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diff --git a/16556.txt b/16556.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1153cfc --- /dev/null +++ b/16556.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9804 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Short Story Classics (American) Vol. 2, by Various + +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: Short Story Classics (American) Vol. 2 + The Brigade Commander by J. W. Deforest; Who Was She? by + Bayard Taylor; Mademoiselle Olympe Zabriski by Thomas + Bailey Aldrich; Brother Sebastian's Friendship by Harold + Frederic; A Good-For-Nothing by Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen; + The Idyl Of Red Gulch by Bret Harte; Crutch, The Page by + George Alfred Townsend ("Gath"); In Each Other's Shoes by + George Parsons Lathrop; The Denver Express by A. A. Hayes; + Jaune D'antimoine by Thomas Allibone Janvier; Ole 'Stracted + by Thomas Nelson Page; Our Consul At Carlsruhe by F. J. + Stimson ("J. S. Of Dale") + +Author: Various + +Editor: William Patten + +Release Date: August 20, 2005 [EBook #16556] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHORT STORY CLASSICS *** + + + + +Produced by Michael Gray + + + + + +SHORT STORY CLASSICS (AMERICAN) +VOLUME TWO + +EDITED BY +WILLIAM PATTEN + +WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES + +P. F. COLLIER & SON +NEW YORK + +COPYRIGHT 1905 +BY P. F. COLLIER & SON +---------------- +The use of the copyrighted stories in this collection has been +authorized in every instance by the authors or their representatives. + + + +CONTENTS--VOLUME II + +THE BRIGADE COMMANDER + J. W. DEFOREST + +WHO WAS SHE? + BAYARD TAYLOR + +MADEMOISELLE OLYMPE ZABRISKI + THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH + +BROTHER SEBASTIAN'S FRIENDSHIP + HAROLD FREDERIC + +A GOOD-FOR-NOTHING + HJALMAR HJORTH BOYESEN + +THE IDYL OF RED GULCH + BRET HARTE + +CRUTCH, THE PAGE + GEORGE ALFRED TOWNSEND ("GATH") + +IN EACH OTHER'S SHOES + GEORGE PARSONS LATHROP + +THE DENVER EXPRESS + A. A. HAYES + +JAUNE D'ANTIMOINE + THOMAS ALLIBONE JANVIER + +OLE 'STRACTED + THOMAS NELSON PAGE + +OUR CONSUL AT CARLSRUHE + F. J. STIMSON ("J. S. OF DALE") + + + +THE BRIGADE COMMANDER +--------------------- +BY J. W. DE FOREST + + + +_ John William De Forest (born March 36, 1826, in Seymour, Ct.) at the +outbreak of the Rebellion abandoned a promising career as a historian +and writer of books of travel to enlist in the Union army. He served +throughout the entire war, first as captain, then as major, and so +acquired a thorough knowledge of military tactics and the psychology of +our war which enabled him, on his return to civil life, to write the +best war stories of his generation. Of these "The Brigade Commander" is +Mr. De Forest's masterpiece. Solidly grounded on experience, and +drawing its emotive power from our greatest national cataclysm, like a +Niagara dynamo the story sends us a thrill undiminishing with the +increasing distance of its source._ + + + +THE BRIGADE COMMANDER +BY J. W. DEFOREST +[Footnote: By permission of "The New York Times."] + + +The Colonel was the idol of his bragging old regiment and of the +bragging brigade which for the last six months he had commanded. +He was the idol, not because he was good and gracious, not because he +spared his soldiers or treated them as fellow-citizens, but because he +had led them to victory and made them famous. If a man will win battles +and give his brigade a right to brag loudly of its doings, he may have +its admiration and even its enthusiastic devotion, though he be as +pitiless and as wicked as Lucifer. + +"It's nothin' to me what the Currnell is in prrivit, so long as he +shows us how to whack the rrebs," said Major Gahogan, commandant of the +"Old Tenth." "Moses saw God in the burrnin' bussh, an' bowed down to +it, an' worrshipt it. It wasn't the bussh he worrshipt; it was his God +that was in it. An' I worr-ship this villin of a Currnell (if he is a +villin) because he's almighty and gives us the vict'ry. He's nothin' +but a human burrnin' bussh, perhaps, but he's got the god of war in +urn. Adjetant Wallis, it's a ------ long time between dhrinks, as I +think ye was sayin', an' with rayson. See if ye can't confiscate a +canteen of whiskee somewhere in the camp. Bedad, if I can't buy it I'll +stale it. We're goin' to fight tomorry, an' it may be it's the last +chance we'll have for a dhrink, unless there's more lik'r now in the +other worrld than Dives got." + +The brigade was bivouacked in some invisible region, amid the damp, +misty darkness of a September night. The men lay in their ranks, each +with his feet to the front and his head rearward, each covered by his +overcoat and pillowed upon his haversack, each with his loaded rifle +nestled close beside him. Asleep as they were, or dropping placidly +into slumber, they were ready to start in order to their feet and pour +out the red light and harsh roar of combat. There were two lines of +battle, each of three regiments of infantry, the first some two hundred +yards in advance of the second. In the space between them lay two +four-gun batteries, one of them brass twelve-pounder "Napoleons," and +the other rifled Parrotts. To the rear of the infantry were the +recumbent troopers and picketed horses of a regiment of cavalry. All +around, in the far, black distance, invisible and inaudible, paced or +watched stealthily the sentinels of the grand guards. + +There was not a fire, not a torch, nor a star-beam in the whole bivouac +to guide the feet of Adjutant Wallis in his pilgrimage after whiskey. +The orders from brigade headquarters had been strict against +illuminations, for the Confederates were near at hand in force, and a +surprise was proposed as well as feared. A tired and sleepy youngster, +almost dropping with the heavy somnolence of wearied adolescence, he +stumbled on through the trials of an undiscernible and unfamiliar +footing, lifting his heavy riding-boots sluggishly over imaginary +obstacles, and fearing the while lest his toil were labor misspent. It +was a dry camp, he felt dolefully certain, or there would have been +more noise in it. He fell over a sleeping sergeant, and said to him +hastily, "Steady, man--a friend!" as the half-roused soldier clutched +his rifle. Then he found a lieutenant, and shook him in vain; further +on a captain, and exchanged saddening murmurs with him; further still a +camp-follower of African extraction, and blasphemed him. + +"It's a God-forsaken camp, and there isn't a horn in it," said Adjutant +Wallis to himself as he pursued his groping journey. "Bet you I don't +find the first drop," he continued, for he was a betting boy, and +frequently argued by wagers, even with himself. "Bet you two to one I +don't. Bet you three to one--ten to one." + +Then he saw, an indefinite distance beyond him, burning like red-hot +iron through the darkness, a little scarlet or crimson gleam, as of a +lighted cigar. + +"That's Old Grumps, of the Bloody Fourteenth," he thought. "I've raided +into his happy sleeping-grounds. I'll draw on him." + +But Old Grumps, otherwise Colonel Lafayette Gildersleeve, had no +rations--that is, no whiskey. + +"How do you suppose an officer is to have a drink, Lieutenant?" he +grumbled. "Don't you know that our would-be Brigadier sent all the +commissary to the rear day before yesterday? A canteenful can't last +two days. Mine went empty about five minutes ago." + +"Oh, thunder!" groaned Wallis, saddened by that saddest of all +thoughts, "Too late!" "Well, least said soonest mended. I must wobble +back to my Major." + +"He'll send you off to some other camp as dry as this one. Wait ten +minutes, and he'll be asleep. Lie down on my blanket and light your +pipe. I want to talk to you about, official business--about our +would-be Brigadier." + +"Oh, _your_ turn will come some day," mumbled Wallis, remembering +Gildersleeve's jealousy of the brigade commander--a jealousy which only +gave tongue when aroused by "commissary." "If you do as well as usual +to-morrow you can have your own brigade." + +"I suppose you think we are all going to do well to-morrow," scoffed +old Grumps, whose utterance by this time stumbled. "I suppose you +expect to whip and to have a good time. I suppose you brag on fighting +and enjoy it." + +"I like it well enough when it goes right; and it generally does go +right with this brigade. I should like it better if the rebs would fire +higher and break quicker." + +"That depends on the way those are commanded whose business it is to +break them," growled Old Grumps. "I don't say but what we are rightly +commanded," he added, remembering his duty to superiors. "I concede and +acknowledge that our would-be Brigadier knows his military business. +But the blessing of God, Wallis! I believe in Waldron as a soldier. But +as a man and a Christian, faugh!" + +Gildersleeve had clearly emptied his canteen unassisted; he never +talked about Christianity when perfectly sober. + +"What was your last remark?" inquired Wallis, taking his pipe from his +mouth to grin. Even a superior officer might be chaffed a little in the +darkness. + +"I made no last remark," asserted the Colonel with dignity. "I'm not +a-dying yet. If I said anything last it was a mere exclamation of +disgust--the disgust of an officer and gentleman. I suppose you know +something about our would-be Brigadier. I suppose you think you know +something about him." + +"Bet you I know _all_ about him" affirmed Wallis. "He enlisted in the +Old Tenth as a common soldier. Before he had been a week in camp they +found that he knew his biz, and they made him a sergeant. Before we +started for the field the Governor got his eye on him and shoved him +into a lieutenancy. The first battle h'isted him to a captain. And the +second--bang! whiz! he shot up to colonel right over the heads of +everybody, line and field. Nobody in the Old Tenth grumbled. They saw +that he knew his biz. I know _all_ about him. What'll you bet?" + +"I'm not a betting man, Lieutenant, except in a friendly game of +poker," sighed Old Grumps. "You don't know anything about your +Brigadier," he added in a sepulchral murmur, the echo of an empty +canteen. "I have only been in this brigade a month, and I know more +than you do, far, very far more, sorry to say it. He's a reformed +clergyman. He's an apostatized minister." The Colonel's voice as he +said this was solemn and sad enough to do credit to an undertaker. +"It's a bad sort, Wallis," he continued, after another deep sigh, a +very highly perfumed one, the sigh of a barkeeper. "When a clergyman +falls, he falls for life and eternity, like a woman or an angel. I +never knew a backslidden shepherd to come to good. Sooner or later he +always goes to the devil, and takes down whomsoever hangs to him." + +"He'll take down the Old Tenth, then," asserted Wallis. "It hangs to +him. Bet you two to one he takes it along." + +"You're right, Adjutant; spoken like a soldier," swore Gildersleeve. +"And the Bloody Fourteenth, too. It will march into the burning pit as +far as any regiment; and the whole brigade, yes, sir! But a backslidden +shepherd, my God! Have we come to that? I often say to myself, in the +solemn hours of the night, as I remember my Sabbath-school days, 'Great +Scott! have we come to that?' A reformed clergyman! An apostatized +minister! Think of it, Wallis, think of it! Why, sir, his very wife ran +away from him. They had but just buried their first boy," pursued Old +Grumps, his hoarse voice sinking to a whimper. "They drove home from +the burial-place, where lay the new-made grave. Arrived at their door, +_he_ got out and extended his hand to help _her_ out. Instead of +accepting, instead of throwing herself into his arms and weeping there, +she turned to the coachman and said, 'Driver, drive me to my father's +house.' That was the end of their wedded life, Wallis." + +The Colonel actually wept at this point, and the maudlin tears were not +altogether insincere. His own wife and children he heartily loved, and +remembered them now with honest tenderness. At home he was not a +drinker and a rough; only amid the hardships and perils of the field. + +"That was the end of it, Wallis," he repeated. "And what was it while +it lasted? What does a woman leave her husband for? Why does she +separate from him over the grave of her innocent first-born? There are +twenty reasons, but they must all of them be good ones. I am sorry to +give it as my decided opinion, Wallis, in perfect confidence, that they +must all be whopping good ones. Well, that was the beginning; only the +beginning. After that he held on for a while, breaking the bread of +life to a skedaddling flock, and then he bolted. The next known of him, +three years later, he enlisted in your regiment, a smart but seedy +recruit, smelling strongly of whiskey." + +"I wish I smelt half as strong of it myself," grumbled Wallis. "It +might keep out the swamp fever." + +"That's the true story of Col. John James Waldron," continued Old +Grumps, with a groan which was very somnolent, as if it were a twin to +a snore. "That's the true story." + +"I don't believe the first word of it--that is to say, Colonel, I think +you have been misinformed--and I'll bet you two to one on it. If he was +nothing more than a minister, how did he know drill and tactics?" + +"Oh, I forgot to say he went through West Point--that is, nearly +through. They graduated him in his third year by the back door, +Wallis." + +"Oh, that was it, was it? He was a West Pointer, was he? Well, then, +the backsliding was natural, and oughtn't to count against him. A +member of Benny Havens's church has a right to backslide anywhere, +especially as the Colonel doesn't seem to be any worse than some of the +rest of us, who haven't fallen from grace the least particle, but took +our stand at the start just where we are now. A fellow that begins with +a handful of trumps has a right to play a risky game." + +"I know what euchered him, Wallis. It was the old Little Joker; and +there's another of the same on hand now." + +"On hand where? What are you driving at, Colonel?" + +"He looks like a boy. I mean she looks like a boy. You know what I +mean, Wallis; I mean the boy that makes believe to wait on him. And her +brother is in camp, got here to-night. There'll be an explanation +to-morrow, and there'll be bloodshed." + +"Good-night, Colonel, and sleep it off," said Wallis, rising from the +side of a man whom he believed to be sillily drunk and altogether +untrustworthy. "You know we get after the rebs at dawn." + +"I know it--goo-night, Adjutant--gawblessyou," mumbled Old Crumps. +"We'll lick those rebs, won't we?" he chuckled. "Goo-night, ole fellow, +an' gawblessyou." + +Whereupon Old Grumps fell asleep, very absurdly overcome by liquor, we +extremely regret to concede, but nobly sure to do his soldierly duty as +soon as he should awake. + +Stumbling wearily blanketward, Wallis found his Major and regimental +commander, the genial and gallant Gahogan, slumbering in a peace like +that of the just. He stretched himself anear, put out his hand to touch +his sabre and revolver, drew his caped greatcoat over him, moved once +to free his back of a root or pebble, glanced languidly at a single +struggling star, thought for an instant of his far-away mother, turned +his head with a sigh and slept. In the morning he was to fight, and +perhaps to die; but the boyish veteran was too seasoned, and also too +tired, to mind that; he could mind but one thing--nature's pleading for +rest. + +In the iron-gray dawn, while the troops were falling dimly and +spectrally into line, and he was mounting his horse to be ready for +orders, he remembered Gildersleeve's drunken tale concerning the +commandant, and laughed aloud. But turning his face toward brigade +headquarters (a sylvan region marked out by the branches of a great +oak), he was surprised to see a strange officer, a fair young man in +captain's uniform, riding slowly toward it. + +"Is that the boy's brother?" he said to himself; and in the next +instant he had forgotten the whole subject; it was time to form and +present the regiment. + +Quietly and without tap of drum the small, battle-worn battalions filed +out of their bivouacs into the highway, ordered arms and waited for the +word to march. With a dull rumble the field-pieces trundled slowly +after, and halted in rear of the infantry. The cavalry trotted off +circuitously through the fields, emerged upon a road in advance and +likewise halted, all but a single company, which pushed on for half a +mile, spreading out as it went into a thin line of skirmishers. + +Meanwhile a strange interview took place near the great oak which had +sheltered brigade headquarters. As the unknown officer, whom Wallis had +noted, approached it, Col. Waldron was standing by his horse ready to +mount. The commandant was a man of medium size, fairly handsome in +person and features, and apparently about twenty-eight years of age. +Perhaps it was the singular breadth of his forehead which made the +lower part of his face look so unusually slight and feminine. His eyes +were dark hazel, as clear, brilliant, and tender as a girl's, and +brimming full of a pensiveness which seemed both loving and melancholy. +Few persons, at all events few women, who looked upon him ever looked +beyond his eyes. They were very fascinating, and in a man's countenance +very strange. They were the kind of eyes which reveal passionate +romances, and which make them. + +By his side stood a boy, a singularly interesting and beautiful boy, +fair-haired and blue-eyed, and delicate in color. When this boy saw the +stranger approach he turned as pale as marble, slid away from the +brigade commander's side, and disappeared behind a group of staff +officers and orderlies. The new-comer also became deathly white as he +glanced after the retreating youth. Then he dismounted, touched his cap +slightly and, as if mechanically, advanced a few steps, and said +hoarsely, "I believe this is Colonel Waldron. I am Captain Fitz Hugh, +of the --th Delaware." + +Waldron put his hand to his revolver, withdrew it instantaneously, and +stood motionless. + +"I am on leave of absence from my regiment, Colonel," continued Fitz +Hugh, speaking now with an elaborate ceremoniousness of utterance +significant of a struggle to suppress violent emotion. "I suppose you +can understand why I made use of it in seeking you." + +Waldron hesitated; he stood gazing at the earth with the air of one who +represses deep pain; at last, after a profound sigh, he raised his eyes +and answered: + +"Captain, we are on the eve of a battle. I must attend to my public +duties first. After the battle we will settle our private affair." + +"There is but one way to settle it, Colonel." + +"You shall have your way if you will. You shall do what you will. I +only ask what good will it do to _her_?" + +"It will do good to _me_, Colonel," whispered Fitz Hugh, suddenly +turning crimson. "You forget _me_." + +Waldron's face also flushed, and an angry sparkle shot from under his +lashes in reply to this utterance of hate, but it died out in an +instant. + +"I have done a wrong, and I will accept the consequences," he said. "I +pledge you my word that I will be at your disposal if I survive the +battle. Where do you propose to remain meanwhile?" + +"I will take the same chance, sir. I propose to do my share in the +fighting if you will use me." + +"I am short of staff officers. Will you act as my aid?" + +"I will, Colonel," bowed Fitz Hugh, with a glance which expressed +surprise, and perhaps admiration, at this confidence. + +Waldron turned, beckoned his staff officers to approach, and said, +"Gentlemen, this is Captain Fitz Hugh of the --th Delaware. He has +volunteered to join us for the day, and will act as my aid. And now, +Captain, will you ride to the head of the column and order it forward? +There will be no drum-beat and no noise. When you have given your order +and seen it executed, you will wait for me." + +Fitz Hugh saluted, sprang into his saddle and galloped away. A few +minutes later the whole column was plodding on silently toward its +bloody goal. To a civilian, unaccustomed to scenes of war, the +tranquillity of these men would have seemed very wonderful. Many of the +soldiers were still munching the hard bread and raw pork of their +meagre breakfasts, or drinking the cold coffee with which they had +filled their canteens the day previous. Many more were chatting in an +undertone, grumbling over their sore feet and other discomfits, +chaffing each other, and laughing. The general bearing, however, was +grave, patient, quietly enduring, and one might almost say stolid. You +would have said, to judge by their expressions, that these sunburned +fellows were merely doing hard work, and thoroughly commonplace work, +without a prospect of adventure, and much less of danger. The +explanation of this calmness, so brutal perhaps to the eye of a +sensitive soul, lies mainly in the fact that they were all veterans, +the survivors of marches, privations, maladies, sieges, and battles. +Not a regiment present numbered four hundred men, and the average was +not above three hundred. The whole force, including artillery and +cavalry, might have been about twenty-five hundred sabres and bayonets. + +At the beginning of the march Waldron fell into the rear of his staff +and mounted orderlies. Then the boy who had fled from Fitz Hugh dropped +out of the tramping escort, and rode up to his side. + +"Well, Charlie," said Waldron, casting a pitying glance at the yet +pallid face and anxious eyes of the youth, "you have had a sad fright. +I make you very miserable." + +"He has found us at last," murmured Charlie in a tremulous soprano +voice. "What did he say?" + +"We are to talk to-morrow. He acts as my aide-de-camp to-day. I ought +to tell you frankly that he is not friendly." + +"Of course, I knew it," sighed Charlie, while the tears fell. + +"It is only one more trouble--one more danger, and perhaps it may pass. +So many _have_ passed." + +"Did you tell him anything to quiet him? Did you tell him that we were +married?" + +"But we are not married yet, Charlie. We shall be, I hope." + +"But you ought to have told him that we were. It might stop him from +doing something--mad. Why didn't you tell him so? Why didn't you think +of it?" + +"My dear little child, we are about to have a battle. I should like to +carry some honor and truth into it." + +"Where is he?" continued Charlie, unconvinced and unappeased. "I want +to see him. Is he at the head of the column? I want to speak to him, +just one word. He won't hurt me." + +She suddenly spurred her horse, wheeled into the fields, and dashed +onward. Fitz Hugh was lounging in his saddle, and sombrely surveying +the passing column, when she galloped up to him. + +"Carrol!" she said, in a choked voice, reining in by his side, and +leaning forward to touch his sleeve. + +He threw one glance at her--a glance of aversion, if not of downright +hatred, and turned his back in silence. + +"He is my husband, Carrol," she went on rapidly. "I knew you didn't +understand it. I ought to have written you about it. I thought I would +come and tell you before you did anything absurd. We were married as +soon as he heard that his wife was dead." + +"What is the use of this?" he muttered hoarsely. "She is not dead. I +heard from her a week ago. She was living a week ago." + +"Oh, Carrol!" stammered Charlie. "It was some mistake then. Is it +possible! And he was so sure! But he can get a divorce, you know. She +abandoned him. Or _she_ can get one. No, _he_ can get it--of course, +when she abandoned him. But, Carrol, she must be dead--he was so sure." + +"She is not dead, I tell you. And there can be no divorce. Insanity +bars all claim to a divorce. She is in an asylum. She had to leave him, +and then she went mad." + +"Oh, no, Carrol, it is all a mistake; it is not so. Carrol," she +murmured in a voice so faint that he could not help glancing at her, +half in fury and half in pity. She was slowly falling from her horse. +He sprang from his saddle, caught her in his arms, and laid her on the +turf, wishing the while that it covered her grave. Just then one of +Waldron's orderlies rode up and exclaimed: "What is the matter with +the--the boy? Hullo, Charlie." + +Fitz Hugh stared at the man in silence, tempted to tear him from his +horse. "The boy is ill," he answered when he recovered his +self-command. "Take charge of him yourself." He remounted, rode onward +out of sight beyond a thicket, and there waited for the brigade +commander, now and then fingering his revolver. As Charlie was being +placed in an ambulance by the orderly and a sergeant's wife, Waldron +came up, reined in his horse violently, and asked in a furious voice, +"Is that boy hurt? + +"Ah--fainted," he added immediately. "Thank you, Mrs. Gunner. Take good +care of him--the best of care, my dear woman, and don't let him leave +you all day." + +Further on, when Fitz Hugh silently fell into his escort, he merely +glanced at him in a furtive way, and then cantered on rapidly to the +head of the cavalry. There he beckoned to the tall, grave, iron-gray +Chaplain of the Tenth, and rode with him for nearly an hour, apart, +engaged in low and seemingly impassioned discourse. From this interview +Mr. Colquhoun returned to the escort with a strangely solemnized, +tender countenance, while the commandant, with a more cheerful air than +he had yet worn that day, gave himself to his martial duties, +inspecting the landscape incessantly with his glass, and sending +frequently for news to the advance scouts. It may properly be stated +here that the Chaplain never divulged to any one the nature of the +conversation which he had held with his Colonel. + +Nothing further of note occurred until the little army, after two hours +of plodding march, wound through a sinuous, wooded ravine, entered a +broad, bare, slightly undulating valley, and for the second time +halted. Waldron galloped to the summit of a knoll, pointed to a long +eminence which faced him some two miles distant, and said tranquilly, +"There is our battle-ground." + +"Is that the enemy's position?" returned Captain Ives, his +adjutant-general. "We shall have a tough job if we go at it from here." + +Waldron remained in deep thought for some minutes, meanwhile scanning +the ridge and all its surroundings. + +"What I want to know," he observed, at last, "is whether they have +occupied the wooded knolls in front of their right and around their +right flank." + +Shortly afterward the commander of the scouting squadron came riding +back at a furious pace. + +"They are on the hill. Colonel," he shouted. + +"Yes, of course," nodded Waldron; "but have they occupied the woods +which veil their right front and flank?" + +"Not a bit of it; my fellows have cantered all through, and up to the +base of the hill." + +"Ah!" exclaimed the brigade commander, with a rush of elation. "Then it +will be easy work. Go back, Captain, and scatter your men through the +wood, and hold it, if possible. Adjutant, call up the regimental +commanders at once. I want them to understand my plan fully." + +In a few minutes, Gahogan, of the Tenth; Gilder-sleeve, of the +Fourteenth; Peck, of the First; Thomas, of the Seventh; Taylor, of the +Eighth, and Colburn, of the Fifth, were gathered around their +commander. There, too, was Bradley, the boyish, red-cheeked chief of +the artillery; and Stilton, the rough, old, bearded regular, who headed +the cavalry. The staff was at hand, also, including Fitz Hugh, who sat +his horse a little apart, downcast and sombre and silent, but +nevertheless keenly interested. It is worthy of remark, by the way, +that Waldron took no special note of him, and did not seem conscious of +any disturbing presence. Evil as the man may have been, he was a +thoroughly good soldier, and just now he thought but of his duties. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "I want you to see your field of battle. The +enemy occupy that long ridge. How shall we reach it?" + +"I think, if we go at it straight from here, we shan't miss it," +promptly judged Old Crumps, his red-oak countenance admirably cheerful +and hopeful, and his jealousy all dissolved in the interest of +approaching combat. + +"Nor they won't miss us nuther," laughed Major Gahogan. "Betther slide +our infantree into thim wuds, push up our skirmishers, play wid our +guns for an hour, an' thin rowl in a couple o' col'ms." + +There was a general murmur of approval. The limits of volunteer +invention in tactics had been reached by Gahogan. The other regimental +commanders looked upon him as their superior in the art of war. + +"That would be well, Major, if we could do nothing better," said +Waldron. "But I do not feel obliged to attack the front seriously at +all. The rebels have been thoughtless enough to leave that long +semicircle of wooded knolls unoccupied, even by scouts. It stretches +from the front of their centre clear around their right flank. I shall +use it as a veil to cover us while we get into position. I shall throw +out a regiment, a battery, and five companies of cavalry, to make a +feint against their centre and left. With the remainder of the brigade +I shall skirt the woods, double around the right of the position, and +close in upon it front and rear." + +"Loike scissors blades upon a snip o' paper," shouted Gahogan, in +delight. Then he turned to Fitz Hugh, who happened to be nearest him, +and added, "I tell ye he's got the God o' War in um. He's the burrnin' +bussh of humanity, wid a God o' Battles inside on't." + +"But how if they come down on our thin right wing?" asked a cautious +officer, Taylor, of the Eighth. They might smash it and seize our line +of retreat." + +"Men who have taken up a strong position, a position obviously chosen +for defence, rarely quit it promptly for an attack," replied Waldron. +"There is not one chance in ten that these gentlemen will make a +considerable forward movement early in the fight. Only the greatest +geniuses jump from the defensive to the offensive. Besides, we must +hold the wood. So long as we hold the wood in front of their centre we +save the road." + +Then came personal and detailed instructions. Each regimental commander +was told whither he should march, the point where he should halt to +form line, and the direction by which he should attack. The mass of the +command was to advance in marching column toward a knoll where the +highway entered and traversed the wood. Some time before reaching it +Taylor was to deploy the Eighth to the right, throw out a strong +skirmish line and open fire on the enemy's centre and left, supported +by the battery of Parrotts, and, if pushed, by five companies of +cavalry. The remaining troops would reach the knoll, file to the left +under cover of the forest, skirt it for a mile as rapidly as possible, +infold the right of the Confederate position, and then move upon it +concentrically. Counting from the left, the Tenth, the Seventh, and the +Fourteenth were to constitute the first line of battle, while five +companies of cavalry, then the First, and then the Fifth formed the +second line. Not until Gahogan might have time to wind into the enemy's +right rear should Gildersleeve move out of the wood and commence the +real attack. + +"You will go straight at the front of their right," said Waldron, with +a gay smile, to this latter Colonel. "Send up two companies as +skirmishers. The moment they are clearly checked, lead up the other +eight in line. It will be rough work. But keep pushing. You won't have +fifteen minutes of it before Thomas, on your left, will be climbing the +end of the ridge to take the rebels in flank. In fifteen minutes more +Gahogan will be running in on their backs. Of course, they will try to +change front and meet us. But they have extended their line a long way +in order to cover the whole ridge. They will not be quick enough. We +shall get hold of their right, and we shall roll them up. Then, Colonel +Stilton, I shall expect to see the troopers jumping into the gaps and +making prisoners." + +"All right, Colonel," answered Stilton in that hoarse growl which is +apt to mark the old cavalry officer. "Where shall we find you if we +want a fresh order?" "I shall be with Colburn, in rear of Gildersleeve. +That is our centre. But never mind me; you know what the battle is to +be, and you know how to fight it. The whole point with the infantry is +to fold around the enemy's right, go in upon it concentrically, smash +it, and roll up their line. The cavalry will watch against the infantry +being flanked, and when the latter have seized the hill, will charge +for prisoners. The artillery will reply to the enemy's guns with shell, +and fire grape at any offensive demonstration. You all know your +duties, now, gentlemen. Go to your commands, and march!" + +The colonels saluted and started off at a gallop. In a few minutes +twenty-five hundred men were in simultaneous movement. Five companies +of cavalry wheeled into column of companies, and advanced at a trot +through the fields, seeking to gain the shelter of the forest. The six +infantry regiments slid up alongside of each other, and pushed on in +six parallel columns of march, two on the right of the road and four on +the left. The artillery, which alone left the highway, followed at a +distance of two or three hundred yards. The remaining cavalry made a +wide detour to the right as if to flank the enemy's left. + +It was a mile and a quarter--it was a march of fully twenty minutes--to +the edge of the woodland, the proposed cover of the column. Ten minutes +before this point was reached a tiny puff of smoke showed on the brow +of the hostile ridge; then, at an interval of several seconds, followed +the sound of a distant explosion; then, almost immediately, came the +screech of a rifled shell. Every man who heard it swiftly asked +himself, "Will it strike me?" But even as the words were thought out it +had passed, high in air, clean to the rear, and burst harmlessly. A few +faces turned upward and a few eyes glanced backward, as if to see the +invisible enemy. But there was no pause in the column; it flowed onward +quietly, eagerly, and with business-like precision; it gave forth no +sound but the trampling of feet and the muttering of the officers, +"Steady, men! Forward, men!" + +The Confederates, however, had got their range. A half minute later +four puffs of smoke dotted the ridge, and a flight of hoarse humming +shrieks tore the air. A little aureole cracked and splintered over the +First, followed by loud cries of anguish and a brief, slight confusion. +The voice of an officer rose sharply out of the flurry, "Close up, +Company A! Forward, men!" The battalion column resumed its even +formation in an instant, and tramped unitedly onward, leaving behind it +two quivering corpses and a wounded man who tottered rearward. + +Then came more screeches, and a shell exploded over the highroad, +knocking a gunner lifeless from his carriage. The brigade commander +glanced anxiously along his batteries, and addressed a few words to his +chief of artillery. Presently the four Napoleons set forward at a +gallop for the wood, while the four Parrotts wheeled to the right, +deployed, and advanced across the fields, inclining toward the left of +the enemy. Next, Taylor's regiment (the Eighth) halted, fronted, faced +to the right, and filed off in column of march at a double-quick until +it had gained the rear of the Parrotts, when it fronted again, and +pushed on in support. A quarter of a mile further on these guns went +into battery behind the brow of a little knoll, and opened fire. Four +companies of the Eighth spread out to the right as skirmishers, and +commenced stealing toward the ridge, from time to time measuring the +distance with rifle-balls. The remainder of the regiment lay down in +line between the Parrotts and the forest. Far away to the right, five +companies of cavalry showed themselves, manoeuvring as if they proposed +to turn the left flank of the Southerners. The attack on this side was +in form and in operation. + +Meantime the Confederate fire had divided. Two guns pounded away at +Taylor's feint, while two shelled the main column. The latter was +struck repeatedly; more than twenty men dropped silent or groaning out +of the hurrying files; but the survivors pushed on without faltering +and without even caring for the wounded. At last a broad belt of green +branches rose between the regiments and the ridge; and the rebel +gunners, unable to see their foe, dropped suddenly into silence. + +Here it appeared that the road divided. The highway traversed the +forest, mounted the slope beyond and dissected the enemy's position, +while a branch road turned to the left and skirted the exterior of the +long curve of wooded hillocks. At the fork the battery of Napoleons had +halted, and there it was ordered to remain for the present in quiet. +There, too, the Fourteenth filed in among the dense greenery, threw out +two companies of skirmishers toward the ridge, and pushed slowly after +them into the shadows. + +"Get sight of the enemy at once!" was Waldron's last word to +Gildersleeve. "If they move down the slope, drive them back. But don't +commence your attack under half an hour." + +Next he filed the Fifth into the thickets, saying to Colburn, "I want +you to halt a hundred yards to the left and rear of Gildersleeve. Cover +his flank if he is attacked; but otherwise lie quiet. As soon as he +charges, move forward to the edge of the wood, and be ready to support +him. But make no assault yourself until further orders." + +The next two regiments--the Seventh and First--he placed in _echelon_, +in like manner, a quarter of a mile further along. Then he galloped +forward to the cavalry, and a last word with Stilton. "You and Gahogan +must take care of yourselves. Push on four or five hundred yards, and +then face to the right. Whatever Gahogan finds let him go at it. If he +can't shake it, help him. You two _must_ reach the top of the ridge. +Only, look out for your left flank. Keep a squadron or two in reserve +on that side." + +"Currnel, if we don't raich the top of the hill, it'll be because it +hasn't got wan," answered Gahogan. Stilton only laughed and rode +forward. + +Waldron now returned toward the fork of the road. On the way he sent a +staff officer to the Seventh with renewed orders to attack as soon as +possible after Gildersleeve. Then another staff officer was hurried +forward to Taylor with directions to push his feint strongly, and drive +his skirmishers as far up the slope as they could get. A third staff +officer set the Parrotts in rear of Taylor to firing with all their +might. By the time that the commandant had returned to Colburn's +ambushed ranks, no one was with him but his enemy, Fitz Hugh. + +"You don't seem to trust me With duty, Colonel," said the young man. + +"I shall use you only in case of extremity, Captain," replied Waldron. +"We have business to settle tomorrow." + +"I ask no favors on that account. I hope you will offer me none." + +"In case of need I shall spare no one," declared Waldron. + +Then he took out his watch, looked at it impatiently, put it to his +ear, restored it to his pocket, and fell into an attitude of deep +attention. Evidently his whole mind was on his battle, and he was +waiting, watching, yearning for its outburst. + +"If he wins this fight," thought Fitz Hugh, "how can I do him a harm? +And yet," he added, "how can I help it?" + +Minutes passed. Fitz Hugh tried to think of his injury, and to steel +himself against his chief. But the roar of battle on the right, and the +suspense and imminence of battle on the left, absorbed the attention of +even this wounded and angry spirit, as, indeed, they might have +absorbed that of any being not more or less than human. A private +wrong, insupportable though it might be, seemed so small amid that +deadly clamor and awful expectation! Moreover, the intellect which +worked so calmly and vigorously by his side, and which alone of all +things near appeared able to rule the coming crisis, began to dominate +him, in spite of his sense of injury. A thought crossed him to the +effect that the great among men are too valuable to be punished for +their evil deeds. He turned to the absorbed brigade commander, now not +only his ruler, but even his protector, with a feeling that he must +accord him a word of peace, a proffer in some form of possible +forgiveness and friendship. But the man's face was clouded and stern +with responsibility and authority. He seemed at that moment too lofty +to be approached with a message of pardon. Fitz Hugh gazed at him with +a mixture of profound respect and smothered hate. He gazed, turned +away, and remained silent. + +Minutes more passed. Then a mounted orderly dashed up at full speed, +with the words, "Colonel, Major Gahogan has fronted." + +"Has he?" answered Waldron, with a smile which thanked the trooper and +made him happy. "Ride on through the thicket here, my man, and tell +Colonel Gildersleeve to push up his skirmishers." + +With a thud of hoofs and a rustling of parting foliage the cavalryman +disappeared amid the underwood. A minute or two later a thin, dropping +rattle of musketry, five hundred yards or so to the front, announced +that the sharpshooters of the Fourteenth were at work. Almost +immediately there was an angry response, full of the threatenings and +execution of death. Through the lofty leafage tore the screech of a +shell, bursting with a sharp crash as it passed overhead, and +scattering in humming slivers. Then came another, and another, and many +more, chasing each other with hoarse hissings through the trembling +air, a succession of flying serpents. The enemy doubtless believed that +nearly the whole attacking force was massed in the wood around the +road, and they had brought at least four guns to bear upon that point, +and were working them with the utmost possible rapidity. Presently a +large chestnut, not fifty yards from Fitz Hugh was struck by a shot. +The solid trunk, nearly three feet in diameter, parted asunder as if it +were the brittlest of vegetable matter. The upper portion started aside +with a monstrous groan, dropped in a standing posture to the earth, and +then toppled slowly, sublimely prostrate, its branches crashing and all +its leaves wailing. Ere long, a little further to the front, another +Anak of the forest went down; and, mingled with the noise of its sylvan +agony, there arose sharp cries of human suffering. Then Colonel +Colburn, a broad-chested and ruddy man of thirty-five, with a look of +indignant anxiety in his iron-gray eyes, rode up to the brigade +commander. + +"This is very annoying, Colonel," he said. "I am losing my men without +using them. That last tree fell into my command." + +"Are they firing toward our left?" asked Waldron. "Not a shot." + +"Very good," said the chief, with a sigh of contentment. "If we can +only keep them occupied in this direction! By the way, let your men lie +down under the fallen tree, as far as it will go. It will protect them +from others." + +Colburn rode back to his regiment. Waldron looked impatiently at his +watch. At that moment a fierce burst of line firing arose in front, +followed and almost overborne by a long-drawn yell, the scream of +charging men. Waldron put up his watch, glanced excitedly at Fitz Hugh, +and smiled. + +"I must forgive or forget," the latter could not help saying to +himself. "All the rest of life is nothing compared with this." + +"Captain," said Waldron, "ride off to the left at full speed. As soon +as you hear firing at the shoulder of the ridge, return instantly and +let me know." + +Fitz Hugh dashed away. Three minutes carried him into perfect peace, +beyond the whistling of ball or the screeching of shell. On the right +was a tranquil, wide waving of foliage, and on the left a serene +landscape of cultivated fields, with here and there an embowered +farm-house. Only for the clamor of artillery and musketry far behind +him, he could not have believed in the near presence of battle, of +blood and suffering and triumphant death. But suddenly he heard to his +right, assaulting and slaughtering the tranquillity of nature, a +tumultuous outbreak of file firing, mingled with savage yells. He +wheeled, drove spurs into his horse, and flew back to Waldron. As he +re-entered the wood he met wounded men streaming through it, a few +marching alertly upright, many more crouching and groaning, some +clinging to their less injured comrades, but all haggard in face and +ghastly. + +"Are we winning?" he hastily asked of one man who held up a hand with +three fingers gone and the bones projecting in sharp spikes through +mangled flesh. + +"All right, sir; sailing in," was the answer. + +"Is the brigade commander all right?" he inquired of another who was +winding a bloody handkerchief around his arm. + +"Straight ahead, sir; hurrah for Waldron!" responded the soldier, and +almost in the same instant fell lifeless with a fresh ball through his +head. + +"Hurrah for him!" Fitz Hugh answered frantically, plunging on through +the underwood. He found Waldron with Colburn, the two conversing +tranquilly in their saddles amid hissing bullets and dropping branches. + +"Move your regiment forward now," the brigade commander was saying; +"but halt it in the edge of the wood." + +"Shan't I relieve Gildersleeve if he gets beaten?" asked the +subordinate officer eagerly. + +"No. The regiments on the left will help him out. I want your men and +Peck's for the fight on top of the hill. Of course the rebels will try +to retake it; then I shall call for you." + +Fitz Hugh now approached and said, "Colonel, the Seventh has attacked +in force." + +"Good!" answered Waldron, with that sweet smile of his which thanked +people who brought him pleasant news. "I thought I heard his fire. +Gahogan will be on their right rear in ten minutes. Then we shall get +the ridge. Ride back now to Major Bradley, and tell him to bring his +Napoleons through the wood, and set two of them to shelling the enemy's +centre. Tell him my idea is to amuse them, and keep them from changing +front." + +Again Fitz Hugh galloped off as before on a comfortably safe errand, +safer at all events than many errands of that day. "This man is sparing +my life," he said to himself. "Would to God I knew how to spare his!" + +He found Bradley lunching on a gun caisson, and delivered his orders. +"Something to do at last, eh?" laughed the rosy-cheeked youngster. "The +smallest favors thankfully received. Won't you take a bite of rebel +chicken, Captain? This rebellion must be put down. No? Well, tell the +Colonel I am moving on, and John Brown's soul not far ahead." + +When Fitz Hugh returned to Waldron he found him outside of the wood, at +the base of the long incline which rose into the rebel position. About +the slope were scattered prostrate forms, most numerous near the +bottom, some crawling slowly rearward, some quiescent. Under the brow +of the ridge, decimated and broken into a mere skirmish line sheltered +in knots and singly, behind rocks and knolls and bushes, lay the +Fourteenth Regiment, keeping up a steady, slow fire. From the edge +above, smokily dim against a pure, blue heaven, answered another rattle +of musketry, incessant, obstinate, and spiteful. The combatants on both +sides were lying down; otherwise neither party could have lasted ten +minutes. From Fitz Hugh's point of view not a Confederate uniform could +be seen. But the smoke of their rifles made a long gray line, which was +disagreeably visible and permanent; and the sharp _whit! whit!_ of +their bullets continually passed him, and cheeped away in the leafage +behind. + +"Our men can't get on another inch," he ventured say to his commander. +"Wouldn't it be well for me to ride up and say a cheering word?" + +"Every battle consists largely in waiting," replied Waldron +thoughtfully. "They have undoubtedly brought up a reserve to face +Thomas. But when Gahogan strikes the flank of the reserve, we shall +win." + +"I wish you would take shelter," begged Fitz Hugh. "Everything depends +on your life." + +"My life has been both a help and a hurt to my fellow-creatures," +sighed the brigade commander. "Let come what will to it." + +He glanced upward with an expression of profound emotion; he was +evidently fighting two battles, an outward and an inward one. + +Presently he added, "I think the musketry is increasing on the left. +Does it strike you so?" + +He was all eagerness again, leaning forward with an air of earnest +listening, his face deeply flushed and his eye brilliant. Of a sudden +the combat above rose and swelled into higher violence. There was a +clamor far away--it seemed nearly a mile away--over the hill. Then the +nearer musketry--first Thomas's on the shoulder of the ridge, next +Gildersleeve's in front--caught fire and raged with new fury. + +Waldron laughed outright. "Gahogan has reached them," he said to one of +his staff who had just rejoined him. "We shall all be up there in five +minutes. Tell Colburn to bring on his regiment slowly." + +Then, turning to Fitz Hugh, he added, "Captain, we will ride forward." + +They set off at a walk, now watching the smoking brow of the eminence, +now picking their way among dead and wounded. Suddenly there was a +shout above them and a sudden diminution of the firing; and looking +upward they saw the men of the Fourteenth running confusedly toward the +summit. Without a word the brigade commander struck spurs into his +horse and dashed up the long slope at a run, closely followed by his +enemy and aid. What they saw when they overtook the straggling, +running, panting, screaming pell-mell of the Fourteenth was victory! + +The entire right wing of the Confederates, attacked on three sides at +once, placed at enormous disadvantage, completely outgeneraled, had +given way in confusion, was retreating, breaking, and flying. There +were lines yet of dirty gray or butternut; but they were few, meagre, +fluctuating, and recoiling, and there were scattered and scurrying men +in hundreds. Three veteran and gallant regiments had gone all to wreck +under the shock of three similar regiments far more intelligently +directed. A strong position had been lost because the heroes who held +it could not perform the impossible feat of forming successively two +fresh fronts under a concentric fire of musketry. The inferior brain +power had confessed the superiority of the stronger one. + +On the victorious side there was wild, clamorous, fierce exultation. +The hurrying, shouting, firing soldiers, who noted their commander +riding among them, swung their rifles or their tattered hats at him, +and screamed "Hurrah!" No one thought of the Confederate dead +underfoot, nor of the Union dead who dotted the slope behind. "What are +you here for, Colonel?" shouted rough old Gildersleeve, one leg of his +trousers dripping blood. "We can do it alone." + +"It is a battle won," laughed Fitz Hugh, almost worshiping the man whom +he had come to slay. + +"It is a battle won, but not used," answered Waldron. "We haven't a gun +yet, nor a flag. Where is the cavalry? Why isn't Stilton here? He must +have got afoul of the enemy's horse, and been obliged to beat it off. +Can anybody hear anything of Stilton?" + +"Let him go," roared Old Crumps. "The infantry don't want any help." + +"Your regiment has suffered, Colonel," answered Waldron, glancing at +the scattered files of the Fourteenth. "Halt it and reorganize it, and +let it fall in with the right of the First when Peck comes up. I shall +replace you with the Fifth. Send your Adjutant back to Colburn and tell +him to hurry along. Those fellows are making a new front over there," +he added, pointing to the centre of the hill. "I want the Fifth, +Seventh and Tenth in _echelon_ as quickly as possible. And I want that +cavalry. Lieutenant," turning to one of his staff, "ride off to the +left and find Colonel Stilton. Tell him that I need a charge in ten +minutes." + +Presently cannon opened from that part of the ridge still held by the +Confederates, the shell tearing through or over the dissolving groups +of their right wing, and cracking viciously above the heads of the +victorious Unionists. The explosions followed each other with stunning +rapidity, and the shrill whirring of the splinters was ominous. Men +began to fall again in the ranks or to drop out of them wounded. Of all +this Waldron took no further note than to ride hastily to the brow of +the ridge and look for his own artillery. + +"See how he attinds to iverything himself," said Major Gahogan, who had +cantered up to the side of Fitz Hugh. "It's just a matther of plain +business, an' he looks after it loike a business man. Did ye see us, +though, Captin, whin we come in on their right flank? By George, we +murthered um. There's more'n a hundred lyin' in hapes back there. As +for old Stilton, I just caught sight of um behind that wood to our +left, an' he's makin' for the enemy's right rair. He'll have lots o' +prisoners in half an hour." + +When Waldron returned to the group he was told of his cavalry's +whereabouts, and responded to the information with a smile of +satisfaction. + +"Bradley is hurrying up," he said, "and Taylor is pushing their left +smartly. They will make one more tussle to recover their line of +retreat; but we shall smash them from end to end and take every gun." + +He galloped now to his infantry, and gave the word "Forward!" The three +regiments which composed the _echelon_ were the Fifth on the right, the +Seventh fifty yards to the rear and left of the Fifth, the Tenth to the +rear and left of the Seventh. It was behind the Fifth, that is the +foremost battalion, that the brigade commander posted himself. + +"Do _you_ mean to stay here, Colonel?" asked Fitz Hugh, in surprise and +anxiety. + +"It is a certain victory now," answered Waldron, with a singular glance +upward. "My life is no longer important. I prefer to do my duty to the +utmost in the sight of all men." + +"I shall follow you and do mine, sir," said the Captain, much moved, he +could scarcely say by what emotions, they were so many and conflicting. + +"I want you otherwheres. Ride to Colonel Taylor at once, and hurry him +up the hill. Tell him the enemy have greatly weakened their left. Tell +him to push up everything, infantry, and cavalry, and artillery, and to +do it in haste." + +"Colonel, this is saving my life against my will," remonstrated Fitz +Hugh. + +"Go!" ordered Waldron, imperiously. "Time is precious." + +Fitz Hugh dashed down the slope to the right at a gallop. The brigade +commander turned tranquilly, and followed the march of his _echelon_. +The second and decisive crisis of the little battle was approaching, +and to understand it we must glance at the ground on which it was to be +fought. Two hostile lines were marching toward each other along the +broad, gently rounded crest of the hill and at right angles to its +general course. Between these lines, but much the nearest to the Union +troops, a spacious road came up out of the forest in front, crossed the +ridge, swept down the smooth decline in rear, and led to a single +wooden bridge over a narrow but deep rivulet. On either hand the road +was hedged in by a close board fence, four feet or so in height. It was +for the possession of this highway that the approaching lines were +about to shed their blood. If the Confederates failed to win it all +their artillery would be lost, and their army captured or dispersed. + +The two parties came on without firing. The soldiers on both sides were +veterans, cool, obedient to orders, intelligent through long service, +and able to reserve all their resources for a short-range and final +struggle. Moreover, the fences as yet partially hid them from each +other, and would have rendered all aim for the present vague and +uncertain. + +"Forward, Fifth!" shouted Waldron. "Steady. Reserve your fire." Then, +as the regiment came up to the fence, he added, "Halt; right dress. +Steady, men." + +Meantime he watched the advancing array with an eager gaze. It was a +noble sight, full of moral sublimity, and worthy of all admiration. The +long, lean, sunburned, weather-beaten soldiers in ragged gray stepped +forward, superbly, their ranks loose, but swift and firm, the men +leaning forward in their haste, their tattered slouch hats pushed +backward, their whole aspect business-like and virile. Their line was +three battalions strong, far outflanking the Fifth, and at least equal +to the entire _echelon_. When within thirty or forty yards of the +further fence they increased their pace to nearly a double-quick, many +of them stooping low in hunter fashion, and a few firing. Then Waldron +rose in his stirrups and yelled, "Battalion! ready--aim--aim low. +Fire!" + +There was a stunning roar of three hundred and fifty rifles, and a +deadly screech of bullets. But the smoke rolled out, the haste to +reload was intense, and none could mark what execution was done. +Whatever the Confederates may have suffered, they bore up under the +volley, and they came on. In another minute each of those fences, not +more than twenty-five yards apart, was lined by the shattered fragment +of a regiment, each firing as fast as possible into the face of the +other. The Fifth bled fearfully: it had five of its ten company +commanders shot dead in three minutes; and its loss in other officers +and in men fell scarcely short of this terrible ratio. On its left the +Seventh and the Tenth were up, pouring in musketry, and receiving it in +a fashion hardly less sanguinary. No one present had ever seen, or ever +afterward saw, such another close and deadly contest. + +But the strangest thing in this whole wonderful fight was the conduct +of the brigade commander. Up and down the rear of the lacerated Fifth +Waldron rode thrice, spurring his plunging and wounded horse close to +the yelling and fighting file-closers, and shouting in a piercing voice +encouragement to his men. Stranger still, considering the character +which he had borne in the army, and considering the evil deed for which +he was to account on the morrow, were the words which he was distinctly +and repeatedly heard to utter. "Stand steady, men--God is with us!" was +the extraordinary battle-cry of this backslidden clergyman, this sinner +above many. + +And it was a prophecy of victory. Bradley ran up his Napoleons on the +right in the nick of time, and, although only one of them could be +brought to bear, it was enough; the grape raked the Confederate left, +broke it, and the battle was over. In five minutes more their whole +array was scattered, and the entire position open to galloping cavalry, +seizing guns, standards, and prisoners. + +It was in the very moment of triumph, just as the stubborn Southern +line reeled back from the fence in isolated clusters, that the +miraculous immunity of Waldron terminated, and he received his death +wound. A quarter of an hour later Fitz Hugh found a sorrowful group of +officers gazing from a little distance upon their dying commander. + +"Is the Colonel hit?" he asked, shocked and grieved, incredible as the +emotion may seem. + +"Don't go near him," called Gildersleeve, who, it will be remembered, +knew or guessed his errand in camp. "The chaplain and surgeon are +there. Let him alone." + +"He's going to render his account," added Gahogan. "An' whativer he's +done wrong, he's made it square to-day. Let um lave it to his brigade." + +Adjutant Wallis, who had been blubbering aloud, who had cursed the +rebels and the luck energetically, and who had also been trying to pray +inwardly, groaned out, "This is our last victory. You see if it ain't. +Bet you, two to one." + +"Hush, man!" replied Gahogan. "We'll win our share of urn, though we'll +have to work harder for it. We'll have to do more ourselves, an' get +less done for us in the way of tactics." + +"That's so, Major," whimpered a drummer, looking up from his duty of +attending to a wounded comrade. "He knowed how to put his men in the +right place, and his men knowed when they was in the right place. But +it's goin' to be uphill through the steepest part of hell the rest of +the way." + +Soldiers, some of them weeping, some of them bleeding, arrived +constantly to inquire after their commander, only to be sent quietly +back to their ranks or to the rear. Around lay other men--dead men, and +senseless, groaning men--all for the present unnoticed. Everything, +except the distant pursuit of the cavalry, waited for Waldron to die. +Fitz Hugh looked on silently with the tears of mingled emotions in his +eyes, and with hopes and hatreds expiring in his heart. The surgeon +supported the expiring victor's head, while Chaplain Colquhoun knelt +beside him, holding his hand and praying audibly. Of a sudden the +petition ceased, both bent hastily toward the wounded man, and after +what seemed a long time exchanged whispers. Then the Chaplain rose, +came slowly toward the now advancing group of officers, his hands +outspread toward heaven in an attitude of benediction, and tears +running down his haggard white face. + +"I trust, dear friends," he said, in a tremulous voice, "that all is +well with our brother and commander. His last words were, 'God is with +us.'" + +"Oh! but, man, _that_ isn't well," broke out Gahogan, in a groan. "What +did ye pray for his soul for? Why didn't ye pray for his loife?" + +Fitz Hugh turned his horse and rode silently away. The next day he was +seen journeying rearward by the side of an ambulance, within which lay +what seemed a strangely delicate boy, insensible, and, one would say, +mortally ill. + + + +WHO WAS SHE? +------------- +BY BAYARD TAYLOR + + + +_James Bayard Taylor (born at Kennett Square, Pa., in 1825; died in +1878) was probably in his day the best American example of the +all-round literary craftsman. He was poet, novelist, journalist, writer +of books of travel, translator, and, in general, magazine writer. Says +Albert H. Smith in the volume on Taylor in the "American Men of +Letters" series: "He was a man of talent, and master of the mechanics +of his craft. On all sides he touched the life of his time." Henry A. +Beers, in his "Initial Studies in American Letters," says that in his +short stories, as in his novels, "Taylor's pictorial skill is greater, +on the whole, than his power of creating characters or inventing +plots." In the present selection, however, he has both conceived an +original type of character in the mysterious heroine, and invented an +ingenious situation, if not plot, and so, in one instance at least, has +achieved a short story classic._ + + + +WHO WAS SHE? +BY BAYARD TAYLOR +[Footnote: Reprinted by permission. From "The Atlantic Monthly" for +September, 1874.] + + +Come, now, there may as well be an end of this! Every time I meet your +eyes squarely, I detect the question just slipping out of them. If you +had spoken it, or even boldly looked it; if you had shown in your +motions the least sign of a fussy or fidgety concern on my account; if +this were not the evening of my birthday, and you the only friend who +remembered it; if confession were not good for the soul, though harder +than sin to some people, of whom I am one--well, if all reasons were +not at this instant converged into a focus, and burning me rather +violently, in that region where the seat of emotion is supposed to lie, +I should keep my trouble to myself. Yes, I have fifty times had it on +my mind to tell you the whole story. But who can be certain that his +best friend will not smile--or, what is worse, cherish a kind of +charitable pity ever afterward--when the external forms of a very +serious kind of passion seem trivial, fantastic, foolish? And the worst +of all is that the heroic part which I imagined I was playing proves to +have been almost the reverse. The only comfort which I can find in my +humiliation is that I am capable of feeling it. There isn't a bit of a +paradox in this, as you will see; but I only mention it, now, to +prepare you for, maybe, a little morbid sensitiveness of my moral +nerves. + +The documents are all in this portfolio under my elbow. I had just read +them again completely through when you were announced. You may examine +them as you like afterward: for the present, fill your glass, take +another Cabana, and keep silent until my "ghastly tale" has reached its +most lamentable conclusion. + +The beginning of it was at Wampsocket Springs, three years ago last +summer. I suppose most unmarried men who have reached, or passed, the +age of thirty--and I was then thirty-three--experience a milder return +of their adolescent warmth, a kind of fainter second spring, since the +first has not fulfilled its promise. Of course, I wasn't clearly +conscious of this at the time: who is? But I had had my youthful +passion and my tragic disappointment, as you know: I had looked far +enough into what Thackeray used to call the cryptic mysteries to save +me from the Scylla of dissipation, and yet preserved enough of natural +nature to keep me out of the Pharisaic Charyb-dis. My devotion to my +legal studies had already brought me a mild distinction; the paternal +legacy was a good nest-egg for the incubation of wealth--in short, I +was a fair, respectable "party," desirable to the humbler mammas, and +not to be despised by the haughty exclusives. + +The fashionable hotel at the Springs holds three hundred, and it was +packed. I had meant to lounge there for a fortnight and then finish my +holidays at Long Branch; but eighty, at least, out of the three hundred +were young and moved lightly in muslin. With my years and experience I +felt so safe that to walk, talk, or dance with them became simply a +luxury, such as I had never--at least so freely--possessed before. My +name and standing, known to some families, were agreeably exaggerated +to the others, and I enjoyed that supreme satisfaction which a man +always feels when he discovers, or imagines, that he is popular in +society. There is a kind of premonitory apology implied in my saying +this, I am aware. You must remember that I am culprit, and culprit's +counsel, at the same time. + +You have never been at Wampsocket? Well, the hills sweep around in a +crescent, on the northern side, and four or five radiating glens, +descending from them, unite just above the village. The central one, +leading to a waterfall (called "Minne-hehe" by the irreverent young +people, because there is so little of it), is the fashionable drive and +promenade; but the second ravine on the left, steep, crooked, and +cumbered with bowlders which have tumbled from somewhere and lodged in +the most extraordinary groupings, became my favorite walk of a morning. +There was a footpath in it, well-trodden at first, but gradually fading +out as it became more like a ladder than a path, and I soon discovered +that no other city feet than mine were likely to scale a certain rough +slope which seemed the end of the ravine. With the aid of the tough +laurel-stems I climbed to the top, passed through a cleft as narrow as +a doorway, and presently found myself in a little upper dell, as wild +and sweet and strange as one of the pictures that haunts us on the +brink of sleep. + +There was a pond--no, rather a bowl--of water in the centre; hardly +twenty yards across, yet the sky in it was so pure and far down that +the circle of rocks and summer foliage inclosing it seemed like a +little planetary ring, floating off alone through space. I can't +explain the charm of the spot, nor the selfishness which instantly +suggested that I should keep the discovery to myself. Ten years earlier +I should have looked around for some fair spirit to be my "minister," +but now-- + +One forenoon--I think it was the third or fourth time I had visited the +place--I was startled to find the dent of a heel in the earth, half-way +up the slope. There had been rain during the night and the earth was +still moist and soft. It was the mark of a woman's boot, only to be +distinguished from that of a walking-stick by its semicircular form. A +little higher, I found the outline of a foot, not so small as to awake +an ecstasy, but with a suggestion of lightness, elasticity, and grace. +If hands were thrust through holes in a board-fence, and nothing of the +attached bodies seen, I can easily imagine that some would attract and +others repel us: with footprints the impression is weaker, of course, +but we can not escape it. I am not sure whether I wanted to find the +unknown wearer of the boot within my precious personal solitude: I was +afraid I should see her, while passing through the rocky crevice, and +yet was disappointed when I found no one. + +But on the flat, warm rock overhanging the tarn--my special throne--lay +some withering wild-flowers and a book! I looked up and down, right and +left: there was not the slightest sign of another human life than mine. +Then I lay down for a quarter of an hour, and listened: there were only +the noises of bird and squirrel, as before. At last, I took up the +book, the flat breadth of which suggested only sketches. There were, +indeed, some tolerable studies of rocks and trees on the first pages; a +few not very striking caricatures, which seemed to have been commenced +as portraits, but recalled no faces I knew; then a number of +fragmentary notes, written in pencil. I found no name, from first to +last; only, under the sketches, a monogram so complicated and laborious +that the initials could hardly be discovered unless one already knew +them. + +The writing was a woman's, but it had surely taken its character from +certain features of her own: it was clear, firm, individual. It had +nothing of that air of general debility which usually marks the +manuscript of young ladies, yet its firmness was far removed from the +stiff, conventional slope which all Englishwomen seem to acquire in +youth and retain through life. I don't see how any man in my situation +could have helped reading a few lines--if only for the sake of +restoring lost property. But I was drawn on, and on, and finished by +reading all: thence, since no further harm could be done, I reread, +pondering over certain passages until they stayed with me. Here they +are, as I set them down, that evening, on the back of a legal blank: + +"It makes a great deal of difference whether we wear social forms as +bracelets or handcuffs." + +"Can we not still be wholly our independent selves, even while doing, +in the main, as others do? I know two who are so; but they are +married." + +"The men who admire these bold, dashing young girls treat them like +weaker copies of themselves. And yet they boast of what they call +'experience'!" + +"I wonder if any one felt the exquisite beauty of the noon as I did +to-day? A faint appreciation of sunsets and storms is taught us in +youth, and kept alive by novels and flirtations; but the broad, +imperial splendor of this summer noon!