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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6091.txt b/6091.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cfe8bf5 --- /dev/null +++ b/6091.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11315 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Senator North, by Gertrude Atherton + +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: Senator North + +Author: Gertrude Atherton + +Posting Date: August 29, 2012 [EBook #6091] +Release Date: July, 2004 +First Posted: November 4, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SENATOR NORTH *** + + + + +Produced by Cedric Vonck, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + +SENATOR NORTH + +BY GERTRUDE ATHERTON + + + + +_"When, Mr. President, a man, however eminent in other pursuits and +whatever claims he may have to public confidence, becomes a member of +this body, he has much to learn and much to endure. Little does he know +of what he will have to encounter. He may be well read in public +affairs, but he is unaware of the difficulties which must attend and +embarrass every effort to render what he may know available and useful. +He may be upright in purpose and strong in the belief of his own +integrity, but he cannot even dream of the ordeal to which he cannot +fail to be exposed; of how much courage he must possess to resist the +temptations which must daily beset him; of that sensitive shrinking +from undeserved censure which he must learn to control; of the ever +recurring contest between a natural desire for public approbation and a +sense of public duty; of the load of injustice he must be content to +bear even from those who should be his friends; the imputations on his +motives; the sneers and sarcasms of ignorance and malice; all the +manifold injuries which partisan or private malignity, disappointed of +its object, may shower upon his unprotected head. All this, if he would +retain his integrity, he must learn to ear unmoved and walk steadily +onward in the path of public duty, sustained only by the reflection +that time may do him justice; or if not, that his individual hopes and +aspirations and even his name among men should be of little account to +him when weighed in the balance of a people of whose destiny he is a +constituted guardian and defender."_ + --WILLIAM PITT FESSENDEN + +_In memorial address before the Senate, 1866._ _Miss Betty Madison +embarks on the Political Sea. Her Discoveries, Surprises, and Triumphs._ + + + + + +SENATOR NORTH + + + + +I + + + +"If we receive this Lady Mary Montgomery, we shall also have to receive +her dreadful husband." + +"He is said to be quite charming." + +"He is a Representative!" + +"Of course they are all wild animals to you, but one or two have been +pointed out to me that looked quite like ordinary gentlemen--really." + +"Possibly. But no person in official life has ever entered my house. I +do not feel inclined to break the rule merely because the wife of one +of the most objectionable class is an Englishwoman with a title. I +think it very inconsiderate of Lady Barnstaple to have given her a +letter to us." + +"Lee, never having lived in Washington, doubtless fancies, like the +rest of the benighted world, that its officials are its aristocracy. +The Senate of the United States is regarded abroad as a sort of House +of Peers. One has to come and live in Washington to hear of the 'Old +Washingtonians,' the 'cave-dwellers,' as Sally calls us; I expected to +see a coat of blue mould on each of them when I returned." + +"Really, Betty, I do not understand you this morning." Mrs. Madison +moved uneasily and took out her handkerchief. When her daughter's rich +Southern voice hardened itself to sarcasm, and her brilliant hazel eyes +expressed the brain in a state of cold analysis, Mrs. Madison braced +herself for a contest in which she inevitably must surrender with what +slow dignity she could command. Betty had called her Molly since she +was fourteen months old, and, sweet and gracious in small matters, +invariably pursued her own way when sufficiently roused by the strength +of a desire. Mrs. Madison, however, kept up the fiction of an authority +which she thought was due to herself and her ancestors. She continued +impatiently,-- + +"You have been standing before that fireplace for ten minutes with your +shoulders thrown back as if you were going to make a speech. It is not +a nice attitude for a girl at all, and I wish you would sit down. I +hope you don't think that because Sally Carter crosses her knees and +cultivates a brutal frankness of expression you must do the same now +that you have dropped all your friends of your own age and become +intimate with her. I suppose she is old enough to do as she chooses, +and she always was eccentric." + +"She is only eight years older than I. You forget that I shall be +twenty-seven in three months." + +"Well, that is no reason why you should stand before the fireplace like +a man. Do sit down." + +"I'd rather stand here till I've said what is necessary--if you don't +mind. I am sorry to be obliged to say it, and I can assure you that I +have not made up my mind in a moment." + +"What is it, for heaven's sake?" + +Mrs. Madison drew a short breath and readjusted her cushions. In spite +of her wealth and exalted position she had known much trouble and +grief. Her first six children had died in their early youth. Her +husband, brilliant and charming, had possessed a set of affections too +restless and ardent to confine themselves within the domestic limits. +His wife had buried him with sorrow, but with a deep sigh of relief +that for the future she could mourn him without torment. He had +belonged to a collateral branch of a family of which her father had +been the heir; consequently the old Madison house in Washington was +hers, as well as a large fortune. Harold Madison had been free to spend +his own inheritance as he listed, and he had left but a fragment. Mrs. +Madison's nerves, never strong, had long since given way to trouble and +ill-health, and when her active strong-willed daughter entered her +twentieth year, she gladly permitted her to become the mistress of the +household and to think for both. Betty had been educated by private +tutors, then taken abroad for two years, to France, Germany, and Italy, +in order, as she subsequently observed, to make the foreign attache. +Feel more at ease when he proposed. Her winters thereafter until the +last two had been spent in Washington, where she had been a belle and +ranked as a beauty. In the fashionable set it was believed that every +attache, in the city had proposed to her, as well as a large proportion +of the old beaux and of the youths who pursue the business of Society. +Her summers she spent at her place in the Adirondacks, at Northern +watering-places, or in Europe; and the last two years had been passed, +with brief intervals of Paris and Vienna, in England, where she had +been presented with distinction and seen much of country life. She had +returned with her mother to Washington but a month ago, and since then +had spent most of her time in her room or on horseback, breaking all +her engagements after the first ten days. Mrs. Madison had awaited the +explanation with deep uneasiness. Did her daughter, despite the health +manifest in her splendid young figure, feel the first chill of some +mortal disease? She had not been her gay self for months, and although +her complexion was of that magnolia tint which never harbours colour, +it seemed to the anxious maternal eye, looking back to six young +graves, a shade whiter than it should. Or had she fallen in love with +an Englishman, and hesitated to speak, knowing her mother's love for +Washington and bare tolerance of the British Isles? She looked askance +at Betty, who stood tapping the front of her habit with her crop and +evidently waiting for her mother to express some interest. Mrs. Madison +closed her eyes. Betty therefore continued,-- + +"I see you are afraid I am going to marry an Oriental minister or +something. I hear that one is looking for an American with a million. +Well, I am going to do something you will think even worse. I am going +in for politics." + +"You are going to do what?" Mrs. Madison's voice was nearly inaudible +between relief and horrified surprise, but her eyes flew open. "Do you +mean that you are going to vote?--or run for Congress?--but women don't +sit in Congress, do they?" + +"Of course not. Do you know I think it quite shocking that we have +lived here in the very brain of the United States all our lives and +know less of politics than if we were Indians in Alaska? I was ashamed +of myself, I can assure you, when Lord Barnstaple asked me so many +questions the first time I visited Maundrell Abbey. He took for +granted, as I lived in Washington, I must be thoroughly well up in +politics, and I was obliged to tell him that although I had +occasionally been in the room with one or two Senators and Cabinet +Ministers, who happened to be in Society first and politics afterward, +I didn't know the others by name, had never put my foot in the White +House or the Capitol, and that no one I knew ever thought of talking +politics. He asked me what I had done with myself during all the +winters I had spent in Washington, and I told him that I had had the +usual girls'-good-time,--teas, theatre, Germans, dinners, luncheons, +calls, calls, calls! I was glad to add that I belonged to several +charities and had read a great deal; but that did not seem to interest +him. Well, I met a good many men like Lord Barnstaple, men who were in +public life. Some of them were dull enough, judged by the feminine +standard, but even they occasionally said something to remember, and +others were delightful. This is the whole point--I can't and won't go +back to what I left here two years ago. My day for platitudes and +pouring tea for men, who are contemptible enough to make Society their +profession, is over. I am going to know the real men of my country. It +is incredible that there are not men in that Senate as well worth +talking to as any I met in England. The other day I picked up a bound +copy of the Congressional Record in a book-shop. It was frantically +interesting." + +"It must have been! But, my dear--of course I understand, darling, your +desire for a new intellectual occupation; you always were so +clever--but you can't, you really can't know these men. They are--they +are--politicians. We never have known politicians. They are dreadful +people, who have come from low origins and would probably call me +'marm.'" + +"You are all wrong, Molly. I bought a copy of the Congressional +Directory a day or two ago, and have read the biography of every +Senator. Nine-tenths of them are educated men; if only a few attended +the big Universities, the rest went to the colleges of their State. +That is enough for an American of brains. And most of them are lawyers; +others served in the war, and several have distinguished records. They +cannot be boors, whether they have blue blood in them or not. I'm sick +of blue blood, anyway. Vienna was the deadliest place I ever visited. +What makes London interesting is its red streak of plebeianism;--well, +I repeat, I think it really dreadful that we should not know even by +name the men who make our laws, who are making history, who may be +called upon at any moment to decide our fate among nations. I feel a +silly little fool." + +"I suppose you mean that I am one too. But it always has been my boast, +Betty, that I never have had a politician in my house. Your father knew +some, but he never brought them here; he knew the fastidious manner in +which I had been brought up; and although I am afraid he kept late +hours with a good many of them at Chamberlin's and other dreadful +places, he always spared me. I suppose this is heredity working out in +you." + +"Possibly. But you will admit, will you not, that I am old enough to +choose my own life?" + +"You always have done every single thing you wanted, so I don't see why +you talk like that. But if you are going to bring a lot of men to this +house who will spit on my carpets and use toothpicks, I beg you will +not ask me to receive with you." "Of course you will receive with me, +Molly dear--when I know anybody worth receiving. Unfortunately I am not +the wife of the President and cannot send out a royal summons. I am +hoping that Lady Mary Montgomery will help me. But my first step shall +be to pay a daily visit to the Senate Gallery." + +"What!" Mrs. Madison's weary voice flew to its upper register. "I _do_ +know something about politics--I remember now--the only women who go to +the Capitol are lobbyists--dreadful creatures who--who--do all sorts of +things. You can't go there; you'll be taken for one." + +"We none of us are taken very long for what we are not. I shall take +Leontine with me, and those interested enough to notice me will soon +learn what I go for." + +Mrs. Madison burst into tears. "You are your father all over again! +I've seen it developing for at least three years. At first you were +just a hard student, and then the loveliest young girl, only caring to +have a good time, and coquetting more bewitchingly than any girl I ever +saw. I don't see why you had to change." + +"Time develops all of us, one way or another. I suppose you would like +me to be a charming girl flirting bewitchingly when I am forty-five. I +am finished with the meaningless things of life. I want to live now, +and I intend to." + +"It will be wildly exciting--the Senate Gallery every day, and knowing +a lot of lank raw-boned Yankees with political beards." "I am not +expecting to fall in love with any of them. I merely discovered some +time since that I had a brain, and they happen to be the impulse that +possesses it. You always have prided yourself that I am intellectual, +and so I am in the flabby 'well-read' fashion. I feel as if my brain +had been a mausoleum for skeletons and mummies; it felt alive for the +first time when I began to read the newspapers in England. I want no +more memoirs and letters and biographies, nor even of the history that +is shut up in calf-skin. I want the life of to-day. I want to feel in +the midst of current history. All these men here in Washington must be +alive to their finger-tips. Sally Carter admires Senator North and +Senator Maxwell immensely." + +"What does she say about politicians in general?" Mrs. Madison looked +almost distraught. "Of course the Norths and the Maxwells come of good +New England families--I never did look down on the North as much as +some of us did; after all, nearly three hundred years are very +respectable indeed--and if these two men had not been in politics I +should have been delighted to receive them. I met Senator North +once--at Bar Harbor, while you were with the Carters at Homburg--and +thought him charming; and I had some most interesting chats with his +wife, who is much the same sort of invalid that I am. But when I +establish a standard I am consistent enough to want to keep to it. I +asked you what Sally Carter says of the others." + +"Oh, she admits that there may be others as _convenable_ as Senator +North and Senator Maxwell, and that there is no doubt about there being +many bright men in the Senate; but she 'does not care to know any more +people.' Being a good cave-dweller, she is true to her traditions." + +"People will say you are _passee,_" exclaimed Mrs. Madison, hopefully. +"They will be sure to." + +Her daughter laughed, showing teeth as brilliant as her eyes. Then she +snatched off her riding-hat and shook down her mane of warm brown hair. +Her black brows and lashes, like her eyes and mouth, were vivid, but +her hair and complexion were soft, without lustre, but very warm. She +looked like a flower set on so strongly sapped a stem that her fullness +would outlast many women's decline. She had inherited the beauty of her +father's branch of the family. Mrs. Madison was very small and thin; +but she carried herself erectly and her delicately cut face was little +wrinkled. Her eyes were blue, and her hair, which was always carefully +rolled, was as white as sea foam. Betty would not permit her to wear +black, but dressed her in delicate colours, and she looked somewhat +like an animated miniature. She dabbed impatiently at her tears. + +"Everybody will cut you--if you go into that dreadful political set." + +"I am on the verge of cutting everybody myself, so it doesn't matter. +Positively--I shall not accept an invitation of the old sort this +winter. The sooner they drop me the better." + +Mrs. Madison wept bitterly. "You will become a notorious woman," she +sobbed. "People will talk terribly about you. They will say--all sorts +of things I have heard come back to me--these politicians make love to +every pretty woman they meet. They are so tired of their old frumps +from Oshkosh and Kalamazoo." "They do not all come from Oshkosh and +Kalamazoo. There are six New England States whose three centuries you +have just admitted lift them into the mists of antiquity. There are +fourteen Southern States, and I need make no defence--" + +"Their gentlemen don't go into politics any more." + +"You have admitted that Senator North and Senator Maxwell are +gentlemen. There is no reason why there should not be many more." + +"Count de Bellairs told me that there was a spittoon at every desk in +the Senate and that he counted eight toothpicks in one hour." + +"Well, I'll reform them. That will be my holy mission. As for spittoons +and toothpicks, they are conspicuous in every hotel in the United +States. They should be on our coat-of-arms, and the Great American +Novel will be called 'The Great American Toothpick.' Statesmen have cut +their teeth on it, and it has been their solace in the great crises of +the nation's history. As for spittoons, they were invented for our own +Southern aristocrats who loved tobacco then as now. They decorate our +Capitol as a mere matter of form. I don't pretend to hope that ninety +representative Americans are Beau Brummels, but there must be a +respectable minority of gentlemen--whether self-made or not I don't +care. I am going to make a deliberate attempt to know that minority, +and shall call on Lady Mary Montgomery this afternoon as the first +step. So you are resigned, are you not, Molly dear?" + +"No, I am not! But what can I do? I have spoiled you, and you would be +just the same if I hadn't. You are more like the men of the family than +the women--they always would have their own way. Are they all married?" +she added anxiously. + +"Do you mean the ninety Senators and the three hundred and fifty-six +Representatives? I am sure I do not know. Don't let that worry you. It +is my mind that is on the _qui vive_, not my heart." + +"You'll hear some old fool make a Websterian speech full of periods and +rhetoric, and you'll straight-way imagine yourself in love with him. +Your head will be your worst enemy when you do fall in love." + +"Webster is the greatest master of style this country has produced. I +should hate a man who used either 'periods' or rhetoric. I am the +concentrated essence of modernism and have no use for 'oratory' or +'eloquence.' Some of the little speeches in the Record are masterpieces +of brevity and pure English, particularly Senator North's." + +"You _are_ modern. If we had a Clay, I could understand you--I am too +exhausted to discuss the matter further; you _must_ drop it for the +present. What will Jack Emory say?" + +"I have never given him the least right to say anything." + +"I almost wish you were safely married to him. He has not made a great +success of his life, but he is your equal and his manners are perfect. +I shall live in constant fear now of your marrying a horror with a +twang and a toothpick." + +"I promise you I won't do that--and that I never will marry Jack Emory." + + + + +II + + + +Betty Madison had exercised a great deal of self-control in resisting +the natural impulse to cultivate a fad and grapple with a problem. Only +her keen sense of humour saved her. On the Sunday following her return, +while sauntering home after a long restless tramp about the city, she +passed a church which many coloured people were entering. Her newly +awakened curiosity in all things pertaining to the political life of +her country prompted her to follow them and sit through the service. +The clergyman was light in colour, and prayed and preached in simpler +and better English than she had heard in more pretentious pulpits, but +there was nothing noteworthy, in his remarks beyond a supplication to +the Almighty to deliver the negro from the oppression of the "Southern +tyrant," followed by an admonition to the negro to improve himself in +mind and character if he would hope to compete with the Whites; bitter +words and violence but weakened his cause. + +This was sound commonsense, but the reverse of the sensational +entertainment Betty had half expected, and her eyes wandered from the +preacher to his congregation. There were all shades of Afro-American +colour and all degrees of prosperity represented. Coal-black women were +there, attired in deep and expensive mourning. "Yellow girls" wore +smart little tailor costumes. Three young girls, evidently of the lower +middle class of coloured society, for they were cheaply dressed, had +all the little airs and graces and mannerisms of the typical American +girl. In one corner a sleek mulatto with a Semitic profile sat in the +recognized attitude of the banker in church; filling his corner +comfortably and setting a worthy example to the less favoured of Mammon. + +But Betty's attention suddenly was arrested and held by two men who sat +on the opposite side of the aisle, although not together, and +apparently were unrelated. There were no others quite like them in the +church, but the conviction slowly forced itself into her mind, magnetic +for new impressions, that there were many elsewhere. They were men who +were descending the fifties, tall, with straight gray hair. One was +very slender, and all but distinguished of carriage; the other was +heavier, and would have been imposing but for the listless droop of his +shoulders. The features of both were finely cut, and their complexions +far removed from the reproach of "yellow." They looked like sun-burned +gentlemen. + +For nearly ten minutes Betty stared, fascinated, while her mind +grappled with the deep significance of all those two sad and patient +men expressed. They inherited the shell and the intellect, the +aspirations and the possibilities of the gay young planters whose +tragic folly had called into being a race of outcasts with all their +own capacity for shame and suffering. + +Betty went home and for twenty-four hours fought with the desire to +champion the cause of the negro and make him her life-work. But not +only did she abominate women with missions; she looked at the subject +upon each of its many sides and asked a number of indirect questions of +her cousin, Jack Emory. Sincere reflection brought with it the +conclusion that her energies in behalf of the negro would be +superfluous. The careless planters were dead; she could not harangue +their dust. The Southerners of the present generation despised and +feared the coloured race in its enfranchised state too actively to have +more to do with it than they could help; if it was a legal offence for +Whites and Blacks to marry, there was an equally stringent social law +which protected the coloured girl from the lust of the white man. +Therefore, as she could not undo the harm already done, and as a +crusade in behalf of the next generation would be meaningless, not to +say indelicate, she dismissed the "problem" from her mind. But the +image of those two sad and stately reflections of the old school sank +indelibly into her memory, and rose to their part in one of the most +momentous decisions of her life. + + + + +III + + + +The Montgomerys had come to Washington for the first time at the +beginning of the previous winter, while the Madisons were in England. +Lady Mary had left her note of introduction the day before Betty's +declaration of independence. + +Betty was anxious to meet the young Englishwoman, not only because she +possessed the charmed key to political society, but her history as +related by certain gossips of authority commanded interest. + +Randolph Montgomery, a young Californian millionaire, had followed his +mother's former ward, Lady Maundrell, to England, nursing an old and +hopeless passion. What passed between him and the beautiful young +countess the gossips did not attempt to state, but he left England two +days after the tragedy which shelved Cecil Maundrell into the House of +Lords, and returned to California accompanied by his mother and Lady +Barnstaple's friend, Lady Mary Montgomery. Bets were exchanged freely +as to the result of this bold move on the part of a girl too fastidious +to marry any of the English parvenus that addressed her, too poor to +marry in her own class. The wedding took place a few months later, +immediately after Mrs. Montgomery's death; an event which left Lady +Mary the guest in a foreign country of a young bachelor. + +From all accounts, the marriage, although a wide deflection from the +highest canons of romance, was a successful one, and the Montgomerys +were living in splendid state in Washington. Lady Mary was approved by +even the "Old Washingtonians"--a thoughtful Californian of lineage had +given her a letter to Miss Carter, who in turn had given her a tea--and +as her husband was brilliant, accomplished, and of the best blood of +Louisiana, the little set, tenaciously clinging to its traditional +exclusiveness amidst the whirling ever-changing particles of the +political maelstrom, found no fault in him beyond his calling. And as +he was a man of tact and never mentioned politics in its presence, and +as his wife was not at home to the public on the first Tuesday of the +month, reserving that day for such of her friends as shunned political +petticoats, the young couple were taken straight into the bosom of that +inner set which the ordinary outsider might search for a very glimpse +of in vain. + +How Lady Mary stood with the large and heterogeneous political set +Betty had no means of knowing, and she was curious to ascertain; she +could think of no position more trying for an Englishwoman of Mary +Gifford's class. + +As she drove toward the house several hours after announcing her plan +of campaign to her mother, she found Massachusetts Avenue blocked with +carriages and recalled suddenly that Tuesday was "Representatives' +day." She gave a little laugh as she imagined Mrs. Madison's plaintive +distaste. And then she felt the tremor and flutter, the pleasurable +desire to run away, which had assailed her on the night of her first +ball. That was eight years ago, and she had not experienced a moment of +nervous trepidation since. + +"Am I about to be re-born?" she thought. "Or merely rejuvenated? I +certainly do feel young again." + +She looked about critically as she entered the house. Her own home, +which was older than the White House, was large and plain, with lofty +rooms severely trimmed in the colonial style. There were no portieres, +no modern devices of decoration. Everything was solid and comfortable, +worn, and of a long and honourable descent. The dining-room and large +square hall were striking because of the blackness of their oak walls, +the many family portraits, and certain old trophies of the chase, as +vague in their high dark corners as fading daguerreotypes. + +So imbued was Betty with the idea that anything more elaborate was the +sign manifest of too recent fortune, that she had indulged in caustic +criticism of the modern palaces of certain New York friends. But +although the immediate impression of the Montgomery house was of soft +luxurious richness, and it was indubitably the home of wealthy people +determined to enjoy life, Miss Madison's dainty nose did not lift +itself. + +"At all events, the money is not laid on with a trowel," she thought. +And then she became aware of a curious sensuous longing as she looked +again at the dim rich beauty about her, the smothered windows, the +suggested power of withdrawal from every vulgar or annoying contact +beyond those stately walls. + +"I should like--I should like--" thought Betty, striving to put her +vague emotion into words, "to live in this sort of house when I marry." +And then her humour flashed up: it was a sense that sat at the heels of +every serious thought. "What a combination with the twang and the +toothpick! Can they really be my fate? Of course I might reform both, +and cut off his Uncle Sam beard while he slept." + +She had taken the wrong direction and entered a room in which there was +not even a stray guest. A loud buzz of voices rose and fell at the end +of a long hall, and she slowly made her way to the drawing-room, +pausing once to watch a footman who was busily sorting visiting-cards +into separate packs at a table. She handed him her card, and he slipped +it into a pack marked "I Street." + +The drawing-room was thronged with people, and as many of them +surrounded the hostess, while constant new-comers pressed forward to +shake a patient hand, Betty decided to stand apart for a few moments +and look at the crowd. She was in a new world, and as eager and curious +as if she had been shot from Earth to Mars. + +Lady Mary was quite as handsome as her portraits: a cold blue and white +and ashen beauty whose carriage and manifest of race were in curious +contrast, Lee had told Betty, to a nervous manner and the loud voice of +one who conceived that social laws had been invented for the middle +class. But there was little vivacity in her manner to-day, and her +voice was not audible across the large room. She looked tired. It was +half-past five o'clock, and doubtless she had been on her feet since +three. But she was smiling graciously upon her visitors, and gave each +a warmth of welcome which betrayed the wife of the ambitious politician. + +"Her mouth is not so selfish as in her photographs," observed the +astute Betty. "I suppose in the depths of her soul she hates this, but +she does it; and if she loves the man, she must think it well worth +while." + +She turned her attention to the visitors. There were many women +superbly dressed, in taste as perfect as her own. She never had seen +any of them before, but they had the air of women of importance. The +majority looked frigid and bored, a few dignified and easy of manner. +The younger women of the same class were more animated, but no less +irreproachable in style. + +There were others, middle-aged and young, with all the native style of +the second-class, and still others who were clad in coarse serges, +cashmeres, or cheap silks, shapelessly made with the heavy hand of many +burdens. These did not detain the hostess in conversation, but gathered +in groups, or walked about the room gazing at the many beautiful +pictures and ornaments. There were only three or four really +vulgar-looking women present, and they were clothed in conspicuous +raiment. One, and all but her waist was huge, wore a bodice of +transparent gauze; another, also of middle years, had crowned her hard +over-coloured face with a large gentian-blue hat turned up in front +with a brass buckle. Another was in pink silk and heavily powdered. But +although these women were offensively loud, they did not suggest any +lack of that virtue whose exact proportions so often elude the most +earnest seeker after truth. + +Betty turned impulsively to an old woman clad in shabby black who stood +besides her gazing earnestly at the crowd. Her large bony face was +crossed by the lines and wrinkles of long years of care, and her eyes +were dim; but her mouth was smiling. + +"Tell me," exclaimed Betty, "please--are all these people in politics? +I--I--am a stranger, and I should like to know who they are." + +"Well, I can tell you pretty near everything you want to know, I +guess," replied the old lady. She had the drawl and twang and accent of +rural New England. "I guess you've come here, like myself, jest to see +the folks. A few here, like you and me, ar'n't in official life, but +the most are, I guess. Nearly all the Cabinet ladies are here to-day +and a good many Senators' wives and darters. That there lady in +heliotrope and fur is the wife of the Secretary of War, and the one in +green velvet and chinchilla is Mis' Senator Maxwell. That real stylish +handsome girl just behind is her darter, and I guess she has a good +many beaux. They're real elegant, ar'n't they? I guess we have good +cause to be proud of our ladies." + +She paused that Betty might express her approval, and upon being +assured that Paris was responsible for many of the gowns present, +continued in her monotonous but kindly drawl, + +"And some of them began life doin' their own work. The President ain't +no aristocrat, and most of his friends ain't neither; but I tell you +when their wives begin to entertain they do it jest as if they was born +to it. I presume if my husband--he was a physician--had gone into +politics and had luck, I'd have been jest like those ladies; but as he +didn't, I'm still doin' most of my own work and look it. But the Lord +knows what he's about, I guess. Senator Maxwell's a swell; they've +always been rich, the Maxwells, and he married a New York girl, so she +didn't have much to learn, I guess. Mis' Senator Shattuc--she's the one +in wine colour--was the darter of a big railroad man out West, so I +guess she had all the schoolin' and Yurrup she wanted. Now that real +pretty little woman jest speakin' to Lady Montgomery is Mis' Senator +Freeman. They do say as how she was the darter of a baker in Chicago +and used to run barefoot around the streets, but she looks as well as +any of 'em now and she dines at every Embassy in Washington. Her +dresses are always described in the _Post_: she wears pink and blue +mostly. You kin tell by her face that she's got a lot of determination +and that she'd git where she had a mind to. I guess she'd dine with +Queen Victoria if she had a mind to." + +"I feel exactly as if I were at a pantomime," cried Betty, delightedly. +"Even you--" She caught herself up. "I mean I always thought the New +England playwrights invented all their characters. Who are these +plainly dressed women and--and--half-way ones?" "Oh, they're +Representatives' wives mostly," drawled the old lady, who looked +puzzled. "They take a day off and call on each other. One or two is +Senators' wives. Some of the Senators is rich, but some ar'n't. Mis' +Montgomery's jest as nice to them as to the swells, and she told me to +be sure and go into the next room and have a cup of tea. I don't care +much about tea excep' for lunch, and she don't have a collation--I +presume she can't; too many people'd come, and I guess she has about +enough. Now, those ladies that don't look exactly as if they was +ladies," indicating the large birds of tawdry plumage and striking +complexions, "they don't live here. Washington ladies don't dress like +that. I guess they're the wives of men out West that have made their +pile lately and come here to see the sights. First they look at all the +public buildin's, and I guess they about walk all over the Capitol, and +hear a speech or two in the Ladies' Gallery--from their Senators, if +they can--and after that they go about in Society a bit. You see, +Washington is a mighty nice place fur people who haven't much show at +home--those that live in small towns, fur instance. There is so many +public receptions they can go to--The White House, the Wednesdays of +the Cabinet ladies, the Thursdays of the Senator's wives, and six or +seven Representatives--mebbe more--who have real elegant houses; and +then there is several Legations that give public receptions. You can +always see in the _Post_ who's goin' to receive; and those women can go +home and talk fur the rest of their lives about the fine time they had +in Washington society. Amurricans heighst themselves whenever they git +a chance. I don't care to do that. My sister--she's a heap younger 'n I +am and awful spry--and I come down from the north of New Hampshire +every winter and keep a boardin'-house in Washington so that we can see +the world. We don't go home with ten dollars over railroad fare in our +pockets, but we don't mind, because the farm keeps us and we've had a +real good time. I often sit down up in New Hampshire and think of the +beautiful houses and dresses and pictures I've seen, and I can always +remember that I've shaken hands with the President and his wife and the +ladies of the Cabinet. They're just as nice as they can be." + +Betty, whose sympathies were quick and keen, winked away a tear. "I'm +so glad you enjoy it so much," she exclaimed, "and that there is so +much for you here to enjoy. I never thought of it in that way. I'm +awfully interested in it all, myself, and I feel deeply indebted to +you." + +"Well, you needn't mind that. My sister says I always talk when I can +git anybody to listen to me, and I guess I do. Where air you from? New +York, I guess." + +"Oh, I am a Washingtonian. My name is Madison." + +"So? I don't remember seeing it in the society columns." + +"We are never mentioned in society columns," exclaimed Betty, with her +first thrill of pride since entering the new world. "But I seldom have +passed a winter out of Washington, although--I am sorry to say--I never +have met any of these people." + +"You don't say. I ain't curious, but you don't look as if you had to +stay to home and do the work. But Amurrican girls are so smart they can +about look anything they have a mind to." "Oh--I am really sorry, but +everybody seems to be going, and I haven't spoken to Lady Mary yet. I'm +_so_ much obliged to you." + +"Now, you needn't be, for you're a real nice young lady, and I've +enjoyed talkin' to you. Likely we'll meet again, but I'd be happy to +have you call. Here's my card. Our house is right near here--in the +real fashionable part; and we've several ladies livin' with us that you +might like to meet." + +"Oh, thanks! thanks!" Betty put the card carefully into her case, shook +her new friend warmly by the hand, and went forward. Lady Mary's tired +white face had set into an almost mechanical smile, but as her eyes met +Betty's they illumined with sudden interest and her hard-worked muscles +relaxed. + +"You are Betty Madison!" she exclaimed. And as the two girls shook +hands they conceived one of those sudden and violent friendships which +are so full of interest while they last. + +"How awfully good of you to call so soon!" continued Lady Mary, after +Betty had expatiated upon her long-cherished desire for this meeting. +"I hoped you would, although Miss Carter rather frightened me with her +account of your mother's aversion to political people. But they have +all been so good to me--all your delightful set." She lowered her +voice, which had rung out for a moment in something of its old style, +albeit platitudes had worn upon its edges. "I _couldn't_ stand just +this--although I must add that many of the official women are charming +and have the most stunning manners; but many are the reverse, and +unfortunately I can't pick and choose. It seems that when one gets into +politics in this country that is the end of nine-tenths of one's +personal life; and Washington is certainly the headquarters of +democracy. Here every American really does feel that he is as good as +every other American; I wish to heaven he didn't." + +"Washington is a democracy with a kernel of the most exclusive +aristocracy," said Betty, with a laugh. "Some one has said that it is +the drawing-room of the Republic. It is the hotel drawing-room with a +Holy of Holies opening upon the area. I'm sick of the Holy of Holies, +and I 've never enjoyed a half-hour so much as while I've been looking +on here--waiting for you to be disengaged." + +"Oh, this is nothing. You must let me take you to a large evening +reception. That is really interesting, for you see so many famous +people. Can't you dine with me to-morrow? We've a big political dinner +on. About fifteen members of a Senate and a House Committee that are +deliberating a very important bill are coming. Senator North--he is +well worth meeting--is Chairman of the Senate Committee, and my +husband, although a new member, stands very high with the Chairman of +his Committee, most of whom are old members of the House. Senator Ward +also will be here. Do come, if you have nothing more important on hand. +I can easily get another member of the House Committee." + +"Come! I'd break twenty engagements to come." Betty's eyes sparkled and +she lifted her head with a motion peculiar to her when reminded that +she was the favoured of the gods. "I suppose there is a good deal of +fag about this sort of life to you, but it has all the charm of the +undiscovered country for me." + +"Oh, I am deeply interested," said Lady Mary. The two women were alone +now, and the hostess, released after three hours of stereotyped +amenities, surrendered herself to the charm of natural intercourse with +one of her own sort, and rang for tea. "I always liked politics, and I +feel quite sure that my husband will achieve his high ambitions. It +interests me greatly to help him." + +"Of course he'll be President!" cried Betty, enthusiastic in the warmth +of her new friendship and its possibilities. She was surprised by a +tilt of the nose and an emphatic shake of the head. + +"No, indeed!" exclaimed Lady Mary, "Presidents are politicians only. My +husband aspires higher than that. To be a Senator of the first rank +requires very different qualities." + +"Ah! I shall quote that to Mol--my mother. She is not predisposed in +their favour." + +"Of course there are Senators and Senators," said Lady Mary, hastily. +"You can't get ninety men of equal ability together, anywhere. There +are the six who are admittedly the first,--North, Maxwell, Ward, March, +Howard, and Eustis,--and about ten who are close behind them. Then +there is the venerable group to which Senator Maxwell also belongs; and +the younger men of forty-five or so who are not quite broken in yet, +and whose enthusiasm is apt to take the wrong direction; and the +fire-eaters, Populists usually; and the hard-working second-rate men, +many of them millionaires (Western, as a rule) who are accused of +having bought their legislatures to get in, but who do good work on +Committee, whether or not they came under the delusion that they had +bought an honour with nothing beneath it: a man who presumed on his +wealth in the Senate would fare as badly as a boy at Eton who presumed +on his title. Beyond all, are the nonentities that are in every body. +So, you see, it is worth while to aim for the first place and to keep +it." + +"There are certainly all sorts to choose from! I'll never mistrust my +instincts again. I am glad I shall meet Senator North to-morrow. I +suppose he is a courtly person of the old school with a Websterian +intellect." + +"I don't know anything about Webster; I can't read your history and +live in it, too; but certainly there is nothing of the old school about +Senator North. He is very modern and has a truly Republican--or shall I +say aristocratic?--simplicity--although no one could dress +better--combined with a cold manner to most men and a warm manner to +most women." + +"Tell me all about him!" exclaimed Betty, sipping her tea. "I never was +so happy and excited in my life. I feel as if I was Theodosia Burr, or +Nelly Custis, or Dolly Madison come to life. And now I'm going to know +an American statesman before his coat has turned to calf-skin. Quick! +How old is he?" + +"Just sixty, and looks much younger, as most of the Senators do. He is +a hard worker--he is Chairman of one Committee and a member of five +others; a brilliant debater, the most accomplished legislator in the +Senate, unyielding in his convictions, and absolutely independent. He +is not popular, as it has never occurred to him to conciliate anybody. +He is very kind and attentive to his invalid wife and proud of his +sons, and he adored a daughter who died four years ago. Rumor has it +that more than one charming woman has consoled him for domestic +afflictions and political trials, but I do not pay much attention to +rumours of that sort. How odd that I, an alien, should be instructing a +Washingtonian in politics and the personalities of her Senators; but I +quite understand. I do hope Mrs. Madison will not object to your coming +to-morrow night." + +"I shall come. And go now. I feel a brute to have let you talk so much, +but I never have been so interested!" + +The two women kissed and parted; and Lady Mary's dreams that night were +undisturbed by any vision of herself in the ranks of the Fates. + + + + +IV + + + +Betty returned home much elated with the success of her visit. She +heard the voice of her cousin Jack Emory in the parlor and went at once +to her room to dress. The voice sounded solemn, and so did her +mother's; they doubtless were sitting in conference upon her. She +selected her evening gown with some care; her cousin was an old story, +but he was a very attractive man, and coquetry would hold its own in +her, become she never so intellectual. + +Jack Emory had been her undeclared lover since his middle teens. +Somewhere in the same immature interval, just after her first return +from Europe, she had imagined herself passionately in love with him. +But she had a large fortune left her by her maternal grandfather, +besides a hundred thousand her father had died too soon to spend, and +Jack was the son of a Virginian who had been a Rebel to his death, +haughtily refusing to have his disabilities removed, and threatening to +shoot any negro in his employ who dared to go to the ballot box. He had +left his son but a few thousands out of his large inheritance, and +adjured him on his death bed to hold no office under the Federal +government and to shoot a Yankee rather than shake his hand. Jack +inherited his father's prejudices without his violent temper. He had a +contemptuous dislike for the North, a loathing for politics, and +adistaste for everybody outside his own diminishing class. Love for +Betty Madison had driven him West in the hope of retrieving his +fortunes, but he was essentially a gentleman and a scholar; the +hustling quality was not in him, and he returned South after two years +of unpleasant endeavour and started a small produce farm adjoining an +old house on the outskirts of Washington, left him by his mother. Here +he lived with his books, and made enough money to support himself +decently. He never had asked Betty to marry him, although he knew that +his aunt would champion his cause. During the period of Betty's maiden +passion his pride had caused her as much suffering as her youth and +buoyant nature would permit; but as the years slipped by she felt +inclined to personify that pride and burn a candle beneath it. Even +before her mind had awakened, the energy and strength of her character +had cured her of love for a man as supine as Jack Emory. He was +charming and well read, all that she could desire in a brother, but as +a husband he would be intolerable. As his love cooled she liked him +better still, particularly as his loyalty would not permit him to +acknowledge even to himself that he could change; but its passing left +him with fewer clouds on a rather melancholy spirit, a readier tongue, +and a complete recovery from the habits of sighing and of leaving the +house abruptly. + +Betty's maid dressed her in a bright blue taffeta, softened with much +white lace, and she went slowly down to the hall, rustling her skirts +that Emory might hear and come out for a word before dinner if he +liked. It was a relief to be able to coquet with him without fearing +that he would go home and shoot himself; and it helped him to sustain +the pleasant fiction that he still was in love with her. + +He came out at once and raised her hand to his lips, murmuring a +compliment as his grandfather might have done. He was only thirty-two, +but his face was sallow and lined from trouble and fever. Otherwise he +was very handsome, with his golden head and intellectual blue eyes, his +haughty profile and tall figure, listlessly carried as it was. In spite +of the fact that he took pride in dressing well, he always looked a +little old-fashioned. When with Betty, invariably as smart as Paris and +New York could make her, he almost appeared as if wearing his father's +old clothes. His Southern accent and intonation were nearly as broad as +a negro's. Betty had almost lost hers; she retained just enough to +enrich and individualize without a touch of provincialism. She belonged +to that small class of Americans whose ear-mark is the absence of all +Americanisms. + +Mr. Emory looked perturbed. + +"There is something I should like to say," he remarked hesitatingly. +"There is yet a quarter of an hour before dinner. I think this old hall +with its portraits of your grandmothers is a good place to say it in--" + +"Molly has pressed you into service, I see. Let us have it out, by all +means. Please straighten your necktie before you begin. You cannot +possibly be impressive while it looks as if it were standing on one +leg." + +"Please be serious, Betty dear. I am indeed most disturbed. It surely +cannot be that you meant what you told your mother this morning,--that +you intended to change the whole current of your life in such an +unprecedented manner." + +"Great heavens! One would think I was about to go on the stage or enter +a convent." + +"I would rather you did either than soil your mind with the politics of +this country. I say nothing about there being no statesmen;--there is +not an honest man in politics the length and breadth of the Union. The +country is a sink of corruption, as far as politics are concerned. +Every Congressman buys his seat or is put in as the agent of some +disgraceful trust or syndicate or railroad corporation." + +Betty drew her eyelids together in a fashion that robbed her eyes of +their coquetry and fire and made them look unpleasantly judicial. + +"Exactly how much do you know about American politics?" she asked +coldly. "I have known you all my life and I never heard you mention +them before--" + +"I never have considered them a fit subject for you to listen to--" + +"I have been in your library a great many times and I do not recall a +copy of the Congressional Record. You have said often that you despise +the newspapers and only read the telegrams; that the only paper you +read through is the London _Times_. So, I repeat, what do you know +about the American politics of to-day?" + +"What I have told you." + +"Where did you learn it? Do you ever go to the Senate or the House?" + +"God forbid! But I am a man, and those things are in the atmosphere; a +man's brain accumulates naturally all widely diffused impressions. I've +been a great deal in the smoking-cars of railroad-trains, and spent two +years in a Western State where a man who had taken a fortune out of a +mine made no bones of buying a seat in the Senate from the Legislature, +nor the Legislature about selling it. It was the most abominable +transaction I ever came close to, and had as much to do with my leaving +the place as anything else." + +"And you mean to say that you judge all the old States of the country +by a newly settled community of adventurers out West?" + +"New York and Pennsylvania are notorious." + +"There are bad boys in every school. What I want to know is--can you +assert on your knowledge that all the Southern and New England States +are corrupt and send only small politicians to Washington? This is a +more serious charge than Molly's assertion that they all use +toothpicks." + +"I repeat that I do not believe there is an honest man in that Capitol." + +"Do you know this? Have you investigated the life of every man in the +Senate and the House?" "What a good district attorney you would make!" + +"You are talking a lot of copybook platitudes with which you have +allowed your mind to stagnate. But you must convince me, for if what +you say is true I shall have nothing to do with politics. Let us begin +with Senator North. How and when did he buy his seat, and what Trust +does he represent?" + +"Oh, I never have heard anything against North. He is too big a gun in +Washington--" + +"You will admit then that _he_ is not corrupt--" + +"I don't doubt he has his own methods--" + + +"I don't care three cents about your suppositions. I want facts. How +about Senator Maxwell?" + +"He has been in Congress since before I was born. One never hears him +discussed." + +"And his Puritanical State has heaped every honour on him that it can +think of. Tell me the biography of Senator Ward--all that is too awful +to be printed in the Congressional Directory--" + +"He is from one of those dreadful North-western States and bound to be +corrupt," cried Emory, triumphantly. He wished desperately that he had +waited and got up his case. He spoke from sincere conviction. "There +may be a rag of decency left in the older States, but the West is +positively fetid. I give you my word I am speaking the truth, Betty +dear, and in your own interest. If I have no more details to give you, +it is because I promised my father on his death-bed that I would have +nothing to do with politics, and I have kept my word to the extent of +reading as little about them as possible. But I can assure you that I +know as much about them as anybody not in the accursed business. It is +in the air--" "There are so many things in the air that they get mixed +up. Your whole argument is based on air. Now, _mon ami_, you turn to +to-morrow and study up the record of every man in that Senate, as well +as the legislative methods of his State. When you know all about it, I +shall be delighted to be instructed. But I don't want any more air. Now +come in to dinner, and if you allude to the subject before Molly, I'll +leave the table." + +He bowed over her hand again with his old-fashioned courtesy. "When you +issue a command I am bound to obey," he said, "and although you have +set me an unpleasant, an obnoxious task, I certainly shall accomplish +that also to the best of my ability. You belong to this old house, +Betty, to this old set; I love to think of you as the last rose on the +old Southern tree, and you shall not be blighted if I can help it." + +Betty tapped him lightly with her fan. + +"I belong to the whole country, my dear boy; I am no old cabbage rose +on a half-dead bush, but the same vegetable under a new name,--the +American Beauty Rose. Do you see the parable? And I've a great many +thorns on my long stem. Remember that also." + + + + +V + + + +Betty, in accordance with a time-honoured habit, was the last to arrive +at the dinner-party on the following evening. She had arranged her +heavy large-waved hair low on her neck, and the pale green velvet of +her gown lifted its dull mahogany hue and the deep Southern whiteness +of her skin. She did not take a beautiful picture, for her features had +the national irregularity, but she seldom entered a room that several +men did not turn and stare at her. She carried herself with the air of +one used to commanding the homage of men, her lovely colouring was +always enhanced by dress, and she radiated magnetism. It was such an +alive, warm, buoyant personality that men turned to her as naturally as +children do to the maternal woman; even when they did not love her they +liked to be near her, for she recalled some vague ideal. She knew her +power perfectly, and after one or two memorable lessons had put from +her the temptation to give it active exercise. It should be the +instrument of unqualified happiness when her hour came; meanwhile she +cultivated an impersonal attitude which baffled men unable to propose +and tempered the wind to those that could. + +During the few moments in the drawing-room she could gather only a +collective impression of the men who stared at her to-night. There was +a general suggestion of weight, in the sculptor's sense, and repose +combined with alertness, and they stood very squarely on their feet. +Betty had only had time to single out one long beard dependent from a +visage otherwise shorn, and to observe further that some of the women +were charmingly dressed, while others wore light silk afternoon frocks, +when dinner was announced. + +Her partner was evidently one of the younger Senators, one of those +juvenile enthusiasts of forty-five who beat their breasts for some +years upon the Senate's impassive front. He was extremely good-looking, +with a fair strong impatient face, trimmed with a moustache only, and a +well-built figure full of nervous energy. He had less repose than most +of the men about him, but he suggested the same solidity. He might fail +or go wrong, but not because there was any room in his mind for shams. +His name was Burleigh, but what his section was, Betty, as they +exchanged amenities and admired the lavish display of flowers, could +not determine; he had no accent whatever, and although his voice was +deep and sonorous, it had not the peculiar richness of the South. His +gray eyes smiled as they met hers, and his manners were charming; but +Betty, accustomed to grasp the salient points of character in a first +interview, fancied that he could be overbearing and truculent. + +"Are they going to talk politics to-night?" she asked, when the +platitudes had run their course. + +"I hope not. I've had enough of politics, all day." + +"Oh, I hoped you would," said Betty, in a deeply disappointed tone. + +He looked amused. + +"Why?" he asked. + +"Oh, I am so interested. That sounds very vague, but I am. When Lady +Mary told me she was dining members of the two Committees, I thought it +was to talk politics, and--and--settle it amicably or something." Betty +could look infantile when she chose, and was always ready to cover real +ignorance with an exaggerated assumption which inspired doubt. + +"We have the excessive pleasure of discussing the bill in Senator +North's comfortable Committee room for several hours every few days, +and we usually are amiable. We are merely dining out to-night in each +other's good company. Still, I guess your desire will be more or less +gratified. Second nature is strong, and one or two will probably get +down to it about the middle of dinner." + +"You are from New England," exclaimed Betty, triumphantly. "I have been +waiting for you to say 'I reckon' or 'I guess.'" + +"I was born and educated in Maine, but I went west to practise law as +soon as I knew enough, and I am Senator from one of the Middle Western +States." + +"Ah!" Betty gave him a swift side glance. He looked anything but +"corrupt," and that truculent note in his voice did not indicate +subservience to party bosses. She determined to write to Jack Emory in +the morning and command him to look up Senator Burleigh's record at +once. + +"I suppose all the Senators here to-night are the--big ones?" + +"Oh, no; North and Ward are the only two on this Committee belonging to +the very first rank. The other four here are in that group that is +pressing close upon their heels; and myself, who am a new member: I've +been here four years only. Would you mind telling me who you are? Of +course American women don't take much interest in politics, but--do you +know as little as you pretend?" + +"I wish I knew more; but I've been abroad for the last two years, and +my mother prefers rattlesnakes to politics. Which is Senator North?" + +"He is at the head of the table with Lady Mary, but that rosebush is in +the way; you cannot see him." + +"And which is Senator Ward?" "Over there by Mrs. Shattuc,--the woman in +ivory-white and heliotrope." + +Betty flashed him a glance of renewed interest. "You like women," she +exclaimed. "And you must be married, or have sisters." + +"I like women and I am not married, nor have I any sisters. I +particularly like woman's dress. If you'll pardon me, that combination +of pale green and white lace and soft stuff is the most stunning thing +I've seen for a long while." + +"Law, politics, and woman's dress! How hard you must have worked!" + +"Our strong natural inclinations help us so much!" He gave her an +amused glance, and his manner was a trifle patronizing, as of a +prominent man used to the admiration of pretty girls. It was evident +that he knew nothing of her and her long line of conquests. + +"Senator Ward looks half asleep," she remarked abruptly. + +"He usually does until dinner is two-thirds over. He is Chairman of one +Committee and serving on two others; and all have important bills +before them at present. So he is tired." + +"He doesn't look corrupt." + +"Corrupt? Who? Ward? Who on earth ever said he was corrupt?" + +"Well, I heard his State was." + +"'Corruption' is the father of more platitudes than any word in the +American language. There are corrupt men in his State, no doubt, and +one of the Trusts with which we are ridden at present tried to buy its +Legislature and put their man in. But Ward won his fight without the +expenditure of a dollar beyond paying for the band and a few courtesies +of that sort. His State is proud of him both as a statesman and a +scholar, and he is likely to stay in the Senate until he drops in his +tracks." + +"Then he comes here with the intention of remaining for life? I think +you should all do that." + +"You are quite right. When a man achieves the honour of being elected +honestly to the United States Senate,--it is the highest honour in the +Republic,--he should feel that he is dedicating himself to the service +of the country, and should have so arranged his affairs that he can +stay there for life." + +Betty's eyes kindled with approval. "Oh, I am glad," she said, "I am +glad." + +"Glad of what, may I ask?" + +"Oh--" And then she impulsively told him something of her history, of +her determination to take up politics as her ruling interest, and of +the opposition of her mother and cousin. Senator Burleigh listened with +deep attention, and if he was amused he was too gallant to betray the +fact, now that she had honoured him with her confidence. + +"Well," he said, "that is very interesting, very. And you are quite +right. You'll do yourself good and us good. Mind you stand to your +guns. Would you mind telling me your name? Lady Mary never thinks a +mere name worth mentioning." + +"Madison--Elizabeth Madison. I had almost forgotten the Elizabeth. I +have always been called Betty." + +"Ah!" he said, "ah!" He turned and regarded her with a deeper interest. + +"Have you heard of me?" she asked irresistibly. "Who has not?" he said +gallantly. "And although you are a great deal younger than I,--I am +forty-four,--my father, who was in Congress before me, was a great +friend of your father's. He wears a watch to this day that Mr. Madison +gave him. He always expressed regret that he never met your mother, but +she seemed to have an unconquerable aversion to politics." + +"And they met at Chamberlin's!" exclaimed Betty, with a delighted +laugh. "It will be the last straw--my having gone into dinner with the +son of one of papa's hated boon companions. My mother is a lovely +intelligent woman," she added hastily, "but she is intensely Southern +and conservative. Her great pride is that she never changes a standard +once established." + +"Oh, that's a very safe quality in a woman. But of course you have a +right to establish your own, and I am glad it points in our direction. +And anything you want to know I'll be glad to tell you. Can't I take +you up to the Senate to-morrow and put you in our private gallery? +There ought to be some good debating, for North is going to attack an +important bill that is on the calendar." + +"I will go; but let me meet you there. I must ask you to call in due +form first, as my poor mother must not have too many shocks. Will you +come a week from Sunday?--I am going to New York for a few days." + +"I will, indeed. If I were unselfish, I should let you listen for a few +minutes, for they are all talking politics; not bills, however, but the +possibility of war with Spain. I don't think I shall, though. Tell me +what you want to know and I will begin our lessons right here." "Why +should we go to war with Spain?" + +"Oh dear! Oh dear! Where have you been? There is a small island off the +coast of Florida called Cuba. It has many natives, and they are +oppressed, tormented, tortured by Spain." + +"I visited Cuba once. They are nothing but a lot of negroes and +frightfully dirty. Why should we go to war about them?" + +"Only about one-third are negroes and there is a large brilliantly +educated and travelled upper class. And I see you need instruction in +more things than politics,--humanity, for instance. Forget that you are +a Southerner, divorce yourself from traditions, and try to imagine +several hundred thousand people--women and children, +principally--starving, hopeless, homeless, unspeakably wretched. Cannot +you feel for them?" + +"Oh, yes! Yes!" Betty's quick sympathy sent the tears to her eyes, and +he looked at her with deepening admiration,--a fact the tears did not +prevent her from grasping. "And are we going to war in order to release +them?" + +"Ah! I do not know. There is a war feeling growing in the country; +there is no doubt of that. But how high it will grow no one can tell. +The leading men in Congress are indifferent, and won't even listen to +recognizing the Cubans as belligerents. North will not discuss the +subject, and I doubt not is talking over the latest play with Lady Mary +at the present moment." + +"And you? Do you want war?" + +"I do!" His manner gave sudden rein to its inherent nervousness, and +his voice rang out for a moment as if he were angrily haranguing the +Senate. "Of course I want it. Every human instinct I have compels me to +want it, and I cannot understand the apathy and conservatism which +prevents our being at war at the present moment. We have posed as the +champions of liberty long enough; it is time we did something." + + +"Ah, this is the youthful enthusiasm of the Senate," thought Betty. +"And I have been accustomed to think of forty-five as quite elderly. I +feel a mere infant and shall not call myself an old maid till I'm +fifty." She smiled approvingly into the Senator's illuminated face, and +he plunged at once into details, including the entire history of +Spanish colonial misrule. The history was told in head-lines, so to +speak, but it was graphic and convincing. Betty nodded encouragingly +and asked an occasional intelligent question. She knew the history of +Spain as thoroughly as he did, but she would not have told him so for +the world. It is only the woman with a certain masculine fibre in her +brain who ever really understands men, and when these women have +coquetry also, they convince the sex born to admire that they are even +more feminine than their weaker sisters. When Senator Burleigh +finished, Betty thanked him so graciously and earnestly, with such +lively pleasure in her limpid hazel eyes, that he raised his glass +impulsively and touched it to hers. + +"You must have a _salon_" he exclaimed. "We need one in Washington, and +it would do us incalculable good. Only you could accomplish it: you not +only have beauty and brains--and tact?--but you are so apart that you +can pick and choose without fear of giving offence. And you are not +_blas?