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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6743.txt b/6743.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..84bcda0 --- /dev/null +++ b/6743.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4882 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Colonel Carter of Cartersville, by F. Hopkinson Smith + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Colonel Carter of Cartersville + +Author: F. Hopkinson Smith + +Posting Date: August 5, 2012 [EBook #6743] +Release Date: October, 2004 +First Posted: January 20, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COLONEL CARTER OF CARTERSVILLE *** + + + + +Produced by Phil McLaury, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + +COLONEL CARTER OF CARTERSVILLE + +BY F. HOPKINSON SMITH + + + +I dedicate this book to the memory of my counselor and my +friend,--that most delightful of story-tellers, that most charming of +comrades,--my dear old Mother; whose early life was spent near +the shade of the Colonel's porch, and whose keen enjoyment of the +stories between these covers--stories we have so often laughed over +together--is still among my pleasantest recollections. + +F. H. S. + +New York, May, 1891. + + + + +CONTENTS AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + "My fire is my friend." + +I. THE COLONEL'S HOUSE IN BEDFORD PLACE. + + The Street Entrance. + + Chad "dishin' the Dinner." + + "Gentlemen, a true Southern lady." + + Fitz. + +II. THE GARDEN SPOT OF VIRGINIA SEEKS AN OUTLET TO THE SEA. + + "Chad was groaning under a square wicker basket." + + "The little negroes around the door." + +III. AN OLD FAMILY SERVANT. + + "Who's that?" + + The old Clock Tower. + + Mister Grocerman. + +IV. THE ARRIVAL OF A TRUE SOUTHERN LADY. + +V. AN ALLUSION TO A YELLOW DOG. + + The Colonel's Office. + + The Advance Agent. + + The Nervous Man. + +VI. CERTAIN IMPORTANT LETTERS. + + "Like an ebony Statue of Liberty." + +VII. THE OUTCOME OF A COUNCIL OF WAR. + + "Down a flight of stone steps." + + +VIII. A HIGH SENSE OF HONOR. + + "Klutchem looked at him in perfect astonishment." + +IX. A VISIT OF CEREMONY. + + The Colonel's Door. + +X. CHAD IN SEARCH OF A COAL-FIELD. + +XI. CHAD ON HIS OWN CABIN FLOOR. + + Polishing the Parlor Floor. + + Henny. + + Some Stray Pickaninnies. + +XII. The ENGLISHMAN'S CHECK. + + + + + +CHAPTER I + +_The Colonel's House in Bedford Place_ + +The dinner was at the colonel's--an old-fashioned, partly furnished, +two-story house nearly a century old which crouches down behind a +larger and more modern dwelling fronting on Bedford Place within a +stone's throw of the tall clock tower of Jefferson Market. + +The street entrance to this curious abode is marked by a swinging +wooden gate opening into a narrow tunnel which dodges under the front +house. It is an uncanny sort of passageway, mouldy and wet from a +long-neglected leak overhead, and is lighted at night by a rusty lantern +with dingy glass sides. + +On sunny days this gruesome tunnel frames from the street a delightful +picture of a bit of the yard beyond, with the quaint colonial door and +its three steps let down in a welcoming way. + +Its retired location and shabby entrance brought it quite within the +colonel's income, and as the rent was not payable in advance, and the +landlord patient, he had surrounded himself not only with all the +comforts but with many of the luxuries of a more pretentious home. In +this he was assisted by his negro servant Chad,--an abbreviation of +Nebuchadnezzar,--who was chambermaid, cook, butler, body-servant, and +boots, and who by his marvelous tales of the magnificence of "de old +fambly place in Caartersville" had established a credit among the +shopkeepers on the avenue which would have been denied a much more +solvent customer. + +To this hospitable retreat I wended my way in obedience to one of the +colonel's characteristic notes:-- + +No. 51 BEDFORD PLACE +_Friday._ + +Everything is booming--Fitz says the scheme will take like the +measles--dinner tomorrow at six--don't be late. + +CARTER. + +The colonel had written several similar notes that week,--I lived but +a few streets away,--all on the spur of the moment, and all expressive +of his varying moods and wants; the former suggested by his unbounded +enthusiasm over his new railroad scheme, and the latter by such requests +as these: "Will you lend me half a dozen napkins--mine are all in the +wash, and I want enough to carry me over Sunday. Chad will bring, with +your permission, the extra pair of andirons you spoke of." Or, "Kindly +hand Chad the two magazines and a corkscrew." + +[Illustration] + +Of course Chad always tucked them under his arm, and carried them away, +for nobody ever refused the colonel anything--nobody who loved him. +As for himself, he would have been equally generous in return, and +have emptied his house, and even his pocketbook, in my behalf, had +that latter receptacle been capable of further effort. Should this +have been temporarily overstrained,--and it generally was,--he would +have promptly borrowed the amount of the nearest friend, and then have +rubbed his hands and glowed all day with delight at being able to +relieve my necessity. + +"I am a Virginian, suh. Command me," was his way of putting it. + +So to-night I pushed open the swinging door, felt my way along the +dark passage, and crossed the small yard choked with snow at the precise +minute when the two hands of the great clock in the tall tower pointed +to six. + +The door was opened by Chad. + +"Walk right in, suh; de colonel's in de dinin'-room." + +Chad was wrong. The colonel was at that moment finishing his toilet +upstairs, in what he was pleased to call his "dressing-room," his +cheery voice announcing that fact over the balusters as soon as he +heard my own, coupled with the additional information that he would +be down in five minutes. + +What a cosy charming interior, this dining-room of the colonel's! It +had once been two rooms, and two very small ones at that, divided by +folding doors. From out the rear one there had opened a smaller room +answering to the space occupied by the narrow hall and staircase in +front. All the interior partitions and doors dividing these three rooms +had been knocked away at some time in its history, leaving an L interior +having two windows in front and three in the rear. + +Some one of its former occupants, more luxurious than the others, had +paneled the walls of this now irregular-shaped apartment with a dark +wood running half way to the low ceiling badly smoked and blackened +by time, and had built two fireplaces--an open wood fire which laughed +at me from behind my own andirons, and an old-fashioned English grate +set into the chimney with wide hobs--convenient and necessary for the +various brews and mixtures for which the colonel was famous. + +Midway, equally warmed by both fires, stood the table, its centre +freshened by a great dish of celery white and crisp, with covers for +three on a snow-white cloth resplendent in old India blue, while at +each end shone a pair of silver coasters,--heirlooms from Carter +Hall,--one holding a cut-glass decanter of Madeira, the other awaiting +its customary bottle of claret. + +On the hearth before the wood fire rested a pile of plates, also +Indiablue, and on the mantel over the grate stood a row of bottles +adapting +themselves, like all good foreigners, to the rigors of our climate. +Add a pair of silver candelabra with candles,--the colonel despised +gas,--dark red curtains drawn close, three or four easy chairs, a few +etchings and sketches loaned from my studio, together with a modest +sideboard at the end of the L, and you have the salient features of +a room so inviting and restful that you wanted life made up of one +long dinner, continually served within its hospitable walls. + +But I hear the colonel calling down the back stairs:-- + +"Not a minute over eighteen, Chad. You ruined those ducks last Sunday." + +The next moment he had me by both hands. + +"My dear Major, I am pa'alized to think I kep' you waitin'. Just up +from my office. Been workin' like a slave, suh. Only five minutes to +dress befo' dinner. Have a drop of sherry and a dash of bitters, or +shall we wait for Fitzpatrick? No? All right! He should have been here +befo' this. You don't know Fitz? Most extraord'nary man; a great mind, +suh; literature, science, politics, finance, everything at his fingers' +ends. He has been of the greatest service to me since I have been in +New York in this railroad enterprise, which I am happy to say is now +reachin' a culmination. You shall hear all about it after dinner. Put +yo' body in that chair and yo' feet on the fender--my fire and yo' +fender! No, Fitz's fender and yo' andirons! Charmin' combination!" + +It is always one of my delights to watch the colonel as he busies +himself about the room, warming a big chair for his guests, punching +the fire, brushing the sparks from the pile of plates, and testing the +temperature of the claret lovingly with the palms of his hands. + +He is perhaps fifty years of age, tall and slightly built. His iron +gray hair is brushed straight back from his forehead, overlapping his +collar behind. His eyes are deep-set and twinkling; nose prominent; +cheeks slightly sunken; brow wide and high; and chin and jaw strong +and marked. His moustache droops over a firm, well-cut mouth and unites +at its ends with a gray goatee which rests on his shirt front. + +Like most Southerners living away from great cities his voice is soft +and low, and tempered with a cadence that is delicious. + +He wears a black broadcloth coat,--a double-breasted garment,--with +similar colored waistcoat and trousers, a turn-down collar, a shirt +of many plaits which is under-starched and over-wrinkled but always +clean, large cuffs very much frayed, a narrow black or white tie, and +low shoes with white cotton stockings. + +This black broadcloth coat, by the way, is quite the most interesting +feature of the colonel's costume. So many changes are constantly made +in its general make-up that you never quite believe it is the same +ill-buttoned, shiny garment until you become familiar with its +possibilities. + +When the colonel has a funeral or other serious matter on his mind, +this coat is buttoned close up under his chin showing only the upper +edge of his white collar, his gaunt throat and the stray end of a black +cravat. When he is invited to dinner he buttons it lower down, revealing +as well a bit of his plaited shirt, and when it is a wedding this old +stand-by is thrown wide open discovering a stiff, starched, white +waistcoat with ivory buttons and snowy neck-cloth. + +These several make-ups used once to surprise me, and I often found +myself insisting that the looseness and grace with which this garment +flapped about the colonel's thin legs was only possible in a brand-new +coat having all the spring and lightness of youth in its seams. I was +always mistaken. I had only to look at the mis-mated buttons and the +raveled edge of the lining fringing the tails. It was the same coat. + +The colonel wore to-night the lower-button style with the white tie. +It was indeed the adjustment of this necessary article which had +consumed the five minutes passed in his dressing-room, slightly +lengthened by the time necessary to trim his cuffs--a little nicety +which he rarely overlooked and which it mortified him to forget. + +What a frank, generous, tender-hearted fellow he is: happy as a boy; +hospitable to the verge of beggary; enthusiastic as he is visionary; +simple as he is genuine. A Virginian of good birth, fair education, +and limited knowledge of the world and of men, proud of his ancestry, +proud of his State, and proud of himself; believing in states' rights, +slavery, and the Confederacy; and away down in the bottom of his soul +still clinging to the belief that the poor white trash of the earth +includes about everybody outside of Fairfax County. + +With these antecedents it is easy to see that his "reconstruction" is +as hopeless as that of the famous Greek frieze, outwardly whole andyet +always a patchwork. So he chafes continually under what he believes +to be the tyranny and despotism of an undefined autocracy, which, in +a general way, he calls "the Government," but which really refers to +the distribution of certain local offices in his own immediate vicinity. + +When he hands you his card it bears this unabridged inscription:-- + + Colonel George Fairfax Carter, + of Carter Hall, + Cartersville, Virginia. + +He omits "United States of America," simply because it would add nothing +to his identity or his dignity. + + * * * * * + +"There's Fitz," said the colonel as a sharp double knock sounded at +the outer gate; and the next instant a stout, thick-set, round-faced +man of forty, with merry, bead-like eyes protected by big-bowed +spectacles, pushed open the door, and peered in good-humoredly. + +The colonel sprang forward and seized him by both shoulders. + +"What the devil do you mean, Fitz, by comin' ten minutes late? Don't +you know, suh, that the burnin' of a canvasback is a crime? + +"Stuck in the snow? Well, I'll forgive you this once, but Chad won't. +Give me yo' coat--bless me! it is as wet as a setter dog. Now put yo' +belated carcass into this chair which I have been warmin' for you, +right next to my dearest old friend, the Major. Major, Fitz!--Fitz, +the Major! Take hold of each other. Does my heart good to get you both +together. Have you brought a copy of the prospectus of our railroad? +You know I want the Major in with us on the groun' flo'. But after +dinner--not a word befo'." + +This railroad was the colonel's only hope for the impoverished acres +of Carter Hall, but lately saved from foreclosure by the generosity +of his aunt, Miss Nancy Carter, who had redeemed it with almost all +her savings, the house and half of the outlying lands being, thereupon, +deeded to her. The other half reverted to the colonel. + +I explained to Fitz immediately after his hearty greeting that I was +a humble landscape painter, and not a major at all, having not the +remotest connection with any military organization whatever; but that +the colonel always insisted upon surrounding himself with a staff, and +that my promotion was in conformity with this habit. + +The colonel laughed, seized the poker, and rapped three times on the +floor. A voice from the kitchen rumbled up:-- + +"Comin', sah!" + +It was Chad "dishin' the dinner" below, his explanations increasing +in distinctness as he pushed the rear door open with his foot,--both +hands being occupied with the soup tureen which he bore aloft and +placed at the head of the table. + +[Illustration] + +In a moment more he retired to the outer hall and reappeared brilliant +in white jacket and apron. Then he ranged himself behind the colonel's +chair and with great dignity announced that dinner was served. + +"Come, Major! Fitz, sit where you can warm yo' back--you are not thawed +out yet. One minute, gentlemen,--an old custom of my ancestors which +I never omit." + +The blessing was asked with becoming reverence; there was a slight +pause, and then the colonel lifted the cover of the tureen and sent +a savory cloud of incense to the ceiling. + +The soup was a cream of something with baby crabs. There was also a +fish,--boiled,--with slices of hard boiled eggs fringing the dish, +ovaled by a hedge of parsley and supplemented by a pyramid of potatoes +with their jackets ragged as tramps. Then a ham, brown and crisp, and +bristling all over with cloves. + +Then the ducks! + +It was beautiful to see the colonel's face when Chad, with a bow like +a folding jack-knife, held this dish before him. + +"Lay 'em here, Chad--right under my nose. Now hand me that pile of +plates sizzlin' hot, and give that carvin' knife a turn or two across +the hearth. Major, dip a bit of celery in the salt and follow it with +a mou'ful of claret. It will prepare yo' palate for the kind of food +we raise gentlemen on down my way. See that red blood, suh, followin' +the knife!" + +"Suit you, marsa?" Chad never forgot his slave days. +"To a turn, Chad,--I wouldn't take a thousand dollars for you," replied +the colonel, relapsing as unconsciously into an old habit. + +It was not to be wondered at that the colonel loved a good dinner. To +dine well was with him an inherited instinct; one of the necessary +preliminaries to all the important duties in life. To share with you +his last crust was a part of his religion; to eat alone, a crime. + +"There, Major," said the colonel as Chad laid the smoking plate before +me, "is the breast of a bird that fo' days ago was divin' for wild +celery within fo'ty miles of Caarter Hall. My dear old aunt Nancy sends +me a pair every week, bless her sweet soul! Fill yo' glasses and let +us drink to her health and happiness." Here the colonel rose from his +chair: "Gentlemen, the best thing on this earth--a true Southern lady! + +"Now, Chad, the red pepper." + +[Illustration] + +"No jelly, Colonel?" said Fitz, with an eye on the sideboard. + +"Jelly? No, suh; not a suspicion of it. A pinch of salt, a dust +ofcayenne, then shut yo' eyes and mouth, and don't open them 'cept for +a drop of good red wine. It is the salt marsh in the early mornin' +that you are tastin', suh,--not molasses candy. You Nawtherners don't +really treat a canvasback with any degree of respect. You ought never +to come into his presence when he lies in state without takin' off yo' +hats. That may be one reason why he skips over the Nawthern States +when he takes his annual fall outin'." And he laughed heartily. + +"But you use it on venison?" argued Fitz. + +"Venison is diff'ent, suh. That game lives on moose buds, the soft +inner bark of the sugar maple, and the tufts of sweet grass. There is +a propriety and justice in his endin' his days smothered in sweets; but +the wild duck, suh, is bawn of the salt ice, braves the storm, and +lives a life of peyil and hardship. You don't degrade a' oyster, a +soft shell crab, or a clam with confectionery; why a canvasback duck? + +"Now, Chad, serve coffee." + +The colonel pushed back his chair, and opened a drawer in a table on +his right, producing three small clay pipes with reed stems and a +buckskin bag of tobacco. This he poured out on a plate, breaking the +coarser grains with the palms of his hands, and filling the pipes with +the greatest care. + +Fitz watched him curiously, and when he reached for the third pipe, +said:-- + +"No, Colonel, none for me; smoke a cigar--got a pocketful." + +"Smoke yo' own cigars, will you, and in the presence of a Virginian? +I don't believe you have got a drop of Irish blood left in yo' veins, +or you would take this pipe." + +"Too strong for me," remonstrated Fitz. + +"Throw that villainous device away, I say, Fitz, and surprise yo' +nostrils with a whiff of this. Virginia tobacco, suh,--raised at +Cartersville,--cured by my own servants. No? Well, you will, Major. +Here, try that; every breath of it is a nosegay," said the colonel, +turning to me. + +"But, Colonel," continued Fitz, with a sly twinkle in his eye, "your +tobacco pays no tax. With a debt like ours it is the duty of every +good citizen to pay his share of it. Half the cost of this cigar goes +to the Government." + +It was a red flag to the colonel, and he laid down his pipe and faced +Fitz squarely. + +"Tax! On our own productions, suh! Raised on our own land! Are you +again forgettin' that you are an Irishman and becomin' one of these +money-makin' Yankees? Haven't we suffe'd enough--robbed of our +property, our lands confiscated, our slaves torn from us; nothin' left +but our honor and the shoes we stand in!" + +[Illustration] + +The colonel on cross-examination could not locate any particular +wholesale robbery, but it did not check the flow of his indignation. + +"Take, for instance, the town of Caartersville: look at that peaceful +village which for mo' than a hundred years has enjoyed the privileges +of free government; and not only Caartersville, but all our section +of the State." + +"Well, what's the matter with Cartersville?" asked Fitz, lighting his +cigar. + +"Mattah, suh! Just look at the degradation it fell into hardly ten +years ago. A Yankee jedge jurisdictin' our laws, a Yankee sheriff +enfo'cin' 'em, and a Yankee postmaster distributin' letters and sellin' +postage stamps." + +"But they were elected all right, Colonel, and represented the will +of the people." + +"What people? Yo' people, not mine. No, my dear Fitz; the Administration +succeeding the war treated us shamefully, and will go down to postehity +as infamous." + +The colonel here left his chair and began pacing the floor, his +indignation rising at every step. + +"To give you an idea, suh," he continued, "of what we Southern people +suffe'd immediately after the fall of the Confederacy, let me state +a case that came under my own observation. + +"Colonel Temple Talcott of F'okeer County, Virginia, came into +Talcottville one mornin', suh,--a town settled by his ancestors,--ridin' +upon his horse--or rather a mule belongin' to his overseer. Colonel +Talcott, suh, belonged to one of the vehy fust families in Virginia. +He was a son of Jedge Thaxton Talcott, and grandson of General Snowden +Stafford Talcott of the Revolutionary War. Now, suh, let me tell you +right here that the Talcott blood is as blue as the sky, and that every +gentleman bearin' the name is known all over the county as a man whose +honor is dearer to him than his life, and whose word is as good as his +bond. Well, suh, on this mornin' Colonel Talcott left his plantation +in charge of his overseer,--he was workin' it on shares,--and rode +through his estates to his ancestral town, some five miles distant. +It is true, suh, these estates were no longer in his name, but that +had no bearin' on the events that followed; he ought to have owned +them, and would have done so but for some vehy ungentlemanly fo'closure +proceedin's which occurred immediately after the war. + +"On arriving at Talcottville the colonel dismounted, handed the reins +to his servant,--or perhaps one of the niggers around the do',--and +entered the post-office. Now, suh, let me tell you that one month +befo', the Government, contrary to the express wishes of a great many +of our leadin' citizens, had sent a Yankee postmaster to Talcottville +to administer the postal affairs of that town. No sooner had this man +taken possession than he began to be exclusive, suh, and to put on +airs. The vehy fust air he put on was to build a fence in his office +and compel our people to transact their business through a hole. This +in itself was vehy gallin', suh, for up to that time the mail had +always been dumped out on the table in the stage office and every +gentleman had he'ped himself. The next thing was the closin' of his +mail bags at a' hour fixed by himself. This became a great inconvenience +to our citizens, who were often late in finishin' their correspondence, +and who had always found our former postmaster willin' either to hold +the bag over until the next day, or to send it across to Drummondtown +by a boy to catch a later train. + +"Well, suh, Colonel Talcott's mission to the post-office was to mail +a letter to his factor in Richmond, Virginia, on business of the utmost +importance to himself,--namely, the raisin' of a small loan upon his +share of the crop. Not the crop that was planted, suh, but the crop +that he expected to plant. +"Colonel Talcott approached the hole, and with that Chesterfieldian +manner which has distinguished the Talcotts for mo' than two centuries +asked the postmaster for the loan of a three-cent postage stamp. + +"To his astonishment, suh, he was refused. + +"Think of a Talcott in his own county town bein' refused a three-cent +postage stamp by a low-lived Yankee, who had never known a gentleman +in his life! The colonel's first impulse was to haul the scoundrel +through the hole and caarve him; but then he remembered that he was +a Talcott and could not demean himself, and drawin' himself up again +with that manner which was grace itself he requested the loan of a +three-cent postage stamp until he should communicate with his factor +in Richmond, Virginia; and again he was refused. Well, suh, what was +there left for a high-toned Southern gentleman to do? Colonel Talcott +drew his revolver and shot that Yankee scoundrel through the heart, +and killed him on the spot. + +"And now, suh, comes the most remarkable part of this story. If it had +not been for Major Tom Yancey, Jedge Kerfoot, and myself there would +have been a lawsuit." + +Fitz lay back in his chair and roared. + +"And they did not hang the colonel?" + +"Hang a Talcott! No, suh; we don't hang gentlemen down our way. Jedge +Kerfoot vehy properly charged the coroner's jury that it was a matter +of self-defense, and Colonel Talcott was not detained mo' than haalf +an hour." + +The colonel stopped, unlocked a closet in the sideboard, and produced +a black bottle labeled in ink, "Old Cherry Bounce, 1848." + +"You must excuse me, gentlemen, but the discussion of these topics has +quite unnerved me. Allow me to share with you a thimbleful." Fitz +drained his glass, cast his eyes upward, and said solemnly, "To the +repose of the postmaster's soul." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +_The Garden Spot of Virginia seeks an Outlet to the Sea_ + + +Chad was just entering the small gate which shut off the underground +passage when I arrived opposite the colonel's cozy quarters. I had +come to listen to the details of that booming enterprise with the +epidemic proclivities, the discussion of which had been cut short by +the length of time it had taken to kill the postmaster the night before. + +It was quite evident that the colonel expected guests, for Chad was +groaning under a square wicker basket, containing, among other luxuries +and necessities, half a dozen bottles of claret, a segment of cheese, +and some heads of lettuce; the whole surmounted by a clean +leather-covered pass-book inscribed with the name and avenue number +of the confiding and accommodating grocer who supplied the colonel's +daily wants. + +"De colonel an' Misser Fizpat'ic bofe waitin' for you, sah," said that +obsequious darky, preceding me through the dark passage. I followed, +mounted the old-fashioned wooden steps, and fell into the outstretched +arms of the colonel before I could touch the knocker. + +[Illustration] + +"Here he is, Fitz!" and the next instant I was sharing with that genial +gentleman the warmth of the colonel's fire. + +"Now then, Chad," called out the colonel, "take this lettuce and give +it a dip in the snow for five minutes; and here, Chad, befo' you go +hand me that claret. Bless my soul! it is as cold as a dog's nose; +Fitz, set it on the mantel. And hurry down to that mutton, Chad. Never +mind the basket. Leave it where it is." + +Chad chuckled out to me as he closed the door: "'Spec' I know mo' 'bout +dat saddle den de colonel. It ain't a-burnin' none." And the colonel, +satisfied now that Chad's hand had reached the oven door below, made +a vigorous attack on the blazing logs with the tongs, and sent a flight +of sparks scurrying up the chimney. + +There was always a glow and breeze and sparkle about the colonel's +fire that I found nowhere else. It partook to a certain extent of his +personality--open, bright, and with a great draft of enthusiasm always +rushing up a chimney of difficulties, buoyed up with the hope of the +broad clear of the heaven of success above. + +"My fire," he once said to me, "is my friend; and sometimes, my dear +boy, when you are all away and Chad is out, it seems my only friend. +After it talks to me for hours we both get sleepy together, and I cover +it up with its gray blanket of ashes and then go to bed myself. Ah, +Major! when you are gettin' old and have no wife to love you and no +children to make yo' heart glad, a wood fire full of honest old logs, +every one of which is doing its best to please you, is a great comfort." + +"Draw closer, Major; vehy cold night, gentlemen. We do not have any +such weather in my State. Fitz, have you thawed out yet?" + +Fitz looked up from a pile of documents spread out on his lap, his +round face aglow with the firelight, and compared himself to half a +slice of toast well browned on both sides. + +"I am glad of it. I was worried about you when you came in. You were +chilled through." + +Then turning to me: "Fact is, Fitz is a little overworked. Enormous +strain, suh, on a man solving the vast commercial problems that he is +called upon to do every day." + +After which outburst the colonel crossed the room and finished unpacking +the basket, placing the cheese in one of the empty plates on the table, +and the various other commodities on the sideboard. When he reached +the pass-book he straightened himself up, held it off admiringly, +turned the leaves slowly, his face lighting up at the goodly number +of clean pages still between its covers, and said thoughtfully:-- + +"Very beautiful custom, this pass-book system, gentlemen, and quite +new to me. One of the most co'teous attentions I have received since +I have taken up my residence Nawth. See how simple it is. I send my +servant to the sto' for my supplies. He returns in haalf an hour with +everything I need, and brings back this book which I keep,--remember, +gentlemen, which I _keep_,--a mark of confidence which in this +degen'rate age is refreshin'. No vulgar bargaining suh; no disagreeable +remarks about any former unsettled account. It certainly is delightful." +"When are the accounts under this system generally paid, Colonel," +asked Fitz. + +With the exception of a slight tremor around the corners of his mouth +Fitz's face expressed nothing but the idlest interest. + +"I have never inquired, suh, and would not hurt the gentleman's feelin's +by doin' so for the world," he replied with dignity. "I presume, when +the book is full." + +Whatever might have been Fitz's mental workings, there was no mistaking +the colonel's. He believed every word he said. + +"What a dear old trump the colonel is," said Fitz, turning to me, his +face wrinkling all over with suppressed laughter. + +All this time Chad was passing in and out, bearing dishes and viands, +and when all was ready and the table candles were lighted, he announced +that fact softly to his master and took his customary place behind his +chair. + +The colonel was as delightful as ever, his talk ranging from politics +and family blood to possum hunts and modern literature, while the +mutton and its accessories did full credit to Chad's culinary skill. + +In fact the head of the colonel's table was his throne. Nowhere else +was he so charming, and nowhere else did the many sides to his +delightful nature give out such varied hues. + +Fitz, practical business man as he was, would listen to his many schemes +by the hour, charmed into silence and attentive appreciation by the +sublime faith that sustained his host, and the perfect honesty and +sincerity underlying everything he did. But it was not until the cheese +had completely lost its geometrical form, the coffee served, and the +pipes lighted, that the subject which of all others absorbed him was +broached. Indeed, it was a rule of the colonel's, never infringed upon, +that, no matter how urgent the business, the dinner-hour was to be +kept sacred. + +"Salt yo' food, suh, with humor," he would say. "Season it with wit, +and sprinkle it all over with the charm of good-fellowship, but never +poison it with the cares of yo' life. It is an insult to yo' digestion, +besides bein', suh, a mark of bad breedin'." + +"Now, Major," began the colonel, turning to me, loosening the string +around a package of papers, and spreading them out like a game of +solitaire, "draw yo' chair closer. Fitz, hand me the map." + +A diligent search revealed the fact that the map had been left at the +office, and so the colonel proceeded without it, appealing now and +then to Fitz, who leaned over his chair, his arm on the table. + +"Befo' I touch upon the financial part of this enterprise, Major, let +me show you where this road runs," said the colonel, reaching for the +casters. "I am sorry I haven't the map, but we can get along very well +with this;" and he unloaded the cruets. + +"This mustard-pot, here, is Caartersville, the startin'-point of our +system. This town, suh, has now a population of mo' than fo' thousand +people; in five years it will have fo'ty thousand. From this point the +line follows the bank of the Big Tench River--marked by this +caarvin'-knife--to this salt-cellar, where it crosses its waters by +an iron bridge of two spans, each of two hundred and fifty feet. Then, +suh, it takes a sharp bend to the southard and stops at my estate, the +roadbed skirtin' within a convenient distance of Caarter Hall. + +"Please move yo' arm, Fitz. I haven't room enough to lay out the city +of Fairfax. Thank you. + +"Just here," continued the colonel, utilizing the remains of the cheese, +"is to be the future city of Fairfax, named after my ancestor, suh, +General Thomas Wilmot Fairfax of Somerset, England, who settled here +in 1680. From here we take a course due nawth, stopping at Talcottville +eight miles, and thence nawthwesterly to Warrentown and the broad +Atlantic; in all fifty miles." + +"Any connecting road at Warrentown?" I asked. + +"No, suh, nor anywhere else along the line. It is absolutely virgin +country, and this is one of the strong points of the scheme, for there +can be no competition;" and the colonel leaned back in his chair, and +looked at me with the air of a man who had just informed me of a legacy +of half a million of dollars and was watching the effect of the news. + +I preserved my gravity, and followed the imaginary line with my eye, +bounding from the mustard-pot along the carving-knife to the salt-cellar +and back in a loop to the cheese, and then asked if the Big Tench could +not be crossed higher up, and if so why was it necessary to build +twelve additional miles of road. + +"To reach Carter Hall," said Fitz quietly. + +"Any advantage?" I asked in perfect good faith. + +The colonel was on his feet in a moment. + +"Any advantage? Major, I am surprised at you! A place settled mo' than +one hundred years ago, belongin' to one of the vehy fust fam'lies of +Virginia, not to be of any advantage to a new enterprise like this! +Why, suh, it will give an air of respectability to the whole thing +that nothin' else could ever do. Leave out Caarter Hall, suh, and you +pa'alize the whole scheme. Am I not right, Fitz?" + +"Unquestionably, Colonel. It is really all the life it has," replied +Fitz, solemn as a graven image, blowing a cloud of smoke through his +nose. + +"And then, suh," continued the colonel with increasing enthusiasm, +oblivious to the point of Fitz's remark, "see the improvements. Right +here to the eastward of this cheese we shall build a round-house marked +by this napkin-ring, which will accommodate twelve locomotives, +construct extensive shops for repairs, and erect large foundries and +caar-shops. Altogether, suh, we shall expend at this point mo' than--mo' +than--one million of dollars;" and the colonel threw back his head +and gazed at the ceiling, his lips computing imaginary sums. + +"Befo' these improvements are complete it will be necessary, of course, +to take care of the enormous crowds that will flock in for a +restin'-place. So to the left of this napkin-ring, on a slightly risin' +ground,--just here where I raise the cloth,--is where the homes of +the people will be erected. I have the refusal"--here the colonel +lowered his voice--"of two thousand acres of the best private-residence +land in the county, contiguous to this very spot, which I can buy for +fo' dollars an acre. It is worth fo' dollars a square foot if it is +worth a penny. But, suh, it would be little short of highway rob'ry +to take this property at that figger, and I shall arrange with Fitz +to include in his prospectus the payment of one hundred dollars an +acre for this land, payable either in the common stock of our road or +in the notes of the company, as the owners may elect." + +"But, Colonel," said I, with a sincere desire to get at the facts, +"where is the Golconda--the gold mine? Where do I come in?" + +"Patience, my dear Major; I am coming to that. + +"Fitz, read that prospectus." + +"I have," said Fitz, turning to the colonel, "somewhat modified your +rough draft, to meet the requirements of our market; but not materially. +Of course I cannot commit myself to any fixed earning capacity until +I go over the ground, which we will do together shortly. But"--raising +the candle to the level of his nose--"this is as near as I can come +to your ideas with any hopes of putting the loan through here. I have, +as you will see, left the title of the bond as you wished, although +the issue is a novel one to our Exchange." Then turning to me: "This +of course is only a preliminary announcement." + + THE CARTERSVILLE AND WARRENTOWN + AIR LINE RAILROAD. + + THE GARDEN SPOT OF VIRGINIA SEEKS AN OUTLET + TO THE SEA. + + CAPITAL ONE MILLION OF DOLLARS, DIVIDED + INTO + + 50,000 Founders' shares at .... $1000. each + 5,000 Ordinary " " .... 100.00 " + + BONDED DEBT FOR PURPOSES OF CONSTRUCTION ONLY. + + ONE MILLION OF DOLLARS + IN + 1,000 FIRST MORTGAGE BONDS OF $1000.00 EACH. + + FULL PROTECTION GUARANTEED. + +The undersigned, Messrs. . . . . offer for sale $500,000.00 of the 6% +Deferred Debenture Bonds of the C.& W. Air Line Railroad at par and +accrued interest, together with a limited amount of the ordinary shares +at 50%. + +Subscription books close. . . . . Promoters reserve the right to advance +prices without further notice. + +"There, Major, is a prospectus that caarries conviction on its vehy +face," said the colonel, reaching for the document. + +I complimented the eminent financier on his skill, and was about to +ask him what it all meant, when the colonel, who had been studying it +carefully, broke in with:-- + +"Fitz, there is one thing you left out." + +"Yes, I know, the name of the banker; I haven't found him yet." + +"No, Fitz; but the words, '_Subscriptions opened Simultaneously in +New York, London, Richmond_,' and"-- + +"Cartersville?" suggested Fitz. + +"Certainly, suh." + +"Any money in Cartersville?" + +"No, suh, not much; but we can _subscribe_, can't we? The name +and influence of our leadin' citizens would give tone and dignity to +any subscription list. Think of this, suh!" and the colonel traced +imaginary inscriptions on the back of Fitz's prospectus with his +forefinger, voicing them as he went on:-- + + The Hon. JOHN PAGE LOWNES, Member of the State Legislature.. + 1,000 shares + The Hon. I.B. KERFOOT, + Jedge of the District Court of + Fairfax County....... 1,000 shares + Major THOMAS C. YANCEY, + Late of the Confederate Army... 500 shares + +"These gentlemen are my friends, suh, and would do anythin' to oblige +me." + +Fitz sharpened a lead pencil and without a word inserted the desired +amendment. + +The colonel studied the document for another brief moment and struck +another snag. + +"And, Fitz, what do you mean, by 'full protection guaranteed'?" + +"To the bondholder, of course,--the man who pays the money." + +"What kind of protection?" + +"Why, the right to foreclose the mortgage when the interest is not +paid, of course," said Fitz, with a surprised look. + +"Put yo' pencil through that line, quick--none of that for me. This +fo'closure business has ruined haalf the gentlemen in our county, suh. +But for that foolishness two thirds of our fust families would still +be livin' in their homes. No, suh, strike it out!" + +"But, my dear Colonel, without that protecting clause you couldn't get +a banker to touch your bonds with a pair of tongs. What recourse have +they?" + +"What reco'se? Reorganization, suh! A boilin'-down process which will +make the stock--which we practically give away at fifty cents on the +dollar--twice as valuable. I appreciate, my dear Fitz, the effo'ts +which you are makin' to dispose of these secu'ities, but you must +remember that this plan is _mine_. + +"Now Major," locking his arm in mine, "listen; for I want you both to +understand exactly the way in which I propose to forward this +enterprise. Chad, bring me three wine-glasses and put that Madeira on +the table--don't disturb that railroad!--so. + +"My idea, gentlemen," continued the colonel, filling the glasses +himself, "is to start this scheme honestly in the beginnin', and avoid +all dissatisfaction on the part of these vehy bondholders thereafter. + +"Now, suh, in my experience I have always discovered that a vehy general +dissatisfaction is sure to manifest itself if the coupons on secu'ities +of this class are not paid when they become due. As a gen'ral rule +this interest money is never earned for the fust two years, and the +money to pay it with is inva'ably stolen from the principal. All this +dishonesty I avoid, suh, by the issue of my Deferred Debenture Bonds." + +"How?" I asked, seeing the colonel pause for a reply. + +"By cuttin' off the fust fo' coupons. Then everybody knows exactly +where they stand. They don't expect anythin' and they never get it." + +Fitz gave one of his characteristic roars and asked if the fifth would +ever be paid. + +"I can't at this moment answer, but we hope it will." + +"It is immaterial," said Fitz, wiping his eyes. "This class of +purchasers are all speculators, and like excitement. The very +uncertainty as to this fifth coupon gives interest to the investment, +if not to the investor." + +"None of yo' Irish impudence, suh. No, gentlemen, the plan is not only +fair, but reasonable. Two years is not a long period of time in which +to foster a great enterprise like the C.& W.A.L.R.R., and it is for +this purpose that I issue the Deferred Debentures. Deferred--put off; +Debenture--owed. What we owe we put off. Simple, easily understood, +and honest. + +"Now, suh," turning to Fitz, "if after this frank statement any graspin' +banker seeks to trammel this enterprise by any fo'closure clauses, he +sha'n't have a bond, suh. I'll take them all myself fust." + +Fitz agreed to the striking out of all such harassing clauses, and the +colonel continued his inspection. + +"One mo' and I am done, Fitz. What do you mean by Founders' shares?" +"Shares for the promoters and the first subscribers. They cost one +tenth of the ordinary shares and draw five times as much dividend. It +is quite a popular form of investment. They, of course, are not sold +until all the bonds are disposed of." + +"How many of these Founders' shares are there?" + +"Fifty thousand at ten dollars each." + +The colonel paused a moment and communed inwardly with himself. + +"Put me down for twenty-five thousand, Fitz. Part cash, and the balance +in such po'tion of my estate as will be required for the purposes of +the road." + +The colonel did not specify the proportions, but Fitz made a pencil +memorandum on the margin of the prospectus with the same sort of +respectful silence he would have shown the Rothschilds in a similar +transaction, while the colonel refilled his glass and held it between +his nose and the candle. + +"And now, Major, what shall we reserve for you?" said he, laying his +hand on my shoulder. Before I could reply Fitz raised his finger, +looked at me significantly over the rims of his spectacles, and said:-- + +"With your permission, Colonel, the Major and I will divide the +remaining twenty-five thousand between ourselves." + +Then seeing my startled look, "I will give you ample notice, Major, +before the first partial payment is called in." + +"You overwhelm me, gentlemen," said the colonel, rising from his seat +and seizing us by the hands. "It has been the dream of my life to have +you both with me in this enterprise, but I had no idea it would be +realized so soon. Fill yo' glasses and join me in a sentiment that is +dear to me as my life,--'The Garden Spot of Virginia in search of an +Outlet to the Sea.'" + +Nothing could have been more exhilarating than the colonel's manner +after this. His enthusiasm became so contagious that I began to feel +something like a millionaire myself, and to wonder whether this were +not the opportunity of my life. Fitz was so far affected that he +recanted to a certain extent his disbelief in the omission of the +foreclosure clause, and even expressed himself as being hopeful of +getting around it in some way. + +As for the colonel, the railroad was to him already a fixed fact. He +could really shut his eyes at any time and hear the whistle of the +down train nearing the bridge over the Tench. Such trifling details +as the finding of a banker who would attempt to negotiate the loan, +the subsequent selling of the securities, and the minor items of right +of way, construction, etc., were matters so light and trivial as not +to cause him a moment's uneasiness. Cartersville was to him the centre +of the earth, hampered and held back by lack of proper connections +with the outlying portions of the universe. What mattered the rest? + +"Make a memorandum, Fitz, to have me send for a bridge engineer fust +thing after I get to my office in the mornin'. There will be some +difficulty in gettin' a proper foundation for the centre-pier of that +bridge, and some one should be sent at once to make a survey. We can't +be delayed at this point a day. And, Fitz, while I think of it, there +should be a wagon bridge at or near this iron structure, and the timber +might as well be gotten out now. It will facilitate haulin' supplies +into Fairfax city." + +Fitz thought so too, and made a second memorandum to that effect, +recording the suggestion very much as a private secretary would an +order from his railroad magnate. + +The colonel gave this last order with coat thrown open,--thumbs in his +vest,--back to the fire,--an attitude never indulged in except on +rare occasions, and then only when the very weight of the problem +necessitated a corresponding bracing up, and more breathing room. + +These attitudes, by the way, were very suggestive of the colonel's +varying moods. Sometimes, when he came home, tired out with the hard +pavements of the city, so different from the soft earth of his native +roads, I would find him bunched up in his chair in the twilight; face +in hands, elbows on knees, crooning over the fire, the silver streaks +in his hair glistening in the flickering firelight, building castles +in the glowing coals,--the old manor house restored and the barns +rebuilt, the gates rehung, the old quarters repaired, the little negroes +again around the doors; and he once more catching the sound of the +yellow-painted coach on the gravel, with Chad helping the dear old +aunt down the porch steps. This, deep down in the bottom of his soul, +was really the dream and purpose of his life. + +It never seemed nearer of realization than now. The very thought +suffused his whole being with a suppressed joy, visible in his face +even when he began loosening the two lower buttons of his old threadbare +coat, throwing back the lapels and slowly extending his fingers fan-like +over his dilating chest. + +[Illustration] + +I always knew what suddenly sweetened his smile from one of triumphant +pride to one of tenderness. + +"And the old home, Fitz, something must be done there; we must receive +our friends properly." + +Fitz agreed to everything, offering an amendment here, and a suggestion +there, until our host's enthusiasm reached fever heat. + +It was nearly midnight before the colonel had confided to Fitz all the +pressing necessities of the coming day. Even then he followed us both +to the door, with parting instructions to Fitz, saying over and over +again that it had been the happiest night of his life. And he would +have gone bare-headed to the outer gate had not Chad caught him half +way down the steps, thrown a coat over his head and shoulders, and +gently led him back with:-- + +"'Clar to goodness, Marsa George, what kind foolishness dis yer? Is +you tryin' to ketch yo' death?" + +Once on the outside and the gate shut, Fitz's whole manner changed. +He became suddenly thoughtful, and did not speak until we reached the +tall clock tower with its full moon of a face shining high up against +the black winter night. + +Then he stood still, looked out over the white street, dotted here and +there with belated wayfarers trudging home through the snow, and said +with a tremor in his voice which startled me:-- + +"I couldn't raise a dollar in a lunatic asylum full of millionaires +on a scheme like the colonel's, and yet I keep on lying to the dear +old fellow day after day, hoping that something will turn up by which +I can help him out." + +"Then tell him so." + +Fitz laid his hand on my shoulder, looked me straight in the face, and +said:-- + +"I cannot. It would break his heart." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +_An Old Family Servant_ + + +The colonel's front yard, while as quaint and old-fashioned as his +house, was not--if I may be allowed--quite so well bred. + +This came partly from the outdoor life it had always led and from its +close association with other yards that had lost all semblance of +respectability, and partly from the fact that it had never felt the +refining influences of the friends of the house; for nobody ever +lingered in the front yard who by any possibility could get into the +front door--nobody, except perhaps now and then a stray tramp, who +felt at home at once and went to sleep on the steps. + +That all this told upon its character and appearance was shown in the +remnants of whitewash on the high wall, scaling off in discolored +patches; in the stagger of the tall fence opposite, drooping like a +drunkard between two policemen of posts; and in the unkempt, bulging +rear of the third wall,--the front house,--stuffed with rags and tied +up with clothes-lines. + +If in the purity of its youth it had ever seen better days as a +garden--but then no possible stretch of imagination, however brilliant, +could ever convert this miserable quadrangle into a garden. + +It contained, of course, as all such yards do, one lone plant,--this +time a honeysuckle,--which had clambered over the front door and there +rested as if content to stay; but which later on, frightened at the +surroundings, had with one great spring cleared the slippery wall +between, reached the rain-spout above, and by its helping arm had thus +escaped to the roof and the sunlight. + +It is also true that high up on this same wall there still clung the +remains of a criss-cross wooden trellis supporting the shivering +branches of an old vine, which had spent its whole life trying to grow +high enough to look over the tall fence into the yard beyond; but this +was so long ago that not even the landlord remembered the color of its +blossoms. + +Then there was an old-fashioned hydrant, with a half-spiral crank of +a handle on its top and the curved end of a lead pipe always aleak +thrust through its rotten side, with its little statues of ice all +winter and its spattering slop all summer. + +Besides all this there were some broken flower-pots in a heap in one +corner,--suicides from the window-sills above,--and some sagging +clothes-lines, and a battered watering-pot, and a box or two that might +once have held flowers; and yet with all this circumstantial evidence +against me I cannot conscientiously believe that this forlorn courtyard +ever could have risen to the dignity of a garden. + +But of course nothing of all this can be seen at night. At night one +sees only the tall clock tower of Jefferson Market with its one blazing +eye glaring high up over the fence, the little lantern hung in the +tunnel, and the glow through the curtains shading the old-fashioned +windows of the house itself, telling of warmth and comfort within. + +To-night when I pushed open the swinging door--the door of the tunnel +entering from the street--the lantern was gone, and in its stead there +was only the glimmer of a mysterious light moving about the yard,--a +light that fell now on the bare wall, now on the front steps, making +threads of gold of the twisted iron railings, then on the posts of the +leaning fence, against which hung three feathery objects,--grotesque +and curious in the changing shadows,--and again on some barrels and +boxes surrounded by loose straw. + +Following this light, in fact, guiding it, was a noiseless, crouching +figure peering under the open steps, groping around the front door, +creeping beneath the windows; moving uneasily with a burglar-like +tread. + +I grasped my umbrella, advanced to the edge of the tunnel, and called +out:-- + +"Who's that?" + +The figure stopped, straightened up, held a lantern high over its head, +and peered into the darkness. + +There was no mistaking that face. + +"Oh, that's you, Chad, is it? What the devil are you doing?" +"Lookin' for one ob dese yer tar'pins Miss Nancy sent de colonel. Dey +was seben ob 'em in dis box, an' now dey ain't but six. Hole dis light, +Major, an' lemme fumble round dis rain-spout." + +[Illustration:] + +Chad handed me the lantern, fell on his knees, and began crawling +around the small yard like an old dog hunting for a possum, feeling +in among the roots of the honeysuckle, between the barrels that had +brought the colonel's china from Carter Hall, under the steps, way +back where Chad kept his wood ashes--but no "brer tar'pin." + +"Well, if dat don't beat de lan'! Dey was two ba'els--one had dat wild +turkey an' de pair o' geese you see hangin' on de fence dar, an' de +udder ba'el I jest ca'aed down de cellar full er oishters. De tar'pins +was in dis box--seben ob 'em. Spec' dat rapscallion crawled ober de +fence?" And Chad picked up the basket with the remaining half dozen, +and descended the basement steps on his way through the kitchen to the +front door above. Before he reached the bottom step I heard him break +out with:-- + +"Oh, yer you is, you black debbil! Tryin' to git in de door, is ye? +De pot is whar you'll git!" + +At the foot of the short steps, flat on his back, head and legs +wriggling like an overturned roach, lay the missing terrapin. It had +crawled to the edge of the opening and had fallen down in the darkness. + +Chad picked him up and kept on grumbling, shaking his finger at the +motionless terrapin, whose head and legs were now tight drawn between +its shells. + +"Gre't mine to squash ye! Wearin' out my old knees lookin' for ye. +Nebber mine, I'm gwine to bile ye fust an' de longest--hear dat?--de +longest!" Then looking up at me, "I got him, Major--try dat do'. Spec' +it's open. Colonel ain't yer yit. Reckon some ob dem moonshiners is +keepin' him down town. 'Fo' I forgit it, dar's a letter for ye hangin' +to de mantelpiece." + +The door and the letter were both open, the latter being half a sheet +of paper impaled by a pin, which alone saved it from the roaring fire +that Chad had just replenished. + +I held it to the light and learned, to my disappointment, that business +of enormous importance to the C. & W. A. L. R. R. might preclude the +possibility of the colonel's leaving his office until late. If such +a calamity overtook him, would I forgive him and take possession of +his house and cellar and make myself as comfortable as I could with +my best friend away? This postscript followed:-- + +"Open the new Madeira; Chad has the key." + +Chad wreaked his vengeance upon the absconding terrapin by plunging +him, with all his sins upon him, headlong into the boiling pot, and +half an hour later was engaged at a side table in removing, with the +help of an iron fork, the upper shell of the steaming vagabond, for +my special comfort and sustenance. + +"Tar'pin jes like a crab, Major, on'y got mo' meat to 'em. But you got +to know 'em fust to eat 'em. Now dis yer shell is de hot plate, an' +ye do all yo' eatin' right inside it," said Chad, dropping a spoonful +of butter, the juice of a lemon, and a pinch of salt into the impromptu +dish. + +"Now, Major, take yo' fork an' pick out all dat black meat an' dip it +in de sauce, an' wid ebery mou'ful take one o' dem little yaller eggs. +Dat's de way _we_ eat tar'pin. Dis yer stewin' him up in pote +wine is scand'lous. Can't taste nuffin' but de wine. But dat's +_tar'pin._" + +I followed Chad's directions to the word, picking the terrapin as I +would a crab and smothering the dainty bits in the hot sauce, until +only two empty shells and a heap of little bones were left to tell the +tale of my appetite. + +"Gwine to crawl ober de fence, was ye?" I heard him say with a chuckle +as he bore away the debris. "What I tell ye? Whar am ye now?" + +"Did Miss Nancy send those terrapin?" I asked, watching the old darky +drawing the cork of the new Madeira referred to in the colonel's note. + +"Ob co'se, Major; Miss Nancy gibs de colonel eberytin'. Didn't ye know +dat? She's de on'y one what's got anythin' to gib, an' she wouldn't +hab dat on'y frough de war her money was in de bank in Baltimo'. I +know, 'cause I went dar once to git some for her. De Yankee soldiers +searched me; but some possums got two holes." + +"And did she send him the Madeira too?" + +"No, sah; Mister Grocerman gib him dat." + +As he pronounced this name his voice fell, and for some time thereafter +he kept silent, brushing the crumbs away, replacing a plate or two, +or filling my wine-glass, until at last he took his place behind my +chair as was his custom with his master. It was easy to see that Chad +had something on his mind. + +Every now and then a sigh escaped him, which he tried to conceal by +some irrelevant remark, as if his sorrow were his own and not to be +shared with a stranger. Finally he gave an uneasy glance around, and, +looking into my face with an expression of positive pain, said:-- + +"Don't tell de colonel I axed, but when is dis yer railroad gwineter +fotch some money in?" + +"Why?' said I, wondering what extravagance the old man had fallen into. + +"Nuffin', sah; but if it don't putty quick dar's gwineter be trouble. +Dese yer gemmen on de av'nue is gittin' ugly. When I got dar Madary +de udder day de tall one warn't gwineter gib it to me, pass-book or +no pass-book. On'y de young one say he'd seen de colonel, an' he was +a gemmen an" all right, I wouldn't 'a' got it at all. De tall gemmen +was comin' right around hisself--what he wanted to see, he said, was +de color ob de colonel's money. Been mo' den two months, an' not a cent. + +"Co'se I tole same as I been tellin' him, dat de colonel's folks is +quality folks; but he say dat don't pay de bills." + +"Did you tell the colonel?" + +"No, sah; ain't no use tellin' de colonel; on'y worry him. He's got +de passbook, but I ain't yerd him say nuffin' yit 'bout payin' him. +I been spectin' Miss Nancy up here, an' de colonel says she's comin' +putty soon. She'll fix 'em; but dey ain't no time to waste." + +While he spoke there came a loud knock at the door, and Chad returned +trembling with fear, his face the very picture of despair. + +"Dat's de tall man hisself, sah, an' his dander's up. I knowed dese +Yankees in de war, an' I don't like 'em when dey's ris'. When I tole +him de colonel ain't home he look at me pizen-like, same as I was +a-lyin'; an' den he stop an' listen an' say he come back to-night. +Trouble comin'; old coon smells de dog. Wish we was home an' out ob +dis!" + +I tried to divert his attention into other channels and to calm his +fears, assuring him that the colonel would come out all right; that +these enterprises were slow, etc.; but the old man only shook his head. + +"You know, Major, same as me, dat de colonel ain't nuffin' but a chile, +an' about his bills he's _wuss_. But I'm yer, an' I'm 'sponsible. +'Chad,' he says, 'go out an' git six mo' bottles of dat old Madary;' +an' 'Chad, don't forgit de sweet ile;' an' 'Chad, is we got claret +enough to last ober Sunday?'--an' not a cent in de house. I ain't slep' +none for two nights, worritin' ober dis business, an' I'm mos' crazy." +I laid down my knife and fork and looked up. The old man's lip was +quivering, and something very like a tear stood in each eye. + +"I can't hab nuffin' happen to de fambly, Major. You know our folks +is quality, an' always was, an' I dassent look my mistress in de face +if anythin' teches Marsa George." Then bending down he said in a hoarse +whisper: "See dat old clock out dar wid his eye wide open? Know what's +down below dat in de cellar? De jail!" And two tears rolled down his +cheeks. + + * * * * * + +It was some time before I could quiet the old man's anxieties and coax +him back into his usual good humor, and then only when I began to ask +him of the old plantation days. + +Then he fell to talking about the colonel's father, General John Carter, +and the high days at Carter Hall when Miss Nancy was a young lady and +the colonel a boy home from the university. + +[Illustration] + +"Dem was high times. We ain't neber seed no time like dat since de +war. Git up in de mawnin' an' look out ober de lawn, an' yer come +fo'teen or fifteen couples ob de fustest quality folks, all on horseback +ridin' in de gate. Den such a scufflin' round! Old marsa an' missis +out on de po'ch, an' de little pickaninnies runnin' from de quarters, +an' all hands helpin' 'em off de horses, an' dey all smokin' hot wid +de gallop up de lane. + +"An' den sich a breakfast an' sich dancin' an' co'tin': ladies all out +on de lawn in der white dresses, an' de gemmen in fair-top boots, an' +Mammy Jane runnin' round same as a chicken wid its head off,--an' der +heads was off befo' dey knowed it, an' dey a-br'ilin' on de gridiron. + +"Dat would go on a week or mo', an' den up dey'll all git an' away +dey'd go to de nex' plantation, an' take Miss Nancy along wid 'em on +her little sorrel mare, an' I on Marsa John's black horse, to take +care bofe of 'em. Dem _was_ times! + +"My old marsa,"--and his eyes glistened,--"my old Marsa John was a +gem-man, sah, like dey don't see nowadays. Tall, sah, an' straight as +a cornstalk; hair white an' silky as de tassel; an' a voice like de +birds was singin', it was dat sweet. + +"'Chad,' he use' ter say,--you know I was young den, an' I was his +body servant,--'Chad, come yer till I bre'k yo' head;' an' den when +I come he'd laugh fit to kill hisself. Dat's when you do right. But +when you was a low-down nigger an' got de debbil in yer, an' ole marsa +hear it an' send de oberseer to de quarters for you to come to de +little room in de big house whar de walls was all books an' whar his +desk was, 't wa'n't no birds about his voice den,--mo' like de thunder." + +"Did he whip his negroes?" + +"No, sah; don't reckelmember a single lick laid on airy nigger dat de +marsa knowed of; but when dey got so bad--an' some niggers is dat +way--den dey was sold to de swamp lan's. He wouldn't hab 'em round +'ruptin' his niggers, he use' ter say. + +"Hab coffee, sah? Won't take I a minute to bile it. Colonel ain't been +drinkin' none lately, an' so I don't make none." + +I nodded my head, and Chad closed the door softly, taking with him a +small cup and saucer, and returning in a few minutes followed by that +most delicious of all aromas, the savory steam of boiling coffee. + +"My Marsa John," he continued, filling the cup with the smoking +beverage, "never drank nuffin' but tea, eben at de big dinners when +all de gemmen had coffee in de little cups--dat's one ob 'em you's +drink-in' out ob now; dey ain't mo' dan fo' on 'em left. Old marsa +would have his pot ob tea: Henny use' ter make it for him; makes it +now for Miss Nancy. + +"Henny was a young gal den, long 'fo' we was married. Henny b'longed +to Colonel Lloyd Barbour, on de next plantation to ourn. + +"Mo' coffee, Major?" I handed Chad the empty cup. He refilled it, +andwent straight on without drawing breath. + +"Wust scrape I eber got into wid old Marsa John was ober Henny. I tell +ye she was a harricane in dem days. She come into de kitchen one time +where I was helpin' git de dinner ready an' de cook had gone to de +spring house, an' she says:-- + +"'Chad, what ye cookin' dat smells so nice?' + +"'Dat's a goose,' I says, 'cookin' for Marsa John's dinner. We got +quality,' says I, pointin' to de dinin'-room do'. + +"'Quality!' she says. 'Spec' I know what de quality is. Dat's for you +an' de cook.' + +"Wid dat she grabs a caarvin' knife from de table, opens de do' ob de +big oven, cuts off a leg ob de goose, an' dis'pears round de kitchen +corner wid de leg in her mouf. + +"'Fo' I knowed whar I was Marsa John come to de kitchen do' an' says, +'Gittin' late, Chad; bring in de dinner.' You see, Major, dey ain't +no up an' down stairs in de big house, like it is yer; kitchen an' +dinin'-room all on de same flo'. + +"Well, sah, I was scared to def, but I tuk dat goose an' laid him wid +de cut side down on de bottom of de pan 'fo' de cook got back, put +some dressin' an' stuffin' ober him, an' shet de stove do'. Den I tuk +de sweet potatoes an' de hominy an' put 'em on de table, an' den I +went back in de kitchen to git de baked ham. I put on de ham an' some +mo' dishes, an' marsa says, lookin' up:-- + +"'I t'ought dere was a roast goose, Chad?' + +"'I ain't yerd nothin' 'bout no goose,' I says. 'I'll ask de cook.' + +"Next minute I yerd old marsa a-hollerin':-- + +"'Mammy Jane, ain't we got a goose?' + +"'Lord-a-massy! yes, marsa. Chad, you wu'thless nigger, ain't you tuk +dat goose out yit?' + +"'Is we got a goose?' said I. + +"'_Is we got a goose_? Didn't you help pick it?' + +"I see whar my hair was short, an' I snatched up a hot dish from de +hearth, opened de oven do', an' slide de goose in jes as he was, an' +lay him down befo' Marsa John. + +"'Now see what de ladies'll have for dinner,' says old marsa, pickin' +up his caarvin' knife. + +"'What'll you take for dinner, miss?' says I. 'Baked ham?' + +"'No,' she says, lookin' up to whar Marsa John sat; 'I think I'll take +a leg ob dat goose'--jes so. + +"Well, marsa cut off de leg an' put a little stuffin' an' gravy on wid +a spoon, an' says to me, 'Chad, see what dat gemman'll have.' + +"'What'll you take for dinner, sah?' says I. 'Nice breast o' goose, +or slice o' ham?' + +"'No; I think I'll take a leg of dat goose,' he says. + +"I didn't say nuffin', but I knowed bery well he wa'n't a-gwine to git +it. + +"But, Major, you oughter seen ole marsa lookin' for der udder leg ob +dat goose! He rolled him ober on de dish, dis way an' dat way, an' den +he jabbed dat ole bone-handled caarvin' fork in him an' hel' him up +ober de dish an' looked under him an' on top ob him, an' den he says, +kinder sad like:-- + +"'Chad, whar is de udder leg ob dat goose?' + +"'It didn't hab none,' says I. + +"'You mean ter say, Chad, dat de gooses on my plantation on'y got one +leg?' + +"'Some ob 'em has an' some ob 'em ain't. You see, marsa, we got two +kinds in de pond, an' we was a little boddered today, so Mammy Jane +cooked dis one 'cause I cotched it fust.' + +"'Well,' said he, lookin' like he look when he send for you in de +little room, 'I'll settle wid ye after dinner.' + +"Well, dar I was shiverin' an' shakin' in my shoes, an' droppin' gravy +an' spillin' de wine on de table-cloth, I was dat shuck up; an' when +de dinner was ober he calls all de ladies an' gemmen, an' says, 'Now +come down to de duck pond. I'm gwineter show dis nigger dat all de +gooses on my plantation got mo' den one leg.' + +"I followed 'long, trapesin' after de whole kit an' b'ilin', an' when +we got to de pond"--here Chad nearly went into a convulsion with +suppressed laughter--"dar was de gooses sittin' on a log in de middle +of dat ole green goose-pond wid one leg stuck down--so--an' de udder +tucked under de wing." + +Chad was now on one leg, balancing himself by my chair, the tears +running down his cheeks. + +"'Dar, marsa,' says I, 'don't ye see? Look at dat ole gray goose! Dat's +de berry match ob de one we had to-day.' + +"Den de ladies all hollered an' de gemmen laughed so loud dey yerd 'em +at de big house. + +"'Stop, you black scoun'rel!' Marsa John says, his face gittin' white +an' he a-jerkin' his handkerchief from his pocket. 'Shoo!' + +"Major, I hope to have my brains kicked out by a lame grasshopper if +ebery one ob dem gooses didn't put down de udder leg! + +"'Now, you lyin' nigger,' he says, raisin' his cane ober my head, 'I'll +show you'-- + +"'Stop, Marsa John!' I hollered; ''t ain't fair, 't ain't fair.' + +"'Why ain't it fair?' says he. + +"''Cause,' says I, 'you didn't say "Shoo!" to de goose what was on de +table.'" [Footnote: This story, and the story of the "Postmaster" in +a preceding chapter, I have told for so many years and to so many +people, and with such varied amplifications, that I have long since +persuaded myself that they are creations of my own. I surmise, however, +that the basis of the "Postmaster" can be found in the corner of some +forgotten newspaper, and I know that the "One-Legged Goose" is as old +as the "Decameron".] + +Chad laughed until he choked. + +"And did he thrash you?" + +"Marsa John? No, sah. He laughed loud as anybody; an' den dat night +he says to me as I was puttin' some wood on de fire:-- + +"'Chad, where did dat leg go?' An' so I ups an' tells him all about +Henny, an' how I was lyin' 'cause I was 'feared de gal would git hurt, +an' how she was on'y a-foolin', thinkin' it was my goose; an' den de +ole marsa look in de fire for a long time, an' den he says:-- + +"'Dat's Colonel Barbour's Henny, ain't it, Chad?' + +"'Yes,' marsa, says I. + +"Well, de next mawnin' he had his black horse saddled, an' I held the +stirrup for him to git on, an' he rode ober to de Barbour plantation, +an' didn't come back till plumb black night. When he come up I held +de lantern so I could see his face, for I wa'n't easy in my mine all +day. But it was all bright an' shinin' same as a' angel's. + +"'Chad,' he says, handin' me de reins, 'I bought yo' Henny dis arternoon +from Colonel Barbour, an' she's comin' ober tomorrow, an' you can bofe +git married next Sunday.'" + + * * * * * + +A cheerful voice at the yard door, and the next moment the colonel was +stamping his feet on the hall mat, his first word to Chad an inquiry +after my comfort, and his second an apology to me for what he called +his brutal want of hospitality. + +"But I couldn't help it, Major. I had some letters, suh, that could +not be postponed. Has Chad taken good care of you? No dinner, Chad; +I dined down town. How is the Madeira, Major?" + +I expressed my entire approbation of the wine, and was about to fill +the colonel's glass when Chad leaned over with the same anxious look +in his face. + +"De grocerman was here, Colonel, an' lef' word dat he was comin' agin +later." + +"You don't say so, Chad, and I was out: most unfortunate occurrence! +When he calls again show him in at once. It will give me great pleasure +to see him." + +Then turning to me, his mind on the passbook and its empty pages,--"I'll +lay a wager, Major, that man's father was a gentleman. The fact is, +I have not treated him with proper respect. He has shown me every +courtesy since I have been here, and I am ashamed to say that I have +not once entered his doors. His calling twice in one evening touches +me deeply. I did not expect to find yo' tradespeople so polite." + +Chad's face was a study while his master spoke, but he was too well +trained, and still too anxious over the outcome of the expected +interview, to do more than bow obsequiously to the colonel,--his +invariable custom when receiving an order,--and to close the door +behind him. + +"That old servant," continued the colonel, watching Chad leave the +room, and drawing his chair nearer the fire, "has been in my fam'ly +ever since he was bawn. But for him and his old wife, Mammy Henny, I +would be homeless to-night." And then the colonel, with that soft +cadence in his voice which I always noticed when he spoke of something +that touched his heart, told me with evident feeling how, in every +crisis of fire, pillage, and raid, these two faithful souls had kept +unceasing watch about the old house; refastening the wrenched doors, +replacing the shattered shutters, or extinguishing the embers of +abandoned bivouac fires. Indeed, for months at a time they were its +only occupants, outside of strolling marauders and bands of foragers, +and but for their untiring devotion its tall chimneys would long since +have stood like tombstones over the grave of its ashes. Then he added, +with a break in his voice that told how deeply he felt it:-- + +"Do you know, Major, that when I was a prisoner at City Point that +darky tramped a hundred miles through the coast swamps to reach me, +crossed both lines twice, hung around for three months for his chance, +and has carried in his leg ever since the ball intended for me the +night I escaped in his clothes, and he was shot in mine. + +"I tell you, suh, the color of a man's skin don't make much diffe'ence +sometimes. Chad was bawn a gentleman, and he'll never get over it." + +As he was speaking, the object of his eulogy opened the hall door, and +the next instant a tall, red-headed man with closely trimmed +side-whiskers, and wearing a brown check suit and a blue necktie, ran +the gauntlet of Chad's profound but anxious bow, and advanced towards +the colonel, hat in hand. + +"Which is Mr. Carter?" + +The colonel arose gracefully. "I am Colonel Carter, suh, and I presume +you are the gentleman to whom I am indebted for so many courtesies. +My servant tells me that you called earlier in the evenin'. I regret, +suh, that I was detained so late at my office, and I have to thank you +for perseve'in' the second time. I assure you, suh, that I esteem it +a special honor." + +The tall gentleman with the auburn whiskers wiped his face with a +handkerchief, which he took from his hat, and stated with some timidity +that he hoped he did not intrude at that late hour. He had sent his +pass-book, and-- + +"I have looked it over, suh, repeatedly, with the greatest pleasure. +It is a custom new to us in my county, but it meets with my hearty +approval. Give yo' hat to my servant, suh, and take this seat by the +fire." + +The proprietor of the hat after some protestations suffered Chad to +bear away that grateful protection to his slightly bald head,--retaining +his handkerchief, which he finally rolled up into a little wad and +kept tightly clenched in the perspiring palm of his left hand,--and +then threw out the additional hope that everything was satisfactory. + +"Delicious, suh; I have not tasted such Madeira since the wah. In my +cellar at home, suh, I once had some old Madeira of '28 that was given +to my father, the late General John Caarter, by old Judge Thornton. +You, of course, know that wine, suh. Ah! I see that you do." + +And then followed one of the colonel's delightful monologues descriptive +of all the vintages of that year, the colonel constantly appealing to +the dazed and delighted grocerman to be set right in minor technical +matters,--the grocer understanding them as little as he did the Aztec +dialects,--the colonel himself supplying the needed data and then +thanking the auburn gentleman for the information so charmingly that +for the moment that worthy tradesman began to wonder why he had not +long before risen from the commonplace level of canned vegetables to +the more sublime plane of wines in the wood. + +"Now the Madeira you sent me this mornin', suh, is a trifle too fruity +for my taste. Chad, open a fresh bottle." + +The owner of the pass-book instantly detected a very decided fruity +flavor, but thought he had another wine, which he would send in the +morning, that might suit the colonel's palate better. + +The colonel thanked him, and then drifted into the wider field of +domestic delicacies,--the preserving of fruits, the making of pickles +as practiced on the plantations by the old Virginia cooks,--the colonel +waxing eloquent over each production, and the future wine merchant +becoming more and more enchanted as the colonel flowed on. + +When he rose to go the grocer had a mental list of the things he would +send the colonel in the morning all arranged in his commercial head, +and so great was his delight that, after shaking hands with me once +and with the colonel three times, he would also have extended that +courtesy to Chad had not that perfectly trained servant checkmated him +by filling his extended palm with the rim of his own hat. + +[Illustration] + +When Chad returned from bowing him through the tunnel, the lines in +his face a tangle of emotions, the colonel was standing on the mat, +in his favorite attitude--back to the fire, coat thrown open, thumbs +in his armholes, his outstretched fingers beating woodpecker tattoos +on his vest. + +Somehow the visit of the grocer had lifted him out of the cares of the +day. How, he could not tell. Perhaps it was the fragrance of the +Madeira; perhaps the respectful, overawed bow,--the bow of the tradesman +the world over to the landed proprietor,--restoring to him for one +brief moment that old feudal supremacy which above all else his soul +loved. Perhaps it was only the warmth and cheer and comfort of it all. + +Whatever it was, it buoyed and strengthened him. He was again in the +old dining-hall at home: the servants moving noiselessly about; the +cut-glass decanters reflected in the polished mahogany; the candles +lighted; his old, white-haired father, in his high-backed chair, sipping +his wine from the slender glass. + +Ah, the proud estate of the old plantation days! Would they ever be +his again? + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +_The Arrival of a True Southern Lady_ + + +"Mistress yer, sah! Come yistidd'y mawnin'." + +How Chad beamed all over when this simple statement fell from his lips! +I had not seen him since the night when he stood behind my chair and +with bated breath whispered his anxieties lest the second advent of +"de grocerman" should bring dire destruction to the colonel's household. + +To-day he looked ten years younger. His kinky gray hair, generally +knotted into little wads, was now divided by a well-defined path +starting from the great wrinkle in his forehead and ending in a dense +tangle of underbrush that no comb dared penetrate. His face glistened +all over. His mouth was wide open, showing a great cavity in which +each tooth seemed to dance with delight. His jacket was as white and +stiff as soap and starch could make it, while a cast-off cravat of the +colonel's--double starched to suit Chad's own ideas of propriety--was +tied in a single knot, the two ends reaching to the very edge of each +ear. To crown all, a red carnation flamed away on the lapel of his +jacket, just above an outside pocket, which held in check a pair of +white cotton gloves bulging with importance and eager for use. Every +time he bowed he touched with a sweep both sides of the narrow hall. + +It was the first time in some weeks that I had seen the interior of +the colonel's cozy dining-room by daylight. Of late my visits had been +made after dark, with drawn curtains, lighted candles, and roaring +wood fires. But this time it was in the morning,--and a bright, sunny, +lovely spring morning at that,--with one window open in the L and the +curtains drawn back from the other; with the honeysuckle beginning to +bud, its long runners twisting themselves inquiringly through the +half-closed shutters as if anxious to discover what all this bustle +inside was about. + +It was easy to see that some other touch besides that of the colonel +and his faithful man-of-all-work had left its impress in the bachelor +apartment. There was a general air of order apparent. The irregular +line of foot gear which decorated the washboard of one wall, beginning +with a pair of worsted slippers and ending with a wooden bootjack, was +gone. Whisk-brooms and dusters that had never known a restful nail +since they entered the colonel's service were now suspended peacefully +on convenient hooks. Dainty white curtains, gathered like a child's +frock, flapped lazily against the broken green blinds, while some +sprays of arbutus, plucked by Miss Nancy on her way to the railroad +station, drooped about a tall glass on the mantel. + +Chad had solved the mystery,--Aunt Nancy came yesterday. + +I found the table set for four, its chief feature being a tray bearing +a heap of eggshell cups and saucers I had not seen before, and an +old-fashioned tea-urn humming a tune all to itself. + +"De colonel's out, but he comin' back d'rektly," Chad said eagerly, +all out of breath with excitement. Then followed the information that +Mr. Fitzpatrick was coming to breakfast, and that he was to tell Miss +Nancy the moment we arrived. He then reduced the bulge in his outside +pocket by thrusting his big hands into his white gloves, gave a sidelong +glance at the flower in his buttonhole, and bore my card aloft with +the air of a cupbearer serving a princess. + +A soft step on the stair, the rustle of silk, a warning word outside: +"Look out for dat lower step, mistress--dat's it;" and Miss Nancy +entered the room. + +No, I am wrong. She became a part of it; as much so as the old andirons +and the easy chairs and the old-fashioned mantelpieces, the snowy +curtains and the trailing vine. More so when she gave me the slightest +dip of a courtesy and laid her dainty, wrinkled little hand in mine, +and said in the sweetest possible voice how glad she was to see me +after so many years, and how grateful she felt for all my kindness to +the dear colonel. Then she sank into a quaint rocking-chair that Chad +had brought down behind her, rested her feet on a low stool that +mysteriously appeared from under the table, and took her knitting from +her reticule. + +She had changed somewhat since I last saw her, but only as would an +old bit of precious stuff that grew the more mellow and harmonious in +tone as it grew the older. She had the same silky gray hair--a trifle +whiter, perhaps; the same frank, tender mouth, winning wherever she +smiled; the same slight, graceful figure; and the same manner--its +very simplicity a reflex of that refined and quiet life she had always +led. For hers had been an isolated life, buried since her girlhood in +a great house far away from the broadening influences of a city, and +saddened by the daily witness of a slow decay of all she had been +taught to revere. But it had been a life so filled with the largeness +of generous deeds that its returns had brought her the love and +reverence of every living soul she knew. + +While she sat and talked to me of her journey I had time to enjoy again +the quaintness of her dress,--the quaintness of forty years before. +There was the same old-fashioned, soft gray silk with up-and-down +stripes spotted with sprigs of flowers, the lace cap with its frill +of narrow pink ribbons and two wide pink strings that fell over the +shoulders, and the handkerchief of India mull folded across the breast +and fastened with an amethyst pin. Her little bits of feet--they were +literally so--were incased in white stockings and heelless morocco +slippers bound with braid. + +But her dress was never sombre. She always seemed to remember, even +in her bright ribbons and silks, the days of her girlhood, when half +the young men in the county were wild about her. When she moved she +wafted towards you a perfume of sweet lavender--the very smell that +you remember came from your own mother's old-fashioned bureau drawer +when she let you stand on tiptoe to see her pretty things. When you +kissed her--and once I did--her cheek was as soft as a child's and +fragrant with rose-water. + +But I hear the colonel's voice outside, laughing with Fitz. + +"Come in, suh, and see the dearest woman in the world." + +The next instant he burst in dressed in his gala combination,--white +waistcoat and cravat, the old coat thrown wide open as if to welcome +the world, and a bunch of red roses in his hand. + +"Nancy, here's my dear friend Fitz, whom I have told you about,--the +most extraord'nary man of modern times. Ah, Major! you here? Came in +early, did you, so as to have aunt Nancy all to yo'self? Sit down, +Fitz, right alongside of her." And he kissed her hand gallantly. "Isn't +she the most delightful bit of old porcelain you ever saw in all yo' +bawn days?" + +Miss Nancy rose, made another of her graceful courtesies, and begged +that neither of us would mind the colonel's raillery; she never could +keep him in order. And she laughed softly as she gave her hand to Fitz, +who touched it very much as if he quite believed the colonel's reference +to the porcelain to be true. + +"There you go, Nancy, 'busin' me like a dog, and here I've been +a-trampin' the streets for a' hour lookin' for flowers for you! You +are breakin' my heart, Miss Caarter, with yo' coldness and contempt. +Another word and you shall not have a single bud." And the colonel +gayly tucked a rose under her chin with a loving stroke of his hand, +and threw the others in a heap on her lap. + +"Breakfast sarved, mistress," said Chad in a low voice. + +The colonel gave his arm to his aunt with the air of a courtier; Fitz +and I disposed ourselves on each side; Chad, with reverential mien, +screwed his eyes up tight; and the colonel said grace with an increased +fervor in his voice, no doubt remembering in his heart the blessing +of the last arrival. + +Throughout the entire repast the colonel was in his gayest mood, +brimming over with anecdotes and personal reminiscences and full of +his rose-colored plans for the future. + +Many things had combined to produce this happy frame of mind. There +was first the Scheme, which had languished for weeks owing to the +vise-like condition of the money market,--another of Fitz's mendacious +excuses,--and which had now been suddenly galvanized into temporary +life by an inquiry made by certain bankers who were seeking an outlet +for English capital, and who had expressed a desire to investigate the +"Garden Spot of Virginia." Only an "inquiry," but to the colonel the +papers were already signed. Then there was the arrival of his +distinguished guest, whom he loved devotedly and with a certain +old-school gallantry and tenderness as picturesque as it was +interesting. Last of all there was that important episode of the bills. +For Miss Nancy, the night she arrived, had collected all the household +accounts, including the highly esteemed pass-book,--they were all of +the one kind, unpaid,--and had dispatched Chad early in the morning +to the several creditors with his pocket full of crisp bank-notes. + +Chad had returned from this liquidating tour, and the full meaning of +that trusty agent's mission had dawned upon the colonel. He buttoned +his coat tightly over his chest, straightened himself up, sought out +his aunt, and said, with some dignity and a slightly injured air:-- + +"Nancy, yo' interfe'ence in my household affairs this mornin' was vehy +creditable to yo' heart, and deeply touches me; but if I thought you +regarded it in any other light except as a short tempo'ary loan, it +would offend me keenly. Within a few days, however, I shall receive +a vehy large amount of secu'ities from an English syndicate that +isinvestigatin' my railroad. I shall then return the amount to you with +interest, together with that other sum which you loaned me when I left +Caarter Hall." + +The little lady's only reply was to slip her hand into his and kisshim +on the forehead. + +And yet that very morning he had turned his pockets inside out for the +remains of the last dollar of the money she had given him when he left +home. When it had all been raked together, and its pitiable +insufficiency had become apparent, this dialogue took place:-- + +"Chad, did you find any money on the flo' when you breshed my clothes?" + +"No, Colonel." + +"Look round on the mantelpiece; perhaps I left some bills under the +clock." + +"Ain't none dar, sah." + +Then Chad, with that same anxious look suddenly revived in his face, +went below into the kitchen, mounted a chair, took down an old broken +tea-cup from the top shelf, and poured out into his wrinkled palm a +handful of small silver coin--his entire collection of tips, and all +the money he had. This he carried to the colonel, with a lie in his +mouth that the recording angel blotted out the moment it fell from his +lips. + +"Here's some change, Marsa George, I forgot to gib ye; been left ober +from de marketin'." + +And the colonel gathered it all in, and went out and spent every penny +of it on roses for "dear Nancy!" + +All of these things, as I have said, had acted like a tonic on the +colonel, bracing him up to renewed efforts, and reacting on his guests, +who in return did their best to make the breakfast a merry one. + +Fitz, always delightful, was more brilliant than ever, his native wit, +expressed in a brogue with verbal shadings so slight that it is hardly +possible to give it in print, keeping the table in a roar; while Miss +Nancy, encouraged by the ease and freedom of everybody about her, +forgot for a time her quiet reserve, and was charming in the way she +turned over the leaves of her own youthful experiences. + +And so the talk went on until, with a smile to everybody, the little +lady rose, called Chad, who stood ready with shawl and cushion, and, +saying she would retire to her room until the gentlemen had finished +smoking, disappeared through the doorway. + +The talk had evidently aroused some memory long buried in the colonel's +mind; for when Fitz had gone the dear old fellow picked up the glass +holding the roses which he had given his aunt in the morning, and, +while repeating her name softly to himself, buried his face in their +fragrance. Something, perhaps, in their perfume stirred that haunting +memory the deeper, for he suddenly raised his head and burst out:-- + +"Ah, Major, you ought to have seen that woman forty years ago! Why, +suh, she was just a rose herself!" + +And then followed in disconnected scraps, as if he were recalling it +to himself, with long pauses between, that story which I had heard +hinted at before. A story never told the children, and never even +whispered in aunt Nancy's presence,--the one love affair of her life. + +She and Robert had grown up together,--he a tall, brown-eyed young +fellow just out of the university, and she a fair-haired, joyous girl +with half the county at her feet. Nancy had not loved him at first, +nor ever did until the day he had saved her life in that wild dash +across country when her horse took fright, and he, riding neck and +neck, had lifted her clear of her saddle. After that there had been +but one pair of eyes and arms for her in the wide world. All of that +spring and summer, as the colonel put it, she was like a bird pouring +out her soul in one continuous song. Then there had come a night in +Richmond,--the night of the ball,--followed by her sudden return home, +hollow-eyed and white, and the mysterious postponement of the wedding +for a year. + +Everybody wondered, but no one knew, and only as the months went by +did her spirits gain a little, and she begin to sing once more. + +It was at a great party on a neighboring estate, amid the swim of the +music and the whirl of soft lace. Suddenly loud voices and threats, +a shower of cards flung at a man's face, an uplifted arm caught by the +host. Then a hall door thrust open and a half-frenzied man with +disordered dress staggering out. Then the startled face of a young +girl all in white and a cry no one ever forgot:-- + +"Oh, Robert! Not again?" + +Her long ride home in the dead of the night, Nancy alone in the coach, +her escort--a distant cousin--on horseback behind. Then the pursuit. +The steady rise and fall of the hoof-beats back in the forest; the +reining in of Robert's panting horse covered with foam; his command +to halt; a flash, and then that sweet face stretched out in the road +in the moonlight by the side of the overturned coach, the cousin bending +over her with a bullet hole in his hat, and Robert, ghastly white and +sobered, with the smoking pistol in his hand. + +Then the long, halting procession homeward in the gray dawn. + +It was not so easy after this to keep the secret shut away; so one +day, when the shock had passed,--her arms about her uncle's neck,--the +whole story came out. She told of that other night there in Richmond, +with Robert reeling and half crazed; of his promise of reform, and the +postponement of the wedding, while she waited and trusted: so sad a +story that the old uncle forgot all the traditions that bound Southern +families, and sustained her in her determination never to see Robert +again. + +For days the broken-hearted lover haunted the place, while an out-bound +ship waited in Norfolk harbor. + +Even Robert's father, crushed and humiliated by it all, had made no +intercession for him. But now, he begged, would she see his son for +the last time, only that he might touch her hand and say good-by? + +That last good-by lasted an hour, Chad walking his horse all the while +before the porch door, until that tottering figure, holding to the +railings and steadying itself, came down the steps. + +A shutter thrown back, and Nancy at the open window watching him mount. + +As he wheels he raises his hat. She pushes aside the climbing roses. + +In an instant he has cleared the garden beds, and has reined in his +horse just below her window-sill. Looking up into her face:-- + +"Nancy, for the last time, shall I stay?" + +She only shakes her head. + +"Then look, Nancy, look! This is your work!" + +A gleam of steel in a clenched hand, a burst of smoke, and before Chad +can reach him Nancy's lover lies dead in the flowers at her feet. + +It had not been an easy story for the colonel. When he ceased he passed +his hand across his forehead as if the air of the room stifled him. +Then laying down his pipe, he bent once more over the slender vase, +his face in the roses. + + * * * * * + +"May I come in?" + +In an instant the colonel's old manner returned. + +"May you come in, Nancy? Why, you dear woman, if you had stayed away +five minutes longer I should have gone for you myself. What! Another +skein of yarn?" + +"Yes," she said, seating herself. "Hold out your hands." + +The loop slipped so easily over the colonel's arms that it was quite +evident that the role was not new to him. + +"Befo' I forget it, Nancy, Mr. Fitzpatrick was called suddenly away +to attend to some business connected with my railroad, and left his +vehy kindest regards for you, and his apologies for not seein' you +befo' he left." + +Fitz had said nothing that resembled this, so far as my memory served +me, but it was what he ought to have done, and the colonel always +corrected such little slips of courtesy by supplying them himself. + +"Politeness," he would sometimes say, "is becomin' rarer every day. +I tell you, suh, the disease of bad manners is mo' contagious than the +small-pox." + +So the deception was quite pardonable in him. + +"And what does Mr. Fitzpatrick think of the success of your enterprise, +George?" + +The colonel sailed away as usual with all his balloon topsails set, +his sea-room limited only by the skein, while his aunt wound her yarn +silently, and listened with a face expressive at once of deep interest +and hope, mingled with a certain undefined doubt. + +As the ball grew in size, she turned to me, and, with a penetration +and practical insight into affairs for which I had not given her credit, +began to dissect the scheme in detail. She had heard, she said, that +there was lack of connecting lines and consequent absence of freight, +as well as insufficient harbor facilities at Warrentown. + +I parried the questions as well as I could, begging off on the plea +that I was only a poor devil of a painter with a minimum knowledge +ofsuch matters, and ended by referring her to Fitz. + +The colonel, much to my surprise, listened to every word without opening +his lips--a silence encouraged at first by his pride that she could +talk so well, and maintained thereafter because of certain misgivings +awakened in his mind as to the ultimate success of his pet enterprise. + +When she had punctured the last of his little balloons, he laid his +hand on her shoulder, and, looking into her face, said:-- + +"Nancy, you really don't mean that my railroad will _never_ be built?" + +"No, George; but suppose it should not earn its expenses?" + +Her thoughts were new to the colonel. Nobody except a few foolish +people in the Street, anxious to sell less valuable securities, and +utterly unable to grasp the great merits of the Cartersville and +Warrentown Air Line Railroad plan, had ever before advanced any such +ideas in his presence. He loosened his hands from the yarn, and took +a seat by the window. His aunt's misgivings had evidently so thoroughly +disturbed him that for an instant I could see traces of a certain +offended dignity, coupled with a nervous anxiety lest her inquiries +had shaken my own confidence in his scheme. + +He began at once to reassure me. There was nothing to be uneasy about. +Look at the bonds! Note the perfect safety of the plan of finance--the +earlier coupons omitted, the subsequent peace of the investor! The +peculiar location of the road, with the ancestral estates dotted along +its line! The dignity of the several stations! He could hear them now +in his mind called out as they whistled down brakes: "Carter Hall! +Barboursville! Talcott!" No; there was nothing about the road that +should disturb his aunt. For all that a still more anxious look came +into his face. He began pacing the floor, buried in deep thought, his +thumbs hooked behind his back. At last he stopped and took her hand. + +"Dear Nancy, if anything should happen to you it would break my heart. +Don't be angry, it is only the major; but yo' talk with him has so +disturbed me that I am determined to secure you against personal loss." + +Miss Nancy raised her eyes wonderingly. She evidently did not catch +his meaning. + +"You have been good enough, my dear, to advance me certain sums of +money which I still owe. I want to pay these now." + +"But, George, you"-- + +"My dearest Nancy,"--and he stooped down, and kissed her cheek,--"I +will have my way. Of co'se you didn't mean anything, only I cannot let +another hour pass with these accounts unsettled. Think, Nancy; it is +my right. The delay affects my honor." + +The little lady dropped her knitting on the floor, and looked at me +in a helpless way. + +The colonel opened the table drawer, and handed me pen and ink. + +"Now, Major, take this sheet of paper and draw a note of hand." + +I looked at his aunt inquiringly. She nodded her head in assent. + +"Yes, if it pleases George." + +I began with the usual form, entering the words "I promise to pay," +and stopped for instructions. + +"Payable when, Colonel?" I asked. + +"As soon as I get the money, suh." + +"But you will do that anyhow, George." + +"Yes, I know, Nancy; but I want to settle it in some safe way." + +Then he gazed at the ceiling in deep thought. + +"I have it, Major!" And the colonel seized the pen. The note read as +follows:-- + +On demand I promise to pay Ann Carter the sum of six hundred dollars, +value received, with interest at the rate of six per cent, from January +1st. + +Payable as soon as possible. + +GEORGE FAIRFAX CARTER. + +I looked to see what effect this unexpected influx of wealth would +produce on the dear lady; but the trustful smile never wavered. + +She read to the very end the modest scrap of paper so suddenly enriched +by the colonel's signature, repeated in a whisper to herself "Payable +as soon as possible," folded it with as much care as if it had been +a Bank of England note, then thanked the colonel graciously, and tucked +it in her reticule. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +_An Allusion to a Yellow Dog_ + + +The colonel's office, like many other of his valued possessions, was +in fact the property of somebody else. + +It really belonged to a friend of Fitzpatrick, who had become so +impressed by the Virginian's largeness of manner and buoyancy of +enthusiasm that he had whispered to Fitz to bring him in at once and +give him any desk in the place; adding that "in a sagging market the +colonel would be better than a war boom." + +So the colonel moved in--not a very complicated operation in his case; +his effects being confined to an old leather portfolio and a bundle +of quill pens tied up with a bit of Aunt Nancy's white yarn. The +following day he had nailed his visiting card above the firm's name +in the corridor, hung his hat and coat on the proprietor's peg, selected +a desk nearest the light, and was as much at home in five minutes as +if he owned the whole building. + +[Illustration] + +There was no price agreed upon. Once, when Fitz delicately suggested +that all such rents were generally payable monthly, the colonel, after +some difficulty in grasping the idea, had said:-- + +"I could not offer it, suh. These gentlemen have treated me with a +hospitality so generous that its memory will never fade from my mind. +I cannot bring our relations down to the level of bargain and sale, suh; +it would be vulgar." + +The colonel was perfectly sincere. As for himself he would have put +every room in his own Carter Hall at their service for any purpose or +for any length of time, and have slept in the woodshed himself; and +he would as soon have demanded the value of the bottle of wine on his +own table as ask pay for such trivial courtesies. + +Nor did he stop at the rent. The free use of stamps, envelopes, paper, +messenger service, and clerks were to him only evidences of a lordly +sort of hospitality which endeared the real proprietor of the office +all the more to him, because it recalled the lavish display of the +golden days of Carter Hall. + +"Permit a guest to stamp his own letters, suh? Never! Our servants +attended to that." + +Really he owed his host nothing. No office of its size in the Street +made so much money for its customers in a bull market. Nobody lost +heart in a tumble and was sold out--that is, nobody to whom the colonel +talked. Once convince the enthusiastic Virginian that the scheme was +feasible,--and how little eloquence was needed for that!