--and myself standing alone in +it---yes, utterly alone!" + +"The men I seek must exist: where are they? How make an acquaintance, +when one obsequiously bows himself away, as I advance? The fault is +surely not all on my side." + +There was much more, intimate enough to inspire me with a keen interest +in the writer, yet not sufficiently so to make my perusal a painful +indiscretion. I yielded to the impulse of the moment, took out my +pencil, and wrote a dozen lines on one of the blank pages. They ran +something in this wise: + +"IGNOTUS IGNOTAE!--You have bestowed without intending it, and I have +taken without your knowledge. Do not regret the accident which has +enriched another. This concealed idyl of the hills was mine, as I +supposed, but I acknowledge your equal right to it. Shall we share the +possession, or will you banish me?" + +There was a frank advance, tempered by a proper caution, I fancied, in +the words I wrote. It was evident that she was unmarried, but outside +of that certainty there lay a vast range of possibilities, some of them +alarming enough. However, if any nearer acquaintance should arise out +of the incident, the next step must be taken by her. Was I one of the +men she sought? I almost imagined so--certainly hoped so. + +I laid the book on the rock, as I had found it, bestowed another keen +scrutiny on the lonely landscape, and then descended the ravine. That +evening, I went early to the ladies' parlor, chatted more than usual +with the various damsels whom I knew, and watched with a new interest +those whom I knew not. My mind, involuntarily, had already created a +picture of the unknown. She might be twenty-five, I thought; a +reflective habit of mind would hardly be developed before that age. +Tall and stately, of course; distinctly proud in her bearing, and +somewhat reserved in her manners. Why she should have large dark eyes, +with long dark lashes, I could not tell; but so I seemed to see her. +Quite forgetting that I was (or had meant to be) _Ignotus_, I found +myself staring rather significantly at one or the other of the young +ladies, in whom I discovered some slight general resemblance to the +imaginary character. My fancies, I must confess, played strange pranks +with me. They had been kept in a coop so many years that now, when I +suddenly turned them loose, their rickety attempts at flight quite +bewildered me. + +No! there was no use in expecting a sudden discovery. I went to the +glen betimes, next morning: the book was gone and so were the faded +flowers, but some of the latter were scattered over the top of another +rock, a few yards from mine. Ha! this means that I am not to withdraw, +I said to myself: she makes room for me! But how to surprise her?--for +by this time I was fully resolved to make her acquaintance, even though +she might turn out to be forty, scraggy, and sandy-haired. + +I knew no other way so likely as that of visiting the glen at all times +of the day. I even went so far as to write a line of greeting, with a +regret that our visits had not yet coincided, and laid it under a stone +on the top of _her_ rock. The note disappeared, but there was no answer +in its place. Then I suddenly remembered her fondness for the noon +hours, at which time she was "utterly alone." The hotel _table d'hote_ +Avas at one o'clock: her family, doubtless, dined later, in their own +rooms. Why, this gave me, at least, her place in society! The question +of age, to be sure, remained unsettled; but all else was safe. + +The next day I took a late and large breakfast, and sacrificed my +dinner. Before noon the guests had all straggled back to the hotel from +glen and grove and lane, so bright and hot was the sunshine. Indeed, I +could hardly have supported the reverberation of heat from the sides of +the ravine, but for a fixed belief that I should be successful. While +crossing the narrow meadow upon which it opened, I caught a glimpse of +something white among the thickets higher up. A moment later it had +vanished, and I quickened my pace, feeling the beginning of an absurd +nervous excitement in my limbs. At the next turn, there it was again! +but only for another moment. I paused, exulting, and wiped my drenched +forehead. "She can not escape me!" I murmured between the deep draughts +of cooler air I inhaled in the shadow of a rock. + +A few hundred steps more brought me to the foot of the steep ascent, +where I had counted on overtaking her. I was too late for that, but the +dry, baked soil had surely been crumbled and dislodged, here and there, +by a rapid foot. I followed, in reckless haste, snatching at the laurel +branches right and left, and paying little heed to my footing. About +one-third of the way up I slipped, fell, caught a bush which snapped at +the root, slid, whirled over, and before I fairly knew what had +happened, I was lying doubled up at the bottom of the slope. + +I rose, made two steps forward, and then sat down with a groan of pain; +my left ankle was badly sprained, in addition to various minor +scratches and bruises. There was a revulsion of feeling, of course-- +instant, complete, and hideous. I fairly hated the Unknown. "Fool that +I was!" I exclaimed, in the theatrical manner, dashing the palm of my +hand softly against my brow: "lured to this by the fair traitress! But, +no!--not fair: she shows the artfulness of faded, desperate +spinsterhood; she is all compact of enamel, 'liquid bloom of youth' and +hair dye!" + +There was a fierce comfort in this thought, but it couldn't help me out +of the scrape. I dared not sit still, lest a sunstroke should be added, +and there was no resource but to hop or crawl down the rugged path, in +the hope of finding a forked sapling from which I could extemporize a +crutch. With endless pain and trouble I reached a thicket, and was +feebly working on a branch with my pen-knife, when the sound of a heavy +footstep surprised me. + +A brown harvest-hand, in straw hat and shirtsleeves, presently +appeared. He grinned when he saw me, and the thick snub of his nose +would have seemed like a sneer at any other time. + +"Are you the gentleman that got hurt?" he asked. "Is it pretty +tolerable bad?" + +"Who said I was hurt?" I cried, in astonishment. + +"One of your town-women from the hotel--I reckon she was. I was binding +oats, in the field over the ridge; but I haven't lost no time in comin' +here." + +While I was stupidly staring at this announcement, he whipped out a big +clasp-knife, and in a few minutes fashioned me a practicable crutch. +Then, taking me by the other arm, he set me in motion toward the +village. + +Grateful as I was for the man's help, he aggravated me by his +ignorance. When I asked if he knew the lady, he answered: "It's more'n +likely _you_ know her better." But where did she come from? Down from +the hill, he guessed, but it might ha' been up the road. How did she +look? was she old or young? what was the color of her eyes? of her +hair? There, now, I was too much for him. When a woman kept one o' them +speckled veils over her face, turned her head away, and held her +parasol between, how were you to know her from Adam? I declare to you, +I couldn't arrive at one positive particular. Even when he affirmed +that she was tall, he added, the next instant: "Now I come to think on +it, she stepped mighty quick; so I guess she must ha' been short." + +By the time we reached the hotel, I was in a state of fever; opiates +and lotions had their will of me for the rest of the day. I was glad to +escape the worry of questions, and the conventional sympathy expressed +in inflections of the voice which are meant to soothe, and only +exasperate. The next morning, as I lay upon my sofa, restful, patient, +and properly cheerful, the waiter entered with a bouquet of wild +flowers. + +"Who sent them?" I asked. + +"I found them outside your door, sir. Maybe there's a card; yes, here's +a bit o' paper." + +I opened the twisted slip he handed me, and read: "From your dell--and +mine." I took the flowers; among them were two or three rare and +beautiful varieties which I had only found in that one spot. Fool, +again! I noiselessly kissed, while pretending to smell them, had them +placed on a stand within reach, and fell into a state of quiet and +agreeable contemplation. + +Tell me, yourself, whether any male human being is ever too old for +sentiment, provided that it strikes him at the right time and in the +right way! What did that bunch of wild flowers betoken? Knowledge, +first; then, sympathy; and finally, encouragement, at least. Of course +she had seen my accident, from above; of course she had sent the +harvest laborer to aid me home. It was quite natural she should imagine +some special, romantic interest in the lonely dell, on my part, and the +gift took additional value from her conjecture. + +Four days afterward, there was a hop in the large dining-room of the +hotel. Early in the morning, a fresh bouquet had been left at my door. +I was tired of my enforced idleness, eager to discover the fair unknown +(she was again fair, to my fancy!), and I determined to go down, +believing that a cane and a crimson velvet slipper on the left foot +would provoke a glance of sympathy from certain eyes, and thus enable +me to detect them. + +The fact was, the sympathy was much too general and effusive. +Everybody, it seemed, came to me with kindly greetings; seats were +vacated at my approach, even fat Mrs. Huxter insisting on my taking her +warm place, at the head of the room. But Bob Leroy--you know him--as +gallant a gentleman as ever lived, put me down at the right point, and +kept me there. He only meant to divert me, yet gave me the only place +where I could quietly inspect all the younger ladies, as dance or +supper brought them near. + +One of the dances was an old-fashioned cotillon, and one of the +figures, the "coquette," brought every one, in turn, before me. I +received a pleasant word or two from those whom I knew, and a long, +kind, silent glance from Miss May Danvers. Where had been my eyes? She +was tall, stately, twenty-five, had large dark eyes, and long dark +lashes! Again the changes of the dance brought her near me; I threw (or +strove to throw) unutterable meanings into my eyes, and cast them upon +hers. She seemed startled, looked suddenly away, looked back to me, +and--blushed. I knew her for what is called "a nice girl"--that is, +tolerably frank, gently feminine, and not dangerously intelligent. Was +it possible that I had overlooked so much character and intellect? + +As the cotillon closed, she was again in my neighborhood, and her +partner led her in my direction. I was rising painfully from my chair, +when Bob Leroy pushed me down again, whisked another seat from +somewhere, planted it at my side, and there she was! + +She knew who was her neighbor, I plainly saw; but instead of turning +toward me, she began to fan herself in a nervous way and to fidget with +the buttons of her gloves. I grew impatient. + +"Miss Danvers!" I said, at last. + +"Oh!" was all her answer, as she looked at me for a moment. + +"Where are your thoughts?" I asked. + +Then she turned, with wide, astonished eyes, coloring softly up to the +roots of her hair. My heart gave a sudden leap. + +"How can you tell, if I can not?" she asked. + +"May I guess?" + +She made a slight inclination of the head, saying nothing. I was then +quite sure. + +"The second ravine to the left of the main drive?" + +This time she actually started; her color became deeper, and a leaf of +the ivory fan snapped between her fingers. + +"Let there be no more a secret!" I exclaimed. "Your flowers have +brought me your messages; I knew I should find you--" + +Full of certainty, I was speaking in a low, impassioned voice. She cut +me short by rising from her seat; I felt that she was both angry and +alarmed. Fisher, of Philadelphia, jostling right and left in his haste, +made his way toward her. She fairly snatched his arm, clung to it with +a warmth I had never seen expressed in a ballroom, and began to whisper +in his ear. It was not five minutes before he came to me, alone, with a +very stern face, bent down, and said: + +"If you have discovered our secret, you will keep silent. You are +certainly a gentleman." + +I bowed, coldly and savagely. There was a draught from the open window; +my ankle became suddenly weary and painful, and I went to bed. Can you +believe that I didn't guess, immediately, what it all meant? In a vague +way, I fancied that I had been premature in my attempt to drop our +mutual incognito, and that Fisher, a rival lover, was jealous of me. +This was rather flattering than otherwise; but when I limped down to +the ladies' parlor, the next day, no Miss Danvers was to be seen. I did +not venture to ask for her; it might seem importunate, and a woman of +so much hidden capacity was evidently not to be wooed in the ordinary +way. + +So another night passed by; and then, with the morning, came a letter +which made me feel, at the same instant, like a fool and a hero. It had +been dropped in the Wampsocket post-office, was legibly addressed to me +and delivered with some other letters which had arrived by the night +mail. Here it is; listen! + +"NOTO IGNOTA!--Haste is not a gift of the gods, and you have been +impatient, with the usual result. I was almost prepared for this, and +thus am not wholly disappointed. In a day or two more you will discover +your mistake, which, so far as I can learn, has done no particular +harm. If you wish to find me, there is only one way to seek me; should +I tell you what it is, I should run the risk of losing you--that is, I +should preclude the manifestation of a certain quality which I hope to +find in the man who may--or, rather, must--be my friend. This sounds +enigmatical, yet you have read enough of my nature, as written in those +random notes in my sketch-book, to guess, at least, how much I require. +Only this let me add: mere guessing is useless. + +"Being unknown, I can write freely. If you find me, I shall be +justified; if not, I shall hardly need to blush, even to myself, over a +futile experiment. + +"It is possible for me to learn enough of your life, henceforth, to +direct my relation toward you. This may be the end; if so, I shall know +it soon. I shall also know whether you continue to seek me. Trusting in +your honor as a man, I must ask you to trust in mine, as a woman." + +I _did_ discover my mistake, as the Unknown promised. There had been a +secret betrothal between Fisher and Miss Danvers, and, singularly +enough, the momentous question and answer had been given in the very +ravine leading to my upper dell! The two meant to keep the matter to +themselves; but therein, it seems, I thwarted them; there was a little +opposition on the part of their respective families, but all was +amicably settled before I left Wampsocket. + +The letter made a very deep impression upon me. What was the one way to +find her? What could it be but the triumph that follows ambitious +toil--the manifestation of all my best qualities as a man? Be she old +or young, plain or beautiful, I reflected, hers is surely a nature +worth knowing, and its candid intelligence conceals no hazards for me. +I have sought her rashly, blundered, betrayed that I set her lower, in +my thoughts, than her actual self: let me now adopt the opposite +course, seek her openly no longer, go back to my tasks, and, following +my own aims vigorously and cheerfully, restore that respect which she +seemed to be on the point of losing. For, consciously or not, she had +communicated to me a doubt, implied in the very expression of her own +strength and pride. She had meant to address me as an equal, yet, +despite herself, took a stand a little above that which she accorded to +me. + +I came back to New York earlier than usual, worked steadily at my +profession and with increasing success, and began to accept +opportunities (which I had previously declined) of making myself +personally known to the great, impressible, fickle, tyrannical public. +One or two of my speeches in the hall of the Cooper Institute, on +various occasions--as you may perhaps remember--gave me a good headway +with the party, and were the chief cause of my nomination for the State +office which I still hold. (There, on the table, lies a resignation, +written to-day, but not yet signed. We'll talk of it afterward.) +Several months passed by, and no further letter reached me. I gave up +much of my time to society, moved familiarly in more than one province +of the kingdom here, and vastly extended my acquaintance, especially +among the women; but not one of them betrayed the mysterious something +or other--really I can't explain precisely what it was!--which I was +looking for. In fact, the more I endeavored quietly to study the sex, +the more confused I became. + +At last, I was subjected to the usual onslaught from the strong-minded. +A small but formidable committee entered my office one morning and +demanded a categorical declaration of my principles. What my views on +the subject were, I knew very well; they were clear and decided; and +yet, I hesitated to declare them! It wasn't a temptation of Saint +Anthony--that is, turned the other way--and the belligerent attitude of +the dames did not alarm me in the least; but _she_! What was _her_ +position? How could I best please her? It flashed upon my mind, while +Mrs. ------ was making her formal speech, that I had taken no step for +months without a vague, secret reference to _her_. So I strove to be +courteous, friendly, and agreeably noncommittal; begged for further +documents, and promised to reply by letter in a few days. + +I was hardly surprised to find the well-known hand on the envelope of a +letter shortly afterward. I held it for a minute in my palm, with an +absurd hope that I might sympathetically feel its character before +breaking the seal. Then I read it with a great sense of relief. + +"I have never assumed to guide a man, except toward the full exercise +of his powers. It is not opinion in action, but opinion in a state of +idleness or indifference, which repels me. I am deeply glad that you +have gained so much since you left the country. If, in shaping your +course, you have thought of me, I will frankly say that, _to that +extent,_ you have drawn nearer. Am I mistaken in conjecturing that you +wish to know my relation to the movement concerning which you were +recently interrogated? In this, as in other instances which may come, I +must beg you to consider me only as a spectator. The more my own views +may seem likely to sway your action, the less I shall be inclined to +declare them. If you find this cold or unwomanly, remember that it is +not easy!" + +Yes! I felt that I had certainly drawn much nearer to her. And from +this time on, her imaginary face and form became other than they were. +She was twenty-eight--three years older; a very little above the middle +height, but not tall; serene, rather than stately, in her movements; +with a calm, almost grave face, relieved by the sweetness of the full, +firm lips; and finally eyes of pure, limpid gray, such as we fancy +belonged to the Venus of Milo. I found her thus much more attractive +than with the dark eyes and lashes--but she did not make her appearance +in the circles which I frequented. + +Another year slipped away. As an official personage, my importance +increased, but I was careful not to exaggerate it to myself. Many have +wondered (perhaps you among the rest) at my success, seeing that I +possess no remarkable abilities. If I have any secret, it is simply +this--doing faithfully, with all my might, whatever I undertake. +Nine-tenths of our politicians become inflated and careless, after the +first few years, and are easily forgotten when they once lose place. + +I am a little surprised now that I had so much patience with the +Unknown. I was too important, at least, to be played with; too mature +to be subjected to a longer test; too earnest, as I had proved, to be +doubted, or thrown aside without a further explanation. + +Growing tired, at last, of silent waiting, I bethought me of +advertising. A carefully written "Personal," in which _Ignotus_ +informed _Ignota_ of the necessity of his communicating with her, +appeared simultaneously in the "Tribune," "Herald," "World," and +"Times." I renewed the advertisement as the time expired without an +answer, and I think it was about the end of the third week before one +came, through the post, as before. + +Ah, yes! I had forgotten. See! my advertisement is pasted on the note, +as a heading or motto for the manuscript lines. I don't know why the +printed slip should give me a particular feeling of humiliation as I +look at it, but such is the fact. What she wrote is all I need read to +you: + +"I could not, at first, be certain that this was meant for me. If I +were to explain to you why I have not written for so long a time, I +might give you one of the few clews which I insist on keeping in my own +hands. In your public capacity, you have been (so far as a woman may +judge) upright, independent, wholly manly: in your relations with other +men I learn nothing of you that is not honorable: toward women you are +kind, chivalrous, no doubt, overflowing with the _usual_ social +refinements, but--Here, again, I run hard upon the absolute necessity +of silence. The way to me, if you care to traverse it, is so simple, so +very simple! Yet, after what I have written, I can not even wave my +hand in the direction of it, without certain self-contempt. When I feel +free to tell you, we shall draw apart and remain unknown forever. + +"You desire to write? I do not prohibit it. I have heretofore made no +arrangement for hearing from you, in turn, because I could not discover +that any advantage would accrue from it. But it seems only fair, I +confess, and you dare not think me capricious. So, three days hence, at +six o'clock in the evening, a trusty messenger of mine will call at +your door. If you have anything to give her for me, the act of giving +it must be the sign of a compact on your part that you will allow her +to leave immediately, unquestioned and unfollowed." + +You look puzzled, I see: you don't catch the real drift of her words? +Well, that's a melancholy encouragement. Neither did I, at the time: it +was plain that I had disappointed her in some way, and my intercourse +with or manner toward women had something to do with it. In vain I ran +over as much of my later social life as I could recall. There had been +no special attention, nothing to mislead a susceptible heart; on the +other side, certainly no rudeness, no want of "chivalrous" (she used +the word!) respect and attention. What, in the name of all the gods, +was the matter? + +In spite of all my efforts to grow clearer, I was obliged to write my +letter in a rather muddled state of mind. I had _so_ much to say! +sixteen folio pages, I was sure, would only suffice for an introduction +to the case; yet, when the creamy vellum lay before me and the moist +pen drew my fingers toward it, I sat stock dumb for half an hour. I +wrote, finally, in a half-desperate mood, without regard to coherency +or logic. Here's a rough draft of a part of the letter, and a single +passage from it will be enough: + +"I can conceive of no simpler way to you than the knowledge of your +name and address. I have drawn airy images of you, but they do not +become incarnate, and I am not sure that I should recognize you in the +brief moment of passing. Your nature is not of those which are +instantly legible. As an abstract power, it has wrought in my life and +it continually moves my heart with desires which are unsatisfactory +because so vague and ignorant. Let me offer you personally, my +gratitude, my earnest friendship, _you_ would laugh if I were to _now_ +offer more." + +Stay! here is another fragment, more reckless in tone: + +"I want to find the woman whom I can love--who can love me. But this is +a masquerade where the features are hidden, the voice disguised, even +the hands grotesquely gloved. Come! I will venture more than I ever +thought was possible to me. You shall know my deepest nature as I +myself seem to know it. Then, give me the commonest chance of learning +yours, through an intercourse which shall leave both free, should we +not feel the closing of the inevitable bond!" + +After I had written that, the pages filled rapidly. When the appointed +hour arrived, a bulky epistle, in a strong linen envelope, sealed with +five wax seals, was waiting on my table. Precisely at six there was an +announcement: the door opened, and a little outside, in the shadow, I +saw an old woman, in a threadbare dress of rusty black. + +"Come in!" I said. + +"The letter!" answered a husky voice. She stretched out a bony hand, +without moving a step. + +"It is for a lady--very important business," said I, taking up the +letter; "are you sure that there is no mistake?" + +She drew her hand under the shawl, turned without a word, and moved +toward the hall door. + +"Stop!" I cried: "I beg a thousand pardons! Take it--take it! You are +the right messenger!" + +She clutched it, and was instantly gone. + +Several days passed, and I gradually became so nervous and uneasy that +I was on the point of inserting another "Personal" in the daily papers, +when the answer arrived. It was brief and mysterious; you shall hear +the whole of it: + +"I thank you. Your letter is a sacred confidence which I pray you never +to regret. Your nature is sound and good. You ask no more than is +reasonable, and I have no real right to refuse. In the one respect +which I have hinted, _I_ may have been unskilful or too narrowly +cautious: I must have the certainty of this. Therefore, as a generous +favor, give me six months more! At the end of that time I will write to +you again. Have patience with these brief lines: another word might be +a word too much." + +You notice the change in her tone? The letter gave me the strongest +impression of a new, warm, almost anxious interest on her part. My +fancies, as first at Wampsocket, began to play all sorts of singular +pranks: sometimes she was rich and of an old family, sometimes +moderately poor and obscure, but always the same calm, reposeful face +and clear gray eyes. I ceased looking for her in society, quite sure +that I should not find her, and nursed a wild expectation of suddenly +meeting her, face to face, in the most unlikely places and under +startling circumstances. However, the end of it all was patience-- +patience for six months. + +There's not much more to tell; but this last letter is hard for me to +read. It came punctually, to a day. I knew it would, and at the last I +began to dread the time, as if a heavy note were falling due, and I had +no funds to meet it. My head was in a whirl when I broke the seal. The +fact in it stared at me blankly, at once, but it was a long time before +the words and sentences became intelligible. + +"The stipulated time has come, and our hidden romance is at an end. Had +I taken this resolution a year ago, it would have saved me many vain +hopes, and you, perhaps, a little uncertainty. Forgive me, first, if +you can, and then hear the explanation: + +"You wished for a personal interview: _you have had, not one, but +many._ We have met, in society, talked face to face, discussed the +weather, the opera, toilettes, Queechy, Aurora Floyd, Long Branch and +Newport, and exchanged a weary amount of fashionable gossip; and you +never guessed that I was governed by any deeper interest! I have +purposely uttered ridiculous platitudes, and you were as smilingly +courteous as if you enjoyed them: I have let fall remarks whose +hollowness and selfishness could not have escaped you, and have waited +in vain for a word of sharp, honest, manly reproof. Your manner to me +was unexceptionable, as it was to all other women: but there lies the +source of my disappointment, of--yes--of my sorrow! + +"You appreciate, I can not doubt, the qualities in woman which men +value in one another--culture, independence of thought, a high and +earnest apprehension of life; but you know not how to seek them. It is +not true that a mature and unperverted woman is flattered by receiving +only the general obsequiousness which most men give to the whole sex. +In the man who contradicts and strives with her, she discovers a truer +interest, a nobler respect. The empty-headed, spindle-shanked youths +who dance admirably, understand something of billiards, much less of +horses, and still less of navigation, soon grow inexpressibly wearisome +to us; but the men who adopt their social courtesy, never seeking to +arouse, uplift, instruct us, are a bitter disappointment. + +"What would have been the end, had you really found me? Certainly a +sincere, satisfying friendship. No mysterious magnetic force has drawn +you to me or held you near me, nor has my experiment inspired me with +an interest which can not be given up without a personal pang. I am +grieved, for the sake of all men and all women. Yet, understand me! I +mean no slightest reproach. I esteem and honor you for what you are. +Farewell!" + +There! Nothing could be kinder in tone, nothing more humiliating in +substance. I was sore and offended for a few days; but I soon began to +see, and ever more and more clearly, that she was wholly right. I was +sure, also, that any further attempt to correspond with her would be +vain. It all comes of taking society just as we find it, and supposing +that conventional courtesy is the only safe ground on which men and +women can meet. + +The fact is--there's no use in hiding it from myself (and I see, by +your face, that the letter cuts deep into you own conscience)--she is a +free, courageous, independent character, and--I am not. + +But who _was_ she? + + + +MADEMOISELLE OLYMPE ZABRISKI +---------------------------- +BY THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH + + + +_Thomas Bailey Aldrich (born at Portsmouth, N. H., Nov. n, 1836) is an +artist to his finger tips, whether working in verse or prose. His short +story of a non-existent heroine, "Marjorie Daw" has been repeatedly +mentioned by the critics as a masterpiece of dainty workmanship. +Consequently most readers are familiar with it. It gave title to a +volume of short stories, one of which, the present selection, hardly +deserved to be thrust in this manner into the background. Its +denouement is fully as ingenious and unexpected as that of "Marjorie +Daw," and it is led up to with an art that is just as illusory. The +reader, too, is relieved at the final shattering of the romance, where, +in the same case with "Marjorie Daw," he can hardly bring himself to +forgive the author._ + + + +MADEMOISELLE OLYMPE ZABRISKI +BY THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH +[Footnote: Copyright, 1873 and 1901, by Thomas Bailey Aldrich. +Published by special arrangement with Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., +publishers of Mr. Aldrich's works.] + +I + +We are accustomed to speak with a certain light irony of the tendency +which women have to gossip, as if the sin itself, if it is a sin, were +of the gentler sex, and could by no chance be a masculine peccadillo. +So far as my observation goes, men are as much given to small talk as +women, and it is undeniable that we have produced the highest type of +gossiper extant. Where will you find, in or out of literature, such +another droll, delightful, chatty busybody as Samuel Pepys, Esq., +Secretary to the Admiralty in the reigns of those fortunate gentlemen +Charles II and James II of England? He is the king of tattlers, as +Shakespeare is the king of poets. + +If it came to a matter of pure gossip, I would back Our Club against +the Sorosis or any women's club in existence. Whenever you see in your +drawing-room four or five young fellows lounging in easy chairs, cigar +in hand, and now and then bringing their heads together over the small +round Japanese table which is always the pivot of these social circles, +you may be sure that they are discussing Tom's engagement, or Dick's +extravagance, or Harry's hopeless passion for the younger Miss +Fleurdelys. It is here old Tippleton gets execrated for that +everlasting _bon mot_ of his which was quite a success at +dinner-parties forty years ago; it is here the belle of the season +passes under the scalpels of merciless young surgeons; it is here B's +financial condition is handled in a way that would make B's hair stand +on end; it is here, in short, that everything is canvassed--everything +that happens in our set, I mean--much that never happens, and a great +deal that could not possibly happen. It was at Our Club that I learned +the particulars of the Van Twiller affair. + +It was great entertainment to Our Club, the Van Twiller affair, though +it was rather a joyless thing, I fancy, for Van Twiller. To understand +the case fully, it should be understood that Ralph Van Twiller is one +of the proudest and most sensitive men living. He is a lineal +descendant of Wouter Van Twiller, the famous old Dutch governor of New +York--Nieuw Amsterdam, as it was then; his ancestors have always been +burgomasters or admirals or generals, and his mother is the Mrs. +Vanrensselaer Vanzandt Van Twiller whose magnificent place will be +pointed out to you on the right bank of the Hudson as you pass up the +historic river toward Idlewild. Ralph is about twenty-five years old. +Birth made him a gentleman, and the rise of real estate--some of it in +the family since the old governor's time--made him a millionaire. It +was a kindly fairy that stepped in and made him a good fellow also. +Fortune, I take it, was in her most jocund mood when she heaped her +gifts in this fashion on Van Twiller, who was, and will be again, when +this cloud blows over, the flower of Our Club. + +About a year ago there came a whisper--if the word "whisper" is not too +harsh a term to apply to what seemed a mere breath floating gently +through the atmosphere of the billiard-room--imparting the intelligence +that Van Twiller was in some kind of trouble. Just as everybody +suddenly takes to wearing square-toed boots, or to drawing his +neckscarf through a ring, so it became all at once the fashion, without +any preconcerted agreement, for everybody to speak of Van Twiller as a +man in some way under a cloud. But what the cloud was, and how he got +under it, and why he did not get away from it, were points that lifted +themselves into the realm of pure conjecture. There was no man in the +club with strong enough wing to his imagination to soar to the +supposition that Van Twiller was embarrassed in money matters. Was he +in love? That appeared nearly as improbable; for if he had been in love +all the world--that is, perhaps a hundred first families--would have +known all about it instantly. + +"He has the symptoms," said Delaney, laughing. "I remember once when +Jack Fleming--" + +"Ned!" cried Flemming, "I protest against any allusion to that +business." + +This was one night when Van Twiller had wandered into the club, turned +over the magazines absently in the reading-room, and wandered out again +without speaking ten words. The most careless eye would have remarked +the great change that had come over Van Twiller. Now and then he would +play a game of billiards with De Peyster or Haseltine, or stop to chat +a moment in the vestibule with old Duane; but he was an altered man. +When at the club, he was usually to be found in the small smoking-room +upstairs, seated on a fauteuil fast asleep, with the last number of +"The Nation" in his hand. Once, if you went to two or three places of +an evening, you were certain to meet Van Twiller at them all. You +seldom met him in society now. + +By and by came whisper number two--a whisper more emphatic than number +one, but still untraceable to any tangible mouthpiece. This time the +whisper said that Van Twiller _was_ in love. But with whom? The list of +possible Mrs. Van Twillers was carefully examined by experienced hands, +and a check placed against a fine old Knickerbocker name here and +there, but nothing satisfactory arrived at. Then that same still small +voice of rumor but now with an easily detected staccato sharpness to +it, said that Van Twiller was in love--with an actress! Van Twiller, +whom it had taken all these years and all this waste of raw material in +the way of ancestors to bring to perfection--Ralph Van Twiller, the net +result and flower of his race, the descendant of Wouter, the son of +Mrs. Vanrensselaer Vanzandt Van Twiller--in love with an actress! That +was too ridiculous to be believed--and so everybody believed it. + +Six or seven members of the club abruptly discovered in themselves an +unsuspected latent passion for the histrionic art. In squads of two or +three they stormed successively all the theatres in town--Booth's, +Wallack's, Daly's Fifth Avenue (not burned down then), and the Grand +Opera House. Even the shabby homes of the drama over in the Bowery, +where the Germanic Thespis has not taken out his naturalization papers, +underwent rigid exploration. But no clew was found to Van Twiller's +mysterious attachment. The _opera bouffe_, which promised the widest +field for investigation, produced absolutely nothing, not even a crop +of suspicions. One night, after several weeks of this, Delaney and I +fancied that we caught sight of Van Twiller in the private box of an +uptown theatre, where some thrilling trapeze performance was going on, +which we did not care to sit through; but we concluded afterward that +it was only somebody who looked like him. Delaney, by the way, was +unusually active in this search. I dare say he never quite forgave Van +Twiller for calling him Muslin Delaney. Ned is fond of ladies' society, +and that's a fact. + +The Cimmerian darkness which surrounded Van Twiller's inamorata left us +free to indulge in the wildest conjectures. Whether she was +black-tressed Melpomene, with bowl and dagger, or Thalia, with the fair +hair and the laughing face, was only to be guessed at. It was popularly +conceded, however, that Van Twiller was on the point of forming a +dreadful _mesalliance_. + +Up to this period he had visited the club regularly. Suddenly he ceased +to appear. He was not to be seen on Fifth Avenue, or in the Central +Park, or at the houses he generally frequented. His chambers--and +mighty comfortable chambers they were--on Thirty-fourth Street were +deserted. He had dropped out of the world, shot like a bright +particular star from his orbit in the heaven of the best society. + +The following conversation took place one night in the smoking-room: + +"Where's Van Twiller?" + +"Who's seen Van Twiller? + +"What has become of Van Twiller?" + +Delaney picked up the "Evening Post," and read--with a solemnity that +betrayed young Firkins into exclaiming, "By Jove, now!--" + +"Married, on the 10th instant, by the Rev. Friar Laurence, at the +residence of the bride's uncle, Montague Capulet, Esq., Miss Adrienne +Le Couvreur to Mr. Ralph Van Twiller, both of this city. No cards." + +"Free List suspended," murmured De Peyster. + +"It strikes me," said Frank Livingstone, who had been ruffling the +leaves of a magazine at the other end of the table, "that you fellows +are in a great fever about Van Twiller." + +"So we are." + +"Well, he has simply gone out of town." + +"Where?" + +"Up to the old homestead on the Hudson." + +"It's an odd time of year for a fellow to go into the country." + +"He has gone to visit his mother," said Livingstone. + +"In February?" + +"I didn't know, Delaney, that there was any statute in force +prohibiting a man from visiting his mother in February if he wants to." + +Delaney made some light remark about the pleasure of communing with +Nature with a cold in her head, and the topic was dropped. + +Livingstone was hand in glove with Van Twiller, and if any man shared +his confidence it was Living-stone. He was aware of the gossip and +speculation that had been rife in the club, but he either was not at +liberty or did not think it worth while to relieve our curiosity. In +the course of a week or two it was reported that Van Twiller was going +to Europe; and go he did. A dozen of us went down to the "Scythia" to +see him off. It was refreshing to have something as positive as the +fact that Van Twiller had sailed. + +II + +Shortly after Van Twiller's departure the whole thing came out. Whether +Livingstone found the secret too heavy a burden, or whether it +transpired through some indiscretion on the part of Mrs. Vanrensselaer +Vanzandt Van Twiller, I can not say; but one evening the entire story +was in the possession of the club. + +Van Twiller had actually been very deeply interested--not in an +actress, for the legitimate drama was not her humble walk in life, +but--in Mademoiselle Olympe Zabriski, whose really perilous feats on +the trapeze had astonished New York the year before, though they had +failed to attract Delaney and me the night we wandered into the up-town +theatre on the trail of Van Twiller's mystery. + +That a man like Van Twiller should he fascinated even for an instant by +a common circus-girl seems incredible; but it is always the incredible +thing that happens. Besides, Mademoiselle Olympe was not a common +circus-girl; she was a most daring and startling gymnaste, with a +beauty and a grace of movement that gave to her audacious performance +almost an air of prudery. Watching her wondrous dexterity and pliant +strength, both exercised without apparent effort, it seemed the most +natural proceeding in the world that she should do those unpardonable +things. She had a way of melting from one graceful posture into another +like the dissolving figures thrown from a stereopticon. She was a +lithe, radiant shape out of the Grecian mythology, now poised up there +above the gaslights, and now gleaming through the air like a slender +gilt arrow. + +I am describing Mademoiselle Olympe as she appeared to Van Twiller on +the first occasion when he strolled into the theatre where she was +performing. To me she was a girl of eighteen or twenty years of age +(maybe she was much older, for pearl powder and distance keep these +people perpetually young), slightly but exquisitely built, with sinews +of silver wire; rather pretty, perhaps, after a manner, but showing +plainly the effects of the exhaustive draughts she was making on her +physical vitality. Now, Van Twiller was an enthusiast on the subject of +calisthenics. "If I had a daughter," Van Twiller used to say, "I +wouldn't send her to a boarding school, or a nunnery; I'd send her to a +gymnasium for the first five years. Our American women have no +physique. They are lilies, pallid, pretty--and perishable. You marry an +American woman, and what do you marry? A headache. Look at English +girls. They are at least roses, and last the season through." + +Walking home from the theatre that first night, it flitted through Van +Twiller's mind that if he could give this girl's set of nerves and +muscles to any one of the two hundred high-bred women he knew, he would +marry her on the spot and worship her forever. + +The following evening he went to see Mademoiselle Olympe again. "Olympe +Zabriski," he soliloquized as he sauntered through the lobby--"what a +queer name! Olympe is French and Zabriski is Polish. It is her _nom de +guerre_, of course; her real name is probably Sarah Jones. What kind of +creature can she be in private life, I wonder? I wonder if she wears +that costume all the time, and if she springs to her meals from a +horizontal bar. Of course she rocks the baby to sleep on the trapeze." +And Van Twiller went on making comical domestic tableaux of +Mademoiselle Zabriski, like the clever, satirical dog he was, until the +curtain rose. + +This was on a Friday. There was a matinee the next day, and he attended +that, though he had secured a seat for the usual evening entertainment. +Then it became a habit of Van Twiller's to drop into the theatre for +half an hour or so every night, to assist at the interlude, in which +she appeared. He cared only for her part of the programme, and timed +his visits accordingly. It was a surprise to himself when he reflected, +one morning, that he had not missed a single performance of +Mademoiselle Olympe for nearly two weeks. + +"This will never do," said Van Twiller. "Olympe"--he called her Olympe, +as if she were an old acquaintance, and so she might have been +considered by that time--"is a wonderful creature; but this will never +do. Van, my boy, you must reform this altogether." + +But half-past nine that night saw him in his accustomed orchestra +chair, and so on for another week. A habit leads a man so gently in the +beginning that he does not perceive he is led--with what silken threads +and down what pleasant avenues it leads him! By and by the soft silk +threads become iron chains, and the pleasant avenues Avernus! + +Quite a new element had lately entered into Van Twiller's enjoyment of +Mademoiselle Olympe's ingenious feats--a vaguely born apprehension that +she might slip from that swinging bar; that one of the thin cords +supporting it might snap, and let her go headlong from the dizzy +height. Now and then, for a terrible instant, he would imagine her +lying a glittering, palpitating heap at the foot-lights, with no color +in her lips! Sometimes it seemed as if the girl were tempting this kind +of fate. It was a hard, bitter life, and nothing but poverty and sordid +misery at home could have driven her to it. What if she should end it +all some night, by just unclasping that little hand? It looked so small +and white from where Van Twiller sat! + +This frightful idea fascinated while it chilled him, and helped to make +it nearly impossible for him to keep away from the theatre. In the +beginning his attendance had not interfered with his social duties or +pleasures; but now he came to find it distasteful after dinner to do +anything but read, or walk the streets aimlessly, until it was time to +go to the play. When that was over, he was in no mood to go anywhere +but to his rooms. So he dropped away by insensible degrees from his +habitual haunts, was missed, and began to be talked about at the club. +Catching some intimation of this, he ventured no more in the orchestra +stalls, but shrouded himself behind the draperies of the private box in +which Delaney and I thought we saw him on one occasion. + +Now, I find it very perplexing to explain what Van Twiller was wholly +unable to explain to himself. He was not in love with Mademoiselle +Olympe. He had no wish to speak to her, or to hear her speak. Nothing +could have been easier, and nothing further from his desire, than to +know her personally. A Van Twiller personally acquainted with a +strolling female acrobat! Good heavens! That was something possible +only with the discovery of perpetual motion. Taken from her theatrical +setting, from her lofty perch, so to say, on the trapeze-bar, Olympe +Zabriski would have shocked every aristocratic fibre in Van Twiller's +body. He was simply fascinated by her marvelous grace and _elan_, and +the magnetic recklessness of the girl. It was very young in him and +very weak, and no member of the Sorosis, or all the Sorosisters +together, could have been more severe on Van Twiller than he was on +himself. To be weak, and to know it, is something of a punishment for a +proud man. Van Twiller took his punishment, and went to the theatre, +regularly. + +"When her engagement comes to an end," he meditated, "that will finish +the business." + +Mademoiselle Olympe's engagement finally did come to an end and she +departed. But her engagement had been highly beneficial to the +treasury-chest of the uptown theatre, and before Van Twiller could get +over missing her she had returned from a short Western tour, and her +immediate reappearance was underlined on the play-bills. + +On a dead wall opposite the windows of Van Twiller's sleeping-room +there appeared, as if by necromancy, an aggressive poster with +MADEMOISELLE OLYMPE ZABRISKI on it in letters at least a foot high. +This thing stared him in the face when he woke up one morning. It gave +him a sensation as if she had called on him overnight and left her +card. + +From time to time through the day he regarded that poster with a +sardonic eye. He had pitilessly resolved not to repeat the folly of the +previous month. To say that this moral victory cost him nothing would +be to deprive it of merit. It cost him many internal struggles. It is a +fine thing to see a man seizing his temptation by the throat, and +wrestling with it, and trampling it underfoot like St. Anthony. This +was the spectacle Van Twiller was exhibiting to the angels. + +The evening Mademoiselle Olympe was to make her reappearance, Van +Twiller, having dined at the club, and feeling more like himself than +he had felt for weeks, returned to his chamber, and, putting on +dressing-gown and slippers, piled up the greater portion of his library +about him, and fell to reading assiduously. There is nothing like a +quiet evening at home with some slight intellectual occupation, after +one's feathers have been stroked the wrong way. + +When the lively French clock on the mantelpiece--a base of malachite +surmounted by a flying bronze Mercury with its arms spread gracefully +in the air, and not remotely suggestive of Mademoiselle Olympe in the +act of executing her grand flight from the trapeze--when the clock, I +repeat, struck nine, Van Twiller paid no attention to it. That was +certainly a triumph. I am anxious to render Van Twiller all the justice +I can, at this point of the narrative, inasmuch as when the half hour +sounded musically, like a crystal ball dropping into a silver bowl, he +rose from the chair automatically, thrust his feet into his +walking-shoes, threw his overcoat across his arm, and strode out of the +room. + +To be weak and to scorn your weakness, and not to be able to conquer +it, is, as has been said, a hard thing; and I suspect it was not with +unalloyed satisfaction that Van Twiller found himself taking his seat +in the back part of the private box night after night during the second +engagement of Mademoiselle Olympe. It was so easy not to stay away! + +In this second edition of Van Twiller's fatuity, his case was even +worse than before. He not only thought of Olympe quite a number of +times between breakfast and dinner, he not only attended the interlude +regularly, but he began, in spite of himself, to occupy his leisure +hours at night by dreaming of her. This was too much of a good thing, +and Van Twiller regarded it so. Besides, the dream was always the +same--a harrowing dream, a dream singularly adapted to shattering the +nerves of a man like Van Twiller. He would imagine himself seated at +the theatre (with all the members of Our Club in the parquette), +watching Mademoiselle Olympe as usual, when suddenly that young lady +would launch herself desperately from the trapeze, and come flying +through the air like a firebrand hurled at his private box. Then the +unfortunate man would wake up with cold drops standing on his forehead. + +There is one redeeming feature in this infatuation of Van Twiller's +which the sober moralist will love to look upon--the serene +unconsciousness of the person who caused it. She went through her +_role_ with admirable aplomb, drew her salary, it may be assumed, +punctually, and appears from first to last to have been ignorant that +there was a miserable slave wearing her chains nightly in the left-hand +proscenium box. + +That Van Twiller, haunting the theatre with the persistency of an +ex-actor, conducted himself so discreetly as not to draw the fire of +Mademoiselle Olympe's blue eyes shows that Van Twiller, however deeply +under a spell, was not in love. I say this, though I think if Van +Twiller had not been Van Twiller, if he had been a man of no family and +no position and no money, if New York had been Paris and Thirty-fourth +Street a street in the Latin Quarter--but it is useless to speculate on +what might have happened. What did happen is sufficient. + +It happened, then, in the second week of Queen Olympe's second +unconscious reign, that an appalling Whisper floated up the Hudson, +effected a landing at a point between Spuyten Duyvil Creek and Cold +Spring, and sought out a stately mansion of Dutch architecture standing +on the bank of the river. The Whisper straightway informed the lady +dwelling in this mansion that all was not well with the last of the Van +Twillers; that he was gradually estranging himself from his peers, and +wasting his nights in a playhouse watching a misguided young woman +turning unmaidenly somersaults on a piece of wood attached to two +ropes. + +Mrs. Vanrensselaer Vanzandt Van Twiller came down to town by the next +train to look into this little matter. + +She found the flower of the family taking an early breakfast at +11 A. M., in his cosey apartments on Thirty-fourth Street. With the +least possible circumlocution she confronted him with what rumor had +reported of his pursuits, and was pleased, but not too much pleased, +when he gave her an exact account of his relations with Mademoiselle +Zabriski, neither concealing nor qualifying anything. As a confession, +it was unique, and might have been a great deal less entertaining. Two +or three times in the course of the narrative, the matron had some +difficulty in preserving the gravity of her countenance. After +meditating a few minutes, she tapped Van Twiller softly on the arm with +the tip of her parasol, and invited him to return with her the next day +up the Hudson and make a brief visit at the home of his ancestors. He +accepted the invitation with outward alacrity and inward disgust. + +When this was settled, and the worthy lady had withdrawn, Van Twiller +went directly to the establishment of Messrs. Ball, Black, and Company, +and selected, with unerring taste, the finest diamond bracelet +procurable. For his mother? Dear me, no! She had the family jewels. + +I would not like to state the enormous sum Van Twiller paid for this +bracelet. It was such a clasp of diamonds as would have hastened the +pulsation of a patrician wrist. It was such a bracelet as Prince +Camaralzaman might have sent to the Princess Badoura, and the Princess +Badoura--might have been very glad to get. + +In the fragrant Levant morocco case, where these happy jewels lived +when they were at home, Van Twiller thoughtfully placed his card, on +the back of which he had written a line begging Mademoiselle Olympe +Zabriski to accept the accompanying trifle from one who had witnessed +her graceful performances with interest and pleasure. This was not done +inconsiderately. "Of course, I must inclose my card, as I would to any +lady," Van Twiller had said to himself. "A Van Twiller can neither +write an anonymous letter nor make an anonymous present." Blood entails +its duties as well as its privileges. + +The casket despatched to its destination, Van Twiller felt easier in +his mind. He was under obligations to the girl for many an agreeable +hour that might otherwise have passed heavily. He had paid the debt, +and he had paid it _en prince_, as became a Van Twiller. He spent the +rest of the day in looking at some pictures at Goupil's, and at the +club, and in making a few purchases for his trip up the Hudson. A +consciousness that this trip up the Hudson was a disorderly retreat +came over him unpleasantly at intervals. + +When he returned to his rooms late at night, he found a note lying on +the writing-table. He started as his eyes caught the words "------ +Theatre" stamped in carmine letters on one corner of the envelope. Van +Twiller broke the seal with trembling fingers. + +Now, this note some time afterward fell into the hands of Livingstone, +who showed it to Stuyvesant, who showed it to Delaney, who showed it to +me, and I copied it as a literary curiosity. The note ran as follows: + +MR VAN TWILLER DEAR SIR--i am verry greatfull to you for that +Bracelett. it come just in the nic of time for me. The Mademoiselle +Zabriski dodg is about Plaid out. my beard is getting to much for me. i +shall have to grow a mustash and take to some other line of busyness, i +dont no what now, but will let you no. You wont feel bad if i sell that +Bracelett. i have seen Abrahams Moss and he says he will do the square +thing. Pleas accep my thanks for youre Beautifull and Unexpected +present. Youre respectfull servent, +CHARLES MONTMORENCI WALTERS. + +The next day Van Twiller neither expressed nor felt any unwillingness +to spend a few weeks with his mother at the old homestead. + +And then he went abroad. + + + +BROTHER SEBASTIAN'S FRIENDSHIP +------------------------------ +BY HAROLD FREDERIC + + + +_Harold Frederic (born at Utica, N. Y., August 19, 1856; died in 1898) +was a novelist whose every book exceeded its predecessor in conception, +general construction, and technique of detail. His death at the +maturity of his powers was therefore a great loss to American +literature. His posthumous novel, "The Market Place" indicates that +Frederic, had he lived, might have outshone even Balzac in the fiction +of business life. "Brother Sebastian's Friendship" is a clever short +story of the days of his literary 'prenticeship. It was his +introduction to the "Utica Observer," where he worked for several +years._ + + + +BROTHER SEBASTIAN'S FRIENDSHIP +BY HAROLD FREDERIC +[Footnote: By permission of the "Utica Observer."] + +I who tell this story am called Brother Sebastian. This name was given +me more than forty years ago, while Louis Philippe was still king. My +other name has been buried so long that I have nearly forgotten it. I +think that my people are dead. At least I have heard nothing from them +in many years. My reputation has always been that of a misanthrope--if +not that, then of a dreamer. In the seminary I had no intimates. In the +order, for I am a Brother of the Christian Schools, my associates are +polite--nothing more. I seem to be outside their social circles, their +plans, their enjoyments. True, I am an old man now. But in other years +it was the same. All my life I have been in solitude. + +To this there is a single exception--one star shining in the blackness. +And my career has been so bleak that, although it ended in deeper +sadness than I had known before, I look back to the epsiode with +gratitude. The bank of clouds which shut out this sole light of my life +quickened its brilliancy before they submerged it. + +After the terrible siege of '71, when the last German was gone, and our +houses had breasted the ordeal of the Commune, I was sent to the South. +The Superior thought my cheeks were ominously hollow, and suspected +threats of consumption in my cough. So I was to go to the +Mediterranean, and try its milder air. I liked the change. Paris, with +its gloss of noisy gayety and its substance of sceptical heartlessness, +was repugnant to me. Perhaps it was because of this that Brother +Sebastian had been mured up in the capital two-thirds of his life. If +our surroundings are too congenial we neglect the work set before us. +But no matter; to the coast I went. + +My new home was a long-established house, spacious, venerable, and +dreary. It was on the outskirts of an ancient town, which was of far +more importance before our Lord was born than it has ever been since. +We had little to do. There were nine brothers, a handful of resident +orphans, and some threescore pupils. Ragged, stupid, big-eyed urchins +they were, altogether different from the keen Paris boys. For that +matter, every feature of my new home was odd. The heat of the summer +was scorching in its intensity. The peasants were much more respectful +to our cloth, and, as to appearance, looked like figures from Murillo's +canvases. The foliage, the wine, the language, the manners of the +people--everything was changed. This interested me, and my morbidness +vanished. The Director was delighted with my improved condition. Poor +man! he was positive that my cheeks had puffed out perceptibly after +the first two months. So the winter came--a mild, wet, muggy winter, +wholly unlike my favorite sharp season in the North. + +We were killing time in the library one afternoon, the Director and a +Swiss Brother sitting by the lamp reading, I standing at one of the +tall, narrow windows, drumming on the panes and dreaming. The view was +not an inspiring one. There was a long horizontal line of pale yellow +sky and another of flat, black land, out of Avhich an occasional poplar +raised itself solemnly. The great mass below the stripes was brown; +above, gloomy gray. Close under the window two boys were playing in the +garden of the house. I recall distinctly that they threw armfuls of wet +fallen leaves at each other with a great shouting. While I stood thus, +the Brother Servitor, Abonus, came in and whispered to the Director. He +always whispered. It was not fraternal, but I did not like this Abonus. + +"Send him up here," said the Director. Then I remembered that I had +heard the roll of a carriage and the bell ring a few moments before. +Abonus came in again. Behind him there was some one else, whose +footsteps had the hesitating sound of a stranger's. Then I heard the +Director's voice: + +"You are from Algiers?"