_ of the subject like Congressmen's wives, nor has the wild rush +and wear and tear of official society chopped up your individuality +into a hundred little bits. It would be brutal to mention politics to a +woman in political life, and consequently we feel as if no one takes +any interest in us unless she has an axe to grind. But you are what we +all have been waiting for I feel sure of that! Let it be understood +that no mere politician, no man who bought his legislature or is under +suspicion in regard to any Trust, can enter your doors. Of course you +will have to study the whole question thoroughly; and mind, I am to be +your instructor-in-chief." + +Betty laughed and thanked him, wondering how well he understood her. He +looked like a man who would waste no time on the study of woman's +subtleties: he knew what he wanted, and recognized the desired +qualities at once, but by a strong masculine instinct, not by analysis. + +A few moments later the women went into the drawing-room, and the +conversation for the next half-hour was a languid babble of politics, +dress, New York, the lady of the White House, and the play. Betty +thought the women very nice, but less interesting than the men, +possibly because they were women. They certainly looked more +intelligent than the average one sat with during the trying half-hour +after dinner; but their conversation was fragmentary, and they oddly +suggested having left their personality at home and taken their shell +out to dinner. Betty also was interested to observe that their +composite expression was a curious mingling of fatigue, unselfishness, +and peremptoriness. "What does it mean?" she asked of Lady Mary, with +whom she stood apart for a moment. + +"Oh, they are worked to death,--paying calls, entertaining, receiving +people on all sorts of business, and helping their husbands in various +ways. They have no time to be selfish,--rich or poor,--and they have +acquired the art of disposing of bores and detrimentals in short order. +Even their own sort they pass on much in the fashion of royalty. How do +you like Senator Burleigh?" + +"I never learned so much in two hours in my life. My head feels like a +beehive." + +"I never saw him quite so devoted." + +"I thought you were occupied with Senator North." + +"I was, but my eyes and ears understand each other. He wants to meet +you after dinner. He knows all about you." + +"He has been pointed out to me, but in those days when I was only +interested in possible partners for the German. I do not recall him." + +"That is he, the second one." + +The men were entering the drawing-room. Betty was relieved that the +political beard was not on Senator North. He wore only a very short +moustache on his ugly powerful face. + +He stood for a few moments talking to his host, and Betty, to whom the +political beard was immediately presented, gave him an occasional +glance of exploration while her companion was assuring her, with +neither a twang nor an accent, that he had long looked forward to the +pleasure of meeting the famous Miss Betty Madison. Senator Shattuc was +in his late fifties, but it was evident that the cares of Congress had +not smothered his appreciation of a pretty woman. He had a strong face +and an infantile complexion, and his beard sparkled with care. Senator +Ward, who was presented a few moments later, told her that he had +envied Burleigh throughout the long dinner. Betty decided that the +senatorial manner certainly was agreeable. + +The two men fell into conversation with one another, and Betty turned +her attention to Senator North. He was standing alone for the moment, +glancing about the room. His attitude was one of absolute repose; he +did not look as if he ever had hurried or wasted his energies or lost +his self-control in his life. His face was impenetrable; his eyes, +black and piercing, were wholly without that limpidity which reveals +depths and changes of expression; his mouth was somewhat contemptuous, +and betrayed neither tenderness nor humour. If possible, he stood even +more squarely on his feet than the other men. He had the powerful +thick-set figure which invariably harbours strong passions. + +"I don't know whether I like him or not," thought Betty. "I think I +don't--but perhaps I do. He might be made of New England rock, and he +looks as if the earth could swallow him before he'd yield an inch. But +I can feel his magnetism over here. Why have all these men so much +magnetism? Is that, too, senatorial?" + +Senator North caught her eye at the moment, and turned at once to Lady +Mary. A moment later he had been presented to Betty and they stood +alone. + +"I once mended your hoop for you, when you were a little girl, just in +front of your house; but I am afraid you have forgotten it." "Oh,--I +think I do remember it. Yes--I do." She evoked the incident out of the +mists of childish memories. "Was it you? I am afraid I was looking +harder at the hoop than at its mender. But--I recall--I thought how +kind you were." + +And then he inquired for her mother, and spoke pleasantly of his own +and his wife's acquaintance with Mrs. Madison at Bar Harbor. Betty +wondered afterward why she had thought his face repellent. His eyes +defied investigation, but his mouth relaxed into a smile that was very +kind, and his voice had almost a caress in it. But at the moment she +was too eager to hear him express himself to receive a strong personal +impression, and while she was casting about in her mind for a leader, +she was obliged to give him her hand. + +"Good-night," she said with a little pout, "I am so sorry." + +"So am I," he said, smiling, and shaking her hand. "Good-night. I shall +look forward to meeting you again soon." + +"Miss Madison, may I see you to your carriage?" asked Senator Burleigh. +"I have tried to get near you ever since dinner," he said +discontentedly, as they walked down the hall, "and now you are going. +But you will come to the Senate to-morrow? Come right up to the door of +the Senators' Gallery at precisely three o'clock and I will meet you +there." + +A few moments later, Betty paused on her way to her own room and opened +her mother's door softly. + +"Molly," she whispered. + +"Well?" asked a severe voice. + +"I went in to dinner with the son of one of papa's old Chamberlin +companions, and he was simply charming. So were all the others, and I +never met a man who could shake hands as well as Senator North. I had a +heavenly time." + +Mrs. Madison groaned and turned her face to the wall. + +"And there wasn't a toothpick, and I didn't hear a twang." + +"Kindly allow me to go to sleep." + + + + +VI + + + +As soon as Betty awoke the next morning, she turned her mind to the +events of the night before. Unlike most occasions eagerly anticipated, +it had contained no disappointment; she had, indeed, been pleasurably +surprised, for despite her strong common-sense the dark picture of +corruption and objectionable toilet accessories had made its impression +upon her. She foresaw much amusement in witnessing the unwilling +surrender of her mother to even Senator Shattuc, him of the political +beard. As for Senator Burleigh, she would yield to his magnetism and +power of compelling interest in himself, while pronouncing his manners +too abrupt and his personality too "Western." And if he admired +intelligently the old lace which she always wore at her throat and +wrists and on her pretty head, she would confess that there might be +exceptions even to political rules. + +But somewhat to Betty's surprise it was not of Senator Burleigh that +she thought most, although she had talked with him for two hours and +pronounced him charming. She had talked with Senator North for exactly +six minutes, but she saw his face more distinctly than Burleigh's and +retained his voice in her ear. He had not paid her a compliment, but +his manner had expressed that she interested him and that he thought +her worth meeting. For the first time in her life Betty felt flattered +by the admiration of a man; and she had held her own with more than one +of distinction on the other side. Even royalty had not fluttered her, +but she conceived an eager desire to make this man think well of her. +It irritated her to remember that she could have made no mental +impression on him whatever. She became uncheerful, and reflected that +the subtle flattery in his manner was probably a mere habit; Lady Mary +had intimated that he liked women and had loved several. Well, she +cared nothing about that; he was thirty years older than herself and +married; but she admired him and wished for his good opinion and to +hear him talk. Doubtless they soon would meet again, and if they were +left in conversation for a decent length of time she would ask him to +call. She cast about in her mind for a subterfuge which would justify a +note, but she could think of none, and was too worldly-wise to evoke a +smile from the depths of a man's conceit. + +Her mother refused to bid her good-by when, accompanied by her maid, +she started for the Capitol at twenty minutes to three. A few moments +later she found herself admiring for the first time the big stately +building on the hill at the end of Pennsylvania Avenue. She always had +thought Washington a beautiful city, with its wide quiet avenues set +thick with trees, its graceful parks, each with a statue of some man +gratefully remembered by the Republic, but she had given little heed to +its public buildings and their significance. As she approached the +great white Capitol, she experienced a sudden thrill of that historical +sense which, after its awakening, dominates so actively the large +intelligence. The Capitol symbolized the greatness of the young nation; +all the famous American statesmen after the first group had moved and +made their reputations within its walls. All laws affecting the nation +came out of it, and the Judges of the Supreme Court sat there. And of +its kind there was none other in the civilized world, had been but one +other since the world began. + +The historic building shed an added lustre upon Senator Burleigh; but +it was of Senator North that she thought most as she half rose in the +Victoria and scanned the long sweep. The cleverest of women cannot +class with anything like precision the man who has stamped himself into +her imagination. Betty knew that there were six men in the Senate who +ranked as equals; their quiet epoch gave them little chance to discover +latent genius other than for constructive legislation; nevertheless she +arbitrarily conceived the Capitol to-day as the great setting for one +man only; and the building and the man became one in her imagination +henceforth. The truth was that Betty, being greatly endowed for loving +and finding that all men fell short of her high standard, was forced to +seek companionship in an ideal. She had had several loves in history, +but had come to the conclusion some years since that dead men were +unsatisfactory. Since then she had fancied mightily one or two public +men on the other side, whom she had never met; but in time they had +bored or disappointed her. But here was a conspicuous figure in her own +country, appealing to her through the powerful medium of patriotic +pride; a man so much alive that he might at any moment hold the +destinies of the United States in his hands, and who, owing to his +years and impenetrable dignity, was not to be considered from the +ordinary view-point of woman. She would coquet with Senator Burleigh; +it was on the cards that she would love him, for he was brilliant, +ambitious, and honourable; but Senator North was exalted to the vacant +pedestal reserved for ideals, and Betty settled herself comfortably to +his worship; not guessing that he would be under her memory's dust-heap +in ten days if Senator Burleigh captured her heart. + +The coachman was directed by a policeman to the covered portico of the +Senate wing. Betty had a bare glimpse of corridors apparently +interminable, before another policeman put her into the elevator and +told her to get off when the boy said "Gallery." + +Senator Burleigh was waiting for her, and she thought him even manlier +and more imposing in his gray tweed than in evening dress. He shook her +hand heartily, and assured her in his abrupt dictatorial way that it +gave him the greatest pleasure to meet her again. + +"I'm sorry I haven't time to take you all over the building," he said, +"but I have two Committee meetings this afternoon. You must come down +some morning." + +His manner was very businesslike, and he seemed a trifle absent as he +paused a moment and called her attention to the daub illustrating the +Electoral Commission; but this, Betty assumed, was the senatorial +manner by day. In a moment he led her to one of the doors in the wall +that encloses the Senate Gallery. + +"You see this lady," he said peremptorily to the doorkeeper, who rose +hastily from his chair. "She is always to be admitted to this gallery. +Take a good look at her." + +"Yes, sir; member of your family, I presume?" + +"You can assume that she is my sister. Only see that you admit her." + +"The rules are very strict in regard to this gallery," he added, as he +closed the door behind them. "It is only for the families of the +Senators, but you will like it better than the reserved gallery. Send +for me if there should be trouble at any time about admittance." + +"I usually get where I wish! I sha'n't trouble you." + +"Don't you ever think twice about troubling me," he said. "Let us go +down to the front row." + +The galleries surrounding the great Chamber were almost dark under the +flat roof, but the space below was full of light. It looked very +sumptuous with its ninety desks and easy-chairs, and a big fire beyond +an open door; and very legislative with its president elevated above +the Senators and the row of clerks beneath him. There were perhaps +thirty Senators in the room, and they were talking in groups or +couples, reading newspapers, or writing letters. One Senator was making +a speech. + +"I don't think they are very polite," said Betty. "Why don't they +listen? He seems to be in earnest and speaks very nicely." "Oh, he is +talking to his constituents, not to the Senate--although he would be +quite pleased if it would listen to him. He does not amount to much. We +listen to each other when it is worth while; but this is a Club, Miss +Madison, the most delightful Club in the United States. Just beyond are +the cloakrooms, where we can lounge before the fire and smoke, or lie +down and go to sleep. The hard work is in the Committee rooms, and it +is hard enough to justify all the pleasure we can get out of the other +side of the life. Now, I'll tell you who these are and something about +them." + +He pointed out one after the other in his quick businesslike way, +rattling off biographical details; but Betty, feeling that she was +getting but a mass of impressions with many heads, interrupted him. + +"I don't see Senator North," she said. "I thought he was going to +speak." + +"He will, later. He is in his Committee room now, but he'll go down as +soon as a page takes him word that the clerk is about to read the bill +whose Committee amendments he is sure to object to. Now I must go. I +shall give myself the pleasure of calling a week from Sunday. You must +come often, and always come here. And let me give you two pieces of +advice: never bow to any Senator from up here, and never go to the +Marble Room and send in a card. Then you can come every day without +attracting attention. Good-bye." + +Betty thanked him, and he departed. For the next hour she found the +proceedings very dull. The unregarded Senator finished his speech and +retired behind a newspaper. Other members clapped their hands, and the +pages scampered down the gangways and carried back documents to the +clerk below the Vice-President's chair, while their senders made a few +remarks meaningless to Betty. Two or three delivered brief speeches +which were equally unintelligible to one not acquainted with current +legislation. During one of them a man of imposing appearance entered +and was apparently congratulated by almost every one in the room, the +Senators leaving their seats and coming to the middle aisle, where he +stood, to shake him by the hand. Betty felt sorry for Leontine, who was +on the verge of tears, but determined to remain until Senator North +appeared if she did not leave until it should be time to dress for +dinner. + +He entered finally and went straight to his desk. He looked +preoccupied, and began writing at once. In a few moments the clerk +commenced to read from a document, and Senator North laid aside his pen +and listened attentively. So did several other Senators. It was a very +long document, and Betty, who could not understand one word in ten as +delivered by the clerk's rumbling monotonous voice, was desperately +bored, and was glad her Senators had the solace of the cloak-rooms. +Several did in fact retire to them, but when the clerk sat down and +Senator North rose, they returned; and Betty felt a personal pride in +the fact that they were about to listen to the Senator whom herself had +elected to honour. + +She had to lean forward and strain her ears to hear him. It was evident +that he did not recognize the existence of the gallery, for he did not +raise his voice from beginning to end; and yet it was of that strong +rich quality that might have carried far. But it neither "rang out like +a clarion," nor "thundered imprecation." Neither did he utter an +impassioned phrase nor waste a word, but he denounced the bill as a +party measure, exposed its weak points, riddled it with sarcasm, and +piled up damaging evidence of partisan zeal. "This is an honourable +body," he concluded, "and few measures go out of it that are open to +serious criticism by the self-constituted guardians of legislative +virtue, but if this bill goes through the Senate we shall invite from +the thinking people of the country the same sort of criticism which we +now receive from the ignorant. If the high standard of this body is to +be maintained, it must be by sound and conservative legislation, not by +grovelling to future legislatures." + +Having administered this final slap, he sat down and began writing +again, apparently paying no attention to the Chairman of the bill, who +defended his measure with eloquence and vigour. It was a good speech, +but it contained more words than the one that had provoked it and fewer +points. Senator North replied briefly that the only chance for the bill +was for its father to refrain from calling attention to its weak +points, then went into the Republican cloak-room, presumably to smoke a +cigar. Betty, whose head ached, went home. + + + + +VII + + + +That evening, as Betty was rummaging through a cupboard in the library +looking for a seal, she came upon a box of Cuban cigars. They could +have been her father's only and of his special importation: he had +smoked the choicest tobacco that Havana had been able to furnish. + +She knew that many men would prize that box of cigars, carefully packed +in lead and ripened by time, and she suddenly determined to send it to +Senator North. She felt that it would be an acute pleasure to give him +something, and as for the cigars they were too good for any one else. +She took the box to her room and wrapped it up carefully and badly; but +when she came to the note which must accompany it, she paused before +the difficulties which mechanically presented themselves. Senator North +might naturally feel surprise to receive a present from a young woman +with whom he had talked exactly six minutes. If she wrote playfully, +offering a small tribute at the shrine of statesmanship, he might +wonder if she worked slippers for handsome young clergymen and burned +candles before the photograph of a popular tenor. She might send them +anonymously, but that would not give her the least satisfaction. +Finally, she reluctantly decided to wait until she met him again and +could lead the conversation up to cigars. "Perhaps he will see me in +the gallery to-morrow," she thought. + +But although he sat in his comfortable revolving-chair for two hours +the next afternoon, he never lifted his eyes to the gallery. She heard +several brief and excellent speeches, but went home dissatisfied. On +the day after her return from New York, whither she went to perform the +duty of bridesmaid; she had a similar experience, twice varied. Senator +Burleigh made a short speech in a voice that was truly magnificent, and +following up Senator North's attack on the bill unpopular on the +Republican side of the Chamber. He was answered by "Blunderbuss" +Pepper, the new Senator who had turned every aristocrat out of office +in his aristocratic Southern State and filled the vacancies with men of +his own humble origin. He was a burly untidy-looking man, and +frequently as uncouth in speech, a demagogue and excitable. But the +Senate, now that three years in that body had toned him down, conceded +his ability and took his abuse with the utmost good-nature. Betty +recalled his biography as sketched by Senator Burleigh, and noted that +almost every Senator wheeled about with an expression of lively +interest, as his reiterated "Mr. President, Mr. President," secured him +the floor. They were not disappointed, nor was Betty. In a few moments +he was roaring like a mad bull and hurling invective upon the entire +Republican Party, which "would deprive the South of legitimate +representation if it could." He was witty and scored many points, +provoking more than one laugh from both sides of the Chamber; and when +he finished with a parting yell of imprecation, his audience returned +to their correspondence and conversation with an indulgent smile. Betty +wondered what he had been like before the Senate had "toned him down." + +That night she addressed the cigars to Jack Emory and sent them off at +once. "I do believe I came very close to making a fool of myself," she +thought. "What on earth made me want to give those cigars to Senator +North?--to give him anything? What a little ninny he would have thought +me!" She puzzled long over this deflection from her usual imperious +course with men, but concluding that women having so many silly twists +in their brains, it was useless to try to understand them all, +dismissed the matter from her mind. + + + + +VIII + + + +"How many politicians are coming this afternoon?" asked Mrs. Madison, +at the Sunday midday dinner. Her voice indicated that all protest had +not gone out of her. + + +"Senator Burleigh and Mr. Montgomery--and Lady Mary. Not a formidable +array." + +"They are exactly two too many. I have written and asked Sally Carter +to come over and chaperon you in case I do not feel equal to the ordeal +at the last moment. I am surprised that she takes your course so +quietly, but on the whole am relieved; you need some one respectable to +keep you in countenance." + +"This house reeks with respectability; no one would ever notice the +absence of a chaperon. Sally is not only quiescent, but sympathetic. +She knows that I have got to the end of teas and charities, and she +believes in people choosing their own lives. She says she would join a +travelling circus if her proclivities happened to point that way." + +Mrs. Madison shuddered. "I do not pretend to understand the present +generation, and the more I hear of it the less I wish to. As for Sally +I love her, but I should detest her if I didn't, for she is the worst +form of snob: she is so rich and so well born that she thinks she can +dress like a servant-girl and affect the manners of a barmaid." "Molly! +So you were haunting 'pubs' when I supposed you were yawning at home? I +hope you did not tell the barmaids your real name." + +"Well, I suppose I should not criticise people that I know nothing +about," said Mrs. Madison, colouring and serious. She changed the +subject hastily. "Jack, I hope you will stay this afternoon. It would +be the greatest comfort to have you in the house." + +"I will stay, certainly," said Emory. He had taken his Sunday dinner at +the old house in I Street for almost a quarter of a century. To-day he +had been unusually silent, and had contracted his brows nervously every +time Betty looked at him. She understood perfectly, and amused herself +by turning round upon him several times with abrupt significance. +However, she spared him until they had taken Mrs. Madison to the parlor +and gone to the library, where he might smoke his after-dinner cigar. +He sat down in front of a window, and the sunlight poured over him, +glistening his handsome head and illuminating his skin. Betty supposed +that some women might fall quite desperately in love with him; and in +addition to his beauty he was a noble and high-minded gentleman, whose +narrowness was due to the secluded life he chose to lead. + +"Now!" she exclaimed, "come out with it! You've had eleven days, and +one can learn a good deal in that time." + +He bit sharply at the end of his cigar, but answered without hesitation. + +"It is almost impossible to learn anything in Washington to the +detriment of the Senate. There seems to be a sort of _esprit de corps_ +in the entire city. They look politely horrified if you suggest that a +Senator of the United States, honouring Washington with the society of +his wives and daughters, is anything that he should not be. I was +obliged to go to New York and Boston to get the information I wanted, +and even now it is far from complete. I don't believe it is possible to +arrive at anything like accurate knowledge on the subject." + +"Well, what did you get? Washington is a well-ordered community with a +high moral tone--it is said to have fewer scandals than any city in the +country--and there is no sordid commercial atmosphere to lower it. It +is the great city of leisure in everything but legislation and paying +calls; so it seems to me that it would be the last place to fondle in +its bosom ninety distinguished scoundrels. But go on. What did you +learn in Boston and New York?" + +"That a little of everything is represented in the Senate,--that is +about what it amounts to. There are unquestionably men there who bought +their seats from legislatures, and there are men who are agents for +trusts, syndicates, and railroad corporations, as well as three party +bosses--" + +"Ninety Senators leave a large margin for a number of loose fish. What +I want to know is, how do the big men stand--North, Maxwell, Ward, +March--and fifteen or twenty others, all the men who are the Chairmen +of the big Committees? The New England men seem to have charge of +everything of importance in the House and of a good deal in the Senate." + +"Some of the Southern and North-western and most of the New England +States seem to have honest enough legislatures," said Emory, +unwillingly. "But that leaves plenty of others. Only a few of the +Western States are above suspicion, and as for New York, Pennsylvania, +and Delaware, they would not waste time defending themselves; and as no +Senators are better than the people that elect them--" + +"Oh, yes, they are sometimes--look at the Senator from Delaware. I too +have been asking questions for eleven days. It all comes to this: there +are millionaireism and corrupting influences in the Senate, but that +element is in the minority, and the greater number of leading, or able +Senators are above suspicion. And they seem to have things pretty much +all their own way. They could not if the majority in the Senate were +scoundrels. No corrupt body was ever led by its irreproachable +exceptions--" + +"In another ten years there will be no exceptions. All that are making +a desperate stand for honesty to-day will be overwhelmed by the +unprincipled element--" + +"Or have forced it to reform. The good in human nature predominates; we +are a healthy infant, and do not know the meaning of the word +'decadent;' and we are extraordinarily clever. Senator Burleigh says +that you can always bank on the American people going right in the end. +They may not bother for a long time, but when they do wake up they make +things hum." + +"Senator Burleigh evidently has all the easy-going optimism of this +country. But, Betty, I am no more reconciled than I was before to your +having anything to do with these people. Politics have a bad name, +whatever the truth of the matter. I think myself our sensational press +is largely to blame--" "There is nothing so interesting as the pursuit +of truth," said Betty, lightly. "Reconcile yourself to the sight of me +in pursuit of it--" + +"Ah, here you are!" exclaimed a staccato voice. Sally Carter entered +the room, kissed Betty, shook hands heartily with Emory, and threw +herself into a chair. Her fortune equalled Betty's, but it was her +pleasure to wear frocks so old and so dowdy that her friends wondered +where they had come from originally. She had been a handsome girl, and +her blue eyes were still full of fire, her fair hair abundant, but her +face was sallow and lined from many attacks of malarial fever. Her +manner was breezy and full of energy, and she was not only popular but +a very important person indeed. She lived alone with her father in the +old house in K Street and entertained rarely, but she had strawberry +leaves on her coronet, and it was currently reported that when she +arrived in England, clad in a rusty black serge and battered +turban,--which she certainly slept in at intervals during the day,--she +was met in state by the entire ducal family--including a prolific +connection--whose ancestor had founded the great house of Carter in the +British colonies of North America. What their private opinion was of +this representative of the American dukedom was never quite clear to +the Washington mind, but to know Sally Carter in her own city meant +complete social recognition, and not to know her an indifferent success. + +"Senator North tells me that he met you the other day and would like to +meet you again," she said to Betty, who lifted her head with attention. +"I dropped in on my way here for a little call on Mrs. North, poor +dear! There's a real invalid for you--something the matter with her +spine--is liable to paralysis any minute. It must be so cheerful to sit +round and anticipate that. Why on earth do women let their nerves run +away with them, in the first place? Nerves in this country are a +mixture of climate, selfishness, and stupidity. I could be as nervous +as a witch, but I won't. I walk miles every day and don't think about +myself. Well! I told Mr. North all about the bold course of the young +lady weary of frivolities, and he seemed much interested, paid you some +compliment or other, I've forgotten what. He said he would look out for +you in the Senate gallery and go up and speak to you--" + +Emory rose with an exclamation of disgust. "I hope you told him to do +nothing of the kind." + +"On the contrary, I told him not to forget, for as Betty would sail her +little yacht on the political sea, I wanted her to be recognized by the +men-of-war, not by the trading-ships and pirates." + +Emory threw away his cigar. "I think I will go in and see my aunt," he +said. "All this is most distasteful to me." + +He left the room, followed by Betty's mocking laugh. But Miss Carter +said with a sigh,-- + +"He can't expect us all to live up to his ideals. It is better not to +have any, like my practical self. But I'm afraid he sits out there in +his damp old library and dreams of a world in which all the men are Sir +Galahads and all the women Madame Rolands. He is an ideal himself, if +he only knew it; I've always been half in love with him. Well, Betty, +how do you like your new toy? After all, what is even a Senate but a +toy for a pretty woman? That is really your attitude, only you don't +know it. Life is serious only for women with babies and bills. As for +charities, they were specially invented to give old maids like myself +an occupation in life. What--what--should I have done without charities +when Society palled?" + +"Why did you never marry, Sally?" asked Betty, abruptly. The question +never had occurred to her before, but as she asked it her eyes +involuntarily moved to the empty chair before the window. + +"What on earth should I do with a husband?" asked Miss Carter, lightly. +"I only love men when they are in bronze in the public parks. Poor dear +old General Lathom proposed to me four times, and the only time I felt +like accepting him was when I saw his statue unveiled. I couldn't put a +man on a pedestal to save my life, but when my grateful country does it +I'm all humble adoration. Could you idealize a live thing in striped +trousers and a frock coat?" + +"Woolen is hopeless," said Betty, with an attempt at playfulness. "We +must do the best we can with the inner man." + +"How on earth do you know what a man is like on the inside? Idealize is +the right word, though. Women make a god out of what they cannot +understand in a man. If he has a bad temper, they think of him as a +'dominant personality.' If he is unfaithful to his wife, he is romantic +in the eyes of a woman who has given no man a chance to be unfaithful +to her. If he comes to your dinner with an attack of dyspepsia, you +compare him sentimentally with the brutes that eat. _You_ haven't +married yet, I notice, and you are on the corner of twenty-seven." + +"American men don't give you a chance to idealize them," said Betty, +plaintively. "They tell you all about themselves at once. And although +Englishmen have more mystery and provoke your curiosity, they don't +understand women and don't want to; the women can do the adapting. I +never could stand that; and as I can't endure foreigners I'm afraid I +shall die an old maid. That's the reason I've gone into politics--" + +The butler announced that Senator Burleigh was in the parlor. + +"What of his inner man?" asked Sally. + +"I never have given it two thoughts. But his outer is all that could be +desired." + +"He would look well in bronze. I understand that his State thinks a lot +of him: as you know, I read the _Post_ and _Star_ through every day to +papa. I _have_ to know something of politics." + +They found Senator Burleigh talking to Mrs. Madison, apparently +oblivious of her frigid attempt at tolerance and of Emory's sullen +silence. Sally Carter's eyes flashed with amusement, and she shook the +Senator warmly by the hand. + +"Such a very great pleasure!" she announced in her staccato tones. "Now +the only time I really allow myself pride is when I meet the statesmen +of my country. I am sure that is the way you feel, dear Cousin +Molly--is it not? We are such oysters, the few of us who always have +lived here, that a whiff from the political world puts new life into +us." + +Emory left the room. Burleigh looked surprised but gratified, and +assured her that it was the greatest possible pleasure as well as an +honour to meet Miss Carter. He appeared to have left his businesslike +manner on Capitol Hill, and he was even less abrupt than on the night +of the dinner. Only his exuberant vitality seemed out of place in that +dark old room, and it was an effort for him to keep his sonorous voice +in check. + +"Mrs. Madison says she takes no interest in politics," he added, "and +fears to be a wet blanket on the conversation. I have been assuring her +that on one day of the week politics are non-existent so far as I am +concerned." + +Mrs. Madison, who had been staring at Sally Carter, replied with an +evident attempt to be agreeable, "Of course I always find it +interesting to hear people talk about what they understand best." +"Politics are what I should like to understand least. Since I have come +to the Senate I have endeavoured to forget all I ever knew about them. +I rely upon my friends to keep me in office while I am making a +desperate attempt to become a fair-minded legislator." + +He spoke lightly. Betty could not determine whether he was posing or +telling the simple truth to people who would be glad to take him at his +word. There was a twinkle of amusement in his eye; but he looked too +impatient for even the milder sort of hypocrisy. + +Mrs. Madison thawed visibly. "You younger men should try to restore the +old ideals," she said. + +"Ah, madam," he replied, "if you only knew what the censors said about +the old ideals when they were alive! If Time will be as kind to us, we +can swallow our own dose with a reasonable amount of philosophy. John +Quincy Adams arraigned the politics of his day in the bitterest phrases +he could create; but to-day we are asked to remember the glorious past +and hide our heads." + +The Montgomery's entered the room. Randolph, who was as tall as Senator +Burleigh and very slender, looked so distinguished that Mrs. Madison +immediately decided to remember only that his family was as old as her +own. He had lost none of the repose he had found during his three +years' residence in Europe, but the effort to keep it in the House had +made his handsome face thin and touched his mouth with cynicism. His +hair was still black, and there were no lines about his cool gray eyes. + +"Blessed day of rest!" exclaimed his wife. "I got up just one hour ago. +Do you know, Miss Madison, I paid twenty-six calls on Thursday, +eighteen on Friday and twelve on Saturday? Never marry into political +life." + +Senator Burleigh, who had been talking to Miss Carter, turned round +quickly. "Some women are so manifestly made for it," he said, "that it +would be folly for them to attempt to escape their fate." + + + + +IX + + + +A month passed. Betty received with Lady Mary on Tuesdays, and under +that popular young matron's wing called on a number of women prominent +in the official life of the dying Administration, whom she received on +Fridays. They were very polite, and returned her calls promptly; but +they did not always remember her name, and her personality and position +impressed but a few of these women, overwhelmed with social duties, +visiting constituents, and people-with-letters. Most of them paid from +fifteen to twenty calls on six days out of seven, and had filled their +engagement books for the season during its first fortnight. Betty was +chagrined at first, then amused. Moreover, her incomplete success +raised the political world somewhat in Mrs. Madison's estimation; she +had expected that her house would be besieged by these temporary +beings, eager for a sniff at Old Washington air. Betty realized that +she must be content to go slowly this winter, and begin to entertain as +soon as the next season opened. Lady Mary took her to four large +receptions, and she was invited to two or three dinners of a +semi-official character; for several women not only fancied her, but +appreciated the fact that the official were not the highest social +honours in the land, and were glad to further her plans. + +Senator Burleigh called several times. One day he arrived with a large +package of books: Bryce's "American Commonwealth," a volume containing +the Constitution and Washington's Farewell Address, and several of the +"American Statesmen" monographs. + +"Read all these," he said dictatorially. ("He certainly takes me very +seriously," thought Betty. "Doubtless he'll stand me in a corner with +my face to the wall if I don't get my lessons properly.") "I want you +to acquire the national sense. I don't believe a woman in this country +knows the meaning of the phrase. Study and think over the characters of +the men who created this country: Washington and Hamilton, +particularly. You'll know what I mean when you've read these little +volumes; and then I'll bring you some thirty volumes containing the +letters and despatches and communications to Congress of these two +greatest of all Americans. I don't know which I admire most. Hamilton +was the most creative genius of his century, but the very fact that he +was a genius of the highest order makes him hopeless as a standard. But +all men in public life who desire to attain the highest and most +unassailable position analyze the character of Washington and ponder +over it deeply. There never was a man so free from taint, there never +was such complete mental poise, there never was such cold, rarified, +unerring judgment. The man seems to us--who live in a turbulent day +when the effort to be and to remain high-minded makes the brain +ache--to have been nothing less than inspired. And his political wisdom +is as sound for to-day as for when he uttered it; although, for the +life of me, I cannot help disregarding his admonition to keep hands out +of foreign pie, this time. I want the country to go to the rescue of +Cuba, and I'll turn over every stone I can to that end." + +Betty had listened to him with much interest. "Would Washington have +gone?" she asked. "Would he advise it now, supposing he could?" + +"No, I don't believe he would. Washington had a brain of ice, and his +ideal of American prosperity was frozen within it. He would fear some +possible harm or loss to this country, and the other could be left to +the care of an all-merciful Providence. I love my country with as sound +a patriotism as a man may, and I revere the memory of Washington, but I +have not a brain of ice, and I think a country, like a man, should +think of others besides itself. And the United States has got to that +point where almost nothing could hurt it. A few months' patriotic +enthusiasm, for that matter, would do it no end of good. If you care to +listen, I'll read the Farewell Address to you." + +He read it in his sonorous rolling voice, that must have done as much +to make him a popular idol in his State as his more distinguished gifts +for public life. Betty decided that the more senatorial he was the +better she liked him. She knew that he was a favourite with men, and +had a vague idea that men, when in the exclusive society of their own +sex, always told witty anecdotes, but she could not imagine herself +making small talk with Senator Burleigh. Her day for small talk, +however, she fervently hoped was over. + +She had seen Senator North again but once. Lady Mary Montgomery gave a +great evening reception, as magnificent an affair of the sort as Betty +was likely to see in Washington. It was given in honour of a +distinguished Englishman, who, rumour whispered, had come over in the +interests of the General Arbitration Treaty between the United States +and Great Britain, now at the mercy of the Committee on Foreign +Relations. There was another impression, equally alive in Washington +that Lady Mary aspired to be the historic link between the two +countries. Certain it was that the Secretary of State, the British +Ambassador, and the Committee on Foreign Relations dined and called +constantly at her house. The Distinguished Guest had called on her +every day since his arrival. + +Betty knew what others divined; for the friends were inseparable, and +Mary Montgomery was very frank with her few intimates. "Of course I +want the treaty to go through," she had said to Betty, only the day +before her reception; "and I am quite wild to know what the Committee +are doing with it. But of course they will say nothing. Senator Ward +kisses my hand and talks Shakespeare and Socrates to me, and when I use +all my eloquence in behalf of a closer relationship between the two +greatest nations on earth--for I want an alliance to follow this +treaty--he says: _'Ma belle dame sans merci,_ the American language +shall yet be spoken in the British Isles; I promise you that.' He is +one of the few Americans I cannot understand. He has eyes so heavy that +he never looks quite awake, and he is as quick as an Italian's blade in +retort. He has a large and scholarly intellect, and it is almost +impossible to make him serious. You never see him in his chair on the +floor of the Senate, although he sometimes drifts across the room with +a cigar in the hollow of his hand, and he is admittedly one of its +leading spirits, and the idol of a Western State--of all things! +Senator North is the reverse of transparent, but sometimes he goes to +the point in a manner which leaves nothing to be desired. He is not on +the Committee of Foreign Relations, so I asked him point blank the +other day if he thought the treaty would go through and if he did not +mean to vote for it. He is usually as polite as all men who are +successful in politics and like women, but he gave a short and brutal +laugh. 'Lady Mary,' he said, 'when some of my colleagues were +cultivating their muscles on the tail of your lion in the winter of +1895, I told them what I thought of them in language which only +senatorial courtesy held within bounds. If the Committee on Foreign +Relations--for whose members I have the highest respect: they are +picked men--should do anything so foolish and so unpatriotic as to +report back that treaty in a form to arouse the enthusiasm of the +British press, I fear I should disregard senatorial courtesy. But the +United States Senate does not happen to be composed of idiots, and the +President may amuse himself writing treaties, but he does not make +them.' + +"Then I asked him if he had no sentiment, if he did not think the +spirit of the thing fine: the union of the great English-speaking +races; and he replied that he saw no necessity for anything of the +sort: we did very well on our separate sides of the water; and as for +sentiment, we were like certain people,--much better friends while +coquetting than when married. He added that the divorce would be so +extremely painful. I asked him what was to prevent another lover's +quarrel, if there were no ring and no blessing, and he replied: 'Ah +that is another question. To keep out of useless wars with the old +country and to tie our hands fast to her quarrels are two things, and +the one we will do and the other we won't do.' + +"That is all he would say, but fortunately there is a less conservative +element in the Senate than his, although I believe they all become +saturated with that Constitution in time. I can see it growing in +Senator Burleigh." + +All elements had come to her reception to-night. Ambassadors and Envoys +Extraordinary were there in the full splendour of their uniforms. So +were Generals and Admirals; and the women of the Eastern Legations had +come in their native costumes. The portly ladies of the Cabinet were as +resplendent as their position demanded, and the aristocracy of the +Senate and the women of fashion were equally fine. Other women were +there, wives of men important but poor, who walked unabashed in +high-neck home-made frocks; and their pretty daughters, were as simple +as themselves. One wore a cheese-cloth frock, and another a blue +merino. The dames of the Plutocracy were there, blazing with converted +capital,--Westerners for the most part, with hogsheads of money, who +had come to the City of Open Doors to spend it. It was seldom they were +in the same room with the Old Washingtonians, and when they were they +sighed; then reminded themselves of recent dinners to people whose +names were half the stock in trade of the daily press. Sally Carter, +who regarded them through her lorgnette with much the same impersonal +interest as she would accord to actors on the boards, wore a gown of +azure satin trimmed with lace whose like was not to be found in the +markets of the world. Her hair was elaborately dressed, and her thin +neck sufficiently covered by a curious old collar of pearls set with +tiny miniatures. Careless as she was by day, it often suited her to be +very smart indeed by night. She looked brilliant; and Jack Emory, who +had been commanded by Betty to accept Lady Mary's invitation, did not +leave her side. And she snubbed her more worldly-minded followers and +devoted herself to his amusement. + +All the men wore evening clothes. It seemed to be an unwritten law that +the politician should have his dress-suit did his wife wear serge for +ever. Consequently they presented a more uniformly fine appearance than +their women, and most of them held themselves with a certain look of +power. Their faces were almost invariably keen and strong. Few of the +younger members of the House were here to-night, only those who had +been in it so many years that they were high in political importance. +Among them the big round form and smooth round head of their present +and perhaps most famous Speaker were conspicuous: the United States was +moving swiftly to the parting of the ways, and there are times when a +Speaker is a greater man than a President. + +What few authors Washington boasts were there, as well as Judges of the +Supreme Court, scholars, architects, scientists, and journalists. And +they moved amid great splendour. Lady Mary had thrown open her +ball-room, and the walls looked like a lattice-work of American Beauty +roses and thorns. Great bunches of the same expensive ornament swung +from the ceiling, and the piano was covered with a quilt of them deftly +woven together. The pale green drawing-room was as lavishly decorated +with pink and white orchids and lilies of the valley. Lady Mary felt +that she could vie in extravagance with the most ambitious in her +husband's ambitious land. + +Betty was entertaining four Senators, the Distinguished Guest, and the +Speaker of the House when she caught a glimpse of Senator North. She +immediately became a trifle absent, and permitted Senator Shattuc, who +liked to tell anecdotes of famous politicians, to take charge of the +conversation. While he was thinking her the one woman in Washington +charming enough to establish a _salon_, she was congratulating herself +that she should meet Senator North again when she looked her best. She +wore a wonderful new gown of mignonette green and ivory white, and many +pearls in her warm hair and on her beautiful neck. She looked both +regal and girlish, an effect she well knew how to produce. Her head was +thrown back and her eyes were sparkling with triumph as they met +Senator North's. He moved toward her at once. + +"I should be stupid to inquire after your health," he said as he shook +her hand. "You are positively radiant. I shall ask instead if you still +find time to come up and see us occasionally, and if we improve on +acquaintance?" + +"I go very often indeed, but I have seen you only three times." + +"I have been North for a week, and in my Committee Room a good deal +since my return." + +Betty was determined not to let slip this opportunity. She resented the +platitudes that are kept in stock by even the greatest minds, and +wished that he would hold out a peremptory arm and lead her to some +quiet corner and talk to her for an hour. But he evidently had a just +man's appreciation of the rights of others, for he betrayed no +intention to do anything of the kind. His eyes dwelt on her with frank +admiration, but Washington is the national headquarters of pretty +women, and he doubtless contented himself with a passing glimpse of +many. And this time Betty felt the full force of the man's magnetism. +She would have liked to put up a detaining hand and hold him there for +the rest of the evening. Even were there no chance for conversation, +she would have liked to be close beside him. She forgot, that he was an +ideal on a pedestal and shot him a challenging glance. "I have hoped +that you would come up to the gallery and call on me," she said +pointedly. + +He moved a step closer, then drew back. His face did not change. + +"I certainly shall when I am so fortunate as to see you up there," he +said. "But the fourth of March is not far off, and the pressure +accumulates. I am obliged to be in my Committee Room, as well as in +other Committee Rooms, for the better part of every day. But if I can +do anything for you, if there is any one you would care to meet, do not +fail to let me know. Send word to my room, and if possible I will go to +you." + + +Betty looked at him helplessly. She wanted to ask him to call at her +house on Sunday, but felt a sudden diffidence. After all, why should he +care to call on her? He had more important things to think of; and +doubtless he spent his few leisure hours with some woman far more +brilliant than herself. Her head came down a trifle and she turned it +away. He stood there a moment longer, then said,-- + +"Good-night," and, after a few seconds' hesitation, and with +unmistakable emphasis: "Remember that it would give me the greatest +possible pleasure to do anything for you I could." Immediately after, +he left the room. + +When she was alone an hour later, she anathematized herself for a fool. +Diffidence had no permanent part in her mental constitution. She was +sure that if she could talk with him for thirty consecutive minutes she +could interest him and attach him to her train. Her pride, she felt, +was now involved. She should estimate herself a failure unless she +compelled Senator North to forget the more experienced women of the +political world and spend his leisure hours with her. She had been a +brilliant success in other spheres, she would not fail in this. + +But two more weeks passed and she did not see him. He came neither to +the floor of the Senate within her experience of it, nor to the +gallery. Nor did he appear to care for Society. Few of the Senators +did, for that matter. They did not mind dining out, as they had to dine +somewhere, and an agreeable and possibly handsome partner would give +zest to any meal; but they were dragged to receptions and escaped as +soon as they could. + + + + +X + + + +Betty rose suddenly from the breakfast-table and went into the library, +carrying a half-read letter. She had felt her face flush and her hand +tremble, and escaped from the servants into a room where she could +think alone for hours, if she wished. + +The letter ran as follows:-- + +THE PARSONAGE, ST. ANDREW, VIRGINIA. To MISS ELIZABETH MADISON: + +DEAR MADAM,--I have a communication of a somewhat trying nature to +make, and believe me; I would not make it were not my end very near. +Your father, dear madam, the late Harold Carter Madison, left an +illegitimate daughter by a woman whom he loved for many years, an +octaroon named Cassandra Lee. Before his death he gave poor Cassie a +certain sum of money, and made her promise to leave Washington and +never return. She came here and devoted the few remaining years of her +life to the care of her child. I and my wife were the only persons who +knew her story, and when she was dying we willingly promised to take +the little one. For the last ten years Harriet has lived here in the +parsonage and has been the only child I have ever known,--a dearly +beloved child. She has been carefully educated and is a lady in every +sense of the word. I had until the last two years a little school, and +she was my chief assistant. But the public school proved more +attractive--and doubtless is more thorough--and this passed from me. +Last year my wife died. Now I am going, and very rapidly. I have only +just learned the nature of my illness, and I may be dead before you +receive this letter. I write to beg you to receive your sister. There +is no argument I can use, dear lady, which your own conscience will not +dictate. You will not be ashamed of her. She shows not a trace of the +taint in her blood. The money your father gave Cassie has gone long +since, but Harriet asks no alms of you, only that you will help her to +go somewhere far from those who know that she is not as white as she +looks, and to give her a chance to earn her living. She is well fitted +to be a governess or companion, and no doubt you could easily place +her. But she is lonely and frightened and miserable. Be merciful and +receive her into your home for a time. + +"I dare not write this to your mother. She has no cause to feel warmly +to Harriet. But you are young, and wealthy in your own right. Her +future rests with you. Here in this village she can do absolutely +nothing, and after I am buried she will not have enough to keep her for +a month. Answer to her--she bears my name." + +I am, dear lady, + Your humble and obd't servant, + ABRAHAM WALKER. + +P. S. Harriet is twenty-three. She has letters in her possession which +prove her parentage. + +Betty's first impulse was to take the next train for St. Andrew. Her +heart went out to the lonely girl, deprived of her only protector, +wretched under the triple load of poverty, friendlessness, and the +curse of race. She remembered vividly those two men in the church whose +bearing expressed more forcibly than any words the canker that had +blighted their manhood. And this girl bore no visible mark of the wrong +that had been done her, and only needed the opportunity to be happy and +respected. Could duty be more plain? And was she a chosen instrument to +right one at least of the great wrongs perpetrated by the brilliant, +warm-hearted, reckless men of her race? + +But in a moment she shuddered and dropped the letter, a wave of horror +and disgust rising within her. This girl was her half-sister, and was, +light or dark, a negress. Betty had seen too much of the world in her +twenty-seven years to weep at the discovery of her father's weakness, +or to shrink from a woman so unhappy as to be born out of wedlock; but +she was Southern to her finger-tips: the blacks were a despised, an +unspeakably inferior race, and they had been slaves for hundreds of +years to the white man. To be sure, she loved the old family servants, +and rarely said a harsh word to them, and it was a matter of +indifference to her that they had been freed, as she had plenty of +money to pay their wages. But that the negro should vote had always +seemed to her incredible and monstrous, and she laughed to herself when +she met on the streets the smartly dressed coloured folk out for a +walk. They seemed farcically unreal, travesties on the people to whom a +discriminating Almighty had given the world. To her the entire race +were first slaves, then servants, entitled to all kindness so long as +they kept their place, but to be stepped on the moment they presumed. +She recoiled in growing disgust from this girl with the hidden drop of +black in her body. + +But her reasoning faculty was accustomed to work independently of her +brain's inherited impressions. She stamped her foot and anathematized +herself for a narrow-minded creature whose will was weaker than her +prejudices. The girl was blameless, helpless. She might have a mind as +good as her own, be as well fitted to enjoy the higher pleasures of +life. And she might have a beauty and a temperament which would be her +ruin did her natural protectors tell her that she was a pariah, an +outcast, that they could have none of her. Betty conjured her up, a +charming and pathetic vision; but in vain. The repulsion was physical, +inherited from generations of proud and intolerant women, and she could +not control it. + +She longed desperately for a confidant and adviser. Her mother she +could not speak to until she had made up her mind. Emory and Sally +Carter would tell her to give the creature an allowance and think no +more about her; and the matter went deeper than that. The girl had +heart and an educated mind; her demands were subtle and complex. +Senator Burleigh? He would laugh impatiently at her prejudices, and +tell her that she ought to go out and live in the free fresh air of the +West. They probably would quarrel irremediably. Mary Montgomery would +only stare. Betty could hear her exclaim: "But why? What? And you say +she is quite white? I do not think that negroes are as nice as white +people, of course; but I cannot understand your really tragic aversion." + +There was only one person to whom it would be a luxury to talk, Senator +North. She knew that he would not only understand but sympathize with +her, and she was sure he would give her wise counsel. She regretted +bitterly that she had not been able to make a friend of him, as she had +of several of his colleagues. She would have sent for him without +hesitation. + +She glanced at the clock; it pointed to ten minutes past ten. He was +doubtless at that moment in his Committee Room looking over his +correspondence. She knew that Senators received letters at the rate of +a hundred a day, and were early risers in consequence. If only she +dared to go to him, if only he were not so desperately busy. But he had +intimated that he had leisure moments, had taken the trouble to say +that it would give him pleasure to serve her. Why should he not? What +if he were a Senator? Was she not a Woman? Why should she of all women +hesitate to demand a half-hour's time of any man? She needed advice, +must have it: a decision should be reached in the next twenty-four +hours. Not for a second did she admit that she was building up an +excuse for the long-desired interview with Senator North. She was a +woman confronted with a solemn problem. Her coupe was at the door; she +had planned a morning's shopping. She ran upstairs and dressed herself +for the street, wondering what order she would give the footman. She +changed her mind hurriedly twenty times, but was careful to select the +most becoming street-frock she possessed, a gentian blue cloth trimmed +with sable. There were three hats to match it, and she tried on each, +to the surprise of her maid, who usually found her easy to please. She +finally decided upon a small toque which was made to set well back from +her face into the heavy waves of her hair. She was too wise to wear a +veil, for her complexion was flawless, her forehead low and full, and +her hair arranged loosely about it; she wore no fringe. + +As the footman closed the door of the coupe and she said curtly, "The +Capitol," she knew that her mind had made itself up in the moment that +it had conceived the possibility of a call upon Senator North. + +That point settled, she was calm until she reached the familiar +entrance to the Senate wing, and rehearsed the coming interview. + +But her cheeks were hot and her knees were trembling as she left the +elevator and hurried down the corridor to the Committee Room which +Burleigh, when showing her over the building one morning, had pointed +out as Senator North's. She never had felt so nervous. She wondered if +women felt this sudden terror of the outraged proprieties when +hastening to a tryst of which the world must know nothing. And she was +overwhelmed with the vivid consciousness that she was actually about to +demand the time and attention of one of the busiest and most eminent +men in the country. If it had not been for a stubborn and long-tried +will, she would have turned and run. + +A mulatto was sitting before the door. When she asked, with a +successful attempt at composure, for Senator North, he demanded her +card. She happened to have one in her purse, and he went into the room +and closed the door, leaving her to be stared at by the strolling +sight-seers. + +The mulatto reopened the door and invited her to enter a large room +with a long table, a bookcase, and a number of leather chairs. Before +he had led her far, Senator North appeared within the doorway of an +inner room. + +"I am glad to see you," he said. "I know that you are in trouble or you +would not have done me this honour. It is an honour, and as I told you +before I shall feel it a privilege to serve you in any way. Sit here, +by the fire." + +Betty felt so grateful for his effort to put her at her ease, so +delighted that he was all her imagination had pictured, and had not +snubbed her in what she conceived to be the superior senatorial manner, +that she flung herself into the easy-chair and burst into tears. + +Senator North knew women as well as a man can. He let the storm pass, +poked the already glowing fire, and lowered two of the window-shades. + +"I feel so stupid," said Betty, calming herself abruptly. "I have no +right to take up your time, and I shall say what I have to say and go." + +"I have practically nothing to do for the next hour. Please consider it +yours." + +Betty stole a glance at him. He was leaning back in his chair regarding +her intently. It was impossible to say whether his eyes had softened or +not, but he looked kind and interested. + +"I never have told you that your father was a great friend of mine," he +said. "You really have a claim on me." In spite of the fact that the +Congressional Directory gave him sixty years, he looked anything but +fatherly. Although there never was the slightest affectation of youth +in his dress or manner, he suggested threescore years as little. So +strong was his individuality that Betty could not imagine him having +been at any time other than he was now. He was Senator North, that was +the rounded fact; years had nothing to do with him. + +"Well, I'm glad you knew papa; it will help you to understand. I--But +perhaps you had better read this." + +She took the clergyman's letter from her muff, and Senator North put on +a pair of steel-rimmed eyeglasses and read it. When he had finished he +put the eyeglasses in his pocket, folded the letter, and handed it to +her. He had read the contents with equal deliberation. It seemed +impossible that he would act otherwise in any circumstance. + +"Well?" he said, looking keenly at her. "What are you going to do about +it?" + +"I am ashamed to tell you how I have felt. But we Southerners feel so +strongly on--on--that subject--it is difficult to explain!" + +"We Northerners know exactly how you feel," he said dryly. "We should +be singularly obtuse if we did not. However, do not for a moment +imagine that I am unsympathetic. We all have our prejudices, and the +strongest one is a part of us. And for the matter of that, the average +American is no more anxious to marry a woman with negro blood in her +than the Southerner is, and looks down upon the Black from almost as +lofty a height. Only our prejudice is passive, for he is not the +constant source of annoyance and anxiety with us that he is with you." + +"Then you understand how repulsive it is to me to have a sister who is +white by accident only, and how torn I am between pity for her and a +physical antipathy that I cannot overcome?" + +"I understand perfectly." + +"That is why I have come to you--to ask you what I _must_ do. This is +the first time I have been confronted by a real problem; my life has +been so smooth and my trials so petty. It is too great a problem for me +to solve by myself, and I could not think of anybody's advice but yours +that--that I would take," she finished, with her first flash of humour. + +"I fully expect you to take the advice I am going to give you. Your +duty is plain; you must do all you can for this girl. But by no means +receive her into your house until you have made her acquaintance. Take +the ten o'clock B. & O. to-morrow morning and go to St. Andrew; it is +about four hours' journey and on the line of the railroad. Spend +several hours with the girl, and, if she is worth the trouble, bring +her back with you and do all you can for her: it would be cruel and +heartless to refuse her consolation if she is all this old man +describes--and you are not cruel and heartless. And if this drop of +black blood is abhorrent to you, think what it must be to her. It is +enough to torment a high-strung woman into insanity or suicide. On the +other hand, if she is common, or looks as if she had a violent temper, +or is conceited and self-sufficient like so many of that hybrid race, +settle an income on her and send her to Europe: in placing her above +temptation you will have done your duty." + +"But that is the whole point--to be sure that _you_ do the right thing." + +"I almost hope she will be impossible, so that I can wipe her off the +slate at once. Otherwise it will be a terrible problem." + +"It is no problem at all. There is no problem in plain duty. Problems +exist principally in works of fiction and in the minds of unoccupied +women. If you meet each development of every question in the most +natural and reasonable manner,--presupposing that you possess that +highest attribute of civilization, common-sense,--no question will ever +resolve itself into a problem. And difficulties usually disappear as +the range of vision contracts. If your house takes fire, you save what +you can, not what you have elaborately planned to save