himself had followed the women. "Sho'ly, Miss Rena, you're gwine +ter honah me wid one dance? I'd go 'way f'm dis pa'ty sad at hea't ef +I had n' stood up oncet wid de young lady er de house." + +As Rena, weakly persuaded, placed her hand on Wain's arm and entered +the house, a buggy, coming up Front Street, paused a moment at the +corner, and then turning slowly, drove quietly up the nameless +by-street, concealed by the intervening cedars, until it reached a +point from which the occupant could view, through the open front +window, the interior of the parlor. + + + +XXIV + +SWING YOUR PARTNERS + +Moved by tenderness and thoughts of self-sacrifice, which had occupied +his mind to the momentary exclusion of all else, Tryon had scarcely +noticed, as he approached the house behind the cedars, a strain of +lively music, to which was added, as he drew still nearer, the +accompaniment of other festive sounds. He suddenly awoke, however, to +the fact that these signs of merriment came from the house at which he +had intended to stop;--he had not meant that Rena should pass another +sleepless night of sorrow, or that he should himself endure another +needless hour of suspense. + +He drew rein at the corner. Shocked surprise, a nascent anger, a vague +alarm, an insistent curiosity, urged him nearer. Turning the mare into +the side street and keeping close to the fence, he drove ahead in the +shadow of the cedars until he reached a gap through which he could see +into the open door and windows of the brightly lighted hall. + +There was evidently a ball in progress. The fiddle was squeaking +merrily so a tune that he remembered well,--it was associated with one +of the most delightful evenings of his life, that of the tournament +ball. A mellow negro voice was calling with a rhyming accompaniment +the figures of a quadrille. Tryon, with parted lips and slowly +hardening heart, leaned forward from the buggy-seat, gripping the rein +so tightly that his nails cut into the opposing palm. Above the +clatter of noisy conversation rose the fiddler's voice:-- + + "Swing yo' pa'dners; doan be shy, + Look yo' lady in de eye! + Th'ow yo' ahm aroun' huh wais'; + Take yo' time--dey ain' no has'e!" + +To the middle of the floor, in full view through an open window, +advanced the woman who all day long had been the burden of his +thoughts--not pale with grief and hollow-eyed with weeping, but flushed +with pleasure, around her waist the arm of a burly, grinning mulatto, +whose face was offensively familiar to Tryon. + +With a muttered curse of concentrated bitterness, Tryon struck the mare +a sharp blow with the whip. The sensitive creature, spirited even in +her great weariness, resented the lash and started off with the bit in +her teeth. Perceiving that it would be difficult to turn in the narrow +roadway without running into the ditch at the left, Tryon gave the mare +rein and dashed down the street, scarcely missing, as the buggy crossed +the bridge, a man standing abstractedly by the old canal, who sprang +aside barely in time to avoid being run over. + +Meantime Rena was passing through a trying ordeal. After the first few +bars, the fiddler plunged into a well-known air, in which Rena, keenly +susceptible to musical impressions, recognized the tune to which, as +Queen of Love and Beauty, she had opened the dance at her entrance into +the world of life and love, for it was there she had met George Tryon. +The combination of music and movement brought up the scene with great +distinctness. Tryon, peering angrily through the cedars, had not been +more conscious than she of the external contrast between her partners +on this and the former occasion. She perceived, too, as Tryon from the +outside had not, the difference between Wain's wordy flattery (only +saved by his cousin's warning from pointed and fulsome adulation), and +the tenderly graceful compliment, couched in the romantic terms of +chivalry, with which the knight of the handkerchief had charmed her +ear. It was only by an immense effort that she was able to keep her +emotions under control until the end of the dance, when she fled to her +chamber and burst into tears. It was not the cruel Tryon who had +blasted her love with his deadly look that she mourned, but the gallant +young knight who had worn her favor on his lance and crowned her Queen +of Love and Beauty. + + +Tryon's stay in Patesville was very brief. He drove to the hotel and +put up for the night. During many sleepless hours his mind was in a +turmoil with a very different set of thoughts from those which had +occupied it on the way to town. Not the least of them was a profound +self-contempt for his own lack of discernment. How had he been so +blind as not to have read long ago the character of this wretched girl +who had bewitched him? To-night his eyes had been opened--he had seen +her with the mask thrown off, a true daughter of a race in which the +sensuous enjoyment of the moment took precedence of taste or sentiment +or any of the higher emotions. Her few months of boarding-school, her +brief association with white people, had evidently been a mere veneer +over the underlying negro, and their effects had slipped away as soon +as the intercourse had ceased. With the monkey-like imitativeness of +the negro she had copied the manners of white people while she lived +among them, and had dropped them with equal facility when they ceased +to serve a purpose. Who but a negro could have recovered so soon from +what had seemed a terrible bereavement?--she herself must have felt it +at the time, for otherwise she would not have swooned. A woman of +sensibility, as this one had seemed to be, should naturally feel more +keenly, and for a longer time than a man, an injury to the affections; +but he, a son of the ruling race, had been miserable for six weeks +about a girl who had so far forgotten him as already to plunge headlong +into the childish amusements of her own ignorant and degraded people. +What more, indeed, he asked himself savagely,--what more could be +expected of the base-born child of the plaything of a gentleman's idle +hour, who to this ignoble origin added the blood of a servile race? +And he, George Tryon, had honored her with his love; he had very nearly +linked his fate and joined his blood to hers by the solemn sanctions of +church and state. Tryon was not a devout man, but he thanked God with +religious fervor that he had been saved a second time from a mistake +which would have wrecked his whole future. If he had yielded to the +momentary weakness of the past night,--the outcome of a sickly +sentimentality to which he recognized now, in the light of reflection, +that he was entirely too prone,--he would have regretted it soon +enough. The black streak would have been sure to come out in some +form, sooner or later, if not in the wife, then in her children. He +saw clearly enough, in this hour of revulsion, that with his +temperament and training such a union could never have been happy. If +all the world had been ignorant of the dark secret, it would always +have been in his own thoughts, or at least never far away. Each fault +of hers that the close daily association of husband and wife might +reveal,--the most flawless of sweethearts do not pass scathless through +the long test of matrimony,--every wayward impulse of his children, +every defect of mind, morals, temper, or health, would have been +ascribed to the dark ancestral strain. Happiness under such conditions +would have been impossible. + +When Tryon lay awake in the early morning, after a few brief hours of +sleep, the business which had brought him to Patesville seemed, in the +cold light of reason, so ridiculously inadequate that he felt almost +ashamed to have set up such a pretext for his journey. The prospect, +too, of meeting Dr. Green and his family, of having to explain his +former sudden departure, and of running a gauntlet of inquiry +concerning his marriage to the aristocratic Miss Warwick of South +Carolina; the fear that some one at Patesville might have suspected a +connection between Rena's swoon and his own flight,--these +considerations so moved this impressionable and impulsive young man +that he called a bell-boy, demanded an early breakfast, ordered his +horse, paid his reckoning, and started upon his homeward journey +forthwith. A certain distrust of his own sensibility, which he felt to +be curiously inconsistent with his most positive convictions, led him +to seek the river bridge by a roundabout route which did not take him +past the house where, a few hours before, he had seen the last fragment +of his idol shattered beyond the hope of repair. + + +The party broke up at an early hour, since most of the guests were +working-people, and the travelers were to make an early start next day. +About nine in the morning, Wain drove round to Mis' Molly's. Rena's +trunk was strapped behind the buggy, and she set out, in the company of +Wain, for her new field of labor. The school term was only two months +in length, and she did not expect to return until its expiration. Just +before taking her seat in the buggy, Rena felt a sudden sinking of the +heart. + +"Oh, mother," she whispered, as they stood wrapped in a close embrace, +"I'm afraid to leave you. I left you once, and it turned out so +miserably." + +"It'll turn out better this time, honey," replied her mother +soothingly. "Good-by, child. Take care of yo'self an' yo'r money, and +write to yo'r mammy." + +One kiss all round, and Rena was lifted into the buggy. Wain seized +the reins, and under his skillful touch the pretty mare began to prance +and curvet with restrained impatience. Wain could not resist the +opportunity to show off before the party, which included Mary B.'s +entire family and several other neighbors, who had gathered to see the +travelers off. + +"Good-by ter Patesville! Good-by, folkses all!" he cried, with a wave +of his disengaged hand. + +"Good-by, mother! Good-by, all!" cried Rena, as with tears in her +heart and a brave smile on her face she left her home behind her for +the second time. + +When they had crossed the river bridge, the travelers came to a long +stretch of rising ground, from the summit of which they could look back +over the white sandy road for nearly a mile. Neither Rena nor her +companion saw Frank Fowler behind the chinquapin bush at the foot of +the hill, nor the gaze of mute love and longing with which he watched +the buggy mount the long incline. He had not been able to trust +himself to bid her farewell. He had seen her go away once before with +every prospect of happiness, and come back, a dove with a wounded wing, +to the old nest behind the cedars. She was going away again, with a +man whom he disliked and distrusted. If she had met misfortune before, +what were her prospects for happiness now? + +The buggy paused at the top of the hill, and Frank, shading his eyes +with his hand, thought he could see her turn and look behind. Look +back, dear child, towards your home and those who love you! For who +knows more than this faithful worshiper what threads of the past Fate +is weaving into your future, or whether happiness or misery lies before +you? + + + +XXV + +BALANCE ALL + +The road to Sampson County lay for the most part over the pine-clad +sandhills,--an alternation of gentle rises and gradual descents, with +now and then a swamp of greater or less extent. Long stretches of the +highway led through the virgin forest, for miles unbroken by a clearing +or sign of human habitation. + +They traveled slowly, with frequent pauses in shady places, for the +weather was hot. The journey, made leisurely, required more than a +day, and might with slight effort be prolonged into two. They stopped +for the night at a small village, where Wain found lodging for Rena +with an acquaintance of his, and for himself with another, while a +third took charge of the horse, the accommodation for travelers being +limited. Rena's appearance and manners were the subject of much +comment. It was necessary to explain to several curious white people +that Rena was a woman of color. A white woman might have driven with +Wain without attracting remark,--most white ladies had negro coachmen. +That a woman of Rena's complexion should eat at a negro's table, or +sleep beneath a negro's roof, was a seeming breach of caste which only +black blood could excuse. The explanation was never questioned. No +white person of sound mind would ever claim to be a negro. + +They resumed their journey somewhat late in the morning. Rena would +willingly have hastened, for she was anxious to plunge into her new +work; but Wain seemed disposed to prolong the pleasant drive, and +beguiled the way for a time with stories of wonderful things he had +done and strange experiences of a somewhat checkered career. He was +shrewd enough to avoid any subject which would offend a modest young +woman, but too obtuse to perceive that much of what he said would not +commend him to a person of refinement. He made little reference to his +possessions, concerning which so much had been said at Patesville; and +this reticence was a point in his favor. If he had not been so much +upon his guard and Rena so much absorbed by thoughts of her future +work, such a drive would have furnished a person of her discernment a +very fair measure of the man's character. To these distractions must be +added the entire absence of any idea that Wain might have amorous +designs upon her; and any shortcomings of manners or speech were +excused by the broad mantle of charity which Rena in her new-found zeal +for the welfare of her people was willing to throw over all their +faults. They were the victims of oppression; they were not responsible +for its results. + +Toward the end of the second day, while nearing their destination, the +travelers passed a large white house standing back from the road at the +foot of a lane. Around it grew widespreading trees and well-kept +shrubbery. The fences were in good repair. Behind the house and +across the road stretched extensive fields of cotton and waving corn. +They had passed no other place that showed such signs of thrift and +prosperity. + +"Oh, what a lovely place!" exclaimed Rena. "That is yours, isn't it?" + +"No; we ain't got to my house yet," he answered. "Dat house b'longs +ter de riches' people roun' here. Dat house is over in de nex' county. +We're right close to de line now." + +Shortly afterwards they turned off from the main highway they had been +pursuing, and struck into a narrower road to the left. + +"De main road," explained Wain, "goes on to Clinton, 'bout five miles +er mo' away. Dis one we're turnin' inter now will take us to my place, +which is 'bout three miles fu'ther on. We'll git dere now in an hour +er so." + +Wain lived in an old plantation house, somewhat dilapidated, and +surrounded by an air of neglect and shiftlessness, but still preserving +a remnant of dignity in its outlines and comfort in its interior +arrangements. Rena was assigned a large room on the second floor. She +was somewhat surprised at the make-up of the household. Wain's +mother--an old woman, much darker than her son--kept house for him. A +sister with two children lived in the house. The element of surprise +lay in the presence of two small children left by Wain's wife, of whom +Rena now heard for the first time. He had lost his wife, he informed +Rena sadly, a couple of years before. + +"Yas, Miss Rena," she sighed, "de Lawd give her, an' de Lawd tuck her +away. Blessed be de name er de Lawd." He accompanied this sententious +quotation with a wicked look from under his half-closed eyelids that +Rena did not see. + +The following morning Wain drove her in his buggy over to the county +town, where she took the teacher's examination. She was given a seat +in a room with a number of other candidates for certificates, but the +fact leaking out from some remark of Wain's that she was a colored +girl, objection was quietly made by several of the would-be teachers to +her presence in the room, and she was requested to retire until the +white teachers should have been examined. An hour or two later she was +given a separate examination, which she passed without difficulty. The +examiner, a gentleman of local standing, was dimly conscious that she +might not have found her exclusion pleasant, and was especially polite. +It would have been strange, indeed, if he had not been impressed by her +sweet face and air of modest dignity, which were all the more striking +because of her social disability. He fell into conversation with her, +became interested in her hopes and aims, and very cordially offered to +be of service, if at any time he might, in connection with her school. + +"You have the satisfaction," he said, "of receiving the only +first-grade certificate issued to-day. You might teach a higher grade +of pupils than you will find at Sandy Run, but let us hope that you may +in time raise them to your own level." + +"Which I doubt very much," he muttered to himself, as she went away +with Wain. "What a pity that such a woman should be a nigger! If she +were anything to me, though, I should hate to trust her anywhere near +that saddle-colored scoundrel. He's a thoroughly bad lot, and will +bear watching." + +Rena, however, was serenely ignorant of any danger from the +accommodating Wain. Absorbed in her own thoughts and plans, she had +not sought to look beneath the surface of his somewhat overdone +politeness. In a few days she began her work as teacher, and sought to +forget in the service of others the dull sorrow that still gnawed at +her heart. + + + +XXVI + +THE SCHOOLHOUSE IN THE WOODS + +Blanche Leary, closely observant of Tryon's moods, marked a decided +change in his manner after his return from his trip to Patesville. His +former moroseness had given way to a certain defiant lightness, broken +now and then by an involuntary sigh, but maintained so well, on the +whole, that his mother detected no lapses whatever. The change was +characterized by another feature agreeable to both the women: Tryon +showed decidedly more interest than ever before in Miss Leary's +society. Within a week he asked her several times to play a selection +on the piano, displaying, as she noticed, a decided preference for gay +and cheerful music, and several times suggesting a change when she +chose pieces of a sentimental cast. More than once, during the second +week after his return, he went out riding with her; she was a graceful +horsewoman, perfectly at home in the saddle, and appearing to advantage +in a riding-habit. She was aware that Tryon watched her now and then, +with an eye rather critical than indulgent. + +"He is comparing me with some other girl," she surmised. "I seem to +stand the test very well. I wonder who the other is, and what was the +trouble?" + +Miss Leary exerted all her powers to interest and amuse the man she had +set out to win, and who seemed nearer than ever before. Tryon, to his +pleased surprise, discovered in her mind depths that he had never +suspected. She displayed a singular affinity for the tastes that were +his--he could not, of course, know how carefully she had studied them. +The old wound, recently reopened, seemed to be healing rapidly, under +conditions more conducive than before to perfect recovery. No longer, +indeed, was he pursued by the picture of Rena discovered and +unmasked--this he had definitely banished from the realm of sentiment +to that of reason. The haunting image of Rena loving and beloved, amid +the harmonious surroundings of her brother's home, was not so readily +displaced. Nevertheless, he reached in several weeks a point from which +he could consider her as one thinks of a dear one removed by the hand +of death, or smitten by some incurable ailment of mind or body. +Erelong, he fondly believed, the recovery would be so far complete that +he could consign to the tomb of pleasant memories even the most +thrilling episodes of his ill-starred courtship. + +"George," said Mrs. Tryon one morning while her son was in this +cheerful mood, "I'm sending Blanche over to Major McLeod's to do an +errand for me. Would you mind driving her over? The road may be rough +after the storm last night, and Blanche has an idea that no one drives +so well as you." + +"Why, yes, mother, I'll be glad to drive Blanche over. I want to see +the major myself." + +They were soon bowling along between the pines, behind the handsome +mare that had carried Tryon so well at the Clarence tournament. +Presently he drew up sharply. + +"A tree has fallen squarely across the road," he exclaimed. "We shall +have to turn back a little way and go around." + +They drove back a quarter of a mile and turned into a by-road leading +to the right through the woods. The solemn silence of the pine forest +is soothing or oppressive, according to one's mood. Beneath the cool +arcade of the tall, overarching trees a deep peace stole over Tryon's +heart. He had put aside indefinitely and forever an unhappy and +impossible love. The pretty and affectionate girl beside him would +make an ideal wife. Of her family and blood he was sure. She was his +mother's choice, and his mother had set her heart upon their marriage. +Why not speak to her now, and thus give himself the best possible +protection against stray flames of love? + +"Blanche," he said, looking at her kindly. + +"Yes, George?" Her voice was very gentle, and slightly tremulous. +Could she have divined his thought? Love is a great clairvoyant. + +"Blanche, dear, I"-- + +A clatter of voices broke upon the stillness of the forest and +interrupted Tryon's speech. A sudden turn to the left brought the +buggy to a little clearing, in the midst of which stood a small log +schoolhouse. Out of the schoolhouse a swarm of colored children were +emerging, the suppressed energy of the school hour finding vent in +vocal exercise of various sorts. A group had already formed a ring, +and were singing with great volume and vigor:-- + + "Miss Jane, she loves sugar an' tea, + Miss Jane, she loves candy. + Miss Jane, she can whirl all around + An' kiss her love quite handy. + + "De oak grows tall, + De pine grows slim, + So rise you up, my true love, + An' let me come in." + + +"What a funny little darkey!" exclaimed Miss Leary, pointing to a +diminutive lad who was walking on his hands, with his feet balanced in +the air. At sight of the buggy and its occupants this sable acrobat, +still retaining his inverted position, moved toward the newcomers, and, +reversing himself with a sudden spring, brought up standing beside the +buggy. + +"Hoddy, Mars Geo'ge!" he exclaimed, bobbing his head and kicking his +heel out behind in approved plantation style. + +"Hello, Plato," replied the young man, "what are you doing here?" + +"Gwine ter school, Mars Geo'ge," replied the lad; "larnin' ter read an' +write, suh, lack de w'ite folks." + +"Wat you callin' dat w'ite man marster fur?" whispered a tall yellow +boy to the acrobat addressed as Plato. "You don' b'long ter him no +mo'; you're free, an' ain' got sense ernuff ter know it." + +Tryon threw a small coin to Plato, and holding another in his hand +suggestively, smiled toward the tall yellow boy, who looked regretfully +at the coin, but stood his ground; he would call no man master, not +even for a piece of money. + +During this little colloquy, Miss Leary had kept her face turned toward +the schoolhouse. + +"What a pretty girl!" she exclaimed. "There," she added, as Tryon +turned his head toward her, "you are too late. She has retired into +her castle. Oh, Plato!" + +"Yas, missis," replied Plato, who was prancing round the buggy in great +glee, on the strength of his acquaintance with the white folks. + +"Is your teacher white?" + +"No, ma'm, she ain't w'ite; she's black. She looks lack she's w'ite, +but she's black." + +Tryon had not seen the teacher's face, but the incident had jarred the +old wound; Miss Leary's description of the teacher, together with +Plato's characterization, had stirred lightly sleeping memories. He +was more or less abstracted during the remainder of the drive, and did +not recur to the conversation that had been interrupted by coming upon +the schoolhouse. + +The teacher, glancing for a moment through the open door of the +schoolhouse, had seen a handsome young lady staring at her,--Miss Leary +had a curiously intent look when she was interested in anything, with +no intention whatever to be rude,--and beyond the lady the back and +shoulder of a man, whose face was turned the other way. There was a +vague suggestion of something familiar about the equipage, but Rena +shrank from this close scrutiny and withdrew out of sight before she +had had an opportunity to identify the vague resemblance to something +she had known. + +Miss Leary had missed by a hair's-breadth the psychological moment, and +felt some resentment toward the little negroes who had interrupted her +lover's train of thought. Negroes have caused a great deal of trouble +among white people. How deeply the shadow of the Ethiopian had fallen +upon her own happiness, Miss Leary of course could not guess. + + + +XXVII + +AN INTERESTING ACQUAINTANCE + +A few days later, Rena looked out of the window near her desk and saw a +low basket phaeton, drawn by a sorrel pony, driven sharply into the +clearing and drawn up beside an oak sapling. The occupant of the +phaeton, a tall, handsome, well-preserved lady in middle life, with +slightly gray hair, alighted briskly from the phaeton, tied the pony to +the sapling with a hitching-strap, and advanced to the schoolhouse door. + +Rena wondered who the lady might be. She had a benevolent aspect, +however, and came forward to the desk with a smile, not at all +embarrassed by the wide-eyed inspection of the entire school. + +"How do you do?" she said, extending her hand to the teacher. "I live +in the neighborhood and am interested in the colored people--a good +many of them once belonged to me. I heard something of your school, +and thought I should like to make your acquaintance." + +"It is very kind of you, indeed," murmured Rena respectfully. + +"Yes," continued the lady, "I am not one of those who sit back and +blame their former slaves because they were freed. They are free +now,--it is all decided and settled,--and they ought to be taught +enough to enable them to make good use of their freedom. But really, +my dear,--you mustn't feel offended if I make a mistake,--I am going to +ask you something very personal." She looked suggestively at the +gaping pupils. + +"The school may take the morning recess now," announced the teacher. +The pupils filed out in an orderly manner, most of them stationing +themselves about the grounds in such places as would keep the teacher +and the white lady in view. Very few white persons approved of the +colored schools; no other white person had ever visited this one. + +"Are you really colored?" asked the lady, when the children had +withdrawn. + +A year and a half earlier, Rena would have met the question by some +display of self-consciousness. Now, she replied simply and directly. + +"Yes, ma'am, I am colored." + +The lady, who had been studying her as closely as good manners would +permit, sighed regretfully. + +"Well, it's a shame. No one would ever think it. If you chose to +conceal it, no one would ever be the wiser. What is your name, child, +and where were you brought up? You must have a romantic history." + +Rena gave her name and a few facts in regard to her past. The lady was +so much interested, and put so many and such searching questions, that +Rena really found it more difficult to suppress the fact that she had +been white, than she had formerly had in hiding her African origin. +There was about the girl an air of real refinement that pleased the +lady,--the refinement not merely of a fine nature, but of contact with +cultured people; a certain reserve of speech and manner quite +inconsistent with Mrs. Tryon's experience of colored women. The lady +was interested and slightly mystified. A generous, impulsive +spirit,--her son's own mother,--she made minute inquiries about the +school and the pupils, several of whom she knew by name. Rena stated +that the two months' term was nearing its end, and that she was +training the children in various declamations and dialogues for the +exhibition at the close. + +"I shall attend it," declared the lady positively. "I'm sure you are +doing a good work, and it's very noble of you to undertake it when you +might have a very different future. If I can serve you at any time, +don't hesitate to call upon me. I live in the big white house just +before you turn out of the Clinton road to come this way. I'm only a +widow, but my son George lives with me and has some influence in the +neighborhood. He drove by here yesterday with the lady he is going to +marry. It was she who told me about you." + +Was it the name, or some subtle resemblance in speech or feature, that +recalled Tryon's image to Rena's mind? It was not so far away--the +image of the loving Tryon--that any powerful witchcraft was required to +call it up. His mother was a widow; Rena had thought, in happier days, +that she might be such a kind lady as this. But the cruel Tryon who +had left her--his mother would be some hard, cold, proud woman, who +would regard a negro as but little better than a dog, and who would not +soil her lips by addressing a colored person upon any other terms than +as a servant. She knew, too, that Tryon did not live in Sampson +County, though the exact location of his home was not clear to her. + +"And where are you staying, my dear?" asked the good lady. + +"I'm boarding at Mrs. Wain's," answered Rena. + +"Mrs. Wain's?" + +"Yes, they live in the old Campbell place." + +"Oh, yes--Aunt Nancy. She's a good enough woman, but we don't think +much of her son Jeff. He married my Amanda after the war--she used to +belong to me, and ought to have known better. He abused her most +shamefully, and had to be threatened with the law. She left him a year +or so ago and went away; I haven't seen her lately. Well, good-by, +child; I'm coming to your exhibition. If you ever pass my house, come +in and see me." + +The good lady had talked for half an hour, and had brought a ray of +sunshine into the teacher's monotonous life, heretofore lighted only by +the uncertain lamp of high resolve. She had satisfied a pardonable +curiosity, and had gone away without mentioning her name. + +Rena saw Plato untying the pony as the lady climbed into the phaeton. + +"Who was the lady, Plato?" asked the teacher when the visitor had +driven away. + +"Dat 'uz my ole mist'iss, ma'm," returned Plato proudly,--"ole Mis' +'Liza." + +"Mis' 'Liza who?" asked Rena. + +"Mis' 'Liza Tryon. I use' ter b'long ter her. Dat 'uz her son, my +young Mars Geo'ge, w'at driv pas' hyuh yistiddy wid 'is sweetheart." + + + +XXVIII + +THE LOST KNIFE + +Rena had found her task not a difficult one so far as discipline was +concerned. Her pupils were of a docile race, and school to them had +all the charm of novelty. The teacher commanded some awe because she +was a stranger, and some, perhaps, because she was white; for the +theory of blackness as propounded by Plato could not quite +counter-balance in the young African mind the evidence of their own +senses. She combined gentleness with firmness; and if these had not +been sufficient, she had reserves of character which would have given +her the mastery over much less plastic material than these ignorant but +eager young people. The work of instruction was simple enough, for most +of the pupils began with the alphabet, which they acquired from +Webster's blue-backed spelling-book, the palladium of Southern +education at that epoch. The much abused carpet-baggers had put the +spelling-book within reach of every child of school age in North +Carolina,--a fact which is often overlooked when the carpet-baggers are +held up to public odium. Even the devil should have his due, and is +not so black as he is painted. + +At the time when she learned that Tryon lived in the neighborhood, Rena +had already been subjected for several weeks to a trying ordeal. Wain +had begun to persecute her with marked attentions. She had at first +gone to board at his house,--or, by courtesy, with his mother. For a +week or two she had considered his attentions in no other light than +those of a member of the school committee sharing her own zeal and +interested in seeing the school successfully carried on. In this +character Wain had driven her to the town for her examination; he had +busied himself about putting the schoolhouse in order, and in various +matters affecting the conduct of the school. He had jocularly offered +to come and whip the children for her, and had found it convenient to +drop in occasionally, ostensibly to see what progress the work was +making. + +"Dese child'en," he would observe sonorously, in the presence of the +school, "oughter be monst'ous glad ter have de chance er settin' under +yo' instruction, Miss Rena. I'm sho' eve'body in dis neighbo'hood +'preciates de priv'lege er havin' you in ou' mids'." + +Though slightly embarrassing to the teacher, these public +demonstrations were endurable so long as they could be regarded as mere +official appreciation of her work. Sincerely in earnest about her +undertaking, she had plunged into it with all the intensity of a +serious nature which love had stirred to activity. A pessimist might +have sighed sadly or smiled cynically at the notion that a poor, weak +girl, with a dangerous beauty and a sensitive soul, and troubles enough +of her own, should hope to accomplish anything appreciable toward +lifting the black mass still floundering in the mud where slavery had +left it, and where emancipation had found it,--the mud in which, for +aught that could be seen to the contrary, her little feet, too, were +hopelessly entangled. It might have seemed like expecting a man to +lift himself by his boot-straps. + +But Rena was no philosopher, either sad or cheerful. She could not +even have replied to this argument, that races must lift themselves, +and the most that can be done by others is to give them opportunity and +fair play. Hers was a simpler reasoning,--the logic by which the world +is kept going onward and upward when philosophers are at odds and +reformers are not forthcoming. She knew that for every child she +taught to read and write she opened, if ever so little, the door of +opportunity, and she was happy in the consciousness of performing a +duty which seemed all the more imperative because newly discovered. +Her zeal, indeed, for the time being was like that of an early +Christian, who was more willing than not to die for his faith. Rena +had fully and firmly made up her mind to sacrifice her life upon this +altar. Her absorption in the work had not been without its reward, for +thereby she had been able to keep at a distance the spectre of her lost +love. Her dreams she could not control, but she banished Tryon as far +as possible from her waking thoughts. + +When Wain's attentions became obviously personal, Rena's new vestal +instinct took alarm, and she began to apprehend his character more +clearly. She had long ago learned that his pretensions to wealth were a +sham. He was nominal owner of a large plantation, it is true; but the +land was worn out, and mortgaged to the limit of its security value. +His reputed droves of cattle and hogs had dwindled to a mere handful of +lean and listless brutes. + +Her clear eye, when once set to take Wain's measure, soon fathomed his +shallow, selfish soul, and detected, or at least divined, behind his +mask of good-nature a lurking brutality which filled her with vague +distrust, needing only occasion to develop it into active +apprehension,--occasion which was not long wanting. She avoided being +alone with him at home by keeping carefully with the women of the +house. If she were left alone,--and they soon showed a tendency to +leave her on any pretext whenever Wain came near,--she would seek her +own room and lock the door. She preferred not to offend Wain; she was +far away from home and in a measure in his power, but she dreaded his +compliments and sickened at his smile. She was also compelled to hear +his relations sing his praises. + +"My son Jeff," old Mrs. Wain would say, "is de bes' man you ever seed. +His fus' wife had de easies' time an' de happies' time er ary woman in +dis settlement. He's grieve' fer her a long time, but I reckon he's +gittin' over it, an' de nex' 'oman w'at marries him'll git a box er +pyo' gol', ef I does say it as is his own mammy." + +Rena had thought Wain rather harsh with his household, except in her +immediate presence. His mother and sister seemed more or less afraid +of him, and the children often anxious to avoid him. + +One day, he timed his visit to the schoolhouse so as to walk home with +Rena through the woods. When she became aware of his purpose, she +called to one of the children who was loitering behind the others, +"Wait a minute, Jenny. I'm going your way, and you can walk along with +me." + +Wain with difficulty hid a scowl behind a smiling front. When they had +gone a little distance along the road through the woods, he clapped his +hand upon his pocket. + +"I declare ter goodness," he exclaimed, "ef I ain't dropped my +pocket-knife! I thought I felt somethin' slip th'ough dat hole in my +pocket jes' by the big pine stump in the schoolhouse ya'd. Jinny, +chile, run back an' hunt fer my knife, an' I'll give yer five cents ef +yer find it. Me an' Miss Rena'll walk on slow 'tel you ketches us." + +Rena did not dare to object, though she was afraid to be alone with +this man. If she could have had a moment to think, she would have +volunteered to go back with Jenny and look for the knife, which, +although a palpable subterfuge on her part, would have been one to +which Wain could not object; but the child, dazzled by the prospect of +reward, had darted back so quickly that this way of escape was cut off. +She was evidently in for a declaration of love, which she had taken +infinite pains to avoid. Just the form it would assume, she could not +foresee. She was not long left in suspense. No sooner was the child +well out of sight than Wain threw his arms suddenly about her waist and +smilingly attempted to kiss her. + +Speechless with fear and indignation, she tore herself from his grasp +with totally unexpected force, and fled incontinently along the forest +path. Wain--who, to do him justice, had merely meant to declare his +passion in what he had hoped might prove a not unacceptable +fashion--followed in some alarm, expostulating and apologizing as he +went. But he was heavy and Rena was light, and fear lent wings to her +feet. He followed her until he saw her enter the house of Elder +Johnson, the father of several of her pupils, after which he sneaked +uneasily homeward, somewhat apprehensive of the consequences of his +abrupt wooing, which was evidently open to an unfavorable construction. +When, an hour later, Rena sent one of the Johnson children for some of +her things, with a message explaining that the teacher had been invited +to spend a few days at Elder Johnson's, Wain felt a pronounced measure +of relief. For an hour he had even thought it might be better to +relinquish his pursuit. With a fatuousness born of vanity, however, no +sooner had she sent her excuse than he began to look upon her visit to +Johnson's as a mere exhibition of coyness, which, together with her +conduct in the woods, was merely intended to lure him on. + +Right upon the heels of the perturbation caused by Wain's conduct, Rena +discovered that Tryon lived in the neighborhood; that not only might +she meet him any day upon the highway, but that he had actually driven +by the schoolhouse. That he knew or would know of her proximity there +could be no possible doubt, since she had freely told his mother her +name and her home. A hot wave of shame swept over her at the thought +that George Tryon might imagine she were following him, throwing +herself in his way, and at the thought of the construction which he +might place upon her actions. Caught thus between two emotional fires, +at the very time when her school duties, owing to the approaching +exhibition, demanded all her energies, Rena was subjected to a physical +and mental strain that only youth and health could have resisted, and +then only for a short time. + + + +XXIX + +PLATO EARNS HALF A DOLLAR + +Tryon's first feeling, when his mother at the dinner-table gave an +account of her visit to the schoolhouse in the woods, was one of +extreme annoyance. Why, of all created beings, should this particular +woman be chosen to teach the colored school at Sandy Run? Had she +learned that he lived in the neighborhood, and had she sought the place +hoping that he might consent to renew, on different terms, relations +which could never be resumed upon their former footing? Six weeks +before, he would not have believed her capable of following him; but +his last visit to Patesville had revealed her character in such a light +that it was difficult to predict what she might do. It was, however, +no affair of his. He was done with her; he had dismissed her from his +own life, where she had never properly belonged, and he had filled her +place, or would soon fill it, with another and worthier woman. Even +his mother, a woman of keen discernment and delicate intuitions, had +been deceived by this girl's specious exterior. She had brought away +from her interview of the morning the impression that Rena was a fine, +pure spirit, born out of place, through some freak of Fate, devoting +herself with heroic self-sacrifice to a noble cause. Well, he had +imagined her just as pure and fine, and she had deliberately, with a +negro's low cunning, deceived him into believing that she was a white +girl. The pretended confession of the brother, in which he had spoken +of the humble origin of the family, had been, consciously or +unconsciously, the most disingenuous feature of the whole miserable +performance. They had tried by a show of frankness to satisfy their +own consciences,--they doubtless had enough of white blood to give them +a rudimentary trace of such a moral organ,--and by the same act to +disarm him against future recriminations, in the event of possible +discovery. How was he to imagine that persons of their appearance and +pretensions were tainted with negro blood? The more he dwelt upon the +subject, the more angry he became with those who had surprised his +virgin heart and deflowered it by such low trickery. The man who +brought the first negro into the British colonies had committed a crime +against humanity and a worse crime against his own race. The father of +this girl had been guilty of a sin against society for which +others--for which he, George Tryon--must pay the penalty. As slaves, +negroes were tolerable. As freemen, they were an excrescence, an alien +element incapable of absorption into the body politic of white men. He +would like to send them all back to the Africa from which their +forefathers had come,--unwillingly enough, he would admit,--and he +would like especially to banish this girl from his own neighborhood; +not indeed that her presence would make any difference to him, except +as a humiliating reminder of his own folly and weakness with which he +could very well dispense. + +Of this state of mind Tryon gave no visible manifestation beyond a +certain taciturnity, so much at variance with his recent liveliness +that the ladies could not fail to notice it. No effort upon the part +of either was able to affect his mood, and they both resigned +themselves to await his lordship's pleasure to be companionable. + +For a day or two, Tryon sedulously kept away from the neighborhood of +the schoolhouse at Sandy Rim. He really had business which would have +taken him in that direction, but made a detour of five miles rather +than go near his abandoned and discredited sweetheart. + +But George Tryon was wisely distrustful of his own impulses. Driving +one day along the road to Clinton, he overhauled a diminutive black +figure trudging along the road, occasionally turning a handspring by +way of diversion. + +"Hello, Plato," called Tryon, "do you want a lift?" + +"Hoddy, Mars Geo'ge. Kin I ride wid you?" + +"Jump up." + +Plato mounted into the buggy with the agility to be expected from a lad +of his acrobatic accomplishments. The two almost immediately fell into +conversation upon perhaps the only subject of common interest between +them. Before the town was reached, Tryon knew, so far as Plato could +make it plain, the estimation in which the teacher was held by pupils +and parents. He had learned the hours of opening and dismissal of the +school, where the teacher lived, her habits of coming to and going from +the schoolhouse, and the road she always followed. + +"Does she go to church or anywhere else with Jeff Wain, Plato?" asked +Tryon. + +"No, suh, she don' go nowhar wid nobody excep'n' ole Elder Johnson er +Mis' Johnson, an' de child'en. She use' ter stop at Mis' Wain's, but +she's stayin' wid Elder Johnson now. She alluz makes some er de +child'en go home wid er f'm school," said Plato, proud to find in Mars +Geo'ge an appreciative listener,--"sometimes one an' sometimes anudder. +I's be'n home wid 'er twice, ann it'll be my tu'n ag'in befo' long." + +"Plato," remarked Tryon impressively, as they drove into the town, "do +you think you could keep a secret?" + +"Yas, Mars Geo'ge, ef you says I shill." + +"Do you see this fifty-cent piece?" Tryon displayed a small piece of +paper money, crisp and green in its newness. + +"Yas, Mars Geo'ge," replied Plato, fixing his eyes respectfully on the +government's promise to pay. Fifty cents was a large sum of money. +His acquaintance with Mars Geo'ge gave him the privilege of looking at +money. When he grew up, he would be able, in good times, to earn fifty +cents a day. + +"I am going to give this to you, Plato." + +Plato's eyes opened wide as saucers. "Me, Mars Geo'ge?" he asked in +amazement. + +"Yes, Plato. I'm going to write a letter while I'm in town, and want +you to take it. Meet me here in half an hour, and I'll give you the +letter. Meantime, keep your mouth shut." + +"Yas, Mars Geo'ge," replied Plato with a grin that distended that organ +unduly. That he did not keep it shut may be inferred from the fact +that within the next half hour he had eaten and drunk fifty cents' +worth of candy, ginger-pop, and other available delicacies that +appealed to the youthful palate. Having nothing more to spend, and the +high prices prevailing for some time after the war having left him +capable of locomotion, Plato was promptly on hand at the appointed time +and place. + +Tryon placed a letter in Plato's hand, still sticky with molasses +candy,--he had inclosed it in a second cover by way of protection. +"Give that letter," he said, "to your teacher; don't say a word about +it to a living soul; bring me an answer, and give it into my own hand, +and you shall have another half dollar." + +Tryon was quite aware that by a surreptitious correspondence he ran +some risk of compromising Rena. But he had felt, as soon as he had +indulged his first opportunity to talk of her, an irresistible impulse +to see her and speak to her again. He could scarcely call at her +boarding-place,--what possible proper excuse could a young white man +have for visiting a colored woman? At the schoolhouse she would be +surrounded by her pupils, and a private interview would be as +difficult, with more eyes to remark and more tongues to comment upon +it. He might address her by mail, but did not know how often she sent +to the nearest post-office. A letter mailed in the town must pass +through the hands of a postmaster notoriously inquisitive and +evil-minded, who was familiar with Tryon's handwriting and had ample +time to attend to other people's business. To meet the teacher alone +on the road seemed scarcely feasible, according to Plato's statement. +A messenger, then, was not only the least of several evils, but really +the only practicable way to communicate with Rena. He thought he could +trust Plato, though miserably aware that he could not trust himself +where this girl was concerned. + +The letter handed by Tryon to Plato, and by the latter delivered with +due secrecy and precaution, ran as follows:-- + + +DEAR MISS WARWICK,--You may think it strange that I should address you +after what has passed between us; but learning from my mother of your +presence in the neighborhood, I am constrained to believe that you do +not find my proximity embarrassing, and I cannot resist the wish to +meet you at least once more, and talk over the circumstances of our +former friendship. From a practical point of view this may seem +superfluous, as the matter has been definitely settled. I have no +desire to find fault with you; on the contrary, I wish to set myself +right with regard to my own actions, and to assure you of my good +wishes. In other words, since we must part, I would rather we parted +friends than enemies. If nature and society--or Fate, to put it +another way--have decreed that we cannot live together, it is +nevertheless possible that we may carry into the future a pleasant +though somewhat sad memory of a past friendship. Will you not grant me +one interview? I appreciate the difficulty of arranging it; I have +found it almost as hard to communicate with you by letter. I will suit +myself to your convenience and meet you at any time and place you may +designate. Please answer by bearer, who I think is trustworthy, and +believe me, whatever your answer may be, + + Respectfully yours, + G. T. + + +The next day but one Tryon received through the mail the following +reply to his letter:-- + + +GEORGE TRYON, ESQ. + +Dear Sir,--I have requested your messenger to say that I will answer +your letter by mail, which I shall now proceed to do. I assure you +that I was entirely ignorant of your residence in this neighborhood, or +it would have been the last place on earth in which I should have set +foot. + +As to our past relations, they were ended by your own act. I frankly +confess that I deceived you; I have paid the penalty, and have no +complaint to make. I appreciate the delicacy which has made you +respect my brother's secret, and thank you for it. I remember the +whole affair with shame and humiliation, and would willingly forget it. + +As to a future interview, I do not see what good it would do either of +us. You are white, and you have given me to understand that I am +black. I accept the classification, however unfair, and the +consequences, however unjust, one of which is that we cannot meet in +the same parlor, in the same church, at the same table, or anywhere, in +social intercourse; upon a steamboat we would not sit at the same +table; we could not walk together on the street, or meet publicly +anywhere and converse, without unkind remark. As a white man, this +might not mean a great deal to you; as a woman, shut out already by my +color from much that is desirable, my good name remains my most +valuable possession. I beg of you to let me alone. The best possible +proof you can give me of your good wishes is to relinquish any desire +or attempt to see me. I shall have finished my work here in a few +days. I have other troubles, of which you know nothing, and any +meeting with you would only add to a burden which is already as much as +I can bear. To speak of parting is superfluous--we have already +parted. It were idle to dream of a future friendship between people so +widely different in station. Such a friendship, if possible in itself, +would never be tolerated by the lady whom you are to marry, with whom +you drove by my schoolhouse the other day. A gentleman so loyal to his +race and its traditions as you have shown yourself could not be less +faithful to the lady to whom he has lost his heart and his memory in +three short months. + +No, Mr. Tryon, our romance is ended, and better so. We could never +have been happy. I have found a work in which I may be of service to +others who have fewer opportunities than mine have been. Leave me in +peace, I beseech you, and I shall soon pass out of your neighborhood as +I have passed out of your life, and hope to pass out of your memory. + + Yours very truly, + ROWENA WALDEN. + + + +XXX + +AN UNUSUAL HONOR + +To Rena's high-strung and sensitive nature, already under very great +tension from her past experience, the ordeal of the next few days was a +severe one. On the one hand, Jeff Wain's infatuation had rapidly +increased, in view of her speedy departure. From Mrs. Tryon's remark +about Wain's wife Amanda, and from things Rena had since learned, she +had every reason to believe that this wife was living, and that Wain +must be aware of the fact. In the light of this knowledge, Wain's +former conduct took on a blacker significance than, upon reflection, +she had charitably clothed it with after the first flush of +indignation. That he had not given up his design to make love to her +was quite apparent, and, with Amanda alive, his attentions, always +offensive since she had gathered their import, became in her eyes the +expression of a villainous purpose, of which she could not speak to +others, and from which she felt safe only so long as she took proper +precautions against it. In a week her school would be over, and then +she would get Elder Johnson, or some one else than Wain, to take her +back to Patesville. True, she might abandon her school and go at once; +but her work would be incomplete, she would have violated her contract, +she would lose her salary for the month, explanations would be +necessary, and would not be forthcoming. She might feign +sickness,--indeed, it would scarcely be feigning, for she felt far from +well; she had never, since her illness, quite recovered her former +vigor--but the inconvenience to others would be the same, and her +self-sacrifice would have had, at its very first trial, a lame and +impotent conclusion. She had as yet no fear of personal violence from +Wain; but, under the circumstances, his attentions were an insult. He +was evidently bent upon conquest, and vain enough to think he might +achieve it by virtue of his personal attractions. If he could have +understood how she loathed the sight of his narrow eyes, with their +puffy lids, his thick, tobacco-stained lips, his doubtful teeth, and +his unwieldy person, Wain, a monument of conceit that he was, might +have shrunk, even in his own estimation, to something like his real +proportions. Rena believed that, to defend herself from persecution at +his hands, it was only necessary that she never let him find her alone. +This, however, required constant watchfulness. Relying upon his own +powers, and upon a woman's weakness and aversion to scandal, from which +not even the purest may always escape unscathed, and convinced by her +former silence that he had nothing serious to fear, Wain made it a +point to be present at every public place where she might be. He +assumed, in conversation with her which she could not avoid, and stated +to others, that she had left his house because of a previous promise to +divide the time of her stay between Elder Johnson's house and his own. +He volunteered to teach a class in the Sunday-school which Rena +conducted at the colored Methodist church, and when she remained to +service, occupied a seat conspicuously near her own. In addition to +these public demonstrations, which it was impossible to escape, or, it +seemed, with so thick-skinned an individual as Wain, even to +discourage, she was secretly and uncomfortably conscious that she could +scarcely stir abroad without the risk of encountering one of two men, +each of whom was on the lookout for an opportunity to find her alone. + +The knowledge of Tryon's presence in the vicinity had been almost as +much as Rena could bear. To it must be added the consciousness that +he, too, was pursuing her, to what end she could not tell. After his +letter to her brother, and the feeling therein displayed, she found it +necessary to crush once or twice a wild hope that, her secret being +still unknown save to a friendly few, he might return and claim her. +Now, such an outcome would be impossible. He had become engaged to +another woman,--this in itself would be enough to keep him from her, if +it were not an index of a vastly more serious barrier, a proof that he +had never loved her. If he had loved her truly, he would never have +forgotten her in three short months,--three long months they had +heretofore seemed to her, for in them she had lived a lifetime of +experience. Another impassable barrier lay in the fact that his mother +had met her, and that she was known in the neighborhood. Thus cut off +from any hope that she might be anything to him, she had no wish to +meet her former lover; no possible good could come of such a meeting; +and yet her fluttering heart told her that if he should come, as his +letter foreshadowed that he might,--if he should come, the loving +George of old, with soft words and tender smiles and specious talk of +friendship--ah! then, her heart would break! She must not meet him--at +any cost she must avoid him. + +But this heaping up of cares strained her endurance to the +breaking-point. Toward the middle of the last week, she knew that she +had almost reached the limit, and was haunted by a fear that she might +break down before the week was over. Now her really fine nature rose +to the emergency, though she mustered her forces with a great effort. +If she could keep Wain at his distance and avoid Tryon for three days +longer, her school labors would be ended and she might retire in peace +and honor. + +"Miss Rena," said Plato to her on Tuesday, "ain't it 'bout time I wuz +gwine home wid you ag'in?" + +"You may go with me to-morrow, Plato," answered the teacher. + +After school Plato met an anxious eyed young man in the woods a short +distance from the schoolhouse. + +"Well, Plato, what news?" + +"I's gwine ter see her home ter-morrer, Mars Geo'ge." + +"To-morrow!" replied Tryon; "how very fortunate! I wanted you to go to +town to-morrow to take an important message for me. I'm sorry, +Plato--you might have earned another dollar." + +To lie is a disgraceful thing, and yet there are times when, to a +lover's mind, love dwarfs all ordinary laws. Plato scratched his head +disconsolately, but suddenly a bright thought struck him. + +"Can't I go ter town fer you atter I've seed her home, Mars Geo'ge?" + +"N-o, I'm afraid it would be too late," returned Tryon doubtfully. + +"Den I'll haf ter ax 'er ter lemme go nex' day," said Plato, with +resignation. The honor might be postponed or, if necessary, foregone; +the opportunity to earn a dollar was the chance of a lifetime and must +not be allowed to slip. + +"No, Plato," rejoined Tryon, shaking his head, "I shouldn't want to +deprive you of so great a pleasure." Tryon was entirely sincere in +this characterization of Plato's chance; he would have given many a +dollar to be sure of Plato's place and Plato's welcome. Rena's letter +had re-inflamed his smouldering passion; only opposition was needed to +fan it to a white heat. Wherein lay the great superiority of his +position, if he was denied the right to speak to the one person in the +world whom he most cared to address? He felt some dim realization of +the tyranny of caste, when he found it not merely pressing upon an +inferior people who had no right to expect anything better, but barring +his own way to something that he desired. He meant her no harm--but he +must see her. He could never marry her now--but he must see her. He +was conscious of a certain relief at the thought that he had not asked +Blanche Leary to be his wife. His hand was unpledged. He could not +marry the other girl, of course, but they must meet again. The rest he +would leave to Fate, which seemed reluctant to disentangle threads +which it had woven so closely. + +"I think, Plato, that I see an easier way out of the difficulty. Your +teacher, I imagine, merely wants some one to see her safely home. +Don't you think, if you should go part of the way, that I might take +your place for the rest, while you did my errand?" + +"Why, sho'ly, Mars Geo'ge, you could take keer er her better 'n I +could--better 'n anybody could--co'se you could!" + +Mars Geo'ge was white and rich, and could do anything. Plato was proud +of the fact that he had once belonged to Mars Geo'ge. He could not +conceive of any one so powerful as Mars Geo'ge, unless it might be God, +of whom Plato had heard more or less, and even here the comparison +might not be quite fair to Mars Geo'ge, for Mars Geo'ge was the younger +of the two. It would undoubtedly be a great honor for the teacher to +be escorted home by Mars Geo'ge. The teacher was a great woman, no +doubt, and looked white; but Mars Geo'ge was the real article. Mars +Geo'ge had never been known to go with a black woman before, and the +teacher would doubtless thank Plato for arranging that so great an +honor should fall upon her. Mars Geo'ge had given him fifty cents +twice, and would now give him a dollar. Noble Mars Geo'ge! Fortunate +teacher! Happy Plato! + +"Very well, Plato. I think we can arrange it so that you can kill the +two rabbits at one shot. Suppose that we go over the road that she will +take to go home." + +They soon arrived at the schoolhouse. School had been out an hour, and +the