--"I am, Brother." + +"Your name?" + +"Edouard, Brother." + +"Well, tell me more." + +"I was under orders to be in Paris in January, Brother. As my health +was poor, I received permission to come back to France this autumn. At +Marseilles I was instructed to come here. So I am here. I have these +papers from the Mother house, and from Etienne, Director, of Algiers." + +Something in the voice seemed peculiar to me. I turned and examined the +new-comer. He stood behind and to one side of the Director, who was +laboriously deciphering some papers through his big horn spectacles. +The light was not very bright, but there was enough to see a +wonderfully handsome face, framed in dazzling black curls. Perhaps it +looked the more beautiful because contrasted with the shaven gray poll +and surly features of grim Abonus, But to me it was a dream of St. John +the Evangel. The eyes of the face were lowered upon the Director, so I +could only guess their brilliancy. The features were those of an +extreme youth--round, soft, and delicate. The expression was one of +utter fatigue, almost pain. It bore out the statement of ill-health. + +The Director had finished his reading. He lifted his head now and +surveyed the stranger in turn. Finally, stretching out his fat hand, he +said: + +"You are welcome, Brother Edouard. I see the letter says you have had +no experience except with the youngest children. Brother Photius does +that now. We will have you rest for a time. Then we will see about it. +Meanwhile I will turn you over to the care of good Abonus, who will +give you one of the north rooms." + +So the two went out, Abonus shuffling his feet disagreeably. It was +strange that he could do nothing to please me. + +"Brother Sebastian," said the Director, as the door closed, "it is +curious that they should have sent me a tenth man. Why, I lie awake now +to invent pretences of work for those I have already. I will give up +all show of teaching presently, and give out that I keep a hospital--a +retreat for ailing brothers. Still, this Edouard is a pretty boy." + +"Very." + +"Etienne's letter says he is twenty and a Savoyard. He speaks like a +Parisian." + +"Very likely he is seminary bred," put in the Swiss. + +"Whatever he is, I like his looks," said our Superior. This good man +liked every one. His was the placid, easy Alsatian nature, prone to +find goodness in all things--even crabbed Abonus. The Director, or, as +he was known, Brother Elysee, was a stout, round little man, with a +fine face and imperturbable good spirits. He was adored by all his +subordinates. But I fancy he did not advance in favor at Paris very +rapidly. + +I liked Edouard from the first. The day after he came we were together +much, and, when we parted after vespers, I was conscious of a vast +respect for this new-comer. He was bright, ready spoken, and almost a +man of the world. Compared with my dull career, his short life had been +one of positive gayety. He had seen Frederic le Maitre at the Comedie +Francaise. He had been at Court and spoken with the Prince Imperial. He +was on terms of intimacy with Monsignori, and had been a protege of the +sainted Darboy. It was a rare pleasure to hear him talk of these +things. + +Before this, the ceaseless shifting of brothers from one house to +another had been indifferent to me. For the hundreds of strangers who +came and went in the Paris house on Oudinot Street I cared absolutely +nothing. I did not suffer their entrance nor their exit to excite me. +This was so much the case that they called me a machine. But with +Edouard this was different. I grew to love the boy from the first +evening, when, as he left my room, I caught myself saying, "I shall be +sorry when he goes." He seemed to be fond of me, too. For that matter +most of the brothers petted him, Elysee especially. But I was flattered +that he chose me as his particular friend. For the first time my heart +had opened. + +We were alone one evening after the holidays. It was cold without, but +in my room it was warm and bright. The fire crackled merrily, and the +candles gave out a mellow and pleasant light. The Director had gone up +to Paris, and his mantle had fallen on me. Edouard sat with his feet +stretched to the fender, his curly head buried in the great curved back +of my invalid chair, the red fire-light reflected on his childish +features. I took pleasure in looking at him. He looked at the coals and +knit his brows as if in a puzzle. I often fancied that something +weightier than the usual troubles of life weighed upon him. At last he +spoke, just as I was about to question him: + +"Are you afraid to die, Sebastian?" + +Not knowing what else to say, I answered, "No, my child." + +"I wonder if you enjoy life in community?" + +This was still stranger. I could but reply that I had never known any +other life; that I was fitted for nothing else. + +"But still," persisted he, "would you not like to leave it--to have a +career of your own before you die? Do you think this is what a man is +created for--to give away his chance to live?" + +"Edouard, you are interrogating your own conscience," I answered. +"These are questions which you must have answered yourself, before you +took your vows. When you answered them, you sealed them." + +Perhaps I spoke too harshly, for he colored and drew up his feet. Such +shapely little feet they were. I felt ashamed of my crustiness. + +"But, Edouard," I added, "your vows are those of the novitiate. You are +not yet twenty-eight. You have still the right to ask yourself these +things. The world is very fair to men of your age. Do not dream that I +was angry with you." + +He sat gazing into the fire. His face wore a strange, far-away +expression, as he reached forth his hand, in a groping way, and rested +it on my knee, clutching the gown nervously. Then he spoke slowly, +seeking for words, and keeping his eyes on the flames. + + +"You have been good to me, Brother Sebastian. Let me ask you: May I +tell you something in confidence--something which shall never pass your +lips? I mean it." + +He had turned and poured those marvelous eyes into mine with +irresistible magnetism. Of course I said, "Speak!" and I said it +without the slightest hesitation. + +"I am not a Christian Brother. I do not belong to your order. I have no +claim upon the hospitality of this roof. I am an impostor!" + +He ejected these astounding sentences with an energy almost fierce, +gripping my knee meanwhile. Then, as suddenly, his grasp relaxed, and +he fell to weeping bitterly. + +I stared at him solemnly, in silence. My tongue seemed paralyzed. +Confusing thoughts whirled in a maze unbidden through my head. I could +say nothing. But a strange impulse prompted me to reach out and take +his hot hand in mine. It was piteous to hear him sobbing, his head upon +his raised arm, his whole frame quivering with emotion. I had never +seen any one weep like that before. So I sat dumb, trying in vain to +answer this bewildering self-accusation. At last there came out of the +folds of the chair the words, faint and tear-choked: + +"You have promised me secrecy, and you will keep your word; but you +will hate me." + +"Why, no, no, Edouard, not hate you," I answered, scarcely knowing what +I said. I did not comprehend it at all. There was nothing more for me +to say. Finally, when some power of thought returned, I asked: + +"Of all things, my poor boy, why should you choose such a dreary life +as this? What possible reason led you to enter the community? What +attractions has it for you?" + +Edouard turned again from the fire to me. His eyes sparkled. His teeth +were tight set. + +"Why? Why? I will tell you why, Brother Sebastian. Can you not +understand how a poor hunted beast should rejoice to find shelter in +such an out-of-the-way place, among such kind men, in the grave of this +cloister life? I have not told you half enough. Do you not know in the +outside world, in Toulon, or Marseilles, or that fine Paris of yours, +there is a price on my head?--or no, not that, but enemies that are +looking for me, searching everywhere, turning every little stone for +the poor privilege of making me suffer? And do you know that these +enemies wear shakos, and are called gens d'armes? Would you be pleased +to learn that it is a prison I escape by coming here? _Now_, will you +hate me?" + +The boy had risen from his chair. He spoke hurriedly, almost +hysterically, his eyes snapping at mine like coals, his curls +disheveled, his fingers curved and stiffened like the talons of a hawk. +I had never seen such intense earnestness in a human face. Passions +like these had never penetrated the convent walls before. + +While I sat dumb before him, Edouard left the room. I was conscious of +his exit only in a vague way. For hours I sat in my chair beside the +grate thinking, or trying to think. You can see readily that I was more +than a little perplexed. In the absence of Elysee, I was director. The +management of the house, its good fame, its discipline, all rested on +my shoulders. And to be confronted by such an abyss as this! I could do +absolutely nothing. The boy had tied my tongue by the pledge. Besides, +had I been unsworn, I am sure the idea of exposure would never have +come to me. It was late before I retired that night. And I recall with +terrible distinctness the chaos of brain and faculty which ushered in a +restless sleep almost as dawn was breaking. + +I had fancied that Brother Edouard would find life intolerable in +community after his revelation to me. He would be chary of meeting me +before the brothers; would be constantly tortured by fear of detection. +As I saw this prospect of the poor innocent--for it was absurd to think +of him as anything else--dreading exposure at each step in his false +life, shrinking from observation, biting his tongue at every word--I +was greatly moved by pity. Judge my surprise, then, when I saw him the +next morning join in the younger brothers' regular walk around the +garden, joking and laughing as I had never seen before. On his right +was thin, sickly Victor, rest his soul! and on the other pursy, +thick-necked John, as merry a soul as Cork ever turned out. And how +they laughed, even the frail consumptive! It was a pleasure to see his +blue eyes brighten with enjoyment and his warm cheeks blush. Above +John's queer, Irish chuckle, I heard Edouard's voice, with its dainty +Parisian accent, retailing jokes and leading in the laughter. The tramp +was stretched out longer than usual, so pleasant did they find it. At +this development I was much amazed. + +The same change was noticeable in all that Edouard did. Instead of the +apathy with which he had discharged his nominal duties, his baby pupils +(for Photius had gone to Peru) now became bewitched with him. He told +them droll stories, incited their rivalry in study by instituting +prizes for which they struggled monthly, and, in short, metamorphosed +his department. The change spread to himself. His cheeks took on a +ruddier hue, the sparkle of his black eyes mellowed into a calm and +steady radiance. There was no trace of feverish elation which, in +solitude, recoiled to the brink of despair. He sang to himself evenings +in his dormitory, clearly and with joy. His step was as elastic as that +of any schoolboy. I often thought upon this change, and meditated how +beautiful an illustration of confession's blessings it furnished. +Frequently we were alone, but he never referred again to that memorable +evening, even by implication. At first I dreaded to have the door close +upon us, feeling that he must perforce seek to take up the thread where +he had broken it then. But he talked of other things, and so easily and +naturally that I felt embarrassed. For weeks I could not shake off the +feeling that, at our next talk, he would broach the subject. But he +never did. + +Elysee returned, bringing me kind words from the Mother house, and a +half-jocular hint that Superior General Philippe had me much in his +mind. No doubt there had been a time when the idea of becoming a +Director would have stirred my pulses. Surely it was gone now. I asked +for nothing but to stay beside Edouard, to watch him, and to be near to +lend him a helping hand when his hour of trouble should come. From that +ordeal, which I saw approaching clearly and certainly, I shrank with +all my nerves on edge. As the object of my misery grew bright-eyed and +strong, I felt myself declining in health. My face grew thin, and I +could not eat. I saw before my eyes always this wretched boy singing +upon the brow of the abyss. Sometimes I strove not to see his fall-- +frightful and swift. His secret seemed to harass him no longer. To me +it was heavier than lead. + +The evening the Brother Director returned, we sat together in the +reading-room, the entire community. Elysee had been speaking of the +Mother house concerning which Brother Barnabas, an odd little Lorrainer +who spoke better German than French, and who regarded Paris with the +true provincial awe and veneration, exhibited much curiosity. We had a +visitor, a gaunt, self-sufficient old Parisian, who had spent fourteen +days in the Mazas prison during the Commune. I will call him Brother +Albert, for his true name in religion is very well known. + +"I heard a curious story in the Vaugirard house," said the Brother +Director, refreshing himself with a pinch of snuff, "which made the +more impression upon me that I once knew intimately one of the persons +in it. Martin Delette was my schoolmate at Pfalsbourg in the old days. +A fine, studious lad he was, too. He took orders and went to the north, +where he lived for many years a quiet country cure. He had a niece, a +charming girl who is not now more than twenty or one-and-twenty. She +was an orphan, and lived with him, going to a convent to school and +returning at vacations. She was not a bad girl, but a trifle wayward +and easily led. She gave the Sisters much anxiety. Last spring she +barely escaped compromising the house by an escapade with a young +_miserable_ of the town, named Banin." + +"I know your story," said Albert, with an air which hinted that this +was a sufficient reason why the rest should not hear it. "Banin is in +prison." + +Elysee proceeded: "The girl was reprimanded. Next week she disappeared. +To one of her companions she had confided a great desire to see Paris. +So good Father Delette was summoned, and, after a talk with the +Superioress, started post-haste for the capital. He found no signs +either of poor Renee or of Banin, who had also disappeared. The Cure +was nearly heart-broken. Each day, they told me, added a year to his +appearance. He did not cease to importune the police chiefs and to +haunt the public places for a glimpse of his niece's face. But the +summer came, and no Renee. The Cure began to cough and grow weak. But +one day in August the Director, good Prosper, called him down to the +reception-room to see a visitor. + +"'There is news for you,'" he whispered, pressing poor Martin's hand. +In the room he found--" + +"In the room he found--" broke in Albert, impertinently, but with a +quiet tone of authority which cowed good Elysee, "a shabby man, looking +like a poorly fed waiter. This person rose and said, 'I am a detective; +do you know Banin--young man, tall, blond, squints, broken tooth upper +jaw, hat back on his head, much talk, hails from Rheims?' + +"'Ah,' said Delette, 'I have not seen him, but I know him too well.' + +"The detective pointed with his thumb over his left shoulder. 'He is in +jail. He is good for twenty years. I did it myself. My name is +So-and-so. Good job. Procurator said you were interested--some woman in +the case, parishioner of yours, eh?' + +"'My niece,' gasped the Cure. + +"'O ho! does you credit; pretty girl, curly head. good manners. Well, +she's off. Good trick, too. She was the decoy. Banin stood in the +shadow with club. She brought gentleman into alley, friend did work. +That's Banin's story. Perhaps a lie. You have a brother in Algiers? +Thought so. Girl went out there once? So I was told. Probably there +now. African officers say not; but they're a sleepy lot. If I was a +criminal I'd go to Algiers. Good hiding. The detective went. Delette +stood where he was in silence. I went to him, and helped carry him +upstairs. We put him in his bed. He died there." + +Brother Albeit stopped. He had told the story, dialogue and all, like a +machine. We did not doubt its correctness. The memory of Albert had +passed into a proverb years before. + +Brother Albert raised his eyes again, and added, as if he had not +paused, "He was ashamed to hold his head up. He might well be." + +A strange, excited voice rose from the other end of the room. I looked +and saw that it was Edouard who spoke. He had half arisen from his +chair and scowled at Albert, throwing out his words with the tremulous +haste of a young man first addressing an audience: + +"Why should he be ashamed? Was he not a good man? Was the blame of his +bad niece's acts his? From the story, she was well used and had no +excuse. It is he who is to be pitied, not blamed!" + +The Brother Director smiled benignly at the young enthusiast. "Brother +Edouard is right," he said. "Poor Martin was to be compassioned. None +the less, my heart is touched for the girl. In Banin's trial it +appeared that he maltreated her, and forced her to do what she did by +blows. They were really married. Her neighbors gave Renee a name for +gentleness and a good heart. Poor thing!" + +"And she never was found?" asked Abonus, eagerly. He spoke very rarely. +He looked now at me as he spoke, and there was a strange, ungodly +glitter in his eyes which made me shudder involuntarily. + +"Never," replied the Director, "although there is a reward, 5,000 +francs, offered for her recovery. Miserable child, who can tell what +depths of suffering she may be in this moment?" + +"It would be remarkable if she should be found now, after all this +time," said Abonus, sharply. His wicked, squinting old eyes were still +fastened upon me. This time, as by a flash of eternal knowledge, I read +their meaning, and felt the ground slipping from under me. + +I shall never forget the night that followed. I made no pretence of +going to bed. Edouard's little dormitory was in another part of the +house. I went once to see him, but dared not knock, since Abonus was +stirring about just across the hall, in his own den. I scratched on a +piece of paper "Fly!" in the dark, and pushed it under the door. Then I +returned to walk my chamber, chafing like a wild beast. Ah, that night, +that night! + +With the first cock crow in the village below, long before the bell, I +left my room. I wanted air to breathe. I passed Abonus on the broad +stairway. He strode up with unwonted vigor, bearing a heavy caldron of +water as if it had been straw. His gown was tumbled and dusty; his +greasy _rabat_ hung awry about his neck. I had it in my head to speak +with him, but could not. So the early hours, with devotions which I +went through in a dream, wore on in horrible suspense, and breakfast +came. + +We sat at the long table, five on a side, the Director--looking +red-eyed and weary from the evening's unaccustomed dissipation--sitting +at the head. Below us stood Brother Albert, reading from Tertullian in +a dry, monotonous chant. I recall, as I write, how I found a certain +comfort in those splendid, sonorous Latin sentences, though I was +conscious of not comprehending a word. I dreaded the moment they should +end. Edouard sat beside me. We had not exchanged a word during the +morning. How could I speak? What should I say? I was in a nervous +flutter, like unto those who watch the final pinioning of a criminal +whose guillotine is awaiting him. I could not keep my eyes from the +fair face beside me, with its delicately cut profile, made all the more +cameo-like by its pallid whiteness. The lips were tightly compressed. I +could see askant that the tiny nostrils were quivering with excitement. +All else was impassive on Edouard's face. We two sat waiting for the +axe to fall. + +It is as distinct as a nightmare to me. Abonus came in with his great +server laden with victuals. He stumbled as he approached. He too was +excited. He drew near, and stood behind me. I seemed to feel his breath +penetrate my skull; and yet I was forced to answer a whispered question +of Brother John's with a smooth face. I saw Edouard suddenly reach for +the milk glass in front of his plate, and hand it back to Abonus with +the disdain of a duchess. He said, in a sharp, peremptory tone: + +"Take it away and cleanse it. No one but a dirty monk would place such +a glass on the table." + +Albert ceased his reading. Abonus did not touch the glass. He shuffled +hastily to the sideboard and deposited his burden. Then he came back +with the same eager movement. He placed his fists on his hips, like a +fish-woman, and hissed, in a voice choking with concentrated rage: + +"No one but a woman would complain of it!" + +The brothers stared at each other and the two speakers in mute +surprise. But they saw nothing in the words beyond a personal +wrangle--though even that was such a novelty as to arrest instant +attention. I busied myself with my plate. The Director assumed his +harshest tone, and asked the cause of the altercation. Abonus leaned +over and whispered something in his ear. I remember next a room full of +confusion, a babel of conflicting voices, and a whirling glimpse of +uniforms. Then I fainted. + +When I revived I was in my own room, stretched upon my pallet. I looked +around in a dazed way and saw the Brother Director and a young gendarme +by the closed door. Something black and irregular in the outline of the +bed at my side attracted my eyes. I saw that it was Edouard's head +buried in the drapery. As in a dream I laid my numb hand upon those +crisp curls. I was an old man, she was a weak, wretched girl. She +raised her face at my touch, and burned in my brain a vision of +stricken agony, of horrible soul-pain, which we liken, for want of a +better simile, to the anguish in the eyes of a dying doe. Her lips +moved; she said something, I know not what. Then she went, and I was +left alone with Elysee. His words--broken, stumbling words--I remember: + +"She asked to see you, Sebastian, my friend. I could not refuse. Her +papers were forged. She did come from Algiers, where her uncle is a +Capuchin. I do not ask, I do not wish to know, how much you know of +this. Before my Redeemer, I feel nothing but pity for the poor lamb. +Lie still, my friend; try to sleep. We are both older men than we were +yesterday." + +There is little else to tell. Only twice have reflections of this +episode in my old life reached me in the seclusion of a missionary post +at the foot of the Andes. I learned a few weeks ago that the wretched +Abonus had bought a sailor's cafe on the Toulon wharves with his five +thousand francs. And I know also that the heart of the +Marshal-President was touched by the sad story of Renee, and that she +left the prison La Salpetriere to lay herself in penitence at the foot +of Mother Church. This is the story of my friendship. + + + +A GOOD-FOR-NOTHING +-------------------- +BY HJALMAR HJORTH BOYESEN + + + +_Hjalmar Hjorth Boyescn (born at Frederiksvaern, Norway, September 23, +1848; died in 1895) was a university graduate who came to this country +in 1869 to take a professorship of languages in a small Ohio college. +Soon after he was called to Cornell, and in 1882 he became Professor of +German in Columbia. His proficiency in the English language was +phenomenal. His mastery of scholarly English in the essay form was to +be expected, but his ready command of the delicately shaded style +required of a literary novelist has not been equaled by any other +naturalized American author. Hence in this series he has received +citizenship among those to the manner born. The story selected by his +son, as representative of his work in brief fiction, is a fine study of +character, with a pathetic ending, whose poignancy is due to its +fidelity to truth._ + + + +A GOOD-FOR-NOTHING +BY HJALMAR HJORTH BOYESEN +[Footnote: By permission of Charles Scribner's Sons. Copyright, 1876, +by James R. Osgood & Co.] + +I + +Ralph Grim was born a gentleman. He had the misfortune of coming into +the world some ten years later than might reasonably have been +expected. Colonel Grim and his lady had celebrated twelve anniversaries +of their wedding-day, and had given up all hopes of ever having a son +and heir, when this late comer startled them by his unexpected +appearance. The only previous addition to the family had been a +daughter, and she was then ten summers old. + +Ralph was a very feeble child, and could only with great difficulty be +persuaded to retain his hold of the slender thread which bound him to +existence. He was rubbed with whiskey, and wrapped in cotton, and given +mare's milk to drink, and God knows what not, and the Colonel swore a +round oath of paternal delight when at last the infant stopped gasping +in that distressing way and began to breathe like other human beings. +The mother, who, in spite of her anxiety for the child's life, had +found time to plot for him a career of future magnificence, now +suddenly set him apart for literature, because that was the easiest +road to fame, and disposed of him in marriage to one of the most +distinguished families of the land. She cautiously suggested this to +her husband when he came to take his seat at her bedside; but to her +utter astonishment she found that he had been indulging a similar train +of thought, and had already destined the infant prodigy for the army. +She, however, could not give up her predilection for literature, and +the Colonel, who could not bear to be contradicted in his own house, as +he used to say, was getting every minute louder and more flushed, when, +happily, the doctor's arrival interrupted the dispute. + +As Ralph grew up from infancy to childhood, he began to give decided +promise of future distinction. He was fond of sitting down in a corner +and sucking his thumb, which his mother interpreted as the sign of that +brooding disposition peculiar to poets and men of lofty genius. At the +age of five, he had become sole master in the house. He slapped his +sister Hilda in the face, or pulled her hair, when she hesitated to +obey him, tyrannized over his nurse, and sternly refused to go to bed +in spite of his mother's entreaties. On such occasions, the Colonel +would hide his face behind his newspaper, and chuckle with delight; it +was evident that nature had intended his son for a great military +commander. As soon as Ralph himself was old enough to have any thoughts +about his future destiny, he made up his mind that he would like to be +a pirate. A few months later, having contracted an immoderate taste for +candy, he contented himself with the comparatively humble position of a +baker; but when he had read "Robinson Crusoe" he manifested a strong +desire to go to sea in the hope of being wrecked on some desolate +island. The parents spent long evenings gravely discussing these +indications of uncommon genius, and each interpreted them in his or her +own way. + +"He is not like any other child I ever knew," said the mother. + +"To be sure," responded the father, earnestly. "He is a most +extraordinary child. I was a very remarkable child too, even if I do +say it myself; but, as far as I remember, I never aspired to being +wrecked on an uninhabited island." + +The Colonel probably spoke the truth; but he forgot to take into +account that he had never read "Robinson Crusoe." + +Of Ralph's school-days there is but little to report, for, to tell the +truth, he did not fancy going to school, as the discipline annoyed him. +The day after his having entered the gymnasium, which was to prepare +him for the Military Academy, the principal saw him waiting at the gate +after his class had been dismissed. He approached him, and asked why he +did not go home with the rest. + +"I am waiting for the servant to carry my books," was the boy's answer. + +"Give me your books," said the teacher. + +Ralph reluctantly obeyed. That day the Colonel was not a little +surprised to see his son marching up the street, and every now and then +glancing behind him with a look of discomfort at the principal, who was +following quietly in his train, carrying a parcel of school-books. +Colonel Grim and his wife, divining the teacher's intention, agreed +that it was a great outrage, but they did not mention the matter to +Ralph. Henceforth, however, the boy refused to be accompanied by his +servant. A week later he was impudent to the teacher of gymnastics, who +whipped him in return. The Colonel's rage knew no bounds; he rode in +great haste to the gymnasium, reviled the teacher for presuming to +chastise _his_ son, and committed the boy to the care of a private +tutor. + +At the age of sixteen, Ralph went to the capital with the intention of +entering the Military Academy. He was a tall, handsome youth, slender +of stature, and carried himself as erect as a candle. He had a light, +clear complexion of almost feminine delicacy; blond, curly hair, which +he always kept carefully brushed; a low forehead, and a straight, +finely modeled nose. There was an expression of extreme sensitiveness +about the nostrils, and a look of indolence in the dark-blue eyes. But +the _ensemble_ of his features was pleasing, his dress irreproachable, +and his manners bore no trace of the awkward self-consciousness +peculiar to his age. Immediately on his arrival in the capital he hired +a suite of rooms in the aristocratic part of the city, and furnished +them rather expensively, but in excellent taste. From a bosom friend, +whom he met by accident in the restaurant's pavilion in the park, he +learned that a pair of antlers, a stuffed eagle, or falcon, and a +couple of swords, were indispensable to a well-appointed apartment. He +accordingly bought these articles at a curiosity shop. During the first +weeks of his residence in the city he made some feeble efforts to +perfect himself in mathematics, in which he suspected he was somewhat +deficient. But when the same officious friend laughed at him, and +called him "green," he determined to trust to fortune, and henceforth +devoted himself the more assiduously to the French ballet, where he had +already made some interesting acquaintances. + +The time for the examination came; the French ballet did not prove a +good preparation; Ralph failed. It quite shook him for the time, and he +felt humiliated. He had not the courage to tell his father; so he +lingered on from day to day, sat vacantly gazing out of his window, and +tried vainly to interest himself in the busy bustle down on the street. +It provoked him that everybody else should be so light-hearted, when he +was, or at least fancied himself, in trouble. The parlor grew +intolerable; he sought refuge in his bedroom. There he sat one evening +(it was the third day after the examination), and stared out upon the +gray stone walls which on all sides inclosed the narrow courtyard. The +round stupid face of the moon stood tranquilly dozing like a great +Limburger cheese suspended under the sky. + +Ralph, at least, could think of a no more fitting simile. But the +bright-eyed young girl in the window hard by sent a longing look up to +the same moon, and thought of her distant home on the fjords, where the +glaciers stood like hoary giants, and caught the yellow moonbeams on +their glittering shields of snow. She had been reading "Ivanhoe" all +the afternoon, until the twilight had overtaken her quite unaware, and +now she suddenly remembered that she had forgotten to write her German +exercise. She lifted her face and saw a pair of sad, vacant eyes gazing +at her from the next window in the angle of the court. She was a little +startled at first, but in the next moment she thought of her German +exercise and took heart. + +"Do you know German?" she said; then immediately repented that she had +said it. + +"I do," was the answer. + +She took up her apron and began to twist it with an air of +embarrassment. + +"I didn't mean anything," she whispered, at last. "I only wanted to +know." + +"You are very kind." + +That answer roused her; he was evidently making sport of her. + +"Well, then, if you do, you may write my exercise for me. I have marked +the place in the book." + +And she flung her book over to the window, and he caught it on the edge +of the sill, just as it was falling. + +"You are a very strange girl," he remarked, turning over the leaves of +the book, although it was too dark to read. "How old are you?" + +"I shall be fourteen six weeks before Christmas," answered she, +frankly. + +"Then I excuse you." + +"No, indeed," cried she, vehemently. "You needn't excuse me at all. If +you don't want to write my exercise, you may send the book back again. +I am very sorry I spoke to you, and I shall never do it again." + +"But you will not get the book back again without the exercise," +replied he, quietly. "Good-night." + +The girl stood long looking after him, hoping that he would return. +Then, with a great burst of repentance, she hid her face in her lap, +and began to cry. + +"Oh, dear, I didn't mean to be rude," she sobbed. "But it was Ivanhoe +and Rebecca who upset me." + +The next morning she was up before daylight, and waited for two long +hours in great suspense before the curtain of his window was raised. He +greeted her politely; threw a hasty glance around the court to see if +he was observed, and then tossed her book dexterously over into her +hands. + +"I have pinned the written exercise to the flyleaf," he said. "You will +probably have time to copy it before breakfast." + +"I am ever so much obliged to you," she managed to stammer. + +He looked so tall and handsome, and grown-up, and her remorse stuck in +her throat, and threatened to choke her. She had taken him for a boy as +he sat there in his window the evening before. + +"By the way, what is your name?" he asked, carelessly, as he turned to +go. + +"Bertha." + +"Well, my dear Bertha, I am happy to have made your acquaintance." + +And he again made her a polite bow, and entered his parlor. + +"How provokingly familiar he is," thought she; "but no one can deny +that he is handsome." + +The bright roguish face of the young girl haunted Ralph during the +whole next week. He had been in love at least ten times before, of +course; but, like most boys, with young ladies far older than himself. +He found himself frequently glancing over to her window in the hope of +catching another glimpse of her face; but the curtain was always drawn +down, and Bertha remained invisible. During the second week, however, +she relented, and they had many a pleasant chat together. He now +volunteered to write all her exercises, and she made no objections. He +learned that she was the daughter of a well-to-do peasant in the +sea-districts of Norway (and it gave him quite a shock to hear it), and +that she was going to school in the city, and boarded with an old lady +who kept a pension in the house adjoining the one in which he lived. + +One day in the autumn Ralph was surprised by the sudden arrival of his +father, and the fact of his failure in the examination could no longer +be kept a secret. The old Colonel flared up at once when Ralph made his +confession; the large veins upon his forehead swelled; he grew +coppery-red in his face, and stormed up and down the floor, until his +son became seriously alarmed; but, to his great relief, he was soon +made aware that his father's wrath was not turned against him +personally, but against the officials of the Military Academy who had +rejected him. The Colonel took it as insult to his own good name and +irreproachable standing as an officer; he promptly refused any other +explanation, and vainly racked his brain to remember if any youthful +folly of his could possibly have made him enemies among the teachers of +the Academy. He at last felt satisfied that it was envy of his own +greatness and rapid advancement which had induced the rascals to take +vengeance on his son. Ralph reluctantly followed his father back to the +country town where the latter was stationed, and the fair-haired Bertha +vanished from his horizon. His mother's wish now prevailed, and he +began, in his own easy way, to prepare himself for the University. He +had little taste for Cicero, and still less for Virgil, but with the +use of a "pony" he soon gained sufficient knowledge of these authors to +be able to talk in a sort of patronizing way about them, to the great +delight of his fond parents. He took quite a fancy, however, to the ode +in Horace ending with the lines: + +Dulce ridentem, +Dulce loquentem, +Lalagen amabo. + +And in his thought he substituted for Lalage the fair-haired Bertha, +quite regardless of the requirements of the metre. + +To make a long story short, three years later Ralph returned to the +capital, and, after having worn out several tutors, actually succeeded +in entering the University. + +The first year of college life is a happy time to every young man, and +Ralph enjoyed its processions, its parliamentary gatherings, and its +leisure, as well as the rest. He was certainly not the man to be +sentimental over the loss of a young girl whom, moreover, he had only +known for a few weeks. Nevertheless, he thought of her at odd times, +but not enough to disturb his pleasure. The standing of his family, his +own handsome appearance, and his immaculate linen opened to him the +best houses of the city, and he became a great favorite in society. At +lectures he was seldom seen, but more frequently in the theatres, where +he used to come in during the middle of the first act, take his station +in front of the orchestra box, and eye, through his lorgnette, by +turns, the actresses and the ladies of the parquet. + +II + +Two months passed, and then came the great annual ball which the +students give at the opening of the second semester. Ralph was a man of +importance that evening; first, because he belonged to a great family; +secondly, because he was the handsomest man of his year. He wore a +large golden star on his breast (for his fellow-students had made him a +Knight of the Golden Boar) and a badge of colored ribbons in his +buttonhole. + +The ball was a brilliant affair, and everybody was in excellent +spirits, especially the ladies. Ralph danced incessantly, twirled his +soft mustache, and uttered amiable platitudes. It was toward midnight, +just as the company was moving out to supper, that he caught the glance +of a pair of dark-blue eyes, which suddenly drove the blood to his +cheeks and hastened the beating of his heart. But when he looked once +more the dark-blue eyes were gone, and his unruly heart went on +hammering against his side. He laid his hand on his breast and glanced +furtively at his fair neighbor, but she looked happy and unconcerned, +for the flavor of the ice cream was delicious. It seemed an endless +meal, but, when it was done, Ralph rose, led his partner back to the +ballroom, and hastily excused himself. His glance wandered round the +wide hall, seeking the well-remembered eyes once more, and, at length, +finding them in a remote corner, half hid behind a moving wall of +promenaders. In another moment he was at Bertha's side. + +"You must have been purposely hiding yourself, Miss Bertha," said he, +when the usual greetings were exchanged. "I have not caught a glimpse +of you all this evening, until a few moments ago." + +"But I have seen you all the while," answered the girl, frankly. "I +knew you at once as I entered the hall." + +"If I had but known that you were here," resumed Ralph, as it were +invisibly expanding with an agreeable sense of dignity, "I assure you, +you would have been the very first one I should have sought." + +She raised her large grave eyes to his, as if questioning his +sincerity; but she made no answer. + +"Good gracious!" thought Ralph. "She takes things terribly in earnest." + +"You look so serious, Miss Bertha," said he, after a moment's pause. "I +remember you as a bright-eyed, flaxen-haired little girl, who threw her +German exercise-book to me across the yard, and whose merry laughter +still rings pleasantly in my memory. I confess I don't find it quite +easy to identify this grave young lady with my merry friend of three +years ago." + +"In other words, you are disappointed at not finding me the same as I +used to be." + +"No, not exactly that; but--" + +Ralph paused and looked puzzled. There was something in the earnestness +of her manner which made a facetious compliment seem grossly +inappropriate, and in the moment no other escape suggested itself. + +"But what?" demanded Bertha, mercilessly. + +"Have you ever lost an old friend?" asked he, abruptly. + +"Yes; how so?" + +"Then," answered he, while his features lighted up with a happy +inspiration--"then you will appreciate my situation. I fondly cherished +my old picture of you in my memory. Now I have lost it, and I can not +help regretting the loss. I do not mean, however, to imply that this +new acquaintance--this second edition of yourself, so to speak--will +prove less interesting." + +She again sent him a grave, questioning look, and began to gaze +intently upon the stone in her bracelet. + +"I suppose you will laugh at me," began she, while a sudden blush +flitted over her countenance. "But this is my first ball, and I feel as +if I had rushed into a whirlpool, from which I have, since the first +rash plunge was made, been vainly trying to escape. I feel so +dreadfully forlorn. I hardly know anybody here except my cousin, who +invited me, and I hardly think I know him either." + +"Well, since you are irredeemably committed," replied Ralph, as the +music, after some prefatory flourishes, broke into the delicious rhythm +of a Strauss waltz, "then it is no use struggling against fate. Come, +let us make the plunge together. Misery loves company." + +He offered her his arm, and she rose, somewhat hesitatingly, and +followed. + +"I am afraid," she whispered, as they fell into line with the +procession that was moving down the long hall, "that you have asked me +to dance merely because I said I felt forlorn. If that is the case, I +should prefer to be led back to my seat." + +"What a base imputation!" cried Ralph. + +There was something so charmingly _naive_ in this +self-depreciation--something so altogether novel in his experience, +and, he could not help adding, just a little bit countrified. His +spirits rose; he began to relish keenly his position as an experienced +man of the world, and, in the agreeable glow of patronage and conscious +superiority, chatted with hearty _abandon_ with his little rustic +beauty. + +"If your dancing is as perfect as your German ex1-ercises were," said +she, laughing, as they swung out upon the floor, "then I promise myself +a good deal of pleasure from our meeting." + +"Never fear," answered he, quickly reversing his step, and whirling +with many a capricious turn away among the thronging couples. + +When Ralph drove home in his carriage toward morning he briefly summed +up his impressions of Bertha in the following adjectives: intelligent, +delightfully unsophisticated, a little bit verdant, but devilish +pretty. + +Some weeks later Colonel Grim received an appointment at the fortress +of Aggershuus, and immediately took up his residence in the capital. He +saw that his son cut a fine figure in the highest circles of society, +and expressed his gratification in the most emphatic terms. If he had +known, however, that Ralph was in the habit of visiting, with alarming +regularity, at the house of a plebeian merchant in a somewhat obscure +street, he would, no doubt, have been more chary of his praise. But the +Colonel suspected nothing, and it was well for the peace of the family +that he did not. It may have been cowardice in Ralph that he never +mentioned Bertha's name to his family or to his aristocratic +acquaintances; for, to be candid, he himself felt ashamed of the power +she exerted over him, and by turns pitied and ridiculed himself for +pursuing so inglorious a conquest. Nevertheless it wounded his egotism +that she never showed any surprise at seeing him, that she received him +with a certain frank unceremoniousness, which, however, was very +becoming to her; that she invariably went on with her work heedless of +his presence, and in everything treated him as if she had been his +equal. She persisted in talking with him in a half sisterly fashion +about his studies and his future career, warned him with great +solicitude against some of his reprobate friends, of whose merry +adventures he had told her; and if he ventured to compliment her on her +beauty or her accomplishments, she would look up gravely from her +sewing, or answer him in a way which seemed to banish the idea of +love-making into the land of the impossible. He was constantly +tormented by the suspicion that she secretly disapproved of him, and +that from a mere moral interest in his welfare she was conscientiously +laboring to make him a better man. Day after day he parted from her +feeling humiliated, faint-hearted, and secretly indignant both at +himself and her, and day after day he returned only to renew the same +experience. At last it became too intolerable, he could endure it no +longer. Let it make or break, certainty, at all risks, was at least +preferable to this sickening suspense. That he loved her, he could no +longer doubt; let his parents foam and fret as much as they pleased; +for once he was going to stand on his own legs. And in the end, he +thought, they would have to yield, for they had no son but him. + +Bertha was going to return to her home on the sea-coast in a week. +Ralph stood in the little low-ceiled parlor, as she imagined, to bid +her good-by. They had been speaking of her father, her brothers, and +the farm, and she had expressed the wish that if he ever should come to +that part of the country he might pay them a visit. Her words had +kindled a vague hope in his breast, but in their very frankness and +friendly regard there was something which slew the hope they had +begotten. He held her hand in his, and her large confiding eyes shone +with an emotion which was beautiful, but was yet not love. + +"If you were but a peasant born like myself," said she, in a voice +which sounded almost tender, "then I should like to talk to you as I +would to my own brother; but--" + +"No, not brother, Bertha," cried he, with sudden vehemence; "I love you +better than I ever loved any earthly being, and if you knew how firmly +this love has clutched at the roots of my heart, you would perhaps--you +would at least not look so reproachfully at me." + +She dropped his hand, and stood for a moment silent. + +"I am sorry that it should have come to this, Mr. Grim," said she, +visibly struggling for calmness. "And I am perhaps more to blame than +you." + +"Blame," muttered he, "why are you to blame?" + +"Because I do not love you; although I sometimes feared that this might +come. But then again I persuaded myself that it could not be so." + +He took a step toward the door, laid his hand on the knob, and gazed +down before him. + +"Bertha," began he, slowly, raising his head, "you have always +disapproved of me, you have despised me in your heart, but you thought +you would be doing a good work if you succeeded in making a man of me." + +"You use strong language," answered she, hesitatingly; "but there is +truth in what you say." + +Again there was a long pause, in which the ticking of the old parlor +clock grew louder and louder. + +"Then," he broke out at last, "tell me before we part if I can do +nothing to gain--I will not say your love--but only your regard? What +would you do if you were in my place?" + +"My advice you will hardly heed, and I do not even know that it would +be well if you did. But if I were a man in your position, I should +break with my whole past, start out into the world where nobody knew +me, and where I should be dependent only upon my own strength, and +there I would conquer a place for myself, if it were only for the +satisfaction of knowing that I was really a man. Here cushions are +sewed under your arms, a hundred invisible threads bind you to a life +of idleness and vanity, everybody is ready to carry you on his hands, +the road is smoothed for you, every stone carefully moved out of your +path, and you will probably go to your grave without having ever +harbored one earnest thought, without having done one manly deed." + +Ralph stood transfixed, gazing at her with open mouth; he felt a kind +of stupid fright, as if some one had suddenly seized him by the +shoulders and shaken him violently. He tried vainly to remove his eyes +from Bertha. She held him as by a powerful spell. He saw that her face +was lighted with an altogether new beauty; he noticed the deep glow +upon her cheek, the brilliancy of her eye, the slight quiver of her +lip. But he saw all this as one sees things in a half-trance, without +attempting to account for them; the door between his soul and his +senses was closed. + +"I know that I have been bold in speaking to you in this way," she said +at last, seating herself in a chair at the window. "But it was yourself +who asked me. And I have felt all the time that I should have to tell +you this before we parted." + +"And," answered he, making a strong effort to appear calm, "if I follow +your advice, will you allow me to see you once more before you go?" + +"I shall remain here another week, and shall, during that time, always +be ready to receive you." + +"Thank you. Good-by." + +"Good-by." + +Ralph carefully avoided all the fashionable thoroughfares; he felt +degraded before himself, and he had an idea that every man could read +his humiliation in his countenance. Now he walked on quickly, striking +the sidewalk with his heels; now, again, he fell into an uneasy, +reckless saunter, according as the changing moods inspired defiance of +his sentence, or a qualified surrender. And, as he walked on, the +bitterness grew within him, and he piteously reviled himself for having +allowed himself to be made a fool of by "that little country goose," +when he was well aware that there were hundreds of women of the best +families of the land who would feel honored at receiving his +attentions. But this sort of reasoning he knew to be both weak and +contemptible, and his better self soon rose in loud rebellion. + +"After all," he muttered, "in the main thing she was right. I am a +miserable good-for-nothing, a hothouse plant, a poor stick, and if I +were a woman myself, I don't think I should waste my affections on a +man of that calibre." + +Then he unconsciously fell to analyzing Bertha's character, wondering +vaguely that a person who moved so timidly in social life, appearing so +diffident, from an ever-present fear of blundering against the +established forms of etiquette, could judge so quickly, and with such a +merciless certainty, whenever a moral question, a question of right and +wrong, was at issue. And, pursuing the same train of thought, he +contrasted her with himself, who moved in the highest spheres of +society as in his native element, heedless of moral scruples, and +conscious of no loftier motive for his actions than the immediate +pleasure of the moment. + +As Ralph turned the corner of a street, he heard himself hailed from +the other sidewalk by a chorus of merry voices. + +"Ah, my dear Baroness," cried a young man, springing across the street +and grasping Ralph's hand (all his student friends called him the +Baroness), "in the name of this illustrious company, allow me to salute +you. But why the deuce--what is the matter with you? If you have the +_Katzenjammer_ [Footnote: _Katzenjammer_ is the sensation a man has the +morning after a carousal.] soda-water is the thing. Come along--it's my +treat!" + +The students instantly thronged around Ralph, who stood distractedly +swinging his cane and smiling idiotically. + +"I am not quite well," said he; "leave me alone." + +"No, to be sure, you don't look well," cried a jolly youth, against +whom Bertha had frequently warned him; "but a glass of sherry will soon +restore you. It would be highly immoral to leave you in this condition +without taking care of you." + +Ralph again vainly tried to remonstrate; but the end was, that he +reluctantly followed. + +He had always been a conspicuous figure in the student world; but that +night he astonished his friends by his eloquence, his reckless humor, +and his capacity for drinking. He made a speech for "Woman," which +bristled with wit, cynicism, and sarcastic epigrams. One young man, +named Vinter, who was engaged, undertook to protest against his +sweeping condemnation, and declared that Ralph, who was a universal +favorite among the ladies, ought to be the last to revile them. + +"If," he went on, "the Baroness should propose to six well-known ladies +here in this city whom I could mention, I would wager six +Johannisbergers, and an equal amount of champagne, that every one of +them would accept him." + +The others loudly applauded this proposal, and Ralph accepted the +wager. The letters were written on the spot, and immediately +despatched. Toward morning, the merry carousal broke up, and Ralph was +conducted in triumph to his home. + +III + +Two days later, Ralph again knocked on Bertha's door. He looked paler +than usual, almost haggard; his immaculate linen was a little crumpled, +and he carried no cane; his lips were tightly compressed, and his face +wore an air of desperate resolution. + +"It is done," he said, as he seated himself opposite her. "I am going." + +"Going!" cried she, startled at his unusual appearance. "How, where?" + +"To America. I sail to-night. I have followed your advice, you see. I +have cut off the last bridge behind me." + +"But, Ralph," she exclaimed, in a voice of alarm. "Something dreadful +must have happened. Tell me quick; I must know it." + +"No; nothing dreadful," muttered he, smiling bitterly. "I have made a +little scandal, that is all. My father told me to-day to go to the +devil, if I chose, and my mother gave me five hundred dollars to help +me along on the way. If you wish to know, here is the explanation." + +And he pulled from his pocket six perfumed and carefully folded notes, +and threw them into her lap. + +"Do you wish me to read them?" she asked, with growing surprise. +"Certainly. Why not?" + +She hastily opened one note after the other, and read. + +"But, Ralph," she cried, springing up from