in case of fire. +Train your common-sense and let the windy analysis pertaining to +problems alone." + +"But how can I ever get over the horror of the thing, Mr. North?" + +"You will forget all about it when she has been your daily companion +for a few weeks. If she lacked a nose, you would as soon cease to +remember it. If this girl is worth liking, you will like her, and soon +cease to feel tragic. Leave that to her!" + +"I know that you are right, and of course I shall take your advice. I +did not come here to trouble you for nothing. But if I liked her at +first and not afterward--" + +"Pack her off to Europe. Europe will console an American woman for +every ill in life. If you take the right attitude in the beginning, it +all rests with her after that. You will have but one duty further. If +she wishes to marry, you must tell the man the truth, if she will not. +Don't hesitate on that point a moment. Her children are liable to be +coal-black. That African blood seems to have a curse on it, and the +curse is usually visited on the unoffending." + +"I will, I will," said Betty. She rose, and he rose also and took her +hand in both of his. She felt an almost irresistible desire to put her +head on his shoulder, for she was tired and depressed. + +"Your attitude in the matter is the important thing to me," he said. +"That is why I have spoken so emphatically. You are a child yet, in +spite of your twenty-seven years and your admirable intelligence. This +is practically your first trial, the first time you have been called +upon to make a decision which, either way, is bound to have a strong +effect on your character, and to affect still greater decisions you may +be called upon to make in the future. You have only one defect; you are +not quite serious enough--yet." + +"I feel very serious just now," said Betty, with a sigh; and in truth +she did, and her new-found sister was not the only thing that perplexed +her. + +"One of these days you will be a singularly perfect woman," he added, +and then he dropped her hand and walked to the door. As he was about to +open it, she touched his arm timidly. + +"Will you come and see me on Sunday?" she asked. "I shall have been +through a good deal between now and then, and I shall want--I shall +want to talk to you." + +"I will come," he said. + +"Not before half-past four. My mother will be asleep then, and my +cousin, Jack Emory, have gone home--there will be so many things I +shall want to talk to you about." + +"I shall be there at half-past four," he said. "Good-bye. Good-bye." + + + + +XI + + + +Betty went home to her room and cried steadily for an hour. She would +not analyze the complex source of her emotions, but addressed a bitter +reproach to her father's shade; and she reassured herself by frankly +admitting that it would give her pleasure to win the approval of +Senator North. + +She bathed her eyes and went to her mother's room. The sooner that +ordeal was over, she reflected, the better. Mrs. Madison was reading an +amusing novel and looked up with a smile, then pushed the book aside. + +"Have you been crying, darling?" she asked. "What can be the matter?" + +Betty told her story without preamble. Her mother's nerves could stand +a shock, but not three minutes of uncertainty. Mrs. Madison listened +with more equanimity than Betty anticipated. + +"I suppose I may consider myself fortunate that I have not had one of +his brats thrust on me before," she remarked philosophically. "What are +we to do about this creature?" + +"There is only one human thing to do. It is not her fault, and she is +very wretched at present. And now that I know the truth I suppose I am +as responsible as my father would be if he were alive. I shall go to +see her to-morrow, and if she is presentable and seems good I shall +bring her to Washington. Of course I shall not bring her here without +your permission--it is your house. Let me read you his letter." + +"Do you feel very strongly on the subject?" Mrs. Madison asked when +Betty had finished. + +"Oh, I do! I do! I will promise not to bring her to Washington at all +if she is impossible, but if she is all I feel sure she must be, let me +bring her here for a few weeks, until we have decided what to do for +her. I know it is a great deal to ask--her presence cannot fail to be +hateful to you--" + +"My dear, I have outlived any feeling of that sort, and I have not put +everything on your shoulders all these years to thwart you now, when +you feel so deeply. Moreover, an old memory came to me while you were +reading that letter. When I was a little girl, about eight or ten, I +spent an entire summer with Aunt Mary Eager at her home in Virginia. +She had a house full, and there were five other little girls beside +myself. A brook ran across the foot of the plantation, and we were very +fond of playing there. Directly across was the hut of a freed slave who +had a little girl about our own age. The child was a beautiful +octaroon. I can see her plainly, with her honey-coloured skin, her +immense black eyes, her long straight black hair, and her stiff little +white frock tucked to the waist. Her mother took the greatest pride in +her, and was always changing her clothes. + +"Every day she used to come to the edge of her side of the brook and +watch us. We never noticed her, for although we often played with the +little black piccaninnies, the yellow child of a freed slave was +another matter. One day--I think she had watched us for about a +week--she came half-way across the bridge. We stared at each other, but +took no notice of her. The next day she walked straight across and up +to us, and asked us very nicely if she might play with us. We turned +upon her six scarlet scandalized faces, and what we said, in what +brutal child language, I do not care to repeat. The child stared at us +for a moment as if she were looking into the Inferno itself, and I +expect she was, poor little soul! Then she gave a cry, and tore across +the bridge and up the 'pike as hard as she could run. As long as we +could see her she was running, and as I never saw her again--we avoided +the brook after that--it seemed to me for years as if she must be +running still. And for years those flying feet haunted me, and I used +to long as I grew older to do penance in some way. I befriended many a +poor yellow girl, hoping she might be that child. Then life grew too +sad for me to remember the sins of my childhood. But I like the idea of +making penance at this late day and receiving this girl for a few weeks +into my house: it will be a penance, for I do not fancy sitting at the +table with a woman with negro blood in her veins, I can assure you. But +I shall do it. I believe if I did not I should be haunted again by +those little flying feet. There is no chance of this being her +daughter, for she would have been too old to attract your father's +fancy. But that is not the point. I make one condition. No one must +know the truth, not even Sally or Jack. She must pass for a distant +relative, left suddenly destitute." "She would probably be the last to +wish the truth known. But you have taken a weight off my mind, Molly +dear, and I am deeply grateful to you." + + + + +XII + + + +The next day Betty left the train a few minutes after two o'clock and +walked up the winding street of a small village to the parsonage. She +passed a number of cottages picturesquely dilapidated, a store in which +a half-dozen men were smoking, and about thirty lounging negroes. On +rising ground was a large house, but the village looked forlorn, +neglected, almost lifeless. + +The men in the store came out and stared at her; so did the women from +the cottages. And the negroes stood still. Doubtless they thought her a +wealthy vision; the day was cold, and she wore a brown cloth dress and +a sable jacket and toque. + +"What a life for an intelligent woman!" she thought, glancing about her +with deep distaste. "It would be enough to induce melancholia without +the 'taint.'" + +She had made a desperate effort in the last twenty-four hours to +overcome her repugnance, but had only succeeded in making sure that she +could conceal it. She had recalled her interview with Senator North +again and again. His indubitable interest gave her courage, and a +desire to use the best that was in her. And she had turned her mind +more often still to those men in the church and the sentiments they had +inspired. The shutters of the parsonage were closed, there was crape on +the door. Betty turned the knob and entered. A number of people were in +a room on the right of the hall. At the head of the room, barely +out-lined in the heavy shadows, was a coffin on its trestle. + +The house smelt musty and damp. Betty pushed back the door and let in +the bright winter sunlight. Some one rose from the group beside the +coffin and came slowly forward. Betty waited, clinching her hands in +her muff, her breath coming shorter. The dark figure in the dark room +looked like the shadow of death itself. But it was not superstition +that made Betty brace herself. In a moment the figure had stepped into +the sunlight beside her. + +Betty had imagined the girl handsome; she was not prepared for splendid +beauty. Harriet Walker was far above the ordinary height of woman, and +very slender and graceful. Her hair and eyes were black, her skin +smooth and white, her features aquiline. Hauteur should have been her +natural expression, but her eyes were dreamy and melancholy, her mouth +discontented. Betty, in that first rapid survey, detected but two flaws +in her beauty: her chin was weak and her hands were coarse. + +"You are Miss Madison," she said, with the monotonous inflection of +grief. "Thank you for coming." + +"I am your half-sister," said Betty, putting out her hand. And then the +desire to use the best that was in her overcame the repugnance that +made her very knees shake, and she put her arms about the girl and +kissed her. + +"You are mighty kind," said the other. "Will you come into my room?" +Betty followed her into a small room, simpler than any in her own +servants' quarter. But it was neat, and there was an attempt at +smartness in the bright calico curtains and bedspread. The furniture +looked home-made, and there was no carpet on the floor. + +"Poor girl! poor girl!" exclaimed Betty, impulsively. "Have you ever +been happy--here?" + +"Well, I don't reckon I've been very happy, ever; but I've given some +happiness and I've been loved and sheltered. That is something to be +thankful for in this world." + +"I am going to take you away," said Betty, abruptly. "Mr. Walker wrote +me that you'd be willing to come." + +"Oh, yes, I'll go, I reckon. I told him I would. I want to hold up my +head. Here I never have, for everybody knows. The white men all round +here insulted me until they got tired of trying to make me notice them. +One of the young men up on the plantation fell in love with me, and +they sent him away and he was drowned at sea. He never knew that I had +the black in my blood, and he had asked me to marry him. They did not +tell him the truth, for they feared he would then wish to make me his +mistress." + +She spoke without passion, with a deep and settled melancholy, as if +her intelligence had forbidden her to combat the inevitable. Betty +burst into tears. + +"Don't cry," said the other. "I never do--any more. I used to. And if +you'll kindly take me away, I know I'll feel as if I were born over. If +there is anything in this world to enjoy, be right sure I shall enjoy +it. I'm young yet, and I reckon nobody was made to be sad for ever." + +"You shall be happy," exclaimed Betty. "I will see to that. I pledge +myself to it. I will make you forget--everything." + +Harriet shook her head. "Not everything. Somewhere in my body, hidden +away, but there, is a black vein, the blood of slaves. I might get to +be happy with lots of books and kind people and no one to despise me +for what I can't help, but every night I'd remember _that_, and then I +reckon I'd feel mighty bad." + +"You think so now," said Betty, soothingly, and longing for consolation +herself. "But when you are surrounded by friends who love you for what +you are, by all that goes to make life comfortable and--and--gay; it +seems terribly soon to speak of it, but I shall take you to all the +theatres and buy you beautiful clothes, and I shall settle on you what +your father left me: it is only right you should have it and feel +independent. You will travel and see all the beautiful things in +Europe. Oh, I know that in time you will forget. When you are away from +all that reminds, you cannot fail to forget." + +Harriet, who had followed Betty's words with an eager lifting of her +heavy eyelids and almost a smile on her mouth, brought her lips +together as Betty ceased speaking, and held out her hand. + +"Do you see nothing?" she asked. + +Betty took the hand in hers. "What do you mean?" she demanded. "All +that--the roughness--will wear off. It will be gone in a month." + +"There is something there that will never wear off. Look right hard at +the finger-nails." + +Betty lifted the hand to her face, vaguely recalling observations of +her mother when discussing suspicious looking brunettes seen in the +North. There was a faint bluish stain at the base of the nails; and she +remembered. It was the outward and indelible print of the hidden vein +within. The nails are the last stronghold of negro blood. She dropped +the hand with an uncontrollable shudder and covered her face with her +muff. + +"I feel so horribly sorry for you," she said hastily. "It seemed to me +for the moment as if your trouble were my own." + +If the girl understood, she made no sign; hers had been a life of +self-control, and she had been despised from her birth. + +"Tell me what you wish me to do now," said Betty, lifting her head. +"When can you leave here? Do you wish me to stay with you? Is it +impossible for you to go to-day?" + +"I cannot leave him until he is buried. And you couldn't stay here. +This is Tuesday. I'll go Thursday." + +Betty thrust a roll of bills into a drawer. "They are yours by right," +she said hurriedly. "Go first to Richmond and get a handsome black +frock; you will be sure to find what you want ready made, and it will +be better--on account of the servants--for you to look well when you +arrive. Spend it all. There is plenty more. Buy all sorts of nice +things. I will go now. There is a train soon. Telegraph when you start +for Washington and I will meet you. Good by, and please be sure that I +shall make you happy." + +Harriet walked out to the gate, and Betty saw that there were fine +lines on her brow and about her mouth. But she was very beautiful, +sombre and blighted as she was. She clung to Betty for a moment at +parting, then went rapidly into the house. + +When Betty reached the street, she restrained an impulse to run, but +she walked faster than she had ever walked in her life, persuading +herself that she feared to miss her train. She waited three quarters of +an hour for it, and there were four dreary hours more before she saw +the dome of the Capitol. She arrived at home with a splitting headache +and an animal craving to lock herself in her room and get into bed. For +the time being no mortal interested her, she was exhausted and +emotionless. She described the interview briefly to her mother, then +sought the solitude she craved. And as she was young and healthy, she +soon fell asleep. + + + + +XIII + + + +When she awoke next morning she arose and dressed herself at once: in +bed the will loses its control over thought, and she wished to think as +little as possible. But her mind reverted to the day before, in spite +of her will, and she laughed suddenly and went to her desk and wrote on +a slip of paper,-- + +"Every woman writes with one eye on the page and one eye on some man, +except the Countess Hahn-Hahn, who has only one eye."--HEINE. + +"Some day when I know him better I will give him this," she thought, +and put the slip into a drawer by itself. + +The load of care had lifted itself and gone. She had done the right +thing, the momentous question was settled for the present, and Betty +Madison had merely to shake her shoulders and enjoy life again. She +threw open the window and let in the sun. There had been a rain-storm +in the night and then a severe frost. The ice glistened on the naked +trees, encasing and jewelling them. A park near by looked as if the +crystal age of the world had come. The bronze equestrian statue within +that little wood of radiant trees alone defied the ice-storm, as if the +dignity of the death it represented rebuked the lavish hand of Nature. + +Betty felt happy and elated, and blew a kiss to the beauty about her. +She always had had a large fund of the purely animal joy in being +alive, but to-day she was fully conscious that the tremulous quality of +her gladness was due to the knowledge that she should see Senator North +within five more days and the light of approval in his eyes. Exactly +what her feeling for him was she made no attempt to define. She did not +care. It was enough that the prospect of seeing him made her happier +than she ever had felt before. That might go on indefinitely and she +would ask for nothing more. Her recent contact with the +serious-practical side of life--as distinct from the +serious-intellectual which she had cultivated more than once--had +terrified her; she wanted the pleasant, thrilling, unformulated part. +For the first time one of her ideals had come forth from the mists of +fancy and filled her vision as a man; and he was become the strongest +influence in her life. As yet he was unaware of this honour, and she +doubtless occupied a very small corner of his thought; but he was +interested at last, and he was coming to see her. And then he would +come again and again, and she would always feel this same glad quiver +in her soul. She felt no regret that she could not marry him; the +question of marriage but brushed her mind and was dismissed in haste. +That was a serious subject, glum indeed, and dark. She was glad that +circumstance limited her imagination to the happy present. She felt +sixteen, and as if the world were but as old. Love and the intellect +have little in common. They can jog along side by side and not exchange +a comment. + +"Come down and take a walk," cried a staccato voice. Sally Carter was +standing on the sidewalk, her head thrown back. Betty nodded, put on +her things and ran downstairs. Miss Carter was wrapped in an old cape, +and her turban was on one side, but she looked rosier than usual. + +"I've been half-way out to Chevy Chase," she said, "and I was just +thinking of paying poor old General Lathom a visit. He does look so +well in bronze, poor old dear, and all that ice round him will make him +seem like an ogre in fairy-land. He wasn't a bit of an ogre, he was +downright afraid of me." + +"I suppose a man really feels as great a fool as he looks when he is +proposing to a woman he is not sure of. I wonder why they ever do. +After I gave up coquetting, came to the conclusion that it wasn't +honest, they proposed just the same." + +"Some women unconsciously establish a habit of being proposed to. I've +had very few proposals, and I know several really beautiful women who +have had practically none. As I said, it's a habit, and you can't +account for it." + +"I went yesterday to Virginia to call on a relative who has just lost +her last adopted parent," said Betty, abruptly, "and she looked so +forlorn that I asked her to visit us for a while. I hope you'll like +her." + +"Ah? She must be some relation of mine, too. You and I are third +cousins." + +"Don't ask me to straighten it out. The ramifications of Southern +kinships are beyond me. She is a beauty--very dark and tragic." + +"That is kind of you--to run the risk of Senator Burleigh going off at +a tangent," said Miss Carter, sharply. "By the way, you cannot deny +that you have given him encouragement; you have neither eyes nor ears +for any one else when he is round." + +"He is usually the most interesting person 'round;' and I have a +concentrative mind. But I never intend to marry, and Senator Burleigh +has never even looked as if he wanted to propose. By the way, Molly has +actually asked him to come to the Adirondacks for a few days. Can't you +and your father come for a month or two? Jack has promised to stay with +us the whole summer, and we'll be quite a family party." + +"Yes, I will," said Miss Carter, promptly. "I haven't been in the +Adirondacks for six years and I should love it." + +"Harriet Walker--that's our new cousin--will be with us too, most +likely. She looks delicate, and I shall try to persuade her that she +needs the pines." + +"Ah! Look out for the Senator--in the dark pine forests on the +mountain." + +"I don't know why you should be so concerned for me. I usually have +kept an admirer as long as I wanted him." + +"Oh, no offence, dear. The dark and tragic lady merely filled my eye at +the moment. By the way, Mrs. North thinks of going to the Lake Hotel +this summer. Isn't that close by your place?" + +"It is just across the lake. There is your old General. He does look +like an ogre, and he's got a patch of green mould on his nose. You +ought to take better care of him." + +"He looks so much better than he did in life that I have no fault to +find. The doctor has told Mrs. North that the pine forests may do her +all the good in the world, prolong her life, and Mr. North has written +to see if he can get an entire wing for her. I hope he can go too, but +he always seems to have so much to do at home in summer. I do like him. +He's the only man I know who, I feel positive, never could make a fool +of himself." + +"I am half starved. Come home and have your breakfast with me." + +"I should like to. Senator North--" + +"There is Mr. Burleigh on horseback--with Mr. Montgomery. He _will_ +look well in bronze--but they only put Generals on horseback, don't +they? There--he sees me. I am going to ask them to come in to +breakfast." + +"I believe you like him better than you think, my dear. Your eyes shine +like two suns, and I never saw you look so happy." + + +"The morning is so beautiful and I am so glad that I am alive. I know +exactly how much I like Mr. Burleigh." + + + + +XIV + + + +"Do all Southerners make such delicious coffee?" asked Senator +Burleigh, as the four sat about the attractive table in the +breakfast-room. + +"The Southerners are the only cooks in the United States," announced +Miss Carter. "The real difference between the South and the North is +that one enjoys itself getting dyspepsia and the other does not." + +"There are just six kinds of hot bread on this table," said Burleigh, +meditatively. + +"And no pie and no doughnuts. Mr. Montgomery, you are really a +Southerner--ar'n't you glad to get back to darky cooks?" + +"I was until we began on this tariff bill, and now there is not an +object you can mention, edible or otherwise, that I don't loathe." + +"The details of such a bill must be maddening," said Betty, +sympathetically, "but, after all, it is an honour to be on the Ways and +Means Committee. There is compensation in everything." + +"I don't know. When a man lobbyist tries to find out your weak spot and +play on it, you can kick him out of the house, but when they set a +woman at you, all you can do is to bow and say: 'My dear madam, it is +with the greatest regret I am obliged to inform you that I have sat up +every night until three o'clock studying this subject, and that I have +made up my mind.' Whereupon she talks straight ahead and hints at +trouble with certain constituents next year who want free coal and an +exorbitant duty on Zante currants, raisins, wine, and wool. The whole +army of lobbyists have camped on my doorstep ever since we began to +draw up this bill. How they find time to camp on any one's else would +make an interesting study in ubiquity." + +"I am afraid some of your ideals have been shattered, and I am afraid +you are shattering some of Miss Madison's," said Burleigh, smiling into +Betty's disgusted face. + +"I hate the dirty work of politics," said Montgomery, gloomily. "Of +course it doesn't demoralize you so long as you keep your own hands +clean, but it is sickening to suspect that you are sitting cheek by +jowl in the Committee Room with a man whose pocket is stuffed with some +Trust Company's shares." + +"I used to hate it, but I don't see any remedy until we have an +educated generation of high-class politicians, and I think that +millennium is not far off. As matters stand, there is bound to be a +certain percentage of scoundrels and of men too weak to resist a bribe +in a great and shifting body like the House. Any scoundrel feels that +he can slink among the rest unseen. The old members who have been +returned term after term since they began to grow stubby beards on +their cast-iron chins are an argument against rotation; they have had a +chance to acquire the confidence of the public, they are experienced +legislators, and they are incorruptible." + +Betty drew a long sigh of relief. "You have cleared up the atmosphere a +little," she said. "I thought I was going to learn that the House, at +least, was one hideous mass of corruption, praying for burial." + +"That is what they think of us outside," said Montgomery. "We might as +well all be gangrene, for we get the credit of it." + +"I don't like your similes," said Miss Carter; "I haven't finished my +breakfast. Mr. Burleigh, you've put on your senatorial manner and I +like you better without it. I thought you were going to say, 'Don't +interrupt, please,' or 'Would you kindly be quiet until I finish?' at +least twice." + +"I beg pardon humbly. I am flattered to know that you have thought it +worth while to listen to any remarks I may have been forced to make in +the Senate." + +"I have been twice to the gallery with Betty, and both times you were +talking like a steam-engine and warning people off the track." + +It was so apt a description of Burleigh's style when on his feet that +even he laughed. + +"I don't like to be interrupted or contradicted," he said, "I frankly +admit it." + +"Better not marry an American girl." + +"Some Englishwomen have wills of their own," remarked Mr. Montgomery. + +"Some men are tyrants in public life and slaves at home--to a beautiful +woman," remarked Senator Burleigh. + +"Some men are so clever," said Miss Carter. "Give me another waffle, +please." + + + + +XV + + + +Betty went to the Senate Gallery that afternoon for the first time in +several days. It was hard work to keep up with the calling frenzy of +Washington and cultivate one's intellect at the same time. There was no +one in the private gallery but an old man with a hayseed beard and +horny hands. He sat on the first chair in the front row, but rose +politely to let Betty pass; and she took off her veil and jacket and +gloves and settled herself for a comfortable afternoon. She felt almost +as much at home in this family section of the Senate Gallery as in her +own room with a copy of the Congressional Record in her hand. Sometimes +save for herself it would be empty, when every other gallery, but the +Diplomats', of that fine amphitheatre would be nearly full. It was +crowded, however, when it was unofficially known that a favourite +Senator would speak, or an important bill on the calendar provoke a +debate. Leontine no longer accompanied her mistress; she had threatened +to leave unless exempted from political duty. + +To-day a distinguished Senator on the other side of the Chamber was +attacking with caustic emphasis a Republican measure. He was the only +man in the Senate with a real Uncle Sam beard. Senator Shattuc's waved +like a golden fan from his powerful jaw; but the Democratic appendage +opposite was long and narrow, and whisked over the Senator's shoulder +like the tail of a comet, when he became heated in controversy. It was +flying about at a great rate to-day, and Betty was watching it with +much interest, when a proud voice remarked in her ear,-- + +"That's my Senator, marm. He's powerful eloquent, ain't he?" + +Betty nodded. "He's quite a leader." + +"I allow he is. He's been leadin' in our State fur twenty years. I +allus wanted to hear him speak in Congress, and when I called on him +last Monday--when I come to Washington--he told me to come up here +to-day and hear him, and he would set me in the Senators' Gallery. And +he did." + +His voice became a distant humming in Betty's ears. Senator North had +entered and taken his seat. He apparently settled himself to listen to +the speech, and he looked as calm and unhurried as usual. + +"That's North," whispered the old man. "There wuz a lady in here a +spell since who pinted a lot of 'em out to me. He looks a little too +hard and stern to suit me. I like the kind that slaps you on the back +and says 'Howdy.' Now Senator North, he never would: I know plenty that +knows him. He's aristocratic; and I don't like his politics, neither. I +allus suspicion that politicians ain't all right when they're +aristocratic." + +"He does not happen to be a politician." + +"Hey?" + +"Don't you want to listen to your Senator? He is very eloquent." + +"He's been speakin' fur an hour steady," said the visitor to +Washington, philosophically. "I kinder thought I'd like to talk to you +a spell. Hev you seen the new library?" "Oh, yes; I live here." + +"Do ye? Well, you're lucky. For this city's so grand it's jest a +pleasure to walk around. And that Library's the most beautiful buildin' +I ever saw in all my seventy-two years. I've been twice a day to look +at it, and it makes me feel proud to be an Amurrican. If Paradise is +any more beautiful than that there buildin', I do want to go there." + +Betty smiled with the swift sympathy she always felt for genuine +simplicity, and the old man's pride in his country's latest achievement +was certainly touching. She refrained from telling him that she thought +the red and yellow ceilings hideous, and delighted him with the +assurance that it was the finest modern building in the world. + +"What's happened to ye?" he asked sharply, a moment later. "You've +straightened up and thrown back your head as if ye owned the hull +Senate." + +Senator North had wheeled about slowly and glanced up at the private +gallery. Then he had risen abruptly and gone into the cloak-room. + +"Perhaps I do," said Betty. + +She spoke thickly. It seemed incredible that he was coming up to the +gallery at last. She had another humble moment and felt it to be a +great honour. But she smiled so brilliantly at the old man that he +grinned with delight. + +"I presume you're the darter of one of these here Senators," he said; +"one of the rich ones. You look as if ye hed it all your own way in +life, and seein' as you're young and pretty, meanin' no offence, I'm +glad you hev. Is your pa one of the leadin' six?" + +"My father is dead." She heard the door open and turned her head +quickly. It was Senator Shattuc who had entered. He walked rapidly down +the aisle, took a seat in the second row of chairs, and gave her a +hearty grip of the hand. + +"How are you?" he asked. "I was glad to see you were up here. You +always look so pleased with the world that it does me good to get a +glimpse of you." + +Betty liked Senator Shattuc, and held him in high esteem, but at that +moment she would willingly have set fire to his political beard. She +was used to self-control, however, and she chatted pleasantly with him +for ten minutes, while her heart seemed to descend to a lower rib, and +her brain reiterated that eternal question of woman which must +reverberate in the very ears of Time himself. + +He came at last, and Senator Shattuc amiably got up and let him pass +in, then took the chair behind the old man and asked him a few +good-natured questions before turning to Betty again. + +"I started to come some time ago," said Senator North, "but I was +detained in one of the corridors. It is hard to escape being +buttonholed. This time it was by a young woman from my State who wants +a position in the Pension Office. If it had been a man I should have +ordered him about his business, but of course one of your charming sex +in distress is another matter. However, I got rid of her, and here I +am." + +"I knew you were coming. I should have waited for you." Now that he was +there she subdued her exuberance of spirit; but she permitted her voice +to soften and her eyes to express something more than hospitality. He +was looking directly into them, and his hard powerful face was bright +with pleasure. + +"It suddenly occurred to me that you might be up here," he said; "and I +lost no time finding out." He lowered his voice. "Did you go? Has it +turned out all right?" + +"Yes, I went! I'll tell you all about it on Sunday. I never had such a +painful experience." + +"Well, I'm glad you had it. You would have felt a great deal worse if +you had shirked it. However--Yes?" + +Senator Shattuc was asking him if he thought the Democratic Senator was +in his usual form. + +"No," he said, "I don't. What is he wasting his wind for, anyway? We'll +pass the bill, and he's all right with his constituents. They know +there's no more rabid watch-dog of the Treasury in America." + +"I suspect it does him good to bark at us," said Senator Shattuc. + +The old man looked uneasy. "Ain't that a great speech?" he asked. + +The two Senators laughed. "Well, it's better than some," said Shattuc. +"And few can make a better when he's got a subject worthy of him," he +added kindly. + +"That's perlite, seein' as you're a Republican. I allow as I'll go. +Good-day, marm. I'll never forgit as how you told me you'd bin all over +Yurrup and that there ain't no modern buildin' so fine as our new +Library. Good-day to ye, sirs." + +Senator Shattuc shook him warmly by the hand. Senator North nodded, and +Betty gave him a smile which she meant to be cordial but was a trifle +absent. She wished that Senator Shattuc would follow him, but he sat +down again at once. He, too, felt at home in that gallery, and it had +never occurred to him that one Senator might be more welcome there than +another. Senator North's face hardened, and Betty, fearing that he +would go, said hurriedly,-- + +"Ar'n't you ever going to speak again? I have heard you only once." + +"I rarely make set speeches, although I not infrequently engage in +debate--when some measure comes up that needs airing." + +"You ought to speak oftener, North," said Senator Shattuc. "You always +wake us up." + +"You have no business to go to sleep. If I talked when I had nothing to +say, you'd soon cease to be waked up. Our friend over there has put +three of our esteemed colleagues to sleep. He'll clear the galleries in +a moment and interfere with Norris's record.--I suppose you have never +seen that memorable sight," he said to Betty: "an entire gallery +audience get up and walk out when a certain Senator takes the floor?" + +"How very rude!" + +"The great American public loves a show, and when the show is not to +its taste it has no hesitation in making its displeasure known." + +"Why do you despise the great American public? You never raise your +voice so that any one in the second row up here can hear you." + +"I have no love for the gallery. Nor do I talk to constituents. When it +is necessary to talk to my colleagues, I do so, and it matters little +to me whether the reporters and the public hear me or not. When my +constituents are particularly anxious to know what stand I have taken +on a certain question, I have the speech printed and send it to them; +but as a rule they take my course for granted and let me alone." + +"But tell me, Mr. North," said Betty, squaring about and putting her +questions so pointedly that he, perforce, must answer them, "would you +really not like to make a speech down there that would thrill the +nation, as the speeches of Clay and Webster used to? And you could +make a speech like that. _Why_ don't you?" + +"My dear Miss Madison, if I attempted to thrill the American people by +lofty emotions and an impassioned appeal to their higher selves, I +should only bring down a storm of ridicule from seven-eighths of the +American press. I could survive that, for I should not read it, but my +effort would be thrown away. The people to whom it was directed would +feel ashamed of what thrill was left in it after it had reached them +through the only possible medium. This is the age--in this country--of +hard practical sense without any frills, or thrills. It is true that +there is a certain amount of sham oratory surviving in the Senate, but +the very fact that it is sham protects it from the press. The real +thing would irritate and alarm the spirits of mediocrity and +sensationalism which dominate the press to-day. A sensational speech, +one in which a man makes a fool of himself, it delights in, and it +encourages him by half a column of head-lines. A speech by a great man, +granted that we had one, carried away by lofty patriotism and striving +to raise his country, if only for a moment, to his own pure altitude, +would make the press feel uneasy and resentful, and it would neutralize +every word he uttered by the surest of all acids, ridicule. An American +statesman of to-day must be content to legislate quietly, to use his +intellect and his patriotism in the Committee Room, and to keep a sharp +eye on the bills brought forward by other Committees. As for speeches, +those look best in the Record which make no appeal to the gallery. +There, you cannot say I have not made you a speech!" "Well, make me +another, and tell me why you even consider the power of the press. I +mean, how you bring yourself even to think about it. You have defied +public opinion more than once. You have stood up and told your own +State that it was wrong and that you would not legislate as it +demanded. I am sure you would defy the whole country, if you felt like +it." + +"Ah, that is another matter. The hard-headed American respects honest +convictions, especially when they are maintained in defiance of +self-interest. I never shall lose my State by an unwavering policy, +however much I may irritate it for the moment. I could a heterogeneous +Western State, of course, but not a New England one. We are a +conservative, strong-willed race, and we despise the waverer. We are +hard because it always has been a hard struggle for survival with us. +Therefore we know what we want, and we have no desire to change when we +get it. There goes the bell for Executive Session. You and I must go +our different ways." + + + + +XVI + + + +"Do you dislike her?" asked Betty anxiously of her mother on the night +of Harriet's arrival. "I do not, and yet I feel that I never can love +her--could not even if it were not for _that_." + +"It is that. You never will love her. I cannot say that she has made +any impression on me whatever, so far. She seems positively congealed. +I suppose she is frightened and worn out, poor thing! She may improve +when she is rested and happier." + +And the next day, as Betty drove her about the city and showed her the +classic public buildings, the parks, white and glittering under a light +fall of snow, the wide avenues in which no one seemed to hurry, and the +stately private dwellings, Harriet's eyes were wide open with pleasure, +and she sat up straight and alert. + +"And I am really to live in this wonderful city?" she exclaimed. "How +long will it be before I shall have seen all the beautiful things +inside those buildings? Do you mean that I can go through all of them? +Why, I never even dreamed that I'd really see the world one day. All I +prayed for was books, more books. And now I'm living in a house with a +right smart library, and you will let me read them all. I don't know +which makes me feel most happy." + +"I will ask my cousin, Mr. Emory, to take you to all the galleries, and +you must go to the White House and shake hands with the President." + +"Oh, I should like to!" she exclaimed. "I should like to! I should +indeed feel proud." She flushed suddenly and turned away her head. +Betty called her attention hastily to a shop window: they had turned +into F Street. She was determined that the obnoxious subject should +never be mentioned between them if she could help it. + +"I'll take you to New York and show you the shops there," she +continued. "New York was invented that woman might appreciate her +superiority over man." + +"I'd love a yellow satin dress trimmed with red and blue beads," said +Harriet, thoughtfully. + +Betty shuddered. For the moment F Street seemed flaunting with old +Aunty Dinah's bandannas. She replied hurriedly,-- + +"You will have all sorts of new ideas by the time you go out of +mourning. I suppose you will wear black for a year." + +"That makes me think. While I'm in black I can't see your fine friends. +I'd like to study. Could I afford a teacher?" + +"You can have a dozen. I've told you that I intend to turn over to you +the money father left me. Mr. Emory will attend to it. You will have +about five hundred dollars a month to do what you like with." + +The girl gasped, then shook her head. "I can't realize that sum," she +said. "But I know it's riches, and I wish--I wish _he_ were alive." + +"If he were you would not have it, for I should not know of you. You +will enjoy having a French teacher and a Professor of Belles Lettres. +Have you any talent for music?" + +"I can play the banjo--" + +"I mean for the piano." + +"I never saw one till yesterday, so I can't say. But I reckon I could +play anything." + +Her Southern brogue was hardly more marked than Jack Emory's, but she +mispronounced many of her words and dropped the final letters of +others: she said "hyah" for "here" and "do'" for "door," and once she +had said "done died." Betty determined to give special instructions to +the Professor. + +Senator Burleigh and Emory dined at the house that evening, and +although Harriet was shy, and blushed when either of the men spoke to +her the deep and tragic novelty of their respectful admiration finally +set her somewhat at her ease, and she talked under her breath to Emory +of the pleasurable impression Washington had made on her rural mind. +After dinner she went with him to the library, where he showed her his +favourite books, and advised her to read them. + +"Will you have a cigarette?" he asked. "Betty accuses me of being +old-fashioned, but I am modern enough to think that a woman and a +cigarette make a charming combination: she looks so companionable." + +"I've smoked a pipe," said Harriet, doubtfully; "but I've never tried a +cigarette. I reckon I could, though." + +He handed her a cigarette, and she smoked with the natural grace which +pervaded all her movements. She sank back in the deep chair she had +chosen, and puffed out the smoke indolently. + +"I am so happy," she said. "I reckoned down there that the world was +beautiful somewhere, but I never expected to see it. And it is, it is. +Poor old uncle used to say that nothing amounted to much when you got +it, but he didn't know, he didn't know. This room is so big, and the +light is so soft, and this chair is so lazy, and the fire is so warm--" +She looked at Emory with the first impulse of coquetry she had ever +experienced; and her eyes were magnificent. + +"Are you, too, happy?" she asked softly. + +He stood up suddenly and gave a little nervous laugh, darting an +embarrasing glance over his shoulder. + +"I feel uncommonly better than usual," he admitted. + + + + +XVII + + + +Betty awoke the next morning with the impression that she was somewhere +on the border of a negro camp-meeting. She had passed more than one +when driving in the country, and been impressed with the religious +frenzy for which the human voice seemed the best possible medium. As +she achieved full consciousness, she understood that it was not a +chorus of voices that filled her ear, but one,--rich, sonorous, +impassioned. It was singing one of the popular Methodist hymns with a +fervour which not even its typical African drawl and wail could temper. +It was some moments before Betty realized that the singer was Harriet +Walker, and then she sprang out of bed and flung on her wrapper. + +"Great heaven!" she thought. "How shall we ever be able to keep her +secret? A bandanna gown and a voice like a cornfield darky's! I suppose +all the servants are listening in the hall." + +They were,--even the upper servants, who were English,--but they +scuttled away as their mistress appeared. She crossed the hall to +Harriet's room, rapped loudly, and entered. Her new sister, still in +her nightgown, was enjoying the deep motion of a rocking-chair, +hymn-book in hand. She brought her song to a halt as Betty appeared, +but it was some seconds before the inspired expression in her eyes gave +place to human greeting. Her face happened to be in shadow, and for the +moment Betty saw her black. Her finely cut features were indistinct, +and the ignorant fanaticism of a not remote grandmother looked from her +eyes. "Harriet!" exclaimed Betty. "I don't want to be unkind, but you +must not do that again. If you want to keep your secret, never sing a +hymn again as long as you live." + +"Ah!" Harriet gave a gasp, then a half-sob. "Ah! But I love to sing +them, honey. I have sung them every Sunday all my life, and _he_ loved +them. He said I could sing with anybody, he wouldn't except angels. I +'most felt he was listening." + +"You have a magnificent voice, and you must have it cultivated. But +never sing another hymn." + +"When I go to church I know I'll just shout--without knowing what I'm +doing." + +"Then don't go to church," said Betty, desperately. + +"I must! I must! What'll the Lode say to me? Oh, my po' old uncle!" + +She was weeping like a passionate child. Betty sat down beside her and +took her hand. + +"Come," she said, "listen to me. The first time I saw you the deepest +impression I received of you was one of fine self-control. Doubtless +you wept and stormed a good deal before you acquired it--at all the +different stages of what was both renunciation and acquisition. The +last few days have unsettled you a little because you have found +yourself in a new world, minus all your old responsibilities and +trials, and the experience has made you feel younger, robbed you of +some of your hold on yourself. But that habit of self-control is in +your brain,--it is the last to leave us,--and all you have to do is to +sit down and think hard and adjust yourself. It is even more important +that you make no mistakes now than it was before. Fate seldom gives any +one two chances to begin life over again. Think hard and keep a tight +rein on yourself." + +Betty had more than negro hymns in her mind, but she did not care to be +explicit. The generalities of the subject were disagreeable enough. + +Harriet had ceased her sobbing and was listening intently. She dried +her eyes as Betty finished speaking. + +"You are right, honey," she said. "And I reckon you haven't spoken any +too soon, for I was likely to get my head turned. I'll go to church and +I _won't_ sing. First I'll tie a string round my neck to remember, and +after that it'll be easy. I'm afraid I'm just naturally lazy, and if I +didn't watch myself I'd soon forget all the hard lessons I've learned +and get to be like some fat ornary old nigger who's got an easy job." + +Betty shuddered. "The white race is not devoid of laziness. If you want +a reason for yours, just remember that the Southern sun has prevented +many a man from becoming great. Keep your mind as far away from the +other thing as possible." + +"Oh, I think I'll forget it. I felt that way yesterday. But perhaps I'd +better not," she added anxiously, as her glance fell on the hymn-book. +"No cross, no crown." + +"You will find crosses enough as you go through life," said Betty, +dryly. She rose to go, and Harriet rose also and drew herself up to her +full height. For the moment she looked again the tragic figure of the +first day of their acquaintance. + +"You must have seen by this time how ignorant I am," she said +mournfully. "Poor old uncle gave me all the schooling he had himself, +but I knew even then it wasn't what they have nowadays. And I've had so +few books to read. Once I found a five-dollar bill, and as he wouldn't +take it--the most I could do--I tramped all the way to the nearest town +and back, twenty miles, and bought a big basket full of cheap reprints +of English standard novels. Those and the few old Latin books and the +Bible and the Pilgrim's Progress are about all I've ever read. I felt +like writing you that when I read his letter, and also telling you that +I was afraid you wouldn't find me a lady in your sense of the word--" + +"You are my sister," interrupted Betty; "of course you are a lady. +Dismiss any other idea from your mind. And in a year you will know so +much that I shall be afraid of you. I have neglected my books for +several years." + +"You are mighty good, and I'll humbly take all the advice you'll give +me." + +Betty went back to her room and sought the warm nest she had left. "She +makes me feel old," she thought. "Am I to be responsible for the +development of her character? I can't send her off to Europe yet. +There's nothing to do but keep her for at least a year, until she knows +something of the world and feels at home in it. Meanwhile I suppose I +must be her guide and philosopher! I believe that my acquaintance with +Senator North has made me feel like a child. He is so much wiser in a +minute than I could be in a lifetime; and as I have made him the pivot +on which the world revolves, no wonder I feel small by contrast. + +"But after all, I am twenty-seven, and what is more, I have seen a good +deal of men," she added abruptly. And in a moment she admitted that she +had allowed her heart, full of the youth of unrealities and dreams, to +act independently of her more mature intelligence. + +"And that is the reason I have been so happy," she mused. "There is a +facer for the intelligence. As long as I have exercised it I have never +felt as if I were walking on air and song." + +But still her imagination did not wander beyond today's meeting and +many like it. He was married, and, independent as she was, she had +received that sound training in the conventions from which the mind +never wholly recovers. She registered a vow then and there that she +would become his friend of friends, the woman to whom he came for all +his pleasant hours, in time his confidante. She would devote her +thought to the making of herself into the companion he most needed and +desired; and she would conceal her love lest he conceive it his duty to +avoid her. She wondered if she had betrayed herself, and concluded that +she had not. Even he could not guess how much of her admiration +emanated from frankness and how much from coquetry. She would be +careful in the future. + +"That point settled," she thought, curling down deeper into her bed and +preparing for a nap, "I'll anticipate his coming and think about him +with all the youthful exuberance I please." + + + + +XVIII + + + +Betty had invited Senator Burleigh to dinner on Saturday, that he might +feel free to call elsewhere on Sunday. At four o'clock, when Mrs. +Madison had retired for her nap, she commanded Jack Emory to take +Harriet for a long walk and a long ride on the cable cars, and to stop +for Sally Carter. No one else was likely to call, and she retired to +her boudoir, a three-cornered room in an angle between the parlor and +library, to await Senator North. + +The boudoir was a room that any man might look forward to after a hard +day on Capitol Hill. Its easychairs were very soft and deep, its rugs +were rosy and delicate, and the walls and windows and doors were hung +with one of those old French silk stuffs with a design of royal +conventionality and uniformly old rose in colour. All of Betty's own +books were there, her piano, several handsome pieces of carved oak, and +a unique collection of ivory. Betty had banished the former girlish +simplicity of this room a few days after her introduction to the +Montgomery house. She had imagined herself greeting Senator North in it +many times, and had received no other man within its now sacred walls. + +She wore a white cloth gown today and a blue ribbon in her hair. There +was also a touch of blue at the neck, to make her throat look the +whiter. Otherwise, the long closely fitting gown was without ornament +as far down as the hem, which was lightly embroidered in white. She +looked tall and lithe, but her figure was round, and did not sway like +a reed that a strong wind would beat to the ground, as Harriet's did. +Although that possible descendant of African kings possessed the black +splendour of eyes and hair and a marble regularity of feature, Betty +was the more beautiful woman of the two; for her colour filled and +warmed the eye, she seemed typical of womanhood in its highest +development, and she was a chosen receptacle of enchantment. Moreover, +she was more modern and original, and as healthy as had been the +fashion for the past generation, Harriet looked like an old Roman coin +come to life, with a blight on her soul and little blood in her thin +body. It was not in Betty's nature to fear any woman, much less to +experience petty jealousy, but it was not without satisfaction she +reflected that she and Harriet would hardly attract the same sort of +man. Jack was doing his duty nobly, and he liked vivacious women who +amused him, poor soul! As for Senator Burleigh, he had said politely +that she was handsome but looked delicate, and then unquestionably +dismissed her from his mind. He and Betty had talked politics on the +previous evening until Mrs. Madison had slipped off to bed an hour +earlier than usual. + +Betty dismissed them all from her mind and glanced at the clock. It was +half-past four. She thrust the poker between the glowing logs, and the +flames leaped and sent a quivering glow through the charming room. +Betty leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, almost holding her +breath that she might hear the advancing step of the butler the sooner. +In what seemed to her exactly thirty minutes she looked at the clock +again. It was twenty-five minutes to five. She nestled down, assuring +herself that nobody could be expected to come on the moment, but this +time she did not close her eyes; she watched the clock. + +And the joy imperceptibly died out of her; the hands travelled +inexorably round to ten minutes to five; she remembered that she had +not seen Senator North since Wednesday, and that in four days a busy +legislator might easily forget the existence of every woman he knew, +except perhaps of the woman he loved. Within her seemed to rise a tide +of bitter memories, the memories of all those women who had sat and +waited through dreary hours for man's uncertain coming. She shivered +and drew close to the fire and covered her face with her hands. Her +heart ached for the helpless misery of her sex. + +But she sprang suddenly to her feet. The butler was coming down the +hall. A moment later he had ushered in Senator North, and Betty forgot +the misery of the world, forgot it so completely that there was no +violent reaction; she was merely what she had been at half-past four, +full of pleasurable excitement held down and watched over by the +instinct of caution. + +"I must apologize humbly for being late," he said, "but on Sunday I +always sit with my wife until she falls asleep, and to-day she was +nearly an hour later than usual. What a room to come into out of a +biting wind! Thank heaven I was able to get here." + +Betty thought of the sister and cousin she had turned out into the +cruel afternoon, and then looked at Senator North deep in the chair +where she had so often imagined him, and forgot their existence. This +was her hour--her first, at least--and visions of pneumonia and +possible consumption should not mar it. She sat opposite him in a +straight dark high-backed chair, and she was quite aware that she made +a delightful picture. + +"Well?" he asked. "What of your visit and its consequences?" + +Betty told the story; and her description of the dilapidated parsonage +at the head of the miserable village, the group of silent women about +the coffin in the dark room, and her interview with her melancholy +relative was as dramatic as she had felt at the time. + +"I thought I was running from a nightmare when I left the house," she +concluded, smiling at him as if to demonstrate that it had left no +shadow in her brain; "but now we both feel better. She wants a gown of +many colours, and this morning she roused the house at five o'clock +singing camp-meeting hymns. But I think she is quick and observant, and +will soon cease to be in any danger of betraying herself. But she is a +great responsibility, and I really felt old this morning." + +Senator North laughed. "I hope she won't give you any real trouble. If +she does, I shall feel more than half responsible. But otherwise she +will be an interesting study for you. She is nearly all white; how much +of racial lying, and slothfulness, barbarism, and general incapacity +that black vein of hers contains will give you food for thought, for +she certainly will reveal herself in the course of a year." + +"You must admit that a nature like that is a great responsibility." + +"Yes, but she alone can work through all the contradictions to the +light, and she will do it naturally, under pressure of new experiences, +within and without. Don't suggest even the word 'problem' to her, and +don't look upon her as one, yourself. You have put her in the right +conditions. Leave her alone and Time will do the rest. His work is +indubious; never forget that. Are you going to marry Burleigh?" he +added abruptly. + +She answered vehemently, "No! No!" "I thought not. I know you very +little, so far, but I was willing to deny the report." + +"I often wonder why I don't fall in love with him. He really has every +quality I admire. But much as I like him I should not mind if I knew I +never should see him again. I have thought a good deal about it and I +should like to understand it." + +She looked at him coaxingly, and he smiled, for he understood women +very well; but he gave her the explanation she desired. + +"The reason is simple enough. The admired qualities, even when they are +the component parts of a personality of one who more or less resembles +a cherished ideal, never yet inspired love. Love is the result of two +responsive sparks coming within each other's range of action. Their +owners may be in certain ways unfitted for one another, but the +responsive sparks, rising Nature only knows out of what combination of +elements, fly straight, and Reason sulks. To put it in another way: +Love is merely the intuitive faculty recognizing in another being the +power to give its own lord happiness. It is a faculty that is very +active in some people," he added with a laugh, "and when it is +overworked it often goes wrong, like any other machinery. That is the +reason why men who have loved many women make a mistake in marrying; +the intuitive faculty is both dulled and coarsened by that time. They +are still susceptible to charm, and that is about all." + +"Have you loved many women?" asked Betty, without preamble. + +He stood up and turned his back to the fire. Betty noted again how +squarely he planted himself on his feet. "A few," he said bluntly. "Not +many. I have not overworked my intuitive faculty, if that is what you +mean. I was not thinking of myself when I spoke." + +He stared down at her for a few moments, during which it seemed to +Betty that the air vibrated between them. Her breath began to shorten, +and she dropped her eyes, lest their depths reveal the spark which was +active enough in her. + +"Will you play for me?" he asked. "I lost a little girl a few years ago +who played well, although she was only sixteen. I have disliked the +piano ever since, but I should like to hear you play." + +She played to him for an hour, with tenderness, passion, and +brilliancy. A gift had been cultivated by the best masters and hours of +patient study. + +When he thanked her and rose to go and she put her hand in his, her +face expressed all the bright earnestness of genuine friendship; there +was not a sparkle of coquetry in her eyes. + +"Will you come in often on your way home when you are tired and would +like to forget bills and things, and let me play to you? I won't +talk--you must get so tired of voices!