--and the +dear old fellow took hold with as much gusto as if it had been his own. + +The vein in the copper mine was always going to widen out into a +six-foot lead; never by any possibility could it grow any smaller. The +trust shares were going up--"not a point or two at a time, gentlemen, +but with the spring of a panther, suh." Of course the railroad earnings +were a little off this month, but wait until the spring opened; "then, +suh, you will see a revival that will sweep you off yo' feet." + +Whether it was good luck, or the good heart that the colonel put into +his friend's customers, the results were always the same. Singular as +it may seem, his cheery word just at the right time tided over +the critical moment many an uncertain watcher at the "ticker," often +to an enlargement of his bank account. Nor would he allow any one to +pay him for any service of this kind, even though he had spent days +engrossed in their affairs. + +"Take money, suh, for helpin' a friend out of a hole? My dear suh, I +see you do not intend to be disco'teous; but look at me, suh! There's +my hand; never refer to it again." And then he would offer the offender +his card in the hope, perhaps, that its ample record might furnish +some further slight suggestion as to who he really was. + +His popularity, therefore, was not to be wondered at. Everybody regarded +him kindly, total stranger as he was, and although few of them believed +to any extent in his "Garden Spot of Virginia," as his pet enterprise +soon came to be known around the Street, everybody wished it well, and +not a few would have started it with a considerable subscription could +the colonel have managed the additional thousands required to set it +on its financial legs. + +Fitz never lost heart in the scheme,--that is, never when the colonel +was about. As the weeks rolled by and one combination after the other +failed, and the well-thumbed bundle of papers in the big blue envelope +was returned with various comments. "In view of our present financial +engagements we are unable to undertake your very attractive railroad +scheme," or the more curt "Not suited to our line of customers," he +would watch the colonel's face anxiously, and rack his brain for some +additional excuse. + +He always found one. Tight money, or news from Europe, or an overissue +of similar bonds; next week it would be better. And the colonel always +believed him. Fitz was his guiding star, and would lead him to some +safe haven yet. This faith was his stronghold, and his only one. + +This morning, however, there was a touch of genuine enthusiasm about +Fitz. He rushed into the office, caught up the blue bundle and the +map, nearly upsetting the colonel, who was balanced back in his chair +with his long legs over the desk,--a favorite attitude when down +town,--rushed out, and returned in half an hour with a fat body +surmounted by a bald head fringed about with gray curls. + +[Illustration] + +He was the advance agent of that mysterious combination known to the +financial world as an "English syndicate," an elusive sort of commercial +sea-serpent with its head in London and its tail around the globe. The +"inquiry" which had so gladdened the colonel's heart the morning ofthe +breakfast with aunt Nancy had proceeded from this rotund negotiator. + +The colonel had, as usual, started the road at Cartersville, and had +gotten as far as the double-span iron bridge over the Tench when the +rotund gentleman asked abruptly,-- + +"How far are you from a coal-field?" + +The colonel lifted the point of his pen, adjusted his glasses, and +punched a hole in the rumpled map within a hair's breadth of a black +dot labeled "Cartersville." + +"Right there, suh. Within a stone's throw of our locomotives." + +Fitz looked into the hole with as much astonishment as if it were the +open mouth of the mine itself. + +"Hard or soft?" said the stout man. + +"Soft, suh, and fairly good coal, I understand, although I have never +used it, suh; my ancestors always burned wood." + +Fitz heard the statement in undisguised wonder. In all his intercourse +with the colonel he had never before known him to depart so much as +a razor's edge from the truth. + +The fat man communed with himself a moment, and then said suddenly, +"I'll take the papers and give you an answer in a week," and hurried +away. + +"Do you really mean, Colonel," said Fitz, determined to pin him down, +"that there is a single pound of coal in Cartersville?" + +"Do I mean it, Fitz? Don't it crop out in half a dozen spots right on +our own place? One haalf of my estate, suh, is a coal-field." + +"You never told me a word about it." + +"I don't know that I did, Fitz. But it has never been of any use to +me. Besides, suh, we have plenty of wood. We never burn coal at Caarter +Hall." + +Fitz did not take that view of it. He went into an exhaustive +cross-examination of the colonel on the coal question: who had tested +it, the character of the soil, width of the vein, and dip of the land. +This information he carefully recorded in a small book which he took +from his inside pocket. + +Loosened from Fitz's pinioning grasp, the colonel, entirely oblivious +to his friend's sudden interest in the coal-field, and slightly +impatient at the delay, bounded like a balloon with its anchors cut. + +"An answer from the syndicate within a week! My dear Fitz, I see yo' +drift. You have kept the Garden Spots for the foreign investors. That +man is impressed, suh; I saw it in his eye." + +The room began filling up with the various customers and loungers +common to such offices: the debonair gentleman in check trousers and +silk hat, with a rose in his button-hole, who dusts his trousers +broadside with his cane--short of one hundred shares with thirty per +cent. margin; the shabby old man with a solemn face who watches the +ticker a moment and then wanders aimlessly out, looking more like an +underpaid clerk in a law office than the president of a crosstown +railroad--long of one thousand shares with no margin at all; the nervous +man who stops the messenger boys and devours the sales' lists before +they can be skewered on the files,--not a dollar's interest either +way; and, last of all, the brokers with little pads and nimble pencils. + +[Illustration] + +The news that the great English syndicate was looking into the C. & +W. A. L R. R. was soon around the office, and each _habitue_ had +a bright word for the colonel, congratulating him on the favorable +turn his affairs had taken. + +All but old Klutchem, a broker in unlisted securities, who had been +trying for weeks to get a Denver land scheme before the same syndicate, +and had failed. + +"Garden Spot bonds! Bosh! Road begins nowhere and ends nowhere. If any +set of fools built it, the only freight it would get, outside of peanuts +and sweet potatoes, would be razor-back hogs and niggers. I wouldn't +give a yellow dog for enough of those securities to paper a church." + +The colonel was on his feet in an instant. +"Mr. Klutchem, I cannot permit you, suh, to use such language in my +presence unrebuked; you"-- + +"Now, see here, old Garden Spot, you know"-- + +The familiarity angered the colonel even more than the outburst. + +"Caarter, suh,--George Fairfax Caarter," said the colonel with dignity. + +"Well, Caarter, then," mimicking him, perhaps unconsciously. "You +know"-- + +The intonation was the last straw. The colonel lost all control of +himself. No man had ever thus dared before. + +"Stop, Mr. Klutchem! What I know, suh, I decline to discuss with you. +Yo' statements are false, and yo' manner of expressin' them quite in +keepin' with the evident vulga'ity of yo' mind. If I can ascertain +that you have ever had any claim to be considered a gentleman you will +hear from me ag'in. If not, I shall rate you as rankin' with yo' yallar +dog; and if you ever speak to me ag'in I will strike you, suh, with +my cane." + +And the colonel, his eyes flashing, strode into the private office +with the air of a field marshal, and shut the door. + +Klutchem looked around the room and into the startled faces of the +clerks and bystanders, burst into a loud laugh, and left the office. +On reaching the street he met Fitz coming in. + +"Better look after old Garden Spot, Fitzpatrick. I poked holes in his +road, and he wanted to swallow me alive." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +_Certain Important Letters_ + + +When I reached my lodgings that night I found this note, marked in the +left-hand corner "Important," and in the right-hand corner "In haste." +A boy had left it half an hour before. + +Be at my house at six, prepared to leave town at an hour's notice. + +CARTER. + +I hurried to Bedford Place, dived through the tunnel, and found +Fitzpatrick with his hand on the knocker. I followed him through the +narrow hall and into the dining-room. He had a duplicate, also marked +"Important" and "In haste," with this additional postscript: "Bring +address of a prudent doctor." + +"What does all this mean, Fitz?" I asked, spreading my letter out. + +"I give it up, Major. The last I saw of the colonel was at two o'clock. +He was then in the private office writing. That old wind-bag Klutchem +had been worrying him, I heard, and the colonel sat down on him hard. +But he had forgotten all about it when I talked to him, for he was as +calm as a clock. But what the devil, Major, does he want with a doctor? +Chad!" + +"Yes, sah!" + +"Was the colonel sick this morning?" + +"No, sah. Eat two b'iled eggs, and a dish ob ham half as big as yo' +han'. He wa'n't sick, 'cause I yerd him singin' to hisself all fru de +tunnel cl'ar out to de street." + +We sat down and looked at each other. Could anybody else be sick? +Perhaps aunt Nancy had been taken ill on her way home to Virginia, and +the doctor was for the dear lady. But why a "prudent doctor," and why +both of us to go? + +Fitz paced up and down the room, and I sat by the open window, and +looked out into the dreary yard. The hands of the clock in the tall +tower outlined against the evening sky were past the hour, long past, +and yet no colonel. + +Suppose he had been suddenly stricken down himself! Suppose-- + +The slamming of the outer gate, followed by a sentry-like tread in the +tunnel, cut short our quandary, and the colonel's tall figure emerged +from the archway, and mounted the steps. + +"What has happened?" we both blurted out, opening the door for him. +"Who's sick? Where are we going?" + +The colonel's only reply was a pressure of our hands. Then, placing +his hat with great deliberation on the hall table, he drew off his +gloves, waved us before him, and took his seat at the dining-room +table. + +Fitz and I, now thoroughly alarmed, and quite prepared for the worst, +stood on each side. + +The colonel dropped his hand into his inside pocket, and drew forth +three letters. + +"Gentlemen, you see befo' you a man on the verge of one of the great +crises of his life. You heard, Fitz, of what occurred in my office +this mornin'? You know how brutally I was assaulted, and how entirely +without provocation on my part? I am a Caarter, suh, and a gentleman. +No man can throw discredit on an enterprise bearin' my name without +bein' answerable to me." + +And the colonel with great dignity opened one of the letters, and read +as follows:-- + +51 BEDFORD PLACE. _Tuesday._ + +P. A. KLUTCHEM. _Sir_,--You took occasion this morning, in the +presence of a number of my friends, to make use of certain offensive +remarks reflecting upon a great commercial enterprise to which I have +lent my name. This was accompanied by a familiarity as coarse as it +was unwarranted. The laws of hospitality, which your own lack of good +breeding violated, forbade my having you ejected from my office on the +spot. + +I now demand that satisfaction to which I am entitled, and I herewith +inform you that I am ready at an hour's notice to meet you at any point +outside the city most convenient to yourself. + +Immediately upon your reply my friend Mr. T. B. Fitzpatrick will wait +upon you and arrange the details. I name Major Thos. C. Yancey of +Virginia as my second in the field. + +I have the honor to remain + Your obedient servant, + GEORGE FAIRFAX CARTER, _Late Colonel C. S. A._ + +"Suffering Moses!" cried out Fitz. "You are not going to send that?" + +"It is sent, my dear Fitz. Mailed from my office this afternoon. This +is a copy." Fitz sank into a chair with both hands to his head. + +"My object in sendin' for you both," the colonel continued, "was to +be fully prepared should my antagonist select some early hour in the +mornin'. In that case, Fitz, I shall have to rely on you alone, as +Major Yancey cannot reach here until the followin' day. That was why +a prudent doctor might be necessary at once." + +Fitz's only reply was to thump his own head, as if the situation was +too overpowering for words. + +The colonel, with the same deliberation, opened the second letter. It +was addressed to Judge Kerfoot, informing him of the nature of the +"crisis," and notifying him of his (the colonel's) intention to appoint +him sole executor of his estate should fate provide that vacancy. + +The third was a telegram to Major Yancey summoning him at once "to +duty on the field in an affair of honor." + +"I am aware, Fitz, that some secrecy must be preserved in an affair +of this kind Nawth--quite diffe'ent from our own county, and"-- + +"Secrecy! Secrecy! With that bellowing Klutchem? Don't you know that +that idiot will have it all over the Street by nine o'clock to-morrow, +unless he is ass enough to get scared, get out a warrant, and clap you +into the Tombs before breakfast? O Colonel! How _could_ you do a thing +like this without letting us know?" + +The colonel never changed a muscle in his face. He was courteous, even +patient with Fitz, now really alarmed over the consequences of what +he considered a most stupendous piece of folly. He could not, he said, +sit in judgment on other gentlemen. If Fitz felt that way, it was +doubtless due to his education. As for himself, he must follow the +traditions of his ancestors. + +"But at all events, my friends, my dear friends,"--and he extended +both hands,--"we must not let this affair spoil our ap'tites. Nothing +can now occur until the mornin', and we have ample time befo' daylight +to make our preparations. Major, kindly touch the bell. Thank you! +Chad, serve the soup." + +So short a time elapsed between the sound of the bell and the thrusting +in of Chad's head that it was quite evident the darky had been listening +on the outside. + +If, however, that worthy guardian of the honor and dignity of the +Carter family was at all disturbed by what he had heard, there was +nothing in his face to indicate it. On the contrary, every wrinkle was +twisted into curls and curves of hilarity. He even went so far during +dinner as to correct his master in so slight a detail as to where +Captain Loynes was hit in the famous duel between the colonel's father +and that distinguished Virginian. + +"Are you shore, Chad, it was in the leg?" + +"Yes, sah, berry sho. You don't reckel-member, Colonel; but I had Marsa +John's coat, an' I wrop it round Cap'in Loynes when he was ca'aied to +his ca'aige. Yes, sah, jes above de knee. Marsa John picked him de +fust shot." + +"I remember now. Yes, you are right. The captain always walked a little +lame." + +"But, gentlemen,"--still with great dignity, but yet with an air as +if he desired to relieve our minds from any anxiety concerning +himself,--"by far the most interesting affair of honor of my time was +the one in which I met Major Howard, a prominent member of the Fairfax +County bar. Some words in the heat of debate led to a blow, and the +next mornin' the handkerchief was dropped at the edge of a wood near +the cote-house just as the sun rose over the hill. As I fired, the +light blinded me, and my ball passed through his left arm. I escaped +with a hole in my sleeve." + +"Living yet?" said Fitz, repressing a smile. + +"Certainly, suh, and one of the fo'most lawyers of our State. Vehy +good friend of mine. Saw him on'y the week befo' I left home." + +When dinner was served, I could detect no falling off in the colonel's +appetite. With the exception of a certain nervous expectance, +intensified when there was a rap at the front door, followed by a +certain consequent disappointment when Chad announced the return of +a pair of shoes--out to be half-soled--instead of the long-delayed +reply from the offending broker, he was as calm and collected as ever. + +It was only when he took from his table drawer some sheets of foolscap, +spread the nib of a quill pen on his thumb nail, and beckoned Fitz to +his side, that I noticed any difference even in his voice. + +"You know, Fitz, that my hand is not so steady as it was, and if I +should fall, there are some things that must be attended to. Sit here +and write these memoranda at my dictation." + +Fitz drew nearer, and bent his ear in attention. + +"I, George Fairfax Caarter of Caarter Hall, Caartersville, Virginia, +bein' of sound mind"-- + +The pen scratched away. + +"Everything down but the sound mind," said Fitz; "but go on." + +"Do hereby," continued the colonel. + +"What's all this for--another challenge?" said Fitz, looking up. + +"No, Fitz,"--the colonel did not like his tone,--"but a few partin' +instructions which will answer in place of a more formally drawn will." + +Fitz scratched on until the preamble was finished, and the unincumbered +half of Carter Hall had been bequeathed to "my ever valued aunt Ann +Carter, spinster," and he had reached a new paragraph beginning with, +"All bonds, stocks, and shares, whether founders', preferred, or common, +of the corporation known as the Cartersville and Warrentown Air Line +Railroad, particularly the sum of 25,000 shares of said company +subscribed for by the undersigned, I hereby bequeath," when Fitz stopped +and laid down his pen. + +"You can't leave that stock. Not transferred to you yet." + +"I know it, Fitz; but I have pledged my word to take it, and so far +as I am concerned, it is mine." + +Fitz looked over his glasses at me, and completed the sentence by which +this also became "the exclusive property of Ann Carter, spinster." +Then followed a clause giving his clothes to Chad, his seal and chain +to Fitz, and his fowling-piece to me. + +When the document was finished, the colonel signed it in a bold, round +hand, and attested it by a burning puddle of red wax into which he +plunged the old family seal. Fitz and I duly witnessed it, and then +the colonel, with the air of a man whose mind had been suddenly relieved +of some great pressure, locked the important document in his drawer, +and handed the key to Fitz. + +The change now in the colonel's manner was quite in keeping with the +expression of his face. All his severe dignity, all the excess of +responsibility and apparent studied calmness, were gone. He even became +buoyant enough to light a pipe. + +Presently he gave a little start as if suddenly remembering something +until that moment overlooked, then he lighted a candle, and mounted +the stairs to his bedroom. In a few minutes he returned, carrying in +both hands a mysterious-looking box. This he placed with great care +on the table, and proceeded to unlock with a miniature key attached +to a bunch which he invariably carried in his trousers pocket. + +It was a square box made of mahogany, bound at each corner with brass, +and bearing in the centre of the top a lozenge-shaped silver tablet +engraved with a Carter coat of arms, the letters "G. F. C." being +beneath. + +The colonel raised the lid and uncovered the weapons that had defended +the honor of the Carter family for two generations. They were the old +fashioned single-barrel kind, with butts like those of the pirates in +a play, and they lay in a bed of faded red velvet surrounded by ramrods, +bullet-moulds, a green pill-box labeled "G. D. Gun Caps," some scraps +of wash leather, together with a copper powder-flask and a spoonful +of bullets. The nipples were protected by little patches cut from an +old kid glove. + +The colonel showed with great pride a dent on one side of the barrel +where a ball had glanced, saving some ancestor's life; then he rang +the bell for Chad, and consigned the case to that hilarious darky very +much as the knight of a castle would place his trusty blade in the +hands of his chief armorer. + +"Want a tech o' ile in dese baals, Colonel," said Chad, examining them +critically. "Got to keep dere moufs clean if you want dese dogs to +bark right;" and he bore away the battery, followed by the colonel, +who went down into the kitchen to see if the fire was hot enough to +cast a few extra bullets. + +[Illustration] + +Fitz and I, being more concerned about devising some method to prevent +the consequences of the colonel's rash act than in increasing the +facilities for bloodshed, remained where we were and discussed the +possible outcome of the situation. + +We had about agreed that should Klutchem demand protection of the +police, and the colonel be hauled up for violating the law of the +State, I should go bail and Fitz employ the lawyer, when we were +startled by a sound like the snap of a percussion-cap, followed by +loud talking in the front yard. + +First came a voice in a commanding tone: "Stand where you are! Drop +yo' hand!" + +Then Chad's "Don't shoot yit, Colonel." + +Fitz and I started for the front door on a run, threw it open, and ran +against Chad standing on the top step with his back to the panels. +Over his head he held the stub of a candle flickering in the night +wind. This he moved up and down in obedience to certain mysterious +sounds which came rumbling out of the tunnel. Beside him on the stone +step lay the brass-cornered mahogany dueling case with both weapons +gone. + +The only other light visible was the glowing eye of the tall tower. + +"Where's the colonel?" we both asked in a breath. + +Chad kept the light aloft with one hand like an ebony Statue of Liberty, +and pointed straight ahead into the tunnel with the other. + +"Mo' to the left," came the voice. + +Chad swayed the candle towards the broken-down fence, and sent his +magnified shadow scurrying up the measly wall and halfway over to the +next house. + +"So! Now steady." + +The darky stood like the Sphinx, the light streaming atop of the tall +candlestick, and then said from out one side of his mouth, "Spec' you +gemmen better squat; she's gwineter bite." + +Fitz peered into the tunnel, caught the gleam of a pistol held in a +shadowy hand, made a clear leap, and landed out of range among the +broken flower-pots. I sprang behind the hydrant, and at the same instant +another cap snapped. + +"Ah, gentlemen," said the voice emerging from the tunnel. "Had I been +quite sure of myself I should have sent for you. I used to snuff a +candle at fo'ty yards, and but that my powder is a little old I could +do it ag'in." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +_The Outcome of a Council of War_ + + +When early the next morning, Fitz and I arrived at the colonel's office +he was already on hand and in a state of high nervous excitement. His +coat, which, so far as a coat might, always expressed in its various +combinations the condition of his mind, was buttoned close up under +his chin, giving to his slender figure quite a military air. He was +pacing the floor with measured tread; one hand thrust into his bosom, +senator fashion, the other held behind his back. + +"Not a line, suh; not the scrape of a pen. If his purpose, suh, is to +ignore me altogether, I shall horsewhip him on sight." + +"Have you looked through the firm's mail?" said Fitz, glad of the +respite. + +"Eve'ywhere, suh--not a scrap." + +"I will hunt him up;" and Fitz hurried down to Klutchem's office in +the hope of either intercepting the challenge or of pacifying the +object of the colonel's wrath, if by any good chance the letter should +have been delayed until the morning. + +In ten minutes he returned with the mystifying news that Mr. Klutchem's +letters had been sent to his apartment the night before, and that a +telegram had just been received notifying his clerks that he would not +be down that day. + +"Escaped, suh, has he? Run like a dog! Like a yaller dog as he is! +Where has he gone?" + +"After a policeman, I guess," said Fitz. + +The colonel stopped, and an expression of profound contempt overspread +his face. + +"If the gentleman has fallen so low, suh, that he proposes to go about +with a constable taggin' after his heels, you can tell him, suh, that +he is safe even from my boot." + +Then he shut the door of the private office in undisguised disgust, +leaving Fitz and me on the outside. + +"What are we going to do, Major?" said Fitz, now really anxious. "I +am positive that old Klutchem has either left town or is at this moment +at police headquarters. If so, the dear old fellow will be locked up +before sundown. Klutchem got that letter last night." + +It was at once decided to head off the broker, Fitz keeping an eye on +his office every half hour in the hope that he might turn up, and I +completing the arrangements for the colonel's bail so as to forestall +the possibility of his remaining in custody overnight. + +Fitz spent the day in efforts to lay hands on Klutchem in order to +prevent the law performing the same service for the colonel. My own +arrangements were more easily completed, a friend properly possessed +of sufficient real estate to make good his bond being in readiness for +any emergency. One o'clock came, then three, then five; the colonelall +the time keeping to the seclusion of his private office, Fitz +watching for Klutchem, and I waiting in the larger office for the +arrival of one of those clean-shaven, thick-set young men, in a Derby +hat and sack-coat, the unexpected pair of handcuffs in his outside +pocket. + +The morning of the second day the situation remained still unchanged; +Fitz had been unable to find Klutchem either at his office or at his +lodgings, the colonel was still without any reply from his antagonist, +and no young man answering to my fears had put in any appearance +whatever. + +The only new features were a telegram from Tom Yancey to the effect +that he and Judge Kerfoot would arrive about noon, and another from +the judge himself begging a postponement until they could reach the +field. + +Fitz read both dispatches in a corner by himself, with a face expressive +of the effect these combined troubles were making upon his otherwise +happy countenance. He then crumpled them up in his hand and slid them +into his pocket. + +Up to this time not a soul in the office except the colonel, Fitz, and +I had the faintest hint of the impending tragedy, it being one of the +colonel's maxims that all affairs of honor demanded absolute silence. + +"If yo' enemy falls," he would say, "it is mo' co'teous to say nothin' +but good of the dead; and when you cannot say that, better keep still. +If he is alive let him do the talkin'--he will soon kill himself." + +Fitz kept still because he felt sure if he could get hold of Klutchem +the whole affair--either outcome powder or law--could be prevented. + +"Just as I had got the syndicate to look into the coal land," said +Fitz, "which is the only thing the colonel's got worth talking about, +here he goes and gets into a first-class cast-iron scrape like this. +What a lovely old idiot he is! But I tell you, Major, something has +got to be done about this shooting business right away! Here I have +arranged for a meeting at the colonel's house on Saturday to discuss +this new coal development, and the syndicate's agent is coming, and +yet we can't for the life of us tell whether the colonel will be on +his way home in a pine box or locked up here for trying to murder that +old windbag. It's horrible! + +"And to cap the climax,"--and he pulled out the crumpled +telegrams,--"here come a gang of fire-eaters who will make it twice +as difficult for me to settle anything. I wish I could find Klutchem!" + +While he spoke the office door opened, ushering in a stout man with +a red face, accompanied by an elderly white-haired gentleman, in a +butternut suit. The red-faced man was carrying a carpet bag--not the +Northern variety of wagon-curtain canvas, but the old-fashioned carpet +kind with leather handles and a mouth like a catfish. The snuff-colored +gentleman's only charge was a heavy hickory cane and an umbrella with +a waist like a market-woman's. + +The red-faced man took off a wide straw hat and uncovered a head +slightly bald and reeking with perspiration. + +"I'm lookin' fur Colonel Caarter, suh. Is he in?" + +Fitz pointed to the door of the private office, and the elderly man +drew his cane and rapped twice. The colonel must have recognized the +signal as familiar, for the door opened with a spring, and the next +moment he had them both by the hands. + +"Why, Jedge, this is indeed an honor--and Tom! Of co'se I knew you +would come, Tom; but the Jedge I did not expec' until I got yo' +telegram. Give me yo' bag, and put yo' umbrella in the corner. + +"Here Fitz, Major; both of you come in here at once. + +"Jedge Kerfoot, gentlemen, of the district co'te of Fairfax County. +Major Tom Yancey, of the army." + +The civilities over, extra chairs were brought in, the door again +closed, and a council of war was held. + +Major Yancey's first word--but I must describe Yancey. Imagine a short, +oily skinned, perpetually perspiring sort of man of forty, with a +decollete collar, a double-breasted waistcoat with glass buttons, and +skin-tight light trousers held down to a pair of high-heeled boots by +leather straps. The space between his waistband and his waistcoat was +made good by certain puckerings of his shirt anxious to escape the +thralldom of his suspenders. His paunch began and ended so suddenly +that he constantly reminded you of a man who had swallowed a toy +balloon. + +Yancey's first word was an anxious inquiry as to whether he was late, +adding, "I came ez soon ez I could settle some business mattahs." He +had borrowed his traveling expenses from Kerfoot, who in turn had +borrowed them from Miss Nancy, keeping the impending duel carefully +concealed from that dear lady, and reading only such part of the +colonel's letter as referred to the drawing up of some important papers +in which he was to figure as chief executor. + +"Late? No, Tom," said the colonel; "but the scoundrel has run to cover. +We are watchin' his hole." + +"You sholy don't tell me he's got away, Colonel?" replied Major Yanccy. + +"What could I do, Yancey? He hasn't had the decency to answer my +letter." + +Yancey, however, on hearing more fully the facts, clung to the hope +that the Yankee would yet be smoked out. + +"I of co'se am not familiar with the code as practiced Nawth--perhaps +these delays are permis'ble; but in my county a challenge is a ball, +and a man is killed or wounded ez soon ez the ink is dry on the papah. +The time he has to live is only a mattah of muddy roads or convenience +of seconds. Is there no way in which this can be fixed? I doan't like +to return home without an effo't bein' made." + +The colonel, anxious to place the exact situation before Major Yancey +so that he might go back fully assured that everything that a Carter +could do had been done, read the copy of the challenge, gave the details +of Fitz's efforts to find Klutchem, the repeated visits to his office, +and finally the call at his apartments. + +The major listened attentively, consulted aside with the judge, and +then in an authoritative tone, made the more impressive by the decided +way with which he hitched up his trousers, said:-- + +"You have done all that a high-toned Southern gemman could do, Colonel. +Yo' honor, suh, is without a stain." + +In which opinion he was sustained by Kerfoot, who proved to be a +ponderous sort of old-fashioned county judge, and who accentuated his +decision by bringing down his cane with a bang. + +While all this was going on in the private office under cover of +profound secrecy, another sort of consultation of a much more public +character was being held in the office outside. + +A very bright young man--one of the clerks--held in his hand a large +envelope, bearing on one end the printed address of the firm whose +private office the colonel was at that moment occupying as a council +chamber. It was addressed in the colonel's well-known round hand. This +was not the fact, however, which excited interest; for the colonel +never used any other envelopes than those of the firm. + +The postman, who had just taken it from his bag, wanted to deliver it +at its destination. The proprietor wanted to throw it back into the +box for remailing, believing it to be a Garden Spot circular, and so +of no especial importance. The bright young man wanted to return it +to the colonel. + +The bright young man prevailed, rapped at the door, and laid the letter +under the colonel's nose. It bore this address:-- + +P. A. KLUTCHEM, ESQ., +Room 21, Star Building, Wall Street, +_Immediate._ New York. + +The colonel turned pale and broke the seal. Out dropped his challenge! + +"Where did you get this?" he asked, aghast. + +"From the carrier. It was held for postage." + +Had a bombshell been exploded the effect could not have been more +startling. + +Yancey was the first man on his feet. + +"And the scoundrel never got it! Here, Colonel, give me the letter. +I'll go through this town like a fine-tooth comb but what I'll find +him. He will never escape me. My name is Yancey, suh!" + +The judge was more conservative. He had grave doubts as to whether a +second challenge, after a delay of two days and two nights, could be +sent at all. The traditions of the Carter family were a word and a +blow, not a blow and a word in two days. To intrust the letter to the +United States mail was a grave mistake; the colonel might have known +that it would miscarry. + +Fitz said grimly that letters always did, without stamps. The Government +was running the post-office on a business basis, not for its health. + +Yancey looked at Fitz as if the interruption wearied him, then, turning +to the colonel, said that he was dumbfounded that a man who had been +raised as Colonel Carter could have violated so plain a rule of the +code. A challenge should always be delivered by the hand of the +challenger's friend. It should never be mailed. + +The poor colonel, who since the discovery of the unstamped letter had +sat in a heap buried in his coat collar,--the military button having +given way,--now gave his version of the miscarriage. + +He began by saying that when his friend Major Yancey became conversant +with all the facts he would be more lenient with him. He had, he said, +found the proprietor's drawer locked, and, not having a stamp about +him, had dropped the document into the mail-box with the firm's letters, +presuming that the clerks would affix the tax the Government imposed. +That the document had reached the post-office was evidenced by the +date-stamp on the envelope. It seemed to him a picayune piece of +business on the part of the authorities to detain it, and all for the +paltry sum of two cents. + +Major Yancey conferred with the judge for a moment, and then said that +the colonel's explanation had relieved him of all responsibility. He +owed him a humble apology, and he shook his hand. Colonel Carter had +done all that a high-bred gentleman could do. The letter was intrusted +to the care of Mr. Klutchem's own government, the post-office as now +conducted being peculiarly a Yankee institution. + +"If Mr. Klutchem's own government, gemmen,"--and he repeated it with +a rising voice,--"if Mr. Klutchem's own government does not trust him +enough to deliver to him a letter in advance of a payment of two cents, +such action, while highly discreditable to Mr. Klutchem, certainly +does not relieve that gemman from the responsibility of answerin' +Colonel Caarter." + +The colonel said the point was well taken, and the judge sustained him. + +Yancey looked around with the air of a country lawyer who had tripped +up a witness, decorated a corner of the carpet, and continued:-- + +"My idee, suh, now that I am on the ground, is for me to wait upon the +gemman at once, hand him the orig'nal challenge, and demand an immediate +answer. That is," turning to Fitz, "unless he is in hidin'." + +Fitz replied that it was pretty clear to him that a man could not hide +from a challenge he had never received. It was quite evident that +Klutchem was detained somewhere. + +The colonel coincided, and said in justice to his antagonist that he +would have to acquit him of this charge. He did not now believe that +Mr. Klutchem had run away. + +Fitz, who up to this time had enjoyed every turn in the discussion, +and who had listened to Yancey with a face like a stone god, his knees +shaking with laughter, now threw another bombshell almost as disastrous +as the first. + +"Besides, gentlemen, I don't think Mr. Klutchem's remarks were +insulting." + +The colonel's head rose out of his collar with a jerk, and the forelegs +of Yancey's chair struck the floor with a thump. Both sprang to their +feet. The judge and I remained quiet. "Not insultin', suh, to call a +gemman a--a--Colonel, what did the scoundrel call you?" + +"It was mo' his manner," replied the colonel. "He was familiar, suh, +and presumin' and offensive." + +Yancey broke away again, but Fitz sidetracked him with a gesture, and +asked the colonel to repeat Klutchem's exact words. + +The colonel gazed at the ceiling a moment, and replied:-- + +"Mr. Klutchem said that, outside of peanuts and sweet potatoes, all +my road would git for freight would be niggers and razor-back hogs." + +"Mr. Klutchem was right, Colonel," said Fitz. "Very sensible man. They +will form a very large part of our freight. Anything offensive in that +remark of Klutchem's, Major Yancey?" + +The major conferred with the judge, and said reluctantly that there +was not. + +"Go on, Colonel," continued Fitz. + +"Then, suh, he said he wouldn't trade a yaller dog for enough of our +bonds to papah a meetin'-house." + +"Did he call you a yaller dog?" said Yancey searchingly, and +straightening himself up. + +"No." + +"Call anybody connected with you a yaller dog?" + +"Can't say that he did." + +"Call yo' railroad a yaller dog?" + +"No, don't think so," said the colonel, now thoroughly confused and +adrift. + +Yancey consulted with the judge a moment in one corner, and then said +gravely:-- + +"Unless some mo' direct insult is stated, Colonel, we must agree with +yo' friend Mr. Fitzpatrick, and consider yo' action hasty. Now, if you +had pressed the gemman, and he had called _you_ a yaller dog or a liar, +somethin' might be done. Why didn't you press him?" + +"I did, suh. I told him his statements were false and his manners +vulgar." + +"And he did not talk back?" + +"No, suh; on'y laughed." + +"Sneeringly, and in a way that sounded like 'Yo' 're another'?" + +The colonel could not remember that it was. + +Yancey ruminated, and Fitz now took a hand. + +"On the contrary, Major Yancey, Mr. Klutchem's laugh was a very jolly +laugh; and, under the circumstances, a laugh very creditable to his +good nature. You are young and impetuous, but I know my learned friend, +Judge Kerfoot, will agree with me"--here Yancey patted his toy balloon +complacently, and the judge leaned forward with rapt attention--"when +I say that if any apologies are in order they should not come from Mr. +Klutchem." + +It was delicious to note how easily Fitz fell into the oratorical +method of his hearers. + +"Here is a man immersed in stocks, and totally ignorant of the boundless +resources of your State, who limits the freight of our road to four +staples,--peanuts, hogs, sweet potatoes, and niggers. As a further +exhibition of his ignorance he estimates the value of a large block +of our securities as far below the price set upon a light, tan-colored +canine, a very inexpensive animal; or, as he puts it, and perhaps too +coarsely,--a yellow dog. For the expression of these financial opinions +in an open office during business hours he is set upon, threatened +with expulsion, and finally challenged to a mortal duel. I ask you, +as chivalric Virginians, is this right?" + +Yancey was about to answer, when the judge raised his hand impressively. + +"The co'te, not being familiar with the practice of this section, can +on'y decide the question in acco'dance with the practice of his own +county. The language used is not objectionable, either under the law +or by the code. The prisoner, Klutchem, is discharged with a reprimand, +and the plaintiff, Caarter, leaves the co'te room without a stain on +his cha'acter. The co'te will now take a recess." + +Fitz listened with great gravity to the decision of the learned judge, +bowed to him with the pleased deference of the winning attorney, grasped +the colonel's hand, and congratulated him warmly on his acquittal. + +[Illustration] + +Then, locking his arm through Yancey's, he conducted that pugnacious +but parched Virginian, together with the overworked judge, out into +the street, down a flight of stone steps, and into an underground +apartment; from which they emerged later with that satisfied, cheerful +air peculiar to a group of men who have slaked their thirst. + +The colonel and I remained behind. He was in no mood for such frivolity. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +_A High Sense of Honor_ + + +While the judge's decision had relieved the colonel of all +responsibility so far as Yancey and Cartersville were concerned,--and +Yancey would be Cartersville when he was back at the tavern +stove,--there was one person it had not satisfied, and that was the +colonel himself. + +He began pacing the floor, recounting for my benefit the various +courtesies he had received since he had lived at the North,--not only +from the proprietors of the office, but from every one of its +frequenters. And yet after all these civilities he had so far forgotten +himself as to challenge a friend of his host, a very worthy gentleman, +who, although a trifle brusque in his way of putting things, was still +an open-hearted man. And all because he differed with him on a matter +of finance. + +"The mo' I think of it, Major, the mo' I am overwhelmed by my action. +It was inconsiderate, suh. It was uncalled for, suh; and I am +afraid"--and here he lowered his voice--"it was ill-bred and vulgar. +What could those gentlemen who stood by have thought? They have all +been so good to me, Major. I have betrayed their hospitality. I have +forgotten my blood, suh. There is certainly an apology due Mr. +Klutchem." + +At this juncture Fitz returned, followed by Yancey, who was beaming +all over, the judge bringing up the rear. + +All three listened attentively. + +"Who's goin' to apologize?" said Yancey, shifting his thumbs from his +armholes to the side pockets of his vest, from which he pinched up +some shreds of tobacco. + +"I am, suh!" replied the colonel. + +"What for, Colonel?" The doctrine was new to Yancey. + +"For my own sense of honor, suh!" + +"But he never got the challenge." + +"That makes no diffence, suh. I wrote it." And the colonel threw his +head up, and looked Major Yancey straight in the eye. + +"But, Colonel, we've got the letter. Klutchem don't know a word about +it." + +"But I do, Major Yancey; and so do you and Fitz, and the jedge and the +major here. We all know it. Do you suppose, suh, for one instant, that +I am cowardly enough to stab a man in the back this way and give him +no chance of defendin' himself? It is monst'ous, suh! Why, suh, it's +no better than insultin' a deaf man, and then tryin' to escape because +he did not hear you. I tell you, suh, I shall apologize. Fitz, kindly +inquire outside if there is any news of Mr. Klutchem." + +Fitz opened the door, and sent the inquiry ringing through the office. + +"Yes!" came a voice from around the "ticker." "Went to the races two +days ago, got soaking wet, and has been laid up ever since at a friend's +house with the worst attack of gout he ever had in his life." + +The colonel started as if he had been stung, put on his hat, and with +a determined air buttoned his coat over his chest. Then, charging +Yancey and the judge not to leave the office until he returned, he +beckoned Fitz to him, and said:-- + +"We have not a moment to lose. Get Mr. Klutchem's address, and order +a caarriage." + +It was the custom with Fitz never to cross the colonel in any one of +his sudden whims. Whether this was because he liked to indulge him, +or because it gave him an opportunity to study a type of man entirely +new to him, the result was always the same,--the colonel had his way. +Had the Virginian insisted upon waiting on the offending broker in a +palanquin or upon the top of a four-in-hand, Fitz would have found the +vehicle somehow, and have crawled in or on top beside him with as much +complacency as if he had spent his whole life with palanquins and +coaches, and had had no other interests. So when the order came for +the carriage, Fitz winked at me with his left eye, walked to the +sidewalk, whistled to a string of cabs, and the next instant we were +all three whirling up the crowded street in search of the bedridden +broker. + +The longer the colonel brooded over the situation the more he was +satisfied with the idea of the apology. Indeed, before he had turned +down the side street leading to the temporary hospital of the suffering +man, he had arranged in his mind just where the ceremony would take +place, and just how he would frame his opening sentence. He was glad, +too, that Klutchem had been discovered so soon--while Yancey and Kerfoot +were still in town. + +The colonel alighted first, ran up the steps, pulled the bell with the +air of a doctor called to an important case, and sent his card to the +first floor back. + +"Mr. Klutchem says, 'Walk up,'" said the maid. + +The broker was in an armchair with his back to the door, only the top +of his bald head being visible as we entered. On a stool in front +rested a foot of enormous size swathed in bandages. Leaning against +his chair were a pair of crutches. He was somewhat startled at the +invasion, made as it was in the busiest part of the day. + +"What's up? Anybody busted?" + +Fitz assured him that the Street was in a mood of the greatest +tranquillity; that the visit was purely personal, and made for the +express purpose of offering Colonel Carter an opportunity of relieving +his mind of a pressure which at the precise moment was greater than +he could bear. + +"Out with it, old Garden--Colonel," broke out Klutchem, catching himself +in time, and apparently greatly relieved that the situation was no +worse. + +The colonel, who remained standing, bowed courteously, drew himself +up with a dress-parade gesture, and recounted slowly and succinctly +the incidents of the preceding three days. + +When he arrived at the drawing-up of the challenge, Klutchem looked +around curiously, gathered in his crutches with his well leg,--prepared +for escape or defense,--and remained thus equipped until the colonel +reached the secret consultation in the private office and the return +of the unstamped letter. Then he toppled his supports over on the +floor, and laughed until the pain in his elephantine foot bent him +double. + +The colonel paused until Klutchem had recovered himself, and then +continued, his face still serene, and still expressive of a purpose +so lofty that it excluded every other emotion. + +"The return of my challenge unopened, suh, coupled with the broad views +of my distinguished friends Mr. Fitzpatrick and the major,--both +personal friends of yo' own, I believe,--and the calmer reflection of +my own mind, have convinced me, Mr. Klutchem, that I have been hasty +and have done you a wrong; and, suh, rememberin' my blood, I have left +the cares of my office for a brief moment to call upon you at once, +and tell you so. I regret, suh, that you have not the use of both yo' +legs, but I have anticipated that difficulty. My caarriage is outside." + +"Don't mention it, Colonel. You never grazed me. If you want to plaster +that syndicate all over with Garden Spots, go ahead. I won't say a +word. There's my hand." + +The colonel never altered a line in his face nor moved a muscle of his +body. Mr. Klutchem's hand remained suspended in mid air. + +"Yo' action is creditable to yo' heart, suh, but you know, of course, +that I cannot take yo' hand here. I insulted you in a public office, +and in the presence of yo' friends and of mine, some of whom are at +this moment awaitin' our return. I feel assured, suh, that under the +circumstances you will make an effort, however painful it may be to +you, to relieve me from this stain on my cha'acter. Allow me to offer +you my arm, and help you to my caarriage, suh. I will not detain you +mo' than an hour." + +[Illustration] + +Klutchem looked at him in perfect astonishment. + +"What for?" + +The colonel's color rose. + +"That this matter may be settled properly, suh. I insulted you publicly +in my office. I wish to apologize in the same way. It is my right, +suh." + +"But I can't walk. Look at that foot,--big as a hatbox." + +"My friends will assist you, suh. I will carry yo' crutches myself. +Consider my situation. You surely, as a man of honor, will not refuse +me this, Mr. Klutchem?" + +The colonel's eyes began to snap, and Fitz edged round to pour oil +when the wind freshened. Klutchem's temper was also on the move. + +"Get out of this chair with that mush poultice," pointing to his foot, +"and have you cart me down to Wall Street to tell me you are sorry you +didn't murder me! What do you take me for?" + +The colonel's eyes now fairly blazed, and his voice trembled with +suppressed anger. + +"I did take you, suh, for a gentleman. I find I am mistaken. And you +refuse to go, and"-- + +"Yes!" roared Klutchem, his voice splitting the air like a tomahawk. + +"Then, suh, let me tell you right here that if you do not get up now +and get into my caarriage, whenever you _can_ stand on yo' wuthless +legs, I will thresh you so, suh, that you will never get up any mo'." + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +_A Visit of Ceremony_ + + +The Honorable I. B. Kerfoot, presiding judge of the district court of +Fairfax County, Virginia, and the gallant Major Thomas C. Yancey, late +of the Confederate army, had been the colonel's guests at his hospitable +house in Bedford Place for a period of six days and six nights, when +my cards--two--were given to Chad, together with my verbal hopes that +both gentlemen were within. + +My visit was made in conformity with one of the colonel's inflexible +rules,--every guest under his roof, within one week of his arrival, +was to be honored by a personal call from every friend within reach. + +No excuse would have sufficed on the ground of flying visits. And +indeed, so far as these particular birds of passage were concerned, +the occupation was permanent, the judge having taken possession of the +only shake-down sofa on the lower floor, and the warlike major having +plumped himself into the middle of the colonel's own bed not ten minutes +after his arrival. Even to the casual Northern eye, unaccustomed to +the prolonged sedentary life of the average Virginian when a guest, +there was every indication that these had come to stay. + +Chad laid both of my cards on the table, and indulged in a pantomime +more graphic than spoken word. He shut his eyes, laid his cheek on one +hand, and gave a groan of intense disgust, followed by certain gleeful +chuckles, made the more expressive by the sly jerking of his thumb +towards the dining room door and the bobbing up and down of his +fore-finger in the direction of the bedroom above. + +"Bofe in. Yes, sah! Bofe in, an' bofe abed. Last I yeard from em' dey +was hollerin' for juleps." + +I entered the dining-room and stopped short. On a low sofa at the far +end of the room lay a man of more than ordinary girth, with coat, vest, +and shoes off, his face concealed by a newspaper. From beneath this +sheet came, at regular intervals, a long-drawn sound like the subdued +puff of a tired locomotive at rest on a side-track. Beside him was an +empty tumbler, decorated with a broken straw and a spray of withered +mint. + +The summer air fanned through the closed blinds of the darkened room, +and played with the silvery locks that straggled over the white pillow; +the paper rose and fell with a crinkling noise, keeping time to the +rhythm of the exhaust. Beyond this there was no movement. The Hon. I. +B. Kerfoot was asleep. + +I watched the slowly heaving figure for a moment, picked up a chair, +and gently closed the door. I could now look the colonel