her seat, while her eyes +flamed with indignation, "what does this mean? What have you done?" + +"I didn't think it needed any explanation," replied he, with feigned +indifference. "I proposed to them all, and, you see, they all accepted +me. I received all these letters to-day. I only wished to know whether +the whole world regarded me as such a worthless scamp as you told me I +was." + +She did not answer, but sat mutely staring at him, fiercely crumpling a +rose-colored note in her hand. He began to feel uncomfortable under +her gaze, and threw himself about uneasily in his chair. + +"Well," said he, at length, rising, "I suppose there is nothing more. +Good-by." + +"One moment, Mr. Grim," demanded she, sternly. "Since I have already +said so much, and you have obligingly revealed to me a new side of your +character, I claim the right to correct the opinion I expressed of you +at our last meeting." + +"I am all attention." + +"I did think, Mr. Grim," began she, breathing hard, and steadying +herself against the table at which she stood, "that you were a very +selfish man--an embodiment of selfishness, absolute and supreme, but I +did not believe that you were wicked." + +"And what convinced you that I was selfish, if I may ask?" + +"What convinced me?" repeated she, in a tone of inexpressible contempt. +"When did you ever act from any generous regard for others? What good +did you ever do to anybody?" + +"You might ask, with equal justice, what good I ever did to myself." + +"In a certain sense, yes; because to gratify a mere momentary wish is +hardly doing one's self good." + +"Then I have, at all events, followed the Biblical precept, and treated +my neighbor very much as I treat myself." + +"I did think," continued Bertha, without heeding the remark, "that you +were, at bottom kind-hearted, but too hopelessly well-bred ever to +commit an act of any decided complexion, either good or bad. Now I see +that I have misjudged you, and that you are capable of outraging the +most sacred feelings of a woman's heart in mere wantonness, or for the +sake of satisfying a base curiosity, which never could have entered the +mind of an upright and generous man." + +The hard, benumbed look in Ralph's face thawed in the warmth of her +presence, and her words, though stern, touched a secret spring in his +heart. He made two or three vain attempts to speak, then suddenly broke +down, and cried: + +"Bertha, Bertha, even if you scorn me, have patience with me, and +listen." + +And he told her, in rapid, broken sentences, how his love for her had +grown from day to day, until he could no longer master it; and how, in +an unguarded moment, when his pride rose in fierce conflict against his +love, he had done this reckless deed of which he was now heartily +ashamed. The fervor of his words touched her, for she felt that they +were sincere. Large mute tears trembled in her eyelashes as she sat +gazing tenderly at him, and in the depth of her soul the wish awoke +that she might have been able to return this great and strong love of +his; for she felt that in this love lay the germ of a new, of a +stronger and better man. She noticed, with a half-regretful pleasure, +his handsome figure, his delicately shaped hands, and the noble cast of +his features; an overwhelming pity for him rose within her, and she +began to reproach herself for having spoken so harshly, and, as she now +thought, so unjustly. Perhaps he read in her eyes the unspoken wish. He +seized her hand, and his words fell with a warm and alluring cadence +upon her ear. + +"I shall not see you for a long time to come, Bertha," said he, "but if +at the end of five or six years your hand is still free, and I return +another man--a man to whom you could safely intrust your +happiness--would you then listen to what I may have to say to you? For +I promise, by all that we both hold sacred--" + +"No, no," interrupted she, hastily. "Promise nothing. It would be +unjust to yourself, and perhaps also to me; for a sacred promise is a +terrible thing, Ralph. Let us both remain free; and, if you return and +still love me, then come, and I shall receive you and listen to you. +And even if you have outgrown your love, which is, indeed, more +probable, come still to visit me wherever I may be, and we shall meet +as friends and rejoice in the meeting." + +"You know best," he murmured. "Let it be as you have said." + +He arose, took her face between his hands, gazed long and tenderly into +her eyes, pressed a kiss upon her forehead, and hastened away. + +That night Ralph boarded the steamer for Hull, and three weeks later +landed in New York. + +IV + +The first three months of Ralph's sojourn in America were spent in vain +attempts to obtain a situation. Day after day he walked down Broadway, +calling at various places of business, and night after night he +returned to his cheerless room with a faint heart and declining +spirits. It was, after all, a more serious thing than he had imagined, +to cut the cable which binds one to the land of one's birth. There a +hundred subtile influences, the existence of which no one suspects +until the moment they are withdrawn, unite to keep one in the straight +path of rectitude, or at least of external respectability; and Ralph's +life had been all in society; the opinion of his fellow-men had been +the one force to which he implicitly deferred, and the conscience by +which he had been wont to test his actions had been nothing but the +aggregate judgment of his friends. To such a man the isolation and the +utter irresponsibility of a life among strangers was tenfold more +dangerous; and Ralph found, to his horror, that his character contained +innumerable latent possibilities which the easy-going life in his home +probably never would have revealed to him. It often cut him to the +quick, when, on entering an office in his daily search for employment, +he was met by hostile or suspicious glances, or when, as it +occasionally happened, the door was slammed in his face, as if he were +a vagabond or an impostor. Then the wolf was often roused within him, +and he felt a momentary wild desire to become what the people here +evidently believed him to be. Many a night he sauntered irresolutely +about the gambling places in obscure streets, and the glare of light, +the rude shouts and clamors in the same moment repelled and attracted +him. If he went to the devil, who would care? His father had himself +pointed out the way to him; and nobody could blame him if he followed +the advice. But then again a memory emerged from that chamber of his +soul which still he held sacred; and Bertha's deep-blue eyes gazed upon +him with their earnest look of tender warning and regret. When the +summer was half gone, Ralph had gained many a hard victory over +himself, and learned many a useful lesson; and at length he swallowed +his pride, divested himself of his fine clothes, and accepted a +position as assistant gardener at a villa on the Hudson. And as he +stood perspiring with a spade in his hand, and a cheap broad-brimmed +straw hat on his head, he often took a grim pleasure in picturing to +himself how his aristocratic friends at home would receive him if he +should introduce himself to them in this new costume. + +"After all, it was only my position they cared for," he reflected, +bitterly; "without my father's name what would I be to them?" + +Then, again, there was a certain satisfaction in knowing that, for his +present situation, humble as it was, he was indebted to nobody but +himself; and the thought that Bertha's eyes, if they could have seen +him now, would have dwelt upon him with pleasure and approbation, went +far to console him for his aching back, his sunburned face, and his +swollen and blistered hands. + +One day, as Ralph was raking the gravel-walks in the garden, his +employer's daughter, a young lady of seventeen, came out and spoke to +him. His culture and refinement of manner struck her with wonder, and +she asked him to tell her his history; but then he suddenly grew very +grave, and she forbore pressing him. From that time she attached a kind +of romantic interest to him, and finally induced her father to obtain +him a situation that would be more to his taste. And, before winter +came, Ralph saw the dawn of a new future glimmering before him. He had +wrestled bravely with fate, and had once more gained a victory. He +began the career in which success and distinction awaited him as +proofreader on a newspaper in the city. He had fortunately been +familiar with the English language before he left home, and by the +strength of his will he conquered all difficulties. At the end of two +years he became attached to the editorial staff; new ambitious hopes, +hitherto foreign to his mind, awoke within him; and with joyous tumult +of heart he saw life opening its wide vistas before him, and he labored +on manfully to repair the losses of the past, and to prepare himself +for greater usefulness in times to come. He felt in himself a stronger +and fuller manhood, as if the great arteries of the vast universal +world-life pulsed in his own being. The drowsy, indolent existence at +home appeared like a dull remote dream from which he had awaked, and he +blessed the destiny which, by its very sternness, had mercifully saved +him; he blessed her, too, who, from the very want of love for him, had, +perhaps, made him worthier of love. + +The years flew rapidly. Society had flung its doors open to him, and +what was more, he had found some warm friends, in whose houses he could +come and go at pleasure. He enjoyed keenly the privilege of daily +association with high-minded and refined women; their eager activity of +intellect stimulated him, their exquisite ethereal grace and their +delicately chiseled beauty satisfied his aesthetic cravings, and the +responsive vivacity of their nature prepared him ever new surprises. He +felt a strange fascination in the presence of these women, and the +conviction grew upon him that their type of womanhood was superior to +any he had hitherto known. And by way of refuting his own argument, he +would draw from his pocketbook the photograph of Bertha, which had a +secret compartment there all to itself, and, gazing tenderly at it, +would eagerly defend her against the disparaging reflections which the +involuntary comparison had provoked. And still, how could he help +seeing that her features, though well molded, lacked animation; that +her eye, with its deep, trustful glance, was not brilliant, and that +the calm earnestness of her face, when compared with the bright, +intellectual beauty of his present friends, appeared pale and simple, +like a violet in a bouquet of vividly colored roses? It gave him a +quick pang, when, at times, he was forced to admit this; nevertheless, +it was the truth. + +After six years of residence in America, Ralph had gained a very high +reputation as a journalist of rare culture and ability, and in 1867 he +was sent to the World's Exhibition in Paris, as correspondent of the +paper on which he had during all these years been employed. What +wonder, then, that he started for Europe a few weeks before his +presence was needed in the imperial city, and that he steered his +course directly toward the fjord valley where Bertha had her home? It +was she who had bidden him Godspeed when he fled from the land of his +birth, and she, too, should receive his first greeting on his return. + +V + +The sun had fortified itself behind a citadel of flaming clouds, and +the upper forest region shone with a strange ethereal glow, while the +lower plains were wrapped in shadow; but the shadow itself had a strong +suffusion of color. The mountain peaks rose cold and blue in the +distance. + +Ralph, having inquired his way of the boatman who had landed him at the +pier, walked rapidly along the beach, with a small valise in his hand, +and a light summer overcoat flung over his shoulder. Many half-thoughts +grazed his mind, and ere the first had taken shape, the second and the +third came and chased it away. And still they all in some fashion had +reference to Bertha; for in a misty, abstract way, she filled his whole +mind; but for some indefinable reason, he was afraid to give free rein +to the sentiment which lurked in the remoter corners of his soul. + +Onward he hastened, while his heart throbbed with the quickening tempo +of mingled expectation and fear. Now and then one of those chill gusts +of air, which seem to be careering about aimlessly in the atmosphere +during early summer, would strike into his face, and recall him to a +keener self-consciousness. + +Ralph concluded, from his increasing agitation, that he must be very +near Bertha's home. He stopped and looked around him. He saw a large +maple at the roadside, some thirty steps from where he was standing, +and the girl who was sitting under it, resting her head in her hand and +gazing out over the sea, he recognized in an instant to be Bertha. He +sprang up on the road, not crossing, however, her line of vision, and +approached her noiselessly from behind. + +"Bertha," he whispered. + +She gave a little joyous cry, sprang up, and made a gesture as if to +throw herself in his arms; then suddenly checked herself, blushed +crimson, and moved a step backward. + +"You came so suddenly," she murmured. + +"But, Bertha," cried he (and the full bass of his voice rang through +her very soul), "have I gone into exile and waited these many years for +so cold a welcome?" + +"You have changed so much, Ralph," she answered, with that old grave +smile which he knew so well, and stretched out both her hands toward +him. "And I have thought of you so much since you went away, and blamed +myself because I had judged you so harshly, and wondered that you could +listen to me so patiently, and never bear me any malice for what I +said." + +"If you had said a word less," declared Ralph, seating himself at her +side on the greensward, "or if you had varnished it over with +politeness, then you would probably have failed to produce any effect +and I should not have been burdened with that heavy debt of gratitude +which I now owe you. I was a pretty thick-skinned animal in those days, +Bertha. You said the right word at the right moment; you gave me a bold +and a good piece of advice, which my own ingenuity would never have +suggested to me. I will not thank you, because, in so grave a case as +this, spoken thanks sound like a mere mockery. Whatever I am, Bertha, +and whatever I may hope to be, I owe it all to that hour." + +She listened with rapture to the manly assurance of his voice; her eyes +dwelt with unspeakable joy upon his strong, bronzed features, his full +thick blond beard, and the vigorous proportions of his frame. Many and +many a time during his absence had she wondered how he would look if he +ever came back, and with that minute conscientiousness which, as it +were, pervaded her whole character, she had held herself responsible +before God for his fate, prayed for him, and trembled lest evil powers +should gain the ascendency over his soul. + +On their way to the house they talked together of many things, but in a +guarded, cautious fashion, and without the cheerful abandonment of +former years. They both, as it were, groped their way carefully in each +other's minds, and each vaguely felt that there was something in the +other's thought which it was not well to touch unbidden. Bertha saw +that all her fears for him had been groundless, and his very appearance +lifted the whole weight of responsibility from her breast; and still, +did she rejoice at her deliverance from her burden? Ah, no; in this +moment she knew that that which she had foolishly cherished as the best +and noblest part of herself had been but a selfish need of her own +heart. She feared that she had only taken that interest in him which +one feels in a thing of one's own making, and now, when she saw that he +had risen quite above her; that he was free and strong, and could have +no more need of her, she had, instead of generous pleasure at his +success, but a painful sense of emptiness, as if something very dear +had been taken from her. + +Ralph, too, was loth to analyze the impression his old love made upon +him. His feelings were of so complex a nature, he was anxious to keep +his more magnanimous impulses active, and he strove hard to convince +himself that she was still the same to him as she had been before they +had ever parted. But, alas! though the heart be warm and generous, the +eye is a merciless critic. And the man who had moved on the wide arena +of the world, whose mind had housed the large thoughts of this century, +and expanded with its invigorating breath--was he to blame because he +had unconsciously outgrown his old provincial self, and could no more +judge by its standards? + +Bertha's father was a peasant, but he had, by his lumber trade, +acquired what in Norway was called a very handsome fortune. He received +his guest with dignified reserve, and Ralph thought he detected in his +eyes a lurking look of distrust. "I know your errand," that look seemed +to say, "but you had better give it up at once. It will be of no use +for you to try." + +And after supper, as Ralph and Bertha sat talking confidingly with each +other at the window, he sent his daughter a quick, sharp glance, and +then, without ceremony, commanded her to go to bed. Ralph's heart gave +a great thump within him; not because he feared the old man, but +because his words, as well as his glances, revealed to him the sad +history of these long, patient years. He doubted no longer that the +love which he had once so ardently desired was his at last: and he made +a silent vow that, come what might, he would remain faithful. + +As he came down to breakfast the next morning, he found Bertha sitting +at the window, engaged in hemming what appeared to be a rough kitchen +towel. She bent eagerly over her work, and only a vivid flush upon her +cheek told him that she had noticed his coming. He took a chair, seated +himself opposite her, and bade her "good-morning." She raised her head, +and showed him a sweet, troubled countenance, which the early sunlight +illumined with a high spiritual beauty. It reminded him forcibly of +those pale, sweet-faced saints of Fra Angelico, with whom the frail +flesh seems ever on the point of yielding to the ardent aspirations of +the spirit. And still even in this moment he could not prevent his eyes +from observing that one side of her forefinger was rough from sewing, +and that the whiteness of her arm, which the loose sleeves displayed, +contrasted strongly with the browned and sunburned complexion of her +hands. + +After breakfast they again walked together on the beach, and Ralph, +having once formed his resolution, now talked freely of the New World-- +of his sphere of activity there; of his friends and of his plans for +the future; and she listened to him with a mild, perplexed look in her +eyes, as if trying vainly to follow the flight of his thoughts. And he +wondered, with secret dismay, whether she was still the same strong, +brave-hearted girl whom he had once accounted almost bold; whether the +life in this narrow valley, amid a hundred petty and depressing cares, +had not cramped her spiritual growth, and narrowed the sphere of her +thought. Or was she still the same, and was it only he who had changed? +At last he gave utterance to his wonder, and she answered him in those +grave, earnest tones which seemed in themselves to be half a refutation +of his doubts. + +"It was easy for me to give you daring advice then, Ralph," she said. +"Like most school-girls, I thought that life was a great and glorious +thing, and that happiness was a fruit which hung within reach of every +hand. Now I have lived for six years trying single-handed to relieve +the want and suffering of the needy people with whom I come in contact, +and their squalor and wretchedness have sickened me, and, what is still +worse, I feel that all I can do is as a drop in the ocean, and, after +all, amounts to nothing. I know I am no longer the same reckless girl +who, with the very best intention, sent you wandering through the wide +world; and I thank God that it proved to be for your good, although the +whole now appears quite incredible to me. My thoughts have moved so +long within the narrow circle of these mountains that they have lost +their youthful elasticity, and can no more rise above them." + +Ralph detected, in the midst of her despondency, a spark of her former +fire, and grew eloquent in his endeavors to persuade her that she was +unjust to herself, and that there was but a wider sphere of life needed +to develop all the latent powers of her rich nature. + +At the dinner-table, her father again sat eying his guest with that +same cold look of distrust and suspicion. And when the meal was at an +end, he rose abruptly and called his daughter into another room. +Presently Ralph heard his angry voice resounding through the house, +interrupted now and then by a woman's sobs, and a subdued, passionate +pleading. When Bertha again entered the room, her eyes were very red, +and he saw that she had been weeping. She threw a shawl over her +shoulders, beckoned to him with her hand, and he arose and followed +her. She led the way silently until they reached a thick copse of birch +and alder near the strand. She dropped down upon a bench between two +trees, and he took his seat at her side. + +"Ralph," began she, with a visible effort, "I hardly know what to say +to you; but there is something which I must tell you--my father wishes +you to leave us at once." + +"And _you_, Bertha?" + +"Well--yes--I wish it too." + +She saw the painful shock which her words gave him, and she strove hard +to speak. Her lips trembled, her eyes became suffused with tears, which +grew and grew, but never fell; she could not utter a word. + +"Well, Bertha," answered he, with a little quiver in his voice, "if +you, too, wish me to go, I shall not tarry. Good-by." + +He rose quickly, and, with averted face, held out his hand to her; but +as she made no motion to grasp the hand, he began distractedly to +button his coat, and moved slowly away. + +"Ralph." + +He turned sharply, and, before he knew it, she lay sobbing upon his +breast. + +"Ralph," she murmured, while the tears almost choked her words, "I +could not have you leave me thus. It is hard enough--it is hard +enough--" + +"What is hard, beloved?" + +She raised her head abruptly, and turned upon him a gaze full of hope +and doubt, and sweet perplexity. + +"Ah, no, you do not love me," she whispered, sadly. + +"Why should I come to seek you, after these many years, dearest, if I +did not wish to make you my wife before God and men? Why should I--" + +"Ah, yes, I know," she interrupted him with a fresh fit of weeping, +"you are too good and honest to wish to throw me away, now when you +have seen how my soul has hungered for the sight of you these many +years, how even now I cling to you with a despairing clutch. But you +can not disguise yourself, Ralph, and I saw from the first moment that +you loved me no more. + +"Do not be such an unreasonable child," he remonstrated, feebly. "I do +not love you with the wild, irrational passion of former years; but I +have the tenderest regard for you, and my heart warms at the sight of +your sweet face, and I shall do all in my power to make you as happy as +any man can make you who--" + +"Who does not love me," she finished. + +A sudden shudder seemed to shake her whole frame, and she drew herself +more tightly up to him. + +"Ah, no," she continued, after a while, sinking back upon her seat. "It +is a hopeless thing to compel a reluctant heart. I will accept no +sacrifice from you. You owe me nothing, for you have acted toward me +honestly and uprightly, and I shall be a stronger or--at least--a +better woman for what you gave me--and--for what you could not give me, +even though you would." + +"But, Bertha," exclaimed he, looking mournfully at her, "it is not true +when you say that I owe you nothing. Six years ago, when first I wooed +you, you could not return my love, and you sent me out into the world, +and even refused to accept any pledge or promise for the future." + +"And you returned," she responded, "a man, such as my hope had pictured +you; but, while I had almost been standing still, you had outgrown me, +and outgrown your old self, and, with your old self, outgrown its love +for me, for your love was not of your new self, but of the old. Alas! +it is a sad tale, but it is true." + +She spoke gravely now, and with a steadier voice, but her eyes hung +upon his face with an eager look of expectation, as if yearning to +detect there some gleam of hope, some contradiction of the dismal +truth. He read that look aright and it pierced him like a sharp sword. +He made a brave effort to respond to its appeal, but his features +seemed hard as stone, and he could only cry out against his destiny, +and bewail his misfortune and hers. + +Toward evening, Ralph was sitting in an open boat, listening to the +measured oar-strokes of the boatmen who were rowing him out to the +nearest stopping-place of the steamer. The mountains lifted their great +placid heads up among the sun-bathed clouds, and the fjord opened its +cool depths as if to make room for their vast reflections. Ralph felt +as if he were floating in the midst of the blue infinite space, and, +with the strength which this feeling inspired, he tried to face boldly +the thought from which he had but a moment ago shrunk as from something +hopelessly sad and perplexing. + +And in that hour he looked fearlessly into the gulf which separates the +New World from the Old. He had hoped to bridge it; but, alas! it can +not be bridged. + + + +THE IDYL OF RED GULCH +--------------------- +BY BRET HARTE + + + +_Francis Bret Harte (born at Albany, N. Y., August 25, 1839; died in +1902) wrought a revolution in the art of story-writing by his +California tale, "The Luck of Roaring Camp" which appeared in 1868 in +the second number of "The Overland Monthly," of which Harte was editor. +This was followed by a number of stories of the same original quality, +such as "The Outcasts of Poker Flat" and "The Idyl of Red Gulch," +concerning which Parke Godwin wrote in "Putnam's Magazine," 1870: "Bret +Harte has deepened and broadened our literary and moral sympathies; he +has broken the sway of the artificial and conventional; he has +substituted actualities for idealities--but actualities that manifest +the grandeur of self-sacrifice, the beauty of love, the power of +childhood, and the ascendency of nature."_ + + + +THE IDYL OF RED GULCH +BY BRET HARTE +[Footnote: Copyright, 1899, by Bret Harte. Published by special +arrangement with Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., publishers of Mr. +Harte's works.] + + + +Sandy was very drunk. He was lying under an azalea-bush, in pretty much +the same attitude in which he had fallen some hours before. How long he +had been lying there he could not tell, and didn't care; how long he +should lie there was a matter equally indefinite and unconsidered. A +tranquil philosophy, born of his physical condition, suffused and +saturated his moral being. + +The spectacle of a drunken man, and of this drunken man in particular, +was not, I grieve to say, of sufficient novelty in Red Gulch to attract +attention. Earlier in the day some local satirist had erected a +temporary tombstone at Sandy's head, bearing the inscription, "Effects +of McCorkle's whiskey--kills at forty rods," with a hand pointing to +McCorkle's saloon. But this, I imagine, was, like most local satire, +personal; and was a reflection upon the unfairness of the process +rather than a commentary upon the impropriety of the result. With this +facetious exception, Sandy had been undisturbed. A wandering mule, +released from his pack, had cropped the scant herbage beside him, and +sniffed curiously at the prostrate man; a vagabond dog, with that deep +sympathy which the species have for drunken men, had licked his dusty +boots and curled himself up at his feet, and lay there, blinking one +eye in the sunlight, with a simulation of dissipation that was +ingenious and dog-like in its implied flattery of the unconscious man +beside him. + +Meanwhile the shadows of the pine-trees had slowly swung around until +they crossed the road, and their trunks barred the open meadow with +gigantic parallels of black and yellow. Little puffs of red dust, +lifted by the plunging hoofs of passing teams, dispersed in a grimy +shower upon the recumbent man. The sun sank lower and lower, and still +Sandy stirred not. And then the repose of this philosopher was +disturbed, as other philosophers have been, by the intrusion of an +unphilosophical sex. + +"Miss Mary," as she was known to the little flock that she had just +dismissed from the log schoolhouse beyond the pines, was taking her +afternoon walk. Observing an unusually fine cluster of blossoms on the +azalea-bush opposite, she crossed the road to pluck it, picking her way +through the red dust, not without certain fierce little shivers of +disgust and some feline circumlocution. And then she came suddenly upon +Sandy! + +Of course she uttered the little staccato cry of her sex. But when she +had paid that tribute to her physical weakness she became overbold and +halted for a moment--at least six feet from this prostrate +monster--with her white skirts gathered in her hand, ready for flight. +But neither sound nor motion came from the bush. With one little foot +she then overturned the satirical headboard, and muttered "Beasts!"--an +epithet which probably, at that moment, conveniently classified in her +mind the entire male population of Red Gulch. For Miss Mary, being +possessed of certain rigid notions of her own, had not, perhaps, +properly appreciated the demonstrative gallantry for which the +Californian has been so justly celebrated by his brother Californians, +and had, as a new-comer, perhaps fairly earned the reputation of being +"stuck up." + +As she stood there she noticed, also, that the slant sunbeams were +heating Sandy's head to what she judged to be an unhealthy temperature, +and that his hat was lying uselessly at his side. To pick it up and to +place it over his face was a work requiring some courage, particularly +as his eyes were open. Yet she did it and made good her retreat. But +she was somewhat concerned, on looking back, to see that the hat was +removed, and that Sandy was sitting up and saying something. + +The truth was, that in the calm depths of Sandy's mind he was satisfied +that the rays of the sun were beneficial and healthful; that from +childhood he had objected to lying down in a hat; that no people but +condemned fools, past redemption, ever wore hats; and that his right to +dispense with them when he pleased was inalienable. This was the +statement of his inner consciousness. Unfortunately, its outward +expression was vague, being limited to a repetition of the following +formula: "Su'shine all ri'! Wasser maar, eh? Wass up, su'shine?" + +Miss Mary stopped, and, taking fresh courage from her vantage of +distance, asked him if there was anything that he wanted. + +"Wass up? Wasser maar?" continued Sandy, in a very high key. + +"Get up, you horrid man!" said Miss Mary, now thoroughly incensed; "get +up and go home." + +Sandy staggered to his feet. He was six feet high, and Miss Mary +trembled. He started forward a few paces and then stopped. + +"Wass I go home for?" he suddenly asked, with great gravity. + +"Go and take a bath," replied Miss Mary, eying his grimy person with +great disfavor. + +To her infinite dismay, Sandy suddenly pulled off his coat and vest, +threw them on the ground, kicked off his boots, and, plunging wildly +forward, darted headlong over the hill in the direction of the river. + +"Goodness heavens! the man will be drowned!" said Miss Mary; and then, +with feminine inconsistency, she ran back to the schoolhouse and locked +herself in. + +That night, while seated at supper with her hostess, the blacksmith's +wife, it came to Miss Mary to ask, demurely, if her husband ever got +drunk. "Abner," responded Mrs. Stidger reflectively--"let's see! Abner +hasn't been tight since last 'lection." Miss Mary would have liked to +ask if he preferred lying in the sun on these occasions, and if a cold +bath would have hurt him; but this would have involved an explanation, +which she did not then care to give. So she contented herself with +opening her gray eyes widely at the red-cheeked Mrs. Stidger--a fine +specimen of Southwestern efflorescence--and then dismissed the subject +altogether. The next day she wrote to her dearest friend in Boston: "I +think I find the intoxicated portion of this community the least +objectionable. I refer, my dear, to the men, of course. I do not know +anything that could make the women tolerable." + +In less than a week Miss Mary had forgotten this episode, except that +her afternoon walks took thereafter, almost unconsciously, another +direction. She noticed, however, that every morning a fresh cluster of +azalea, blossoms appeared among the flowers on her desk. This was not +strange, as her little flock were aware of her fondness for flowers, +and invariably kept her desk bright with anemones, syringas, and +lupines; but, on questioning them, they one and all professed ignorance +of the azaleas. A few days later, Master Johnny Stidger, whose desk was +nearest to the window, was suddenly taken with spasms of apparently +gratuitous laughter, that threatened the discipline of the school. All +that Miss Mary could get from him was, that some one had been "looking +in the winder." Irate and indignant, she sallied from her hive to do +battle with the intruder. As she turned the corner of the schoolhouse +she came plump upon the quondam drunkard, now perfectly sober, and +inexpressibly sheepish and guilty-looking. + +These facts Miss Mary was not slow to take a feminine advantage of, in +her present humor. But it was somewhat confusing to observe, also, that +the beast, despite some faint signs of past dissipation, was +amiable-looking--in fact, a kind of blond Samson, whose corn-colored +silken beard apparently had never yet known the touch of barber's razor +or Delilah's shears. So that the cutting speech which quivered on her +ready tongue died upon her lips, and she contented herself with +receiving his stammering apology with supercilious eyelids and the +gathered skirts of uncontamination. When she re-entered the schoolroom, +her eyes fell upon the azaleas with a new sense of revelation; and then +she laughed, and the little people all laughed, and they were all +unconsciously very happy. + +It was a hot day, and not long after this, that two short-legged boys +came to grief on the threshold of the school with a pail of water, +which they had laboriously brought from the spring, and that Miss Mary +compassionately seized the pail and started for the spring herself. At +the foot of the hill a shadow crossed her path, and a blue-shirted arm +dexterously but gently relieved her of her burden. Miss Mary was both +embarrassed and angry. "If you carried more of that for yourself," she +said spitefully to the blue arm, without deigning to raise her lashes +to its owner, "you'd do better." In the submissive silence that +followed she regretted the speech, and thanked him so sweetly at the +door that he stumbled. Which caused the children to laugh again--a +laugh in which Miss Mary joined, until the color came faintly into her +pale cheek. The next day a barrel was mysteriously placed beside the +door, and as mysteriously filled with fresh spring-water every morning. + +Nor was this superior young person without other quiet attentions. +"Profane Bill," driver of the Slumgullion Stage, widely known in the +newspapers for his "gallantry" in invariably offering the box-seat to +the fair sex, had excepted Miss Mary from this attention, on the ground +that he had a habit of "cussin' on up grades," and gave her half the +coach to herself. Jack Hamlin, a gambler, having once silently ridden +with her in the same coach, afterward threw a decanter at the head of a +confederate for mentioning her name in a barroom. The over-dressed +mother of a pupil whose paternity was doubtful had often lingered near +this astute Vestal's temple, never daring to enter its sacred +precincts, but content to worship the priestess from afar. + +With such unconscious intervals the monotonous procession of blue +skies, glittering sunshine, brief twilights, and starlit nights passed +over Red Gulch. Miss Mary grew fond of walking in the sedate and proper +woods. Perhaps she believed, with Mrs. Stidger, that the balsamic odors +of the firs "did her chest good," for certainly her slight cough was +less frequent and her step was firmer; perhaps she had learned the +unending lesson which the patient pines are never weary of repeating to +heedful or listless ears. And so one day she planned a picnic on +Buckeye Hill, and took the children with her. Away from the dusty road, +the straggling shanties, the yellow ditches, the clamor of restless +engines, the cheap finery of shop-windows, the deeper glitter of paint +and colored glass, and the thin veneering which barbarism takes upon +itself in such localities, what infinite relief was theirs! The last +heap of ragged rock and clay passed, the last unsightly chasm crossed-- +how the waiting woods opened their long files to receive them! How the +children--perhaps because they had not yet grown quite away from the +breast of the bounteous Mother--threw themselves face downward on her +brown bosom with uncouth caresses, filling the air with their laughter; +and how Miss Mary herself--felinely fastidious and intrenched as she +was in the purity of spotless skirts, collar, and cuffs--forgot all, +and ran like a crested quail at the head of her brood, until, romping, +laughing, and panting, with a loosened braid of brown hair, a hat +hanging by a knotted ribbon from her throat, she came suddenly and +violently, in the heart of the forest, upon the luckless Sandy! + +The explanations, apologies, and not overwise conversation that ensued +need not be indicated here. It would seem, however, that Miss Mary had +already established some acquaintance with this ex-drunkard. Enough +that he was soon accepted as one of the party; that the children, with +that quick intelligence which Providence gives the helpless, recognized +a friend, and played with his blond beard and long silken mustache, and +took other liberties--as the helpless are apt to do. And when he had +built a fire against a tree, and had shown them other mysteries of +woodcraft, their admiration knew no bounds. At the close of two such +foolish, idle, happy hours he found himself lying at the feet of the +schoolmistress, gazing dreamily in her face as she sat upon the sloping +hillside weaving wreaths of laurel and syringa, in very much the same +attitude as he had lain when first they met. Nor was the similitude +greatly forced. The weakness of an easy, sensuous nature, that had +found a dreamy exaltation in liquor, it is to be feared was now finding +ah equal intoxication in love. + +I think that Sandy was dimly conscious of this himself. I know that he +longed to be doing something--slaying a grizzly, scalping a savage, or +sacrificing himself in some way for the sake of this sallow-faced, +gray-eyed schoolmistress. As I should like to present him in an heroic +attitude, I stay my hand with great difficulty at this moment, being +only withheld from introducing such an episode by a strong conviction +that it does not usually occur at such times. And I trust that my +fairest reader, who remembers that, in a real crisis, it is always some +uninteresting stranger or unromantic policeman, and not Adolphus, who +rescues, will forgive the omission. + +So they sat there undisturbed--the woodpeckers chattering overhead and +the voices of the children coming pleasantly from the hollow below. +What they said matters little. What they thought--which might have been +interesting--did not transpire. The woodpeckers only learned how Miss +Mary was an orphan; how she left her uncle's house to come to +California for the sake of health and independence; how Sandy was an +orphan too; how he came to California for excitement; how he had lived +a wild life, and how he was trying to reform; and other details, which, +from a woodpecker's viewpoint, undoubtedly must have seemed stupid and +a waste of time. But even in such trifles was the afternoon spent; and +when the children were again gathered, and Sandy, with a delicacy which +the schoolmistress well understood, took leave of them quietly at the +outskirts of the settlement, it had seemed the shortest day of her +weary life. + +As the long, dry summer withered to its roots, the school term of Red +Gulch--to use a local euphuism--"dried up" also. In another day Miss +Mary would be free, and for a season, at least, Red Gulch would know +her no more. She was seated alone in the school-house, her cheek +resting on her hand, her eyes half closed in one of those day-dreams in +which Miss Mary, I fear, to the danger of school discipline, was lately +in the habit of indulging. Her lap was full of mosses, ferns, and other +woodland memories. She was so preoccupied with these and her own +thoughts that a gentle tapping at the door passed unheard, or +translated itself into the remembrance of far-off woodpeckers. When at +last it asserted itself more distinctly, she started up with a flushed +cheek and opened the door. On the threshold stood a woman, the +self-assertion and audacity of whose dress were in singular contrast to +her timid, irresolute bearing. + +Miss Mary recognized at a glance the dubious mother of her anonymous +pupil. Perhaps she was disappointed, perhaps she was only fastidious; +but as she coldly invited her to enter, she half unconsciously settled +her white cuffs and collar, and gathered closer her own chaste skirts. +It was, perhaps, for this reason that the embarrassed stranger, after a +moment's hesitation, left her gorgeous parasol open and sticking in the +dust beside the door, and then sat down at the further end of a long +bench. Her voice was husky as she began: + +"I heerd tell that you were goin' down to the Bay to-morrow, and I +couldn't let you go until I came to thank you for your kindness to my +Tommy." + +Tommy, Miss Mary said, was a good boy, and deserved more than the poor +attention she could give him. + +"Thank you, miss; thank ye!" cried the stranger, brightening even +through the color which Red Gulch knew facetiously as her "war paint," +and striving, in her embarrassment, to drag the long bench nearer the +schoolmistress. "I thank you, miss, for that; and if I am his mother, +there ain't a sweeter, dearer, better boy lives than him. And if I +ain't much as says it, thar ain't a sweeter, dearer, angeler teacher +lives than he's got." + +Miss Mary, sitting primly behind her desk, with a ruler over her +shoulder, opened her gray eyes widely at this, but said nothing. + +"It ain't for you to be complimented by the like of me, I know," she +went on hurriedly. "It ain't for me to be comin' here, in broad day, to +do it, either; but I come to ask a favor--not for me, miss--not for me, +but for the darling boy." + +Encouraged by a look in the young schoolmistress's eye, and putting her +lilac-gloved hands together, the ringers downward, between her knees, +she went on, in a low voice: + +"You see, miss, there's no one the boy has any claim on but me, and I +ain't the proper person to bring him up. I thought some, last year, of +sending him away to Frisco to school, but when they talked of bringing +a schoolma'am here, I waited till I saw you, and then I knew it was all +right, and I could keep my boy a little longer. And, oh! miss, he loves +you so much; and if you could hear him talk about you in his pretty +way, and if he could ask you what I ask you now, you couldn't refuse +him. + +"It is natural," she went on rapidly, in a voice that trembled +strangely between pride and humility--"it's natural that he should take +to you, miss, for his father, when I first knew him, was a gentleman-- +and the boy must forget me, sooner or later--and so I ain't a-goin' to +cry about that. For I come to ask you to take my Tommy--God bless him +for the bestest, sweetest boy that lives--to--to--take him with you." + +She had risen and caught the young girl's hand in her own, and had +fallen on her knees beside her. + +"I've money plenty, and it's all yours and his. Put him in some good +school, where you can go and see him, and help him to--to--to forget +his mother. Do with him what you like. The worst you can do will be +kindness to what he will learn with me. Only take him out of this +wicked life, this cruel place, this home of shame and sorrow. You will! +I know you will--won't you? You will--you must not, you can not say no! +You will make him as pure, as gentle as yourself; and when he has grown +up, you will tell him his father's name--the name that hasn't passed my +lips for years--the name of Alexander Morton, whom they call here +Sandy! Miss Mary!--do not take your hand away! Miss Mary, speak to me! +You will take my boy? Do not put your face from me. I know it ought not +to look on such as me. Miss Mary!--my God, be merciful!--she is leaving +me!" + +Miss Mary had risen, and in the gathering twilight had felt her way to +the open window. She stood there, leaning against the casement, her +eyes fixed on the last rosy tints that were fading from the western +sky. There was still some of its light on her pure young forehead, on +her white collar, on her clasped white hands, but all fading slowly +away. The suppliant had dragged herself, still on her knees, beside +her. + +"I know it takes time to consider. I will wait here all night; but I +can not go until you speak. Do not deny me now. You will!--I see it in +your sweet face--such a face as I have seen in my dreams. I see it in +your eyes, Miss Mary!--you will take my boy!" + +The last red beam crept higher, suffused Miss Mary's eyes with +something of its glory, flickered, and faded, and went out. The sun had +set on Red Gulch. In the twilight and silence Miss Mary's voice sounded +pleasantly. + +"I will take the boy. Send him to me to-night." + +The happy mother raised the hem of Miss Mary's skirts to her lips. She +would have buried her hot face in its virgin folds, but she dared not. +She rose to her feet. + +"Does--this man--know of your intention?" asked Miss Mary suddenly. + +"No, nor cares. He has never seen the child to know it." + +"Go to him at once--to-night--now! Tell him what you have done. Tell +him I have taken his child, and tell him--he must never see--see--the +child again. Wherever it may be, he must not come; wherever I may take +it, he must not follow! There, go now, please--I'm weary, and--have +much yet to do!" + +They walked together to the door. On the threshold the woman turned. + +"Good-night!" + +She would have fallen at Miss Mary's feet. But at the same moment the +young girl reached out her arms, caught the sinful woman to her own +pure breast for one brief moment, and then closed and locked the door. + +It was with a sudden sense of great responsibility that Profane Bill +took the reins of the Slumgullion stage the next morning, for the +schoolmistress was one of his passengers. As he entered the highroad, +in obedience to a pleasant voice from the "inside," he suddenly reined +up his horses and respectfully waited, as Tommy hopped out at the +command of Miss Mary. + +"Not that bush, Tommy--the next." + +Tommy whipped out his new pocket-knife, and cutting a branch from a +tall azalea-bush, returned with it to Miss Mary. + +"All right now?" + +"All right!" + +And the stage-door closed on the Idyl of Red Gulch. + + + +CRUTCH, THE PAGE +------------------- +BY GEORGE ALFRED TOWNSEND + + + +_George Alfred Townsend (born at Georgetown, Del., January 30, 1841) +has written over his signature of "Gath" more newspaper correspondence +than any other living writer. In addition he has found time to write a +number of books, one of which, "Tales of the Chesapeake" published in +1880, ranks among the notable collections of American short stories. It +contains tales in the manner of Hawthorne, Poe, and Bret Harte, which +critics have complimented as being equal to the work of these masters. +Of the present selection, a story in which a famous Washington +character, "Beau Hickman" is introduced, E. C. Stedman said: "It is +good enough for Bret Harte or anybody."_ + + + +CRUTCH, THE PAGE +BY GEORGE ALFRED TOWNSEND ("OATH") +[Footnote: From "Tales of the Chesapeake." Copyright, 1880, by George +Alfred Townsend] + +I--CHIPS + +The Honorable Jeems Bee, of Texas, sitting in his committee-room half +an hour before the convening of Congress, waiting for his negro +familiar to compound a julep, was suddenly confronted by a small boy on +crutches. + +"A letter!" exclaimed Mr. Bee, "with the frank of Reybold on it--that +Yankeest of Pennsylvania Whigs! Yer's familiarity! Wants me to appoint +one U--U--U, what?" + +"Uriel Basil," said the small boy on crutches, with a clear, bold, but +rather sensitive voice. + +"Uriel Basil, a page in the House of Representatives, bein' an infirm, +deservin' boy, willin' to work to support his mother. Infirm boy wants +to be a page, on the recommendation of a Whig, to a Dimmycratic +committee. I say, gen'lemen, what do you think of that, heigh?" + +This last addressed to some other members of the committee, who had +meantime entered. + +"Infum boy will make a spry page," said the Hon. Box Izard, of +Arkansaw. + +"Harder to get infum page than the Speaker's eye," said the orator, +Pontotoc Bibb, of Georgia. + +"Harder to get both than a 'pintment in these crowded times on a +opposition recommendation when all ole Virginny is yaw to be tuk care +of," said Hon. Fitzchew Smy, of the Old Dominion. + +The small boy standing up on crutches, with large hazel eyes swimming +and wistful, so far from being cut down by these criticisms, stood +straighter, and only his narrow little chest showed feeling, as it +breathed quickly under his brown jacket. + +"I can run as fast as anybody," he said impetuously. "My sister says +so. You try me!" + +"Who's yo' sister, bub?" + +"Joyce." + +"Who's Joyce?" + +"Joyce Basil--_Miss_ Joyce Basil to you, gentlemen. My mother keeps +boarders. Mr. Reybold boards there. I think it's hard when a little boy +from the South wants to work, that the only body to help him find it is +a Northern man. Don't you?" + +"Good hit!" cried Jeroboam Coffee, Esq., of Alabama. "That boy would +run, if he could!" + +"Gentlemen," said another member of the committee, the youthful +abstractionist from South Carolina, who was reputed to be a great poet +on the stump, the Hon. Lowndes Cleburn--"gentlemen, that boy puts the +thing on its igeel merits and brings it home to us. I'll ju my juty in +this issue. Abe, wha's my julep?" + +"Gentlemen," said the Chairman of the Committee, Jeems Bee, "it 'pears +to me that there's a social p'int right here. Reybold, bein' the only +Whig on the Lake and Bayou Committee, ought to have something if he +sees fit to ask for it. That's courtesy! We, of all men, gentlemen, +can't afford to forget it." + +"No, by durn!" cried Fitzchew Smy. + +"You're right, Bee!" cried Box Izard. "You give it a constitutional +set." + +"Reybold," continued Jeems Bee, thus encouraged, "Reybold is (to speak +out) no genius! He never will rise to the summits of usefulness. He +lacks the air, the swing, the _pose_, as the sculptors say; he won't +treat, but he'll lend a little money, provided he knows where you goin' +with it. If he ain't open-hearted, he ain't precisely mean!" + +"You're right, Bee!" (General expression.) + +"Further on, it may be said that the framers of the gov'ment never +intended _all_ the patronage to go to one side. Mr. Jeff'son put _that_ +on the steelyard principle: the long beam here, the big weight of being +in the minority there. Mr. Jackson only threw it considabul more on one +side, but even he, gentlemen, didn't take the whole patronage from the +Outs; he always left 'em enough to keep up the courtesy of the thing, +and we can't go behind _him_. Not and be true to our traditions. Do I +put it right?" + +"Bee," said the youthful Lowndes Cleburn, extending his hand, "you put +it with the lucidity and spirituality of Kulhoon himself!" + +"Thanks, Cleburn," said Bee; "this is a compliment not likely to be +forgotten, coming from you. Then it is agreed, as the Chayman of yo' +Committee, that I accede to the request of Mr. Reybold, of +Pennsylvania?" + +"Aye!" from everybody. + +"And now," said Mr. Bee, "as we wair all up late at the club last +night, I propose we take a second julep, and as Reybold is coming in he +will jine us." + +"I won't give you a farthing!" cried Reybold at the door, speaking to +some one. "Chips, indeed! What shall I give you money to gamble away +for? A gambling beggar is worse than an impostor! No, sir! Emphatically +no!" + +"A dollar for four chips for brave old Beau!" said the other voice. +"I've struck 'em all but you. By the State Arms! I've got rights in +this distreek! Everybody pays toll to brave old Beau! Come down!" + +The Northern Congressman retreated before this pertinacious mendicant +into his committee-room, and his pesterer followed him closely, nothing +abashed, even into the privileged cloisters of the committee. The +Southern members enjoyed the situation. + +"Chips, Right Honorable! Chips for old Beau. Nobody this ten-year has +run as long as you. I've laid for you, and now I've fell on you. Judge +Bee, the fust business befo' yo' committee this mornin' is a assessment +for old Beau, who's 'way down! Rheu-matiz, bettin' on the black, +failure of remittances from Fauqueeah, and other casualties by wind an' +flood, have put ole Beau away down. He's a institution of his country +and must be sustained!" + +The laughter was general and cordial among the Southerners, while the +intruder pressed hard upon Mr. Reybold. He was a singular object; tall, +grim, half-comical, with a leer of low familiarity in his eyes, but his +waxed mustache of military proportions, his patch of goatee just above +the chin, his elaborately oiled hair and flaming necktie, set off his +faded face with an odd gear of finery and impressiveness. His skin was +that of an old _roue's,_ patched up and chalked, but the features were +those of a once handsome man of style and carriage. + +He wore what appeared to be a cast-off spring overcoat, out of season +and color on this blustering winter day, a rich buff waistcoat of an +embossed pattern, such as few persons would care to assume, save, +perhaps, a gambler, negro buyer, or fine "buck" barber. The assumption +of a large and flashy pin stood in his frilled shirt-bosom. He wore +watch-seals without the accompanying watch, and his pantaloons, though +faded and threadbare, were once of fine material and cut in a style of +extravagant elegance, and they covered his long, shrunken, but +aristocratic limbs, and were strapped beneath his boots to keep them +shapely. The boots themselves had been once of varnished kid or fine +calf, but they were cracked and cut, partly by use, partly for comfort; +for it was plain that their wearer had the gout, by his aristocratic +hobble upon a gold-mounted cane, which was not the least inconsistent +garniture of mendicancy. + +"Boys," said Fitzchew Smy, "I s'pose we better come down early. There's +a shillin', Beau. If I had one more such constituent as you, I should +resign or die premachorely!" + +"There's a piece o' tobacker," said Jeems Bee languidly, "all I can +afford, Beau, this mornin'. I went to a chicken-fight yesterday and +lost all my change." + +"Mine," said Box Izard, "is a regulation pen-knife, contributed by the +United States, with the regret, Beau, that I can't 'commodate you with +a pine coffin for you to git into and git away down lower than you ever +been." + +"Yaw's a dollar," said Pontotoc Bibb; "it'll do for me an' Lowndes +Cleburn, who's a poet and genius, and never has no money. This buys me +off, Beau, for a month." + +The gorgeous old mendicant took them all grimly and leering, and then +pounced upon the Northern man, assured by their twinkles and winks that +the rest expected some sport. + +"And now, Right Honorable from the banks of the Susquehanna, Colonel +Reybold--you see, I got your name; I ben a layin' for you!--come down +handsome for the Uncle and ornament of this capital and country. What's +yore's?" + +"Nothing," said Reybold in a quiet way. "I can not give a man like you +anything, even to get rid of him." + +"You're mean," said the stylish beggar, winking to the rest. "You hate +to put your hand down in yer pocket, mightily. I'd rather be ole Beau, +and live on suppers at the faro banks, than love a dollar like you!" + +"I'll make it a V for Beau," said Pontotoc Bibb, "if he gives him a rub +on the raw like that another lick. Durn a mean man, Cleburn!" + +"Come down, Northerner," pressed the incorrigible loafer again; "it +don't become a Right Honorable to be so mean with old Beau." + +The little boy on crutches, who had been looking at this scene in a +state of suspense and interest for some time, here cried hotly: + +"If you say Mr. Reybold is a mean man, you tell a story, you nasty +beggar! He often gives things to me and Joyce, my sister. He's just got +me work, which is the best thing to give; don't you think so, +gentlemen?" + +"Work," said Lowndes Cleburn, "is the best thing to give away, and the +most onhandy thing to keep. I like play the best--Beau's kind o' play!" + +"Yes," said Jeroboam Coffee; "I think I prefer to make the chips fly +out of a table more than out of a log." + +"I like to work!" cried the little boy, his hazel eyes shining, and his +poor, narrow body beating with unconscious fervor, half suspended on +his crutches, as if he were of that good descent and natural spirit +which could assert itself without bashfulness in the presence of older +people. "I like to work for my mother. If I was strong, like other +little boys, I would make money for her, so that she shouldn't keep any +boarders--except Mr. Reybold. Oh! she has to work a lot; but she's +proud and won't tell anybody. All the money I get I mean to give her; +but I wouldn't have it if I had to beg for it like that man!" + +"O Beau," said Colonel Jeems Bee, "you've cotched it now! Reybold's +even with you. Little Crutch has cooked your goose! Crutch is right +eloquent when his wind will permit." + +The fine old loafer looked at the boy, whom he had not previously +noticed, and it was observed that the last shaft had hurt his pride. +The boy returned his wounded look with a straight, undaunted, spirited +glance, out of a child's nature. Mr. Reybold was impressed with +something in the attitude of the two, which made him forget his own +interest in the controversy. + +Beau answered with a tone of nearly tender pacification: + +"Now, my little man; come, don't be hard on the old veteran! He's down, +old Beau is, sence the time he owned his blooded pacer and dined with +the _Corps Diplomatique_; Beau's down sence then; but don't call the +old feller hard names. We take it back, don't we?