clearing was deserted. Plato led the way by the road through the +woods to a point where, amid somewhat thick underbrush, another path +intersected the road they were following. + +"Now, Plato," said Tryon, pausing here, "this would be a good spot for +you to leave the teacher and for me to take your place. This path +leads to the main road, and will take you to town very quickly. I +shouldn't say anything to the teacher about it at all; but when you and +she get here, drop behind and run along this path until you meet +me,--I'll be waiting a few yards down the road,--and then run to town +as fast as your legs will carry you. As soon as you are gone, I'll +come out and tell the teacher that I've sent you away on an errand, and +will myself take your place. You shall have a dollar, and I'll ask her +to let you go home with her the next day. But you mustn't say a word +about it, Plato, or you won't get the dollar, and I'll not ask the +teacher to let you go home with her again." + +"All right, Mars Geo'ge, I ain't gwine ter say no mo' d'n ef de cat had +my tongue." + + + +XXXI + +IN DEEP WATERS + +Rena was unusually fatigued at the close of her school on Wednesday +afternoon. She had been troubled all day with a headache, which, +beginning with a dull pain, had gradually increased in intensity until +every nerve was throbbing like a trip-hammer. The pupils seemed +unusually stupid. A discouraging sense of the insignificance of any +part she could perform towards the education of three million people +with a school term of two months a year hung over her spirit like a +pall. As the object of Wain's attentions, she had begun to feel +somewhat like a wild creature who hears the pursuers on its track, and +has the fear of capture added to the fatigue of flight. But when this +excitement had gone too far and had neared the limit of exhaustion came +Tryon's letter, with the resulting surprise and consternation. Rena +had keyed herself up to a heroic pitch to answer it; but when the +inevitable reaction came, she was overwhelmed with a sickening sense of +her own weakness. The things which in another sphere had constituted +her strength and shield were now her undoing, and exposed her to +dangers from which they lent her no protection. Not only was this her +position in theory, but the pursuers were already at her heels. As the +day wore on, these dark thoughts took on an added gloom, until, when +the hour to dismiss school arrived, she felt as though she had not a +friend in the world. This feeling was accentuated by a letter which +she had that morning received from her mother, in which Mis' Molly +spoke very highly of Wain, and plainly expressed the hope that her +daughter might like him so well that she would prefer to remain in +Sampson County. + +Plato, bright-eyed and alert, was waiting in the school-yard until the +teacher should be ready to start. Having warned away several smaller +children who had hung around after school as though to share his +prerogative of accompanying the teacher, Plato had swung himself into +the low branches of an oak at the edge of the clearing, from which he +was hanging by his legs, head downward. He dropped from this reposeful +attitude when the teacher appeared at the door, and took his place at +her side. + +A premonition of impending trouble caused the teacher to hesitate. She +wished that she had kept more of the pupils behind. Something +whispered that danger lurked in the road she customarily followed. +Plato seemed insignificantly small and weak, and she felt miserably +unable to cope with any difficult or untoward situation. + +"Plato," she suggested, "I think we'll go round the other way to-night, +if you don't mind." + +Visions of Mars Geo'ge disappointed, of a dollar unearned and unspent, +flitted through the narrow brain which some one, with the irony of +ignorance or of knowledge, had mocked with the name of a great +philosopher. Plato was not an untruthful lad, but he seldom had the +opportunity to earn a dollar. His imagination, spurred on by the +instinct of self-interest, rose to the emergency. + +"I's feared you mought git snake-bit gwine roun' dat way, Miss Rena. +My brer Jim kill't a water-moccasin down dere yistiddy 'bout ten feet +long." + +Rena had a horror of snakes, with which the swamp by which the other +road ran was infested. Snakes were a vivid reality; her presentiment +was probably a mere depression of spirits due to her condition of +nervous exhaustion. A cloud had come up and threatened rain, and the +wind was rising ominously. The old way was the shorter; she wanted +above all things to get to Elder Johnson's and go to bed. Perhaps +sleep would rest her tired brain--she could not imagine herself feeling +worse, unless she should break down altogether. + +She plunged into the path and hastened forward so as to reach home +before the approaching storm. So completely was she absorbed in her +own thoughts that she scarcely noticed that Plato himself seemed +preoccupied. Instead of capering along like a playful kitten or puppy, +he walked by her side unusually silent. When they had gone a short +distance and were approaching a path which intersected their road at +something near a right angle, the teacher missed Plato. He had dropped +behind a moment before; now he had disappeared entirely. Her vague +alarm of a few moments before returned with redoubled force. + +"Plato!" she called; "Plato!" + +There was no response, save the soughing of the wind through the +swaying treetops. She stepped hastily forward, wondering if this were +some childish prank. If so, it was badly timed, and she would let +Plato feel the weight of her displeasure. + +Her forward step had brought her to the junction of the two paths, +where she paused doubtfully. The route she had been following was the +most direct way home, but led for quite a distance through the forest, +which she did not care to traverse alone. The intersecting path would +soon take her to the main road, where she might find shelter or +company, or both. Glancing around again in search of her missing +escort, she became aware that a man was approaching her from each of +the two paths. In one she recognized the eager and excited face of +George Tryon, flushed with anticipation of their meeting, and yet grave +with uncertainty of his reception. Advancing confidently along the +other path she saw the face of Jeff Wain, drawn, as she imagined in her +anguish, with evil passions which would stop at nothing. + +What should she do? There was no sign of Plato--for aught she could +see or hear of him, the earth might have swallowed him up. Some deadly +serpent might have stung him. Some wandering rabbit might have tempted +him aside. Another thought struck her. Plato had been very +quiet--there had been something on his conscience--perhaps he had +betrayed her! But to which of the two men, and to what end? + +The problem was too much for her overwrought brain. She turned and +fled. A wiser instinct might have led her forward. In the two +conflicting dangers she might have found safety. The road after all +was a public way. Any number of persons might meet there accidentally. +But she saw only the darker side of the situation. To turn to Tryon +for protection before Wain had by some overt act manifested the evil +purpose which she as yet only suspected would be, she imagined, to +acknowledge a previous secret acquaintance with Tryon, thus placing her +reputation at Wain's mercy, and to charge herself with a burden of +obligation toward a man whom she wished to avoid and had refused to +meet. If, on the other hand, she should go forward to meet Wain, he +would undoubtedly offer to accompany her homeward. Tryon would +inevitably observe the meeting, and suppose it prearranged. Not for +the world would she have him think so--why she should care for his +opinion, she did not stop to argue. She turned and fled, and to avoid +possible pursuit, struck into the underbrush at an angle which she +calculated would bring her in a few rods to another path which would +lead quickly into the main road. She had run only a few yards when she +found herself in the midst of a clump of prickly shrubs and briars. +Meantime the storm had burst; the rain fell in torrents. Extricating +herself from the thorns, she pressed forward, but instead of coming out +upon the road, found herself penetrating deeper and deeper into the +forest. + +The storm increased in violence. The air grew darker and darker. It +was near evening, the clouds were dense, the thick woods increased the +gloom. Suddenly a blinding flash of lightning pierced the darkness, +followed by a sharp clap of thunder. There was a crash of falling +timber. Terror-stricken, Rena flew forward through the forest, the +underbrush growing closer and closer as she advanced. Suddenly the +earth gave way beneath her feet and she sank into a concealed morass. +By clasping the trunk of a neighboring sapling she extricated herself +with an effort, and realized with a horrible certainty that she was +lost in the swamp. + +Turning, she tried to retrace her steps. A flash of lightning +penetrated the gloom around her, and barring her path she saw a huge +black snake,--harmless enough, in fact, but to her excited imagination +frightful in appearance. With a wild shriek she turned again, +staggered forward a few yards, stumbled over a projecting root, and +fell heavily to the earth. + +When Rena had disappeared in the underbrush, Tryon and Wain had each +instinctively set out in pursuit of her, but owing to the gathering +darkness, the noise of the storm, and the thickness of the underbrush, +they missed not only Rena but each other, and neither was aware of the +other's presence in the forest. Wain kept up the chase until the rain +drove him to shelter. Tryon, after a few minutes, realized that she +had fled to escape him, and that to pursue her would be to defeat +rather than promote his purpose. He desisted, therefore, and returning +to the main road, stationed himself at a point where he could watch +Elder Johnson's house, and having waited for a while without any signs +of Rena, concluded that she had taken refuge in some friendly cabin. +Turning homeward disconsolately as night came on, he intercepted Plato +on his way back from town, and pledged him to inviolable secrecy so +effectually that Plato, when subsequently questioned, merely answered +that he had stopped a moment to gather some chinquapins, and when he +had looked around the teacher was gone. + +Rena not appearing at supper-time nor for an hour later, the elder, +somewhat anxious, made inquiries about the neighborhood, and finding +his guest at no place where she might be expected to stop, became +somewhat alarmed. Wain's house was the last to which he went. He had +surmised that there was some mystery connected with her leaving Wain's, +but had never been given any definite information about the matter. In +response to his inquiries, Wain expressed surprise, but betrayed a +certain self-consciousness which did not escape the elder's eye. +Returning home, he organized a search party from his own family and +several near neighbors, and set out with dogs and torches to scour the +woods for the missing teacher. A couple of hours later, they found her +lying unconscious in the edge of the swamp, only a few rods from a +well-defined path which would soon have led her to the open highway. +Strong arms lifted her gently and bore her home. Mrs. Johnson +undressed her and put her to bed, administering a homely remedy, of +which whiskey was the principal ingredient, to counteract the effects +of the exposure. There was a doctor within five miles, but no one +thought of sending for him, nor was it at all likely that it would have +been possible to get him for such a case at such an hour. + +Rena's illness, however, was more deeply seated than her friends could +imagine. A tired body, in sympathy with an overwrought brain, had left +her peculiarly susceptible to the nervous shock of her forest +experience. The exposure for several hours in her wet clothing to the +damps and miasma of the swamp had brought on an attack of brain fever. +The next morning, she was delirious. One of the children took word to +the schoolhouse that the teacher was sick and there would be no school +that day. A number of curious and sympathetic people came in from time +to time and suggested various remedies, several of which old Mrs. +Johnson, with catholic impartiality, administered to the helpless +teacher, who from delirium gradually sunk into a heavy stupor scarcely +distinguishable from sleep. It was predicted that she would probably +be well in the morning; if not, it would then be time to consider +seriously the question of sending for a doctor. + + + +XXXII + +THE POWER OF LOVE + +After Tryon's failure to obtain an interview with Rena through Plato's +connivance, he decided upon a different course of procedure. In a few +days her school term would be finished. He was not less desirous to +see her, was indeed as much more eager as opposition would be likely to +make a very young man who was accustomed to having his own way, and +whose heart, as he had discovered, was more deeply and permanently +involved than he had imagined. His present plan was to wait until the +end of the school; then, when Rena went to Clinton on the Saturday or +Monday to draw her salary for the month, he would see her in the town, +or, if necessary, would follow her to Patesville. No power on earth +should keep him from her long, but he had no desire to interfere in any +way with the duty which she owed to others. When the school was over +and her work completed, then he would have his innings. Writing +letters was too unsatisfactory a method of communication--he must see +her face to face. + +The first of his three days of waiting had passed, when, about ten +o'clock on the morning of the second day, which seemed very long in +prospect, while driving along the road toward Clinton, he met Plato, +with a rabbit trap in his hand. + +"Well, Plato," he asked, "why are you absent from the classic shades of +the academy to-day?" + +"Hoddy, Mars Geo'ge. W'at wuz dat you say?" + +"Why are you not at school to-day?" + +"Ain' got no teacher, Mars Geo'ge. Teacher's gone!" + +"Gone!" exclaimed Tryon, with a sudden leap of the heart. "Gone where? +What do you mean?" + +"Teacher got los' in de swamp, night befo' las', 'cause Plato wa'n't +dere ter show her de way out'n de woods. Elder Johnson foun' 'er wid +dawgs and tawches, an' fotch her home an' put her ter bed. No school +yistiddy. She wuz out'n her haid las' night, an' dis mawnin' she wuz +gone." + +"Gone where?" + +"Dey don' nobody know whar, suh." + +Leaving Plato abruptly, Tryon hastened down the road toward Elder +Johnson's cabin. This was no time to stand on punctilio. The girl had +been lost in the woods in the storm, amid the thunder and lightning and +the pouring rain. She was sick with fright and exposure, and he was +the cause of it all. Bribery, corruption, and falsehood had brought +punishment in their train, and the innocent had suffered while the +guilty escaped. He must learn at once what had become of her. Reaching +Elder Johnson's house, he drew up by the front fence and gave the +customary halloa, which summoned a woman to the door. + +"Good-morning," he said, nodding unconsciously, with the careless +politeness of a gentleman to his inferiors. "I'm Mr. Tryon. I have +come to inquire about the sick teacher." + +"Why, suh," the woman replied respectfully, "she got los' in de woods +night befo' las', an' she wuz out'n her min' most er de time yistiddy. +Las' night she must 'a' got out er bed an' run away w'en eve'ybody wuz +soun' asleep, fer dis mawnin' she wuz gone, an' none er us knows whar +she is." + +"Has any search been made for her?" + +"Yas, suh, my husban' an' de child'en has been huntin' roun' all de +mawnin', an' he's gone ter borry a hoss now ter go fu'ther. But Lawd +knows dey ain' no tellin' whar she'd go, 'less'n she got her min' back +sence she lef'." + +Tryon's mare was in good condition. He had money in his pocket and +nothing to interfere with his movements. He set out immediately on the +road to Patesville, keeping a lookout by the roadside, and stopping +each person he met to inquire if a young woman, apparently ill, had +been seen traveling along the road on foot. No one had met such a +traveler. When he had gone two or three miles, he drove through a +shallow branch that crossed the road. The splashing of his horse's +hoofs in the water prevented him from hearing a low groan that came +from the woods by the roadside. + +He drove on, making inquiries at each farmhouse and of every person +whom he encountered. Shortly after crossing the branch, he met a young +negro with a cartload of tubs and buckets and piggins, and asked him if +he had seen on the road a young white woman with dark eyes and hair, +apparently sick or demented. The young man answered in the negative, +and Tryon pushed forward anxiously. + +At noon he stopped at a farmhouse and swallowed a hasty meal. His +inquiries here elicited no information, and he was just leaving when a +young man came in late to dinner and stated, in response to the usual +question, that he had met, some two hours before, a young woman who +answered Tryon's description, on the Lillington road, which crossed the +main road to Patesville a short distance beyond the farmhouse. He had +spoken to the woman. At first she had paid no heed to his question. +When addressed a second time, she had answered in a rambling and +disconnected way, which indicated to his mind that there was something +wrong with her. + +Tryon thanked his informant and hastened to the Lillington road. +Stopping as before to inquire, he followed the woman for several hours, +each mile of the distance taking him farther away from Patesville. +From time to time he heard of the woman. Toward nightfall he found +her. She was white enough, with the sallowness of the sandhill poor +white. She was still young, perhaps, but poverty and a hard life made +her look older than she ought. She was not fair, and she was not Rena. +When Tryon came up to her, she was sitting on the doorsill of a +miserable cabin, and held in her hand a bottle, the contents of which +had never paid any revenue tax. She had walked twenty miles that day, +and had beguiled the tedium of the journey by occasional potations, +which probably accounted for the incoherency of speech which several of +those who met her had observed. When Tryon drew near, she tendered him +the bottle with tipsy cordiality. He turned in disgust and retraced +his steps to the Patesville road, which he did not reach until +nightfall. As it was too dark to prosecute the search with any chance +of success, he secured lodging for the night, intending to resume his +quest early in the morning. + + + +XXXIII + +A MULE AND A CART + +Frank Fowler's heart was filled with longing for a sight of Rena's +face. When she had gone away first, on the ill-fated trip to South +Carolina, her absence had left an aching void in his life; he had +missed her cheerful smile, her pleasant words, her graceful figure +moving about across the narrow street. His work had grown monotonous +during her absence; the clatter of hammer and mallet, that had seemed +so merry when punctuated now and then by the strains of her voice, +became a mere humdrum rapping of wood upon wood and iron upon iron. He +had sought work in South Carolina with the hope that he might see her. +He had satisfied this hope, and had tried in vain to do her a service; +but Fate had been against her; her castle of cards had come tumbling +down. He felt that her sorrow had brought her nearer to him. The +distance between them depended very much upon their way of looking at +things. He knew that her experience had dragged her through the valley +of humiliation. His unselfish devotion had reacted to refine and +elevate his own spirit. When he heard the suggestion, after her second +departure, that she might marry Wain, he could not but compare himself +with this new aspirant. He, Frank, was a man, an honest man--a better +man than the shifty scoundrel with whom she had ridden away. She was +but a woman, the best and sweetest and loveliest of all women, but yet +a woman. After a few short years of happiness or sorrow,--little of +joy, perhaps, and much of sadness, which had begun already,--they would +both be food for worms. White people, with a deeper wisdom perhaps +than they used in their own case, regarded Rena and himself as very +much alike. They were certainly both made by the same God, in much the +same physical and mental mould; they breathed the same air, ate the +same food, spoke the same speech, loved and hated, laughed and cried, +lived and would die, the same. If God had meant to rear any impassable +barrier between people of contrasting complexions, why did He not +express the prohibition as He had done between other orders of creation? + +When Rena had departed for Sampson County, Frank had reconciled himself +to her absence by the hope of her speedy return. He often stepped +across the street to talk to Mis' Molly about her. Several letters had +passed between mother and daughter, and in response to Frank's +inquiries his neighbor uniformly stated that Rena was well and doing +well, and sent her love to all inquiring friends. But Frank observed +that Mis' Molly, when pressed as to the date of Rena's return, grew +more and more indefinite; and finally the mother, in a burst of +confidential friendship, told Frank of all her hopes with reference to +the stranger from down the country. + +"Yas, Frank," she concluded, "it'll be her own fault ef she don't +become a lady of proputty, fer Mr. Wain is rich, an' owns a big +plantation, an' hires a lot of hands, and is a big man in the county. +He's crazy to git her, an' it all lays in her own han's." + +Frank did not find this news reassuring. He believed that Wain was a +liar and a scoundrel. He had nothing more than his intuitions upon +which to found this belief, but it was none the less firm. If his +estimate of the man's character were correct, then his wealth might be +a fiction, pure and simple. If so, the truth should be known to Mis' +Molly, so that instead of encouraging a marriage with Wain, she would +see him in his true light, and interpose to rescue her daughter from +his importunities. A day or two after this conversation, Frank met in +the town a negro from Sampson County, made his acquaintance, and +inquired if he knew a man by the name of Jeff Wain. + +"Oh, Jeff Wain!" returned the countryman slightingly; "yas, I knows +'im, an' don' know no good of 'im. One er dese yer biggity, braggin' +niggers--talks lack he own de whole county, an' ain't wuth no mo' d'n I +is--jes' a big bladder wid a handful er shot rattlin' roun' in it. Had +a wife, when I wuz dere, an' beat her an' 'bused her so she had ter run +away." + +This was alarming information. Wain had passed in the town as a single +man, and Frank had had no hint that he had ever been married. There +was something wrong somewhere. Frank determined that he would find out +the truth and, if possible, do something to protect Rena against the +obviously evil designs of the man who had taken her away. The barrel +factory had so affected the cooper's trade that Peter and Frank had +turned their attention more or less to the manufacture of small +woodenware for domestic use. Frank's mule was eating off its own head, +as the saying goes. It required but little effort to persuade Peter +that his son might take a load of buckets and tubs and piggins into the +country and sell them or trade them for country produce at a profit. + +In a few days Frank had his stock prepared, and set out on the road to +Sampson County. He went about thirty miles the first day, and camped +by the roadside for the night, resuming the journey at dawn. After +driving for an hour through the tall pines that overhung the road like +the stately arch of a cathedral aisle, weaving a carpet for the earth +with their brown spines and cones, and soothing the ear with their +ceaseless murmur, Frank stopped to water his mule at a point where the +white, sandy road, widening as it went, sloped downward to a +clear-running branch. On the right a bay-tree bending over the stream +mingled the heavy odor of its flowers with the delicate perfume of a +yellow jessamine vine that had overrun a clump of saplings on the left. +From a neighboring tree a silver-throated mocking-bird poured out a +flood of riotous melody. A group of minnows; startled by the splashing +of the mule's feet, darted away into the shadow of the thicket, their +quick passage leaving the amber water filled with laughing light. + +The mule drank long and lazily, while over Frank stole thoughts in +harmony with the peaceful scene,--thoughts of Rena, young and +beautiful, her friendly smile, her pensive dark eyes. He would soon +see her now, and if she had any cause for fear or unhappiness, he would +place himself at her service--for a day, a week, a month, a year, a +lifetime, if need be. + +His reverie was broken by a slight noise from the thicket at his left. +"I wonder who dat is?" he muttered. "It soun's mighty quare, ter say +de leas'." + +He listened intently for a moment, but heard nothing further. "It must +'a' be'n a rabbit er somethin' scamp'in' th'ough de woods. G'long +dere, Caesar!" + +As the mule stepped forward, the sound was repeated. This time it was +distinctly audible, the long, low moan of some one in sickness or +distress. + +"Dat ain't no rabbit," said Frank to himself. "Dere's somethin' wrong +dere. Stan' here, Caesar, till I look inter dis matter." + +Pulling out from the branch, Frank sprang from the saddle and pushed +his way cautiously through the outer edge of the thicket. + +"Good Lawd!" he exclaimed with a start, "it's a woman--a w'ite woman!" + +The slender form of a young woman lay stretched upon the ground in a +small open space a few yards in extent. Her face was turned away, and +Frank could see at first only a tangled mass of dark brown hair, matted +with twigs and leaves and cockleburs, and hanging in wild profusion +around her neck. + +Frank stood for a moment irresolute, debating the serious question +whether he should investigate further with a view to rendering +assistance, or whether he should put as great a distance as possible +between himself and this victim, as she might easily be, of some +violent crime, lest he should himself be suspected of it--a not +unlikely contingency, if he were found in the neighborhood and the +woman should prove unable to describe her assailant. While he +hesitated, the figure moved restlessly, and a voice murmured:-- + +"Mamma, oh, mamma!" + +The voice thrilled Frank like an electric shock. Trembling in every +limb, he sprang forward toward the prostrate figure. The woman turned +her head, and he saw that it was Rena. Her gown was torn and dusty, +and fringed with burs and briars. When she had wandered forth, half +delirious, pursued by imaginary foes, she had not stopped to put on her +shoes, and her little feet were blistered and swollen and bleeding. +Frank knelt by her side and lifted her head on his arm. He put his +hand upon her brow; it was burning with fever. + +"Miss Rena! Rena! don't you know me?" + +She turned her wild eyes on him suddenly. "Yes, I know you, Jeff Wain. +Go away from me! Go away!" + +Her voice rose to a scream; she struggled in his grasp and struck at +him fiercely with her clenched fists. Her sleeve fell back and +disclosed the white scar made by his own hand so many years before. + +"You're a wicked man," she panted. "Don't touch me! I hate you and +despise you!" + +Frank could only surmise how she had come here, in such a condition. +When she spoke of Wain in this manner, he drew his own conclusions. +Some deadly villainy of Wain's had brought her to this pass. Anger +stirred his nature to the depths, and found vent in curses on the +author of Rena's misfortunes. + +"Damn him!" he groaned. "I'll have his heart's blood fer dis, ter de +las' drop!" + +Rena now laughed and put up her arms appealingly. "George," she cried, +in melting tones, "dear George, do you love me? How much do you love +me? Ah, you don't love me!" she moaned; "I'm black; you don't love me; +you despise me!" + +Her voice died away into a hopeless wail. Frank knelt by her side, his +faithful heart breaking with pity, great tears rolling untouched down +his dusky cheeks. + +"Oh, my honey, my darlin'," he sobbed, "Frank loves you better 'n all +de worl'." + +Meantime the sun shone on as brightly as before, the mocking-bird sang +yet more joyously. A gentle breeze sprang up and wafted the odor of bay +and jessamine past them on its wings. The grand triumphal sweep of +nature's onward march recked nothing of life's little tragedies. + +When the first burst of his grief was over, Frank brought water from +the branch, bathed Rena's face and hands and feet, and forced a few +drops between her reluctant lips. He then pitched the cartload of +tubs, buckets, and piggins out into the road, and gathering dried +leaves and pine-straw, spread them in the bottom of the cart. He +stooped, lifted her frail form in his arms, and laid it on the leafy +bed. Cutting a couple of hickory withes, he arched them over the cart, +and gathering an armful of jessamine quickly wove it into an awning to +protect her from the sun. She was quieter now, and seemed to fall +asleep. + +"Go ter sleep, honey," he murmured caressingly, "go ter sleep, an' +Frank'll take you home ter yo' mammy!" + +Toward noon he was met by a young white man, who peered inquisitively +into the canopied cart. + +"Hello!" exclaimed the stranger, "who've you got there?" + +"A sick woman, suh." + +"Why, she's white, as I'm a sinner!" he cried, after a closer +inspection. "Look a-here, nigger, what are you doin' with this white +woman?" + +"She's not w'ite, boss,--she's a bright mulatter." + +"Yas, mighty bright," continued the stranger suspiciously. "Where are +you goin' with her?" + +"I'm takin' her ter Patesville, ter her mammy." + +The stranger passed on. Toward evening Frank heard hounds baying in +the distance. A fox, weary with running, brush drooping, crossed the +road ahead of the cart. Presently, the hounds straggled across the +road, followed by two or three hunters on horseback, who stopped at +sight of the strangely canopied cart. They stared at the sick girl and +demanded who she was. + +"I don't b'lieve she's black at all," declared one, after Frank's brief +explanation. "This nigger has a bad eye,--he's up ter some sort of +devilment. What ails the girl?" + +"'Pears ter be some kind of a fever," replied Frank; adding +diplomatically, "I don't know whether it's ketchin' er no--she's be'n +out er her head most er de time." + +They drew off a little at this. "I reckon it's all right," said the +chief spokesman. The hounds were baying clamorously in the distance. +The hunters followed the sound and disappeared m the woods. + +Frank drove all day and all night, stopping only for brief periods of +rest and refreshment. At dawn, from the top of the long white hill, he +sighted the river bridge below. At sunrise he rapped at Mis' Molly's +door. + + +Upon rising at dawn, Tryon's first step, after a hasty breakfast, was +to turn back toward Clinton. He had wasted half a day in following the +false scent on the Lillington road. It seemed, after reflection, +unlikely that a woman seriously ill should have been able to walk any +considerable distance before her strength gave out. In her delirium, +too, she might have wandered in a wrong direction, imagining any road +to lead to Patesville. It would be a good plan to drive back home, +continuing his inquiries meantime, and ascertain whether or not she had +been found by those who were seeking her, including many whom Tryon's +inquiries had placed upon the alert. If she should prove still +missing, he would resume the journey to Patesville and continue the +search in that direction. She had probably not wandered far from the +highroad; even in delirium she would be likely to avoid the deep woods, +with which her illness was associated. + +He had retraced more than half the distance to Clinton when he overtook +a covered wagon. The driver, when questioned, said that he had met a +young negro with a mule, and a cart in which lay a young woman, white +to all appearance, but claimed by the negro to be a colored girl who +had been taken sick on the road, and whom he was conveying home to her +mother at Patesville. From a further description of the cart Tryon +recognized it as the one he had met the day before. The woman could be +no other than Rena. He turned his mare and set out swiftly on the road +to Patesville. + +If anything could have taken more complete possession of George Tryon +at twenty-three than love successful and triumphant, it was love +thwarted and denied. Never in the few brief delirious weeks of his +courtship had he felt so strongly drawn to the beautiful sister of the +popular lawyer, as he was now driven by an aching heart toward the same +woman stripped of every adventitions advantage and placed, by custom, +beyond the pale of marriage with men of his own race. Custom was +tyranny. Love was the only law. Would God have made hearts to so +yearn for one another if He had meant them to stay forever apart? If +this girl should die, it would be he who had killed her, by his +cruelty, no less surely than if with his own hand he had struck her +down. He had been so dazzled by his own superiority, so blinded by his +own glory, that he had ruthlessly spurned and spoiled the image of God +in this fair creature, whom he might have had for his own +treasure,--whom, please God, he would yet have, at any cost, to love +and cherish while they both should live. There were difficulties--they +had seemed insuperable, but love would surmount them. Sacrifices must +be made, but if the world without love would be nothing, then why not +give up the world for love? He would hasten to Patesville. He would +find her; he would tell her that he loved her, that she was all the +world to him, that he had come to marry her, and take her away where +they might be happy together. He pictured to himself the joy that +would light up her face; he felt her soft arms around his neck, her +tremulous kisses upon his lips. If she were ill, his love would woo +her back to health,--if disappointment and sorrow had contributed to +her illness, joy and gladness should lead to her recovery. + +He urged the mare forward; if she would but keep up her present pace, +he would reach Patesville by nightfall. + + +Dr. Green had just gone down the garden path to his buggy at the gate. +Mis' Molly came out to the back piazza, where Frank, weary and haggard, +sat on the steps with Homer Pettifoot and Billy Oxendine, who, hearing +of Rena's return, had come around after their day's work. + +"Rena wants to see you, Frank," said Mis' Molly, with a sob. + +He walked in softly, reverently, and stood by her bedside. She turned +her gentle eyes upon him and put out her slender hand, which he took in +his own broad palm. + +"Frank," she murmured, "my good friend--my best friend--you loved me +best of them all." + +The tears rolled untouched down his cheeks. "I'd 'a' died, fer you, +Miss Rena," he said brokenly. + +Mary B. threw open a window to make way for the passing spirit, and the +red and golden glory of the setting sun, triumphantly ending his daily +course, flooded the narrow room with light. + + +Between sunset and dark a traveler, seated in a dusty buggy drawn by a +tired horse, crossed the long river bridge and drove up Front Street. +Just as the buggy reached the gate in front of the house behind the +cedars, a woman was tying a piece of crape upon the door-knob. Pale +with apprehension, Tryon sat as if petrified, until a tall, +side-whiskered mulatto came down the garden walk to the front gate. + +"Who's dead?" demanded Tryon hoarsely, scarcely recognizing his own +voice. + +"A young cullud 'oman, sah," answered Homer Pettifoot, touching his +hat, "Mis' Molly Walden's daughter Rena." + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The House Behind the Cedars, by Charles W. 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If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association / Illinois + Benedictine College" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Illinois Benedictine College". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +Scanned by Charles Keller with +OmniPage Professional OCR software +donated by Caere Corporation, 1-800-535-7226. +Contact Mike Lough <Mikel@caere.com> + + + + + +THE HOUSE BEHIND +THE CEDARS + +BY CHARLES W. CHESNUTT + + + +CONTENTS + + +I A STRANGER FROM SOUTH CAROLINA +II AN EVENING VISIT +III THE OLD JUDGE +IV DOWN THE RIVER +V THE TOURNAMENT +VI THE QUEEN OF LOVE AND BEAUTY +VII 'MID NEW SURROUNDINGS +VIII THE COURTSHIP +IX DOUBTS AND FEARS +X THE DREAM +XI A LETTER AND A JOURNEY +XII TRYON GOES TO PATESVILLE +XIII AN INJUDICIOUS PAYMENT +XIV A LOYAL FRIEND +XV MINE OWN PEOPLE +XVI THE BOTTOM FALLS OUT +XVII TWO LETTERS +XVIII UNDER THE OLD REGIME +XIX GOD MADE US ALL +XX DIGGING UP ROOTS +XXI A GILDED OPPORTUNITY +XXII IMPERATIVE BUSINESS +XXIII THE GUEST OF HONOR +XXIV SWING YOUR PARTNERS +XXV BALANCE ALL +XXVI THE SCHOOLHOUSE IN THE WOODS +XXVII AN INTERESTING ACQUAINTANCE +XXVIII THE LOST KNIFE +XXIX PLATO EARNS HALF A DOLLAR +XXX AN UNUSUAL HONOR +XXXI IN DEEP WATERS +XXXII THE POWER OF LOVE +XXXIII A MULE AND A CART + + + + + +THE HOUSE BEHIND THE CEDARS + +I + +A STRANGER FROM SOUTH CAROLINA + + +Time touches all things with destroying hand; +and if he seem now and then to bestow the bloom +of youth, the sap of spring, it is but a brief +mockery, to be surely and swiftly followed by the +wrinkles of old age, the dry leaves and bare branches +of winter. And yet there are places where Time +seems to linger lovingly long after youth has +departed, and to which he seems loath to bring the +evil day. Who has not known some even-tempered +old man or woman who seemed to have +drunk of the fountain of youth? Who has not +seen somewhere an old town that, having long +since ceased to grow, yet held its own without +perceptible decline? + +Some such trite reflection--as apposite to the +subject as most random reflections are--passed +through the mind of a young man who came out +of the front door of the Patesville Hotel about +nine o'clock one fine morning in spring, a few years +after the Civil War, and started down Front Street +toward the market-house. Arriving at the town +late the previous evening, he had been driven up +from the steamboat in a carriage, from which he +had been able to distinguish only the shadowy +outlines of the houses along the street; so that this +morning walk was his first opportunity to see the +town by daylight. He was dressed in a suit of +linen duck--the day was warm--a panama straw +hat, and patent leather shoes. In appearance he +was tall, dark, with straight, black, lustrous hair, +and very clean-cut, high-bred features. When he +paused by the clerk's desk on his way out, to light +his cigar, the day clerk, who had just come on duty, +glanced at the register and read the last entry:-- + + "`JOHN WARWICK, CLARENCE, SOUTH CAROLINA.' + + +"One of the South Ca'lina bigbugs, I reckon +--probably in cotton, or turpentine." The gentleman +from South Carolina, walking down the street, +glanced about him with an eager look, in which +curiosity and affection were mingled with a touch +of bitterness. He saw little that was not familiar, +or that he had not seen in his dreams a hundred +times during the past ten years. There had been +some changes, it is true, some melancholy changes, +but scarcely anything by way of addition or +improvement to counterbalance them. Here and +there blackened and dismantled walls marked the +place where handsome buildings once had stood, for +Sherman's march to the sea had left its mark upon +the town. The stores were mostly of brick, two +stories high, joining one another after the manner +of cities. Some of the names on the signs were +familiar; others, including a number of Jewish +names, were quite unknown to him. + +A two minutes' walk brought Warwick--the +name he had registered under, and as we shall call +him--to the market-house, the central feature of +Patesville, from both the commercial and the +picturesque points of view. Standing foursquare in +the heart of the town, at the intersection of the +two main streets, a "jog" at each street corner +left around the market-house a little public square, +which at this hour was well occupied by carts and +wagons from the country and empty drays awaiting +hire. Warwick was unable to perceive much +change in the market-house. Perhaps the surface +of the red brick, long unpainted, had scaled off a +little more here and there. There might have been +a slight accretion of the moss and lichen on the +shingled roof. But the tall tower, with its four- +faced clock, rose as majestically and uncompromisingly +as though the land had never been subjugated. +Was it so irreconcilable, Warwick wondered, as +still to peal out the curfew bell, which at nine +o'clock at night had clamorously warned all negroes, +slave or free, that it was unlawful for them to be +abroad after that hour, under penalty of imprisonment +or whipping? Was the old constable, whose +chief business it had been to ring the bell, still +alive and exercising the functions of his office, and +had age lessened or increased the number of times +that obliging citizens performed this duty for him +during his temporary absences in the company of +convivial spirits? A few moments later, Warwick +saw a colored policeman in the old constable's +place--a stronger reminder than even the burned +buildings that war had left its mark upon the old +town, with which Time had dealt so tenderly. + +The lower story of the market-house was open +on all four of its sides to the public square. +Warwick passed through one of the wide brick arches +and traversed the building with a leisurely step. +He looked in vain into the stalls for the butcher +who had sold fresh meat twice a week, on market +days, and he felt a genuine thrill of pleasure when +he recognized the red bandana turban of old +Aunt Lyddy, the ancient negro woman who had +sold him gingerbread and fried fish, and told him +weird tales of witchcraft and conjuration, in the +old days when, as an idle boy, he had loafed about +the market-house. He did not speak to her, however, +or give her any sign of recognition. He threw a +glance toward a certain corner where steps led to +the town hall above. On this stairway he had +once seen a manacled free negro shot while being +taken upstairs for examination under a criminal +charge. Warwick recalled vividly how the shot +had rung out. He could see again the livid look +of terror on the victim's face, the gathering crowd, +the resulting confusion. The murderer, he recalled, +had been tried and sentenced to imprisonment +for life, but was pardoned by a merciful +governor after serving a year of his sentence. As +Warwick was neither a prophet nor the son of a +prophet, he could not foresee that, thirty years +later, even this would seem an excessive punishment +for so slight a misdemeanor. + +Leaving the market-house, Warwick turned to +the left, and kept on his course until he reached +the next corner. After another turn to the right, +a dozen paces brought him in front of a small +weather-beaten frame building, from which projected +a wooden sign-board bearing the inscription:-- + +ARCHIBALD STRAIGHT, +LAWYER. + +He turned the knob, but the door was locked. +Retracing his steps past a vacant lot, the young +man entered a shop where a colored man was +employed in varnishing a coffin, which stood on two +trestles in the middle of the floor. Not at all +impressed by the melancholy suggestiveness of his +task, he was whistling a lively air with great gusto. +Upon Warwick's entrance this effusion came to a +sudden end, and the coffin-maker assumed an air +of professional gravity. + +"Good-mawnin', suh," he said, lifting his cap +politely. + +"Good-morning," answered Warwick. "Can +you tell me anything about Judge Straight's office +hours?" + +"De ole jedge has be'n a little onreg'lar sence +de wah, suh; but he gin'ally gits roun' 'bout ten +o'clock er so. He's be'n kin' er feeble fer de las' +few yeahs. An' I reckon," continued the undertaker +solemnly, his glance unconsciously seeking a +row of fine caskets standing against the wall,--"I +reckon he'll soon be goin' de way er all de earth. +`Man dat is bawn er 'oman hath but a sho't time +ter lib, an' is full er mis'ry. He cometh up an' is +cut down lack as a flower.' `De days er his life +is three-sco' an' ten'--an' de ole jedge is libbed +mo' d'n dat, suh, by five yeahs, ter say de leas'." + +"`Death,'" quoted Warwick, with whose mood +the undertaker's remarks were in tune, "`is the +penalty that all must pay for the crime of +living.'" + +"Dat 's a fac', suh, dat 's a fac'; so dey mus'-- +so dey mus'. An' den all de dead has ter be buried. +An' we does ou' sheer of it, suh, we does ou' sheer. +We conduc's de obs'quies er all de bes' w'ite folks +er de town, suh." + +Warwick left the undertaker's shop and +retraced his steps until he had passed the lawyer's +office, toward which he threw an affectionate glance. +A few rods farther led him past the old black +Presbyterian church, with its square tower, embowered +in a stately grove; past the Catholic church, with +its many crosses, and a painted wooden figure of +St. James in a recess beneath the gable; and past +the old Jefferson House, once the leading hotel of +the town, in front of which political meetings had +been held, and political speeches made, and political +hard cider drunk, in the days of "Tippecanoe +and Tyler too." + +The street down which Warwick had come +intersected Front Street at a sharp angle in front of +the old hotel, forming a sort of flatiron block at +the junction, known as Liberty Point,--perhaps +because slave auctions were sometimes held there in +the good old days. Just before Warwick reached +Liberty Point, a young woman came down Front +Street from the direction of the market-house. +When their paths converged, Warwick kept on +down Front Street behind her, it having been +already his intention to walk in this direction. + +Warwick's first glance had revealed the fact +that the young woman was strikingly handsome, +with a stately beauty seldom encountered. As he +walked along behind her at a measured distance, +he could not help noting the details that made +up this pleasing impression, for his mind was +singularly alive to beauty, in whatever embodiment. +The girl's figure, he perceived, was admirably +proportioned; she was evidently at the period +when the angles of childhood were rounding into +the promising curves of adolescence. Her abundant +hair, of a dark and glossy brown, was neatly +plaited and coiled above an ivory column that rose +straight from a pair of gently sloping shoulders, +clearly outlined beneath the light muslin frock +that covered them. He could see that she was +tastefully, though not richly, dressed, and that she +walked with an elastic step that revealed a light +heart and the vigor of perfect health. Her face, +of course, he could not analyze, since he had +caught only the one brief but convincing glimpse +of it. + +The young woman kept on down Front Street, +Warwick maintaining his distance a few rods +behind her. They passed a factory, a warehouse +or two, and then, leaving the brick pavement, +walked along on mother earth, under a leafy +arcade of spreading oaks and elms. Their way +led now through a residential portion of the +town, which, as they advanced, gradually declined +from staid respectability to poverty, open and +unabashed. Warwick observed, as they passed +through the respectable quarter, that few people +who met the girl greeted her, and that some others +whom she passed at gates or doorways gave her +no sign of recognition; from which he inferred +that she was possibly a visitor in the town and not +well acquainted. + +Their walk had continued not more than ten +minutes when they crossed a creek by a wooden +bridge and came to a row of mean houses standing +flush with the street. At the door of one, an old +black woman had stooped to lift a large basket, +piled high with laundered clothes. The girl, as +she passed, seized one end of the basket and helped +the old woman to raise it to her head, where it +rested solidly on the cushion of her head-kerchief. +During this interlude, Warwick, though he had +slackened his pace measurably, had so nearly +closed the gap between himself and them as to +hear the old woman say, with the dulcet negro +intonation:-- + +"T'anky', honey; de Lawd gwine bless you +sho'. You wuz alluz a good gal, and de Lawd +love eve'ybody w'at he'p de po' ole nigger. You +gwine ter hab good luck all yo' bawn days." + +"I hope you're a true prophet, Aunt Zilphy," +laughed the girl in response. + +The sound of her voice gave Warwick a thrill. +It was soft and sweet and clear--quite in harmony +with her appearance. That it had a faint +suggestiveness of the old woman's accent he +hardly noticed, for the current Southern speech, +including his own, was rarely without a touch of it. +The corruption of the white people's speech was +one element--only one--of the negro's unconscious +revenge for his own debasement. + +The houses they passed now grew scattering, +and the quarter of the town more neglected. +Warwick felt himself wondering where the girl +might be going in a neighborhood so uninviting. +When she stopped to pull a half-naked negro +child out of a mudhole and set him upon his feet, +he thought she might be some young lady from the +upper part of the town, bound on some errand of +mercy, or going, perhaps, to visit an old servant or +look for a new one. Once she threw a backward +glance at Warwick, thus enabling him to catch a +second glimpse of a singularly pretty face. Perhaps +the young woman found his presence in the +neighborhood as unaccountable as he had deemed +hers; for, finding his glance fixed upon her, she +quickened her pace with an air of startled timidity. + +"A woman with such a figure," thought Warwick, +"ought to be able to face the world with the +confidence of Phryne confronting her judges." + + +By this time Warwick was conscious that +something more than mere grace or beauty had +attracted him with increasing force toward this +young woman. A suggestion, at first faint and +elusive, of something familiar, had grown stronger +when he heard her voice, and became more and +more pronounced with each rod of their advance; +and when she stopped finally before a gate, and, +opening it, went into a yard shut off from the +street by a row of dwarf cedars, Warwick had +already discounted in some measure the surprise he +would have felt at seeing her enter there had he +not walked down Front Street behind her. There +was still sufficient unexpectedness about the act, +however, to give him a decided thrill of pleasure. + +"It must be Rena," he murmured. "Who +could have dreamed that she would blossom out +like that? It must surely be Rena!" + +He walked slowly past the gate and peered +through a narrow gap in the cedar hedge. The +girl was moving along a sanded walk, toward a +gray, unpainted house, with a steep roof, broken +by dormer windows. The trace of timidity he had +observed in her had given place to the more assured +bearing of one who is upon his own ground. The +garden walks were bordered by long rows of jonquils, +pinks, and carnations, inclosing clumps of +fragrant shrubs, lilies, and roses already in bloom. +Toward the middle of the garden stood two fine +magnolia-trees, with heavy, dark green, glistening +leaves, while nearer the house two mighty elms +shaded a wide piazza, at one end of which a +honeysuckle vine, and at the other a Virginia creeper, +running over a wooden lattice, furnished additional +shade and seclusion. On dark or wintry +days, the aspect of this garden must have been +extremely sombre and depressing, and it might +well have seemed a fit place to hide some guilty or +disgraceful secret. But on the bright morning +when Warwick stood looking through the cedars, +it seemed, with its green frame and canopy and its +bright carpet of flowers, an ideal retreat from the +fierce sunshine and the sultry heat of the approaching +summer. + +The girl stooped to pluck a rose, and as she +bent over it, her profile was clearly outlined. She +held the flower to her face with a long-drawn +inhalation, then went up the steps, crossed the piazza, +opened the door without knocking, and entered +the house with the air of one thoroughly at home. + +"Yes," said the young man to himself, "it's +Rena, sure enough." + +The house stood on a corner, around which the +cedar hedge turned, continuing along the side of +the garden until it reached the line of the front of +the house. The piazza to a rear wing, at right +angles to the front of the house, was open to inspection +from the side street, which, to judge from its +deserted look, seemed to be but little used. Turning +into this street and walking leisurely past the +back yard, which was only slightly screened from +the street by a china-tree, Warwick perceived the +young woman standing on the piazza, facing an +elderly woman, who sat in a large rocking-chair, +plying a pair of knitting-needles on a half-finished +stocking. Warwick's walk led him within three +feet of the side gate, which he felt an almost +irresistible impulse to enter. Every detail of the +house and garden was familiar; a thousand cords +of memory and affection drew him thither; but a +stronger counter-motive prevailed. With a great +effort he restrained himself, and after a momentary +pause, walked slowly on past the house, with a +backward glance, which he turned away when he +saw that it was observed. + +Warwick's attention had been so fully absorbed +by the house behind the cedars and the women +there, that he had scarcely noticed, on the other +side of the neglected by-street, two men working +by a large open window, in a low, rude building +with a clapboarded roof, directly opposite the back +piazza occupied by the two women. Both the men +were busily engaged in shaping barrel-staves, each +wielding a sharp-edged drawing-knife on a piece of +seasoned oak clasped tightly in a wooden vise. + +"I jes' wonder who dat man is, an' w'at he 's +doin' on dis street," observed the younger of the +two, with a suspicious air. He had noticed the +gentleman's involuntary pause and his interest in +the opposite house, and had stopped work for a +moment to watch the stranger as he went on down +the street. + +"Nev' min' 'bout dat man," said the elder one. +"You 'ten' ter yo' wuk an' finish dat bairl-stave. +You spen's enti'ely too much er yo' time stretchin' +yo' neck atter other people. An' you need n' 'sturb +yo'se'f 'bout dem folks 'cross de street, fer dey +ain't yo' kin', an' you're wastin' yo' time both'in' +yo' min' wid 'em, er wid folks w'at comes on de +street on account of 'em. Look sha'p now, boy, er +you'll git dat stave trim' too much." + +The younger man resumed his work, but still +found time to throw a slanting glance out of the +window. The gentleman, he perceived, stood for +a moment on the rotting bridge across the old +canal, and then walked slowly ahead until he +turned to the right into Back Street, a few rods +farther on. + + + +II + +AN EVENING VISIT + + +Toward evening of the same day, Warwick took +his way down Front Street in the gathering dusk. +By the time night had spread its mantle over the +earth, he had reached the gate by which he had +seen the girl of his morning walk enter the cedar- +bordered garden. He stopped at the gate and +glanced toward the house, which seemed dark and +silent and deserted. + +"It's more than likely," he thought, "that they +are in the kitchen. I reckon I'd better try the +back door." + +But as he drew cautiously near the corner, he +saw a man's figure outlined in the yellow light +streaming from the open door of a small house +between Front Street and the cooper shop. Wishing, +for reasons of his own, to avoid observation, +Warwick did not turn the corner, but walked on +down Front Street until he reached a point from +which he could see, at a long angle, a ray of light +proceeding from the kitchen window of the house +behind the cedars. + +"They are there," he muttered with a sigh of +relief, for he had feared they might be away. "I +suspect I'll have to go to the front door, after all. +No one can see me through the trees." + +He retraced his steps to the front gate, which +he essayed to open. There was apparently some +defect in the latch, for it refused to work. Warwick +remembered the trick, and with a slight sense +of amusement, pushed his foot under the gate and +gave it a hitch to the left, after which it opened +readily enough. He walked softly up the sanded +path, tiptoed up the steps and across the piazza, +and rapped at the front door, not too loudly, lest +this too might attract the attention of the man +across the street. There was no response to his +rap. He put his ear to the door and heard voices +within, and the muffled sound of footsteps. After +a moment he rapped again, a little louder than +before. + +There was an instant cessation of the sounds +within. He rapped a third time, to satisfy any +lingering doubt in the minds of those who he felt +sure were listening in some trepidation. A moment +later a ray of light streamed through the +keyhole. + +"Who's there?" a woman's voice inquired +somewhat sharply. + +"A gentleman," answered Warwick, not holding +it yet time to reveal himself. "Does Mis' +Molly Walden live here?" + +"Yes," was the guarded answer. "I'm Mis' +Walden. What's yo'r business?" + +"I have a message to you from your son +John." + +A key clicked in the lock. The door opened, and +the elder of the two women Warwick had +seen upon the piazza stood in the doorway, peering +curiously and with signs of great excitement into +the face of the stranger. + +"You 've got a message from my son, you say?" +she asked with tremulous agitation. "Is he sick, +or in trouble?" + +"No. He's well and doing well, and sends +his love to you, and hopes you've not forgotten +him." + +"Fergot him? No, God knows I ain't fergot +him! But come in, sir, an' tell me somethin' +mo' about him." + +Warwick went in, and as the woman closed the +door after him, he threw a glance round the room. +On the wall, over the mantelpiece, hung a steel +engraving of General Jackson at the battle of +New Orleans, and, on the opposite wall, a framed +fashion-plate from "Godey's Lady's Book." In +the middle of the room an octagonal centre-table +with a single leg, terminating in three sprawling +feet, held a collection of curiously shaped sea-shells. +There was a great haircloth sofa, somewhat the +worse for wear, and a well-filled bookcase. The +screen standing before the fireplace was covered +with Confederate bank-notes of various denominations +and designs, in which the heads of Jefferson +Davis and other Confederate leaders were +conspicuous. + + "Imperious Caesar, dead, and turned to clay, + Might stop a hole to keep the wind away," + +murmured the young man, as his eye fell upon this +specimen of decorative art. + +The woman showed her visitor to a seat. She +then sat down facing him and looked at him closely. +"When did you last see my son?" she asked. + +"I've never met your son," he replied. + +Her face fell. "Then the message comes +through you from somebody else?" + +"No, directly from your son." + +She scanned his face with a puzzled look. This +bearded young gentleman, who spoke so politely +and was dressed so well, surely--no, it could +not be! and yet-- + +Warwick was smiling at her through a mist of +tears. An electric spark of sympathy flashed +between them. They rose as if moved by one +impulse, and were clasped in each other's arms. + +"John, my John! It IS John!" + +"Mother--my dear old mother!" + +"I didn't think," she sobbed, "that I'd ever +see you again." + +He smoothed her hair and kissed her. "And +are you glad to see me, mother?" + +"Am I glad to see you? It's like the dead +comin' to life. I thought I'd lost you forever, +John, my son, my darlin' boy!" she answered, +hugging him strenuously. + +"I couldn't live without seeing you, mother," +he said. He meant it, too, or thought he did, +although he had not seen her for ten years. + +"You've grown so tall, John, and are such a +fine gentleman! And you ARE a gentleman now, +John, ain't you--sure enough? Nobody knows +the old story?" + +"Well, mother, I've taken a man's chance in +life, and have tried to make the most of it; and +I haven't felt under any obligation to spoil it +by raking up old stories that are best forgotten. +There are the dear old books: have they been +read since I went away?" + +"No, honey, there's be'n nobody to read 'em, +excep' Rena, an' she don't take to books quite like +you did. But I've kep' 'em dusted clean, an' kep' +the moths an' the bugs out; for I hoped you'd +come back some day, an' knowed you'd like to find +'em all in their places, jus' like you left 'em." + +"That's mighty nice of you, mother. You +could have done no more if you had loved them +for themselves. But where is Rena? I saw her +on the street to-day, but she didn't know me from +Adam; nor did I guess it was she until she opened +the gate and came into the yard." + +"I've be'n so glad to see you that I'd fergot about +her," answered the mother. "Rena, oh, Rena!" + +The girl was not far away; she had been standing +in the next room, listening intently to every +word of the conversation, and only kept from +coming in by a certain constraint that made a +brother whom she had not met for so many years +seem almost as much a stranger as if he had not +been connected with her by any tie. + +"Yes, mamma," she answered, coming forward. + +"Rena, child, here's yo'r brother John, who's +come back to see us. Tell 'im howdy." + +As she came forward, Warwick rose, put his +arm around her waist, drew her toward him, and +kissed her affectionately, to her evident embarrassment. +She was a tall girl, but he towered above +her in quite a protecting fashion; and she thought +with a thrill how fine it would be to have such a +brother as this in the town all the time. How +proud she would be, if she could but walk up the +street with such a brother by her side! She +could then hold up her head before all the world, +oblivious to the glance of pity or contempt. She +felt a very pronounced respect for this tall +gentleman who held her blushing face between his +hands and looked steadily into her eyes. + +"You're the little sister I used to read stories +to, and whom I promised to come and see some +day. Do you remember how you cried when I +went away?" + +"It seems but yesterday," she answered. "I've +still got the dime you gave me." + +He kissed her again, and then drew her down +beside him on the sofa, where he sat enthroned +between the two loving and excited women. No +king could have received more sincere or delighted +homage. He was a man, come into a household +of women,--a man of whom they were proud, and +to whom they looked up with fond reverence. +For he was not only a son,--a brother--but he +represented to them the world from which circum stances +had shut them out, and to which distance +lent even more than its usual enchantment; and +they felt nearer to this far-off world because of the +glory which Warwick reflected from it. + +"You're a very pretty girl," said Warwick, +regarding his sister thoughtfully. "I followed +you down Front Street this morning, and scarcely +took my eyes off you all the way; and yet I +didn't know you, and scarcely saw your face. +You improve on acquaintance; to-night, I find you +handsomer still." + +"Now, John," said his mother, expostulating +mildly, "you'll spile her, if you don't min'." + +The girl was beaming with gratified vanity. +What woman would not find such praise sweet +from almost any source, and how much more so +from this great man, who, from his exalted station +in the world, must surely know the things whereof +he spoke! She believed every word of it; she +knew it very well indeed, but wished to hear it +repeated and itemized and emphasized. + +"No, he won't, mamma," she asserted, "for +he's flattering me. He talks as if I was some +rich young lady, who lives on the Hill,"--the +Hill was the aristocratic portion of the town,-- +"instead of a poor" + +"Instead of a poor young girl, who has the hill +to climb," replied her brother, smoothing her hair +with his hand. Her hair was long and smooth +and glossy, with a wave like the ripple of a summer +breeze upon the surface of still water. It +was the girl's great pride, and had been +sedulously cared for. "What lovely hair! It has +just the wave that yours lacks, mother." + +"Yes," was the regretful reply, "I've never +be'n able to git that wave out. But her hair's +be'n took good care of, an' there ain't nary gal in +town that's got any finer." + +"Don't worry about the wave, mother. It's +just the fashionable ripple, and becomes her +immensely. I think my little Albert favors his +Aunt Rena somewhat." + +"Your little Albert!" they cried. "You've +got a child?" + +"Oh, yes," he replied calmly, "a very fine baby +boy." + +They began to purr in proud contentment at +this information, and made minute inquiries about +the age and weight and eyes and nose and other +important details of this precious infant. They +inquired more coldly about the child's mother, +of whom they spoke with greater warmth when +they learned that she was dead. They hung +breathless on Warwick's words as he related +briefly the story of his life since he had left, years +before, the house behind the cedars--how with a +stout heart and an abounding hope he had gone +out into a seemingly hostile world, and made +fortune stand and deliver. His story had for the +women the charm of an escape from captivity, +with all the thrill of a pirate's tale. With the +whole world before him, he had remained in the +South, the land of his fathers, where, he +conceived, he had an inalienable birthright. By some +good chance he had escaped military service in +the Confederate army, and, in default of older +and more experienced men, had undertaken, during +the rebellion, the management of a large estate, +which had been left in the hands of women and +slaves. He had filled the place so acceptably, and +employed his leisure to such advantage, that at the +close of the war he found himself--he was modest +enough to think, too, in default of a better +man--the husband of the orphan daughter of the +gentleman who had owned the plantation, and who +had lost his life upon the battlefield. Warwick's +wife was of good family, and in a more settled +condition of society it would not have been easy +for a young man of no visible antecedents to win +her hand. A year or two later, he had taken the +oath of allegiance, and had been admitted to the +South Carolina bar. Rich in his wife's right, he +had been able to practice his profession upon a +high plane, without the worry of sordid cares, and +with marked success for one of his age. + +"I suppose," he concluded, "that I have got +along at the bar, as elsewhere, owing to the lack of +better men. Many of the good lawyers were killed +in the war, and most of the remainder were +disqualified; while I had the advantage of being alive, +and of never having been in arms against the +government. People had to have lawyers, and they +gave me their business in preference to the carpet- +baggers. Fortune, you know, favors the available +man." + +His mother drank in with parted lips and +glistening eyes the story of his adventures and the +record of his successes. As Rena listened, the +narrow walls that hemmed her in seemed to draw +closer and closer, as though they must crush her. +Her brother watched her keenly. He had been +talking not only to inform the women, but with +a deeper purpose, conceived since his morning +walk, and deepened as he had followed, during his +narrative, the changing expression of Rena's face +and noted her intense interest in his story, her +pride in his successes, and the occasional wistful +look that indexed her self-pity so completely. + +"An' I s'pose you're happy, John?" asked his +mother. + +"Well, mother, happiness is a relative term, +and depends, I imagine, upon how nearly we think +we get what we think we want. I have had my +chance and haven't thrown it away, and I suppose +I ought to be happy. But then, I have lost my +wife, whom I loved very dearly, and who loved me +just as much, and I'm troubled about my child." + +"Why?" they demanded. "Is there anything +the matter with him?" + +"No, not exactly. He's well enough, as babies +go, and has a good enough nurse, as nurses go. +But the nurse is ignorant, and not always careful. +A child needs some woman of its own blood to love +it and look after it intelligently." + +Mis' Molly's eyes were filled with tearful yearning. +She would have given all the world to warm +her son's child upon her bosom; but she knew +this could not be. + +"Did your wife leave any kin?" she asked with +an effort. + +"No near kin; she was an only child." + +"You'll be gettin' married again," suggested +his mother. + +"No," he replied; "I think not." + +Warwick was still reading his sister's face, and +saw the spark of hope that gleamed in her expressive eye. + +"If I had some relation of my own that I could +take into the house with me," he said reflectively, +"the child might be healthier and happier, and I +should be much more at ease about him." + +The mother looked from son to daughter with a +dawning apprehension and a sudden pallor. When +she saw the yearning in Rena's eyes, she threw herself +at her son's feet. + +"Oh, John," she cried despairingly, "don't take +her away from me! Don't take her, John, darlin', +for it'd break my heart to lose her!" + +Rena's arms were round her mother's neck, and +Rena's voice was sounding in her ears. "There, +there, mamma! Never mind! I won't leave you, +mamma--dear old mamma! Your Rena'll stay +with you always, and never, never leave you." + +John smoothed his mother's hair with a +comforting touch, patted her withered cheek soothingly, +lifted her tenderly to her place by his side, +and put his arm about her. + +"You love your children, mother?" + +"They're all I've got," she sobbed, "an' they +cos' me all I had. When the las' one's gone, I'll +want to go too, for I'll be all alone in the world. +Don't take Rena, John; for if you do, I'll never +see her again, an' I can't bear to think of it. How +would you like to lose yo'r one child?" + +"Well, well, mother, we'll say no more about +it. And now tell me all about yourself, and about +the neighbors, and how you got through the war, +and who's dead and who's married--and everything." + +The change of subject restored in some degree +Mis' Molly's equanimity, and with returning +calmness came a sense of other responsibilities. + +"Good gracious, Rena!" she exclaimed. +"John 's be'n in the house an hour, and ain't had +nothin' to eat yet! Go in the kitchen an' spread +a clean tablecloth, an' git out that 'tater pone, an' +a pitcher o' that las' kag o' persimmon beer, an' +let John take a bite an' a sip." + +Warwick smiled at the mention of these homely +dainties. "I thought of your sweet-potato pone +at the hotel to-day, when I was at dinner, and +wondered if you'd have some in the house. There +was never any like yours; and I've forgotten the +taste of persimmon beer entirely." + +Rena left the room to carry out her hospitable +commission. Warwick, taking advantage of her +absence, returned after a while to the former +subject. + +"Of course, mother," he said calmly, "I +wouldn't think of taking Rena away against your +wishes. A mother's claim upon her child is a high +and holy one. Of course she will have no chance +here, where our story is known. The war has +wrought great changes, has put the bottom rail on +top, and all that--but it hasn't wiped THAT out. +Nothing but death can remove that stain, if it does +not follow us even beyond the grave. Here she +must forever be--nobody! With me she might +have got out into the world; with her beauty she +might have made a good marriage; and, if I mistake +not, she has sense as well as beauty." + +"Yes," sighed the mother, "she's got good +sense. She ain't as quick as you was, an' don't +read as many books, but she's keerful an' painstakin', +an' always tries to do what's right. She's +be'n thinkin' about goin' away somewhere an' +tryin' to git a school to teach, er somethin', sence +the Yankees have started 'em everywhere for po' +white folks an' niggers too. But I don't like fer +her to go too fur." + +"With such beauty and brains," continued +Warwick, "she could leave this town and make +a place for herself. The place is already made. +She has only to step into my carriage--after perhaps +a little preparation--and ride up the hill +which I have had to climb so painfully. It would +be a great pleasure to me to see her at the top. +But of course it is impossible--a mere idle dream. +YOUR claim comes first; her duty chains her +here." + +"It would be so lonely without her," murmured +the mother weakly, "an' I love her so--my las' +one!" + +"No doubt--no doubt," returned Warwick, +with a sympathetic sigh; "of course you love her. +It's not to be thought of for a moment. It's a +pity that she couldn't have a chance here--but +how could she! I had thought she might marry +a gentleman, but I dare say she'll do as well as +the rest of her friends--as well as Mary B., for +instance, who married--Homer Pettifoot, did you +say? Or maybe Billy Oxendine might do for her. +As long as she has never known any better, she'll +probably be as well satisfied as though she married +a rich man, and lived in a fine house, and kept a +carriage and servants, and moved with the best in +the land." + +The tortured mother could endure no more. +The one thing she desired above all others was her +daughter's happiness. Her own life had not been +governed by the highest standards, but about her +love for her beautiful daughter there was no taint +of selfishness. The life her son had described had +been to her always the ideal but unattainable life. +Circumstances, some beyond her control, and others +for which she was herself in a measure responsible, +had put it forever and inconceivably beyond her +reach. It had been conquered by her son. It +beckoned to her daughter. The comparison of this +free and noble life with the sordid existence of +those around her broke down the last barrier of +opposition. + +"O Lord!" she moaned, "what shall I do with +out her? It'll be lonely, John--so lonely!" + +"You'll have your home, mother," said Warwick +tenderly, accepting the implied surrender. +"You'll have your friends and relatives, and the +knowledge that your children are happy. I'll let +you hear from us often, and no doubt you can see +Rena now and then. But you must let her go, +mother,--it would be a sin against her to refuse." + +"She may go," replied the mother brokenly. +"I'll not stand in her way--I've got sins enough +to answer for already." + +Warwick watched her pityingly. He had stirred +her feelings to unwonted depths, and his sympathy +went out to her. If she had sinned, she had been +more sinned against than sinning, and it was not +his part to judge her. He had yielded to a +sentimental weakness in deciding upon this trip to +Patesville. A matter of business had brought him +within a day's journey of the town, and an over- +mastering impulse had compelled him to seek the +mother who had given him birth and the old town +where he had spent the earlier years of his life. +No one would have acknowledged sooner than he +the folly of this visit. Men who have elected to +govern their lives by principles of abstract right +and reason, which happen, perhaps, to be at variance +with what society considers equally right and +reasonable, should, for fear of complications, be +careful about descending from the lofty heights of +logic to the common level of impulse and affection. +Many years before, Warwick, when a lad of eighteen, +had shaken the dust of the town from his feet, +and with it, he fondly thought, the blight of his +inheritance, and had achieved elsewhere a worthy +career. But during all these years of absence he +had cherished a tender feeling for his mother, and +now again found himself in her house, amid the +familiar surroundings of his childhood. His visit +had brought joy to his mother's heart, and was +now to bring its shrouded companion, sorrow. His +mother had lived her life, for good or ill. A wider +door was open to his sister--her mother must not +bar the entrance. + +"She may go," the mother repeated sadly, drying +her tears. "I'll give her up for her good." + +"The table 's ready, mamma," said Rena, coming +to the door. + +The lunch was spread in the kitchen, a large +unplastered room at the rear, with a wide fireplace at +one end. Only yesterday, it seemed to Warwick, +he had sprawled upon the hearth, turning sweet +potatoes before the fire, or roasting groundpeas in +the ashes; or, more often, reading, by the light of +a blazing pine-knot or lump of resin, some volume +from the bookcase in the hall. From Bulwer's +novel, he had read the story of Warwick the +Kingmaker, and upon leaving home had chosen it +for his own. He was a new man, but he had the +blood of an old race, and he would select for his +own one of its worthy names. Overhead loomed +the same smoky beams, decorated with what might +have been, from all appearances, the same bunches +of dried herbs, the same strings of onions and red +peppers. Over in the same corner stood the same +spinning-wheel, and through the open door of an +adjoining room he saw the old loom, where in +childhood he had more than once thrown the shuttle. +The kitchen was different from the stately +dining-room of the old colonial mansion where he +now lived; but it was homelike, and it was familiar. +The sight of it moved his heart, and he felt for +the moment a sort of a blind anger against the +fate which made it necessary that he should visit +the home of his childhood, if at all, like a thief +in the night. But he realized, after a moment, +that the thought was pure sentiment, and that one +who had gained so much ought not to complain if +he must give up a little. He who would climb +the heights of life must leave even the pleasantest +valleys behind. + +"Rena," asked her mother, "how'd you like to +go an' pay yo'r brother John a visit? I guess I +might spare you for a little while." + +The girl's eyes lighted up. She would not have +gone if her mother had wished her to stay, but she +would always have regarded this as the lost opportunity +of her life. + +"Are you sure you don't care, mamma?" she +asked, hoping and yet doubting. + +"Oh, I'll manage to git along somehow or other. +You can go an' stay till you git homesick, an' then +John'll let you come back home." + +But Mis' Molly believed that she would never +come back, except, like her brother, under cover of +the night. She must lose her daughter as well as +her son, and this should be the penance for her sin. +That her children must expiate as well the sins of +their fathers, who had sinned so lightly, after the +manner of men, neither she nor they could foresee, +since they could not read the future. + +The next boat by which Warwick could take his +sister away left early in the morning of the next +day but one. He went back to his hotel with the +understanding that the morrow should be devoted +to getting Rena ready for her departure, and that +Warwick would visit the household again the following +evening; for, as has been intimated, there +were several reasons why there should be no open +relations between the fine gentleman at the hotel +and the women in the house behind the cedars, who, +while superior in blood and breeding to the people +of the neighborhood in which they lived, were yet +under the shadow of some cloud which clearly shut +them out from the better society of the town. Almost +any resident could have given one or more of +these reasons, of which any one would have been +sufficient to most of them; and to some of them +Warwick's mere presence in the town would have +seemed a bold and daring thing. + + + +III + +THE OLD JUDGE + + +On the morning following the visit to his +mother, Warwick visited the old judge's office. +The judge was not in, but the door stood open, +and Warwick entered to await his return. There +had been fewer changes in the office, where he had +spent many, many hours, than in the town itself. +The dust was a little thicker, the papers in the +pigeon-holes of the walnut desk were a little +yellower, the cobwebs in the corners a little more +aggressive. The flies droned as drowsily and the +murmur of the brook below was just as audible. +Warwick stood at the rear window and looked out +over a familiar view. Directly across the creek, on +the low ground beyond, might be seen the dilapidated +stone foundation of the house where once +had lived Flora Macdonald, the Jacobite refugee, +the most romantic character of North Carolina +history. Old Judge Straight had had a tree cut +away from the creek-side opposite his window, so +that this historic ruin might be visible from his +office; for the judge could trace the ties of blood +that connected him collaterally with this famous +personage. His pamphlet on Flora Macdonald, +printed for private circulation, was highly prized +by those of his friends who were fortunate enough +to obtain a copy. To the left of the window a +placid mill-pond spread its wide expanse, and to +the right the creek disappeared under a canopy of +overhanging trees. + +A footstep sounded in the doorway, and Warwick, +turning, faced the old judge. Time had left +greater marks upon the lawyer than upon his office. +His hair was whiter, his stoop more pronounced; +when he spoke to Warwick, his voice had some of +the shrillness of old age; and in his hand, upon +which the veins stood out prominently, a decided +tremor was perceptible. + +"Good-morning, Judge Straight," said the +young man, removing his hat with the graceful +Southern deference of the young for the old. + +"Good-morning, sir," replied the judge with +equal courtesy. + +"You don't remember me, I imagine," suggested Warwick. + +"Your face seems familiar," returned the judge +cautiously, "but I cannot for the moment recall +your name. I shall be glad to have you refresh +my memory." + +"I was John Walden, sir, when you knew +me." + +The judge's face still gave no answering light +of recognition. + +"Your old office-boy," continued the younger +man. + +"Ah, indeed, so you were!" rejoined the judge +warmly, extending his hand with great cordiality, +and inspecting Warwick more closely through his +spectacles. "Let me see--you went away a few +years before the war, wasn't it?" + +"Yes, sir, to South Carolina." + +"Yes, yes, I remember now! I had been +thinking it was to the North. So many things +have happened since then, that it taxes an old +man's memory to keep track of them all. Well, +well! and how have you been getting along?" + +Warwick told his story in outline, much as he +had given it to his mother and sister, and the +judge seemed very much interested. + +"And you married into a good family?" he +asked. + +"Yes, sir." + +"And have children?" + +"One." + +"And you are visiting your mother?" + +"Not exactly. I have seen her, but I am +stopping at a hotel." + +"H'm! Are you staying long?" + +"I leave to-morrow." + +"It's well enough. I wouldn't stay too long. +The people of a small town are inquisitive about +strangers, and some of them have long memories. +I remember we went over the law, which was in +your favor; but custom is stronger than law--in +these matters custom IS law. It was a great pity +that your father did not make a will. Well, my +boy, I wish you continued good luck; I imagined +you would make your way." + +Warwick went away, and the old judge sat for +a moment absorbed in reflection. "Right and +wrong," he mused, "must be eternal verities, but +our standards for measuring them vary with our +latitude and our epoch. We make our customs +lightly; once made, like our sins, they grip us in +bands of steel; we become the creatures of our +creations. By one standard my old office-boy +should never have been born. Yet he is a son of +Adam, and came into existence in the way ordained +by God from the beginning of the world. +In equity he would seem to be entitled to his +chance in life; it might have been wiser, though, +for him to seek it farther afield than South +Carolina. It was too near home, even though the laws +were with him." + + + +IV + +DOWN THE RIVER + + +Neither mother nor daughter slept a great +deal during the night of Warwick's first visit. +Mis' Molly anointed her sacrifice with tears and +cried herself to sleep. Rena's emotions were more +conflicting; she was sorry to leave her mother, but +glad to go with her brother. The mere journey +she was about to make was a great event for the +two women to contemplate, to say nothing of the +golden vision that lay beyond, for neither of them +had ever been out of the town or its vicinity. + +The next day was devoted to preparations for +the journey. Rena's slender wardrobe was made +ready and packed in a large valise. Towards sunset, +Mis' Molly took off her apron, put on her +slat-bonnet,--she was ever the pink of neatness, +--picked her way across the street, which was +muddy from a rain during the day, traversed the +foot-bridge that spanned the ditch in front of the +cooper shop, and spoke first to the elder of the two +men working there. + +"Good-evenin', Peter." + +"Good-evenin', ma'm," responded the man +briefly, and not relaxing at all the energy with +which he was trimming a barrel-stave. + +Mis' Molly then accosted the younger workman, +a dark-brown young man, small in stature, but +with a well-shaped head, an expressive forehead, +and features indicative of kindness, intelligence, +humor, and imagination. "Frank," she asked, +"can I git you to do somethin' fer me soon in the +mo'nin'?" + +"Yas 'm, I reckon so," replied the young man, +resting his hatchet on the chopping-block. "W'at +is it, Mis' Molly?" + +"My daughter 's goin' away on the boat, an' I +'lowed you would n' min' totin' her kyarpet-bag +down to the w'arf, onless you'd ruther haul it down +on yo'r kyart. It ain't very heavy. Of co'se I'll +pay you fer yo'r trouble." + +"Thank y', ma'm," he replied. He knew that +she would not pay him, for the simple reason that +he would not accept pay for such a service. "Is +she gwine fur?" he asked, with a sorrowful look, +which he could not entirely disguise. + +"As fur as Wilmin'ton an' beyon'. She'll be +visitin' her brother John, who lives in--another +State, an' wants her to come an' see him." + +"Yas 'm, I'll come. I won' need de kyart-- +I'll tote de bag. 'Bout w'at time shill I come +over?" + +"Well, 'long 'bout seven o'clock or half pas'. +She's goin' on the Old North State, an' it leaves +at eight." + +Frank stood looking after Mis' Molly as she +picked her way across the street, until he was +recalled to his duty by a sharp word from his +father. + +" 'Ten' ter yo' wuk, boy, 'ten' ter yo' wuk. You +'re wastin' yo' time--wastin' yo' time!" + +Yes, he was wasting his time. The beautiful +young girl across the street could never be anything +to him. But he had saved her life once, +and had dreamed that he might render her again +some signal service that might win her friendship, +and convince her of his humble devotion. For +Frank was not proud. A smile, which Peter +would have regarded as condescending to a free +man, who, since the war, was as good as anybody +else; a kind word, which Peter would have +considered offensively patronizing; a piece of Mis' +Molly's famous potato pone from Rena's hands, +--a bone to a dog, Peter called it once;--were +ample rewards for the thousand and one small +services Frank had rendered the two women who +lived in the house behind the cedars. + + +Frank went over in the morning a little ahead +of the appointed time, and waited on the back +piazza until his services were required. + +"You ain't gwine ter be gone long, is you, Miss +Rena?" he inquired, when Rena came out dressed +for the journey in her best frock, with broad white +collar and cuffs. + +Rena did not know. She had been asking herself +the same question. All sorts of vague dreams +had floated through her mind during the last few +hours, as to what the future might bring forth. +But she detected the anxious note in Frank's voice, +and had no wish to give this faithful friend of the +family unnecessary pain. + +"Oh, no, Frank, I reckon not. I'm supposed +to be just going on a short visit. My brother +has lost his wife, and wishes me to come and stay +with him awhile, and look after his little boy." + +"I'm feared you'll lack it better dere, Miss +Rena," replied Frank sorrowfully, dropping his +mask of unconcern, "an' den you won't come +back, an' none er yo' frien's won't never see you +no mo'." + +"You don't think, Frank," asked Rena severely, +"that I would leave my mother and my home and +all my friends, and NEVER come back again?" + +"Why, no 'ndeed," interposed Mis' Molly +wistfully, as she hovered around her daughter, giving +her hair or her gown a touch here and there; +"she'll be so homesick in a month that she'll be +willin' to walk home." + +"You would n' never hafter do dat, Miss Rena," +returned Frank, with a disconsolate smile. "Ef +you ever wanter come home, an' can't git back no +other way, jes' let ME know, an' I'll take my mule +an' my kyart an' fetch you back, ef it's from de +een' er de worl'." + +"Thank you, Frank, I believe you would," said +the girl kindly. "You're a true friend, Frank, +and I'll not forget you while I'm gone." + +The idea of her beautiful daughter riding home +from the end of the world with Frank, in a cart, +behind a one-eyed mule, struck Mis' Molly as the +height of the ridiculous--she was in a state of +excitement where tears or laughter would have +come with equal ease--and she turned away to +hide her merriment. Her daughter was going to +live in a fine house, and marry a rich man, and +ride in her carriage. Of course a negro would +drive the carriage, but that was different from +riding with one in a cart. + +When it was time to go, Mis' Molly and Rena +set out on foot for the river, which was only a +short distance away. Frank followed with the +valise. There was no gathering of friends to see +Rena off, as might have been the case under +different circumstances. Her departure had some of +the characteristics of a secret flight; it was as +important that her destination should not be known, as +it had been that her brother should conceal his +presence in the town. + +Mis' Molly and Rena remained on the bank until +the steamer announced, with a raucous whistle, +its readiness to depart. Warwick was seen for a +moment on the upper deck, from which he greeted +them with a smile and a slight nod. He had bidden +his mother an affectionate farewell the evening +before. Rena gave her hand to Frank. + +"Good-by, Frank," she said, with a kind smile; +"I hope you and mamma will be good friends +while I'm gone." + +The whistle blew a second warning blast, and +the deck hands prepared to draw in the gang- +plank. Rena flew into her mother's arms, and +then, breaking away, hurried on board and retired +to her state-room, from which she did not emerge +during the journey. The window-blinds were +closed, darkening the room, and the stewardess +who came to ask if she should bring her some dinner +could not see her face distinctly, but perceived +enough to make her surmise that the young lady +had been weeping. + +"Po' chile," murmured the sympathetic +colored woman, "I reckon some er her folks is dead, +er her sweetheart 's gone back on her, er e'se she's +had some kin' er bad luck er 'nuther. W'ite folks +has deir troubles jes' ez well ez black folks, an' +sometimes feels 'em mo', 'cause dey ain't ez use' +ter 'em." + +Mis' Molly went back in sadness to the lonely +house behind the cedars, henceforth to be peopled +for her with only the memory of those she had +loved. She had paid with her heart's blood another +installment on the Shylock's bond exacted +by society for her own happiness of the past and +her children's prospects for the future. + +The journey down the sluggish river to the +seaboard in the flat-bottomed, stern-wheel steamer +lasted all day and most of the night. During the +first half-day, the boat grounded now and then +upon a sand-bank, and the half-naked negro deck- +hands toiled with ropes and poles to release it. +Several times before Rena fell asleep that night, +the steamer would tie up at a landing, and by the +light of huge pine torches she watched the boat +hands send the yellow turpentine barrels down the +steep bank in a long string, or pass cord-wood on +board from hand to hand. The excited negroes, +their white teeth and eyeballs glistening in the +surrounding darkness to which their faces formed +no relief; the white officers in brown linen, shouting, +swearing, and gesticulating; the yellow, flickering +torchlight over all,--made up a scene of +which the weird interest would have appealed to a +more blase traveler than this girl upon her first +journey. + +During the day, Warwick had taken his meals +in the dining-room, with the captain and the other +cabin passengers. It was learned that he was a +South Carolina lawyer, and not a carpet-bagger. +Such credentials were unimpeachable, and the +passengers found him a very agreeable traveling +companion. Apparently sound on the subject of +negroes, Yankees, and the righteousness of the +lost cause, he yet discussed these themes in a lofty +and impersonal manner that gave his words greater +weight than if he had seemed warped by a personal +grievance. His attitude, in fact, piqued the +curiosity of one or two of the passengers. + +"Did your people lose any niggers?" asked +one of them. + +"My father owned a hundred," he replied +grandly. + +Their respect for his views was doubled. It is +easy to moralize about the misfortunes of others, +and to find good in the evil that they suffer;-- +only a true philosopher could speak thus lightly of +his own losses. + +When the steamer tied up at the wharf at +Wilmington, in the early morning, the young lawyer +and a veiled lady passenger drove in the same +carriage to a hotel. After they had breakfasted +in a private room, Warwick explained to his sister +the plan he had formed for her future. Henceforth +she must be known as Miss Warwick, dropping +the old name with the old life. He would +place her for a year in a boarding-school at +Charleston, after which she would take her place +as the mistress of his house. Having imparted +this information, he took his sister for a drive +through the town. There for the first time Rena +saw great ships, which, her brother told her, sailed +across the mighty ocean to distant lands, whose +flags he pointed out drooping lazily at the mast- +heads. The business portion of the town had "an +ancient and fishlike smell," and most of the trade +seemed to be in cotton and naval stores and +products of the sea. The wharves were piled high +with cotton bales, and there were acres of barrels +of resin and pitch and tar and spirits of turpentine. +The market, a long, low, wooden structure, +in the middle of the principal street, was filled +with a mass of people of all shades, from blue- +black to Saxon blonde, gabbling and gesticulating +over piles of oysters and clams and freshly caught +fish of varied hue. By ten o'clock the sun was +beating down so fiercely that the glitter of the +white, sandy streets dazzled and pained the eyes +unaccustomed to it, and Rena was glad to be +driven back to the hotel. The travelers left +together on an early afternoon train. + +Thus for the time being was severed the last tie +that bound Rena to her narrow past, and for some +time to come the places and the people who had +known her once were to know her no more. + +Some few weeks later, Mis' Molly called upon +old Judge Straight with reference to the taxes on +her property. + +"Your son came in to see me the other day," +he remarked. "He seems to have got along." + +"Oh, yes, judge, he's done fine, John has; an' +he's took his sister away with him." + +"Ah!" exclaimed the judge. Then after a +pause he added, "I hope she may do as well." + +"Thank you, sir," she said, with a curtsy, as +she rose to go. "We've always knowed that you +were our friend and wished us well." + +The judge looked after her as she walked away. +Her bearing had a touch of timidity, a shade of +affectation, and yet a certain pathetic dignity. + +"It is a pity," he murmured, with a sigh, "that +men cannot select their mothers. My young friend +John has builded, whether wisely or not, very +well; but he has come back into the old life and +carried away a part of it, and I fear that this +addition will weaken the structure." + + +V + +THE TOURNAMENT + + +The annual tournament of the Clarence Social +Club was about to begin. The county fairground, +where all was in readiness, sparkled with +the youth and beauty of the town, standing here +and there under the trees in animated groups, or +moving toward the seats from which the pageant +might be witnessed. A quarter of a mile of the +race track, to right and left of the judges' stand, +had been laid off for the lists. Opposite the +grand stand, which occupied a considerable part +of this distance, a dozen uprights had been erected +at measured intervals. Projecting several feet +over the track from each of these uprights was an +iron crossbar, from which an iron hook depended. +Between the uprights stout posts were planted, +of such a height that their tops could be easily +reached by a swinging sword-cut from a mounted +rider passing upon the track. The influence of +Walter Scott was strong upon the old South. +The South before the war was essentially feudal, +and Scott's novels of chivalry appealed forcefully +to the feudal heart. During the month preceding +the Clarence tournament, the local bookseller had +closed out his entire stock of "Ivanhoe," consisting +of five copies, and had taken orders for seven +copies more. The tournament scene in this popular +novel furnished the model after which these +bloodless imitations of the ancient passages-at- +arms were conducted, with such variations as were +required to adapt them to a different age and +civilization. + +The best people gradually filled the grand +stand, while the poorer white and colored folks +found seats outside, upon what would now be +known as the "bleachers," or stood alongside the +lists. The knights, masquerading in fanciful +costumes, in which bright-colored garments, gilt +paper, and cardboard took the place of knightly +harness, were mounted on spirited horses. Most +of them were gathered at one end of the lists, +while others practiced their steeds upon the unoccupied +portion of the race track. + +The judges entered the grand stand, and one +of them, after looking at his watch, gave a signal. +Immediately a herald, wearing a bright yellow +sash, blew a loud blast upon a bugle, and, big +with the importance of his office, galloped wildly +down the lists. An attendant on horseback busied +himself hanging upon each of the pendent hooks +an iron ring, of some two inches in diameter, +while another, on foot, placed on top of each of +the shorter posts a wooden ball some four inches +through. + +"It's my first tournament," observed a lady +near the front of the grand stand, leaning over +and addressing John Warwick, who was seated in +the second row, in company with a very handsome +girl. "It is somewhat different from Ashby-de- +la-Zouch." + +"It is the renaissance of chivalry, Mrs. +Newberry," replied the young lawyer, "and, like any +other renaissance, it must adapt itself to new times +and circumstances. For instance, when we build +a Greek portico, having no Pentelic marble near +at hand, we use a pine-tree, one of nature's columns, +which Grecian art at its best could only +copy and idealize. Our knights are not weighted +down with heavy armor, but much more appropriately +attired, for a day like this, in costumes +that recall the picturesqueness, without the discomfort, +of the old knightly harness. For an iron- +headed lance we use a wooden substitute, with +which we transfix rings instead of hearts; while +our trusty blades hew their way through wooden +blocks instead of through flesh and blood. It is +a South Carolina renaissance which has points of +advantage over the tournaments of the olden time." + +"I'm afraid, Mr. Warwick," said the lady, +"that you're the least bit heretical about our +chivalry--or else you're a little too deep for me." + +"The last would be impossible, Mrs. Newberry; +and I'm sure our chivalry has proved its valor on +many a hard-fought field. The spirit of a thing, +after all, is what counts; and what is lacking +here? We have the lists, the knights, the prancing +steeds, the trial of strength and skill. If our +knights do not run the physical risks of Ashby- +de-la-Zouch, they have all the mental stimulus. +Wounded vanity will take the place of wounded +limbs, and there will be broken hopes in lieu of +broken heads. How many hearts in yonder group +of gallant horsemen beat high with hope! How +many possible Queens of Love and Beauty are in +this group of fair faces that surround us!" + +The lady was about to reply, when the bugle +sounded again, and the herald dashed swiftly back +upon his prancing steed to the waiting group of +riders. The horsemen formed three abreast, and +rode down the lists in orderly array. As they +passed the grand stand, each was conscious of the +battery of bright eyes turned upon him, and each +gave by his bearing some idea of his ability to +stand fire from such weapons. One horse pranced +proudly, another caracoled with grace. One rider +fidgeted nervously, another trembled and looked +the other way. Each horseman carried in his hand +a long wooden lance and wore at his side a cavalry +sabre, of which there were plenty to be had since +the war, at small expense. Several left the ranks +and drew up momentarily beside the grand stand, +where they took from fair hands a glove or a +flower, which was pinned upon the rider's breast +or fastened upon his hat--a ribbon or a veil, which +was tied about the lance like a pennon, but far +enough from the point not to interfere with the +usefulness of the weapon. + +As the troop passed the lower end of the grand +stand, a horse, excited by the crowd, became +somewhat unmanageable, and in the effort to curb +him, the rider dropped his lance. The prancing +animal reared, brought one of his hoofs down upon +the fallen lance with considerable force, and sent a +broken piece of it flying over the railing opposite +the grand stand, into the middle of a group of +spectators standing there. The flying fragment +was dodged by those who saw it coming, but +brought up with a resounding thwack against the +head of a colored man in the second row, who +stood watching the grand stand with an eager and +curious gaze. He rubbed his head ruefully, and +made a good-natured response to the chaffing of +his neighbors, who, seeing no great harm done, +made witty and original remarks about the +advantage of being black upon occasions where one's +skull was exposed to danger. Finding that the +blow had drawn blood, the young man took out a +red bandana handkerchief and tied it around his +head, meantime letting his eye roam over the faces +in the grand stand, as though in search of some +one that he expected or hoped to find there. + +The knights, having reached the end of the +lists, now turned and rode back in open order, +with such skillful horsemanship as to evoke a +storm of applause from the spectators. The ladies +in the grand stand waved their handkerchiefs +vigorously, and the men clapped their hands. The +beautiful girl seated by Warwick's side accidentally +let a little square of white lace-trimmed linen +slip from her hand. It fluttered lightly over the +railing, and, buoyed up by the air, settled slowly +toward the lists. A young rider in the approaching +rear rank saw the handkerchief fall, and darting +swiftly forward, caught it on the point of his +lance ere it touched the ground. He drew up his +horse and made a movement as though to extend +the handkerchief toward the lady, who was blushing +profusely at the attention she had attracted by +her carelessness. The rider hesitated a moment, +glanced interrogatively at Warwick, and receiving +a smile in return, tied the handkerchief around +the middle of his lance and quickly rejoined his +comrades at the head of the lists. + +The young man with the bandage round his +head, on the benches across the lists, had forced +his way to the front row and was leaning against +the railing. His restless eye was attracted by +the falling handkerchief, and his face, hitherto +anxious, suddenly lit up with animation. + +"Yas, suh, yas, suh, it's her!" he muttered +softly. "It's Miss Rena, sho's you bawn. She +looked lack a' angel befo', but now, up dere +'mongs' all dem rich, fine folks, she looks lack a +whole flock er angels. Dey ain' one er dem ladies +w'at could hol' a candle ter her. I wonder w'at +dat man's gwine ter do wid her handkercher? I +s'pose he's her gent'eman now. I wonder ef +she'd know me er speak ter me ef she seed me? +I reckon she would, spite er her gittin' up so in +de worl'; fer she wuz alluz good ter ev'ybody, an' +dat let even ME in," he concluded with a sigh. + +"Who is the lady, Tryon?" asked one of the +young men, addressing the knight who had taken +the handkerchief. + +"A Miss Warwick," replied the knight +pleasantly, "Miss Rowena Warwick, the lawyer's +sister." + +"I didn't know he had a sister," rejoined the +first speaker. "I envy you your lady. There +are six Rebeccas and eight Rowenas of my own +acquaintance in the grand stand, but she throws +them all into the shade. She hasn't been here +long, surely; I haven't seen her before." + +"She has been away at school; she came only +last night," returned the knight of the crimson +sash, briefly. He was already beginning to feel a +proprietary interest in the lady whose token he +wore, and did not care to discuss her with a casual +acquaintance. + +The herald sounded the charge. A rider darted +out from the group and galloped over the course. +As he passed under each ring, he tried to catch it +on the point of his lance,--a feat which made +the management of the horse with the left hand +necessary, and required a true eye and a steady +arm. The rider captured three of the twelve +rings, knocked three others off the hooks, and +left six undisturbed. Turning at the end of the +lists, he took the lance with the reins in the left +hand and drew his sword with the right. He +then rode back over the course, cutting at the +wooden balls upon the posts. Of these he clove +one in twain, to use the parlance of chivalry, and +knocked two others off their supports. His +performance was greeted with a liberal measure of +applause, for which he bowed in smiling acknowledgment +as he took his place among the riders. + +Again the herald's call sounded, and the tourney +went forward. Rider after rider, with varying +skill, essayed his fortune with lance and sword. +Some took a liberal proportion of the rings; others +merely knocked them over the boundaries, where +they were collected by agile little negro boys and +handed back to the attendants. A balking horse +caused the spectators much amusement and his +rider no little chagrin. + +The lady who had dropped the handkerchief +kept her eye upon the knight who had bound it +round his lance. "Who is he, John?" she asked +the gentleman beside her. + +"That, my dear Rowena, is my good friend and +client, George Tryon, of North Carolina. If he had +been a stranger, I should have said that he took a +liberty; but as things stand, we ought to regard it +as a compliment. The incident is quite in accord +with the customs of chivalry. If George were but +masked and you were veiled, we should have a +romantic situation,--you the mysterious damsel in +distress, he the unknown champion. The parallel, +my dear, might not be so hard to draw, even as +things are. But look, it is his turn now; I'll wager +that he makes a good run." + +"I'll take you up on that, Mr. Warwick," said +Mrs. Newberry from behind, who seemed to have a +very keen ear for whatever Warwick said. + +Rena's eyes were fastened on her knight, so that +she might lose no single one of his movements. As +he rode down the lists, more than one woman found +him pleasant to look upon. He was a tall, fair +young man, with gray eyes, and a frank, open face. +He wore a slight mustache, and when he smiled, +showed a set of white and even teeth. He was +mounted on a very handsome and spirited bay mare, +was clad in a picturesque costume, of which velvet +knee-breeches and a crimson scarf were the most +conspicuous features, and displayed a marked skill +in horsemanship. At the blast of the bugle his +horse started forward, and, after the first few rods, +settled into an even gallop. Tryon's lance, held +truly and at the right angle, captured the first ring, +then the second and third. His coolness and steadiness +seemed not at all disturbed by the applause +which followed, and one by one the remaining rings +slipped over the point of his lance, until at the end +he had taken every one of the twelve. Holding +the lance with its booty of captured rings in his +left hand, together with the bridle rein, he drew his +sabre with the right and rode back over the course. +His horse moved like clockwork, his eye was true +and his hand steady. Three of the wooden balls +fell from the posts, split fairly in the middle, while +from the fourth he sliced off a goodly piece and left +the remainder standing in its place. + +This performance, by far the best up to this +point, and barely escaping perfection, elicited a +storm of applause. The rider was not so well +known to the townspeople as some of the other +participants, and his name passed from mouth to +mouth in answer to numerous inquiries. The girl +whose token he had worn also became an object of +renewed interest, because of the result to her in +case the knight should prove victor in the contest, +of which there could now scarcely be a doubt; for +but three riders remained, and it was very improbable +that any one of them would excel the last. +Wagers for the remainder of the tourney stood +anywhere from five, and even from ten to one, in +favor of the knight of the crimson sash, and when +the last course had been run, his backers were +jubilant. No one of those following him had displayed +anything like equal skill. + +The herald now blew his bugle and declared the +tournament closed. The judges put their heads +together for a moment. The bugle sounded again, +and the herald announced in a loud voice that Sir +George Tryon, having taken the greatest number +of rings and split the largest number of balls, was +proclaimed victor in the tournament and entitled +to the flowery chaplet of victory. + +Tryon, having bowed repeatedly in response to +the liberal applause, advanced to the judges' stand +and received the trophy from the hands of the chief +judge, who exhorted him to wear the garland worthily, +and to yield it only to a better man. + +"It will be your privilege, Sir George," +announced the judge, "as the chief reward of your +valor, to select from the assembled beauty of +Clarence the lady whom you wish to honor, to whom +we will all do homage as the Queen of Love and +Beauty." + +Tryon took the wreath and bowed his thanks. +Then placing the trophy on the point of his lance, +he spoke earnestly for a moment to the herald, and +rode past the grand stand, from which there was +another outburst of applause. Returning upon his +tracks, the knight of the crimson sash paused before +the group where Warwick and his sister sat, and +lowered the wreath thrice before the lady whose +token he had won. + +"Oyez! Oyez!" cried the herald; "Sir George +Tryon, the victor in the tournament, has chosen +Miss Rowena Warwick as the Queen of Love and +Beauty, and she will be crowned at the feast to-night +and receive the devoirs of all true knights." + +The fair-ground was soon covered with scattered +groups of the spectators of the tournament. In +one group a vanquished knight explained in elaborate +detail why it was that he had failed to win the +wreath. More than one young woman wondered +why some one of the home young men could not +have taken the honors, or, if the stranger must win +them, why he could not have selected some belle of +the town as Queen of Love and Beauty instead +of this upstart girl who had blown into the town +over night, as one might say. + +Warwick and his sister, standing under a spreading +elm, held a little court of their own. A dozen +gentlemen and several ladies had sought an +introduction before Tryon came up. + +"I suppose John would have a right to call me +out, Miss Warwick," said Tryon, when he had been +formally introduced and had shaken hands with +Warwick's sister, "for taking liberties with the +property and name of a lady to whom I had not +had an introduction; but I know John so well +that you seemed like an old acquaintance; and +when I saw you, and recalled your name, which +your brother had mentioned more than once, I felt +instinctively that you ought to be the queen. I +entered my name only yesterday, merely to swell +the number and make the occasion more interesting. +These fellows have been practicing for a +month, and I had no hope of winning. I should +have been satisfied, indeed, if I hadn't made +myself ridiculous; but when you dropped your +handkerchief, I felt a sudden inspiration; and as soon +as I had tied it upon my lance, victory perched +upon my saddle-bow, guided my lance and sword, +and rings and balls went down before me like chaff +before the wind. Oh, it was a great inspiration, +Miss Warwick!" + +Rena, for it was our Patesville acquaintance fresh +from boarding-school, colored deeply at this frank +and fervid flattery, and could only murmur an +inarticulate reply. Her year of instruction, while +distinctly improving her mind and manners, had +scarcely prepared her for so sudden an elevation +into a grade of society to which she had hitherto +been a stranger. She was not without a certain +courage, however, and her brother, who remained +at her side, helped her over the most difficult +situations. + +"We'll forgive you, George," replied Warwick, +"if you'll come home to luncheon with us." + +"I'm mighty sorry--awfully sorry," returned +Tryon, with evident regret, "but I have another +engagement, which I can scarcely break, even by +the command of royalty. At what time shall I +call for Miss Warwick this evening? I believe that +privilege is mine, along with the other honors and +rewards of victory,--unless she is bound to some +one else." + +"She is entirely free," replied Warwick. "Come +as early as you like, and I'll talk to you until she's +ready." + +Tryon bowed himself away, and after a number +of gentlemen and a few ladies had paid their +respects to the Queen of Love and Beauty, and +received an introduction to her, Warwick signaled +to the servant who had his carriage in charge, and +was soon driving homeward with his sister. No one +of the party noticed a young negro, with a +handkerchief bound around his head, who followed them +until the carriage turned into the gate and swept +up the wide drive that led to Warwick's doorstep. + +"Well, Rena," said Warwick, when they found +themselves alone, "you have arrived. Your debut +into society is a little more spectacular than I should +have wished, but we must rise to the occasion +and make the most of it. You are winning the +first fruits of your opportunity. You are the most +envied woman in Clarence at this particular moment, +and, unless I am mistaken, will be the most +admired at the ball to-night." + + + +VI + +THE QUEEN OF LOVE AND BEAUTY + + +Shortly after luncheon, Rena had a visitor in +the person of Mrs. Newberry, a vivacious young +widow of the town, who proffered her services to +instruct Rena in the etiquette of the annual ball. + +"Now, my dear," said Mrs. Newberry, "the +first thing to do is to get your coronation robe +ready. It simply means a gown with a long train. +You have a lovely white waist. Get right into my +buggy, and we'll go down town to get the cloth, +take it over to Mrs. Marshall's, and have her run +you up a skirt this afternoon." + +Rena placed herself unreservedly in the hands +of Mrs. Newberry, who introduced her to the best +dressmaker of the town, a woman of much experience +in such affairs, who improvised during the +afternoon a gown suited to the occasion. Mrs. +Marshall had made more than a dozen ball dresses +during the preceding month; being a wise woman +and understanding her business thoroughly, she +had made each one of them so that with a few +additional touches it might serve for the Queen of +Love and Beauty. This was her first direct order +for the specific garment. + +Tryon escorted Rena to the ball, which was +held in the principal public hall of the town, and +attended by all the best people. The champion +still wore the costume of the morning, in place +of evening dress, save that long stockings and +dancing-pumps had taken the place of riding-boots. +Rena went through the ordeal very creditably. +Her shyness was palpable, but it was saved from +awkwardness by her native grace and good sense. +She made up in modesty what she lacked in +aplomb. Her months in school had not eradicated +a certain self-consciousness born of her secret. +The brain-cells never lose the impressions of youth, +and Rena's Patesville life was not far enough +removed to have lost its distinctness of outline. +Of the two, the present was more of a dream, +the past was the more vivid reality. At school she +had learned something from books and not a little +from observation. She had been able to compare +herself with other girls, and to see wherein she +excelled or fell short of them. With a sincere desire +for improvement, and a wish to please her brother +and do him credit, she had sought to make the +most of her opportunities. Building upon a +foundation of innate taste and intelligence, she had +acquired much of the self-possession which comes +from a knowledge of correct standards of deportment. +She had moreover learned without difficulty, +for it suited her disposition, to keep silence +when she could not speak to advantage. A certain +necessary reticence about the past added strength +to a natural reserve. Thus equipped, she held her +own very well in the somewhat trying ordeal of +the ball, at which the fiction of queenship and the +attendant ceremonies, which were pretty and graceful, +made her the most conspicuous figure. Few +of those who watched her move with easy grace +through the measures of the dance could have +guessed how nearly her heart was in her mouth +during much of the time. + +"You're doing splendidly, my dear," said Mrs. +Newberry, who had constituted herself Rena's +chaperone. + +"I trust your Gracious Majesty is pleased with +the homage of your devoted subjects," said Tryon, +who spent much of his time by her side and kept +up the character of knight in his speech and +manner. + +"Very much," replied the Queen of Love and +Beauty, with a somewhat tired smile. It was +pleasant, but she would be glad, she thought, when +it was all over. + +"Keep up your courage," whispered her brother. +"You are not only queen, but the belle of the +ball. I am proud of you. A dozen women here +would give a year off the latter end of life to be +in your shoes to-night." + +Rena felt immensely relieved when the hour +arrived at which she could take her departure, which +was to be the signal for the breaking-up of the +ball. She was driven home in Tryon's carriage, +her brother accompanying them. The night was +warm, and the drive homeward under the starlight, +in the open carriage, had a soothing effect upon +Rena's excited nerves. The calm restfulness of +the night, the cool blue depths of the unclouded +sky, the solemn croaking of the frogs in a distant +swamp, were much more in harmony with her +nature than the crowded brilliancy of the ball-room. +She closed her eyes, and, leaning back in the carriage, +thought of her mother, who she wished might +have seen her daughter this night. A momentary +pang of homesickness pierced her tender heart, +and she furtively wiped away the tears that came +into her eyes. + +"Good-night, fair Queen!" exclaimed Tryon, +breaking into her reverie as the carriage rolled up +to the doorstep, "and let your loyal subject kiss +your hand in token of his fealty. May your +Majesty never abdicate her throne, and may she +ever count me her humble servant and devoted +knight." + +"And now, sister," said Warwick, when Tryon +had been driven away, "now that the masquerade +is over, let us to sleep, and to-morrow take up the +serious business of life. Your day has been a +glorious success!" + +He put his arm around her and gave her a kiss +and a brotherly hug. + +"It is a dream," she murmured sleepily, "only +a dream. I am Cinderella before the clock has +struck. Good-night, dear John." + +"Good-night, Rowena." + + + +VII + + +'MID NEW SURROUNDINGS + + +Warwick's residence was situated in the +outskirts of the town. It was a fine old plantation +house, built in colonial times, with a stately colonnade, +wide verandas, and long windows with Venetian +blinds. It was painted white, and stood +back several rods from the street, in a charming +setting of palmettoes, magnolias, and flowering +shrubs. Rena had always thought her mother's +house large, but now it seemed cramped and narrow, +in comparison with this roomy mansion. The +furniture was old-fashioned and massive. The +great brass andirons on the wide hearth stood like +sentinels proclaiming and guarding the dignity of +the family. The spreading antlers on the wall +testified to a mighty hunter in some past generation. +The portraits of Warwick's wife's ancestors-- +high featured, proud men and women, dressed in +the fashions of a bygone age--looked down from +tarnished gilt frames. It was all very novel to +her, and very impressive. When she ate off +china, with silver knives and forks that had come +down as heirlooms, escaping somehow the ravages +and exigencies of the war time,--Warwick told +her afterwards how he had buried them out of +reach of friend or foe,--she thought that her +brother must be wealthy, and she felt very proud +of him and of her opportunity. The servants, of +whom there were