--and the practice will do me +good." + +"Of course I will come. The pleasantest thing in life is a charming +woman's face at the close of a busy day. Good-bye." + +When he had gone, Betty got into the depths of a chair and covered her +eyes with her hand. For the first time she knew out of her own +experience that love means a greater want than the satisfaction of the +eye and mind. She would have given anything but her inherited ideals of +right and wrong if he had come back and taken her in his arms and +kissed her; and she loved him with adoration that he did not, that in +all probability he never would, that although he had the great passions +which stimulate all great brains, the inflexible honour which his State +had rewarded and never questioned for thirty-five years must make short +work of struggles with the ordinary temptations of man. + +As soon as a man awakens a woman's passions she begins to idealize him +and there is no limit to the virtues he will be made to carry. But let +a man be endowed by Nature with every noble and elevated attribute she +has in her power to bestow, if he lacks sensuality a woman will see him +in the clear cold light of reason. Betty Madison, having something of +the intuitive faculty, in addition to that knowledge of man which any +girl of twenty-seven who has had much love offered her must possess, +made fewer mistakes even in the thick of a throbbing brain than most +women make; the great danger she did not foresee until time had +accustomed her somewhat to the wonder of being able to love at last, +and Reason had resumed her place in a singularly clear and logical mind. + + + + +XIX + + + +When Betty awoke next morning, she made up her mind that she would not +suffer so long as she could see him. Beyond the present she absolutely +refused to look. She had found more on the political sea than she had +gone in search of, but if she could have foreseen this tumult that +would have overwhelmed a weaker woman, she would not have clung to the +shore. For although the ultimate of love was forbidden her, she had +come into her kingdom, and was immeasurably happier than the millions +of women whose love had run its course and turned cold, or been cast +back at them. After all, there were so few people who were really +happy, why should she complain because her love could not come to rice +and old shoes, instead of being a beautiful secret thing, the more +perfect, perhaps, because Commonplace, that ogre whose girth increases +from year to year, and who sits remorseless in the dwellings of the +united, could not breathe upon it? + +Harriet had returned without a cold, and the next morning Emory came in +and took her to the Congressional Library, where they had luncheon. He +also engaged her masters, and before the week was over she had settled +down to steady work. + +"She has a wonderful mind, I am positive of that," he said to Betty. +"She has made so much out of so few advantages. I shall take the +greatest interest in watching a mind like that unfold. What relation is +she to us, anyway? I can't make out, for the life of me. There was +Cousin Amelia--" + +"For heaven's sake, don't ask me to write up the genealogical tree. +Didn't I refuse to join the Colonial Dames because it meant raking over +the bones of all my ancestors--whom may the Saints rest! Most Southern +relationships amount to no relationship at all, and Harriet's is too +insignificant to mention." + +"Well, I must say it is angelic in you to take her in and shower +blessings on her in this way--" "Her father had a great claim on us, +but that is a family secret, even from you. Mind you take her tomorrow +to see the 'Declaration of Independence' and the portrait of Hamilton." + +The days passed very quickly to the end of the session. It was the +short term; Congress would adjourn on the fourth of March. Although the +great official receptions were over, dinners and luncheons crowded each +other as closely as before, for Washington pays little attention to +Lent beyond releasing its weary hostesses from weekly reception days, +and their callers from an absurd and antiquated custom. Betty went +frequently to the gallery on Capitol Hill, and although she sometimes +was bored by "business," she seldom heard a dull speech, for the +intellectual average of the Senate is very high, and its aptitude and +the variety of its information unexcelled. Harriet accompanied her two +or three times, but her mind turned naturally to the past and concerned +itself little with the present. She found the history of the Roman +Empire vastly more entertaining than debates on the Arbitration Treaty. + +Betty had recently met a Mrs. Fonda, a handsome widow in the vague +thirties, who had that fascination of manner and that brilliant talent +for politics which went to make up Miss Madison's ideal of the women +with whom tired statesmen spent their leisure hours. She was the +daughter of a former distinguished member of the House and the widow of +a naval officer, and her life may be said to have been passed in +Washington with intervals of Europe. Although the Old Washingtonians +knew her not, her position in the kaleidoscope of official society was +always brilliant. She professed to have no party politics, but to be +profoundly interested in all great questions affecting the nation. +During the early winter she had visited Cuba and had announced upon her +return that no other subject would command her attention until the +United States had exterminated Spanish rule in that unhappy island. She +occupied one of the smaller houses in Massachusetts Avenue, and her +dining-room seated only ten people with comfort. Betty had heard that +as many as nine of her country's chosen men had sat about that board at +the same time and decided upon matters of state; and she envied her +deeply. As Mrs. Fonda lived with no less than two elderly aunts who +wore caps, and was a devout member of St. John's Church, Mrs. Madison, +with a sigh, concluded that there was no reason why Betty should not go +to her house. + +"I suppose she is no worse than the rest," she added. "I prefer people +with husbands, but the more you see of this new life the sooner you may +get tired of it." + +Mrs. Fonda paid Betty marked attention whenever they happened to meet, +and upon the last occasion had offered playfully to tell her "all she +knew" about politics. "They are engrossing," she added with a sigh, "so +engrossing that they have taken the best of my years. A woman should be +married and happy, I think, but I have become quite depersonalized. And +I really think I have done a little good. You will marry, of course; +you are young and so beautiful; but let politics be your second great +interest. You will, indeed, never give them up if you let them absorb +you for one year, and I am more glad than I can say that you already +have gone so far." She then invited Betty to a dinner she was giving, +and even made an appointment for an hour's "talk" beforehand; but this +appointment Betty was unable to keep, as her mother fell ill for a day +or two, and Mrs. Fonda's hour occurred while Mrs. Madison desired to +have her hand held. + +Betty went to the dinner, however, and expected brilliant and unusual +things. Mrs. Fonda, who was tall and dark and distinguished looking, +and too wise in her unprotected position to annul the attentions of +Time with those artifices which are rather a pity but quite condonable +in the married woman, was handsomely dressed in black net embroidered +with gold, and received with an aunt on either side of her. Her manner +was very fine, and, without any relaxation of the dignity which was an +integer of her personality, she made each comer feel the guest of the +evening. To Betty she was almost affectionate, and surrounded her with +the aunts, who looked at her with such kindly and cordial, albeit sadly +patient eyes, that Betty almost loved them. + +The dining-room accommodated twelve tonight, and two were not the +aunts. Betty wondered if they were picking up crumbs in the pantry. She +suspected that Mrs. Fonda was more worldly than she would admit, and +that ambition and love of admiration had somewhat to do with her +patriotism. + +There were four members of the Senate present, two wives of members who +had been unable to come, and three eminent Representatives. It was +seldom that Mrs. Fonda's invitations were declined, for no man went to +her house with the miserable conviction that he was about to eat his +twenty-seventh dinner by the same cook. Mrs. Fonda had picked up a +woman in Belgium who was a genius. + +Betty went in with Senator Burleigh, and they examined the menu +together. + +"By Jove," he said, "it's even more gorgeous than usual. And did you +ever see so many flowers outside of a conservatory?" + +The room was a bower of violets and lilies of the valley. The +mantelpiece was obliterated, the table looked like a garden, and great +bunches of the flowers swung from the ceiling. As what could be seen of +the room was green and gold, the effect was very beautiful. The lights +were pink, and in this room Mrs. Fonda defied Time and looked so wholly +attractive that it was not difficult to fancy her the cause of another +war, albeit not its Helen. + +But much to Betty's disappointment the conversation, which was always +general when that radiant hostess presided, soon wandered from the +suffering Cuban and fixed itself interminably about a certain measure +which had been agitating Congress for the last four years. It was a +measure which demanded an immense appropriation, and so far Senator +North had kept it from passing the upper chamber; it was generally +understood that it would fare still worse at the hands of the Speaker, +did it ever reach the House. These two intractable gentlemen had +evidently not been bidden to the feast; but three of the Senators, +Betty suddenly observed, were members of the Select Committee for the +measure under discussion. + +Five courses had come and gone, and still the conversation raged along +a tiresome bill that happened to be Betty's pet abomination, the only +subject discussed in the Senate that bored her. Mrs. Fonda, in the +brightest, most impersonal way, defended the unpopular measure, +pointing out the immense advantage the country at large must derive +from the success of the bill, and, while appealing to the statesmen +gathered at her board to set her right when she made mistakes,--she +couldn't be expected to keep up with every bill while her head was full +of Cuba,--assailed the weak points in those statesmen's arguments. + +"I'm bored to death," muttered Betty, finally. "I wish I hadn't come. +You won't talk to me and I can't eat any more." + +Burleigh turned to her at once. "I've merely been watching her game," +he whispered. "Now, I'm nearly sure." + +"What?" asked Betty, interested at once. + +"She has given a dinner a week this winter, and there is a rumour that +she is spending the money of the syndicate interested in this much +desired appropriation. Heretofore, when I have been here, at least, +although she has always graciously permitted the subject to come up and +has delivered herself of a few trenchant and memorable remarks, this is +the first time she has deliberately made it run through an entire +dinner; every attempt to turn the conversation has been a sham. She's +in the ring for votes, there's no further doubt in my mind on that +subject; and she's getting desperate, as it is so near the end of the +session." + +"Then she is a lobbyist," said Betty, in a tone of deep disgust, and +pushing away her plate. + +"'Sh! She is too clever to have got herself called that. She has very +successfully made the world believe that the great game alone interests +her; there never has been a more subtle woman in Washington. During the +last two years there has been one of those vague rumours going about +that she has lost heavily through certain investments; but one hasn't +much time for gossip in Washington, and it is only lately that this +other rumour has been in the wind. How long she has been doing this +sort of thing, of course no one knows." + +"But do you mean to say these other men don't see through her?" + +"More than one does, no doubt. If he is against the bill he will be +amused, as I am, and probably decline her invitations in the future. If +he is for it--and there is a good deal to be said in favour of the +bill, only we cannot afford the appropriation at present--he will make +her think, as a reward for her excellent dinner, that she has secured +his vote. Others may be influenced by having it thrashed out in these +luxurious surroundings, so different from the chill simplicity of +legislative halls. Those that she may be able to get in love with her, +of course will believe nothing that is said of her, and when she +travels from the Committees to the more or less indifferent members of +both chambers, and gets to work on the nonentities whose convictions +can always be readjusted by a clever and pretty woman,--and whose vote +is as good as North's or Ward's,--you see just how much she can +accomplish." + +"And if I have my _salon_, shall I come under suspicion of being a +high-class lobbyist?" + +"There is not the slightest danger if you are careful to have only +first-rate men, and avoid the temptation to make a pet of any bill. +Besides, as I have told you, your position peculiarly fits you for +having a _salon_. No one could question your motive in the beginning, +and your tact would protect you always. Don't give up the idea, for its +success would mean not only the best political society in the country, +but a famous _salon_ would tend to draw art and literature to +Washington. And you are just the one woman who could make it famous; +and we'd all help you. North would be sure to, his ambition for +Washington is so great. He won't put his foot in this house. I never +heard him discuss her, but I am convinced that he has seen through her +for a long while." + +The next day Betty left a card on Mrs. Fonda and struck her from her +list; but she carefully secluded her discovery from Mrs. Madison. + + + + +XX + + + +Senator North, until the last six days of the session, came twice a +week to see her. She played for him, and they talked on many subjects, +in which they discovered a common interest, usually avoiding politics, +of which he might reasonably be supposed to have enough on Capitol +Hill. He told her a good deal about himself, of his early determination +to go into public life, the interest that several distinguished men in +his State had taken in him, and of the influence they had had on his +mind. + +"They were almost demi-gods to my youthful enthusiasm," he said, "and +doubtless I exaggerated their virtues, estimable as is the record they +have left. But the ideals this conception of them set up in my mind I +have clung to as closely as I could, and whatever the trials of public +life--I will tell you more about them some day--the rewards are great +enough if no one can question your sense of public duty, if no +accusation of private interest or ignoble motive has ever been able to +stand on its feet after the usual nine days' babble." + +"Would you sacrifice yourself absolutely to your country?" asked Betty, +who kept him to the subject of himself as long as she could. + +He laughed. "That is not a fair question to ask any man, for an +affirmative makes a prig of him and a negative a mere politician. I +will therefore generalize freely and tell you that a man who believes +himself to be a statesman considers the nation first, as a matter of +course. Howard, for instance, nearly killed himself at the end of last +session over a measure which was of great national importance. He +should have been in his bed, and he worked day and night. But although +it was touch and go with him afterward, it was no more than he should +have done, for almost everything depends on the Chairman of a +Committee; and as Howard is a man of enormous personal influence and +knows more about the subject than any man in Congress, he dared not +resign in favour of any one. And yet he is accused of being +hand-in-glove with one of the greatest moneyed interests in the +country." + +"Is he?" asked Betty, pointedly. + +"Those are accusations that it is almost impossible to prove. Howard is +a rich man, and his wealth is derived from the principal industry of +his State, which is unquestionably monopolized by a Trust. It would be +his duty to look after it in Congress in any case, as it is his State's +great source of wealth; so it is hard to tell. It does not interfere +with his being one of the ablest legislators and hardest workers in the +Senate--and over matters from which he can derive no possible gain. But +the suspicion will lower his position in the history of the Senate." + +"Does any one know the truth about the Senate? Even Bryce says it is +impossible to get at it, the country is so prone to exaggeration; but +estimates that one-fifth of the Senate is corrupt." + +"No one knows. The whole point is this: the Senate is the worst place +in the world for a weak man, and there are weak men in it. A +Senatorship is the highest honour to-day in the gift of the Republic; +therefore ambitious men strive for it. A man no sooner achieves this +ambition than he finds himself beset by many temptations. He is +tormented by lobbyists who will never let him alone until he has proved +himself to be a man of incorruptible character and iron will; and that +takes time. He also finds that the Senate is a sort of aristocracy, the +more so as many of its members are rich men and live well. If he never +wanted money before, he wants it then, and if he does not, his wife and +daughters do. Then, if he is weak, he finds his way into the pocket of +some Trust Company or Railroad Corporation, and his desire for +re-election--to retain his brilliant position--multiplies his shackles; +for if he proves himself useful, the Trust will buy his Legislature--if +it happens to be venal--and keep him in his place. But these instances +I know must be rare, for I know the personal character of every man in +the Senate. One Senator who is nearing the end of his first term told +me the other day that he should not return, for his experience in the +Senate had given him such a keen desire to be a rich man that he should +go into Wall Street and try to make a fortune. He is honest, but his +patriotism is a poor affair. But if the Senate makes a weak man weaker, +it makes a strong man stronger, owing to the very temptations he must +resist from the day he enters, the compromises he is forced to make, +and the danger to his convictions from the subtler brains of older men. +And the Senate is full of strong men. But they don't make picturesque +'copy' for the enterprising press; the weak and the corrupt do, and so +much space is given them, as well as so much attention by the comic +weeklies,--which are regarded as a sort of current history,--that the +average man, who does not do his own thinking, accepts the minority as +the type." + +He talked to her sometimes about his family life. His wife had been a +beautiful and accomplished girl, the daughter of a Governor of his +State, and he had married her when he was twenty-four. She had been a +great help to him, both at home and in Washington, during those years +when he needed help. She had not broken down until after the birth of +his daughter, but that was twenty years ago, and she had been an +invalid ever since. He spoke of this long period of imperfect happiness +in a matter-of-fact way, and Betty assumed that by this time he was +used to it. He alluded to his wife once as "a very dear old friend," +but Betty guessed that she was nearly obliterated from his life. Of his +sons he expected great things, but the larger measure of his affections +had been given to his daughter, or it seemed so, now that he had lost +her. + +During the last week of the Session she saw him from the Senate Gallery +only, but she consoled herself by admiring the cool deliberation with +which he worked his bills through, with Populists thundering on either +side of him. + + + +XXI + + + +On Thursday she not only witnessed the last moments of the last session +of the Fifty-fourth Congress, but the initial ceremonies of the +inauguration of a President of the United States. She had seen the +galleries crowded before, but never as they were to-day. Even the +Diplomatists' Gallery, usually empty, was full of women and attaches, +and the very steps of the other galleries were set thick with people. +Thousands had stood patiently in the corridors since early morning, and +thousands stood there still, or wandered about looking at the statues +and painted walls. The Senators were all in their seats; most of them +would gladly have been in bed, for they had been up all night; and the +Ambassadors and Envoys were brilliant and glittering curves of colour: +the effect greatly enhanced by the Republican simplicity of the men to +whose country they were accredited. The Judges of the Supreme Court, in +their flowing silk gowns, alone reminded the spectator that the United +States had not sprung full-fledged from nothing, without traditions and +without precedent. + +What little is left of form in the Republic was observed. Two Senators +and one Representative, the Committee appointed to call on the retiring +President, who had just signed his last bill in his room close by, +entered and announced that Mr. Cleveland had no further messages for +the Senate, and extended his congratulations to both Houses of Congress +upon the termination of their labours. The United States had been +without a ruler for twenty minutes when the assistant doorkeeper +announced the Vice-President, two pages drew back the doors, and Mr. +Hobart entered on the arm of a Senator and took the seat on the dais +beside his predecessor, who still occupied the chair of the presiding +officer of the Senate. Then there was another long wait, during which +the people in the galleries gossiped loudly and the Senators yawned. +Finally the President elect and the ex-President, after being formally +announced, entered arm in arm. Both looked very Republican indeed, +especially poor Mr. Cleveland, who toiled along with the gout, leaning +what he could of his massive figure upon an umbrella. The women stood +up, and with one accord pronounced their President-elect as +good-looking as he undoubtedly was strong and amiable and firm and calm +and pious. Mr. Hobart took the oath of office, and after the necessary +speeches and the proclamation for an Extra Session, the new Senators +were sworn in by the new Vice-President, and Betty wondered how any man +would dare to break so solemn an oath. + +As soon as the move began toward the platform outside, Betty escaped +through the crowd and went home. As she drove down the Avenue, she +heard the stupendous shout of joy, some fifty thousand strong, with +which the American public ever greets its new President and the +consequent show. Be he Republican or Democrat, it is all one for the +day; he is an excuse to gather, to yell, and to gaze. + +Betty turned her head and caught a glimpse of a bareheaded man on his +feet, bowing and bowing and bowing, and of a heavy figure with its hat +on seated beside him. She speculated upon the sardonic reflections +active inside of that hat. + +She did not expect to see Senator North for at least twenty-four hours, +but his card was brought to her while she was still at luncheon. She +went rapidly to her boudoir, and found him standing with his overcoat +on and his hat in his hand. + +Although he had been up all the night before and had not had his full +measure of rest for a week, he looked as calm as usual, and there was +not a hint of fatigue in his face nor of disorder in his dress. + +"You deserted us last night," he said, smiling. "I thought perhaps you +would sit up and see us through." + +"I was up there at nine this morning and saw the Senate floor littered +with papers. It had a very allnight look. Have you had luncheon? Won't +you come in?" + +"I should be glad to, but I haven't time. I find I must go North +to-night, and am on my way home to get a few hours' rest. I wanted to +thank you for many pleasant hours--in this room." His eyes moved about +slowly and softened somewhat. It is not improbable that he would have +liked to throw himself among the cushions of the divan and go to sleep. + +"Well! You might postpone that until we part for life," said Betty, +lightly. "You forget that Congress will convene in Extra Session on the +fifteenth." + +"Yes, but there is no necessity for me to be here until some time in +May at earliest. The principal object of the Session is the revision of +the Tariff, and the new bill originates with the Ways and Means +Committee. After it has been thrashed out in the House and returned to +the Committee for amendments, it will be referred to the Finance +Committee of the Senate. All that takes time. I am not a member of the +Finance Committee this term, and I shall not return until the debate +opens in the Senate. As to the Arbitration business, Ward will look +after that. I would not stir if there were a chance of the Treaty +coming back to the Senate in its original form, but there is not. When +Ward telegraphs me I shall come down and cast my vote." + +His long speech had given Betty time to recover from his first +announcement, and her eyes were full of the frank earnestness which had +established the desired relation between herself and Senator North. + +"I am glad you are going to have a rest," she said; "that is, if you +are." + +"Oh, it is work that sits very lightly on me, and is very congenial: I +am going to do all I can to allay this war fever in my own State. It is +not too late to appeal to their reason; but it might be at any moment." + +"Well, at all events, you go to the bracing climate of the North. But I +am sorry you go so soon. Mother cannot stay in Washington after the +third week in May. I am afraid we shall not meet again until you come +to the Adirondacks." + +"Ah, the Adirondacks!" he said. "Yes, I shall see you there. Good-bye." + +He did not smile. There were times when he seemed to turn a key and +lock up his features. This was one of them. Betty felt as if she were +looking at a mask contrived with unusual skill. + +He shook her warmly by the hand, however. "I forgot to say that I shall +be in Washington off and on--for a day or so. My wife remains here. It +is still too cold for her in the North. Good-bye again." + +He left her, and she did not return to her luncheon. + + + + +XXII + + + +Betty, after several long and restless nights, decided that she was not +equal to the ordeal of sitting down patiently in Washington awaiting +the rare and flying visits of Senator North. If she could place herself +quite beyond the possibility of seeing him before the first of June, +she could get through the intervening months with a respectable amount +of endurance, but not otherwise. Hers was not the nature of the patient +watcher, the humble applicant for crumbs. She might put up with slices +where she could not get the whole loaf, but her head lifted itself at +the notion of crumbs. Her heart had not yet begun to ache. She +determined that it should not until it was in far more desperate +straits than now. When Lady Mary Montgomery, who was tired and wanted a +long rest before December, invited her to go to California, she +accepted at once; and, a week after the adjournment of Congress, went +through the formality of obtaining her mother's consent. "Well," said +Mrs. Madison, philosophically, "I have lost you for three months at a +time before, and I suppose I can stand it again. I think you need a +change. You've been nervous lately, and you're thinner than you were. +As long as you don't marry I can resign myself quite gracefully to +these little partings." + +"You're a dear, Mollyanthus. I only wish you were going with me, but +I'll keep a journal for you and post it every night. I am glad you do +not dislike Harriet. Of course if you did I should not go, for it is +too soon to turn her adrift." + +"She is inoffensive enough, poor soul, and so deep in her books that I +should not know she was in the house if she didn't come to the table." + +"Make Jack take her to the theatre once a week. She has promised me +that she will go for a walk every day with Sally." + +"Sally says she is convinced Harriet is a Roman empress reborn, and may +astonish Washington at any moment," said Mrs. Madison, anxiously. "Do +you believe in reincarnation?" + +"I don't believe or disbelieve anything I don't understand. We none of +us can even guess what is latent in Harriet--for the matter of that I +don't know what is latent in myself. I can only suspect. I don't think +Harriet will ever go very deep into herself; she has not imagination +enough. If circumstances are not too unfavourable, she may slip through +life happy and respected, in spite of her tragic appearance: she is so +slothful by nature, so much more susceptible to good influences than to +bad. All of us possess every good and bad instinct in the whole book of +human nature, but few of us have imagination enough to find it out. And +the less we know of ourselves the better." + +"Betty, you certainly do need a change. You looked tragic yourself as +you said that; and if you became tragic it would mean something. I'm +afraid your conscience is tormenting you about Mr. Burleigh, and +perhaps I did not do right in asking him to come to the Adirondacks; +but probably he would have come to the hotel, anyhow; and if I did have +to lose you--" + +"You'll never get rid of me." And she went to her room to consult with +Leontine. + +The night before she left Harriet came into her room and said timidly,-- + +"Betty, I sometimes wonder if you have told Mr. Emory the truth about +myself--" + +"Certainly not. Why should I tell Mr. Emory--or anyone else?" + +"Well, he is so kind to me and we have become such friends, I thought +perhaps you would think he ought to know." + +"That is pure nonsense. Do you suppose I tell my friends everything I +know? No friend is so close as to demand to know more than you choose +to tell him." + +"All right, honey; but I am always afraid he will see my finger-nails +when he is helping me with my lessons--" + +"He is very near-sighted; and I doubt if anyone would notice those +faint blue marks unless they were looking for them." + +"Of course they seem the most conspicuous things I've got, to me." + +"Are you happy here, Harriet?" asked Betty, gently. Harriet nodded and +looked at her benefactor with glowing eyes. "Oh, yes," she said. +"Yes--yes. It is like heaven, in spite of the hard work they make me do. +I'm right down afraid of that old Frenchman, and when Professor Morrow +shuts his eyes and groans, 'Door--d-o-o-r, Miss Walker, _not_ +d-o-u-g-h,' I could cry. But I'm happy all the same, and I forgot +_that_ for a whole week." + +"Well, forget it altogether. And remember to have a thin travelling +dress and a lot of summer things made. And of all people do not confide +in Jack Emory or Sally Carter--or any other Southerner." + + + + + +_Part II_ + + + + +_Senator North, Miss Betty Madison, and several other Characters in +this History go in search of a Mountain Lake and find an Ocean._ + + + + +I + + + +Betty never denied that she enjoyed her visit to California, despite +the several thousand miles between the Atlantic and the Pacific coasts, +and Senator North's rooted aversion to writing letters. She received +exactly three brief epistles from him in almost as many months, but in +one he said that he missed her even in the North, in another that +Washington was not Washington without her, and in the third that he +looked forward with pleasure to the cool Adirondacks and herself. And a +woman can live on less than that. Betty read and re-read these simple +and possibly perfunctory statements until they were weighted with love. + +And although she visited all the wonders of the most wonderful State in +the Union, and was deeply grateful to them, they never pushed the man +from the forefront of her mind for a moment. The egoism of love reduces +scenery to a setting and the splendours of sunset to a background. +Betty thought of him by day and by night, in company and in solitude, +but even the agony of longing to which her imagination sometimes rose +contained no heartbreak. For the future was all over there, on the far +side of the continent; its grave-clothes were deep under lavender and +rosemary. To think of him was a luxury and a delight, and would remain +so until Imagination had been pushed aside by the contradictory details +of Reality. Sometimes she wept pleasurably, but she smiled oftener. And +still, although she laid no reins on her imagination, she refused to +look beyond the summer among the Adirondack pines, the frequent and +more frequent hours at the close of busy days. If pressed, she would +doubtless have answered that she must bow to Circumstance, but that in +Thought he was wholly hers. + + + + +II + + + +Betty reached her part of the Adirondacks late at night. There were two +miles between the station and the house, and Jack Emory and Sally +Carter came to meet her. They told her the recent news of the family as +the horses toiled up the steep road cut through the dark and fragrant +forest. + +"Aunt is unusually well and seems to enjoy interminable talks with +Major Carter," said Emory. "Harriet is very much improved; she holds +herself regally and sometimes has a colour. She studied until the last +minute, and even here is always at her books. I don't say she hasn't +intervals of laziness," he added with a laugh, "but she always pulls +up; and it is very creditable of her, for she is full of Southern +indolence. She would like to lie in the sun all day and sleep, I am +sure; although she won't admit it." + +"Does she seem any happier? She had suffered too much privation to have +become really happy before I left." + +"I am sure she is--" Jack began, but Sally interrupted him. + +"I think she is one of those people who hardly know whether they are +happy or not. She seems to me to be in a sort of transition state. One +moment she will be gay with the natural gayety of a girl, and the next +she will look puzzled, and occasionally tragic. I think there must be a +big love affair somewhere in her past." + +"I am sure there is nothing of the sort. Have the Norths come?" + +"Mrs. North is here, and the Senator brought her, but he had to go +back; for that disgraceful Tariff bill still hangs on. I believe we are +to pay for the very air we breathe: a Trust company has bought it up. +Oh, by the way, you have a new housekeeper;" and both she and Emory +laughed. "Do you mean that old Mrs. Sawyer has left? She was +invaluable." + +"Her son wanted her to keep house for him, and she secured the services +of a female from a neighboring village. Miss Trumbull is forty-odd and +unmarried. She has a large bony face, the nondescript colouring of the +average American, and a colossal vanity. We amuse ourselves watching +her smirk as she passes a looking-glass. But she is an excellent +housekeeper, and her vanity would be of no consequence if she would +keep her place. The day we arrived she hinted broadly that she wanted +to sit at table with us, and one night when John was ill and she had to +help wait, she joined in the conversation. She's a good-natured fool, +but an objectionable specimen of that 'I'm-as-good-as-you-are' +American. I've been waiting for you to come and extinguish her." + +"I certainly shall extinguish her." + +"She victimizes poor Harriet, whom she seems to think more on her +level," said Miss Carter, not without unction. + +Betty could feel her face flush. "The sooner she puts that idea out of +her head the better," she said coldly. "I am surprised that Harriet +permits a liberty of that sort." + +"Harriet lacks pride, my dear, in spite of her ambition and what Nature +has done for her outside. She is curiously contradictory. But that lack +is one which persons of Miss Trumbull's sort are quick to detect and +turn to their own account. Your housekeeper's variety of pride is +common and blatant, and demands to be fed, one way or another." + +Mrs. Madison had not retired and was awaiting her daughter in the +living-room. Betty found the household an apparently happy one. The +Major was a courtly gentleman who told stories of the war. Harriet in +her soft black mull with a deep colour in her cheeks looked superb, and +Betty kissed and congratulated her warmly; as Senator North had +predicted, the physical repulsion had worn away long since. The big +room with its matting and cane divans and chairs, heaped with bright +cushions, and the pungent fire in the deep chimney--for the evenings +were still cold--looked cosey and inviting; no wonder everybody was +content. Even Jack looked less careworn than usual; doubtless the +pines, as ever, had routed his malaria. Only Sally's gayety seemed a +little forced, and there was an occasional snap in her eye and dilation +of her nostril. + +When Betty had put her mother to bed and talked her to sleep, she went +to her own room and opened the window. She could hear the lake +murmuring at the foot of the terrace, the everlasting sighing of the +pines; but it was very dark: she could hardly see the grim mountains +across the water. Just below them was a triple row of lights. He should +have been behind those lights and he was not. For the moment she hated +politics. + +She closed the window and wrote the following letter:-- + +DEAR MR. NORTH,--I am home, you see. Don't reply and tell me that the +Tariff Bill surrounds you like a fortress wall. I am going for a walk +at five o'clock on Saturday morning, and I expect to meet you somewhere +in the forest above the north end of the lake. You can reach it by the +path on your side. I shall row there. Do not labour over an excuse, my +friend. I know how you hate to write letters, and you know that I am a +tyrant whose orders are always obeyed. + + BETTY MADISON. + +"That should not worry him," she thought, "and it should bring him." + + + + +III + + + +As soon as she awoke next morning, she dressed and went downstairs. A +woman stood in the lower hall, and from Sally's description Betty +recognized Miss Trumbull. The woman's large mouth expanded in a smile, +which, though correct enough, betrayed the self-satisfaction which +pervaded her being. She was youngish-looking, and not as ugly as Miss +Carter's bald description had implied. + +"Good-mornin'," She drawled. "I had a mind to set up for you last +night, but I was tired. You like to get up early, don't you? It's just +six. Miss Walker and Miss Carter don't git up till eight, Mr. Emory +till nine fifteen, and your ma till eleven. The Major's uncertain. But +I'm real glad you like gittin' up early--" + +"Will you kindly send me a boy?" interrupted Betty. "I wish a letter +taken to the post-office." + +The woman came forward and extended her hand. "I'll give it to him," +she said. + +"Send the boy to me. I have other orders to give him." + +As the woman turned away, Betty thought she detected a shade of +disappointment on her face. "Has she that most detestable vulgarity of +her class, curiosity?" she thought. "She seems to have observed the +family very closely." + +The boy came, accompanied by Miss Trumbull, who made a slight but +perceptible effort to see the address of the letter as Betty handed it +to him. + +"Take this at once and bring me back a dollar's worth of stamps; and go +also to the village store and bring me some samples of worsted." + +She thought of several other things she did not want, reflecting that +she must in the future herself take to the post-office such letters as +she did not wish Miss Trumbull to inspect and possibly read. The boy +went his way, and Betty turned to the housekeeper and regarded her +sharply. + +"I'm afraid you will find this a lonely situation," she said. "We are +only here for a few months in the summer." + +"Well, of course I like the society of nice people, but I guess I can +stand it. Poor folks can't pick and choose, and I suppose you wouldn't +mind my havin' a friend with me in the winter, would you?" + +"Certainly not," said Betty, softening a little. But she did not like +the woman, who was not frankly plebeian, but had buttered herself over +with a coat of third-rate pretentiousness. And her voice and method of +speech were irritating. She had a fat inflection and the longest drawl +Betty had ever heard. Upon every fourth or fifth word she prolonged the +drawl, and accomplished the effect of smoothing down her voice with her +tongue. Capable as she might be, Betty wondered if she could stand Miss +Trumbull through the summer. But the position was a very difficult one +to fill. Even an old couple found it lonely, and a woman with a +daughter never had been permitted to remain for two consecutive years. +If the woman could be kept in the background, it might be worth while +to give her a trial. + +Betty went out of doors and down to the lake. It lay in the cup of a +peak, and about it towered higher peaks, black with pine forests, only +a path here and there cutting their primeval gloom. Betty stepped into +a boat and rowed beyond sight of her house and the hotel. Then she lay +down, pushed a cushion under her head, and drifted. It had been a +favourite pastime of hers since childhood, but this morning her mind +for the first time opened to the danger of a wild and brooding +solitude, still palpitating with the passions which had given it birth, +for those whose own were awake. + +"Civilization does wonders for us," she said aloud; she could have +raised her voice and been unheard, and she revelled in her solitude. +"It makes us really believe that conventions are the only comfortable +conditions in the world, certainly indispensable. Up here--" + +"If he and I were here alone for one week," she continued +uncompromisingly and aloud to the mountains, "the world would cease to +exist as far as we both were concerned. And I wish he were here and the +Adirondacks adrift in space!" + +She sat up suddenly after this wish; but although it had flushed her +face, she had said the words deliberately and made no haste to unsay +them. She looked ahead to the north end of the lake and the dark quiet +aisles above. And when she met him there on Saturday morning, she must +hold down her passion as she would hold down a mad dog. She must look +with bright friendly eyes at the man to whose arms her imagination had +given her unnumbered times. It seemed to her that she was an +independent intellect caught and tangled in a fish-net of traditions. +To violate the greatest of social laws was abhorrent to every inherited +instinct. Her intellect argued that man was born for happiness and was +a fool to put it from him. The social laws were arbitrary and had their +roots in expediency alone; man and his needs were made before the +community. But the laws had been made long before her time, and they +were bone of her bone. + +She knew that he would not be the one to break down the barrier, that +he would leave her if she manifested uncontrollable weakness,--not from +the highest motives only, but because he had long since ceased to court +ruin by folly; his self-control was many years older than herself. +Doubtless he would never betray himself to her, no matter how much he +might love her, unless she so tempted him that passion leaped above +reason. And she knew that this was possible. There was no mistaking the +temperament of the man. He was virile and sensual, but he had ordered +that his passions should be the subjects of his brain; and so no doubt +they were. + +Betty had no intention of forcing any such crisis, often as she might +toy with the idea in her mind. But for the first time she compelled +herself to look beyond the present, beyond the time when she could no +longer sit in her boudoir and play to him, and shake him lightly by the +hand as he left her. Perhaps she could not even get through this summer +without betraying the flood that shook her nerves. If the barriers went +down she must look into what? She gave her insight its liberty, and +turned white. It seemed to her that the lake and the forest disappeared +and a blank wall surrounded her. She lay down in the boat and pressed +the corner of the cushion against her eyes. A thousand voices in her +soul, for generations dumb and forgotten, seemed to awake and describe +the agony of women, an agony which survived the mortal part that gave +it expression, to live again and again in unwary hearts. + +She sat up suddenly and took hold of the oars. "That will do for this +morning," she said. "It is so true that none of us can stand more than +just so much intensity that I suppose if this dear dream of mine went +to pieces I should have intervals when life would seem brilliant by +contrast with my misery. I might even find mental rest in pouring tea +again for attaches. And there is always the pleasure of assuaging +hunger. I am ravenous." + + + + +IV + + + +After breakfast--an almost hilarious meal, for Emory and Sally Carter +were in the highest spirits and sparred with much vigour--Betty and +Harriet went for a walk. There was a long level path about the lake for +a mile or more before they turned into the forest, and Betty noted that +Harriet, although her gait still betrayed indolence, held herself with +an air of unmistakable pride. She had improved in other respects; her +arrangement of dress and hair no longer looked rural, she not only had +ceased to bite her nails, but had put them in vivid order, and the +pronunciation of her words was wholly white. + +"She will be a social success one of these days," thought Betty, "or +with that voice and beauty she could doubtless win fame and wealth, and +have a brilliant and enjoyable life. The tug will come when she wants +to marry; but perhaps she won't want to for a long while--or will fall +in love with a foreigner who won't mind." + +She longed to ask Harriet if she were happy, if she had forgotten; but +she dreaded reviving a distasteful subject. She would be glad never to +hear it alluded to again. + +Harriet did not allude to it. She talked of her studies, of the many +pleasures she had found in Washington, of the kindness of Mr. Emory and +Sally Carter, and of her delight to see Betty again. As she talked, +Betty decided that the change in her went below the surface. She had +regained all the self-control that her sudden change of circumstances +had threatened, and something more. It was not hardness, nor was it +exactly coldness. It was rather a studied aloofness. "Has she decided +to shut herself up within herself?" thought Betty. "Does she think that +will make life easier for her?" + +Aloud she said,--"Would not you like to go to Europe for a year or so? +I could easily find a chaperon, and you would enjoy it." + +"Oh, yes, I shall enjoy it. I feel as if I held the world in the hollow +of my hand, now that I have got used to gratifying every wish;" and she +threw back her head and dilated her nostril. + +"What _have_ I launched upon the world?" thought Betty. "She certainly +will even with Fate in some way." But she said, "I am glad you and +Sally get on well. She has her peculiarities." + +"I reckon I could get on with any one; but she doesn't like me, all the +same." + +"Are you sure? Why shouldn't she?" + +"I don't know," replied Miss Walker, dryly. "Women don't always +understand each other." + +Sally's name suggested the housekeeper to Betty. + +"I don't want you to be offended with me, Harriet," she said +hesitatingly, "if I ask you not to be familiar with Miss Trumbull. You +have not had the experience with that type that I have had. You cannot +give them an inch. If you treat them consistently as upper servants +when they are in your employ, and ignore them if they are not, they +will keep their place and give you no annoyance; but treat them with +something more than common decency and they leap at once for equality." + +"Well--you must remember that I was not always so fine as I am now, and +Miss Trumbull does not seem so much of an inferior to me as she does to +you. To tell you the truth, it does me good to come down off my high +horse occasionally. I reckon I'll get over that; sometimes I want to so +hard I could step on everybody that is common and second-class. I don't +deny I'm as ambitious as I reckon I've got a right to be, but old +habits are strong, and I'm lazy, and it's lonesome up here. Your mother +and Major Carter talk from morning till night about the South before +the War. Mr. Emory and Sally are always together, and talk so much +about things I don't understand that I feel in the way. Miss Trumbull +knows the private affairs of most every one in her village, and amuses +me with her gossip; that is all." + +Betty pricked up her ears at one of Harriet's revelation, and let the +painful fact of her hospitality for vulgar gossip pass unnoticed. + +"Do you mean," she asked, "do you think that Mr. Emory is beginning to +care for Sally?" + +"One can never be sure. I am certain he likes and admires her." + +"Oh, yes, he always has done that. But I wish he would fall in love +with her. I am nearly sure that she more than likes him." + +"I am quite sure," said Harriet, dryly. "She would marry him about as +quickly as he asked her. I knew that the first time I saw them +together." + +"And she certainly would make him happy," said Betty, thinking aloud. +"She is so bright and amusing and cheerful. She is the only person I +know who can always make him laugh, and the more he laughs the better +it is for him, poor old chap! And I think he is too old now for the +nonsense of ruining his happiness because a woman has more +money--Harriet!" + +Harriet had one of those mouths that look small in repose, but widen +surprisingly with laughter. Betty, who had only seen her smile slightly +at rare intervals, happened to glance up. Harriet's mouth had stretched +itself into a grin revealing nearly every tooth in her head. And it was +the fatuous grin of the negro, and again Betty saw her black. She +gasped and covered her face with her hands. + +"Oh, never do that again," she said sharply. "Never laugh again as long +as you live. Oh, poor girl! Poor girl!" + +"I won't ask you what you mean," said Harriet, hurriedly. "I reckon I +can guess. Thank you for one more kindness." + +And the horror of that grin remained so long with Betty that it was +some time before she thought to wonder what had caused it. + + + + +V + + + +Betty amused herself for the next day or two observing Jack Emory and +Sally Carter. They unquestionably enjoyed each other's society, and +Sally at times looked almost pretty again. But at the end of the second +day Miss Madison shook her head. + +"He is not in love," she thought. "It does not affect him in that way." +And she felt more satisfaction in her discovery than she would have +anticipated. A woman would have a man go through life with only a skull +cap where his surrendered scalp had been. To grow another is an insult +to her power and pains her vanity. + +It occurred to Betty that she was not the only observant person in the +house. She seemed always stumbling over Miss Trumbull, who did not +appear to listen at doors but was usually as closely within ear-shot as +she could get. It was idle to suppose that the woman had any malignant +motive in that well-conducted household, and she seemed to be +good-natured and even kindly. Interest in other people's affairs was +evidently, save vanity, her strongest passion. It was the natural +result of an empty life and a common mind. But simple or not, it was +objectionable. + +Her vanity, her mistress had cause to discover, was more so. On +Wednesday morning Betty returned home from a long tramp, earlier than +was her habit, and went to her room. Miss Trumbull was standing before +the mirror trying on one of her hats. + +"That's real becomin' to me," she drawled, as Miss Madison entered the +room. "I always could wear a hat turned up on one side, and most of +your colours would suit me." + +Betty controlled her temper, but the effort hurt her. She would have +liked to pour her scorn all over the creature. + +"You may have the hat," she said. "Only do me the favour not to enter +my room again unless I send for you. The maid is very neat, and it +needs no inspection." + +The woman's face turned a dark red. "I'm sorry you're mad," she said, +"but there's no harm, as I can see, in tryin' on a hat." + +"It is a matter of personal taste, not of right or wrong. I +particularly dislike having my things touched." + +"Oh, of course I won't, then; but I like nice things, and I haven't +seen too many of them." + +Again Betty relented. "I will leave you a good many at the end of the +summer," she said. And the woman thanked her very nicely and went away. + +"I am glad I was not brutal to her," thought Betty. "Democracy is a +great institution in spite of its nuisances. Still, I admire Hamilton +more than Jefferson." + +When, that night, Mrs. Madison had a painful seizure, and Miss Trumbull +was sympathetic and efficient, sacrificing every hour of her night's +rest, Betty was doubly thankful that she had not been brutal. In the +morning she gave her a wrap that matched the hat. Miss Trumbull tried +it on at once, and revolved three times before the mirror, then +strutted off with such evident delight in her stylish appearance that +Betty's smile was almost sympathetic. But she dared not be more +gracious, and Miss Trumbull only approached her when it was necessary. + +On Thursday afternoon Betty and Sally were rowing on the lake when the +latter said abruptly,-- + +"Have you noticed anything between Jack and Harriet?" + +Betty nearly dropped her oars. "What--Jack and Harriet?" + +Sally nodded. Her mouth was set. There was an angry sparkle in her +eyes. "Yes, yes. They pretend to avoid each other, but they are in love +or I never saw two people in love. I suspected it in Washington, but I +have become sure of it up here. What is the matter? I don't think she +is his equal, if she is our thirty-first cousin, for I would bet my +last dollar there was a misalliance somewhere--but you look almost +horror-struck." + +"I was, but I can't tell you why. I don't believe it's true, though. +She is not Jack's style. She hasn't a grain of humour in her." + +"When a man's imagination is captured by a beauty as perfect as that, +he doesn't discover that it is without humour till he has married it. +Besides, any man can fall in love with any woman; I'm convinced of +that. You might as well try to turn this lake upside down as to mate +types." + +"I don't think she would deceive me," exclaimed Betty, hopefully. "I +cannot tell you all, but I am nearly sure she would never do that." + +"Any woman who has a secret constantly on her mind is bound to become +secretive, not to say deceitful in other ways. What is her secret?" she +asked abruptly. "Has she negro blood in her veins?" + +"Oh, Sally!" This time Betty did drop the oars, and her face was +scarlet as she lunged after them. She was furious at having betrayed +Harriet's secret, but Sally Carter had a fashion of going straight for +the truth and getting it. + +"I thought so," said Miss Carter, dryly. "Don't take the trouble to +deny it. And don't think for a moment, Betty dear, that I am going to +embarrass you with further questions. I could never imagine you +actuated by any but the highest motives. I should consider the whole +thing none of my business if it were not for Jack. Faugh! how he would +hate her if he knew!" + +"I am afraid he would. I don't believe he is man enough to love her +better for her miserable inheritance." + +"He is a Southern gentleman; I should hope he would not. I am by no +means without sympathy for her. I pity her deeply, and have ever since +I discovered that she loved him. For he must be told." + +"Shall you tell him?" + +Sally did not answer for a moment, and her face flushed deeply. Then +she said unsteadily: "No; for I could not be sure of my motive. Here is +my secret. I have loved Jack Emory ever since I can remember. It is +impossible for me to assure myself that I would consider interference +in their affairs warrantable if I cared nothing for him. I cannot +afford to despise myself for tattling out of petty jealousy. But you +are responsible for her. You should tell him." + +"I will speak to her as soon as we go back. If it is true that they are +engaged, and if she refuses to tell him, I shall. But I'd almost rather +come out here and drown myself." + +"So should I." + +"You're a brick, Sally, and I wish to heaven you were going to marry +Jack to-morrow. That would be a really happy marriage." + +"So I have thought for years! When he got over his attack of you, I +began to hope, although I'd got wrinkles crying about him. I never +thought of any other woman in the case." She laughed, with a defiant +attempt to recover her old spirits. "And I cannot have the happiness of +seeing him one day in bronze, and feeling that he is all mine! For he +hasn't even that spark of luck which so often passes for infinitesimal +greatness, poor dear!" + +"How did you guess that she had the taint in her?" asked Betty, as they +were about to land. "She has not a suggestion of it in her face." + +"I _felt_ it. So vaguely that I scarcely put it in words to myself +until lately. And I never saw such an amount of pink on finger-nails in +my life." + + + + +VI + + + +Betty went in search of Harriet, and found her in a summer-house +reading an innocuous French romance which her professor had selected. +There was no place near by where Miss Trumbull might lie concealed, and +Betty went to the point at once. + +"Harriet," she said, "I am obliged to say something horribly +painful--if you want to marry any man you must tell him the truth. It +would be a crime not to. The prejudices of--of--Southerners are deep +and bitter; and--and--Oh, it is a terrible thing to have to say--but I +must--if you had children they might be black." + +For a moment Betty thought that Harriet was dead, she turned so gray +and her gaze was so fixed. But she spoke in a moment. + +"Why do you say this to me--now?" + +"Because I fear you and Jack--Oh, I hope it is not true. The person who +thinks you love each other may have been mistaken. But I could not wait +to warn you. I should have told you in the beginning that when the time +came either you must tell the man or I should; but it was a hateful +subject. God knows it is hard to speak now." + +Harriet seemed to have recovered herself. The colour returned slowly to +her face, her heavy lids descended. She rose and drew herself up to her +full height with the air of complete melancholy which recalled one or +two other memorable occasions. But there was a subtle change. The +attitude did not seem so natural to her as formerly. + +"Your informant was only half right," she said sadly. "I love him, but +he cares nothing for me. He is the best, the kindest of friends. It is +no wonder that I love him. I suppose I was bound to love the first man +who treated me with affectionate respect. I reckon I'd have fallen in +love with Uncle if he'd been younger. Perhaps--in Europe--I may get +over it. But he does not love me." + +Betty rose and looked at her steadily. _What_ was in the brain behind +those sad reproachful eyes? She laid her hand on the girl's shoulder. + +"Harriet," she said solemnly, "give me your word of honour that you +will not marry him without telling him the truth. It may be that he +does not love you, but he might--and if you were without hope you would +be unhappy. Promise me." + +Down in the depths of those melancholy eyes there was a flash, then +Harriet lifted her head and spoke with the solemnity of one taking an +oath. + +"I promise," she said. "I will marry no man without telling him the +truth." + +This time her tone carried conviction, and Betty, relieved, sought +Sally Carter. + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed Miss Carter, when Betty had related the +interview. "He is in love with her, although for some reason or other +he is making an elaborate effort to conceal it." + +"She spoke very convincingly," said Betty, who would not admit doubt. + +"Anything with a drop of negro blood in it will lie. It can't help it. +I wish the race were exterminated." + +"I wish the English had left it in Africa. They certainly saddled us +with an everlasting curse." + +She was tempted to wish that Mr. Walker had never discovered her +address; but although she did not love Harriet, she was grateful still +for the opportunity to rescue her from the usual fate of her breed. But +assuredly she did not wish her old friend to be sacrificed. + +Again she observed him closely, and came to the conclusion that Harriet +had spoken the truth. He was gayer than of old, but his health was +better and he was in cheerful company, not living his days and nights +in his lonely damp old house on the Potomac River. He appeared to enjoy +talking to Harriet, but there was nothing lover-like in his attitude, +and he was almost her guardian. True, he was occasionally moody and +absent, but a man must retain a few of his old spots; and if he avoided +somewhat the cousin whom he had once loved to melancholy, it was +doubtless because she found him as uninteresting as she found all men +but one, and was not at sufficient pains to conceal her indifference. +And then she admitted with a laugh that in the back of her mind she had +never acknowledged the possibility of his loving another woman. + +She but half admitted that she wished to believe no storm was gathering +under her roof. She had no desire to handle a tragedy. + + + + +VII + + + +It was Saturday morning. Betty arose at four, brewed herself a cup of +coffee over a spirit lamp, and ate several biscuit with it. She hoped +Senator North would take the same precaution. Healthy animals when +hungry cannot take much interest in each other. + +She dressed herself in airy white with a blue ribbon in her hair. There +was no necessity for a hat at that hour in the morning, but she took a +white organdie one down to the boat and put it under a seat, lest she +be late in returning and the sun freckling. + +It was faintly dawn as she pulled out into the middle of the lake and +rowed toward its northern end. Even the trailing thickets on the +water's edge looked black, and the dark forest rising on every side +seemed to whisper of old deeds of war and heroism, the bravery and the +treachery of Indian tribes, the mortal jealousies of French and +English. Every inch of ground about her was historical. These forests +had resounded for years with the ugly sounds of battle, and more than +once with the shrieks of women and children. To-day the woodpecker +tapped, the bluejay cried in those depths unaffrighted; the singing of +a mountain stream, the roar of a distant waterfall alone lifted a +louder voice to the eternal whisper of the pines. The forest looked +calmly down upon this flower of a civilization which no man in its +first experience of man would have ventured to forecast, skimming the +water to keep tryst with one whose ancestors had hewn a rougher +wilderness than this down to a market-place that their inheritor might +win the higher honours of the great Republic to come. + +But Betty was not thinking of the honours he had won. She was wondering +if by so much as a glance he would betray that he cared a little for +her. Or did he care? In her thought he had been as full of love as +herself. But reality was waiting for her there in the forest,--reality +after three months of uninterrupted imaginings. Perhaps he merely found +her agreeable and amusing. But the idea did not start a tear. The +uncertainty of his affections and the certainty that she was about to +see him again were alike thrilling and gladdening. Pleasurable +excitement possessed her, and her hands would have trembled but for +their tight grip on the oars. + +He stood watching her as she rowed toward him, and she was sure that +she made a charming picture out on that great dark lake below the +pines. The forest rose almost straight behind him, but she knew the +winding paths which made ascent easy, and many a dry leafy platform +where one might sit. A hundred times she had imagined herself in that +forest with him; its dim vast solitude had become almost his permanent +setting in her fancy. But as the boat grazed the shore, she said +hurriedly,-- + +"Get in and let us float about. I am sure it is cold in there. I am so +glad to see you again." As her hands were occupied, he took the seat in +the stern at once, and she pulled out a few yards, then crossed her +oars. + +"You see, I have obeyed orders," he said, smiling. "Fortunately, I am +an early riser, particularly in the country." + +"I thought the change would do you good. It must be hot in Washington." + +"It is frightful." + +He looked as well as usual, however, and his thin grey clothes became +his spare though thickset figure. He was smiling humorously into +Betty's eyes, but his own were impenetrable. They might harbour the +delight of a lover at a precious opportunity, or the amusement of a man +of the world. But there was no doubt that he was glad to see her and +that he appreciated the picture she made. + +"I hope I never may see you in anything but white again," he said. "You +are a gracious vision to conjure up on stifling afternoons in the +Senate." + +Betty did not want to talk about herself. "Tell me the news," she said. +"How is that Tariff Bill going?" + +"A story has just leaked out that a stormy scene occurred in the Ways +and Means Committee Room between our friend Montgomery and two members +of the Committee whose names I won't mention. He openly accused them of +accepting bribes from certain Trusts. It even is reported that they +came to blows, but that is probably an exaggeration. We have had our +sensation also. One of our fire-eaters accused--at the top of his +voice--the entire Senate of bribery and corruption. He is new and will +think better of us in time. Meanwhile he would amuse us if such things +did not affect the dignity of the Senate with the outside world. +Unfortunately we are obliged to accept whomsoever the people select to +represent them, and can only possess our souls in patience till time +and the Senate tone the raw ones down." + +"Is he representative, that man? And those hysterical members of the +House, whose speeches make me wonder if humour is really a national +quality?" + +"They are only too representative, unfortunately, but they are more +hysterical than the average because they have the opportunity their +constituents lack, of shouting in public. The House is America let +loose. When a former private citizen belonging to the party out of +power gets on his feet in it, he develops a species of hysteria for +which there is no parallel in history. He seems to think that the +louder he shouts and the more bad rhetoric he uses, the less will his +party feel the stings of defeat. Some of them tone down and become +conscientious and admirable legislators, but these are the few of +natural largeness of mind. Party spirit, a magnificent thing at its +best, warps and withers the little brain in the party out of power. But +politics are out of place in this wilderness. There should be redskins +and bows and arrows on all sides of us. I used to revel in Cooper's +yarns, but I suppose you never have read them." + +Betty shook her head. "When can you come up here to stay?" + +"Probably not for a month yet. There will be a good deal more wrangling +before the bill goes through. I don't like it in its present shape and +don't expect to in its ultimate; neither do a good many of us. But I +shall vote for it, because the country needs a high tariff, and +anything will be better than nothing for the present. Later, the whole +matter will be reopened and war waged on the Trusts." + +"Sally says they have bought up the atmosphere." + +"They may be said to have bought up several climates. I have spent a +great many hours puzzling over that question, for they have put an end +to the old days when young men could go into business with the hope of +a progressive future. Now they are swallowed up at once, +depersonalized, and the whole matter is one of the great questions +affecting the future development of the Republic." + +He was not looking at Betty; he was staring out on the lake. His eyes +and mouth were hard again; he looked like a mere intellect, nothing +more. + +As Betty watched him, she experienced a sudden desire to put him back +on the pedestal he had occupied in the first days of their +acquaintance, and to worship him as an ideal and forget him as a man. +That had been a period of intellectual days and quiet nights. And as he +looked now, he seemed to ask no more of any woman. + +But in a moment he had turned to her again with the smile and the +peculiar concentration of gaze which made women forget he was a +statesman. + +"Not another word of politics," he said. "I did not get up at four in +the morning to meet the most charming woman in America and talk +politics. Do you know that it is over three months since I saw you +last?" + +"You left Washington, so, naturally, I left it too." + +"I wonder, how much you mean? If I were to judge you by myself--Your +few notes were very interesting. Did you enjoy California?" + +"California was made to enjoy, but I felt very much alone in it." + +"Of course you did. Nature is a wicked old matchmaker. You have felt +quite as lonely up here since your return." + +"Yes, I have! But I have had a good deal to occupy my mind. Sally +terrified me by asserting that Harriet and my cousin Jack Emory were in +love with each other." + +"Who is Harriet?" + +"Oh, you have forgotten! And you made me take her into the bosom of my +family." + +"Oh--yes; I had forgotten her name. I hope she is not making trouble +for you." + +"She admitted that she loves him, but insists that he does not love +her, and I don't think he does." + +"Probably not. I should as soon think of falling in love with a weeping +figure on a tombstone." + +"What kind of women do you fall in love with?" asked Betty, +irresistibly. She was sure of herself now. The passions of women are +often calmed by the presence of their lover. Passion is so largely +mental in them that it reaches heights in the imagination that reality +seldom justifies and mere propinquity quells. For this reason they +often are recklessly unfair to men, who are made on simpler lines. + +They had floated under the spreading arms of a thicket on the water's +edge, and she was a brilliant white figure in the gloom. + +"I have no recipe," he said, smiling. "Certainly not with the women +that weep, poor things!" Betty wondered what his personal attitude was +to the tears of twenty years. She knew from Sally that Mrs. North had +long attacks of depression. But his mind had been occupied; that meant +almost everything. And his heart? + +"Do you love anybody now?" she broke out. "Is there a woman in your +life? Some one who makes you happy?" + +The smile left his lips. It was too much to say that it had been in his +eyes, but they changed also. + +"There is no woman in my life, as you put it. Why do you ask?" + +"Because I want to know." + +They regarded each other squarely. In a moment he said deliberately: +"The greatest happiness that I have had in the past few months has been +my friendship with you. If I were free, I should make love to you. If +you will have the truth, I can conceive of no happiness so great as to +be your husband. I have caught myself dreaming of it--and over and over +again. But as it is I am not going to make love to you. When the strain +becomes too great, I shall leave you. Until then--Ah, don't!" + +Betty, who had dropped her head when he began to speak, had raised it +slowly, and her face concealed nothing. + +"I, too, love you," she said in a moment. "I love you, love you, love +you. If you knew what a relief it is to say it. That is the reason I +would not go up into the forest with you just now. I was afraid. I have +been with you there too often!" + +For the first time she saw the muscles of his face relax, and she +covered her face with her hands. "I shouldn't have told you," she +whispered, "I shouldn't have told you. I have made it harder. You will +go away at once." + +He did not speak for some minutes. Then he said,-- + +"Can you do without what we have?" + +"Oh, no!" she said passionately. "Oh, no! No!" + +"Nor can I--without the hope and the prospect of an occasional hour +with you, of the sympathy and understanding which has grown up between +us. I have conquered myself many times, relinquished many hopes, and I +think and believe that my self-control is as great as a man's can be. I +shall not let myself go with you unless you tempt me beyond endurance; +for as I said before, if I find that I am not strong enough, I shall +leave you. You are a beautiful and seductive woman, and your power if +you chose to exert it would madden any man. Will you forget it? Will +you help me?" + +She dropped her hands. "Yes," she said, "I'd rather suffer anything; +I'd rather make myself over than do without you. And I couldn't! I +couldn't! Every least thing that happens, I want to go straight to you +about it. I know that trouble is ahead, although I haven't admitted it +before. I want you in every way! in every way! And I can't even have +you in that. I never will speak like this again, but I'd like you to +know. If you love me, you must know how terrible it is. I am not a +child. I am twenty-seven years old." + +"I know," he replied; and for a few moments he said no more, but looked +down into the water. "I am not a believer in people parting because +they can't have everything," he continued finally. "It is only the very +young who do that. They take the thing tragically; passion and +disappointment trample down common-sense. If love is the very best +thing in life, it is not the only thing. Every time I have seen you I +have wanted to take you in my arms, and yet I have enjoyed every moment +spent in your presence. The thought of giving you up is intolerable. We +both are old enough to control ourselves. And I believe that any habit +can be acquired." + +"And will you never take me in your arms? Have I got to go through life +without that? I must say everything to-day--I will row out into the +middle of the lake if you like, but I must know that." + +"You can stay here. There are certain things that no man can say, +Betty, even to the most loved and trusted of women. The only answer +that I can make to your question is, that if I find I must leave you, I +certainly shall take you in my arms once." + +"Are you sorry I told you I loved you? Would it be easier if I had not?" + +"Probably. But I am not sorry! Love can give happiness even when one is +denied the expression of it." + +"I never intended to tell you. I was afraid if I did you would leave me +at once." + +"So I should if you were not--you. But I should think myself a fool if +I did not make an attempt to achieve the second best. I may fail, but I +shall try. And life is made up of compromises." + +"You