--we take _them_ words +back?" + +"There's a angel somewhere," said Lowndes Cleburn, "even in a +Washington bummer, which responds to a little chap on crutches with a +clear voice. Whether the angel takes the side of the bummer or the +little chap, is a p'int out of our jurisdiction. Abe, give Beau a +julep. He seems to have been demoralized by little Crutch's last." + +"Take them hard words back, Bub," whined the licensed mendicant, with +either real or affected pain; "it's a p'int of honor I'm a-standin' on. +Do, now, little Major!" + +"I shan't!" cried the boy. "Go and work like me. You're big, and you +called Mr. Reybold mean. Haven't you got a wife or little girl, or +nobody to work for? You ought to work for yourself, anyhow. Oughtn't +he, gentlemen?" + +Reybold, who had slipped around by the little cripple and was holding +him in a caressing way from behind, looked over to Beau and was even +more impressed with that generally undaunted worthy's expression. It +was that of acute and suffering sensibility, perhaps the effervescence +of some little remaining pride, or it might have been a twinge of the +gout. Beau looked at the little boy, suspended there with the weak back +and the narrow chest, and that scintillant, sincere spirit beaming out +with courage born in the stock he belonged to. Admiration, +conciliation, and pain were in the ruined vagrant's eyes. Reybold felt +a sense of pity. He put his hand in his pocket and drew forth a dollar. + +"Here, Beau," he said, "I'll make an exception. You seem to have some +feeling. Don't mind the boy!" + +In an instant the coin was flying from his hand through the air. The +beggar, with a livid face and clinched cane, confronted the Congressman +like a maniac. + +"You bilk!" he cried. "You supper customer! I'll brain you! I had +rather parted with my shoes at a dolly shop and gone gadding the hoof, +without a doss to sleep on--a town pauper, done on the vag--than to +have been made scurvy in the sight of that child and deserve his words +of shame!" + +He threw his head upon the table and burst into tears. + +II--HASH + +Mrs. Tryphonia Basil kept a boarding-house of the usual kind on +Four-and-a-Half Street. Male clerks--there were no female clerks in the +Government in 1854--to the number of half a dozen, two old bureau +officers, an architect's assistant, Reybold, and certain temporary +visitors made up the table. The landlady was the mistress; the slave +was Joyce. + +Joyce Basil was a fine-looking girl, who did not know it--a fact so +astounding as to be fitly related only in fiction. She did not know it, +because she had to work so hard for the boarders and her mother. Loving +her mother with the whole of her affection, she had suffered all the +pains and penalties of love from that repository. She was to-day +upbraided for her want of coquetry and neatness; to-morrow, for +proposing to desert her mother and elope with a person she had never +thought of. The mainstay of the establishment, she was not aware of her +usefulness. Accepting every complaint and outbreak as if she deserved +it, the poor girl lived at the capital a beautiful scullion, an +unsalaried domestic, and daily forwarded the food to the table, led in +the chamber work, rose from bed unrested and retired with all her bones +aching. But she was of a natural grace that hard work could not make +awkward; work only gave her bodily power, brawn, and form. Though no +more than seventeen years of age, she was a superb woman, her chest +thrown forward, her back like the torso of a Venus de Milo, her head +placed on the throat of a Minerva, and the nature of a child molded in +the form of a matron. Joyce Basil had black hair and eyes--very long, +excessive hair, that in the mornings she tied up with haste so +imperfectly that once Reybold had seen it drop like a cloud around her +and nearly touch her feet. At that moment, seeing him, she blushed. He +pleaded, for once, a Congressman's impudence, and without her objection +wound that great crown of woman's glory around her head, and as he did +so, the perfection of her form and skin, and the overrunning health and +height of the Virginia girl, struck him so thoroughly that he said: + +"Miss Joyce, I don't wonder that Virginia is the mother of Presidents." + +Between Reybold and Joyce there were already the delicate relations of +a girl who did not know that she was a woman and a man who knew she was +beautiful and worthy. He was a man vigilant over himself, and the +poverty and menial estate of Joyce Basil were already insuperable +obstacles to marrying her, but still he was attracted by her +insensibility that he could ever have regarded her in the light of +marriage. "Who was her father, the Judge?" he used to reflect. The +Judge was a favorite topic with Mrs. Basil at the table. + +"Mr. Reybold," she would say, "you commercial people of the Nawth can't +hunt, I believe. Jedge Basil is now on the mountains of Fawquear +hunting the plova. His grandfather's estate is full of plova." + +If, by chance, Reybold saw a look of care on Mrs. Basil's face, he +inquired for the Judge, her husband, and found he was still shooting on +the Occequan. + +"Does he never come to Washington, Mrs. Basil?" asked Reybold one day, +when his mind was very full of Joyce, the daughter. + +"Not while Congress is in session," said Mrs, Basil. "It's a little too +much of the _oi polloi_ for the Judge. His family, you may not know, +Mr. Reybold, air oi the Basils of King George. They married into the +Tayloze of Mount Snaffle. The Tayloze of Mount Snaffle have Ingin blood +in their veins--the blood of Pokyhuntus. They dropped the name of +Taylor, which had got to be common through a want of Ingin blood, and +spelled it with a E. It used to be Taylor, but now it's Tayloze." + +On another occasion, at sight of Joyce Basil cooking over the fire, +against whose flame her molded arms took momentary roses upon their +ivory, Reybold said to himself: "Surely there is something above the +common in the race of this girl." And he asked the question of Mrs. +Basil: + +"Madame, how was the Judge, your husband, at the last advices?" + +"Hunting the snipe, Mr. Reybold. I suppose you do not have the snipe in +the Nawth. It is the aristocratic fowl of the Old Dominion. Its bill is +only shorter than its legs, and it will not brown at the fire, to +perfection, unless upon a silver spit. Ah! when the Jedge and myself +were young, before his land troubles overtook us, we went to the +springs with our own silver and carriages, Mr. Reybold." + +Looking up at Mrs. Basil, Reybold noticed a pallor and flush +alternately, and she evaded his eye. + +Once Mrs. Basil borrowed a hundred dollars from Reybold in advance of +board, and the table suffered in consequence. + +"The Judge," she had explained, "is short of taxes on his Fawquear +lands. It's a desperate moment with him." Yet in two days the Judge was +shooting blue-winged teal at the mouth of the Acco-tink, and his entire +indifference to his family set Reybold to thinking whether the Virginia +husband and father was anything more than a forgetful savage. The +boarders, however, made very merry over the absent unknown. If the +beefsteak was tough, threats were made to send for "the Judge," and let +him try a tooth on it; if scant, it was suggested that the Judge might +have paid a gunning visit to the premises and inspected the larder. The +daughter of the house kept such an even temper, and was so obliging +within the limitations of the establishment, that many a boarder went +to his department without complaint, though with an appetite only +partly satisfied. The boy, Uriel, also was the guardsman of the +household, old-faced as if with the responsibility of taking care of +two women. Indeed, the children of the landlady were so well behaved +and prepossessing that, compared with Mrs. Basil's shabby _hauteur_ and +garrulity, the legend of the Judge seemed to require no other +foundation than offspring of such good spirit and intonation. + +Mrs. Tryphonia Basil was no respecter of persons. She kept boarders, +she said, as a matter of society, and to lighten the load of the Judge. +He had very little idea that she was making a mercantile matter of +hospitality, but, as she feelingly remarked, "the old families are +misplaced in such times as these yer, when the departments are filled +with Dutch, Yankees, Crackers, Pore Whites, and other foreigners." Her +manner was, at periods, insolent to Mr. Reynold, who seldom protested, +out of regard to the daughter and the little Page; he was a man of +quite ordinary appearance, saying little, never making speeches or +soliciting notice, and he accepted his fare and quarters with little or +no complaint. + +"Crutch," he said one day to the little boy, "did you ever see your +father?" + +"No, I never saw him, Mr. Reybold, but I've had letters from him." + +"Don't he ever come to see you when you are sick?" + +"No. He wanted to come once when my back was very sick, and I laid in +bed weeks and weeks, sir, dreaming, oh! such beautiful things. I +thought mamma and sister and I were all with papa in that old home we +are going to some day. He carried me up and down in his arms, and I +felt such rest that I never knew anything like it, when I woke up, and +my back began to ache again. I wouldn't let mamma send for him, though, +because she said he was working for us all to make our fortunes, and +get doctors for me, and clothes and school for dear Joyce. So I sent +him my love, and told papa to work, and he and I would bring the family +out all right." + +"What did your papa seem like in that dream, my little boy?" + +"Oh! sir, his forehead was bright as the sun. Sometimes I see him now +when I am tired at night after running all day through Congress." + +Reybold's eyes were full of tears as he listened to the boy, and, +turning aside, he saw Joyce Basil weeping also. + +"My dear girl," he said to her, looking up significantly, "I fear he +will see his great Father very soon." + +Reybold had few acquaintances, and he encouraged the landlady's +daughter to go about with him when she could get a leisure hour or +evening. Sometimes they took a seat at the theatre, more often at the +old Ascension Church, and once they attended a President's reception. +Joyce had the bearing of a well-bred lady, and the purity of thought of +a child. She was noticed as if she had been a new and distinguished +arrival in Washington. + +"Ah! Reybold," said Pontotoc Bibb, "I understand, ole feller, what +keeps you so quiet now. You've got a wife unbeknown to the Remittee! +and a happy man I know you air." + +It pleased Reybold to hear this, and deepened his interest in the +landlady's family. His attention to her daughter stirred Mrs. Basil's +pride and revolt together. + +"My daughter, Colonel Reybold," she said, "is designed for the army. +The Judge never writes to me but he says: 'Tryphonee, be careful that +you impress upon my daughter the importance of the military profession. +My mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother married into the army, +and no girl of the Basil stock shall descend to civil life while I can +keep the Fawquear estates.'" + +"Madame," said the Congressman, "will you permit me to make the +suggestion that your daughter is already a woman and needs a father's +care, if she is ever to receive it. I beseech you to impress this +subject upon the Judge. His estates can not be more precious to his +heart, if he is a man of honor; nay, what is better than honor, his +duty requires him to come to the side of these children, though he be +ever so constrained by business or pleasure to attend to more worldly +concerns." + +"The Judge," exclaimed Mrs. Basil, much miffed, "is a man of hereditary +ijees, Colonel Reybold. He is now in pursuit of the--ahem!--the +Kinvas-back on his ancestral waters. If he should hear that you suggest +a pacific life and the groveling associations of the capital for him, +he might call you out, sir!" + +Reybold said no more; but one evening when Mrs. Basil was absent, +called across the Potomac, as happened frequently, at the summons of +the Judge--and on such occasions she generally requested a temporary +loan or a slight advance of board--Reybold found Joyce Basil in the +little parlor of the dwelling. She was alone and in tears, but the +little boy Uriel slept before the chimney-fire on a rug, and his pale, +thin face, catching the glow of the burning wood, looked beautified as +Reybold addressed the young woman. + +"Miss Joyce," he said, "our little brother works too hard. Is there +never to be relief for him? His poor, withered body, slung on those +crutches for hours and hours, racing up the aisles of the House with +stronger pages, is wearing him out. His ambition is very interesting to +see, but his breath is growing shorter and his strength is frailer +every week. Do you know what it will lead to?" + +"O my Lord!" she said, in the negrofied phrase natural to her latitude, +"I wish it was no sin to wish him dead." + +"Tell me, my friend," said Reybold, "can I do nothing to assist you +both? Let me understand you. Accept my sympathy and confidence. Where +is Uriel's father? What is this mystery?" + +She did not answer. + +"It is for no idle curiosity that I ask," he continued. "I will appeal +to him for his family, even at the risk of his resentment. Where is +he?" + +"Oh, do not ask!" she exclaimed. "You want me to tell you only the +truth. He is _there_!" + +She pointed to one of the old portraits in the room--a picture fairly +painted by some provincial artist--and it revealed a handsome face, a +little voluptuous, but aristocratic, the shoulders clad in a martial +cloak, the neck in ruffles, and a diamond in the shirt bosom. Reybold +studied it with all his mind. + +"Then it is no fiction," he said, "that you have a living father, one +answering to your mother's description. Where have I seen that face? +Has some irreparable mistake, some miserable controversy, alienated him +from his wife? Has he another family?" + +She answered with spirit: + +"No, sir. He is my father and my brother's only. But I can tell you no +more." + +"Joyce," he said, taking her hand, "this is not enough. I will not +press you to betray any secret you may possess. Keep it. But of +yourself I must know something more. You are almost a woman. You are +beautiful." + +At this he tightened his grasp, and it brought him closer to her side. +She made a little struggle to draw away, but it pleased him to see that +when the first modest opposition had been tried she sat quite happily, +though trembling, with his arm around her. + +"Joyce," he continued, "you have a double duty: one to your mother and +this poor invalid, whose journey toward that Father's house not made +with hands is swiftly hastening; another duty toward your nobler self-- +the future that is in you and your woman's heart. I tell you again that +you are beautiful, and the slavery to which you are condemning yourself +forever is an offence against the creator of such perfection. Do you +know what it is to love?" + +"I know what it is to feel kindness," she answered after a time of +silence. "I ought to know no more. Your goodness is very dear to me. We +never sleep, brother and I, but we say your name together, and ask God +to bless you." + +Reybold sought in vain to suppress a confession he had resisted. The +contact of her form, her large dark eyes now fixed upon him in emotion, +the birth of the conscious woman in the virgin and her affection still +in the leashes of a slavish sacrifice, tempted him onward to the +conquest. + +"I am about to retire from Congress," he said. "It is no place for me +in times so insubstantial. There is darkness and beggary ahead for all +your Southern race. There is a crisis coming which will be followed by +desolation. The generation to which your parents belong is doomed! I +open my arms to you, dear girl, and offer you a home never yet +gladdened by a wife. Accept it, and leave Washington with me and with +your brother. I love you wholly." + +A happy light shone in her face a moment. She was weary to the bone +with the day's work and had not the strength, if she had the will, to +prevent the Congressman drawing her to his heart. Sobbing there, she +spoke with bitter agony: + +"Heaven bless you, dear Mr. Reybold, with a wife good enough to deserve +you! Blessings on your generous heart. But I can not leave Washington. +I love another here!" + +III--DUST + +The Lake and Bayou Committee reaped the reward of a good action. +Crutch, the page, as they all called Uriel Basil, affected the +sensibility of the whole committee to the extent that profanity almost +ceased there, and vulgarity became a crime in the presence of a child. +Gentle words and wishes became the rule; a glimmer of reverence and a +thought of piety were not unknown in that little chamber. + +"Dog my skin!" said Jeems Bee, "if I ever made a 'pintment that give me +sech satisfaction! I feel as if I had sot a nigger free!" + +The youthful abstractionist, Lowndes Cleburn, expressed it even better. +"Crutch," he said, "is like a angel reduced to his bones. Them air +wings or pinions, that he might have flew off with, being a pair of +crutches, keeps him here to tarry awhile in our service. But, +gentlemen, he's not got long to stay. His crutches is growing too heavy +for that expandin' sperit. Some day we'll look up and miss him through +our tears." + +They gave him many a present; they put a silver watch in his pocket, +and dressed him in a jacket with gilt buttons. He had a bouquet of +flowers to take home every day to that marvelous sister of whom he +spoke so often; and there were times when the whole committee, seeing +him drop off to sleep as he often did through frail and weary nature, +sat silently watching lest he might be wakened before his rest was +over. But no persuasion could take him off the floor of Congress. In +that solemn old Hall of Representatives, under the semicircle of gray +columns, he darted with agility from noon to dusk, keeping speed upon +his crutches with the healthiest of the pages, and racing into the +document-room, and through the dark and narrow corridors of the old +Capitol loft, where the House library was lost in twilight. Visitors +looked with interest and sympathy at the narrow back and body of this +invalid child, whose eyes were full of bright, beaming spirit. He +sometimes nodded on the steps by the Speaker's chair; and these spells +of dreaminess and fatigue increased as his disease advanced upon his +wasting system. Once he did not awaken at all until adjournment. The +great Congress and audience passed out, and the little fellow still +slept, with his head against the Clerk's desk, while all the other +pages were grouped around him, and they finally bore him off to the +committee-room in their arms, where, among the sympathetic watchers, +was old Beau. When Uriel opened his eyes the old mendicant was looking +into them. + +"Ah! little Major," he said, "poor Beau has been waiting for you to +take those bad words back. Old Beau thought it was all bob with his +little cove." + +"Beau," said the boy, "I've had such a dream! I thought my dear father, +who is working so hard to bring me home to him, had carried me out on +the river in a boat. We sailed through the greenest marshes, among +white lilies, where the wild ducks were tame as they can be. All the +ducks were diving and diving, and they brought up long stalks of celery +from the water and gave them to us. Father ate all his. But mine turned +into lilies and grew up so high that I felt myself going with them, and +the higher I went the more beautiful grew the birds. Oh! let me sleep +and see if it will be so again." + +The outcast raised his gold-headed cane and hobbled up and down the +room with a laced handkerchief at his eyes. + +"Great God!" he exclaimed, "another generation is going out, and here I +stay without a stake, playing a lone hand forever and forever." + +"Beau," said Reybold, "there's hope while one can feel. Don't go away +until you have a good word from our little passenger." + +The outstretched hand of the Northern Congressman was not refused by +the vagrant, whose eccentric sorrow yet amused the Southern +Committeemen. + +"Ole Beau's jib-boom of a mustache '11 put his eye out," said Pontotoc +Bibb, "ef he fetches another groan like that." + +"Beau's very shaky around the hams an' knees," said Box Izard; "he's +been a good figger, but even figgers can lie ef they stand up too +long." + +The little boy unclosed his eyes and looked around on all those kindly, +watching faces. + +"Did anybody fire a gun?" he said. "Oh! no. I was only dreaming that I +was hunting with father, and he shot at the beautiful pheasants that +were making such a whirring of wings for me. It was music. When can I +hunt with father, dear gentlemen?" + +They all felt the tread of the mighty hunter before the Lord very near +at hand--the hunter whose name is Death. + +"There are little tiny birds along the beach," muttered the boy. "They +twitter and run into the surf and back again, and I am one of them! I +must be, for I feel the water cold, and yet I see you all, so kind to +me! Don't whistle for me now; for I don't get much play, gentlemen! +Will the Speaker turn me out if I play with the beach birds just once? +I'm only a little boy working for my mother." + +"Dear Uriel," whispered Reybold, "here's Old Beau, to whom you once +spoke angrily. Don't you see him?" + +The little boy's eyes came back from far-land somewhere, and he saw the +ruined gamester at his feet. + +"Dear Beau," he said, "I can't get off to go home with you. They Avon't +excuse me, and I give all my money to mother. But you go to the back +gate. Ask for Joyce. She'll give you a nice warm meal every day. Go +with him, Mr. Reybold! If you ask for him it will be all right; for +Joyce--dear Joyce!--she loves you." + +The beach birds played again along the strand; the boy ran into the +foam with his companions and felt the spray once more. The Mighty +Hunter shot his bird--a little cripple that twittered the sweetest of +them all. Nothing moved in the solemn chamber of the committee but the +voice of an old forsaken man, sobbing bitterly. + +IV--CAKE + +The funeral was over, and Mr. Reybold marveled much that the Judge had +not put in an appearance. The whole committee had attended the +obsequies of Crutch and acted as pall-bearers. Reybold had escorted the +page's sister to the Congressional cemetery, and had observed even old +Beau to come with a wreath of flowers and hobble to the grave and +deposit them there. But the Judge, remorseless in death as frivolous in +life, never came near his mourning wife and daughter in their severest +sorrow. Mrs. Tryphonia Basil, seeing that this singular want of +behavior on the Judge's part was making some ado, raised her voice +above the general din of meals. + +"Jedge Basil," she exclaimed, "has been on his Tennessee purchase. +These Christmas times there's no getting through the snow in the +Cumberland Gap. He's stopped off thaw to shoot the--ahem!--the wild +torkey--a great passion with the Jedge. His half-uncle, Gineral +Johnson, of Awkinso, was a torkey-killer of high celebrity. He was a +Deshay on his Maw's side. I s'pose you haven't the torkey in the Dutch +country, Mr. Reybold?" + +"Madame," said Reybold, in a quieter moment, "have you written to the +Judge the fact of his son's death?" + +"Oh, yes--to Fawquear." + +"Mrs. Basil," continued the Congressman, "I want you to be explicit +with me. Where is the Judge, your husband, at this moment?" + +"Excuse me, Colonel Reybold, this is a little of a assumption, sir. The +Jedge might call you out, sir, for intruding upon his incog. He's very +fine on his incog., you air awair." + +"Madame," exclaimed Reybold straightforwardly, "there are reasons why I +should communicate with your husband. My term in Congress is nearly +expired. I might arouse your interest, if I chose, by recalling to your +mind the memorandum of about seven hundred dollars in which you are my +debtor. That would be a reason for seeing your husband anywhere north +of the Potomac, but I do not intend to mention it. Is he aware--are +you?--that Joyce Basil is in love with some one in this city?" + +Mrs. Basil drew a long breath, raised both hands, and ejaculated: +"Well, I declaw!" + +"I have it from her own lips," continued Reybold. "She told me as a +secret, but all my suspicions, are awakened. If I can prevent it, +madame, that girl shall not follow the example of hundreds of her class +in Washington, and descend, through the boarding-house or the lodging +quarter, to be the wife of some common and unambitious clerk, whose +penury she must some day sustain by her labor. I love her myself, but I +will never take her until I know her heart to be free. Who is this +lover of your daughter?" + +An expression of agitation and cunning passed over Mrs. Basil's face. + +"Colonel Reybold," she whined, "I pity your blasted hopes. If I was a +widow, they should be comfoted. Alas! my daughter is in love with one +of the Fitz-chews of Fawqueeah. His parents is cousins of the Jedge, +and attached to the military." + +The Congressman looked disappointed, but not yet satisfied. + +"Give me at once the address of your husband," he spoke. "If you do +not, I shall ask your daughter for it, and she can not refuse me." + +The mistress of the boarding-house was not without alarm, but she +dispelled it with an outbreak of anger. + +"If my daughter disobeys her mother," she cried, "and betrays the +Jedge's incog., she is no Basil, Colonel Reybold. The Basils repudiate +her, and she may jine the Dutch and other foreigners at her pleasure." + +"That is her only safety," exclaimed Reybold. "I hope to break every +string that holds her to yonder barren honor and exhausted soil." + +He pointed toward Virginia, and hastened away to the Capitol. All the +way up the squalid and muddy avenue of that day he mused and wondered: +"Who is Fitzhugh? Is there such a person any more than a Judge Basil? +And yet there _is_ a Judge, for Joyce has told me so. _She_, at least, +can not lie to me. At last," he thought, "the dream of my happiness is +over. Invincible in her prejudice as all these Virginians, Joyce Basil +has made her bed among the starveling First Families, and there she +means to live and die. Five years hence she will have her brood around +her. In ten years she will keep a boarding-house and borrow money. As +her daughters grow up to the stature and grace of their mother, they +will be proud and poor again and breed in and out, until the race will +perish from the earth." + +Slow to love, deeply interested, baffled but unsatisfied, Reybold made +up his mind to cut his perplexity short by leaving the city for the +county of Fauquier. As he passed down the avenue late that afternoon, +he turned into E Street, near the theatre, to engage a carriage for his +expedition. It was a street of livery stables, gambling dens, drinking +houses, and worse; murders had been committed along its sidewalks. The +more pretentious _canaille_ of the city harbored there to prey on the +hotels close at hand and aspire to the chance acquaintance of +gentlemen. As Reybold stood in an archway of this street, just as the +evening shadows deepened above the line of sunset, he saw something +pass which made his heart start to his throat and fastened him to the +spot. Veiled and walking fast, as if escaping detection or pursuit, the +figure of Joyce Basil flitted over the pavement and disappeared in a +door about at the middle of this Alsatian quarter of the capital. + +"What house is that?" he asked of a constable passing by, pointing to +the door she entered. + +"Gambling den," answered the officer. "It used to be old Phil +Pendleton's." + +Reybold knew the reputation of the house: a resort for the scions of +the old tidewater families, where hospitality thinly veiled the +paramount design of plunder. The connection established the truth of +Mrs. Basil's statement. Here, perhaps, already married to the +dissipated heir of some unproductive estate, Joyce Basil's lot was cast +forever. It might even be that she had been tempted here by some wretch +whose villany she knew not of. Reybold's brain took fire at the +thought, and he pursued the fugitive into the doorway. A negro steward +unfastened a slide and peeped at Reybold knocking in the hall; and, +seeing him of respectable appearance, bowed ceremoniously as he let +down a chain and opened the door. + +"Short cards in the front saloon," he said; "supper and faro back. +Chambers on the third floor. Walk up." + +Reybold only tarried a moment at the gaming tables, where the silent, +monotonous deal from the tin box, the lazy stroke of the markers, and +the transfer of ivory "chips" from card to card of the sweat-cloth, +impressed him as the dullest form of vice he had ever found. Treading +softly up the stairs, he was attracted by the light of a door partly +ajar, and a deep groan, as of a dying person. He peeped through the +crack of the door and beheld Joyce Basil leaning over an old man, whose +brow she moistened with her handkerchief. "Dear father," he heard her +say, and it brought consolation to more than the sick man. Reybold +threw open the door and entered into the presence of Mrs. Basil and her +daughter. The former arose with surprise and shame, and cried: + +"Jedge Basil, the Dutch have hunted you down. He's here--the Yankee +creditor." + +Joyce Basil held up her hand in imploration, but Reybold did not heed +the woman's remark. He felt a weight rising from his heart, and the +blindness of many months lifted from his eyes. The dying mortal upon +the bed, over whose face the blue billow of death was rolling rapidly, +and whose eyes sought in his daughter's the promise of mercy from on +high, was the mysterious parent who had never arrived--the Judge from +Fauquier. In that old man's long waxed mustache, crimped hair, and +threadbare finery the Congressman recognized old Beau, the outcast +gamester and mendicant, and the father of Joyce and Uriel Basil. + +"Colonel Reybold," faltered that old wreck of manly beauty and of +promise long departed, "old Beau's passing in his checks. The chant +coves will be telling to-morrow what they know of his life in the +papers, but I've dropped a cold deck on 'em these twenty years. Not one +knows old Beau, the Bloke, to be Tom Basil, cadet at West Point in the +last generation. I've kept nothing of my own but my children's good +names. My little boy never knew me to be his father. I tried to keep +the secret from my daughter, but her affection broke down my disguises. +Thank God! the old rounder's deal has run out at last. For his wife +he'll flash her diles no more, nor be taken on the vag." + +"Basil," said Reybold, "what trust do you leave to me in your family?" + +Mrs. Basil strove to interpose, but the dying man raised his voice: + +"Tryphonee can go home to Fauquier. She was always welcome there-- +without me. I was disinherited. But here, Colonel! My last drop of +blood is in the girl. She loves you." + +A rattle arose in the sinner's throat. He made an effort, and +transferred his daughter's hand to the Congressman's. Not taking it +away, she knelt with her future husband at the bedside and raised her +voice: + +"Lord, when Thou comest into Thy kingdom, remember him!" + + + +IN EACH OTHER'S SHOES +----------------------- +BY GEORGE PARSONS LATHROP + + + +_George Parsons Lathrop (born in Hawaii, August 25, 1851; died in 1898) +was literally wedded to American literature, in that he married Rose, +the second daughter of Nathaniel Hawthorne. She had inspired his +youthful poems, and now collaborated with him in several prose works, +as well as helped him materially in his master work, a biographical +edition of the works of Hawthorne. The fantastic conception of the +present story is reminiscent of the imaginative tales of his +father-in-law, but there is lacking the glamour of mysticism that +Hawthorne would have thrown around it. However, in aiming directly at +the moral sense of his readers, instead of approaching this through the +aesthetic sense, the obvious treatment of Lathrop gains in human +interest more than it loses in literary quality._ + + + +IN FACH OTHER'S SHOES +BY GEORGE PARSONS LATHROP +[Footnote: By permission of the publishers. From "True and Other +Stories" copyright, 1884, by Punk & Wagnalls.] + +I + +John Crombie had taken a room at the new apartment building, The Lorne; +having advanced so far in his experience of New York as to be aware +that if he could once establish himself in a house associated by name +with foreign places and titles his chance of securing "position" would +be greatly increased. He did not, however, take his meals in the +expensive cafe of that establishment, finding it more economical to go +to an outlandish little French restaurant, some distance away, which +had been nicknamed among those of his acquaintance who resorted to it +"The Fried Cat." This designation, based on a supposed resemblance to +the name of the proprietor, Fricat, was also believed to have value as +a sarcasm. + +It was with no pleasant sensations, therefore, that Crombie, waking on +a gray and drizzling morning of November, remembered that he must hie +him to "The Fried Cat" for an early breakfast. He was in a hurry that +day; he had a great deal to do. His room was very small and dark; he +bounced up and dressed himself, in an obscure sort of way, +surreptitiously opening the door and reaching vaguely for his shoes, +which stood just outside, ready blacked. Nor did it add to his comfort +to know that the shoes were very defective as to their soles, and would +admit the water freely from the accumulated puddles of the sidewalks. +In fact, he had been ashamed to expose their bad condition to the +porter when he put them out every night, as he was forced to do, since +they were his only pair. Drawing them on hastily, in order to conceal +his mortification from even his own mind, he sallied forth; and though +at the moment of putting them on a dim sense of something unfamiliar +crossed his mind, it was not until he reached "The Fried Cat" that he +became fully aware that he had carried off some one else's shoes. He +turned up the soles, privately, underneath the low-hanging tablecloth, +and by a brief examination convinced himself that the gaiters did not +belong to him. The test was simple: his feet were unaccountably dry, +and there were none of those breaks in the lower surface of their +leather covering which he had so often been obliged to contemplate. + +He saw at once that the porter of The Lorne had made a mistake, and +must have deposited at another apartment his own very insufficient +foot-gear; but there was no chance now to remedy the confusion. Crombie +had barely time to reach the office where he was employed. + +On an ordinary occasion he would perhaps have gone back to The Lorne +and effected an honorable exchange. This particular day, however, was +by no means an ordinary occasion. Crombie had made up his mind to take +a momentous step; and it was therefore essential that he should appear +at his desk exactly on time. + +He was a clerk in an important engraving company. For several years he +had occupied that post, without any opportunity having presented itself +for a promotion. At the best, even should he rise, what could he +expect? To be cashier, perhaps, or possibly, under exceptional +circumstances, a confidential private secretary. This prospect did not +satisfy him; he was determined to strike for something higher. + +It will naturally be inferred that he was ambitious. I am not in a +position to deny this; but all I can be certain of is, that he was in +love--which is often about the same thing. + +Several times at The Lorne he had met in the hallways or in the +elevator a young lady, who was in no small degree beautiful, and +charmed him still more by her generous presence, which conveyed the +idea of a harmonious and lovely character. She had light hair and blue +eyes, but these outward attributes were joined with a serenity and +poise of manner that indicated greater stability than is attributed, as +a rule, to individuals of her type. + +Once he happened to arrive at the main entrance just as this vision of +beauty emerged to take her place in a coupe which was waiting by the +curbstone. She dropped her card-case upon the sidewalk, and Crombie's +heart throbbed with delight as he picked it up, gave it to her, and +received her smiling thanks for his little service. Another time, as he +was descending in the elevator, a door opposite the shaft, on the +second floor, stood open, and he caught a glimpse of the apartment to +which it gave access. The room was finished in soft tints, and was full +of upholstery and hangings that lent it a dim golden atmosphere. In the +middle of it stood the young girl, clad in the palest blue, above which +her hair shone like a golden cloud on some dim evening sky. + +Slight occurrences of this sort had affected him. He learned that she +was the daughter of Littimer, the rich, widowed banker: her name was +Blanche. + +II + +In these new, stout shoes that did not belong to him Crombie trod with +a buoyancy and assurance strongly in contrast with the limp and +half-hearted pace to which his old, shabby gaiters had formerly +inclined him. He rattled down the stairs of the elevated station with +an alacrity almost bumptious; and the sharp, confident step that +announced his entrance into the company's office made the other clerks +quite ashamed of their own want of spirit. + +He worked at his desk until noon; but when the bells of Trinity rang +twelve in solemn music over the busy streets, he dropped his pen, +walked with a decisive air the length of the room, and, opening a door +at the other end, presented himself before Mr. Blatchford, the +treasurer, who was also an influential director. "Crombie, eh? Well, +what is it?" + +"I want to speak with you a moment, sir." + +"Anything important? I'm busy." + +"Yes, sir; quite important--to me. Possibly it may be to you." + +"Fire away, then; but cut it short." Mr. Blatchford's dense, +well-combed gray side-whiskers were directed toward the young man in an +aggressive way, as if they had been some sort of weapon. + +Crombie nonchalantly settled himself in a chair, at ease. + +"I am tired of being a clerk," he said. "I'm going to be a director in +this company." + +"I guess you're going to be an inmate of a lunatic asylum," Mr. +Blatchford remarked with astonished cheerfulness. + +"That seems as unlikely to me as the other thing does to you," said +Crombie. + +Hereupon Mr. Blatchford became sarcastically deferential. "And just +about when do you propose to become a director?" he asked. + +"In the course of a month. The election, I believe, takes place in +December." + +"Quite right," said his senior, whose urbanity was meant to be +crushing. "Meanwhile, you will need leisure to attend to this little +matter. Suppose I oblige you by saying that the company has no further +need of your services?" + +"Suppose you do. What then?" + +Mr. Blatchford gave way to his anger. "What then? Why, then you would +have to go; that's all. You would be thrown out of employment. You +would have to live on your principal, as long as there was any; and +afterward you would be obliged to find some other work, or beg, or +borrow, or--" + +"That's enough," said Crombie, rising with dignity. + +"No, it isn't," the treasurer declared, "for you don't seem to +understand even now. I discharge you, Mr. Crombie, on the company's +behalf, and you may leave this office at once." + +Crombie bowed and went out. "I'm going to be a director, all the same," +he told Mr. Blatchford before he closed the door. Then he collected the +few articles that belonged to him from his desk, and departed, a free +man. He had his future to himself; or else he had no future worth +speaking of; he wasn't sure which. Nevertheless, he felt quite happy. +Such a result as this had seemed to him, in the prospect, hardly +possible; but now that it had arrived he was not discomfited. Unbounded +courage seemed to rise from the stout soles of the alien boots, +percolating through his whole system. He was surprised at himself. He +had intended to use more diplomacy with Mr. Blatchford, and it was no +joke to him to lose his place. But instead of feeling despondent, or +going at once in search of new employment, he cheerfully went about +making calls on several gentlemen who, he thought, might be induced to +aid in his ambitious project. His manner was that of a person sure of +his powers and enjoying a well-earned leisure. It had its effect. Two +or three stockholders of the company joined in agreeing with him that +improved methods could be introduced into its management, and that it +would be a good thing to have in the board, say, two young, fresh, +active men--of whom Crombie, by reason of his experience and training, +should be one. + +"I own a little stock," said the deposed clerk, who had taken the +precaution to obtain a couple of shares by great effort in saving. +"Besides, not having any other engrossing interests at present, I could +give my whole attention to the company's affairs." + +"Quite so," said the merchant whom he was addressing, comfortably. "We +must see if we can get together a majority; no time to be lost, you +know." + +"No, sir. I shall go right to work; and perhaps you will speak to some +of your friends, and give me some names." + +"Certainly. Come in again pretty soon; will you?" + +Crombie saw that he had a good foundation to build upon already. +Blatchford was not popular, even among the other directors; and sundry +stockholders, as well as people having business with the company, had +conceived a strong dislike of him on account of his overbearing +manners. Therefore it would not be hard to enlist sympathy for a +movement obnoxious to him. But it was imperative that the +self-nominated candidate should acquire more of the stock; and to do +this capital must be had. Crombie did not see quite how it was to be +got; he had no sufficient influence with the bankers. + +The afternoon was nearly spent, and he trudged uptown, thinking of the +ways and means. But though the problem was far from solved, he still +continued in a state of extraordinary buoyancy. Those shoes, those +shoes! He was so much impressed by their comfort and the service they +had done him in making a good appearance that he resolved to get a new +pair of his own. He stopped and bought them; then kept on toward The +Lorne, carrying his purchase under his arm without embarrassment. The +cold drizzle had ceased, and the sunset came out clear and golden, +dipping its bright darts into the shallow pools of wet on the pavement, +and somehow mingling with his financial dreams a dream of that fair +hair that gave a glory to Miss Blanche's face. + +On regaining his modest apartment he sent for the boot-boy, and +inquired the whereabouts of his missing shoes. + +"Couldn't tell you, sir," said the servant. "Pretty near all the men's +boots in the house has gone out, you see, and they'll only be coming +back just about now. I'll look out for 'em, sir, and nab 'em as soon as +they show up." + +"All right. Whose are these that I've been wearing?" + +The boy took them, turned them over, and examined them with the eye of +a connoisseur in every part. "Them? I should say, sir, them was Mr. +Littimer's." + +Crombie blushed with mortification. Of all the dwellers in The Lorne, +this was the very one with whom it was the most embarrassing to have +such a complication occur; and yet, strange inconsistency! he had been +longing for any accident, no matter how absurd or fantastic, that could +bring him some chance of an acquaintance with Blanche. + +"Take these boots, dry them right away, and give 'em a shine. Then +carry them up to Mr. Littimer's rooms." He gave the boy a quarter: he +was becoming reckless. + +Now that he had embarked upon a new career, he perceived the +impropriety of a future director in the Engraving Company going to dine +at "The Fried Cat," and so resolved to take his dinner in the gorgeous +cafe of The Lorne. While he was waiting for the proper moment to +descend thither, he could not get the shoe question out of his mind. +Surely, the boot-boy could not have been so idiotic as to have left +that ancient, broken-down pair at Littimer's threshold! And yet it was +possible. Crombie felt another flush of humility upon his cheeks. Then +he wandered off into reverie upon the multifarious errands of all the +pairs of boots and shoes that had gone forth from the great apartment +house that day. Patter, patter, patter! tramp, tramp!--he imagined he +heard them all walking, stamping, shuffling along toward different +parts of the city, with many different objects, and sending back +significant echoes. Whither had his own ruinous Congress gaiters +gone?--to what destination which they would never have reached had he +been in them? Had they carried their temporary possessor into any such +worriment and trouble as he himself had often traveled through on their +worn but faithful soles? + +Breaking off from these idle fancies at length, he went down to the +cafe; and there he had the pleasure of dining at a table not far from +Blanche Littimer. But, to his surprise, she was alone. Her father did +not appear during the meal. + +III + +The fact was that the awful possibility, mere conjecture of which had +frightened Crombie, had occurred. Littimer had received the young man's +shoes in place of his own. + +They happened to fit him moderately well; so that he, likewise, did not +notice the exchange until he had started for his office. He believed in +walking the entire distance, no matter what the weather; and to this +practice he made rare exceptions. But he had not progressed very far +before he became annoyed by an unaccustomed intrusion of dampness that +threatened him with a cold. He looked down, carefully surveyed the +artificial casing of his extremities, and decided to hail the first +unoccupied coupe he should meet. It was some time before he found one; +and when finally he took his seat in the luxurious little bank parlor +at Broad Street, his feet were quite wet. + +His surprise at this occurrence was doubled when, on taking off the +shoes and scrutinizing them more closely, he ascertained that they were +the work of his usual maker. What had happened to him? Was he dreaming? +It seemed to him that he had gone back many years; that he was a poor +young man again, entering upon his first struggle for a foothold in the +crowded, selfish, unhomelike metropolis. He remembered the day when +_he_ had worn shoes like these. + +He sent out for an assortment of new ones, from which, with unnecessary +lavishness, he chose and kept three or four pairs. All the rest of the +day, nevertheless, those sorry Congress boots of Crombie's, which he +had directed his office-boy to place beside the soft-coal fire, for +drying, faced him with a sort of haunting look. However much he might +be occupied with weightier matters, he could not keep his eyes from +straying in that direction; and whenever they rested on that battered +"right" and that way-worn "left," turned up in that mute, appealing +repose and uselessness at the fender, his thoughts recurred to his +early years of trial and poverty. Ah! how greatly he had changed since +then! On some accounts he could almost wish that he were poor again. +But when he remembered Blanche, he was glad, for her sake, that he was +rich. + +But if for her sake, why not for others? Perhaps he had been rather +selfish, not only about Blanche, but toward her. His conscience began +to reproach him. Had he made for her a large life? Since her mother's +premature death, had he instilled into her sympathies, tastes, +companionships that would make her existence the richer? Had he not +kept her too much to himself? On the other hand, he had gratified all +her material wants; she could wear what she pleased, she could go where +she chose, she had acquaintances of a sort becoming to the daughter of +a wealthy man. Yet there was something lacking. What did she know about +old, used-up boots and all that pertains to them? What did she know +about indigence, real privation, and brave endurance, such as a hundred +thousand fellow-creatures all around her were undergoing? + +Somehow it dawned upon the old banker that if she knew about all these +things and had some share in them, albeit only through sympathy and +helping, she might be happier, more truly a woman, than she was now. + +As he sat alone, in revery, he actually heaved a deep sigh. A sigh is +often as happy a deliverance as a laugh, in this world of sorrows. It +was the first that had escaped Littimer in years. Let us say that it +was a breathing space, which gave him time for reflection; it marked +the turning of a leaf; it was the beginning of a new chapter in his +life. + +Before he left the bank he locked the door of the private parlor, and +was alone for two or three minutes. The office boy was greatly puzzled +the next morning, when he found all the new pairs of shoes ranged +intact in the adjoining cupboard. The old ones were missing. + +Littimer had gone away in them, furtively. He was ashamed of his own +impulse. + +This time he resolutely remained afoot instead of hiring a carriage. He +despatched a messenger to Blanche, saying that sudden business would +prevent his returning to dinner, and continued indefinitely on his +way--whither? As to that he was by no means certain; he knew only that +he must get out of the beaten track, out of the ruts. For an hour or +two he must cease to be Littimer, the prosperous moneyed man, and must +tread once more the obscure paths through which he had made his way to +fortune. He could hardly have explained the prompting which he obeyed. +Could it have had anything to do with the treacherous holes in the +bottoms of those old shoes? + +As it chanced, he passed by "The Fried Cat"; and, clingy though the +place was, lie felt an irresistible desire to enter it. Seating +himself, he ordered the regular dinner of the day. The light was dim; +the tablecloth was dirty; the attendance was irregular and distracted. +Littimer took one sip of the sour wine--which had a flavor resembling +vinegar and carmine ink in equal parts--and left the further contents +of his bottle untasted. The soup, the stew, and the faded roast that +were set before him, he could scarcely swallow; but a small cup of +coffee at the end of the wellnigh Barmecide repast came in very +palatably. + +In default of prandial attractions, Littimer tried to occupy himself by +looking at the people around him. The omnifarious assembly included +pale, prim-whiskered young clerks; shabby, lonely, sallow young women, +whose sallowness and shabbiness stamped them with the mark of +integrity; other females whose specious splendor was not nearly so +reassuring; old men, broken-down men, middle-aged men of every +description, except the well-to-do. + +"Some of them," Littimer reflected, "are no worse than I am. But are +any of them really any better?" + +He could not convince himself that they were; yet his sympathies, +somehow, went out toward this motley crowd. It appeared to him very +foolish that he should sympathize, but he could not help it. "And, +after all," was the next thought that came to him, "are we to give pity +to people, or withhold it, simply because they are better or worse than +ourselves? No; there is something more in it than that." + +Leaving "The Fried Cat" abruptly, he betook himself to an acquaintance +who, he knew, was very active in charities--a man who worked +practically, and gave time to the work. + +"Do you visit any of your distress cases to-night?" he asked. + +"Yes, I shall make a few calls," answered the man of charity. "Would +you like to go along?" + +"Very much." + +So the two started out together. The places they went to were of +various kinds, and revealed a considerable diversity of misfortune. +Sometimes they entered tenement houses of the most wretched character; +but in other instances they went to small and cheap but decent lodgings +over the shops on West Side avenues, or even penetrated into +boarding-houses of such good appearance that the banker was surprised +to find his friend's mission carrying him thither. All the cases, +however, had been studied, and were vouched for; and several were those +of young men and women having employment, but temporarily disabled, and +without friends who could help them. + +"You do well to help these beginners, at critical times," said the +banker, with satisfaction. "I take a special interest in them." + +It was almost the same as if he were receiving relief himself. Who +knows? Perhaps he was; but to the outward eye it appeared merely that, +with his friend's sanction, he was dispensing money and offers of +goodwill to the needy. What a strange freak it was, though, in +Littimer! He kept on with the work until quite late in the evening, +regardless of the risk he ran by continuing out-of-doors when so ill +shod. + +I think he had some idea in his mind that he was performing an act of +penance. + +IV + +Having waited a reasonable length of time after dinner, Crombie again +left his room, resolved to make a call upon Mr. Littimer, on the plea +of apologizing for having marched away with his shoes. + +He would not run the risk, by sending his card, of being denied as a +stranger; so, notwithstanding much hesitation and tremor, he approached +the door which he had once seen standing open, and knocked. A voice +which he now heard for the second time in his life, but which was so +sweet and crept so naturally into the centre of his heart that the +thought of it seemed always to have been there, answered: "Come in." +And he did come in. + +"Is Mr. Lit--is your father at home?" It seemed to bring him a little +nearer to her to say "your father." + +Blanche had risen from the chair where she was reading, and looked very +much surprised. "Oh," she exclaimed, with girlish simplicity, "I +thought it was the waiter! N-no; he hasn't come home yet." + +"I beg pardon. Then perhaps I'd better call later." Crombie made a +feeble movement toward withdrawal. + +"Did you want to see him on business? Who shall I tell him?" + +"Mr. Crombie, please. It's nothing very important." + +"Oh," said Blanche, with a little blush at her own deception, "haven't +I seen you in the house before? Are you staying here?" + +She remembered distinctly the incident of the card-case, and how very +nice she had thought him, both on that occasion and every time she had +seen him. But as for him, his heart sank at the vague impersonality +with which she seemed to regard him. + +"Yes, I'm here, and can easily come in again." + +"I expect my father almost any moment," she said. "Would you like to +wait?" + +What an absurd question, to one in his frame of mind! "Well, really, it +is such a very small matter," he began, examining his hat attentively. +Then he glanced up at her again, and smiled: "I only wanted to--to make +an apology." + +"An apology!" echoed Blanche, becoming rather more distant. "Oh, dear! +I'm very sorry, I'm sure. I didn't know there'd been any trouble." She +began to look anxious, and turned her eyes upon the smouldering fire in +the grate. So this was to be the end of her pleasant, cheerful reveries +about this nice young man. And the reveries had been more frequent than +she had been aware of until now. + +"There has been no trouble," he assured her, eagerly. "Just a little +mistake that occurred; and, in fact, I was hardly responsible for it." + +Blanche's eyes began to twinkle with a new and amusing interpretation. +"Ah!" she cried, "are you the gentleman who--" Then she stopped short. + +Crombie was placed in an unexpected embarrassment. How could he +possibly drag into his conversation with this lovely young creature so +commonplace and vulgar a subject as shoe-leather! Ignoring her +unfinished question, he asked: "Do you know, Miss Littimer, whether +the--a--one of the servants here has brought up anything for your +father--that is, a parcel, a--" + +"A pair of shoes?" Blanche broke in, her eyes dancing, while her lips +parted in a smile. + +"Yes, yes; that's what I meant." + +"They came up just after dinner," Blanche returned. "Then you _are_ the +gentleman." + +"I'm afraid I am," Crombie owned, and they both laughed. + +Blanche quietly, and with no apparent intention, resumed her chair; and +this time Crombie took a seat without waiting to be invited again. Thus +they fell to talking in the friendliest way. + +"I can't imagine what has become of papa," said Blanche. "He sent word, +in the most mysterious manner, that he had an engagement; and it is so +unusual! Perhaps it's something about the new house he's +building--up-town, you know. Dear me! it does make so much trouble, and +I don't believe I shall like it half as well as these little, cosey +rooms." + +The little, cosey rooms were as the abode of giants compared with +Crombie's contracted quarters; but he drew comfort from what she said, +thinking how such sentiments might make it possible to win even so +unattainable an heiress into some modest home of his own. + +"You don't know till you try it," he replied. "Just think of having a +place all to yourself, belonging to you." + +Blanche lifted her eyebrows, and a little sigh escaped her. She was +reflecting, perhaps, that a place all to herself would be rather +lonely. + +"You have never met my father?" she asked. + +"No. I have seen him." + +"Well, I think you will like him when you know him." + +"I don't doubt it!" Crombie exclaimed with fervor, worshiping the very +furniture that surrounded Blanche. + +"I hope we may become better acquainted." + +"Only I think, Mr. Crombie, he will owe you an apology now." + +"Why?" + +"For keeping your shoes out so late." + +"My shoes!" said the young man, in vehement surprise. + +"Why, yes. Didn't you know they came to him? The porter said so." + +Crombie grew red with the sense of his disgrace in having his +poverty-stricken boots come to the knowledge of the banker. Really, his +mortification was so great that the accident seemed to him to put an +end to all his hopes of further relations with Blanche and her father. + +"Oh, I assure you," he said, rising, "that makes no difference at all! +I'm sorry I mentioned the matter. Pray tell Mr. Littimer not to think +of it. I--I believe I'd better go now, Miss Littimer." + +Blanche rose too, and Crombie was on the point of bowing a good-night, +when the door opened, and a weary figure presented itself on the +threshold; the figure of a short man with a spare face, and whiskers in +which gray mingled with the sandy tint. He had a pinched, half-growling +expression, was draped in a light, draggled overcoat, and carried an +umbrella, the ribs of which hung loose around the stick. + +"There's papa this moment!" cried Blanche. + +Crombie perceived that escape was impossible, and, in a few words, the +reason of his presence there was made known to the old gentleman. + +Littimer examined the visitor swiftly, from head to foot--especially +the foot. He advanced to the fire, toasted first one and then the other +of the damp gaiters he had on? and at length broke out, in a tone +bordering on reproach: "So you are the owner, are you? Then my sympathy +has all been wasted! Why, I supposed, from the condition of these +machines that I've been lugging around with me half the day that you +must be in the greatest distress. And, lo and behold! I find you a +young fellow in prime health, spruce and trim, doing well, I should +say, and perfectly happy." + +"I can't help that, sir," retorted Crombie, nettled, but speaking with +respect. "I confess I was very happy until a moment or two ago." + +"What do you mean by that?" the other demanded, with half-yielding +pugnacity. "Till I came in--is that the idea?" + +"Oh, papa!" said Banche, softly. + +"Well, honey-bee, what's the matter?" her father asked, trying to be +gruff. "Can't I say what I like, here?" But he surrendered at once by +adding: "You may be sure I don't want to offend any one. Sit down, Mr. +Crombie, and wait just a few moments while I go into the other room and +rejuvenate my hoofs, so to speak--for I fear I've made a donkey of +myself." + +He disappeared into an adjoining room with Blanche, who there informed +him artlessly of Crombie's consideration and attentiveness in restoring +the errant shoes. When they came back Littimer insisted upon having the +young man remain a little longer and drink a glass of port with him. +Before taking his departure, however, Crombie, who felt free to speak +since Blanche had retired, made a brief statement in satisfaction of +conscience. + +"You hinted," he said, "that you judged me to be doing well. I don't +want to leave you with a false impression. The truth is, I am not doing +well. I have no money to speak of, and to-day I lost the position on +which I depended." + +"You don't tell me!" Littimer's newly roused charitable impulses came +to the fore. "Why, now you begin to be really interesting, Mr. +Crombie." + +"Thanks," said Crombie; "I'm not ambitious to interest people in that +way, I told you only because I thought it fair." + +"Don't be touchy, my dear sir," answered the banker. "I meant what I +said. Come, let's see what can be done. Have you any scheme in view?" + +"Yes, I have," said Crombie, with decision. + +Littimer gave a grunt. He was afraid of people with schemes, and was +disappointed with the young man's want of helplessness. Dependence +would have been an easier thing to deal with. + +"Well," said he, "we must talk it over. Come and see me at the bank +to-morrow. You know the address." + +The next day Crombie called at the bank; but Littimer was not there. He +was not very well, it was said; had not come down-town. Crombie did +what he could toward organizing his fight for a directorship, and then +returned to The Lorne, where he punctually inquired after Mr. +Littimer's health, and learned that the banker's ardor in making the +rounds among distressed people the night before had been followed by +reaction into a bad cold, with some threat of pneumonia. Blanche was +plainly anxious. The attack lasted three or four days, and Crombie, +though the affair of the directorship was pressing for attention, could +not forbear to remain as near as possible to Blanche, offering every +aid within his power, so far as he might without overstepping the lines +of his very recent acquaintance. But the Littimers did not, according +to his observation, number any very intimate companions in their +circle, or at least had not many friends who would be assiduous in such +an emergency. Perhaps their friends were too busy with social +engagements. Consequently, he saw a good deal of Blanche, and became to +her an object of reliance. + +Well, it was simply one of those things that happen only in fairy tales +or in romances--or in real life. Littimer recovered without any serious +illness, and, after a brief conference with Crombie, entered heartily +into the young man's campaign. Crombie showed him just what +combinations could be formed, how success could be achieved, and what +lucrative results might be made to ensue. He conquered by figures and +by lucid common-sense. Littimer agreed to buy a number of shares in the +Engraving Company, which he happened to know could be purchased, and to +advance Crombie a good sum with which to procure a portion of the same +lot. But before this agreement could be consummated, Crombie, with his +usual frankness, said to the banker: + +"I will conceal nothing from you, Mr. Littimer. I fell in love with +Blanche before I knew her, and if this venture of mine succeeds, I +shall ask her to become my wife." + +"Let us attend to business," said Littimer, severely. "Sentiment can +take care of itself." + +Their manoeuvre went on so vigorously that Blatchford became alarmed, +and sent an ambassador to arrange a compromise; but by this time +Crombie had determined to oust Blatchford himself and elect an entirely +new set of men, to compose more than half the Board, and so control +everything. + +He succeeded. + +But Littimer did not forget the charitable enthusiasm which had been +awakened by a circumstance on the surface so trivial as the mistake of +a boot-boy. He did not desist from his interest in aiding disabled or +unfortunate people who could really be aided. Some time after Crombie +had achieved his triumph in the Engraving Company, and had repaid +Littimer's loan, he was admitted to a share in the banking business; +and eventually the head of the house was able to give a great deal of +attention to perfecting his benevolent plans. + +When the details of their wedding were under discussion, Crombie said +to Blanche: "Oughtn't we to have an old shoe thrown after the carriage +as we drive away?" + +She smiled; looked him full in the eyes with a peculiar tenderness in +which there was a bright, delicious sparkle of humor. "No; old shoes +are much too useful to be wasted that way." + +Somehow she had possessed herself of that particular, providential +pair; and, though I don't want anybody to laugh at my two friends, I +must risk saying that I suspect Mrs. Crombie