several in the house, treated her +with a deference to which her eight months in +school had only partly accustomed her. At school +she had been one of many to be served, and had +herself been held to obedience. Here, for the first +time in her life, she was mistress, and tasted the +sweets of power. + +The household consisted of her brother and +herself, a cook, a coachman, a nurse, and her +brother's little son Albert. The child, with a fine +instinct, had put out his puny arms to Rena at first +sight, and she had clasped the little man to her +bosom with a motherly caress. She had always +loved weak creatures. Kittens and puppies had +ever found a welcome and a meal at Rena's hands, +only to be chased away by Mis' Molly, who had +had a wider experience. No shiftless poor white, +no half-witted or hungry negro, had ever gone +unfed from Mis' Molly's kitchen door if Rena +were there to hear his plaint. Little Albert was +pale and sickly when she came, but soon bloomed +again in the sunshine of her care, and was happy +only in her presence. Warwick found pleasure in +their growing love for each other, and was glad +to perceive that the child formed a living link to +connect her with his home. + +"Dat chile sutt'nly do lub Miss Rena, an' +dat's a fac', sho 's you bawn," remarked 'Lissa the +cook to Mimy the nurse one day. "You'll get +yo' nose put out er j'int, ef you don't min'." + +"I ain't frettin', honey," laughed the nurse +good-naturedly. She was not at all jealous. She +had the same wages as before, and her labors were +materially lightened by the aunt's attention to the +child. This gave Mimy much more time to flirt +with Tom the coachman. + +It was a source of much gratification to Warwick +that his sister seemed to adapt herself so +easily to the new conditions. Her graceful +movements, the quiet elegance with which she wore +even the simplest gown, the easy authoritativeness +with which she directed the servants, were to him +proofs of superior quality, and he felt correspondingly +proud of her. His feeling for her was something +more than brotherly love,--he was quite +conscious that there were degrees in brotherly +love, and that if she had been homely or stupid, +he would never have disturbed her in the stagnant +life of the house behind the cedars. There had +come to him from some source, down the stream +of time, a rill of the Greek sense of proportion, of +fitness, of beauty, which is indeed but proportion +embodied, the perfect adaptation of means to +ends. He had perceived, more clearly than she +could have appreciated it at that time, the +undeveloped elements of discord between Rena and her +former life. He had imagined her lending grace +and charm to his own household. Still another +motive, a purely psychological one, had more or +less consciously influenced him. He had no fear +that the family secret would ever be discovered,-- +he had taken his precautions too thoroughly, he +thought, for that; and yet he could not but feel, +at times, that if peradventure--it was a conceivable +hypothesis--it should become known, his +fine social position would collapse like a house of +cards. Because of this knowledge, which the +world around him did not possess, he had felt now +and then a certain sense of loneliness; and there +was a measure of relief in having about him +one who knew his past, and yet whose knowledge, +because of their common interest, would not +interfere with his present or jeopardize his future. +For he had always been, in a figurative sense, a +naturalized foreigner in the world of wide +opportunity, and Rena was one of his old compatriots, +whom he was glad to welcome into the populous +loneliness of his adopted country. + + + +VIII + +THE COURTSHIP + + +In a few weeks the echoes of the tournament +died away, and Rena's life settled down into a +pleasant routine, which she found much more +comfortable than her recent spectacular prominence. +Her queenship, while not entirely forgiven +by the ladies of the town, had gained for +her a temporary social prominence. Among her +own sex, Mrs. Newberry proved a warm and +enthusiastic friend. Rumor whispered that the +lively young widow would not be unwilling to +console Warwick in the loneliness of the old +colonial mansion, to which his sister was a most +excellent medium of approach. Whether this was +true or not it is unnecessary to inquire, for it is +no part of this story, except as perhaps indicating +why Mrs. Newberry played the part of the +female friend, without whom no woman is ever +launched successfully in a small and conservative +society. Her brother's standing gave her the +right of social entry; the tournament opened wide +the door, and Mrs. Newberry performed the ceremony +of introduction. Rena had many visitors +during the month following the tournament, and +might have made her choice from among a dozen +suitors; but among them all, her knight of the +handkerchief found most favor. + + +George Tryon had come to Clarence a few +months before upon business connected with the +settlement of his grandfather's estate. A rather +complicated litigation had grown up around the +affair, various phases of which had kept Tryon +almost constantly in the town. He had placed +matters in Warwick's hands, and had formed a +decided friendship for his attorney, for whom +he felt a frank admiration. Tryon was only +twenty-three, and his friend's additional five years, +supplemented by a certain professional gravity, +commanded a great deal of respect from the +younger man. When Tryon had known Warwick +for a week, he had been ready to swear by +him. Indeed, Warwick was a man for whom +most people formed a liking at first sight. To +this power of attraction he owed most of his +success--first with Judge Straight, of Patesville, +then with the lawyer whose office he had entered +at Clarence, with the woman who became his +wife, and with the clients for whom he transacted +business. Tryon would have maintained +against all comers that Warwick was the finest +fellow in the world. When he met Warwick's +sister, the foundation for admiration had +already been laid. If Rena had proved to be a +maiden lady of uncertain age and doubtful personal +attractiveness, Tryon would probably have +found in her a most excellent lady, worthy of all +respect and esteem, and would have treated her +with profound deference and sedulous courtesy. +When she proved to be a young and handsome +woman, of the type that he admired most, he +was capable of any degree of infatuation. His +mother had for a long time wanted him to marry +the orphan daughter of an old friend, a vivacious +blonde, who worshiped him. He had felt friendly +towards her, but had shrunk from matrimony. +He did not want her badly enough to give up his +freedom. The war had interfered with his +education, and though fairly well instructed, he had +never attended college. In his own opinion, he +ought to see something of the world, and have his +youthful fling. Later on, when he got ready to +settle down, if Blanche were still in the humor, +they might marry, and sink to the humdrum +level of other old married people. The fact that +Blanche Leary was visiting his mother during his +unexpectedly long absence had not operated at +all to hasten his return to North Carolina. He +had been having a very good time at Clarence, +and, at the distance of several hundred miles, was +safe for the time being from any immediate danger +of marriage. + +With Rena's advent, however, he had seen life +through different glasses. His heart had thrilled +at first sight of this tall girl, with the ivory +complexion, the rippling brown hair, and the +inscrutable eyes. When he became better acquainted +with her, he liked to think that her thoughts +centred mainly in himself; and in this he was not +far wrong. He discovered that she had a short +upper lip, and what seemed to him an eminently +kissable mouth. After he had dined twice at +Warwick's, subsequently to the tournament,--his +lucky choice of Rena had put him at once upon +a household footing with the family,--his views +of marriage changed entirely. It now seemed to +him the duty, as well as the high and holy privilege +of a young man, to marry and manfully to +pay his debt to society. When in Rena's presence, +he could not imagine how he had ever contemplated +the possibility of marriage with Blanche +Leary,--she was utterly, entirely, and hopelessly +unsuited to him. For a fair man of vivacious +temperament, this stately dark girl was the ideal +mate. Even his mother would admit this, if she +could only see Rena. To win this beautiful +girl for his wife would be a worthy task. He had +crowned her Queen of Love and Beauty; since +then she had ascended the throne of his heart. +He would make her queen of his home and mistress +of his life. + +To Rena this brief month's courtship came as a +new education. Not only had this fair young man +crowned her queen, and honored her above all +the ladies in town; but since then he had waited +assiduously upon her, had spoken softly to her, had +looked at her with shining eyes, and had sought to +be alone with her. The time soon came when to +touch his hand in greeting sent a thrill through her +frame,--a time when she listened for his footstep +and was happy in his presence. He had been bold +enough at the tournament; he had since become +somewhat bashful and constrained. He must be in +love, she thought, and wondered how soon he would +speak. If it were so sweet to walk with him in the +garden, or along the shaded streets, to sit with him, +to feel the touch of his hand, what happiness would +it not be to hear him say that he loved her--to +bear his name, to live with him always. To be thus +loved and honored by this handsome young man, +--she could hardly believe it possible. He would +never speak--he would discover her secret and +withdraw. She turned pale at the thought,--ah, +God! something would happen,--it was too good +to be true. The Prince would never try on the +glass slipper. + +Tryon first told his love for Rena one summer +evening on their way home from church. They +were walking in the moonlight along the quiet street, +which, but for their presence, seemed quite deserted. + +"Miss Warwick--Rowena," he said, clasping +with his right hand the hand that rested on his left +arm, "I love you! Do you--love me?" + +To Rena this simple avowal came with much +greater force than a more formal declaration could +have had. It appealed to her own simple nature. +Indeed, few women at such a moment criticise the +form in which the most fateful words of life--but +one--are spoken. Words, while pleasant, are +really superfluous. Her whispered "Yes" spoke +volumes. + +They walked on past the house, along the country +road into which the street soon merged. When +they returned, an hour later, they found Warwick +seated on the piazza, in a rocking-chair, smoking a +fragrant cigar. + +"Well, children," he observed with mock severity, +"you are late in getting home from church. The +sermon must have been extremely long." + +"We have been attending an after-meeting," +replied Tryon joyfully, "and have been discussing +an old text, `Little children, love one another,' +and its corollary, `It is not good for man to live +alone.' John, I am the happiest man alive. Your +sister has promised to marry me. I should like to +shake my brother's hand." + +Never does one feel so strongly the universal +brotherhood of man as when one loves some other +fellow's sister. Warwick sprang from his chair and +clasped Tryon's extended hand with real emotion. +He knew of no man whom he would have preferred +to Tryon as a husband for his sister. + +"My dear George--my dear sister," he +exclaimed, "I am very, very glad. I wish you +every happiness. My sister is the most fortunate +of women." + +"And I am the luckiest of men," cried Tryon. + +"I wish you every happiness," repeated Warwick; +adding, with a touch of solemnity, as a certain +thought, never far distant, occurred to him, +"I hope that neither of you may ever regret your +choice." + +Thus placed upon the footing of an accepted +lover, Tryon's visits to the house became more +frequent. He wished to fix a time for the marriage, +but at this point Rena developed a strange reluctance. + +"Can we not love each other for a while?" she +asked. "To be engaged is a pleasure that comes +but once; it would be a pity to cut it too short." + +"It is a pleasure that I would cheerfully dispense +with," he replied, "for the certainty of possession. +I want you all to myself, and all the time. Things +might happen. If I should die, for instance, before +I married you"-- + +"Oh, don't suppose such awful things," she +cried, putting her hand over his mouth. + +He held it there and kissed it until she pulled it +away. + +"I should consider," he resumed, completing the +sentence, "that my life had been a failure." + +"If I should die," she murmured, "I should die +happy in the knowledge that you had loved me." + +"In three weeks," he went on, "I shall have +finished my business in Clarence, and there will be +but one thing to keep me here. When shall it be? +I must take you home with me." + +"I will let you know," she replied, with a troubled +sigh, "in a week from to-day." + +"I'll call your attention to the subject every day +in the mean time," he asserted. "I shouldn't like +you to forget it." + +Rena's shrinking from the irrevocable step of +marriage was due to a simple and yet complex +cause. Stated baldly, it was the consciousness of +her secret; the complexity arose out of the various +ways in which it seemed to bear upon her +future. Our lives are so bound up with those of +our fellow men that the slightest departure from +the beaten path involves a multiplicity of small +adjustments. It had not been difficult for Rena +to conform her speech, her manners, and in a +measure her modes of thought, to those of the +people around her; but when this readjustment +went beyond mere externals and concerned the +vital issues of life, the secret that oppressed her +took on a more serious aspect, with tragic possibilities. +A discursive imagination was not one of her +characteristics, or the danger of a marriage of +which perfect frankness was not a condition might +well have presented itself before her heart had +become involved. Under the influence of doubt and +fear acting upon love, the invisible bar to +happiness glowed with a lambent flame that threatened +dire disaster. + +"Would he have loved me at all," she asked +herself, "if he had known the story of my past? +Or, having loved me, could he blame me now for +what I cannot help?" + +There were two shoals in the channel of her life, +upon either of which her happiness might go +to shipwreck. Since leaving the house behind the +cedars, where she had been brought into the +world without her own knowledge or consent, and +had first drawn the breath of life by the +involuntary contraction of certain muscles, Rena had +learned, in a short time, many things; but she +was yet to learn that the innocent suffer with the +guilty, and feel the punishment the more keenly +because unmerited. She had yet to learn that the +old Mosaic formula, "The sins of the fathers +shall be visited upon the children," was graven +more indelibly upon the heart of the race than +upon the tables of Sinai. + +But would her lover still love her, if he knew +all? She had read some of the novels in the +bookcase in her mother's hall, and others at boarding- +school. She had read that love was a conqueror, +that neither life nor death, nor creed nor +caste, could stay his triumphant course. Her secret +was no legal bar to their union. If Rena could +forget the secret, and Tryon should never know it, +it would be no obstacle to their happiness. But +Rena felt, with a sinking of the heart, that happiness +was not a matter of law or of fact, but lay +entirely within the domain of sentiment. We are +happy when we think ourselves happy, and with a +strange perversity we often differ from others with +regard to what should constitute our happiness. +Rena's secret was the worm in the bud, the skeleton +in the closet. + +"He says that he loves me. He DOES love me. +Would he love me, if he knew?" She stood +before an oval mirror brought from France by one +of Warwick's wife's ancestors, and regarded her +image with a coldly critical eye. She was as little +vain as any of her sex who are endowed with +beauty. She tried to place herself, in thus passing +upon her own claims to consideration, in the +hostile attitude of society toward her hidden +disability. There was no mark upon her brow to +brand her as less pure, less innocent, less desirable, +less worthy to be loved, than these proud women +of the past who had admired themselves in this +old mirror. + +"I think a man might love me for myself," she +murmured pathetically, "and if he loved me truly, +that he would marry me. If he would not marry +me, then it would be because he didn't love me. +I'll tell George my secret. If he leaves me, then +he does not love me." + +But this resolution vanished into thin air before +it was fully formulated. The secret was not hers +alone; it involved her brother's position, to whom +she owed everything, and in less degree the future +of her little nephew, whom she had learned to love +so well. She had the choice of but two courses of +action, to marry Tryon or to dismiss him. The +thought that she might lose him made him seem +only more dear; to think that he might leave her +made her sick at heart. In one week she was +bound to give him an answer; he was more likely +to ask for it at their next meeting. + + +IX + +DOUBTS AND FEARS + + +Rena's heart was too heavy with these misgivings +for her to keep them to herself. On the +morning after the conversation with Tryon in +which she had promised him an answer within a +week, she went into her brother's study, where he +usually spent an hour after breakfast before going +to his office. He looked up amiably from the +book before him and read trouble in her face. + +"Well, Rena, dear," he asked with a smile, +"what's the matter? Is there anything you +want--money, or what? I should like to have +Aladdin's lamp--though I'd hardly need it-- +that you might have no wish unsatisfied." + +He had found her very backward in asking for +things that she needed. Generous with his means, +he thought nothing too good for her. Her success +had gratified his pride, and justified his course in +taking her under his protection. + +"Thank you, John. You give me already more +than I need. It is something else, John. George +wants me to say when I will marry him. I am +afraid to marry him, without telling him. If he +should find out afterwards, he might cast me off, +or cease to love me. If he did not know it, I +should be forever thinking of what he would do if +he SHOULD find it out; or, if I should die without +his having learned it, I should not rest easy in +my grave for thinking of what he would have +done if he HAD found it out." + +Warwick's smile gave place to a grave expression +at this somewhat comprehensive statement. He +rose and closed the door carefully, lest some one +of the servants might overhear the conversation. +More liberally endowed than Rena with imagination, +and not without a vein of sentiment, he had +nevertheless a practical side that outweighed them +both. With him, the problem that oppressed his +sister had been in the main a matter of argument, +of self-conviction. Once persuaded that he had +certain rights, or ought to have them, by virtue of +the laws of nature, in defiance of the customs of +mankind, he had promptly sought to enjoy them. +This he had been able to do by simply concealing +his antecedents and making the most of his +opportunities, with no troublesome qualms of conscience +whatever. But he had already perceived, in their +brief intercourse, that Rena's emotions, while less +easily stirred, touched a deeper note than his, and +dwelt upon it with greater intensity than if they +had been spread over the larger field to which a +more ready sympathy would have supplied so many +points of access;--hers was a deep and silent current +flowing between the narrow walls of a self- +contained life, his the spreading river that ran +through a pleasant landscape. Warwick's +imagination, however, enabled him to put himself in touch +with her mood and recognize its bearings upon her +conduct. He would have preferred her taking the +practical point of view, to bring her round to which +he perceived would be a matter of diplomacy. + +"How long have these weighty thoughts been +troubling your small head?" he asked with assumed +lightness. + +"Since he asked me last night to name our +wedding day." + +"My dear child," continued Warwick, "you take +too tragic a view of life. Marriage is a reciprocal +arrangement, by which the contracting parties give +love for love, care for keeping, faith for faith. It +is a matter of the future, not of the past. What +a poor soul it is that has not some secret chamber, +sacred to itself; where one can file away the things +others have no right to know, as well as things that +one himself would fain forget! We are under no +moral obligation to inflict upon others the history +of our past mistakes, our wayward thoughts, our +secret sins, our desperate hopes, or our heartbreaking +disappointments. Still less are we bound +to bring out from this secret chamber the dusty +record of our ancestry. + + `Let the dead past bury its dead.' + +George Tryon loves you for yourself alone; it is +not your ancestors that he seeks to marry." + +"But would he marry me if he knew?" she +persisted. + +Warwick paused for reflection. He would have +preferred to argue the question in a general way, +but felt the necessity of satisfying her scruples, as +far as might be. He had liked Tryon from the +very beginning of their acquaintance. In all their +intercourse, which had been very close for several +months, he had been impressed by the young man's +sunny temper, his straightforwardness, his intellectual +honesty. Tryon's deference to Warwick as +the elder man had very naturally proved an +attraction. Whether this friendship would have stood +the test of utter frankness about his own past was +a merely academic speculation with which Warwick +did not trouble himself. With his sister the +question had evidently become a matter of conscience, +--a difficult subject with which to deal in a person +of Rena's temperament. + +"My dear sister," he replied, "why should he +know? We haven't asked him for his pedigree; +we don't care to know it. If he cares for ours, he +should ask for it, and it would then be time enough +to raise the question. You love him, I imagine, +and wish to make him happy?" + +It is the highest wish of the woman who loves. +The enamored man seeks his own happiness; the +loving woman finds no sacrifice too great for the +loved one. The fiction of chivalry made man serve +woman; the fact of human nature makes woman +happiest when serving where she loves. + +"Yes, oh, yes," Rena exclaimed with fervor, +clasping her hands unconsciously. "I'm afraid +he'd be unhappy if he knew, and it would make me +miserable to think him unhappy." + +"Well, then," said Warwick, "suppose we +should tell him our secret and put ourselves in his +power, and that he should then conclude that he +couldn't marry you? Do you imagine he would be +any happier than he is now, or than if he should +never know?" + +Ah, no! she could not think so. One could +not tear love out of one's heart without pain and +suffering. + +There was a knock at the door. Warwick +opened it to the nurse, who stood with little Albert +in her arms. + +"Please, suh," said the girl, with a curtsy, "de +baby 's be'n oryin' an' frettin' fer Miss Rena, an' +I 'lowed she mought want me ter fetch 'im, ef it +wouldn't'sturb her." + +"Give me the darling," exclaimed Rena, coming +forward and taking the child from the nurse. "It +wants its auntie. Come to its auntie, bless its +little heart!" + +Little Albert crowed with pleasure and put up +his pretty mouth for a kiss. Warwick found the +sight a pleasant one. If he could but quiet his +sister's troublesome scruples, he might erelong see +her fondling beautiful children of her own. Even +if Rena were willing to risk her happiness, and he +to endanger his position, by a quixotic frankness, +the future of his child must not be compromised. + +"You wouldn't want to make George unhappy," +Warwick resumed when the nurse retired. "Very +well; would you not be willing, for his sake, to keep +a secret--your secret and mine, and that of the +innocent child in your arms? Would you involve +all of us in difficulties merely to secure your own +peace of mind? Doesn't such a course seem just +the least bit selfish? Think the matter over from +that point of view, and we'll speak of it later in the +day. I shall be with George all the morning, and +I may be able, by a little management, to find out +his views on the subject of birth and family, and +all that. Some men are very liberal, and love is a +great leveler. I'll sound him, at any rate." + +He kissed the baby and left Rena to her own +reflections, to which his presentation of the case had +given a new turn. It had never before occurred to +her to regard silence in the light of self-sacrifice. +It had seemed a sort of sin; her brother's argument +made of it a virtue. It was not the first +time, nor the last, that right and wrong had been +a matter of view-point. + +Tryon himself furnished the opening for +Warwick's proposed examination. The younger man +could not long remain silent upon the subject +uppermost in his mind. "I am anxious, John," he said, +"to have Rowena name the happiest day of my +life--our wedding day. When the trial in Edgecombe +County is finished, I shall have no further +business here, and shall be ready to leave for home. +I should like to take my bride with me, and surprise +my mother." + +Mothers, thought Warwick, are likely to prove +inquisitive about their sons' wives, especially when +taken unawares in matters of such importance. +This seemed a good time to test the liberality of +Tryon's views, and to put forward a shield for his +sister's protection. + +"Are you sure, George, that your mother will +find the surprise agreeable when you bring home a +bride of whom you know so little and your mother +nothing at all?" + +Tryon had felt that it would be best to surprise +his mother. She would need only to see Rena to +approve of her, but she was so far prejudiced in +favor of Blanche Leary that it would be wisest to +present the argument after having announced the +irrevocable conclusion. Rena herself would be a +complete justification for the accomplished deed. + +"I think you ought to know, George," continued +Warwick, without waiting for a reply to his question, +"that my sister and I are not of an old family, +or a rich family, or a distinguished family; that +she can bring you nothing but herself; that we +have no connections of which you could boast, and +no relatives to whom we should be glad to introduce +you. You must take us for ourselves alone--we +are new people." + +"My dear John," replied the young man +warmly, "there is a great deal of nonsense about +families. If a man is noble and brave and +strong, if a woman is beautiful and good and true, +what matters it about his or her ancestry? If an +old family can give them these things, then it is +valuable; if they possess them without it, then of +what use is it, except as a source of empty pride, +which they would be better without? If all new +families were like yours, there would be no advantage +in belonging to an old one. All I care to +know of Rowena's family is that she is your sister; +and you'll pardon me, old fellow, if I add that she +hardly needs even you,--she carries the stamp of +her descent upon her face and in her heart." + +"It makes me glad to hear you speak in that +way," returned Warwick, delighted by the young +man's breadth and earnestness. + +"Oh, I mean every word of it," replied Tryon. +"Ancestors, indeed, for Rowena! I will tell you +a family secret, John, to prove how little I care for +ancestors. My maternal great-great-grandfather, a +hundred and fifty years ago, was hanged, drawn, +and quartered for stealing cattle across the Scottish +border. How is that for a pedigree? Behold +in me the lineal descendant of a felon!" + +Warwick felt much relieved at this avowal. +His own statement had not touched the vital point +involved; it had been at the best but a half-truth; +but Tryon's magnanimity would doubtless protect +Rena from any close inquiry concerning her past. +It even occurred to Warwick for a moment that +he might safely disclose the secret to Tryon; but +an appreciation of certain facts of history and +certain traits of human nature constrained him +to put the momentary thought aside. It was a +great relief, however, to imagine that Tryon might +think lightly of this thing that he need never +know. + +"Well, Rena," he said to his sister when he +went home at noon: "I've sounded George." + +"What did he say?" she asked eagerly. + +"I told him we were people of no family, and +that we had no relatives that we were proud of. +He said he loved you for yourself, and would +never ask you about your ancestry." + +"Oh, I am so glad!" exclaimed Rena joyfully. +This report left her very happy for about three +hours, or until she began to analyze carefully her +brother's account of what had been said. Warwick's +statement had not been specific,--he had +not told Tryon THE thing. George's reply, in turn, +had been a mere generality. The concrete fact +that oppressed her remained unrevealed, and her +doubt was still unsatisfied. + +Rena was occupied with this thought when her +lover next came to see her. Tryon came up the +sanded walk from the gate and spoke pleasantly +to the nurse, a good-looking yellow girl who was +seated on the front steps, playing with little +Albert. He took the boy from her arms, and +she went to call Miss Warwick. + +Rena came out, followed by the nurse, who +offered to take the child. + +"Never mind, Mimy, leave him with me," said +Tryon. + +The nurse walked discreetly over into the garden, +remaining within call, but beyond the hearing +of conversation in an ordinary tone. + +"Rena, darling," said her lover, "when shall +it be? Surely you won't ask me to wait a week. +Why, that's a lifetime!" + +Rena was struck by a brilliant idea. She +would test her lover. Love was a very powerful +force; she had found it the greatest, grandest, +sweetest thing in the world. Tryon had said that +he loved her; he had said scarcely anything else +for several weeks, surely nothing else worth remembering. +She would test his love by a hypothetical question. + +"You say you love me," she said, glancing at +him with a sad thoughtfulness in her large dark +eyes. "How much do you love me?" + +"I love you all one can love. True love has no +degrees; it is all or nothing!" + +"Would you love me," she asked, with an air +of coquetry that masked her concern, pointing +toward the girl in the shrubbery, "if I were +Albert's nurse yonder?" + +"If you were Albert's nurse," he replied, with +a joyous laugh, "he would have to find another +within a week, for within a week we should be +married." + +The answer seemed to fit the question, but in +fact, Tryon's mind and Rena's did not meet. That +two intelligent persons should each attach a different +meaning to so simple a form of words as +Rena's question was the best ground for her +misgiving with regard to the marriage. But love +blinded her. She was anxious to be convinced. +She interpreted the meaning of his speech by her +own thought and by the ardor of his glance, and +was satisfied with the answer. + +"And now, darling," pleaded Tryon, "will you +not fix the day that shall make me happy? I +shall be ready to go away in three weeks. Will +you go with me?" + +"Yes," she answered, in a tumult of joy. She +would never need to tell him her secret now. It +would make no difference with him, so far as she +was concerned; and she had no right to reveal her +brother's secret. She was willing to bury the past +in forgetfulness, now that she knew it would have +no interest for her lover. + + + +X + +THE DREAM + + +The marriage was fixed for the thirtieth of the +month, immediately after which Tryon and his +bride were to set out for North Carolina. Warwick +would have liked it much if Tryon had +lived in South Carolina; but the location of his +North Carolina home was at some distance from +Patesville, with which it had no connection by +steam or rail, and indeed lay altogether out of the +line of travel to Patesville. Rena had no +acquaintance with people of social standing in North +Carolina; and with the added maturity and charm +due to her improved opportunities, it was unlikely +that any former resident of Patesville who might +casually meet her would see in the elegant young +matron from South Carolina more than a passing +resemblance to a poor girl who had once lived in an +obscure part of the old town. It would of course +be necessary for Rena to keep away from Patesville; +save for her mother's sake, she would hardly +be tempted to go back. + +On the twentieth of the month, Warwick set +out with Tryon for the county seat of the adjoining +county, to try one of the lawsuits which had +required Tryon's presence in South Carolina for +so long a time. Their destination was a day's +drive from Clarence, behind a good horse, and the +trial was expected to last a week. + +"This week will seem like a year," said Tryon +ruefully, the evening before their departure, "but +I'll write every day, and shall expect a letter as +often." + +"The mail goes only twice a week, George," +replied Rena. + +"Then I shall have three letters in each mail." + +Warwick and Tryon were to set out in the cool +of the morning, after an early breakfast. Rena +was up at daybreak that she might preside at the +breakfast-table and bid the travelers good-by. + +"John," said Rena to her brother in the +morning, "I dreamed last night that mother was ill." + +"Dreams, you know, Rena," answered Warwick +lightly, "go by contraries. Yours undoubtedly +signifies that our mother, God bless her +simple soul! is at the present moment enjoying +her usual perfect health. She was never sick in +her life." + +For a few months after leaving Patesville with +her brother, Rena had suffered tortures of +homesickness; those who have felt it know the pang. +The severance of old ties had been abrupt and +complete. At the school where her brother had +taken her, there had been nothing to relieve the +strangeness of her surroundings--no schoolmate +from her own town, no relative or friend of the +family near by. Even the compensation of human +sympathy was in a measure denied her, for Rena +was too fresh from her prison-house to doubt that +sympathy would fail before the revelation of +the secret the consciousness of which oppressed +her at that time like a nightmare. It was not +strange that Rena, thus isolated, should have been +prostrated by homesickness for several weeks +after leaving Patesville. When the paroxysm +had passed, there followed a dull pain, which +gradually subsided into a resignation as profound, in +its way, as had been her longing for home. She +loved, she suffered, with a quiet intensity of which +her outward demeanor gave no adequate expression. +From some ancestral source she had derived +a strain of the passive fatalism by which alone +one can submit uncomplainingly to the inevitable. +By the same token, when once a thing had been +decided, it became with her a finality, which only +some extraordinary stress of emotion could disturb. +She had acquiesced in her brother's plan; +for her there was no withdrawing; her homesickness +was an incidental thing which must be endured, +as patiently as might be, until time should +have brought a measure of relief. + +Warwick had made provision for an occasional +letter from Patesville, by leaving with his mother a +number of envelopes directed to his address. She +could have her letters written, inclose them in +these envelopes, and deposit them in the post- +office with her own hand. Thus the place of +Warwick's residence would remain within her own +knowledge, and his secret would not be placed at +the mercy of any wandering Patesvillian who +might perchance go to that part of South Carolina. +By this simple means Rena had kept as closely in +touch with her mother as Warwick had considered +prudent; any closer intercourse was not consistent +with their present station in life. + +The night after Warwick and Tryon had ridden +away, Rena dreamed again that her mother +was ill. Better taught people than she, in regions +more enlightened than the South Carolina of that +epoch, are disturbed at times by dreams. Mis' +Molly had a profound faith in them. If God, in +ancient times, had spoken to men in visions of the +night, what easier way could there be for Him to +convey his meaning to people of all ages? Science, +which has shattered many an idol and destroyed +many a delusion, has made but slight inroads +upon the shadowy realm of dreams. For Mis' +Molly, to whom science would have meant nothing +and psychology would have been a meaningless +term, the land of dreams was carefully mapped +and bounded. Each dream had some special significance, +or was at least susceptible of classification +under some significant head. Dreams, as a general +rule, went by contraries; but a dream three times +repeated was a certain portent of the thing defined. +Rena's few years of schooling at Patesville +and her months at Charleston had scarcely disturbed +these hoary superstitions which lurk in the +dim corners of the brain. No lady in Clarence, +perhaps, would have remained undisturbed by a vivid +dream, three times repeated, of some event bearing +materially upon her own life. + +The first repetition of a dream was decisive of +nothing, for two dreams meant no more than one. +The power of the second lay in the suspense, the +uncertainty, to which it gave rise. Two doubled +the chance of a third. The day following this +second dream was an anxious one for Rena. She +could not for an instant dismiss her mother from +her thoughts, which were filled too with a certain +self-reproach. She had left her mother alone; if +her mother were really ill, there was no one at home +to tend her with loving care. This feeling grew +in force, until by nightfall Rena had become very +unhappy, and went to bed with the most dismal +forebodings. In this state of mind, it is not +surprising that she now dreamed that her mother was +lying at the point of death, and that she cried out +with heart-rending pathos:-- + +"Rena, my darlin', why did you forsake yo'r +pore old mother? Come back to me, honey; I'll +die ef I don't see you soon." + +The stress of subconscious emotion engendered +by the dream was powerful enough to wake Rena, +and her mother's utterance seemed to come to her +with the force of a fateful warning and a great +reproach. Her mother was sick and needed her, +and would die if she did not come. She felt that +she must see her mother,--it would be almost +like murder to remain away from her under such +circumstances. + +After breakfast she went into the business part +of the town and inquired at what time a train +would leave that would take her toward Patesville. +Since she had come away from the town, a railroad +had been opened by which the long river +voyage might be avoided, and, making allowance +for slow trains and irregular connections, the town +of Patesville could be reached by an all-rail route +in about twelve hours. Calling at the post-office +for the family mail, she found there a letter from +her mother, which she tore open in great excitement. +It was written in an unpracticed hand and +badly spelled, and was in effect as follows:-- + + +MY DEAR DAUGHTER,--I take my pen in hand +to let you know that I am not very well. I have +had a kind of misery in my side for two weeks, +with palpitations of the heart, and I have been in +bed for three days. I'm feeling mighty poorly, but +Dr. Green says that I'll get over it in a few days. +Old Aunt Zilphy is staying with me, and looking +after things tolerably well. I hope this will find +you and John enjoying good health. Give my +love to John, and I hope the Lord will bless him +and you too. Cousin Billy Oxendine has had a +rising on his neck, and has had to have it lanced. +Mary B. has another young one, a boy this time. +Old man Tom Johnson was killed last week while +trying to whip black Jim Brown, who lived down +on the Wilmington Road. Jim has run away. +There has been a big freshet in the river, and it +looked at one time as if the new bridge would be +washed away. + +Frank comes over every day or two and asks +about you. He says to tell you that he don't +believe you are coming back any more, but you are +to remember him, and that foolishness he said +about bringing you back from the end of the +world with his mule and cart. He's very good to +me, and brings over shavings and kindling-wood, +and made me a new well-bucket for nothing. It's +a comfort to talk to him about you, though I +haven't told him where you are living. + +I hope this will find you and John both well, +and doing well. I should like to see you, but if +it's the Lord's will that I shouldn't, I shall be +thankful anyway that you have done what was +the best for yourselves and your children, and that +I have given you up for your own good. + Your affectionate mother, + MARY WALDEN. + + +Rena shed tears over this simple letter, which, +to her excited imagination, merely confirmed the +warning of her dream. At the date of its writing +her mother had been sick in bed, with the symptoms +of a serious illness. She had no nurse but a +purblind old woman. Three days of progressive +illness had evidently been quite sufficient to reduce +her parent to the condition indicated by the third +dream. The thought that her mother might die +without the presence of any one who loved her +pierced Rena's heart like a knife and lent wings +to her feet. She wished for the enchanted horse +of which her brother had read to her so many +years before on the front piazza of the house +behind the cedars, that she might fly through the air +to her dying mother's side. She determined to go +at once to Patesville. + +Returning home, she wrote a letter to Warwick +inclosing their mother's letter, and stating that +she had dreamed an alarming dream for three +nights in succession; that she had left the house in +charge of the servants and gone to Patesville; and +that she would return as soon as her mother was +out of danger. + +To her lover she wrote that she had been called +away to visit a sick-bed, and would return very +soon, perhaps by the time he got back to Clarence. +These letters Rena posted on her way to the train, +which she took at five o'clock in the afternoon. +This would bring her to Patesville early in the +morning of the following day. + + + +XI + +A LETTER AND A JOURNEY + + +War has been called the court of last resort. +A lawsuit may with equal aptness be compared to +a battle--the parallel might be drawn very closely +all along the line. First we have the casus belli, +the cause of action; then the various protocols and +proclamations and general orders, by way of pleas, +demurrers, and motions; then the preliminary +skirmishes at the trial table; and then the final +struggle, in which might is quite as likely to prevail +as right, victory most often resting with the +strongest battalions, and truth and justice not +seldom overborne by the weight of odds upon the +other side. + +The lawsuit which Warwick and Tryon had +gone to try did not, however, reach this ultimate +stage, but, after a three days' engagement, resulted +in a treaty of peace. The case was compromised +and settled, and Tryon and Warwick set out on +their homeward drive. They stopped at a farm- +house at noon, and while at table saw the stage- +coach from the town they had just left, bound for +their own destination. In the mail-bag under the +driver's seat were Rena's two letters; they had +been delivered at the town in the morning, and +immediately remailed to Clarence, in accordance +with orders left at the post-office the evening +before. Tryon and Warwick drove leisurely homeward +through the pines, all unconscious of the fateful +squares of white paper moving along the road +a few miles before them, which a mother's yearning +and a daughter's love had thrown, like the apple of +discord, into the narrow circle of their happiness. + +They reached Clarence at four o'clock. Warwick +got down from the buggy at his office. Tryon +drove on to his hotel, to make a hasty toilet before +visiting his sweetheart. + +Warwick glanced at his mail, tore open the +envelope addressed in his sister's handwriting, and +read the contents with something like dismay. +She had gone away on the eve of her wedding, her +lover knew not where, to be gone no one knew +how long, on a mission which could not be frankly +disclosed. A dim foreboding of disaster flashed +across his mind. He thrust the letter into his +pocket, with others yet unopened, and started +toward his home. Reaching the gate, he paused a +moment and then walked on past the house. Tryon +would probably be there in a few minutes, and +he did not care to meet him without first having +had the opportunity for some moments of reflection. +He must fix upon some line of action in this +emergency. + +Meanwhile Tryon had reached his hotel and +opened his mail. The letter from Rena was read +first, with profound disappointment. He had +really made concessions in the settlement of that +lawsuit--had yielded several hundred dollars of +his just dues, in order that he might get back to +Rena three days earlier. Now he must cool his +heels in idleness for at least three days before she +would return. It was annoying, to say the least. +He wished to know where she had gone, that he +might follow her and stay near her until she should +be ready to come back. He might ask Warwick-- +no, she might have had some good reason for not +having mentioned her destination. She had +probably gone to visit some of the poor relations of +whom her brother had spoken so frankly, and she +would doubtless prefer that he should not see her +amid any surroundings but the best. Indeed, he +did not know that he would himself care to endanger, +by suggestive comparisons, the fine aureole of +superiority that surrounded her. She represented +in her adorable person and her pure heart the +finest flower of the finest race that God had ever +made--the supreme effort of creative power, than +which there could be no finer. The flower would +soon be his; why should he care to dig up the soil +in which it grew? + +Tryon went on opening his letters. There were +several bills and circulars, and then a letter from +his mother, of which he broke the seal:-- + + +MY DEAREST GEORGE,--This leaves us well. +Blanche is still with me, and we are impatiently +awaiting your return. In your absence she seems +almost like a daughter to me. She joins me in +the hope that your lawsuits are progressing favorably, +and that you will be with us soon. . . . + +On your way home, if it does not keep you +away from us too long, would it not be well for +you to come by way of Patesville, and find out +whether there is any prospect of our being able +to collect our claim against old Mr. Duncan +McSwayne's estate? You must have taken the papers +with you, along with the rest, for I do not find +them here. Things ought to be settled enough now +for people to realize on some of their securities. +Your grandfather always believed the note was +good, and meant to try to collect it, but the war +interfered. He said to me, before he died, that if +the note was ever collected, he would use the money +to buy a wedding present for your wife. Poor +father! he is dead and gone to heaven; but I am +sure that even there he would be happier if he +knew the note was paid and the money used as he +intended. + +If you go to Patesville, call on my cousin, Dr. +Ed. Green, and tell him who you are. Give him +my love. I haven't seen him for twenty years. +He used to be very fond of the ladies, a very gallant +man. He can direct you to a good lawyer, +no doubt. Hoping to see you soon, + Your loving mother, + ELIZABETH TRYON. + +P. S. Blanche joins me in love to you. + + +This affectionate and motherly letter did not +give Tryon unalloyed satisfaction. He was glad +to hear that his mother was well, but he had +hoped that Blanche Leary might have finished her +visit by this time. The reasonable inference from +the letter was that Blanche meant to await his +return. Her presence would spoil the fine romantic +flavor of the surprise he had planned for his +mother; it would never do to expose his bride to +an unannounced meeting with the woman whom he +had tacitly rejected. There would be one advantage +in such a meeting: the comparison of the +two women would be so much in Rena's favor +that his mother could not hesitate for a moment +between them. The situation, however, would +have elements of constraint, and he did not care +to expose either Rena or Blanche to any disagreeable +contingency. It would be better to take his +wife on a wedding trip, and notify his mother, +before he returned home, of his marriage. In the +extremely improbable case that she should disapprove +his choice after having seen his wife, the ice +would at least have been broken before his arrival +at home. + +"By Jove!" he exclaimed suddenly, striking +his knee with his hand, "why shouldn't I run up +to Patesville while Rena's gone? I can leave here +at five o'clock, and get there some time to-morrow +morning. I can transact my business during the +day, and get back the day after to-morrow; for +Rena might return ahead of time, just as we did, and +I shall want to be here when she comes; I'd rather +wait a year for a legal opinion on a doubtful old +note than to lose one day with my love. The +train goes in twenty minutes. My bag is already +packed. I'll just drop a line to George and tell +him where I've gone." + +He put Rena's letter into his breast pocket, and +turning to his trunk, took from it a handful of +papers relating to the claim in reference to which +he was going to Patesville. These he thrust into +the same pocket with Rena's letter; he wished to +read both letter and papers while on the train. It +would be a pleasure merely to hold the letter before +his eyes and look at the lines traced by her hand. +The papers he wished to study, for the more practical +purpose of examining into the merits of his +claim against the estate of Duncan McSwayne. + +When Warwick reached home, he inquired if +Mr. Tryon had called. + +"No, suh," answered the nurse, to whom he had +put the question; "he ain't be'n here yet, suh." + +Warwick was surprised and much disturbed. + +"De baby 's be'n cryin' for Miss Rena," +suggested the nurse, "an' I s'pec' he'd like to see you, +suh. Shall I fetch 'im?" + +"Yes, bring him to me." + +He took the child in his arms and went out upon +the piazza. Several porch pillows lay invitingly +near. He pushed them toward the steps with his +foot, sat down upon one, and placed little Albert +upon another. He was scarcely seated when a +messenger from the hotel came up the walk from +the gate and handed him a note. At the same +moment he heard the long shriek of the afternoon +train leaving the station on the opposite side of the +town. + +He tore the envelope open anxiously, read the +note, smiled a sickly smile, and clenched the paper +in his hand unconsciously. There was nothing he +could do. The train had gone; there was no +telegraph to Patesville, and no letter could leave +Clarence for twenty-four hours. The best laid +schemes go wrong at times--the stanchest ships +are sometimes wrecked, or skirt the breakers +perilously. Life is a sea, full of strange currents +and uncharted reefs--whoever leaves the traveled +path must run the danger of destruction. Warwick +was a lawyer, however, and accustomed to +balance probabilities. + +"He may easily be in Patesville a day or two +without meeting her. She will spend most of her +time at mother's bedside, and he will be occupied +with his own affairs." + +If Tryon should meet her--well, he was very +much in love, and he had spoken very nobly of +birth and blood. Warwick would have preferred, +nevertheless, that Tryon's theories should not be +put to this particular test. Rena's scruples had so +far been successfully combated; the question would +be opened again, and the situation unnecessarily +complicated, if Tryon should meet Rena in Patesville. + +"Will he or will he not?" he asked himself. +He took a coin from his pocket and spun it upon +the floor. "Heads, he sees her; tails, he does +not." + +The coin spun swiftly and steadily, leaving upon +the eye the impression of a revolving sphere. Little +Albert, left for a moment to his own devices, had +crept behind his father and was watching the whirling +disk with great pleasure. He felt that he would +like to possess this interesting object. The coin +began to move more slowly, and was wabbling to its +fall, when the child stretched forth his chubby fist +and caught it ere it touched the floor. + + + +XII + +TRYON GOES TO PATESVILLE + + +Tryon arrived in the early morning and put +up at the Patesville Hotel, a very comfortable inn. +After a bath, breakfast, and a visit to the barbershop, +he inquired of the hotel clerk the way to the +office of Dr. Green, his mother's cousin. + +"On the corner, sir," answered the clerk, "by the +market-house, just over the drugstore. The doctor +drove past here only half an hour ago. You'll +probably catch him in his office." + +Tryon found the office without difficulty. He +climbed the stair, but found no one in except a +young colored man seated in the outer office, who +rose promptly as Tryon entered. + +"No, suh," replied the man to Tryon's question, +"he ain't hyuh now. He's gone out to see a +patient, suh, but he'll be back soon. Won't you +set down in de private office an' wait fer 'im, suh?" + +Tryon had not slept well during his journey, and +felt somewhat fatigued. Through the open door +of the next room he saw an inviting armchair, +with a window at one side, and upon the other a +table strewn with papers and magazines. + +"Yes," he answered, "I'll wait." + +He entered the private office, sank into the armchair, +and looked out of the window upon the square +below. The view was mildly interesting. The old +brick market-house with the tower was quite +picturesque. On a wagon-scale at one end the public +weighmaster was weighing a load of hay. In the +booths under the wide arches several old negro +women were frying fish on little charcoal stoves-- +the odor would have been appetizing to one who +had not breakfasted. On the shady side stood half +a dozen two-wheeled carts, loaded with lightwood +and drawn by diminutive steers, or superannuated +army mules branded on the flank with the cabalistic +letters "C. S. A.," which represented a vanished +dream, or "U. S. A.," which, as any negro about +the market-house would have borne witness, signified +a very concrete fact. Now and then a lady or +gentleman passed with leisurely step--no one ever +hurried in Patesville--or some poor white sandhiller +slouched listlessly along toward store or bar-room. + +Tryon mechanically counted the slabs of gingerbread +on the nearest market-stall, and calculated +the cubical contents of several of the meagre loads +of wood. Having exhausted the view, he turned +to the table at his elbow and picked up a medical +journal, in which he read first an account of a +marvelous surgical operation. Turning the leaves +idly, he came upon an article by a Southern writer, +upon the perennial race problem that has vexed +the country for a century. The writer maintained +that owing to a special tendency of the negro blood, +however diluted, to revert to the African type, any +future amalgamation of the white and black races, +which foolish and wicked Northern negrophiles +predicted as the ultimate result of the new conditions +confronting the South, would therefore be an +ethnological impossibility; for the smallest trace +of negro blood would inevitably drag down the +superior race to the level of the inferior, and reduce +the fair Southland, already devastated by the hand +of the invader, to the frightful level of Hayti, the +awful example of negro incapacity. To forefend +their beloved land, now doubly sanctified by the +blood of her devoted sons who had fallen in the +struggle to maintain her liberties and preserve her +property, it behooved every true Southron to stand +firm against the abhorrent tide of radicalism, to +maintain the supremacy and purity of his all- +pervading, all-conquering race, and to resist by +every available means the threatened domination of +an inferior and degraded people, who were set to +rule hereditary freemen ere they had themselves +scarce ceased to be slaves. + +When Tryon had finished the article, which +seemed to him a well-considered argument, albeit +a trifle bombastic, he threw the book upon the table. +Finding the armchair wonderfully comfortable, and +feeling the fatigue of his journey, he yielded to a +drowsy impulse, leaned his head on the cushioned +back of the chair, and fell asleep. According to +the habit of youth, he dreamed, and pursuant to his +own individual habit, he dreamed of Rena. They +were walking in the moonlight, along the quiet road +in front of her brother's house. The air was +redolent with the perfume of flowers. His arm +was around her waist. He had asked her if she +loved him, and was awaiting her answer in tremulous +but confident expectation. She opened her lips +to speak. The sound that came from them seemed +to be:-- + +"Is Dr. Green in? No? Ask him, when he comes +back, please, to call at our house as soon as he can." + +Tryon was in that state of somnolence in which +one may dream and yet be aware that one is +dreaming,--the state where one, during a dream, +dreams that one pinches one's self to be sure that +one is not dreaming. He was therefore aware of a +ringing quality about the words he had just heard +that did not comport with the shadowy converse +of a dream--an incongruity in the remark, too, +which marred the harmony of the vision. The +shock was sufficient to disturb Tryon's slumber, +and he struggled slowly back to consciousness. +When fully awake, he thought he heard a light +footfall descending the stairs. + +"Was there some one here?" he inquired of +the attendant in the outer office, who was visible +through the open door. + +"Yas, suh," replied the boy, "a young cullud +'oman wuz in jes' now, axin' fer de doctuh." + +Tryon felt a momentary touch of annoyance that +a negro woman should have intruded herself into +his dream at its most interesting point. Nevertheless, +the voice had been so real, his imagination had +reproduced with such exactness the dulcet tones so +dear to him, that he turned his head involuntarily +and looked out of the window. He could just see +the flutter of a woman's skirt disappearing around +the corner. + +A moment later the doctor came bustling in,-- +a plump, rosy man of fifty or more, with a frank, +open countenance and an air of genial good nature. +Such a doctor, Tryon fancied, ought to enjoy a +wide popularity. His mere presence would suggest +life and hope and healthfulness. + +"My dear boy," exclaimed the doctor cordially, +after Tryon had introduced himself, "I'm delighted +to meet you--or any one of the old blood. +Your mother and I were sweethearts, long ago, +when we both wore pinafores, and went to see our +grandfather at Christmas; and I met her more +than once, and paid her more than one compliment, +after she had grown to be a fine young woman. +You're like her! too, but not quite so handsome-- +you've more of what I suppose to be the Tryon +favor, though I never met your father. So one of +old Duncan McSwayne's notes went so far as that? +Well, well, I don't know where you won't find +them. One of them turned up here the other day +from New York. + +"The man you want to see," he added later in +the conversation, "is old Judge Straight. He's +getting somewhat stiff in the joints, but he knows +more law, and more about the McSwayne estate, +than any other two lawyers in town. If anybody +can collect your claim, Judge Straight can. I'll +send my boy Dave over to his office. Dave," he +called to his attendant, "run over to Judge +Straight's office and see if he's there. + +"There was a freshet here a few weeks ago," +he want on, when the colored man had departed, +"and they had to open the flood-gates and let the +water out of the mill pond, for if the dam had +broken, as it did twenty years ago, it would have +washed the pillars from under the judge's office +and let it down in the creek, and"-- + +"Jedge Straight ain't in de office jes' now, +suh," reported the doctor's man Dave, from the +head of the stairs. + +"Did you ask when he'd be back?" + +"No, suh, you didn't tell me ter, suh." + +"Well, now, go back and inquire. + +"The niggers," he explained to Tryon, "are +getting mighty trifling since they've been freed. +Before the war, that boy would have been around +there and back before you could say Jack Robinson; +now, the lazy rascal takes his time just like +a white man." + +Dave returned more promptly than from his +first trip. "Jedge Straight's dere now, suh," he +said. "He's done come in." + +"I'll take you right around and introduce you," +said the doctor, running on pleasantly, like a +babbling brook. "I don't know whether the judge +ever met your mother or not, but he knows a +gentleman when he sees one, and will be glad to +meet you and look after your affair. See to the +patients, Dave, and say I'll be back shortly, and +don't forget any messages left for me. Look +sharp, now! You know your failing!" + +They found Judge Straight in his office. He +was seated by the rear window, and had fallen +into a gentle doze--the air of Patesville was +conducive to slumber. A visitor from some +bustling city might have rubbed his eyes, on any but a +market-day, and imagined the whole town asleep +--that the people were somnambulists and did not +know it. The judge, an old hand, roused himself +so skillfully, at the sound of approaching footsteps, +that his visitors could not guess but that he had +been wide awake. He shook hands with the doctor, +and acknowledged the introduction to Tryon with +a rare old-fashioned courtesy, which the young man +thought a very charming survival of the manners +of a past and happier age. + +"No," replied the judge, in answer to a question +by Dr. Green, "I never met his mother; I was a +generation ahead of her. I was at school with her +father, however, fifty years ago--fifty years ago! +No doubt that seems to you a long time, young +gentleman?" + +"It is a long time, sir," replied Tryon. "I +must live more than twice as long as I have in +order to cover it." + +"A long time, and a troubled time," sighed the +judge. "I could wish that I might see this unhappy +land at peace with itself before I die. +Things are in a sad tangle; I can't see the way +out. But the worst enemy has been slain, in spite +of us. We are well rid of slavery." + +"But the negro we still have with us," +remarked the doctor, "for here comes my man +Dave. What is it, Dave?" he asked sharply, as +the negro stuck his head in at the door. + +"Doctuh Green," he said, "I fuhgot ter tell +you, suh, dat dat young 'oman wuz at de office +agin jes' befo' you come in, an' said fer you to go +right down an' see her mammy ez soon ez you +could." + +"Ah, yes, and you've just remembered it! I'm +afraid you're entirely too forgetful for a doctor's +office. You forgot about old Mrs. Latimer, the +other day, and when I got there she had almost +choked to death. Now get back to the office, and +remember, the next time you forget anything, I'll +hire another boy; remember that! That boy's +head," he remarked to his companions, after Dave +had gone, "reminds me of nothing so much as a +dried gourd, with a handful of cowpeas rattling +around it, in lieu of gray matter. An old woman +out in Redbank got a fishbone in her throat, the +other day, and nearly choked to death before I got +there. A white woman, sir, came very near losing +her life because of a lazy, trifling negro!" + +"I should think you would discharge him, sir," +suggested Tryon. + +"What would be the use?" rejoined the doctor. +"All negroes are alike, except that now and then +there's a pretty woman along the border-line. +Take this patient of mine, for instance,--I'll call +on her after dinner, her case is not serious,--thirty +years ago she would have made any man turn his +head to look at her. You know who I mean, +don't you, judge?" + +"Yes. I think so," said the judge promptly. +"I've transacted a little business for her now and +then." + +"I don't know whether you've seen the daughter +or not--I'm sure you haven't for the past +year or so, for she's been away. But she's in +town now, and, by Jove, the girl is really beautiful. +And I'm a judge of beauty. Do you remember +my wife thirty years ago, judge?" + +"She was a very handsome woman, Ed," replied +the other judicially. "If I had been twenty years +younger, I should have cut you out." + +"You mean you would have tried. But as I +was saying, this girl is a beauty; I reckon we +might guess where she got some of it, eh, Judge? +Human nature is human nature, but it's a d--d +shame that a man should beget a child like that +and leave it to live the life open for a negro. If +she had been born white, the young fellows would +be tumbling over one another to get her. Her +mother would have to look after her pretty closely +as things are, if she stayed here; but she +disappeared mysteriously a year or two ago, and has +been at the North, I'm told, passing for white. +She'll probably marry a Yankee; he won't know +any better, and it will serve him right--she's +only too white for them. She has a very striking +figure, something on the Greek order, stately and +slow-moving. She has the manners of a lady, too +--a beautiful woman, if she is a nigger!" + +"I quite agree with you, Ed," remarked the +judge dryly, "that the mother had better look +closely after the daughter." + +"Ah, no, judge," replied the other, with a +flattered smile, "my admiration for beauty is purely +abstract. Twenty-five years ago, when I was +younger"-- + +"When you were young," corrected the judge. + +"When you and I were younger," continued +the doctor ingeniously,--"twenty-five years ago, I +could not have answered for myself. But I would +advise the girl to stay at the North, if she can. +She's certainly out of place around here." + +Tryon found the subject a little tiresome, and +the doctor's enthusiasm not at all contagious. He +could not possibly have been interested in a colored +girl, under any circumstances, and he was +engaged to be married to the most beautiful white +woman on earth. To mention a negro woman in +the same room where he was thinking of Rena +seemed little short of profanation. His friend the +doctor was a jovial fellow, but it was surely doubtful +taste to refer to his wife in such a conversation. +He was very glad when the doctor dropped the +subject and permitted him to go more into detail +about the matter which formed his business in +Patesville. He took out of his pocket the papers +concerning the McSwayne claim and laid them on +the judge's desk. + +"You'll find everything there, sir,--the note, +the contract, and some correspondence that will +give you the hang of the thing. Will you be able +to look over them to-day? I should like," he added +a little nervously, "to go back to-morrow." + +"What!" exclaimed Dr. Green vivaciously, +"insult our town by staying only one day? It +won't be long enough to get acquainted with our +young ladies. Patesville girls are famous for their +beauty. But perhaps there's a loadstone in South +Carolina to draw you back? Ah, you change color! +To my mind there's nothing finer than the ingenuous +blush of youth. But we'll spare you if you'll +answer one question--is it serious?" + +"I'm to be married in two weeks, sir," answered +Tryon. The statement sounded very pleasant, in +spite of the slight embarrassment caused by the +inquiry. + +"Good boy!" rejoined the doctor, taking his +arm familiarly--they were both standing now. +"You ought to have married a Patesville girl, but +you people down towards the eastern counties +seldom come this way, and we are evidently too late +to catch you." + +"I'll look your papers over this morning," said +the judge, "and when I come from dinner will +stop at the court house and examine the records +and see whether there's anything we can get hold +of. If you'll drop in around three or four o'clock, +I may be able to give you an opinion." + +"Now, George," exclaimed the doctor, "we'll +go back to the office for a spell, and then I'll take +you home with me to luncheon." + +Tryon hesitated. + +"Oh, you must come! Mrs. Green would never +forgive me if I didn't bring you. Strangers are +rare birds in our society, and when they come we +make them welcome. Our enemies may overturn +our institutions, and try to put the bottom rail on +top, but they cannot destroy our Southern hospitality. +There are so many carpet-baggers and other +social vermin creeping into the South, with the +Yankees trying to force the niggers on us, that it's +a genuine pleasure to get acquainted with another +real Southern gentleman, whom one can invite into +one's house without fear of contamination, and before +whom one can express his feelings freely and +be sure of perfect sympathy." + + + +XIII + +AN INJUDICIOUS PAYMENT + + +When Judge Straight's visitors had departed, +he took up the papers which had been laid loosely +on the table as they were taken out of Tryon's breast- +pocket, and commenced their perusal. There was +a note for five hundred dollars, many years overdue, +but not yet outlawed by lapse of time; a +contract covering the transaction out of which the +note had grown; and several letters and copies of +letters modifying the terms of the contract. The +judge had glanced over most of the papers, and +was getting well into the merits of the case, when +he unfolded a letter which read as follows:-- + + +MY DEAREST GEORGE,-- I am going away +for about a week, to visit the bedside of an old +friend, who is very ill, and may not live. Do not +be alarmed about me, for I shall very likely be +back by the time you are. + Yours lovingly, + ROWENA WARWICK. + + +The judge was unable to connect this letter with +the transaction which formed the subject of his +examination. Age had dimmed his perceptions +somewhat, and it was not until he had finished +the letter, and read it over again, and noted the +signature at the bottom a second time, that he +perceived that the writing was in a woman's hand, +that the ink was comparatively fresh, and that +the letter was dated only a couple of days before. +While he still held the sheet in his hand, it +dawned upon him slowly that he held also one of +the links in a chain of possible tragedy which he +himself, he became uncomfortably aware, had had +a hand in forging. + +"It is the Walden woman's daughter, as sure as +fate! Her name is Rena. Her brother goes by +the name of Warwick. She has come to visit her +sick mother. My young client, Green's relation, is +her lover--is engaged to marry her--is in town, +and is likely to meet her!" + +The judge was so absorbed in the situation +thus suggested that he laid the papers down and +pondered for a moment the curious problem +involved. He was quite aware that two races had +not dwelt together, side by side, for nearly three +hundred years, without mingling their blood in +greater or less degree; he was old enough, and had +seen curious things enough, to know that in this +mingling the current had not always flowed in +one direction. Certain old decisions with which +he was familiar; old scandals that had crept along +obscure channels; old facts that had come to the +knowledge of an old practitioner, who held in the +hollow of his hand the honor of more than one +family, made him know that there was dark blood +among the white people--not a great deal, and +that very much diluted, and, so long as it was +sedulously concealed or vigorously denied, or lost +in the mists of tradition, or ascribed to a foreign or +an aboriginal strain, having no perceptible effect +upon the racial type. + +Such people were, for the most part, merely on +the ragged edge of the white world, seldom rising +above the level of overseers, or slave-catchers, or +sheriff's officers, who could usually be relied upon +to resent the drop of black blood that tainted them, +and with the zeal of the proselyte to visit their +hatred of it upon the unfortunate blacks that fell +into their hands. One curse of negro slavery +was, and one part of its baleful heritage is, that +it poisoned the fountains of human sympathy. +Under a system where men might sell their own +children without social reprobation or loss of +prestige, it was not surprising that some of them +should hate their distant cousins. There were +not in Patesville half a dozen persons capable +of thinking Judge Straight's thoughts upon the +question before him, and perhaps not another who +would have adopted the course he now pursued +toward this anomalous family in the house behind +the cedars. + +"Well, here we are again, as the clown in the +circus remarks," murmured the judge. "Ten years +ago, in a moment of sentimental weakness and of +quixotic loyalty to the memory of an old friend,-- +who, by the way, had not cared enough for his own +children to take them away from the South, as he +might have done, or to provide for them handsomely, +as he perhaps meant to do,--I violated the traditions +of my class and stepped from the beaten path +to help the misbegotten son of my old friend out of +the slough of despond, in which he had learned, in +some strange way, that he was floundering. Ten +years later, the ghost of my good deed returns to +haunt me, and makes me doubt whether I have +wrought more evil than good. I wonder," he mused, +"if he will find her out?" + +The judge was a man of imagination; he had +read many books and had personally outlived some +prejudices. He let his mind run on the various +phases of the situation. + +"If he found her out, would he by any +possibility marry her?" + +"It is not likely," he answered himself. "If he +made the discovery here, the facts would probably +leak out in the town. It is something that a man +might do in secret, but only a hero or a fool would +do openly." + +The judge sighed as he contemplated another +possibility. He had lived for seventy years under +the old regime. The young man was a gentleman +--so had been the girl's father. Conditions were +changed, but human nature was the same. Would +the young man's love turn to disgust and repulsion, +or would it merely sink from the level of worship +to that of desire? Would the girl, denied marriage, +accept anything less? Her mother had,--but +conditions were changed. Yes, conditions were +changed, so far as the girl was concerned; there +was a possible future for her under the new order +of things; but white people had not changed their +opinion of the negroes, except for the worse. The +general belief was that they were just as inferior as +before, and had, moreover, been spoiled by a +disgusting assumption of equality, driven into their +thick skulls by Yankee malignity bent upon humiliating +a proud though vanquished foe. + +If the judge had had sons and daughters of his +own, he might not have done what he now proceeded +to do. But the old man's attitude toward society +was chiefly that of an observer, and the narrow +stream of sentiment left in his heart chose to flow +toward the weaker party in this unequal conflict, +--a young woman fighting for love and opportunity +against the ranked forces of society, against +immemorial tradition, against pride of family and +of race. + +"It may be the unwisest thing I ever did," he +said to himself, turning to his desk and taking up +a quill pen, "and may result in more harm than +good; but I was always from childhood in sympathy +with the under dog. There is certainly as much +reason in my helping the girl as the boy, for being +a woman, she is less able to help herself." + +He dipped his pen into the ink and wrote the +following lines:-- + + +MADAM,--If you value your daughter's happiness, +keep her at home for the next day or two. + + +This note he dried by sprinkling it with sand +from a box near at hand, signed with his own name, +and, with a fine courtesy, addressed to "Mrs. Molly +Walden." Having first carefully sealed it in an +envelope, he stepped to the open door, and spied, +playing marbles on the street near by, a group +of negro boys, one of whom the judge called by +name. + +"Here, Billy," he said, handing the boy the +note, "take this to Mis' Molly Walden. Do you +know where she lives--down on Front Street, in +the house behind the cedars?" + +"Yas, suh, I knows de place." + +"Make haste, now. When you come back and +tell me what she says, I'll give you ten cents. On +second thoughts, I shall be gone to lunch, so +here's your money," he added, handing the lad +the bit of soiled paper by which the United States +government acknowledged its indebtedness to the +bearer in the sum of ten cents. + +Just here, however, the judge made his mistake. +Very few mortals can spare the spring of hope, +the motive force of expectation. The boy kept +the note in his hand, winked at his companions, +who had gathered as near as their awe of the judge +would permit, and started down the street. As +soon as the judge had disappeared, Billy beckoned +to his friends, who speedily overtook him. When +the party turned the corner of Front Street and +were safely out of sight of Judge Straight's office, +the capitalist entered the grocery store and +invested his unearned increment in gingerbread. +When the ensuing saturnalia was over, Billy +finished the game of marbles which the judge had +interrupted, and then set out to execute his +commission. He had nearly reached his objective +point when he met upon the street a young white +lady, whom he did not know, and for whom, the +path being narrow at that point, he stepped out +into the gutter. He reached the house behind +the cedars, went round to the back door, and +handed the envelope to Mis' Molly, who was +seated on the rear piazza, propped up by pillows +in a comfortable rocking-chair. + +"Laws-a-massy!" she exclaimed weakly, "what +is it?" + +"It's a lettuh, ma'm," answered the boy, whose +expanding nostrils had caught a pleasant odor +from the kitchen, and who was therefore in no +hurry to go away. + +"Who's it fur?" she asked. + +"It's fuh you, ma'm," replied the lad. + +"An' who's it from?" she inquired, turning +the envelope over and over, and examining it with +the impotent curiosity of one who cannot read. + +"F'm ole Jedge Straight, ma'm. He tole me +ter fetch it ter you. Is you got a roasted 'tater +you could gimme, ma'm?" + +"Shorely, chile. I'll have Aunt Zilphy fetch +you a piece of 'tater pone, if you'll hol' on a +minute." + +She called to Aunt Zilphy, who soon came +hobbling out of the kitchen with a large square of +the delicacy,--a flat cake made of mashed sweet +potatoes, mixed with beaten eggs, sweetened and +flavored to suit the taste, and baked in a Dutch +oven upon the open hearth. + +The boy took the gratuity, thanked her, and +turned to go. Mis' Molly was still scanning the +superscription of the letter. "I wonder," she +murmured, "what old Judge Straight can be writin' +to me about. Oh, boy!" + +"Yas 'm," answered the messenger, looking +back. + +"Can you read writin'?" + +"No 'm." + +"All right. Never mind." + +She laid the letter carefully on the chimney- +piece of the kitchen. "I reckon it's somethin' +mo' 'bout the taxes," she thought, "or maybe +somebody wants to buy one er my lots. Rena'll +be back terreckly, an' she kin read it an' find out. +I'm glad my child'en have be'n to school. They +never could have got where they are now if they +hadn't." + + + +XIV + +A LOYAL FRIEND + + +Mention has been made of certain addressed +envelopes which John Warwick, on the occasion +of his visit to Patesville, had left with his +illiterate mother, by the use of which she might +communicate with her children from time to time. +On one occasion, Mis' Molly, having had a letter +written, took one of these envelopes from the chest +where she kept her most valued possessions, and +was about to inclose the letter when some one +knocked at the back door. She laid the envelope +and letter on a table in her bedroom, and went to +answer the knock. The wind, blowing across the +room through the open windows, picked up the +envelope and bore it into the street. Mis' Molly, +on her return, missed it, looked for it, and being +unable to find it, took another envelope. An hour +or two later another gust of wind lifted the bit +of paper from the ground and carried it into the +open door of the cooper shop. Frank picked it +up, and observing that it was clean and unused, +read the superscription. In his conversations with +Mis' Molly, which were often about Rena,--the +subject uppermost in both their minds,--he had +noted the mystery maintained by Mis' Molly about +her daughter's whereabouts, and had often wondered +where she might be. Frank was an intelligent +fellow, and could put this and that together. +The envelope was addressed to a place in South +Carolina. He was aware, from some casual remark +of Mis' Molly's, that Rena had gone to live +in South Carolina. Her son's name was John-- +that he had changed his last name was more than +likely. Frank was not long in reaching the +conclusion that Rena was to be found near the town +named on the envelope, which he carefully preserved +for future reference. + +For a whole year Frank had yearned for a smile +or a kind word from the only woman in the world. +Peter, his father, had rallied him somewhat upon +his moodiness after Rena's departure. + +"Now 's de time, boy, fer you ter be lookin' +roun' fer some nice gal er yo' own color, w'at'll +'preciate you, an' won't be 'shamed er you. You're +wastin' time, boy, wastin' time, shootin' at a mark +outer yo' range." + +But Frank said nothing in reply, and afterwards +the old man, who was not without discernment, +respected his son's mood and was silent in turn; +while Frank fed his memory with his imagination, +and by their joint aid kept hope alive. + +Later an opportunity to see her presented itself. +Business in the cooper shop was dull. A barrel +factory had been opened in the town, and had +well-nigh paralyzed the cooper's trade. The best +mechanic could hardly compete with a machine. +One man could now easily do the work of Peter's +shop. An agent appeared in town seeking laborers +for one of the railroads which the newly organized +carpet-bag governments were promoting. +Upon inquiry Frank learned that their destination +was near the town of Clarence, South Carolina. +He promptly engaged himself for the service, and +was soon at work in the neighborhood of Warwick's +home. There he was employed steadily +until a certain holiday, upon which a grand +tournament was advertised to take place in a +neighboring town. Work was suspended, and foremen and +laborers attended the festivities. + +Frank had surmised that Rena would be present +on such an occasion. He had more than guessed, +too, that she must be looked for among the white +people rather than among the black. Hence the +interest with which he had scanned the grand stand. +The result has already been recounted. He had +recognized her sweet face; he had seen her +enthroned among the proudest and best. He had +witnessed and gloried in her triumph. He had seen +her cheek flushed with pleasure, her eyes lit up with +smiles. He had followed her carriage, had made +the acquaintance of Mimy the nurse, and had +learned all about the family. When finally he left +the neighborhood to return to Patesville, he had +learned of Tryon's attentions, and had heard the +servants' gossip with reference to the marriage, +of which they knew the details long before the +principals had approached the main fact. Frank +went away without having received one smile or +heard one word from Rena; but he had seen her: +she was happy; he was content in the knowledge of +her happiness. She was doubtless secure in the +belief that her secret was unknown. Why should he, +by revealing his presence, sow the seeds of doubt +or distrust in the garden of her happiness? He +sacrificed the deepest longing of a faithful heart, +and went back to the cooper shop lest perchance she +might accidentally come upon him some day and +suffer the shock which he had sedulously spared her. + +"I would n' want ter skeer her," he mused, "er +make her feel bad, an' dat's w'at I'd mos' lackly do +ef she seed me. She'll be better off wid me out'n +de road. She'll marry dat rich w'ite gent'eman,-- +he won't never know de diffe'nce,--an' be a w'ite +lady, ez she would 'a' be'n, ef some ole witch had n' +changed her in her cradle. But maybe some time +she'll 'member de little nigger w'at use' ter nuss +her w'en she woz a chile, an' fished her out'n de ole +canal, an' would 'a' died fer her ef it would 'a' done +any good." + +Very generously too, and with a fine delicacy, +he said nothing to Mis' Molly of his having seen +her daughter, lest she might be disquieted by the +knowledge that he shared the family secret,--no +great mystery now, this pitiful secret, but more far- +reaching in its consequences than any blood-curdling +crime. The taint of black blood was the unpardonable +sin, from the unmerited penalty of which there +was no escape except by concealment. If there be +a dainty reader of this tale who scorns a lie, and +who writes the story of his life upon his sleeve for +all the world to read, let him uncurl his scornful +lip and come down from the pedestal of superior +morality, to which assured position and wide +opportunity have lifted him, and put himself in the +place of Rena and her brother, upon whom God had +lavished his best gifts, and from whom society would +have withheld all that made these gifts valuable. +To undertake what they tried to do required great +courage. Had they possessed the sneaking, cringing, +treacherous character traditionally ascribed +to people of mixed blood--the character which the +blessed institutions of a free slave-holding republic +had been well adapted to foster among them; had +they been selfish enough to sacrifice to their +ambition the mother who gave them birth, society would +have been placated or humbugged, and the voyage +of their life might have been one of unbroken +smoothness. + +When Rena came back unexpectedly at the +behest of her dream, Frank heard again the music +of her voice, felt the joy of her presence and the +benison of her smile. There was, however, a subtle +difference in her bearing. Her words were not less +kind, but they seemed to come from a remoter +source. She was kind, as the sun is warm or the +rain refreshing; she was especially kind to Frank, +because he had been good to her mother. If Frank +felt the difference in her attitude, he ascribed it to +the fact that she had been white, and had taken on +something of the white attitude toward the negro; +and Frank, with an equal unconsciousness, clothed +her with the attributes of the superior race. Only +her drop of black blood, he conceived, gave him the +right to feel toward her as he would never have +felt without it; and if Rena guessed her faithful +devotee's secret, the same reason saved his worship +from presumption. A smile and a kind word were +little enough to pay for a life's devotion. + +On the third day of Rena's presence in Patesville, +Frank was driving up Front Street in the +early afternoon, when he nearly fell off his cart +in astonishment as he saw seated in Dr. Green's +buggy, which was standing in front of the Patesville +Hotel, the young gentleman who had won the +prize at the tournament, and who, as he had learned, +was to marry Rena. Frank was quite certain that +she did not know of Tryon's presence in the town. +Frank had been over to Mis' Molly's in the morning, +and had offered his services to the sick woman, +who had rapidly become convalescent upon her +daughter's return. Mis' Molly had spoken of some +camphor that she needed. Frank had volunteered +to get it. Rena had thanked him, and had spoken +of going to the drugstore during the afternoon. It +was her intention to leave Patesville on the following day. + +"Ef dat man sees her in dis town," said Frank +to himself, "dere'll be trouble. She don't know +HE'S here, an' I'll bet he don't know SHE'S here." + +Then Frank was assailed by a very strong +temptation. If, as he surmised, the joint presence of the +two lovers in Patesville was a mere coincidence, a +meeting between them would probably result in the +discovery of Rena's secret. + +"If she's found out," argued the tempter, +"she'll come back to her mother, and you can see +her every day." + +But Frank's love was not of the selfish kind. +He put temptation aside, and applied the whip to +the back of his mule with a vigor that astonished the +animal and moved him to unwonted activity. In +an unusually short space of time he drew up before +Mis' Molly's back gate, sprang from the cart, and +ran up to Mis' Molly on the porch. + +"Is Miss Rena here?" he demanded breathlessly. + +"No, Frank; she went up town 'bout an hour ago +to see the doctor an' git me some camphor gum." + +Frank uttered a groan, rushed from the house, +sprang into the cart, and goaded the terrified mule +into a gallop that carried him back to the market +house in half the time it had taken him to reach +Mis' Molly's. + +"I wonder what in the worl 's the matter with +Frank," mused Mis' Molly, in vague alarm. "Ef +he hadn't be'n in such a hurry, I'd 'a' axed him +to read Judge Straight's letter. But Rena'll be +home soon." + +When Frank reached the doctor's office, he saw +Tryon seated in the doctor's buggy, which was +standing by the window of the drugstore. Frank +ran upstairs and asked the doctor's man if Miss +Walden had been there. + +"Yas," replied Dave, "she wuz here a little +w'ile ago, an' said she wuz gwine downstairs ter de +drugsto'. I would n' be s'prise' ef you'd fin' her +dere now." + + + +XV + +MINE OWN PEOPLE + + +The drive by which Dr. Green took Tryon to +his own house led up Front Street about a mile, to +the most aristocratic portion of the town, situated +on the hill known as Haymount, or, more briefly, +"The Hill." The Hill had lost some of its former +glory, however, for the blight of a four years' war +was everywhere. After reaching the top of this +wooded eminence, the road skirted for some little +distance the brow of the hill. Below them lay the +picturesque old town, a mass of vivid green, dotted +here and there with gray roofs that rose above the +tree-tops. Two long ribbons of streets stretched +away from the Hill to the faint red line that marked +the high bluff beyond the river at the farther side +of the town. The market-house tower and the +slender spires of half a dozen churches were sharply +outlined against the green background. The face +of the clock was visible, but the hours could have +been read only by eyes of phenomenal sharpness. +Around them stretched ruined walls, dismantled +towers, and crumbling earthworks--footprints of +the god of war, one of whose temples had crowned +this height. For many years before the rebellion a +Federal arsenal had been located at Patesville. +Seized by the state troops upon the secession of +North Carolina, it had been held by the Confederates +until the approach of Sherman's victorious +army, whereupon it was evacuated and partially +destroyed. The work of destruction begun by the +retreating garrison was completed by the conquerors, +and now only ruined walls and broken cannon +remained of what had once been the chief ornament +and pride of Patesville. + +The front of Dr. Green's spacious brick house, +which occupied an ideally picturesque site, was +overgrown by a network of clinging vines, +contrasting most agreeably with the mellow red +background. A low brick wall, also overrun with +creepers, separated the premises from the street +and shut in a well-kept flower garden, in which +Tryon, who knew something of plants, noticed +many rare and beautiful specimens. + +Mrs. Green greeted Tryon cordially. He did +not have the doctor's memory with which to fill out +the lady's cheeks or restore the lustre of her hair +or the sparkle of her eyes, and thereby justify her +husband's claim to be a judge of beauty; but her +kind-hearted hospitality was obvious, and might +have made even a plain woman seem handsome. +She and her two fair daughters, to whom Tryon +was duly presented, looked with much favor upon +their handsome young kinsman; for among the +people of Patesville, perhaps by virtue of the +prevalence of Scottish blood, the ties of blood were +cherished as things of value, and never forgotten +except in case of the unworthy--an exception, by +the way, which one need hardly go so far to seek. + +The Patesville people were not exceptional in +the weaknesses and meannesses which are common +to all mankind, but for some of the finer social +qualities they were conspicuously above the average. +Kindness, hospitality, loyalty, a chivalrous +deference to women,--all these things might be +found in large measure by those who saw Patesville +with the eyes of its best citizens, and accepted +their standards of politics, religion, manners, and +morals. + +The doctor, after the introductions, excused +himself for a moment. Mrs. Green soon left +Tryon with the young ladies and went to look +after luncheon. Her first errand, however, was +to find the doctor. + +"Is he well off, Ed?" she asked her husband. + +"Lots of land, and plenty of money, if he is +ever able to collect it. He has inherited two +estates." + +"He's a good-looking fellow," she mused. "Is +he married?" + +"There you go again," replied her husband, +shaking his forefinger at her in mock reproach. +"To a woman with marriageable daughters all +roads lead to matrimony, the centre of a woman's +universe. All men must be sized up by their +matrimonial availability. No, he isn't married." + +"That's nice," she rejoined reflectively. "I +think we ought to ask him to stay with us while he +is in town, don't you?" + +"He's not married," rejoined the doctor slyly, +"but the next best thing--he's engaged." + +"Come to think of it," said the lady, "I'm +afraid we wouldn't have the room to spare, and +the girls would hardly have time to entertain him. +But we'll have him up several times. I like his +looks. I wish you had sent me word he was coming; +I'd have had a better luncheon." + +"Make him a salad," rejoined the doctor, "and +get out a bottle of the best claret. Thank God, +the Yankees didn't get into my wine cellar! The +young man must be treated with genuine Southern +hospitality,--even if he were a Mormon and married +ten times over." + +"Indeed, he would not, Ed,--the idea! I'm +ashamed of you. Hurry back to the parlor and +talk to him. The girls may want to primp a little +before luncheon; we don't have a young man +every day." + +"Beauty unadorned," replied the doctor, "is +adorned the most. My profession qualifies me to +speak upon the subject. They are the two handsomest +young women in Patesville, and the daughters +of the most beautiful"-- + +"Don't you dare to say the word," interrupted +Mrs. Green, with placid good nature. "I shall +never grow old while I am living with a big boy +like you. But I must go and make the salad." + +At dinner the conversation ran on the family +connections and their varying fortunes in the late +war. Some had died upon the battlefield, and +slept in unknown graves; some had been financially +ruined by their faith in the "lost cause," +having invested their all in the securities of the +Confederate Government. Few had anything left +but land, and land without slaves to work it was a +drug in the market. + +"I was offered a thousand acres, the other day, +at twenty-five cents an acre," remarked the doctor. +"The owner is so land-poor that he can't +pay the taxes. They have taken our negroes and +our liberties. It may be better for our grandchildren +that the negroes are free, but it's confoundedly +hard on us to take them without paying +for them. They may exalt our slaves over us +temporarily, but they have not broken our spirit, +and cannot take away our superiority of blood and +breeding. In time we shall regain control. The +negro is an inferior creature; God has marked +him with the badge of servitude, and has adjusted +his intellect to a servile condition. We will not +long submit to his domination. I give you a +toast, sir: The Anglo-Saxon race: may it remain +forever, as now, the head and front of creation, +never yielding its rights, and ready always to die, +if need be, in defense of its liberties!" + +"With all my heart, sir," replied Tryon, who +felt in this company a thrill of that pleasure which +accompanies conscious superiority,--"with all my +heart, sir, if the ladies will permit me." + +"We will join you," they replied. The toast +was drunk with great enthusiasm. + +"And now, my dear George," exclaimed the +doctor, "to change one good subject for another, +tell us who is the favored lady?" + +"A Miss Rowena Warwick, sir," replied Tryon, +vividly conscious of four pairs of eyes fixed upon +him, but, apart from the momentary embarrassment, +welcoming the subject as the one he would +most like to speak upon. + +"A good, strong old English name," observed +the doctor. + +"The heroine of `Ivanhoe'!" exclaimed Miss +Harriet. + +"Warwick the Kingmaker!" said Miss Mary. +"Is she tall and fair, and dignified and stately?" + +"She is tall, dark rather than fair, and full of +tender grace and sweet humility." + +"She should have been named Rebecca instead +of Rowena," rejoined Miss Mary, who was well up +in her Scott. + +"Tell us something about her people," asked +Mrs. Green,--to which inquiry the young ladies +looked assent. + +In this meeting of the elect of his own class and +kin Warwick felt a certain strong illumination +upon the value of birth and blood. Finding Rena +among people of the best social standing, the +subsequent intimation that she was a girl of no family +had seemed a small matter to one so much in love. +Nevertheless, in his present company he felt a +decided satisfaction in being able to present for his +future wife a clean bill of social health. + +"Her brother is the most prominent lawyer of +Clarence. They live in a fine old family mansion, +and are among the best people of the town." + +"Quite right, my boy," assented the doctor. +"None but the best are good enough for the best. +You must bring her to Patesville some day. But +bless my life!" he exclaimed, looking at his +watch, "I must be going. Will you stay with the +ladies awhile, or go back down town with me?" + +"I think I had better go with you, sir. I shall +have to see Judge Straight." + +"Very well. But you must come back to supper, +and we'll have a few friends in to meet you. +You must see some of the best people." + +The doctor's buggy was waiting at the gate. +As they were passing the hotel on their drive +down town, the clerk came out to the curbstone +and called to the doctor. + +"There's a man here, doctor, who's been taken +suddenly ill. Can you come in a minute?" + +"I suppose I'll have to. Will you wait for +me here, George, or will you drive down to the +office? I can walk the rest of the way." + +"I think I'll wait here, doctor," answered +Tryon. "I'll step up to my room a moment. I'll +be back by the time you're ready." + +It was while they were standing before the hotel, +before alighting from the buggy, that Frank +Fowler, passing on his cart, saw Tryon and set out +as fast as he could to warn Mis' Molly and her +daughter of his presence in the town. + +Tryon went up to his room, returned after a +while, and resumed his seat in the buggy, where +he waited fifteen minutes longer before the doctor +was ready. When they drew up in front of the +office, the doctor's man Dave was standing in the +doorway, looking up the street with an anxious +expression, as though struggling hard to keep +something upon his mind. + +"Anything wanted, Dave?" asked the doctor. + +"Dat young 'oman's be'n heah ag'in, suh, an' +wants ter see you bad. She's in de drugstore dere +now, suh. Bless Gawd!" he added to himself +fervently, "I 'membered dat. Dis yer recommemb'ance +er mine is gwine ter git me inter trouble ef +I don' look out, an' dat's a fac', sho'." + +The doctor sprang from the buggy with an +agility remarkable in a man of sixty. "Just keep +your seat, George," he said to Tryon, "until I +have spoken to the young woman, and then we'll +go across to Straight's. Or, if you'll drive along +a little farther, you can see the girl through the +window. She's worth the trouble, if you like a +pretty face." + +Tryon liked one pretty face; moreover, tinted +beauty had never appealed to him. More to show +a proper regard for what interested the doctor than +from any curiosity of his own, he drove forward a +few feet, until the side of the buggy was opposite +the drugstore window, and then looked in. + +Between the colored glass bottles in the window +he could see a young woman, a tall and slender girl, +like a lily on its stem. She stood talking with the +doctor, who held his hat in his hand with as much +deference as though she were the proudest dame +in town. Her face was partly turned away from +the window, but as Tryon's eye fell upon her, he +gave a great start. Surely, no two women could be +so much alike. The height, the graceful droop of the +shoulders, the swan-like poise of the head, the well- +turned little ear,--surely, no two women could +have them all identical! But, pshaw! the notion +was absurd, it was merely the reflex influence of +his morning's dream. + +She moved slightly; it was Rena's movement. +Surely he knew the gown, and the style of hair- +dressing! She rested her hand lightly on the +back of a chair. The ring that glittered on her +finger could be none other than his own. + +The doctor bowed. The girl nodded in response, +and, turning, left the store. Tryon leaned forward +from the buggy-seat and kept his eye fixed on the +figure that moved across the floor of the drugstore. +As she came out, she turned her face casually +toward the buggy, and there could no longer be +any doubt as to her identity. + +When Rena's eyes fell upon the young man in +the buggy, she saw a face as pale as death, with +starting eyes, in which love, which once had +reigned there, had now given place to astonishment +and horror. She stood a moment as if turned to +stone. One appealing glance she gave,--a look +that might have softened adamant. When she +saw that it brought no answering sign of love or +sorrow or regret, the color faded from her cheek, +the light from her eye, and she fell fainting to the +ground. + + + +XVI + +THE BOTTOM FALLS OUT + + +The first effect of Tryon's discovery was, +figuratively speaking, to knock the bottom out of things +for him. It was much as if a boat on which he +had been floating smoothly down the stream of +pleasure had sunk suddenly and left him struggling +in deep waters. The full realization of the truth, +which followed speedily, had for the moment reversed +his mental attitude toward her, and love +and yearning had given place to anger and +disgust. His agitation could hardly have escaped +notice had not the doctor's attention, and that of +the crowd that quickly gathered, been absorbed by +the young woman who had fallen. During the +time occupied in carrying her into the drugstore, +restoring her to consciousness, and sending her +home in a carriage, Tryon had time to recover in +some degree his self-possession. When Rena had +been taken home, he slipped away for a long walk, +after which he called at Judge Straight's office and +received the judge's report upon the matter +presented. Judge Straight had found the claim, in +his opinion, a good one; he had discovered property +from which, in case the claim were allowed, +the amount might be realized. The judge, who had +already been informed of the incident at the drugstore, +observed Tryon's preoccupation and guessed +shrewdly at its cause, but gave no sign. Tryon +left the matter of the note unreservedly in the +lawyer's hands, with instructions to communicate +to him any further developments. + +Returning to the doctor's office, Tryon listened +to that genial gentleman's comments on the accident, +his own concern in which he, by a great effort, +was able to conceal. The doctor insisted upon his +returning to the Hill for supper. Tryon pleaded +illness. The doctor was solicitous, felt his pulse, +examined his tongue, pronounced him feverish, and +prescribed a sedative. Tryon sought refuge in his +room at the hotel, from which he did not emerge +again until morning. + +His emotions were varied and stormy. At first +he could see nothing but the fraud of which he had +been made the victim. A negro girl had been +foisted upon him for a white woman, and he had +almost committed the unpardonable sin against his +race of marrying her. Such a step, he felt, would +have been criminal at any time; it would have +been the most odious treachery at this epoch, when +his people had been subjugated and humiliated by +the Northern invaders, who had preached negro +equality and abolished the wholesome laws decreeing +the separation of the races. But no Southerner +who loved his poor, downtrodden country, or +his race, the proud Anglo-Saxon race which traced +the clear stream of its blood to the cavaliers of +England, could tolerate the idea that even in distant +generations that unsullied current could be +polluted by the blood of slaves. The very thought +was an insult to the white people of the South. +For Tryon's liberality, of which he had spoken so +nobly and so sincerely, had been confined unconsciously, +and as a matter of course, within the boundaries +of his own race. The Southern mind, in +discussing abstract questions relative to humanity, +makes always, consciously or unconsciously, the +mental reservation that the conclusions reached do +not apply to the negro, unless they can be made to +harmonize with the customs of the country. + +But reasoning thus was not without effect upon +a mind by nature reasonable above the average. +Tryon's race impulse and social prejudice had +carried him too far, and the swing of the mental +pendulum brought his thoughts rapidly back in +the opposite direction. Tossing uneasily on the +bed, where he had thrown himself down without +undressing, the air of the room oppressed him, and +he threw open the window. The cool night air +calmed his throbbing pulses. The moonlight, +streaming through the window, flooded the room +with a soft light, in which he seemed to see Rena +standing before him, as she had appeared that +afternoon, gazing at him with eyes that implored +charity and forgiveness. He burst into tears,-- +bitter tears, that strained his heartstrings. He +was only a youth. She was his first love, and he +had lost her forever. She was worse than dead +to him; for if he had seen her lying in her shroud +before him, he could at least have cherished her +memory; now, even this consolation was denied +him. + +The town clock--which so long as it was wound +up regularly recked nothing of love or hate, joy or +sorrow--solemnly tolled out the hour of midnight +and sounded the knell of his lost love. Lost she +was, as though she had never been, as she had +indeed had no right to be. He resolutely determined +to banish her image from his mind. See +her again he could not; it would be painful to +them both; it could be productive of no good to +either. He had felt the power and charm of love, +and no ordinary shook could have loosened its +hold; but this catastrophe, which had so rudely +swept away the groundwork of his passion, had +stirred into new life all the slumbering pride of +race and ancestry which characterized his caste. +How much of this sensitive superiority was essential +and how much accidental; how much of it +was due to the ever-suggested comparison with a +servile race; how much of it was ignorance and +self-conceit; to what extent the boasted purity of +his race would have been contaminated by the fair +woman whose image filled his memory,--of these +things he never thought. He was not influenced +by sordid considerations; he would have denied +that his course was controlled by any narrow +prudence. If Rena had been white, pure white (for +in his creed there was no compromise), he would +have braved any danger for her sake. Had she +been merely of illegitimate birth, he would have +overlooked the bar sinister. Had her people +been simply poor and of low estate, he would have +brushed aside mere worldly considerations, and +would have bravely sacrificed convention for love; +for his liberality was not a mere form of words. +But the one objection which he could not overlook +was, unhappily, the one that applied to the only +woman who had as yet moved his heart. He tried +to be angry with her, but after the first hour he +found it impossible. He was a man of too much +imagination not to be able to put himself, in some +measure at least, in her place,--to perceive that for +her the step which had placed her in Tryon's world +was the working out of nature's great law of self- +preservation, for which he could not blame her. +But for the sheerest accident,--no, rather, but for +a providential interference,--he would have married +her, and might have gone to the grave unconscious +that she was other than she seemed. + +The clock struck the hour of two. With a +shiver he closed the window, undressed by the +moonlight, drew down the shade, and went to bed. +He fell into an unquiet slumber, and dreamed +again of Rena. He must learn to control his +waking thoughts; his dreams could not be curbed. +In that realm Rena's image was for many a day +to remain supreme. He dreamed of her sweet +smile, her soft touch, her gentle voice. In all her +fair young beauty she stood before him, and then +by some hellish magic she was slowly transformed +into a hideous black hag. With agonized eyes he +watched her beautiful tresses become mere wisps +of coarse wool, wrapped round with dingy cotton +strings; he saw her clear eyes grow bloodshot, +her ivory teeth turn to unwholesome fangs. With +a shudder he awoke, to find the cold gray dawn +of a rainy day stealing through the window. + +He rose, dressed himself, went down to +breakfast, then entered the writing-room and penned a +letter which, after reading it over, he tore into +small pieces and threw into the waste basket. A +second shared the same fate. Giving up the task, +he left the hotel and walked down to Dr. Green's +office. + +"Is the doctor in?" he asked of the colored +attendant. + +"No, suh," replied the man; "he's gone ter see +de young cullud gal w'at fainted w'en de doctah +was wid you yistiddy." + +Tryon sat down at the doctor's desk and hastily +scrawled a note, stating that business compelled +his immediate departure. He thanked the doctor +for courtesies extended, and left his regards for +the ladies. Returning. to the hotel, he paid his +bill and took a hack for the wharf, from which a +boat was due to leave at nine o'clock. + +As the hack drove down Front Street, Tryon +noted idly the houses that lined the street. When +he reached the sordid district in the lower part of +the town, there was nothing to attract his +attention until the carriage came abreast of a row of +cedar-trees, beyond which could be seen the upper +part of a large house with dormer windows. Before +the gate stood a horse and buggy, which Tryon +thought he recognized as Dr. Green's. He leaned +forward and addressed the driver. + +"Can you tell me who lives there?" Tryon +asked, pointing to the house. + +"A callud 'oman, suh," the man replied, +touching his hat. "Mis' Molly Walden an' her daughter +Rena." + +The vivid impression he received of this house, +and the spectre that rose before him of a pale, +broken-hearted girl within its gray walls, weeping +for a lost lover and a vanished dream of happiness, +did not argue well for Tryon's future peace of +mind. Rena's image was not to be easily expelled +from his heart; for the laws of nature are higher +and more potent than merely human institutions, +and upon anything like a fair field are likely to +win in the long ran. + + + +XVII + +TWO LETTERS + + +Warwick awaited events with some calmness +and some philosophy,--he could hardly have had +the one without the other; and it required much +philosophy to make him wait a week in patience +for information upon a subject in which he was so +vitally interested. The delay pointed to disaster. +Bad news being expected, delay at least put off +the evil day. At the end of the week he received +two letters,--one addressed in his own hand +writing and postmarked Patesville, N. C.; the +other in the handwriting of George Tryon. He +opened the Patesville letter, which ran as follows:-- + + +MY DEAR SON,--Frank is writing this letter +for me. I am not well, but, thank the Lord, I +am better than I was. + +Rena has had a heap of trouble on account of +me and my sickness. If I could of dreamt that I +was going to do so much harm, I would of died and +gone to meet my God without writing one word to +spoil my girl's chances in life; but I didn't know +what was going to happen, and I hope the Lord +will forgive me. + +Frank knows all about it, and so I am having +him write this letter for me, as Rena is not well +enough yet. Frank has been very good to me +and to Rena. He was down to your place and +saw Rena there, and never said a word about it to +nobody, not even to me, because he didn't want +to do Rena no harm. Frank is the best friend I +have got in town, because he does so much for me +and don't want nothing in return. (He tells me +not to put this in about him, but I want you to +know it.) + +And now about Rena. She come to see me, +and I got better right away, for it was longing for +her as much as anything else that made me sick, +and I was mighty mizzable. When she had been +here three days and was going back next day, she +went up town to see the doctor for me, and while +she was up there she fainted and fell down in the +street, and Dr. Green sent her home in his buggy +and come down to see her. He couldn't tell what +was the matter with her, but she has been sick ever +since and out of her head some of the time, and +keeps on calling on somebody by the name of +George, which was the young white man she told +me she was going to marry. It seems he was in +town the day Rena was took sick, for Frank saw +him up street and run all the way down here to tell +me, so that she could keep out of his way, while she +was still up town waiting for the doctor and getting +me some camphor gum for my camphor bottle. Old +Judge Straight must have knowed something about +it, for he sent me a note to keep Rena in the house, +but the little boy he sent it by didn't bring it till +Rena was already gone up town, and, as I couldn't +read, of course I didn't know what it said. Dr. +Green heard Rena running on while she was out of +her head, and I reckon he must have suspicioned +something, for he looked kind of queer and went +away without saying nothing. Frank says she met +this man on the street, and when he found out she +wasn't white, he said or done something that broke +her heart and she fainted and fell down. + +I am writing you this letter because I know you +will be worrying about Rena not coming back. If +it wasn't for Frank, I hardly know how I could +write to you. Frank is not going to say nothing +about Rena's passing for white and meeting this +man, and neither am I; and I don't suppose Judge +Straight will say nothing, because he is our good +friend; and Dr. Green won't say nothing about it, +because Frank says Dr. Green's cook Nancy says +this young man named George stopped with him +and was some cousin or relation to the family, and +they wouldn't want people to know that any of their +kin was thinking about marrying a colored girl, +and the white folks have all been mad since J. B. +Thompson married his black housekeeper when she +got religion and wouldn't live with him no more. + +All the rest of the connection are well. I have +just been in to see how Rena is. She is feeling +some better, I think, and says give you her love +and she will write you a letter in a few days, as +soon as she is well enough. She bust out crying +while she was talking, but I reckon that is better +than being out of her head. I hope this may find +you well, and that this man of Rena's won't say +nor do nothing down there to hurt you. He has +not wrote to Rena nor sent her no word. I reckon +he is very mad. + Your affectionate mother, + MARY WALDEN. + + +This letter, while confirming Warwick's fears, +relieved his suspense. He at least knew the worst, +unless there should be something still more disturbing +in Tryon's letter, which he now proceeded to +open, and which ran as follows:-- + + +JOHN WARWICK, ESQ. + +Dear Sir,--When I inform you, as you are +doubtless informed ere the receipt of this, that I +saw your sister in Patesville last week and learned +the nature of those antecedents of yours and hers +at which you hinted so obscurely in a recent +conversation, you will not be surprised to learn that +I take this opportunity of renouncing any pretensions +to Miss Warwick's hand, and request you to +convey this message to her, since it was through +you that I formed her acquaintance. I think +perhaps that few white men would deem it necessary +to make an explanation under the circumstances, +and I do not know that I need say more than +that no one, considering where and how I met your +sister, would have dreamed of even the possibility +of what I have learned. I might with justice +reproach you for trifling with the most sacred +feelings of a man's heart; but I realize the hardship +of your position and hers, and can make allowances. +I would never have sought to know this thing; I +would doubtless have been happier had I gone +through life without finding it out; but having the +knowledge, I cannot ignore it, as you must understand +perfectly well. I regret that she should be +distressed or disappointed,--she has not suffered +alone. + +I need scarcely assure you that I shall say +nothing about this affair, and that I shall keep +your secret as though it were my own. Personally, +I shall never be able to think of you as other than +a white man, as you may gather from the tone of +this letter; and while I cannot marry your sister, +I wish her every happiness, and remain, + Yours very truly, + GEORGE TRYON. + + +Warwick could not know that this formal epistle +was the last of a dozen that Tryon had written and +destroyed during the week since the meeting in +Patesville,--hot, blistering letters, cold, cutting +letters, scornful, crushing letters. Though none of +them was sent, except this last, they had furnished +a safety-valve for his emotions, and had left him in +a state of mind that permitted him to write the +foregoing. + +And now, while Rena is recovering from her +illness, and Tryon from his love, and while Fate is +shuffling the cards for another deal, a few words +may be said about the past life of the people who +lived in the rear of the flower garden, in the quaint +old house beyond the cedars, and how their lives +were mingled with those of the men and women +around them and others that were gone. For connected +with our kind we must be; if not by our +virtues, then by our vices,--if not by our services, +at least by our needs. + + + +XVIII + +UNDER THE OLD REGIME + + +For many years before the civil war there had +lived, in the old house behind the cedars, a free +colored woman who went by the name of Molly +Walden--her rightful name, for her parents +were free-born and legally married. She was a tall +woman, straight as an arrow. Her complexion in +youth was of an old ivory tint, which at the period +of this story, time had darkened measurably. Her +black eyes, now faded, had once sparkled with the +fire of youth. High cheek-bones, straight black +hair, and a certain dignified reposefulness of manner +pointed to an aboriginal descent. Tradition +gave her to the negro race. Doubtless she had a +strain of each, with white blood very visibly +predominating over both. In Louisiana or the West +Indies she would have been called a quadroon, or +more loosely, a creole; in North Carolina, where +fine distinctions were not the rule in matters +of color, she was sufficiently differentiated when +described as a bright mulatto. + +Molly's free birth carried with it certain +advantages, even in the South before the war. Though +degraded from its high estate, and shorn of its +choicest attributes, the word "freedom" had +nevertheless a cheerful sound, and described a +condition that left even to colored people who could +claim it some liberty of movement and some control +of their own persons. They were not citizens, +yet they were not slaves. No negro, save in books, +ever refused freedom; many of them ran frightful +risks to achieve it. Molly's parents were of the +class, more numerous in North Carolina than elsewhere, +known as "old issue free negroes," which +took its rise in the misty colonial period, when race +lines were not so closely drawn, and the population +of North Carolina comprised many Indians, runaway +negroes, and indentured white servants from +the seaboard plantations, who mingled their blood +with great freedom and small formality. Free +colored people in North Carolina exercised the +right of suffrage as late as 1835, and some of them, +in spite of galling restrictions, attained to a +considerable degree of prosperity, and dreamed of a +still brighter future, when the growing tyranny of +the slave power crushed their hopes and crowded +the free people back upon the black mass just +beneath them. Mis' Molly's father had been at +one time a man of some means. In an evil hour, +with an overweening confidence in his fellow men, +he indorsed a note for a white man who, in a +moment of financial hardship, clapped his colored +neighbor on the back and called him brother. Not +poverty, but wealth, is the most potent leveler. +In due time the indorser was called upon to meet +the maturing obligation. This was the beginning +of a series of financial difficulties which speedily +involved him in ruin. He died prematurely, a +disappointed and disheartened man, leaving his family +in dire poverty. + +His widow and surviving children lived on for +a little while at the house he had owned, just +outside of the