are more certain of smashing the Trusts," she said with the humour +which never bore repression for long. "In dealing with methodical +scoundrels you know at least where you are. A man and woman never can +be too certain of what five minutes will bring forth. That ends it. We +never will discuss the question again until it comes up for the last +time--if it does. I do not mean that I shall not tell you again that I +love you, for I shall. I have no desire that you shall forget it. I +mean that we will not discuss possibilities again, nor give expression +to the passionate regret we both must feel. Is it a compact?" + +"I will keep my part in it. I promise to be good. I have prided myself +on my intelligence. I am not going to disgrace it by ruining the only +happiness I ever shall have. I love you, and I will prove it by making +your part as easy as I can, and by giving you all the happiness I am +permitted to give you." + +He leaned toward her for the first time, but he did not touch her. + +"And I promise you this, my darling," he said softly: "if you ever +should be in great trouble and should send for me--as of course you +would do--I will take you in my arms then and forget myself. Now, +change seats with me and I will row you part of the way home; I shall +get out a half-mile from the hotel. There really was no reason why you +should have made me walk nearly the entire length of the lake." + +"I had fancied you in this particular part of the forest, and I wanted +to find you here." + +"That is so like a woman," he said humorously. "But all of us make an +occasional attempt to realize a dream, I suppose." + + + + +VIII + + + +He came over to dinner that night, and Betty, who had walked about in a +vague dreamy state all day, dressed herself again in white. She woke up +suddenly as she came into his presence, and was the life of the dinner. +Harriet seemed absent of mind and nervous, but Emory's spirits were +normal, and he was more attentive to Sally Carter than she to him. But +Betty's interest in her friends' affairs had dropped to a very low ebb. +She was in a new mental world, stranger than that entered by most +women, for her hands were empty, but she was happy. She had reflected +again--in so far as she had been capable of reflection--that most +marriages were prosaic, and that her own high romance, her inestimable +happiness in loving and being loved by a man in whom her pride was so +great, was a lot to be envied of all women. It was not all the destiny +she herself would have chosen, but it compassed a great deal. She would +have made him wholly happy, been his whole happiness; marriage between +them never would have been prosaic, and she would not have cared if it +were; she would have made him forget the deep trials and sorrows of his +past and the worries and annoyances of the present. But this was not to +be, and there was much she could do for him and would. + +They talked politics through dinner, and Mrs. Madison noted with a sigh +that Betty's interest in the undesirable institution was unabated. She +admired Senator North, however, and felt pride in his appreciation of +her brilliant daughter. She expressed her regret amiably at not being +able to meet again Mrs. North, who would see none but old friends in +these days, and Senator North assured her of his wife's agreeable +remembrance of her brief acquaintance with Mrs. Madison. + +"How wonderfully well people behave whose common secret would set their +world by the ears," thought Betty. "Our worst enemies could detect +nothing; and on what there is heaven knows a huge scandal could be +built." + +After dinner she played to him for an hour, while the others, with the +exception of Mrs. Madison, who went to sleep, became absorbed in whist. +But she did not see him for a moment alone, and Jack rowed him across +the lake. + +She went to her bed, but not to sleep. She hardly cared if she never +slept again. Night in a measure gave him to her, and to sleep was to +forget the wonder that he loved her. + +It was shortly after midnight that she heard a faint but unmistakable +creaking on the tin roof of the veranda. She sat up. Some one was about +to pass her window. She sprang out of bed, crossed the room softly, and +lifted the edge of the curtain. A figure was almost crawling past. It +was a woman's figure; the stars gave enough light to define its +outlines at close range. She had a shawl over her head, but her angular +body was unmistakable. She was Miss Trumbull. + +Betty dropped the curtain and stared into the darkness. "Whom is she +watching?" she thought. "Whom is she watching?" + +She went back to bed and listened intently. In half an hour she heard +the same sound again. + +"She is going back to her room," thought Betty. "What has she seen?" + +The next morning she sent for Miss Trumbull to come to her room. She +had no intention of asking her to sit down, but the woman did not wait +to be invited. She took a chair and fanned herself with a palm leaf +that she picked from the table. + +"Lawsy, but it's hot," she said. "I had a long argument with Miss +Walker yesterday about New York State bein' hotter 'n down South, and +she wouldn't believe it. But I usually know what I'm talkin' about, and +hotter it is. I near lost my temper, for I guess I know when it's hot--" + +"What were you doing on the roof of the veranda last night?" asked +Betty, abruptly. + +Miss Trumbull turned the dark ugly red of her embarrassed condition. + +"I--" she stammered. + +"I saw you. Whom were you watching?" + +"I warn't watchin' anybody. I was takin' a walk. I couldn't sleep." + +"You know perfectly well that the roof of a veranda is not intended to +be walked on. Your curiosity is insufferable. I suppose it has become +professional. Or are you hoping for blackmail? If so, the hotel is the +place for you." + +This time Miss Trumbull turned purple. + +"I like money as well as anybody, I guess," she stuttered; 'but I'd +never sell a secret to get it. I ain't low down and despicable if I am +poor." "Then you admit it is mere curiosity? I would rather you stole." + +"Well, I don't steal, thank heaven. And I don't see any harm in tryin' +to know what's goin' on in the world." + +"Read the newspapers and let your neighbours alone, at all events the +people in this house. I have twice seen you reading over the addresses +of the letters of the outgoing mail. Don't you ever do it again. You +are a good housekeeper, but if I find you attending to anything but +your own business, once more, you go on the moment. That is all I have +to say." + +The woman left the room hurriedly. An hour or two later Betty met +Harriet on the terrace. + +"I am sorry to appear to be always admonishing you," she said, "but I +must ask you to have nothing more to do with Miss Trumbull." + +"I don't want to have anything more to do with her, honey. She has +taken to arguing with me in that long self-satisfied drawl, and I have +'most got to hate her. I wouldn't mind so much if she was ever right, +but she is a downright fool, and I reckon all fools are pretty much +alike. And I have a horrible idea that she suspects something. I have +seen her staring at my finger-nails two or three times. And I am 'most +sure some one has gone through the little trunk I keep my letters in. +Of course the key is always in my purse, but she may have had one that +fits, and the things are not like I left them, I am 'most sure." + +"She probably envies your finger-nails, and the trunk, doubtless, was +upset in travelling. Besides, I don't think she's malignant. Like most +underbred persons, she is curious, and she has cultivated the trait +until it has become a disease." + +"But there's no knowing what she might do if she took a dislike to me. +She's not bad-hearted at all, but she could be spiteful, and I can't +and won't stand her any longer. I reckon I'd like to go to Europe, +anyhow. I feel as if every one was guessing my secret. Over there you +say they don't mind those things, and I'd enjoy being in that kind of a +place." + +"Go, by all means. I'll write at once and inquire about a chaperon--" + +"Oh, I don't want to go just yet. September will do. I reckon these +mountains are about as cool at this time of the year as anywhere, and +they make me feel strong." She added abruptly: "Does Sally suspect?" + +Betty nodded. "Yes, she surprised the truth out of me. I am more +sorry--" + +Harriet had gripped her arm with both hands. Her face was ghastly. "She +knows? She knows?" she gasped. "Then she will tell him. Oh! Why was I +ever born?" + +Betty made her sit down and took her head in her arms. Harriet was +weeping with more passion than she ever had seen her display. + +"You believe me always, don't you?" she said. "For Miss Trumbull I +cannot answer, but for Sally I can--positively. She never would do a +mean and ignoble thing." + +"She loves him!" + +That is the more reason for not telling him. Cannot you understand +high-mindedness?" + +"Oh, yes. You are high-minded, and _he_--that is the reason I should +die if he found out; for he hates, he loathes deceit. Oh, I've grown to +hate this country. I love you, but I'd like to forget that it was ever +on the map. I wish I was coal black and had been born in Africa." + +"Why don't you go there and live, set up a sort of court?" asked Betty, +seized with an inspiration. + +"And live among niggers? I despise and abhor niggers! If one put his +dirty black paw on me, I'd 'most kill him!" + +Betty turned away her head to conceal a smile; but Harriet, who was +wholly without humour, continued: + +"Betty, honey, I want you to promise me that if I ever do anything to +disappoint you, you'll forgive me. I love you so I couldn't bear to +have you despise me." + +"What have you been doing?" asked Betty, anxiously. + +"Nothing, honey," replied Harriet, promptly. "I mean if I did." + +"Don't do anything that requires forgiveness. It makes life so much +simpler not to. And remember the promise you made me." + +"Oh, I don't reckon I'll ever forget that." + + + + +IX + + + +Senator North started for Washington that afternoon. Betty did not see +him again. He did not write, but she hardly expected that he would. He +had remarked once that two-thirds of all the trouble in the world came +out of letters, and Betty, with Miss Trumbull in mind, was inclined to +agree with him. He would not return for a fortnight. + +On Friday, very late, Senator Burleigh arrived. He was on the Finance +Committee, but had written that he should break his chains for this +brief holiday if he never had another. He had sent her two boxes of +flowers since her return, and had written her a large number of brief, +emphatic, but impersonal letters during her sojourn in California. + +He looked big and breezy and triumphant as he entered the living-room, +and he sprinkled magnetism like a huge watering-pot. Betty knew by this +time that all men successful in American politics had this +qualification, and had come in contact with it so often since her +introduction to the Senate that it had ceased to have any effect on her +except when emanating from one man. + +"Are you not frightfully tired?" she asked. "What a journey!" + +"Anything, even a fourteen hours' train journey, is heaven after +Washington in hot weather. The asphalt pavements are reeking, and your +heels go in when you forget to walk on your toes--and stick. But it is +enchanting up here." + +His eyes dwelt with frank delight on her fresh blue organdie. "Oh, +Washington does not exist," he exclaimed. "I thought constantly of you +when we were struggling over that Tariff Bill in Committee, and I +wanted to put all the fabrics you like on the free list, as a special +compliment to you." + +"The unwritten history of a Committee Room! Law does not seem like law +at all when one knows the makers of it. But you must be starved. If you +will follow me blindly down the hall, I promise that you will really be +glad you came." + +Miss Trumbull had attended personally to the supper, and he did it +justice, although he continued to talk to Betty and to let his eyes +express a more fervent admiration than had been their previous habit. + +"There's no hope for me," thought Betty, when Emory had taken him to +his room. "He has made up his mind to propose during this visit. If I +can only stave it off till the last minute!" + +As she went up the stair, she met Miss Trumbull, who was coming down. + +"Your supper was very good," she said kindly. "Thank you for sitting +up." + +That was enough for the housekeeper, who appeared to have conceived a +worship of the hand that had smitten her. It had seemed to Betty in the +last few days that she met her admiring eyes whichever way she turned. +Miss Trumbull put out her hand and fumbled at the lace on Miss +Madison's gown. + +"Tell me," she drawled wheedlingly, "that's your beau, ain't it? I +guessed he was when those flowers come, and the minute I set eyes on +him, I said to myself, 'That's the gentleman for Miss Madison. My! but +you'll make a handsome couple." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Betty. "Oh!" Then she laughed. The woman was too +ridiculous for further anger. "Good-night," she said, and went on to +her room. + + + + +X + + + +Betty had organized a picnic for the following day, inviting several +acquaintances from the hotel; and they all drove to a favourite spot in +the forest. Mrs. Madison's maid had charge of many cushions, and +disposed her tiny mistress--who looked like a wood fairy in lilac +mull--comfortably on a bed of pine needles. Major Carter felt young +once more as he grilled steaks at a camp-fire, and Harriet enchanted +him with her rapt attention while his memory rioted in deeds of war. + +Senator Burleigh had never appeared so well, Betty thought. There was +an out-of-door atmosphere about him at any time; no doubt he had been a +mighty wind in the Senate more than once during the stormy passage of +the Tariff Bill; but with all out-doors around him he looked nothing +less than a mountain king. His large well-knit frame, full of strength +and energy, was at its triumphant best in outing tweeds and Scotch +stockings; his fair handsome face was boyish, despite its almost fierce +determination, as he pranced about, intoxicated with the mountain air. + +"If you ever had spent one summer in Washington, you would understand," +he said to Betty. "This is where I'd like to spend the rest of my life. +I'd like to think I'd never see a city or the inside of a house again." + +"Then you'd probably hew down the forest, which would be a loss to the +State: you would have to do something with your superfluous energy. And +what would you do with your brain? Mere reading, when your arm ached +from chopping, never would content you." + +"No, that is the worst of civilization. It either produces discontented +savages like myself or goes too far and turns the whole body into +brain. I have managed to get a sort of steam-engine into my head which +gives me little rest and would wear out my body if I didn't happen to +have the constitution of a buffalo. But I doubt if I shall be what +North is, sixteen years hence. That man is the best example of +equilibrium I have ever seen. His mental activity is enormous, but his +control over himself is so absolute that he never wastes an ounce of +force. I've seen him look as fresh at the end of a long day of debate +as he was when he got on his feet. He never lets go of himself for a +moment." + +That was the only time Betty heard Senator North's name mentioned +during Burleigh's visit, for the younger man was much more interested +in himself and the object of his holiday. + +"I think if it hadn't been for this Extra Session I should have +followed you to California," he said abruptly. "I didn't know how much +I depended for my entire happiness upon my frequent visits to your +house until I came back after the short vacation and found you gone." + +"It would have been jolly to have had you in California. But you must +feel that your time has not been thrown away. Are you satisfied with +the Tariff Bill?" + +"I liked it fairly well as we re-wrote it, but I don't expect to care +much about it after it comes out of conference. But there are no +politics in the Adirondacks, and when a weary Senator is looking at a +woman in a pale green muslin--" + +"You look anything but weary. I expect you will tramp over half the +Adirondacks before you go back. And I am sure you will eat one of those +beefsteaks. Come, they are ready." + +But although she managed to seat him between Sally Carter and an +extremely pretty girl, he was at her side again the moment the gay +party began to split into couples. + +"Will you come for a walk?" he asked. "I do want to roam about on the +old trails the Indians made, and to get away from these hideous emblems +of modern civilization--sailor hats. Thank heaven you don't wear a +sailor hat." + +Betty shot a peremptory glance at Sally Carter, who nodded and started +to follow with a small dark attache who had pursued herself and her +million for five determined years. He was titled if not noble, a clever +operator of a small brain, and a high-priest of teas. He knew the +personnel of Washington Society so thoroughly that he never had been +known to waste a solitary moment on a portion-less girl, and he had +successfully cultivated every art that could commend him to the +imperious favourites of fortune. Betty Madison had disposed of him in +short order, but Miss Carter, although she refused him periodically, +allowed him to hang on, for he amused her and read her favourite +authors. They had not walked far when he seized the picturesque +opportunity to press his suit, and Miss Carter, while scolding him +soundly, forgot the rapid walkers in front. + +Betty, as she tramped along beside the large swinging presence the +forest seemed to embrace as its own, wondered why she did not love him, +wondered if she should, had she never met the other man. Doubtless, for +he possessed all the attributes of the conquering hero, and she would +have excavated the ideals of her romantic girlhood, brushed and re-cut +their garments, and then deliberately set fire to her imagination. If +the responsive spark had held sullenly aloof, awaiting its time, she, +knowing nothing of its existence, would soon have ceased to remember +the half-conscious labours of the initial stage of her affections, and +doubtless would have married this fine specimen of American manhood, +and been happy enough. But the responsive spark had struck, and +illumined the deepest recesses of her heart in time to burn contempt +into any effort of her brain, now or hereafter. The question did assail +her--as Burleigh talked of his summer outings among the stupendous +mountains of his chosen State--could she turn to him in time were she +suddenly and permanently separated from the other? She shook her head +in resentment at the treasonable thought; but her brain had received +every advantage of the higher civilization for twenty-seven years, and +worked by itself. She was young and she had much to give; in +consequence, much to receive. She could find the highest with one man +only, for with him alone would her imagination do its final work. But +Nature is inexorable. She commands union; and as the years went by and +one memory grew dimmer--who knew? But the thought gave her a moment of +sadness so profound that she ceased to hear the voice of the man beside +her. She had had moments of deep insight before, and again she stared +down into the depths where so many women's agonized memories lie +buried. She suddenly felt a warm clasp round her hand, and for a second +responded to it gratefully, for hers had turned cold. Then she realized +that she was in the present, and withdrew her hand hurriedly. + +"Forgive me," he said. "I simply couldn't help it. I could in +Washington, and I felt that I must wait. But up here--I want to marry +you. You know that, do you not?" + +Betty glanced over her shoulder. There was to be no interruption. She +was mistress of herself at once. + +"I cannot marry you," she said. "I almost wish I could, but I cannot." + +He swung into the middle of the path and stood still, looking down upon +her squarely. There was nothing of the suppliant in his attitude. He +looked unconquerable. + +"I did not expect to win you in a moment," he said. "I should not have +expected it if I had waited another year. I knew from the beginning +that it would be hard work, for if a woman does not love at once it +takes a long time to teach her what love is. I have tried to make you +like me, and I think I have succeeded. That is all I can hope for now. +You have been surfeited and satiated with admiration, and you regard +all men as having been born to burn incense before you. I love you for +that too. I should hate a woman who even had it in her to love a man +out of gratitude. You have your world at your feet, and I want mine at +my feet. You have won yours without effort, for you were born with the +crown and sceptre of fascination, I have to fight for mine. But the +same instinct is in us both, the same possibilities on different lines. +I am not making you the broken passionate appeal of the usual lover, +because so long as I know you do not love me I could not place myself +at the mercy of emotion--I have no thought of making a fool of myself. +But when I do win you--then--ah! that will be another matter." + +She shook her head, but smiling, for she never had liked and admired +him more. She knew of what passion he was capable, and how absurd he +would have looked if lashed by it while her cool eyes looked on. His +self-control made him magnificent. + +"I never shall marry," she said, and then laughed, in spite of herself, +at the world-old formula. Burleigh laughed also. + +"There isn't time enough left before chaos comes again to argue with a +woman a question which means absolutely nothing. I am going to marry +you. I have accomplished everything big I have ever strived for. I +never have wanted to marry any other woman, and I want to marry you +more than I wanted to become a Senator of the United States. Nothing +could discourage me unless I thought you loved another man, but so far +as I can see there is no other suitor in the field. You appear to have +refused every proposing man in Washington. Is there any one on the +other side?" he asked anxiously. + +"No one. I have no suitor beside yourself; but--" + +"I don't understand that word, any more than I understand the word +'fail,'" he said in his rapid truculent tones. Then he added more +gently: "I am afraid you think I should be a tyrant, but no one would +tyrannize over you, for you are any man's equal, and he never would +forget it. I could not love a fool. I want a mate. And I should love +you so much that I never should cease atoning for my fractious and +other unpleasant qualities--" + +"You have none! I cannot do less than tell you I think you are one of +the finest men this country has produced, and that I am as proud of you +as she will be--" + +"Let me interrupt you before you say 'but.' That I have won so high an +opinion from you gives me the deepest possible gratification. But I +want much more than that. Let us go on with our walk. I'll say no more +at present." + + + + +XI + + + +He did not allude to the subject again by so much as a tender glance, +and Betty, who knew the power of man to exasperate, appreciated his +consideration. She wondered how deep his actual knowledge of women +went, how much of his success with them he owed to the strong manly +instincts springing from a subsoil of sound common-sense which had +carried him safely past so many of the pitfalls of life. + +Nor did his high spirits wane. He stayed out of doors, in the forest or +on the lake, until midnight, and was up again at five in the morning. +Betty was fond of fresh air and exercise, but she had so much of both +during the two days of his visit that she went to bed on the night of +his departure with a sense of being drugged with ozone and battered +with energy. The next day she did not rise until ten, and was still +enjoying the dim seclusion of her room when Sally tapped and entered. +Miss Carter looked nervous, and her usually sallow cheeks were flushed. + +"I've come to say something I'm almost ashamed to say, but I can't help +it," she began abruptly. "I'm going away. I can't, I _can't _sit down +at the table any longer with _her,_ and treat her as an equal. I writhe +every time she calls me 'Sally.' I know it's a silly senseless +prejudice--no, it isn't. Black blood is loathsome, horrible!--and the +less there is of it the worse it is. I don't mind the out-and-out +negroes. I love the dear old darkies in the country; and even the +prosperous coloured people are tolerable so long as they don't presume; +but there is something so hideously unnatural, so repulsive, so +accursed, in an apparently white person with that hidden evidence in +him of slavery and lechery. Paugh! it is sickening. They are walking +shameless proclamations of lust and crime. I'm sorry for them. If by +any surgical process the taint could be extracted, I'd turn +philanthropic and devote half my fortune to it; but it can't be, and +I'm either not strong-minded enough, or have inherited too many +generations of fastidiousness and refinement to bring myself to receive +these outcasts as equals. I feel particularly sorry for Harriet. She +shows her cursed inheritance in more ways than one, but without it, +think what she would be,--a high-bred, intellectual, charming woman. +She just escapes being that now, but she does escape it. The taint is +all through her. And she knows it. In spite of all you've done for her, +of all you've made possible for her, she'll be unhappy as long as she +lives." "She certainly will be if everybody discovers her secret and is +as unjust as you are." Betty, like the rest of the world, had no +toleration for the weaknesses herself had conquered. "We cannot undo +great wrongs, but it is our duty to make life a little less tragic for +the victims, if we can." + +"I can't. I've tried, I've struggled with myself as I've never +struggled before, ever since I learned the truth. It sickens me. It +makes me feel the weak, contemptible, common clay of which we all are +made, and our only chance of happiness is to forget that. But I've said +all I've got to say about myself. I'm going, and that is the end of it. +I'll wear a mask till the last minute, for I wouldn't hurt the poor +thing's feelings for the world. And I'd die sixteen deaths before I'd +betray her. But, Betty, get rid of her. She wants to go to Europe. Let +her go. Keep her there. For as sure as fate her secret will leak out in +time. She _breathes_ it. If I felt it, others will, and certainty soon +follows suspicion. Jack would have felt it long since if he were not +blinded and intoxicated by her beauty; but you can't count on men. +He'll soon forget her if you send her away in time, and for your own +sake as well as his get rid of her. You don't want people avoiding your +house!" + +"She is going. She has no desire to stay, poor thing! Of course, I know +how you feel. I felt that way myself at first, but I conquered it. +Others won't, I suppose, and it is best that she should go where such +prejudices don't exist. I spoke to her again a day or two ago about +it--for your idea that Jack loves her has made me nervous, although I +can see no evidence of it--and I suggested that she should go at once; +but she seems to have made up her mind to September, and I cannot +insist without wounding her feelings. I wish Jack would go away, but he +always is so much better up here than anywhere else that I can't +suggest that, either." + +"Well, I'm going now to tell papa he must prepare his mind for Bar +Harbor. Say that you forgive me, Betty, for I love you." + +"Oh, yes, I forgive you," said Betty, with a half laugh, "for a wise +man I know once said that our strongest prejudice is a part of us." + + + + +XII + + + +After Major Carter and Sally left, Betty had less freedom, for her +mother was lonely; moreover, she dared not leave Emory and Harriet too +much together. The danger still might be averted if she did her duty +and stood guard. She never had seen Jack look so well as he looked this +summer. The very gold of his hair seemed brighter, and his blue eyes +were often radiant. His beauty was conventional, but Betty could +imagine its potent effect on a girl of Harriet Walker's temperament and +limited experience. But he had appeared to prefer Sally's society to +Harriet's, and his spirits dropped after her departure. + +It was only when Harriet offered to read to Mrs. Madison and settled +down to three hours' steady work a day, that Betty allowed herself +liberty after the early morning. From five till eight in the evening +and for an hour or two before breakfast she roamed the forest or pulled +indolently about the lake. The hours suited her, for the hotel people +were little given to early rising; and although they boated +industriously by day, they preferred the lower and more fashionable +lake, and dined at half-past six. + +Life with her no longer was a smooth sailing on a summer lake. There +was a roar below, as if the lake rested lightly on a subterranean +ocean; and the very pines seemed to have developed a warning note. + +Harriet looked like a walking Fate, nothing less. Since Sally's abrupt +departure she had not smiled, and Betty knew that instinct divined and +explained the sudden aversion of a girl who did so much to add to the +cheerfulness of her friends. Emory also looked more like his melancholy +self, and wandered about with a volume of Pindar and an expression of +discontent. Did he love Harriet? and were her spirits affecting his? +Since Harriet's promise Betty felt that she had no right to speak. He +had weathered one love affair, he could weather another. When Harriet +was safe in Europe, she would turn matchmaker and marry him to Sally +Carter. Betty thought lightly of the disappointments of men, having +been the cause of many. So long as Jack did not dishonour himself and +his house by marriage with a proscribed race, nothing less really +mattered. But she played his favourite music and strove to amuse him. + +She rallied him one day about the change in his spirits since the +departure of Sally Carter, and he admitted that he missed her, that he +always felt his best when with her. + +"Not that I love her more than I do you," he added, fearing that he had +been impolite. "But she strikes just that chord. She always makes me +laugh. She is a sort of sun and warms one up--" + +"The truth of the matter is that she strikes more chords than you will +admit. She's just the one woman you ought to marry. If you'd make up +your mind to love her, you'd soon find it surprisingly easy, and wonder +why it never had occurred to you before." Betty thought she might as +well begin at once. + +He shook his head, and his handsome face flushed. It was not a frank +face; he had lived too solitary and introspective a life for frankness; +but he met Betty's eyes unflinchingly. + +"She is not in the least the woman for me. She lacks beauty, and I +could not stand a woman who was gay--and--and staccato all the time. It +is delightful to meet, but would be insufferable to live with." + +"What is your ideal type?" + +He rose and raised her hand to his lips with all his old elaborate +gallantry. "Oh, Betty Madison! Betty Madison!" he exclaimed. "That you +should live to ask me such a question as that?" + +"I'd like to box his ears if he did not mean that," thought Betty. "I +particularly should dislike his attempting to blind me in that way." + +And herself? She asked this question more than once as she rowed toward +the northern end of the lake in the dawn, or in the heavier shadows at +the close of the day. Could it last? And how long? And did he believe +that it could last? Or was he, with the practical instinct of a man of +the world, merely determined to quaff that fragrant mildly intoxicating +wine of mental love-making, until the gods began to grin? + +She had many moods, but when a woman is sure that her love is returned +and is not denied the man's occasional presence, she cannot be unhappy +for long, perhaps never wholly so. For while there is love there is +hope, and while there is hope tears do not scald. Betty dared not let +her thought turn for a moment to Mrs. North. Her will was strong enough +to keep her mind on the high plane necessary to her self-respect. She +would not even ask herself if he knew how low the sands had dropped in +that unhappy life. The horizon of the future was thick with flying +mist. Only his figure stood there, immovable, always. + +"And it is remarkable how things do go on and on and on," she thought +once. "They become a habit, then a commonplace. It is because they are +so mixed up with the other details of life. Nothing stands out long by +itself. The equilibrium is soon restored, and unless one deliberately +starts it into prominence again, it stays in its proper place and +swings with the rest." + +She knew her greatest danger. She had it in her to be one of the most +intoxicating women alive. Was this man she loved so passionately to go +on to the end of his life only guessing what the Fates forbade him? The +years of the impersonal attitude to men which she had thought it right +to assume had made her anticipate the more keenly the freedom which one +man would bring her. She frankly admitted the strength of her nature, +she almost had admitted it to him; should she always be able to control +the strong womanly vanity which would give him something more than a +passing glimpse of the woman, making him forget the girl? If she did +anything so reprehensible, it would be the last glimpse he would take +of her, she reflected with a sigh, She wondered that passion and the +spiritual part of love should be so hopelessly entangled. She was ready +to live a life of celibacy for his sake; she delighted in his mind, and +knew that had it been commonplace she could not have loved him did he +have every other gift in the workshop of the gods; she worshipped his +strength of character, his independence, his lofty yet practical +devotion to an ideal; she loved him for his attitude to his wife, the +manly and uncomplaining manner with which he accepted his broken and +shadowed home life, when his temperament demanded the very full of +domestic happiness, and the heavy labours of his days made its lack +more bitter; and she sympathized keenly in his love for and pride in +his sons. There was nothing fine about him that she did not appreciate +and love him the more exaltedly for; and yet she knew that had he been +without strong passions she would have loved him for none of these +things. For of such is love between man and woman when they are of the +highest types that Nature has produced. Betty hated the thought of sin +as she hated vulgarity, and did not contemplate it for a moment, but if +she had roused but the calm affection of this man she would have been +as miserable as for the hour, at least, she was happy. + + + + +XIII + + + +Betty was determined that Saturday and Sunday should be her own, free +of care. She sent Emory to New York to talk over an investment with her +man of business, and she provided her mother with eight new novels. As +Harriet loved the novel only less than she loved the studies which +furnished her ambitious mind, Betty knew that she would read aloud all +day without complaint. Miss Trumbull, of whom she had seen little of +late, and who had looked sullen and haughty since Harriet with +untactful abruptness had placed her at arm's length, she requested to +superintend in person the cleaning of the lower rooms. + +Her mind being at rest, she arose at four on the morning of Saturday. +She rowed across the lake this time and picked up Senator North about a +half-mile from the hotel. His hands were full of fishing-tackle. + +"Will you take me fishing?" he said. "Can you give me the whole +morning? I hear there is better fishing in the lake above, and a +farmhouse where we can get breakfast. Do you know the way?" + +She nodded, and he took the oars from her and rowed up the lake. + +"My wife always sleeps until noon," he said. "We can have seven hours +if you will give them to me." + +"Of course I'll give them to you. I may as well admit that I intended +to have them. I made an elaborate disposition of my household to that +end." + +They were smiling at each other, and both looked happy and free of +desire for anything but seven long hours of pleasant companionship. The +morning, bright and full of sound, mated itself with the superficial +moods of man, and was not cast for love-making. + +"Well, what have you been doing?" he asked. "I have had you in a +permanent and most refreshing vision, floating up and down this lake, +or flitting through the forest, in that white frock. I know that +Burleigh was here--" + +"I did not wear white for him." + +"Ah! He has looked very vague, not to say mooning, since his return. I +am thankful he is not seeing you exactly as I do. How is the lady of +the shadows?" + +"Sally's Southern gorge rose so high, after she discovered the taint, +that she left precipitately. She couldn't sit at the table with even a +hidden drop of negro blood." + +"You Southerners will solve the negro problem by inspiring the entire +race with an irresistible desire to cut its throat. If a tidal wave +would wash Ireland out of existence and the blacks in this country +would dispose of themselves, how happy we all should be! What else have +you been doing?" + +"I have read the Congressional Record every day, and the _Federalist_ +and State papers of Hamilton; to say nothing of the monographs in the +American Statesmen Series. Mr. Burleigh insisted that I must acquire +the national sense, and I have acquired it to such an extent that half +the time I don't know whether I am living in history or out of it. Even +the Record makes me feel impersonal, and as 'national' as Mr. Burleigh +could wish." + +"Burleigh intends that his State shall be proud of you." + +Betty flushed. "Don't prophesy, even in fun. I believe I am +superstitious. His idea is that politics are to become a sort of second +nature with me before I start my _salon_--Why do you smile cynically? +Don't you think I can have a _salon?_" "You might build up one in the +course of ten years if you devoted your whole mind to it and made no +mistakes; nothing is impossible. But for a long while you merely will +find yourself entertaining a lot of men who want to talk on any subject +but politics after they have turned their backs on Capitol Hill. They +will be extremely grateful if you will provide them with some lively +music, a reasonable amount of punch, and an unlimited number of pretty +and entertaining women. But don't expect them to invite you down the +winding ways of their brains to the cupboards where they have hung up +their great thoughts for the night. I do not even see them standing in +groups of three, their right hands thrust under their coat fronts, +gravely muttering at each other. I see them invariably doing their poor +best to make some pretty woman forget they could be bores if they were +not vigilant." + +"The pretty women I shall ask will not think them bores. The thing to +do at first, of course, is to get them there." + +"Oh, there will be no difficulty about that. Why do you want a _salon_? +Are you ambitious?" + +Betty nodded. "Yes, I think I am. At first I only wanted a new +experience. Now that I have met so many men with careers, I want one +too. If I succeed, I shall be the most famous woman in America." + +"You certainly would be. Very well, I will do all I can to help you. It +is possible, as I said. And you have many qualifications--" + +"Ah!" Betty's face lit up. "If there is war with Spain, they will talk +of nothing else--Don't frown so at me. I'm sure I don't want a war if +you don't. Those are my politics. Here is the water lane between the +two lakes. I almost had forgotten it. I hope it isn't overgrown." + +She spoke lightly, but more truly than she was wholly willing to admit. +Women see political questions, as they see all life, through the eyes +of some man. If he is not their lover, he is a public character for +whom they have a pleasing sentiment. + +Senator North pulled into the long winding lane of water in a cleft of +the mountains. It was dark and chill here they were in the heart of the +forest; they had but to turn their heads to look straight into the long +vistas, heavy with silence and shadows. + +He rowed for some moments without speaking. He felt their profound and +picturesque isolation, and had no desire to break the spell of it. She +recalled her wish that the Adirondacks would swing off into space, but +smiled: she was too happy in the mere presence of the man to wish for +anything more. He let his eyes meet hers and linger in their depths, +and when he smiled at the end of that long communion it was with +tenderness. But when he spoke he addressed himself to her mind alone. + +"No, you must not wish for war with Spain. If we ever are placed in a +position where patriotism commands war, I shall be the last to oppose +it. If England had not behaved with her calm good sense at the time of +the Venezuela difficulty, but had taken our jingoes seriously and +returned their insults, we should have had no alternative but war,--the +serious and conservative of the country would have had to suffer from +the errors of its fools, as is often the case. But for this war there +would be no possible excuse. Spain at one time owned nearly two-thirds +of the earth's surface. She has lost every inch of it, except the +Peninsula and a few islands, by her cruelty and stupidity. Her manifest +destiny is to lose these islands in the same manner and for the same +reasons. And brutal and stupid as she is, we have no more right to +interfere in her domestic affairs than had Europe to interfere in ours +when we were torn by a struggle that had a far greater effect on the +progress of civilization than the trouble between dissatisfied +colonists and decadent Spaniards in this petty island. God only knows +how many intellects went out on those battlefields in the four years of +the Civil War, which, had they persisted and developed, would have +added to the legislative wisdom of this country. We knew what we were +losing, knew that the longer the struggle lasted the longer would our +growth as a nation be retarded, and the horrors of our battlefields +were quite as ghastly as anything set forth in the reports from Cuba. +And yet every thinking man among us, young and old, turned cold with +apprehension when we were threatened with a European interference which +would have dishonoured us. That Spain is behaving with wanton brutality +would not be to the point, even if the reports were not exaggerated, +which they are,--for the matter of that, the Cubans are equally brutal +when they find the opportunity. The point is that it is none of our +business. The Cubans have rebelled. They must take the consequences, +sustained by the certainty of success in the end. Moreover, we not only +are on friendly terms with Spain, we not only have no personal +grievance as a nation against her, but we are a great nation, she is a +weak one. We have no moral right, we a lusty young country, to +humiliate a proud and ancient kingdom, expose the weaknesses and +diseases of her old age to the unpitying eyes of the world. It would be +a despicable and a cowardly act, and it horrifies me to think that the +United States could be capable of it. For Spain I care nothing. The +sooner she dies of her own rottenness the better; but let her die a +natural death. My concern is for my own country. I don't want her to +violate those fundamental principles to whose adherence alone she can +hope to reach the highest pitch of development." + +Betty smiled. "Mr. Burleigh says that Washington had a brain of ice, +and that his ideal of American prosperity was frozen within it. I +suppose he would say the same of you." + +"I have not a brain of ice. I know that the only hope for this Republic +is to anchor itself to conservatism. The splits in the Democratic party +have generated enough policies to run several virile young nations on +the rocks. The Populist is so eager to help the farmer that he is +indifferent to national dishonour. The riff-raff in the House is +discouraging. The House ought to be a training-school for the Senate. +It is a forum for excitable amateurs. The New England Senators are +almost the only ones with a long--or any--record in the House." + +"They are bright, most of those Representatives--even the woolly ones; +as quick as lightning." + +"Oh, yes, they are bright," he said contemptuously. "The average +American is bright. If one prefixes no stronger adjective than that to +his name, he accomplishes very little in life. Don't think me a +pessimist," he added, smiling. "All over the country the Schools and +colleges are instilling the principles of conservatism and practical +politics on the old lines, and therein lies hope. I feel sure I shall +live to see the Republic safely past the dangers that threaten it now. +The war with Spain is the worst of these. No war finishes without +far-reaching results, and the conscience of a country, like the +conscience of a man, may be too severely tried. If we whip Spain--the +'if,' of course, is a euphemism--we not only shall be tempted to do +things that are unconstitutional, but we are more than liable to make a +laughing-stock of the Monroe doctrine. For reasons I am not going into +this beautiful summer morning, with fish waiting to be caught, we are +liable to be landed in foreign waters with all Europe as our enemy and +our second-rate statesmen at home pleading for a new +Constitution--which would mean a new United States and unimaginable and +interminable difficulties. Have I said enough to make you understand +why I think we owe a higher duty to a country that should and could be +greater than it is, than even to two hundred thousand Cubans whom we +should but starve the faster if we hemmed them in? Very well, if you +will kindly bait that hook I will see what I can get. The rest of the +world may sink, for all I care this morning." + +They had entered another lake, smaller and even wilder in its +surroundings, for there was no sign of habitation. + +"Few people know of this lake, I am told," said Senator North, +contentedly; "and we are unlikely to see a living soul for hours, +except while we are discovering that farmhouse. Are you hungry?" + +"Yes, but catch a lot of fish before we go to the farmhouse--I know +where it is--for I detest bread and milk and eggs." + +The fish were abundant, and he had filled his basket at the end of an +hour. Then they tied up their boat and went in search of the farmhouse. +It was a poor affair, but a good-natured woman fried their fish and +contributed potatoes they could eat. Betty was rattling on in her +gayest spirits, when her glance happened to light on a photograph in a +straw frame. She half rose to her feet, then sank back in her chair +with a frown of annoyance. + +"What is it?" he asked anxiously. + +"A photograph of my housekeeper, a woman who is all curiosity where her +brain ought to be." + +"Well, it is only her photograph, not herself, and this woman does not +know my name. You are not to bother about anything this morning." + +They went back to the lake. He caught another basket of fish, and then +they floated about idly, sometimes silent, sometimes talking in a +desultory way about many things that interested them both. Betty +wondered where he had found time to read and think so much on subjects +that belong to the literary wing of the brain and have nothing to do +with the vast subjects of politics and statesmanship, of which he was +so complete a master. She recalled what her mother had said about her +brain being her worst enemy when she fell in love. It certainly made +her love this man more profoundly and passionately, for her own was of +that high quality which demanded a greater to worship. And if she loved +the man it was because his whole virile magnetic being was the outward +and visible expression of the mind that informed it. It was almost noon +when they parted, pleased with themselves and with life. They agreed to +meet again on the following morning. + + + + +XIV + + + +As Betty ascended the terrace, she was amazed to see Jack Emory sitting +on the veranda. He threw aside his cigarette and came to meet her. + +"Anderson had gone to the other end of Long Island--Sag Harbor," he +said; "and as I did not like to follow him into his home on a matter of +business, I came back. New York is one vast oven; I could not make up +my mind to wait there. I'd rather take the trip again." + +Betty concealed her vexation, and replied that she was sorry he had had +a disagreeable journey for nothing, while wondering if her conscience +would permit her to absent herself for seven hours on the morrow. + +But Harriet had read one novel through and begun another. It was +evident that she had not left Mrs. Madison's side, and Jack had been +home for two hours. Betty lightly forbade her to tire herself further +that day, and after luncheon they all went for a drive. When Mrs. +Madison retired for her nap at four o'clock, Betty, who longed for the +seclusion of her room and the delight of re-living the morning hours, +established herself in the middle of the veranda, with Harriet beside +her and Jack swinging in a hammock at the corner. "Thank heaven she +wants to go to Europe in September," she thought. "If I had to be +duenna for six months, I should become a cross old-maid. I'll never +forgive Sally for deserting me." + +She could have filled the house with company, but that would have meant +late hours and the sacrifice of such solitude as she now could command. +She had always disliked the burden of entertaining in summer, never +more so than during this, when her loneliest hours were, with the +exception of just fifteen others and twenty-one minutes, the happiest +she ever had known. + +Jack and Harriet manifested not the slightest desire to be together, +and Betty went to bed at nine o'clock, wondering if she were not boring +herself unnecessarily. + +She was deep in her first sleep when her consciousness struggled toward +an unaccustomed sound. She awoke suddenly at the last, and became aware +of a low, continuous, but peremptory knocking. She lit a candle at once +and opened the door. Miss Trumbull stood there, her large bony face +surrounded by curl-papers that stood out like horns, and an extremely +disagreeable expression on her mouth. She wore a grey flannel wrapper +and had a stocking tied round her throat. Betty reflected that she +never had seen a more unattractive figure, but asked her if she were +ill--if her throat were ailing-- + +Miss Trumbull entered and closed the door behind her. + +"I'm a Christian woman," she announced, "and an unmarried one, and I +ain't goin' to stay in a house where there's sech goin's on." "What do +you mean?" asked Betty coldly, although she felt her lips turn white. + +"I mean what I say. I'm a Christian--" + +"I do not care in the least about your religious convictions. I want to +know what you wish to tell me. There is no necessity to lead up to it." + +"Well--I can't say it. So there! I warn't brought up to talk about sech +things. Just you come with me and find out for yourself." + +"You have been prying in the servants' wing, I suppose. Do I understand +that that is the sort of thing you expect me to do?" + +"It ain't the servants' wing--where I've been listenin' and watchin' +till I've made sure--out of dooty to myself." She lowered her voice and +spoke with a hoarse wheeze. "It's the room at the end of the second +turning." + +Betty allowed the woman to help her into a wrapper, for her hands were +trembling. She followed Miss Trumbull down the hall, hardly believing +she was awake, praying that it might be a bad dream. They turned the +second corner, and the housekeeper waved her arm dramatically at +Harriet's door. + +"Very well," said Betty. "Go to your room. I prefer to be alone." + +Miss Trumbull retired with evident reluctance. Betty heard a door close +ostentatiously, and inferred that her housekeeper was returning to a +point of vantage. But she did not care. She felt steeped in horror and +disgust. She wished that she never had felt a throb of love. All love +seemed vulgar and abominable, a thing to be shunned for ever by any +woman who cared to retain her distinction of mind. She would not meet +Senator North to-morrow. She did not care if she never saw him again. +She would like to go into a convent and not see any man again. + +She never ceased to be grateful that she was spared hours of musing +that might have burnt permanently into her memory. She had not walked +up and down the hall for fifteen minutes before the door at the end of +the side corridor opened and Emory came out. + +Betty did not hesitate. She advanced at once toward him. He did not +recoil, he stood rigid for a moment. Then he said distinctly,-- + +"We have been married three months. Will you come downstairs for a few +moments?" + +She followed him down the stair, trembling so violently that she could +not clutch the banisters, and fearing she should fall forward upon him. +But before she had reached the living-room she had made a desperate +effort to control herself. She realized the danger of betraying +Harriet's secret before she had made up her mind what course was best, +but she was not capable of grappling with any question until the shock +was over. Her brain felt stunned. + +Emory lit one of the lamps, and Betty turned her back to it. He was +very white, and she conceived a sudden and violent dislike to him. She +never before had appreciated fully the weakness in that beautiful +high-bred intellectual face. It was old-fashioned and dreamy. It had +not a suggestion of modern grip and keenness and determination. + +"I have deceived you, Betty," he began mournfully; but she interrupted +him. + +"I am neither your mother nor your sister," she said cuttingly. "I am +only your cousin. You were under no obligation to confide in me. I +object to being made use of, that is all." + +"I am coming to that," he replied humbly. "Let me tell you the story as +best I can. We did not discover that we loved each other until after +you left. It had taken me some time to realize it--for--for--I did not +think I ever could change. I was almost horrified; but soon I made up +my mind it was for the best. I had been lonely and miserable long +enough, and I had it in my power to take the loneliness and misery from +another. I was almost insanely happy. I wanted to marry at once, but +for a few days Harriet would not consent. She wanted to be an +accomplished woman when she became my wife. Then she suggested that we +should be married secretly, and the next day we went over into Virginia +and were married--in a small village. She begged me not to tell you +till you came back. When you returned, her courage failed her, for +after all you were her benefactor and she had deceived you. She +protested that she could not, that she dared not tell you. It has been +an extremely disagreeable position to me, for I have felt almost a cad +in this house, but I understood her feeling, for you had every reason +to be angry and scornful. So we agreed to go to Europe in September and +write to you from there. She wanted to go at once--soon after you +returned; but I must wait till certain money comes in. I cannot live on +what you so generously gave her. She would not go without me, and in +spite of everything, I am almost ashamed to say, I have been very happy +here--" + +"Is that all? I will go to my room now. Goodnight." She hurried +upstairs, wishing she had a sleeping powder. As she closed the door of +her room, the tall sombre figure of Harriet rose from a chair and +confronted her. Betty hastily lit two lamps. She could not endure +Harriet in a half light,--not while she wore black, at all events. + +"He has told me," she said briefly, answering the agonized inquiry in +those haggard eyes. "I told him nothing." + +Harriet drew a long breath and swayed slightly. "Ah!" she said. "Ah! +Thank the Lord for that. I hope you will never have to go through what +I have in this last half-hour." She seemed to recover herself rapidly, +for after she had walked the length of the room twice, she confronted +Betty with a tightening of the muscles of her face that gave it the +expression of resolution which her features always had seemed to demand. + +"This is wholly my affair now," she said. "It is all between him and +me. It would be criminal for you to interfere. When I realised I loved +him, I made up my mind to marry him at once. I knew that you would not +permit it, and although I hated to deceive you, I made up my mind that +I would have my happiness. I intended to tell you when you got back, +but after what you said to me that day I was scared you'd tell him. If +you do--if you do--I swear before the Lord that I'll drown myself in +that lake--" + +"I have no intention of telling him. As you say, it is now your own +affair." + +"It is; it is. And although I may have to pay the price one day, I'll +hope and hope till the last minute. I shall not let him return to +America, and perhaps he will never guess. Somehow it seems as if +everything must be right different over there, as if all life would +look different." + +"You will find your point of view quite the same when you get there, +for you take yourself with you. I'd like to go to bed now, Harriet, if +you don't mind. I'm terribly tired." + +"I'll go. There is only one other thing I want to say. I shall have no +children. I vowed long ago that the curse I had been forced to inherit +should not poison another generation. Your cousin's line will die, +undishonoured, with him. The crimes of many men will die in me. No +further harm will be done if Jack never knows. And I hope and believe +he never will. Good-night." + + + + +XV + + + +Betty slept fitfully, her dreams haunted by Miss Trumbull's expression +of outraged virtue surrounded by curl-papers. She rose at four, almost +mechanically, rather glad than otherwise that she had some one with +whom to talk over the events of the night. But although she admired +Senator North the more for his distinguished contrast to Jack Emory, +she felt as if all romance and love had gone out of her. Harriet's case +was romantic enough in all conscience, and it was hideous. + +She met Miss Trumbull in the lower hall. Outraged virtue had given way +to an expression of self-satisfied importance. "Well, I'm real glad +they're married," she drawled. "It warn't in human nature not to +listen, and I did--I ain't goin' to deny it, but I couldn't have slept +a wink if I hadn't. Ain't you glad I told you?" + +"I certainly am not glad that you told me, and I wish I had dismissed +you three weeks ago. When I return I shall give you a month's wages and +you can go to-day." + +She hurried down to the lake and unmoored her boat. Her conscience was +abnormally active this morning, and she reflected that she too was +going to a tryst of which the world must know nothing. True, it was +kept on the open lake and was as full of daylight as it was of +impeccability, but it was not for the world to discover, for all that. +She made no attempt to smile as Senator North stepped into the boat, +and he took the oars without a word and pulled rapidly up the lake. +When they were beyond all signs of human habitation, he brought the +boat under the spreading limbs of an oak and crossed his oars. + +"Now," he said, "what is it? Something very serious indeed has +happened." + +"Jack Emory and Harriet have been married three months." She filled in +the statement listlessly and added no comment. + +"And your conscience is oppressed and miserable because you feel as if +you were the author of the catastrophe," he replied. "What have you +made up your mind to do?" It was evident that her attitude alone +interested him, but he understood her mood perfectly. His voice was +friendly and matter-of-fact; there was not a hint of the sympathizing +lover about him. + +"It seems to me that as I did not act at the right time I only should +make things worse by interfering now. As she said, it is a matter +between her and him." + +"You are quite right. Any other course would be futile and cruel. And +remember that you have acted wisely and well from the beginning. You +have nothing to reproach yourself for. You brought the girl to your +house for a period, because justice and humanity demanded it. The same +principles demanded that you should keep her secret--for the matter of +that your mother made secrecy one of the conditions of her consent. I +had hoped that you would get rid of her before she obeyed the baser +instincts of her nature. For she was bound to deceive some man, and her +victim is your cousin by chance only. Have you noticed in +Washington--or anywhere in the South--that a negro is always seen with +a girl at least one shade whiter than himself? The same instinct to +rise, to get closer to the standard of the white man, whom they +slavishly admire, is in the women as well as in the men. They are the +weaker sex and must submit to Circumstance, but they would sacrifice +the whole race for marriage with a white man. If you had left this girl +to her fate, she would have gone to the devil, for a woman as white as +that would have starved rather than marry a negro. If you had given her +money and told her to go her way, she would have established herself at +once in some first-class hotel where she would be sure to meet men of +the upper class. And she would have married the first that asked her +and told him nothing. I am sorry that your cousin happens to be the +victim, because he is your cousin. But if you will reflect a moment you +will see that he is no better, no more honourable or worthy than many +other men, one of whom was bound to be victimized. I don't think she +would have been attracted to a fool or a cad; I am positive she would +have married a gentleman. These women have a morbid craving for the +caste they are so close upon belonging to." + +"I hate men," said Betty, viciously. + +"I am sure you do, and I shall not waste time on their defence. I am +concerned only in setting you right with yourself." + +"I always feel that what you say is true--must be true. I suppose it +will take possession of my mind and I shall feel better after a while." + +"You will feel better after several hours' sleep. I am going to take +you home now. Go to bed and sleep until noon." + +"My conscience hurts me. I have spoiled your visit." + +"I can live on the memory of yesterday for some time, and I shall +return in a fortnight." + +"Well, I am glad you were here when it happened. I don't know what I +should have done if I couldn't have talked to you about it. I feel a +little better--but cross and disagreeable, all the same." + +"You are a woman of contrasts," he said, smiling. "A machine is not my +ideal." + +He rowed her back to the point where he had boarded the boat, and shook +her warmly by the hand. + +"Good-bye," he said. "Be sensible and take the only practical view of +it. If you care to write to me about anything, I need not say that I +shall answer at once." When she reached home, she took his advice and +went to bed; and whether or not her mind obeyed his in small matters as +in great, she slept soundly for five hours. When she awoke, she felt +young and buoyant and untarnished again. She went at once to her +mother's room and told the story. Mrs. Madison listened with horror and +consternation. + +"It cannot be!" she exclaimed. "It cannot be! Jack Emory? It never +could have been permitted. The very Fates would interfere. His father +will rise from his grave. Why, it's monstrous. The woman ought to be +hanged. And I thought her buried in her books! I never heard of such +deceit." + +"It was the instinct of self-defence, I suppose." + +"He too! It never occurred to me to watch him or to warn him; for that +such a thing could ever threaten a member of my family never entered my +head. What on earth is to be done?" + +It took Betty an hour to persuade her mother that Jack must be left to +find out the truth for himself; that they had no right, after placing +Harriet in the way of temptation, to make her more wretched than she +was when they had rescued her. But she succeeded, as she always did; +and Mrs. Madison said finally, with her long sigh of surrender,-- + +"Well, perhaps he is paying for some of the sins of his fathers. But I +wish he did not happen to be a member of our family. As the thing is +done, I suppose I may as well be philosophical about it. It is so much +easier to be philosophical now that I have let go my hold on most of +the responsibilities of life. As long as nothing happens to you, I can +accept everything else with equanimity. What story of her birth and +family do you suppose she told him? He must have asked her a good many +questions." + +"Heaven knows. She is capable of concocting anything; and you must +remember that we had accepted her as a cousin. She could put him off +easily, for he had no suspicion to start with. I must now go and have a +final delightful interview with Miss Trumbull." + +She met her in the hall, and experienced a sudden sense of helplessness +in the face of that mighty curiosity. She almost respected it. + +"I just want to say," drawled Miss Trumbull, tossing her head, "that I +know more'n you think I do. There just ain't nothin' I don't know, I'll +tell you, as you've turned me out as if I was a common servant. I know +who you meet up the lake and take breakfast in farmhouses with, and I +know why Miss Harriet was so dreadful scared you'd find out--" + +Betty understood then why some people murdered others. Her eyes blazed +so that the woman quailed. + +"Oh, I ain't so bad as you think," she stammered. "I'd never think any +harm of you, and I'd never be so despisable as to take away any woman's +character. I'm a Christian and I don't want to hurt any one, likewise, +I'd never tell him _that_. Bad as she's treated me--I who am as good +and better'n she is any day--I wouldn't do any woman sech a bad turn as +that. Only I'm just glad I do know it. When I'm settin' in my poor +little parlor waitin' for another position to turn up--six months, +mebbe--it'll be a big satisfaction to me to think that I could ruin her +if I had a mind to--a big satisfaction." + +Betty went to her room, wrote a cheque for three months' wages and +returned with it. "Take this and go," she said. "And be kind enough not +to look upon the amount as a bribe. The position of housekeeper is not +an easy one to find, and I do not wish to think of any one in distress." + + + + +XVI + + + +Miss Trumbull left that afternoon, and although Betty half expected the +woman, who had possessed some of the attributes of the villain in the +play, to reappear at intervals in the interest of her role, the grave +might have closed over her for all the sign she gave. But Miss Trumbull +had done enough, and the Fates do not always linger to complete their +work. The housekeeper, with all her self-satisfaction, never would have +thought of calling herself a Fate; but motives are not always +commensurate with results. She was only a common fool, and there were +thousands like her, but her capacity for harm-doing was as far-reaching +as had she had the brain of a genius and the soul of a devil. + +As Emory positively refused to go to Europe until money of his own came +in, although Betty offered to lend him what he needed, and as he was +really well only when in the Adirondacks, and an abrupt move to one of +the hotels would have animated the gossips, it was decided finally that +he and his