of preserving it somewhere +to this day, in the big new house up-town. + + + +THE DENVER EXPRESS +------------------ +BY A. A. HAYES + + + +_Augustus Alien Hayes (born in New England in 1837, died in 1892) was +the author of two works relating to the Far West which have placed on +permanent record an interesting phase, now forever past, of the +development of civilisation in that region. "New Colorado and the Santa +Fe Trail" is a descriptive book yielding the information of fact +concerning the pioneer period of settlement in that region; and "The +Denver Express" is a stirring piece of fiction vividly reproducing the +spirit of those days when the forces of social order introduced by the +railroad were battling with the primitive elements of vice and crime. +The latter story, which is here reproduced, appeared in an English +magazine, "Belgravia," where it was most favorably received by readers +whose appetite for such fiction had already been whetted by the tales +of Bret Harte._ + + + +THE DENVER EXPRESS +BY A. A. HAYES +[Footnote: From "Belgravia" for January, 1884] + +Any one who has seen an outward-bound clipper ship getting under way, +and heard the "shanty-songs" sung by the sailors as they toiled at +capstan and halliards, will probably remember that rhymeless but +melodious refrain-- + +"I'm bound to see its muddy waters, + Yeo ho! that rolling river; +Bound to see its muddy waters, + Yeo ho! the wild Missouri." + +Only a happy inspiration could have impelled Jack to apply the +adjective "wild" to that ill-behaved and disreputable river which, +tipsily bearing its enormous burden of mud from the far Northwest, +totters, reels, runs its tortuous course for hundreds on hundreds of +miles; and which, encountering the lordly and thus far well-behaved +Mississippi at Alton, and forcing its company upon this splendid river +(as if some drunken fellow should lock arms with a dignified +pedestrian), contaminates it all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. + +At a certain point on the banks of this river, or rather--as it has the +habit of abandoning and destroying said banks--at a safe distance +therefrom, there is a town from which a railroad takes its departure, +for its long climb up the natural incline of the Great Plains, to the +base of the mountains; hence the importance to this town of the large +but somewhat shabby building serving as terminal station. In its smoky +interior, late in the evening and not very long ago, a train was nearly +ready to start. It was a train possessing a certain consideration. For +the benefit of a public easily gulled and enamored of grandiloquent +terms, it was advertised as the "Denver Fast Express"; sometimes, with +strange unfitness, as the "Lightning Express"; "elegant" and "palatial" +cars were declared to be included therein; and its departure was one of +the great events of the twenty-four hours in the country round about. A +local poet described it in the "live" paper of the town, cribbing from +an old Eastern magazine and passing off as original the lines-- + +"Again we stepped into the street, + A train came thundering by, +Drawn by the snorting iron steed + Swifter than eagles fly. +Rumbled the wheels, the whistle shrieked, + Far rolled the smoky cloud, +Echoed the hills, the valleys shook, + The flying forests bowed." + +The trainmen, on the other hand, used no fine phrases. They called it +simply "Number Seventeen"; and, when it started, said it had "pulled +out." + +On the evening in question, there it stood, nearly ready. Just behind +the great hissing locomotive, with its parabolic headlight and its +coal-laden tender, came the baggage, mail, and express cars; then the +passenger coaches, in which the social condition of the occupants +seemed to be in inverse ratio to their distance from the engine. First +came emigrants, "honest miners," "cowboys," and laborers; Irishmen, +Germans, Welshmen, Mennonites from Russia, quaint of garb and speech, +and Chinamen. Then came long cars full of people of better station, and +last the great Pullman "sleepers," in which the busy black porters were +making up the berths for well-to-do travelers of diverse nationalities +and occupations. + +It was a curious study for a thoughtful observer, this motley crowd of +human beings sinking all differences of race, creed, and habits in the +common purpose to move westward--to the mountain fastnesses, the +sage-brush deserts and the Golden Gate. + +The warning bell had sounded, and the fireman leaned far out for the +signal. The gong struck sharply the conductor shouted, "All aboard," +and raised his hand; the tired ticket-seller shut his window, and the +train moved out of the station, gathered way as it cleared the +outskirts of the town, rounded a curve, entered on an absolutely +straight line, and, with one long whistle from the engine, settled down +to its work. Through the night hours it sped on, past lonely ranches +and infrequent stations, by and across shallow streams fringed with +cottonwood trees, over the greenish-yellow buffalo grass near the old +trail where many a poor emigrant, many a bold frontiersman, many a +brave soldier, had laid his bones but a short time before. + +Familiar as they may be, there is something strangely impressive about +all-night journeys by rail, and those forming part of an American +transcontinental trip are almost weird. From the windows of a night +express in Europe or the older portions of the United States, one looks +on houses and lights, cultivated fields, fences, and hedges; and, +hurled as he may be through the darkness, he has a sense of +companionship and semi-security. Far different is it when the long +train is running over those two rails which, seen before night set in, +seem to meet on the horizon. Within all is as if between two great +seaboard cities; the neatly dressed people, the uniformed officials, +the handsome fittings, the various appliances for comfort. Without are +now long dreary levels, now deep and wild canyons, now an environment +of strange and grotesque rock-formations, castles, battlements, +churches, statues. The antelope fleetly runs, and the coyote skulks +away from the track, and the gray wolf howls afar off. It is for all +the world, to one's fancy, as if a bit of civilization, a family or +community, its belongings and surroundings complete, were flying +through regions barbarous and inhospitable. + +From the cab of Engine No. 32, the driver of the Denver Express saw, +showing faintly in the early morning, the buildings grouped about the +little station ten miles ahead, where breakfast awaited his passengers. +He looked at his watch; he had just twenty minutes in which to run the +distance, as he had run it often before. Something, however, traveled +faster than he. From the smoky station out of which the train passed +the night before, along the slender wire stretched on rough poles at +the side of the track, a spark of that mysterious something which we +call electricity flashed at the moment he returned the watch to his +pocket; and in five minutes' time the station-master came out on the +platform, a little more thoughtful than his wont, and looked eastward +for the smoke of the train. With but three of the passengers in that +train has this tale especially to do, and they were all in the new and +comfortable Pullman "City of Cheyenne." One was a tall, well-made man +of about thirty--blond, blue-eyed, bearded, straight, sinewy, alert. Of +all in the train he seemed the most thoroughly at home, and the +respectful greeting of the conductor, as he passed through the car, +marked him as an officer of the road. Such was he--Henry Sinclair, +assistant engineer, quite famed on the line, high in favor with the +directors, and a rising man in all ways. It was known on the road that +he was expected in Denver, and there were rumors that he was to +organize the parties for the survey of an important "extension." Beside +him sat his pretty young wife. She was a New Yorker--one could tell at +first glance--from the feather of her little bonnet, matching the gray +traveling dress, to the tips of her dainty boots; and one, too, at whom +old Fifth Avenue promenaders would have turned to look. She had a +charming figure, brown hair, hazel eyes, and an expression at once +kind, intelligent, and spirited. She had cheerfully left a luxurious +home to follow the young engineer's fortunes; and it was well known +that those fortunes had been materially advanced by her tact and +cleverness. + +The third passenger in question had just been in conversation with +Sinclair and the latter was telling his wife of their curious meeting. +Entering the toilet-room at the rear of the car, he said, he had begun +his ablutions by the side of another man, and it was as they were +sluicing their faces with water that he heard the cry: + +"Why, Major, is that you? Just to think of meeting you here!" + +A man of about tweny-eight years of age, slight, muscular, wiry, had +seized his wet hand and was wringing it. He had black eyes, keen and +bright, swarthy complexion, black hair and mustache. A keen observer +might have seen about him some signs of a _jeunesse orageuse_, but his +manner was frank and pleasing. Sinclair looked him in the face, puzzled +for a moment. + +"Don't you remember Foster?" asked the man. + +"Of course I do," replied Sinclair. "For a moment I could not place +you. Where have you been and what have you been doing?" + +"Oh," replied Foster, laughing, "I've braced up and turned over a new +leaf. I'm a respectable member of society, have a place in the express +company, and am going to Denver to take charge." + +"I am very glad to hear it, and you must tell me your story when we +have had our breakfast." + +The pretty young woman was just about to ask who Foster was, when the +speed of the train slackened, and the brakeman opened the door of the +car and cried out in stentorian tones: + +"Pawnee Junction; twenty minutes for refreshments!" + +II + +When the celebrated Rocky Mountain gold excitement broke out, more than +twenty years ago, and people painted "PIKE'S PEAK OR BUST" on the +canvas covers of their wagons and started for the diggings, they +established a "trail" or "trace" leading in a southwesterly direction +from the old one to California. + +At a certain point on this trail a frontiersman named Barker built a +forlorn ranch-house and _corral_, and offered what is conventionally +called "entertainment for man and beast." + +For years he lived there, dividing his time between fighting the +Indians and feeding the passing emigrants and their stock. Then the +first railroad to Denver was built, taking another route from the +Missouri, and Barker's occupation was gone. He retired with his gains +to St. Louis and lived in comfort. + +Years passed on, and the "extension" over which our train is to pass +was planned. The old pioneers were excellent natural engineers and +their successors could find no better route than they had chosen. Thus +it was that "Barker's" became, during the construction period, an +important point, and the frontiersman's name came to figure on +time-tables. Meanwhile the place passed through a process of evolution +which would have delighted Darwin. In the party of engineers which +first camped there was Sinclair and it was by his advice that the +contractors selected it for division headquarters. Then came drinking +"saloons" and gambling houses--alike the inevitable concomitant and the +bane of Western settlements; then scattered houses and shops and a +shabby so-called hotel, in which the letting of miserable rooms +(divided from each other by canvas partitions) was wholly subordinated +to the business of the bar. Before long, Barker's had acquired a worse +reputation than even other towns of its type, the abnormal and uncanny +aggregations of squalor and vice which dotted the plains in those days; +and it was at its worst when Sinclair returned thither and took up his +quarters in the engineers' building. The passion for gambling was +raging, and to pander thereto were collected as choice a lot of +desperadoes as ever "stacked" cards or loaded dice. It came to be +noticed that they were on excellent terms with a man called "Jeff" +Johnson, who was lessee of the hotel; and to be suspected that said +Johnson, in local parlance, "stood in with" them. With this man had +come to Barker's his daughter Sarah, commonly known as "Sally," a +handsome girl, with a straight, lithe figure, fine features, reddish +auburn hair, and dark-blue eyes. It is but fair to say that even the +"toughs" of a place like Barker's show some respect for the other sex, +and Miss Sally's case was no exception to the rule. The male population +admired her; they said she "put on heaps of style"; but none of them +had seemed to make any progress in her good graces. + +On a pleasant afternoon just after the track had been laid some miles +west of Barker's, and construction trains were running with some +regularity to and from the end thereof, Sinclair sat on the rude +veranda of the engineers' quarters, smoking his well-colored meerschaum +and looking at the sunset. The atmosphere had been so clear during the +day that glimpses were had of Long's and Pike's peaks, and as the young +engineer gazed at the gorgeous cloud display he was thinking of the +miners' quaint and pathetic idea that the dead "go over the Range." + +"Nice-looking, ain't it, Major?" asked a voice at his elbow, and he +turned to see one of the contractors' officials taking a seat near him. + +"More than nice-looking to my mind, Sam," he replied. "What is the news +to-day?" + +"Nothin' much. There's a sight of talk about the doin's of them faro +an' keno sharps. The boys is gettin' kind o' riled, fur they allow the +game ain't on the square wuth a cent. Some of 'em down to the tie-camp +wuz a-talkin' about a vigilance committee, an' I wouldn't be surprised +ef they meant business. Hev yer heard about the young feller that come +in a week ago from Laramie an' set up a new faro-bank?" + +"No. What about him?" + +"Wa'al, yer see he's a feller thet's got a lot of sand an' ain't +afeared of nobody, an' he's allowed to hev the deal to his place on the +square every time. Accord-in' to my idee, gamblin's about the wust +racket a feller kin work, but it takes all sorts of men to make a +world, an' ef the boys is bound to hev a game, I cal-kilate they'd like +to patronize his bank. Thet's made the old crowd mighty mad an' they're +a-talkin' about puttin' up a job of cheatin' on him an' then stringin' +him up. Besides, I kind o' think there's some cussed jealousy on +another lay as comes in. Yer see the young feller--Cyrus Foster's his +name--is sweet on thet gal of Jeff Johnson's. Jeff wuz to Laramie +before he come here, an' Foster knowed Sally up thar. I allow he moved +here to see her. Hello! Ef thar they ain't a-coming now." + +Down a path leading from the town past the railroad buildings, and well +on the prairie, Sinclair saw the girl walking with the "young feller." +He was talking earnestly to her and her eyes were cast down. She looked +pretty and, in a way, graceful; and there was in her attire a +noticeable attempt at neatness, and a faint reminiscence of bygone +fashions. A smile came to Sinclair's lips as he thought of a couple +walking up Fifth Avenue during his leave of absence not many months +before, and of a letter many times read, lying at that moment in his +breast-pocket. + +"Papa's bark is worse than his bite," ran one of its sentences. "Of +course he does not like the idea of my leaving him and going away to +such dreadful and remote places as Denver and Omaha and I don't know +what else; but he will not oppose me in the end, and when you come on +again.--" + +"By thunder!" exclaimed Sam; "ef thar ain't one of them cussed sharps +a-watchin' 'em." + +Sure enough a rough-looking fellow, his hat pulled over his eyes, half +concealed behind a pile of lumber, was casting a sinister glance toward +the pair. + +"The gal's well enough," continued Sam; "but I don't take a cent's wuth +of stock in thet thar father of her'n. He's in with them sharps, sure +pop, an' it don't suit his book to hev Foster hangin' round. It's ten +to one he sent that cuss to watch 'em. Wa'al, they're a queer lot, an' +I'm afeared thar's plenty of trouble ahead among 'em. Good luck to you, +Major," and he pushed back his chair and walked away. + +After breakfast next morning, when Sinclair was sitting at the table in +his office, busy with maps and plans, the door was Lhrown open, and +Foster, panting for breath, ran in. + +"Major Sinclair," he said, speaking with difficulty, "I've no claim on +you, but I ask you to protect me. The other gamblers are going to hang +me. They are more than ten to one. They will track me here unless you +harbor me, I'm a dead man." + +Sinclair rose from his chair in a second and Avalked to the window. A +party of men were approaching the building. He turned to Foster: + +"I do not like your trade," said he; "but I will not see you murdered +if I can help it. You are welcome here." Foster said "Thank you," stood +still a moment, and then began to pace the room, rapidly clinching his +hands, his whole frame quivering, his eyes flashing fire--"for all the +world," Sinclair said, in telling the story afterward, "like a fierce +caged tiger." + +"My God!" he muttered, with concentrated intensity, "to be _trapped_, +TRAPPED like this!" + +Sinclair stepped quickly to the door of his bedroom and motioned Foster +to enter. Then there came a knock at the outer door, and he opened it +and stood on the threshold erect and firm. Half a dozen "toughs" faced +him. + +"Major," said their spokesman, "we want that man." + +"You can not have him, boys." + +"Major, we're a-goin' to take him." + +"You had better not try," said Sinclair, with perfect ease and +self-possession, and in a pleasant voice. "I have given him shelter, +and you can only get him over my dead body. Of course you can kill me, +but you won't do even that without one or two of you going down; and +then you know perfectly well, boys, what will happen. You _know_ that +if you lay your finger on a railroad man it's all up with you. There +are five hundred men in the tie-camp, not five miles away, and you +don't need to be told that in less than one hour after they get word +there won't be a piece of one of you big enough to bury." + +The men made no reply. They looked him straight in the eyes for a +moment. Had they seen a sign of flinching they might have risked the +issue, but there was none. With muttered curses, they slunk away. +Sinclair shut and bolted the door, then opened the one leading to the +bedroom. + +"Foster," he said, "the train will pass here in half an hour. Have you +money enough?" + +"Plenty, Major." + +"Very well; keep perfectly quiet and I will try to get you safely off." +He went to an adjoining room and called Sam, the contractor's man. He +took in the situation at a glance. + +"Wa'al, Foster," said he, "kind o' 'close call' for yer, warn't it? +Guess yer'd better be gittin' up an' gittin' pretty lively. The train +boys will take yer through an' yer kin come back when this racket's +worked out." + +Sinclair glanced at his watch, then he walked to the window and looked +out. On a small _mesa_, or elevated plateau, commanding the path to the +railroad, he saw a number of men with rifles. + +"Just as I expected," said he. "Sam, ask one of the boys to go down to +the track and, when the train arrives, tell the conductor to come +here." + +In a few minutes the whistle was heard and the conductor entered the +building. Receiving his instructions, he returned, and immediately on +engine, tender, and platform appeared the trainmen, with _their_ rifles +covering the group on the bluff. Sinclair put on his hat. + +"Now, Foster," said he, "we have no time to lose. Take Sam's arm and +mine, and walk between us." + +The trio left the building and walked deliberately to the railroad. Not +a word was spoken. Besides the men in sight on the train, two behind +the window-blinds of the one passenger coach, and unseen, kept their +fingers on the triggers of their repeating carbines. It seemed a long +time, counted by anxious seconds, until Foster was safe in the coach. + +"All ready, conductor," said Sinclair. "Now, Foster, good-by. I am not +good at lecturing, but if I were you, I would make this the +turning-point in my life." + +Foster was much moved. + +"I will do it, Major," said he; "and I shall never forget what you have +done for me to-day. I am sure we shall meet again." + +With another shriek from the whistle the train started. Sinclair and +Sam saw the men quietly returning the firearms to their places as it +gathered way. Then they walked back to their quarters. The men on the +_mesa_, balked of their purpose, had withdrawn. + +Sam accompanied Sinclair to his door, and then sententiously remarked: +"Major, I think I'll light out and find some of the boys. You ain't got +no call to know anything about it, but I allow it's about time them +cusses was bounced." + +Three nights after this, a powerful party of _Vigilantes_, stern and +inexorable, made a raid on all the gambling dens, broke the tables and +apparatus, and conducted the men to a distance from the town, where +they left them with an emphatic and concise warning as to the +consequences of any attempt to return. An exception was made in Jeff +Johnson's case--but only for the sake of his daughter--for it was found +that many a "little game" had been carried on in his house. + +Ere long he found it convenient to sell his business and retire to a +town some miles to the eastward, where the railroad influence was not +as strong as at Barker's. At about this time, Sinclair made his +arrangements to go to New York, with the pleasant prospect of marrying +the young lady in Fifth Avenue. In due time he arrived at Barker's, +with his young and charming wife and remained for some days. The +changes were astounding. Commonplace respectability had replaced +abnormal lawlessness. A neat station stood where had been the rough +contractor's buildings. At a new "Windsor" (or was it "Brunswick"?) the +performance of the kitchen contrasted sadly (alas! how common is such +contrast in these regions) with the promise of the _menu_. There was a +tawdry theatre yclept "Academy of Music," and there was not much to +choose in the way of ugliness between two "meeting-houses." + +"Upon my word, my dear," said Sinclair to his wife, "I ought to be +ashamed to say it, but I prefer Barker's _au naturel._" + +One evening, just before the young people left the town, and as Mrs. +Sinclair sat alone in her room, the frowzy waitress announced "a lady," +and was requested to bid her enter. A woman came with timid mien into +the room, sat down, as invited, and removed her veil. Of course the +young bride had never known Sally Johnson, the whilom belle of +Barker's, but her husband would have noticed at a glance how greatly +she was changed from the girl who walked with Foster past the +engineers' quarters. It would be hard to find a more striking contrast +than was presented by the two women as they sat facing each other: the +one in the flush of health and beauty, calm, sweet, self-possessed; the +other still retaining some of the shabby finery of old days, but pale +and haggard, with black rings under her eyes, and a pathetic air of +humiliation. + +"Mrs. Sinclair," she hurriedly began, "you do not know me, nor the like +of me. I've got no right to speak to you, but I couldn't help it. Oh! +please believe me, I am not real downright bad. I'm Sally Johnson, +daughter of a man whom they drove out of the town. My mother died when +I was little, and I _never_ had a show; and folks think because I live +with my father, and he makes me know the crowd he travels with, that I +must be in with them, and be of their sort. I never had a woman speak a +kind word to me, and I've had so much trouble that I'm just drove wild, +and like to kill myself; and then I was at the station when you came +in, and I saw your sweet face and the kind look in your eyes, and it +came in my heart that I'd speak to you if I died for it." She leaned +eagerly forward, her hands nervously closing on the back of a chair. "I +suppose your husband never told you of me; like enough he never knew +me; but I'll never forget him as long as I live. When he was here +before, there was a young man"--here a faint color came in the wan +cheeks--"who was fond of me, and I thought the world of him, and my +father was down on him, and the men that father was in with wanted to +kill him; and Mr. Sinclair saved his life. He's gone away, and I've +waited and waited for him to come back--and perhaps I'll never see him +again. But oh! dear lady, I'll never forget what your husband did. He's +a good man, and he deserves the love of a dear good woman like you, and +if I dared I'd pray for you both, night and day." + +She stopped suddenly and sank back in her seat, pale as before, and as +if frightened by her own emotion. Mrs. Sinclair had listened with +sympathy and increasing interest. + +"My poor girl," she said, speaking tenderly (she had a lovely, soft +voice) and with slightly heightened color, "I am delighted that you +came to see me, and that my husband was able to help you. Tell me, can +we not do more for you? I do not for one moment believe you can be +happy with your present surroundings. Can we not assist you to leave +them?" + +The girl rose, sadly shaking her head. "I thank you for your words," +she said. "I don't suppose I'll ever see you again, but I'll say, God +bless you!" + +She caught Mrs. Sinclair's hand, pressed it to her lips, and was gone. + +Sinclair found his wife very thoughtful when he came home, and he +listened with much interest to her story. + +"Poor girl!" said he; "Foster is the man to help her. I wonder where he +is? I must inquire about him." + +The next day they proceeded on their way to San Francisco, and matters +drifted on at Barker's much as before. Johnson had, after an absence of +some months, come back and lived without molestation amid the shifting +population. Now and then, too, some of the older residents fancied they +recognized, under slouched sombreros, the faces of some of his former +"crowd" about the "Ranchman's Home," as his gaudy saloon was called. + +Late on the very evening on which this story opens, and they had been +"making up" the Denver Express in the train-house on the Missouri, +"Jim" Watkins, agent and telegrapher at Barker's, was sitting in his +little office, communicating with the station rooms by the ticket +window. Jim was a cool, silent, efficient man, and not much given to +talk about such episodes in his past life as the "wiping out" by +Indians of the construction party to which he belonged, and his own +rescue by the scouts. He was smoking an old and favorite pipe, and +talking with one of "the boys" whose head appeared at the wicket. On a +seat in the station sat a woman in a black dress and veil, apparently +waiting for a train. + +"Got a heap of letters and telegrams there, ain't yer, Jim?" remarked +the man at the window. + +"Yes," replied Jim; "they're for Engineer Sinclair, to be delivered to +him when he passes through here. He left on No. 17, to-night." The +inquirer did not notice the sharp start of the woman near him. + +"Is that good-lookin' wife of his'n a-comin' with him?" asked he. + +"Yes, there's letters for her, too." "Well, good-night, Jim. See yer +later," and he went out. The woman suddenly rose and ran to the window. +"Mr. Watkins," cried she, "can I see you for a few moments where no one +can interrupt us? It's a matter of life and death." She clutched the +sill with her thin hands, and her voice trembled. Watkins recognized +Sally Johnson in a moment. He unbolted a door, motioned her to enter, +closed and again bolted it, and also closed the ticket window. Then he +pointed to a chair, and the girl sat down and leaned eagerly forward. + +"If they knew I was here," she said in a hoarse whisper, "my life +wouldn't be safe five minutes. I was waiting to tell you a terrible +story, and then I heard who was on the train due here to-morrow night. +Mr. Watkins, don't, for God's sake, ask me how I found out, but I hope +to die if I ain't telling you the living truth! They're going to wreck +that train--No. 17--at Dead Man's Crossing, fifteen miles east, and rob +the passengers and the express car. It's the worst gang in the country, +_Perry's_. They're going to throw the train off the track, the +passengers will be maimed and killed--and Mr. Sinclair and his wife on +the cars! Oh! my God! Mr. Watkins, send them warning!" + +She stood upright, her face deadly pale, her hands clasped. Watkins +walked deliberately to the railroad map which hung on the wall and +scanned it. Then he resumed his seat, laid his pipe down, fixed his +eyes on the girl's face, and began to question her. At the same time +his right hand, with which he had held the pipe, found its way to the +telegraph key. None but an expert could have distinguished any change +in the _clicking_ of the instrument, which had been almost incessant; +but Watkins had "called" the head office on the Missouri. In two +minutes the "sounder" rattled out "_All right! What is it_?" + +Watkins went on with his questions, his eyes still fixed on the poor +girl's face, and all the time his fingers, as it were, playing with the +key. If he were imperturbable, so was _not_ a man sitting at a +receiving instrument nearly five hundred miles away. He had "taken" but +a few words when he jumped from his chair and cried: + +"Shut that door, and call the superintendent and be quick! Charley, +brace up--lively--and come and write this out!" With his wonderful +electric pen, the handle several hundreds of miles long, Watkins, +unknown to his interlocutor, was printing in the Morse alphabet this +startling message: + +"Inform'n rec'd. Perry gang going to throw No. 17 off track near --xth +mile-post, this division, about nine to-morrow (Thursday) night, kill +passengers, and rob express and mail. Am alone here. No chance to +verify story, but believe it to be on square. Better make arrangements +from your end to block game. No Sheriff here now. Answer." + +The superintendent, responding to the hasty summons, heard the message +before the clerk had time to write it out. His lips were closely +compressed as he put his own hand on the key and sent these laconic +sentences: "_O. K. Keep perfectly dark. Will manage from this end_." + +Watkins, at Barker's, rose from his seat, opened the door a little way, +saw that the station was empty, and then said to the girl, brusquely, +but kindly: + +"Sally, you've done the square thing, and saved that train. I'll take +care that you don't suffer and that you get well paid. Now come home +with me, and my wife will look out for you." + +"Oh! no," cried the girl, shrinking back, "I must run away. You're +mighty kind, but I daren't go with you." Detecting a shade of doubt in +his eye, she added: "Don't be afeared; I'll die before they'll know +I've given them away to you!" and she disappeared in the darkness. + +At the other end of the wire, the superintendent had quietly impressed +secrecy on his operator and clerk, ordered his fast mare harnessed, and +gone to his private office. + +"Read that!" said he to his secretary. "It was about time for some +trouble of this kind, and now I'm going to let Uncle Sam take care of +his mails. If I don't get to the reservation before the General's +turned in, I shall have to wake him up. Wait for me, please." + +The gray mare made the six miles to the military reservation in just +half an hour. The General was smoking his last cigar, and was alert in +an instant; and before the superintendent had finished the jorum of +"hot Scotch" hospitably tendered, the orders had gone by wire to the +commanding officer at Fort ------, some distance east of Barker's, and +been duly acknowledged. + +Returning to the station, the superintendent remarked to the waiting +secretary: + +"The General's all right. Of course we can't tell that this is not a +sell; but if those Perry hounds mean business they'll get all the fight +they want--and if they've got any souls--which I doubt--may the Lord +have mercy on them!" + +He prepared several despatches, two of which were as follows: + +"MR. HENRY SINCLAIR: + +"On No. 17, Pawnee Junction: + +This telegram your authority to take charge of train on which you are, +and demand obedience of all officials and trainmen on road. Please do +so, and act in accordance with information wired station agent at +Pawnee Junction." + +To the Station Agent: + +"Reported Perry gang will try wreck and rob No. 17 near --xth +mile-post, Denver Division, about nine Thursday night. Troops will +await train at Fort ------. Car ordered ready for them. Keep everything +secret, and act in accordance with orders of Mr. Sinclair." + +"It's worth about ten thousand dollars," sententiously remarked he, +"that Sinclair's on that train. He's got both sand and brains. +Good-night," and he went to bed and slept the sleep of the just. + +III + +The sun never shone more brightly and the air was never more clear and +bracing than when Sinclair helped his wife off the train at Pawnee +Junction. The station-master's face fell as he saw the lady, but he +saluted the engineer with as easy an air as he could assume, and +watched for an opportunity to speak to him alone. Sinclair read the +despatches with an unmoved countenance, and after a few minutes' +reflection simply said: "All right. Be sure to keep the matter +perfectly quiet." At breakfast he was _distrait_--so much so that his +wife asked him what was the matter. Taking her aside, he at once showed +her the telegrams. + +"You see my duty," he said. "My only thought is about you, my dear +child. Will you stay here?" + +She simply replied, looking into his face without a tremor: + +"My place is with you." Then the conductor called "All aboard," and the +train once more started. + +Sinclair asked Foster to join him in the smoking compartment and tell +him the promised story, which the latter did. His rescue at Barker's, +he frankly and gratefully said, _had_ been the turning point in his +life. In brief, he had "sworn off" from gambling and drinking, had +found honest employment, and was doing well. + +"I've two things to do now, Major," he added; "first, I must show my +gratitude to you; and next"--he hesitated a little--"I want to find +that poor girl that I left behind at Barker's. She was engaged to marry +me, and when I came to think of it, and what a life I'd have made her +lead, I hadn't the heart till now to look for her; but, seeing I'm on +the right track, I'm going to find her, and get her to come with me. +Her father's an--old scoundrel; but that ain't her fault, and I ain't +going to marry _him_." + +"Foster," quietly asked Sinclair, "do you know the Perry gang?" + +The man's brow darkened. + +"Know them?" said he. "I know them much too well. Perry is as ungodly a +cutthroat as ever killed an emigrant in cold blood, and he's got in his +gang nearly all those hounds that tried to hang me. Why do you ask, +Major?" + +Sinclair handed him the despatches. "You are the only man on the train +to whom I have shown them," said he. + +Foster read them slowly, his eyes lighting up as he did so. "Looks as +if it was true," said he. "Let me see! Fort ----. Yes, that's the --th +infantry. Two of their boys were killed at Sidney last summer by some +of the same gang, and the regiment's sworn vengeance. Major, if this +story's on the square, that crowd's goose is cooked, and _don't you +forget it_! I say, you must give me a hand in." + +"Foster," said Sinclair, "I am going to put responsibility on your +shoulders. I have no doubt that, if we be attacked, the soldiers will +dispose of the gang; but I must take all possible precautions for the +safety of the passengers. We must not alarm them. They can be made to +think that the troops are going on a scout, and only a certain number +of resolute men need be told of what we expect. Can you, late this +afternoon, go through the cars, and pick them out? I will then put you +in charge of the passenger cars, and you can post your men on the +platforms to act in case of need. My place will be ahead." + +"Major, you can depend on me," was Foster's reply. "I'll go through the +train and have my eye on some boys of the right sort, and that's got +their shooting-irons with them." + +Through the hours of that day on rolled the train, still over the crisp +buffalo grass, across the well-worn buffalo trails, past the +prairie-dog villages. The passengers chatted, dozed, played cards, +read, all unconscious, with the exception of three, of the coming +conflict between the good and the evil forces bearing on their fate; of +the fell preparations making for their disaster; of the grim +preparations making to avert such disaster; of all of which the little +wires alongside of them had been talking back and forth. Watkins had +telegraphed that he still saw no reason to doubt the good faith of his +warning, and Sinclair had reported his receipt of authority and his +acceptance thereof. Meanwhile, also, there had been set in motion a +measure of that power to which appeal is so reluctantly made in time of +peace. At Fort ------, a lonely post on the plains, the orders had that +morning been issued for twenty men under Lieutenant Halsey to parade at +4 p. M., with overcoats, two days' rations, and ball cartridges; also +for Assistant Surgeon Kesler to report for duty with the party. Orders +as to destination were communicated direct to the lieutenant from the +post commander, and on the minute the little column moved, taking the +road to the station. The regiment from which it came had been in active +service among the Indians on the frontier for a long time, and the +officers and men were tried and seasoned fighters. Lieutenant Halsey +had been well known at the West Point balls as the "leader of the +german." From the last of these balls he had gone straight to the +field, and three years had given him an enviable reputation for +_sang-froid_ and determined bravery. He looked every inch the soldier +as he walked along the trail, his cloak thrown back and his sword +tucked under his arm. The doctor, who carried a Modoc bullet in some +inaccessible part of his scarred body, growled good-naturedly at the +need of walking, and the men, enveloped in their army-blue overcoats, +marched easily by fours. Reaching the station, the lieutenant called +the agent aside, and with him inspected, on a siding, a long platform +car on which benches had been placed and secured. Then he took his seat +in the station and quietly waited, occasionally twisting his long blond +mustache. The doctor took a cigar with the agent, and the men walked +about or sat on the edge of the platform. One of them, who obtained a +surreptitious glance at his silent commander, told his companions that +there was trouble ahead for somebody. + +"That's just the way the leftenant looked, boys," said he, "when we was +laying for them Apaches that raided Jones's Ranch and killed the women +and little children." + +In a short time the officer looked at his watch, formed his men, and +directed them to take their places on the seats of the car. They had +hardly done so when the whistle of the approaching train was heard. +When it came up, the conductor, who had his instructions from Sinclair, +had the engine detached and backed on the siding for the soldiers' car, +which thus came between it and the foremost baggage car when the train +was again made up. As arranged, it was announced that the troops were +to be taken a certain distance to join a scouting party, and the +curiosity of the passengers was but slightly excited. The soldiers sat +quietly in their seats, their repeating rifles held between their +knees, and the officer in front. Sinclair joined the latter, and had a +few words with him as the train moved on. A little later, when the +stars were shining brightly overhead, they passed into the express car, +and sent for the conductor and other trainmen, and for Foster. In a few +words Sinclair explained the position of affairs. His statement was +received with perfect coolness, and the men only asked what they were +to do. + +"I hope, boys," said Sinclair, "that we are going to put this gang +to-night where they will make no more trouble. Lieutenant Halsey will +bear the brunt of the fight, and it only remains for you to stand by +the interests committed to your care. Mr. Express Agent, what help do +you want?" The person addressed, a good-natured giant, girded with a +cartridge belt, smiled as he replied: + +"Well, sir, I'm wearing a watch which the company gave me for standing +off the James gang in Missouri for half an hour, when we hadn't the +ghost of a soldier about. I'll take the contract, and welcome, to hold +_this_ fort alone." + +"Very well," said Sinclair. "Foster, what progress have you made?" + +"Major, I've got ten or fifteen as good men as ever drew a bead, and +just red-hot for a fight." + +"That will do very well. Conductor, give the trainmen the rifles from +the baggage car and let them act under Mr. Foster. Now, boys, I am sure +you will do your duty. That is all." + +From the next station Sinclair telegraphed "All ready" to the +superintendent, who was pacing his office in much suspense. Then he +said a few words to his brave but anxious wife, and walked to the rear +platform. On it were several armed men, who bade him good-evening, and +asked "when the fun was going to begin." Walking through the train, he +found each platform similarly occupied, and Foster going from one to +the other. The latter whispered as he passed him: + +"Major, I found Arizona Joe, the scout, in the smokin' car, and he's on +the front platform. That lets me out, and although I know as well as +you that there ain't any danger about that rear sleeper where the madam +is, I ain't a-going to be far off from her." Sinclair shook him by the +hand; then he looked at his watch. It was half-past eight. He passed +through the baggage and express cars, finding in the latter the agent +sitting behind his safe, on which lay two large revolvers. On the +platform car he found the soldiers and their commander sitting silent +and unconcerned as before. When Sinclair reached the latter and nodded, +he rose and faced the men, and his fine voice was clearly heard above +the rattle of the train. + +"Company, 'ten_tion_!" The soldiers straightened themselves in a +second. + +"With ball cartridge, _load_!" It was done with the precision of a +machine. Then the lieutenant spoke, in the same clear, crisp, tones +that the troops had heard in more than one fierce battle. + +"Men," said he, "in a few minutes the Perry gang, which you will +remember, are going to try to run this train off the track, wound and +kill the passengers, and rob the cars and the United States mail. It is +our business to prevent them. Sergeant Wilson" (a gray-bearded +non-commissioned officer stood up and saluted), "I am going on the +engine. See that my orders are repeated. Now, men, aim low, and don't +waste any shots." He and Sinclair climbed over the tender and spoke to +the engine-driver. + +"How are the air-brakes working?" asked Sinclair. + +"First-rate." + +"Then, if you slowed down now, you could stop the train in a third of +her length, couldn't you?" + +"Easy, if you don't mind being shaken up a bit." + +"That is good. How is the country about the --xth mile-post?" + +"Dead level, and smooth." + +"Good again. Now, Lieutenant Halsey, this is a splendid head-light, and +we can see a long way with my night glass. I will have a--" + +"--2d mile-pole just past," interrupted the engine-driver. + +"Only one more to pass, then, before we ought to strike them. Now, +lieutenant, I undertake to stop the train within a very short distance +of the gang. They will be on both sides of the track, no doubt; and the +ground, as you hear, is quite level. You will best know what to do." + +The officer stepped back. "Sergeant," called he, "do you hear me +plainly?" "Yes, sir." + +"Have the men fix bayonets. When the train stops, and I wave my sword, +let half jump off each side, run up quickly, and form line _abreast of +the engine_--not ahead." + +"Jack," said Sinclair to the engine-driver, "is your hand steady?" The +man held it up with a smile. "Good. Now stand by your throttle and your +air-brake. Lieutenant, better warn the men to hold on tight, and tell +the sergeant to pass the word to the boys on the platforms, or they +will be knocked off by the sudden stop. Now for a look ahead!" and he +brought the binocular to his eyes. + +The great parabolic head-light illuminated the track a long way in +advance, all behind it being of course in darkness. Suddenly Sinclair +cried out: + +"The fools have a light there, as I am a living man; and there is a +little red one near us. What can that be? All ready, Jack! By heaven! +they have taken up two rails. Now _hold on, all_! STOP HER!!" + +The engine-driver shut his throttle-valve with a jerk. Then, holding +hard by it, he sharply turned a brass handle. There was a fearful +jolt--a grating--and the train's way was checked. The lieutenant, +standing sidewise, had drawn his sword. He waved it, and almost before +he could get off the engine the soldiers were up and forming, still in +shadow, while the bright light was thrown on a body of men ahead. + +"Surrender, or you are dead men!" roared the officer. Curses and +several shots were the reply. Then came the orders, quick and sharp: + +"_Forward! Close tip! Double-quick! Halt!_ FIRE!" . . . It was speedily +over. Left on the car with the men, the old sergeant had said: + +"Boys, you hear. It's that ------ Perry gang. Now, don't forget Larry +and Charley that they murdered last year," and there had come from the +soldiers a sort of fierce, subdued _growl_. The volley was followed by +a bayonet charge, and it required all the officer's authority to save +the lives even of those who "threw up their hands." Large as the gang +was (outnumbering the troops), well armed and desperate as they were, +every one was dead, wounded, or a prisoner when the men who guarded the +train platforms ran up. The surgeon, with professional coolness, walked +up to the robbers, his instrument case under his arm. + +"Not much for me to do here, Lieutenant," said he. "That practice for +Creedmoor is telling on the shooting. Good thing for the gang, too. +Bullets are better than rope, and a Colorado jury will give them plenty +of that." + +Sinclair had sent a man to tell his wife that all was over. Then he +ordered a fire lighted, and the rails relaid. The flames lit a strange +scene as the passengers flocked up. The lieutenant posted men to keep +them back. + +"Is there a telegraph station not far ahead, Sinclair?" asked he. "Yes? +All right." He drew a small pad from his pocket, and wrote a despatch +to the post commander. + +"Be good enough to send that for me," said he, "and leave orders at +Barker's for the night express eastward to stop for us, and bring a +posse to take care of the wounded and prisoners. And now, my dear +Sinclair, I suggest that you get the passengers into the cars, and go +on as soon as those rails are spiked. When they realize the situation, +some of them will feel precious ugly, and you know we can't have any +lynching." + +Sinclair glanced at the rails and gave the word at once to the +conductor and brakemen, who began vociferating, "All aboard!"' Just +then Foster appeared, an expression of intense satisfaction showing +clearly on his face, in the firelight. + +"Major," said he, "I didn't use to take much stock in special +Providence, or things being ordered; but I'm darned if I don't believe +in them from this day. I was bound to stay where you put me, but I was +uneasy, and wild to be in the scrimmage; and, if I had been there, I +wouldn't have taken notice of a little red light that wasn't much +behind the rear platform when we stopped. When I saw there was no +danger there I ran back, and what do you think I found? There was a +woman in a dead faint, and just clutching a lantern that she had tied +up in a red scarf, poor little thing! And, Major, it was Sally! It was +the little girl that loved me out at Barker's, and has loved me and +waited for me ever since! And when she came to, and knew me, she was so +glad she 'most fainted away again; and she let on as it was her that +gave away the job. And I took her into the sleeper, and the madam, God +bless her!--she knew Sally before and was good to her--she took care of +her and is cheering her up. And now, Major, I'm going to take her +straight to Denver, and send for a parson and get her married to me, +and she'll brace up, sure pop." + +The whistle sounded, and the train started. From the window of the +"sleeper" Sinclair and his wife took their last look at the weird +scene. The lieutenant, standing at the side of the track, wrapped in +his cloak, caught a glimpse of Mrs. Sinclair's pretty face, and +returned her bow. Then, as the car passed out of sight, he tugged at +his mustache and hummed: + +"Why, boys, why, + Should we be melancholy, boys, +Whose business 'tis to die?" + +In less than an hour, telegrams having in the meantime been sent in +both directions, the train ran alongside the platform at Barker's; and +Watkins, imperturbable as usual, met Sinclair, and gave him his +letters. + +"Perry gang wiped out, I hear, Major," said he. "Good thing for the +country. That's a lesson the 'toughs' in these parts won't forget for a +long time. Plucky girl that give 'em away, wasn't she? Hope she's all +right." + +"She is all right," said Sinclair with a smile. + +"Glad of that. By the way, that father of her'n passed in his checks +to-night. He'd got one warning from the Vigilantes, and yesterday they +found out he was in with this gang, and they was a-going for him; but +when the telegram come, he put a pistol to his head and saved them all +trouble. Good riddance to everybody, I say. The sheriff's here now, and +is going east on the next train to get them fellows. He's got a big +posse together, and I wouldn't wonder if they was hard to hold in, +after the 'boys in blue' is gone." + +In a few minutes the train was off, and its living freight--the just +and the unjust, the reformed and the rescued, the happy and the +anxious. With many of the passengers, the episode of the night was +already a thing of the past. Sinclair sat by the side of his wife, to +whose cheeks the color had all come back; and Sally Johnson lay in her +berth, faith still, but able to give an occasional smile to Foster. In +the station on the Missouri the reporters were gathered around the +happy superintendent, smoking his cigars, and filling their note-books +with items. In Denver, their brethren would gladly have done the same, +but Watkins failed to gratify them. He was a man of few words. When the +train had gone through, and a friend remarked: "Hope they'll get +through all right, now," he simply said: "Yes, likely. Two shots don't +'most always go in the same hole." Then he went to the telegraph +instrument. In a few minutes, he could have told a story as wild as a +Norse _saga_, but what he said, when Denver had responded, was only-- + +"_No. 17, fifty-five minutes late_." + + + +JAUNE D'ANTIMOINE +-------------------- +BY THOMAS ALLIBONE TANVIER + + + +_Thomas Allibone Janvier (born in Philadelphia in 1849) began work as a +journalist in his native city in 1870. In 1881 he went to spend several +years in Colorado, and New and Old Mexico--sojourns which left their +impression upon his literary work, A well-known writer of short +stories, Janvier is especially skilled in the delineation of the +picturesque foreign life of New York._ + + + +JAUNE D'ANTIMOINE +BY THOMAS ALLIBONE JANVIER +[Footnote: By permission of Charles Scribner's Sons. From "Color +Studies and a Mexican Campaign," copyright, 1891.] + +Down Greenwich way--that is to say, about in the heart of the city of +New York--in a room with a glaring south light that made even the +thought of painting in it send shivers all over you, Jaune d'Antimoine +lived and labored in the service of Art. + +By all odds, it was the very worst room in the whole building; and that +was precisely the reason why Jaune d'Antimoine had chosen it, for the +rent was next to nothing: he would have preferred a room that rented +for even less. It certainly was a forlorn-looking place. There was no +furniture in it worth speaking of; it was cheerless, desolate. A lot of +studies of animals were stuck against the walls, and a couple of +finished pictures--a lioness with her cubs, and a span of stunning +draught-horses--stood in one corner, frameless. There was good work in +the studies, and the pictures really were capital--a fact that Jaune +himself recognized, and that made him feel all the more dismal because +they so persistently remained unsold. Indeed, this animal painter was +having a pretty hard time of it, and as he sat there day after day in +the shocking light, doing honest work and getting no return for it, he +could not help growing desperately blue. + +But to-day Jaune d'Antimoine was not blue, for of a sudden he had come +to be stayed by a lofty purpose and upheld by a high resolve: and his +purpose and resolve were that within one month's time he would gain for +himself a new suit of clothes! There were several excellent reasons +which together served to fortify him in his exalted resolution. The +most careless observer could not fail to perceive that the clothes +which he wore--and which were incomparably superior to certain others +which he possessed, but did not wear--were sadly shabby; and Vandyke +Brown had asked him to be best man at his wedding; and further--and +this was the strongest reason of all--Jaune d'Antimoine longed, from +the very depths of his soul, to make himself pleasing in the eyes of +Rose Carthame. + +How she managed it none but herself knew; but this charming young +person, although the daughter of a widowly exile of France who made an +uncertain living by letting lodgings in the region between south and +west of Washington Square, always managed to dress herself +delightfully. It is true that feminine analysis might reveal the fact +that the materials of which her gowns were made were of the cheapest +product of the loom; yet was feminine envy aroused--yea, even in the +dignified portion of Fifth Avenue that lies not south but north of +Washington Square--by the undeniable style of these same gowns, and by +their charming accord with the stylish gait and air of the trig little +body who wore them. Therefore it was that when Monsieur Jaune +graciously was permitted to accompany Mademoiselle Rose in her jaunts +into the grand quarter of the town, the propriety of her garments and +the impropriety of his own brought a sense of desolation upon his +spirit and a great heaviness upon his loyal heart. + +For Jaune loved Rose absolutely to distraction. To say that he would +have laid his coat in the mud for her to walk over does not--the +condition of the coat being remembered--imply a very superior sort of +devotion. He would have done more than this; he would have laid himself +in the mud, and most gladly, that he might have preserved from +contamination her single pair of nice shoes. Even a cool and +unprejudiced person, being permitted to see these shoes--and he +certainly would have been, for Rose made anything but a mystery of +them--would have declared that such gallant sacrifice was well +bestowed. + +The ardor of Jaune's passion was increased--as has been common in love +matters ever since the world began--by the knowledge that he had a +rival; and this rival was a most dangerous rival, being none other than +Madame Carthame's second-story-front lodger, the Count Siccatif de +Courtray. Simply to be the second-story-front lodger carries with it a +most notable distinction in a lodging-house; but to be that and a count +too was a combination of splendors that placed Jaune's rival on a +social pinnacle and kept him there. Not that counts are rare in the +region between west and south of Washington Square; on the contrary, +they are rather astonishingly plentiful. But the sort of count who is +very rare indeed there is the count who pays his way as he goes along. +Now, in the matter of payments, at least so far as Madame Carthame was +concerned, the Count Siccatif de Courtray was exemplary. + +That there was something of a mystery about this nobleman was +undeniable. Among other things, he had stated that he was a relative of +the Siccatifs of Harlem--the old family established here in New +Amsterdam in the early days of the Dutch Colony. Persons disposed to +comment invidiously upon this asserted relationship, and such there +were, did not fail to draw attention to the fact that the Harlem +Siccatifs, without exception, were fair, while the Count Siccatif de +Courtray was strikingly dark; and to the further fact that, if the +distinguished American family really was akin to the Count, its several +members were most harmoniously agreed to give him the cold shoulder. +With these malicious whisperings, however, Madame Carthame did not +concern herself. She was content, more than content, to take the Count +as he was, and at his own valuation. That he was a proscribed +Bonapartist, as he declared himself to be, seemed to her a reasonable +and entirely credible statement; and it certainly had the effect of +creating about him a halo of romance. Though not proscribed, Madame +Carthame herself was a Bonapartist, and a most ardent one; a fact, it +may be observed, concerning which the Count assured himself prior to +the avowal of his own political convictions. When, on the 2Oth of +April, he came home wearing a cluster of violets in his buttonhole, and +bearing also a bunch of these imperial flowers for Madame Carthame, and +with the presentation confessed his own imperialistic faith and touched +gloomily upon the sorry reward that it had brought him--when this event +occurred, Madame Carthame's kindly feelings toward her second-floor +lodger were resolved into an abiding faith and high esteem. It was upon +this auspicious day that the conviction took firm root in her mind that +the Count Siccatif de Courtray was the heaven-sent husband for her +daughter Rose. + +That Rose approved this ambitious matrimonial project of her mother's +was a matter open to doubt; at least her conduct was such that two +diametrically opposite views were entertained in regard to her +intentions. On the one hand, Madame Carthame and the Count Siccatif de +Courtray believed that she had made up her mind to live in her mother's +own second-story front and be a countess. On the other hand, Jaune +d'Antimoine, whose wish, perhaps, was father to his thought, believed +that she would not do anything of the sort. Jaune gladly would have +believed, also, that she cherished matrimonial intentions in quite a +different, namely, an artistic, direction; but he was a modest young +fellow, and suffered his hopes to be greatly diluted by his fears. And, +in truth, the conduct of Rose was so perplexing, at times so +atrociously exasperating, that a person much more deeply versed in +women's ways than this young painter was, very well might have been +puzzled hopelessly; for if ever a born flirt came out of France, that +flirt was Rose Carthame. + +Of one thing, however, Jaune was convinced: that unless something of a +positive nature was done, and done speedily, for the improvement of his +outward man, his chance of success was gone forever. Already, Madame +Carthame eyed his seedy garments askance; already, for Rose had +admitted the truth of his suspicions in this dismal direction, Madame +Carthame had instituted most unfavorable comparisons between his own +chronic shabbiness and the no less chronic splendor of the Count +Siccatif de Courtray. Therefore, it came to pass--out of his abstract +need for presentable habiliments, out of his desire to appear in +creditable form at Vandyke Brown's wedding, and, more than all else, +out of his love for Rose--that Jaune d'Antimoine registered a mighty +oath before high heaven that within a month's time a new suit of +clothes should be his! + +Yet the chances are that he would have gone down Christopher Street to +the North River, and still further down, even into a watery grave--as +he very frequently thought of doing during this melancholy period of +his existence--had not his fortunes suddenly been irradiated by the +birth in his mind of a happy thought. It came to him in this wise: He +was standing drearily in front of a ready-made clothing store on +Broadway, sadly contemplating a wooden figure clad in precisely the +morning suit for which his soul panted, when suddenly something gave +him a whack in the back. Turning sharply, and making use of an +exclamation not to be found in the French dictionaries compiled for the +use of young ladies' boarding-schools, he perceived a wooden framework, +from the lower end of which protruded the legs of a man. From a cleft +in the upper portion of the framework came the apologetic utterance, +"Didn't mean ter hit yer, boss," and then the structure moved slowly +away through the throng. Over its four sides, he observed, were +blazoned announcements of the excellences of the garments manufactured +by the very clothing establishment in front of which he stood. + +The thought came idly into his mind that this method of advertising was +clumsy, and not especially effective; followed by the further thought +that a much better plan would be to set agoing upon the streets a +really gentlemanly-looking man, clad in the best garments that the +tailoring people manufactured--while a handsome sign upon the man's +back, or a silken banner proudly borne aloft, should tell where the +clothes were made, and how, for two weeks only, clothes equally +excellent could be bought there at a tremendous sacrifice. And then +came into his mind the great thought of his life: he would disguise +himself by changing his blond hair and beard to gray, and by wearing +dark eye-glasses, and thus disguised he would be that man! Detection he +believed to be impossible, for merely dressing himself in respectable +clothes almost would suffice to prevent his recognition by even the +nearest of his friends. With that prompt decision which is the sure +sign of genius backed by force of character, he paused no longer to +consider. He acted. With a firm step he entered the clothing +establishment; with dignity demanded a personal interview with its +proprietor; with eloquence presented to that personage his scheme. + +"You will understand, sare," he said, in conclusion, "that these +clothes such as yours see themselves in the best way when they are +carried by a man very well made, and who 'as the air _comme il faut_. I +'ave not the custom to say that I am justly that man. But now we talk +of _affaires_. Look at me and see!" And so speaking, he drew himself up +his full six feet, and turned slowly around. There could not be any +question about it: a handsomer, a more distinguished-looking man was +not to be found in all New York. With the added dignity of age, his +look of distinction would be but increased. + +The great head of the great tailoring establishment was visibly +affected. Original devices in advertising had been the making of him. +He perceived that the device now suggested to him was superior to +anything that his own genius had struck out. "It's a pretty good plan," +he said, meditatively. "What do you want for carrying it out?" + +"For you to serve two weeks, I ask but the clothes I go to wear." + +For a moment the tailor paused. In that moment the destinies of Jaune +d'Antimoine, of Rose Carthame, of the Count Siccatif de Courtray, hung +in the balance. It was life or death. Jaune felt his heart beating like +a trip-hammer. There was upon him a feeling of suffocation. The silence +seemed interminable; and the longer it lasted, the more did he feel +that his chances of success were oozing away, that the crisis of his +life was going against him. Darkness, the darkness of desolate despair, +settled down upon his soul. Mechanically he felt in his waistcoat +pocket for a five-cent piece that he believed to be there--for the +stillness, the restful oblivion of the North River were in his mind. +His fingers clutched the coin convulsively, thankfully. At least he +would not be compelled' to walk down Christopher Street to his death: +he could pay his way to eternity in the one-horse car. Yet even while +the blackness of shattered hope seemed to be closing him in +irrevocably, the glad light came again. As the voice of an angel +sounded the voice of the tailor; and the words which the tailor spake +were these: + +"Young man, it's a bargain!" + +But the tailor, upon whom Heaven had bestowed shrewdness to an +extraordinary degree, perceived in the plan proposed to him higher, +more artistic possibilities than had been perceived in it by its +inventor. There was a dramatic instinct, an appreciation of surprise, +of climax, in this man's mind that he proceeded to apply to the +existing situation. With a wave of his hand he banished the suggested +sign on the walking advertiser's back, and the suggested silken banner. +His plan at once was simpler and more profound. Dressed in the highest +style of art, Jaune was to walk Broadway daily between the hours of 11 +A. M. and 2 P. M. He was to walk slowly; he was to look searchingly in +the faces of all young women of about the age of twenty years; he was +to wear, over and above his garments of price, an air of confirmed +melancholy. That was all. + +"But of the advertisement? 