town, on one of the main traveled roads. +By the wayside, near the house, there was a famous +deep well. The slim, barefoot girl, with sparkling +eyes and voluminous hair, who played about the +yard and sometimes handed water in a gourd to +travelers, did not long escape critical observation. +A gentleman drove by one day, stopped at the +well, smiled upon the girl, and said kind words. He +came again, more than once, and soon, while +scarcely more than a child in years, Molly was +living in her own house, hers by deed of gift, for +her protector was rich and liberal. Her mother +nevermore knew want. Her poor relations could +always find a meal in Molly's kitchen. She did +not flaunt her prosperity in the world's face; she +hid it discreetly behind the cedar screen. Those +who wished could know of it, for there were few +secrets in Patesville; those who chose could as +easily ignore it. There were few to trouble +themselves about the secluded life of an obscure woman +of a class which had no recognized place in the +social economy. She worshiped the ground upon +which her lord walked, was humbly grateful for +his protection, and quite as faithful as the forbidden +marriage vow could possibly have made her. She +led her life in material peace and comfort, and +with a certain amount of dignity. Of her false +relation to society she was not without some +vague conception; but the moral point involved +was so confused with other questions growing out +--of slavery and caste as to cause her, as a rule, but +little uneasiness; and only now and then, in the +moments of deeper feeling that come sometimes to +all who live and love, did there break through the +mists of ignorance and prejudice surrounding her +a flash of light by which she saw, so far as she +was capable of seeing, her true position, which in +the clear light of truth no special pleading could +entirely justify. For she was free, she had not +the slave's excuse. With every inducement to do +evil and few incentives to do well, and hence +entitled to charitable judgment, she yet had +freedom of choice, and therefore could not wholly +escape blame. Let it be said, in further extenuation, +that no other woman lived in neglect or sorrow +because of her. She robbed no one else. For +what life gave her she returned an equivalent; and +what she did not pay, her children settled to the +last farthing. + +Several years before the war, when Mis' Molly's +daughter Rena was a few years old, death had +suddenly removed the source of their prosperity. + +The household was not left entirely destitute. +Mis' Molly owned her home, and had a store of +gold pieces in the chest beneath her bed. A small +piece of real estate stood in the name of each of +the children, the income from which contributed to +their maintenance. Larger expectations were +dependent upon the discovery of a promised will, +which never came to light. Mis' Molly wore black +for several years after this bereavement, until the +teacher and the preacher, following close upon the +heels of military occupation, suggested to the +colored people new standards of life and character, in +the light of which Mis' Molly laid her mourning +sadly and shamefacedly aside. She had eaten of +the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. After the war +she formed the habit of church-going, and might +have been seen now and then, with her daughter, in +a retired corner of the gallery of the white Episcopal +church. Upon the ground floor was a certain +pew which could be seen from her seat, where once +had sat a gentleman whose pleasures had not interfered +with the practice of his religion. She might +have had a better seat in a church where a Northern +missionary would have preached a sermon better +suited to her comprehension and her moral needs, +but she preferred the other. She was not white, +alas! she was shut out from this seeming paradise; +but she liked to see the distant glow of the celestial +city, and to recall the days when she had basked in +its radiance. She did not sympathize greatly with +the new era opened up for the emancipated slaves; +she had no ideal love of liberty; she was no broader +and no more altruistic than the white people around +her, to whom she had always looked up; and she +sighed for the old days, because to her they had +been the good days. Now, not only was her king +dead, but the shield of his memory protected her +no longer. + +Molly had lost one child, and his grave was +visible from the kitchen window, under a small +clump of cedars in the rear of the two-acre lot. +For even in the towns many a household had its +private cemetery in those old days when the living +were close to the dead, and ghosts were not the +mere chimeras of a sick imagination, but real +though unsubstantial entities, of which it was +almost disgraceful not to have seen one or two. +Had not the Witch of Endor called up the shade +of Samuel the prophet? Had not the spirit of +Mis' Molly's dead son appeared to her, as well +as the ghostly presence of another she had loved? + +In 1855, Mis' Molly's remaining son had grown +into a tall, slender lad of fifteen, with his father's +patrician features and his mother's Indian hair, +and no external sign to mark him off from the +white boys on the street. He soon came to know, +however, that there was a difference. He was +informed one day that he was black. He denied the +proposition and thrashed the child who made it. +The scene was repeated the next day, with a +variation,--he was himself thrashed by a larger boy. +When he had been beaten five or six times, he +ceased to argue the point, though to himself he +never admitted the charge. His playmates might +call him black; the mirror proved that God, the +Father of all, had made him white; and God, he +had been taught, made no mistakes,--having +made him white, He must have meant him to be +white. + +In the "hall" or parlor of his mother's house +stood a quaintly carved black walnut bookcase, +containing a small but remarkable collection of +books, which had at one time been used, in his +hours of retreat and relaxation from business and +politics, by the distinguished gentleman who did +not give his name to Mis' Molly's children,--to +whom it would have been a valuable heritage, could +they have had the right to bear it. Among the +books were a volume of Fielding's complete works, +in fine print, set in double columns; a set of +Bulwer's novels; a collection of everything that Walter +Scott--the literary idol of the South--had ever +written; Beaumont and Fletcher's plays, cheek by +jowl with the history of the virtuous Clarissa +Harlowe; the Spectator and Tristram Shandy, Robinson +Crusoe and the Arabian Nights. On these secluded +shelves Roderick Random, Don Quixote, and Gil +Blas for a long time ceased their wanderings, the +Pilgrim's Progress was suspended, Milton's mighty +harmonies were dumb, and Shakespeare reigned +over a silent kingdom. An illustrated Bible, with a +wonderful Apocrypha, was flanked on one side by +Volney's Ruins of Empire and on the other by +Paine's Age of Reason, for the collector of the +books had been a man of catholic taste as well as +of inquiring mind, and no one who could have +criticised his reading ever penetrated behind the +cedar hedge. A history of the French Revolution +consorted amiably with a homespun chronicle of +North Carolina, rich in biographical notices of +distinguished citizens and inscriptions from their +tombstones, upon reading which one might well +wonder why North Carolina had not long ago +eclipsed the rest of the world in wealth, wisdom, +glory, and renown. On almost every page of this +monumental work could be found the most ardent +panegyrics of liberty, side by side with the slavery +statistics of the State,--an incongruity of which +the learned author was deliciously unconscious. + +When John Walden was yet a small boy, he +had learned all that could be taught by the faded +mulatto teacher in the long, shiny black frock +coat, whom local public opinion permitted to teach +a handful of free colored children for a pittance +barely enough to keep soul and body together. +When the boy had learned to read, he discovered +the library, which for several years had been +without a reader, and found in it the portal of a new +world, peopled with strange and marvelous beings. +Lying prone upon the floor of the shaded front +piazza, behind the fragrant garden, he followed +the fortunes of Tom Jones and Sophia; he wept +over the fate of Eugene Aram; he penetrated with +Richard the Lion-heart into Saladin's tent, with +Gil Blas into the robbers' cave; he flew through +the air on the magic carpet or the enchanted horse, +or tied with Sindbad to the roc's leg. Sometimes +he read or repeated the simpler stories to his little +sister, sitting wide-eyed by his side. When he had +read all the books,--indeed, long before he had +read them all,--he too had tasted of the fruit of +the Tree of Knowledge: contentment took its flight, +and happiness lay far beyond the sphere where +he was born. The blood of his white fathers, the +heirs of the ages, cried out for its own, and after +the manner of that blood set about getting the +object of its desire. + +Near the corner of Mackenzie Street, just one +block north of the Patesville market-house, there +had stood for many years before the war, on the +verge of the steep bank of Beaver Creek, a small +frame office building, the front of which was level +with the street, while the rear rested on long brick +pillars founded on the solid rock at the edge of the +brawling stream below. Here, for nearly half a +century, Archibald Straight had transacted legal +business for the best people of Northumberland +County. Full many a lawsuit had he won, lost, or +settled; many a spendthrift had he saved from +ruin, and not a few families from disgrace. Several +times honored by election to the bench, he +had so dispensed justice tempered with mercy as +to win the hearts of all good citizens, and +especially those of the poor, the oppressed, and the +socially disinherited. The rights of the humblest +negro, few as they might be, were as sacred to +him as those of the proudest aristocrat, and he +had sentenced a man to be hanged for the murder +of his own slave. An old-fashioned man, tall and +spare of figure and bowed somewhat with age, he +was always correctly clad in a long frock coat of +broadcloth, with a high collar and a black stock. +Courtly in address to his social equals (superiors +he had none), he was kind and considerate to +those beneath him. He owned a few domestic +servants, no one of whom had ever felt the weight +of his hand, and for whose ultimate freedom he +had provided in his will. In the long-drawn-out +slavery agitation he had taken a keen interest, +rather as observer than as participant. As the heat +of controversy increased, his lack of zeal for the +peculiar institution led to his defeat for the bench +by a more active partisan. His was too just a +mind not to perceive the arguments on both sides; +but, on the whole, he had stood by the ancient +landmarks, content to let events drift to a conclusion +he did not expect to see; the institutions of +his fathers would probably last his lifetime. + +One day Judge Straight was sitting in his +office reading a recently published pamphlet,-- +presenting an elaborate pro-slavery argument, based +upon the hopeless intellectual inferiority of the +negro, and the physical and moral degeneration +of mulattoes, who combined the worst qualities of +their two ancestral races,--when a barefooted boy +walked into the office, straw hat in hand, came +boldly up to the desk at which the old judge was +sitting, and said as the judge looked up through +his gold-rimmed glasses,-- + +"Sir, I want to be a lawyer!" + +"God bless me!" exclaimed the judge. "It is +a singular desire, from a singular source, and +expressed in a singular way. Who the devil are +you, sir, that wish so strange a thing as to become +a lawyer--everybody's servant?" + +"And everybody's master, sir," replied the lad +stoutly. + +"That is a matter of opinion, and open to +argument," rejoined the judge, amused and secretly +flattered by this tribute to his profession, "though +there may be a grain of truth in what you say. +But what is your name, Mr. Would-be-lawyer?" + +"John Walden, sir," answered the lad. + +"John Walden?--Walden?" mused the judge. +"What Walden can that be? Do you belong in +town?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Humph! I can't imagine who you are. It's +plain that you are a lad of good blood, and yet I +don't know whose son you can be. What is your +father's name?" + +The lad hesitated, and flushed crimson. + +The old gentleman noted his hesitation. "It +is a wise son," he thought, "that knows his own +father. He is a bright lad, and will have this +question put to him more than once. I'll see +how he will answer it." + +The boy maintained an awkward silence, while +the old judge eyed him keenly. + +"My father's dead," he said at length, in a low +voice. "I'm Mis' Molly Walden's son." He +had expected, of course, to tell who he was, if +asked, but had not foreseen just the form of the +inquiry; and while he had thought more of his +race than of his illegitimate birth, he realized at +this moment as never before that this question too +would be always with him. As put now by Judge +Straight, it made him wince. He had not read his +father's books for nothing. + +"God bless my soul!" exclaimed the judge in +genuine surprise at this answer; "and you want +to be a lawyer!" The situation was so much +worse than he had suspected that even an old +practitioner, case-hardened by years of life at the +trial table and on the bench, was startled for a +moment into a comical sort of consternation, so +apparent that a lad less stout-hearted would have +weakened and fled at the sight of it. + +"Yes, sir. Why not?" responded the boy, +trembling a little at the knees, but stoutly holding +his ground. + +"He wants to be a lawyer, and he asks me why +not!" muttered the judge, speaking apparently to +himself. He rose from his chair, walked across +the room, and threw open a window. The cool +morning air brought with it the babbling of the +stream below and the murmur of the mill near by. +He glanced across the creek to the ruined foundation +of an old house on the low ground beyond the +creek. Turning from the window, he looked back +at the boy, who had remained standing between +him and the door. At that moment another lad +came along the street and stopped opposite the +open doorway. The presence of the two boys in +connection with the book he had been reading +suggested a comparison. The judge knew the lad +outside as the son of a leading merchant of the +town. The merchant and his wife were both of +old families which had lived in the community +for several generations, and whose blood was +presumably of the purest strain; yet the boy +was sallow, with amorphous features, thin shanks, +and stooping shoulders. The youth standing in +the judge's office, on the contrary, was straight, +shapely, and well-grown. His eye was clear, and +he kept it fixed on the old gentleman with a look +in which there was nothing of cringing. He was +no darker than many a white boy bronzed by the +Southern sun; his hair and eyes were black, and +his features of the high-bred, clean-cut order that +marks the patrician type the world over. What +struck the judge most forcibly, however, was the +lad's resemblance to an old friend and companion +and client. He recalled a certain conversation +with this old friend, who had said to him one day: + +"Archie, I'm coming in to have you draw my +will. There are some children for whom I would +like to make ample provision. I can't give them +anything else, but money will make them free of +the world." + +The judge's friend had died suddenly before +carrying out this good intention. The judge had +taken occasion to suggest the existence of these +children, and their father's intentions concerning +them, to the distant relatives who had inherited +his friend's large estate. They had chosen to take +offense at the suggestion. One had thought it in +shocking bad taste; another considered any mention +of such a subject an insult to his cousin's +memory. A third had said, with flashing eyes, that +the woman and her children had already robbed +the estate of enough; that it was a pity the little +niggers were not slaves--that they would have +added measurably to the value of the property. +Judge Straight's manner indicated some disapproval +of their attitude, and the settlement of the estate +was placed in other hands than his. Now, this son, +with his father's face and his father's voice, stood +before his father's friend, demanding entrance to +the golden gate of opportunity, which society barred +to all who bore the blood of the despised race. + +As he kept on looking at the boy, who began at +length to grow somewhat embarrassed under this +keen scrutiny, the judge's mind reverted to certain +laws and judicial decisions that he had looked up +once or twice in his lifetime. Even the law, the +instrument by which tyranny riveted the chains +upon its victims, had revolted now and then against +the senseless and unnatural prejudice by which a +race ascribing its superiority to right of blood +permitted a mere suspicion of servile blood to +outweigh a vast preponderance of its own. + +"Why, indeed, should he not be a lawyer, or +anything else that a man might be, if it be in him?" +asked the judge, speaking rather to himself than +to the boy. "Sit down," he ordered, pointing to +a chair on the other side of the room. That he +should ask a colored lad to be seated in his presence +was of itself enough to stamp the judge as eccentric. +"You want to be a lawyer," he went on, adjusting +his spectacles. "You are aware, of course, that +you are a negro?" + +"I am white," replied the lad, turning back his +sleeve and holding out his arm, "and I am free, as +all my people were before me." + +The old lawyer shook his head, and fixed his eyes +upon the lad with a slightly quizzical smile. "You +are black." he said, "and you are not free. You +cannot travel without your papers; you cannot +secure accommodations at an inn; you could not +vote, if you were of age; you cannot be out after +nine o'clock without a permit. If a white man +struck you, you could not return the blow, and you +could not testify against him in a court of justice. +You are black, my lad, and you are not free. Did +you ever hear of the Dred Scott decision, delivered +by the great, wise, and learned Judge Taney?" + +"No, sir," answered the boy. + +"It is too long to read," rejoined the judge, +taking up the pamphlet he had laid down upon the +lad's entrance, "but it says in substance, as quoted +by this author, that negroes are beings `of an +inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate +with the white race, either in social or political +relations; in fact, so inferior that they have no +rights which the white man is bound to respect, and +that the negro may justly and lawfully be reduced +to slavery for his benefit.' That is the law of +this nation, and that is the reason why you cannot +be a lawyer." + +"It may all be true," replied the boy, "but it +don't apply to me. It says `the negro.' A negro +is black; I am white, and not black." + +"Black as ink, my lad," returned the lawyer, +shaking his head. "`One touch of nature makes +the whole world kin,' says the poet. Somewhere, +sometime, you had a black ancestor. One drop of +black blood makes the whole man black." + +"Why shouldn't it be the other way, if the +white blood is so much superior?" inquired the lad. + +"Because it is more convenient as it is--and +more profitable." + +"It is not right," maintained the lad. + +"God bless me!" exclaimed the old gentleman, +"he is invading the field of ethics! He will be +questioning the righteousness of slavery next! I'm +afraid you wouldn't make a good lawyer, in any +event. Lawyers go by the laws--they abide by the +accomplished fact; to them, whatever is, is right. +The laws do not permit men of color to practice +law, and public sentiment would not allow one of +them to study it." + +"I had thought," said the lad, "that I might +pass for white. There are white people darker +than I am." + +"Ah, well, that is another matter; but"-- + +The judge stopped for a moment, struck by the +absurdity of his arguing such a question with a +mulatto boy. He really must be falling into +premature dotage. The proper thing would be to +rebuke the lad for his presumption and advise him +to learn to take care of horses, or make boots, or +lay bricks. But again he saw his old friend in the +lad's face, and again he looked in vain for any sign +of negro blood. The least earmark would have +turned the scale, but he could not find it. + +"That is another matter," he repeated. "Here +you have started as black, and must remain so. +But if you wish to move away, and sink your past +into oblivion, the case might be different. Let us +see what the law is; you might not need it if you +went far enough, but it is well enough to be within +it--liberty is sweeter when founded securely on +the law." + +He took down a volume bound in legal calf and +glanced through it. "The color line is drawn in +North Carolina at four generations removed from +the negro; there have been judicial decisions to +that effect. I imagine that would cover your +case. But let us see what South Carolina may +say about it," he continued, taking another book. +"I think the law is even more liberal there. Ah, +this is the place:-- + +"`The term mulatto,'" he read, "`is not invariably +applicable to every admixture of African blood +with the European, nor is one having all the features +of a white to be ranked with the degraded class +designated by the laws of this State as persons of +color, because of some remote taint of the negro +race. Juries would probably be justified in holding +a person to be white in whom the admixture +of African blood did not exceed one eighth. And +even where color or feature are doubtful, it is a +question for the jury to decide by reputation, by +reception into society, and by their exercise of the +privileges of the white man, as well as by admixture +of blood.'" + +"Then I need not be black?" the boy cried, +with sparkling eyes. + +"No," replied the lawyer, "you need not be +black, away from Patesville. You have the somewhat +unusual privilege, it seems, of choosing +between two races, and if you are a lad of spirit, +as I think you are, it will not take you long to make +your choice. As you have all the features of a +white man, you would, at least in South Carolina, +have simply to assume the place and exercise the +privileges of a white man. You might, of course, +do the same thing anywhere, as long as no one knew +your origin. But the matter has been adjudicated +there in several cases, and on the whole I think +South Carolina is the place for you. They're more +liberal there, perhaps because they have many +more blacks than whites, and would like to lessen +the disproportion." + +"From this time on," said the boy, "I am white." + +"Softly, softly, my Caucasian fellow citizen," +returned the judge, chuckling with quiet +amusement. "You are white in the abstract, before the +law. You may cherish the fact in secret, but I +would not advise you to proclaim it openly just +yet. You must wait until you go away--to South +Carolina." + +"And can I learn to be a lawyer, sir?" asked +the lad. + +"It seems to me that you ought to be reasonably +content for one day with what you have +learned already. You cannot be a lawyer until +you are white, in position as well as in theory, nor +until you are twenty-one years old. I need an +office boy. If you are willing to come into my +office, sweep it, keep my books dusted, and stay +here when I am out, I do not care. To the rest +of the town you will be my servant, and still a +negro. If you choose to read my books when no +one is about and be white in your own private +opinion, I have no objection. When you have +made up your mind to go away, perhaps what you +have read may help you. But mum 's the word! +If I hear a whisper of this from any other source, +out you go, neck and crop! I am willing to help +you make a man of yourself, but it can only be +done under the rose." + +For two years John Walden openly swept the +office and surreptitiously read the law books of old +Judge Straight. When he was eighteen, he asked +his mother for a sum of money, kissed her good- +by, and went out into the world. When his sister, +then a pretty child of seven, cried because her +big brother was going away, he took her up in his +arms, gave her a silver dime with a hole in it for +a keepsake, hugged her close, and kissed her. + +"Nev' min', sis," he said soothingly. "Be a +good little gal, an' some o' these days I'll come +back to see you and bring you somethin' fine." + +In after years, when Mis' Molly was asked what +had become of her son, she would reply with sad +complacency,-- + +"He's gone over on the other side." + +As we have seen, he came back ten years later. + + +Many years before, when Mis' Molly, then a +very young woman, had taken up her residence in +the house behind the cedars, the gentleman heretofore +referred to had built a cabin on the opposite +corner, in which he had installed a trusted slave +by the name of Peter Fowler and his wife Nancy. +Peter was a good mechanic, and hired his time +from his master with the provision that Peter and +his wife should do certain work for Mis' Molly and +serve as a sort of protection for her. In course of +time Peter, who was industrious and thrifty, saved +enough money to purchase his freedom and that +of his wife and their one child, and to buy the little +house across the street, with the cooper shop behind +it. After they had acquired their freedom, +Peter and Nancy did no work for Mis' Molly save +as they were paid for it, and as a rule preferred +not to work at all for the woman who had been +practically their mistress; it made them seem less +free. Nevertheless, the two households had +remained upon good terms, even after the death of +the man whose will had brought them together, +and who had remained Peter's patron after he had +ceased to be his master. There was no intimate +association between the two families. Mis' Molly +felt herself infinitely superior to Peter and his +wife,--scarcely less superior than her poor white +neighbors felt themselves to Mis' Molly. Mis' +Molly always meant to be kind, and treated Peter +and Nancy with a certain good-natured condescension. +They resented this, never openly or offensively, +but always in a subconscious sort of +way, even when they did not speak of it among +themselves--much as they had resented her +mistress-ship in the old days. For after all, they +argued, in spite of her airs and graces, her white +face and her fine clothes, was she not a negro, +even as themselves? and since the slaves had been +freed, was not one negro as good as another? + +Peter's son Frank had grown up with little +Rena. He was several years older than she, and +when Rena was a small child Mis' Molly had often +confided her to his care, and he had watched over +her and kept her from harm. When Frank became +old enough to go to work in the cooper shop, +Rena, then six or seven, had often gone across +to play among the clean white shavings. Once +Frank, while learning the trade, had let slip a sharp +steel tool, which flying toward Rena had grazed +her arm and sent the red blood coursing along the +white flesh and soaking the muslin sleeve. He +had rolled up the sleeve and stanched the blood +and dried her tears. For a long time thereafter +her mother kept her away from the shop and was +very cold to Frank. One day the little girl +wandered down to the bank of the old canal. It had +been raining for several days, and the water was +quite deep in the channel. The child slipped and +fell into the stream. From the open window of +the cooper shop Frank heard a scream. He ran +down to the canal and pulled her out, and carried +her all wet and dripping to the house. From that +time he had been restored to favor. He had +watched the girl grow up to womanhood in the +years following the war, and had been sorry when +she became too old to play about the shop. + +He never spoke to her of love,--indeed, he +never thought of his passion in such a light. +There would have been no legal barrier to their +union; there would have been no frightful menace +to white supremacy in the marriage of the negro +and the octoroon: the drop of dark blood bridged +the chasm. But Frank knew that she did not +love him, and had not hoped that she might. His +was one of those rare souls that can give with +small hope of return. When he had made the +scar upon her arm, by the same token she had +branded him her slave forever; when he had saved +her from a watery grave, he had given his life to +her. There are depths of fidelity and devotion in +the negro heart that have never been fathomed or +fully appreciated. Now and then in the kindlier +phases of slavery these qualities were brightly +conspicuous, and in them, if wisely appealed to, lies +the strongest hope of amity between the two races +whose destiny seems bound up together in the +Western world. Even a dumb brute can be won +by kindness. Surely it were worth while to try +some other weapon than scorn and contumely and +hard words upon people of our common race,-- +the human race, which is bigger and broader than +Celt or Saxon, barbarian or Greek, Jew or Gentile, +black or white; for we are all children of a +common Father, forget it as we may, and each one +of us is in some measure his brother's keeper. + + + +XIX + +GOD MADE US ALL + + +Rena was convalescent from a two-weeks' +illness when her brother came to see her. He arrived +at Patesville by an early morning train before the +town was awake, and walked unnoticed from the +station to his mother's house. His meeting with +his sister was not without emotion: he embraced +her tenderly, and Rena became for a few minutes +a very Niobe of grief. + +"Oh, it was cruel, cruel!" she sobbed. "I +shall never get over it." + +"I know it, my dear," replied Warwick +soothingly,--"I know it, and I'm to blame for it. If +I had never taken you away from here, you would +have escaped this painful experience. But do not +despair; all is not lost. Tryon will not marry +you, as I hoped he might, while I feared the +contrary; but he is a gentleman, and will be silent. +Come back and try again." + +"No, John. I couldn't go through it a second +time. I managed very well before, when I thought +our secret was unknown; but now I could never +be sure. It would be borne on every wind, for +aught I knew, and every rustling leaf might +whisper it. The law, you said, made us white; +but not the law, nor even love, can conquer +prejudice. HE spoke of my beauty, my grace, my +sweetness! I looked into his eyes and believed +him. And yet he left me without a word! What +would I do in Clarence now? I came away +engaged to be married, with even the day set; I +should go back forsaken and discredited; even the +servants would pity me." + +"Little Albert is pining for you," suggested +Warwick. "We could make some explanation +that would spare your feelings." + +"Ah, do not tempt me, John! I love the child, +and am grieved to leave him. I'm grateful, too, +John, for what you have done for me. I am not +sorry that I tried it. It opened my eyes, and I +would rather die of knowledge than live in ignorance. +But I could not go through it again, John; +I am not strong enough. I could do you no good; +I have made you trouble enough already. Get a +mother for Albert--Mrs. Newberry would marry +you, secret and all, and would be good to the child. +Forget me, John, and take care of yourself. Your +friend has found you out through me--he may +have told a dozen people. You think he will be +silent;--I thought he loved me, and he left me +without a word, and with a look that told me how +he hated and despised me. I would not have +believed it--even of a white man." + +"You do him an injustice," said her brother, +producing Tryon's letter. "He did not get off +unscathed. He sent you a message." + +She turned her face away, but listened while he +read the letter. "He did not love me," she cried +angrily, when he had finished, "or he would not +have cast me off--he would not have looked at +me so. The law would have let him marry me. I +seemed as white as he did. He might have gone +anywhere with me, and no one would have stared +at us curiously; no one need have known. The +world is wide--there must be some place where a +man could live happily with the woman he loved." + +"Yes, Rena, there is; and the world is wide +enough for you to get along without Tryon." + +"For a day or two," she went on, "I hoped +he might come back. But his expression in that +awful moment grew upon me, haunted me day and +night, until I shuddered at the thought that I might +ever see him again. He looked at me as though I +were not even a human being. I do not love him +any longer, John; I would not marry him if I +were white, or he were as I am. He did not love +me--or he would have acted differently. He +might have loved me and have left me--he could +not have loved me and have looked at me so!" + +She was weeping hysterically. There was little +he could say to comfort her. Presently she dried +her tears. Warwick was reluctant to leave her in +Patesville. Her childish happiness had been that +of ignorance; she could never be happy there again. +She had flowered in the sunlight; she must not +pine away in the shade. + +"If you won't come back with me, Rena, I'll +send you to some school at the North, where you +can acquire a liberal education, and prepare +yourself for some career of usefulness. You may +marry a better man than even Tryon." + +"No," she replied firmly, "I shall never marry +any man, and I'll not leave mother again. God +is against it; I'll stay with my own people." + +"God has nothing to do with it," retorted +Warwick. "God is too often a convenient stalking- +horse for human selfishness. If there is anything +to be done, so unjust, so despicable, so wicked that +human reason revolts at it, there is always some +smug hypocrite to exclaim, `It is the will of God.'" + +"God made us all," continued Rena dreamily, +"and for some good purpose, though we may not +always see it. He made some people white, and +strong, and masterful, and--heartless. He made +others black and homely, and poor and weak"-- + +"And a lot of others `poor white' and shiftless," +smiled Warwick. + +"He made us, too," continued Rena, intent upon +her own thought, "and He must have had a reason +for it. Perhaps He meant us to bring the others +together in his own good time. A man may make +a new place for himself--a woman is born and +bound to hers. God must have meant me to stay +here, or He would not have sent me back. I shall +accept things as they are. Why should I seek the +society of people whose friendship--and love-- +one little word can turn to scorn? I was right, +John; I ought to have told him. Suppose he had +married me and then had found it out?" + +To Rena's argument of divine foreordination +Warwick attached no weight whatever. He had +seen God's heel planted for four long years upon +the land which had nourished slavery. Had God +ordained the crime that the punishment might +follow? It would have been easier for Omnipotence +to prevent the crime. The experience of his sister +had stirred up a certain bitterness against white +people--a feeling which he had put aside years ago, +with his dark blood, but which sprang anew into +life when the fact of his own origin was brought +home to him so forcibly through his sister's +misfortune. His sworn friend and promised brother-in- +law had thrown him over promptly, upon the +discovery of the hidden drop of dark blood. How many +others of his friends would do the same, if they +but knew of it? He had begun to feel a little of +the spiritual estrangement from his associates that +he had noticed in Rena during her life at Clarence. +The fact that several persons knew his secret had +spoiled the fine flavor of perfect security hitherto +marking his position. George Tryon was a man of +honor among white men, and had deigned to extend +the protection of his honor to Warwick as a man, +though no longer as a friend; to Rena as a woman, +but not as a wife. Tryon, however, was only human, +and who could tell when their paths in life might +cross again, or what future temptation Tryon might +feel to use a damaging secret to their disadvantage? +Warwick had cherished certain ambitions, but these +he must now put behind him. In the obscurity of +private life, his past would be of little moment; in +the glare of a political career, one's antecedents are +public property, and too great a reserve in regard +to one's past is regarded as a confession of something +discreditable. Frank, too, knew the secret +--a good, faithful fellow, even where there was no +obligation of fidelity; he ought to do something for +Frank to show their appreciation of his conduct. +But what assurance was there that Frank would +always be discreet about the affairs of others? +Judge Straight knew the whole story, and old men +are sometimes garrulous. Dr. Green suspected the +secret; he had a wife and daughters. If old Judge +Straight could have known Warwick's thoughts, he +would have realized the fulfillment of his prophecy. +Warwick, who had builded so well for himself, had +weakened the structure of his own life by trying to +share his good fortune with his sister. + +" Listen, Rena," he said, with a sudden impulse, +"we'll go to the North or West--I'll go with +you--far away from the South and the Southern +people, and start life over again. It will be easier +for you, it will not be hard for me--I am young, +and have means. There are no strong ties to bind +me to the South. I would have a larger outlook +elsewhere." + +"And what about our mother?" asked Rena. + +It would be necessary to leave her behind, they +both perceived clearly enough, unless they were +prepared to surrender the advantage of their whiteness +and drop back to the lower rank. The mother +bore the mark of the Ethiopian--not pronouncedly, +but distinctly; neither would Mis' Molly, in all +probability, care to leave home and friends and the +graves of her loved ones. She had no mental +resources to supply the place of these; she was, +moreover, too old to be transplanted; she would +not fit into Warwick's scheme for a new life. + +"I left her once," said Rena, "and it brought +pain and sorrow to all three of us. She is not +strong, and I will not leave her here to die alone. +This shall be my home while she lives, and if I +leave it again, it shall be for only a short time, to +go where I can write to her freely, and hear from +her often. Don't worry about me, John,--I shall +do very well." + +Warwick sighed. He was sincerely sorry to leave +his sister, and yet he saw that for the time being +her resolution was not to be shaken. He must bide +his time. Perhaps, in a few months, she would tire +of the old life. His door would be always open to +her, and he would charge himself with her future. + +"Well, then," he said, concluding the argument, +"we'll say no more about it for the present. I'll +write to you later. I was afraid that you might +not care to go back just now, and so I brought +your trunk along with me." + +He gave his mother the baggage-check. She +took it across to Frank, who, during the day, +brought the trunk from the depot. Mis' Molly +offered to pay him for the service, but he would +accept nothing. + +"Lawd, no, Mis' Molly; I did n' hafter go out'n +my way ter git dat trunk. I had a load er sperrit- +bairls ter haul ter de still, an' de depot wuz right +on my way back. It'd be robbin' you ter take +pay fer a little thing lack dat." + +"My son John's here," said Mis' Molly "an' +he wants to see you. Come into the settin'-room. +We don't want folks to know he's in town; but +you know all our secrets, an' we can trust you like +one er the family." + +"I'm glad to see you again, Frank," said +Warwick, extending his hand and clasping Frank's +warmly. "You've grown up since I saw you last, +but it seems you are still our good friend." + +"Our very good friend," interjected Rena. + +Frank threw her a grateful glance. "Yas, suh," +he said, looking Warwick over with a friendly eye, +"an' you is growed some, too. I seed you, you +know, down dere where you live; but I did n' let +on, fer you an' Mis' Rena wuz w'ite as anybody; +an' eve'ybody said you wuz good ter cullud folks, +an' he'ped 'em in deir lawsuits an' one way er +'nuther, an' I wuz jes' plum' glad ter see you +gettin' 'long so fine, dat I wuz, certain sho', an' no +mistake about it." + +"Thank you, Frank, and I want you to understand +how much I appreciate"-- + +"How much we all appreciate," corrected Rena. + +"Yes, how much we all appreciate, and how +grateful we all are for your kindness to mother for +so many years. I know from her and from my +sister how good you've been to them." + +"Lawd, suh!" returned Frank deprecatingly, +"you're makin' a mountain out'n a molehill. I +ain't done nuthin' ter speak of--not half ez much +ez I would 'a' done. I wuz glad ter do w'at little +I could, fer frien'ship's sake." + +"We value your friendship, Frank, and we'll +not forget it." + +"No, Frank," added Rena, "we will never +forget it, and you shall always be our good friend." + +Frank left the room and crossed the street with +swelling heart. He would have given his life for +Rena. A kind word was doubly sweet from her +lips; no service would be too great to pay for her +friendship. + + +When Frank went out to the stable next morning +to feed his mule, his eyes opened wide with +astonishment. In place of the decrepit, one-eyed +army mule he had put up the night before, a fat, +sleek specimen of vigorous mulehood greeted his +arrival with the sonorous hehaw of lusty youth. +Hanging on a peg near by was a set of fine new +harness, and standing under the adjoining shed, as +he perceived, a handsome new cart. + +"Well, well!" exclaimed Frank; "ef I did n' +mos' know whar dis mule, an' dis kyart, an' dis +harness come from, I'd 'low dere 'd be'n witcheraf' +er cunjin' wukkin' here. But, oh my, dat is a +fine mule!--I mos' wush I could keep 'im." + +He crossed the road to the house behind the +cedars, and found Mis' Molly in the kitchen. +"Mis' Molly," he protested, "I ain't done nuthin' +ter deserve dat mule. W'at little I done fer you +wa'n't done fer pay. I'd ruther not keep dem +things." + +"Fer goodness' sake, Frank!" exclaimed his +neighbor, with a well-simulated air of mystification, +"what are you talkin' about?" + +"You knows w'at I'm talkin' about, Mis' +Molly; you knows well ernuff I'm talkin' about +dat fine mule an' kyart an' harness over dere in +my stable." + +"How should I know anything about 'em?" +she asked. + +"Now, Mis' Molly! You folks is jes' tryin' ter +fool me, an' make me take somethin' fer nuthin'. +I lef' my ole mule an' kyart an' harness in de +stable las' night, an' dis mawnin' dey 're gone, an' +new ones in deir place. Co'se you knows whar +dey come from!" + +"Well, now, Frank, sence you mention it, I did +see a witch flyin' roun' here las' night on a broom- +stick, an' it 'peared ter me she lit on yo'r barn, an' +I s'pose she turned yo'r old things into new ones. +I wouldn't bother my mind about it if I was you, +for she may turn 'em back any night, you know; +an' you might as well have the use of 'em in the +mean while." + +"Dat's all foolishness, Mis' Molly, an' I'm +gwine ter fetch dat mule right over here an' tell +yo' son ter gimme my ole one back." + +"My son's gone," she replied, "an' I don't +know nothin' about yo'r old mule. And what +would I do with a mule, anyhow? I ain't got no +barn to put him in." + +"I suspect you don't care much for us after +all, Frank," said Rena reproachfully--she had +come in while they were talking. "You meet +with a piece of good luck, and you're afraid of it, +lest it might have come from us." + +"Now, Miss Rena, you oughtn't ter say dat," +expostulated Frank, his reluctance yielding immediately. +"I'll keep de mule an' de kyart an' de +harness--fac', I'll have ter keep 'em, 'cause I +ain't got no others. But dey 're gwine ter be yo'n +ez much ez mine. W'enever you wants anything +hauled, er wants yo' lot ploughed, er anything-- +dat's yo' mule, an' I'm yo' man an' yo' mammy's." + +So Frank went back to the stable, where he +feasted his eyes on his new possessions, fed and +watered the mule, and curried and brushed his +coat until it shone like a looking-glass. + +"Now dat," remarked Peter, at the breakfast- +table, when informed of the transaction, "is somethin' +lack rale w'ite folks." + +No real white person had ever given Peter a +mule or a cart. He had rendered one of them +unpaid service for half a lifetime, and had paid for +the other half; and some of them owed him +substantial sums for work performed. But "to him +that hath shall be given"--Warwick paid for the +mule, and the real white folks got most of the +credit. + + + +XX + +DIGGING UP ROOTS + + +When the first great shock of his discovery wore +off, the fact of Rena's origin lost to Tryon some of +its initial repugnance--indeed, the repugnance was +not to the woman at all, as their past relations were +evidence, but merely to the thought of her as a wife. +It could hardly have failed to occur to so reasonable +a man as Tryon that Rena's case could scarcely +be unique. Surely in the past centuries of free +manners and easy morals that had prevailed in +remote parts of the South, there must have been +many white persons whose origin would not have +borne too microscopic an investigation. Family +trees not seldom have a crooked branch; or, to use +a more apposite figure, many a flock has its black +sheep. Being a man of lively imagination, Tryon +soon found himself putting all sorts of hypothetical +questions about a matter which he had already +definitely determined. If he had married Rena in +ignorance of her secret, and had learned it afterwards, +would he have put her aside? If, knowing +her history, he had nevertheless married her, and +she had subsequently displayed some trait of +character that would suggest the negro, could he have +forgotten or forgiven the taint? Could he still +have held her in love and honor? If not, could +he have given her the outward seeming of affection, +or could he have been more than coldly tolerant? +He was glad that he had been spared this ordeal. +With an effort he put the whole matter definitely +and conclusively aside, as he had done a hundred +times already. + +Returning to his home, after an absence of several +months in South Carolina, it was quite apparent +to his mother's watchful eye that he was in +serious trouble. He was absent-minded, monosyllabic, +sighed deeply and often, and could not always +conceal the traces of secret tears. For Tryon was +young, and possessed of a sensitive soul--a source +of happiness or misery, as the Fates decree. To +those thus dowered, the heights of rapture are +accessible, the abysses of despair yawn threateningly; +only the dull monotony of contentment is +denied. + +Mrs. Tryon vainly sought by every gentle art +a woman knows to win her son's confidence. +"What is the matter, George, dear?" she would +ask, stroking his hot brow with her small, cool +hand as he sat moodily nursing his grief. "Tell +your mother, George. Who else could comfort +you so well as she?" + +"Oh, it's nothing, mother,--nothing at all," +he would reply, with a forced attempt at lightness. +"It's only your fond imagination, you best of +mothers." + +It was Mrs. Tryon's turn to sigh and shed +a clandestine tear. Until her son had gone away +on this trip to South Carolina, he had kept no +secrets from her: his heart had been an open +book, of which she knew every page; now, some +painful story was inscribed therein which he meant +she should not read. If she could have abdicated +her empire to Blanche Leary or have shared it +with her, she would have yielded gracefully; but +very palpably some other influence than Blanche's +had driven joy from her son's countenance and +lightness from his heart. + + +Miss Blanche Leary, whom Tryon found in the +house upon his return, was a demure, pretty little +blonde, with an amiable disposition, a talent for +society, and a pronounced fondness for George +Tryon. A poor girl, of an excellent family +impoverished by the war, she was distantly related +to Mrs. Tryon, had for a long time enjoyed that +lady's favor, and was her choice for George's wife +when he should be old enough to marry. A woman +less interested than Miss Leary would have +perceived that there was something wrong with Tryon. +Miss Leary had no doubt that there was a woman +at the bottom of it,--for about what else should +youth worry but love? or if one's love affairs run +smoothly, why should one worry about anything +at all? Miss Leary, in the nineteen years of her +mundane existence, had not been without mild +experiences of the heart, and had hovered for some +time on the verge of disappointment with respect +to Tryon himself. A sensitive pride would have +driven more than one woman away at the sight of +the man of her preference sighing like a furnace +for some absent fair one. But Mrs. Tryon was +so cordial, and insisted so strenuously upon her +remaining, that Blanche's love, which was strong, +conquered her pride, which was no more than a +reasonable young woman ought to have who sets +success above mere sentiment. She remained in the +house and bided her opportunity. If George +practically ignored her for a time, she did not throw +herself at all in his way. She went on a visit to +some girls in the neighborhood and remained away +a week, hoping that she might be missed. Tryon +expressed no regret at her departure and no +particular satisfaction upon her return. If the house +was duller in her absence, he was but dimly conscious +of the difference. He was still fighting a +battle in which a susceptible heart and a reasonable +mind had locked horns in a well-nigh hopeless +conflict. Reason, common-sense, the instinctive +ready-made judgments of his training and environment,-- +the deep-seated prejudices of race and +caste,--commanded him to dismiss Rena from +his thoughts. His stubborn heart simply would +not let go. + + + +XXI + +A GILDED OPPORTUNITY + + +Although the whole fabric of Rena's new life +toppled and fell with her lover's defection, her +sympathies, broadened by culture and still more by +her recent emotional experience, did not shrink, as +would have been the case with a more selfish soul, +to the mere limits of her personal sorrow, great as +this seemed at the moment. She had learned to +love, and when the love of one man failed her, she +turned to humanity, as a stream obstructed in its +course overflows the adjacent country. Her early +training had not directed her thoughts to the darker +people with whose fate her own was bound up so +closely, but rather away from them. She had been +taught to despise them because they were not so +white as she was, and had been slaves while she was +free. Her life in her brother's home, by removing +her from immediate contact with them, had given +her a different point of view,--one which emphasized +their shortcomings, and thereby made vastly +clearer to her the gulf that separated them from +the new world in which she lived; so that when +misfortune threw her back upon them, the reaction +brought her nearer than before. Where once she +had seemed able to escape from them, they were +now, it appeared, her inalienable race. Thus doubly +equipped, she was able to view them at once with +the mental eye of an outsider and the sympathy +of a sister: she could see their faults, and judge +them charitably; she knew and appreciated their +good qualities. With her quickened intelligence +she could perceive how great was their need and +how small their opportunity; and with this illumination +came the desire to contribute to their help. +She had not the breadth or culture to see in all its +ramifications the great problem which still puzzles +statesmen and philosophers; but she was conscious +of the wish, and of the power, in a small way, to do +something for the advancement of those who had +just set their feet upon the ladder of progress. + +This new-born desire to be of service to her +rediscovered people was not long without an +opportunity for expression. Yet the Fates willed that +her future should be but another link in a connected +chain: she was to be as powerless to put +aside her recent past as she had been to escape +from the influence of her earlier life. There are +sordid souls that eat and drink and breed and die, +and imagine they have lived. But Rena's life +since her great awakening had been that of the +emotions, and her temperament made of it a +continuous life. Her successive states of +consciousness were not detachable, but united to form a +single if not an entirely harmonious whole. To +her sensitive spirit to-day was born of yesterday, +to-morrow would be but the offspring of to day. + +One day, along toward noon, her mother +received a visit from Mary B. Pettifoot, a second +cousin, who lived on Back Street, only a short +distance from the house behind the cedars. Rena +had gone out, so that the visitor found Mis' Molly +alone. + +"I heared you say, Cousin Molly," said Mary +B. (no one ever knew what the B. in Mary's name +stood for,--it was a mere ornamental flourish), +"that Rena was talkin' 'bout teachin' school. I've +got a good chance fer her, ef she keers ter take +it. My cousin Jeff Wain 'rived in town this +mo'nin', f'm 'way down in Sampson County, ter +git a teacher fer the nigger school in his deestric'. +I s'pose he mought 'a' got one f'm 'roun' Newbern, +er Goldsboro, er some er them places eas', but he +'lowed he'd like to visit some er his kin an' ole +frien's, an' so kill two birds with one stone." + +"I seed a strange mulatter man, with a bay hoss +an' a new buggy, drivin' by here this mo'nin' early, +from down to'ds the river," rejoined Mis' Molly. +"I wonder if that wuz him?" + +"Did he have on a linen duster?" asked Mary B. + +"Yas, an' 'peared to be a very well sot up man," +replied Mis' Molly, " 'bout thirty-five years old, I +should reckon." + +"That wuz him," assented Mary B. "He's got +a fine hoss an' buggy, an' a gol' watch an' chain, +an' a big plantation, an' lots er hosses an' mules +an' cows an' hawgs. He raise' fifty bales er cotton +las' year, an' he's be'n ter the legislatur'." + +" My gracious!" exclaimed Mis' Molly, struck +with awe at this catalogue of the stranger's possessions-- +he was evidently worth more than a great +many "rich" white people,--all white people in +North Carolina in those days were either "rich" or +"poor," the distinction being one of caste rather +than of wealth. "Is he married?" she inquired +with interest? + +"No,--single. You mought 'low it was quare +that he should n' be married at his age; but he +was crossed in love oncet,"--Mary B. heaved a +self-conscious sigh,--"an' has stayed single ever +sence. That wuz ten years ago, but as some +husban's is long-lived, an' there ain' no mo' chance +fer 'im now than there wuz then, I reckon some +nice gal mought stan' a good show er ketchin' 'im, +ef she'd play her kyards right." + +To Mis' Molly this was news of considerable +importance. She had not thought a great deal of +Rena's plan to teach; she considered it lowering +for Rena, after having been white, to go among +the negroes any more than was unavoidable. This +opportunity, however, meant more than mere +employment for her daughter. She had felt Rena's +disappointment keenly, from the practical point of +view, and, blaming herself for it, held herself all +the more bound to retrieve the misfortune in any +possible way. If she had not been sick, Rena +would not have dreamed the fateful dream that +had brought her to Patesville; for the connection +between the vision and the reality was even closer in +Mis' Molly's eyes than in Rena's. If the mother +had not sent the letter announcing her illness and +confirming the dream, Rena would not have ruined +her promising future by coming to Patesville. But +the harm had been done, and she was responsible, +ignorantly of course, but none the less truly, and +it only remained for her to make amends, as far as +possible. Her highest ambition, since Rena had +grown up, had been to see her married and +comfortably settled in life. She had no hope that +Tryon would come back. Rena had declared that +she would make no further effort to get away from +her people; and, furthermore, that she would never +marry. To this latter statement Mis' Molly secretly +attached but little importance. That a woman +should go single from the cradle to the grave did +not accord with her experience in life of the customs +of North Carolina. She respected a grief she could +not entirely fathom, yet did not for a moment +believe that Rena would remain unmarried. + +"You'd better fetch him roun' to see me, Ma'y +B.," she said, "an' let's see what he looks like. +I'm pertic'lar 'bout my gal. She says she ain't +goin' to marry nobody; but of co'se we know that's +all foolishness." + +"I'll fetch him roun' this evenin' 'bout three +o'clock," said the visitor, rising. "I mus' hurry +back now an' keep him comp'ny. Tell Rena ter +put on her bes' bib an' tucker; for Mr. Wain is +pertic'lar too, an' I've already be'n braggin' 'bout +her looks." + +When Mary B., at the appointed hour, knocked +at Mis' Molly's front door,--the visit being one of +ceremony, she had taken her cousin round to the +Front Street entrance and through the flower +garden,--Mis' Molly was prepared to receive them. +After a decent interval, long enough to suggest +that she had not been watching their approach and +was not over-eager about the visit, she answered +the knock and admitted them into the parlor. Mr. +Wain was formally introduced, and seated himself +on the ancient haircloth sofa, under the framed +fashion-plate, while Mary B. sat by the open door +and fanned herself with a palm-leaf fan. + +Mis' Molly's impression of Wain was favorable. +His complexion was of a light brown--not quite +so fair as Mis' Molly would have preferred; but +any deficiency in this regard, or in the matter of +the stranger's features, which, while not unpleasing, +leaned toward the broad mulatto type, was +more than compensated in her eyes by very +straight black hair, and, as soon appeared, a great +facility of complimentary speech. On his introduction +Mr. Wain bowed low, assumed an air of great +admiration, and expressed his extreme delight in +making the acquaintance of so distinguished-looking a lady. + +"You're flatt'rin' me, Mr. Wain," returned Mis' +Molly, with a gratified smile. "But you want to +meet my daughter befo' you commence th'owin' +bokays. Excuse my leavin' you--I'll go an' fetch +her." + +She returned in a moment, followed by Rena. +"Mr. Wain, 'low me to int'oduce you to my daughter +Rena. Rena, this is Ma'y B.'s cousin on her +pappy's side, who's come up from Sampson to git +a school-teacher." + +Rena bowed gracefully. Wain stared a moment +in genuine astonishment, and then bent himself +nearly double, keeping his eyes fixed meanwhile +upon Rena's face. He had expected to see a pretty +yellow girl, but had been prepared for no such +radiant vision of beauty as this which now confronted him. + +"Does--does you mean ter say, Mis' Walden, +dat--dat dis young lady is yo' own daughter?" +he stammered, rallying his forces for action. + +"Why not, Mr. Wain?" asked Mis' Molly, +bridling with mock resentment. "Do you mean +ter 'low that she wuz changed in her cradle, er is +she too good-lookin' to be my daughter?" + +"My deah Mis' Walden! it 'ud be wastin' wo'ds +fer me ter say dat dey ain' no young lady too good- +lookin' ter be yo' daughter; but you're lookin' +so young yo'sef dat I'd ruther take her fer yo' +sister." + +"Yas," rejoined Mis' Molly, with animation, +"they ain't many years between us. I wuz ruther +young myself when she wuz bo'n." + +"An', mo'over," Wain went on, "it takes me +a minute er so ter git my min' use' ter thinkin' er +Mis' Rena as a cullud young lady. I mought 'a' +seed her a hund'ed times, an' I'd 'a' never dreamt +but w'at she wuz a w'ite young lady, f'm one er de +bes' families." + +"Yas, Mr. Wain," replied Mis' Molly +complacently, "all three er my child'en wuz white, an' +one of 'em has be'n on the other side fer many +long years. Rena has be'n to school, an' has +traveled, an' has had chances--better chances than +anybody roun' here knows." + +"She's jes' de lady I'm lookin' fer, ter teach ou' +school," rejoined Wain, with emphasis. "Wid +her schoolin' an' my riccommen', she kin git a fus'- +class ce'tifikit an' draw fo'ty dollars a month; an' +a lady er her color kin keep a lot er little niggers +straighter 'n a darker lady could. We jus' got ter +have her ter teach ou' school--ef we kin git her." + +Rena's interest in the prospect of employment +at her chosen work was so great that she paid little +attention to Wain's compliments. Mis' Molly led +Mary B. away to the kitchen on some pretext, and +left Rena to entertain the gentleman. She questioned +him eagerly about the school, and he gave +the most glowing accounts of the elegant school- +house, the bright pupils, and the congenial society +of the neighborhood. He spoke almost entirely in +superlatives, and, after making due allowance for +what Rena perceived to be a temperamental tendency +to exaggeration, she concluded that she would +find in the school a worthy field of usefulness, and +in this polite and good-natured though somewhat +wordy man a coadjutor upon whom she could rely +in her first efforts; for she was not over-confident +of her powers, which seemed to grow less as the +way opened for their exercise. + +"Do you think I'm competent to teach the +school?" she asked of the visitor, after stating +some of her qualifications. + +"Oh, dere 's no doubt about it, Miss Rena," +replied Wain, who had listened with an air of great +wisdom, though secretly aware that he was too +ignorant of letters to form a judgment; "you kin +teach de school all right, an' could ef you didn't +know half ez much. You won't have no trouble +managin' de child'en, nuther. Ef any of 'em gits +onruly, jes' call on me fer he'p, an' I'll make 'em +walk Spanish. I'm chuhman er de school committee, +an' I'll lam de hide off'n any scholar dat +don' behave. You kin trus' me fer dat, sho' ez +I'm a-settin' here." + +"Then," said Rena, "I'll undertake it, and do +my best. I'm sure you'll not be too exacting." + +"Yo' bes', Miss Rena,'ll be de bes' dey is. +Don' you worry ner fret. Dem niggers won't +have no other teacher after dey've once laid eyes +on you: I'll guarantee dat. Dere won't be no +trouble, not a bit." + +"Well, Cousin Molly," said Mary B. to Mis' +Molly in the kitchen, "how does the plan strike +you?" + +"Ef Rena's satisfied, I am," replied Mis' Molly. +"But you'd better say nothin' about ketchin' a +beau, or any such foolishness, er else she'd be just +as likely not to go nigh Sampson County." + +"Befo' Cousin Jeff goes back," confided Mary +B., "I'd like ter give 'im a party, but my house +is too small. I wuz wonderin'," she added tentatively, +"ef I could n' borry yo' house." + +"Shorely, Ma'y B. I'm int'rested in Mr. +Wain on Rena's account, an' it's as little as I kin +do to let you use my house an' help you git things +ready." + +The date of the party was set for Thursday +night, as Wain was to leave Patesville on Friday +morning, taking with him the new teacher. The +party would serve the double purpose of a compliment +to the guest and a farewell to Rena, and it +might prove the precursor, the mother secretly +hoped, of other festivities to follow at some later +date. + + + +XXII + +IMPERATIVE BUSINESS + + +One Wednesday morning, about six weeks after +his return home, Tryon received a letter from +Judge Straight with reference to the note left +with him at Patesville for collection. This +communication properly required an answer, which +might have been made in writing within the compass +of ten lines. No sooner, however, had Tryon +read the letter than he began to perceive reasons +why it should be answered in person. He had +left Patesville under extremely painful circumstances, +vowing that he would never return; and +yet now the barest pretext, by which no one could +have been deceived except willingly, was sufficient +to turn his footsteps thither again. He explained +to his mother--with a vagueness which she found +somewhat puzzling, but ascribed to her own feminine +obtuseness in matters of business--the reasons +that imperatively demanded his presence in +Patesville. With an early start he could drive +there in one day,--he had an excellent roadster, +a light buggy, and a recent rain had left the road +in good condition,--a day would suffice for the +transaction of his business, and the third day +would bring him home again. He set out on +his journey on Thursday morning, with this programme +very clearly outlined. + +Tryon would not at first have admitted even to +himself that Rena's presence in Patesville had any +bearing whatever upon his projected visit. The +matter about which Judge Straight had written +might, it was clear, be viewed in several aspects. +The judge had written him concerning the one of +immediate importance. It would be much easier +to discuss the subject in all its bearings, and clean +up the whole matter, in one comprehensive personal +interview. + +The importance of this business, then, seemed +very urgent for the first few hours of Tryon's +journey. Ordinarily a careful driver and merciful +to his beast, his eagerness to reach Patesville +increased gradually until it became necessary to +exercise some self-restraint in order not to urge +his faithful mare beyond her powers; and soon he +could no longer pretend obliviousness of the fact +that some attraction stronger than the whole +amount of Duncan McSwayne's note was urging +him irresistibly toward his destination. The old +town beyond the distant river, his heart told him +clamorously, held the object in all the world to +him most dear. Memory brought up in vivid detail +every moment of his brief and joyous courtship, +each tender word, each enchanting smile, +every fond caress. He lived his past happiness +over again down to the moment of that fatal +discovery. What horrible fate was it that had +involved him--nay, that had caught this sweet +delicate girl in such a blind alley? A wild hope +flashed across his mind: perhaps the ghastly story +might not be true; perhaps, after all, the girl was +no more a negro than she seemed. He had heard +sad stories of white children, born out of wedlock, +abandoned by sinful parents to the care or adoption +of colored women, who had reared them as +their own, the children's future basely sacrificed to +hide the parents' shame. He would confront this +reputed mother of his darling and wring the truth +from her. He was in a state of mind where any +sort of a fairy tale would have seemed reasonable. +He would almost have bribed some one to tell him +that the woman he had loved, the woman he still +loved (he felt a thrill of lawless pleasure in the +confession), was not the descendant of slaves,-- +that he might marry her, and not have before his +eyes the gruesome fear that some one of their +children might show even the faintest mark of the +despised race. + +At noon he halted at a convenient hamlet, fed +and watered his mare, and resumed his journey +after an hour's rest. By this time he had well- +nigh forgotten about the legal business that formed +the ostensible occasion for his journey, and was +conscious only of a wild desire to see the woman +whose image was beckoning him on to Patesville +as fast as his horse could take him. + +At sundown he stopped again, about ten miles +from the town, and cared for his now tired beast. +He knew her capacity, however, and calculated +that she could stand the additional ten miles without +injury. The mare set out with reluctance, +but soon settled resignedly down into a steady jog. + +Memory had hitherto assailed Tryon with the +vision of past joys. As he neared the town, +imagination attacked him with still more moving +images. He had left her, this sweet flower of +womankind--white or not, God had never made +a fairer!