in the face +so far as the judge was concerned. My account with the colonel was +settled. + +Retiring to the yard outside, which was cool and shady, and, despite +its dilapidated appearance, a grateful relief from the glare of the +street, I tilted my chair against the dissipated wall, with its damaged +complexion of scaling white-wash, and sat down to await the colonel's +return. + +Meanwhile Chad busied himself about the kitchen, moving in and out the +basement door, and at last brought up a great tin pan, seated himself +on the lower step, and proceeded to shell pease, indulging all the +while in a running commentary on the events of the preceding week. + +One charm in Chad's conversation was its clearness. You always absorbed +his meaning. Another was its reliability. When he finished you had the +situation in full. + +First came the duel. + +"So dat Ketchem man done got away? Doan' dat beat all! An' de colonel +a-mak-in' his will an' a-rubbin' up his old barkers. Can't have no fun +yer naaway; sumpin' allers spiles it. But yer oughter seen de colonel +dat day w'en he come home! Sakes alive, warn't he b'ilin'! Much as +Jedge Keerfoot could do to keep him from killin' dat Yankee on de +street." + +Chad's long brown fingers fumbled among the green pea-shells, which +he heaped up on one side of the pan, and the conversation soon changed +to his master's "second in the field." I encouraged this divergence, +for I had been charged by Fitz to find out when these two recent +additions to the household in Bedford Place intended returning to their +native clime; that loyal friend of the colonel being somewhat disturbed +over their preparations for what promised to be a lengthy stay. + +"'Fo' de Lawd, I doan' know! Tom Yancey nebber go s'long as de mint +patch hol' out, an' de colonel bought putty near a ba'el ob it dis +mawnin', an' anudder dimi-john from Mister Grocerman. Makes my blood +bile to see dese Yanceys, anyhow. See dat carpet bag w'at he fotch wid +him? Knowed w'at he had in it w'en he opened its mouf an' de jedge tuk +his own clo'es outen it? A pair ob carpet slippers, two collars, an' +a lot ob chicken fixin's. Not a shirt to his back 'cept de one, he had +on! Had to stay abed yisteddy till I i'oned it. Dar's one ob his collars +on de line now. Dese yer Yanceys no 'count no way. Beats de lan' how +de colonel can put up wid 'em, 'cept his faader was quality. You know +de old gineral married twice, de las' time his oberseer's daughter. +Dat's her chile--Tom Yancey--'sleep now on de colonel's bed upstairs +wid a straw in his mouf like a shote. But de colonel say 'tain't Tom's +fault dat he takes after his mammy; he's a Yancey, anyhow. But I tell +you, Major, Miss Nancy doan' hab nuffin' much to do wid 'im,--she can't +abide 'im." + +"How long are they going to stay, Chad?" I asked, wishing to make a +definite report to Fitz. + +"Doan' know. Ole groun'-hog mighty comf'ble in de hole." And he heaped +up another pile of shells. + +"Fust night de jedge come he tol' de colonel dat Miss Nancy say we all +got to come home when de month's up, railroad or no railroad. Dat was +a week ago. Den de jedge tasted dat Madary Mister Grocerman sent, an' +I ain't yerd nuffin' 'bout goin' home since. Is you yerd, Major?" + +Before I could answer, a shutter opened overhead and a voice came +sifting down. + +"O Chad! Mix me a julep. And, Chad, bring an extra one for the colonel. +I reckon he'll be yer d'reckly." + +"Yes, sah," replied Chad, without lifting his eyes from the pan. + +Then glancing up and finding the blind closed again, he said to me in +a half-whisper:-- + +"Colonel get his julep when he ax fur it. I ain't caayin' no double +drinks to nobody. Dis ain't no camp-meetin' bar." + +But Chad's training had been too thorough to permit of his refusing +sustenance or attention to any guest of his master's, no matter how +unworthy, and it was not many minutes before he was picking over "de +ba'el" containing that peculiar pungent variety of plant so common to +the graveyards of Virginia. + +Before the cooling beverage had been surmounted by its delicate +mouthpiece the street gate opened and the colonel walked briskly in. + +"Ah, Major! You here? Jes the vehy man we wanted, suh! Fitz and the +English agent are comin' to dinner. You have heard the news, of co'se? +No? Not about the great syndicate absorbin' the Garden Spots? My dear +suh, she's floated! The C. & W. A. L. R. R. is afloat, suh! Proudly +ridin' the waves of prosperity, suh. Wafted on by the breeze of +success." + +"What, bought the bonds?" I said, jumping up. +"Well, not exactly bought them outright, for these gigantic operations +are not conducted in that way; but next to it, suh. To-day,"--and he +brought his hand down softly on my shoulder,--"to-day, suh, they have +cabled their agent--the same gentleman, suh, you saw in my office some +time ago--to make a searchin' investigation into the mineral and +agricultural resources of that section of my State, with a view to +extendin' its railroad system. I quote, suh, the exact words: 'extendin' +its railroad system.' Think, my dear Major, of the effect that a +colossal financial concern like the great British syndicate would +produce upon Fairfax County, backed as it is, suh, by untold millions +of stagnant capital absolutely rottin' in English banks! The road is +built!" And the colonel in his excitement opened his waistcoat, and +began pacing the yard, fanning himself vigorously with his hat. + +Chad substituted a palm-leaf fan from the hall table, and, producing +a small tray, picked up the frosted tumbler and mounted the three steps +to relieve the thirsty guest on the floor above. + +As he reached the last step a hand stretched out, and a voice said:-- + +"Jes what I wanted." + +"Dis julep, Jedge, is Major Yancey's." + +"All the better." And nodding to the colonel and bowing gravely to me, +the Hon. I. B. Kerfoot settled himself on the top of the front steps +with very much the same air with which he would have occupied his own +judicial bench. + +With the exception that this julep was just begun and tile other just +ended, his Honor presented precisely the same outward appearance as +when I discovered him asleep on the sofa. + +His was, in fact, the extremest limit of dishabille permissible even +on the hottest of summer afternoons in the most retired of back +yards,--no coat, no vest, no shoes. In one hand he held a crumpled +collar and a high, black silk stock; with the other he grasped the +julep. His hair was tousled, his face shriveled up and pinched by his +heavy nap, his eyes watery and vague. He reminded me of the man one +sometimes meets in the aisle of a sleeping-car when one boards the +train at a way station in the night. + +"I hope you have had a refreshin' sleep, Jedge," said the colonel. "My +friend the major here did himself and me the honor of callin' upon +you, but findin' that you were restin', suh, he sought the cool of my +co'teyard until you should awake." + +His Honor looked at me over the edge of his tumbler and bowed feebly. +The straw remained glued to his mouth. + +"I have been tellin' him, suh, of the extr'o'd'nary boom to-day in +Garden Spots, as some of my young friends call the secu'ities of my +new road, work upon which will be begun next week." + +The announcement made no impression upon the judge, his face remaining +sleepily stolid until that peculiar gurgling sound, the death-rattle +of a dying julep, caused a shade of sadness to pass over it. + +At that instant the shutter again opened overhead. + +"Hello, Colonel! Home, are you? Chad, where's my julep? Ah, Major, +hope I see you vehy well, suh. Where's Kerfoot?" + +That legal luminary craned his head forward as far as it would go +without necessitating any additional movement of his body, caught +Yancey's eye as he leaned out of the window, and held up the empty +glass. + +When everybody had stopped laughing the colonel made a critical but +silent examination of the judge, called to Yancey, and said:-- + +"Gentlemen, we do not dine until seven. You will both have ample time +to dress." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +_Chad in Search of a Coal-Field_ + + +The colonel was the first man downstairs. When he entered I saw at a +glance that it was one of his gala nights, for he wore the ceremonial +white waistcoat and cravat, and had thrown the accommodating coat wide +open. His hair, too, was brushed back from his broad forehead with +more than usual care, each silver thread keeping its proper place in +the general scheme of iron-gray; while his goatee was twisted to so +fine a point that it curled upward like a fishhook. He had also changed +his shoes, his white stockings now being incased in low prunellas tied +with a fresh ribbon, which hung over the toes like the drooping ears +of a lapdog. + +The attention which the colonel paid to these particular details was +due, as he frequently said, to his belief that a man would always be +well dressed who looked after his extremities. + +"I can inva'iably, suh, detect the gentleman under the shabbiest suit +of clothes, if his collar and stockings are clean. When, besides this, +he brushes his hat and blacks his shoes, you may safely invite him to +dinner." + +Something like this was evidently passing in his mind as he stood +waiting for his guests, his back to the empty grate; for he examined +his hands critically, glanced at his shoes, and then excusing himself, +turned his face, and taking a pair of scissors from his pocket proceeded +leisurely to trim his cuffs. + +"These duties of the dressin'-room, my dear Major, should have been +attended to in their proper place; but the fact is the jedge is makin' +rather an elaborate toilet in honor of our guest, and as Yancey occupies +my bedroom, and the jedge is also dressin' there, my own accommodations +are limited. I feel sure you will excuse me." + +While he spoke the door opened, and his Honor entered in a William +Penn style of make-up, ruffled shirt and all. He really was not unlike +that distinguished peacemaker, especially when he carried one of the +colonel's long pipes in his mouth. He had, I am happy to say, since +leaving the front steps, accumulated an increased amount of clothing. +The upper half of the familiar butternut suit--the coat--still clung +to him, but the middle and lower half had been supplanted by another +waistcoat and trousers of faded nankeen, the first corrugated into +wrinkles and the second flapping about his ankles. + +The colonel absorbed him at a glance, and with a satisfied air placed +a chair for him near the window and handed him a palm-leaf fan. + +Last of all came Yancey in a flaming red necktie, the only new addition +to his costume--a part, no doubt, of the "chicken fixin's" found by +Chad in the carpet bag. + +The breezy ex-major, as he entered, seized my hand with the warmth of +a lifelong friend; then moving over and encircling with his arm the +colonel's coat collar, he lowered his voice to a confidential whisper +and inquired about the market of the day with as much solicitude as +though his last million had been filched from him on insufficient +security. + +When, a few minutes later, the round-faced man, the agent of the great +English syndicate, walked in, preceded by Fitz, nothing could have +been more courtly than the way the colonel presented him to his +guests--pausing at every name to recount some slight biographical +detail complimentary to each, and ending by announcing with great +dignity that his honored guest was none other than the very confidential +agent and adviser of a group of moneyed magnates whose influence +extended to the uttermost parts of the earth. + +The agent, like many other sensible Englishmen, was a bluff, hearty +sort of man, with a keen eye for the practical side of life and an +equally keen enjoyment of every other, and it was not five minutes +before he had located in his round head the precise standing and +qualifications of every man in the room. + +While Yancey amused him greatly as a type quite new to him, the colonel +filled him with delight. "So frank, so courteous, so hospitable; quite +the air of a country squire of the old school," he told Fitz afterward. + +As a host that night, the colonel was in his happiest vein, and by the +time the coffee was served, had succeeded not only in entertaining the +table in his own inimitable way, but he had drawn out from each one +of his guests, not excepting the reticent Fitz, some anecdote or +incident of his life, bringing into stronger relief the finer qualities +of him who told it. + +Kerfoot in a ponderous way gave the details of a murder case, tried +before him many years ago, in which the judge's charge so influenced +the jury that the man was acquitted, and justly so, as was afterward +proved. Yancey related an incident of the war, where he, only a drummer +boy at the time, assisted, at great risk, in carrying a wounded comrade +from the field. And Fitz was forced to admit that one of the largest +financial operations of the day would have been a failure had he not +stepped in at the critical moment and saved it. + +Up to this point in the dinner not the slightest reference had been +made to the railroad or its interests except by the impetuous Yancey, +who asked Fitz what the bonds would probably be worth, and who was +promptly silenced by the colonel with the suggestive remark that none +were for sale, especially at this time. + +When, however, by the direction of the colonel, the cloth was removed +and the old mahogany table that Chad rubbed down every morning with +a cork was left with only the glasses, a pair of coasters and their +decanters,--the Madeira within reach of the judge's hand,--the colonel +rose from his chair and spread out on the polished surface a stained +and ragged map, labeled in one corner in quaint letters, "Lands of +John Carter, Esquire, of Carter Hall." Only then was the colonel ready +for business. + +"This is the correct survey, I believe, Jedge," said the colonel. + +The judge emptied his glass, felt all over his person for his +spectacles, found them in the inside pocket of his nankeen waistcoat, +and, perching them on the extreme end of his nose, looked over their +rims and remarked that the original deeds of the colonel's estate had +been based upon this map, and that, so far as he knew, it was correct. +Then he added:-- + +"The partition line that was made immejitly aafter the war, dividin' +the estate between Miss Ann Caarter and yo'self, Colonel, was also tuk +from this survey." + +Fitz conferred with the agent for a moment and then asked the colonel +where lay the deposit of coal of which he had spoken. + +"In a moment, my dear Fitz," said the colonel, deprecatingly, and +turning to the agent:-- + +"The city of Fairfax, suh, that we discussed this mornin', will be +located to the right of this section; the Tench runs here; the iron +bridge, suh, should cross at this point," marking it with his thumb +nail. "Or perhaps you gentlemen will decide to have it nearer the Hall. +It is immaterial to me." + +Then looking at Fitz: "I can't locate the coal, my dear Fitz; but I +think it is up here on the hill at the foot of the range." + +The agent lost interest immediately in the iron bridge over the Tench, +and asked a variety of questions about the deposit, all of which the +colonel answered courteously and patiently, but evidently with a desire +to change the subject as soon as possible. + +The Englishman, however, was persistent, while the judge's last +sententious remark regarding the recent subdivision of the estate +awakened a new interest in Fitz. + +What if this coal should not be on the colonel's land at all! He caught +his breath at the thought. + +It was Fitz's only chance to restore the colonel's fortunes; and +although for obvious reasons he dared not tell him so, it was really +the only interest the Englishman had in the scheme at all. + +Indeed, the agent had frankly said so to Fitz, adding that he was +anxious to locate a deposit of coal somewhere in the vicinity of the +line of the colonel's proposed road; because the extension of certain +railroads in which the syndicate was interested--not the C. & W. A. +L. R. R., however--depended almost entirely upon the purchase of this +vital commodity. + +Full of these instructions the agent, after listening to a panegyric +upon the resources of Fairfax County, interrupted rather curtly a +glowing statement of the colonel's concerning the enormous value of +the Garden Spot securities by asking this question:-- + +"Are the coal lands for sale?" + +Fitz shivered at its directness, fearing that the colonel would catch +the drift affairs were taking and become alarmed. His fears were +groundless; the shot had gone over his head. + +"No, suh! My purpose is to use it to supply our shops and motive power." + +"If you should decide to sell the lands I would make an investigation +at once," replied the agent, quietly, but with meaning in his voice. + +The colonel looked at him eagerly. + +"Would you at the same time consider the purchase of our securities?" + +"I might." + +"When would you go?" + +"To-morrow night, or not at all. I return to England in a week." + +Yancey and the judge looked at each other inquiringly with a certain +anxious expression suggestive of some impending trouble. The judge +recovered himself first, and quickly filled his glass, leaving but one +more measure in the decanter. This measure Yancey immediately emptied +into his own person, as perhaps the only place where it would be +entirely safe from the treacherous thirst of the judge. + +Fitz read in their faces these mental processes, and was more determined +than ever to break up at once what he called "the settlement." + +"Are you sho', Colonel," inquired Ker-foot, catching at straws, "that +the coal lands lie entirely on yo' father's property? Does not the +Barbour lan' jine yo's on the hill?" + +"I am not positively sho', suh, but I have always understood that what +we call the coal hills belonged to my father. You see," said the +colonel, turning to the agent, "this grade of wild lan' is never +considered of much value with us, and a few hundred acres mo' or less +is never insisted on among old families of our standin' whose estates +jine." + +Yancey expanded his vest, and said authoritatively that he was quite +sure the coal hills were on the Barbour property. He had shot partridges +over that land many a time. + +The agent, who had listened calmly to the discussion, remarked dryly +that until the colonel definitely ascertained whether he had any lands +to sell it would be a useless waste of time to make the trip. + +"Quite so," said Kerfoot, raising the emptied decanter to his eye, and +replacing it again with a look at Yancey expressive of the contempt +in which he held a man who could commit so mean an act. + +"But, Colonel," said Fitz, "can't you telegraph to-morrow and find +out?" + +"To whom, my clear Fitz? It would take a week to get the clerk of the +co'te to look through the records. Nobody at Bar-hour's knows." + +"Does Miss Nancy know?" +The colonel shook his head dubiously. + +Fitz's face suddenly lighted up as he started from his seat, and caught +the colonel by the arm. + +"Does Chad?" + +"Chad! Yes, Chad might." + +Fitz nearly overturned his chair in his eagerness to reach the top ofthe +kitchen stairs. + +"Come up here, Chad, quick as your legs can carry you--two steps at +a time!" + +Chad hurried into the room with the face of a man sent for to put out +a fire. + +"Chad," said the colonel, "you know the big hill as you go up from the +marsh at home?" + +"Yes, sah." + +"Whose lan' is the coal on, mine or Jedge Barbour's?" + +The old darky's face changed from an expression of the deepest anxiety +to an effort at the deepest thought. The change was so sudden that the +wrinkles got tangled up in the attempt, resulting in an expression of +vague uncertainty. + +"You mean, Colonel, de hill whar we cotch de big coon?" + +"Yes," said the colonel encouragingly, ignorant of the coon, but knowing +that there was only one hill. + +"Well, Jedge Barbour's niggers always said dat de coon was dere coon, +'ca'se he was treed on dere lan', and we 'sputed dat it was our coon, +'ca'se it was on our lan'." + +"Who got de coon?" asked Fitz. + +"Oh, _we_ got the coon!" And Chad's eyes twinkled. + +"That settles it. It's your land, Colonel," said Fitz, with one of his +sudden roars, in which everybody joined but Chad and the judge. + +"But den, gemmen,"--Chad was a little uncomfortable at the +merriment,--"it was our coon for sho. I knowed whar de line went, +'ca'se I he'p Marsa John caarry de spy-glass when he sold de woodlan's +to Jedge Barbour, an' de coon was on our side ob dat line." + +If Chad's first statement caused nothing but laughter, the second +produced nothing but the profoundest interest. + +Here was the surveyor himself! + +The colonel turned the map to Chad's side of the table. Every man in +the room stood up and craned his head forward. + +"Now, Chad," said the colonel, "this map is a plan of our lan'--same +as if you were lookin' down on it. Here is the road to Caartersville. +See that square, black mark? That's Caarter Hall. This is the marsh, +and that is the coal hill. Now, standin' here in the marsh,--this is +where our line begins, Fitz,--standin' here, Chad, in the marsh, which +side of the line is that hill on? Mine or Jedge Barbour's?" + +The old man bent over the table, and scanned the plan closely. + +"Wat's dis blue wiggle lookin' like a big fish-wum?" + +"That's the Tench River." + +Chad continued his search, his wrinkled brown hand, with its extended +forefinger capped by its stumpy nail, looking for all the world like +a mud turtle with head out crawling over the crumpled surface of the +map. + +"Scuse me till I run down to de kitchen an' git my spec's. I can't see +like"-- + +"Here, take mine!" said Fitz, handing him his gold ones. He would have +lent him his eyes if he could have found that coal-field the sooner. + +The turtle crawled slowly up, its head thrust out inquiringly, inched +along the margin of the map, and backed carefully down again, pausing +for such running commentaries as "Dis yer's de ribber;" "Dat's de +road;" "Dis de ma'sh." + +The group was now a compact mass, every eye watching Chad's finger as +though it were a divining rod--Fitz full of smothered fears lest after +all the prize should slip from his grasp; the agent anxious but +reserved; Yancey and the judge hovering between hope and despair, with +eyes on the empty decanter; and last of all the colonel, on the outside, +holding a candle himself, so that his guests might see the better--the +least interested man in the room. + +Presently the finger stopped, and Chad looked up into his master's +face. + +"If I was down dar, Marsa George, jes a minute, I could tole ye, 'ca'se +I reckelmember de berry tree whar Marsa John had de spyglass sot on +its legs. I held de pole on de rock way up yander on de hill, an' in +dat berry rock Marsa John done cut a crotch." + +"And which way is the crotch in the rock from the marsh here?" asked +Fitz eagerly. + +Chad stood up, looked at the plan glistening under the candlelight, +paused an instant, then took off the gold-rimmed glasses, and handed +them with great deference to Fitz. + +"'T ain't no use, Marsa George. I kin go frough dat ma'sh blindfolded +in de night an' cotch a possum airy time along airy one ob dem +fences; but dis yer foolin' wid lan's on paper is too much for Chad. 'Fo' +Gawd, I doan' know!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +_Chad on his own Cabin Floor_ + + +The night after the eventful dinner in Bedford Place, the colonel, +accompanied by his guests, had alighted at a dreary way station, crawled +into a lumbering country stage, and with Chad on the box as pilot, had +stopped before a great house with ghostly trailing vines and tall +chimneys outlined against the sky. + +When I left my room on the following morning the sunlight was pouring +through the big colonial window, and the breath of the delicious day, +laden with the sweet smell of bending blossoms, floated in through the +open blinds. + +Descending the great spiral staircase with its slender mahogany +balusters,--here and there a break,--I caught sight of the entrance +hall below with its hanging glass lantern, quaint haircloth sofas +lining the white walls, and half-oval tables heaped with flowers, and +so on through the wide-open door leading out upon a vine-covered porch. +This had high pillars and low railings against which stood some broad +settles--all white. + +[Illustration] + +The colonel, Fitz, and the English agent were still in their +rooms,--three pairs of polished shoes outside their several doors +bearing silent witness to the fact,--and the only person stirring was +a pleasant-faced negro woman with white apron and gay-colored bandana, +who was polishing the parlor floor with a long brush, her little +pickaninny astraddle on the broom end for weight. + +I pushed aside the hanging vines, sat down on one of the wooden benches, +and looked about me. This, then, was Carter Hall! + +The house itself bore evidence of having once been a stately home. It +was of plaster stucco, yellow washed, peeled and broken in places, +with large dormer windows and sloping roof, one end of which was +smothered in a tangle of Virginia creeper and trumpet vine climbing +to the very chimney-top. + +In front there stretched away what had once been a well-kept lawn, now +a wild of coarse grass broken only by the curving line of the driveway +and bordered by a row of Lombardy poplars with here and there a +gap,--bitten out by hungry camp-fires. + +To the right rose a line of hills increasing in height as they melted +into the morning haze, and to the left lay an old-fashioned garden,--one +great sweep of bloom. With the wind over it, and blowing your way, you +were steeped in roses. + +I began unconsciously to recall to myself all the traditions of this +once famous house. + +Yes, there must be the window where Nancy waved good-by to her lover, +and there were the flower-beds into which he had fallen headlong from +his horse,--only a desolate corner now with the grass and tall weeds +grown quite up to the scaling wall, and the wooden shutters tightly +closed. I wondered whether they had ever been opened since. + +And there under my eyes stood the very step where Chad had helped his +old master from his horse the day his sweetheart Henny had been +purchased from Judge Barbour, and close to the garden gate were the +negro quarters where they had begun their housekeeping. I thought I +knew the very cabin. + +And that line of silver glistening in the morning light must be the +river Tench, and the bend near the willows the spot where the colonel +would build the iron bridge with the double span, and across and beyond +on the plateau, backed by the hills, the site of the future city of +Fairfax. + +I left my seat, strolled out into the garden, crossed the grass jeweled +with dew, and filled my lungs with the odor of the sweet box bordering +the beds,--a rare delight in these days of modern gardens. Suddenly +I came upon a wide straw hat and a broad back bending among the bushes. +It was Chad. + +"Mawnin', Major; fust fox out de hole, is yer? Lawd a massey, ain't +I glad ter git back to my ole mist'ess! Lan' sakes alive! I ain't slep' +none all night a-thinkin' ober it. You ain't seen my Henny? Dat was +her sister's chile rubbin' down de flo'. She come ober dis mawnin' ter +help, so many folks here. Wait till I git a basket ob dese yer ole +pink rose-water roses. See how I snip 'em short? Know what I'm gwineter +do wid 'em? Sprinkle 'em all ober de tablecloth. I lay dey ain't nobody +done dat for my mist'ess since I been gone. But, Major,"--here Chad +laid down the basket on the garden walk and looked at me with a serious +air,--"I done got dat coal lan' business down to a fine p'int. I was +up dis mawnin' 'fo' daylight, an' I foun' dat rock, an' de crotch is +dar yit; I scrape de moss offen it myself; an' I foun' de tree too. +I ain't sayin' nuffin', but jes you wait till after breakfas' an' dey +all go out lookin' for de coal! Jes you wait, dat's all! Chad's on his +own cabin flo' now. Can't fool dis chile no mo'." + +This was good news so far as it went. Our sudden exodus from Bedford +Place had been determined upon immediately after Chad's dismal failure +to locate the coal-field: Fitz having carried the day against Yancey, +Kerfoot, and even the agent himself, who was beginning to waver under +the accumulation of uncertainties. + +"Dat's enough roses to bury up de dishes. Rub yo' nose down in 'em. +Ain't dey sweet! Now, come along wid me, Major. I done tole Henny 'bout +you an' de tar'pins an' de times de gemmen had. Dis way, Major; won't +take a minute, an' ef ye all go back to-night,--an' I yerd Mister +Englishman say _he_ got to go,--you mightn't hab anudder chance. +Henny's cookin', ye know. Dis way. Step underdat honeysuckle!" +I looked through an open door and into a dingy, smoke-dried interior, +ceiled with heavy rafters, and hung with herbs, red peppers, onions, +and the like. This was lighted by three small windows, and furnished +with a row of dressers filled with crockery and kitchen ware, and +permeated by that savory smell which presages a generous breakfast On +one side of the fireplace rested the great hominy mortar, cut from a +tree trunk, found in all Virginia kitchens, and on the other the +universal brick oven with its iron doors,--the very doors, I thought, +that had closed over Chad's goose when Henny was a girl. Between the +mortar and the oven opened, or rather caverned, a fireplace as wide +as the colonel's hospitality, and high and deep enough to turn a coach +in. It really covered one end of the room. + +Bending over the swinging crane hung with pots and fringed with +hooks,--baited so often with good dinners,--stood an old woman with +bent back, her gray head bound up with a yellow handkerchief. + +"Henny, de major made a special p'int o' cumin' to see ye 'fo' he gits +his break-fas'." + +She looked up and dropped me a curtsey. + +"Mawnin', marsa. I ain't much ter see, I'm so ole an' mizzble wid dese +yer cricks in my back an' sich a passel o' white folks. How did my +Chad git along up dar 'mong de Yankees?" + +[Illustration] + +I gave Chad so good a character that every tooth in his head came out +on dress parade, and was about to draw from Henny some of her own +experiences,--this loyal old servant whose life from her girlhood to +her old age had been one of the romantic traditions of the roof that +sheltered her,--when Chad, who had gone out with the roses, returned +with the news that the colonel and his guests were breathing the morning +air on the front porch, and were much disturbed over my prolonged +absence. + +The colonel caught sight of me as I rounded the corner, Fitz and the +agent joining in his outburst of hilarious welcome, intoxicated as +they all were with the elixir of that most exhilarating of all +hours--the hour before breakfast of a summer morning in the country. + +"Welcome, my dear Major," called the colonel; "a hearty welcome to +Caarter Hall! Come up here where you can get a view of Fairfax, suh!" +and by the time I had mounted the steps he was leaning over the railing, +with Fitz on the one side and the agent on the other, sweeping the +horizon with his index finger and drawing imaginary curves and building +bridges and locating railroad stations in the air with as much +confidence and hope as if he really saw the gangs of laborers at work +across the fields, their shovels glinting in the dazzling sunlight. + +"Jes cast yo' eyes, suh,"--this to the agent,--"and tell me, suh, if +you have ever in yo' world-wide experience seen such a location for +a great city. Level as a flo', watered by the Tench, and sheltered by +a line of hills that are beauty itself--it is made for it, suh!" + +The agent did full justice to the natural advantages and then asked:-- + +"Is the coal in that range?" + +"No, suh; the coal is behind us on an outlyin' spur. I will take you +there after breakfast." + +And then followed a brief description of the changes the war had made +in the homestead, the burning of the barns, the abandonment of the +quarters, the destruction of the lawns--"A yard for their damnable +wagons, suh;" the colonel pointing out with great delight the very +dent in the ridge where General Early had ridden through and captured +the whole detachment without the loss of a man. + +While we were talking that same rustling of silk that I had learned +to know so well in Bedford Place was heard in the hall, then a sweet, +cheery voice giving some directions to Chad, and the next instant dear +aunt Nancy--Fitz and I had long since dared to call her so--floated +(she never seemed to walk) out upon the porch with a word and a curtsey +to the agent, a hand each to Fitz and me, and a kiss for the colonel. + +Then came the breakfast, and such a breakfast! The outpourings of a +Virginia kitchen, with the table showered with roses, and the great +urn shining and smoking, and the relays of waffles and corn-bread and +broiled chicken; all in the old-fashioned dining-room, with its high +wainscoting, spindle--legged sideboards, and deep window seats; the +long moon-faced clock in the corner-and the rest of it! After that the +quiet smoke under the vine-covered end of the portico with the view +towards Cartersville. + +"There comes the jedge," said the colonel, pointing to a cloud of dust +following a two-wheel gig, "and Major Yancey behind on horseback." +(They had both been dropped outside their respective garden gates the +night before.) "Now, gentlemen, as soon as my attorney arrives with +the surveys and deeds we will adjourn to my library and locate this +coal-field." + +Yancey's horse proved, on closer inspection, to be the remnant of an +army mule with a moth-eaten mane and a polished tail bare of hair--worn +off, no doubt, in a lifelong struggle with the Fairfax County fly. The +major was without the luxury of a saddle, some one having borrowed the +only one the owner of the mule possessed, and his breeches, in +consequence, were half way up his knees. The judge arrived in better +shape, the gig being his own and fairly comfortable,--the same he rode +to circuit, a yellow-painted vehicle washed only when it rained,--and +the horse the property of the village livery man, who had a yearly +contract with his Honor for its use. + +[Illustration] + +Chad was waiting on the flagstones surrounded by some stray pickaninnies +when the procession stopped, and assisted the major to alight, with +as much form and ceremony as if he had been the best mounted gentleman +in the land. The saddleless fragment was then led to a supporting +fence. The judicial equipage was accorded the luxury of a shed, where +the annual contract was served with a full measure of oats--Chad's +recognition of his more exalted station. + +The judge bowed gracefully and with great dignity, and with the air +of a chief justice entering the court room; then preceding the colonel +and his guests,--without a word having fallen from his lips,--he +entered a small room opening into the parlor. There he placed upon a +chair certain mysterious-looking packages, long and otherwise, one a +tin case, which he uncapped, spreading its contents upon a table. + +It proved to be another and larger map than the one Chad had pored +over, and showed distinctly the boundary lines between two dots marked +"Oak" and "Rock" dividing the Carter and Barbour estates. + +Up to this time Fitz and the agent had preserved the outward appearance +of two idle gentlemen visiting a friend in the country, with no interest +beyond the fresh air and the environments of a charming hospitality. +With the unrolling of this map, however, and the discovery of the very +boundary points insisted on by Chad in Bedford Place, their excitement +could hardly be suppressed. The agent broke loose first. + +"Before we find out, Colonel Carter, to whom this coal belongs, which +may take some valuable time, I want to examine the quality of the vein +itself. I would like to go now." + +"By all means, suh; and my people shall go with us," said the colonel, +turning to Kerfoot with instructions to bring Chad and all the maps +later.--Yancey excused himself on the ground of the heat. Then donning +a wide straw hat and picking up a cane,--something he never used in +New York,--the colonel led the way through the rear door, across a +stone wall, and up a hill covered with a second growth of timber. + +The experienced eye of the Englishman took in the lay of the land at +a glance, and beckoning Fitz to one side he stooped and picked something +from the ground which he examined carefully with a magnifying glass. +Then they both disappeared hurriedly over the hill. + +When they returned, half an hour later, the perspiration was rolling +from the agent, and Fitz's eyes were blazing. Both were loaded down +with bundles of broken bits of rock, tied up in their several +handkerchiefs, large enough to start a geological collection in a +country museum. + +"What is it, Fitz--diamonds?" I said, laughing. + +"Yes; black ones at that." He was almost breathless. "Solid bed of +bituminous! Clear down to China! Don't breathe a word yet, for your +life!" + +The agent was calmer. The coal-bed, he said, seemed to be of more than +ordinary richness, and as far as he could judge lay in a vein of +generous width. He was ready for the survey, and would like the boundary +points located at once. + +The next instant Chad's head peered through the tangled underbrush. +He carried the roll of maps, the judge, who followed, contenting himself +with a package tied with red tape. + +The old darky's face was one broad grin from ear to ear. + +The judge unrolled a map and placed it on a flat rock with a stone at +each corner. Then he untied the package, selected an ink-stained and +faded document marked "Deed--John Carter to E. A. Barbour," and ran +his eye along the quaint page, reading as he went:-- + +Starting from an oak, blazed diamond C, along a line S. E. to a rock +marked C cross B, C+B, in all a distance of 1437 linear feet. + +"Now, Chad, we will fust find the tree," said the judge, looking around +for his map-bearer. "Where's that nigger? Chad!" + +The old man had disappeared as completely as if the earth had swallowed +him up. The next minute we heard a faint halloo below us near the edge +of a small swamp. A man was waving his hat and shouting:-- + +"Eve'ybody come yer!" + +Fitz started on a run, and the agent and I followed on the double-quick. +At the end of a crooked stone wall, half surrounded by water, was a +great spreading oak, its branches reaching half way across the narrow +marsh. Within touching distance of the yielding ground stood Chad +pointing to a smooth blaze, stained and overgrown with lichen. + +It bore this mark, [C in a diamond]! + +"It tallies to a dot. Now, Chad, the rock! the rock!" said Fitz, hardly +able to contain himself. + +The darky pointed straight up the hill, the sky line of which could +be seen entire from where we stood, and indicated an isolated rock +jutting out above the tree-tops. + +I thought Fitz would have hugged him. + +"How do you know it is the rock with the crotch in it? Speak, you +grinning lunatic!" + +"I was dar dis mawnin' by daylight." + +"What's it marked?" said Fitz, catching him by both shoulders. "What's +it marked? Quick!" + +"Wid a C an' a cross an' a B--so." And the old man traced it with his +finger in the mud. + +"Every pound of coal on the colonel's land!" said Fitz, with a yell +that brought his host and Kerfoot as fast as their legs could carry +them. + +"Stop!" said Kerfoot. "This only settles the Caarter and Barbour +division. There was another division here a year ago between Miss Ann +Caarter and the colonel. With that I am mo' familiar, for I drew the +deeds, which are here," holding up a bundle; "and I was also present +with the surveyor. You are wrong, Mr. Fitzpatrick; this entire hill +outside the Barbour division is Miss Ann Caarter's, and the coal is +on her land. The colonel's portion is back there along the Tench." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +_The Englishman's Check_ + + +An hour later I found Fitz flat on the grass under one of the +apple-trees behind the house, completely broken up by the discoveries +of the morning. + +After all his work, here was the colonel worse off than ever. Nobody +could tell what a woman would do. Aunt Nancy was better than the average +(Fitz was a bachelor), but then she had peculiar old family notions +about selling land, and ten chances to one she would not sell a foot +of it, and there right in the house sat a man with his pocket full of +blank checks, any one of which was good for a million of pounds +sterling. Even if she did sell it, she would pension the dear old +fellow off on a stipend instead of an establishment. He wanted somebody +to dig a hole and cover Fitzpatrick up. Anybody could see that the +railroad scheme was deader than a last year's pass, the farm hopeless, +and the house fast becoming a ruin. It was enough to make a man jump +off a dock. + +Fitz's tirade was interrupted by Chad, who appeared with a message. +The colonel wanted everybody in the library. + +When we entered, the judge occupied the head of the table, surrounded +by law papers, all of which were opened. The agent was bending over +him, reading attentively, and entering extracts in his notebook. Every +one became seated. + +"Mr. Fitzpatrick," said the agent, "I have spent an hour with Judge +Kerfoot going over the title of this property, and I am prepared to +make a proposition for its purchase. I have reduced it to +writing,"--picking up a half-sheet of foolscap from the table,--"and +I submit it to the owners through you." + +Fitz read it without changing a muscle, and handed it to the colonel. +Yancey and the judge craned forward to catch the first syllables. + +The colonel read it to the end, getting paler and paler as its meaning +became clear, and then, with a certain pathos in his voice that was +childlike, it was so genuine, said:-- + +"If this is accepted, I presume, suh, you will not look any further +into my road?" + +"You are right. My instructions cover only the purchase of this deposit. +I have room for only one operation." + +The colonel rose from his chair, steadied himself on the low +window-sill, and looked out across the Tench. The silence was +oppressive--only the ticking of the clock in the next room and the +bees among the flowers outside. + +"Wait until I return," he said, crumpling the paper. + +In a moment he was back, leading in his aunt by the hand. Miss Nancy +entered with a half-puzzled look on her face, which deepened into +certain anxiety as she began to realize the pronounced formality of +the proceedings. The colonel cleared his throat impressively. + +"Nancy, an investigation begun in New York by my dear friend Fitz, and +completed here to-day, results in the discov'ry that what you have +always considered as slight outcroppin's of coal, and wuthless, is +really of vehy great value." The colonel here unbuttoned his coat, and +threw out his chest. "A syndicate of English capitalists have, through +our guest, offered you the sum of one hundred thousand dollars for the +coal-hill, with a royalty of ten cents per ton for every ton mined +over a certain amount, one thousand dollars to be paid now and the +balance on the search of title and signin' of the contract. I believe +I have stated it correctly, suh?" + +The agent bowed his head, and scrutinized Miss Nancy's face with the +eye of a hawk. + +The dear lady sank into a chair. For a moment she lost her breath. +Yancey handed her a fan with a quickness of movement never seen in him +before, and the colonel continued:-- + +"This will of course still leave you, Nancy, this house and about half +of the farm property transferred to you by me at the fo'closure sale." + +The little woman looked from one to the other in a dazed sort of way, +and her eye rested on Fitz. + +"What shall I do, Mr. Fitzpatrick? It seems to me a grave step to sell +any part of the estate." + +Fitz blushed at the mark of her confidence, and said that with the +royalty clause he thought the proposition a favorable one. + +"And you, George?" turning to the colonel. + +The colonel bowed his head. He must advise its acceptance. + +"When do you want an answer, sir?" + +"To-day, Madam," said the Englishman, who had not taken his eyes from +her face. + +"You shall have it in half an hour," she said gently, then rose hastily, +and left the room. + +I looked at the colonel. Whatever great wave of disappointment had +swept over him when his own idol was broken, there was no trace of it +in his face. Even the change this sudden influx of wealth into the +family might make in his own condition never seemed to have crossed +his mind. He did not follow her. He simply waited. Between his own +plans and his aunt's good fortune there was but one course for him. + +The room took on the whispered silence of a court awaiting an overdue +jury. Fitz was still incredulous and still anxious, saying to me in +an undertone that he felt sure she would either refuse it altogether +or couple it with some conditions that the agent could not accept; +either would be fatal. Yancey and the judge, who had been partly +paralyzed at the rapidity of the transaction, conferred in a corner, +while the agent proceeded to make a copy of the proposition with as +much composure as if he bought a coal-mine every day. The colonel sat +by himself, his chair tilted back, his eyes half closed. + +In the midst of this uncertainty Chad entered with a message. "Miss +Nancy wants de colonel." In five minutes more he entered with another. +Miss Nancy wanted Fitz and me. + +We followed the old servant up the winding staircase and down the long +hall, past the old-fashioned wardrobe and the great chintz-covered +lounge, waited until Chad knocked gently, and entered the dear lady's +bedroom. + +She sat near the window by the side of the high post bedstead, rocking +gently to and fro. The colonel was standing with his back to the light, +coat open, thumbs in his armholes, face beaming. + +"I sent for you," she began, "because I want you both to hear my answer +before I inform the agent. The land only was mine, and but for your +love and devotion to the colonel would still be a wild hill. The coal, +therefore, belongs to him. Go and tell the Englishman I accept his +offer. The land and all the coal I give to George." + + * * * * * + +When, an hour later, the transaction was complete, the receipts and +preliminary contracts signed, and the small, modest-looking check--the +first instalment--had been transferred from the plethoric bank-book +of the agent to the narrow, poverty-stricken pocket of the colonel, +and the fact began to dawn simultaneously upon everybody that at last +the dear old colonel was independent, an enthusiasm took possession +of the room that soon became uncontrollable. + +Fitz caught him in his arms, and began hugging him in a way that +endangered every rib in his body, calling out all the time that he had +never felt so good in all the days of his life. Yancey and Kerfoot, +who had stood one side appalled by the magnitude of the sum paid, and +who during the signing of the papers had looked at the colonel with +the same sort of silent awe with which they would have regarded any +other potentate rolling in estates, mines, and millions, broke through +the enforced reserve, and exclaimed, with an outburst, that the South +was looking up, and that a true Southern gentleman had come into his +own, the judge adding with emphasis that the colonel had never looked +so much like his noble father as when he stooped over and signed that +receipt. Even the Englishman, hard, practical fellow that he was, +congratulated him on his good fortune in a few short words that jumped +out hot from his heart. + +With this atmosphere about him it is not to be wondered that the colonel +lost the true inwardness of the situation. The fact that his aunt's +boundary line included every acre of valuable land on the plantation, +while his own poor portion only bordered the Tench, was to him simply +one of those trifling errors which sometimes occur in the partition +of vast landed estates. And although when the gift was made he felt +more than ever her loving-kindness, he could not now, on more mature +reflection and after hearing the encomiums of his friends, really see +how she could have pursued any other course. + +And yet, with the sale accomplished and he rich beyond his wildest +dreams, he was precisely the same man in bearing, manner, and speech +that he had been in his impecunious days in Bedford Place. He was rich +then--in hopes, in plans, in the reality of his dreamland. He was no +richer now. The check in his pocket made no difference. + +The only perceptible change was when he recounted to me his plans for +the restoration of the homestead and the comfort of its inmates. "I +shall rebuild the barns and cabins, and lay out a new lawn. The +po'ch"--looking up--"needs some repairs, and the ca'iage-house must +be enlarged. The coaching days are not over yet, Major; Nancy must +have"-- + +Chad, entering with a luncheon for the exhausted circle, diverted the +colonel's train of thought, cutting short his summary. For a moment +he watched his old servant musingly, then following him into the next +room he called him to one side, and with marked tenderness in his +manner unfolded the Englishman's check. + +The old servant put down the empty tray, adjusted his spectacles, and +examined it carefully. + +"What's dis, Marsa George?" + +"A thousand dollars, Chad." + +"Golly! Monst'ous quare kind o' money. Jes a scrap. Ain't big enough +to wad a gun, is she? An' Misser Englishman gib ye dis for dat ole +brier patch?" + +Chad was trembling all over, full to the very eyelids. + +The colonel held out his hand. The old servant bent his head, his +master's hand fast in his. Then their eyes met. + +"Yes, Chad, for you and me. There's no hard work for you any mo', old +man. Go and tell Henny." + +That night at dinner, Fitz on the colonel's right, the Englishman next +to aunt Nancy, Kerfoot, Yancey, and I disposed in regular order, Chad +noiseless and attentive, the colonel arose in his chair, radiant to +the very tip ends of his cravat, and, in a voice which trembled as it +rose, said:-- + +"Gentlemen, the events of the day have unexpectedly brought me an +influx of wealth far beyond my brightest anticipations. This is due +in great measure to the untirin' brain and vast commercial resources +of my dear friend Mr. Fitzpatrick, who has labored with me durin' my +sojourn Nawth in the development of these properties, and who now, +with that unselfishness which characterizes his life, refuses to accept +any share in the result. + +"They have also strengthened the tie existin' between my old friend +the major on my left, who oftentimes when the day was darkest has +cheered me by his counsel and companionship. + +"But, gentlemen, they have done mo'." The colonel's feet now barely +touched the floor. "They have enabled me to provide for one of the +loveliest of her sex,--she who graces our boa'd,--and to enrich her +declinin' days not only with all the comforts, but with many of the +luxuries she was bawn to enjoy." + +"Fill yo' glasses, gentlemen, and drink to the health of that greatest +of all blessings,--a true Southern lady!" + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Colonel Carter of Cartersville, by +F. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Colonel Carter of Cartersville + +Author: F. Hopkinson Smith + +Release Date: October, 2004 [EBook #6743] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on January 20, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COLONEL CARTER OF CARTERSVILLE *** + + + + +Produced by Phil McLaury, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +COLONEL CARTER OF CARTERSVILLE + +BY F. HOPKINSON SMITH + + + +I dedicate this book to the memory of my counselor and my +friend,--that most delightful of story-tellers, that most charming of +comrades,--my dear old Mother; whose early life was spent near +the shade of the Colonel's porch, and whose keen enjoyment of the +stories between these covers--stories we have so often laughed over +together--is still among my pleasantest recollections. + +F. H. S. + +New York, May, 1891. + + + + +CONTENTS AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + "My fire is my friend." + +I. THE COLONEL'S HOUSE IN BEDFORD PLACE. + + The Street Entrance. + + Chad "dishin' the Dinner." + + "Gentlemen, a true Southern lady." + + Fitz. + +II. THE GARDEN SPOT OF VIRGINIA SEEKS AN OUTLET TO THE SEA. + + "Chad was groaning under a square wicker basket." + + "The little negroes around the door." + +III. AN OLD FAMILY SERVANT. + + "Who's that?" + + The old Clock Tower. + + Mister Grocerman. + +IV. THE ARRIVAL OF A TRUE SOUTHERN LADY. + +V. AN ALLUSION TO A YELLOW DOG. + + The Colonel's Office. + + The Advance Agent. + + The Nervous Man. + +VI. CERTAIN IMPORTANT LETTERS. + + "Like an ebony Statue of Liberty." + +VII. THE OUTCOME OF A COUNCIL OF WAR. + + "Down a flight of stone steps." + + +VIII. A HIGH SENSE OF HONOR. + + "Klutchem looked at him in perfect astonishment." + +IX. A VISIT OF CEREMONY. + + The Colonel's Door. + +X. CHAD IN SEARCH OF A COAL-FIELD. + +XI. CHAD ON HIS OWN CABIN FLOOR. + + Polishing the Parlor Floor. + + Henny. + + Some Stray Pickaninnies. + +XII. The ENGLISHMAN'S CHECK. + + + + + +CHAPTER I + +_The Colonel's House in Bedford Place_ + +The dinner was at the colonel's--an old-fashioned, partly furnished, +two-story house nearly a century old which crouches down behind a +larger and more modern dwelling fronting on Bedford Place within a +stone's throw of the tall clock tower of Jefferson Market. + +The street entrance to this curious abode is marked by a swinging +wooden gate opening into a narrow tunnel which dodges under the front +house. It is an uncanny sort of passageway, mouldy and wet from a +long-neglected leak overhead, and is lighted at night by a rusty lantern +with dingy glass sides. + +On sunny days this gruesome tunnel frames from the street a delightful +picture of a bit of the yard beyond, with the quaint colonial door and +its three steps let down in a welcoming way. + +Its retired location and shabby entrance brought it quite within the +colonel's income, and as the rent was not payable in advance, and the +landlord patient, he had surrounded himself not only with all the +comforts but with many of the luxuries of a more pretentious home. In +this he was assisted by his negro servant Chad,--an abbreviation of +Nebuchadnezzar,--who was chambermaid, cook, butler, body-servant, and +boots, and who by his marvelous tales of the magnificence of "de old +fambly place in Caartersville" had established a credit among the +shopkeepers on the avenue which would have been denied a much more +solvent customer. + +To this hospitable retreat I wended my way in obedience to one of the +colonel's characteristic notes:-- + +No. 51 BEDFORD PLACE +_Friday._ + +Everything is booming--Fitz says the scheme will take like the +measles--dinner tomorrow at six--don't be late. + +CARTER. + +The colonel had written several similar notes that week,--I lived but +a few streets away,--all on the spur of the moment, and all expressive +of his varying moods and wants; the former suggested by his unbounded +enthusiasm over his new railroad scheme, and the latter by such requests +as these: "Will you lend me half a dozen napkins--mine are all in the +wash, and I want enough to carry me over Sunday. Chad will bring, with +your permission, the extra pair of andirons you spoke of." Or, "Kindly +hand Chad the two magazines and a corkscrew." + +[Illustration] + +Of course Chad always tucked them under his arm, and carried them away, +for nobody ever refused the colonel anything--nobody who loved him. +As for himself, he would have been equally generous in return, and +have emptied his house, and even his pocketbook, in my behalf, had +that latter receptacle been capable of further effort. Should this +have been temporarily overstrained,--and it generally was,--he would +have promptly borrowed the amount of the nearest friend, and then have +rubbed his hands and glowed all day with delight at being able to +relieve my necessity. + +"I am a Virginian, suh. Command me," was his way of putting it. + +So to-night I pushed open the swinging door, felt my way along the +dark passage, and crossed the small yard choked with snow at the precise +minute when the two hands of the great clock in the tall tower pointed +to six. + +The door was opened by Chad. + +"Walk right in, suh; de colonel's in de dinin'-room." + +Chad was wrong. The colonel was at that moment finishing his toilet +upstairs, in what he was pleased to call his "dressing-room," his +cheery voice announcing that fact over the balusters as soon as he +heard my own, coupled with the additional information that he would +be down in five minutes. + +What a cosy charming interior, this dining-room of the colonel's! It +had once been two rooms, and two very small ones at that, divided by +folding doors. From out the rear one there had opened a smaller room +answering to the space occupied by the narrow hall and staircase in +front. All the interior partitions and doors dividing these three rooms +had been knocked away at some time in its history, leaving an L interior +having two windows in front and three in the rear. + +Some one of its former occupants, more luxurious than the others, had +paneled the walls of this now irregular-shaped apartment with a dark +wood running half way to the low ceiling badly smoked and blackened +by time, and had built two fireplaces--an open wood fire which laughed +at me from behind my own andirons, and an old-fashioned English grate +set into the chimney with wide hobs--convenient and necessary for the +various brews and mixtures for which the colonel was famous. + +Midway, equally warmed by both fires, stood the table, its centre +freshened by a great dish of celery white and crisp, with covers for +three on a snow-white cloth resplendent in old India blue, while at +each end shone a pair of silver coasters,--heirlooms from Carter +Hall,--one holding a cut-glass decanter of Madeira, the other awaiting +its customary bottle of claret. + +On the hearth before the wood fire rested a pile of plates, also +Indiablue, and on the mantel over the grate stood a row of bottles +adapting +themselves, like all good foreigners, to the rigors of our climate. +Add a pair of silver candelabra with candles,--the colonel despised +gas,--dark red curtains drawn close, three or four easy chairs, a few +etchings and sketches loaned from my studio, together with a modest +sideboard at the end of the L, and you have the salient features of +a room so inviting and restful that you wanted life made up of one +long dinner, continually served within its hospitable walls. + +But I hear the colonel calling down the back stairs:-- + +"Not a minute over eighteen, Chad. You ruined those ducks last Sunday." + +The next moment he had me by both hands. + +"My dear Major, I am pa'alized to think I kep' you waitin'. Just up +from my office. Been workin' like a slave, suh. Only five minutes to +dress befo' dinner. Have a drop of sherry and a dash of bitters, or +shall we wait for Fitzpatrick? No? All right! He should have been here +befo' this. You don't know Fitz? Most extraord'nary man; a great mind, +suh; literature, science, politics, finance, everything at his fingers' +ends. He has been of the greatest service to me since I have been in +New York in this railroad enterprise, which I am happy to say is now +reachin' a culmination. You shall hear all about it after dinner. Put +yo' body in that chair and yo' feet on the fender--my fire and yo' +fender! No, Fitz's fender and yo' andirons! Charmin' combination!" + +It is always one of my delights to watch the colonel as he busies +himself about the room, warming a big chair for his guests, punching +the fire, brushing the sparks from the pile of plates, and testing the +temperature of the claret lovingly with the palms of his hands. + +He is perhaps fifty years of age, tall and slightly built. His iron +gray hair is brushed straight back from his forehead, overlapping his +collar behind. His eyes are deep-set and twinkling; nose prominent; +cheeks slightly sunken; brow wide and high; and chin and jaw strong +and marked. His moustache droops over a firm, well-cut mouth and unites +at its ends with a gray goatee which rests on his shirt front. + +Like most Southerners living away from great cities his voice is soft +and low, and tempered with a cadence that is delicious. + +He wears a black broadcloth coat,--a double-breasted garment,--with +similar colored waistcoat and trousers, a turn-down collar, a shirt +of many plaits which is under-starched and over-wrinkled but always +clean, large cuffs very much frayed, a narrow black or white tie, and +low shoes with white cotton stockings. + +This black broadcloth coat, by the way, is quite the most interesting +feature of the colonel's costume. So many changes are constantly made +in its general make-up that you never quite believe it is the same +ill-buttoned, shiny garment until you become familiar with its +possibilities. + +When the colonel has a funeral or other serious matter on his mind, +this coat is buttoned close up under his chin showing only the upper +edge of his white collar, his gaunt throat and the stray end of a black +cravat. When he is invited to dinner he buttons it lower down, revealing +as well a bit of his plaited shirt, and when it is a wedding this old +stand-by is thrown wide open discovering a stiff, starched, white +waistcoat with ivory buttons and snowy neck-cloth. + +These several make-ups used once to surprise me, and I often found +myself insisting that the looseness and grace with which this garment +flapped about the colonel's thin legs was only possible in a brand-new +coat having all the spring and lightness of youth in its seams. I was +always mistaken. I had only to look at the mis-mated buttons and the +raveled edge of the lining fringing the tails. It was the same coat. + +The colonel wore to-night the lower-button style with the white tie. +It was indeed the adjustment of this necessary article which had +consumed the five minutes passed in his dressing-room, slightly +lengthened by the time necessary to trim his cuffs--a little nicety +which he rarely overlooked and which it mortified him to forget. + +What a frank, generous, tender-hearted fellow he is: happy as a boy; +hospitable to the verge of beggary; enthusiastic as he is visionary; +simple as he is genuine. A Virginian of good birth, fair education, +and limited knowledge of the world and of men, proud of his ancestry, +proud of his State, and proud of himself; believing in states' rights, +slavery, and the Confederacy; and away down in the bottom of his soul +still clinging to the belief that the poor white trash of the earth +includes about everybody outside of Fairfax County. + +With these antecedents it is easy to see that his "reconstruction" is +as hopeless as that of the famous Greek frieze, outwardly whole andyet +always a patchwork. So he chafes continually under what he believes +to be the tyranny and despotism of an undefined autocracy, which, in +a general way, he calls "the Government," but which really refers to +the distribution of certain local offices in his own immediate vicinity. + +When he hands you his card it bears this unabridged inscription:-- + + Colonel George Fairfax Carter, + of Carter Hall, + Cartersville, Virginia. + +He omits "United States of America," simply because it would add nothing +to his identity or his dignity. + + * * * * * + +"There's Fitz," said the colonel as a sharp double knock sounded at +the outer gate; and the next instant a stout, thick-set, round-faced +man of forty, with merry, bead-like eyes protected by big-bowed +spectacles, pushed open the door, and peered in good-humoredly. + +The colonel sprang forward and seized him by both shoulders. + +"What the devil do you mean, Fitz, by comin' ten minutes late? Don't +you know, suh, that the burnin' of a canvasback is a crime? + +"Stuck in the snow? Well, I'll forgive you this once, but Chad won't. +Give me yo' coat--bless me! it is as wet as a setter dog. Now put yo' +belated carcass into this chair which I have been warmin' for you, +right next to my dearest old friend, the Major. Major, Fitz!--Fitz, +the Major! Take hold of each other. Does my heart good to get you both +together. Have you brought a copy of the prospectus of our railroad? +You know I want the Major in with us on the groun' flo'. But after +dinner--not a word befo'." + +This railroad was the colonel's only hope for the impoverished acres +of Carter Hall, but lately saved from foreclosure by the generosity +of his aunt, Miss Nancy Carter, who had redeemed it with almost all +her savings, the house and half of the outlying lands being, thereupon, +deeded to her. The other half reverted to the colonel. + +I explained to Fitz immediately after his hearty greeting that I was +a humble landscape painter, and not a major at all, having not the +remotest connection with any military organization whatever; but that +the colonel always insisted upon surrounding himself with a staff, and +that my promotion was in conformity with this habit. + +The colonel laughed, seized the poker, and rapped three times on the +floor. A voice from the kitchen rumbled up:-- + +"Comin', sah!" + +It was Chad "dishin' the dinner" below, his explanations increasing +in distinctness as he pushed the rear door open with his foot,--both +hands being occupied with the soup tureen which he bore aloft and +placed at the head of the table. + +[Illustration] + +In a moment more he retired to the outer hall and reappeared brilliant +in white jacket and apron. Then he ranged himself behind the colonel's +chair and with great dignity announced that dinner was served. + +"Come, Major! Fitz, sit where you can warm yo' back--you are not thawed +out yet. One minute, gentlemen,--an old custom of my ancestors which +I never omit." + +The blessing was asked with becoming reverence; there was a slight +pause, and then the colonel lifted the cover of the tureen and sent +a savory cloud of incense to the ceiling. + +The soup was a cream of something with baby crabs. There was also a +fish,--boiled,--with slices of hard boiled eggs fringing the dish, +ovaled by a hedge of parsley and supplemented by a pyramid of potatoes +with their jackets ragged as tramps. Then a ham, brown and crisp, and +bristling all over with cloves. + +Then the ducks! + +It was beautiful to see the colonel's face when Chad, with a bow like +a folding jack-knife, held this dish before him. + +"Lay 'em here, Chad--right under my nose. Now hand me that pile of +plates sizzlin' hot, and give that carvin' knife a turn or two across +the hearth. Major, dip a bit of celery in the salt and follow it with +a mou'ful of claret. It will prepare yo' palate for the kind of food +we raise gentlemen on down my way. See that red blood, suh, followin' +the knife!" + +"Suit you, marsa?" Chad never forgot his slave days. +"To a turn, Chad,--I wouldn't take a thousand dollars for you," replied +the colonel, relapsing as unconsciously into an old habit. + +It was not to be wondered at that the colonel loved a good dinner. To +dine well was with him an inherited instinct; one of the necessary +preliminaries to all the important duties in life. To share with you +his last crust was a part of his religion; to eat alone, a crime. + +"There, Major," said the colonel as Chad laid the smoking plate before +me, "is the breast of a bird that fo' days ago was divin' for wild +celery within fo'ty miles of Caarter Hall. My dear old aunt Nancy sends +me a pair every week, bless her sweet soul! Fill yo' glasses and let +us drink to her health and happiness." Here the colonel rose from his +chair: "Gentlemen, the best thing on this earth--a true Southern lady! + +"Now, Chad, the red pepper." + +[Illustration] + +"No jelly, Colonel?" said Fitz, with an eye on the sideboard. + +"Jelly? No, suh; not a suspicion of it. A pinch of salt, a dust +ofcayenne, then shut yo' eyes and mouth, and don't open them 'cept for +a drop of good red wine. It is the salt marsh in the early mornin' +that you are tastin', suh,--not molasses candy. You Nawtherners don't +really treat a canvasback with any degree of respect. You ought never +to come into his presence when he lies in state without takin' off yo' +hats. That may be one reason why he skips over the Nawthern States +when he takes his annual fall outin'." And he laughed heartily. + +"But you use it on venison?" argued Fitz. + +"Venison is diff'ent, suh. That game lives on moose buds, the soft +inner bark of the sugar maple, and the tufts of sweet grass. There is +a propriety and justice in his endin' his days smothered in sweets; but +the wild duck, suh, is bawn of the salt ice, braves the storm, and +lives a life of peyil and hardship. You don't degrade a' oyster, a +soft shell crab, or a clam with confectionery; why a canvasback duck? + +"Now, Chad, serve coffee." + +The colonel pushed back his chair, and opened a drawer in a table on +his right, producing three small clay pipes with reed stems and a +buckskin bag of tobacco. This he poured out on a plate, breaking the +coarser grains with the palms of his hands, and filling the pipes with +the greatest care. + +Fitz watched him curiously, and when he reached for the third pipe, +said:-- + +"No, Colonel, none for me; smoke a cigar--got a pocketful." + +"Smoke yo' own cigars, will you, and in the presence of a Virginian? +I don't believe you have got a drop of Irish blood left in yo' veins, +or you would take this pipe." + +"Too strong for me," remonstrated Fitz. + +"Throw that villainous device away, I say, Fitz, and surprise yo' +nostrils with a whiff of this. Virginia tobacco, suh,--raised at +Cartersville,--cured by my own servants. No? Well, you will, Major. +Here, try that; every breath of it is a nosegay," said the colonel, +turning to me. + +"But, Colonel," continued Fitz, with a sly twinkle in his eye, "your +tobacco pays no tax. With a debt like ours it is the duty of every +good citizen to pay his share of it. Half the cost of this cigar goes +to the Government." + +It was a red flag to the colonel, and he laid down his pipe and faced +Fitz squarely. + +"Tax! On our own productions, suh! Raised on our own land! Are you +again forgettin' that you are an Irishman and becomin' one of these +money-makin' Yankees? Haven't we suffe'd enough--robbed of our +property, our lands confiscated, our slaves torn from us; nothin' left +but our honor and the shoes we stand in!" + +[Illustration] + +The colonel on cross-examination could not locate any particular +wholesale robbery, but it did not check the flow of his indignation. + +"Take, for instance, the town of Caartersville: look at that peaceful +village which for mo' than a hundred years has enjoyed the privileges +of free government; and not only Caartersville, but all our section +of the State." + +"Well, what's the matter with Cartersville?" asked Fitz, lighting his +cigar. + +"Mattah, suh! Just look at the degradation it fell into hardly ten +years ago. A Yankee jedge jurisdictin' our laws, a Yankee sheriff +enfo'cin' 'em, and a Yankee postmaster distributin' letters and sellin' +postage stamps." + +"But they were elected all right, Colonel, and represented the will +of the people." + +"What people? Yo' people, not mine. No, my dear Fitz; the Administration +succeeding the war treated us shamefully, and will go down to postehity +as infamous." + +The colonel here left his chair and began pacing the floor, his +indignation rising at every step. + +"To give you an idea, suh," he continued, "of what we Southern people +suffe'd immediately after the fall of the Confederacy, let me state +a case that came under my own observation. + +"Colonel Temple Talcott of F'okeer County, Virginia, came into +Talcottville one mornin', suh,--a town settled by his ancestors,--ridin' +upon his horse--or rather a mule belongin' to his overseer. Colonel +Talcott, suh, belonged to one of the vehy fust families in Virginia. +He was a son of Jedge Thaxton Talcott, and grandson of General Snowden +Stafford Talcott of the Revolutionary War. Now, suh, let me tell you +right here that the Talcott blood is as blue as the sky, and that every +gentleman bearin' the name is known all over the county as a man whose +honor is dearer to him than his life, and whose word is as good as his +bond. Well, suh, on this mornin' Colonel Talcott left his plantation +in charge of his overseer,--he was workin' it on shares,--and rode +through his estates to his ancestral town, some five miles distant. +It is true, suh, these estates were no longer in his name, but that +had no bearin' on the events that followed; he ought to have owned +them, and would have done so but for some vehy ungentlemanly fo'closure +proceedin's which occurred immediately after the war. + +"On arriving at Talcottville the colonel dismounted, handed the reins +to his servant,--or perhaps one of the niggers around the do',--and +entered the post-office. Now, suh, let me tell you that one month +befo', the Government, contrary to the express wishes of a great many +of our leadin' citizens, had sent a Yankee postmaster to Talcottville +to administer the postal affairs of that town. No sooner had this man +taken possession than he began to be exclusive, suh, and to put on +airs. The vehy fust air he put on was to build a fence in his office +and compel our people to transact their business through a hole. This +in itself was vehy gallin', suh, for up to that time the mail had +always been dumped out on the table in the stage office and every +gentleman had he'ped himself. The next thing was the closin' of his +mail bags at a' hour fixed by himself. This became a great inconvenience +to our citizens, who were often late in finishin' their correspondence, +and who had always found our former postmaster willin' either to hold +the bag over until the next day, or to send it across to Drummondtown +by a boy to catch a later train. + +"Well, suh, Colonel Talcott's mission to the post-office was to mail +a letter to his factor in Richmond, Virginia, on business of the utmost +importance to himself,--namely, the raisin' of a small loan upon his +share of the crop. Not the crop that was planted, suh, but the crop +that he expected to plant. +"Colonel Talcott approached the hole, and with that Chesterfieldian +manner which has distinguished the Talcotts for mo' than two centuries +asked the postmaster for the loan of a three-cent postage stamp. + +"To his astonishment, suh, he was refused. + +"Think of a Talcott in his own county town bein' refused a three-cent +postage stamp by a low-lived Yankee, who had never known a gentleman +in his life! The colonel's first impulse was to haul the scoundrel +through the hole and caarve him; but then he remembered that he was +a Talcott and could not demean himself, and drawin' himself up again +with that manner which was grace itself he requested the loan of a +three-cent postage stamp until he should communicate with his factor +in Richmond, Virginia; and again he was refused. Well, suh, what was +there left for a high-toned Southern gentleman to do? Colonel Talcott +drew his revolver and shot that Yankee scoundrel through the heart, +and killed him on the spot. + +"And now, suh, comes the most remarkable part of this story. If it had +not been for Major Tom Yancey, Jedge Kerfoot, and myself there would +have been a lawsuit." + +Fitz lay back in his chair and roared. + +"And they did not hang the colonel?" + +"Hang a Talcott! No, suh; we don't hang gentlemen down our way. Jedge +Kerfoot vehy properly charged the coroner's jury that it was a matter +of self-defense, and Colonel Talcott was not detained mo' than haalf +an hour." + +The colonel stopped, unlocked a closet in the sideboard, and produced +a black bottle labeled in ink, "Old Cherry Bounce, 1848." + +"You must excuse me, gentlemen, but the discussion of these topics has +quite unnerved me. Allow me to share with you a thimbleful." Fitz +drained his glass, cast his eyes upward, and said solemnly, "To the +repose of the postmaster's soul." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +_The Garden Spot of Virginia seeks an Outlet to the Sea_ + + +Chad was just entering the small gate which shut off the underground +passage when I arrived opposite the colonel's cozy quarters. I had +come to listen to the details of that booming enterprise with the +epidemic proclivities, the discussion of which had been cut short by +the length of time it had taken to kill the postmaster the night before. + +It was quite evident that the colonel expected guests, for Chad was +groaning under a square wicker basket, containing, among other luxuries +and necessities, half a dozen bottles of claret, a segment of cheese, +and some heads of lettuce; the whole surmounted by a clean +leather-covered pass-book inscribed with the name and avenue number +of the confiding and accommodating grocer who supplied the colonel's +daily wants. + +"De colonel an' Misser Fizpat'ic bofe waitin' for you, sah," said that +obsequious darky, preceding me through the dark passage. I followed, +mounted the old-fashioned wooden steps, and fell into the outstretched +arms of the colonel before I could touch the knocker. + +[Illustration] + +"Here he is, Fitz!" and the next instant I was sharing with that genial +gentleman the warmth of the colonel's fire. + +"Now then, Chad," called out the colonel, "take this lettuce and give +it a dip in the snow for five minutes; and here, Chad, befo' you go +hand me that claret. Bless my soul! it is as cold as a dog's nose; +Fitz, set it on the mantel. And hurry down to that mutton, Chad. Never +mind the basket. Leave it where it is." + +Chad chuckled out to me as he closed the door: "'Spec' I know mo' 'bout +dat saddle den de colonel. It ain't a-burnin' none." And the colonel, +satisfied now that Chad's hand had reached the oven door below, made +a vigorous attack on the blazing logs with the tongs, and sent a flight +of sparks scurrying up the chimney. + +There was always a glow and breeze and sparkle about the colonel's +fire that I found nowhere else. It partook to a certain extent of his +personality--open, bright, and with a great draft of enthusiasm always +rushing up a chimney of difficulties, buoyed up with the hope of the +broad clear of the heaven of success above. + +"My fire," he once said to me, "is my friend; and sometimes, my dear +boy, when you are all away and Chad is out, it seems my only friend. +After it talks to me for hours we both get sleepy together, and I cover +it up with its gray blanket of ashes and then go to bed myself. Ah, +Major! when you are gettin' old and have no wife to love you and no +children to make yo' heart glad, a wood fire full of honest old logs, +every one of which is doing its best to please you, is a great comfort." + +"Draw closer, Major; vehy cold night, gentlemen. We do not have any +such weather in my State. Fitz, have you thawed out yet?" + +Fitz looked up from a pile of documents spread out on his lap, his +round face aglow with the firelight, and compared himself to half a +slice of toast well browned on both sides. + +"I am glad of it. I was worried about you when you came in. You were +chilled through." + +Then turning to me: "Fact is, Fitz is a little overworked. Enormous +strain, suh, on a man solving the vast commercial problems that he is +called upon to do every day." + +After which outburst the colonel crossed the room and finished unpacking +the basket, placing the cheese in one of the empty plates on the table, +and the various other commodities on the sideboard. When he reached +the pass-book he straightened himself up, held it off admiringly, +turned the leaves slowly, his face lighting up at the goodly number +of clean pages still between its covers, and said thoughtfully:-- + +"Very beautiful custom, this pass-book system, gentlemen, and quite +new to me. One of the most co'teous attentions I have received since +I have taken up my residence Nawth. See how simple it is. I send my +servant to the sto' for my supplies. He returns in haalf an hour with +everything I need, and brings back this book which I keep,--remember, +gentlemen, which I _keep_,--a mark of confidence which in this +degen'rate age is refreshin'. No vulgar bargaining suh; no disagreeable +remarks about any former unsettled account. It certainly is delightful." +"When are the accounts under this system generally paid, Colonel," +asked Fitz. + +With the exception of a slight tremor around the corners of his mouth +Fitz's face expressed nothing but the idlest interest. + +"I have never inquired, suh, and would not hurt the gentleman's feelin's +by doin' so for the world," he replied with dignity. "I presume, when +the book is full." + +Whatever might have been Fitz's mental workings, there was no mistaking +the colonel's. He believed every word he said. + +"What a dear old trump the colonel is," said Fitz, turning to me, his +face wrinkling all over with suppressed laughter. + +All this time Chad was passing in and out, bearing dishes and viands, +and when all was ready and the table candles were lighted, he announced +that fact softly to his master and took his customary place behind his +chair. + +The colonel was as delightful as ever, his talk ranging from politics +and family blood to possum hunts and modern literature, while the +mutton and its accessories did full credit to Chad's culinary skill. + +In fact the head of the colonel's table was his throne. Nowhere else +was he so charming, and nowhere else did the many sides to his +delightful nature give out such varied hues. + +Fitz, practical business man as he was, would listen to his many schemes +by the hour, charmed into silence and attentive appreciation by the +sublime faith that sustained his host, and the perfect honesty and +sincerity underlying everything he did. But it was not until the cheese +had completely lost its geometrical form, the coffee served, and the +pipes lighted, that the subject which of all others absorbed him was +broached. Indeed, it was a rule of the colonel's, never infringed upon, +that, no matter how urgent the business, the dinner-hour was to be +kept sacred. + +"Salt yo' food, suh, with humor," he would say. "Season it with wit, +and sprinkle it all over with the charm of good-fellowship, but never +poison it with the cares of yo' life. It is an insult to yo' digestion, +besides bein', suh, a mark of bad breedin'." + +"Now, Major," began the colonel, turning to me, loosening the string +around a package of papers, and spreading them out like a game of +solitaire, "draw yo' chair closer. Fitz, hand me the map." + +A diligent search revealed the fact that the map had been left at the +office, and so the colonel proceeded without it, appealing now and +then to Fitz, who leaned over his chair, his arm on the table. + +"Befo' I touch upon the financial part of this enterprise, Major, let +me show you where this road runs," said the colonel, reaching for the +casters. "I am sorry I haven't the map, but we can get along very well +with this;" and he unloaded the cruets. + +"This mustard-pot, here, is Caartersville, the startin'-point of our +system. This town, suh, has now a population of mo' than fo' thousand +people; in five years it will have fo'ty thousand. From this point the +line follows the bank of the Big Tench River--marked by this +caarvin'-knife--to this salt-cellar, where it crosses its waters by +an iron bridge of two spans, each of two hundred and fifty feet. Then, +suh, it takes a sharp bend to the southard and stops at my estate, the +roadbed skirtin' within a convenient distance of Caarter Hall. + +"Please move yo' arm, Fitz. I haven't room enough to lay out the city +of Fairfax. Thank you. + +"Just here," continued the colonel, utilizing the remains of the cheese, +"is to be the future city of Fairfax, named after my ancestor, suh, +General Thomas Wilmot Fairfax of Somerset, England, who settled here +in 1680. From here we take a course due nawth, stopping at Talcottville +eight miles, and thence nawthwesterly to Warrentown and the broad +Atlantic; in all fifty miles." + +"Any connecting road at Warrentown?" I asked. + +"No, suh, nor anywhere else along the line. It is absolutely virgin +country, and this is one of the strong points of the scheme, for there +can be no competition;" and the colonel leaned back in his chair, and +looked at me with the air of a man who had just informed me of a legacy +of half a million of dollars and was watching the effect of the news. + +I preserved my gravity, and followed the imaginary line with my eye, +bounding from the mustard-pot along the carving-knife to the salt-cellar +and back in a loop to the cheese, and then asked if the Big Tench could +not be crossed higher up, and if so why was it necessary to build +twelve additional miles of road. + +"To reach Carter Hall," said Fitz quietly. + +"Any advantage?" I asked in perfect good faith. + +The colonel was on his feet in a moment. + +"Any advantage? Major, I am surprised at you! A place settled mo' than +one hundred years ago, belongin' to one of the vehy fust fam'lies of +Virginia, not to be of any advantage to a new enterprise like this! +Why, suh, it will give an air of respectability to the whole thing +that nothin' else could ever do. Leave out Caarter Hall, suh, and you +pa'alize the whole scheme. Am I not right, Fitz?" + +"Unquestionably, Colonel. It is really all the life it has," replied +Fitz, solemn as a graven image, blowing a cloud of smoke through his +nose. + +"And then, suh," continued the colonel with increasing enthusiasm, +oblivious to the point of Fitz's remark, "see the improvements. Right +here to the eastward of this cheese we shall build a round-house marked +by this napkin-ring, which will accommodate twelve locomotives, +construct extensive shops for repairs, and erect large foundries and +caar-shops. Altogether, suh, we shall expend at this point mo' than-- +mo' than--one million of dollars;" and the colonel threw back his head +and gazed at the ceiling, his lips computing imaginary sums. + +"Befo' these improvements are complete it will be necessary, of course, +to take care of the enormous crowds that will flock in for a +restin'-place. So to the left of this napkin-ring, on a slightly risin' +ground,--just here where I raise the cloth,--is where the homes of +the people will be erected. I have the refusal"--here the colonel +lowered his voice--"of two thousand acres of the best private-residence +land in the county, contiguous to this very spot, which I can buy for +fo' dollars an acre. It is worth fo' dollars a square foot if it is +worth a penny. But, suh, it would be little short of highway rob'ry +to take this property at that figger, and I shall arrange with Fitz +to include in his prospectus the payment of one hundred dollars an +acre for this land, payable either in the common stock of our road or +in the notes of the company, as the owners may elect." + +"But, Colonel," said I, with a sincere desire to get at the facts, +"where is the Golconda--the gold mine? Where do I come in?" + +"Patience, my dear Major; I am coming to that. + +"Fitz, read that prospectus." + +"I have," said Fitz, turning to the colonel, "somewhat modified your +rough draft, to meet the requirements of our market; but not materially. +Of course I cannot commit myself to any fixed earning capacity until +I go over the ground, which we will do together shortly. But"--raising +the candle to the level of his nose--"this is as near as I can come +to your ideas with any hopes of putting the loan through here. I have, +as you will see, left the title of the bond as you wished, although +the issue is a novel one to our Exchange." Then turning to me: "This +of course is only a preliminary announcement." + + THE CARTERSVILLE AND WARRENTOWN + AIR LINE RAILROAD. + + THE GARDEN SPOT OF VIRGINIA SEEKS AN OUTLET + TO THE SEA. + + CAPITAL ONE MILLION OF DOLLARS, DIVIDED + INTO + + 50,000 Founders' shares at .... $1000. each + 5,000 Ordinary " " .... 100.00 " + + BONDED DEBT FOR PURPOSES OF CONSTRUCTION ONLY. + + ONE MILLION OF DOLLARS + IN + 1,000 FIRST MORTGAGE BONDS OF $1000.00 EACH. + + FULL PROTECTION GUARANTEED. + +The undersigned, Messrs. . . . . offer for sale $500,000.00 of the 6% +Deferred Debenture Bonds of the C.& W. Air Line Railroad at par and +accrued interest, together with a limited amount of the ordinary shares +at 50%. + +Subscription books close. . . . . Promoters reserve the right to advance +prices without further notice. + +"There, Major, is a prospectus that caarries conviction on its vehy +face," said the colonel, reaching for the document. + +I complimented the eminent financier on his skill, and was about to +ask him what it all meant, when the colonel, who had been studying it +carefully, broke in with:-- + +"Fitz, there is one thing you left out." + +"Yes, I know, the name of the banker; I haven't found him yet." + +"No, Fitz; but the words, '_Subscriptions opened Simultaneously in +New York, London, Richmond_,' and"-- + +"Cartersville?" suggested Fitz. + +"Certainly, suh." + +"Any money in Cartersville?" + +"No, suh, not much; but we can _subscribe_, can't we? The name +and influence of our leadin' citizens would give tone and dignity to +any subscription list. Think of this, suh!" and the colonel traced +imaginary inscriptions on the back of Fitz's prospectus with his +forefinger, voicing them as he went on:-- + + The Hon. JOHN PAGE LOWNES, Member of the State Legislature.. +1,000 shares + The Hon. I.B. KERFOOT, + Jedge of the District Court of + Fairfax County....... 1,000 shares + Major THOMAS C. YANCEY, + Late of the Confederate Army... 500 shares + +"These gentlemen are my friends, suh, and would do anythin' to oblige +me." + +Fitz sharpened a lead pencil and without a word inserted the desired +amendment. + +The colonel studied the document for another brief moment and struck +another snag. + +"And, Fitz, what do you mean, by 'full protection guaranteed'?" + +"To the bondholder, of course,--the man who pays the money." + +"What kind of protection?" + +"Why, the right to foreclose the mortgage when the interest is not +paid, of course," said Fitz, with a surprised look. + +"Put yo' pencil through that line, quick--none of that for me. This +fo'closure business has ruined haalf the gentlemen in our county, suh. +But for that foolishness two thirds of our fust families would still +be livin' in their homes. No, suh, strike it out!" + +"But, my dear Colonel, without that protecting clause you couldn't get +a banker to touch your bonds with a pair of tongs. What recourse have +they?" + +"What reco'se? Reorganization, suh! A boilin'-down process which will +make the stock--which we practically give away at fifty cents on the +dollar--twice as valuable. I appreciate, my dear Fitz, the effo'ts +which you are makin' to dispose of these secu'ities, but you must +remember that this plan is _mine_. + +"Now Major," locking his arm in mine, "listen; for I want you both to +understand exactly the way in which I propose to forward this +enterprise. Chad, bring me three wine-glasses and put that Madeira on +the table--don't disturb that railroad!--so. + +"My idea, gentlemen," continued the colonel, filling the glasses +himself, "is to start this scheme honestly in the beginnin', and avoid +all dissatisfaction on the part of these vehy bondholders thereafter. + +"Now, suh, in my experience I have always discovered that a vehy general +dissatisfaction is sure to manifest itself if the coupons on secu'ities +of this class are not paid when they become due. As a gen'ral rule +this interest money is never earned for the fust two years, and the +money to pay it with is inva'ably stolen from the principal. All this +dishonesty I avoid, suh, by the issue of my Deferred Debenture Bonds." + +"How?" I asked, seeing the colonel pause for a reply. + +"By cuttin' off the fust fo' coupons. Then everybody knows exactly +where they stand. They don't expect anythin' and they never get it." + +Fitz gave one of his characteristic roars and asked if the fifth would +ever be paid. + +"I can't at this moment answer, but we hope it will." + +"It is immaterial," said Fitz, wiping his eyes. "This class of +purchasers are all speculators, and like excitement. The very +uncertainty as to this fifth coupon gives interest to the investment, +if not to the investor." + +"None of yo' Irish impudence, suh. No, gentlemen, the plan is not only +fair, but reasonable. Two years is not a long period of time in which +to foster a great enterprise like the C.& W.A.L.R.R., and it is for +this purpose that I issue the Deferred Debentures. Deferred--put off; +Debenture--owed. What we owe we put off. Simple, easily understood, +and honest. + +"Now, suh," turning to Fitz, "if after this frank statement any graspin' +banker seeks to trammel this enterprise by any fo'closure clauses, he +sha'n't have a bond, suh. I'll take them all myself fust." + +Fitz agreed to the striking out of all such harassing clauses, and the +colonel continued his inspection. + +"One mo' and I am done, Fitz. What do you mean by Founders' shares?" +"Shares for the promoters and the first subscribers. They cost one +tenth of the ordinary shares and draw five times as much dividend. It +is quite a popular form of investment. They, of course, are not sold +until all the bonds are disposed of." + +"How many of these Founders' shares are there?" + +"Fifty thousand at ten dollars each." + +The colonel paused a moment and communed inwardly with himself. + +"Put me down for twenty-five thousand, Fitz. Part cash, and the balance +in such po'tion of my estate as will be required for the purposes of +the road." + +The colonel did not specify the proportions, but Fitz made a pencil +memorandum on the margin of the prospectus with the same sort of +respectful silence he would have shown the Rothschilds in a similar +transaction, while the colonel refilled his glass and held it between +his nose and the candle. + +"And now, Major, what shall we reserve for you?" said he, laying his +hand on my shoulder. Before I could reply Fitz raised his finger, +looked at me significantly over the rims of his spectacles, and said:-- + +"With your permission, Colonel, the Major and I will divide the +remaining twenty-five thousand between ourselves." + +Then seeing my startled look, "I will give you ample notice, Major, +before the first partial payment is called in." + +"You overwhelm me, gentlemen," said the colonel, rising from his seat +and seizing us by the hands. "It has been the dream of my life to have +you both with me in this enterprise, but I had no idea it would be +realized so soon. Fill yo' glasses and join me in a sentiment that is +dear to me as my life,--'The Garden Spot of Virginia in search of an +Outlet to the Sea.'" + +Nothing could have been more exhilarating than the colonel's manner +after this. His enthusiasm became so contagious that I began to feel +something like a millionaire myself, and to wonder whether this were +not the opportunity of my life. Fitz was so far affected that he +recanted to a certain extent his disbelief in the omission of the +foreclosure clause, and even expressed himself as being hopeful of +getting around it in some way. + +As for the colonel, the railroad was to him already a fixed fact. He +could really shut his eyes at any time and hear the whistle of the +down train nearing the bridge over the Tench. Such trifling details +as the finding of a banker who would attempt to negotiate the loan, +the subsequent selling of the securities, and the minor items of right +of way, construction, etc., were matters so light and trivial as not +to cause him a moment's uneasiness. Cartersville was to him the centre +of the earth, hampered and held back by lack of proper connections +with the outlying portions of the universe. What mattered the rest? + +"Make a memorandum, Fitz, to have me send for a bridge engineer fust +thing after I get to my office in the mornin'. There will be some +difficulty in gettin' a proper foundation for the centre-pier of that +bridge, and some one should be sent at once to make a survey. We can't +be delayed at this point a day. And, Fitz, while I think of it, there +should be a wagon bridge at or near this iron structure, and the timber +might as well be gotten out now. It will facilitate haulin' supplies +into Fairfax city." + +Fitz thought so too, and made a second memorandum to that effect, +recording the suggestion very much as a private secretary would an +order from his railroad magnate. + +The colonel gave this last order with coat thrown open,--thumbs in his +vest,--back to the fire,--an attitude never indulged in except on +rare occasions, and then only when the very weight of the problem +necessitated a corresponding bracing up, and more breathing room. + +These attitudes, by the way, were very suggestive of the colonel's +varying moods. Sometimes, when he came home, tired out with the hard +pavements of the city, so different from the soft earth of his native +roads, I would find him bunched up in his chair in the twilight; face +in hands, elbows on knees, crooning over the fire, the silver streaks +in his hair glistening in the flickering firelight, building castles +in the glowing coals,--the old manor house restored and the barns +rebuilt, the gates rehung, the old quarters repaired, the little negroes +again around the doors; and he once more catching the sound of the +yellow-painted coach on the gravel, with Chad helping the dear old +aunt down the porch steps. This, deep down in the bottom of his soul, +was really the dream and purpose of his life. + +It never seemed nearer of realization than now. The very thought +suffused his whole being with a suppressed joy, visible in his face +even when he began loosening the two lower buttons of his old threadbare +coat, throwing back the lapels and slowly extending his fingers fan-like +over his dilating chest. + +[Illustration] + +I always knew what suddenly sweetened his smile from one of triumphant +pride to one of tenderness. + +"And the old home, Fitz, something must be done there; we must receive +our friends properly." + +Fitz agreed to everything, offering an amendment here, and a suggestion +there, until our host's enthusiasm reached fever heat. + +It was nearly midnight before the colonel had confided to Fitz all the +pressing necessities of the coming day. Even then he followed us both +to the door, with parting instructions to Fitz, saying over and over +again that it had been the happiest night of his life. And he would +have gone bare-headed to the outer gate had not Chad caught him half +way down the steps, thrown a coat over his head and shoulders, and +gently led him back with:-- + +"'Clar to goodness, Marsa George, what kind foolishness dis yer? Is +you tryin' to ketch yo' death?" + +Once on the outside and the gate shut, Fitz's whole manner changed. +He became suddenly thoughtful, and did not speak until we reached the +tall clock tower with its full moon of a face shining high up against +the black winter night. + +Then he stood still, looked out over the white street, dotted here and +there with belated wayfarers trudging home through the snow, and said +with a tremor in his voice which startled me:-- + +"I couldn't raise a dollar in a lunatic asylum full of millionaires +on a scheme like the colonel's, and yet I keep on lying to the dear +old fellow day after day, hoping that something will turn up by which +I can help him out." + +"Then tell him so." + +Fitz laid his hand on my shoulder, looked me straight in the face, and +said:-- + +"I cannot. It would break his heart." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +_An Old Family Servant_ + + +The colonel's front yard, while as quaint and old-fashioned as his +house, was not--if I may be allowed--quite so well bred. + +This came partly from the outdoor life it had always led and from its +close association with other yards that had lost all semblance of +respectability, and partly from the fact that it had never felt the +refining influences of the friends of the house; for nobody ever +lingered in the front yard who by any possibility could get into the +front door--nobody, except perhaps now and then a stray tramp, who +felt at home at once and went to sleep on the steps. + +That all this told upon its character and appearance was shown in the +remnants of whitewash on the high wall, scaling off in discolored +patches; in the stagger of the tall fence opposite, drooping like a +drunkard between two policemen of posts; and in the unkempt, bulging +rear of the third wall,--the front house,--stuffed with rags and tied +up with clothes-lines. + +If in the purity of its youth it had ever seen better days as a +garden--but then no possible stretch of imagination, however brilliant, +could ever convert this miserable quadrangle into a garden. + +It contained, of course, as all such yards do, one lone plant,--this +time a honeysuckle,--which had clambered over the front door and there +rested as if content to stay; but which later on, frightened at the +surroundings, had with one great spring cleared the slippery wall +between, reached the rain-spout above, and by its helping arm had thus +escaped to the roof and the sunlight. + +It is also true that high up on this same wall there still clung the +remains of a criss-cross wooden trellis supporting the shivering +branches of an old vine, which had spent its whole life trying to grow +high enough to look over the tall fence into the yard beyond; but this +was so long ago that not even the landlord remembered the color of its +blossoms. + +Then there was an old-fashioned hydrant, with a half-spiral crank of +a handle on its top and the curved end of a lead pipe always aleak +thrust through its rotten side, with its little statues of ice all +winter and its spattering slop all summer. +Besides all this there were some broken flower-pots in a heap in one +corner,--suicides from the window-sills above,--and some sagging +clothes-lines, and a battered watering-pot, and a box or two that might +once have held flowers; and yet with all this circumstantial evidence +against me I cannot conscientiously believe that this forlorn courtyard +ever could have risen to the dignity of a garden. + +But of course nothing of all this can be seen at night. At night one +sees only the tall clock tower of Jefferson Market with its one blazing +eye glaring high up over the fence, the little lantern hung in the +tunnel, and the glow through the curtains shading the old-fashioned +windows of the house itself, telling of warmth and comfort within. + +To-night when I pushed open the swinging door--the door of the tunnel +entering from the street--the lantern was gone, and in its stead there +was only the glimmer of a mysterious light moving about the yard,--a +light that fell now on the bare wall, now on the front steps, making +threads of gold of the twisted iron railings, then on the posts of the +leaning fence, against which hung three feathery objects,--grotesque +and curious in the changing shadows,--and again on some barrels and +boxes surrounded by loose straw. + +Following this light, in fact, guiding it, was a noiseless, crouching +figure peering under the open steps, groping around the front door, +creeping beneath the windows; moving uneasily with a burglar-like +tread. + +I grasped my umbrella, advanced to the edge of the tunnel, and called +out:-- + +"Who's that?" + +The figure stopped, straightened up, held a lantern high over its head, +and peered into the darkness. + +There was no mistaking that face. + +"Oh, that's you, Chad, is it? What the devil are you doing?" +"Lookin' for one ob dese yer tar'pins Miss Nancy sent de colonel. Dey +was seben ob 'em in dis box, an' now dey ain't but six. Hole dis light, +Major, an' lemme fumble round dis rain-spout." + +[Illustration:] + +Chad handed me the lantern, fell on his knees, and began crawling +around the small yard like an old dog hunting for a possum, feeling +in among the roots of the honeysuckle, between the barrels that had +brought the colonel's china from Carter Hall, under the steps, way +back where Chad kept his wood ashes--but no "brer tar'pin." + +"Well, if dat don't beat de lan'! Dey was two ba'els--one had dat wild +turkey an' de pair o' geese you see hangin' on de fence dar, an' de +udder ba'el I jest ca'aed down de cellar full er oishters. De tar'pins +was in dis box--seben ob 'em. Spec' dat rapscallion crawled ober de +fence?" And Chad picked up the basket with the remaining half dozen, +and descended the basement steps on his way through the kitchen to the +front door above. Before he reached the bottom step I heard him break +out with:-- + +"Oh, yer you is, you black debbil! Tryin' to git in de door, is ye? +De pot is whar you'll git!" + +At the foot of the short steps, flat on his back, head and legs +wriggling like an overturned roach, lay the missing terrapin. It had +crawled to the edge of the opening and had fallen down in the darkness. + +Chad picked him up and kept on grumbling, shaking his finger at the +motionless terrapin, whose head and legs were now tight drawn between +its shells. + +"Gre't mine to squash ye! Wearin' out my old knees lookin' for ye. +Nebber mine, I'm gwine to bile ye fust an' de longest--hear dat?