'Ow ----" + +"Now, never you mind about the advertisement, young man. Where that is +going to come in is my business. But you can just bet your bottom +dollar that I don't intend to lose any money on you. All that you have +to do is just what I've told you; and to be well dressed, and walk up +and down Broadway for three hours every day, and look in all the girls' +faces, don't strike me as being the hardest work that you might be set +at. Now come along and be measured, and day after to-morrow you shall +begin." + +As Jaune walked slowly homeward to his dismal studio, he meditated +deeply upon the adventure before him. He did not fancy it at all; but +it was the means to an end, and he was braced morally to go through +with it without flinching. For the chance of winning Rose he would have +stormed a battery single-handed; and not a bit more of moral courage +would have been needed for such desperate work than was needed for the +execution of the bloodless but soul-trying project that he had in hand. +For the life and spirit of him, though, he could not see how the tailor +was to get any good out of this magnificent masquerading. + +In one of the evening papers, about a week later, there appeared a +half-column romance that quite took Jaune d'Antimoine's breath away. It +began with a reference to the distinguished elderly gentleman who, +during the past week, had been seen daily upon Broadway about the hour +of noon; who gazed with such intense though respectful curiosity into +every 'young woman's face; who, in the gay crowd, was conspicuous not +less by the elegance of his dress than by his air of profound +melancholy. Then briefly, but precisely, the sorrowful story of the +Marquis de ------ ("out of consideration for the nobleman's feelings" +the name was withheld) was told: how, the son of a peer of France, he +had married, while yet a minor, against the wishes of his stern father; +how his young wife and infant daughter had been spirited away by the +stern father's orders; how on his death-bed the father had confessed +his evil deed to his son, and had told that mother and child had been +banished to America, where the mother speedily had died of grief, and +where the child, though in ignorance of her noble origin, had been +adopted by an enormously rich American, about whom nothing more was +known than the fact that he lived in New York. The Marquis, the article +stated, now was engaged in searching for his long-lost daughter, and +among other means to the desired end had hit upon this--of walking New +York's chief thoroughfare in the faith that should he see his child his +paternal instinct would reveal to him her identity. + +"I calculate that this will rather whoop up public interest in our +performance," said the tailor, cheerfully, the next day, as he handed +the newspaper containing the pleasing fiction to Jaune. "That's my +idea, for a starter. I've got the whole story ready to come out in +sections--paid a literary feller twenty dollars to get it up for me. +And you be careful to-day when you are interviewed" (Jaune shuddered) +"to keep the story up--or" (for Jaune was beginning a remonstrance) +"you can keep out of it altogether, if you'd rather. Say you must +refuse to talk upon so delicate a subject, or something of that sort. +Yes, that's your card. It'll make the mystery greater, you know--and +I'll see that the public gets the facts, all the same." + +The tailor chuckled, and Jaune was unutterably wretched. He was on the +point of throwing up his contract. He opened his mouth to speak the +decisive words--and shut it again as the thought came into his mind +that his misery must be borne, and borne gallantly, because it was all +for the love of Rose. + +That day there was no affectation in his air of melancholy. He was +profoundly miserable. Faithful to his contract, he looked searchingly +upon the many young women of twenty years whom he met; and such of them +as were possessors of tender hearts grew very sorrowful at sight of the +obvious woe by which he was oppressed. His woe, indeed, was keen, for +the newspaper article had had its destined effect, and he was a marked +man. People turned to look at him as people had not turned before; it +was evident that he was a subject of conversation. Several times he +caught broken sentences which he recognized as portions of his +supposititious biography. His crowning torture was the assault of the +newspaper reporters. They were suave, they were surly, they were +insinuatingly sympathetic, they were aggressively peremptory--but all +alike were determined to wring from him to the uttermost the details of +the sorrow that he never had suffered, of the life that he never had +lived. It was a confusing sort of an experience. He began to wonder, at +last, whether or not it were possible that he could be somebody else +without knowing it; and if it were, in whom, precisely, his identity +was vested. Being but a simple-minded young fellow, with no taste +whatever for metaphysics, this line of thought was upsetting. + +While involved in these perplexing doubts and the crowd at the Fifth +Avenue crossing, he was so careless as to step upon the heel of a lady +in front of him. And when the lady turned, half angrily, half to +receive his profuse apologies, he beheld Mademoiselle Carthame. The +face of this young person wore an expression made up of not less than +three conflicting emotions: of resentment of the assault upon the heel +of her one pair of good shoes, of friendly recognition of the familiar +voice, of blank surprise upon perceiving that this voice came from the +lips of a total stranger. She looked searchingly upon the smoked +glasses, obviously trying to pry into the secret of the hidden eyes. +Jaune's blood rushed up into his face, and he realized that detection +was imminent. Mercifully, at that moment the crowd opened, and with a +bow that hid his face behind his hat he made good his retreat. During +the remaining half hour of his walk, he thought no more of metaphysics. +The horrid danger of physical discovery from which he had escaped so +narrowly filled him with a shuddering alarm. Nor could he banish from +his mind the harrowing thought that perhaps, for all his gray hair and +painted wrinkles and fine clothes, Rose in truth had recognized him. + +That night an irresistible attraction drew him to the Carthame abode. +In the little parlor he found the severe Madame Carthame, her adorable +daughter, and the offensive Count Siccatif de Courtray. Greatly to his +relief, his reception was in the usual form: Madame Carthame conducted +herself after the fashion of a well-bred iceberg; Rose endeavored to +mitigate the severity of her parent's demeanor by her own affability; +the Count, as much as possible, ignored his presence. Jaune could not +repress a sigh of relief. She had not recognized him. + +But his evening was one of trial. With much vivacity, Rose entertained +the little company with an account of her romantic adventure with the +French nobleman who had come to America in quest of his lost daughter; +for she had read the newspaper story, and had identified its hero with +the assailant of her heel. She dwelt with enthusiasm upon the +distinguished appearance of the unhappy foreigner; she ventured the +suggestion, promptly and sternly checked by her mamma, that she herself +might be the lost child; she grew plaintive, and expressed a burning +desire to comfort this stricken parent with a daughter's love, and, +worst of all, she sat silent, with a far-away look in her charming +eyes, and obviously suffered her thoughts to go astray after this +handsome Marquis in a fashion that made even the Count Siccatif de +Courtray fidget, and that filled the soul of Jaune d'Antimoine with a +consuming jealousy--not the less consuming because of the absurd fact +that it was jealousy of himself! As he walked home that night through +the devious ways of Greenwich to his dismal studio, he seriously +entertained the wish that he never had been born. + +The next day all the morning papers contained elaborate "interviews" +with the Marquis: for each of the several reporters who had been put on +the case, believing that he alone had failed to get the facts, and +being upheld by a lofty determination that no other reporter should +"get a beat on him," had evolved from his own inner consciousness the +story that Jaune, for the best of reasons, had refused to tell. The +stories thus told, being based upon the original fiction, bore a family +resemblance to each other; and as all of them were interesting, they +stimulated popular curiosity in regard to their hero to a very high +pitch. As the result of them, Jaune found himself the most conspicuous +man in New York. During the three hours of his walk he was the centre +of an interested crowd. Several benevolent persons stopped to tell him +of fatherless young women with whom they were acquainted, and to urge +upon him the probability that each of these young women was his +long-lost child. The representatives of a dozen detective bureaus +introduced themselves to him, and made offer of their professional +services; a messenger from the chief of police handed him a polite note +tendering the services of the department and inviting him to a +conference. It was maddening. + +But worst of all were his meetings with Rose. As these multiplied, the +conviction became irresistible that they were not the result of chance; +indeed, her manner made doubt upon this head impossible. At first she +gave him only a passing glance, then a glance somewhat longer, then a +look of kindly interest, then a long look of sympathy; and at last she +bestowed upon him a gentle, almost affectionate, smile that expressed, +as plainly as a smile could express, her sorrow for his misery and her +readiness to comfort him. In a word, Rose Carthame's conduct simply was +outrageous! + +The jealous anger which had inflamed Jattne's breast the night before +swelled and expanded into a raging passion. He longed to engage in +mortal combat this stranger who was alienating the affection that +should be his. The element of absurdity in the situation no longer was +apparent to him. In truth, as he reasoned, the situation was not +absurd. To all intents and purposes he was two people and it was the +other one of him, not himself at all, who was winning Rose's interest, +perhaps her love. For a moment the thought crossed his mind that he +would adjust the difficulty in his own favor by remaining this other +person always. But the hard truth confronted him that every time he +washed his face he would cease to be the elderly Marquis, with the +harder truth that the fabulous wealth with which, as the Marquis, the +newspapers had endowed him was too entirely fabulous to serve as a +basis for substantial life. And being thus cut off from hope, he fell +back upon jealous hatred of himself. + +That night the evening paper in which the first mention of the +mysterious French nobleman had been made contained an article cleverly +contrived to give point to the mystery in its commercial aspect. The +fact had been observed, the article declared, that the nobleman's +promenade began and ended at a prominent clothing establishment on +Broadway; and then followed, in the guise of a contribution toward the +clearing up of the mystery, an interview with the proprietor of the +establishment in question. However, the interview left the mystery just +where it found it, for all that the tailor told was that the Marquis +had bought several suits of clothes from him; that he had shown himself +to be an exceptionally critical person in the matter of his wearing +apparel; that he had expressed repeatedly his entire satisfaction with +his purchases. In another portion of the paper was a glaring +advertisement, in which the clothing man set forth, in an animated +fashion, the cheapness and desirability of "The Marquis Suit"--a suit +that "might be seen to advantage on the person of the afflicted French +nobleman now in our midst who had honored it with his approval, and in +whose honor it had been named." Upon reading the newspaper narrative +and its advertisement pendant, Jaune groaned aloud. He was oppressed by +a horror of discovery, and here, as it seemed to him in his morbidly +nervous condition, was a clew to his duplex identity sufficiently +obvious to be apparent even to a detective. + +The Count Siccatif de Courtray, as has been intimated, went so far as +to fidget while listening to Mademoiselle Carthame's vivacious +description of her encounter with the handsome Marquis. Being regaled +during the ensuing evening with a very similar narrative--a materially +modified version of the events which had aroused in so lively a manner +the passion of jealousy in the breast of Jaune d'Antimoine--the Count +ceased merely to fidget and became the prey to a serious anxiety. He +determined that the next day, quite unobtrusively, he would observe +Mademoiselle Carthame in her relations with this unknown but +dangerously fascinating nobleman; and also that he would give some +attention to the nobleman himself. This secondary purpose was +strengthened the next morning, while the Count was engaged with his +coffee and newspaper, by his finding in the "Courrier des Etats-Unis" a +translation of the paragraph stating the curious fact that the daily +walk of the Marquis began and ended at the Broadway tailor shop. + +Having finished his breakfast, the Count leisurely betook himself to +Broadway. As he slowly strolled eastward, he observed on the other side +of the street Jaune d'Antimoine, in his desperately shabby raiment, +hurriedly walking eastward also. The Count murmured a brief panegyric +upon M. d'Antimoine, in which the words "cet animal" alone were +distinguishable. They were near Broadway at this moment, and to the +Count's surprise M. d'Antimoine entered the clothing establishment from +which the Marquis departed upon his daily walk. Could it be possible, +he thought, that fortune had smiled upon the young artist, and that he +was about to purchase a new suit of clothes? The Count entertained the +charitable hope that such could not be the case. + +It was the Count's purpose, in order that he might follow also the +movements of Mademoiselle Carthame, to follow the Marquis from the +beginning to the end of his promenade. He set himself, therefore, to +watching closely--for the appearance of the grief-stricken foreigner, +moving carelessly the while from one shop-window to another that +commanded a view of the field. At the end of half an hour, when the +Count was beginning to think that the object of his solicitude was a +myth, out from the broad portal of the clothing establishment came the +Marquis in all his glory--more glorious, in truth, than Solomon, and +more melancholy than the melancholy Jaques. And yet for an instant the +Count Siccatif de Courtray was possessed by the absurd fancy that this +stately personage was Jaune d'Antimoine! Truly, here was the same tall, +handsome figure, the same easy, elegant carriage, the same cut of hair +and beard. But the resemblance went no further, for beard and hair were +gray almost to whiteness, the face was pale and old, and the clothes, +so far from being desperately seedy, were more resplendent even than +the Count's own. No, the thought was incredible, preposterous, and yet +the Count could not discharge it from his mind. He stamped his foot +savagely; this mystery was becoming more interesting than pleasing. + +In the crowd that the Marquis drew in his wake, as he slowly, sadly +sauntered up Broadway, the Count had no difficulty in following him +unobserved. The situation was that of the previous day, only it was +intensified, and therefore, to its hero, the more horrible. The +benevolent people with stray fatherless young women to dispose of were +out in greater force; the detectives were more aggressive; the +newspaper people were more persistent; the general public was more +keenly interested in the whole performance. And Rose--most dreadful of +all--was more outrageous than ever! The Count grew almost green with +rage during the three hours that he was a witness of this young woman's +scandalous conduct. A dozen times she met the Marquis in the course of +his walk, and each time that she met him she greeted him with a yet +more tender smile. A curious fact that at first surprised, then +puzzled, then comforted the Count was the very obvious annoyance which +these flattering attentions caused their recipient. Evidently, he +persistently endeavored to evade the meetings which Rose as +persistently and more successfully endeavored to force upon him. Within +the scope of M. de Courtary's comprehension only one reason seemed to +be sufficient to explain the determination on the part of the Marquis +to resist the advances of a singularly attractive young woman, whose +good disposition toward him was so conspicuously, though so +irregularly, manifested: a fear of recognition. And this reason +adjusted itself in a striking manner to the queer notion that had come +into his mind that the Marquis was an ideal creation whose reality was +Jeaune d'Antimoine. The thought was absurd, irrational, but it grew +stronger and stronger within him--and became an assured conviction +when, shortly after the promenade of the Marquis had ended, Jaune came +forth from the clothing store in his normal condition of shabbiness and +youth. The Count was not in all respects a praiseworthy person, but +among his vices was not that of stupidity. Without any very tremendous +mental effort he grasped the fact that his rival had sold himself into +bondage as a walking advertisement, and, knowing this, a righteous +exultation filled his soul. Jaune's destiny, so far as Mademoiselle +Carthame was concerned, he felt was in his power: and he was perplexed +by no nice doubts as to the purpose to which the power that he had +gained should be applied. + +Untroubled by the knowledge that his secret was discovered, Jaune +entered upon the last day of his martyrdom. It was the most agonizing +day of all. The benevolent persons, the reporters, the detectives, the +crowd surging about him, drove him almost to madness. He walked as one +dazed. And above and over all he was possessed by a frenzy of jealousy +that came of the offensively friendly smiles which Rose bestowed upon +him as she forced meetings upon him again and again. It was with +difficulty that he restrained himself from laying violent hands upon +this bogus Marquis who falsely and infamously had beguiled away from +him the love for which he gladly would have given his life. Only the +blood of his despicable rival, he felt, would satisfy him. He longed to +find himself with a sword in his hand on a bit of smooth turf, and the +villanous Marquis over against him, ready to be run through. The +thought was so delightful, so animating, that involuntarily he made a +lunge--and had to apologize confusedly to an elderly gentleman whom he +had poked in the back with his umbrella. + +At last the three hours of torture, the last of his two weeks of +hateful servitude, came to an end. Pale beneath his false paleness, +haggard beyond his false haggardness of age, he entered the clothing +store and once more was himself. With a gladness unspeakable he washed +off his wrinkles and washed out the gray from his hair and beard; with +a sense of infinite satisfaction that, a fortnight earlier, he would +not have believed possible, he resumed his shabby old clothes. Had he +chosen to do so, he might have walked away in the new and magnificent +apparel which he now fairly had earned; but just at present his +loathing for these fine garments was beyond all words. + +The tailor fain would have had the masquerade continue longer, for, as +he frankly stated, "The Marquis Suit" was having a tremendous sale. But +Jaune was deaf not only to the tailor's blandishments, but to his +offers of substantial cash. "Not for the millions would I be in this +part of the Marquis for one day yet more," he said firmly. And he +added, "I trust to you in honor, sare, that not never shall my name be +spoken in this affair." + +"Couldn't speak it if I wanted to, my dear boy. It's a mystery to me +how you're able to say it yourself! Well, I'd like you to run the +'Marquis' for another week; but if you won't, you won't, I suppose, so +there's an end of it. I'm sorry you haven't enjoyed it. I have. It's +been as good a thing as I ever got hold of. Now give me your address +and I'll have your clothes sent to you. Don't you want some more? I +don't mind letting you have a regular outfit if you want it. One good +turn, you know--and you've done me a good turn, and that's a fact." + +But Jaune declined this liberal offer, and declined also to leave his +address, which would have involved a revelation of his name. It was a +comfort to him to know that his name was safe--a great comfort. So the +garments of the forever departed Marquis were put up in a big bundle, +and Jaune journeyed homeward to his studio in Greenwich--bearing his +sheaves with him--in a Bleecker Street car. + +"Well, you are a cheeky beggar, d'Antimoine," said Vandyke Brown, +cheerfully, the next morning, as he came into Jaune's studio with a +newspaper in his hand. "So you are the Marquis who has been setting the +town wild for the last week, eh? And whom did you bet with? And what +started you in such a crazy performance, anyway? Tell me all about it. +It's as funny--Good heavens! d'Antimoine, what's the matter? Are you +ill?" For Jaune had grown deathly pale and was gasping. + +"I do not know of what it is that you talk," he answered, with a great +effort. + +"Oh, come now, that's too thin, you know. Why, here's a whole column +about it, telling how you made a bet with somebody that you could set +all the town to talking about you, and yet do it all in such a clever +disguise that nobody would know who you really were, not even your most +intimate friends. And I should say that you had won handsomely. Why, +I've seen you on Broadway a dozen times myself this last week, and I +never had the remotest suspicion that the Marquis was you. I must say, +though," continued Brown, reflectively, and looking closely at Jaune, +"that it was stupid of me. I did think that you had a familiar sort of +look; and once, I remember, it did occur to me that you looked +astonishingly like yourself. It--it was the clothes, you see, that +threw me out. Where ever did you get such a stunning rig? I don't +believe that I'd have known you dressed like that, even if you hadn't +been gray and wrinkled. But tell me all about it, old man. It must have +been jolly fun!" + +"Fun!" groaned Jaune; "it was the despair!" And then, his heart being +very full and his longing for sympathy overpowering, Jatine told Brown +the whole story. "But what is this of one bet, my dear Van," he +concluded, "I do not of the least know." + +"Well, here it all is in the paper, anyway. Calls you 'a distinguished +animal-painter,' and alludes to your 'strikingly vigorous "Lioness and +Cubs" and powerful "Dray Horses" at the last spring exhibition of the +Society of American Artists.' Must be somebody who knows you, you see, +and somebody who means well by you, too. There's nothing at all about +your being an advertisement; indeed, there's nothing in the story but a +good joke, of which you are the hero. It's an eccentric sort of +heroism, to be sure; but then, for some unknown reason, people never +seem to believe that artists are rational human beings, so your +eccentricity will do you no harm. And it's no end of an advertisement +for you. Whoever wrote it meant well by you. And, by Jove! I know who +it is! It's little Conte Crayon. He's a good-hearted little beggar, and +he likes you ever so much, for I've heard him say so; but how he ever +got hold of the story, and especially of such a jolly version of it, I +don't see." + +At this moment, by a pleasing coincidence, Conte Crayon himself +appeared with the desired explanation. "You see," he said, "that beast +of a Siccatif de Courtray hunted me up yesterday and told me the yarn +about you and the slop-shop man. He wanted me to write it up and +publish it, 'as a joke,' he said; but it was clear enough that he was +in ugly earnest about it. And so, you see, I had to rush it into print +in the way I chose to tell it--which won't do you a bit of harm, +d'Antimoine--in order to head him off. The blackguard meant to get you +into a mess, and if I'd hung fire he'd have told somebody else about +it, and had the real story published. Of course, you know, there's +nothing in the real story that you need be ashamed of; but if it had +been told, you certainly would have been laughed at, and nasty people +would have said nasty things about it. And as there wasn't any time to +lose, I had to print it first and then come here and explain matters +afterward. And what I've got to say is this: Just you cheek it out and +say that it was a bet, and that you won it! Brown and I will back you +up in it, and so will the slop-shop man. I've been to see him this +morning, and he is so pleased with the way that 'The Marquis Suit' is +selling, and with the extra free advertisement that he has got out of +my article, that he's promised to adopt the bet version in his +advertisement in all the papers. He is going to advertise that The +Marquis Suit is so called because everybody who wears it looks like a +marquis--just as you did. This cuts the ground right from under the +Count's feet, you see; for nobody'd believe him on his oath if they +could help it. + +"And now I must clear out. I've got a race at Jerome Park at two +o'clock. It's all right, d'Antimoine; I assure you it's all right--but +I should advise you to punch the Count's head, all the same." + +Vandyke Brown thought it was all right, too, as he talked the matter +over with Jaune after little Conte Crayon had gone. But Jaune refused +to be comforted. So far as the public was concerned he admitted that +Conte Crayon's story had saved him, but he was oppressed by a great +dread of what might be the effect of the truth upon Rose. For Juane +d'Antimoine was too honest a gentleman even to think of deceiving his +mistress. He must tell her the whole story, without reserve, and as she +approved or disapproved of what he had done must his hopes of happiness +live or die. + +"Better have it out with her to-day, and be done with it," counseled +Brown. + +"Ah! it is well for you to speak of a 'urry, my good Van; but it is not +you who go to execute your life. No, I 'ave not the force to go to-day. +To-day I go to make a long walk. Then this night I sleep well. +Tomorrow, in the morning, do I go to affront my destiny." And from this +resolution Jaune was not to be moved. + +Yet it was an unfortunate resolution, for it gave the Count Siccatif de +Courtray time and opportunity for a flank movement. In the Count's +breast rage and astonishment contended for the mastery as he +contemplated the curious miscarriage of his newspaper assault. He had +chosen this line of attack partly because his modesty counseled him to +keep his own personality in the background, partly because the wider +the publicity of his rival's disgrace the more complete would that +disgrace be. But as his newspaper ally failed him, he took the campaign +into his own hands; that is to say, he hurried to tell the true story, +and a good deal more than the true story, to Rose and Madame Carthame. + +Concerning its effect upon Rose, he was in doubt; but its effect upon +Madame Carthame was all that he could desire. This severe person +instantly took the cue that the Count dexterously gave her by affecting +to palliate Jaune's erratic conduct. He urged that, inasmuch as M. +d'Antimoine was a conspicuous failure as an artist, for him to engage +himself to a tailor as a walking advertisement, so far from being a +disgrace to him, was greatly to his credit. And Madame Carthame +promptly and vehemently asserted that it wasn't. She refused to regard +what he had done in any other light than that of a crime. She declared +that never again should his offensive form darken her door. Solemnly +she forbade Rose from recognizing him when in the future they should +chance to meet. And then she abated her severity to the extent of +thanking the Count with tears in her eyes for the service that he had +done her in tearing off this viper's disguise. Naturally, the Count was +charmed by Ma-dame Carthame's energetic indignation. He perceived that +his unselfish investigations of the actions of Monsieur Jaune were +bearing excellent fruit. Already, as he believed, the way toward his +own happiness was smooth and clear. As the Count retired from this +successful conference, he laughed softly to himself: nor did he pause +in his unobtrusive mirth to reflect that those laugh best who laugh +last. + +And thus it came to pass that when Jaune, refreshed by sound slumber +and a little cheered by hope, presented himself the next morning at +Madame Carthame's gates, fate decreed that Rose herself should open the +gates to him--in response to his ring--and in her own proper person +should tell him that she was not at home. In explanation of this +obviously inexact statement she announced to him her mother's stern +decree. Being but a giddy young person, however, and one somewhat +lacking in fit reverence of maternal authority, she added, on her own +account, that in half an hour or so she was going up Fourth Street to +the Gansevoort market, and that Fourth Street was a public +thoroughfare, upon which M. d'Antimoine also had a perfect right to +walk. + +In the course of this walk, while Jaune gallantly carried the +market-basket, the story that Rose already had heard from the Count +Siccatif de Courtray was told again--but told with a very different +coloring. For Mademoiselle Carthame clearly perceived how great the +sacrifice had been that Jaune had made for her sake, and how bravely, +because it was for her sake, it had been made. There was real pathos in +his voice; once or twice he nearly broke down. Possibly it was because +she did not wish him to see her eyes that she manifested so marked an +interest in the shop windows as they walked along. + +"And so that adorable Marquis was unreal?" queried Mademoiselle +Carthame sadly, and somewhat irrelevantly, when Jaune had told her all. + +"He was not adorable. He was a disgusting beast!" replied M. +d'Antimoine savagely. + +"I--I loved him!" answered Rose, turning upon Jaune, at last, her black +eyes. They did not sparkle, as was their wont, but they were +wonderfully lustrous and soft. + +Jaune looked down into the market-basket and groaned. + +"And--and I love him still. I think, I--I hope, that he will live +always in my heart." + +The voice of Mademoiselle Carthame trembled, and her hand grasped very +tightly the bag of carrots that they had been unable to make a place +for in the basket: they were coming back from the market now. + +Jaune did not look up. For the life of him he could not keep back a +sob. It was bitter hard, he felt, that out of his love for Rose should +come love's wreck; and harder yet that the rival who had stolen her +from him should be himself! Through the mist of his misery he seemed to +hear Rose laughing softly. Could this be so? Then, indeed, was the +capstone set upon his grief! + +"Jaune!" + +He started, and so violently that a cabbage, with half a dozen potatoes +after it, sprang out of the basket and rolled along the pavement at her +feet. His bowed head rose with a jerk, and their eyes met full. In hers +there was a look half mocking, that as he gazed changed into +tenderness; into his, as he saw the change and perceived its meaning, +there came a look of glad delight. + +"As though you could deceive _me_! Why, of course, I knew you from the +very first!" + +Then they collected the potatoes and the cabbage and walked slowly on, +and great happiness was in their hearts. + +The world was a brighter world for Jaune d'Antimoine when he gave into +Rose's hand the market-basket on her own doorstep, and turned +reluctantly away. But there still were clouds in it. Rose had admitted +that two things were necessary before getting married could be thought +of at all seriously: something must be done by which the nose of the +Count Siccatif de Courtray would be disjointed; something must be done +to assure Madame Carthame that M. d'Antimoine, in some fashion at least +a little removed from semi-starvation, could maintain a wife. + +It was certain that until these things were accomplished Madame +Carthame's lofty resolution to transform her daughter into a countess, +and her stern disapprobation of Jaune as a social outcast, never would +be overcome! + +As events turned out, it was the second of these requirements that was +fulfilled first. + + +Mr. Badger Brush was a very rich sporting man, whose tastes were +horsey, but whose heart was in the right place. It was his delight to +make or to back extraordinary wagers. Few New Yorkers have forgotten +that very queer bet of his that resulted in putting high hats on all +the Broadway telegraph poles. When Mr. Brush read the story of Jaune +d'Antimoine's wager, therefore, he was greatly pleased with its +originality; and when, later in the day, he fell in with little Conte +Crayon at Jerome Park, he pressed that ingenious young newspaper man +for additional particulars. And knowing the whereabouts of Mr. Badger +Brush's heart, Conte Crayon did not hesitate to tell the whole story-- +winding up with the pointed suggestion that inasmuch as the hero of the +story was an animal-painter of decided, though as yet unrecognized, +ability, Mr. Brush could not do better than manifest his interest in a +practical way by giving him an order. The sporting man rose to the +suggestion with a commendable promptness and warmth. + +"I don't care a blank if it wasn't a bet," he said, heartily. "That +young man has pluck, and he deserves to be encouraged. I'll go down and +see him to-morrow, and I'll order a portrait of Celeripes; a life-size, +thousand-dollar portrait, by Jove! Celeripes deserves it, after the pot +of money he brought me at Long Branch, and your friend deserves it too. +And I have some other horses that I want painted, and some dogs--he +paints dogs, I suppose? And I know a lot of other fellows who ought to +have their horses painted, and I'll start them along at him. I'll give +him all the painting he can handle in the next ten years. For it _was_ +a bet, you see, after all. Didn't he back his cleverness in disguise +against the wits of the whole town? And didn't the slop-shop man put up +the stakes? And didn't he just win in a canter? I should rather think +he did! Of course it was a bet, and a mighty good one at that. Gad! +Crayon, it's the best thing that's been done in New York for years. +It's what I call first-class cheek. I couldn't have done it better, +sir, myself!" + +Thus it fell out that half an hour after Jaune got back to his studio +from that memorable walk to the Gansevoort market, he had the +breath-taking-away felicity of booking a thousand-dollar order, and of +receiving such obviously trustworthy assurances of many more orders +that his wildest hopes of success in a moment were resolved into +substantial realities. When he was alone again he certainly would have +believed that he had been dreaming but for the fact that Mr. Badger +Brush had insisted upon paying half the price of the picture down in +advance; for whatever this good-hearted, horsey gentleman did, he did +thoroughly well. The crisp notes, more than Jaune ever had seen +together in all his life before--save once, when he took a dealer's +check for ten dollars to a bank and looked through the wire screen +while the bank man haughtily cashed it--lay on the table where Mr. +Badger Brush had left them; and their blissful presence proved that his +happiness was not a dream, but real. + +From the corner into which, loathingly, he had kicked it, he drew forth +the bundle containing "The Marquis Suit." With a certain solemnity he +resumed these garments of price in which he had suffered so much +torture, and, being clad, boldly presented himself to Madame Carthame +with a formal demand for her daughter's hand. And in view of the sudden +and prodigious change that had come over M. d'Antimoine's fortunes, +almost was Madame Carthame persuaded that the matrimonial plans which +she had laid out for her daughter might be changed. Yet did she +hesitate before announcing that their Median and Persian quality might +be questioned: for the hope that Rose might be a countess lay very +close to Madarne Carthame's heart. However, her determination was +shaken, which was a great point gained. + +And presently--for Jaune's star was triumphantly in the ascendant--it +was completely destroyed. The instrument of its destruction was Mr. +Badger Brush's groom, Stumps. + +Stumps was a talkative creature, and whenever he came down to Jaune's +studio, as he very often did while the portrait of Celeripes was in +progress, he had a good deal to say over and above the message that he +brought, as to when the horse would be free for the next "sitting" in +the paddock at Mr. Brush's country place, where Jaune was painting him. +And Jaune, who was one of the best-natured of mortals, usually suffered +Stumps to talk away until he was tired. + +"You might knock me down with a wisp of hay, you might, indeed, sir," +said the groom one morning a fortnight after the picture had been +begun--the day but one, in fact, before that set for Vandyke Brown's +wedding. "Yes, sir," he continued, "with a wisp of hay, or even with a +single straw! Here I've been face to face with my own father's +brother's son, and I've put out my hand to him, and he's turned away +short and pretended as he didn't know me and went off! And they tells +me at his lodgin', for I follered him a-purpose to find him out, that +he calls hisself a Frenchman, and says as how his name--which it is +Stumps, and always has been--is Count Sikativ de Cortray!" + +Jaune's palette and brushes fell to the floor with a crash. "Is it +posseeble that you do tell me of the Comte Siccatif de Courtray? Are +you then sure that you do not make one grand meestake? Is it 'im truly +that you 'ave seen?" + +"Him, sir? Why, in course it's him. Haven't I knowed him ever since he +wasn't higher'n a hoss's fetlock? Don't I tell you as me and him's fust +cousins? Him? In course it's him--the gump!" + +"Then, my good Stump, you will now tell me of this wonder all." + +It's not much there is to tell, sir, and wat there is isn't to his +credit. His father was my father's brother. My father was in the hoss +line out Saint John's Wood way--in Lunnon, you know, sir--and his +father lived in our street and was a swell barber. Uncle'd married a +French young 'ooman as was dressmakin' and had been a lady's maid; it's +along of his mother that he gets his Frenchness, you see. He was an +only son, he was, and they made a lot of him--dressin' him fine, and +coddlin' him, and sendin' him to school like anythink. Uncle was doin' +a big trade, you see, and makin' money fast. Then, when he was a young +fellow of twenty or so, and after he'd served at barberin' with his +father for a couple of years, he took service with young Lord Cadmium-- +as had his 'cousin' livin' in a willa down our way and came to uncle's +to be barbered frequent. And wen Lord Cadmium went sudden-like over to +the Continent, wishin' to give his 'cousin' the slip, havin' got sick +of her, Stumps he went along. That's a matter of ten years ago, sir, +and blessed if I've laid eyes on him since until I seed him here in New +York to-day. Uncle died better'n two year back, aunt havin' died fust, +and he left a tidy pot of money to Stumps; and I did hear that Stumps, +who'd been barberin' in Paris, had giv' up work when he got the cash +and had set up to be a gentleman, but I didn't know as he'd set up to +be a count too. The like of this I never did see!" + +"And you are then sure, you will swear, my good Stump, that this are +the same man?" + +"Swear, sir! I'll swear to it 'igh and low and all day long! But I must +be goin', sir. You will please to remember that the hoss will be ready +for you at ten o'clock to-morrow mornin', sharp." + +Jaune rushed down to Vandyke Brown's studio for counsel as to whether +he should go at once to the Count's lodgings and charge him with fraud +to his face, or should make the charge first to Madame Carthame. But +Brown was out. Nor was he in old Madder's studio, though about this +time he was much more likely to be there than in his own. Old Madder +said that Brown had taken Rose over to Brooklyn, to the Philharmonic, +and he believed that they were going to dinner at Mr. Mangan Brown's +afterward, and would not be in till late; and he seemed to be pretty +grumpy about it. + +Jaune fumed and fretted away what was left of the afternoon and a good +part of the evening. At last Brown and Rose came home, and Brown, with +a very bad grace, suffered himself to be led away from old Madder's +threshold. To do him justice, though, when he had heard the story that +Jaune had to tell, he was all eagerness. His advice was to make the +attack instantly; and without more words they set off together, walking +briskly through the chill air of the late October night. + +As they were passing along Macdougal Street--midway between Bleecker +and Houston, in front of the row of pretty houses with verandas all +over their fronts--Jaune suddenly gripped Brown's arm and drew him +quickly within one of the little front yards and into the shadow of the +high iron steps. + +"Look!" he said. + +On the other side of the street, in the light of the gas-lamp that +stands in the centre of the block, was the Count himself. For the +moment that he was beneath the gas-lamp they saw him clearly. His face +was set in an expression of gloomy sternness; his rapid, resolute walk +indicated a definite purpose; he carried a little bundle in his hand. + +"What a villain he looks!" whispered Brown. "Upon my soul, I do believe +that he is going to murder somebody!" + +"Ah, the vile animal! We will pursue," answered Jaune, also in a +whisper. + +Giving the Count a start of a dozen house fronts, they stepped out from +their retreat and followed him cautiously. He walked quickly up +Macdougal Street until he came out on Washington Square. For a moment +he paused--by Sam Wah's laundry--and then turned sharply to the left +along Fourth Street. At a good pace he crossed Sixth Avenue, swung +around the curve that Fourth Street makes before beginning its +preposterous journey northward, went on past the three little balconied +houses whose fronts are on Washington Place, and so came out upon the +open space where Washington Place and Barrow Street and Fourth Street +all run into each other. It was hereabout that Wouter Van Twiller had +his tobacco farm a trifle less than two centuries ago. + +The Count stopped, as though to get his bearings, and while they waited +for him to go on Brown nudged Jaune to look at the delightfully +picturesque frame house, set in a deep niche between two high brick +houses, with the wooden stair elbowing up its outside to its third +story. It came out wonderfully well in the moonlight, but Jaune was too +much excited even to glance at it. + +At the next group of corners--where Fourth Street crosses Grove and +Christopher Streets at the point where they go sidling into each other +along the slanting lines of the little park--the Count halted again. +Evidently, the exceeding crookedness of Greenwich Village puzzled him-- +as well it might. Presently a Christopher Street car came along and set +him straight; and thus guided, he started resolutely westward, as +though heading for the river. + +"Is it posseeble that he goes 'imself to drown?" suggested d'Antimoine. + +"No such good luck," Brown answered shortly. + +Coming out on what used to be called "the Strand"--West Street they +call it now--the Count bore away from the lights of the Hoboken Ferry +and from the guarded docks of the White Star and Anchor lines of +steamers, skirted the fleet of oyster boats, and so came to the quiet +pier at the foot of Perry Street, where the hay barges unload. This +pier runs a long way out into the river, for it is a part of what was +called Sapo-kamikke Point in Indian times. The Count stopped and looked +cautiously around him, but his pursuers promptly crouched behind a dray +and became invisible. + +As he went out upon the pier, though, they were close upon his heels-- +walking noiselessly over the loose hay and keeping themselves hidden in +the shadow of the barges and behind the piles of bales. At the very end +of the pier he stopped. Jaune and Brown, hidden by a bale of hay, were +within five feet of him. Their hearts were beating tremendously. There +had been no tragical purpose in their minds when they started, but it +certainly did look now as though they were in the thick of a tragedy. +In the crisp October moonlight the Count's face shone deathly pale; +they could see the fingers of his right hand working convulsively; they +could hear his labored breathing. Below him was the deep, black water, +lapping and rippling as the swirl of the tide sucked it into the dark, +slimy recesses among the piles. In its bosom was horrible death. The +Count stepped out upon the very edge of the pier and gazed wofully down +upon the swelling waters. His dismal purpose no longer admitted of +doubt. Involuntarily the two followed him until they were close at his +back. Little as they loved him, they could not suffer him thus +despairingly to leave the world. + +But instead of casting himself over the edge of the pier, the Count +slowly raised the hand that held the bundle, with the obvious intention +of throwing the bundle and whatever was the evil secret that it +contained into the river's depths. Quick as thought, Brown had seized +the upraised arm, and Jaune had settled upon the other arm with a grip +like a vise. + +"No, you don't, my boy! Let's see what it is before it goes overboard. +Hold fast, d'Antimoine!" + +The Count struggled furiously, but hopelessly. + +"It's no use. You may as well give in, Stumps!" + +As Brown uttered this name the Count suddenly became limp. The little +bundle that he had clutched tightly through the struggle dropped from +his nerveless hand, and fell open as it struck the ground. And there, +gleaming in the moonlight, a brace of razors, a stubby brush, a stout +pair of shears, lay loosely in the folds of a barber's jacket! + +And this was the sorry climax to the brilliant romance of the +proscribed Bonapartist, the Count Sicca-tif de Courtray! + +Jaune, who was a generous-hearted young fellow, was for setting free +his crestfallen rival at once, and so having done with him. Brown took +a more statesmanlike view of the situation. "We will let him go after +he has owned up to Madame Carthame what a fraud he is," he said. The +Count winced when this sentence was pronounced, but he uttered no +remonstrance. The shock of the discovery had completely demoralized +him. + +It was after midnight when they reached Madame Carthame's dwelling, and +Rose herself, with her hair done up in curl papers, opened the door for +them, When she recognized the three visitors and perceived that the +Count was in custody, and at the same moment remembered her curl +papers, on her face the gaze of astonishment and the blush of maidenly +modesty contended for the right of way. + +Madame Carthame fairly was in bed--as was evident from the spirited +conversation between herself and her vivacious daughter that was +perfectly audible through the folding doors which separated the little +parlor from her bedroom. It was evident, also, that she was indisposed +to rise. However, her indisposition was overcome and in the course of +twenty minutes or so she appeared arrayed in a frigid dignity and a +loose wrapper. Rose, meanwhile, had taken off her curl papers, and +Jaune regarded her tumbled hair with ecstasy. + +The tribunal being assembled, the prisoner was placed at the bar and +the trial began. It was an eminently irregular trial, looking at it +from a legal point of view, for the verbal evidence all was hearsay. +But it also was extra-legal in that it was brief and decisive. Brown +gave his testimony in the shape of a repetition of the story that Jaune +had told him had been told by Mr. Badger Brush's groom; and when this +was concluded, Jaune produced the jacket, razors, shears, and shaving +brush, and stated the circumstances under which they had been found. +Then the prosecution rested. + +Being questioned by the court--that is to say, by Madame Carthame--in +his own defence, the Count replied gloomily that he hadn't any. "When I +saw that horse fellow," he said, "I knew that I was likely to get into +trouble, and that was the reason why I wanted to get rid of these +things. And now the game is up. It is all true. I was a barber. I am +not a count. My real name is Stumps." + +Then it was that Madame Carthame, blissfully ignorant of the fact that +she had neglected to remove her nightcap, stood up in her place, with +her wrapper gathered about her in a statuesque fashion, and in a tragic +tone uttered the single word: + +"Sortez!" + +And the Count went! + +Out, out into the chill and gloom of night went the false Count, never +to return; and with him went Madame Carthame's fond hope that her +daughter would be a countess, which also was the last barrier in the +way of Jaune d'Antimoine's love. Perceiving that the force of fate +inexorably was pressing upon her, Madame Carthame--still in her +night-cap--bestowed upon Rose and Jaune the maternal blessing in a +manner that, even allowing for the nightcap, was both stately and +severe. + +As at Vandyke Brown's wedding Jaune d'Antimoine was radiantly +magnificent in "The Marquis Suit," adding splendor to the ceremony and +rendering himself most pleasing in the eyes of Rose Carthame; so, a +month later, he was yet more radiant when he wore the famous suit +again, in the church of Saint Vincent de Paul, and was himself married. + +Conte Crayon brought Mr. Badger Brush down to the wedding, and the +groom came too, and the tailor got wind of it and came without being +asked--and had to be implored not to work it up into an advertisement, +as he very much wanted to do. Mrs. Vandyke Brown, just home from her +wedding journey, was the first--after the kiss of Madame Carthame had +been sternly bestowed--to kiss the bride; and Mr. Badger Brush +irreverently whispered to Conte Crayon that he wished, by gad! he had +her chance! + + + +OLE 'STRACTED +--------------- +BY THOMAS NELSON PAGE + + + +_Thomas Nelson Page (born in Oakland, Virginia, April 23, 1853) +represents the generation of Southerners who were too young to fight +but not to feel during the Civil War. In the middle eighties he +published a number of stories in the "Century Magazine" which presented +with loving sympathy charming views of the old aristocratic regime that +it had become a literary fashion sweepingly to condemn. These tales of +courtly ideals on the part of the masters, and affecting loyalty on the +side of the slaves, were gathered together and published in 1887 in a +volume entitled "In Ole Virginia." "Marse Chan," "Meh Lady" and "Ole +'Stracted" the present selection, are the favorites of the collection._ + + + +OLE 'STRACTED +BY THOMAS NELSON PAGE +[Footnote: This story is reprinted, by permission, from the book +entitled "In Ole Virginia." Copyright, 1887, by Charles Scribner's +Sons.] + +"Awe, little Ephum! _awe_ little E-phum! ef you don' come 'long heah, +boy, an' rock dis chile, I'll buss you haid open!" screamed the +high-pitched voice of a woman, breaking the stillness of the summer +evening. She had just come to the door of the little cabin, where she +was now standing, anxiously scanning the space before her, while a +baby's plaintive wail rose and fell within with wearying monotony. The +log cabin, set in a gall in the middle of an old field all grown up in +sassafras, was not a very inviting-looking place; a few hens loitering +about the new hen-house, a brood of half-grown chickens picking in the +grass and watching the door, and a runty pig tied to a "stob," were the +only signs of thrift; yet the face of the woman cleared up as she gazed +about her and afar off, where the gleam of green made a pleasant spot, +where the corn grew in the river bottom; for it was her home, and the +best of all was she thought it belonged to them. + +A rumble of distant thunder caught her ear, and she stepped down and +took a well-worn garment from the clothes-line, stretched between two +dogwood forks, and having, after a keen glance down the path through +the bushes, satisfied herself that no one was in sight, she returned to +the house, and the baby's voice rose louder than before. The mother, as +she set out her ironing table, raised a dirge-like hymn, which she +chanted, partly from habit and partly in self-defence. She ironed +carefully the ragged shirt she had just taken from the line, and then, +after some search, finding a needle and cotton, she drew a chair to the +door and proceeded to mend the garment. + +"Dis de on'ies' shut Ole 'Stracted got," she said, as if in apology to +herself for being so careful. + +The cloud slowly gathered over the pines in the direction of the path; +the fowls carefully tripped up the path, and after a prudent pause at +the hole, disappeared one by one within; the chickens picked in a +gradually contracting circuit, and finally one or two stole furtively +to the cabin door, and after a brief reconnaissance came in, and +fluttered up the ladder to the loft, where they had been born, and yet +roosted. Once more the baby's voice prevailed, and once more the woman +went to the door, and, looking down the path, screamed, "Awe, little +Ephum! awe, little Ephum!" + +"Ma'm," came the not very distant answer from the bushes. + +"Why 'n't you come 'long heah, boy, an' rock dis chile?" + +"Yes'm, I comin'," came the answer. She waited, watching, until there +emerged from the bushes a queer little caravan, headed by a small brat, +who staggered under the weight of another apparently nearly as large +and quite as black as himself, while several more of various degrees of +diminutiveness struggled along behind. + +"Ain't you heah me callin' you, boy? You better come when I call you. +I'll tyah you all to pieces!" pursued the woman, in the angriest of +keys, her countenance, however, appearing unruffled. The head of the +caravan stooped and deposited his burden carefully on the ground; then, +with a comical look of mingled alarm and penitence, he slowly +approached the door, keeping his eye watchfully on his mother, and, +picking his opportunity, slipped in past her, dodging skilfully just +enough to escape a blow which she aimed at him, and which would have +"slapped him flat" had it struck him, but which, in truth, was intended +merely to warn and keep him in wholesome fear, and was purposely aimed +high enough to miss him, allowing for the certain dodge. + +The culprit, having stifled the whimper with which he was prepared, +flung himself on to the foot of the rough plank cradle, and began to +rock it violently and noisily, using one leg as a lever, and singing an +accompaniment, of which the only words that rose above the noise of the +rockers were "By-a-by, don't you cry; go to sleep, little baby"; and +sure enough the baby stopped crying and went to sleep. + +Eph watched his mammy furtively as she scraped away the ashes and laid +the thick pone of dough on the hearth, and shoveled the hot ashes upon +it. Supper would be ready directly, and it was time to propitiate her. +He bethought himself of a message. + +"Mammy, Ole 'Stracted say you must bring he shut; he say he marster +comin' to-night." + +"How he say he is?" inquired the woman, with some interest. + +"He ain' say--jes say he want he shut. He sutny is comical--he layin' +down in de baid." Then, having relieved his mind, Eph went to sleep in +the cradle. + +"'Layin' down in de baid?'" quoted the woman to herself as she moved +about the room. "I 'ain' nuver hern 'bout dat befo'. Dat sutny is a +comical ole man anyways. He say he used to live on dis plantation, an' +yit he al'ays talkin' 'bout de gret house an' de fine kerridges dee +used to have, an' 'bout he marster comin' to buy him back. De 'ain' +nuver been no gret house on dis place, not sence I know nuttin 'bout +it, 'sep de overseer house whar dat man live. I heah Ephum say Aunt +Dinah tell him de ole house whar used to be on de hill whar dat gret +oak-tree is in de pines bu'nt down de year he wuz born, an' he ole +marster had to live in de overseer house, an' hit break he heart, an' +dee teck all he niggers, an' dat's de way _he_ come to blongst to we +all; but dat ole man ain' know nuttin 'bout dat house, 'cause hit bu'nt +down. I wonder whar he did come from?" she pursued, "an' what he sho' +'nough name? He sholy couldn' been named 'Ole 'Stracted,' jes so; dat +ain' no name 'tall. Yit ef he ain' 'stracted, 'tain' nobody is. He ain' +even know he own name," she continued, presently. "Say he marster'll +know him when he come--ain' know de folks is free; say he marster gwi +buy him back in de summer an' kyar him home, an' 'bout de money he +gwine gi' him. Ef he got any money, I wonder he live down dyah in dat +evil-sperit hole." And the woman glanced around with great complacency +on the picture-pasted walls of her own by no means sumptuously +furnished house. "Money!" she repeated aloud, as she began to rake in +the ashes, "He ain' got nuttin. I got to kyar him piece o' dis bread +now," and she went off into a dream of what they would do when the big +crop on their land should be all in, and the last payment made on the +house; of what she would wear, and how she would dress the children, +and the appearance she would make at meeting, not reflecting that the +sum they had paid for the property had never, even with all their +stinting, amounted in any one year to more than a few dollars over the +rent charged for the place, and that the eight hundred dollars yet due +on it was more than they could make at the present rate in a lifetime. + +"Ef Ephum jes had a mule, or even somebody to help him," she thought, +"but he ain' got nuttin. De chil'n ain big 'nough to do nuttin but eat; +he 'ain' not no brurrs, an' he deddy took 'way an' sold down Souf de +same time my ole marster whar dead buy him; dat's what I al'ays heah +'em say, an' I know he's dead long befo' dis, 'cause I heah 'em say +dese Virginia niggers earn stan' hit long deah, hit so hot, hit frizzle +'em up, an' I reckon he die befo' he ole marster, whar I heah say die +of a broked heart torectly after dee teck he niggers an' sell 'em befo' +he face. I heah Aunt Dinah say dat, an' dat he might'ly sot on he ole +servants, spressaly on Ephum deddy, whar named Little Ephum, an' whar +used to wait