--he had seen her fall to the hard +pavement, with he knew not what resulting injury. +He had left her tender frame--the touch of her +finger-tips had made him thrill with happiness-- +to be lifted by strange hands, while he with heartless +pride had driven deliberately away, without a +word of sorrow or regret. He had ignored her as +completely as though she had never existed. That +he had been deceived was true. But had he not +aided in his own deception? Had not Warwick +told him distinctly that they were of no family, +and was it not his own fault that he had not +followed up the clue thus given him? Had not Rena +compared herself to the child's nurse, and had +he not assured her that if she were the nurse, he +would marry her next day? The deception had +been due more to his own blindness than to any +lack of honesty on the part of Rena and her +brother. In the light of his present feelings they +seemed to have been absurdly outspoken. He +was glad that he had kept his discovery to himself. +He had considered himself very magnanimous +not to have exposed the fraud that was +being perpetrated upon society: it was with a very +comfortable feeling that he now realized that the +matter was as profound a secret as before. + +"She ought to have been born white," he +muttered, adding weakly, "I would to God that I had +never found her out!" + +Drawing near the bridge that crossed the river +to the town, he pictured to himself a pale girl, +with sorrowful, tear-stained eyes, pining away in +the old gray house behind the cedars for love of +him, dying, perhaps, of a broken heart. He would +hasten to her; he would dry her tears with kisses; +he would express sorrow for his cruelty. + +The tired mare had crossed the bridge and was +slowly toiling up Front Street; she was near the +limit of her endurance, and Tryon did not urge +her. + +They might talk the matter over, and if they +must part, part at least they would in peace and +friendship. If he could not marry her, he would +never marry any one else; it would be cruel for +him to seek happiness while she was denied it, +for, having once given her heart to him, she could +never, he was sure,--so instinctively fine was +her nature,--she could never love any one less +worthy than himself, and would therefore probably +never marry. He knew from a Clarence acquaintance, +who had written him a letter, that Rena had +not reappeared in that town. + +If he should discover--the chance was one in +a thousand--that she was white; or if he should +find it too hard to leave her--ah, well! he was a +white man, one of a race born to command. He +would make her white; no one beyond the old +town would ever know the difference. If, perchance, +their secret should be disclosed, the world was +wide; a man of courage and ambition, inspired by +love, might make a career anywhere. Circumstances +made weak men; strong men mould circumstances +to do their bidding. He would not +let his darling die of grief, whatever the price +must be paid for her salvation. She was only a +few rods away from him now. In a moment he +would see her; he would take her tenderly in his +arms, and heart to heart they would mutually +forgive and forget, and, strengthened by their love, +would face the future boldly and bid the world do +its worst. + + + +XXIII + +THE GUEST OF HONOR + + +The evening of the party arrived. The house +had been thoroughly cleaned in preparation for the +event, and decorated with the choicest treasures of +the garden. By eight o'clock the guests had gathered. +They were all mulattoes,--all people of +mixed blood were called "mulattoes" in North +Carolina. There were dark mulattoes and bright +mulattoes. Mis' Molly's guests were mostly of the +bright class, most of them more than half white, +and few of them less. In Mis' Molly's small circle, +straight hair was the only palliative of a dark +complexion. Many of the guests would not have +been casually distinguishable from white people of +the poorer class. Others bore unmistakable traces +of Indian ancestry,--for Cherokee and Tuscarora +blood was quite widely diffused among the free +negroes of North Carolina, though well-nigh lost +sight of by the curious custom of the white people +to ignore anything but the negro blood in those +who were touched by its potent current. Very few +of those present had been slaves. The free colored +people of Patesville were numerous enough before +the war to have their own "society," and human +enough to despise those who did not possess +advantages equal to their own; and at this time they still +looked down upon those who had once been held in +bondage. The only black man present occupied a +chair which stood on a broad chest in one corner, +and extracted melody from a fiddle to which a +whole generation of the best people of Patesville +had danced and made merry. Uncle Needham +seldom played for colored gatherings, but made an +exception in Mis' Molly's case; she was not white, +but he knew her past; if she was not the rose, +she had at least been near the rose. When the +company had gathered, Mary B., as mistress of +ceremonies, whispered to Uncle Needham, who +tapped his violin sharply with the bow. + +"Ladies an' gent'emens, take yo' pa'dners fer a +Fuhginny reel!" + +Mr. Wain, as the guest of honor, opened the +ball with his hostess. He wore a broadcloth coat +and trousers, a heavy glittering chain across the +spacious front of his white waistcoat, and a large +red rose in his buttonhole. If his boots were +slightly run down at the heel, so trivial a detail +passed unnoticed in the general splendor of his +attire. Upon a close or hostile inspection there +would have been some features of his ostensibly +good-natured face--the shifty eye, the full and +slightly drooping lower lip--which might have +given a student of physiognomy food for reflection. +But whatever the latent defects of Wain's character, +he proved himself this evening a model of +geniality, presuming not at all upon his reputed +wealth, but winning golden opinions from those +who came to criticise, of whom, of course, there +were a few, the company being composed of human +beings. + +When the dance began, Wain extended his +large, soft hand to Mary B., yellow, buxom, thirty, +with white and even teeth glistening behind her +full red lips. A younger sister of Mary B.'s was +paired with Billy Oxendine, a funny little tailor, +a great gossip, and therefore a favorite among the +women. Mis' Molly graciously consented, after +many protestations of lack of skill and want of +practice, to stand up opposite Homer Pettifoot, +Mary B.'s husband, a tall man, with a slight stoop, +a bald crown, and full, dreamy eyes,--a man of +much imagination and a large fund of anecdote. +Two other couples completed the set; others were +restrained by bashfulness or religious scruples, +which did not yield until later in the evening. + +The perfumed air from the garden without and +the cut roses within mingled incongruously with the +alien odors of musk and hair oil, of which several +young barbers in the company were especially +redolent. There was a play of sparkling eyes and +glancing feet. Mary B. danced with the languorous +grace of an Eastern odalisque, Mis' Molly with +the mincing, hesitating step of one long out of +practice. Wain performed saltatory prodigies. This +was a golden opportunity for the display in which +his soul found delight. He introduced variations +hitherto unknown to the dance. His skill and +suppleness brought a glow of admiration into the +eyes of the women, and spread a cloud of jealousy +over the faces of several of the younger men, who +saw themselves eclipsed. + +Rena had announced in advance her intention +to take no active part in the festivities. "I don't +feel like dancing, mamma--I shall never dance +again." + +"Well, now, Rena," answered her mother, "of +co'se you're too dignified, sence you've be'n 'sociatin' +with white folks, to be hoppin' roun' an' kickin' +up like Ma'y B. an' these other yaller gals; +but of co'se, too, you can't slight the comp'ny +entirely, even ef it ain't jest exac'ly our party,-- +you'll have to pay 'em some little attention, 'specially +Mr. Wain, sence you're goin' down yonder +with 'im." + +Rena conscientiously did what she thought +politeness required. She went the round of the guests +in the early part of the evening and exchanged +greetings with them. To several requests for dances +she replied that she was not dancing. She did not +hold herself aloof because of pride; any instinctive +shrinking she might have felt by reason of her recent +association with persons of greater refinement +was offset by her still more newly awakened zeal +for humanity; they were her people, she must not +despise them. But the occasion suggested painful +memories of other and different scenes in +which she had lately participated. Once or twice +these memories were so vivid as almost to +overpower her. She slipped away from the company, +and kept in the background as much as possible +without seeming to slight any one. + +The guests as well were dimly conscious of a +slight barrier between Mis' Molly's daughter and +themselves. The time she had spent apart from +these friends of her youth had rendered it impossible +for her ever to meet them again upon the plane +of common interests and common thoughts. It +was much as though one, having acquired the +vernacular of his native country, had lived in a foreign +land long enough to lose the language of his childhood +without acquiring fully that of his adopted +country. Miss Rowena Warwick could never again +become quite the Rena Walden who had left the +house behind the cedars no more than a year and +a half before. Upon this very difference were +based her noble aspirations for usefulness,--one +must stoop in order that one may lift others. Any +other young woman present would have been importuned +beyond her powers of resistance. Rena's +reserve was respected. + +When supper was announced, somewhat early in +the evening, the dancers found seats in the hall or +on the front piazza. Aunt Zilphy, assisted by Mis' +Molly and Mary B., passed around the refreshments, +which consisted of fried chicken, buttered +biscuits, pound-cake, and eggnog. When the first +edge of appetite was taken off, the conversation +waxed animated. Homer Pettifoot related, with +minute detail, an old, threadbare hunting lie, +dating, in slightly differing forms, from the age of +Nimrod, about finding twenty-five partridges sitting +in a row on a rail, and killing them all with a +single buckshot, which passed through twenty-four +and lodged in the body of the twenty-fifth, from +which it was extracted and returned to the shot +pouch for future service. + +This story was followed by a murmur of +incredulity--of course, the thing was possible, but +Homer's faculty for exaggeration was so well +known that any statement of his was viewed with +suspicion. Homer seemed hurt at this lack of +faith, and was disposed to argue the point, but +the sonorous voice of Mr. Wain on the other side +of the room cut short his protestations, in much +the same way that the rising sun extinguishes the +light of lesser luminaries. + +"I wuz a member er de fus' legislatur' after de +wah," Wain was saying. "When I went up f'm +Sampson in de fall, I had to pass th'ough Smithfiel', +I got in town in de afternoon, an' put up at +de bes' hotel. De lan'lo'd did n' have no s'picion +but what I wuz a white man, an' he gimme a room, +an' I had supper an' breakfas', an' went on ter +Rolly nex' mornin'. W'en de session wuz over, +I come along back, an' w'en I got ter Smithfiel', I +driv' up ter de same hotel. I noticed, as soon as I +got dere, dat de place had run down consid'able-- +dere wuz weeds growin' in de yard, de winders wuz +dirty, an' ev'ything roun' dere looked kinder lonesome +an' shif'less. De lan'lo'd met me at de do'; +he looked mighty down in de mouth, an' sezee:-- + +"`Look a-here, w'at made you come an' stop at +my place widout tellin' me you wuz a black man? +Befo' you come th'ough dis town I had a fus'-class +business. But w'en folks found out dat a nigger +had put up here, business drapped right off, +an' I've had ter shet up my hotel. You oughter +be'shamed er yo'se'f fer ruinin' a po' man w'at +had n' never done no harm ter you. You've done +a mean, low-lived thing, an' a jes' God'll punish +you fer it.' + +"De po' man acshully bust inter tears," +continued Mr. Wain magnanimously, "an' I felt so +sorry fer 'im--he wuz a po' white man tryin' ter +git up in de worl'--dat I hauled out my purse +an' gin 'im ten dollars, an' he 'peared monst'ous +glad ter git it." + +" How good-hearted! How kin'!" murmured +the ladies. "It done credit to yo' feelin's." + +" Don't b'lieve a word er dem lies," muttered +one young man to another sarcastically. "He +could n' pass fer white, 'less'n it wuz a mighty dark +night." + +Upon this glorious evening of his life, Mr. +Jefferson Wain had one distinctly hostile critic, +of whose presence he was blissfully unconscious. +Frank Fowler had not been invited to the party,-- +his family did not go with Mary B.'s set. Rena +had suggested to her mother that he be invited, +but Mis' Molly had demurred on the ground that +it was not her party, and that she had no right to +issue invitations. It is quite likely that she would +have sought an invitation for Frank from Mary +B.; but Frank was black, and would not harmonize +with the rest of the company, who would not have +Mis' Molly's reasons for treating him well. She +had compromised the matter by stepping across the +way in the afternoon and suggesting that Frank +might come over and sit on the back porch and +look at the dancing and share in the supper. + +Frank was not without a certain honest pride. +He was sensitive enough, too, not to care to go +where he was not wanted. He would have curtly +refused any such maimed invitation to any other +place. But would he not see Rena in her best +attire, and might she not perhaps, in passing, speak +a word to him? + +"Thank y', Mis' Molly," he replied, "I'll +prob'ly come over." + +"You're a big fool, boy," observed his father after +Mis' Molly had gone back across the street, "ter +be stickin' roun' dem yaller niggers 'cross de street, +an' slobb'rin' an' slav'rin' over 'em, an' hangin' +roun' deir back do' wuss 'n ef dey wuz w'ite folks. +I'd see 'em dead fus'!" + +Frank himself resisted the temptation for half +an hour after the music began, but at length he +made his way across the street and stationed himself +at the window opening upon the back piazza. +When Rena was in the room, he had eyes for her +only, but when she was absent, he fixed his +attention mainly upon Wain. With jealous +clairvoyance he observed that Wain's eyes followed +Rena when she left the room, and lit up when she +returned. Frank had heard that Rena was going +away with this man, and he watched Wain closely, +liking him less the longer he looked at him. To +his fancy, Wain's style and skill were affectation, +his good-nature mere hypocrisy, and his glance at +Rena the eye of the hawk upon his quarry. He +had heard that Wain was unmarried, and he could +not see how, this being so, he could help wishing +Rena for a wife. Frank would have been content +to see her marry a white man, who would have +raised her to a plane worthy of her merits. In +this man's shifty eye he read the liar--his wealth +and standing were probably as false as his seeming +good-humor. + +"Is that you, Frank?" said a soft voice near at +hand. + +He looked up with a joyful thrill. Rena was +peering intently at him, as if trying to distinguish +his features in the darkness. It was a bright +moonlight night, but Frank stood in the shadow of +the piazza. + +"Yas 'm, it's me, Miss Rena. Yo' mammy said +I could come over an' see you-all dance. You ain' +be'n out on de flo' at all, ter-night." + +" No, Frank, I don't care for dancing. I shall +not dance to-night." + +This answer was pleasing to Frank. If he could +not hope to dance with her, at least the men inside +--at least this snake in the grass from down the +country--should not have that privilege. + +"But you must have some supper, Frank," said +Rena. "I'll bring it myself." + +"No, Miss Rena, I don' keer fer nothin'--I +did n' come over ter eat--r'al'y I didn't." + +"Nonsense, Frank, there's plenty of it. I have +no appetite, and you shall have my portion." + +She brought him a slice of cake and a glass of +eggnog. When Mis' Molly, a minute later, came +out upon the piazza, Frank left the yard and +walked down the street toward the old canal. Rena +had spoken softly to him; she had fed him with +her own dainty hands. He might never hope that +she would see in him anything but a friend; but +he loved her, and he would watch over her and +protect her, wherever she might be. He did not +believe that she would ever marry the grinning +hypocrite masquerading back there in Mis' Molly's +parlor; but the man would bear watching. + +Mis' Molly had come to call her daughter into +the house. "Rena," she said, "Mr. Wain wants +ter know if you won't dance just one dance with +him." + +"Yas, Rena," pleaded Mary B., who followed +Miss Molly out to the piazza, "jes' one dance. I +don't think you're treatin' my comp'ny jes' right, +Cousin Rena." + +"You're goin' down there with 'im," added her +mother, "an' it 'd be just as well to be on friendly +terms with 'im." + +Wain himself had followed the women. "Sho'ly, +Miss Rena, you're gwine ter honah me wid one +dance? I'd go 'way f'm dis pa'ty sad at hea't ef +I had n' stood up oncet wid de young lady er de +house." + +As Rena, weakly persuaded, placed her hand +on Wain's arm and entered the house, a buggy, +coming up Front Street, paused a moment at the +corner, and then turning slowly, drove quietly up +the nameless by-street, concealed by the intervening +cedars, until it reached a point from which the +occupant could view, through the open front window, +the interior of the parlor. + + + +XXIV + +SWING YOUR PARTNERS + + +Moved by tenderness and thoughts of self-sacrifice, +which had occupied his mind to the momentary +exclusion of all else, Tryon had scarcely +noticed, as be approached the house behind the +cedars, a strain of lively music, to which was added, +as he drew still nearer, the accompaniment of other +festive sounds. He suddenly awoke, however, to +the fact that these signs of merriment came from +the house at which he had intended to stop;-- +he had not meant that Rena should pass another +sleepless night of sorrow, or that he should himself +endure another needless hour of suspense. + +He drew rein at the corner. Shocked surprise, +a nascent anger, a vague alarm, an insistent +curiosity, urged him nearer. Turning the mare into +the side street and keeping close to the fence, he +drove ahead in the shadow of the cedars until he +reached a gap through which he could see into the +open door and windows of the brightly lighted +hall. + +There was evidently a ball in progress. The +fiddle was squeaking merrily so a tune that he +remembered well,--it was associated with one of +the most delightful evenings of his life, that of +the tournament ball. A mellow negro voice was +calling with a rhyming accompaniment the figures +of a quadrille. Tryon, with parted lips and slowly +hardening heart, leaned forward from the buggy- +seat, gripping the rein so tightly that his nails +cut into the opposing palm. Above the clatter of +noisy conversation rose the fiddler's voice:-- + + "Swing yo' pa'dners; doan be shy, + Look yo' lady in de eye! + Th'ow yo' ahm aroun' huh wais'; + Take yo' time--dey ain' no has'e!" + +To the middle of the floor, in full view through +an open window, advanced the woman who all day +long had been the burden of his thoughts--not +pale with grief and hollow-eyed with weeping, but +flushed with pleasure, around her waist the arm +of a burly, grinning mulatto, whose face was +offensively familiar to Tryon. + +With a muttered curse of concentrated +bitterness, Tryon struck the mare a sharp blow with +the whip. The sensitive creature, spirited even +in her great weariness, resented the lash and +started off with the bit in her teeth. Perceiving +that it would be difficult to turn in the narrow +roadway without running into the ditch at the +left, Tryon gave the mare rein and dashed down +the street, scarcely missing, as the buggy crossed +the bridge, a man standing abstractedly by the old +canal, who sprang aside barely in time to avoid +being run over. + +Meantime Rena was passing through a trying +ordeal. After the first few bars, the fiddler +plunged into a well-known air, in which Rena, +keenly susceptible to musical impressions, +recognized the tune to which, as Queen of Love and +Beauty, she had opened the dance at her entrance +into the world of life and love, for it was there +she had met George Tryon. The combination of +music and movement brought up the scene with +great distinctness. Tryon, peering angrily through +the cedars, had not been more conscious than she +of the external contrast between her partners on +this and the former occasion. She perceived, too, +as Tryon from the outside had not, the difference +between Wain's wordy flattery (only saved by his +cousin's warning from pointed and fulsome adulation), +and the tenderly graceful compliment, +couched in the romantic terms of chivalry, with +which the knight of the handkerchief had charmed +her ear. It was only by an immense effort that she +was able to keep her emotions under control until +the end of the dance, when she fled to her chamber +and burst into tears. It was not the cruel Tryon +who had blasted her love with his deadly look that +she mourned, but the gallant young knight who +had worn her favor on his lance and crowned her +Queen of Love and Beauty. + + +Tryon's stay in Patesville was very brief. He +drove to the hotel and put up for the night. During +many sleepless hours his mind was in a turmoil +with a very different set of thoughts from those +which had occupied it on the way to town. Not +the least of them was a profound self-contempt for +his own lack of discernment. How had he been +so blind as not to have read long ago the character +of this wretched girl who had bewitched him? +To-night his eyes had been opened--he had seen +her with the mask thrown off, a true daughter of +a race in which the sensuous enjoyment of the +moment took precedence of taste or sentiment or any +of the higher emotions. Her few months of boarding- +school, her brief association with white people, +had evidently been a mere veneer over the underlying +negro, and their effects had slipped away as +soon as the intercourse had ceased. With the +monkey-like imitativeness of the negro she had copied +the manners of white people while she lived among +them, and had dropped them with equal facility +when they ceased to serve a purpose. Who but +a negro could have recovered so soon from what +had seemed a terrible bereavement?--she herself +must have felt it at the time, for otherwise she +would not have swooned. A woman of sensibility, +as this one had seemed to be, should naturally feel +more keenly, and for a longer time than a man, +an injury to the affections; but he, a son of the +ruling race, had been miserable for six weeks about +a girl who had so far forgotten him as already to +plunge headlong into the childish amusements of +her own ignorant and degraded people. What +more, indeed, he asked himself savagely,--what +more could be expected of the base-born child of +the plaything of a gentleman's idle hour, who to +this ignoble origin added the blood of a servile +race? And he, George Tryon, had honored her +with his love; he had very nearly linked his fate +and joined his blood to hers by the solemn sanctions +of church and state. Tryon was not a devout +man, but he thanked God with religious fervor +that he had been saved a second time from a +mistake which would have wrecked his whole future. +If he had yielded to the momentary weakness of +the past night,--the outcome of a sickly sentimentality +to which he recognized now, in the light +of reflection, that he was entirely too prone,--he +would have regretted it soon enough. The black +streak would have been sure to come out in some +form, sooner or later, if not in the wife, then in +her children. He saw clearly enough, in this hour +of revulsion, that with his temperament and training +such a union could never have been happy. +If all the world had been ignorant of the dark +secret, it would always have been in his own +thoughts, or at least never far away. Each fault +of hers that the close daily association of husband +and wife might reveal,--the most flawless of +sweethearts do not pass scathless through the long +test of matrimony,--every wayward impulse of +his children, every defect of mind, morals, temper, +or health, would have been ascribed to the dark +ancestral strain. Happiness under such conditions +would have been impossible. + +When Tryon lay awake in the early morning, +after a few brief hours of sleep, the business which +had brought him to Patesville seemed, in the cold +light of reason, so ridiculously inadequate that he +felt almost ashamed to have set up such a pretext +for his journey. The prospect, too, of meeting +Dr. Green and his family, of having to explain +his former sudden departure, and of running a +gauntlet of inquiry concerning his marriage to the +aristocratic Miss Warwick of South Carolina; +the fear that some one at Patesville might have +suspected a connection between Rena's swoon and +his own flight,--these considerations so moved +this impressionable and impulsive young man that +he called a bell-boy, demanded an early breakfast, +ordered his horse, paid his reckoning, and started +upon his homeward journey forthwith. A certain +distrust of his own sensibility, which he felt to +be curiously inconsistent with his most positive +convictions, led him to seek the river bridge by a +roundabout route which did not take him past the +house where, a few hours before, he had seen the +last fragment of his idol shattered beyond the hope +of repair. + + +The party broke up at an early hour, since most +of the guests were working-people, and the travelers +were to make an early start next day. About +nine in the morning, Wain drove round to Mis' +Molly's. Rena's trunk was strapped behind the +buggy, and she set out, in the company of Wain, +for her new field of labor. The school term was +only two months in length, and she did not expect +to return until its expiration. Just before taking +her seat in the buggy, Rena felt a sudden sinking +of the heart. + +"Oh, mother," she whispered, as they stood +wrapped in a close embrace, "I'm afraid to leave +you. I left you once, and it turned out so miserably." + +"It'll turn out better this time, honey," replied +her mother soothingly. "Good-by, child. Take +care of yo'self an' yo'r money, and write to yo'r +mammy." + +One kiss all round, and Rena was lifted into +the buggy. Wain seized the reins, and under his +skillful touch the pretty mare began to prance and +curvet with restrained impatience. Wain could +not resist the opportunity to show off before the +party, which included Mary B.'s entire family and +several other neighbors, who had gathered to see +the travelers off. + +"Good-by ter Patesville! Good-by, folkses all!" +he cried, with a wave of his disengaged hand. + +"Good-by, mother! Good-by, all!" cried Rena, +as with tears in her heart and a brave smile on her +face she left her home behind her for the second +time. + +When they had crossed the river bridge, the +travelers came to a long stretch of rising ground, +from the summit of which they could look back +over the white sandy road for nearly a mile. +Neither Rena nor her companion saw Frank Fowler +behind the chinquapin bush at the foot of the hill, +nor the gaze of mute love and longing with which +he watched the buggy mount the long incline. He +had not been able to trust himself to bid her +farewell. He had seen her go away once before with +every prospect of happiness, and come back, a dove +with a wounded wing, to the old nest behind the +cedars. She was going away again, with a man +whom he disliked and distrusted. If she had met +misfortune before, what were her prospects for +happiness now? + +The buggy paused at the top of the hill, and +Frank, shading his eyes with his hand, thought he +could see her turn and look behind. Look back, +dear child, towards your home and those who love +you! For who knows more than this faithful +worshiper what threads of the past Fate is weaving +into your future, or whether happiness or misery +lies before you? + + + +XXV + +BALANCE ALL + + +The road to Sampson County lay for the most +part over the pine-clad sandhills,--an alternation +of gentle rises and gradual descents, with now and +then a swamp of greater or less extent. Long +stretches of the highway led through the virgin +forest, for miles unbroken by a clearing or sign of +human habitation. + +They traveled slowly, with frequent pauses in +shady places, for the weather was hot. The journey, +made leisurely, required more than a day, +and might with slight effort be prolonged into +two. They stopped for the night at a small +village, where Wain found lodging for Rena with an +acquaintance of his, and for himself with another, +while a third took charge of the horse, the +accommodation for travelers being limited. Rena's +appearance and manners were the subject of much +comment. It was necessary to explain to several +curious white people that Rena was a woman of +color. A white woman might have driven with +Wain without attracting remark,--most white +ladies had negro coachmen. That a woman of +Rena's complexion should eat at a negro's table, or +sleep beneath a negro's roof, was a seeming breach +of caste which only black blood could excuse. The +explanation was never questioned. No white person +of sound mind would ever claim to be a +negro. + +They resumed their journey somewhat late in the +morning. Rena would willingly have hastened, for +she was anxious to plunge into her new work; but +Wain seemed disposed to prolong the pleasant drive, +and beguiled the way for a time with stories of +wonderful things he had done and strange experiences +of a somewhat checkered career. He was shrewd +enough to avoid any subject which would offend a +modest young woman, but too obtuse to perceive +that much of what he said would not commend +him to a person of refinement. He made little +reference to his possessions, concerning which so +much had been said at Patesville; and this +reticence was a point in his favor. If he had not +been so much upon his guard and Rena so much +absorbed by thoughts of her future work, such a +drive would have furnished a person of her discernment +a very fair measure of the man's character. +To these distractions must be added the entire +absence of any idea that Wain might have amorous +designs upon her; and any shortcomings of +manners or speech were excused by the broad +mantle of charity which Rena in her new-found zeal for +the welfare of her people was willing to throw over +all their faults. They were the victims of +oppression; they were not responsible for its results. + +Toward the end of the second day, while nearing +their destination, the travelers passed a large +white house standing back from the road at the +foot of a lane. Around it grew widespreading +trees and well-kept shrubbery. The fences were +in good repair. Behind the house and across the +road stretched extensive fields of cotton and +waving corn. They had passed no other place that +showed such signs of thrift and prosperity. + +"Oh, what a lovely place!" exclaimed Rena. +"That is yours, isn't it?" + +"No; we ain't got to my house yet," he +answered. "Dat house b'longs ter de riches' people +roun' here. Dat house is over in de nex' county. +We're right close to de line now." + +Shortly afterwards they turned off from the +main highway they had been pursuing, and struck +into a narrower road to the left. + +"De main road," explained Wain, "goes on to +Clinton, 'bout five miles er mo' away. Dis one +we're turnin' inter now will take us to my place, +which is 'bout three miles fu'ther on. We'll git +dere now in an hour er so." + +Wain lived in an old plantation house, somewhat +dilapidated, and surrounded by an air of neglect +and shiftlessness, but still preserving a remnant +of dignity in its outlines and comfort in its interior +arrangements. Rena was assigned a large room on +the second floor. She was somewhat surprised at +the make-up of the household. Wain's mother-- +an old woman, much darker than her son--kept +house for him. A sister with two children lived +in the house. The element of surprise lay in the +presence of two small children left by Wain's wife, +of whom Rena now heard for the first time. He +had lost his wife, he informed Rena sadly, a couple +of years before. + +"Yas, Miss Rena," she sighed, "de Lawd give +her, an' de Lawd tuck her away. Blessed be de +name er de Lawd." He accompanied this sententious +quotation with a wicked look from under his +half-closed eyelids that Rena did not see. + +The following morning Wain drove her in his +buggy over to the county town, where she took the +teacher's examination. She was given a seat in a +room with a number of other candidates for +certificates, but the fact leaking out from some remark +of Wain's that she was a colored girl, objection +was quietly made by several of the would-be teachers +to her presence in the room, and she was requested +to retire until the white teachers should +have been examined. An hour or two later she +was given a separate examination, which she passed +without difficulty. The examiner, a gentleman of +local standing, was dimly conscious that she might +not have found her exclusion pleasant, and was +especially polite. It would have been strange, +indeed, if he had not been impressed by her sweet +face and air of modest dignity, which were all the +more striking because of her social disability. He +fell into conversation with her, became interested +in her hopes and aims, and very cordially offered +to be of service, if at any time he might, in +connection with her school. + +"You have the satisfaction," he said, "of +receiving the only first-grade certificate issued to-day. +You might teach a higher grade of pupils than you +will find at Sandy Run, but let us hope that you +may in time raise them to your own level." + +"Which I doubt very much," he muttered to +himself, as she went away with Wain. "What a +pity that such a woman should be a nigger! If +she were anything to me, though, I should hate +to trust her anywhere near that saddle-colored +scoundrel. He's a thoroughly bad lot, and will +bear watching." + +Rena, however, was serenely ignorant of any +danger from the accommodating Wain. Absorbed +in her own thoughts and plans, she had not sought +to look beneath the surface of his somewhat overdone +politeness. In a few days she began her work +as teacher, and sought to forget in the service of +others the dull sorrow that still gnawed at her heart. + + + +XXVI + +THE SCHOOLHOUSE IN THE WOODS + + +Blanche Leary, closely observant of Tryon's +moods, marked a decided change in his manner +after his return from his trip to Patesville. His +former moroseness had given way to a certain +defiant lightness, broken now and then by an +involuntary sigh, but maintained so well, on the +whole, that his mother detected no lapses whatever. +The change was characterized by another feature +agreeable to both the women: Tryon showed +decidedly more interest than ever before in Miss +Leary's society. Within a week he asked her +several times to play a selection on the piano, +displaying, as she noticed, a decided preference for +gay and cheerful music, and several times suggesting +a change when she chose pieces of a sentimental +cast. More than once, during the second week +after his return, he went out riding with her; she +was a graceful horsewoman, perfectly at home in +the saddle, and appearing to advantage in a riding- +habit. She was aware that Tryon watched her now +and then, with an eye rather critical than indulgent. + +"He is comparing me with some other girl," +she surmised. "I seem to stand the test very well. +I wonder who the other is, and what was the +trouble?" + +Miss Leary exerted all her powers to interest +and amuse the man she had set out to win, and +who seemed nearer than ever before. Tryon, to +his pleased surprise, discovered in her mind depths +that he had never suspected. She displayed a +singular affinity for the tastes that were his--he +could not, of course, know how carefully she had +studied them. The old wound, recently reopened, +seemed to be healing rapidly, under conditions +more conducive than before to perfect recovery. +No longer, indeed, was he pursued by the picture +of Rena discovered and unmasked--this he had +definitely banished from the realm of sentiment to +that of reason. The haunting image of Rena loving +and beloved, amid the harmonious surroundings +of her brother's home, was not so readily displaced. +Nevertheless, he reached in several weeks a point +from which he could consider her as one thinks of +a dear one removed by the hand of death, or smitten +by some incurable ailment of mind or body. +Erelong, he fondly believed, the recovery would +be so far complete that he could consign to the +tomb of pleasant memories even the most thrilling +episodes of his ill-starred courtship. + +"George," said Mrs. Tryon one morning while +her son was in this cheerful mood, "I'm sending +Blanche over to Major McLeod's to do an errand +for me. Would you mind driving her over? The +road may be rough after the storm last night, and +Blanche has an idea that no one drives so well as +you." + +"Why, yes, mother, I'll be glad to drive Blanche +over. I want to see the major myself." + +They were soon bowling along between the pines, +behind the handsome mare that had carried Tryon +so well at the Clarence tournament. Presently he +drew up sharply. + +"A tree has fallen squarely across the road," he +exclaimed. "We shall have to turn back a little +way and go around." + +They drove back a quarter of a mile and turned +into a by-road leading to the right through the +woods. The solemn silence of the pine forest is +soothing or oppressive, according to one's mood. +Beneath the cool arcade of the tall, overarching +trees a deep peace stole over Tryon's heart. He +had put aside indefinitely and forever an unhappy +and impossible love. The pretty and affectionate +girl beside him would make an ideal wife. Of +her family and blood he was sure. She was his +mother's choice, and his mother had set her heart +upon their marriage. Why not speak to her now, +and thus give himself the best possible protection +against stray flames of love? + +"Blanche," he said, looking at her kindly. + +"Yes, George?" Her voice was very gentle, +and slightly tremulous. Could she have divined +his thought? Love is a great clairvoyant. + +"Blanche, dear, I"-- + +A clatter of voices broke upon the stillness of +the forest and interrupted Tryon's speech. A +sudden turn to the left brought the buggy to a +little clearing, in the midst of which stood a small +log schoolhouse. Out of the schoolhouse a swarm +of colored children were emerging, the suppressed +energy of the school hour finding vent in vocal +exercise of various sorts. A group had already +formed a ring, and were singing with great volume +and vigor:-- + + "Miss Jane, she loves sugar an' tea, + Miss Jane, she loves candy. + Miss Jane, she can whirl all around + An' kiss her love quite handy. + + "De oak grows tall, + De pine grows slim, + So rise you up, my true love, + An' let me come in." + + +"What a funny little darkey!" exclaimed Miss +Leary, pointing to a diminutive lad who was walking +on his hands, with his feet balanced in the air. +At sight of the buggy and its occupants this sable +acrobat, still retaining his inverted position, moved +toward the newcomers, and, reversing himself with +a sudden spring, brought up standing beside the +buggy. + +"Hoddy, Mars Geo'ge!" he exclaimed, bobbing +his head and kicking his heel out behind in +approved plantation style. + +"Hello, Plato," replied the young man, "what +are you doing here?" + +"Gwine ter school, Mars Geo'ge," replied the +lad; "larnin' ter read an' write, suh, lack de w'ite +folks." + +"Wat you callin' dat w'ite man marster fur?" +whispered a tall yellow boy to the acrobat addressed +as Plato. "You don' b'long ter him no mo'; you're +free, an' ain' got sense ernuff ter know it." + +Tryon threw a small coin to Plato, and holding +another in his hand suggestively, smiled toward the +tall yellow boy, who looked regretfully at the coin, +but stood his ground; he would call no man master, +not even for a piece of money. + +During this little colloquy, Miss Leary had kept +her face turned toward the schoolhouse. + +"What a pretty girl!" she exclaimed. "There," +she added, as Tryon turned his head toward her, +"you are too late. She has retired into her castle. +Oh, Plato!" + +"Yas, missis," replied Plato, who was prancing +round the buggy in great glee, on the strength of +his acquaintance with the white folks. + +"Is your teacher white?" + +"No, ma'm, she ain't w'ite; she's black. She +looks lack she's w'ite, but she's black." + +Tryon had not seen the teacher's face, but the +incident had jarred the old wound; Miss Leary's +description of the teacher, together with Plato's +characterization, had stirred lightly sleeping +memories. He was more or less abstracted during the +remainder of the drive, and did not recur to the +conversation that had been interrupted by coming +upon the schoolhouse. + +The teacher, glancing for a moment through the +open door of the schoolhouse, had seen a handsome +young lady staring at her,--Miss Leary had +a curiously intent look when she was interested in +anything, with no intention whatever to be rude,-- +and beyond the lady the back and shoulder of a +man, whose face was turned the other way. There +was a vague suggestion of something familiar about +the equipage, but Rena shrank from this close +scrutiny and withdrew out of sight before she had +had an opportunity to identify the vague resemblance +to something she had known. + +Miss Leary had missed by a hair's-breadth the +psychological moment, and felt some resentment +toward the little negroes who had interrupted her +lover's train of thought. Negroes have caused a +great deal of trouble among white people. How +deeply the shadow of the Ethiopian had fallen +upon her own happiness, Miss Leary of course +could not guess. + + + +XXVII + +AN INTERESTING ACQUAINTANCE + + +A few days later, Rena looked out of the +window near her desk and saw a low basket phaeton, +drawn by a sorrel pony, driven sharply into the +clearing and drawn up beside an oak sapling. +The occupant of the phaeton, a tall, handsome, +well-preserved lady in middle life, with slightly +gray hair, alighted briskly from the phaeton, tied +the pony to the sapling with a hitching-strap, and +advanced to the schoolhouse door. + +Rena wondered who the lady might be. She +had a benevolent aspect, however, and came forward +to the desk with a smile, not at all embarrassed +by the wide-eyed inspection of the entire +school. + +"How do you do?" she said, extending her +hand to the teacher. "I live in the neighborhood +and am interested in the colored people--a good +many of them once belonged to me. I heard +something of your school, and thought I should +like to make your acquaintance." + +"It is very kind of you, indeed," murmured +Rena respectfully. + +"Yes," continued the lady, "I am not one of +those who sit back and blame their former slaves +because they were freed. They are free now,--it +is all decided and settled,--and they ought to be +taught enough to enable them to make good use of +their freedom. But really, my dear,--you mustn't +feel offended if I make a mistake,--I am going +to ask you something very personal." She looked +suggestively at the gaping pupils. + +"The school may take the morning recess now," +announced the teacher. The pupils filed out in +an orderly manner, most of them stationing +themselves about the grounds in such places as would +keep the teacher and the white lady in view. Very +few white persons approved of the colored schools; +no other white person had ever visited this one. + +"Are you really colored?" asked the lady, when +the children had withdrawn. + +A year and a half earlier, Rena would have met +the question by some display of self-consciousness. +Now, she replied simply and directly. + +"Yes, ma'am, I am colored." + +The lady, who had been studying her as closely +as good manners would permit, sighed regretfully. + +"Well, it's a shame. No one would ever think +it. If you chose to conceal it, no one would ever +be the wiser. What is your name, child, and where +were you brought up? You must have a romantic +history." + +Rena gave her name and a few facts in regard +to her past. The lady was so much interested, +and put so many and such searching questions, +that Rena really found it more difficult to suppress +the fact that she had been white, than she had +formerly had in hiding her African origin. There +was about the girl an air of real refinement that +pleased the lady,--the refinement not merely of +a fine nature, but of contact with cultured people; +a certain reserve of speech and manner quite +inconsistent with Mrs. Tryon's experience of +colored women. The lady was interested and slightly +mystified. A generous, impulsive spirit,--her +son's own mother,--she made minute inquiries +about the school and the pupils, several of whom +she knew by name. Rena stated that the two +months' term was nearing its end, and that she +was training the children in various declamations +and dialogues for the exhibition at the close. + +"I shall attend it," declared the lady positively. +"I'm sure you are doing a good work, and it's +very noble of you to undertake it when you might +have a very different future. If I can serve you +at any time, don't hesitate to call upon me. I +live in the big white house just before you turn +out of the Clinton road to come this way. I'm +only a widow, but my son George lives with me +and has some influence in the neighborhood. He +drove by here yesterday with the lady he is going +to marry. It was she who told me about you." + +Was it the name, or some subtle resemblance +in speech or feature, that recalled Tryon's image +to Rena's mind? It was not so far away--the +image of the loving Tryon--that any powerful +witchcraft was required to call it up. His mother +was a widow; Rena had thought, in happier days, +that she might be such a kind lady as this. But +the cruel Tryon who had left her--his mother +would be some hard, cold, proud woman, who +would regard a negro as but little better than a +dog, and who would not soil her lips by addressing +a colored person upon any other terms than as a +servant. She knew, too, that Tryon did not live +in Sampson County, though the exact location of +his home was not clear to her. + +"And where are you staying, my dear?" asked +the good lady. + +"I'm boarding at Mrs. Wain's," answered +Rena. + +"Mrs. Wain's?" + +"Yes, they live in the old Campbell place." + +"Oh, yes--Aunt Nancy. She's a good enough +woman, but we don't think much of her son Jeff. +He married my Amanda after the war--she used +to belong to me, and ought to have known better. +He abused her most shamefully, and had to be +threatened with the law. She left him a year or +so ago and went away; I haven't seen her lately. +Well, good-by, child; I'm coming to your +exhibition. If you ever pass my house, come in and +see me." + +The good lady had talked for half an hour, and +had brought a ray of sunshine into the teacher's +monotonous life, heretofore lighted only by the +uncertain lamp of high resolve. She had satisfied +a pardonable curiosity, and had gone away +without mentioning her name. + +Rena saw Plato untying the pony as the lady +climbed into the phaeton. + +"Who was the lady, Plato?" asked the teacher +when the visitor had driven away. + +"Dat 'uz my ole mist'iss, ma'm," returned Plato +proudly,-- "ole Mis' 'Liza." + +"Mis' 'Liza who?" asked Rena. + +"Mis' 'Liza Tryon. I use' ter b'long ter her. +Dat 'uz her son, my young Mars Geo'ge, w'at driv +pas' hyuh yistiddy wid 'is sweetheart." + + + +XXVIII + +THE LOST KNIFE + + +Rena had found her task not a difficult one so +far as discipline was concerned. Her pupils were +of a docile race, and school to them had all the +charm of novelty. The teacher commanded some +awe because she was a stranger, and some, perhaps, +because she was white; for the theory of blackness +as propounded by Plato could not quite counter- +balance in the young African mind the evidence of +their own senses. She combined gentleness with +firmness; and if these had not been sufficient, +she had reserves of character which would have +given her the mastery over much less plastic +material than these ignorant but eager young people. +The work of instruction was simple enough, for +most of the pupils began with the alphabet, which +they acquired from Webster's blue-backed spelling- +book, the palladium of Southern education at that +epoch. The much abused carpet-baggers had put +the spelling-book within reach of every child of +school age in North Carolina,--a fact which is +often overlooked when the carpet-baggers are held +up to public odium. Even the devil should have +his due, and is not so black as he is painted. + +At the time when she learned that Tryon lived +in the neighborhood, Rena had already been subjected +for several weeks to a trying ordeal. Wain +had begun to persecute her with marked attentions. +She had at first gone to board at his house,--or, +by courtesy, with his mother. For a week or two +she had considered his attentions in no other light +than those of a member of the school committee +sharing her own zeal and interested in seeing the +school successfully carried on. In this character +Wain had driven her to the town for her examination; +he had busied himself about putting the +schoolhouse in order, and in various matters +affecting the conduct of the school. He had jocularly +offered to come and whip the children for her, and +had found it convenient to drop in occasionally, +ostensibly to see what progress the work was +making. + +"Dese child'en," he would observe sonorously, +in the presence of the school, "oughter be monst'ous +glad ter have de chance er settin' under +yo' instruction, Miss Rena. I'm sho' eve'body in +dis neighbo'hood 'preciates de priv'lege er havin' +you in ou' mids'." + +Though slightly embarrassing to the teacher, +these public demonstrations were endurable so long +as they could be regarded as mere official +appreciation of her work. Sincerely in earnest about +her undertaking, she had plunged into it with +all the intensity of a serious nature which love +had stirred to activity. A pessimist might have +sighed sadly or smiled cynically at the notion that +a poor, weak girl, with a dangerous beauty and a +sensitive soul, and troubles enough of her own, +should hope to accomplish anything appreciable +toward lifting the black mass still floundering +in the mud where slavery had left it, and where +emancipation had found it,--the mud in which, +for aught that could be seen to the contrary, her +little feet, too, were hopelessly entangled. It might +have seemed like expecting a man to lift himself +by his boot-straps. + +But Rena was no philosopher, either sad or +cheerful. She could not even have replied to +this argument, that races must lift themselves, +and the most that can be done by others is to +give them opportunity and fair play. Hers was +a simpler reasoning,--the logic by which the +world is kept going onward and upward when +philosophers are at odds and reformers are not +forthcoming. She knew that for every child she +taught to read and write she opened, if ever so +little, the door of opportunity, and she was happy +in the consciousness of performing a duty which +seemed all the more imperative because newly +discovered. Her zeal, indeed, for the time being was +like that of an early Christian, who was more +willing than not to die for his faith. Rena had +fully and firmly made up her mind to sacrifice her +life upon this altar. Her absorption in the work +had not been without its reward, for thereby she +had been able to keep at a distance the spectre of +her lost love. Her dreams she could not control, +but she banished Tryon as far as possible from her +waking thoughts. + +When Wain's attentions became obviously +personal, Rena's new vestal instinct took alarm, and +she began to apprehend his character more clearly. +She had long ago learned that his pretensions to +wealth were a sham. He was nominal owner of +a large plantation, it is true; but the land was +worn out, and mortgaged to the limit of its security +value. His reputed droves of cattle and hogs +had dwindled to a mere handful of lean and +listless brutes. + +Her clear eye, when once set to take Wain's +measure, soon fathomed his shallow, selfish soul, +and detected, or at least divined, behind his mask +of good-nature a lurking brutality which filled her +with vague distrust, needing only occasion to +develop it into active apprehension,--occasion which +was not long wanting. She avoided being alone +with him at home by keeping carefully with the +women of the house. If she were left alone,--and +they soon showed a tendency to leave her on any +pretext whenever Wain came near,--she would +seek her own room and lock the door. She preferred +not to offend Wain; she was far away from home +and in a measure in his power, but she dreaded his +compliments and sickened at his smile. She was +also compelled to hear his relations sing his praises. + +"My son Jeff," old Mrs. Wain would say, "is +de bes' man you ever seed. His fus' wife had de +easies' time an' de happies' time er ary woman in +dis settlement. He's grieve' fer her a long time, but +I reckon he's gittin' over it, an' de nex' 'oman w'at +marries him'll git a box er pyo' gol', ef I does say +it as is his own mammy." + +Rena had thought Wain rather harsh with his +household, except in her immediate presence. His +mother and sister seemed more or less afraid of +him, and the children often anxious