wife should remain where they were until it was time to +sail. Harriet offered to take charge of the servants until another +housekeeper could be found; and as she seemed anxious to do all she +could to make amends for deceiving her benefactress, Betty let her +assume what would have been to herself an onerous responsibility. After +a day or two of constraint and awkwardness, the little household +settled down to its altered conditions; and in a week everybody looked +and acted much as usual, so soon does novelty wear off and do mortals +readjust themselves. Jack and Harriet seemed happy; but the former, at +least, was too fastidious to vaunt his affections in even the little +public of his lifelong friends. He spent hours swinging in a hammock, +reading philosophy and smoking; occasionally he read aloud to his aunt +and Harriet, and in the afternoon he usually took his wife for a walk. + +Harriet at this period was a curious mixture of humility and pride. She +could not demonstrate sufficiently her gratitude to Betty, but the very +dilation of her nostril indicated gratified ambition. She had held her +head high ever since her marriage; since her acknowledgment by the +world as a wife, her carriage had been regal. Betty gave a luncheon one +day to some acquaintances at the hotel, and when she introduced Harriet +as Mrs. Emory, she saw her quiver like a blooded horse who has won a +doubtful race. + +As for Mrs. Madison, she finished by regarding the whole affair in the +light of a novel, and argued with Betty the possible and probable +results. Her interest in the plot became so lively that she took to +discussing it with Harriet; and although the heroine was grateful at +first for her interest, there came a time when she looked apprehensive +and careworn. Finally she begged Mrs. Madison, tearfully, not to allude +to the subject again, and Mrs. Madison, who was the kindest of women, +looked surprised and hurt, but replied that of course she would avoid +the subject if Harriet wished. + +"It's just this," said Mrs. Emory, bluntly; "the subject is so much on +your mind that I'm in constant terror you'll begin talking of it before +Jack." + +"My dear girl, I never would tell him; for his sake as well as your +own, you can rely on me." + +"I know you would never do it intentionally, ma'am, but I'm scared +you'll do it without thinking; you talk of it so much, more than +anything. The other night when you began to talk of the crime of +miscegenation, I thought I should die." + +"That was very inconsiderate of me. Poor girl, I'll be more careful." +But in her secluded impersonal life few romantic interests entered, and +although she was too courteous to harp upon a painful subject, it was +evident that she avoided it with an effort, and that it dwelt in the +forefront of her mind. One evening after Betty had been playing some of +the old Southern melodies, she caught Jack's hand in hers, and assured +him brokenly that no people on earth were bound together as Southerners +were, and that he must think of her always as his mother and come to +her in the dark and dreadful hours of his life. He pressed her hand, +and continued smoking his cigarette; he never had doubted that his aunt +loved him as a mother. Harriet rose abruptly and left the room. She +returned before long, however, and after that night she never left her +husband alone with Mrs. Madison for a moment. + + + + +XVII + + + +Betty herself was happy again. She hated the dark places of life, and +got away from them and out into the sunshine as quickly as possible. +Although she was too well disciplined to shirk her duty, she did it as +quickly as possible and pushed it to the back of her mind. Jack and +Harriet were married; that was the end of it for the present. Let life +go on as before. She gave several hours of the day to her mother, the +rest to the forest and the lake. When Senator North came up again, she +was her old gay self, the more attractive perhaps for the faint +impression which contact with deep seriousness is bound to leave. If +Jack and Harriet had been safely out of the country, she would have +felt like a Pagan, especially after the Tariff Bill passed and Senator +North came up to stay. + +"I shouldn't have a care in the world," she said to him one morning, +"if I did not know, little as I will permit myself to think of it, that +exposure may come any day. There is only a chance that somebody at St. +Andrew will hear of the marriage and denounce her, but it might happen. +If only they were in Europe! She told me the other night that she knows +she can keep him there, her influence is so great. I hope that is true, +but she cannot make him go till he has his own money to go with." + +"What she means is that he won't leave her. He has her here now and is +in no hurry to move. He should be able to rent his farm. It is a very +good one." "He has rented it for a year--from September. He gets +nothing till then. If pride were not a disease with him, he would let +me advance the money, but he is not as sure as he might be of the man +who has rented the farm and he will not take any risks, I am sorry for +Harriet. She has the idea on her mind now that Molly will blurt it out, +and she has the sort of mind that broods and exaggerates. I sincerely +wish they had got off to Europe undiscovered and sent the news back by +the pilot. I had to speak to Molly once or twice myself; I never knew +her so garrulous about anything." + +Senator North laughed. "You have a great deal of trouble with your +parent," he said. "I fear you have not been firm enough with her in the +past. Will you come into the next lake? I like the fish better there. +You are not to worry about anything, my dear, while we have the +Adirondacks to imagine ourselves happy in." + +"Ar'n't you really happy?" she asked him quickly. + +"Not wholly so," he replied. "But that is a question we are not to +discuss." + + + + +XVIII + + + +Senator North had been formally invited by Mrs. Madison for dinner that +evening, and Betty, who had parted from him just seven hours before, +restrained an impulse to run down the terrace as his boat made the +landing. Emory and Harriet were on the veranda, however, and she +managed to look stately and more or less indifferent at the head of the +steps. There were pillars and vines on either side of her, and bunches +of purple wistaria hung above her head. It was a picturesque frame for +a picturesque figure in white, and a kindly consideration for Senator +North's highly trained and exacting eye kept her immovable for nearly +five minutes. As he reached the steps, however, self-consciousness +suddenly possessed her and she started precipitately to meet him. She +wore slippers with high Louis Quinze heels. One caught in a loosened +strand of the mat. Her other foot went too far. She made a desperate +effort to reach the next step, and fell down the whole flight with one +unsupported ankle twisted under her. + +For a moment the pain was so intense she hardly was aware that Senator +North had his arm about her shoulders while Emory was straightening her +out. Harriet was screaming frantically. She gave a sharp scream herself +as Emory touched her ankle, but repressed a second as she heard her +mother's voice. + +Mrs. Madison stood in the doorway with more amazement than alarm on her +face. + +"Betty?" she cried. "Nothing can have happened to Betty! Why, she has +not even had a doctor since she was six years old." + +"It's nothing but a sprained ankle," said Emory. "For heaven's sake, +keep quiet, Harriet," he added impatiently, "and go and get some hot +water. Let's get her into the house." + +Betty by this time was laughing hysterically. Her ankle felt like a hot +pincushion, and the unaccustomed experience of pain, combined with +Harriet's shrieks, delivered with a strong darky accent, and her +mother's attitude of disapproval, assaulted her nerves. + +When they had carried her in and put her foot into a bucket of hot +water, she forgot them completely, and while her mother fanned her and +Senator North forced her to swallow brandy, she felt that all the +intensity of life's emotions was circumferenced by a wooden bucket. But +when they had carefully extended her on the sofas and Emory, who had a +farmer's experience with broken bones, announced his intention of +examining her ankle at once, Betty with remarkable presence of mind +asked Senator North to hold her hand. This he did with a firmness which +fortified her during the painful ordeal, and Mrs. Madison was not +terrified by so much as a moan. + +"You have pluck!" exclaimed Senator North when Emory, after much +prodding, had announced that it was only a sprain. "You have splendid +courage." + +Emory assured her that she was magnificent, and Betty felt so proud of +herself that she had no desire to undo the accident. + +In the days that followed, although she suffered considerable pain, she +enjoyed herself thoroughly. It was her first experience of being +"fussed over," as she expressed it. She never had had so much as a +headache, no one within her memory had asked her how she felt, and she +had regarded her mother as the centre of the medical universe. Now a +clever and sympathetic doctor came over every day from the hotel and +felt her pulse, and intimated that she was his most important patient. +Mrs. Madison insisted upon bathing her head, Emory and Harriet treated +her like a sovereign whose every wish must be anticipated, even the +servants managed to pass the door of her sitting-room a dozen times a +day. Senator North came over every morning and sat by her couch of many +rose-coloured pillows; and not only looked tender and anxious, but +suggested that the statesman within him was dead. + +"It is hard on you, though," she murmured one day, when they happened +to be alone for a few moments. "Two invalids are more than one man's +portion. And no one ever enjoyed the outdoor life as you do." + +"This room is full of sunshine and fresh air, and I came up here to be +with you. I don't know but what I am heartless enough to enjoy seeing +such an imperious and insolently healthy person helpless for a time, +and to be able to wait on her." + +"I feel as if the entire order of the universe had been reversed." + +"It will do you good. I hope you will have every variety of pleasure at +least once in your life." + +"You are laughing at me--but as I am a truthful person I will confide +to you that I almost hate the idea of being well again." + +"Of course you do. And as for the real invalids they enjoy themselves +thoroughly. The great compensation law is blessed or cursed, whichever +way you choose to look at it." + +"I wonder if you had happened to be unmarried, what price we would have +had to pay." + +"God knows. The compensation law is the most immutable of all the +fates." + +"I have most of the gifts of life,--good looks, wealth, position, +brains, and the power of making people like me. So I am not permitted +to have the best of all. If I could, I wonder which of the others I'd +lose. Probably we'd have an accident on our wedding journey, which +would reduce my nerves to such a state that I'd be irritable for the +rest of my life and lose my good looks and power to make you happy. +It's a queer world." + +He made no reply. + +"What are you thinking of?" she asked, meeting his eyes. + +"That you are not to become anything so commonplace as a pessimist. Get +everything out of the present that is offered you and give no thought +to the future. What is it?" he added tenderly, as the blood came into +her cheeks and she knit her brows. + +"I moved my ankle and it hurt me so!" She moved her hand at the same +time, and he took it, and held it until her brows relaxed, which was +not for some time. + +The best of women are frauds. Betty made that ankle the pivot of her +circle for the rest of the summer. When she wanted to see Senator North +look tender and worried, she puckered her brows and sighed. When she +felt the promptings of her newly acquired desire to be "fussed over," +she dropped suddenly upon a couch and demanded a cushion for her foot, +or asked to be assisted to a hammock. She often laughed at herself; but +the new experience was very sweet, and she wondered over Life's odd and +unexpected sources of pleasure. + + + + +XIX + + + +Senator Burleigh came up for a few days to the hotel before going West, +and Betty, who had anticipated his visit, invited two of the prettiest +girls she knew to assist her to entertain him. They had been at one of +the hotels on the lower lake, and came to her for a few days before +joining their parents. She showed Burleigh every possible attention, +permitting him to eat nothing but breakfast at his hotel; but he did +not see her alone for a moment. When he left, he felt that he had had +three cheerful days among warm and admiring friends, but his +satisfaction was far from complete. + +"Betty," said Senator North, one morning a fortnight later, "how much +do you like Burleigh? If you had not met me, do you think you could +have loved him?" + +"I think I could have persuaded myself that I liked him better than I +ever could have liked anybody; but it would not have been love." + +"Are you sure?" + +"Oh, yes, I am sure! You know that I am sure. It may be possible to +mistake liking for love, but it is not possible to mistake love for +anything else. And you cannot even pretend to believe that I do not +know what love is." + +"Oh, yes," he said softly, "I think you know." He resumed in a moment: +"You are so young--I would leave you in a moment if I thought that you +did not really love me, that you were deluding yourself and wasting +your life. But I believe that you do; and you are happier than you +would be with a man who could give you only the half that you demand. +Marriage is not everything. I love you well enough to make any +sacrifice for you but a foolish one. And I know that there is much less +in the average marriage than in the incomplete relation we have +established. And there is another marriage that is incomparably worse. +I shall never let you go--so long as I can hold you--unless I am +satisfied that it is for your good." + +"If you leave me for any Quixotic idea, I'll marry the first man that +proposes to me," said Betty, lightly. "I am too happy to even consider +such a possibility. There are no to-morrows when to-day is +flawless--Hark! What is that?" + +They were on the upper lake. Over the mountains came the sonorous yet +wailing, swinging yet rapt, intonation of the negro at his hymns. + +"There is a darky camp-meeting somewhere," said Senator North, +indifferently. "I hope they don't fish." + +The fervent incantation rose higher. It seemed to fill the forest, so +wide was its volume, so splendid its energy. The echoes took it up, the +very mountains responded. Five hundred voices must have joined in the +chorus, and even Senator North threw back his head as the columns of +the forest seemed to be the pipes of some stupendous organ. As for +Betty, when the great sound died away in a wail that was hardly +separable from the sighing of the pines, she trembled from head to foot +and burst into tears. + +He took hold of the oars, and rowed out of the lake and down to the +spot where he was in the habit of landing. She had quite recovered +herself by that time, and nodded brightly to him as he handed her the +oars and stepped on shore. + +At the breakfast-table she mentioned casually that there was a negro +camp-meeting in the neighborhood, and that she never had heard such +magnificent singing. She saw an eager hungry flash leap into Harriet's +eyes, but they were lowered immediately. Harriet had lost much of her +satisfied mien in the last few weeks, and of late had looked almost +haggard. But she had fallen back into her old habit of reticence, a +condition Betty always was careful not to disturb. That afternoon, +however, she asked Betty if she could speak alone with her, and they +went out to the summer-house. + +"I want to go to that camp-meeting," she began abruptly. "Betty, I am +nearly mad." She began to weep violently, and Betty put her arms about +her. + +"Is there any new trouble?" she asked. "Tell me and I will do all I can +to help you. Why do you wish to go to this camp-meeting?" + +"So that I can shout and scream and pray so loud perhaps the Lord'll +hear me. Betty, I don't have one peaceful minute, dreading your mother +will tell him, and that if she doesn't that dreadful Miss Trumbull +will. She hated me, and she laughed that dry conceited laugh of hers +when she said good-bye to me. What's to prevent her writing to Jack any +minute? I lost her a good place, and we both insulted her common morbid +vanity. What's to prevent her taking her revenge? Ever since that +thought entered my head it has nearly driven me mad." + +The same thought had occurred to Betty more than once, but she assured +Harriet as earnestly as she could that there was no possible danger, +that the woman was conscientious in her way, and prided herself on +being better than her neighbors. + +"You must put these ideas out of your head," she continued. "Any fixed +idea soon grows to huge proportions, and dwarfs all the other and more +reasonable possibilities. You sail now in a few weeks. Keep up your +courage till then--" + +"That's why I want to go to the camp-meeting. I used to go to them +regularly every year with Uncle, and they always did me good. I'm right +down pious by nature, and I loved to shout and go on and feel as if the +Lord was right there: I could 'most see him. Of course I gave up the +idea of going to camp-meetings after you made a high-toned lady of me, +and I've never sung since you objected that morning; but it's hurt me +not to--_it's all there;_ and if it could come out in camp-meeting +along with all the rest that's torturing me, I think I'd feel better. +You've always been fine and happy, you don't know the relief it is to +holler." + +Betty drew a long breath. "But, Harriet, I thought you did not like +negroes. I don't think any white people are at this camp." + +"I despise them except when they're full of religion, and then we're +all equal. Betty, I must go. Can you think of an excuse to make to +Jack? Couldn't I pretend to stay at the hotel all day?" + +"There is no reason to lie about it. Nothing would induce him to go to +a camp-meeting. But he knows that you are a Methodist, and that you +were raised in the thick of that religion. I will row you to the next +lake to-morrow morning before he is up, and tell him that I am to +return for you. I don't approve of it at all. I think it is a horrid +thing for you to do, if you want to know the truth, and there are +certain tastes you ought to get rid of, not indulge. But if you must +go, you must, I suppose." + + + + +XX + + + +She sent a note over to Senator North that evening, explaining why she +could not meet him in the morning; but as she rowed Harriet up the +lake, she saw him standing on the accustomed spot. He beckoned +peremptorily, and she pulled over to the shore, wondering if he had not +received her note. + +"Will you take me with you?" he asked. "I cannot get a boat, and I +should like to row for you, if you will let me." + +He boarded the boat, and Betty meekly surrendered the oars. She sat +opposite him, Harriet in the bow, and he smiled into her puzzled and +disapproving eyes. But he talked of impersonal matters until they had +entered the upper lake, and explained to Harriet the whereabouts of the +farmhouse whence she might be directed to the camp. Harriet had not +parted her lips since she left home. She sprang on shore the moment +Senator North beached the boat, and almost ran up the path. + + +"Well!" he exclaimed. "Did you suppose that I should allow you to row +through that lane alone? There is no lonelier spot in America; and with +the forest full of negroes--were you mad to think of such a thing?" + +"I never thought about it," said Betty, humbly. "I am not very timid." + +"I never doubted that you would be heroic in any conditions, but that +is not the question. You must not take such risks. I shall return with +you tonight--" + +"And Harriet!" exclaimed Betty, in sudden alarm. "Perhaps we should not +leave her." + +"She will be with the crowd. Besides, it is her husband's place to look +after her. I am concerned about you only. And I certainly shall not +permit you to go to a camp-meeting, nor shall I leave you to take care +of her. So put her out of your mind for the present." + + +And Betty Madison, who had been pleased to regard the world as her +football, surrendered herself to the new delight of the heavy hand. He +re-entered the long water lane in the cleft of the mountain, and she +did not speak for some moments, but his eyes held hers and he knew of +what she was thinking. + +"I wonder if you always will do what I tell you," he said at length. +She recovered herself as soon as he spoke. + +"Too much power is not good for any man! Nothing would induce me to +assure you that you held my destiny in your hands, even did you!" + +His face did not fall. "You are the most spirited woman in America, and +nothing becomes you so much as obedience." + +"Nevertheless--" + +"Nevertheless, you always will do exactly what I tell you." + +"Even if you told me to marry another man?" + +"Ah! I never shall tell you to do that. On your head be that +responsibility." He did not attempt to speak lightly. His face +hardened, and his eyes, which could change in spite of their +impenetrable quality, let go their fires for a moment. + +"Of course, if you wanted to go, I should make no protest. But so long +as you love me I shall hold you--should, if we ceased to meet. And +whatever you do, don't marry some man suddenly in self-defence. No man +ever loved a woman more than I love you, but you can trust me." + +"Ah!" she said with her first moment of bitterness, "you _are_ strong. +And you believe that if you held out your arms to me now, in the depths +of this forest, I would spring to them. I might not stay. I believe, I +hope I never should see you alone again; but-" + +"You are deliberately missing the point," he said gravely. "I am not +willing to pay the price of a moment's incomplete happiness. I have +lived too long for that. And I should not have ventured even so far on +dangerous ground," he added more lightly, "if it were not quite +probable that five hundred people are ranging the forest this minute. +We are later than we were yesterday, and they are not at their hymns. +This evening when we return I shall discuss with you the possible age +of the Adirondacks, or tell you one of Cooper's yarns." She leaned +toward him, her breath coming so short for a moment that she could not +speak. Finally, with what voice she could command she said,-- + +"Then, as we are safe here and you have broken down the reserve for a +moment, let me ask you this: Do you know how much I love you? Do you +guess? Or do you think it merely a girl's romantic fancy--" + +"No!" he exclaimed. "No! No!" This time she did not cower before the +passion in his face. She looked at him steadily, although her eyes were +heavy. "Ah!" she said at last. "I am glad you know. It seemed to me a +wicked waste of myself that you should not. And if you do--the rest +does not matter so much. For the matter of that, life is always making +sport of its ultimates. The most perfect dream is the dream that never +comes true." + +He did not answer for a moment, but when he did he had recovered +himself completely. + +"That is true enough," he said. "We who have lived and thought know +that. But there never was a man so strong as to choose the dream when +Reality cast off her shackles and beckoned. Imagination we regard as a +compensation, not as the supreme gift. The wise never hate it, however, +as the failures so often do. For what it gives let us be as thankful as +the poet in his garret. If we awake in the morning to find rain when we +vividly had anticipated sunshine, it is only the common mind who would +regret the compensation of the dream." + + + + +XXI + + + +Jack had almost finished his breakfast when Betty entered the +dining-room. He looked beyond her with the surprised and sulky frown of +the neglected husband. + +"Where on earth is Harriet?" he asked. "Her natural inclination is to +lie in bed all day. What induced her--" + +"She wanted to go to the camp-meeting," said Betty, not without +apprehension. "You know she always went with her adopted father, who +was a Methodist clergyman--" + +"Great heaven!" Her apprehension was justified. His face was convulsed +with disgust. "My wife at a camp-meeting! And you let her go?" + +"Harriet is not sixteen. And when a person has been brought up to a +thing, you cannot expect her to change completely in a few months. Poor +Harriet lived in a forsaken village where she had no sort of society; I +suppose the camp-meeting was her only excitement. And you know how +emotionally religious the--the Methodists are--You glare at me so I +scalded my throat." + +"I am sorry, and I am afraid I have been rude. But you must--you must +know how distasteful it is for me to think of my wife at a +camp-meeting. Great heaven!" + +"It is even worse than my going over to politics, isn't it? Don't take +it so tragically, my dear. The truth is, I suspect, Harriet worries +about having deceived Molly and me, and the camp-meeting is probably to +the Methodist what the confessional is to the Catholic. Both must ease +one's mind a lot." + +"Harriet will have to ease her mind in some other way in the future. +And it will be some time before I can forget this." "Thank heaven I am +not married. Are you going after her? Shall you march her home by the +ear?" + +"I certainly shall not go after her--that is, if she is in no danger. +Where is this camp-meeting?" + +"Oh, there are five hundred or so of them, and it is near a farmhouse." +It was evident that he had forgotten the colour of the camp. +"Seriously, I would let her alone for to-day. That form of hysteria has +to wear itself out. I did not like the idea of her going, and told her +so, but I saw what it meant to her, and took her. When you get her over +to Europe, settle in some old town with a beautiful cathedral and a +dozen churches, where the choir boys are ducky little things in scarlet +habits and white lace capes, and there are mediaeval religious +processions with gorgeous costumes and solemn chants, and the bells +ring all day long, and there is a service every five minutes with +music, and a blessed relic to kiss in every church. She will be a +Catholic in less than no time, and look back upon the camp-meeting with +a shudder of aristocratic disgust." + +"I hope so. If you will excuse me I will go out and smoke a cigarette." + +She said to Senator North as they approached the head of the lake that +evening, "A tempest is brewing in our matrimonial teapot. He looked +ready to divorce her when I told him where she had gone." + +"I hope he won't divorce her when she gets home. Keep them apart if you +can. She has developed more than one characteristic of the race to +which she is as surely forged as if her fetters were visible. If she +has all its religious fanaticism in her, she is quite likely to work up +to that point of hysteria where she will proclaim the truth to the +world." + +"Ah!" cried Betty, sharply. "Why did I not think of that? What a poor +guardian I am! If I had warned her, she never would have gone--but +probably she won't, as we have thought of it. The expected so seldom +happens." + +"Don't count too much on that when great crises threaten," he said +grimly. "The law of cause and effect does not hide in the realm of the +unexpected when intelligent beings go looking for it. To tell you the +truth, I have been apprehensive ever since I saw her face this morning. +All the intelligence had gone out of it. With her race, religion means +the periodical necessity to relapse into barbarism, to act like +shouting savages after the year of civilized restraints. I will venture +to guess that Harriet has forgotten to-day everything she has learned +since she entered your family. Within that sad, calm, high-bred +envelope is--I am afraid--a mind which has the taint of the blood that +feeds it." + +"I have thought that for a long while. Poor thing, why was she ever +born?" + +"Because sin has a habit of persisting, and is remorseless in its +choice of vehicles. I do not see anything of her." + +They waited almost an hour before she came hurrying down the path. She +barely recognized them, but dropped on her seat in the bow and crouched +there, sobbing and groaning. + +It was a cheerless journey through the forest and down the lake, and +the element of the grotesque did nothing to relieve it. Betty, +distracted at first, soon realized that upon her lay the responsibility +of averting a tragedy, and she ordered her brain to action. She leaned +forward finally and whispered to Senator North: + +"Row me to my boat-house and I will ask Jack to row you home. He is too +courteous to suggest sending a servant if I make a point of his taking +you." + +He nodded. She saw the confidence in his eyes, and even in that hour of +supreme anxiety her mind leapt forward to the winning of his approval +as the ultimate of her struggle to save the happiness of two human +beings who were almost at her mercy. + +Jack was walking on the terrace. Betty called to him, and he consented +with no marked grace to be boatman. He had taken the oars before he +noticed that his wife, whom he was not yet ready to forgive, was being +hurried off by his cousin. + +"Mrs. Emory is very tired and her head aches," said Senator North. +"Miss Madison is anxious to get her into bed. Can't you dine with me +to-night? It would give me great pleasure, and men are superfluous, I +have observed, when women have headaches." + +And Jack, who was not sorry to punish his wife, accepted the invitation +and did not return home till midnight. + + + + +XXII + + + +Betty took Harriet to her own room and put her to bed. She had dinner +for both sent upstairs, but Harriet would not eat; neither would she +speak. She lay in the bed, half on her face, as limp as the newly dead. +Occasionally she sighed or groaned. Betty tried several times to rouse +her, but she would not respond. Finally she shook her. + +"You shall listen," she said sternly. "As you seem to have left your +common-sense up there with those negroes, you are not to leave this +room until you have recovered it--until I give you permission. Do you +understand?" She had calculated upon striking the slavish chord in the +demoralized creature, and her intelligence had acted unerringly. +Harriet bent her head humbly, and muttered that she would do what she +was told. + +When Betty heard Jack return, she went out to meet him, locking the +door behind her. + +"Harriet is with me for to-night," she said. "She needs constant care, +for she is both excited and worn out; and as you still are angry with +her--" + +"Oh, I am sorry if she is really ill, and I will do anything I can--" + +"Then leave her with me for to-night. You know nothing about taking +care of women." + +Jack, who was sleepy and still sulky, thanked her and went off to his +room. She returned to Harriet, who finally appeared to sleep. + +Betty took the key from the door and put it in her pocket, then lay +down on the sofa to sleep while she could: she anticipated a long and +difficult day with Harriet. She was awakened suddenly by the noise of a +door violently slammed. Immediately, she heard the sound of running +feet. + +She looked at the bed. Harriet was not there. A draught of cold air +struck her, and she saw a curtain flutter. She ran to the window. It +was open. She stepped out upon the roof of the veranda, and went +rapidly round the corner to Emory's room. One of the windows was open. +Betty looked up at the dark forest behind the lonely house and caught +her breath. What should she see? But she went on. A candle burned in +the room. Harriet sat on a chair in her nightgown, her black hair +hanging about her. + +"I told him," she said, in a hollow but even voice. "I was drunk with +religion, and I told him. I didn't come to my senses till I looked +up--I was on the floor--and saw his face. He has gone away." + +"What did he say?" + +"Nothing. Not a word." + +She drew a long sigh. "I'm so tired," she said. "I reckon I'll go to +bed." + + + + +XXIII + + + +For four days they had no word from Jack Emory. Harriet slept late on +the first day. When she awoke she was an intelligent being again, and +strove for the controlled demeanor which she always had seemed to feel +was necessary to her self-respect. But more than once she let Betty see +how nervous and terrified she was. + +"I am sure he will come back," she said, with the emphasis of +unadmitted doubt. "Sure! He adores me. Of course he would not have +married me if he had known, but that is done and cannot be undone. When +he realizes that, he will come back, for he loves me. We are bound +together and he will return in time." + +Betty, who scarcely left her, gave her what encouragement she could. +Men were contradictory beings. Jack had the fanatical pride and +prejudices of his race, but he was in love. It was possible that after +a few months of loneliness in his old house he would give way to an +uncontrollable longing and send for his wife. She had made inquiries at +the railroad station, and ascertained that he had taken a ticket for +New York. Undoubtedly he had gone on to Washington. + +She reproached herself bitterly for having slept and allowed Harriet to +escape; but Harriet, to whom she did not hesitate to express herself, +shook her head. + +"You could not have stayed awake for twenty-four hours, and I should +have found a chance sooner or later. The idea came to me up there while +I was shouting and nearly crazy with excitement and the excitement of +all those half-mad negroes in that wild forest,--the idea came to me +that I must tell him, and I believed that it came straight from the +Lord. It seemed to me that He was there and told me that was my only +hope,--to tell him myself before he found it out from your mother or +Miss Trumbull. The idea never left me for a minute; it possessed me. I +was so afraid you wouldn't have waited when I found out I was +late,--that they would tell him before I got home. But I wanted to tell +him alone. When you ordered me not to leave the room, I felt like I +wanted to do anything you told me, but when I found you'd gone to +sleep, I felt like I couldn't wait another minute. I crawled out of the +window and went to him. And perhaps I did right. I can't think it +wasn't an inspiration to confess and be forgiven before he found out +for himself." + +Betty was in the living-room with Senator North when a letter from Jack +Emory was brought to her. With it, also bearing the Washington +postmark, was another, directed in an unfamiliar and illiterate hand. +Betty, cold with apprehension, tore open Emory's letter. It read:-- + +Dear Betty,--You know, of course, that my wife confessed to me the +terrible fact that she has negro blood in her veins. My one impulse +when she told me was to get back to my home like a beaten dog to its +kennel. I did little thinking on the train; whether I talked to people +or whether I was too stupefied to think, I cannot tell you. But here I +have done thinking enough. At first I hated, I loathed, I abhorred her. +I resolved merely never to see her again, to ask you to send her to +Europe as quickly as possible, to threaten her with exposure and arrest +if she ever returned. But, Betty, although I have not yet forgiven her, +although the thought of her awful hidden birthmark still fills me with +horror and disgust, I know the weakness of man. The marriage is void +according to the laws of Virginia, and I know that if I returned to her +she would insist upon remarriage in a Northern State--and I might +succumb. And rather than do that, rather than dishonour my blood, +rather than do that monstrous wrong, not only to my family but to the +South that has my heart's allegiance--as passionate an allegiance as if +I had fought and bled on her battlefields--I am going to kill myself. + +Do not for a moment imagine, Betty, that I hold you to account. I can +guess why you did not warn me in the beginning, why you did not tell me +when it was too late. Would that I had gone on to the end faithful to +my ideal of you! My lonely years in this old house were brightened and +made endurable with the mere thought of you. But man was not made to +live on shadows, and I loved again, so deeply that I dare not trust +myself to live. + +I send her only one message--she must drop my name. She has no legal +title to it according to the laws of Virginia; the marriage would be +declared void were it known that she had black blood in her. I would +spare her shame and exposure, but she shall not bear my name, and it is +my dying request that you use any means to make her drop it. Good-bye. + JACK EMORY. + +Betty thrust the letter into Senator North's hand. "Read it!" she said. +"Read it! Oh, do you suppose he has--" + +Her glance fell on the other letter and she opened it with heavy +fingers. It read:-- + +Mis Betty,--Marse Jack done shot himself. He tole me not to telegraf. +Yours truly, + JIM. + +Betty stood staring at Senator North as he read Jack's letter. When he +had finished it, she handed him the other. He read it, then took her +cold hands in his. + +"You must tell her," he said. "It is a terrible trial for you, but you +must do it." + +"Ah!" she cried sharply. "I believe you are thinking of me only, not of +that poor girl." + +"My dear," he said, "that poor creature was doomed the moment she +entered the world. No amount of sympathy, no amount of help that you or +I could give her would alter her fate one jot. For all the women of +that accursed cross of black and white there is absolutely no hope--so +long as they live in this country, at all events. They almost +invariably have intelligence. If they marry negroes, they are +humiliated. If they pin their faith to the white man, they become +outcasts among the respectable Blacks by their own act, as the act of +others has made them outcasts among the Whites, Their one compensation +is the inordinate conceit which most of them possess. Do not think I am +heartless. I have thought long and deeply on the subject. But no +legislation can reach them, and the American character will have to be +born again before there is any change in the social law. It is one of +those terrible facts of life that rise isolated above the so-called +problems. If Harriet lives through this, she will fall upon other +miseries incidental to her breed, as sure as there is life about us, +for she has the seeds of many crops within her. So it is true that all +my concern is for you. In a way I helped to bring this on you; but you +did what was right, and I have no regrets. And you must think of me as +always beside you, not only ready to help you, but thinking of you +constantly." + +She forgot Harriet for the moment. "Oh, I do," she said, "I do! I +wonder what strength I would have had through this if you had not been +behind me." + +"You are capable of a great deal, but no woman is strong enough to +stand alone long. Send for Harriet to come here. I don't wish you to be +alone with her when she hears this news." + +Betty rang the bell, and sent a servant for Harriet. She put Emory's +letter in her pocket. + +"I shall not give her that terrible message of his until she quite has +got over the shock of his death," she said. "Let her be his widow for a +little while. Then she can go to Europe and resume her own name. She +soon will be forgotten here." + +Harriet came in a few moments. She barely had sat down since she had +risen after a restless night. But she had refused to talk even to +Betty. As she entered the room and was greeted by one of those silences +with which the mind tells its worst news, she fell back against the +door, her hands clutching at her gown. Betty handed her the servant's +letter. + +She took it with twitching fingers, and read it as if it had been a +letter of many pages. Then she extended her rigid arms until she looked +like a cross. + +"Oh!" she articulated. "Oh! Oh!" + +But in a moment she laughed. "I don't feel surprised, somehow," she +said sullenly. "I suppose I knew all along he'd do it. Every day that I +live I'll curse your unjust and murderous race while other people are +saying their prayers. May the black race overrun the world and taint +every vein of blood upon it. For me, I accept my destiny. I'm a pariah, +an outcast. I'll live to do evil, to square accounts with the race that +has made me what I am. I'll go back to that camp, and leave it with +whatever negro will have me, and when I'm so degraded I don't care for +anything, I'll go out and ruin every white man I can. I'll keep the +money you gave me, so that I'll be able to do more harm--" + +"You can go," said Betty, "but not yet. You shall go with me first and +bury your husband. If you attempt to escape until I give you +permission, I shall have you locked up. I shall take two menservants +with us. Now come upstairs with me and pack your portmanteau." + +She slipped her hand into Senator North's. "Good-bye," she said +hurriedly. "I shall return Friday night. Please come over Saturday +morning." + +Harriet preceded Betty upstairs, and obeyed her orders sullenly. Betty +locked her in her room, and went to break the news to her mother. Mrs. +Madison received it without excitement, remarking among her tears that +it was one of the denouements she had imagined, and that on the whole +it was the best thing he could have done. She consented to go with her +maid to the hotel till Friday, and the party left for Washington that +evening. + + + + +XXIV + + + +They returned late on Friday night. As Betty had anticipated, Harriet's +exhausted body had not harboured a violent spirit for long. When they +arrived in New York, she bought herself a crape veil reaching to her +toes, and when she entered the dilapidated old house where her husband +lay dead, she began to weep heavily. Her tears scarcely ceased to flow +until she had started on her way to the mountains again, and, hot as it +was, she never raised her veil during the nine hours' train journey +from New York to the lake, except to eat the food that Betty forced +upon her. + +Mrs. Madison had returned, and Betty, after telling her those details +of the funeral which elderly people always wish to know, went to her +room, for she was tired and longed for sleep. But Harriet entered +almost immediately and sat down. She barely had spoken since Monday; +but it was evident that she was ready to talk at last, and Betty +stifled a yawn and sat upon the edge of her bed. Harriet was a delicate +subject and must be treated with vigilant consideration, except at +those times where an almost brutal firmness was necessary. She looked +sad and haggard, but very beautiful, and Betty reflected that with her +voice she might begin life over again, and in a public career forget +her brief attempt at happiness. If she failed, it would be because +there was so little grip in her; Nature had been lavish only with the +more brilliant endowments. + +"Betty," she began, "I want to tell you that I'm sorry I said those +dreadful words when I learned he was dead. But suspense and the doubt +that had begun to work had nearly driven me crazy. I don't mind saying, +though, that I wish I had kept on meaning them, that I could do what I +said I'd do, for I meant them then--I reckon I did! But I haven't any +backbone, my will is a poor miserable weak thing that takes a spurt and +then fizzles out. And I'd rather be good than bad. I reckon that has +something to do with it. I'd have gone to the bad, I suppose, if you +hadn't taken hold of me; I'd have just drifted that way, although I +liked teaching Sunday-school, and I liked to feel I was good and +respectable and could look down on people that were no better than they +should be. And now that I've been living with such respectable and +high-toned people as you all are, I don't think I could stand niggers +and poor white trash again--" + +"I am sure you will be good," interrupted Betty, encouragingly. "And +you owe him respect. Don't forget that, and make allowances for him." + +"Ah, yes!" Her face convulsed, but she calmed herself and went on. +"You will never know how I loved him. I was proud enough of the name, +but I worshipped him; and he killed himself to get rid of me! Oh, yes, +I'll make allowances, for I killed him as surely as if I had pulled +that trigger--" "Put the heavier blame on those that went before you," +said Betty, with intent to soothe. "You did wrong in deceiving him, but +helpless women should be forgiven much that they do, in their desperate +battle with Circumstance. Think of it as a warning, but not as a +crime." Don't let _anything_ make you morbid. Life is full of pleasure. +Go and look for it, and put the past behind you." + +Harriet shook her head. "I am not you," she said. "I am _I_. And I feel +as if there was a heavy hand on my neck pressing me down. If I should +live to be a toothless old woman, I should never feel that I had any +right to be happy again. Heaven knows what I might be tempted to do, +but I should laugh at myself for a fool, all the same." + +The colour rushed over her face, but she continued steadily: "There's +something else I must tell you before I can sleep to-night. I've read +his letter to you. I knew he'd written it, and down there while you +were asleep I took it out of your pocket and read it. It was I who +suggested going over to Virginia, for I was afraid some newspaper would +get hold of it if we were married in Washington, where he was so well +known. I didn't know there was such a law in Virginia. So, you see, the +Lord was on his side a little. I don't bear his name. I'm as much of an +outcast as the vengeance of a wronged man could wish--" + +"I am sure he thought of you kindly at the last, and I never shall +think of you in that--that other way. You must go to Europe and begin +life over again." + +Harriet rose and kissed Betty affectionately. "Good-night," she said. +"You are just worn out, and I have kept you up. But I felt I wanted to +tell you--and that no matter how ungrateful I sometimes appear I always +love you; and I'd rather be you than any one in the world, because +you're so unlike myself." + +Betty went with her to the door. "Go to sleep," she said. "Don't lie +awake and think." + +"Oh, I will sleep," she said. "Don't worry about that." + + + + +XXV + + + +Betty slept late on the following morning, but arose as soon as she +awoke and dressed herself hurriedly. Senator North was an early +visitor. Doubtless he was waiting for her on the veranda. + +She ran downstairs, feeling that she could hum a tune. The morning was +radiant, and for the last five days it had seemed to her that the +atmosphere was as black as Harriet's veil. She wanted the fresh air and +the sunshine, the lake and the forest again. She wanted to talk for +long hours with the one man who she was sure could never do a weak or +cowardly act. She wanted to feel that her heavy responsibilities were +pushed out of sight, and that she could live her own life for a little. + +She almost had reached the front door when a man sprang up the steps +and through it, closing it behind him. It was John, the butler, and his +face was white. + +"What is it?" she managed to ask him. "What on earth has happened now?" +"It's Miss Walker, Miss. They found her three hours ago--on the lake. +The coroner's been here. They're bringing her in. I told them to take +her in the side door. I hoped we'd get her to her room before you come +down. I'll attend to everything, Miss." + +Betty heard the slow tramp of feet on the side veranda. It was the most +horrid sound she ever had heard, and she wondered if she should cease +to hear it as long as she lived. She went into the living-room and +covered her face with her hands. She had not cried for Jack Emory, but +she cried passionately now. She felt utterly miserable, and crushed +with a sense of failure; as if all the wretchedness and tragedy of the +past fortnight were her own making. Two lives had almost been given +into her keeping, and in spite of her daring and will the unseen forces +had conquered. And then she wondered if the water had been very cold, +and shivered and drew herself together. And it must have been horribly +dark. Harriet was afraid of the dark, and always had burned a taper at +night. + +She heard Senator North come up the front steps and knock. As no one +responded, he opened the door and came into the living-room. + +"I have just heard that she has drowned herself," he said; and if there +was a note of relief in his voice, Betty did not hear it. She ran to +him and threw herself into his arms and clung to him. + +"You said you would," she sobbed. "And I never shall be in greater +grief than this. I feel as if it were my entire fault, as if I were a +terrible failure, as if I had let two lives slip through my hands. Oh, +poor poor Harriet! Why are some women ever born? What terrible purpose +was she made to live twenty-four wretched years for? You wanted me to +become serious. I feel as if I never could smile again." + +He held her closely, and in that strong warm embrace she was comforted +long before she would admit; but he soothed her as if she were a child, +and he did not kiss her. + + + + + +_Part III_ + +_The Political Sea Turns Red_ + + + + +I + + + +Betty Madison arrived in Washington two days before Christmas, with the +sensation of having lived through several life-times since Lady Mary's +car had left the Pennsylvania station on the fourteenth of March; she +half expected to see several new public buildings, and she found +herself wondering if her old friends were much changed. + +People capable of the deepest and most enduring impressions often +receive these impressions upon apparently shallow waters. They feel the +blow, but it skims the surface at the moment, to choose its place and +sink slowly, surely, into the thinking brain. + +Betty's immediate attitude toward the tragic fact of Harriet's death +was almost spectacular. She felt herself the central figure in a +thrilling and awful drama, its horror stifling for a moment the hope +that the man whose footsteps followed closely upon that tramping of +heavy feet would fulfil his promise and take her in his arms. And when +he did her sense of personal responsibility left her, as well as her +clearer comprehension of what had happened to bring about this climax +so long and so ardently desired. + +But she had not seen Senator North since the day following the funeral. +Mrs. Madison had announced with emphasis that she had had as much as +she could stand and would not remain another day in the Adirondacks; +she wanted Narragansett and the light and agreeable society of many +Southern friends who did not have frequent tragedies in their families. +Betty telegraphed for rooms at one of the large hotels at the Pier, and +thereafter had the satisfaction of seeing her mother gossip contentedly +for hours with other ladies of lineage and ante-bellum reminiscences, +or sit with even deeper contentment for intermediate hours upon the +veranda of the Casino. When she herself was bored beyond endurance, she +crossed the bay and lunched or dined in Newport, where she had many +friends; and she spent much time on horseback. When the season was +over, they paid a round of visits to country houses, and finished with +the few weeks in New York necessary for the replenishment of Miss +Madison's wardrobe. She had hoped to reach Washington for the opening +of Congress, but her mother had been ill, prolonging the last visit a +fortnight, and gowns must be consulted upon, fitted and altered did the +world itself stand still. And this was the one period of mental rest +that Betty had experienced since her parting from Senator North. + +She had been much with people during these five months, seeking and +finding little solitude, and few had found any change in her beyond a +deeper shade of indifference and more infrequent flashes of humour. She +permitted men to amuse her if she did not amuse them, to all out-door +sports she was faithful, and she read the new books and talked +intelligently of the fashions. When the conversation swung with the +precision of a pendulum from clothes and love to war with Spain, her +mind leapt at once to action, and she argued every advocate of war into +a state of fury. She had responded heavily to the President's appeal in +behalf of the reconcentrados, but her mind was no longer divided. The +failure of the belligerency resolutions to reach the attention of the +House during the Extra Session of Congress had rekindled the war fever +in the country; and the constant chatter about the suffering Cuban and +the duty of the United States, the black iniquity of the Speaker and +the timidity of the President, were wearying to the more evenly +balanced members of the community. "You say that we need a war," said +Betty contemptuously one day, "that it will shake us up and do us good. +If we had fallen as low as that, no war could lift us, certainly not +the act of bullying a small country, of rushing into a war with the +absolute certainty of success. But we need no war. American manhood is +where it always has been and always will be until we reach that pitch +of universal luxury and sloth and vice which extinguished Rome. Those +commercial and financial pursuits should make a man less a man is the +very acme of absurdity. If our men were drawn into a righteous war +to-morrow or a hundred years hence, they would fight to the glory of +their country and their own honour. But if they swagger out to whip a +decrepit and wheezy old man, when the excitement is over they will wish +that the whole episode could be buried in oblivion. And I would be +willing to wager anything you like that if this war does come off, so +false is its sentiment that it will not inspire one great patriotic +poem, nor even one of merit, and that the only thing you will +accomplish will be to drag Cuba from the relaxing clutches of one +tyrant and fling her to a horde of politicians and greedy capitalists." + +But, except when politics possessed it, her brain seldom ceased, no +matter how crowded her environment, from pondering on the events of the +summer, and pondering, it sobered and grew older. She had engaged in a +conflict with the Unseen Forces of life and been conquered. She had +been obliged to stand by and see these forces work their will upon a +helpless being, who carried in solution the vices of civilizations and +men persisting to their logical climax, almost demanding aloud the +sacrifice of the victim to death that this portion of themselves might +be buried with her. Despite her intelligence, nothing else could have +given her so clear a realization of the eternal persistence of all +acts, of the sequential symmetrical links they forge in the great chain +of Circumstance. It was this that made her hope more eager that the +United States would be guided by its statesmen and not by hysteria, and +it was this that made her think deeply and constantly upon her future +relation with Senator North. + +The danger was as great as ever. Her brain had sobered, but her heart +had not. Separation and the absence of all communication--they had +agreed not to correspond--had strengthened and intensified a love that +had been half quiescent so long as its superficial wants were +gratified. Troubled times were coming when he would need her, would +seek her whenever he could, and yet when their meetings must be short +and unsatisfactory. When hours are no longer possible, minutes become +precious, and the more precious the more dangerous. If she were older, +if tragedy and thought had sobered and matured her character, if she +were deprived of the protection of the lighter moods of her mind, would +not the danger be greater still? The childish remnant upon which she +had instinctively relied had gone out of her, she had a deeper and +grimmer knowledge of what life would be without the man who had +conquered her through her highest ideals and most imperious needs; and +of what it would be with him. + +She had no intention of making a problem out of the matter, constantly +as her mind dwelt upon the future. Senator North had told her once that +problems fled when the time for action began. She supposed that one of +two things would happen after her return to Washington: great events +would absorb his mind and leave him with neither the desire nor the +time for more than an occasional friendly hour with her; or after a +conscientious attempt to take up their relationship on the old lines +and give each other the companionship both needed, all intercourse +would abruptly cease. + + + + +II + + + +"I am going to have my _salon,_ or at all events the beginning of it, +at once," said Betty to Sally Carter on the afternoon of her arrival, +"and I want you to help me." + +"I am ready for any change," said Miss Carter. Her appearance was +unaltered, and she had spoken of Emory's death without emotion. Whether +she had put the past behind her with the philosophy of her nature, or +whether his marriage with a woman for whose breed she had a bitter and +fastidious contempt had killed her love before his death, Betty could +only guess. She made no attempt to learn the truth. Sally's inner life +was her own; that her outer was unchanged was enough for her friends. + +"I am going to give a dinner to thirty people on the sixth of January. +Here is the list. You will see that every man is in official life. +There are eight Senators, five members of the House, the British +Ambassador, and the Librarian of Congress. Some of them know my desire +for a _salon_ and are ready to help me. I shall talk about it quite +freely. In these days you must come out plainly and say what you want. +If you wait to be too subtle, the world runs by you. I am determined to +have a _salon,_ and a famous one at that. This is an ambitious list, +but half-way methods don't appeal to me." + +"Nobody ever accused you of an affinity for the second best, my dear; +but you may thank your three stars of luck for providing you with the +fortune and position to achieve your ambitions: beauty and brains alone +wouldn't do it. Senator North," she continued from the list in her +hand: "Mrs. North is wonderfully improved, by the way; has not been so +well in twenty years. Senator Burleigh: he is out flat-footed against +free silver since the failure of the bi-metallic envoys, and his State +is furious. Senator Shattuc is for it, so they probably don't speak. +Senator Ward might be induced to fall in love with Lady Mary and turn +his eloquence on the Senate in behalf of a marriage between Uncle Sam +and Britannia. There is no knowing what your _salon_ may accomplish, +and that would be a sight for the gods. Senator Maxwell will inveigh in +twelve languages against recognizing the belligerency of the Cubans. +Senator French will supply the distinguished literary element. Senator +March represents the conservative Democrat who is too good for the +present depraved condition of his State. If you want to immortalize +yourself, invent a political broom. Senator Eustis: he thinks the only +fault with the Senate is that it is too good-natured and does not say +No often enough. Who are the Representatives? The only Speaker, the +immortal Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means--don't place me +near him, for I've just paid a hideous bill at the Custom House and I'd +scratch his eyes out. Mr. Montgomery: he and Lady Mary are getting +almost devoted. Trust a clever woman to pinch the memory of any other +woman to death. The redoubtable Mr. Legrand, also of Maine, upon whom +the shafts of an embittered minority seem to fall so harmlessly; and +Mr. Armstrong--who is he? I thought I knew as much about politics as +you, by this time, but I don't recall his name." + +"I met him at Narragansett, and had several talks with him. He is a +Bryanite, but very gentlemanly, and his convictions were so strong and +so unquestionably genuine that he interested me. I want the best of all +parties. We can't sit up and agree with each other." + +"Don't let that worry you, darling. Mr. North has been contradicting +everybody in the Senate for twenty years. Your devoted Burleigh +quarrels with everybody but yourself. Mr. Maxwell snubs everybody who +presumes to disagree with him, and French is so superior that I long +for some naughty little boys to give him a coat of pink paint. Your +_salon_ will probably fight like cats. If the war cloud gets any +bigger, your mother will go to bed early on _salon_ nights and send for +a policeman. I look forward to it with an almost painful joy. I want to +go in to dinner with Mr. March, by the way. He is the noblest-looking +man in Congress--looks like what the statues of the founders of the +Republic would look like if they were decently done. I'll paint the +menu cards for you, and I'll wear a new gown I've just paid +ninety-three dollars duty on--I certainly shall tear out the eyes of +'the honourable gentleman from Maine.'" + + + + +III + + + +When Sally had gone, after an hour of consultation on the various +phases of the dinner, Betty sat for some moments striving to call up +something from the depths of her brain, something that had smitten it +disagreeably as it fell, but sunk too quickly, under a torrent of +words, to be analyzed at the moment. It had made an extremely +unpleasant impression;--painful perhaps would be a better word. + +In the course of ten minutes she found the sentence which had made the +impression: "Mrs. North is wonderfully improved, by the way; has not +been so well in twenty years." + +The words seemed to hang themselves up in a row in her mind; they +turned scarlet and rattled loudly. Betty made no attempt to veil her +mental vision; she stared hard at the words and at the impression they +had produced. Mrs. North was out of danger, and the fact was a bitter +disappointment to her. In spite of the resolute expulsion of the very +shadow of Mrs. North from her thought, her sub-consciousness had +conceived and brought forth and nurtured hope. What had made her +content to drift, what had made her look with an almost philosophical +eye on the future, was the unadmitted certainty that in the natural +course of events a woman with a shattered constitution must go her way +and leave her husband free. Had he thought of this? He must have, she +concluded. She was beginning to look facts squarely in the face; it was +an old habit with him, older than herself. There never was a more +practical brain. + +For the first time in her life she almost hated herself. She had done +and felt many things which she sincerely regretted, but this seemed +incomparably the worst. And despite her protest, her bitter +self-contempt, the sting of disappointment remained; she could not +extract it. + +She went out and walked several miles, as she always did when nervous +and troubled. She came to the conclusion that she was glad to have +heard this news to-day. She and Senator North were to meet in the +evening for the first time in five months. She had looked forward to +this meeting with such a mingling of delight and terror that several +times she had been on the point of sending him word not to come. But +the impression Sally's information had made had hardened her. She was +so disappointed in herself, so humiliated to find that a mortal may +fancy himself treading the upper altitudes, only to discover that the +baser forces in the brain are working independently of the will, that +she felt in anything but a melting mood. She knew that this mood would +pass; she had watched the workings of the brain, its abrupt transitions +and its reactions, too long to hope that she suddenly had acquired +great and enduring strength. The future had not expelled one jot of its +dangers, perhaps had supplemented them, but for the hour she not only +was safe from herself, but the necessity to turn him from her door had +receded one step. + +She had intended to receive him in the large and formal environment of +the parlor, but in her present mood the boudoir was safe, and she was +glad not to disappoint him; she knew that he loved the room. And if her +brain had sobered, her femininity would endure unaltered for ever. She +wore a charming new gown of white crepe de chine flowing over a blue +petticoat, and a twist of blue in her hair. She had written to him from +New York when to call, and he had sent a large box of lilies of the +valley to greet her. She had arranged them in a bowl, and wore only a +spray at her throat. Women with beautiful figures seldom care for the +erratic lines and curves of the floral decoration. She heard him coming +down the corridor and caught her breath, but that was all. She did not +tremble nor change colour. + +When he came in, he took both her hands and looked at her steadily for +a moment. They made no attempt at formal greeting, and there was no +need of subterfuge of any sort between them. No two mortals ever +understood each other better. + +"I see the change in you," he said. "I expected it. You have given me a +great deal, and your last survival of childhood was not the least. The +serious element has developed itself, and you look the embodiment of an +Ideal." He dropped her hands and walked to the end of the room. When he +returned and threw himself into a chair, she knew that his face had +changed, then been ordered under control. + +"What shall I talk to you about?" he asked with an almost nervous +laugh. "Politics? Comparatively little happened in the Senate before +the holidays. The President's message was of peculiar interest to me, +inasmuch as it indicated that he is approaching Spain in the right way +and will succeed in both relieving the Cubans and averting war if the +fire-eaters will let him alone. The Cubans probably will not listen to +the offer of autonomy, for it comes several years too late and their +confidence in Spain has gone forever; but I am hoping that while this +country is waiting to see the result, it will come to its senses. The +pressure upon us has been intolerable. Both Houses have been flooded +with petitions and memorials by the thousands: from Legislatures, +Chambers of Commerce, Societies, Churches, from associations of every +sort, and from perhaps a million citizens. The Capitol looks like a +paper factory. If autonomy fails soon enough, or if some new chapter of +horrors can be concocted by the Yellow Press, or if the unforeseen +happens, war will come. The average Congressman and even Senator does +not resist the determined pressure of his constituents, and to do them +justice they have talked themselves into believing that they are as +excited as the idle minds at home who are feeling dramatic and calling +it sympathy. And the average mind hates to be on the unpopular side. + +"Forgive me if I am bitter," he said, standing up suddenly and looking +down on her with a smile, "but a good many of us are, just now. We +can't help it. A great and just war would be met unflinchingly and with +all pride; but the prospect of this hysterical row between a bull pup +and a senile terrier fills us with impatience and disgust. The +President must feel that he is expiating all the sins of the human +race. The only man in the United States to be envied, so far, is the +Speaker of the House; it is almost a satisfaction to think that he +looks like the monument he is; and for the time being his importance +overshadows the President's. If the President can hold on, however, he +will negotiate Spain out of this hemisphere in less than a year." + +"I knew you were worried about it," she said softly. "I felt that so +keenly that I