--de +longest!" Then looking up at me, "I got him, Major--try dat do'. Spec' +it's open. Colonel ain't yer yit. Reckon some ob dem moonshiners is +keepin' him down town. 'Fo' I forgit it, dar's a letter for ye hangin' +to de mantelpiece." + +The door and the letter were both open, the latter being half a sheet +of paper impaled by a pin, which alone saved it from the roaring fire +that Chad had just replenished. + +I held it to the light and learned, to my disappointment, that business +of enormous importance to the C. & W. A. L. R. R. might preclude the +possibility of the colonel's leaving his office until late. If such +a calamity overtook him, would I forgive him and take possession of +his house and cellar and make myself as comfortable as I could with +my best friend away? This postscript followed:-- + +"Open the new Madeira; Chad has the key." + +Chad wreaked his vengeance upon the absconding terrapin by plunging +him, with all his sins upon him, headlong into the boiling pot, and +half an hour later was engaged at a side table in removing, with the +help of an iron fork, the upper shell of the steaming vagabond, for +my special comfort and sustenance. + +"Tar'pin jes like a crab, Major, on'y got mo' meat to 'em. But you got +to know 'em fust to eat 'em. Now dis yer shell is de hot plate, an' +ye do all yo' eatin' right inside it," said Chad, dropping a spoonful +of butter, the juice of a lemon, and a pinch of salt into the impromptu +dish. + +"Now, Major, take yo' fork an' pick out all dat black meat an' dip it +in de sauce, an' wid ebery mou'ful take one o' dem little yaller eggs. +Dat's de way _we_ eat tar'pin. Dis yer stewin' him up in pote +wine is scand'lous. Can't taste nuffin' but de wine. But dat's +_tar'pin._" + +I followed Chad's directions to the word, picking the terrapin as I +would a crab and smothering the dainty bits in the hot sauce, until +only two empty shells and a heap of little bones were left to tell the +tale of my appetite. + +"Gwine to crawl ober de fence, was ye?" I heard him say with a chuckle +as he bore away the debris. "What I tell ye? Whar am ye now?" + +"Did Miss Nancy send those terrapin?" I asked, watching the old darky +drawing the cork of the new Madeira referred to in the colonel's note. + +"Ob co'se, Major; Miss Nancy gibs de colonel eberytin'. Didn't ye know +dat? She's de on'y one what's got anythin' to gib, an' she wouldn't +hab dat on'y frough de war her money was in de bank in Baltimo'. I +know, 'cause I went dar once to git some for her. De Yankee soldiers +searched me; but some possums got two holes." + +"And did she send him the Madeira too?" + +"No, sah; Mister Grocerman gib him dat." + +As he pronounced this name his voice fell, and for some time thereafter +he kept silent, brushing the crumbs away, replacing a plate or two, +or filling my wine-glass, until at last he took his place behind my +chair as was his custom with his master. It was easy to see that Chad +had something on his mind. + +Every now and then a sigh escaped him, which he tried to conceal by +some irrelevant remark, as if his sorrow were his own and not to be +shared with a stranger. Finally he gave an uneasy glance around, and, +looking into my face with an expression of positive pain, said:-- + +"Don't tell de colonel I axed, but when is dis yer railroad gwineter +fotch some money in?" + +"Why?' said I, wondering what extravagance the old man had fallen into. + +"Nuffin', sah; but if it don't putty quick dar's gwineter be trouble. +Dese yer gemmen on de av'nue is gittin' ugly. When I got dar Madary +de udder day de tall one warn't gwineter gib it to me, pass-book or +no pass-book. On'y de young one say he'd seen de colonel, an' he was +a gemmen an" all right, I wouldn't 'a' got it at all. De tall gemmen +was comin' right around hisself--what he wanted to see, he said, was +de color ob de colonel's money. Been mo' den two months, an' not a cent. + +"Co'se I tole same as I been tellin' him, dat de colonel's folks is +quality folks; but he say dat don't pay de bills." + +"Did you tell the colonel?" + +"No, sah; ain't no use tellin' de colonel; on'y worry him. He's got +de passbook, but I ain't yerd him say nuffin' yit 'bout payin' him. +I been spectin' Miss Nancy up here, an' de colonel says she's comin' +putty soon. She'll fix 'em; but dey ain't no time to waste." + +While he spoke there came a loud knock at the door, and Chad returned +trembling with fear, his face the very picture of despair. + +"Dat's de tall man hisself, sah, an' his dander's up. I knowed dese +Yankees in de war, an' I don't like 'em when dey's ris'. When I tole +him de colonel ain't home he look at me pizen-like, same as I was +a-lyin'; an' den he stop an' listen an' say he come back to-night. +Trouble comin'; old coon smells de dog. Wish we was home an' out ob +dis!" + +I tried to divert his attention into other channels and to calm his +fears, assuring him that the colonel would come out all right; that +these enterprises were slow, etc.; but the old man only shook his head. + +"You know, Major, same as me, dat de colonel ain't nuffin' but a chile, +an' about his bills he's _wuss_. But I'm yer, an' I'm 'sponsible. +'Chad,' he says, 'go out an' git six mo' bottles of dat old Madary;' +an' 'Chad, don't forgit de sweet ile;' an' 'Chad, is we got claret +enough to last ober Sunday?'--an' not a cent in de house. I ain't slep' +none for two nights, worritin' ober dis business, an' I'm mos' crazy." +I laid down my knife and fork and looked up. The old man's lip was +quivering, and something very like a tear stood in each eye. + +"I can't hab nuffin' happen to de fambly, Major. You know our folks +is quality, an' always was, an' I dassent look my mistress in de face +if anythin' teches Marsa George." Then bending down he said in a hoarse +whisper: "See dat old clock out dar wid his eye wide open? Know what's +down below dat in de cellar? De jail!" And two tears rolled down his +cheeks. + + * * * * * + +It was some time before I could quiet the old man's anxieties and coax +him back into his usual good humor, and then only when I began to ask +him of the old plantation days. + +Then he fell to talking about the colonel's father, General John Carter, +and the high days at Carter Hall when Miss Nancy was a young lady and +the colonel a boy home from the university. + +[Illustration] + +"Dem was high times. We ain't neber seed no time like dat since de +war. Git up in de mawnin' an' look out ober de lawn, an' yer come +fo'teen or fifteen couples ob de fustest quality folks, all on horseback +ridin' in de gate. Den such a scufflin' round! Old marsa an' missis +out on de po'ch, an' de little pickaninnies runnin' from de quarters, +an' all hands helpin' 'em off de horses, an' dey all smokin' hot wid +de gallop up de lane. + +"An' den sich a breakfast an' sich dancin' an' co'tin': ladies all out +on de lawn in der white dresses, an' de gemmen in fair-top boots, an' +Mammy Jane runnin' round same as a chicken wid its head off,--an' der +heads was off befo' dey knowed it, an' dey a-br'ilin' on de gridiron. + +"Dat would go on a week or mo', an' den up dey'll all git an' away +dey'd go to de nex' plantation, an' take Miss Nancy along wid 'em on +her little sorrel mare, an' I on Marsa John's black horse, to take +care bofe of 'em. Dem _was_ times! + +"My old marsa,"--and his eyes glistened,--"my old Marsa John was a +gem-man, sah, like dey don't see nowadays. Tall, sah, an' straight as +a cornstalk; hair white an' silky as de tassel; an' a voice like de +birds was singin', it was dat sweet. + +"'Chad,' he use' ter say,--you know I was young den, an' I was his +body servant,--'Chad, come yer till I bre'k yo' head;' an' den when +I come he'd laugh fit to kill hisself. Dat's when you do right. But +when you was a low-down nigger an' got de debbil in yer, an' ole marsa +hear it an' send de oberseer to de quarters for you to come to de +little room in de big house whar de walls was all books an' whar his +desk was, 't wa'n't no birds about his voice den,--mo' like de thunder." + +"Did he whip his negroes?" + +"No, sah; don't reckelmember a single lick laid on airy nigger dat de +marsa knowed of; but when dey got so bad--an' some niggers is dat +way--den dey was sold to de swamp lan's. He wouldn't hab 'em round +'ruptin' his niggers, he use' ter say. + +"Hab coffee, sah? Won't take I a minute to bile it. Colonel ain't been +drinkin' none lately, an' so I don't make none." + +I nodded my head, and Chad closed the door softly, taking with him a +small cup and saucer, and returning in a few minutes followed by that +most delicious of all aromas, the savory steam of boiling coffee. + +"My Marsa John," he continued, filling the cup with the smoking +beverage, "never drank nuffin' but tea, eben at de big dinners when +all de gemmen had coffee in de little cups--dat's one ob 'em you's +drink-in' out ob now; dey ain't mo' dan fo' on 'em left. Old marsa +would have his pot ob tea: Henny use' ter make it for him; makes it +now for Miss Nancy. + +"Henny was a young gal den, long 'fo' we was married. Henny b'longed +to Colonel Lloyd Barbour, on de next plantation to ourn. + +"Mo' coffee, Major?" I handed Chad the empty cup. He refilled it, +andwent straight on without drawing breath. + +"Wust scrape I eber got into wid old Marsa John was ober Henny. I tell +ye she was a harricane in dem days. She come into de kitchen one time +where I was helpin' git de dinner ready an' de cook had gone to de +spring house, an' she says:-- + +"'Chad, what ye cookin' dat smells so nice?' + +"'Dat's a goose,' I says, 'cookin' for Marsa John's dinner. We got +quality,' says I, pointin' to de dinin'-room do'. + +"'Quality!' she says. 'Spec' I know what de quality is. Dat's for you +an' de cook.' + +"Wid dat she grabs a caarvin' knife from de table, opens de do' ob de +big oven, cuts off a leg ob de goose, an' dis'pears round de kitchen +corner wid de leg in her mouf. + +"'Fo' I knowed whar I was Marsa John come to de kitchen do' an' says, +'Gittin' late, Chad; bring in de dinner.' You see, Major, dey ain't +no up an' down stairs in de big house, like it is yer; kitchen an' +dinin'-room all on de same flo'. + +"Well, sah, I was scared to def, but I tuk dat goose an' laid him wid +de cut side down on de bottom of de pan 'fo' de cook got back, put +some dressin' an' stuffin' ober him, an' shet de stove do'. Den I tuk +de sweet potatoes an' de hominy an' put 'em on de table, an' den I +went back in de kitchen to git de baked ham. I put on de ham an' some +mo' dishes, an' marsa says, lookin' up:-- + +"'I t'ought dere was a roast goose, Chad?' + +"'I ain't yerd nothin' 'bout no goose,' I says. 'I'll ask de cook.' + +"Next minute I yerd old marsa a-hollerin':-- + +"'Mammy Jane, ain't we got a goose?' + +"'Lord-a-massy! yes, marsa. Chad, you wu'thless nigger, ain't you tuk +dat goose out yit?' + +"'Is we got a goose?' said I. + +"'_Is we got a goose_? Didn't you help pick it?' + +"I see whar my hair was short, an' I snatched up a hot dish from de +hearth, opened de oven do', an' slide de goose in jes as he was, an' +lay him down befo' Marsa John. + +"'Now see what de ladies'll have for dinner,' says old marsa, pickin' +up his caarvin' knife. + +"'What'll you take for dinner, miss?' says I. 'Baked ham?' + +"'No,' she says, lookin' up to whar Marsa John sat; 'I think I'll take +a leg ob dat goose'--jes so. + +"Well, marsa cut off de leg an' put a little stuffin' an' gravy on wid +a spoon, an' says to me, 'Chad, see what dat gemman'll have.' + +"'What'll you take for dinner, sah?' says I. 'Nice breast o' goose, +or slice o' ham?' + +"'No; I think I'll take a leg of dat goose,' he says. + +"I didn't say nuffin', but I knowed bery well he wa'n't a-gwine to git +it. + +"But, Major, you oughter seen ole marsa lookin' for der udder leg ob +dat goose! He rolled him ober on de dish, dis way an' dat way, an' den +he jabbed dat ole bone-handled caarvin' fork in him an' hel' him up +ober de dish an' looked under him an' on top ob him, an' den he says, +kinder sad like:-- + +"'Chad, whar is de udder leg ob dat goose?' + +"'It didn't hab none,' says I. + +"'You mean ter say, Chad, dat de gooses on my plantation on'y got one +leg?' + +"'Some ob 'em has an' some ob 'em ain't. You see, marsa, we got two +kinds in de pond, an' we was a little boddered today, so Mammy Jane +cooked dis one 'cause I cotched it fust.' + +"'Well,' said he, lookin' like he look when he send for you in de +little room, 'I'll settle wid ye after dinner.' + +"Well, dar I was shiverin' an' shakin' in my shoes, an' droppin' gravy +an' spillin' de wine on de table-cloth, I was dat shuck up; an' when +de dinner was ober he calls all de ladies an' gemmen, an' says, 'Now +come down to de duck pond. I'm gwineter show dis nigger dat all de +gooses on my plantation got mo' den one leg.' + +"I followed 'long, trapesin' after de whole kit an' b'ilin', an' when +we got to de pond"--here Chad nearly went into a convulsion with +suppressed laughter--"dar was de gooses sittin' on a log in de middle +of dat ole green goose-pond wid one leg stuck down--so--an' de udder +tucked under de wing." + +Chad was now on one leg, balancing himself by my chair, the tears +running down his cheeks. + +"'Dar, marsa,' says I, 'don't ye see? Look at dat ole gray goose! Dat's +de berry match ob de one we had to-day.' + +"Den de ladies all hollered an' de gemmen laughed so loud dey yerd 'em +at de big house. + +"'Stop, you black scoun'rel!' Marsa John says, his face gittin' white +an' he a-jerkin' his handkerchief from his pocket. 'Shoo!' + +"Major, I hope to have my brains kicked out by a lame grasshopper if +ebery one ob dem gooses didn't put down de udder leg! + +"'Now, you lyin' nigger,' he says, raisin' his cane ober my head, 'I'll +show you'-- + +'"Stop, Marsa John!' I hollered; ''t ain't fair, 't ain't fair.' + +"'Why ain't it fair?' says he. + +"''Cause,' says I, 'you didn't say "Shoo!" to de goose what was on de +table.'" [Footnote: This story, and the story of the "Postmaster" in +a preceding chapter, I have told for so many years and to so many +people, and with such varied amplifications, that I have long since +persuaded myself that they are creations of my own. I surmise, however, +that the basis of the "Postmaster" can be found in the corner of some +forgotten newspaper, and I know that the "One-Legged Goose" is as old +as the "Decameron".] + +Chad laughed until he choked. + +"And did he thrash you?" + +"Marsa John? No, sah. He laughed loud as anybody; an' den dat night +he says to me as I was puttin' some wood on de fire:-- + +"'Chad, where did dat leg go?' An' so I ups an' tells him all about +Henny, an' how I was lyin' 'cause I was 'feared de gal would git hurt, +an' how she was on'y a-foolin', thinkin' it was my goose; an' den de +ole marsa look in de fire for a long time, an' den he says:-- + +"'Dat's Colonel Barbour's Henny, ain't it, Chad?' + +"'Yes,' marsa, says I. + +"Well, de next mawnin' he had his black horse saddled, an' I held the +stirrup for him to git on, an' he rode ober to de Barbour plantation, +an' didn't come back till plumb black night. When he come up I held +de lantern so I could see his face, for I wa'n't easy in my mine all +day. But it was all bright an' shinin' same as a' angel's. + +"'Chad,' he says, handin' me de reins, 'I bought yo' Henny dis arternoon +from Colonel Barbour, an' she's comin' ober tomorrow, an' you can bofe +git married next Sunday.'" + + * * * * * + +A cheerful voice at the yard door, and the next moment the colonel was +stamping his feet on the hall mat, his first word to Chad an inquiry +after my comfort, and his second an apology to me for what he called +his brutal want of hospitality. + +"But I couldn't help it, Major. I had some letters, suh, that could +not be postponed. Has Chad taken good care of you? No dinner, Chad; +I dined down town. How is the Madeira, Major?" + +I expressed my entire approbation of the wine, and was about to fill +the colonel's glass when Chad leaned over with the same anxious look +in his face. +"De grocerman was here, Colonel, an' lef' word dat he was comin' agin +later." + +"You don't say so, Chad, and I was out: most unfortunate occurrence! +When he calls again show him in at once. It will give me great pleasure +to see him." + +Then turning to me, his mind on the passbook and its empty pages,--"I'll +lay a wager, Major, that man's father was a gentleman. The fact is, +I have not treated him with proper respect. He has shown me every +courtesy since I have been here, and I am ashamed to say that I have +not once entered his doors. His calling twice in one evening touches +me deeply. I did not expect to find yo' tradespeople so polite." + +Chad's face was a study while his master spoke, but he was too well +trained, and still too anxious over the outcome of the expected +interview, to do more than bow obsequiously to the colonel,--his +invariable custom when receiving an order,--and to close the door +behind him. + +"That old servant," continued the colonel, watching Chad leave the +room, and drawing his chair nearer the fire, "has been in my fam'ly +ever since he was bawn. But for him and his old wife, Mammy Henny, I +would be homeless to-night." And then the colonel, with that soft +cadence in his voice which I always noticed when he spoke of something +that touched his heart, told me with evident feeling how, in every +crisis of fire, pillage, and raid, these two faithful souls had kept +unceasing watch about the old house; refastening the wrenched doors, +replacing the shattered shutters, or extinguishing the embers of +abandoned bivouac fires. Indeed, for months at a time they were its +only occupants, outside of strolling marauders and bands of foragers, +and but for their untiring devotion its tall chimneys would long since +have stood like tombstones over the grave of its ashes. Then he added, +with a break in his voice that told how deeply he felt it:-- + +"Do you know, Major, that when I was a prisoner at City Point that +darky tramped a hundred miles through the coast swamps to reach me, +crossed both lines twice, hung around for three months for his chance, +and has carried in his leg ever since the ball intended for me the +night I escaped in his clothes, and he was shot in mine. + +"I tell you, suh, the color of a man's skin don't make much diffe'ence +sometimes. Chad was bawn a gentleman, and he'll never get over it." + +As he was speaking, the object of his eulogy opened the hall door, and +the next instant a tall, red-headed man with closely trimmed +side-whiskers, and wearing a brown check suit and a blue necktie, ran +the gauntlet of Chad's profound but anxious bow, and advanced towards +the colonel, hat in hand. + +"Which is Mr. Carter?" + +The colonel arose gracefully. "I am Colonel Carter, suh, and I presume +you are the gentleman to whom I am indebted for so many courtesies. +My servant tells me that you called earlier in the evenin'. I regret, +suh, that I was detained so late at my office, and I have to thank you +for perseve'in' the second time. I assure you, suh, that I esteem it +a special honor." + +The tall gentleman with the auburn whiskers wiped his face with a +handkerchief, which he took from his hat, and stated with some timidity +that he hoped he did not intrude at that late hour. He had sent his +pass-book, and-- + +"I have looked it over, suh, repeatedly, with the greatest pleasure. +It is a custom new to us in my county, but it meets with my hearty +approval. Give yo' hat to my servant, suh, and take this seat by the +fire." + +The proprietor of the hat after some protestations suffered Chad to +bear away that grateful protection to his slightly bald head,--retaining +his handkerchief, which he finally rolled up into a little wad and +kept tightly clenched in the perspiring palm of his left hand,--and +then threw out the additional hope that everything was satisfactory. + +"Delicious, suh; I have not tasted such Madeira since the wah. In my +cellar at home, suh, I once had some old Madeira of '28 that was given +to my father, the late General John Caarter, by old Judge Thornton. +You, of course, know that wine, suh. Ah! I see that you do." + +And then followed one of the colonel's delightful monologues descriptive +of all the vintages of that year, the colonel constantly appealing to +the dazed and delighted grocerman to be set right in minor technical +matters,--the grocer understanding them as little as he did the Aztec +dialects,--the colonel himself supplying the needed data and then +thanking the auburn gentleman for the information so charmingly that +for the moment that worthy tradesman began to wonder why he had not +long before risen from the commonplace level of canned vegetables to +the more sublime plane of wines in the wood. + +"Now the Madeira you sent me this mornin', suh, is a trifle too fruity +for my taste. Chad, open a fresh bottle." + +The owner of the pass-book instantly detected a very decided fruity +flavor, but thought he had another wine, which he would send in the +morning, that might suit the colonel's palate better. + +The colonel thanked him, and then drifted into the wider field of +domestic delicacies,--the preserving of fruits, the making of pickles +as practiced on the plantations by the old Virginia cooks,--the colonel +waxing eloquent over each production, and the future wine merchant +becoming more and more enchanted as the colonel flowed on. + +When he rose to go the grocer had a mental list of the things he would +send the colonel in the morning all arranged in his commercial head, +and so great was his delight that, after shaking hands with me once +and with the colonel three times, he would also have extended that +courtesy to Chad had not that perfectly trained servant checkmated him +by filling his extended palm with the rim of his own hat. + +[Illustration] + +When Chad returned from bowing him through the tunnel, the lines in +his face a tangle of emotions, the colonel was standing on the mat, +in his favorite attitude--back to the fire, coat thrown open, thumbs +in his armholes, his outstretched fingers beating woodpecker tattoos +on his vest. + +Somehow the visit of the grocer had lifted him out of the cares of the +day. How, he could not tell. Perhaps it was the fragrance of the +Madeira; perhaps the respectful, overawed bow,--the bow of the tradesman +the world over to the landed proprietor,--restoring to him for one +brief moment that old feudal supremacy which above all else his soul +loved. Perhaps it was only the warmth and cheer and comfort of it all. + +Whatever it was, it buoyed and strengthened him. He was again in the +old dining-hall at home: the servants moving noiselessly about; the +cut-glass decanters reflected in the polished mahogany; the candles +lighted; his old, white-haired father, in his high-backed chair, sipping +his wine from the slender glass. + +Ah, the proud estate of the old plantation days! Would they ever be +his again? + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +_The Arrival of a True Southern Lady_ + + +"Mistress yer, sah! Come yistidd'y mawnin'." + +How Chad beamed all over when this simple statement fell from his lips! +I had not seen him since the night when he stood behind my chair and +with bated breath whispered his anxieties lest the second advent of +"de grocerman" should bring dire destruction to the colonel's household. + +To-day he looked ten years younger. His kinky gray hair, generally +knotted into little wads, was now divided by a well-defined path +starting from the great wrinkle in his forehead and ending in a dense +tangle of underbrush that no comb dared penetrate. His face glistened +all over. His mouth was wide open, showing a great cavity in which +each tooth seemed to dance with delight. His jacket was as white and +stiff as soap and starch could make it, while a cast-off cravat of the +colonel's--double starched to suit Chad's own ideas of propriety--was +tied in a single knot, the two ends reaching to the very edge of each +ear. To crown all, a red carnation flamed away on the lapel of his +jacket, just above an outside pocket, which held in check a pair of +white cotton gloves bulging with importance and eager for use. Every +time he bowed he touched with a sweep both sides of the narrow hall. + +It was the first time in some weeks that I had seen the interior of +the colonel's cozy dining-room by daylight. Of late my visits had been +made after dark, with drawn curtains, lighted candles, and roaring +wood fires. But this time it was in the morning,--and a bright, sunny, +lovely spring morning at that,--with one window open in the L and the +curtains drawn back from the other; with the honeysuckle beginning to +bud, its long runners twisting themselves inquiringly through the +half-closed shutters as if anxious to discover what all this bustle +inside was about. + +It was easy to see that some other touch besides that of the colonel +and his faithful man-of-all-work had left its impress in the bachelor +apartment. There was a general air of order apparent. The irregular +line of foot gear which decorated the washboard of one wall, beginning +with a pair of worsted slippers and ending with a wooden bootjack, was +gone. Whisk-brooms and dusters that had never known a restful nail +since they entered the colonel's service were now suspended peacefully +on convenient hooks. Dainty white curtains, gathered like a child's +frock, flapped lazily against the broken green blinds, while some +sprays of arbutus, plucked by Miss Nancy on her way to the railroad +station, drooped about a tall glass on the mantel. + +Chad had solved the mystery,--Aunt Nancy came yesterday. + +I found the table set for four, its chief feature being a tray bearing +a heap of eggshell cups and saucers I had not seen before, and an +old-fashioned tea-urn humming a tune all to itself. + +"De colonel's out, but he comin' back d'rektly," Chad said eagerly, +all out of breath with excitement. Then followed the information that +Mr. Fitzpatrick was coming to breakfast, and that he was to tell Miss +Nancy the moment we arrived. He then reduced the bulge in his outside +pocket by thrusting his big hands into his white gloves, gave a sidelong +glance at the flower in his buttonhole, and bore my card aloft with +the air of a cupbearer serving a princess. + +A soft step on the stair, the rustle of silk, a warning word outside: +"Look out for dat lower step, mistress--dat's it;" and Miss Nancy +entered the room. + +No, I am wrong. She became a part of it; as much so as the old andirons +and the easy chairs and the old-fashioned mantelpieces, the snowy +curtains and the trailing vine. More so when she gave me the slightest +dip of a courtesy and laid her dainty, wrinkled little hand in mine, +and said in the sweetest possible voice how glad she was to see me +after so many years, and how grateful she felt for all my kindness to +the dear colonel. Then she sank into a quaint rocking-chair that Chad +had brought down behind her, rested her feet on a low stool that +mysteriously appeared from under the table, and took her knitting from +her reticule. + +She had changed somewhat since I last saw her, but only as would an +old bit of precious stuff that grew the more mellow and harmonious in +tone as it grew the older. She had the same silky gray hair--a trifle +whiter, perhaps; the same frank, tender mouth, winning wherever she +smiled; the same slight, graceful figure; and the same manner--its +very simplicity a reflex of that refined and quiet life she had always +led. For hers had been an isolated life, buried since her girlhood in +a great house far away from the broadening influences of a city, and +saddened by the daily witness of a slow decay of all she had been +taught to revere. But it had been a life so filled with the largeness +of generous deeds that its returns had brought her the love and +reverence of every living soul she knew. + +While she sat and talked to me of her journey I had time to enjoy again +the quaintness of her dress,--the quaintness of forty years before. +There was the same old-fashioned, soft gray silk with up-and-down +stripes spotted with sprigs of flowers, the lace cap with its frill +of narrow pink ribbons and two wide pink strings that fell over the +shoulders, and the handkerchief of India mull folded across the breast +and fastened with an amethyst pin. Her little bits of feet--they were +literally so--were incased in white stockings and heelless morocco +slippers bound with braid. + +But her dress was never sombre. She always seemed to remember, even +in her bright ribbons and silks, the days of her girlhood, when half +the young men in the county were wild about her. When she moved she +wafted towards you a perfume of sweet lavender--the very smell that +you remember came from your own mother's old-fashioned bureau drawer +when she let you stand on tiptoe to see her pretty things. When you +kissed her--and once I did--her cheek was as soft as a child's and +fragrant with rose-water. + +But I hear the colonel's voice outside, laughing with Fitz. + +"Come in, suh, and see the dearest woman in the world." + +The next instant he burst in dressed in his gala combination,--white +waistcoat and cravat, the old coat thrown wide open as if to welcome +the world, and a bunch of red roses in his hand. + +"Nancy, here's my dear friend Fitz, whom I have told you about,--the +most extraord'nary man of modern times. Ah, Major! you here? Came in +early, did you, so as to have aunt Nancy all to yo'self? Sit down, +Fitz, right alongside of her." And he kissed her hand gallantly. "Isn't +she the most delightful bit of old porcelain you ever saw in all yo' +bawn days?" + +Miss Nancy rose, made another of her graceful courtesies, and begged +that neither of us would mind the colonel's raillery; she never could +keep him in order. And she laughed softly as she gave her hand to Fitz, +who touched it very much as if he quite believed the colonel's reference +to the porcelain to be true. + +"There you go, Nancy, 'busin' me like a dog, and here I've been +a-trampin' the streets for a' hour lookin' for flowers for you! You +are breakin' my heart, Miss Caarter, with yo' coldness and contempt. +Another word and you shall not have a single bud." And the colonel +gayly tucked a rose under her chin with a loving stroke of his hand, +and threw the others in a heap on her lap. + +"Breakfast sarved, mistress," said Chad in a low voice. + +The colonel gave his arm to his aunt with the air of a courtier; Fitz +and I disposed ourselves on each side; Chad, with reverential mien, +screwed his eyes up tight; and the colonel said grace with an increased +fervor in his voice, no doubt remembering in his heart the blessing +of the last arrival. + +Throughout the entire repast the colonel was in his gayest mood, +brimming over with anecdotes and personal reminiscences and full of +his rose-colored plans for the future. + +Many things had combined to produce this happy frame of mind. There +was first the Scheme, which had languished for weeks owing to the +vise-like condition of the money market,--another of Fitz's mendacious +excuses,--and which had now been suddenly galvanized into temporary +life by an inquiry made by certain bankers who were seeking an outlet +for English capital, and who had expressed a desire to investigate the +"Garden Spot of Virginia." Only an "inquiry," but to the colonel the +papers were already signed. Then there was the arrival of his +distinguished guest, whom he loved devotedly and with a certain +old-school gallantry and tenderness as picturesque as it was +interesting. Last of all there was that important episode of the bills. +For Miss Nancy, the night she arrived, had collected all the household +accounts, including the highly esteemed pass-book,--they were all of +the one kind, unpaid,--and had dispatched Chad early in the morning +to the several creditors with his pocket full of crisp bank-notes. + +Chad had returned from this liquidating tour, and the full meaning of +that trusty agent's mission had dawned upon the colonel. He buttoned +his coat tightly over his chest, straightened himself up, sought out +his aunt, and said, with some dignity and a slightly injured air:-- + +"Nancy, yo' interfe'ence in my household affairs this mornin' was vehy +creditable to yo' heart, and deeply touches me; but if I thought you +regarded it in any other light except as a short tempo'ary loan, it +would offend me keenly. Within a few days, however, I shall receive +a vehy large amount of secu'ities from an English syndicate that +isinvestigatin' my railroad. I shall then return the amount to you with +interest, together with that other sum which you loaned me when I left +Caarter Hall." + +The little lady's only reply was to slip her hand into his and kisshim +on the forehead. + +And yet that very morning he had turned his pockets inside out for the +remains of the last dollar of the money she had given him when he left +home. When it had all been raked together, and its pitiable +insufficiency had become apparent, this dialogue took place:-- + +"Chad, did you find any money on the flo' when you breshed my clothes?" + +"No, Colonel." + +"Look round on the mantelpiece; perhaps I left some bills under the +clock." + +"Ain't none dar, sah." + +Then Chad, with that same anxious look suddenly revived in his face, +went below into the kitchen, mounted a chair, took down an old broken +tea-cup from the top shelf, and poured out into his wrinkled palm a +handful of small silver coin--his entire collection of tips, and all +the money he had. This he carried to the colonel, with a lie in his +mouth that the recording angel blotted out the moment it fell from his +lips. + +"Here's some change, Marsa George, I forgot to gib ye; been left ober +from de marketin'." + +And the colonel gathered it all in, and went out and spent every penny +of it on roses for "dear Nancy!" + +All of these things, as I have said, had acted like a tonic on the +colonel, bracing him up to renewed efforts, and reacting on his guests, +who in return did their best to make the breakfast a merry one. + +Fitz, always delightful, was more brilliant than ever, his native wit, +expressed in a brogue with verbal shadings so slight that it is hardly +possible to give it in print, keeping the table in a roar; while Miss +Nancy, encouraged by the ease and freedom of everybody about her, +forgot for a time her quiet reserve, and was charming in the way she +turned over the leaves of her own youthful experiences. + +And so the talk went on until, with a smile to everybody, the little +lady rose, called Chad, who stood ready with shawl and cushion, and, +saying she would retire to her room until the gentlemen had finished +smoking, disappeared through the doorway. + +The talk had evidently aroused some memory long buried in the colonel's +mind; for when Fitz had gone the dear old fellow picked up the glass +holding the roses which he had given his aunt in the morning, and, +while repeating her name softly to himself, buried his face in their +fragrance. Something, perhaps, in their perfume stirred that haunting +memory the deeper, for he suddenly raised his head and burst out:-- +"Ah, Major, you ought to have seen that woman forty years ago! Why, +suh, she was just a rose herself!" + +And then followed in disconnected scraps, as if he were recalling it +to himself, with long pauses between, that story which I had heard +hinted at before. A story never told the children, and never even +whispered in aunt Nancy's presence,--the one love affair of her life. + +She and Robert had grown up together,--he a tall, brown-eyed young +fellow just out of the university, and she a fair-haired, joyous girl +with half the county at her feet. Nancy had not loved him at first, +nor ever did until the day he had saved her life in that wild dash +across country when her horse took fright, and he, riding neck and +neck, had lifted her clear of her saddle. After that there had been +but one pair of eyes and arms for her in the wide world. All of that +spring and summer, as the colonel put it, she was like a bird pouring +out her soul in one continuous song. Then there had come a night in +Richmond,--the night of the ball,--followed by her sudden return home, +hollow-eyed and white, and the mysterious postponement of the wedding +for a year. + +Everybody wondered, but no one knew, and only as the months went by +did her spirits gain a little, and she begin to sing once more. + +It was at a great party on a neighboring estate, amid the swim of the +music and the whirl of soft lace. Suddenly loud voices and threats, +a shower of cards flung at a man's face, an uplifted arm caught by the +host. Then a hall door thrust open and a half-frenzied man with +disordered dress staggering out. Then the startled face of a young +girl all in white and a cry no one ever forgot:-- + +"Oh, Robert! Not again?" + +Her long ride home in the dead of the night, Nancy alone in the coach, +her escort--a distant cousin--on horseback behind. Then the pursuit. +The steady rise and fall of the hoof-beats back in the forest; the +reining in of Robert's panting horse covered with foam; his command +to halt; a flash, and then that sweet face stretched out in the road +in the moonlight by the side of the overturned coach, the cousin bending +over her with a bullet hole in his hat, and Robert, ghastly white and +sobered, with the smoking pistol in his hand. + +Then the long, halting procession homeward in the gray dawn. + +It was not so easy after this to keep the secret shut away; so one +day, when the shock had passed,--her arms about her uncle's neck,--the +whole story came out. She told of that other night there in Richmond, +with Robert reeling and half crazed; of his promise of reform, and the +postponement of the wedding, while she waited and trusted: so sad a +story that the old uncle forgot all the traditions that bound Southern +families, and sustained her in her determination never to see Robert +again. + +For days the broken-hearted lover haunted the place, while an out-bound +ship waited in Norfolk harbor. + +Even Robert's father, crushed and humiliated by it all, had made no +intercession for him. But now, he begged, would she see his son for +the last time, only that he might touch her hand and say good-by? + +That last good-by lasted an hour, Chad walking his horse all the while +before the porch door, until that tottering figure, holding to the +railings and steadying itself, came down the steps. + +A shutter thrown back, and Nancy at the open window watching him mount. + +As he wheels he raises his hat. She pushes aside the climbing roses. + +In an instant he has cleared the garden beds, and has reined in his +horse just below her window-sill. Looking up into her face:-- + +"Nancy, for the last time, shall I stay?" + +She only shakes her head. + +"Then look, Nancy, look! This is your work!" + +A gleam of steel in a clenched hand, a burst of smoke, and before Chad +can reach him Nancy's lover lies dead in the flowers at her feet. + +It had not been an easy story for the colonel. When he ceased he passed +his hand across his forehead as if the air of the room stifled him. +Then laying down his pipe, he bent once more over the slender vase, +his face in the roses. + + * * * * * + +"May I come in?" + +In an instant the colonel's old manner returned. + +"May you come in, Nancy? Why, you dear woman, if you had stayed away +five minutes longer I should have gone for you myself. What! Another +skein of yarn?" + +"Yes," she said, seating herself. "Hold out your hands." + +The loop slipped so easily over the colonel's arms that it was quite +evident that the role was not new to him. + +"Befo' I forget it, Nancy, Mr. Fitzpatrick was called suddenly away +to attend to some business connected with my railroad, and left his +vehy kindest regards for you, and his apologies for not seein' you +befo' he left." + +Fitz had said nothing that resembled this, so far as my memory served +me, but it was what he ought to have done, and the colonel always +corrected such little slips of courtesy by supplying them himself. + +"Politeness," he would sometimes say, "is becomin' rarer every day. +I tell you, suh, the disease of bad manners is mo' contagious than the +small-pox." + +So the deception was quite pardonable in him. + +"And what does Mr. Fitzpatrick think of the success of your enterprise, +George?" + +The colonel sailed away as usual with all his balloon topsails set, +his sea-room limited only by the skein, while his aunt wound her yarn +silently, and listened with a face expressive at once of deep interest +and hope, mingled with a certain undefined doubt. + +As the ball grew in size, she turned to me, and, with a penetration +and practical insight into affairs for which I had not given her credit, +began to dissect the scheme in detail. She had heard, she said, that +there was lack of connecting lines and consequent absence of freight, +as well as insufficient harbor facilities at Warrentown. + +I parried the questions as well as I could, begging off on the plea +that I was only a poor devil of a painter with a minimum knowledge +ofsuch matters, and ended by referring her to Fitz. + +The colonel, much to my surprise, listened to every word without opening +his lips--a silence encouraged at first by his pride that she could +talk so well, and maintained thereafter because of certain misgivings +awakened in his mind as to the ultimate success of his pet enterprise. + +When she had punctured the last of his little balloons, he laid his +hand on her shoulder, and, looking into her face, said:-- + +"Nancy, you really don't mean that my railroad will _never_ be built?" + +"No, George; but suppose it should not earn its expenses?" + +Her thoughts were new to the colonel. Nobody except a few foolish +people in the Street, anxious to sell less valuable securities, and +utterly unable to grasp the great merits of the Cartersville and +Warrentown Air Line Railroad plan, had ever before advanced any such +ideas in his presence. He loosened his hands from the yarn, and took +a seat by the window. His aunt's misgivings had evidently so thoroughly +disturbed him that for an instant I could see traces of a certain +offended dignity, coupled with a nervous anxiety lest her inquiries +had shaken my own confidence in his scheme. + +He began at once to reassure me. There was nothing to be uneasy about. +Look at the bonds! Note the perfect safety of the plan of finance--the +earlier coupons omitted, the subsequent peace of the investor! The +peculiar location of the road, with the ancestral estates dotted along +its line! The dignity of the several stations! He could hear them now +in his mind called out as they whistled down brakes: "Carter Hall! +Barboursville! Talcott!" No; there was nothing about the road that +should disturb his aunt. For all that a still more anxious look came +into his face. He began pacing the floor, buried in deep thought, his +thumbs hooked behind his back. At last he stopped and took her hand. + +"Dear Nancy, if anything should happen to you it would break my heart. +Don't be angry, it is only the major; but yo' talk with him has so +disturbed me that I am determined to secure you against personal loss." + +Miss Nancy raised her eyes wonderingly. She evidently did not catch +his meaning. + +"You have been good enough, my dear, to advance me certain sums of +money which I still owe. I want to pay these now." + +"But, George, you"-- + +"My dearest Nancy,"--and he stooped down, and kissed her cheek,--"I +will have my way. Of co'se you didn't mean anything, only I cannot let +another hour pass with these accounts unsettled. Think, Nancy; it is +my right. The delay affects my honor." + +The little lady dropped her knitting on the floor, and looked at me +in a helpless way. + +The colonel opened the table drawer, and handed me pen and ink. + +"Now, Major, take this sheet of paper and draw a note of hand." + +I looked at his aunt inquiringly. She nodded her head in assent. + +"Yes, if it pleases George." + +I began with the usual form, entering the words "I promise to pay," +and stopped for instructions. + +"Payable when, Colonel?" I asked. + +"As soon as I get the money, suh." + +"But you will do that anyhow, George." + +"Yes, I know, Nancy; but I want to settle it in some safe way." + +Then he gazed at the ceiling in deep thought. + +"I have it, Major!" And the colonel seized the pen. The note read as +follows:-- + +On demand I promise to pay Ann Carter the sum of six hundred dollars, +value received, with interest at the rate of six per cent, from January +1st. + +Payable as soon as possible. + +GEORGE FAIRFAX CARTER. + +I looked to see what effect this unexpected influx of wealth would +produce on the dear lady; but the trustful smile never wavered. + +She read to the very end the modest scrap of paper so suddenly enriched +by the colonel's signature, repeated in a whisper to herself "Payable +as soon as possible," folded it with as much care as if it had been +a Bank of England note, then thanked the colonel graciously, and tucked +it in her reticule. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +_An Allusion to a Yellow Dog_ + + +The colonel's office, like many other of his valued possessions, was +in fact the property of somebody else. + +It really belonged to a friend of Fitzpatrick, who had become so +impressed by the Virginian's largeness of manner and buoyancy of +enthusiasm that he had whispered to Fitz to bring him in at once and +give him any desk in the place; adding that "in a sagging market the +colonel would be better than a war boom." + +So the colonel moved in--not a very complicated operation in his case; +his effects being confined to an old leather portfolio and a bundle +of quill pens tied up with a bit of Aunt Nancy's white yarn. The +following day he had nailed his visiting card above the firm's name +in the corridor, hung his hat and coat on the proprietor's peg, selected +a desk nearest the light, and was as much at home in five minutes as +if he owned the whole building. + +[Illustration] + +There was no price agreed upon. Once, when Fitz delicately suggested +that all such rents were generally payable monthly, the colonel, after +some difficulty in grasping the idea, had said:-- + +"I could not offer it, suh. These gentlemen have treated me with a +hospitality so generous that its memory will never fade from my mind. +I cannot bring our relations down to the level of bargain and sale,suh; +it would be vulgar." + +The colonel was perfectly sincere. As for himself he would have put +every room in his own Carter Hall at their service for any purpose or +for any length of time, and have slept in the woodshed himself; and +he would as soon have demanded the value of the bottle of wine on his +own table as ask pay for such trivial courtesies. + +Nor did he stop at the rent. The free use of stamps, envelopes, paper, +messenger service, and clerks were to him only evidences of a lordly +sort of hospitality which endeared the real proprietor of the office +all the more to him, because it recalled the lavish display of the +golden days of Carter Hall. + +"Permit a guest to stamp his own letters, suh? Never! Our servants +attended to that." + +Really he owed his host nothing. No office of its size in the Street +made so much money for its customers in a bull market. Nobody lost +heart in a tumble and was sold out--that is, nobody to whom the colonel +talked. Once convince the enthusiastic Virginian that the scheme was +feasible,--and how little eloquence was needed for that!