on him. Dis mus' 'a' been a gret place dem days, 'cordin' +to what dee say." She went on: "Dee say he sutny live strong, wuz jes +rich as cream, an' weahed he blue coat an' brass buttons, an' lived in +dat ole house whar was up whar de pines is now, an' whar bu'nt down, +like he owned de wull. An' now look at it; dat man own it all, an' +cuttin' all de woods off it. He don't know nuttin 'bout black folks, +ain' nuver been fotch up wid 'em. Who ever heah he name 'fo' he come +heah an' buy de place, an' move in de overseer house, an' charge we all +eight hundred dollars for dis land, jes 'cause it got little piece o' +bottom on it, an' forty-eight dollars rent besides, wid he ole stingy +wife whar oon' even gi' 'way buttermilk!" An expression of mingled +disgust and contempt concluded the reflection. + +She took the ash-cake out of the ashes, slapped it first on one side, +then on the other, with her hand, dusted it with her apron, and walked +to the door and poured a gourd of water from the piggin over it. Then +she divided it in half; one half she set up against the side of the +chimney, the other she broke up into smaller pieces and distributed +among the children, dragging the sleeping Eph, limp and soaked with +sleep, from the cradle to receive his share. Her manner was not rough-- +was perhaps even tender--but she used no caresses, as a white woman +would have done under the circumstances. It was only toward the baby at +the breast that she exhibited any endearments. Her nearest approach to +it with the others was when she told them, as she portioned out the +ash-cake, "Mammy ain't got nuttin else; but ntiver min', she gwine have +plenty o' good meat next year, when deddy done pay for he land." + +"Hi! who dat out dyah?" she said, suddenly. "Run to de do', son, an' +see who dat comin'," and the whole tribe rushed to inspect the +new-comer. + +It was, as she suspected, her husband, and as soon as he entered she +saw that something was wrong. He dropped into a chair, and sat in moody +silence, the picture of fatigue, physical and mental. After waiting for +some time, she asked, indifferently. "What de matter?" + +"Dat man." + +"What he done do now?" The query was sharp with suspicion. + +"He say he ain' gwine let me have my land." + +"He's a half-strainer," said the woman, with sudden anger. "How he +gwine help it? Ain' you got crap on it?" She felt that there must be a +defence against such an outrage. + +"He say he ain' gwine wait no longer; dat I wuz to have tell Christmas +to finish payin' for it, an' I ain' do it, an' now he done change he +min'." + +"Tell dis Christmas comin'," said his wife, with the positiveness of +one accustomed to expound contracts. + +"Yes; but I tell you he say he done change he min'." The man had +evidently given up all hope; he was dead beat. + +"De crap's yourn," said she, affected by his surrender, but prepared +only to compromise. + +"He say he gwine teck all dat for de rent, and dat he gwine drive Ole +'Stracted 'way too." + +"He ain' nuttin but po' white trash!" It expressed her supreme +contempt. + +"He say he'll gi' me jes one week mo' to pay him all he ax for it," +continued he, forced to a correction by her intense feeling, and the +instinct of a man to defend the absent from a woman's attack, and +perhaps in the hope that she might suggest some escape. + +"He ain' nuttin sep po' white trash!" she repeated. "How you gwine +raise eight hundred dollars at once? Dee kyarn nobody do dat. Gord +mout! He ain' got good sense." + +"You ain' see dat corn lately, is you?" he asked. "Hit jes as rank! You +can almos' see it growin' ef you look at it good. Dat's strong land. I +know dat when I buy it." + +He knew it was gone now, but he had been in the habit of calling it his +in the past three years, and it did him good to claim the ownership a +little longer. + +"I wonder whar Marse Johnny is?" said the woman. He was the son of her +former owner; and now, finding her proper support failing her, she +instinctively turned to him. "He wouldn' let him turn we all out." + +"He ain' got nuttin, an' ef he is, he kyarn get it in a week," said +Ephraim. + +"Kyarn you teck it in de co't?" + +"Dat's whar he say he gwine have it ef I don' git out," said her +husband, despairingly. + +Her last defence was gone. + +"Ain' you hongry?" she inquired. + +"What you got?" + +"I jes gwine kill a chicken for you." + +It was her nearest approach to tenderness, and he knew it was a mark of +special attention, for all the chickens and eggs had for the past three +years gone to swell the fund which was to buy the home, and it was only +on special occasions that one was spared for food. + +The news that he was to be turned out of his home had fallen on him +like a blow, and had stunned him; he could make no resistance, he could +form no plans. He went into a rough estimate as he waited. + +"Le' me see: I done wuck for it three years dis Christmas done gone; +how much does dat meek?" + +"An' fo' dollars, an' five dollars, an' two dollars an' a half last +Christmas from de chickens, an' all dem ducks I done sell he wife, an' +de washin' I been doin' for 'em; how much is dat?" supplemented his +wife. + +"Dat's what I say!" + +His wife endeavored vainly to remember the amount she had been told it +was; but the unaccounted-for washing changed the sum and destroyed her +reliance on the result. And as the chicken was now approaching +perfection, and required her undivided attention, she gave up the +arithmetic and applied herself to her culinary duties. + +Ephraim also abandoned the attempt, and waited in a reverie, in which +he saw corn stand so high and rank over his land that he could scarcely +distinguish the bulk, and a stable and barn and a mule, or maybe two-- +it was a possibility--and two cows which his wife would milk, and a +green wagon driven by his boys, while he took it easy and gave orders +like a master, and a clover patch, and wheat, and he saw the' yellow +grain waving, and heard his sons sing the old harvest song of "Cool +Water" while they swung their cradles, and-- + +"You say he gwine turn Ole 'Stracted out, too?" inquired his wife, +breaking the spell. The chicken was done now, and her mind reverted to +the all-engrossing subject. + +"Yes; say he tired o' ole 'stracted nigger livin' on he place an' +payin' no rent." + +"Good Gord A'mighty! Pay rent for dat ole pile o' logs! Ain't he been +mendin' he shoes an' harness for rent all dese years?" + +"'Twill kill dat ole man to tu'n him out dat house," said Ephraim; "he +ain 'nuver stay away from dyah a hour since he come heah." + +"Sutny 'twill," assented his wife; then she added, in reply to the rest +of the remark, "Nuver min'; den we'll see what he got in dyah." To a +woman, that was at least some compensation. Ephraim's thoughts had +taken a new direction. + +"He al'ays feared he marster'd come for him while he 'way," he said, in +mere continuance of his last remark. + +"He sen' me wud he marster comin' to-night, an he want he shut," said +his wife, as she handed him his supper. Ephraim's face expressed more +than interest; it was tenderness which softened the rugged lines as he +sat looking into the fire. Perhaps he thought of the old man's +loneliness, and of his own father torn away and sold so long ago, +before he could even remember, and perhaps very dimly of the beauty of +the sublime devotion of this poor old creature to his love and his +trust, holding steadfast beyond memory, beyond reason, after the +knowledge even of his own identity and of his very name was lost. + +The woman caught the contagion of his sympathy. + +"De chil'n say he mighty comical, an' he layin' down in de baid," she +said. + +Ephraim rose from his seat. + +"Whar you gwine?" + +"I mus' go to see 'bout him," he said, simply. + +"Ain' you gwine finish eatin'?" + +"I gwine kyar dis to him." + +"Well, I kin cook you anurr when we come back," said his wife, with +ready acquiescence. + +In a few minutes they were on the way, going single file down the path +through the sassafras, along which little Eph and his followers had +come an hour before, the man in the lead and his wife following, and, +according to the custom of their race, carrying the bundles, one the +surrendered supper and the other the neatly folded and well-patched +shirt in which Ole 'Stracted hoped to meet his long-expected loved +ones. + +As they came in sight of the ruinous little hut which had been the old +man's abode since his sudden appearance in the neighborhood a few years +after the war, they observed that the bench beside the door was +deserted, and that the door stood ajar--two circumstances which neither +of them remembered ever to have seen before; for in all the years in +which he had been their neighbor Ole 'Stracted had never admitted any +one within his door, and had never been known to leave it open. In mild +weather he occupied a bench outside, where he either cobbled shoes for +his neighbors, accepting without question anything they paid him, or +else sat perfectly quiet, with the air of a person waiting for some +one. He held only the briefest communication with anybody, and was +believed by some to have intimate relations with the Evil One, and his +tumble-down hut, which he was particular to keep closely daubed, was +thought by such as took this view of the matter to be the temple where +he practiced his unholy rites. For this reason, and because the little +cabin, surrounded by dense pines and covered with vines which the +popular belief held "pizenous," was the most desolate abode a human +being could have selected, most of the dwellers in that section gave +the place a wide berth, especially toward nightfall, and Ole 'Stracted +would probably have suffered but for the charity of Ephraim and his +wife, who, although often wanting the necessaries of life themselves, +had long divided it with their strange neighbor. Yet even they had +never been admitted inside his door, and knew no more of him than the +other people about the settlement knew. + +His advent in the neighborhood had been mysterious. The first that was +known of him was one summer morning, when he was found sitting on the +bench beside the door of this cabin, which had long been unoccupied and +left to decay. He was unable to give any account of himself, except +that he always declared that he had been sold by some one other than +his master from that plantation, that his wife and boy had been sold to +some other person at the same time for twelve hundred dollars (he was +particular as to the amount), and that his master was coming in the +summer to buy him back and take him home, and would bring him his wife +and child when he came. Everything since that day was a blank to him, +and as he could not tell the name of his master or wife, or even his +own name, and as no one was left old enough to remember him, the +neighborhood having been entirely deserted after the war, he simply +passed as a harmless old lunatic laboring under a delusion. He was +devoted to children, and Ephraim's small brood were his chief delight. +They were not at all afraid of him, and whenever they got a chance they +would slip off and steal down to his house, where they might be found +any time squatting about his feet, listening to his accounts of his +expected visit from his master, and what he was going to do afterward. +It was all of a great plantation, and fine carriages and horses, and a +house with his wife and the boy. + +This was all that was known of him, except that once a stranger, +passing through the country, and hearing the name Ole 'Stracted, said +that he heard a similar one once, long before the war, in one of the +Louisiana parishes, where the man roamed at will, having been bought of +the trader by the gentleman who owned him, for a small price, on +account of his infirmity. + +"Is you gwine in dyah?" asked the woman, as they approached the hut. + +"Hi! yes; 'tain' nuttin' gwine hu't you; an' you say Ephum say he be +layin' in de baid?" he replied, his mind having evidently been busy on +the subject. + +"An' mighty comical," she corrected him, with exactness born of +apprehension. + +"Well? I 'feared he sick." + +"I ain' nuver been in dyah," she persisted. + +"Ain' de chil'n been in dyah?" + +"Dee say 'stracted folks oon hu't chil'n." + +"Dat ole man oon hu't nobody; he jes tame as a ole tomcat." + +"I wonder he ain' feared to live in dat lonesome ole house by hisself. +I jes lieve stay in a graveyard at once. I ain' wonder folks say he +sees sperrits in dat hanty-lookin' place." She came up by her husband's +side at the suggestion. "I wonder he don' go home." + +"Whar he got any home to go to sep heaven?" said Ephraim. + +"What was you mammy name, Ephum?" + +"Mymy," said he, simply. + +They were at the cabin now, and a brief pause of doubt ensued. It was +perfectly dark inside the door, and there was not a sound. The bench +where they had heretofore held their only communication with their +strange neighbor was lying on its side in the weeds which grew up to +the very walls of the ruinous cabin, and a lizard suddenly ran over it, +and with a little rustle disappeared under the rotting ground-sill. To +the woman it was an ill omen. She glanced furtively behind her, and +moved nearer her husband's side. She noticed that the cloud above the +pines was getting a faint yellow tinge on its lower border, while it +was very black above them. It filled her with dread, and she was about +to call her husband's notice to it, when a voice within arrested their +attention. It was very low, and they both listened in awed silence, +watching the door meanwhile as if they expected to see something +supernatural spring from it. + +"Nem min'--jes wait--'tain so long now--he'll be heah torectly," said +the voice. "Dat's what he say--gwine come an' buy me back--den we gwine +home." + +In their endeavor to catch the words they moved nearer, and made a +slight noise. Suddenly the low, earnest tone changed to one full of +eagerness. + +"Who dat?" was called in sharp inquiry. + +"'Tain' nobody but me an' Polly, Ole 'Stracted," said Ephraim, pushing +the door slightly wider open and stepping in. They had an indistinct +idea that the poor deluded creature had fancied them his longed-for +loved ones, yet it was a relief to see him bodily. + +"Who you say you is?" inquired the old man, feebly. + +"Me an' Polly." + +"I done bring you shut home," said the woman, as if supplementing her +husband's reply. "Hit all bran' clean, an' I done patch it." + +"Oh, I thought--" said the voice, sadly. + +They knew what he thought. Their eyes were now accustomed to the +darkness, and they saw that the only article of furniture which the +room contained was the wretched bed or bench on which the old man was +stretched. The light sifting through the chinks in the roof enabled +them to see his face, and that it had changed much in the last +twenty-four hours, and an instinct told them that he was near the end +of his long waiting. + +"How is you, Ole 'Stracted?" asked the woman. + +"Dat ain' my name," answered the old man, promptly. It was the first +time he had ever disowned the name. + +"Well, how is you, Ole--What I gwine to call you?" asked she, with +feeble finesse. + +"I don' know--he kin tell you." + +"Who?" + +"Who? Marster. He know it. Ole 'Stracted ain' know it; but dat ain' +nuttin. _He_ know it--got it set down in de book. I jes waitin' for 'em +now." + +A hush fell on the little audience--they were in full sympathy with +him, and, knowing no way of expressing it, kept silence. Only the +breathing of the old man was audible in the room. He was evidently +nearing the end. "I mighty tired of waitin'," he said, pathetically. +"Look out dyah and see ef you see anybody," he added suddenly. + +Both of them obeyed, and then returned and stood silent; they could not +tell him no. + +Presently the woman said, "Don' you warn put you' shut on?" + +"What did you say my name was?" he said. + +"Ole 'Str--" She paused at the look of pain on his face, shifted +uneasily from one foot to the other, and relapsed into embarrassed +silence. + +"Nem min'! dee'll know it--dee'll know me 'dout any name, oon dee?" He +appealed wistfully to them both. The woman for answer unfolded the +shirt. He moved feebly, as if in assent. + +"I so tired waitin'," he whispered; "done 'mos gin out, an' he oon +come; but I thought I heah little Eph to-day?" There was a faint +inquiry in his voice. + +"Yes, he wuz heah." + +"Wuz he?" The languid form became instantly alert, the tired face took +on a look of eager expectancy. "Heah, gi'm'y shut quick. I knowed it. +Wait; go over dyah, son, and git me dat money. He'll be heah torectly." +They thought his mind wandered, and merely followed the direction of +his eyes with theirs. "Go over dyah quick--don't you heah me?" + +And to humor him Ephraim went over to the corner indicated. + +"Retch up dyah, an' run you' hand in onder de second jice. It's all in +dyah," he said to the woman--"twelve hunderd dollars--dat's what dee +went for. I wucked night an' day forty year to save dat money for +marster; you know dee teck all he land an' all he niggers an' tu'n him +out in de old fiel'? I put 'tin dyah 'ginst he come. You ain' know he +comin' dis evenin', is you? Heah, help me on wid dat shut, gal--I +stan'in' heah talkin' an' maybe ole marster waitin'. Push de do' open +so you kin see. Forty year ago," he murmured, as Polly jammed the door +back and returned to his side--"forty year ago dee come an' leveled on +me: marster sutny did cry. 'Nem min',' he said, 'I comin' right down in +de summer to buy you back an' bring you home.' He's comin', too--nuver +tol' me a lie in he life--comin' dis evenin.' Make 'aste." This in +tremulous eagerness to the woman, who had involuntarily caught the +feeling, and was now with eager and ineffectual haste trying to button +his shirt. + +An exclamation from her husband caused her to turn around, as he +stepped into the light and held up an old sock filled with something. + +"Heah, hoi you' apron," said the old man to Polly, who gathered up the +lower corners of her apron and stood nearer the bed. + +"Po' it in dyah." This to Ephraim, who mechanically obeyed. He pulled +off the string, and poured into his wife's lap the heap of glittering +coin--gold and silver more than their eyes had ever seen before. + +"Hit's all dyah," said the old man, confidentially, as if he were +rendering an account. "I been savin' it ever sence dee took me 'way. I +so busy savin' it I ain' had time to eat, but I ain' hongry now; have +plenty when I git home." He sank back exhausted. "Oon marster be glad +to see me?" he asked presently in pathetic simplicity. "You know we +grewed up to-gerr? I been waitin' so long I 'feared dee 'mos' done +forgit me. You reckon dee is?" he asked the woman, appealingly. + +"No, suh, dee ain' forgit you," she said, comfortingly. + +"I know dee ain'," he said, reassured. "Dat's what he tell me--he ain' +nuver gwine forgit me." The reaction had set in, and his voice was so +feeble now it was scarcely audible. He was talking rather to himself +than to them, and finally he sank into a doze. A painful silence +reigned in the little hut, in which the only sign was the breathing of +the dying man. A single shaft of light stole down under the edge of the +slowly passing cloud and slipped up to the door. Suddenly the sleeper +waked with a start, and gazed around. + +"Hit gittin' mighty dark," he whispered, faintly. "You reckon dee'll +git heah 'fo' dark?" + +The light was dying from his eyes. + +"Ephum," said the woman, softly, to her husband. + +The effect was electrical. + +"Heish! you heah dat!" exclaimed the dying man, eagerly. + +"Ephum"--she repeated. The rest was drowned by Ole 'Stracted's joyous +exclamation. + +"Gord! I knowed it!" he cried, suddenly rising upright, and, with +beaming face, stretching both arms toward the door. "Dyah dee come! Now +watch 'em smile. All y'all jes stand back. Heah de one you lookin' for. +Marster--Mymy--heah's Little Ephum!" And with a smile on his face he +sank back into his son's arms. + +The evening sun, dropping on the instant to his setting, flooded the +room with light; but as Ephraim gently eased him down and drew his arm +from around him, it was the light of the unending morning that was on +his face. His Master had at last come for him, and after his long +waiting, Ole 'Stracted had indeed gone home. + + + +OUR CONSUL AT CARLSRUHE +----------------------- +BY F. J. STIMSON + + + +_Frederic Jesup Stimson is a prominent lawyer of Boston. He is a member +of the New York and Boston bars and is a special lecturer at Harvard. +He has been more or less identified with State politics in +Massachusetts for a great many years, was Assistant Attorney-General of +the State in 1884-85, general counsel to the United States Industrial +Commission, and Democratic candidate for Congress in 1902. In addition +to being the author of several novels, essays, etc., Mr. Stimson has +written a number of law books. His earlier novels were published under +the pen-name of "J. S. of Dale." Mr. Stimsorfs latest novel is entitled +"In Cure of Her Soul". The hero of the story, Austin Pinckney, is a son +of the "Consul at Carlsruhe."_ + + + +OUR CONSUL AT CARLSRUHE +BY F. J. STIMSON ("J. S. OF DALE") +[Footnote: By permission of the publishers, from "The Sentimental +Calendar," by J. S. of Dale (F. J. Stimson). Copyright, 1886, by +Charles Scribner's Sons.] + +DIED.--_In Baden, Germany, the 22d instant, Charles Austin Pinckney, +late U. S. Consul at Carlsruhe, aged sixty years._ + +There: most stories of men's lives end with the epitaph, but this of +Pinckney's shall begin there. If we, as haply God or Devil can, could +unroof the houses of men's souls, if their visible works were of their +hearts rather than their brains, we should know strange things. And +this alone, of all the possible, is certain. For bethink you, how men +appear to their Creator, as He looks down into the soul, that matrix of +their visible lives we find so hard to localize and yet so sure to be. +For all of us believe in self, and few of us but are forced, one way or +another, to grant existence to some selves outside of us. Can you not +fancy that men's souls, like their farms, would show here a patch of +grain, and there the tares; there the weeds and here the sowing; over +this place the rain has been, and that other, to one looking down upon +it from afar, seems brown and desolate, wasted by fire or made arid by +the drought? In this man's life is a poor beginning, but a better end; +in this other's we see the foundations, the staging, and the schemes of +mighty structures, now stopped, given over, or abandoned; of vessels, +fashioned for the world's seas, now rotting on the stocks. Of this one +all seems ready but the launching, of that the large keelson only has +been laid; but both alike have died unborn, and the rain falls upon +them, and the mosses grow: the sound of labor is far off, and the scene +of work is silent. Small laws make great changes; slight differences of +adjustment end quick in death. Small, now, they would seem to us; but +to the infinite mind all things small and great are alike; the spore of +rust in the ear is very slight, but a famine in the corn will shake the +world. + +Pinckney's life the world called lazy; his leisure was not fruitful, +and his sixty years of life were but a gentleman's. Some slight lesion +may have caused paralysis of energy, some clot of heart's blood pressed +upon the soul: I make no doubt our doctors could diagnose it, if they +knew a little more. Tall and slender, he had a strange face, a face +with a young man's beauty; his white hair gave a charm to the rare +smile, like new snow to the spring, and the slight stoop with which he +walked was but a grace the more. In short, Pinckney was interesting. +Women raved about him; young men fell in love with him; and if he was +selfish, the fault lay between him and his Maker, not visible to other +men. There are three things that make a man interesting in his old age: +the first, being heroism, we may put aside; but the other two are +regret and remorse. Now, Mr. Pinckney's fragrance was not of remorse-- +women and young men would have called it heroism: it may have been. As +much heroism as could be practiced in thirty-six years of Carlsruhe. + +Why Carlsruhe? That was the keynote of inquiry; and no one knew. Old +men spoke unctuously of youthful scandals; women dreamed. I suspect +even Mrs. Pinckney wondered, about as much as the plowed field may +wonder at the silence of the autumn. But Pinckney limped gracefully +about the sleepy avenues which converge at the Grand Duke's palace, +like a wakeful page in the castle of the Sleeping Beauty. Pinckney was +a friend of the Grand Duke's, and perhaps it was a certain American +flavor persisting in his manners which made him seem the only man at +the Baden court who met his arch-serene altitude on equal terms. For +one who had done nothing and possessed little, Pinckney certainly +preserved a marvelous personal dignity. His four daughters were all +married to scions of Teutonic nobility; and each one in turn had asked +him for the Pinckney arms, and quartered them into the appropriate +check-square with as much grave satisfaction as he felt for the far-off +patch of Hohenzollern, or of Hapsburg in sinister chief. Pinckney had +laughed at it and referred them to the Declaration of Independence, +clause the first; but his wife had copied them from some spoon or sugar +bowl. She was very fond of Pinckney, and no more questioned him why +they always lived in Carlsruhe than a Persian would the sun for rising +east. Now and then they went to Baden, and her cup was full. + +Pinckney died of a cold, unostentatiously, and was buried like a +gentleman; though the Grand Duke ac tually wanted to put the court in +mourning for three days, and consulted with his chamberlain whether it +would do. Mrs. Pinckney had preceded him by some six years; but she was +an appendage, and her husband's deference had always seemed in +Carlsruhe a trifle strained. It was only in these last six years that +any one had gossiped of remorse, in answer to the sphinx-like question +of his marble brow. Such questions vex the curious. Furrows trouble +nobody--money matters are enough f them; but white smoothness in old +age is a bait, and tickles curiosity. Some said at home he was a devil +and beat his wife. + +But Pinckney never beat his wife. Late in the last twilight of her life +she had called him to her, and excluded even the four daughters, with +their stout and splendid barons; then, alone with him, she looked to +him and smiled. And suddenly his gentleman's heart took a jump, and the +tears fell on her still soft hands. I suppose some old road was opened +again in the gray matter of his brain. Mrs. Pinckney smiled the more +strongly and said--not quite so terribly as Mrs. Amos Barton: "Have I +made you happy, dearest Charles?" And Charles, the perfect-mannered, +said she had; but said it stammering. "Then," said she, "I die very +happily, dear." And she did; and Pinckney continued to live at +Carlsruhe. + +The only activities of Pinckney's mind were critical. He was a +wonderful orator, but he rarely spoke. People said he could have been a +great writer, but he never wrote, at least nothing original. He was the +art and continental-drama critic of several English and American +reviews; in music, he was a Wagnerian, which debarred him from writing +of it except in German; but the little Court Theatre at Carlsruhe has +Wagner's portrait over the drop-curtain, and the consul's box was never +empty when the mighty heathen legends were declaimed or the holy music +of the Grail was sung. In fiction of the earnest sort, and poetry, +Pinckney's critical pen showed a marvelous magic, striking the scant +springs of the author's inspiration through the most rocky ground of +incident or style. He had a curious sympathy with youthful tenderness. +But, after all, as every young compatriot who went to Baden said, what +the deuce and all did he live in Baden for? Miles Breeze had said it in +'Fifty, when he made the grand tour with his young wife, and dined with +him in Baden-Baden; that is, when Breeze dined with him, for his young +wife was indisposed and could not go. Miles Breeze, junior, had said +it, as late as 'Seventy-six, when he went abroad, ostensibly for +instruction, after leaving college. He had letters to Mr. Pinckney, who +was very kind to the young Baltimorean, and greatly troubled the Grand +Duke his Serenity by presenting him as a relative of the Bonapartes. +Many another American had said it, and even some leading politicians: +he might have held office at home: but Pinckney continued to live in +Carlsruhe. + +His critical faculties seemed sharpened after his wife's death, as his +hair grew whiter; and if you remember how he looked before you must +have noticed that the greatest change was in the expression of his +face. There was one faint downward line at either side of his mouth, +and the counterpart at the eyes; n doubtful line which, faint as it was +graven, gave a strange amount of shading to the face. And in speaking +of him still earlier, you must remember to take your india-rubber and +rub out this line from his face. This done, the face is still serious; +but it has a certain light, a certain air of confidence, of +determination, regretful though it be, which makes it loved by women. +Women can love a desperate, but never begin to love a beaten, cause. +Women fell in love with Pinckney, for the lightning does strike twice +in the same place; but his race was rather that of Lohengrin than of +the Asra, and he saw it, or seemed to see it, not. Still, in these +times those downward lines had not come, and there was a certain sober +light in his face as of a sorrowful triumph. This was in the epoch of +his greatest interestingness to women. + +When he first came to Carlsruhe, he was simply the new consul, nothing +more; a handsome young man, almost in his honeymoon, with a young and +pretty wife. He had less presence in those days, and seemed absorbed in +his new home, or deeply sunk in something; people at first fancied he +was a poet, meditating a great work, which finished, he would soon +leave Carlsruhe. He never was seen to look at a woman, not overmuch at +his wife, and was not yet popular in society. + +But it was true that he was newly married. He was married in Boston, in +'Forty-three or four, to Emily Austin, a far-off cousin of his, whom he +had known (he himself was a Carolinian) during his four years at +Cambridge. For his four years in Cambridge were succeeded by two more +at the Law School; then he won a great case against Mr. Choate, and was +narrowly beaten in an election for Congress; after that it surprised no +one to hear the announcement of his engagement to Miss Austin, for his +family was unexceptionable and he had a brilliant future. The marriage +came in the fall, rather sooner than people expected, at King's Chapel. +They went abroad, as was natural; and then he surprised his friends and +hers by accepting his consulship and staying there. And they were +imperceptibly, gradually, slowly, and utterly forgotten. + +The engagement came out in the spring of 'Forty-three. And in June of +that year young Pinckney had gone to visit his _fiancee_ at Newport. +Had you seen him there, you would have seen him in perhaps the +brightest role that fate has yet permitted on this world's stage. A +young man, a lover, rich, gifted, and ambitious, of social position +unquestioned in South Carolina and the old Bay State--all the world +loved him, as a lover; the many envied him, the upper few desired him. +Handsome he has always remained. + +And the world did look to him as bright as he to the world. He was in +love, as he told himself, and Miss Austin was a lovable girl; and the +other things he was dimly conscious of; and he had a long vacation +ahead of him, and was to be married late in the autumn, and he walked +up from the wharf in Newport swinging his cane and thinking on these +pleasant things. + +Newport, in those days, was not the paradise of cottages and curricles, +of lawns and laces, of new New Yorkers and Nevada miners; it was the +time of big hotels and balls, of Southern planters, of Jullien's +orchestras, and of hotel hops; such a barbarous time as the wandering +New Yorker still may find, lingering on the simple shores of Maine, +sunning in the verdant valleys of the Green Mountains; in short, it was +Arcadia, not Belgravia. And you must remember that Pinckney, who was +dressed in the latest style, wore a blue broadcloth frock coat, cut +very low and tight in the waist, with a coat-collar rolling back to +reveal a vast expanse of shirt-bosom, surmounted by a cravat of awful +splendor, bow-knotted and blue-fringed. His trousers were of white +duck, his boots lacquered, and he carried a gold-tipped cane in his +hand. So he walked up the narrow old streets from the wharf, making a +sunshine in those shady places. It was the hottest hour of a midsummer +afternoon; not a soul was stirring, and Pinckney was left to his own +pleasant meditations. + +He got up the hill and turned into the park by the old mill; over +opposite was the great hotel, its piazzas deserted, silent even to the +hotel band. But one flutter of a white dress he saw beneath the trees, +and then it disappeared behind them, causing Pinckney to quicken his +steps. He thought he knew the shape and motion, and he followed it +until he came upon it suddenly, behind the trees, and it turned. + +A young girl of wonderful beauty, rare, erect carriage, and eyes of a +strange, violet-gray, full of much meaning. This was all Pinckney had +time to note; it was no one he had ever seen before. He had gone up +like a hunter, sure of his game, and too far in it to retract. The +embarrassment of the situation was such that Pinckney forgot all his +cleverness of manner, and blurted out the truth like any schoolboy. + +"I beg pardon--I was looking for Miss Austin," said he; and he raised +his hat. + +A delightful smile of merriment curled the beauty's lips. "My +acquaintance with Miss Austin is too slight to justify my finding her +for you; but I wish you all success in your efforts," she said, and +vanished, leaving the promising young lawyer to blush at his own +awkwardness and wonder who she was. As she disappeared, he only saw +that her hair was a lustrous coil of pale gold-brown, borne proudly. + +He soon found Emily Austin, and forgot the beauty, as he gave his +betrothed a kiss and saw her color heighten; and in the afternoon they +took a long drive. It was only at tea, as he was sitting at table with +the Austins in the long dining-room, that some one walked in like a +goddess; and it was she. He asked her name; and they told him it was a +Miss Warfield, of Baltimore, and she was engaged to a Mr. Breeze. + +In the evening there was a ball; and as they were dancing (for every +one danced in those days) he saw her again, sitting alone this time and +unattended. She was looking eagerly across the room, through the +dancers and beyond; and in her eyes was the deepest look of sadness +Pinckney had ever seen in a girl's face; a look such as he had thought +no girl could feel. A moment after, and it was gone, as some one spoke +to her; and Pinckney wondered if he had not been mistaken, so fleeting +was it, and so strange. An acquaintance--one of those men who delight +to act as brokers of acquaintances--who had noticed his gaze came up. +"That is the famous Miss Mary Warfield," said he. "Shall I not +introduce you?" + +"No," said Pinckney; and he turned away rudely. To be rude when you +like is perhaps one of the choicest prerogatives of a good social +position. The acquaintance stared after him, as he went back to Miss +Austin, and then went up and spoke to Miss Warfield himself. A moment +after, Pinckney saw her look over at him with some interest; and he +wondered if the man had been ass enough to tell her. Pinckney was +sitting withlimily Austin; and, after another moment, he saw Miss +Warfield look at her. Then her glance seemed to lose its interest; her +eyelids drooped, and Pinckney could see, from her interlocutor's +mantief^ that he was put to his trumps to keep her attention. At last +he got away, awkwardly; and for many minutes the strange girl sat like +a statue, her long lashes just veiling her eyes, so that Pinckney, from +a distance, could not see what was in them. Suddenly the veil was drawn +and her eyes shone full upon him, her look meeting his. Pinckney's +glance fell, and his cheeks grew redder. Miss Warfield's face did not +change, but she rose and walked unattended through the centre of the +ballroom to the door. Pinckney's seat was nearer it than hers; she +passed him as if without seeing him, moving with unconscious grace, +though it would not have been the custom at that time for a girl to +cross so large a room alone. Just then some one asked Miss Austin for a +dance; and Pinckney, who was growing weary of it, went out on the +piazza for a cigar, and then, attracted by the beauty of the night, +strayed further than he knew, alone, along the cliffs above the sea. + +The next day he was walking with Miss Austin, and they passed her, in +her riding habit, waiting by the mounting stone; she bowed to Miss +Austin alone, leaving him out, as it seemed to Pinckney, with +exaggerated care. + +"Is she not beautiful?" said Emily, ardently. + +"Humph!" said Pinckney. A short time after, as they were driving on the +road to the Fort, he saw her again; she was riding alone, across +country, through the rocky knolls and marshy pools that form the +southern part of Rhode Island. She had no groom lagging behind, but it +was not so necessary then as now; and, indeed, a groom would have had a +hard time to keep up with her, as she rattled up the granite slopes and +down over logs and bushes with her bright bay horse. The last Pinckney +saw of her she disappeared over a rocky hill against the sky; her +beautiful horse flecked with foam, quivering with happy animal life, +and the girl calm as a figure carved in stone, with but the faintest +touch of rose upon her face, as the pure profile was outlined one +moment against the sunlit blue. + +"How recklessly she rides!" whispered Miss Austin to him, and Pinckney +said _yes_, absently, and, whipping up his horse, drove on, pretending +to listen to his fiancee's talk. It seemed to be about dresses, and +rings, and a coming visit to the B------s, at Nahant. He had never seen +a girl like her before; she was a puzzle to him. + +"It is a great pity she is engaged to Mr. Breeze," said Miss Austin; +and Pinckney woke up with a start, for he was thinking of Miss Warneld +too. + +"Why?" said he. + +"I don't like him," said Emily. "He isn't good enough for her." + +As this is a thing that women say of all wooers after they have won, +and which the winner is usually at that period the first to admit, +Pinckney paid little attention to this remark. But that evening he met +Miles Breeze, saw him, talked with him, and heard others talk of him. A +handsome man, physically; well made, well dressed, well fed; well bred, +as breeding goes in dogs or horses; a good shot, a good sportsman, +yachtsman, story-teller; a good fellow, with a weak mouth; a man of +good old Maryland blood, yet red and healthy, who had come there in his +yacht and had his horses sent by sea. A well-appointed man, in short; +provided amply with the conveniences of fashionable life. A man of good +family, good fortune, good health, good sense, good nature, whom it +were hypercritical to charge with lack of soul. "The first duty of a +gentleman is to be a good animal," and Miles Breeze performed it +thoroughly. Pinckney liked him, and he could have been his companion +for years and still have liked him, except as a husband for Miss +Warfield. + +He could not but recognize his excellence as a _parti_. But the race of +Joan of Arc does not mate with Bon-homme Richard, even when he owns the +next farm. Pinckney used to watch the crease of Breeze's neck, above +the collar, and curse. + +Coming upon Miss Austin one morning, she had said, "Come--I want to +introduce you to Miss War-field." Pinckney had demurred, and offered as +an excuse that he was smoking. "Nonsense, Charles," said the girl; "I +have told her you are coming." Pinckney threw away his cigar and +followed, and the presentation was made. Miss Warfield drew herself +almost unusually erect after courtesying, as if in protest at having to +bow at all. She was so tall that, as Emily stood between them, he could +meet Miss War-field's iron-gray eyes above her head. It was the first +time in Pinckney's life that he had consciously not known what to say. + +"I was so anxious to have you meet Charles before he left," said Emily. +Evidently, his fiancee had been expatiating upon him to this new +friend, and if there is anything that puts a man in a foolish position +it is to have this sort of preamble precede an acquaintance. + +"An anxiety I duly shared, Miss Warfield, I assure you," said he; which +was a truth spoiled in the uttering--what the conversational Frenchman +terms _banale_. + +"Thank you," said Miss Warfield, very simply and tremendously +effectively. Pinckney, for the second time with this young lady, felt +himself a schoolboy. Emily interposed some feeble commonplaces, and +then, after a moment, Miss Warfield said, "I must go for my ride"; and +she left, with a smile for Emily and the faintest possible glance for +him. She went off with Breeze; and it gave Pinckney some relief to see +that she seemed equally to ignore the presence of the man who was her +acknowledged lover, as he trotted on a smart cob beside her. That +evening, when he went on the piazza, after tea, he found her sitting +alone, in one corner, with her hands folded: it was one peculiarity +about this woman that she was never seen with work. She made no sign of +recognition as he approached; but, none the less, he took the chair +that was beside her and waited a moment for her to speak. "Have you +found Miss Austin?" said the beauty, with the faintest trace of malice +in her coldly modulated tones, not looking at him. "I am not looking +for Miss Austin," said he; and she continued not looking at him, and so +this strange pair sat there in the twilight, silent. + +What was said between them I do not know. But in some way or other +their minds met; for long after Miss Austin and her mother had returned +from some call, long after they had all left him, Pinckney continued to +pace up and down restlessly in the dark. Pinckney had never seen a +woman like this. After all, he was very young; and he had, in his +heart, supposed that the doubts and delights of his soul were peculiar +to men alone. He thought all women--at all events, all young and worthy +women--regarded life and its accepted forms as an accomplished fact, +not to be questioned, and, indeed, too delightful to need it. The young +South Carolinian, in his ambitions, in his heart-longings and +heart-sickenings, in his poetry, even in his emotions, had always been +lonely; so that his loneliness had grown to seem to him as merely part +of the day's work. The best women, he knew, where the best housewives; +they were a rest and a benefit for the war-weary man, much as might be +a pretty child, a bed of flowers, a strain of music. With Emily Austin +he should find all this; and he loved her as good, pretty, amiable, +perfect in her way. But now, with Miss Warfield--it had seemed that he +was not even lonely. + +Pinckney did not see her again for a week. When he met her, he avoided +her; she certainly avoided him. Breeze, meantime, gave a dinner. He +gave it on his yacht, and gave it to men alone. Pinckney was of the +number. + +The next day there was a driving party; it was to drive out of town to +Purgatory, a pretty place, where there is a brook in a deep ravine with +a verdant meadow-floor; and there they were to take food and drink, as +is the way of humanity in pretty places. Now it so happened that the +Austins, Miss Warfield, Breeze, and Pinckney were going to drive in a +party, the Austins and Miss Warfield having carriages of their own; but +at the last moment Breeze did not appear, and Emily Austin was +incapacitated by a headache. She insisted, as is the way of loving +women, that "Charles should not lose it"; for to her it was one of +life's pleasures, and such pleasures satisfied her soul. (It may be +that she gave more of her soul to life's duties than did Charles, and +life's pleasures were thus adequate to the remainder; I do not know.) +Probably Miles Breeze also had a headache; at all events, he did not, +at the last moment, appear. It was supposable that he would turn up at +the picnic; Mrs. Austin joined her daughter's entreaty; Miss Warfield +was left unattended; in fine, Pinckney went with her. + +Miss Warfield had a solid little phaeton with two stout ponies: she +drove herself. For some time they were silent; then, insensibly, +Pinckney began to talk and she to answer. What they said I need not say +--indeed I could not, for Pinckney was a poet, a man of rare intellect +and imagination, and Miss Warfield was a woman of this world and the +next; a woman who used conventions as another might use a fan, to' +screen her from fools; whose views were based on the ultimate. But they +talked of the world, and of life in it; and when it came to an end, +Pinckney noted to himself this strange thing, that they had both talked +as of an intellectual problem, no longer concerning their emotions--in +short, as if this life were at an end, and they were two dead people +discussing it. + +So they arrived at the picnic, silent; and the people assembled looked +to one another and smiled, and said to one another how glum those two +engaged people looked, being together, and each wanting another. Mr. +Breeze had not yet come; and as the people scattered while the luncheon +was being prepared, Pinckney and she wandered off like the others. They +went some distance--perhaps a mile or more--aimlessly; and then, as +they seemed to have come about to the end of the valley, Pinckney sat +down upon a rock, but she did not do so, but remained standing. Hardly +a word had so far been said between them: and then Pinckney looked at +her and said: + +"Why are you going to marry Mr. Breeze?" + +"Why not?"--listlessly. + +"You might as well throw yourself into the sea," said Pinckney; and he +looked at the sea which lay beyond them shimmering. + +"That I had not thought of," said she; and she looked at the sea +herself with more interest. Pinckney drew a long breath. + +"But why this man?" he said at length. + +"Why that man?" said the woman; and her beautiful lip curled, with the +humor of the mind, while her eyes kept still the sadness of the heart, +the look that he had seen in the ballroom. "We are all poor," she +added; then scornfully, "it is my duty to marry." + +"But Miles Breeze?" persisted Pinckney. + +The lip curled almost to a laugh. "I never met a better fellow than +Miles," said she; and the thought was so like his own of the night +before that Pinckney gasped for breath. They went back, and had chicken +croquettes and champagne, and a band that was hidden in the wood made +some wild Spanish music. + +Going home, a curious thing happened. They had started first and far +preceded all the others. Miss Warfield was driving; and when they were +again in the main road, not more than a mile from the hotel, Pinckney +saw ahead of them, coming in a light trotting buggy of the sort that +one associates with the gentry who call themselves "sports," two of the +gentlemen whom he had met at Breeze's dinner the night before. Whether +Miss Warfield also knew them he did not know; but they evidently had +more wine than was good for them, and were driving along in a reckless +manner on the wrong side of the road. The buggy was much too narrow for +the two; and the one that was driving leaned out toward them with a +tipsy leer. Pinckney shouted at him, but Miss War-field drove calmly +on. He was on the point of grasping the reins, but a look of hers +withheld him, and he sat still, wondering; and in a moment their small +front wheel had crashed through both the axles and spider-web wheels of +the trotting buggy. The shock of the second axle whirled them round, +and Pinckney fell violently against the dasher, while Miss Warfield was +thrown clear of the phaeton on the outer side. But she had kept the +reins, and before Pinckney could get to her she was standing at her +horses' heads, patting their necks calmly, with a slight cut in her +forehead where she had fallen, and only her nostril quivering like +theirs, as the horses stood there trembling. The buggy was a wreck, and +the horse had disappeared; and the two men, sobered by the fall, came +up humbly to her to apologize. She heard them silently, with a pale +face like some injured queen's; and then, bowing to them their +dismissal, motioned Pinckney into the phaeton, which, though much +broken, was still standing, and, getting in herself, drove slowly home. + +"She might have killed herself," thought Pinckney, but he held his +peace, as if it were the most natural course of action in the world. To +tell the truth, under the circumstances he might have done the same +alone. + +Then it began. Pinckney could not keep this woman out of his head. He +would think of her at all times, alone and in company. Her face would +come to him in the loneliness of the sea, in the loneliness of crowds; +the strong spirit of the morning was hers, and the sadness of the +sunset and the wakeful watches of the night. Her face was in the clouds +of evening, in the sea-coal fire by night; her spirit in the dreams of +summer morns, in the hopeless breakers on the stormy shores, in the +useless, endless effort of the sea. Her eyes made some strange shining +through his dreams; and he would wake with a cry that she was going +from him, in the deepest hours of the night, as if in the dreams he had +lost her, vanishing forever in the daily crowd. Then he would lie awake +until morning, and all the laws of God and men would seem like cobwebs +to his sorrow, and the power of it freezing in his heart. This was the +ultimate nature of his being, to follow her, as drop of water blends in +drop of water, as frost rends rock. Let him then follow out his law, as +other beings do theirs; gravitation has no conscience; should he be +weaker than a drop of water, because he was conscious, and a man? + +So these early morning battles would go on, and character, training, +conscience, would go down before the simpler force, like bands of man's +upon essential nature. Then, with the first ray of the dawn, he would +think of Emily Austin, sleeping near him, perhaps dreaming of him, and +his mad visions seemed to fade; and he would rise exhausted, and wander +out among the fresh fields and green dewy lanes, and calm, contentful +trees, and be glad that these things were so; yet could these not be +moved, nor their destiny be changed. And as for him, what did it +matter? + +So the days went by. And Emily Austin looked upon him with eyes of +limitless love and trust, and Pinckney did not dare to look upon +himself; but his mind judged by day-time and his heart strove by night. +Hardly at all had he spoken to Miss Warfield since; and no reference +had ever been made between them to the accident, or to the talk between +them in the valley. Only Pinckney knew that she was to be married very +shortly; and he had urged Miss Austin to hasten their own wedding. + +Emily went off with her mother to pay her last visit among the family, +and to make her preparations; and it was deemed proper that at this +time Pinckney should not be with her. So he stayed in Newport five long +days alone; and during this time he never spoke to Miss Warfield. I +believe he tried not to look at her: she did not look at him. And on +the fifth night Pinckney swore that he must speak to her once more, +whatever happened. + +In the morning there was talk of a sailing party; and Pinckney noted +Breeze busying himself about the arrangements. He waited; and at noon +Breeze came to him and said that there was a scarcity of men: would he +go? Yes. They had two sail-boats, and meant to land upon Conanicut, +which was then a barren island without a house, upon the southern end, +where it stretches out to sea. + +Pinckney did not go in the same boat with Breeze and Miss Warfield; +and, landing, he spent the afternoon with others and saw nothing of +her. But after dinner was over, he spoke to her, inviting her to walk; +and she came, silently. A strange evening promenade that was: they took +a path close on the sheer brink of the cliffs, so narrow that one must +go behind the other. Pinckney had thought at first she might be +frightened, with the rough path, and the steepness of the rocks, and +the breakers churning at their base; but he saw that she was walking +erect and fearlessly. Finally she motioned him to let her go ahead; and +she led the way, choosing indiscriminately the straightest path, +whether on the verge of the sea or leading through green meadows. A few +colorless remarks were made by him, and then he saw the folly of it, +and they walked in silence. After nearly an hour, she stopped. + +"We must be getting back," she said. + +"Yes," said he, in the same tone; and they turned; she still leading +the way, while he followed silently. They were walking toward the +sunset; the sun was going down in a bank of dense gray cloud, but its +long, level rays came over to them, across a silent sea. She walked on +over the rugged cliff, like some siren, some genius of the place, with +a sure, proud grace of step; she never looked around, and his eyes were +fixed upon the black line of her figure, as it went before him, toward +the gray and blood-red sunset. It seemed to him this was the last hour +of his life; and even as he thought his ankle turned, and he stumbled +and fell, walking unwittingly into one of the chasms, where the line of +the cliff turned in. He grasped a knuckle of rock, and held his fall, +just on the brink of a ledge above the sea. Miss Warfield had turned +quickly and seen it all; and she leaned down over the brink, with one +hand around the rock and the other extended to help him, the ledge on +which he lay being some six feet below. Pinckney grasped her hand and +kissed it. + +Her color did not change at this; but, with a strange strength in her +beautiful lithe figure, she drew him up steadily, he helping partly +with the other hand, until his knees rested on the path again. He stood +up with some difficulty, as his ankle was badly wrenched. + +"I am afraid you can not walk," said she. + +"Oh, yes," he answered; and took a few steps to show her. The pain was +great; but she walked on, and he followed, as best he could, limping. +She looked behind now, as if to encourage him; and he set his teeth and +smiled. + +"We must not be late," she said. "It is growing dark, and they will +miss us." + +But they did not miss them; for when they got to the landing-place, +both the sail-boats had left the shore without them. There was nothing +but the purple cloud-light left by this time; but Pinckney fancied he +could see her face grow pale for the first time that day. + +"We must get home," she said, hurriedly. "Is there no boat?" + +Pinckney pointed to a small dory on the beach, and then to the sea. In +the east was a black bank of cloud, rifted now and then by lightning; +and from it the wind came down and the white caps curled angrily toward +them. + +"No matter," said she; "we must go." + +Pinckney found a pair of oars under the boat, and dragged it, with much +labor, over the pebbles, she helping him. The beach was steep and +gravelly, with short breakers rather than surf; and he got the bow well +into the water and held it there. + +"Get in," said he. + +Miss Warfield got into the stern, and Pinckney waded out, dragging the +flat-bottomed boat until it was well afloat. Then he sprang in himself, +and, grasping the oars, headed the boat for the Fort point across the +channel, three miles away. She sat silently in the stern, and it was +too dark for him to see her face. He rowed savagely. + +But the wind was straight ahead, and the sea increasing every moment. +They were not, of course, exposed to the full swell of the ocean; but +the wide sea-channel was full of short, fierce waves that struck the +little skiff repeated rapid blows, and dashed the spray over both of +them. + +"Are you not afraid?" said he, calmly. "It is growing rougher every +minute." + +"Oh, no, Mr. Pinckney," said she. "Pray keep on." + +Pinckney noticed a tremor of excitement in her voice; but by a flash of +lightning that came just then he saw her deep eyes fixed on his, and +the pure white outline of her face undisturbed. So he rowed the harder, +and she took a board there was and tried to steer; and now and then, as +the clouds were lit, he saw her, like a fleeting vision in the night. + +But the storm grew stronger; and Pinckney knew the boat that they were +in was not really moving at all, though, of course, the swash of the +waves went by and the drifted spray. He tried to row harder, but with +the pain in his ankle and the labor he was nearly exhausted, and his +heart jumped in his chest at each recover. "Can you not make it?" said +she, in the dark; and Pinckney vowed that he could, and set his teeth +for a mighty pull. The oar broke, and the boat's head fell rapidly off +in the trough of the sea. He quickly changed about his remaining oar, +and with it kept the head to the wind. "We must go back," he said, +panting. "I know," said she. The windstorm was fairly upon them; and, +in spite of all his efforts, an occasional wave would get upon the beam +and spill its frothing crest into the boat. Pinckney almost doubted +whether it would float until it reached the shore; but Miss Warfield +did not seem in the least disturbed, and spoke without a tremor in her +voice. The lightning had stopped now, and he could not see her. + +He had miscalculated the force of the wind and waves, however; for in a +very minutes they were driven broadside back upon the beach, almost at +the same place from which they had started. Miss War-field sprang out +quickly, and he after, just as a wave turned the dory bottom upward on +the stones. + +"They will soon send for us," he said; and stepping painfully up the +shore, he occupied himself with spreading her shawl in a sheltered spot +for them to wait in. She sat down, and he beside her. He was very wet, +and she made him put some of the shawl over himself. The quick summer +storm had passed now, with only a few big drops of rain; and the moon +was breaking out fitfully through veils of driving clouds and their +storm-scud. By its light he looked at her, and their eyes met. Pinckney +groaned aloud, and stood up. "Would that they would never come; would +God that we could--" + +"We can not," said she, softly, in a voice that he had never heard from +her before--a voice with tears in it; and the man threw himself down at +her feet, inarticulate, maddened. Then, with a great effort at control, +not touching her, but looking straight into her eyes, he said, in +blunt, low speech: "Miss Warfield, I love you--do you know it?" + +Her head sank slowly down; but she answered, very low, but clearly, +_yes_. Then their eyes met again; and, by some common impulse, they +rose and walked apart. After a few steps, he stopped, being lame, and +leaned against the cliff; but she went on until her dark figure was +blended with the shadows of the crags. + +So, when the boat came back, its sail silvered by the moonlight, they +saw it, and, coming down, they met again; but only as the party were +landing on the beach. Several of the party had come back; and Mr. +Breeze, who was among them, was full of explanation how he had missed +the first boat and barely caught the second, supposing that his fiancee +was in the first. An awkward accident, but easily explained by +Pinckney, with the sprain in his ankle; and, indeed, the others were +too full of excuses for having forgotten them to inquire into the +causes of their absence together. + +Pinckney went to his room, and had a night of delirium. Toward morning, +his troubled wakefulness ended, and he fell into a dream. He dreamed +that in the centre of the world was one green bower, beneath a +blossoming tree, and he and Miss Warfield were there. And the outer +world was being destroyed, one sphere by fire and the other by flood, +and there was only this bower left. But they could not stay there, or +the tree would die. So they went away, he to the one side and she to +the other, and the ruins of the world fell upon them, and they saw each +other no more. + +In the morning his delirium left him, and his will resumed its sway. He +went down, and out into the green roads, and listened to the singing of +the birds; and then out to the cliff-path, and there he found Miss +Warfield sitting as if she knew that he would come. He watched her pure +face while she spoke, and her gray eyes: the clear light of the morning +was in them, and on the gleaming sea beyond. + +"You must go," said she. + +"Yes," he said, and that was all. He took her hand for one moment, and +lifted it lightly to his lips; then he turned and took the path across +the fields. When he got to the first stile, he looked around. She was +still sitting there, turned toward him. He lifted his hat, and held it +for a second or two; then he turned the corner of the hedge and went +down to the town. + +Thus it happened that this story, which began sadly, with an epitaph, +may end with wedding bells: + +MARRIED. _At King's Chapel, by the Rev. Dr. A----, the 21st of +September, Charles Austin Pinckney to Emily, daughter of the late James +Austin._ + + + +END OF VOLUME TWO + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Short Story Classics (American) Vol. 2, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHORT STORY CLASSICS *** + +***** This file should be named 16556.txt or 16556.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/5/5/16556/ + +Produced by Michael Gray + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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