never lost an opportunity to war against the war. I made +enemies right and left, and acquired a reputation for heartlessness." + +"Our minds are much alike," he said, staring down at her and dropping +his voice for a moment. "You may have done it for me, but you are as +sincere as I am. I have stimulated your mind, that is all. How much you +can do here in Washington--among the men who legislate--I cannot say. A +woman who takes a high and definite stand is always an influence for +good; but the women who influence men's votes are not of your type. +They are women who sacrifice anything to gain their ends, or those who +have educated themselves to play upon the vanity and other petty +qualities of men; every peg in their brain is hung with a political +trick. The only men who attract you are too strong to vote under the +influence of any woman, even if they loved her. If Shattuc were not as +obstinate as a mule," he added more lightly, "I should ask you to +convert him to the principles of sound currency. That is another ugly +cloud ahead: there is going to be an attempt made to pass through both +Houses a concurrent resolution advocating the free and unlimited +coinage of silver and to pay the public debt with it. As far as our +honour goes, the passing of such a resolution would affect us as deeply +as if it were to become a law. We should stand before the world as +willing and ready to violate the national honour, ignore our pledges +and recklessly impair our credit. I don't think the resolution will +pass the House, the Republican majority is too strong there, but I am +afraid it will pass the Senate; although we are in the majority, a good +many Republicans are Western men and Silverites. A certain number on +both sides of the Chamber are voting merely to please their +constituents, feeling reasonably sure that the resolution will fail in +the House. They appear to care little for the honour of the Senate; +they certainly have not the backbone to defy their constituents if they +do care for it. To the outside world the Senate is a unit; every +resolution that passes it might come out of one gigantic skull at peace +with itself. This one will be passed by a small majority who have not +imagination enough to read the works of future historians, nor even to +grasp public opinion as unexpressed by their constituents. + +"There is one fact that the second-rate politician never grasps," he +said, walking impatiently up and down; Betty had never seen him so +restless. "That is, that the true American respects convictions; no +matter how many fads he may conceive nor how loud he may clamour for +their indulgence, when his mind begins to balance methodically again, +he respects the man who told him he was wrong and imperilled his own +re-election rather than vote against his convictions. Many a Senator +has lost re-election through yielding to pressure, for elections do not +always occur at the height of a popular agitation; and when men have +had time to cool off and think, they despise and distrust the waverer. +If you will read the biographies in the Congressional Directory, you +will see that with a very few exceptions the New Englanders are the +only men who come back here--to both Houses--term after term. They +practically are here for life; and the reason is that they belong to +the same hard-headed, clear-thinking, unyielding, and puritanically +upright race as the men who elect them to office. They have their +faults, but they represent the iron backbone of this country, and in +spite of fads and aberrations, and gales in general on the political +sea, they will remain the prevailing influence. If I speak seldom in +the Senate, I certainly make a good many speeches to you. But I want +you to understand all I can teach you and to do what you can." + +"Yes," she said, rising abruptly, "I want an object in life, a vital +interest. I need it! A year ago I took up politics out of curiosity and +ennui; to-day they represent a safeguard as well as a necessity. I +cannot write books nor paint pictures; charities bore me and I never +shall marry. My heart must go to the wall, and my brain is very active. +The more one studies and observes politics the more absorbing they +become. But that is only a part of it. I want to be of some use to the +country, to accomplish something for the public good; and it will be a +form of happiness to think that I am working with you--for I certainly +agree with you in all things, whatever the cause. When the time comes +that we meet in public only, I can have that much happiness at least; +and I always shall know where I can help you--" + +"The mere fact that you are alive is help enough--and torment enough. I +shall go now. We have gotten through this first meeting better than I +had hoped." + +They both laughed a little as they shook hands, for politics had +cleared the air. + + + + +IV + + + +He came in again on Sunday, but Burleigh and other men were there; and +as the Senate had adjourned until the fifth, there was no excuse for +him to call at the late hour when she was sure to be alone; so he +dropped in twice to luncheon, and they went for a long walk in Rock +Creek Park afterward. On one of these occasions Sally Carter joined +them; and on the other, although but for the occasional passer-by they +were alone for two hours in the wild beauty of rocky gorges and winter +woods, they talked of war and Spain. He left her at the door. + +On Thursday night she was to have her dinner, and in spite of her +stormy inner life she felt a pleasurable nervousness as the hour +approached; for on its results depended the colour of her future. With +love or without it she had to live on, and if she could see the way to +serve her country, to preserve some of its higher ideals as well as to +win a distinguished position, she had no doubt that in time she should +find resignation. + +All her invitations but one had been accepted: the British Ambassador +was attending a diplomatic dinner, but would come in later. Betty was +not altogether regretful, for the question of precedence, with all her +personages, was sufficiently complicated. The Speaker ranked the +Senators, but there were eight Senators to be disposed of with tact; +they might overlook a mistake, but their wives or daughters would not. + +She had spared no pains to honour her guests. She still scorned the +plutocratic multiplication of flowers until they seemed to rattle like +the dollars they stood for, but the table looked very beautiful, and +the silver and china and crystal had endured through several +generations. Some of it had been used in the White House in the days +when it was an honour to have a President in one's family. Her father's +wine-cellar had been celebrated, and she had employed connoisseurs in +its replenishment ever since the duties of entertaining had devolved +upon her. She also had her own _chef,_ and knew with what satisfaction +he filled the culinary brain-cells of the patient diner out in +Washington. All the lower house was softly lit with candles; except her +boudoir, which was dark and locked. + +She wore a gown of apple-green satin which looked simple and was not. +Mrs. Madison was like an exquisite miniature, in satin of a pinkish +gray hue, trimmed with much Alencon, a collar of diamonds, and a pink +spray in her soft white hair. Her blue eyes were very bright, and there +was a pink colour in her cheeks, but she looked better than she felt. +She was, indeed, hot and cold by turns, and she held herself with a +majesty of mien which only a tiny woman can accomplish. + +Sally Carter was the first to arrive, and looked remarkably well in her +black velvet of Custom House indignities. The Montgomerys followed, and +Lady Mary wore the azure and white in which she appeared harmless and +undiplomatic. No one was more than ten minutes late, and at eight +o'clock the party was seated about the great round table in the +dining-room. + +Senator North sat on Betty's right, Senator Ward on her left. Next to +that astute diplomatist was the lady in azure and white, whom he +admired profoundly and understood thoroughly. She never knew the latter +half of his attitude, however. He was a gallant American, and delighted +to indulge a pretty woman in her fads and ambitions. Mrs. Madison +achieved resignation between the Speaker of the House and Senator +Maxwell, and Sally Carter was paired with Senator March. + +Betty had meditated several hours over the placing of her guests, and +had invited as many pretty and charming women as the matrimonial +entanglements of her statesmen would permit. Fortunately it was early +in the year, and a number of wives had tarried behind their husbands. +The family portraits on the dark old walls had not looked down upon so +brilliant a gathering for half a century, and Betty's eyes sparkled and +she lifted her head, her nostrils dilating. The light in her inner life +burned low, and her brain was luminous with the excitement of the hour. +And as he was beside her, there really was no cause for repining. + +At once the talk was all of war. Washington, like the rest of the +country, did not rise to its highest pitch of excitement until after +the destruction of the _Maine_, but no other subject could hold its +interest for long. In ordinary conditions politics are barely mentioned +when the most political city in the world is in evening dress, but war +is a microbe. + +"I am for it," announced Lady Mary, "if only to give you a chance to +find out whom your friends are." + +"There is nothing in the history of human nature or of nations to +disprove that our friends of to-day may be our enemies of to-morrow," +observed Senator North. + +"I believe you hate England." + +"On the contrary, I am probably the best friend she has in the Senate. +My mission is to forestall the hate which leads so many ardent but +ill-mated couples into the divorce courts." + +"Well, you will see," said Lady Mary, mysteriously. + +"I do not doubt it," said Senator North, smiling. "And we shall be +grateful. If the circumstances ever are reversed, we shall do as much +for her." + +"How much?" + +"That will depend upon the quality of statesmanship in both Houses." + +"I wish you would explain what you mean by that." Lady Mary's wide +voice was too well trained to sharpen. Her cold blue eyes wore the +dreamy expression of their most active moments. + +"I wish I knew whether the statesmen of the future were to be Populists +or Republicans." + +"Well, whatever you mean you have no sentiment." + +"I have no sentimentalism." + +Lady Mary shrugged her shoulders and turned to Senator Ward. She knew +better than to talk politics to him before dinner was two thirds over, +but she bent her pretty head to him, and gave him her distinguished +attentions while he re-invigorated his weary brain. He smiled +encouragingly. + +"The statesmen of the future will be Populists, Senator," announced +Betty's last recruit, a man with a keen sharply cut face and a slightly +nasal though not displeasing voice. He was forty and looked thirty. + +"The Populist will have called himself so many things by that time that +'statesman' will do as well as any other," growled the Speaker. "'The +Statesmen's Party' would sound well, and would be worthy of the noble +pretensions of your leader." + +"Well, they are noble," said Armstrong tartly, but glad of the +opportunity to talk back to the personage who treated him in the House +as a Czar treats a minion. "We are the only party that is ready to +cling to the Constitution as if it were the rock of ages." + +"Well, you've clung so hard you've turned it upside down, and the new +inventions and patent improvements you've stuccoed it with will do for +the 'Statesmen's Party,' but not for the United States--Madam?" + +Mrs. Madison had touched his arm timidly, and asked him if he liked +terrapin. Her colour was deeper, but she exerted herself to keep the +attention of this huge personality whom a poor worm might be tempted to +assassinate. + +Senator Burleigh's voice rose above the chatter. "Who would be a +Western Senator?" he said plaintively. "My colleague and I received a +document today, signed by two thousand of our constituents, the entire +population of an obscure but determined town, in which we were ordered +to acknowledge the belligerency of the Cubans at once or expect to be +tarred and feathered upon our return. The climate of my State is +excellent for consumption, but bad for nerves. Doubtless most of these +men come of good New England stock, whose relatives 'back East' would +never think of doing such a thing; but the intoxicating climate they +have been inhaling for half a generation, to say nothing of the raw +conditions, makes them want to fight creation." + +Senator Maxwell, who had more of the restlessness of youth than the +repose of age, threw back his silver head and gave his little irritated +laugh. "That is it," he said. "It is the lust of blood that possesses +the United States. They don't know it. They call it sympathy; but their +blood is aching for a fight, so that they can read the exciting horrors +of it in the newspapers. You might as well reason with mad dogs." + +"I shall not attempt to reason with my kennel," said Burleigh. "In the +present congested state of the mails this particular memorial has gone +astray." + +"The trials of a Senator!" cried Sally Carter. "Petitions and +lobbyists, election clouds, fractious and dishonest legislatures, +unprincipled bosses and the country gone mad!" + +"I can give you a list as long as my arm," said Senator March, grimly; +"and you may believe it or not, but it is all I can do to walk in my +Committee-room and I haven't a chair to sit on. I live under a +snow-storm of petitions, memorials, and resolutions. I expect to see +them come flying through the window, and I dream of nothing else." + +Betty had taken part in the general conversation until the last few +moments, but as it concentrated on the subject of Cuban autonomy and +her guests ceased to appeal to her, she fell into conversation with +Senator North, who she knew would be willing to dispense with politics +for a few moments. + +"You have no idea how I miss Jack Emory," she said. "He half lived with +us, you know, and I am always expecting to meet him in the hall. When I +was writing my invitations I caught myself beginning a note, 'Dear +Jack.' It is uncanny." + +"It is the only revenge the dead have; and doubtless it is this vivid +after life of theirs in memory that is at the root of the belief in +ghosts. You say that you are going to open your _salon_ every year with +a dinner to the original members. It will be interesting to watch the +two faces in some of the seats--if you attempt to fill the vacant +chairs." + +Betty pressed her handkerchief against her lips, for she knew they had +turned white. She was but twenty-eight, and if her _salon_ was the +success it promised to be she would sit at the head of this table for +twenty-eight years to come, and then have compassed fewer years than +the man beside her. She had refused resolutely to permit her thought to +dwell on the tragic difference in their ages, a difference that had no +meaning now, but would symbolize death and desolation hereafter; but +her mind had moments of abrupt insight that no Will could conquer, and +not long since she had gasped and covered her face with her hands. + +"That was brutal of me," he said hurriedly. "Your dinner is the +brilliant success that it deserves to be, and you should be permitted +to be entirely happy. There is not a bored face, and if they are all +jabbering about the everlasting subject, so much the better for you. It +gives your _salon_ its political character at once; you would have had +a hard time getting them to begin on bimetallism and the census--perish +the thought! Ward is now making Lady Mary think that she is a greater +diplomatist than himself. Maxwell and the Speaker are wrangling across +your mother, who looks alarmed; Burleigh is flirting desperately with +Miss Alice Maxwell, who is purring upon his senatorial vanity; your +Populist is breaking out into the turgid rhetoric of Mr. Bryan; French +has persuaded that charming English girl that he is the most literary +man in America, and Miss Carter is condoling with March about an +ungrateful State. So be happy, my darling, be happy." + +His voice had dropped suddenly. She made an involuntary movement toward +him. + +"I am," she said below her breath. "I am." She added in a moment, "Will +you always come to my Thursday evenings, no matter what happens?" + +"Always." + +He had turned slightly, and one hand was on his knee. She slipped hers +into it recklessly; they were safe in the crowd, and her hand ached for +his. It ached from the grasp it received, for he was a man whose +self-control was absolute or non-existent. But she clung to him as long +as she dared, and when she withdrew her hand she sought for distraction +in her company. + +It looked as gay and happy as if war had been invented to animate +conversation and make a bored people feel dramatic. Death was close +upon the heels of two of the distinguished men present; but even though +the eyes of the soul be raised everlastingly to the world above, they +are blind to the portal. The busy member who had incurred Miss Carter's +disapproval and the brilliant Librarian of Congress were among the +liveliest at the feast. + +It was Senator Ward at one end of the table and Burleigh at the other, +who finally started the topic of Miss Madison's intended _salon_, not +only that those unacquainted with her ambition might be enlightened, +but that the great intention should receive a concrete form without +further delay. A half-hour later, when the women left the table, Betty +had the satisfaction of knowing that whatever the final result of her +venture, her stand was as fully recognized as if she had written a book +and found a publisher and critics to advertise her. + + + + +V + + + +Betty went to the Senate Gallery on the following day at the request of +Armstrong, and heard an exposition of the Populist religion by the +benevolent-looking bore from Nebraska. He was followed by an +arraignment of the "gold standard Administration" and the Republican +Party, from the leading advocate of bimetallism +with-or-without-the-concurrence-of-Europe. The utterances of both +gentlemen were delivered with the repose and dignity peculiar to their +body, and Patriotism and the Constitution would appear to be their +watchword and fetish. Burleigh came up to the gallery as the Silver +Senator sat down, and smiled wearily at Betty's puzzled comments. + +"Of course they sound well," he replied. "In the first place there is +always much to be said on both sides of any question, and a clever +speaker can make his side dwarf the other. And of course no party could +exist five minutes unless it had some good in it. There are several +admirable principles in the Populist creed; there are enough windy +theories to upset the Constitution of which they prate; and, by the +way, the more wrong-headed a would-be statesman is the more +hysterically does he plead for the Constitution. As to the other +Senator--I sympathize as deeply with the farmer as any man, and I hoped +against hope for the success of the bimetallic envoys; but the farmer +is of considerably less importance than the national honour; and if a +man is not statesman enough to take the national view when he comes to +the Senate, he had better stay at home and become a party boss." + +"Are you in trouble at home? I saw that you made a speech just before +you left." + +"They are furious, and elections are imminent; but I never have +believed that it paid in the end to be a politician, and I propose to +hold to that view. If I am not re-elected this time, I will venture to +say that I shall be six years later--" + +"Oh, I should be sorry! I should be sorry! Your heart is in the Senate. +How could you settle down contentedly to practise law in a Western city +for six years?" + +"I certainly should have very little to offer a woman," he said +bitterly. His frank handsome face had lost the expression of gayety +which had sat so gracefully upon the determination of its contours; he +looked harassed and a trifle cynical. "There is only one thing I hate +more than leaving the United States Senate--and God knows I love it and +its traditions: what that is I feel I now have no right--" + +"Oh, yes, you have; for if I loved you I would live at the North Pole +with you, and I hate cold weather. I don't want you to put me in that +sort of position, both for the sake of your own pride and for our +friendship." + +"That is like you, and I shall take you at your word. Perhaps you can +imagine what it cost me to come out and declare myself in a State +howling for Silver, when I knew that to leave Washington meant losing +my chance with you. For if I am not re-elected I must go out there and +stay. I could afford to live here, of course--I hope you know that I +have plenty of money--but my political future is there. Even if you +made it a condition, I should not pull up stakes, for a man who +despised himself for abandoning his ambitions and his power for +usefulness could not be happy with any woman." + +"I should not make such a condition. As I said, I willingly would go +West with you if I loved you." + +"Would to God you did! What I meant was that in going I lose my chance." + +Betty looked at him and shook her head slowly. + +"Yes!" he said. "Yes! Yes! I believe, I know that I could win you with +time. And now that the future looks dark I want you more than ever." + +"Ah, I wish I could love you," she exclaimed fervently. "I have enough +of feminine insight to know that a woman is really happy only when she +is making a man happy, and that she is almost ready to bless the +troubles which give her the opportunity to console him." + +She was looking straight down at Senator North as she spoke. Her voice +was impassioned as she finished, and she forgot the man at her side. +But he never had suspected that she loved another man. His face flushed +and he lowered his head eagerly. + +"Betty!" he said, "Betty! Come to me and I swear to make you happy. You +don't know what love is. You need to be taught. Any man can make a +woman of feeling love him if he loves her enough and she has no +antipathy to him. And there is no reason under heaven why we should not +be happy together." + +There was only one. Betty was convinced of that; and for the moment the +dull ache in her heart prompted her to wish that she never had seen the +man down there listening impassively to remarks on the Immigration +bill. She wanted to be happy, she was made to be happy, and it was easy +to imagine the most exacting woman deeply attached to Robert Burleigh. +What was love that it defied the Will? Why could not she shake up her +brain as one shakes up a misused sofa-cushion and beat it into proper +shape? What was love that persisted in spite of the Will and the +judgment, that came whence no mortal could discover, but an abnormal +condition of the brain, a convolution that no human treatment could +reach? But she only shook her head at Burleigh, although she knew that +it would be wisdom to give him her hand in full view of the stragglers +in the gallery. + +"I must go now," she said. "I have calls to pay. Come and dine with us +to-night. If there is even a chance of our losing you, my mother and I +must have all of you that we can, meanwhile." + + + + +VI + + + +"It is just a year ago to-day, Betty, that you nearly killed me by +announcing your determination to go into politics--or whatever you +choose to call it. I put down the date. A great deal has happened since +then--poor dear Jack! And I often think of that unfortunate creature, +too. But you and I are here in this same room, and I wonder if you are +glad or sorry that you entered upon this eccentric course." + +"I have no regrets," said Betty, smiling. "And I don't think you have. +You like every man that comes here, and while they are talking to you +forget that you ever had an ache. As for me--no, I have no regrets, not +one. I am glad." + +"Well, I will admit that they are much better than I thought. I must +say I never saw a finer set of men than those at your dinner, and I +felt proud of my country, although I was nervous once or twice. I +almost love Mr. Burleigh; so I refrain from further criticism. But, +Betty, there is one thing I feel I must say--" + +She hesitated and readjusted her cushions nervously. Betty looked at +her inquiringly, and experienced a slight chill. She stood up suddenly +and put her foot on the fender. + +"It is this," continued Mrs. Madison, hurriedly. "I think you are too +much with Senator North. He was here constantly before you left +Washington, and of course I know you boated with him a great deal last +summer. Since your return he has been here several times, and you treat +him with twice the attention with which you treat any other man. Of +course I can understand the attraction which a man with a brain like +that must have for you, but there is something more important to be +considered. You have been the most noticeable girl in Washington for +years--in our set--and now that you have branched out in this +extraordinary manner and are even going to have a _salon_, you'll +quickly be the most conspicuous in the other set. Mr. North is easily +the most conspicuous figure in the Senate--a half dozen of your new +friends, including that Speaker, have told me so--and if this +friendship keeps on people will talk, as sure as fate. There is no harm +done yet--I sounded Sally Carter--but there will be. That sort of +gossip grows gradually and surely; it is not like a great scandal that +blazes up and out and that people get tired of; they will get into the +habit of believing all sorts of dreadful things, and they never will +acquire the habit of disbelieving them." + +Betty made no reply. She stood staring into the fire. + +"It would have been more difficult for me to say such a thing to you a +year ago; but you seem a good deal older, somehow. I suppose it is +being so much with men old enough to be your father, and talking +constantly about things that give me the nightmare to think of. And of +course you have had two terrible shocks. But you are so buoyant I hope +you will get over all that in time. Wouldn't you like to go to the +Riviera, and then to London for the season?" + +"And desert my _salon?_" asked Betty, lightly. "You forget this is the +long term. I am praying that summer will come late, so that you can +stay on. It never had occurred to me that any one would notice my +friendship with Mr. North. I hope they will do nothing so silly as to +comment on it." + +"Well, they will, if you are not very careful. And there is no position +in the world so unenviable as that of a girl who gets herself talked +about with a married man. Men lose interest in her and raise their +eyebrows at the clubs when her name is mentioned, and women gradually +drop her. Money and position will cover up a good many indiscretions in +a married woman or a widow, but the world always has demanded that a +girl shall be immaculate; and if she permits Society to think she is +not, it punishes her for violating one of its pet standards. Mr. North +can be nothing to you. The day is sure to come when you will want to +marry. No woman is really satisfied in any other state." + +Betty turned and looked squarely at her mother, who had lost even the +semblance of nervousness in her deep maternal anxiety. + +"Do you believe that I love Mr. North?" + +"Yes, I do. And I know that he loves you. There is no mistaking the way +a man turns to a woman every time she begins to speak. But on that +score I have no fears. I know that you not only must have the high +principles of the women of your race, but that you are too much a +woman-of-the-world to enter upon a _liaison_, which would mean constant +lying, fear, blackmail by servants, and general wretchedness. And I +have perfect faith in him. Even a scoundrel will hesitate a long while +before he makes himself responsible for the future of a girl in your +position, and Mr. North is not a scoundrel but an honourable gentleman. +Moreover he knows that a scandal would ruin him in his Puritanical +State; and he adores his sons, who are prouder of him than if he were +ten Presidents. But the world can talk and continue to talk, and to act +as viciously about an imprudent friendship as about a _liaison_, for it +has no means of proving anything and likes to believe the worst. Now, I +shan't say any more. You are capable of doing your own thinking. Only +do think--please." Betty nodded to her mother, and went to her boudoir +and sat there for hours. Nothing could have put the ugly practical side +of her romance so precisely before her as her mother's black and white +statement, full of the little colloquial phrases with which an +un-ambitious world expresses itself. Even for him, Betty reflected, she +could not endure vulgar gossip, and wondered how any high-bred woman +could for any man. + +"For what else does civilization mean," she thought, "if those of us +that have its highest advantages are not wiser and more fastidious than +the mob? And unless a woman is ready to go and live in a cave, she +cannot be happy in the loss of the world's regard, for it can make her +uncomfortable in quite a thousand little ways. Expediency is the root +of all morality. It is stupid to be unmoral, and that is the long and +the short of it. I would marry him to-morrow if I had to cook for him, +if he were dishonoured by his country, if he were smitten suddenly with +ill-health and never could walk again. I am willing to go through life +alone for his sake, even without seeing him, and after he is dead and +gone. I love him absolutely, and if there is another world I must meet +him there. But I am not willing to become a social pariah on his +account." + +She never had permitted her mind to linger on the practical aspect of a +different relationship, to admit that such a chapter was possible +outside of her imagination, but she did so now, deliberately. She knew +that what her mother had intimated was true, that the happiness to be +got out of it would amount to very little, and that the day would come +when she would say that it was not worth the price. There were many +times when she was not capable of reasoning coldly on this question, +but she had been listening for two hours to Senator French on the +restriction of immigration, and felt all intellect. + +Her mind turned to Harriet. There was a creature foredoomed to +destruction by the forces within her, struggling in vain, assisted and +guarded in vain. Should she, with her inheritance of kindly forces +within and without, deliberately readjust her manifest lines into a +likeness of Harriet Walker's? And she knew that even if she hoodwinked +the world, the miserable deception of it all, the nervous terrors, not +only would wear love down, but shatter her ideals of herself and him. +She would be infinitely more miserable than now. + +It relieved her to have thought that phase out, and she put it aside. +But the other? Must she give him up? What pleasure could she find in +sitting here with him if her mother's apprehensive mind did not leave +the room for a moment? What pleasure if a vulgar world were whispering? +She reflected with some bitterness that one danger was receding. He had +not entered this room since the day of her return. Although he had +called several times, he had come in the evening, when she always sat +with her mother, or in the morning, when Mrs. Madison again was sure to +be present. She knew that he dared not come here, and that it was more +than likely he never would call at the old hour again. + +She realized these two facts suddenly and vividly; her mind worked with +a brutal frankness at times. She began to cry heavily, the tears +raining on her intellectual mood and obliterating it. If she were not +to see him alone again, she might as well ask him to come to the house +on Thursday evenings only, and to show her no attention in public; if +she could not have the old hours again, she wanted nothing less. And +she wanted them passionately; those hours came back to her with a +poignancy of happiness in memory that the present had not revealed, and +the thought that they had gone for ever filled her with a suffocating +anguish that was as complete as it was sudden. She implored him under +her breath to come to her, then prayed that he would not.... + +She became conscious that she was in a mood to take any step, were he +here, rather than lose him; and the mood terrified her. Would the time +come when this intolerable pain would kill every inheritance in her +brain, its empire the more absolute because it made passion itself +insignificant in the more terrible want of the heart? If it did, she +would marry Burleigh. She made up her mind instantly. She would fight +as long as she could, for she passionately desired to live her life +alone with the idea of this man; but if she were not strong enough, she +would marry and bury herself in the West. Nothing but an irrevocable +step would affect a permanent mental attitude, and Burleigh would give +her little time for thought. + + + + +VII + + + +Betty went very often to the Senate Gallery in these days, for it was +the only place where one might have relief from the eternal subject of +Cuba. Although the House broke loose under cover of the Diplomatic and +Consular Appropriation Bill when it was in the Committee of the Whole +and free of the Speaker's iron hand, and raged for two days with the +vehemence of long-repressed passion, the Senate permitted only an +occasional spurt from its warlike members, and pursued its even way +with the important bills before it. But at teas, dinners, luncheons, +and receptions people chattered with amiability or in suavity about the +hostile demonstrations at Havana against Americans, the Spanish +Minister's letter, Spain's demand for the recall of Consul-General Lee, +the dying reconcentrados, the exploits of the insurgents, and the +general possibilities of war. The old Madison house, which had ignored +politics for half a century, vibrated with polite excitement on +Thursday evenings. About a hundred people came to these receptions, +which finished with a supper, and it was understood that the free +expression of opinion should be the rule; consequently several +repressed members of both Houses delivered impromptu speeches, in the +guise of toasts, before that select audience; much to the amusement of +Senator North and the Speaker of the House. Burleigh's was really +impassioned and brilliant; and Armstrong's, if woolly in its phrasing +and Populistic in its length, was sufficiently entertaining. + +As for Mrs. Madison, she became imbued with the fear that war would be +declared in her house. Two Cabinet ministers had been added to the +_salon_, and what they in conjunction with the colossal Speaker and +Senators North and Ward might accomplish if they cared to try, was +appalling to contemplate. She begged Betty to adjourn the _salon_ till +peace had come again. + +But to this Betty would not hearken. It was the sun of her week, +through whose heavy clouds flickered the pale stars of distractions for +which she was beginning to care little. One of life's compensations is +that there is always something ahead, some trifling event of interest +or pleasure upon which one may fix one's eye and endeavour to forget +the dreary tissue of monotony and commonplace between. Betty found +herself acquiring the habit of casting her eye over the day as soon as +she awoke in the morning, and if nothing distracting presented itself, +she planned for something as well as she could. + +She endeavoured to introduce the pleasant English custom of asking a +few congenial spirits to come for a cup of afternoon tea. These little +informal reunions are among the most delightful episodes of London +life, and if established as a custom in Washington would be like the +greenest of oases in the whirling breathless sandstorms of that social +Sahara. But even Betty Madison, strong as she was both in position and +personality, met with but a moderate success. When women have from six +to twenty-five calls to pay every afternoon of the season, with at +least one tea a day besides, they have little time or inclination for +pleasant informalities. Doubtless Miss Madison's friends felt that they +should be relieved of the additional tax. Even the women of the +fashionable set, which includes some of the Old Washingtonians and many +newer comers of equally high degree, and which ignores the official +set, preserve the same ridiculous fashion of calling in person six days +in the week instead of merely leaving cards as in older and more +civilized communities. In London, society has learned to combine the +maximum of pleasure with the minimum of work. Washington society is its +antithesis; and although many of the most brilliant men in America are +in its official set, and the brightest and most charming women in its +fashionable as well as political set, they are, through the exigencies +of the old social structure, of little use to each other. Betty +occasionally managed to capture three or four people who talked +delightfully when they felt they had time to indulge in consecutive +sentences, but as a rule people came on her reception day only, and +many of them walked in at one door of her drawing-room and out at the +other. + +The debate in the Senate on the payment of bonds interested her deeply, +for she knew that it meant days of uneasiness for Senator North, who +rarely was absent from his seat. His brief speech on the subject was +the finest she had heard him make, and although it was bitter and +sarcastic while he was arraigning the adherents of the resolution to +pay the government debt in silver, he became impersonal and almost +impassioned as he argued in behalf of national honesty. + +Betty never had seen him so close to excitement, and she wondered if he +found it a relief to speak out on any subject. But if he ever thought +of her down there he made no sign, for he neither raised his eyes to +the gallery nor did he pay her a second visit in her select but +conspicuous precinct. + +The resolution passed the Senate, and on that evening Senator North +called at the Madison house. It was two weeks since he had called +before, and although he had come to her evenings and they had met at +several dinners, they had not attempted conversation. + +The Montgomery's and Carters had dined at the house, and all were in +the parlour when he arrived. After a few minutes he was able to talk +apart with Betty. They moved gradually toward the end of the room and +sat down on a small sofa. + +"I am glad you came to-night," she said. "It was my impulse to go to +you when I heard how the vote had gone." + +"I knew it," he replied, "and if I could have come straight up here to +the old room, I should have hung up the vote with my overcoat in the +hall." + +He looked harassed, and his eyes, while they had lost nothing of their +magnetic power, were less calmly penetrating than usual. They looked as +if their fires had been unloosed more than once of late and were under +indifferent control. + +"You will not come to that room again!" + +"No. And I soon shall cease to come here at all except on Thursdays." + +"You almost have done that now. I think I get more satisfaction +watching you from the gallery than anything else. You look very calm +and senatorial, and you always are standing some one in a corner who is +trying to make a speech." + +"I am relieved to know that I do not inspire the amazement of my +colleagues. It is a long while since I have felt calm and senatorial, +however. But these are days for alertness of mind, and even the most +distracting of women must be shut up in her cupboard and forgotten for +a few hours every day." + +"I think I rather like that." + +"Of course you do. A woman always likes a strong lover. And you have +plenty of revenge, if you did but know." + +"I know," she said; and as she raised her eyes and looked at him +steadily, he believed her. + +"Tell me at least that you miss coming to that room--I want to hear you +say it." + +"Good God!" + +Betty caught her breath. But when women feel fire between their fingers +and are reckless before the swift approach of a greater wretchedness +than that possessing them, they are merciless to themselves and the man. + +"Can you stay away?" she whispered. "Can you?" + +"It is the one thing I can do." + +"Do you realize what you are saying?--that you have put me aside for +ever? Are you willing to admit that it is all over? How am I to live on +and on and on? Can you fancy me alone next summer in the Adirondacks--" + + +"Hush! Hush! Do you wish me to come? Answer me honestly, without any +feminine subterfuge." + +"No, I do not." "And I should not come if you did, for I know the price +we both should pay better than you do, and only complete happiness +could justify such a step. You and I could find happiness in marriage +only--we both demand too much! But I also know that the higher +faculties of the mind do not always prevail, and I shall not see you +alone again." + +She pushed him further. "You take this philosophically because you have +loved before and recovered. You feel sure that no love lasts." + +"When a man loves as I love you, he has no past. There are no +experiences alive in his memory to help him to philosophy. With the +entire world the last love is the only love. As for myself, I shall not +love again and I shall not recover." + +"I wore white because I knew you would come tonight," she said softly. + +"Yes, and you would torment me if I went down on my knees and begged +for mercy." + +"Senator," said Montgomery, approaching them. "I suppose it is some +satisfaction to you to know that that resolution cannot pass the House." + +"I hope you will make a speech on the subject that will look well in +the Record," said North, with some sarcasm. + +Montgomery laughed. "That is a good suggestion. I wonder if some of our +orators ever read themselves over in cold blood. The back numbers of +the Record ought to be a solemn warning." + +"Unfortunately most people don't know when they have made fools of +themselves; that is one reason the world grows wise so slowly. I don't +doubt your speech will look well. You've been remarkably sane for a +young man of enthusiasms. Reserve some of your logic, however, for the +greater conflict that is coming. The pressure on the President is +becoming very severe, and the worst of it is that a great part of it +comes from Congressmen of his own party." + +"One of our Populists has christened these 'kickers' 'the +reconcentrados;' which is not bad, as there is said to be a kickers' +caucus in process of organization. But if the pressure on the President +is severe, it is equally so on us, and I suppose the 'kickers' are +those who have one knob too few in their backbones. Some, however, have +got the war bee inside their skulls instead of in their hats, and will +be fit subjects for a lunatic asylum if the thing doesn't end soon, one +way or another. And they reiterate and reiterate that they don't want +war, when they know that any determined step we can take is bound to +lead to it. I have no patience with them. They either are fools or are +trying to keep on both sides of the fence at once." + +"Politics are very complicated," said Senator North, dryly. + +"How do you and Mary manage to live in the same house?" asked Betty. +"She is all for war." + +"Oh, I think she rather likes the opportunity to argue. And she is so +divided between the desire for me to be a good American and the desire +that England shall have an excuse to hug us that she could not get into +a temper over it if she tried. She has made no attempt to influence my +course. Heaven knows how much money I've been made to disburse in +behalf of the reconcentrados, but I like women to be tender-hearted and +would not harden them for the sake of a few dollars, even were they +dumped in Havana Harbor--By the way, I wonder if the _Maine_ is all +right down there? She has the city under her guns, and they know it--" + +"Oh, for heaven's sake, don't suggest any new horrors," said Senator +North, rising. "Besides, the Spaniards are not in the final stages of +idiocy. It would be like the New York _Journal_ to blow up the _Maine_, +as it seems to have reached that stage of hysteria which betokens +desperation; but the ship is safe as far as the Spaniards are +concerned." + +Lady Mary rose to go; and Betty, who was informal with her friends, +went out into the hall with her instead of ringing for a servant. +Senator North remained in the parlor for a few moments to say +good-night to Mrs. Madison and the Carters, and Betty, although the +Montgomerys did not linger, waited for him to come out. There was +nothing to reflect the light in the dark walls of the large square +hall, and it always was shadowy, and provocative to lovers at any time. + +When he entered it, he looked at her for a moment without speaking, and +did not approach her. + +"You might be the ghost of another Betty Madison--in that white gown," +he said. "Was there not a famous one in the days of 1812, and did she +not love a British officer--or something of that sort?" + +"They parted here in this hall--and she lived on and died of old age. +Such is life. I sleep in her bed, where, I suppose, she suffered much +as I do." + +She came forward and pushed her hand into his. "I am not a ghost," she +said. + +He too believed it to be their last meeting alone, and he raised her +hand to his lips and held it there. + +"I wish we could have stayed on and on in the Adirondacks," she said +unsteadily. "Everything seemed to go well with us there." + +"People in mid-ocean usually are happy and irresponsible. They would +not be if it were anything but an intermediate state. But it is enough +to know that on land our troubles are waiting for us." + +She shivered and drew closer to him. The dangerous fire in her eyes +faded. + +"Mine are becoming very great," she said. "All I can do is to distract +my mind, to fill up my time." + +"And I can do nothing to help you! That is the tragedy of a love like +ours: the more a man loves a woman he cannot marry the more he must +make her suffer--either way; it is simply a choice of methods, and if +he really loves her he chooses the least complicated." + +"It is bad enough." + +Her eyes filled for the first time in his presence since the morning of +Harriet's death, but her mental temper was very different, and she +looked at him steadily through her tears. + +"_I_ cannot help _you_," she said. "That is the hardest part. You are +harassed in many ways, and you are dreading the bitterness of a greater +defeat than today. I could be so much to you--so much. And I can be +nothing. By that time you will have ceased to come here. I know that +you mean not to come again after to-night, except when the house is +full of company." + +He began to answer, but stopped. She felt his heart against her arm, +and his lips burnt her hand, his eyes her own. + +"Listen," she said rapidly, "if war should be declared I shall be in +the gallery to hear it. I will come straight home and shut myself up in +my boudoir--for hours--to be with you in a way--Shall I? Will--would it +mean anything to you?" + +"Of course it would!" + +His face was fully unmasked, and she moved abruptly to it as to a +magnet. In another moment they were in the more certain seclusion of +the vestibule, and she was in his arms. They clung together with a +passion which despair with ironic compensation made perfect, and their +first kiss which was to be their last expressed for a moment the +longing of the year of their love and of the years that were to come. +That such a moment ever could end was so incredible that when Betty +suddenly found herself alone she looked about in every direction for +him, and then the blood rushed through her in a tide of impotent fury. + +It was this blind rage that enabled her to go back to the parlor and +keep up until the Carters went home a few moments later, and her mother +had gone to bed. Then she went to her boudoir and locked herself in. + +How she got through that night without sending him an imperious summons +she never knew, unless it were that she found some measure of relief in +a letter she wrote to him. If she could not see him, he was still her +lover, her only intimate friend, and her confessor. She promised not to +write again, but she demanded what help he could give her. + +She sent the letter in the morning, and he replied at once:-- + +I know. Do you think it was necessary to tell me? Do you suppose my +mind left you for a moment last night, and that I know and love you so +little that I failed to imagine and understand in a single particular? +If I were less of a man and more of a god, I should go to you and give +you the help you need, but I am only strong enough to keep away from +you. Not in thought, however,--if that is any help. + +We shall meet in public and speak together. I have no desire to forget +you nor that you should forget me. We neither of us shall forget, but +we shall live and endure, as the strongest of us always do. You tell me +that you are tormented by the thought that you have added to my trials. +Remember that all other trials sink into insignificance beside this, +and yet that this greatest that has come to me in a long life is +glorified by the fact of its existence. And if it is almost a relief to +know that I shall not see you alone again, it is a satisfaction and a +joy to remember that I have kissed you. R.N. + + + + +VIII + + + +For a few days Betty was almost happy again. She had come so close to +the nucleus of love that it had warmed her veins and intoxicated her +brain. Imagination for a brief moment had given place to reality, and +if she felt wiser and older still than after her five months of +meditation on the events of the summer, she felt less sober. One great +desire of the past year had been fulfilled, and its memory sparkled in +her brain, and her heart was lighter. It had been hours before she had +ceased to feel the pressure of his arms. + +She wondered how she could have been so weak as to think of marrying +Burleigh in self-defence, and she punished him by an indifference of +manner which approached frigidity; until one of the evening journals +copied a bitter attack upon him from the leading newspaper of his +State, when she relented and permitted him to console himself in her +presence. And although, as the weeks passed and she saw Senator North +from the gallery of the Senate only, or for a few impersonal moments in +the crowd, and the elixir in her veins lost its strength, still she +felt that life was sufferable once more. She had endeavoured to put +Mrs. North from her mind, but more than once she caught herself wishing +that some one would mention her name. Nobody did in those excited days, +and Betty had no means of learning whether her sudden good health had +been final or temporary. Sally Carter did not allude to her again. When +she and Betty met, it was to wrangle on the Cuban question, for Miss +Carter was all for war. + +And then one day the newsboys shrieked in the streets that the _Maine_ +had been blown up in Havana Harbor. + +For a few days Congress held its peace, and the country showed a +praiseworthy attempt to believe in the theory of accident or to wait +for full proof of Spanish treachery. The _Maine_ was blown up on +Tuesday, and on Thursday night at the Madisons' the subject almost was +avoided; it was the most peaceful _salon_ Betty had held. + +But it was merely the calm before the storm. The fever was still in the +country's blood, which began to flow freely to the brain again as soon +as the shock was over. The press could not let pass the most glorious +opportunity in its history for head-lines; there were more mass +meetings than even the press could grapple with, and all the latent +oratorical ability in the country burst into flower. It seemed to Betty +when she rose in the night and leaned out of her window that she could +hear the roar of the great national storm. + +And it rose and swelled and left the old landmarks behind it. The +memory of the gales of the past year, with the intervals of doubt and +rest, was insignificant beside this volume of fury pouring out of every +State, to concentrate at last, fierce, unreasoning, and irresistible, +about the White House and Capitol Hill. It was not long before the +great quiet village on the Potomac seemed to epitomize the terrible +mood of the country it represented, and the country had made up its +mind long before the report of the Maine Court of Inquiry came in. The +cry no longer was for the suffering Cuban, but for revenge. The Senate +held down its "kickers" with an iron hand, but one or two of the +inferior men managed to shout across the Chamber to their constituents. +Senator North scarcely left his seat. Burleigh told Betty that he +should not allude to the subject in the Senate until after the Court of +Inquiry's report, but then, whatever the result, he should speak and +ask for war. Betty argued with him by the hour, and although he +discussed the matter from every side, it was evident that he did it +merely for the pleasure of talking to her and that she could not shake +his resolution for a moment. It was time for the United States to put +an end to the barbarous state of affairs a few miles from her shores, +and that was the end of it. He admitted the patriotism of Senator +North's attitude, but contended that the United States would be more +dishonoured if she disregarded this terrible appeal to her humanity. +When Betty accused him of short-sightedness, he replied that a foretold +result required a straight line of succession, and that when great +events thickened the line of succession was anything but straight; +therefore ultimates could not be foretold. He admitted that Senator +North had proved himself possessed of the faculty of what Herbert +Spencer calls representativeness more than once, but men as wise and +calm in their judgment had been mistaken before. But he and others of +his standing were preserving the dignity of the Senate, and that was +something. + + + + +IX + + + +"If you have this war," said Lady Mary Montgomery to Betty, who had +come to receive with her on one of her Tuesdays, "it will be strictly +constitutional if you look at it in the right way. This is a government +of the people, by the people, and for the people, and as the people are +practically a unit in their howl for war, they have a right to it, and +the responsibility is on their shoulders, not on your few statesmen." + +"That is a real gem of feminine logic, but not only is one wise man of +more account than ten thousand fools, but a unit is a unit and has no +comparative state. The serious men from one end of the country to the +other are doing all they can to quell the excitement; so are the few +decent newspapers that we possess. But they are dealing with a mob; an +excited mob is always mad, and in this case the keepers are not +numerous enough for the lunatics. But no one will question that the +intelligent keepers are right and the mob wrong. The average +intelligence is always shallow, and in electric climates very +excitable. We are dealing to-day no less with a huge mob, even if it is +not massed and marching, than were the few sane men of the French +Revolution. An exciting idea is like a venomous microbe; it bites into +the brain, and if circumstances do not occur to expel it, it produces a +form of mania. That is the only way I can account for Burleigh's +attitude; he is one of the few exceptions. There are thousands of men +in the United States whose brains could stand any strain, but there are +hundreds of thousands who were born to swell a mob. As for 'government +by the people,' that phrase should be translated to-day into 'tyranny +of the people.' England under a constitutional monarchy is far freer +than we are." + +"Well, I am suppressed and will say no more. I suppose I shall have a +mob to-day. If anything, people are paying more calls than ever, for +they can't stay indoors for twenty-five minutes with no one to talk to. +It is getting monotonous. I wish that the President and the Senate +would begin to play, but they look as impassive as the statues in the +parks." + +The rooms filled quickly. By five o'clock the usual crowd was there, +and if it had its dowdy battalion as ever, there was no evidence that +the more fortunate had lost their interest in dress, despite the +warlike state of their nerves. Not that all were for war, by any means. +Many were clinging to a forlorn hope, but they could talk of nothing +else. + +Betty had just listened to the twenty-eighth theory of the cause of the +Maine's destruction when she turned in response to a familiar drawl. + +"Why, howdy, Miss Madison, I'm real glad to run across you at last." + +Betty was so taken aback that she mechanically surrendered her hand to +the limp pressure of her former housekeeper. But she was not long +recovering herself. + +"Miss Trumbull, is it not? I was not aware that you were an +acquaintance of Lady Mary Montgomery's." + +"Well, I can't say as I know her real intimate yet, but I guess I shall +in time, as we're both wives of Congressmen." + +"Ah? You are married?" Betty experienced a fleeting desire to see the +man who had been captivated by Miss Trumbull. + +"Ye--as. I went out West to visit my sister after I left you and was +married before I knew it--to Mr. George Washington Mudd. He's real +nice, and smart--My! I expect to be in the White House before I die." + +"It is among the possibilities, of course. I hope you are happy, and +that meanwhile he is able to take care of you comfortably." Mrs. Mudd +glistened with black silk and jet, but the cut of her gown was of the +Middle West. + +"Well, I guess! He's a lawyer and can make two hundred dollars a month +any day. Of course I can't set up a house in Washington, but I live at +the Ellsmere, and three or four of us Congressional ladies receive +together and share carriages. I'll be happy to have you call--the first +and third Tuesdays; but we always put it in the Post." + +"I have little time for calling. I am very busy in many ways." + +"Well, I'm sorry. You don't look as well as you did up in the +mountains; you look real tired, come to examine you. But your dresses +are always so swell one sees those first. I always did think you had +just the prettiest dresses I ever saw." + +Betty did not turn her back upon the woman; it was a relief to talk on +any subject that stood aloof from war. Mrs. Mudd rambled on. + +"I suppose you're engaged to Senator Burleigh by this time? He's our +Senator, you know, but I don't know as he's likely to be, long. We want +silver, and I guess we've got to have it." + +"I suppose you take quite an interest in politics now," said Betty, +looking at the woman's large self-satisfied face. So far, matrimony had +not been a chastening influence. Mrs. Mudd looked more conceited than +ever. + +"Well, I guess I always knew as much about them as anybody; and now I'm +in politics, I guess the President couldn't give me many points. If he +don't declare war soon, I'll go up to the White House and tell him what +I think of him." + +"Suppose you make a speech from the House Gallery. It is Congress that +declares war, not the President." + +Mrs. Mudd's face turned the dull red which Betty well remembered. "I +guess I know what I'm talking' about. It's the President--" + +But Betty's back was upon her, and Betty was listening to the agitated +comments of one of the year's debutantes upon the destruction of the +Maine. + +"Was night ever so welcome before?" thought Betty, as she settled +herself between the four posts of her great-aunt's bed, a few hours +later. "Here, at least, not an echo of war can penetrate, and if I +think of other things that scald my pillow, it is almost a relief." + + + + +X + + + +On the following evening she went with the Montgomerys to the Army and +Navy reception at the White House. Lady Mary had but to express a wish +for a card to any function in Washington; and her popularity had much +to do with her love for her adopted country. + +It was the first time Betty ever had entered the historic mansion, and +as she waited for twenty minutes in the crush of people on the front +porch, she reflected that probably it was the last. + +But when she was in the great East Room, which was hung with flags and +glittered with uniforms, and was filled with the strains of martial +music, she thrilled again with the historical sense, and almost wished +there was a prospect of a war which would compel her to patriotic +excitement. + +They remained in the East Room for some time before going to shake +hands with the President, that the long queue of people patiently +crawling to the Blue Room might have time to wear itself down to a +point. As Betty stood there eagerly watching the scene, and talking to +first one and then another of the Army men who came up to speak to her, +she became deeply impressed with the fact that this was the calmest +function she had attended in Washington during the winter. There was no +excitement on the faces of these men in uniform, and they said little +and hardly mentioned the subject of war. They looked stern and +thoughtful; and Betty felt proud of them, and wished they were doing +themselves honour in a better cause. + +She went down the long central corridor after a time, past the crowd +wedged before the central door, gaping at the receiving party, to a +room where she and the Montgomerys joined the diminished queue +extending from a side entrance to the Blue Room. She was not surprised +to see Mrs. Mudd in front of her, for although the Representative's +wife should have received a card for another evening, she was quite +capable of forcing her way in without one; as doubtless a good many +others had done to-night. She wore her black silk gown and her bonnet, +and although most of the women present were in brilliant evening dress, +Mrs. Mudd had several to keep her in countenance. She glanced wearily +over her shoulder during the slow progress of the queue, and caught +sight of Betty. Her place was precious, but she left it at once and +came down the line. + +"I'll go in along with you," she said. "George couldn't come and I've +felt kinder lonesome ever sense I got here. And we've been three +quarters of an hour getting this far. It's terrible tiresome, but as +I've found you I guess I can stand the rest of it." + +Betty detected the flicker of malice in her former housekeeper's voice. +They were on equal ground for once, and Miss Madison and Mrs. Mudd +would shake hands with their President within consecutive moments. She +smiled with some cynicism, but was too good-natured to snub the native +ambition where it could do no harm. + +"I saw Senator North to-day," observed Mrs. Mudd, "and he looked +crosser 'n two sticks. He's mad because they'll have war in spite of +him. I call him right down unpatriotic, and so do lots of others." + +"That disturbs him a great deal. He is much more concerned about the +country making a fool of itself." + +"This country's all right, and we couldn't go wrong if we tried. Them +that sets themselves up to be so terrible superior are just bad +Americans, that's the long and the short of it, and they'll find it out +at the next elections. If Senator North should take a trip out West +just now, they'd tar and feather him, and I'd like to be there to see +it done. They can't say what they think of his setting on patriotic +Senators loud enough. And as for the President--" + +"Well, don't criticise the President while you are under his roof. It +is bad manners. Here we are. Will you go in first?" + +"Well, I don't see why I shouldn't. I'll hurry on so they can see your +dress; it's just too lovely for anything." + +Betty wore a white embroidered chiffon over green; she shook out the +train, which had been over her arm ever since she entered the house. +Her name was announced in a loud tone, and she entered the pretty +flowery Blue Room with its charmingly dressed receiving party standing +before a large group of favoured and critical friends, and facing the +inquisitive eyes in the central doorway. The President grasped her hand +and said, "How do you do, Miss Madison?" in so pleased and so cordial a +tone that Betty for a fleeting moment wondered where she could have met +him before. Then she smiled, made a comprehensive bow to his wife and +the women of the Cabinet, and passed on. Mrs. Mudd, who had shaken +hands relentlessly with every weary member of the receiving party, +reached the door of exit after her and clutched her by the arm. + +"Say!" she exclaimed with excitement, although her drawl was but half +conquered. "Where _do_ you s'pose I could have met the President +before? I know by the way he said 'Mrs. Mudd,' he remembered me, but I +just can't think, to save my life. My! ain't he fascinating?" + +Betty had laughed aloud. "I am sorry to hurt your vanity," she replied, +"but the President is said to have the best manners of any man who has +occupied the White House within living memory." + +"What d'you mean?" cried Mrs. Mudd, sharply. "D' you mean he didn't +know me? I just know he did, so there! And he can pack his clothes in +my trunk as soon as he likes." + +"Good heaven!" "Oh, that's slang. I forgot you were so terrible +superior. But you've got good cause to know I'm virtuous. Lands sakes! +I guess nobody ever said I warn't." + +"I don't fancy anybody ever did." + +They were in the East Room again, with the stars and stripes, the +moving glitter of gold, the loud hum mingled with the distant strains +of martial music. + +"It's really inspiring," said Lady Mary. "I wish I could write a war +poem." + +"I hope there is nothing coming to inspire war doggerel; the prospect +of a new crop of war stories and war plays is too painful. We were all +brought up on the Civil War and are resigned to its literature. But +life is too short to get used to a new variety." + +"Betty dear, ennui has embittered you, and I must confess that I am a +trifle weary of the war before it has begun, myself. Randolph, I think +I prefer you should vote for peace." + +"I'm afraid we'll have no peace till we've had war first," said Mr. +Montgomery, grimly. + +"Oh, we're goin' to have war," drawled Mrs. Mudd. "Just don't you worry +about that. Now don't blush," she said in Betty's ear. "Senator North's +makin' straight for you. I suspicion you like him better 'n Burleigh--" + +Betty had turned upon her at last, and the woman tittered nervously and +fell back in the crowd. + +Senator North and Miss Madison shook hands with that absence of emotion +which is one of the conditions of a crowded environment, and Lady Mary +suggested they should all go to the conservatory, where it was cooler. + +Betty told Senator North of the impression the Army and Navy men had +made on her, and he laughed. + +"Of course they are not excited and say little," he said. "They will do +the acting and leave the talking to the private citizens. The only +argument in favour of the war and the large standing army which might +be its consequence is that several hundred thousand more men would have +disciplined brains inside their skulls." + +"That dreadful housekeeper I had in the Adirondacks is here, married to +a Representative named George Washington Mudd." + +"I never heard of him, but I am sorry she has come here to remind you +of what I should like to have you forget for a time. I do believe a +specimen of every queer fish in the country comes to this pond." + +They passed one of the bands, and conversation was impossible until +they entered the great conservatory with