--and the +dear old fellow took hold with as much gusto as if it had been his own. + +The vein in the copper mine was always going to widen out into a +six-foot lead; never by any possibility could it grow any smaller. The +trust shares were going up--"not a point or two at a time, gentlemen, +but with the spring of a panther, suh." Of course the railroad earnings +were a little off this month, but wait until the spring opened; "then, +suh, you will see a revival that will sweep you off yo' feet." + +Whether it was good luck, or the good heart that the colonel put into +his friend's customers, the results were always the same. Singular as +it may seem, his cheery word just at the right time tided over +the critical moment many an uncertain watcher at the "ticker," often +to an enlargement of his bank account. Nor would he allow any one to +pay him for any service of this kind, even though he had spent days +engrossed in their affairs. + +"Take money, suh, for helpin' a friend out of a hole? My dear suh, I +see you do not intend to be disco'teous; but look at me, suh! There's +my hand; never refer to it again." And then he would offer the offender +his card in the hope, perhaps, that its ample record might furnish +some further slight suggestion as to who he really was. + +His popularity, therefore, was not to be wondered at. Everybody regarded +him kindly, total stranger as he was, and although few of them believed +to any extent in his "Garden Spot of Virginia," as his pet enterprise +soon came to be known around the Street, everybody wished it well, and +not a few would have started it with a considerable subscription could +the colonel have managed the additional thousands required to set it +on its financial legs. + +Fitz never lost heart in the scheme,--that is, never when the colonel +was about. As the weeks rolled by and one combination after the other +failed, and the well-thumbed bundle of papers in the big blue envelope +was returned with various comments. "In view of our present financial +engagements we are unable to undertake your very attractive railroad +scheme," or the more curt "Not suited to our line of customers," he +would watch the colonel's face anxiously, and rack his brain for some +additional excuse. + +He always found one. Tight money, or news from Europe, or an overissue +of similar bonds; next week it would be better. And the colonel always +believed him. Fitz was his guiding star, and would lead him to some +safe haven yet. This faith was his stronghold, and his only one. + +This morning, however, there was a touch of genuine enthusiasm about +Fitz. He rushed into the office, caught up the blue bundle and the +map, nearly upsetting the colonel, who was balanced back in his chair +with his long legs over the desk,--a favorite attitude when down +town,--rushed out, and returned in half an hour with a fat body +surmounted by a bald head fringed about with gray curls. + +[Illustration] + +He was the advance agent of that mysterious combination known to the +financial world as an "English syndicate," an elusive sort of commercial +sea-serpent with its head in London and its tail around the globe. The +"inquiry" which had so gladdened the colonel's heart the morning ofthe +breakfast with aunt Nancy had proceeded from this rotund negotiator. + +The colonel had, as usual, started the road at Cartersville, and had +gotten as far as the double-span iron bridge over the Tench when the +rotund gentleman asked abruptly,-- + +"How far are you from a coal-field?" + +The colonel lifted the point of his pen, adjusted his glasses, and +punched a hole in the rumpled map within a hair's breadth of a black +dot labeled "Cartersville." + +"Right there, suh. Within a stone's throw of our locomotives." + +Fitz looked into the hole with as much astonishment as if it were the +open mouth of the mine itself. + +"Hard or soft?" said the stout man. + +"Soft, suh, and fairly good coal, I understand, although I have never +used it, suh; my ancestors always burned wood." + +Fitz heard the statement in undisguised wonder. In all his intercourse +with the colonel he had never before known him to depart so much as +a razor's edge from the truth. + +The fat man communed with himself a moment, and then said suddenly, +"I'll take the papers and give you an answer in a week," and hurried +away. + +"Do you really mean, Colonel," said Fitz, determined to pin him down, +"that there is a single pound of coal in Cartersville?" + +"Do I mean it, Fitz? Don't it crop out in half a dozen spots right on +our own place? One haalf of my estate, suh, is a coal-field." + +"You never told me a word about it." + +"I don't know that I did, Fitz. But it has never been of any use to +me. Besides, suh, we have plenty of wood. We never burn coal at Caarter +Hall." + +Fitz did not take that view of it. He went into an exhaustive +cross-examination of the colonel on the coal question: who had tested +it, the character of the soil, width of the vein, and dip of the land. +This information he carefully recorded in a small book which he took +from his inside pocket. + +Loosened from Fitz's pinioning grasp, the colonel, entirely oblivious +to his friend's sudden interest in the coal-field, and slightly +impatient at the delay, bounded like a balloon with its anchors cut. + +"An answer from the syndicate within a week! My dear Fitz, I see yo' +drift. You have kept the Garden Spots for the foreign investors. That +man is impressed, suh; I saw it in his eye." + +The room began filling up with the various customers and loungers +common to such offices: the debonair gentleman in check trousers and +silk hat, with a rose in his button-hole, who dusts his trousers +broadside with his cane--short of one hundred shares with thirty per +cent. margin; the shabby old man with a solemn face who watches the +ticker a moment and then wanders aimlessly out, looking more like an +underpaid clerk in a law office than the president of a crosstown +railroad--long of one thousand shares with no margin at all; the nervous +man who stops the messenger boys and devours the sales' lists before +they can be skewered on the files,--not a dollar's interest either +way; and, last of all, the brokers with little pads and nimble pencils. + +[Illustration] + +The news that the great English syndicate was looking into the C. & +W. A. L R. R. was soon around the office, and each _habitue_ had +a bright word for the colonel, congratulating him on the favorable +turn his affairs had taken. + +All but old Klutchem, a broker in unlisted securities, who had been +trying for weeks to get a Denver land scheme before the same syndicate, +and had failed. + +"Garden Spot bonds! Bosh! Road begins nowhere and ends nowhere. If any +set of fools built it, the only freight it would get, outside of peanuts +and sweet potatoes, would be razor-back hogs and niggers. I wouldn't +give a yellow dog for enough of those securities to paper a church." + +The colonel was on his feet in an instant. +"Mr. Klutchem, I cannot permit you, suh, to use such language in my +presence unrebuked; you"-- + +"Now, see here, old Garden Spot, you know"-- + +The familiarity angered the colonel even more than the outburst. + +"Caarter, suh,--George Fairfax Caarter," said the colonel with dignity. + +"Well, Caarter, then," mimicking him, perhaps unconsciously. "You +know"-- + +The intonation was the last straw. The colonel lost all control of +himself. No man had ever thus dared before. + +"Stop, Mr. Klutchem! What I know, suh, I decline to discuss with you. +Yo' statements are false, and yo' manner of expressin' them quite in +keepin' with the evident vulga'ity of yo' mind. If I can ascertain +that you have ever had any claim to be considered a gentleman you will +hear from me ag'in. If not, I shall rate you as rankin' with yo' yallar +dog; and if you ever speak to me ag'in I will strike you, suh, with +my cane." + +And the colonel, his eyes flashing, strode into the private office +with the air of a field marshal, and shut the door. + +Klutchem looked around the room and into the startled faces of the +clerks and bystanders, burst into a loud laugh, and left the office. +On reaching the street he met Fitz coming in. + +"Better look after old Garden Spot, Fitzpatrick. I poked holes in his +road, and he wanted to swallow me alive." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +_Certain Important Letters_ + + +When I reached my lodgings that night I found this note, marked in the +left-hand corner "Important," and in the right-hand corner "In haste." +A boy had left it half an hour before. + +Be at my house at six, prepared to leave town at an hour's notice. + +CARTER. + +I hurried to Bedford Place, dived through the tunnel, and found +Fitzpatrick with his hand on the knocker. I followed him through the +narrow hall and into the dining-room. He had a duplicate, also marked +"Important" and "In haste," with this additional postscript: "Bring +address of a prudent doctor." + +"What does all this mean, Fitz?" I asked, spreading my letter out. + +"I give it up, Major. The last I saw of the colonel was at two o'clock. +He was then in the private office writing. That old wind-bag Klutchem +had been worrying him, I heard, and the colonel sat down on him hard. +But he had forgotten all about it when I talked to him, for he was as +calm as a clock. But what the devil, Major, does he want with a doctor? +Chad!" + +"Yes, sah!" + +"Was the colonel sick this morning?" + +"No, sah. Eat two b'iled eggs, and a dish ob ham half as big as yo' +han'. He wa'n't sick, 'cause I yerd him singin' to hisself all fru de +tunnel cl'ar out to de street." + +We sat down and looked at each other. Could anybody else be sick? +Perhaps aunt Nancy had been taken ill on her way home to Virginia, and +the doctor was for the dear lady. But why a "prudent doctor," and why +both of us to go? + +Fitz paced up and down the room, and I sat by the open window, and +looked out into the dreary yard. The hands of the clock in the tall +tower outlined against the evening sky were past the hour, long past, +and yet no colonel. + +Suppose he had been suddenly stricken down himself! Suppose-- + +The slamming of the outer gate, followed by a sentry-like tread in the +tunnel, cut short our quandary, and the colonel's tall figure emerged +from the archway, and mounted the steps. + +"What has happened?" we both blurted out, opening the door for him. +"Who's sick? Where are we going?" + +The colonel's only reply was a pressure of our hands. Then, placing +his hat with great deliberation on the hall table, he drew off his +gloves, waved us before him, and took his seat at the dining-room +table. + +Fitz and I, now thoroughly alarmed, and quite prepared for the worst, +stood on each side. + +The colonel dropped his hand into his inside pocket, and drew forth +three letters. + +"Gentlemen, you see befo' you a man on the verge of one of the great +crises of his life. You heard, Fitz, of what occurred in my office +this mornin'? You know how brutally I was assaulted, and how entirely +without provocation on my part? I am a Caarter, suh, and a gentleman. +No man can throw discredit on an enterprise bearin' my name without +bein' answerable to me." + +And the colonel with great dignity opened one of the letters, and read +as follows:-- + +51 BEDFORD PLACE. _Tuesday._ + +P. A. KLUTCHEM. _Sir_,--You took occasion this morning, in the +presence of a number of my friends, to make use of certain offensive +remarks reflecting upon a great commercial enterprise to which I have +lent my name. This was accompanied by a familiarity as coarse as it +was unwarranted. The laws of hospitality, which your own lack of good +breeding violated, forbade my having you ejected from my office on the +spot. + +I now demand that satisfaction to which I am entitled, and I herewith +inform you that I am ready at an hour's notice to meet you at any point +outside the city most convenient to yourself. + +Immediately upon your reply my friend Mr. T. B. Fitzpatrick will wait +upon you and arrange the details. I name Major Thos. C. Yancey of +Virginia as my second in the field. + +I have the honor to remain + Your obedient servant, + GEORGE FAIRFAX CARTER, _Late Colonel C. S. A._ + +"Suffering Moses!" cried out Fitz. "You are not going to send that?" + +"It is sent, my dear Fitz. Mailed from my office this afternoon. This +is a copy." Fitz sank into a chair with both hands to his head. + +"My object in sendin' for you both," the colonel continued, "was to +be fully prepared should my antagonist select some early hour in the +mornin'. In that case, Fitz, I shall have to rely on you alone, as +Major Yancey cannot reach here until the followin' day. That was why +a prudent doctor might be necessary at once." + +Fitz's only reply was to thump his own head, as if the situation was +too overpowering for words. + +The colonel, with the same deliberation, opened the second letter. It +was addressed to Judge Kerfoot, informing him of the nature of the +"crisis," and notifying him of his (the colonel's) intention to appoint +him sole executor of his estate should fate provide that vacancy. + +The third was a telegram to Major Yancey summoning him at once "to +duty on the field in an affair of honor." + +"I am aware, Fitz, that some secrecy must be preserved in an affair +of this kind Nawth--quite diffe'ent from our own county, and"-- + +"Secrecy! Secrecy! With that bellowing Klutchem? Don't you know that +that idiot will have it all over the Street by nine o'clock to-morrow, +unless he is ass enough to get scared, get out a warrant, and clap you +into the Tombs before breakfast? O Colonel! How _could_ you do a thing +like this without letting us know?" + +The colonel never changed a muscle in his face. He was courteous, even +patient with Fitz, now really alarmed over the consequences of what +he considered a most stupendous piece of folly. He could not, he said, +sit in judgment on other gentlemen. If Fitz felt that way, it was +doubtless due to his education. As for himself, he must follow the +traditions of his ancestors. + +"But at all events, my friends, my dear friends,"--and he extended +both hands,--"we must not let this affair spoil our ap'tites. Nothing +can now occur until the mornin', and we have ample time befo' daylight +to make our preparations. Major, kindly touch the bell. Thank you! +Chad, serve the soup." + +So short a time elapsed between the sound of the bell and the thrusting +in of Chad's head that it was quite evident the darky had been listening +on the outside. + +If, however, that worthy guardian of the honor and dignity of the +Carter family was at all disturbed by what he had heard, there was +nothing in his face to indicate it. On the contrary, every wrinkle was +twisted into curls and curves of hilarity. He even went so far during +dinner as to correct his master in so slight a detail as to where +Captain Loynes was hit in the famous duel between the colonel's father +and that distinguished Virginian. + +"Are you shore, Chad, it was in the leg?" + +"Yes, sah, berry sho. You don't reckel-member, Colonel; but I had Marsa +John's coat, an' I wrop it round Cap'in Loynes when he was ca'aied to +his ca'aige. Yes, sah, jes above de knee. Marsa John picked him de +fust shot." + +"I remember now. Yes, you are right. The captain always walked a little +lame." + +"But, gentlemen,"--still with great dignity, but yet with an air as +if he desired to relieve our minds from any anxiety concerning +himself,--"by far the most interesting affair of honor of my time was +the one in which I met Major Howard, a prominent member of the Fairfax +County bar. Some words in the heat of debate led to a blow, and the +next mornin' the handkerchief was dropped at the edge of a wood near +the cote-house just as the sun rose over the hill. As I fired, the +light blinded me, and my ball passed through his left arm. I escaped +with a hole in my sleeve." + +"Living yet?" said Fitz, repressing a smile. + +"Certainly, suh, and one of the fo'most lawyers of our State. Vehy +good friend of mine. Saw him on'y the week befo' I left home." + +When dinner was served, I could detect no falling off in the colonel's +appetite. With the exception of a certain nervous expectance, +intensified when there was a rap at the front door, followed by a +certain consequent disappointment when Chad announced the return of +a pair of shoes--out to be half-soled--instead of the long-delayed +reply from the offending broker, he was as calm and collected as ever. + +It was only when he took from his table drawer some sheets of foolscap, +spread the nib of a quill pen on his thumb nail, and beckoned Fitz to +his side, that I noticed any difference even in his voice. + +"You know, Fitz, that my hand is not so steady as it was, and if I +should fall, there are some things that must be attended to. Sit here +and write these memoranda at my dictation." + +Fitz drew nearer, and bent his ear in attention. + +"I, George Fairfax Caarter of Caarter Hall, Caartersville, Virginia, +bein' of sound mind"-- + +The pen scratched away. + +"Everything down but the sound mind," said Fitz; "but go on." + +"Do hereby," continued the colonel. + +"What's all this for--another challenge?" said Fitz, looking up. + +"No, Fitz,"--the colonel did not like his tone,--"but a few partin' +instructions which will answer in place of a more formally drawn will." + +Fitz scratched on until the preamble was finished, and the unincumbered +half of Carter Hall had been bequeathed to "my ever valued aunt Ann +Carter, spinster," and he had reached a new paragraph beginning with, +"All bonds, stocks, and shares, whether founders', preferred, or common, +of the corporation known as the Cartersville and Warrentown Air Line +Railroad, particularly the sum of 25,000 shares of said company +subscribed for by the undersigned, I hereby bequeath," when Fitz stopped +and laid down his pen. + +"You can't leave that stock. Not transferred to you yet." + +"I know it, Fitz; but I have pledged my word to take it, and so far +as I am concerned, it is mine." + +Fitz looked over his glasses at me, and completed the sentence by which +this also became "the exclusive property of Ann Carter, spinster." +Then followed a clause giving his clothes to Chad, his seal and chain +to Fitz, and his fowling-piece to me. + +When the document was finished, the colonel signed it in a bold, round +hand, and attested it by a burning puddle of red wax into which he +plunged the old family seal. Fitz and I duly witnessed it, and then +the colonel, with the air of a man whose mind had been suddenly relieved +of some great pressure, locked the important document in his drawer, +and handed the key to Fitz. + +The change now in the colonel's manner was quite in keeping with the +expression of his face. All his severe dignity, all the excess of +responsibility and apparent studied calmness, were gone. He even became +buoyant enough to light a pipe. + +Presently he gave a little start as if suddenly remembering something +until that moment overlooked, then he lighted a candle, and mounted +the stairs to his bedroom. In a few minutes he returned, carrying in +both hands a mysterious-looking box. This he placed with great care +on the table, and proceeded to unlock with a miniature key attached +to a bunch which he invariably carried in his trousers pocket. + +It was a square box made of mahogany, bound at each corner with brass, +and bearing in the centre of the top a lozenge-shaped silver tablet +engraved with a Carter coat of arms, the letters "G. F. C." being +beneath. + +The colonel raised the lid and uncovered the weapons that had defended +the honor of the Carter family for two generations. They were the old +fashioned single-barrel kind, with butts like those of the pirates in +a play, and they lay in a bed of faded red velvet surrounded by ramrods, +bullet-moulds, a green pill-box labeled "G. D. Gun Caps," some scraps +of wash leather, together with a copper powder-flask and a spoonful +of bullets. The nipples were protected by little patches cut from an +old kid glove. + +The colonel showed with great pride a dent on one side of the barrel +where a ball had glanced, saving some ancestor's life; then he rang +the bell for Chad, and consigned the case to that hilarious darky very +much as the knight of a castle would place his trusty blade in the +hands of his chief armorer. + +"Want a tech o' ile in dese baals, Colonel," said Chad, examining them +critically. "Got to keep dere moufs clean if you want dese dogs to +bark right;" and he bore away the battery, followed by the colonel, +who went down into the kitchen to see if the fire was hot enough to +cast a few extra bullets. + +[Illustration] + +Fitz and I, being more concerned about devising some method to prevent +the consequences of the colonel's rash act than in increasing the +facilities for bloodshed, remained where we were and discussed the +possible outcome of the situation. + +We had about agreed that should Klutchem demand protection of the +police, and the colonel be hauled up for violating the law of the +State, I should go bail and Fitz employ the lawyer, when we were +startled by a sound like the snap of a percussion-cap, followed by +loud talking in the front yard. + +First came a voice in a commanding tone: "Stand where you are! Drop +yo' hand!" + +Then Chad's "Don't shoot yit, Colonel." + +Fitz and I started for the front door on a run, threw it open, and ran +against Chad standing on the top step with his back to the panels. +Over his head he held the stub of a candle flickering in the night +wind. This he moved up and down in obedience to certain mysterious +sounds which came rumbling out of the tunnel. Beside him on the stone +step lay the brass-cornered mahogany dueling case with both weapons +gone. + +The only other light visible was the glowing eye of the tall tower. + +"Where's the colonel?" we both asked in a breath. + +Chad kept the light aloft with one hand like an ebony Statue of Liberty, +and pointed straight ahead into the tunnel with the other. + +"Mo' to the left," came the voice. + +Chad swayed the candle towards the broken-down fence, and sent his +magnified shadow scurrying up the measly wall and halfway over to the +next house. +"So! Now steady." + +The darky stood like the Sphinx, the light streaming atop of the tall +candlestick, and then said from out one side of his mouth, "Spec' you +gemmen better squat; she's gwineter bite." + +Fitz peered into the tunnel, caught the gleam of a pistol held in a +shadowy hand, made a clear leap, and landed out of range among the +broken flower-pots. I sprang behind the hydrant, and at the same instant +another cap snapped. + +"Ah, gentlemen," said the voice emerging from the tunnel. "Had I been +quite sure of myself I should have sent for you. I used to snuff a +candle at fo'ty yards, and but that my powder is a little old I could +do it ag'in." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +_The Outcome of a Council of War_ + + +When early the next morning, Fitz and I arrived at the colonel's office +he was already on hand and in a state of high nervous excitement. His +coat, which, so far as a coat might, always expressed in its various +combinations the condition of his mind, was buttoned close up under +his chin, giving to his slender figure quite a military air. He was +pacing the floor with measured tread; one hand thrust into his bosom, +senator fashion, the other held behind his back. + +"Not a line, suh; not the scrape of a pen. If his purpose, suh, is to +ignore me altogether, I shall horsewhip him on sight." + +"Have you looked through the firm's mail?" said Fitz, glad of the +respite. + +"Eve'ywhere, suh--not a scrap." + +"I will hunt him up;" and Fitz hurried down to Klutchem's office in +the hope of either intercepting the challenge or of pacifying the +object of the colonel's wrath, if by any good chance the letter should +have been delayed until the morning. + +In ten minutes he returned with the mystifying news that Mr. Klutchem's +letters had been sent to his apartment the night before, and that a +telegram had just been received notifying his clerks that he would not +be down that day. + +"Escaped, suh, has he? Run like a dog! Like a yaller dog as he is! +Where has he gone?" + +"After a policeman, I guess," said Fitz. + +The colonel stopped, and an expression of profound contempt overspread +his face. + +"If the gentleman has fallen so low, suh, that he proposes to go about +with a constable taggin' after his heels, you can tell him, suh, that +he is safe even from my boot." + +Then he shut the door of the private office in undisguised disgust, +leaving Fitz and me on the outside. + +"What are we going to do, Major?" said Fitz, now really anxious. "I +am positive that old Klutchem has either left town or is at this moment +at police headquarters. If so, the dear old fellow will be locked up +before sundown. Klutchem got that letter last night." + +It was at once decided to head off the broker, Fitz keeping an eye on +his office every half hour in the hope that he might turn up, and I +completing the arrangements for the colonel's bail so as to forestall +the possibility of his remaining in custody overnight. + +Fitz spent the day in efforts to lay hands on Klutchem in order to +prevent the law performing the same service for the colonel. My own +arrangements were more easily completed, a friend properly possessed +of sufficient real estate to make good his bond being in readiness for +any emergency. One o'clock came, then three, then five; the colonelall +the time keeping to the seclusion of his private office, Fitz +watching for Klutchem, and I waiting in the larger office for the +arrival of one of those clean-shaven, thick-set young men, in a Derby +hat and sack-coat, the unexpected pair of handcuffs in his outside +pocket. + +The morning of the second day the situation remained still unchanged; +Fitz had been unable to find Klutchem either at his office or at his +lodgings, the colonel was still without any reply from his antagonist, +and no young man answering to my fears had put in any appearance +whatever. + +The only new features were a telegram from Tom Yancey to the effect +that he and Judge Kerfoot would arrive about noon, and another from +the judge himself begging a postponement until they could reach the +field. + +Fitz read both dispatches in a corner by himself, with a face expressive +of the effect these combined troubles were making upon his otherwise +happy countenance. He then crumpled them up in his hand and slid them +into his pocket. + +Up to this time not a soul in the office except the colonel, Fitz, and +I had the faintest hint of the impending tragedy, it being one of the +colonel's maxims that all affairs of honor demanded absolute silence. + +"If yo' enemy falls," he would say, "it is mo' co'teous to say nothin' +but good of the dead; and when you cannot say that, better keep still. +If he is alive let him do the talkin'--he will soon kill himself." + +Fitz kept still because he felt sure if he could get hold of Klutchem +the whole affair--either outcome powder or law--could be prevented. + +"Just as I had got the syndicate to look into the coal land," said +Fitz, "which is the only thing the colonel's got worth talking about, +here he goes and gets into a first-class cast-iron scrape like this. +What a lovely old idiot he is! But I tell you, Major, something has +got to be done about this shooting business right away! Here I have +arranged for a meeting at the colonel's house on Saturday to discuss +this new coal development, and the syndicate's agent is coming, and +yet we can't for the life of us tell whether the colonel will be on +his way home in a pine box or locked up here for trying to murder that +old windbag. It's horrible! + +"And to cap the climax,"--and he pulled out the crumpled +telegrams,--"here come a gang of fire-eaters who will make it twice +as difficult for me to settle anything. I wish I could find Klutchem!" + +While he spoke the office door opened, ushering in a stout man with +a red face, accompanied by an elderly white-haired gentleman, in a +butternut suit. The red-faced man was carrying a carpet bag--not the +Northern variety of wagon-curtain canvas, but the old-fashioned carpet +kind with leather handles and a mouth like a catfish. The snuff-colored +gentleman's only charge was a heavy hickory cane and an umbrella with +a waist like a market-woman's. + +The red-faced man took off a wide straw hat and uncovered a head +slightly bald and reeking with perspiration. + +"I'm lookin' fur Colonel Caarter, suh. Is he in?" + +Fitz pointed to the door of the private office, and the elderly man +drew his cane and rapped twice. The colonel must have recognized the +signal as familiar, for the door opened with a spring, and the next +moment he had them both by the hands. + +"Why, Jedge, this is indeed an honor--and Tom! Of co'se I knew you +would come, Tom; but the Jedge I did not expec' until I got yo' +telegram. Give me yo' bag, and put yo' umbrella in the corner. + +"Here Fitz, Major; both of you come in here at once. + +"Jedge Kerfoot, gentlemen, of the district co'te of Fairfax County. +Major Tom Yancey, of the army." + +The civilities over, extra chairs were brought in, the door again +closed, and a council of war was held. + +Major Yancey's first word--but I must describe Yancey. Imagine a short, +oily skinned, perpetually perspiring sort of man of forty, with a +decollete collar, a double-breasted waistcoat with glass buttons, and +skin-tight light trousers held down to a pair of high-heeled boots by +leather straps. The space between his waistband and his waistcoat was +made good by certain puckerings of his shirt anxious to escape the +thralldom of his suspenders. His paunch began and ended so suddenly +that he constantly reminded you of a man who had swallowed a toy +balloon. + +Yancey's first word was an anxious inquiry as to whether he was late, +adding, "I came ez soon ez I could settle some business mattahs." He +had borrowed his traveling expenses from Kerfoot, who in turn had +borrowed them from Miss Nancy, keeping the impending duel carefully +concealed from that dear lady, and reading only such part of the +colonel's letter as referred to the drawing up of some important papers +in which he was to figure as chief executor. + +"Late? No, Tom," said the colonel; "but the scoundrel has run to cover. +We are watchin' his hole." + +"You sholy don't tell me he's got away, Colonel?" replied Major Yanccy. + +"What could I do, Yancey? He hasn't had the decency to answer my +letter." + +Yancey, however, on hearing more fully the facts, clung to the hope +that the Yankee would yet be smoked out. + +"I of co'se am not familiar with the code as practiced Nawth--perhaps +these delays are permis'ble; but in my county a challenge is a ball, +and a man is killed or wounded ez soon ez the ink is dry on the papah. +The time he has to live is only a mattah of muddy roads or convenience +of seconds. Is there no way in which this can be fixed? I doan't like +to return home without an effo't bein' made." + +The colonel, anxious to place the exact situation before Major Yancey +so that he might go back fully assured that everything that a Carter +could do had been done, read the copy of the challenge, gave the details +of Fitz's efforts to find Klutchem, the repeated visits to his office, +and finally the call at his apartments. + +The major listened attentively, consulted aside with the judge, and +then in an authoritative tone, made the more impressive by the decided +way with which he hitched up his trousers, said:-- + +"You have done all that a high-toned Southern gemman could do, Colonel. +Yo' honor, suh, is without a stain." + +In which opinion he was sustained by Kerfoot, who proved to be a +ponderous sort of old-fashioned county judge, and who accentuated his +decision by bringing down his cane with a bang. + +While all this was going on in the private office under cover of +profound secrecy, another sort of consultation of a much more public +character was being held in the office outside. + +A very bright young man--one of the clerks--held in his hand a large +envelope, bearing on one end the printed address of the firm whose +private office the colonel was at that moment occupying as a council +chamber. It was addressed in the colonel's well-known round hand. This +was not the fact, however, which excited interest; for the colonel +never used any other envelopes than those of the firm. + +The postman, who had just taken it from his bag, wanted to deliver it +at its destination. The proprietor wanted to throw it back into the +box for remailing, believing it to be a Garden Spot circular, and so +of no especial importance. The bright young man wanted to return it +to the colonel. + +The bright young man prevailed, rapped at the door, and laid the letter +under the colonel's nose. It bore this address:-- + +P. A. KLUTCHEM, ESQ., +Room 21, Star Building, Wall Street, +_Immediate._ New York. + +The colonel turned pale and broke the seal. Out dropped his challenge! + +"Where did you get this?" he asked, aghast. + +"From the carrier. It was held for postage." + +Had a bombshell been exploded the effect could not have been more +startling. + +Yancey was the first man on his feet. + +"And the scoundrel never got it! Here, Colonel, give me the letter. +I'll go through this town like a fine-tooth comb but what I'll find +him. He will never escape me. My name is Yancey, suh!" + +The judge was more conservative. He had grave doubts as to whether a +second challenge, after a delay of two days and two nights, could be +sent at all. The traditions of the Carter family were a word and a +blow, not a blow and a word in two days. To intrust the letter to the +United States mail was a grave mistake; the colonel might have known +that it would miscarry. + +Fitz said grimly that letters always did, without stamps. The Government +was running the post-office on a business basis, not for its health. + +Yancey looked at Fitz as if the interruption wearied him, then, turning +to the colonel, said that he was dumbfounded that a man who had been +raised as Colonel Carter could have violated so plain a rule of the +code. A challenge should always be delivered by the hand of the +challenger's friend. It should never be mailed. + +The poor colonel, who since the discovery of the unstamped letter had +sat in a heap buried in his coat collar,--the military button having +given way,--now gave his version of the miscarriage. + +He began by saying that when his friend Major Yancey became conversant +with all the facts he would be more lenient with him. He had, he said, +found the proprietor's drawer locked, and, not having a stamp about +him, had dropped the document into the mail-box with the firm's letters, +presuming that the clerks would affix the tax the Government imposed. +That the document had reached the post-office was evidenced by the +date-stamp on the envelope. It seemed to him a picayune piece of +business on the part of the authorities to detain it, and all for the +paltry sum of two cents. + +Major Yancey conferred with the judge for a moment, and then said that +the colonel's explanation had relieved him of all responsibility. He +owed him a humble apology, and he shook his hand. Colonel Carter had +done all that a high-bred gentleman could do. The letter was intrusted +to the care of Mr. Klutchem's own government, the post-office as now +conducted being peculiarly a Yankee institution. + +"If Mr. Klutchem's own government, gemmen,"--and he repeated it with +a rising voice,--"if Mr. Klutchem's own government does not trust him +enough to deliver to him a letter in advance of a payment of two cents, +such action, while highly discreditable to Mr. Klutchem, certainly +does not relieve that gemman from the responsibility of answerin' +Colonel Caarter." + +The colonel said the point was well taken, and the judge sustained him. + +Yancey looked around with the air of a country lawyer who had tripped +up a witness, decorated a corner of the carpet, and continued:-- + +"My idee, suh, now that I am on the ground, is for me to wait upon the +gemman at once, hand him the orig'nal challenge, and demand an immediate +answer. That is, "turning to Fitz, "unless he is in hidin'." + +Fitz replied that it was pretty clear to him that a man could not hide +from a challenge he had never received. It was quite evident that +Klutchem was detained somewhere. + +The colonel coincided, and said in justice to his antagonist that he +would have to acquit him of this charge. He did not now believe that +Mr. Klutchem had run away. +Fitz, who up to this time had enjoyed every turn in the discussion, +and who had listened to Yancey with a face like a stone god, his knees +shaking with laughter, now threw another bombshell almost as disastrous +as the first. + +"Besides, gentlemen, I don't think Mr. Klutchem's remarks were +insulting." + +The colonel's head rose out of his collar with a jerk, and the forelegs +of Yancey's chair struck the floor with a thump. Both sprang to their +feet. The judge and I remained quiet. "Not insultin', suh, to call a +gemman a--a--Colonel, what did the scoundrel call you?" + +"It was mo' his manner," replied the colonel. "He was familiar, suh, +and presumin' and offensive." + +Yancey broke away again, but Fitz sidetracked him with a gesture, and +asked the colonel to repeat Klutchem's exact words. + +The colonel gazed at the ceiling a moment, and replied:-- + +"Mr. Klutchem said that, outside of peanuts and sweet potatoes, all +my road would git for freight would be niggers and razor-back hogs." + +"Mr. Klutchem was right, Colonel," said Fitz. "Very sensible man. They +will form a very large part of our freight. Anything offensive in that +remark of Klutchem's, Major Yancey?" + +The major conferred with the judge, and said reluctantly that there +was not. + +"Go on, Colonel," continued Fitz. + +"Then, suh, he said he wouldn't trade a yaller dog for enough of our +bonds to papah a meetin'-house." + +"Did he call you a yaller dog?" said Yancey searchingly, and +straightening himself up. + +"No." + +"Call anybody connected with you a yaller dog?" + +"Can't say that he did." + +"Call yo' railroad a yaller dog?" + +"No, don't think so," said the colonel, now thoroughly confused and +adrift. + +Yancey consulted with the judge a moment in one corner, and then said +gravely:-- + +"Unless some mo' direct insult is stated, Colonel, we must agree with +yo' friend Mr. Fitzpatrick, and consider yo' action hasty. Now, if you +had pressed the gemman, and he had called _you_ a yaller dog or a liar, +somethin' might be done. Why didn't you press him?" + +"I did, suh. I told him his statements were false and his manners +vulgar." + +"And he did not talk back?" + +"No, suh; on'y laughed." + +"Sneeringly, and in a way that sounded like 'Yo' 're another'?" + +The colonel could not remember that it was. + +Yancey ruminated, and Fitz now took a hand. + +"On the contrary, Major Yancey, Mr. Klutchem's laugh was a very jolly +laugh; and, under the circumstances, a laugh very creditable to his +good nature. You are young and impetuous, but I know my learned friend, +Judge Kerfoot, will agree with me"--here Yancey patted his toy balloon +complacently, and the judge leaned forward with rapt attention--"when +I say that if any apologies are in order they should not come from Mr. +Klutchem." + +It was delicious to note how easily Fitz fell into the oratorical +method of his hearers. + +"Here is a man immersed in stocks, and totally ignorant of the boundless +resources of your State, who limits the freight of our road to four +staples,--peanuts, hogs, sweet potatoes, and niggers. As a further +exhibition of his ignorance he estimates the value of a large block +of our securities as far below the price set upon a light, tan-colored +canine, a very inexpensive animal; or, as he puts it, and perhaps too +coarsely,--a yellow dog. For the expression of these financial opinions +in an open office during business hours he is set upon, threatened +with expulsion, and finally challenged to a mortal duel. I ask you, +as chivalric Virginians, is this right?" + +Yancey was about to answer, when the judge raised his hand impressively. + +"The co'te, not being familiar with the practice of this section, can +on'y decide the question in acco'dance with the practice of his own +county. The language used is not objectionable, either under the law +or by the code. The prisoner, Klutchem, is discharged with a reprimand, +and the plaintiff, Caarter, leaves the co'te room without a stain on +his cha'acter. The co'te will now take a recess." + +Fitz listened with great gravity to the decision of the learned judge, +bowed to him with the pleased deference of the winning attorney, grasped +the colonel's hand, and congratulated him warmly on his acquittal. + +[Illustration] + +Then, locking his arm through Yancey's, he conducted that pugnacious +but parched Virginian, together with the overworked judge, out into +the street, down a flight of stone steps, and into an underground +apartment; from which they emerged later with that satisfied, cheerful +air peculiar to a group of men who have slaked their thirst. + +The colonel and I remained behind. He was in no mood for such frivolity. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +_A High Sense of Honor_ + + +While the judge's decision had relieved the colonel of all +responsibility so far as Yancey and Cartersville were concerned,--and +Yancey would be Cartersville when he was back at the tavern +stove,--there was one person it had not satisfied, and that was the +colonel himself. + +He began pacing the floor, recounting for my benefit the various +courtesies he had received since he had lived at the North,--not only +from the proprietors of the office, but from every one of its +frequenters. And yet after all these civilities he had so far forgotten +himself as to challenge a friend of his host, a very worthy gentleman, +who, although a trifle brusque in his way of putting things, was still +an open-hearted man. And all because he differed with him on a matter +of finance. + +"The mo' I think of it, Major, the mo' I am overwhelmed by my action. +It was inconsiderate, suh. It was uncalled for, suh; and I am +afraid"--and here he lowered his voice--"it was ill-bred and vulgar. +What could those gentlemen who stood by have thought? They have all +been so good to me, Major. I have betrayed their hospitality. I have +forgotten my blood, suh. There is certainly an apology due Mr. +Klutchem." + +At this juncture Fitz returned, followed by Yancey, who was beaming +all over, the judge bringing up the rear. + +All three listened attentively. + +"Who's goin' to apologize?" said Yancey, shifting his thumbs from his +armholes to the side pockets of his vest, from which he pinched up +some shreds of tobacco. + +"I am, suh!" replied the colonel. + +"What for, Colonel?" The doctrine was new to Yancey. + +"For my own sense of honor, suh!" + +"But he never got the challenge." + +"That makes no diffence, suh. I wrote it." And the colonel threw his +head up, and looked Major Yancey straight in the eye. + +"But, Colonel, we've got the letter. Klutchem don't know a word about +it." + +"But I do, Major Yancey; and so do you and Fitz, and the jedge and the +major here. We all know it. Do you suppose, suh, for one instant, that +I am cowardly enough to stab a man in the back this way and give him +no chance of defendin' himself? It is monst'ous, suh! Why, suh, it's +no better than insultin' a deaf man, and then tryin' to escape because +he did not hear you. I tell you, suh, I shall apologize. Fitz, kindly +inquire outside if there is any news of Mr. Klutchem." + +Fitz opened the door, and sent the inquiry ringing through the office. + +"Yes!" came a voice from around the "ticker." "Went to the races two +days ago, got soaking wet, and has been laid up ever since at a friend's +house with the worst attack of gout he ever had in his life." + +The colonel started as if he had been stung, put on his hat, and with +a determined air buttoned his coat over his chest. Then, charging +Yancey and the judge not to leave the office until he returned, he +beckoned Fitz to him, and said:-- + +"We have not a moment to lose. Get Mr. Klutchem's address, and order +a caarriage." + +It was the custom with Fitz never to cross the colonel in any one of +his sudden whims. Whether this was because he liked to indulge him, +or because it gave him an opportunity to study a type of man entirely +new to him, the result was always the same,--the colonel had his way. +Had the Virginian insisted upon waiting on the offending broker in a +palanquin or upon the top of a four-in-hand, Fitz would have found the +vehicle somehow, and have crawled in or on top beside him with as much +complacency as if he had spent his whole life with palanquins and +coaches, and had had no other interests. So when the order came for +the carriage, Fitz winked at me with his left eye, walked to the +sidewalk, whistled to a string of cabs, and the next instant we were +all three whirling up the crowded street in search of the bedridden +broker. + +The longer the colonel brooded over the situation the more he was +satisfied with the idea of the apology. Indeed, before he had turned +down the side street leading to the temporary hospital of the suffering +man, he had arranged in his mind just where the ceremony would take +place, and just how he would frame his opening sentence. He was glad, +too, that Klutchem had been discovered so soon--while Yancey and Kerfoot +were still in town. + +The colonel alighted first, ran up the steps, pulled the bell with the +air of a doctor called to an important case, and sent his card to the +first floor back. + +"Mr. Klutchem says, 'Walk up,'" said the maid. + +The broker was in an armchair with his back to the door, only the top +of his bald head being visible as we entered. On a stool in front +rested a foot of enormous size swathed in bandages. Leaning against +his chair were a pair of crutches. He was somewhat startled at the +invasion, made as it was in the busiest part of the day. + +"What's up? Anybody busted?" + +Fitz assured him that the Street was in a mood of the greatest +tranquillity; that the visit was purely personal, and made for the +express purpose of offering Colonel Carter an opportunity of relieving +his mind of a pressure which at the precise moment was greater than +he could bear. + +"Out with it, old Garden--Colonel," broke out Klutchem, catching himself +in time, and apparently greatly relieved that the situation was no +worse. + +The colonel, who remained standing, bowed courteously, drew himself +up with a dress-parade gesture, and recounted slowly and succinctly +the incidents of the preceding three days. + +When he arrived at the drawing-up of the challenge, Klutchem looked +around curiously, gathered in his crutches with his well leg,--prepared +for escape or defense,--and remained thus equipped until the colonel +reached the secret consultation in the private office and the return +of the unstamped letter. Then he toppled his supports over on the +floor, and laughed until the pain in his elephantine foot bent him +double. + +The colonel paused until Klutchem had recovered himself, and then +continued, his face still serene, and still expressive of a purpose +so lofty that it excluded every other emotion. + +"The return of my challenge unopened, suh, coupled with the broad views +of my distinguished friends Mr. Fitzpatrick and the major,--both +personal friends of yo' own, I believe,--and the calmer reflection of +my own mind, have convinced me, Mr. Klutchem, that I have been hasty +and have done you a wrong; and, suh, rememberin' my blood, I have left +the cares of my office for a brief moment to call upon you at once, +and tell you so. I regret, suh, that you have not the use of both yo' +legs, but I have anticipated that difficulty. My caarriage is outside." + +"Don't mention it, Colonel. You never grazed me. If you want to plaster +that syndicate all over with Garden Spots, go ahead. I won't say a +word. There's my hand." + +The colonel never altered a line in his face nor moved a muscle of his +body. Mr. Klutchem's hand remained suspended in mid air. + +"Yo' action is creditable to yo' heart, suh, but you know, of course, +that I cannot take yo' hand here. I insulted you in a public office, +and in the presence of yo' friends and of mine, some of whom are at +this moment awaitin' our return. I feel assured, suh, that under the +circumstances you will make an effort, however painful it may be to +you, to relieve me from this stain on my cha'acter. Allow me to offer +you my arm, and help you to my caarriage, suh. I will not detain you +mo' than an hour." + +[Illustration] + +Klutchem looked at him in perfect astonishment. + +"What for?" + +The colonel's color rose. + +"That this matter may be settled properly, suh. I insulted you publicly +in my office. I wish to apologize in the same way. It is my right, +suh." + +"But I can't walk. Look at that foot,--big as a hatbox." + +"My friends will assist you, suh. I will carry yo' crutches myself. +Consider my situation. You surely, as a man of honor, will not refuse +me this, Mr. Klutchem?" + +The colonel's eyes began to snap, and Fitz edged round to pour oil +when the wind freshened. Klutchem's temper was also on the move. + +"Get out of this chair with that mush poultice," pointing to his foot, +"and have you cart me down to Wall Street to tell me you are sorry you +didn't murder me! What do you take me for?" + +The colonel's eyes now fairly blazed, and his voice trembled with +suppressed anger. + +"I did take you, suh, for a gentleman. I find I am mistaken. And you +refuse to go, and"-- + +"Yes!" roared Klutchem, his voice splitting the air like a tomahawk. + +"Then, suh, let me tell you right here that if you do not get up now +and get into my caarriage, whenever you _can_ stand on yo' wuthless +legs, I will thresh you so, suh, that you will never get up any mo'." + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +_A Visit of Ceremony_ + + +The Honorable I. B. Kerfoot, presiding judge of the district court of +Fairfax County, Virginia, and the gallant Major Thomas C. Yancey, late +of the Confederate army, had been the colonel's guests at his hospitable +house in Bedford Place for a period of six days and six nights, when +my cards--two--were given to Chad, together with my verbal hopes that +both gentlemen were within. + +My visit was made in conformity with one of the colonel's inflexible +rules,--every guest under his roof, within one week of his arrival, +was to be honored by a personal call from every friend within reach. + +No excuse would have sufficed on the ground of flying visits. And +indeed, so far as these particular birds of passage were concerned, +the occupation was permanent, the judge having taken possession of the +only shake-down sofa on the lower floor, and the warlike major having +plumped himself into the middle of the colonel's own bed not ten minutes +after his arrival. Even to the casual Northern eye, unaccustomed to +the prolonged sedentary life of the average Virginian when a guest, +there was every indication that these had come to stay. + +Chad laid both of my cards on the table, and indulged in a pantomime +more graphic than spoken word. He shut his eyes, laid his cheek on one +hand, and gave a groan of intense disgust, followed by certain gleeful +chuckles, made the more expressive by the sly jerking of his thumb +towards the dining room door and the bobbing up and down of his +fore-finger in the direction of the bedroom above. + +"Bofe in. Yes, sah! Bofe in, an' bofe abed. Last I yeard from em' dey +was hollerin' for juleps." + +I entered the dining-room and stopped short. On a low sofa at the far +end of the room lay a man of more than ordinary girth, with coat, vest, +and shoes off, his face concealed by a newspaper. From beneath this +sheet came, at regular intervals, a long-drawn sound like the subdued +puff of a tired locomotive at rest on a side-track. Beside him was an +empty tumbler, decorated with a broken straw and a spray of withered +mint. + +The summer air fanned through the closed blinds of the darkened room, +and played with the silvery locks that straggled over the white pillow; +the paper rose and fell with a crinkling noise, keeping time to the +rhythm of the exhaust. Beyond this there was no movement. The Hon. I. +B. Kerfoot was asleep. + +I watched the slowly heaving figure for a moment, picked up a chair, +and gently closed the door. I could now look the colonel in the face +so far as the judge was concerned. My account with the colonel was +settled. + +Retiring to the yard outside, which was cool and shady, and, despite +its dilapidated appearance, a grateful relief from the glare of the +street, I tilted my chair against the dissipated wall, with its damaged +complexion of scaling white-wash, and sat down to await the colonel's +return. + +Meanwhile Chad busied himself about the kitchen, moving in and out the +basement door, and at last brought up a great tin pan, seated himself +on the lower step, and proceeded to shell pease, indulging all the +while in a running commentary on the events of the preceding week. + +One charm in Chad's conversation was its clearness. You always absorbed +his meaning. Another was its reliability. When he finished you had the +situation in full. + +First came the duel. + +"So dat Ketchem man done got away? Doan' dat beat all! An' de colonel +a-mak-in' his will an' a-rubbin' up his old barkers. Can't have no fun +yer naaway; sumpin' allers spiles it. But yer oughter seen de colonel +dat day w'en he come home! Sakes alive, warn't he b'ilin'! Much as +Jedge Keerfoot could do to keep him from killin' dat Yankee on de +street." + +Chad's long brown fingers fumbled among the green pea-shells, which +he heaped up on one side of the pan, and the conversation soon changed +to his master's "second in the field." I encouraged this divergence, +for I had been charged by Fitz to find out when these two recent +additions to the household in Bedford Place intended returning to their +native clime; that loyal friend of the colonel being somewhat disturbed +over their preparations for what promised to be a lengthy stay. + +"'Fo' de Lawd, I doan' know! Tom Yancey nebber go s'long as de mint +patch hol' out, an' de colonel bought putty near a ba'el ob it dis +mawnin', an' anudder dimi-john from Mister Grocerman. Makes my blood +bile to see dese Yanceys, anyhow. See dat carpet bag w'at he fotch wid +him? Knowed w'at he had in it w'en he opened its mouf an' de jedge tuk +his own clo'es outen it? A pair ob carpet slippers, two collars, an' +a lot ob chicken fixin's. Not a shirt to his back 'cept de one, he had +on! Had to stay abed yisteddy till I i'oned it. Dar's one ob his collars +on de line now. Dese yer Yanceys no 'count no way. Beats de lan' how +de colonel can put up wid 'em, 'cept his faader was quality. You know +de old gineral married twice, de las' time his oberseer's daughter. +Dat's her chile--Tom Yancey--'sleep now on de colonel's bed upstairs +wid a straw in his mouf like a shote. But de colonel say 'tain't Tom's +fault dat he takes after his mammy; he's a Yancey, anyhow. But I tell +you, Major, Miss Nancy doan' hab nuffin' much to do wid 'im,--she can't +abide 'im." + +"How long are they going to stay, Chad?" I asked, wishing to make a +definite report to Fitz. + +"Doan' know. Ole groun'-hog mighty comf'ble in de hole." And he heaped +up another pile of shells. + +"Fust night de jedge come he tol' de colonel dat Miss Nancy say we all +got to come home when de month's up, railroad or no railroad. Dat was +a week ago. Den de jedge tasted dat Madary Mister Grocerman sent, an' +I ain't yerd nuffin' 'bout goin' home since. Is you yerd, Major?" + +Before I could answer, a shutter opened overhead and a voice came +sifting down. + +"O Chad! Mix me a julep. And, Chad, bring an extra one for the colonel. +I reckon he'll be yer d'reckly." + +"Yes, sah," replied Chad, without lifting his eyes from the pan. + +Then glancing up and finding the blind closed again, he said to me in +a half-whisper:-- + +"Colonel get his julep when he ax fur it. I ain't caayin' no double +drinks to nobody. Dis ain't no camp-meetin' bar." + +But Chad's training had been too thorough to permit of his refusing +sustenance or attention to any guest of his master's, no matter how +unworthy, and it was not many minutes before he was picking over "de +ba'el" containing that peculiar pungent variety of plant so common to +the graveyards of Virginia. + +Before the cooling beverage had been surmounted by its delicate +mouthpiece the street gate opened and the colonel walked briskly in. + +"Ah, Major! You here? Jes the vehy man we wanted, suh! Fitz and the +English agent are comin' to dinner. You have heard the news, of co'se? +No? Not about the great syndicate absorbin' the Garden Spots? My dear +suh, she's floated! The C. & W. A. L. R. R. is afloat, suh! Proudly +ridin' the waves of prosperity, suh. Wafted on by the breeze of +success." + +"What, bought the bonds?" I said, jumping up. +"Well, not exactly bought them outright, for these gigantic operations +are not conducted in that way; but next to it, suh. To-day,"--and he +brought his hand down softly on my shoulder,--"to-day, suh, they have +cabled their agent--the same gentleman, suh, you saw in my office some +time ago--to make a searchin' investigation into the mineral and +agricultural resources of that section of my State, with a view to +extendin' its railroad system. I quote, suh, the exact words: 'extendin' +its railroad system.' Think, my dear Major, of the effect that a +colossal financial concern like the great British syndicate would +produce upon Fairfax County, backed as it is, suh, by untold millions +of stagnant capital absolutely rottin' in English banks! The road is +built!" And the colonel in his excitement opened his waistcoat, and +began pacing the yard, fanning himself vigorously with his hat. + +Chad substituted a palm-leaf fan from the hall table, and, producing +a small tray, picked up the frosted tumbler and mounted the three steps +to relieve the thirsty guest on the floor above. + +As he reached the last step a hand stretched out, and a voice said:-- + +"Jes what I wanted." + +"Dis julep, Jedge, is Major Yancey's." + +"All the better." And nodding to the colonel and bowing gravely to me, +the Hon. I. B. Kerfoot settled himself on the top of the front steps +with very much the same air with which he would have occupied his own +judicial bench. + +With the exception that this julep was just begun and tile other just +ended, his Honor presented precisely the same outward appearance as +when I discovered him asleep on the sofa. + +His was, in fact, the extremest limit of dishabille permissible even +on the hottest of summer afternoons in the most retired of back +yards,--no coat, no vest, no shoes. In one hand he held a crumpled +collar and a high, black silk stock; with the other he grasped the +julep. His hair was tousled, his face shriveled up and pinched by his +heavy nap, his eyes watery and vague. He reminded me of the man one +sometimes meets in the aisle of a sleeping-car when one boards the +train at a way station in the night. + +"I hope you have had a refreshin' sleep, Jedge," said the colonel. "My +friend the major here did himself and me the honor of callin' upon +you, but findin' that you were restin', suh, he sought the cool of my +co'teyard until you should awake." + +His Honor looked at me over the edge of his tumbler and bowed feebly. +The straw remained glued to his mouth. + +"I have been tellin' him, suh, of the extr'o'd'nary boom to-day in +Garden Spots, as some of my young friends call the secu'ities of my +new road, work upon which will be begun next week." + +The announcement made no impression upon the judge, his face remaining +sleepily stolid until that peculiar gurgling sound, the death-rattle +of a dying julep, caused a shade of sadness to pass over it. + +At that instant the shutter again opened overhead. + +"Hello, Colonel! Home, are you? Chad, where's my julep? Ah, Major, +hope I see you vehy well, suh. Where's Kerfoot?" + +That legal luminary craned his head forward as far as it would go +without necessitating any additional movement of his body, caught +Yancey's eye as he leaned out of the window, and held up the empty +glass. + +When everybody had stopped laughing the colonel made a critical but +silent examination of the judge, called to Yancey, and said:-- + +"Gentlemen, we do not dine until seven. You will both have ample time +to dress." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +_Chad in Search of a Coal-Field_ + + +The colonel was the first man downstairs. When he entered I saw at a +glance that it was one of his gala nights, for he wore the ceremonial +white waistcoat and cravat, and had thrown the accommodating coat wide +open. His hair, too, was brushed back from his broad forehead with +more than usual care, each silver thread keeping its proper place in +the general scheme of iron-gray; while his goatee was twisted to so +fine a point that it curled upward like a fishhook. He had also changed +his shoes, his white stockings now being incased in low prunellas tied +with a fresh ribbon, which hung over the toes like the drooping ears +of a lapdog. + +The attention which the colonel paid to these particular details was +due, as he frequently said, to his belief that a man would always be +well dressed who looked after his extremities. + +"I can inva'iably, suh, detect the gentleman under the shabbiest suit +of clothes, if his collar and stockings are clean. When, besides this, +he brushes his hat and blacks his shoes, you may safely invite him to +dinner." + +Something like this was evidently passing in his mind as he stood +waiting for his guests, his back to the empty grate; for he examined +his hands critically, glanced at his shoes, and then excusing himself, +turned his face, and taking a pair of scissors from his pocket proceeded +leisurely to trim his cuffs. + +"These duties of the dressin'-room, my dear Major, should have been +attended to in their proper place; but the fact is the jedge is makin' +rather an elaborate toilet in honor of our guest, and as Yancey occupies +my bedroom, and the jedge is also dressin' there, my own accommodations +are limited. I feel sure you will excuse me." + +While he spoke the door opened, and his Honor entered in a William +Penn style of make-up, ruffled shirt and all. He really was not unlike +that distinguished peacemaker, especially when he carried one of the +colonel's long pipes in his mouth. He had, I am happy to say, since +leaving the front steps, accumulated an increased amount of clothing. +The upper half of the familiar butternut suit--the coat--still clung +to him, but the middle and lower half had been supplanted by another +waistcoat and trousers of faded nankeen, the first corrugated into +wrinkles and the second flapping about his ankles. + +The colonel absorbed him at a glance, and with a satisfied air placed +a chair for him near the window and handed him a palm-leaf fan. + +Last of all came Yancey in a flaming red necktie, the only new addition +to his costume--a part, no doubt, of the "chicken fixin's" found by +Chad in the carpet bag. + +The breezy ex-major, as he entered, seized my hand with the warmth of +a lifelong friend; then moving over and encircling with his arm the +colonel's coat collar, he lowered his voice to a confidential whisper +and inquired about the market of the day with as much solicitude as +though his last million had been filched from him on insufficient +security. + +When, a few minutes later, the round-faced man, the agent of the great +English syndicate, walked in, preceded by Fitz, nothing could have +been more courtly than the way the colonel presented him to his +guests--pausing at every name to recount some slight biographical +detail complimentary to each, and ending by announcing with great +dignity that his honored guest was none other than the very confidential +agent and adviser of a group of moneyed magnates whose influence +extended to the uttermost parts of the earth. + +The agent, like many other sensible Englishmen, was a bluff, hearty +sort of man, with a keen eye for the practical side of life and an +equally keen enjoyment of every other, and it was not five minutes +before he had located in his round head the precise standing and +qualifications of every man in the room. + +While Yancey amused him greatly as a type quite new to him, the colonel +filled him with delight. "So frank, so courteous, so hospitable; quite +the air of a country squire of the old school," he told Fitz afterward. + +As a host that night, the colonel was in his happiest vein, and by the +time the coffee was served, had succeeded not only in entertaining the +table in his own inimitable way, but he had drawn out from each one +of his guests, not excepting the reticent Fitz, some anecdote or +incident of his life, bringing into stronger relief the finer qualities +of him who told it. + +Kerfoot in a ponderous way gave the details of a murder case, tried +before him many years ago, in which the judge's charge so influenced +the jury that the man was acquitted, and justly so, as was afterward +proved. Yancey related an incident of the war, where he, only a drummer +boy at the time, assisted, at great risk, in carrying a wounded comrade +from the field. And Fitz was forced to admit that one of the largest +financial operations of the day would have been a failure had he not +stepped in at the critical moment and saved it. + +Up to this point in the dinner not the slightest reference had been +made to the railroad or its interests except by the impetuous Yancey, +who asked Fitz what the bonds would probably be worth, and who was +promptly silenced by the colonel with the suggestive remark that none +were for sale, especially at this time. + +When, however, by the direction of the colonel, the cloth was removed +and the old mahogany table that Chad rubbed down every morning with +a cork was left with only the glasses, a pair of coasters and their +decanters,--the Madeira within reach of the judge's hand,--the colonel +rose from his chair and spread out on the polished surface a stained +and ragged map, labeled in one corner in quaint letters, "Lands of +John Carter, Esquire, of Carter Hall." Only then was the colonel ready +for business. + +"This is the correct survey, I believe, Jedge," said the colonel. + +The judge emptied his glass, felt all over his person for his +spectacles, found them in the inside pocket of his nankeen waistcoat, +and, perching them on the extreme end of his nose, looked over their +rims and remarked that the original deeds of the colonel's estate had +been based upon this map, and that, so far as he knew, it was correct. +Then he added:-- + +"The partition line that was made immejitly aafter the war, dividin' +the estate between Miss Ann Caarter and yo'self, Colonel, was also tuk +from this survey." + +Fitz conferred with the agent for a moment and then asked the colonel +where lay the deposit of coal of which he had spoken. + +"In a moment, my dear Fitz," said the colonel, deprecatingly, and +turning to the agent:-- + +"The city of Fairfax, suh, that we discussed this mornin', will be +located to the right of this section; the Tench runs here; the iron +bridge, suh, should cross at this point," marking it with his thumb +nail. "Or perhaps you gentlemen will decide to have it nearer the Hall. +It is immaterial to me." +Then looking at Fitz: "I can't locate the coal, my dear Fitz; but I +think it is up here on the hill at the foot of the range." + +The agent lost interest immediately in the iron bridge over the Tench, +and asked a variety of questions about the deposit, all of which the +colonel answered courteously and patiently, but evidently with a desire +to change the subject as soon as possible. + +The Englishman, however, was persistent, while the judge's last +sententious remark regarding the recent subdivision of the estate +awakened a new interest in Fitz. + +What if this coal should not be on the colonel's land at all! He caught +his breath at the thought. + +It was Fitz's only chance to restore the colonel's fortunes; and +although for obvious reasons he dared not tell him so, it was really +the only interest the Englishman had in the scheme at all. + +Indeed, the agent had frankly said so to Fitz, adding that he was +anxious to locate a deposit of coal somewhere in the vicinity of the +line of the colonel's proposed road; because the extension of certain +railroads in which the syndicate was interested--not the C. & W. A. +L. R. R., however--depended almost entirely upon the purchase of this +vital commodity. + +Full of these instructions the agent, after listening to a panegyric +upon the resources of Fairfax County, interrupted rather curtly a +glowing statement of the colonel's concerning the enormous value of +the Garden Spot securities by asking this question:-- +"Are the coal lands for sale?" +Fitz shivered at its directness, fearing that the colonel would catch +the drift affairs were taking and become alarmed. His fears were +groundless; the shot had gone over his head. + +"No, suh! My purpose is to use it to supply our shops and motive power." + +"If you should decide to sell the lands I would make an investigation +at once," replied the agent, quietly, but with meaning in his voice. + +The colonel looked at him eagerly. + +"Would you at the same time consider the purchase of our securities?" + +"I might." + +"When would you go?" + +"To-morrow night, or not at all. I return to England in a week." + +Yancey and the judge looked at each other inquiringly with a certain +anxious expression suggestive of some impending trouble. The judge +recovered himself first, and quickly filled his glass, leaving but one +more measure in the decanter. This measure Yancey immediately emptied +into his own person, as perhaps the only place where it would be +entirely safe from the treacherous thirst of the judge. + +Fitz read in their faces these mental processes, and was more determined +than ever to break up at once what he called "the settlement." + +"Are you sho', Colonel," inquired Ker-foot, catching at straws, "that +the coal lands lie entirely on yo' father's property? Does not the +Barbour lan' jine yo's on the hill?" + +"I am not positively sho', suh, but I have always understood that what +we call the coal hills belonged to my father. You see," said the +colonel, turning to the agent, "this grade of wild lan' is never +considered of much value with us, and a few hundred acres mo' or less +is never insisted on among old families of our standin' whose estates +jine." + +Yancey expanded his vest, and said authoritatively that he was quite +sure the coal hills were on the Barbour property. He had shot partridges +over that land many a time. + +The agent, who had listened calmly to the discussion, remarked dryly +that until the colonel definitely ascertained whether he had any lands +to sell it would be a useless waste of time to make the trip. + +"Quite so," said Kerfoot, raising the emptied decanter to his eye, and +replacing it again with a look at Yancey expressive of the contempt +in which he held a man who could commit so mean an act. + +"But, Colonel," said Fitz, "can't you telegraph to-morrow and find +out?" + +"To whom, my clear Fitz? It would take a week to get the clerk of the +co'te to look through the records. Nobody at Bar-hour's knows." + +"Does Miss Nancy know?" +The colonel shook his head dubiously. + +Fitz's face suddenly lighted up as he started from his seat, and caught +the colonel by the arm. + +"Does Chad?" + +"Chad! Yes, Chad might." + +Fitz nearly overturned his chair in his eagerness to reach the top ofthe +kitchen stairs. + +"Come up here, Chad, quick as your legs can carry you--two steps at +a time!" + +Chad hurried into the room with the face of a man sent for to put out +a fire. + +"Chad," said the colonel, "you know the big hill as you go up from the +marsh at home?" + +"Yes, sah." + +"Whose lan' is the coal on, mine or Jedge Barbour's?" + +The old darky's face changed from an expression of the deepest anxiety +to an effort at the deepest thought. The change was so sudden that the +wrinkles got tangled up in the attempt, resulting in an expression of +vague uncertainty. + +"You mean, Colonel, de hill whar we cotch de big coon?" + +"Yes," said the colonel encouragingly, ignorant of the coon, but knowing +that there was only one hill. + +"Well, Jedge Barbour's niggers always said dat de coon was dere coon, +'ca'se he was treed on dere lan', and we 'sputed dat it was our coon, +'ca'se it was on our lan'." + +"Who got de coon?" asked Fitz. + +"Oh, _we_ got the coon!" And Chad's eyes twinkled. + +"That settles it. It's your land, Colonel," said Fitz, with one of his +sudden roars, in which everybody joined but Chad and the judge. + +"But den, gemmen,"--Chad was a little uncomfortable at the +merriment,--"it was our coon for sho. I knowed whar de line went, +'ca'se I he'p Marsa John caarry de spy-glass when he sold de woodlan's +to Jedge Barbour, an' de coon was on our side ob dat line." + +If Chad's first statement caused nothing but laughter, the second +produced nothing but the profoundest interest. +Here was the surveyor himself! + +The colonel turned the map to Chad's side of the table. Every man in +the room stood up and craned his head forward. + +"Now, Chad," said the colonel, "this map is a plan of our lan'--same +as if you were lookin' down on it. Here is the road to Caartersville. +See that square, black mark? That's Caarter Hall. This is the marsh, +and that is the coal hill. Now, standin' here in the marsh,--this is +where our line begins, Fitz,--standin' here, Chad, in the marsh, which +side of the line is that hill on? Mine or Jedge Barbour's?" + +The old man bent over the table, and scanned the plan closely. + +"Wat's dis blue wiggle lookin' like a big fish-wum?" + +"That's the Tench River." + +Chad continued his search, his wrinkled brown hand, with its extended +forefinger capped by its stumpy nail, looking for all the world like +a mud turtle with head out crawling over the crumpled surface of the +map. + +"Scuse me till I run down to de kitchen an' git my spec's. I can't see +like"-- + +"Here, take mine!" said Fitz, handing him his gold ones. He would have +lent him his eyes if he could have found that coal-field the sooner. + +The turtle crawled slowly up, its head thrust out inquiringly, inched +along the margin of the map, and backed carefully down again, pausing +for such running commentaries as "Dis yer's de ribber;" "Dat's de +road;" "Dis de ma'sh." + +The group was now a compact mass, every eye watching Chad's finger as +though it were a divining rod--Fitz full of smothered fears lest after +all the prize should slip from his grasp; the agent anxious but +reserved; Yancey and the judge hovering between hope and despair, with +eyes on the empty decanter; and last of all the colonel, on the outside, +holding a candle himself, so that his guests might see the better--the +least interested man in the room. + +Presently the finger stopped, and Chad looked up into his master's +face. + +"If I was down dar, Marsa George, jes a minute, I could tole ye, 'ca'se +I reckelmember de berry tree whar Marsa John had de spyglass sot on +its legs. I held de pole on de rock way up yander on de hill, an' in +dat berry rock Marsa John done cut a crotch." + +"And which way is the crotch in the rock from the marsh here?" asked +Fitz eagerly. + +Chad stood up, looked at the plan glistening under the candlelight, +paused an instant, then took off the gold-rimmed glasses, and handed +them with great deference to Fitz. + +"'T ain't no use, Marsa George. I kin go frough dat ma'sh blindfolded +in de night an' cotch a possum airy time along airy one ob dem +fences;but dis yer foolin' wid lan's on paper is too much for Chad. 'Fo' +Gawd, +I doan' know!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +_Chad on his own Cabin Floor_ + + +The night after the eventful dinner in Bedford Place, the colonel, +accompanied by his guests, had alighted at a dreary way station, crawled +into a lumbering country stage, and with Chad on the box as pilot, had +stopped before a great house with ghostly trailing vines and tall +chimneys outlined against the sky. + +When I left my room on the following morning the sunlight was pouring +through the big colonial window, and the breath of the delicious day, +laden with the sweet smell of bending blossoms, floated in through the +open blinds. + +Descending the great spiral staircase with its slender mahogany +balusters,--here and there a break,--I caught sight of the entrance +hall below with its hanging glass lantern, quaint haircloth sofas +lining the white walls, and half-oval tables heaped with flowers, and +so on through the wide-open door leading out upon a vine-covered porch. +This had high pillars and low railings against which stood some broad +settles--all white. + +[Illustration] + +The colonel, Fitz, and the English agent were still in their +rooms,--three pairs of polished shoes outside their several doors +bearing silent witness to the fact,--and the only person stirring was +a pleasant-faced negro woman with white apron and gay-colored bandana, +who was polishing the parlor floor with a long brush, her little +pickaninny astraddle on the broom end for weight. + +I pushed aside the hanging vines, sat down on one of the wooden benches, +and looked about me. This, then, was Carter Hall! + +The house itself bore evidence of having once been a stately home. It +was of plaster stucco, yellow washed, peeled and broken in places, +with large dormer windows and sloping roof, one end of which was +smothered in a tangle of Virginia creeper and trumpet vine climbing +to the very chimney-top. + +In front there stretched away what had once been a well-kept lawn, now +a wild of coarse grass broken only by the curving line of the driveway +and bordered by a row of Lombardy poplars with here and there a +gap,--bitten out by hungry camp-fires. + +To the right rose a line of hills increasing in height as they melted +into the morning haze, and to the left lay an old-fashioned garden,--one +great sweep of bloom. With the wind over it, and blowing your way, you +were steeped in roses. + +I began unconsciously to recall to myself all the traditions of this +once famous house. + +Yes, there must be the window where Nancy waved good-by to her lover, +and there were the flower-beds into which he had fallen headlong from +his horse,--only a desolate corner now with the grass and tall weeds +grown quite up to the scaling wall, and the wooden shutters tightly +closed. I wondered whether they had ever been opened since. + +And there under my eyes stood the very step where Chad had helped his +old master from his horse the day his sweetheart Henny had been +purchased from Judge Barbour, and close to the garden gate were the +negro quarters where they had begun their housekeeping. I thought I +knew the very cabin. + +And that line of silver glistening in the morning light must be the +river Tench, and the bend near the willows the spot where the colonel +would build the iron bridge with the double span, and across and beyond +on the plateau, backed by the hills, the site of the future city of +Fairfax. + +I left my seat, strolled out into the garden, crossed the grass jeweled +with dew, and filled my lungs with the odor of the sweet box bordering +the beds,--a rare delight in these days of modern gardens. Suddenly +I came upon a wide straw hat and a broad back bending among the bushes. +It was Chad. + +"Mawnin', Major; fust fox out de hole, is yer? Lawd a massey, ain't +I glad ter git back to my ole mist'ess! Lan' sakes alive! I ain't slep' +none all night a-thinkin' ober it. You ain't seen my Henny? Dat was +her sister's chile rubbin' down de flo'. She come ober dis mawnin' ter +help, so many folks here. Wait till I git a basket ob dese yer ole +pink rose-water roses. See how I snip 'em short? Know what I'm gwineter +do wid 'em? Sprinkle 'em all ober de tablecloth. I lay dey ain't nobody +done dat for my mist'ess since I been gone. But, Major,"--here Chad +laid down the basket on the garden walk and looked at me with a serious +air,--"I done got dat coal lan' business down to a fine p'int. I was +up dis mawnin' 'fo' daylight, an' I foun' dat rock, an' de crotch is +dar yit; I scrape de moss offen it myself; an' I foun' de tree too. +I ain't sayin' nuffin', but jes you wait till after breakfas' an' dey +all go out lookin' for de coal! Jes you wait, dat's all! Chad's on his +own cabin flo' now. Can't fool dis chile no mo'." + +This was good news so far as it went. Our sudden exodus from Bedford +Place had been determined upon immediately after Chad's dismal failure +to locate the coal-field: Fitz having carried the day against Yancey, +Kerfoot, and even the agent himself, who was beginning to waver under +the accumulation of uncertainties. + +"Dat's enough roses to bury up de dishes. Rub yo' nose down in 'em. +Ain't dey sweet! Now, come along wid me, Major. I done tole Henny 'bout +you an' de tar'pins an' de times de gemmen had. Dis way, Major; won't +take a minute, an' ef ye all go back to-night,--an' I yerd Mister +Englishman say _he_ got to go,--you mightn't hab anudder chance. +Henny's cookin', ye know. Dis way. Step underdat honeysuckle!" +I looked through an open door and into a dingy, smoke-dried interior, +ceiled with heavy rafters, and hung with herbs, red peppers, onions, +and the like. This was lighted by three small windows, and furnished +with a row of dressers filled with crockery and kitchen ware, and +permeated by that savory smell which presages a generous breakfast On +one side of the fireplace rested the great hominy mortar, cut from a +tree trunk, found in all Virginia kitchens, and on the other the +universal brick oven with its iron doors,--the very doors, I thought, +that had closed over Chad's goose when Henny was a girl. Between the +mortar and the oven opened, or rather caverned, a fireplace as wide +as the colonel's hospitality, and high and deep enough to turn a coach +in. It really covered one end of the room. + +Bending over the swinging crane hung with pots and fringed with +hooks,--baited so often with good dinners,--stood an old woman with +bent back, her gray head bound up with a yellow handkerchief. + +"Henny, de major made a special p'int o' cumin' to see ye 'fo' he gits +his break-fas'." + +She looked up and dropped me a curtsey. + +"Mawnin', marsa. I ain't much ter see, I'm so ole an' mizzble wid dese +yer cricks in my back an' sich a passel o' white folks. How did my +Chad git along up dar 'mong de Yankees?" +[Illustration] + +I gave Chad so good a character that every tooth in his head came out +on dress parade, and was about to draw from Henny some of her own +experiences,--this loyal old servant whose life from her girlhood to +her old age had been one of the romantic traditions of the roof that +sheltered her,--when Chad, who had gone out with the roses, returned +with the news that the colonel and his guests were breathing the morning +air on the front porch, and were much disturbed over my prolonged +absence. + +The colonel caught sight of me as I rounded the corner, Fitz and the +agent joining in his outburst of hilarious welcome, intoxicated as +they all were with the elixir of that most exhilarating of all +hours--the hour before breakfast of a summer morning in the country. + +"Welcome, my dear Major," called the colonel; "a hearty welcome to +Caarter Hall! Come up here where you can get a view of Fairfax, suh!" +and by the time I had mounted the steps he was leaning over the railing, +with Fitz on the one side and the agent on the other, sweeping the +horizon with his index finger and drawing imaginary curves and building +bridges and locating railroad stations in the air with as much +confidence and hope as if he really saw the gangs of laborers at work +across the fields, their shovels glinting in the dazzling sunlight. + +"Jes cast yo' eyes, suh,"--this to the agent,--"and tell me, suh, if +you have ever in yo' world-wide experience seen such a location for +a great city. Level as a flo', watered by the Tench, and sheltered by +a line of hills that are beauty itself--it is made for it, suh!" + +The agent did full justice to the natural advantages and then asked:-- + +"Is the coal in that range?" + +"No, suh; the coal is behind us on an outlyin' spur. I will take you +there after breakfast." + +And then followed a brief description of the changes the war had made +in the homestead, the burning of the barns, the abandonment of the +quarters, the destruction of the lawns--"A yard for their damnable +wagons, suh;" the colonel pointing out with great delight the very +dent in the ridge where General Early had ridden through and captured +the whole detachment without the loss of a man. + +While we were talking that same rustling of silk that I had learned +to know so well in Bedford Place was heard in the hall, then a sweet, +cheery voice giving some directions to Chad, and the next instant dear +aunt Nancy--Fitz and I had long since dared to call her so--floated +(she never seemed to walk) out upon the porch with a word and a curtsey +to the agent, a hand each to Fitz and me, and a kiss for the colonel. + +Then came the breakfast, and such a breakfast! The outpourings of a +Virginia kitchen, with the table showered with roses, and the great +urn shining and smoking, and the relays of waffles and corn-bread and +broiled chicken; all in the old-fashioned dining-room, with its high +wainscoting, spindle--legged sideboards, and deep window seats; the +long moon-faced clock in the corner-and the rest of it! After that the +quiet smoke under the vine-covered end of the portico with the view +towards Cartersville. + +"There comes the jedge," said the colonel, pointing to a cloud of dust +following a two-wheel gig, "and Major Yancey behind on horseback." +(They had both been dropped outside their respective garden gates the +night before.) "Now, gentlemen, as soon as my attorney arrives with +the surveys and deeds we will adjourn to my library and locate this +coal-field." + +Yancey's horse proved, on closer inspection, to be the remnant of an +army mule with a moth-eaten mane and a polished tail bare of hair--worn +off, no doubt, in a lifelong struggle with the Fairfax County fly. The +major was without the luxury of a saddle, some one having borrowed the +only one the owner of the mule possessed, and his breeches, in +consequence, were half way up his knees. The judge arrived in better +shape, the gig being his own and fairly comfortable,--the same he rode +to circuit, a yellow-painted vehicle washed only when it rained,--and +the horse the property of the village livery man, who had a yearly +contract with his Honor for its use. + +[Illustration] + +Chad was waiting on the flagstones surrounded by some stray pickaninnies +when the procession stopped, and assisted the major to alight, with +as much form and ceremony as if he had been the best mounted gentleman +in the land. The saddleless fragment was then led to a supporting +fence. The judicial equipage was accorded the luxury of a shed, where +the annual contract was served with a full measure of oats--Chad's +recognition of his more exalted station. + +The judge bowed gracefully and with great dignity, and with the air +of a chief justice entering the court room; then preceding the colonel +and his guests,--without a word having fallen from his lips,--he +entered a small room opening into the parlor. There he placed upon a +chair certain mysterious-looking packages, long and otherwise, one a +tin case, which he uncapped, spreading its contents upon a table. + +It proved to be another and larger map than the one Chad had pored +over, and showed distinctly the boundary lines between two dots marked +"Oak" and "Rock" dividing the Carter and Barbour estates. + +Up to this time Fitz and the agent had preserved the outward appearance +of two idle gentlemen visiting a friend in the country, with no interest +beyond the fresh air and the environments of a charming hospitality. +With the unrolling of this map, however, and the discovery of the very +boundary points insisted on by Chad in Bedford Place, their excitement +could hardly be suppressed. The agent broke loose first. + +"Before we find out, Colonel Carter, to whom this coal belongs, which +may take some valuable time, I want to examine the quality of the vein +itself. I would like to go now." + +"By all means, suh; and my people shall go with us," said the colonel, +turning to Kerfoot with instructions to bring Chad and all the maps +later.--Yancey excused himself on the ground of the heat. Then donning +a wide straw hat and picking up a cane,--something he never used in +New York,--the colonel led the way through the rear door, across a +stone wall, and up a hill covered with a second growth of timber. + +The experienced eye of the Englishman took in the lay of the land at +a glance, and beckoning Fitz to one side he stooped and picked something +from the ground which he examined carefully with a magnifying glass. +Then they both disappeared hurriedly over the hill. + +When they returned, half an hour later, the perspiration was rolling +from the agent, and Fitz's eyes were blazing. Both were loaded down +with bundles of broken bits of rock, tied up in their several +handkerchiefs, large enough to start a geological collection in a +country museum. + +"What is it, Fitz--diamonds?" I said, laughing. + +"Yes; black ones at that." He was almost breathless. "Solid bed of +bituminous! Clear down to China! Don't breathe a word yet, for your +life!" + +The agent was calmer. The coal-bed, he said, seemed to be of more than +ordinary richness, and as far as he could judge lay in a vein of +generous width. He was ready for the survey, and would like the boundary +points located at once. + +The next instant Chad's head peered through the tangled underbrush. +He carried the roll of maps, the judge, who followed, contenting himself +with a package tied with red tape. + +The old darky's face was one broad grin from ear to ear. + +The judge unrolled a map and placed it on a flat rock with a stone at +each corner. Then he untied the package, selected an ink-stained and +faded document marked "Deed--John Carter to E. A. Barbour," and ran +his eye along the quaint page, reading as he went:-- + +Starting from an oak, blazed diamond C, along a line S. E. to a rock +marked C cross B, C+B, in all a distance of 1437 linear feet. + +"Now, Chad, we will fust find the tree," said the judge, looking around +for his map-bearer. "Where's that nigger? Chad!" + +The old man had disappeared as completely as if the earth had swallowed +him up. The next minute we heard a faint halloo below us near the edge +of a small swamp. A man was waving his hat and shouting:-- + +"Eve'ybody come yer!" + +Fitz started on a run, and the agent and I followed on the double-quick. +At the end of a crooked stone wall, half surrounded by water, was a +great spreading oak, its branches reaching half way across the narrow +marsh. Within touching distance of the yielding ground stood Chad +pointing to a smooth blaze, stained and overgrown with lichen. + +It bore this mark, [C in a diamond]! + +"It tallies to a dot. Now, Chad, the rock! the rock!" said Fitz, hardly +able to contain himself. + +The darky pointed straight up the hill, the sky line of which could +be seen entire from where we stood, and indicated an isolated rock +jutting out above the tree-tops. + +I thought Fitz would have hugged him. + +"How do you know it is the rock with the crotch in it? Speak, you +grinning lunatic!" + +"I was dar dis mawnin' by daylight." + +"What's it marked?" said Fitz, catching him by both shoulders. "What's +it marked? Quick!" + +"Wid a C an' a cross an' a B--so." And the old man traced it with his +finger in the mud. + +"Every pound of coal on the colonel's land!" said Fitz, with a yell +that brought his host and Kerfoot as fast as their legs could carry +them. + +"Stop!" said Kerfoot. "This only settles the Caarter and Barbour +division. There was another division here a year ago between Miss Ann +Caarter and the colonel. With that I am mo' familiar, for I drew the +deeds, which are here," holding up a bundle; "and I was also present +with the surveyor. You are wrong, Mr. Fitzpatrick; this entire hill +outside the Barbour division is Miss Ann Caarter's, and the coal is +on her land. The colonel's portion is back there along the Tench." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +_The Englishman's Check_ + + +An hour later I found Fitz flat on the grass under one of the +apple-trees behind the house, completely broken up by the discoveries +of the morning. + +After all his work, here was the colonel worse off than ever. Nobody +could tell what a woman would do. Aunt Nancy was better than the average +(Fitz was a bachelor), but then she had peculiar old family notions +about selling land, and ten chances to one she would not sell a foot +of it, and there right in the house sat a man with his pocket full of +blank checks, any one of which was good for a million of pounds +sterling. Even if she did sell it, she would pension the dear old +fellow off on a stipend instead of an establishment. He wanted somebody +to dig a hole and cover Fitzpatrick up. Anybody could see that the +railroad scheme was deader than a last year's pass, the farm hopeless, +and the house fast becoming a ruin. It was enough to make a man jump +off a dock. + +Fitz's tirade was interrupted by Chad, who appeared with a message. +The colonel wanted everybody in the library. + +When we entered, the judge occupied the head of the table, surrounded +by law papers, all of which were opened. The agent was bending over +him, reading attentively, and entering extracts in his notebook. Every +one became seated. + +"Mr. Fitzpatrick," said the agent, "I have spent an hour with Judge +Kerfoot going over the title of this property, and I am prepared to +make a proposition for its purchase. I have reduced it to +writing,"--picking up a half-sheet of foolscap from the table,--"and +I submit it to the owners through you." + +Fitz read it without changing a muscle, and handed it to the colonel. +Yancey and the judge craned forward to catch the first syllables. + +The colonel read it to the end, getting paler and paler as its meaning +became clear, and then, with a certain pathos in his voice that was +childlike, it was so genuine, said:-- + +"If this is accepted, I presume, suh, you will not look any further +into my road?" + +"You are right. My instructions cover only the purchase of this deposit. +I have room for only one operation." + +The colonel rose from his chair, steadied himself on the low +window-sill, and looked out across the Tench. The silence was +oppressive--only the ticking of the clock in the next room and the +bees among the flowers outside. + +"Wait until I return," he said, crumpling the paper. + +In a moment he was back, leading in his aunt by the hand. Miss Nancy +entered with a half-puzzled look on her face, which deepened into +certain anxiety as she began to realize the pronounced formality of +the proceedings. The colonel cleared his throat impressively. + +"Nancy, an investigation begun in New York by my dear friend Fitz, and +completed here to-day, results in the discov'ry that what you have +always considered as slight outcroppin's of coal, and wuthless, is +really of vehy great value." The colonel here unbuttoned his coat, and +threw out his chest. "A syndicate of English capitalists have, through +our guest, offered you the sum of one hundred thousand dollars for the +coal-hill, with a royalty of ten cents per ton for every ton mined +over a certain amount, one thousand dollars to be paid now and the +balance on the search of title and signin' of the contract. I believe +I have stated it correctly, suh?" + +The agent bowed his head, and scrutinized Miss Nancy's face with the +eye of a hawk. + +The dear lady sank into a chair. For a moment she lost her breath. +Yancey handed her a fan with a quickness of movement never seen in him +before, and the colonel continued:-- + +"This will of course still leave you, Nancy, this house and about half +of the farm property transferred to you by me at the fo'closure sale." + +The little woman looked from one to the other in a dazed sort of way, +and her eye rested on Fitz. + +"What shall I do, Mr. Fitzpatrick? It seems to me a grave step to sell +any part of the estate." + +Fitz blushed at the mark of her confidence, and said that with the +royalty clause he thought the proposition a favorable one. + +"And you, George?" turning to the colonel. + +The colonel bowed his head. He must advise its acceptance. + +"When do you want an answer, sir?" + +"To-day, Madam," said the Englishman, who had not taken his eyes from +her face. + +"You shall have it in half an hour," she said gently, then rose hastily, +and left the room. + +I looked at the colonel. Whatever great wave of disappointment had +swept over him when his own idol was broken, there was no trace of it +in his face. Even the change this sudden influx of wealth into the +family might make in his own condition never seemed to have crossed +his mind. He did not follow her. He simply waited. Between his own +plans and his aunt's good fortune there was but one course for him. + +The room took on the whispered silence of a court awaiting an overdue +jury. Fitz was still incredulous and still anxious, saying to me in +an undertone that he felt sure she would either refuse it altogether +or couple it with some conditions that the agent could not accept; +either would be fatal. Yancey and the judge, who had been partly +paralyzed at the rapidity of the transaction, conferred in a corner, +while the agent proceeded to make a copy of the proposition with as +much composure as if he bought a coal-mine every day. The colonel sat +by himself, his chair tilted back, his eyes half closed. + +In the midst of this uncertainty Chad entered with a message. "Miss +Nancy wants de colonel." In five minutes more he entered with another. +Miss Nancy wanted Fitz and me. + +We followed the old servant up the winding staircase and down the long +hall, past the old-fashioned wardrobe and the great chintz-covered +lounge, waited until Chad knocked gently, and entered the dear lady's +bedroom. +She sat near the window by the side of the high post bedstead, rocking +gently to and fro. The colonel was standing with his back to the light, +coat open, thumbs in his armholes, face beaming. + +"I sent for you," she began, "because I want you both to hear my answer +before I inform the agent. The land only was mine, and but for your +love and devotion to the colonel would still be a wild hill. The coal, +therefore, belongs to him. Go and tell the Englishman I accept his +offer. The land and all the coal I give to George." + + * * * * * + +When, an hour later, the transaction was complete, the receipts and +preliminary contracts signed, and the small, modest-looking check--the +first instalment--had been transferred from the plethoric bank-book +of the agent to the narrow, poverty-stricken pocket of the colonel, +and the fact began to dawn simultaneously upon everybody that at last +the dear old colonel was independent, an enthusiasm took possession +of the room that soon became uncontrollable. + +Fitz caught him in his arms, and began hugging him in a way that +endangered every rib in his body, calling out all the time that he had +never felt so good in all the days of his life. Yancey and Kerfoot, +who had stood one side appalled by the magnitude of the sum paid, and +who during the signing of the papers had looked at the colonel with +the same sort of silent awe with which they would have regarded any +other potentate rolling in estates, mines, and millions, broke through +the enforced reserve, and exclaimed, with an outburst, that the South +was looking up, and that a true Southern gentleman had come into his +own, the judge adding with emphasis that the colonel had never looked +so much like his noble father as when he stooped over and signed that +receipt. Even the Englishman, hard, practical fellow that he was, +congratulated him on his good fortune in a few short words that jumped +out hot from his heart. + +With this atmosphere about him it is not to be wondered that the colonel +lost the true inwardness of the situation. The fact that his aunt's +boundary line included every acre of valuable land on the plantation, +while his own poor portion only bordered the Tench, was to him simply +one of those trifling errors which sometimes occur in the partition +of vast landed estates. And although when the gift was made he felt +more than ever her loving-kindness, he could not now, on more mature +reflection and after hearing the encomiums of his friends, really see +how she could have pursued any other course. + +And yet, with the sale accomplished and he rich beyond his wildest +dreams, he was precisely the same man in bearing, manner, and speech +that he had been in his impecunious days in Bedford Place. He was rich +then--in hopes, in plans, in the reality of his dreamland. He was no +richer now. The check in his pocket made no difference. + +The only perceptible change was when he recounted to me his plans for +the restoration of the homestead and the comfort of its inmates. "I +shall rebuild the barns and cabins, and lay out a new lawn. The +po'ch"--looking up--"needs some repairs, and the ca'iage-house must +be enlarged. The coaching days are not over yet, Major; Nancy must +have"-- + +Chad, entering with a luncheon for the exhausted circle, diverted the +colonel's train of thought, cutting short his summary. For a moment +he watched his old servant musingly, then following him into the next +room he called him to one side, and with marked tenderness in his +manner unfolded the Englishman's check. + +The old servant put down the empty tray, adjusted his spectacles, and +examined it carefully. + +"What's dis, Marsa George?" + +"A thousand dollars, Chad." + +"Golly! Monst'ous quare kind o' money. Jes a scrap. Ain't big enough +to wad a gun, is she? An' Misser Englishman gib ye dis for dat ole +brier patch?" + +Chad was trembling all over, full to the very eyelids. + +The colonel held out his hand. The old servant bent his head, his +master's hand fast in his. Then their eyes met. + +"Yes, Chad, for you and me. There's no hard work for you any mo', old +man. Go and tell Henny." + +That night at dinner, Fitz on the colonel's right, the Englishman next +to aunt Nancy, Kerfoot, Yancey, and I disposed in regular order, Chad +noiseless and attentive, the colonel arose in his chair, radiant to +the very tip ends of his cravat, and, in a voice which trembled as it +rose, said:-- + +"Gentlemen, the events of the day have unexpectedly brought me an +influx of wealth far beyond my brightest anticipations. This is due +in great measure to the untirin' brain and vast commercial resources +of my dear friend Mr. Fitzpatrick, who has labored with me durin' my +sojourn Nawth in the development of these properties, and who now, +with that unselfishness which characterizes his life, refuses to accept +any share in the result. + +"They have also strengthened the tie existin' between my old friend +the major on my left, who oftentimes when the day was darkest has +cheered me by his counsel and companionship. +"But, gentlemen, they have done mo'." The colonel's feet now barely +touched the floor. "They have enabled me to provide for one of the +loveliest of her sex,--she who graces our boa'd,--and to enrich her +declinin' days not only with all the comforts, but with many of the +luxuries she was bawn to enjoy. + +"Fill yo' glasses, gentlemen, and drink to the health of that greatest +of all blessings,--a true Southern lady!" + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Colonel Carter of Cartersville +by F. Hopkinson Smith + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COLONEL CARTER OF CARTERSVILLE *** + +This file should be named ccctr10.txt or ccctr10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, ccctr11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, ccctr10a.txt + +Produced by Phil McLaury, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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