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diff --git a/old/thbtc10.txt b/old/thbtc10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e5b0001 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/thbtc10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9992 @@ +***The Project Gutenberg Etext of The House Behind The Cedars*** +by Charles W. Chesnutt + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. We need your donations. + + +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 + |