to avoid him. + +One day, he timed his visit to the schoolhouse +so as to walk home with Rena through the woods. +When she became aware of his purpose, she called +to one of the children who was loitering behind the +others, "Wait a minute, Jenny. I'm going your +way, and you can walk along with me." + +Wain with difficulty hid a scowl behind a +smiling front. When they had gone a little distance +along the road through the woods, he clapped his +hand upon his pocket. + +"I declare ter goodness," he exclaimed, "ef I +ain't dropped my pocket-knife! I thought I felt +somethin' slip th'ough dat hole in my pocket jes' +by the big pine stump in the schoolhouse ya'd. +Jinny, chile, run back an' hunt fer my knife, an' +I'll give yer five cents ef yer find it. Me an' +Miss Rena'll walk on slow 'tel you ketches us." + +Rena did not dare to object, though she was afraid +to be alone with this man. If she could have had +a moment to think, she would have volunteered to +go back with Jenny and look for the knife, which, +although a palpable subterfuge on her part, would +have been one to which Wain could not object; +but the child, dazzled by the prospect of reward, +had darted back so quickly that this way of escape +was cut off. She was evidently in for a declaration +of love, which she had taken infinite pains to +avoid. Just the form it would assume, she could +not foresee. She was not long left in suspense. +No sooner was the child well out of sight than +Wain threw his arms suddenly about her waist +and smilingly attempted to kiss her. + +Speechless with fear and indignation, she tore +herself from his grasp with totally unexpected +force, and fled incontinently along the forest path. +Wain--who, to do him justice, had merely meant +to declare his passion in what he had hoped might +prove a not unacceptable fashion--followed in +some alarm, expostulating and apologizing as he +went. But he was heavy and Rena was light, and +fear lent wings to her feet. He followed her until +he saw her enter the house of Elder Johnson, the +father of several of her pupils, after which he +sneaked uneasily homeward, somewhat apprehensive +of the consequences of his abrupt wooing, +which was evidently open to an unfavorable +construction. When, an hour later, Rena sent one of +the Johnson children for some of her things, with +a message explaining that the teacher had been +invited to spend a few days at Elder Johnson's, +Wain felt a pronounced measure of relief. For an +hour he had even thought it might be better to +relinquish his pursuit. With a fatuousness born of +vanity, however, no sooner had she sent her excuse +than he began to look upon her visit to Johnson's as +a mere exhibition of coyness, which, together with +her conduct in the woods, was merely intended to +lure him on. + +Right upon the heels of the perturbation caused +by Wain's conduct, Rena discovered that Tryon +lived in the neighborhood; that not only might she +meet him any day upon the highway, but that he +had actually driven by the schoolhouse. That he +knew or would know of her proximity there could +be no possible doubt, since she had freely told his +mother her name and her home. A hot wave of +shame swept over her at the thought that George +Tryon might imagine she were following him, throwing +herself in his way, and at the thought of the +construction which he might place upon her actions. +Caught thus between two emotional fires, at the +very time when her school duties, owing to the +approaching exhibition, demanded all her energies, +Rena was subjected to a physical and mental strain +that only youth and health could have resisted, and +then only for a short time. + + + +XXIX + +PLATO EARNS HALF A DOLLAR + + +Tryon's first feeling, when his mother at the +dinner-table gave an account of her visit to the +schoolhouse in the woods, was one of extreme +annoyance. Why, of all created beings, should this +particular woman be chosen to teach the colored +school at Sandy Run? Had she learned that he +lived in the neighborhood, and had she sought the +place hoping that he might consent to renew, on +different terms, relations which could never be +resumed upon their former footing? Six weeks before, +he would not have believed her capable of following +him; but his last visit to Patesville had revealed her +character in such a light that it was difficult to +predict what she might do. It was, however, no affair +of his. He was done with her; he had dismissed her +from his own life, where she had never properly +belonged, and he had filled her place, or would soon +fill it, with another and worthier woman. Even +his mother, a woman of keen discernment and +delicate intuitions, had been deceived by this girl's +specious exterior. She had brought away from her +interview of the morning the impression that Rena +was a fine, pure spirit, born out of place, through +some freak of Fate, devoting herself with heroic +self-sacrifice to a noble cause. Well, he had +imagined her just as pure and fine, and she had +deliberately, with a negro's low cunning, deceived +him into believing that she was a white girl. The +pretended confession of the brother, in which he +had spoken of the humble origin of the family, had +been, consciously or unconsciously, the most +disingenuous feature of the whole miserable +performance. They had tried by a show of frankness to +satisfy their own consciences,--they doubtless had +enough of white blood to give them a rudimentary +trace of such a moral organ,--and by the same +act to disarm him against future recriminations, in +the event of possible discovery. How was he to +imagine that persons of their appearance and +pretensions were tainted with negro blood? The more +he dwelt upon the subject, the more angry he became +with those who had surprised his virgin heart +and deflowered it by such low trickery. The man +who brought the first negro into the British colonies +had committed a crime against humanity and a +worse crime against his own race. The father of +this girl had been guilty of a sin against society +for which others--for which he, George Tryon-- +must pay the penalty. As slaves, negroes were +tolerable. As freemen, they were an excrescence, an +alien element incapable of absorption into the body +politic of white men. He would like to send them +all back to the Africa from which their forefathers +had come,--unwillingly enough, he would admit, +--and he would like especially to banish this girl +from his own neighborhood; not indeed that her +presence would make any difference to him, except +as a humiliating reminder of his own folly and +weakness with which he could very well dispense. + +Of this state of mind Tryon gave no visible +manifestation beyond a certain taciturnity, so +much at variance with his recent liveliness that the +ladies could not fail to notice it. No effort upon +the part of either was able to affect his mood, and +they both resigned themselves to await his lordship's +pleasure to be companionable. + +For a day or two, Tryon sedulously kept away +from the neighborhood of the schoolhouse at +Sandy Rim. He really had business which would +have taken him in that direction, but made a +detour of five miles rather than go near his +abandoned and discredited sweetheart. + +But George Tryon was wisely distrustful of his +own impulses. Driving one day along the road to +Clinton, he overhauled a diminutive black figure +trudging along the road, occasionally turning a +handspring by way of diversion. + +"Hello, Plato," called Tryon, "do you want a +lift?" + +"Hoddy, Mars Geo'ge. Kin I ride wid you?" + +"Jump up." + +Plato mounted into the buggy with the agility +to be expected from a lad of his acrobatic +accomplishments. The two almost immediately fell into +conversation upon perhaps the only subject of +common interest between them. Before the town +was reached, Tryon knew, so far as Plato could +make it plain, the estimation in which the teacher +was held by pupils and parents. He had learned +the hours of opening and dismissal of the school, +where the teacher lived, her habits of coming to +and going from the schoolhouse, and the road she +always followed. + +"Does she go to church or anywhere else with +Jeff Wain, Plato?" asked Tryon. + +"No, suh, she don' go nowhar wid nobody +excep'n' ole Elder Johnson er Mis' Johnson, an' de +child'en. She use' ter stop at Mis' Wain's, but +she's stayin' wid Elder Johnson now. She alluz +makes some er de child'en go home wid er f'm +school," said Plato, proud to find in Mars Geo'ge +an appreciative listener,--"sometimes one an' +sometimes anudder. I's be'n home wid 'er twice, +ann it'll be my tu'n ag'in befo' long." + +"Plato," remarked Tryon impressively, as they +drove into the town, "do you think you could +keep a secret?" + +"Yas, Mars Geo'ge, ef you says I shill." + +"Do you see this fifty-cent piece?" Tryon +displayed a small piece of paper money, crisp and +green in its newness. + +"Yas, Mars Geo'ge," replied Plato, fixing his +eyes respectfully on the government's promise to +pay. Fifty cents was a large sum of money. His +acquaintance with Mars Geo'ge gave him the privilege +of looking at money. When he grew up, he +would be able, in good times, to earn fifty cents a +day. + +"I am going to give this to you, Plato." + +Plato's eyes opened wide as saucers. "Me, +Mars Geo'ge?" he asked in amazement. + +"Yes, Plato. I'm going to write a letter while +I'm in town, and want you to take it. Meet me +here in half an hour, and I'll give you the letter. +Meantime, keep your mouth shut." + +"Yas, Mars Geo'ge," replied Plato with a grin +that distended that organ unduly. That he did +not keep it shut may be inferred from the fact that +within the next half hour he had eaten and drunk +fifty cents' worth of candy, ginger-pop, and other +available delicacies that appealed to the youthful +palate. Having nothing more to spend, and the +high prices prevailing for some time after the war +having left him capable of locomotion, Plato +was promptly on hand at the appointed time and +place. + +Tryon placed a letter in Plato's hand, still sticky +with molasses candy,--he had inclosed it in a +second cover by way of protection. "Give that +letter," he said, "to your teacher; don't say a +word about it to a living soul; bring me an answer, +and give it into my own hand, and you shall +have another half dollar." + +Tryon was quite aware that by a surreptitious +correspondence he ran some risk of compromising +Rena. But he had felt, as soon as he had indulged +his first opportunity to talk of her, an irresistible +impulse to see her and speak to her again. +He could scarcely call at her boarding-place,-- +what possible proper excuse could a young white +man have for visiting a colored woman? At the +schoolhouse she would be surrounded by her pupils, +and a private interview would be as difficult, with +more eyes to remark and more tongues to comment +upon it. He might address her by mail, but +did not know how often she sent to the nearest +post-office. A letter mailed in the town must pass +through the hands of a postmaster notoriously +inquisitive and evil-minded, who was familiar with +Tryon's handwriting and had ample time to attend +to other people's business. To meet the teacher +alone on the road seemed scarcely feasible, +according to Plato's statement. A messenger, then, was +not only the least of several evils, but really the +only practicable way to communicate with Rena. +He thought he could trust Plato, though miserably +aware that he could not trust himself where this +girl was concerned. + +The letter handed by Tryon to Plato, and by +the latter delivered with due secrecy and precaution, +ran as follows:-- + + +DEAR MISS WARWICK,--You may think it +strange that I should address you after what has +passed between us; but learning from my mother +of your presence in the neighborhood, I am +constrained to believe that you do not find my +proximity embarrassing, and I cannot resist the wish +to meet you at least once more, and talk over the +circumstances of our former friendship. From a +practical point of view this may seem superfluous, +as the matter has been definitely settled. I have +no desire to find fault with you; on the contrary, +I wish to set myself right with regard to my own +actions, and to assure you of my good wishes. In +other words, since we must part, I would rather we +parted friends than enemies. If nature and society +--or Fate, to put it another way--have decreed +that we cannot live together, it is nevertheless +possible that we may carry into the future a pleasant +though somewhat sad memory of a past friendship. +Will you not grant me one interview? I +appreciate the difficulty of arranging it; I have +found it almost as hard to communicate with you +by letter. I will suit myself to your convenience +and meet you at any time and place you may +designate. Please answer by bearer, who I think is +trustworthy, and believe me, whatever your answer may be, + Respectfully yours, + G. T. + + +The next day but one Tryon received through +the mail the following reply to his letter:-- + +GEORGE TRYON, ESQ. + +Dear Sir,--I have requested your messenger +to say that I will answer your letter by mail, which +I shall now proceed to do. I assure you that +I was entirely ignorant of your residence in this +neighborhood, or it would have been the last place +on earth in which I should have set foot. + +As to our past relations, they were ended by +your own act. I frankly confess that I deceived +you; I have paid the penalty, and have no +complaint to make. I appreciate the delicacy which +has made you respect my brother's secret, and +thank you for it. I remember the whole affair +with shame and humiliation, and would willingly +forget it. + +As to a future interview, I do not see what +good it would do either of us. You are white, and +you have given me to understand that I am black. +I accept the classification, however unfair, and the +consequences, however unjust, one of which is that +we cannot meet in the same parlor, in the same +church, at the same table, or anywhere, in social +intercourse; upon a steamboat we would not sit at +the same table; we could not walk together on the +street, or meet publicly anywhere and converse, +without unkind remark. As a white man, this +might not mean a great deal to you; as a woman, +shut out already by my color from much that +is desirable, my good name remains my most valuable +possession. I beg of you to let me alone. +The best possible proof you can give me of your +good wishes is to relinquish any desire or attempt +to see me. I shall have finished my work here in +a few days. I have other troubles, of which you +know nothing, and any meeting with you would +only add to a burden which is already as much as +I can bear. To speak of parting is superfluous-- +we have already parted. It were idle to dream of +a future friendship between people so widely +different in station. Such a friendship, if possible +in itself, would never be tolerated by the lady +whom you are to marry, with whom you drove by +my schoolhouse the other day. A gentleman so +loyal to his race and its traditions as you have +shown yourself could not be less faithful to the +lady to whom he has lost his heart and his memory +in three short months. + +No, Mr. Tryon, our romance is ended, and +better so. We could never have been happy. I have +found a work in which I may be of service to +others who have fewer opportunities than mine +have been. Leave me in peace, I beseech you, +and I shall soon pass out of your neighborhood as +I have passed out of your life, and hope to pass +out of your memory. + Yours very truly, + ROWENA WALDEN. + + +XXX + +AN UNUSUAL HONOR + + +To Rena's high-strung and sensitive nature, +already under very great tension from her past +experience, the ordeal of the next few days was a +severe one. On the one hand, Jeff Wain's infatuation +had rapidly increased, in view of her speedy +departure. From Mrs. Tryon's remark about +Wain's wife Amanda, and from things Rena had +since learned, she had every reason to believe that +this wife was living, and that Wain must be aware +of the fact. In the light of this knowledge, Wain's +former conduct took on a blacker significance than, +upon reflection, she had charitably clothed it with +after the first flush of indignation. That he had +not given up his design to make love to her was +quite apparent, and, with Amanda alive, his attentions, +always offensive since she had gathered their +import, became in her eyes the expression of a +villainous purpose, of which she could not speak to +others, and from which she felt safe only so long +as she took proper precautions against it. In a +week her school would be over, and then she would +get Elder Johnson, or some one else than Wain, +to take her back to Patesville. True, she might +abandon her school and go at once; but her work +would be incomplete, she would have violated her +contract, she would lose her salary for the month, +explanations would be necessary, and would not be +forthcoming. She might feign sickness,--indeed, +it would scarcely be feigning, for she felt far from +well; she had never, since her illness, quite +recovered her former vigor--but the inconvenience +to others would be the same, and her self-sacrifice +would have had, at its very first trial, a lame and +impotent conclusion. She had as yet no fear of +personal violence from Wain; but, under the +circumstances, his attentions were an insult. He was +evidently bent upon conquest, and vain enough to +think he might achieve it by virtue of his personal +attractions. If he could have understood +how she loathed the sight of his narrow eyes, with +their puffy lids, his thick, tobacco-stained lips, his +doubtful teeth, and his unwieldy person, Wain, +a monument of conceit that he was, might have +shrunk, even in his own estimation, to something +like his real proportions. Rena believed that, to +defend herself from persecution at his hands, it +was only necessary that she never let him find her +alone. This, however, required constant watchfulness. +Relying upon his own powers, and upon +a woman's weakness and aversion to scandal, from +which not even the purest may always escape +unscathed, and convinced by her former silence +that he had nothing serious to fear, Wain made it +a point to be present at every public place where +she might be. He assumed, in conversation with +her which she could not avoid, and stated to +others, that she had left his house because of a +previous promise to divide the time of her stay +between Elder Johnson's house and his own. He +volunteered to teach a class in the Sunday-school +which Rena conducted at the colored Methodist +church, and when she remained to service, occupied +a seat conspicuously near her own. In addition +to these public demonstrations, which it was +impossible to escape, or, it seemed, with so thick- +skinned an individual as Wain, even to discourage, +she was secretly and uncomfortably conscious that +she could scarcely stir abroad without the risk of +encountering one of two men, each of whom was +on the lookout for an opportunity to find her +alone. + +The knowledge of Tryon's presence in the +vicinity had been almost as much as Rena could +bear. To it must be added the consciousness that +he, too, was pursuing her, to what end she could +not tell. After his letter to her brother, and the +feeling therein displayed, she found it necessary to +crush once or twice a wild hope that, her secret +being still unknown save to a friendly few, he might +return and claim her. Now, such an outcome +would be impossible. He had become engaged to +another woman,--this in itself would be enough +to keep him from her, if it were not an index of +a vastly more serious barrier, a proof that he had +never loved her. If he had loved her truly, he +would never have forgotten her in three short +months,--three long months they had heretofore +seemed to her, for in them she had lived a lifetime +of experience. Another impassable barrier lay in +the fact that his mother had met her, and that she +was known in the neighborhood. Thus cut off +from any hope that she might be anything to +him, she had no wish to meet her former lover; +no possible good could come of such a meeting; +and yet her fluttering heart told her that if he +should come, as his letter foreshadowed that he +might,--if he should come, the loving George of +old, with soft words and tender smiles and specious +talk of friendship--ah! then, her heart +would break! She must not meet him--at any +cost she must avoid him. + +But this heaping up of cares strained her +endurance to the breaking-point. Toward the middle of +the last week, she knew that she had almost reached +the limit, and was haunted by a fear that she +might break down before the week was over. Now +her really fine nature rose to the emergency, though +she mustered her forces with a great effort. If she +could keep Wain at his distance and avoid Tryon +for three days longer, her school labors would be +ended and she might retire in peace and honor. + +"Miss Rena," said Plato to her on Tuesday, +"ain't it 'bout time I wuz gwine home wid you +ag'in?" + +"You may go with me to-morrow, Plato," +answered the teacher. + +After school Plato met an anxious eyed young +man in the woods a short distance from the schoolhouse. + +"Well, Plato, what news?" + +"I's gwine ter see her home ter-morrer, Mars +Geo'ge." + +"To-morrow!" replied Tryon; "how very +fortunate! I wanted you to go to town to-morrow +to take an important message for me. I'm sorry, +Plato--you might have earned another dollar." + +To lie is a disgraceful thing, and yet there are +times when, to a lover's mind, love dwarfs all +ordinary laws. Plato scratched his head +disconsolately, but suddenly a bright thought struck him. + +"Can't I go ter town fer you atter I've seed her +home, Mars Geo'ge?" + +"N-o, I'm afraid it would be too late," returned Tryon +doubtfully. + +"Den I'll haf ter ax 'er ter lemme go nex' day," +said Plato, with resignation. The honor might be +postponed or, if necessary, foregone; the opportunity +to earn a dollar was the chance of a lifetime +and must not be allowed to slip. + +"No, Plato," rejoined Tryon, shaking his head, +"I shouldn't want to deprive you of so great a +pleasure." Tryon was entirely sincere in this +characterization of Plato's chance; he would have +given many a dollar to be sure of Plato's place and +Plato's welcome. Rena's letter had re-inflamed his +smouldering passion; only opposition was needed +to fan it to a white heat. Wherein lay the great +superiority of his position, if he was denied the +right to speak to the one person in the world whom +he most cared to address? He felt some dim +realization of the tyranny of caste, when he found +it not merely pressing upon an inferior people who +had no right to expect anything better, but barring +his own way to something that he desired. He +meant her no harm--but he must see her. He +could never marry her now--but he must see her. +He was conscious of a certain relief at the thought +that he had not asked Blanche Leary to be his +wife. His hand was unpledged. He could not +marry the other girl, of course, but they must meet +again. The rest he would leave to Fate, which +seemed reluctant to disentangle threads which it +had woven so closely. + +"I think, Plato, that I see an easier way out of +the difficulty. Your teacher, I imagine, merely +wants some one to see her safely home. Don't +you think, if you should go part of the way, that +I might take your place for the rest, while you did +my errand?" + +"Why, sho'ly, Mars Geo'ge, you could take keer +er her better 'n I could--better 'n anybody could +--co'se you could!" + +Mars Geo'ge was white and rich, and could do +anything. Plato was proud of the fact that he +had once belonged to Mars Geo'ge. He could +not conceive of any one so powerful as Mars +Geo'ge, unless it might be God, of whom Plato +had heard more or less, and even here the +comparison might not be quite fair to Mars Geo'ge, +for Mars Geo'ge was the younger of the two. It +would undoubtedly be a great honor for the teacher +to be escorted home by Mars Geo'ge. The teacher +was a great woman, no doubt, and looked white; +but Mars Geo'ge was the real article. Mars +Geo'ge had never been known to go with a black +woman before, and the teacher would doubtless +thank Plato for arranging that so great an honor +should fall upon her. Mars Geo'ge had given him +fifty cents twice, and would now give him a dollar. +Noble Mars Geo'ge! Fortunate teacher! Happy +Plato! + +"Very well, Plato. I think we can arrange it +so that you can kill the two rabbits at one shot. +Suppose that we go over the road that she will +take to go home." + +They soon arrived at the schoolhouse. School +had been out an hour, and the clearing was +deserted. Plato led the way by the road through +the woods to a point where, amid somewhat thick +underbrush, another path intersected the road they +were following. + +"Now, Plato," said Tryon, pausing here, "this +would be a good spot for you to leave the teacher +and for me to take your place. This path leads +to the main road, and will take you to town very +quickly. I shouldn't say anything to the teacher +about it at all; but when you and she get here, +drop behind and run along this path until you +meet me,--I'll be waiting a few yards down the +road,--and then run to town as fast as your legs +will carry you. As soon as you are gone, I'll +come out and tell the teacher that I've sent you +away on an errand, and will myself take your +place. You shall have a dollar, and I'll ask her +to let you go home with her the next day. But +you mustn't say a word about it, Plato, or you +won't get the dollar, and I'll not ask the teacher +to let you go home with her again." + +"All right, Mars Geo'ge, I ain't gwine ter say +no mo' d'n ef de cat had my tongue." + + + +XXXI + +IN DEEP WATERS + + +Rena was unusually fatigued at the close of her +school on Wednesday afternoon. She had been +troubled all day with a headache, which, beginning +with a dull pain, had gradually increased in intensity +until every nerve was throbbing like a trip- +hammer. The pupils seemed unusually stupid. A +discouraging sense of the insignificance of any part +she could perform towards the education of three +million people with a school term of two months +a year hung over her spirit like a pall. As the +object of Wain's attentions, she had begun to feel +somewhat like a wild creature who hears the +pursuers on its track, and has the fear of capture +added to the fatigue of flight. But when this +excitement had gone too far and had neared the limit +of exhaustion came Tryon's letter, with the resulting +surprise and consternation. Rena had keyed +herself up to a heroic pitch to answer it; but when +the inevitable reaction came, she was overwhelmed +with a sickening sense of her own weakness. The +things which in another sphere had constituted her +strength and shield were now her undoing, and +exposed her to dangers from which they lent her +no protection. Not only was this her position in +theory, but the pursuers were already at her heels. +As the day wore on, these dark thoughts took on +an added gloom, until, when the hour to dismiss +school arrived, she felt as though she had not a +friend in the world. This feeling was accentuated +by a letter which she had that morning +received from her mother, in which Mis' Molly +spoke very highly of Wain, and plainly expressed +the hope that her daughter might like him so well +that she would prefer to remain in Sampson +County. + +Plato, bright-eyed and alert, was waiting in the +school-yard until the teacher should be ready to +start. Having warned away several smaller children +who had hung around after school as though +to share his prerogative of accompanying the +teacher, Plato had swung himself into the low +branches of an oak at the edge of the clearing, +from which he was hanging by his legs, head +downward. He dropped from this reposeful attitude +when the teacher appeared at the door, and took +his place at her side. + +A premonition of impending trouble caused the +teacher to hesitate. She wished that she had kept +more of the pupils behind. Something whispered +that danger lurked in the road she customarily +followed. Plato seemed insignificantly small and +weak, and she felt miserably unable to cope with +any difficult or untoward situation. + +"Plato," she suggested, "I think we'll go round +the other way to-night, if you don't mind." + +Visions of Mars Geo'ge disappointed, of a dollar +unearned and unspent, flitted through the narrow +brain which some one, with the irony of ignorance +or of knowledge, had mocked with the name +of a great philosopher. Plato was not an untruthful +lad, but he seldom had the opportunity to earn +a dollar. His imagination, spurred on by the +instinct of self-interest, rose to the emergency. + +"I's feared you mought git snake-bit gwine +roun' dat way, Miss Rena. My brer Jim kill't a +water-moccasin down dere yistiddy 'bout ten feet +long." + +Rena had a horror of snakes, with which the +swamp by which the other road ran was infested. +Snakes were a vivid reality; her presentiment +was probably a mere depression of spirits due to +her condition of nervous exhaustion. A cloud had +come up and threatened rain, and the wind was +rising ominously. The old way was the shorter; +she wanted above all things to get to Elder +Johnson's and go to bed. Perhaps sleep would rest +her tired brain--she could not imagine herself +feeling worse, unless she should break down altogether. + +She plunged into the path and hastened forward +so as to reach home before the approaching +storm. So completely was she absorbed in her +own thoughts that she scarcely noticed that Plato +himself seemed preoccupied. Instead of capering +along like a playful kitten or puppy, he walked by +her side unusually silent. When they had gone a +short distance and were approaching a path which +intersected their road at something near a right +angle, the teacher missed Plato. He had dropped +behind a moment before; now he had disappeared +entirely. Her vague alarm of a few moments +before returned with redoubled force. + +"Plato!" she called; "Plato!" + +There was no response, save the soughing of the +wind through the swaying treetops. She stepped +hastily forward, wondering if this were some childish +prank. If so, it was badly timed, and she +would let Plato feel the weight of her displeasure. + +Her forward step had brought her to the +junction of the two paths, where she paused +doubtfully. The route she had been following was the +most direct way home, but led for quite a distance +through the forest, which she did not care to +traverse alone. The intersecting path would soon +take her to the main road, where she might find +shelter or company, or both. Glancing around +again in search of her missing escort, she became +aware that a man was approaching her from each +of the two paths. In one she recognized the eager +and excited face of George Tryon, flushed with +anticipation of their meeting, and yet grave with +uncertainty of his reception. Advancing confidently +along the other path she saw the face of +Jeff Wain, drawn, as she imagined in her anguish, +with evil passions which would stop at nothing. + +What should she do? There was no sign of +Plato--for aught she could see or hear of him, +the earth might have swallowed him up. Some +deadly serpent might have stung him. Some +wandering rabbit might have tempted him aside. +Another thought struck her. Plato had been +very quiet--there had been something on his +conscience--perhaps he had betrayed her! But to +which of the two men, and to what end? + +The problem was too much for her overwrought +brain. She turned and fled. A wiser instinct +might have led her forward. In the two conflicting +dangers she might have found safety. The +road after all was a public way. Any number of +persons might meet there accidentally. But she +saw only the darker side of the situation. To +turn to Tryon for protection before Wain had by +some overt act manifested the evil purpose which +she as yet only suspected would be, she imagined, +to acknowledge a previous secret acquaintance +with Tryon, thus placing her reputation at Wain's +mercy, and to charge herself with a burden of +obligation toward a man whom she wished to avoid +and had refused to meet. If, on the other hand, +she should go forward to meet Wain, he would +undoubtedly offer to accompany her homeward. +Tryon would inevitably observe the meeting, and +suppose it prearranged. Not for the world would +she have him think so--why she should care +for his opinion, she did not stop to argue. She +turned and fled, and to avoid possible pursuit, +struck into the underbrush at an angle which she +calculated would bring her in a few rods to another +path which would lead quickly into the main +road. She had run only a few yards when she +found herself in the midst of a clump of prickly +shrubs and briars. Meantime the storm had +burst; the rain fell in torrents. Extricating +herself from the thorns, she pressed forward, but +instead of coming out upon the road, found herself +penetrating deeper and deeper into the forest. + +The storm increased in violence. The air grew +darker and darker. It was near evening, the +clouds were dense, the thick woods increased the +gloom. Suddenly a blinding flash of lightning +pierced the darkness, followed by a sharp clap of +thunder. There was a crash of falling timber. +Terror-stricken, Rena flew forward through the +forest, the underbrush growing closer and closer +as she advanced. Suddenly the earth gave way +beneath her feet and she sank into a concealed +morass. By clasping the trunk of a neighboring +sapling she extricated herself with an effort, and +realized with a horrible certainty that she was +lost in the swamp. + +Turning, she tried to retrace her steps. A flash +of lightning penetrated the gloom around her, and +barring her path she saw a huge black snake,-- +harmless enough, in fact, but to her excited +imagination frightful in appearance. With a wild +shriek she turned again, staggered forward a few +yards, stumbled over a projecting root, and fell +heavily to the earth. + +When Rena had disappeared in the underbrush, +Tryon and Wain had each instinctively set out in +pursuit of her, but owing to the gathering darkness, +the noise of the storm, and the thickness of +the underbrush, they missed not only Rena but +each other, and neither was aware of the other's +presence in the forest. Wain kept up the chase +until the rain drove him to shelter. Tryon, after +a few minutes, realized that she had fled to escape +him, and that to pursue her would be to defeat +rather than promote his purpose. He desisted, +therefore, and returning to the main road, stationed +himself at a point where he could watch Elder +Johnson's house, and having waited for a while +without any signs of Rena, concluded that she had +taken refuge in some friendly cabin. Turning +homeward disconsolately as night came on, he +intercepted Plato on his way back from town, and +pledged him to inviolable secrecy so effectually +that Plato, when subsequently questioned, merely +answered that he had stopped a moment to gather +some chinquapins, and when he had looked around +the teacher was gone. + +Rena not appearing at supper-time nor for an +hour later, the elder, somewhat anxious, made +inquiries about the neighborhood, and finding his +guest at no place where she might be expected to +stop, became somewhat alarmed. Wain's house +was the last to which he went. He had surmised +that there was some mystery connected with her +leaving Wain's, but had never been given any +definite information about the matter. In response +to his inquiries, Wain expressed surprise, but +betrayed a certain self-consciousness which did not +escape the elder's eye. Returning home, he organized +a search party from his own family and several +near neighbors, and set out with dogs and +torches to scour the woods for the missing teacher. +A couple of hours later, they found her lying +unconscious in the edge of the swamp, only a few +rods from a well-defined path which would soon +have led her to the open highway. Strong arms +lifted her gently and bore her home. Mrs. Johnson +undressed her and put her to bed, administering +a homely remedy, of which whiskey was +the principal ingredient, to counteract the effects +of the exposure. There was a doctor within five +miles, but no one thought of sending for him, nor +was it at all likely that it would have been possible +to get him for such a case at such an hour. + +Rena's illness, however, was more deeply seated +than her friends could imagine. A tired body, +in sympathy with an overwrought brain, had left +her peculiarly susceptible to the nervous shock of +her forest experience. The exposure for several +hours in her wet clothing to the damps and miasma +of the swamp had brought on an attack of brain +fever. The next morning, she was delirious. One +of the children took word to the schoolhouse that +the teacher was sick and there would be no school +that day. A number of curious and sympathetic +people came in from time to time and suggested +various remedies, several of which old Mrs. Johnson, +with catholic impartiality, administered to +the helpless teacher, who from delirium gradually +sunk into a heavy stupor scarcely distinguishable +from sleep. It was predicted that she would +probably be well in the morning; if not, it would +then be time to consider seriously the question of +sending for a doctor. + + + +XXXII + +THE POWER OF LOVE + + +After Tryon's failure to obtain an interview +with Rena through Plato's connivance, he decided +upon a different course of procedure. In a few +days her school term would be finished. He was +not less desirous to see her, was indeed as much +more eager as opposition would be likely to make +a very young man who was accustomed to having +his own way, and whose heart, as he had discovered, +was more deeply and permanently involved than +he had imagined. His present plan was to wait +until the end of the school; then, when Rena went +to Clinton on the Saturday or Monday to draw +her salary for the month, he would see her in the +town, or, if necessary, would follow her to +Patesville. No power on earth should keep him from +her long, but he had no desire to interfere in any +way with the duty which she owed to others. +When the school was over and her work completed, +then he would have his innings. Writing +letters was too unsatisfactory a method of +communication--he must see her face to face. + +The first of his three days of waiting had passed, +when, about ten o'clock on the morning of the +second day, which seemed very long in prospect, +while driving along the road toward Clinton, he +met Plato, with a rabbit trap in his hand. + +"Well, Plato," he asked, "why are you absent +from the classic shades of the academy to-day?" + +"Hoddy, Mars Geo'ge. W'at wuz dat you +say?" + +"Why are you not at school to-day?" + +"Ain' got no teacher, Mars Geo'ge. Teacher's +gone!" + +"Gone!" exclaimed Tryon, with a sudden leap +of the heart. "Gone where? What do you +mean?" + +"Teacher got los' in de swamp, night befo' las', +'cause Plato wa'n't dere ter show her de way out'n +de woods. Elder Johnson foun' 'er wid dawgs and +tawches, an' fotch her home an' put her ter bed. +No school yistiddy. She wuz out'n her haid las' +night, an' dis mawnin' she wuz gone." + +"Gone where?" + +"Dey don' nobody know whar, suh." + +Leaving Plato abruptly, Tryon hastened down +the road toward Elder Johnson's cabin. This was +no time to stand on punctilio. The girl had been +lost in the woods in the storm, amid the thunder +and lightning and the pouring rain. She was +sick with fright and exposure, and he was the +cause of it all. Bribery, corruption, and falsehood +had brought punishment in their train, and the +innocent had suffered while the guilty escaped. +He must learn at once what had become of her. +Reaching Elder Johnson's house, he drew up by +the front fence and gave the customary halloa, +which summoned a woman to the door. + +"Good-morning," he said, nodding unconsciously, +with the careless politeness of a gentleman to his +inferiors. "I'm Mr. Tryon. I have come to +inquire about the sick teacher." + +"Why, suh," the woman replied respectfully, +"she got los' in de woods night befo' las', an' she +wuz out'n her min' most er de time yistiddy. +Las' night she must 'a' got out er bed an' run +away w'en eve'ybody wuz soun' asleep, fer dis +mawnin' she wuz gone, an' none er us knows whar +she is." + +"Has any search been made for her?" + +"Yas, suh, my husban' an' de child'en has been +huntin' roun' all de mawnin', an' he's gone ter +borry a hoss now ter go fu'ther. But Lawd knows +dey ain' no tellin' whar she'd go, 'less'n she got +her min' back sence she lef'." + +Tryon's mare was in good condition. He had +money in his pocket and nothing to interfere with +his movements. He set out immediately on the +road to Patesville, keeping a lookout by the +roadside, and stopping each person he met to inquire +if a young woman, apparently ill, had been seen +traveling along the road on foot. No one had met +such a traveler. When he had gone two or three +miles, he drove through a shallow branch that +crossed the road. The splashing of his horse's +hoofs in the water prevented him from hearing a +low groan that came from the woods by the +roadside. + +He drove on, making inquiries at each +farmhouse and of every person whom he encountered. +Shortly after crossing the branch, he met a young +negro with a cartload of tubs and buckets and +piggins, and asked him if he had seen on the road +a young white woman with dark eyes and hair, +apparently sick or demented. The young man +answered in the negative, and Tryon pushed forward +anxiously. + +At noon he stopped at a farmhouse and swallowed +a hasty meal. His inquiries here elicited no +information, and he was just leaving when a young +man came in late to dinner and stated, in response +to the usual question, that he had met, some two +hours before, a young woman who answered +Tryon's description, on the Lillington road, which +crossed the main road to Patesville a short distance +beyond the farmhouse. He had spoken to the +woman. At first she had paid no heed to his +question. When addressed a second time, she had +answered in a rambling and disconnected way, +which indicated to his mind that there was +something wrong with her. + +Tryon thanked his informant and hastened to +the Lillington road. Stopping as before to inquire, +he followed the woman for several hours, each +mile of the distance taking him farther away from +Patesville. From time to time he heard of the +woman. Toward nightfall he found her. She +was white enough, with the sallowness of the +sandhill poor white. She was still young, perhaps, but +poverty and a hard life made her look older than +she ought. She was not fair, and she was not +Rena. When Tryon came up to her, she was sitting +on the doorsill of a miserable cabin, and held in +her hand a bottle, the contents of which had never +paid any revenue tax. She had walked twenty +miles that day, and had beguiled the tedium of the +journey by occasional potations, which probably +accounted for the incoherency of speech which +several of those who met her had observed. When +Tryon drew near, she tendered him the bottle with +tipsy cordiality. He turned in disgust and +retraced his steps to the Patesville road, which he +did not reach until nightfall. As it was too dark +to prosecute the search with any chance of success, +he secured lodging for the night, intending to +resume his quest early in the morning. + + + +XXXIII + +A MULE AND A CART + + +Frank Fowler's heart was filled with longing +for a sight of Rena's face. When she had gone away +first, on the ill-fated trip to South Carolina, her +absence had left an aching void in his life; he had +missed her cheerful smile, her pleasant words, her +graceful figure moving about across the narrow +street. His work had grown monotonous during +her absence; the clatter of hammer and mallet, +that had seemed so merry when punctuated now +and then by the strains of her voice, became a mere +humdrum rapping of wood upon wood and iron +upon iron. He had sought work in South Carolina +with the hope that be might see her. He had +satisfied this hope, and had tried in vain to do +her a service; but Fate had been against her; her +castle of cards had come tumbling down. He felt +that her sorrow had brought her nearer to him. +The distance between them depended very much +upon their way of looking at things. He knew +that her experience had dragged her through the +valley of humiliation. His unselfish devotion had +reacted to refine and elevate his own spirit. When +he heard the suggestion, after her second departure, +that she might marry Wain, he could not but +compare himself with this new aspirant. He, Frank, +was a man, an honest man--a better man than +the shifty scoundrel with whom she had ridden +away. She was but a woman, the best and sweetest +and loveliest of all women, but yet a woman. +After a few short years of happiness or sorrow,-- +little of joy, perhaps, and much of sadness, which +had begun already,--they would both be food for +worms. White people, with a deeper wisdom perhaps +than they used in their own case, regarded +Rena and himself as very much alike. They were +certainly both made by the same God, in much the +same physical and mental mould; they breathed +the same air, ate the same food, spoke the same +speech, loved and hated, laughed and cried, lived +and would die, the same. If God had meant to +rear any impassable barrier between people of +contrasting complexions, why did He not express the +prohibition as He had done between other orders +of creation? + +When Rena had departed for Sampson County, +Frank had reconciled himself to her absence by +the hope of her speedy return. He often stepped +across the street to talk to Mis' Molly about her. +Several letters had passed between mother and +daughter, and in response to Frank's inquiries his +neighbor uniformly stated that Rena was well and +doing well, and sent her love to all inquiring +friends. But Frank observed that Mis' Molly, +when pressed as to the date of Rena's return, grew +more and more indefinite; and finally the mother, +in a burst of confidential friendship, told Frank of +all her hopes with reference to the stranger from +down the country. + +"Yas, Frank," she concluded, "it'll be her own +fault ef she don't become a lady of proputty, fer +Mr. Wain is rich, an' owns a big plantation, an' +hires a lot of hands, and is a big man in the county. +He's crazy to git her, an' it all lays in her own +han's." + +Frank did not find this news reassuring. He +believed that Wain was a liar and a scoundrel. +He had nothing more than his intuitions upon +which to found this belief, but it was none the less +firm. If his estimate of the man's character were +correct, then his wealth might be a fiction, pure +and simple. If so, the truth should be known +to Mis' Molly, so that instead of encouraging +a marriage with Wain, she would see him in his +true light, and interpose to rescue her daughter +from his importunities. A day or two after this +conversation, Frank met in the town a negro from +Sampson County, made his acquaintance, and +inquired if he knew a man by the name of Jeff +Wain. + +"Oh, Jeff Wain!" returned the countryman +slightingly; "yas, I knows 'im, an' don' know no +good of 'im. One er dese yer biggity, braggin' +niggers--talks lack he own de whole county, an' +ain't wuth no mo' d'n I is--jes' a big bladder wid +a handful er shot rattlin' roun' in it. Had a wife, +when I wuz dere, an' beat her an' 'bused her so +she had ter run away." + +This was alarming information. Wain had +passed in the town as a single man, and Frank had +had no hint that he had ever been married. There +was something wrong somewhere. Frank determined +that he would find out the truth and, if +possible, do something to protect Rena against the +obviously evil designs of the man who had taken +her away. The barrel factory had so affected the +cooper's trade that Peter and Frank had turned +their attention more or less to the manufacture of +small woodenware for domestic use. Frank's mule +was eating off its own head, as the saying goes. It +required but little effort to persuade Peter that +his son might take a load of buckets and tubs and +piggins into the country and sell them or trade +them for country produce at a profit. + +In a few days Frank had his stock prepared, and +set out on the road to Sampson County. He went +about thirty miles the first day, and camped by +the roadside for the night, resuming the journey +at dawn. After driving for an hour through the +tall pines that overhung the road like the stately +arch of a cathedral aisle, weaving a carpet for the +earth with their brown spines and cones, and +soothing the ear with their ceaseless murmur, Frank +stopped to water his mule at a point where the +white, sandy road, widening as it went, sloped +downward to a clear-running branch. On the +right a bay-tree bending over the stream mingled +the heavy odor of its flowers with the delicate +perfume of a yellow jessamine vine that had overrun +a clump of saplings on the left. From a neighboring +tree a silver-throated mocking-bird poured +out a flood of riotous melody. A group of minnows; +startled by the splashing of the mule's feet, darted +away into the shadow of the thicket, their quick +passage leaving the amber water filled with laughing +light. + +The mule drank long and lazily, while over +Frank stole thoughts in harmony with the peaceful +scene,--thoughts of Rena, young and beautiful, +her friendly smile, her pensive dark eyes. He +would soon see her now, and if she had any cause +for fear or unhappiness, he would place himself at +her service--for a day, a week, a month, a year, +a lifetime, if need be. + +His reverie was broken by a slight noise from +the thicket at his left. "I wonder who dat is?" +he muttered. "It soun's mighty quare, ter say de +leas'." + +He listened intently for a moment, but heard +nothing further. "It must 'a' be'n a rabbit er +somethin' scamp'in' th'ough de woods. G'long +dere, Caesar!" + +As the mule stepped forward, the sound was +repeated. This time it was distinctly audible, the +long, low moan of some one in sickness or distress. + +"Dat ain't no rabbit," said Frank to himself. +"Dere's somethin' wrong dere. Stan' here, Caesar, +till I look inter dis matter." + +Pulling out from the branch, Frank sprang +from the saddle and pushed his way cautiously +through the outer edge of the thicket. + +"Good Lawd!" he exclaimed with a start, "it's +a woman--a w'ite woman!" + +The slender form of a young woman lay stretched +upon the ground in a small open space a few yards +in extent. Her face was turned away, and Frank +could see at first only a tangled mass of dark brown +hair, matted with twigs and leaves and cockleburs, +and hanging in wild profusion around her neck. + +Frank stood for a moment irresolute, debating +the serious question whether he should investigate +further with a view to rendering assistance, or +whether he should put as great a distance as possible +between himself and this victim, as she might +easily be, of some violent crime, lest he should +himself be suspected of it--a not unlikely contingency, +if he were found in the neighborhood and +the woman should prove unable to describe her +assailant. While he hesitated, the figure moved +restlessly, and a voice murmured:-- + +"Mamma, oh, mamma!" + +The voice thrilled Frank like an electric shock. +Trembling in every limb, he sprang forward toward +the prostrate figure. The woman turned her head, +and he saw that it was Rena. Her gown was torn +and dusty, and fringed with burs and briars. +When she had wandered forth, half delirious, +pursued by imaginary foes, she had not stopped to put +on her shoes, and her little feet were blistered and +swollen and bleeding. Frank knelt by her side +and lifted her head on his arm. He put his hand +upon her brow; it was burning with fever. + +"Miss Rena! Rena! don't you know me?" + +She turned her wild eyes on him suddenly. +"Yes, I know you, Jeff Wain. Go away from +me! Go away!" + +Her voice rose to a scream; she struggled in +his grasp and struck at him fiercely with her +clenched fists. Her sleeve fell back and disclosed +the white scar made by his own hand so many +years before. + +"You're a wicked man," she panted. "Don't +touch me! I hate you and despise you!" + +Frank could only surmise how she had come +here, in such a condition. When she spoke of +Wain in this manner, he drew his own conclusions. +Some deadly villainy of Wain's had brought her +to this pass. Anger stirred his nature to the +depths, and found vent in curses on the author of +Rena's misfortunes. + +"Damn him!" he groaned. "I'll have his +heart's blood fer dis, ter de las' drop!" + +Rena now laughed and put up her arms +appealingly. "George," she cried, in melting tones, +"dear George, do you love me? How much do +you love me? Ah, you don't love me!" she +moaned; "I'm black; you don't love me; you +despise me!" + +Her voice died away into a hopeless wail. +Frank knelt by her side, his faithful heart breaking +with pity, great tears rolling untouched down +his dusky cheeks. + +"Oh, my honey, my darlin'," he sobbed, "Frank +loves you better 'n all de worl'." + +Meantime the sun shone on as brightly as before, +the mocking-bird sang yet more joyously. +A gentle breeze sprang up and wafted the odor of +bay and jessamine past them on its wings. The +grand triumphal sweep of nature's onward march +recked nothing of life's little tragedies. + +When the first burst of his grief was over, +Frank brought water from the branch, bathed +Rena's face and hands and feet, and forced a few +drops between her reluctant lips. He then pitched +the cartload of tubs, buckets, and piggins out into +the road, and gathering dried leaves and pine- +straw, spread them in the bottom of the cart. He +stooped, lifted her frail form in his arms, and laid +it on the leafy bed. Cutting a couple of hickory +withes, he arched them over the cart, and gathering +an armful of jessamine quickly wove it into +an awning to protect her from the sun. She was +quieter now, and seemed to fall asleep. + +"Go ter sleep, honey," he murmured caressingly, +"go ter sleep, an' Frank'll take you home ter +yo' mammy!" + +Toward noon he was met by a young white man, +who peered inquisitively into the canopied cart. + +"Hello!" exclaimed the stranger, "who've you +got there?" + +"A sick woman, suh." + +"Why, she's white, as I'm a sinner!" he +cried, after a closer inspection. "Look a-here, +nigger, what are you doin' with this white woman?" + +"She's not w'ite, boss,--she's a bright mulatter." + +"Yas, mighty bright," continued the stranger +suspiciously. "Where are you goin' with her?" + +"I'm takin' her ter Patesville, ter her mammy." + +The stranger passed on. Toward evening Frank +heard hounds baying in the distance. A fox, +weary with running, brush drooping, crossed the +road ahead of the cart. Presently, the hounds +straggled across the road, followed by two or three +hunters on horseback, who stopped at sight of the +strangely canopied cart. They stared at the sick +girl and demanded who she was. + +"I don't b'lieve she's black at all," declared +one, after Frank's brief explanation. "This nigger +has a bad eye,--he's up ter some sort of +devilment. What ails the girl?" + +" 'Pears ter be some kind of a fever," replied +Frank; adding diplomatically, "I don't know +whether it's ketchin' er no--she's be'n out er +her head most er de time." + +They drew off a little at this. "I reckon it's +all right," said the chief spokesman. The hounds +were baying clamorously in the distance. The +hunters followed the sound and disappeared m the +woods. + +Frank drove all day and all night, stopping only +for brief periods of rest and refreshment. At +dawn, from the top of the long white hill, he +sighted the river bridge below. At sunrise he +rapped at Mis' Molly's door. + + +Upon rising at dawn, Tryon's first step, after +a hasty breakfast, was to turn back toward Clinton. +He had wasted half a day in following the +false scent on the Lillington road. It seemed, +after reflection, unlikely that a woman seriously +ill should have been able to walk any considerable +distance before her strength gave out. In her +delirium, too, she might have wandered in a wrong +direction, imagining any road to lead to Patesville. +It would be a good plan to drive back home, +continuing his inquiries meantime, and ascertain +whether or not she had been found by those who +were seeking her, including many whom Tryon's +inquiries had placed upon the alert. If she should +prove still missing, he would resume the journey +to Patesville and continue the search in that +direction. She had probably not wandered far from +the highroad; even in delirium she would be likely +to avoid the deep woods, with which her illness +was associated. + +He had retraced more than half the distance +to Clinton when he overtook a covered wagon. +The driver, when questioned, said that he had met +a young negro with a mule, and a cart in which +lay a young woman, white to all appearance, but +claimed by the negro to be a colored girl who +had been taken sick on the road, and whom he +was conveying home to her mother at Patesville. +From a further description of the cart Tryon +recognized it as the one he had met the day before. +The woman could be no other than Rena. He +turned his mare and set out swiftly on the road to +Patesville. + +If anything could have taken more complete +possession of George Tryon at twenty-three than +love successful and triumphant, it was love thwarted +and denied. Never in the few brief delirious +weeks of his courtship had he felt so strongly +drawn to the beautiful sister of the popular lawyer, +as he was now driven by an aching heart toward +the same woman stripped of every adventitions +advantage and placed, by custom, beyond the pale +of marriage with men of his own race. Custom +was tyranny. Love was the only law. Would +God have made hearts to so yearn for one another +if He had meant them to stay forever apart? If +this girl should die, it would be he who had killed +her, by his cruelty, no less surely than if with +his own hand he had struck her down. He had +been so dazzled by his own superiority, so blinded +by his own glory, that he had ruthlessly spurned +and spoiled the image of God in this fair creature, +whom he might have had for his own treasure,-- +whom, please God, he would yet have, at any cost, +to love and cherish while they both should live. +There were difficulties--they had seemed insuperable, +but love would surmount them. Sacrifices +must be made, but if the world without love would +be nothing, then why not give up the world for +love? He would hasten to Patesville. He would +find her; he would tell her that he loved her, that +she was all the world to him, that he had come to +marry her, and take her away where they might +be happy together. He pictured to himself the +joy that would light up her face; he felt her soft +arms around his neck, her tremulous kisses upon +his lips. If she were ill, his love would woo her +back to health,--if disappointment and sorrow +had contributed to her illness, joy and gladness +should lead to her recovery. + +He urged the mare forward; if she would but +keep up her present pace, he would reach Patesville +by nightfall. + + +Dr. Green had just gone down the garden path +to his buggy at the gate. Mis' Molly came out to +the back piazza, where Frank, weary and haggard, +sat on the steps with Homer Pettifoot and Billy +Oxendine, who, hearing of Rena's return, had +come around after their day's work. + +"Rena wants to see you, Frank," said Mis' +Molly, with a sob. + +He walked in softly, reverently, and stood by her +bedside. She turned her gentle eyes upon him +and put out her slender hand, which he took in his +own broad palm. + +"Frank," she murmured, "my good friend-- +my best friend--you loved me best of them all." + +The tears rolled untouched down his cheeks. +"I'd 'a' died, fer you, Miss Rena," he said brokenly. + +Mary B. threw open a window to make way for +the passing spirit, and the red and golden glory +of the setting sun, triumphantly ending his daily +course, flooded the narrow room with light. + + +Between sunset and dark a traveler, seated in a +dusty buggy drawn by a tired horse, crossed the +long river bridge and drove up Front Street. +Just as the buggy reached the gate in front of the +house behind the cedars, a woman was tying a +piece of crape upon the door-knob. Pale with +apprehension, Tryon sat as if petrified, until a +tall, side-whiskered mulatto came down the garden +walk to the front gate. + +"Who's dead?" demanded Tryon hoarsely, +scarcely recognizing his own voice. + +"A young cullud 'oman, sah," answered +Homer Pettifoot, touching his hat, "Mis' Molly +Walden's daughter Rena." + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The House Behind The Cedars + diff --git a/old/thbtc10.zip b/old/thbtc10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0a6e61c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/thbtc10.zip |