its wide cool walks among the +green. It was not crowded, and although there was no seclusion in it at +any time, its lights were few and it had a sequestered atmosphere. + +Betty and Senator North involuntarily drew closer together. + +"In a way I am happy now," she said. "It is something to be with you +and close to you. I will not think of how much this may lack until I am +alone again and there is no limit to my wants." + +"I feel the reverse of depressed," he said, smiling. "Are you quite +well? You look a little tired." + +"I am tired with much thinking; but that is inevitable. One cannot love +hopelessly and look one's best. I always despised the heroines of +romance who went into a decline, but Nature demands some tribute in +spite of the strongest will." + +He held her arm more closely, but he set his lips and did not answer. +She spoke again after a moment. + +"Since that night I have not been nearly so unhappy, however. I even +feel gay sometimes, and my sense of humour has come back. It would be +quite dreadful to go through life without that, but I thought I had +lost it." + +He had turned his eyes and was regarding her intently; but much as she +loved them she felt as helpless as ever before their depths. They could +pierce and burn, but they never were limpid for a moment. + +"You do not misunderstand that?" she asked hurriedly. "It does not mean +that I love you less, but more, if anything. And I am not resigned! +Only, I feel as if in some way I had received a little help, as if--I +cannot express it." + +"I understand you perfectly. We are a little closer than we were, and +life is not quite so grey." + +"That is it. And I would supplement your bare statement of the fact, if +I dared." + +"If you do, I certainly shall kiss you right here in the crowd," he +said, and they smiled into each other's eyes. There was little need of +explanations between them. + +"That would form a brief diversion for Washington. And as for Mrs. +Mudd--By the way, I hope I am not going off. You are the second person +who has told me that I am not looking well." + +"You are improved as far as I am concerned. And if you ever faded, +happiness would restore you at once. If happiness never came, perhaps +you would not care--would you?" + +She shrugged her beautiful shoulders and smiled quizzically. + +"I don't know. _Je suis femme_. I think I might always find some +measure of consolation in the mirror if it behaved properly." + +"Your sincerity is one of your charms. So walk and eat and live in the +world, and think as little as you can." + +"This conservatory is fearfully draughty," remarked Lady Mary, close to +Betty's shoulder. "I don't want to stay all night, do you?" + +"I am ready," said Betty; but she sighed, for she had been almost happy +for the hour. + + + + +XI + + + +If the reception at the White House had been calm, Betty's _salon_ on +the following evening was not. On Tuesday the House, after duly +relieving its feelings by an hour and a half of war talk, flaming with +every variety of patriotism, passed the bill appropriating $50,000,000 +for the national defence. On Wednesday the bill passed the Senate +without a word beyond the "ayes" of its members. On the morrow the War +Department would begin the mobilization of the army; and although the +_Maine_ Court of Inquiry had not completed its labours, the New York +World, in the interest of curious humanity, had instituted a submarine +inquiry of its own and given the result to the country. Even Senator +North regarded war as almost inevitable, although the controvertible +proof of explosion from without only involved the Spanish by inference. + +The women who were privileged to attend the now famous _salon_ wore +their freshest and most becoming gowns, and most of the Senators would +have been glad to have frivoled away the evening in compliments, so +refreshing was the sight of an attractive face after a long and anxious +day. But the eyes of the women sparkled with patriotic fire only. One +burst into tears and others threatened hysterics, but got through the +evening comfortably. Mrs. Madison sat on a sofa and fanned herself +nervously; Senator Maxwell and Senator North at her request kept close +to her side. + +"They were not so excited during the Civil War," she exclaimed, as a +shrill voice smote her ear. "I suppose we have developed more nerves or +something." + +"The mind was possessed by the Grim Fact during the Civil War," said +Senator Maxwell. "This is a second-rate thing that appeals to the +nerves and not to the soul." + +Betty, who understood the patient longing of her statesmen for variety, +had imported for the evening several members of the troupe singing at +the Metropolitan Opera House. Conversation consequently was interrupted +six or seven times, but it burst forth with increased vigour at the end +of every song; and when the Polish tenor with mistaken affability sang +"The Star Spangled Banner," the women and some of the younger men took +it up with such vehemence that Mrs. Madison put her fingers to her +ears. When one girl jumped on a chair and waved her handkerchief, which +she had painted red, white, and blue, the unwilling hostess asked +Senator North if he thought Betty would be able to keep her head till +the end of the evening, or would be excited to some extraordinary antic. + +"There is not the least danger," he replied soothingly. "Miss Madison +could manage to look impassive if a cyclone were raging within her. It +is a long while since the Americans have had a chance to be excited. +You must make allowances." + +Betty for some time had suppressed her Populist with difficulty. He was +one of those Americans to whom a keen thin face and a fair education +give the superficial appearance of refinement. In a country as +democratic as the United States and where schooling and intelligence +are so widespread, it is possible for many half-bred men to create a +good impression when in an equable frame of mind. But excitement tears +their thin coat of gentility in twain, and Betty already regretted +having invited Armstrong to her salon. He had not missed a Thursday +evening, for he not only appreciated the social advantage of a footing +in such a house, but his clever mind enjoyed the conversation there, +and the frankly expressed opinions of well-bred people who argued +without acerbity and never called each other names. With his slender +well-dressed figure and bright fair sharply cut face, he by no means +looked an alien, and if he could have corrected the habit of +contradicting people up and down--to say nothing of his occasional +indulgence in the Congressional snort--his manners would have passed +muster in any gathering. He was a good specimen of the ambitious +American of obscure birth and clever but shallow brain, quick to seize +every opportunity for advancement. But politics were his strongest +instinct, and exciting crises stifled every other. + +He was very much excited to-night, for he had, during the afternoon, +tried three times to bring in a war resolution, and thrice been +extinguished by the Speaker. When the tenor started "The Star-Spangled +Banner," he braced himself against the wall and sang at the top of his +lungs; and the performance seemed to lash his temper rather than +relieve it. He twice raised his voice to unburden his mind, and was +distracted by Betty, who kept him close beside her. Finally she +attempted to change the subject by chatting of personal matters. + +"I went to the White House last night," she said, "and was delighted to +find that the President had the most charming manners--" + +"What's a manner?" interrupted Armstrong, roughly. "You women are all +alike. I suppose you'd turn up your nose at William J. Bryan because he +ain't what you call a gentleman. But if he were in the White House +instead of that milk-and-water puppet of Wall Street, we'd be shooting +those murderers down in Cuba as we ought to be. The President and the +whole Republican party," he shouted, "are a lot of hogs who've chawed +so much gold their digestion won't work and their brains are torpid; +and there's nothing to do but to kick them into this war--the whole +greedy, white-livered, Trust-owned, thieving lot of them, including +that great immaculate Joss up at the White House with his manners. Damn +his manners! They come too high--" + +"Armstrong," said Burleigh soothingly, but with a glint in his eye, "I +have an important communication to make to you. Will you come out into +the hall a moment?" He passed his arm through the Populist's, and led +him unresistingly away. + +Betty glanced at her mother. Mrs. Madison was fanning herself with an +air of profound satisfaction. As she met her daughter's eyes, she +raised her brows, and her whole being breathed the content of the +successful prophetess. Senator North looked grimly amused. Betty turned +away hastily. She felt much like laughing, herself. + +Burleigh returned alone. "I took the liberty of telling him to go and +not to come again," he said. "That sort of man never apologizes, so you +are rid of him." + +Betty smiled and thanked him; then she frowned a little, for she saw +several people glance significantly at each other. She knew that +Washington took it for granted she would marry Burleigh. + +They went in to supper a few moments later, and in that admirable meal +the weary statesmen found the solace that woman denied him. And the +flowers were fragrant; the candlelight was grateful to tired eyes, and +the champagne unrivalled. Until the toasts--which in this agitated time +had become a necessary feature of the _salon_--the conversation, under +the tactful management of Betty and several of her friends, and the +diverting influence of the great singers, was but a subdued hum about +nothing in particular. When at the end of an hour Burleigh rose +impulsively and proposed the health of the President, even the +Democrats responded with as much warmth as courtesy. + +"You manage your belligerents very well," said Senator North, when he +shook her hand awhile later. "Yours has probably been the only amiable +supper-room in Washington to-night." + + + + +XII + + + +"Now!" exclaimed Sally Carter, who was sobbing hysterically, "I hope +they will impeach the President if he delays any longer with the +_Maine_ report and if he doesn't send a warlike message on top of it. +After that speech I don't see why Congress should wait for him at all." + +It was the seventeenth of March, and she and Betty were driving home +from the Capitol after listening to the Senator from Vermont on the +situation in Cuba,--to that cold, bare, sober statement of the result +of personal investigation, which produced a far deeper and more +historical impression than all the impassioned rhetoric which had rent +the air since the agitation began. He appeared to have no feeling on +the matter, no personal bias; he told what he had seen, and he had seen +misery, starvation, and wholesale death. He blamed the Spaniards no +more than the insurgents, but two hundred thousand people were the +victims of both; and the bold yet careful etching he made of the Cuban +drama burnt itself into the brains of the forty-six Senators present +and of the eight hundred people in the galleries. + +"I cannot bring myself to think that death is the worst of all evils," +said Betty, "and I do not think that we have any right to go to war +with Spain, no matter what she chooses to do with her own. Besides, she +is thoroughly frightened now, and I believe would rectify her mistakes +in an even greater measure than she has already tried to do, if the +President were given time to handle her with tact and diplomacy. If the +country would give him a chance to save her pride, war could be +averted." + +"You are heartless! Don't argue with me. I hate argument when my +emotions feel as if they had dynamite in them. I could sit down on the +floor of the Senate and scream until war was declared. I hate Senator +North. He never moved a muscle of his face during that entire terrible +recital. He hardly looked interested. He is a heartless brute." + +"He is not heartless. He fears everlasting complications if we go to +war with Spain, the expenditure of hundreds of millions, as one result +of those complications, and danger to the Constitution. The statesman +thinks of his own country first--" + +"I won't listen! I won't! I won't! Oh, I never thought I could get so +excited about anything. I believe I'm going to have nervous prostration +and I sha'n't see you again till war is declared. So there!" + +The carriage stopped at her house, and she jumped out and ran up the +steps. She kept her word, and it was weeks before Betty saw her to +speak to again. + +"If intelligent people get into that condition," thought Betty, "what +can be expected of the fools? And the fools are more dangerous in the +United States than elsewhere, because they are just bright enough to +think that they know more than the Almighty ever knew in His best days." + +A few days later she was crossing Statuary Hall on her way back from +the House Gallery; whither she had gone during an Executive Session of +the Senate, when she met Senator North. His face illuminated as he saw +her, and they both turned spontaneously and went to a bench behind the +immortal ones of the Republic, who in dust and marble were happier than +their inheritors to-day. + +"I am thinking of coming down here to live, renting a Committee Room," +said Betty. "It is the only place where I do not have my opinion asked +and where I do not quarrel with my friends. Molly is sure I shall be +taken for a lobbyist, and if people were not too absorbed to notice me, +I think I should engage a companion; but as it is, I believe I am safe +enough. I have had this simple brown serge made, on purpose." + +"There is not the least danger of your motives being misconstrued, and +the Capitol is swarming with women, all the time. They seem to regard +it as a sort of National Theatre, where the most exciting denouement +may take place any minute. I fancy they have come from all over the +country for the satisfaction of being able to say, for the rest of +their lives, that they were in at the death. The poor Capitol has +become a sort of asylum for wandering lunatics." + +Betty laughed. "I feel calmer here than anywhere else, especially now +that Molly has gone over to the Cubans since the publication of that +speech. I suspect it has made a good many other converts. I didn't +think the tide of excitement in the country could rise any higher, but +it appears to have needed that last straw. Have you any hope left?" + +"None whatever. The politicians in both parties are rushing the +President off his feet and inflaming the country at the same time. +Sincere sympathizers with Cuba, like Burleigh, are holding their peace +until the President shall have declared himself, but there is very +little patriotism amongst politicians desirous of re-election. If Spain +was a quick-thinking nation and was not stultified by a mulish +obstinacy for which the word 'pride' is a euphemism, or if the +President could hypnotize the country for six months, all would be +well, but I do not look for a miracle. I have done all I can. I have +persuaded my own State to keep quiet, and that has lessened the +pressure a little; and I have persuaded no less than eight of our +bellicose members to say nothing on the floor of the Senate until the +President has sent in his message,--that delay is necessary if we are +to meet war with any sort of preparation. That is all I can do, for I +don't care to speak on the subject again, to bring it up in the Senate +until it no longer can be held down. But I have said a good deal in the +lobby." + +"I suspect you have! Do you mind all the talk about your being +unpatriotic, and that sort of thing? I cried for an hour the other day +over an article in a New York paper, headed 'A Traitor,' and saying the +most hideous things about you." + +"I didn't read it. And don't spoil your eyes over anything sensational +American newspapers may say of anybody; let them alone and read the few +decent ones. For a public man to worry over such assaults would be a +stupid waste of his mental energy; for if he is in the right he +consoles himself with the reflection that the traitor of to-day is the +patriot of to-morrow. But let politics go to the winds for a little. +Tell me something about yourself. I have started no less than four +times to go to see you--at half-past six in the afternoon--and turned +back." + +"I go there and sit almost every afternoon. This excitement has been a +godsend. If the world had been pursuing its even way during the last +two months, I don't know what would have happened to me. What am I to +do when it is over?" she broke out, for they were almost secluded. "The +more I think of the future the more hopeless it seems. If there is war, +I'll go as a nurse--" + +"You will do nothing of the sort. Promise me that--instantly. There +will be trained nurses without end, and you would run the risk of fever +for nothing. Promise me." + +"But I _must_ do something. I have hours that you cannot imagine. +Ordinarily I keep up very well, for I have character enough to make the +best of life, whatever happens; but one can control one's heart with +one's will just so long and no longer. When the world is quiet and I am +alone at night, if I don't go to sleep at once--it is terrible! Do you +think I should be afraid of death? If I have got to go through life +with this terrible ache in my heart, in my whole body--for when I cry +my very fingers cramp--I'd a thousand times rather go to Cuba and have +done with it." + +For a moment he only stared at her. Then he parted his lips as if to +speak, but closed them again so firmly that Betty wondered what he was +holding back. But his eyes, although they had flashed for a moment and +burned still, told her nothing. He did not speak for fully a minute. +Then he said,-- + +"Death can be met with fortitude by any strong brain, but not a +lifetime of miserable invalidism. If you contracted fever down there, +you might get rid of it in several years and you might not. Meanwhile," +he added, smiling, "you would become yellow and wrinkled. So promise me +at once that you will not go." + +"I swear it!" she said with an attempt at gayety. "Not even for you +will I get yellow and wrinkled--and I adore you! Tell me," she went on +rapidly and with little further attempt at self-control; "what shall I +do next? Shall I go abroad? There is no distraction in castles and +cathedrals and crooked streets; they must be enjoyed when one is idle +and tranquil. I'm tired of pictures. I suppose I've seen about twenty +miles of them in my life. As for the old masters they give me +nightmares. There is nothing left but society, and I don't like +foreigners and should find little novelty in England--and many +reminders! The future appalls me. I cannot face it. Am I inconsiderate +to talk like this when you are so worried? Sometimes I feel that I have +no right to be even sensible of my individuality when a whole nation is +convulsed; it seems almost absurd that there are hundreds of thousands +of tragedies within the great one--but there are! There are! And the +war will bring oblivion to only those to whom it brings death." + +She stopped, panting, after the torrent of words. His hand had closed +about her arm, and he was bending close above her. His face had flushed +deeply, and once more he opened his lips as if to speak, but did not. +Betty shook suddenly. Was the word he would not utter "Wait"? There +could be no doubt that a word struggled for utterance, and that he held +it back. If he did not, Betty felt that her love would turn cold. For a +great love may be killed by a sudden blow, and there is always some one +thing that will kill the greatest. But she wished that his brain would +flash its message to hers. + +The silence between them became so intense and the strain on her eyes +so intolerable that she dropped her head and fumbled with her muff. She +dared not speak, dared not divert his mind. He was too much the master +of his own fate. + +"Don't ever hesitate to speak out through consideration for me, my +dear," he said. "The only relief we both have is to speak our thoughts +occasionally. And you can tell me nothing of yourself that I do not +know already. I never forget that you are tormented. But Time will help +you. The future which looms with a few dull and insupportable Facts is +crowded with small details which consume both time and thought, and it +is full of little unexpected pleasures. War is very diverting. One's +attitude to a war after the first few shocks is as to a great military +drama. If by a miracle ours should be averted, then go to England, +where you will have men at least to talk to. When plans for the future +are futile, live in the present and be careful to make no mistake. It +is the only philosophy for those who are not in the favour of +Circumstance. I am going now. Bend your ear closer. I have had so +little opportunity to be tender with you, and I have thought of that as +much as of anything else." + +Betty inclined her head eagerly, and he whispered to her for a moment, +then left her. + +For a few moments she did not move. The buoyancy of her nature was +still considerable, and his last words had thrilled her and made her +almost as happy as if he would return in an hour. She rose finally and +walked across the hall, her inclination divided between the Senate +Gallery where she might look at him, and her boudoir where she might +fling herself on her divan and think of him. As she was moving along +slowly, seeing no one, her arm was caught by a bony hand, and a +familiar drawl smote her ear. + +"Laws, Miss Madison, have you gone blind all of a sudden? But you look +as if you had two stars in your eyes." + +"How do you do, Mrs. Mudd? These are times to make anybody +absent-minded." + +"Well, I guess! We're gettin' there and no mistake. Now look quick, +Miss Madison--there's my husband, the one that's just got up off that +bench. He's been talkin' to a constituent." + +Betty glanced across the Hall with some interest: she occasionally had +doubted the reality of George Washington Mudd. A tall stout man in a +loose black overcoat, a black slouch hat, and a big cotton umbrella +under his arm, was stalking across the Hall with his head in the air, +as if to sniff at the marble effigies of the great. Betty felt young +again and gave a delighted laugh. + +"Why, I didn't know there really was anything like that!" she cried. "I +thought--" + +"Well, I guess I'd like to know what you mean," exclaimed an infuriate +voice; and Betty, turning to Mrs. Mudd's dark red face, recovered +herself instantly. + +"I mean that your husband belongs to a type that our dramatists have +thought worthy of preservation and of exercising their finest art upon. +I often give writers credit for more creative ability than they +possess, for I always am seeing some one in real life whose entire type +I had supposed had come straight out of their genius. Take yourself, +for instance. If I had not met you outside of a book, I should have +thought you a triumph of imagination." + +"Well--thanks," drawled Mrs. Mudd, mollified though doubtful. "I don't +claim that George is handsome, but he's the smartest man in our +district and he'll make the House sit up yet." She giggled and rolled +her eyes. "He was downright jealous because I came home from the +reception and raved over the President," she announced. "Oh, my!" + +"Perhaps he's a Populist," suggested Betty. + +"Not much he ain't. He's a good Democrat with Silver principles." + +"Well, I'm glad you're happy. Good-afternoon." + +"I love the greatest man in America and she loves George Washington +Mudd," thought Betty, as she walked down the corridor. "Mortals die, +but love is imperishable. A half-century hence and where will the love +that dwells in every fibre of me now, have gone? Will it be dust with +my dust, or vigorous with eternal youth in some poor girl who never +heard my name?" + +And then she went home to her boudoir. + + + + +XIII + + + +Betty, who had come justly to the conclusion that she knew something of +politics after a year's application to the science and several object +lessons, made in the following weeks her first acquaintance with the +intricacies which sometimes may involve political motives. The +President was not given time to exhaust diplomacy with Spain, although +in his War Message he was obliged to state that he had done so. To deal +successfully with a proud and mediaeval country required months, not +days, and as Spain had grudgingly but surely yielded all along the line +to the demands of the United States, it is safe to assume that she +would have withdrawn peacefully her forces from Cuba if her pride could +have been saved. Sagasta was working in the interests of peace; but a +bigoted old country, too indolent to read history, and puzzled at a +youthful nation's industry in the cause of humanity, would move so fast +and no faster. + +The President was rushed off his feet and his hand was forced. An +honest but delirious country was threatening impeachment and clamouring +for war. Its representatives were hammering on the doors of the White +House and shrieking in Congress. A dishonest press was inflaming it and +injuring it in the eyes of the world by assaulting the integrity of the +Executive and of the leading men in both Houses; and unscrupulous +politicians were extracting every possible party advantage, until it +looked as if the Democratic party, rent asunder by Mr. Bryan and his +doctrines, would be unified once more. The House, after the President's +calm and impersonal message on the _Maine_ report, acted like a +mutinous school of bad boys who had not been taught the first +principles of breeding and dignity; the few gentlemen in it hardly +tried to make themselves heard, and even the Speaker was powerless to +quell a couple of hundred tempers all rampant at once. Every +conceivable insult was heaped upon the head of the President as he +delayed his War Message from day to day, hoping against hope, and +gaining what time he could to strengthen the Navy. + +It became necessary therefore for the high-class men in the Senate, +particularly the Republicans, to present an unbroken front. Whatever +the conclusions of the President, they must stand by him. It was their +duty as Americans first and Republicans after; for they had elected him +to the high and representative office he filled, they were responsible +for him, he had done nothing to forfeit their confidence, and +everything, by his wise and conservative course, to win their approval. +And it was their duty to their party to uphold him, for internal +dissensions in this great crisis would weaken their forces and play +them into the hands of the Democrats. Therefore, Senator North and +others, who had strenuously and consistently opposed war from any +cause, until it became evident that the President had been elbowed into +the position of a puppet by his people instead of being permitted to +guide them, withdrew their opposition, and when his Message finally was +forced from his hand, let it be known that they should support it +against the powerful faction in the Senate which demanded the +recognition of Cuba as a Republic. The Message meant war, but a war +that no longer could be averted, and there was nothing left for any +high-minded statesman and loyal party man to do but to defend the +President from those who would usurp his authority and tie his hands, +to demonstrate to the world their belief in a statesmanship which was +being attacked at every point by those whom his Message had +disappointed, and to provide against one future embarrassment the more. + +When Betty had trodden the maze this far, she realized the unenviable +position of the conservative faction in the Senate. North's position +was particularly unpleasant. He had stood to the country as the +embodiment of its conservative spirit, the spirit which was opposed +uncompromisingly to this war. Several days before the speech of the +Senator from Vermont exploded the inflamed nervous system of the +country, he had made an address which had been copied in every State in +the Union and been hopefully commented on abroad. In this speech, which +was a passionless, impersonal, and judicial argument against +interference in the domestic affairs of a friendly nation seeking to +put down an insurgent population whose record for butchery and crime +equalled her own, as well as a brilliant forecast of the evils, foreign +and domestic, which must follow such a war, he demonstrated that if war +was declared at this period it would be unjustifiable because it would +be the direct result of the accident to the _Maine_, which, as the +explosion could not be traced to the Spanish officials, was not a +_casus belli_. Prior to that accident no important or considerable +number of the American people had clamoured for war, only for according +belligerent rights to the Cubans, which measure they were not wise +enough to see would lead to war. Therefore, had the _Maine_ incident +not occurred, the President would have been given the necessary time +for successful diplomacy, despite the frantic efforts of the press and +the loud-voiced minority; and it could not be claimed that the present +clamour, dating from the fifteenth of February, was honestly in behalf +of the suffering Cuban. It was for revenge, and it was an utterly +unreasonable demand for revenge, as no sane man believed that Spain had +seized the first opportunity to cut her throat; and until it could be +proved that she had done so, it was a case for indemnity, not for war. +Therefore, if war came at the present juncture it was because the +people of the United States had made up their minds they wanted a +fight, they would have a fight, they didn't care whether they had an +excuse or not. + +The speech made a profound impression even in the agitated state of the +public mind, for bitterly as North might be denounced he always was +listened to. The press lashed itself into a fury and wrote head-lines +which would have ridden its editors into prison had the country +possessed libel laws adequate to protect a noble provision of the +Constitution. The temperate men in the country had been with North from +the beginning, but the excited millions excoriated him the more loudly. +He was denounced at public banquets and accused by excited citizens all +over the Union, except in his own State, of every depravity, from +holding an unimaginable number of Spanish bonds to taking a ferocious +pleasure in the sufferings of the reconcentrados. + +And in the face of this he must cast his vote for war. + +A weaker man would have held stubbornly to his position, made notorious +by his personality, and a less patriotic have chosen the satisfaction +of being consistent to the bitter end and winning some measure of +approval from the unthinking. + +But North was a statesman, and although Betty did not see him to speak +to for many weeks after the Message went to Congress, she doubted if he +had hesitated a moment in choosing his course. He was a man who made a +problem of nothing, who thought and acted promptly on all questions +great and small. It was his manifest duty to support his President, who +was also the head of his party, and to do what he could to win the +sympathy of Europe for his country by making its course appear the +right and inevitable one. + +North's position was the logical result of the deliberations and +decisions of the year 1787. Hamilton, the greatest creative and +constructive genius of his century, never so signally proved his +far-sighted statesmanship as when he pleaded for an aristocratic +republic with a strong centralized government. As he was capable of +anything, he doubtless foresaw the tyranny of the people into which +ill-considered liberty would degenerate, just as he foresaw the many +strong, wise, and even great men who would be born to rule the country +wisely if given the necessary power. If the educated men of the country +knew that its destinies were wholly in their hands, and that they alone +could achieve the highest honours, there is not one of them who would +not train himself in the science of government. Such men, ruling a +country in which liberty did not mean a heterogeneous monarchy, would +make the lot of the masses far easier than it is to-day. The fifteen +million Irish plebeians with which the country is cursed would be +harmlessly raising pigs in the country. Hamilton, in one of his +letters, speaks of democracy as a poison. Some twenty years ago an +eminent Englishman bottled and labelled the poison in its infinite +variety, as a warning to the extreme liberals in his own country. We +attempted one ideal, and we almost have forgotten what the ideal was. +Hamilton's could not have fared worse, and there is good reason to +believe that educated and thinking men, unhampered by those who talk +bad grammar and think not, would have raised our standards far higher +than they are, even with men like North patiently and dauntlessly +striving to counteract the poison below. At all events, there would be +no question of a President's hand being forced. Nor would such a class +of rulers put a man in the White House whose hand could be forced. + +Although Betty knew North would disregard the sneers of the press and +of ambitious orators who would declaim while cannon thundered, she also +knew that his impassive exterior hid a sense of humiliating defeat, and +that the moment in which he was obliged to utter his aye for war would +be the bitterest of his life. She fancied that he forgot her in these +days, but she was willing to have it so. The intense breathless +excitement of that time, when scarcely a Senator left his seat from ten +in the morning till some late hour of the night, except to snatch a +meal; the psychological effect of the silent excited crowds in the +galleries and corridors of the Capitol and on its lawns and the +immensity of its steps; the solemnity and incalculable significance of +the approaching crisis, and the complete gravity of the man who +possessed her mind, carried her out of herself and merged her +personality for a brief while into the great personality of the nation. + + + + +XIV + + + +It was half-past one o'clock in the morning of the nineteenth of April. +A thousand people, weary and breathless but intensely silent, were +crowded together in the galleries of the Senate. They had been there +all night, some of them since early afternoon, a few since twelve +o'clock. Outside, the corridors were so packed with humanity that it +was a wonder the six acres of building did not sway. For the first time +in hours they were silent and motionless, although they could hear +nothing. + +On the floor of the Senate almost every chair was occupied, and every +Senator was singularly erect; no one was lounging, or whispering, or +writing to-night. All faced the Vice-President, alone on his dais, much +as an army faces its general. Every foot of the wide semicircle between +the last curve of chairs and the wall was occupied by members of the +House of Representatives, who stood in a dignified silence with which +they had been little acquainted of late. + +The Senate no longer looked like a Club. It recalled the description of +Bryce: "The place seems consecrated to great affairs." + +The Secretary was about to call the roll for the vote which would +decide the fate of Cuba and alter for ever the position of the United +States in the family of nations. + +Betty had been in the gallery all night and a part of the preceding +day. When the Senate took a recess at half-past six in the evening, she +and Mary Montgomery, while Mrs. Shattuc guarded their seats, had forced +their way down to the restaurant, but had been obliged to content +themselves with a few sandwiches bought at the counter. But Betty was +conscious of neither hunger nor fatigue, although the strain during the +last eight hours had been almost insupportable: the brief sharp +debates, the prosing of bores, interrupted by angry cries of "Vote! +Vote!" the reiterated announcement of the Chairman of the Committee on +Foreign Relations that the conferees could not agree, the perpetual +nagging of two Democrats and one Populist, the long trying intervals of +debate on matters irrelevant to the great question torturing every +mind, during which there was much confusion on the floor: the Senators +talked constantly in groups except when the Chairman of the Committee +on Foreign Relations brought in his amended bill;--all this had made up +a day trying to the stoutest nerves, and more than one person had +fainted and been carried from the galleries. + +The blood throbbed in Betty Madison's head from repressed excitement +and the long strain on her nerves. But the solemnity of the scene +affected her so powerfully that her ego seemed dead, she only was +conscious of looking down upon history. It seemed to her that for the +first time she fully realized the tremendous issues involved in the +calling of that roll of names. The attitude of the American people +which she had deprecated and scorned was dignified by the attitude of +that historical body below her. Even Senator North did not interest +her. The Senate for the time was a unit. + +It seemed to her an interminable interval between the last echo of the +rumbling voice of the Clerk who had read the resolution amended by the +report of the conferees, and the first raucous exasperated note of the +Secretary's clerk, after a brief colloquy between Senators. This clerk +calls the roll of the Senate at all times as if he hated every member +of it, and to-night he was nervous. + +Betty felt the blood throb in her ears as she counted the sharp +decisive "ayes" and "nos," although Burleigh, whom she had seen during +the recess, had told her there was no doubt of the issue. As the clerk +entered the M's, she came to herself with a shock, and simultaneously +was possessed by a desire to get out of the gallery before Senator +North's time came to say "aye." She had heard the roll called many +times, she knew there were fourteen M's, and that she would have time +to get out of the gallery if she were quick about it. She made so +violent an effort to control the excitement raging within her that her +brain ached as if a wedge had been driven through it. She whispered +hurriedly to Mary Montgomery, who was leaning breathlessly over the +rail and did not hear her, then made her way up to the door as rapidly +as she could; even the steps were set thick with people. + +As she was passed out of the gallery by the doorkeeper, and found +herself precipitated upon that pale trembling hollow-eyed crowd wedged +together like atoms in a rock, her knees trembled and her courage +almost failed her. Several caught her by the arms, and asked her how +the vote was going; but she only shrugged her shoulders with the +instinct of self-defence and pushed her way toward a big policeman. He +knew her and put out his hand, thrusting one or two people aside. + +"This has been too much for you, miss, I reckon," he said. "I'll get +you downstairs. Keep close behind me." + +He forced a way through the crowd to the elevator. To attempt to part +the compact mass on the staircase would invite disaster. The elevator +boy had deserted his post that he might hear the news the sooner, but +the policeman pushed Betty into the car, and manipulated the ropes +himself. On the lower floor was another dense crowd; but he got her to +the East door after rescuing her twice, called her carriage and +returned to his post, well pleased with his bill. + +For many moments Betty, bruised from elbows, breathless from her +passage through that crush in the stagnant air, could not think +connectedly. She vaguely recalled Mrs. Mudd's large face and black silk +dress in the Diplomats' Gallery, which even a Cabinet minister might +not enter without a permit from a member of the Corps. Doubtless the +doorkeepers had been flung to and fro more than once to-night, like +little skiffs in an angry sea. She wondered how she had had sufficient +presence of mind to fee the policeman, and hoped she had not given him +silver instead of the large bill which had seemed to spring to her +fingers at the end of that frightful journey. + +She leaned out of the open window, wishing it were winter, that the +blood might be driven from her head; but there was only the slight +chill of a delicious April morning in the air, and the young leaves +fluttered gently in the trees. In the afternoon hundreds of boys had +sold violets in the streets, and the perfume lingered, floating above +the heavier scent of the magnolias in the parks. Betty's weary mind +pictured Washington as it would be a few weeks hence, a great forest of +brilliant living green amidst which one had almost to look for the +houses and the heroes in the squares. Every street was an avenue whose +tall trees seemed to cut the sky into blue banners--the word started +the rearrangement of her scattered senses; in a few weeks the dust +would be flying up to the green from thousands of marching feet. + +She burst into tears, and they gave her some relief. The carriage +stopped at the house a moment later, and she went directly to her +boudoir. She took off her hat and pulled down her hair, rubbing her +fingers against her burning head. Senator North took possession of her +mind at once. The Senate was no longer a unit to her excited +imagination; it seemed to dissolve away and leave one figure standing +there beaten and alone. + +She forgot the passionate efforts of other Senators in behalf of peace; +to her the fine conservative strength of the Senate was personified in +one man. And if there were others as pure and unselfish in their +ideals, his at least was the master intellect. + +She wondered if he remembered in this hour of bitter defeat that she +had promised to come to this room and give him what she could of +herself. That was weeks and weeks ago, and she had not repeated her +intention, as she should have done. But he loved her, and was not +likely to forget anything she said to him. Or would he care if he did +remember? Must not personal matters seem of small account to-night? Or +was he too weary to care for anything but sleep? Perhaps he had flung +himself down on a sofa in the cloak-room, or in his Committee Room, and +forgotten the national disaster while she watched. + +She had been walking rapidly up and down the room. Her thoughts were +not yet coherent, and instinct prompted her to get the blood out of her +head if she could. A vague sense of danger possessed her, but she was +not capable of defining it. Suddenly she stopped and held her breath. +She had become aware of a recurring footstep on the sidewalk. Her +window abutted some thirty feet away. She craned her head forward, +listening so intently that the blood pounded in her ears. She expected +to hear the gate open, the footsteps to grow softer on the path. But +they continued to pace the stone flags of the sidewalk. + +She opened her door, ran down the hall and into the parlor. Without an +instant's hesitation she flung open a window and leaned out. The light +from the street lamp fell full upon her. He could not fail to see her +were he there. But he was not. The man pacing up and down before the +house was the night watchman. + +Betty closed the window hurriedly and stumbled back into the dark room. +The disappointment and reaction were intolerable. She felt the same +blind rage with Circumstance which had attacked her the night he had +kissed and left her. In such crises conventions are non-existent; she +might have been primeval woman for all she recalled in that hour of the +teachings of the centuries. Had he been there, she would have called +him in. He was hers, whatever stood between them, and she alone had the +right to console him. + +Her mind turned suddenly to his house. He was there, of course; it was +absurd to imagine that his cool deliberation would ever forsake him. +The moment the Senate adjourned he would have put on his hat, walked +down to the East door, called a cab and gone home. And he was in his +library. Why she felt so positive that he was there and not in bed she +could not have told, but she saw the light in the long wing. She put +her hands to her face suddenly, and moved to the door. She stumbled +over a chair, and then noticed the intense darkness of the room. But +beyond she saw distinctly the big red brick house of Senator North, +with the light burning in the wing. Was she going to him? She wondered +vaguely, for her will seemed to be at the bottom of a pile of +struggling thoughts and to have nothing to say in the matter. Surely +she must. He was a man who stood alone and scorned sympathy or help, +but he would be glad of hers because it was hers; there was no possible +doubt of that. And in spite of his record he must for the hour feel a +bitter and absolute failure. + +A pebble would bring him to the window. He would come out, and come +back here with her. She opened her arms suddenly. The room was so dark +she almost could fancy him beside her. Would that he were! + +She had no adequate conception of a morrow. The future was drab and +formless. His trouble drew her like a magnet. She trembled at the mere +thought of being able to make him forget. + +And he? If he came out and saw her standing there, he would be more +than a man if he resisted the impulse to return with her here and take +her in his arms. And he too must be in a state of mind in which to-day +dwarfed and blotted out to-morrow. + +For the moment she stood motionless, almost breathless, realizing so +vividly the procession of bitter and apprehensive thoughts in the mind +which for so long had possessed and controlled hers that she forgot her +intention, even her desire to go to him. It was this moment of insight +and abstraction from self that saved her. Her own mind seemed to awake +suddenly. + +It was as if her thinking faculty had descended to her heart during the +last hours and been made dizzy and dull by the wild hot whirl of +emotions there. It climbed suddenly to where it belonged, and set the +rested machinery of her brain to work. + +Doubtless his impulse had been to come to her, to the room where he +knew she was alone and would receive him if he demanded admittance. He +had put the temptation aside, as he had put aside many others; and it +had been in her mind, was in her mind still, to make the temptation +irresistible. And if he felt a failure to-night, she had it in her +power to wreck his life utterly. + +It was more than possible that in the remaining years of his vigour +dwelt his tardy opportunities for historical fame. The great Republic +had sailed out of her summer sea into foreign waters, stormy, +unfriendly, bristling with unimaginable dangers. Once more she would +need great statesmen, not merely able legislators, and there could be +no doubt in the mind of any student of the Senate that she would +discover them swiftly. North was the greatest of these; and the record +of his future, brilliant, glorious perhaps, seemed to unroll itself +suddenly in the dark room. + +Betty drew a long hard breath. Her cheeks were cool at last, and she +wondered if her heart were dead, it felt so cold. What mad impulse +nearly had driven her to him to-night, independently of her will; which +had slept, worn out, like other faculties, by a day of hunger, +excitement, fatigue, and physical pain? The impulse had risen +unhindered and uncriticised from her heart, and if it had risen once it +could rise again. The days to come would be full of excitement. She +fancied that she already heard the roar of cannon, the beating of +drums, the sobs of women. And below the racket and its sad +accompaniment was always the low indignant mutter of a triumphant +people at those who had dared to set themselves above the popular +clamour and ask for sanity. The intolerable longing that had become her +constant companion would be fed by every device of unpropitious +Circumstance. Again and again she would experience this impulse to go +to him, and some night the blood would not recede from her brain in +time. + +She groped her way out of the dark parlor and down the hall, grateful +for an excuse to walk slowly. Her boudoir was brilliant, and the +struggle of the last few moments seemed the more terrible and +significant by contrast with the dainty luxurious room. She wondered if +she ever should dare to enter the parlor again, and if it always would +not look dark to her. + +She sat down at her desk and wrote a letter. It ran:--Dear Mr. +Burleigh,--I will marry you if you still wish it. Will you dine with us +to-night? + +Betty Madison. + +She was too tired for emotion, but she knew what would come later. +Nevertheless, she went to the front door and asked the watchman to post +the letter. Then she went to bed. + + + + +XV + + + +The Senate adjourned a few moments after Betty left the gallery. There +was little conversation in the cloak-room. The Senators were very +tired, and it surely was a brain of bubbles that could indulge in +comment upon the climax of the great finished chapter of the old +Republic. + +North put on his hat and overcoat at once and left the Capitol. After +the close confinement in heated and vitiated air for sixteen hours, the +thought of a cab was intolerable: he shook his head at the old darky +who owned him and whom he never had been able to dodge during his +twenty years' service in Washington, plunged his hands into his +overcoat pockets, and strode off with an air of aggressive +determination which amused him as a fitting anti-climax. The darky +grinned and drove home without looking for another fare. His Senator +not only had paid him by the month for several years, but had supported +his family for the last ten. + +North inhaled the pure cool air, the delicious perfume of violet and +magnolia, as Betty had done. Once he paused and looked up at the wooded +heights surrounding the city, then down at the Potomac and the great +expanse of roofs and leaves. The Washington Monument, the purest, +coldest, most impersonal monument on earth, looked as gray as the sky, +but its outlines were as sharp as at noonday. North often watched it +from the window of his Committee Room; he had seen it rosy with the +mists of sunset, as dark as granite under stormy skies, as waxen as +death. Normally, it was white and pure and inspiring, never +companionable, but helpful in its cold and lofty beauty. + +"It _is_ a monument," he thought, to-night, "and to more than +Washington." + +He turned into Massachusetts Avenue and strolled along, in no hurry to +find himself between walls again. He was not conscious of physical +fatigue, and experienced no longing for bed, but his brain was tired +and he enjoyed the absence of enforced companionship and continued +alertness, the cool air, the quiet morning in her last sleep. + +Betty, like all brilliant women who love passionately, had +over-imagined, in her solitude and excitement. It is true that North +had felt the bitterness of defeat, that his mind had dwelt upon the +miserable and blasting thought that after years of unquestioned +statesmanship and leadership, of hard work and unremitting devotion, +his will had had no weight against hysteria and delirium. But both +bitterness and the sense of failure had been dismissed in the moment +when he had, once for all, accepted the situation; and that had been +several days before. Since then, he had shoved aside the past, and had +given his undivided thought to the present and the future. He had +uttered his "aye" almost indifferently; it had been given to the +President days since. + +Nevertheless, his brain, tired as it was, did not wander from the great +climax in his country's history. To that country at large this climax +meant simply a brief and arrogant chastisement of a cruel little +nation; the generals would have been quite justified in sending their +dress clothes and golf sticks on to Havana; but North knew that this +officious "police duty" was the noisy prologue to a new United States, +possibly to the birth of a new Constitution. + +"Is this the grand finale of the people's rule?" he thought. "They have +screamed for the moon as they never screamed before, and this time they +have got it fairly between their teeth. Well, it is a dead old planet; +will its decay vitiate their own blood and leave them the half-willing +prey of a Circumstance they do not dream of now? Dewey will take the +Philippines, of course. He would be an inefficient fool if he did not, +and he is the reverse. The Spanish in Cuba will crumble almost before +the world realizes that the war has begun. The United States will find +itself sitting open-mouthed with two huge prizes in its lap. It may, in +a fit of virtue which would convulse history, give them back, present +them, with much good advice and more rhetoric, to their rightful +owners. And it may not. These prizes are crusted with gold; and the +stars and stripes will look so well in the breeze above that the pride +of patriotism may decide they must remain there. And if it does--if it +does... The extremists in the Senate will grow twenty years in one... +With the bit between their teeth and the arrogance of triumph in their +blood--" + +He found himself in front of his own house. He turned slowly and looked +intently for a moment toward I Street. His face softened, then he +jerked out his latchkey, let himself in and went directly to the +library. He still had no desire for bed, and threw himself into an +easy-chair before the andirons. But it was the first time in several +days that he had sat in a luxurious chair, and the room was full of +soft warmth. He fell asleep, and although he seemed to awaken +immediately, he could only conclude, when the experience which followed +was over, that he had been dreaming. + +He suddenly became aware that a chair beside him was occupied, and he +wheeled about sharply. His sense of companionship was justified; a man +sat there. North stared at him, more puzzled than surprised, +endeavouring to fit the familiar face to some name on his long list of +acquaintances, and wondering who in Washington could have given a +fancy-dress ball that night. His visitor wore his hair in a queue and +powdered, a stock of soft lawn, and a dress-coat of plum-coloured cloth +cut as in the days of the founders of the Republic. + +Although it was some moments before North recognized his visitor, his +resentment at this unseasonable intrusion passed quickly; the +personality in the chair was so charming, so magnetic, so genial. He +was a young man, between thirty and forty, with a long nose, a mobile +mouth, dark gray-blue eyes full of fire and humour, and a massive head. +It was a face of extraordinary power and intellect, but lit up by a +spirit so audacious and impulsive and triumphant that it was like a +leaping flame of dazzling brilliancy in some forbidding fortress. He +was smiling with a delighted expression of good fellowship; but North +experienced a profound conviction that the man was weighing and +analyzing him, that he would weigh and analyze everybody with whom he +came in contact, and make few mistakes. + +"Who the deuce can he be?" he thought, "and why doesn't he speak?" And +then it occurred to him that he had not spoken, himself. He was about +to inquire with somewhat perfunctory courtesy in what manner he could +serve his visitor, when his glance fell on the man's hands. He sat +erect with a slight exclamation and experienced a stiffening at the +roots of his hair. The hands under the lace ruffles were the most +beautiful that ever had been given to a man, even to as small a man as +this. They were white and strong and delicate, with pointed fingers +wide apart, and filbert nails. North knew them well, for they were the +hands of the man whom he admired above all men in the history of his +country. But until to-night he had seen them on canvas only, in the +Treasury Department of the United States. His feeling of terror passed, +and he sat forward eagerly. + +"The little lion," he said caressingly, for the man before him might +have been his son, although he had been in his tomb with a bullet in +his heart for nearly a century. But he looked so young, so restless, so +indomitable, that the years slipped out of the century, and Hamilton +once more was the most brilliant ornament of a country which had never +ceased to need him. + +"Yes," he said brightly, "here I am, sir, and you see me at last. This +is that one moment in the lifetime of the few when the spirit burns +through the flesh and recognizes another spirit who has lost that dear +and necessary medium. I have been with you a great deal in your life, +but you never have been able to see me until to-night." He gave his +head an impatient toss. "How I have wished I were alive during the last +three or four months!" he exclaimed. "Not that I could have +accomplished what you could not, sir, but it would have been such a +satisfaction to have been able to make the effort, and then, when I +failed, to tell democracy what I thought of it." + +North smiled. All sense of the supernatural had left him. His soul and +Hamilton's were face to face; that was the one glorified fact. "I have +been tempted several times lately to wish that we had your aristocratic +republic," he said, "and that I were the head and centre of it. I have +felt a strong desire to wring the neck of that many-headed nuisance +called 'the people,' and proceed as if it were where the God of nations +intended those incapable of governing should be and remain without +protest." + +"Oh, yes, you are an aristocrat. That is the reason I have enjoyed the +society of your mind all these years. You were so like me in many ways +when you were my age, and since then I seem to have grown older with +you. I died so young. But in you, in the last twenty years, I seem to +have lived on. You have built an iron wall all round those terrible +fires of your youth, and roofed it over. It is only now and then that a +panel melts and the flame leaps out; and the panel is so quickly +replaced! I too should have conquered myself like that and made fewer +and fewer mistakes." + +"God knows what I might not have been able to do for my country. I have +been mad to leap into the arena often enough." + +"You are not dead. No man is, whose inspiration lives on. More than one +of us would be of shorter stature and shorter gait if we never had had +your accomplishment to ponder over. And as to what the nation would +have been without you--" + +"Yes!" cried Hamilton. "Yes! How can any man of ability submit to death +without protest, shrug his shoulders cynically, and say that no man's +disappearance causes more than a whirl of bubbles on the surface, that +the world goes on its old gait undisturbed, and does as well with the +new as the old? Look at Great Britain. She hasn't a single great man in +all her eleven million square miles to lead her. That is answer enough +to a theory which some men are sincere enough in believing. This +country always has needed great leaders, and sometimes she has had them +and sometimes not. The time is coming when she will need them as she +has not done since the days when three or four of us set her on her +feet." + +North stood up suddenly and looked down on Hamilton. "What are we +coming to?" he asked abruptly. "Monarchy?" + +The guest tapped the toe of his little slipper with the tips of his +beautiful fingers. He laughed gayly. "I can see only a little farther +ahead than your own far-penetrating brain, sir. What do you think?" + +"As I walked home tonight, the situation possessed my mind, which by +some process of its own seemed to develop link after link in coming +events. It seemed to me that I saw a thoroughly disorganized people, +unthinkingly but ruthlessly thrusting aside all ideals, +and--consequently--in time--ready for anything." + +Hamilton nodded, "If they had begun with my ideal, they would have +remained there. Now they will leap far behind that--when there is a +strong enough man down there in the White House. Certain radical +changes, departures from their traditions and those of their fathers, +will school them for greater changes still. In some great critical +moment when a dictator seems necessary they will shrug their shoulders +and say, 'Why not?'" + +"I believe you are right, but I doubt if it comes in my time." + +Hamilton shook his head. "Every state in Europe has its upper lip +curled back above its teeth, and who knows, when the leashes snap, what +our fate will be, now that we have practically abandoned our policy of +non-interference in the affairs of the Eastern Hemisphere? If all +Europe is at somebody's throat in the next five years, we shall not +escape; be sure of that. Then will be the great man's opportunity. You +always have despised the office of President. Work for it from this +day. The reaction from this madness will help you. Democrats as well as +Republicans will turn to you as the one man worthy of the confidence of +the entire country." + +"Not if they guessed that I meditated treason, sir. Nor should I. I +agree with you that your ideal was the best, but there is nothing for +me to do but to make the best of the one I've inherited. If I am +aristocratic in my preferences, I am also a pretty thoroughgoing +American." + +"Yes, yes, I know, sir. You never will meditate what, if premeditated, +would be treason. But when the great moment comes, when your patriotism +and your statesmanship force you to admit that if the country is to be +saved it must be rescued from the people, and that you alone can rescue +it, then you will tear the Constitution down its middle. This country +is past amendments. It must begin over again. And the whole great +change must come from one man. The people never could be got to vote +for an aristocratic republic. They must be stunned into accepting a +monarchy. After the monarchy, then the real, the great Republic." + +The two men looked long into each other's eyes. Then North said,-- + +"I repeat that I never should work nor scheme for the position that +such a change might bring me. Nevertheless, believing, as I do, that we +are on the threshold of a new and entirely different era in this +country, if the time should come when I felt that I, as its most highly +trained servant, could best serve the United States by taking her +destinies entirely into my own hands, I should do so without an +instant's hesitation. I have done all I could to preserve the old order +for them, and they have called me traitor and gone their own way. Now +let them take the consequences." + +Hamilton set his mobile lips in a hard line. His eyes looked like +steel. "Yes," he said harshly, "let them take the consequences. They +had their day, they have gone mad with democracy, let them now die of +their own poison. The greatest Republic the world ever will have known +is only in the ante-room of its real history." He stood up suddenly and +held out his hand. "Good-bye, sir," he said. "We may or may not meet +again before you too are forced to abandon your work. But I often shall +be close to you, and I believe, I firmly believe, that you will do +exactly as I should do if I stood on solid ground to-day." + +North took the exquisite hand that had written the greatest state +papers of the century, and looked wonderingly at its white beauty. It +suddenly gave him the grip of an iron vise. North returned the +pressure. Then the strong hand melted from his, and he stood alone. + +Exactly in what the transition from sleep to waking consisted, North +was not able to define. There was a brief sense of change, including a +lifting of heavy eyelids. Technically he awoke. But he was standing on +the hearthrug. And his right hand ached. + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"What difference does it make whether he appeared to my waking eyes or +passed through my sleeping brain and sat down with my soul?" + +He plunged his hands into his pockets and stood thinking for many +minutes. He said, half aloud, finally,-- + +"Not in my time, perhaps. But it will come, it will come." + + + + +XVI + + + +When Betty awoke at four o'clock in the afternoon, she discovered with +some surprise that she had slept soundly for eleven hours. Her head was +a trifle heavy, but after her bath she felt so fresh again that the +previous day and night seemed like a very long and very ugly dream. She +reflected that if she had not written to Burleigh before she went to +bed she certainly should do so now. He still seemed the one safeguard +for the future; she had convinced herself that with her capacity for +violent emotion and nervous exaltation, her head was not to be trusted. + +She felt calm enough this afternoon, and she opened with no enthusiasm +the note which had arrived from Burleigh. She might have drawn some +from its superabundant amount, but she frowned and threw it in the +fire. Then she went to her mother's room and announced her engagement. + +"My dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Madison. "Well!--I am delighted." + +Then she looked keenly at Betty and withheld her congratulations. But +she asked no questions, although the edge suddenly left her pleasure +and she began to wonder if Burleigh were to be congratulated. + +"He is coming to dinner," Betty continued, "and I want you to promise +me that you will not leave us alone for a moment, and that you will go +with me to New York to-morrow." + +"I will do anything you like, of course, and I always enjoy New York." + +"I want to get away from Washington, and I want to shop more than +anything in life. I hate the thought of everything serious,--the +country, the war, everybody and everything, and I feel that if I could +spend two weeks with shops and dressmakers I'd be quite happy--almost +my old self again." + +"I wish you were," said Mrs. Madison, with a sigh. "I wish this country +never had had any politics." + +The instinct of coquetry was deeply rooted in Betty Madison, but that +evening she selected her most unbecoming gown. She was one of those +women who never look well in black, and look their worst in it when +their complexion shows the tear of secret trouble and broken rest. She +had a demi-toilette of black chiffon trimmed with jet and relieved +about the neck with pink roses. She cut off the roses; and when arrayed +had the satisfaction of seeing herself look thirty-five. For a moment +she wavered, and Leontine, with tears, begged to be allowed to remove +the gown; but Betty set her teeth and went downstairs. + +She had the further satisfaction of seeing a brief flash of surprise +and disappointment in Burleigh's eyes as he came forward to greet her; +and, indeed, the gown seemed to depress the company for the entire +evening. Betty tried to rattle on gayly, but the painful certainty that +she looked thirty-five (perhaps more), and that Burleigh saw it, and +her mother (who was visibly depressed) saw it, and the butler and the +footman (both of whom, she knew through Leontine, admired her +extravagantly) saw it, dashed her spirits to zero, and she fell into an +unreasoning rage with Senator North. + +"I am going to New York to-morrow, and you are not to follow me," she +said with a final effort at playfulness. "I have been at such a nervous +strain over this wretched war that I must be frivolous and feminine for +two whole weeks--and what so serious as being engaged?" + +Burleigh sighed. His spirits were unaccountably low. He had forgotten +his country for an entire day, and rushed up to the house ten minutes +before the appointed hour, his spirits as high as a boy's on his way to +the cricket field. But his apple had turned to ashes in a funereal +gown, and there seemed no colour about it anywhere. + +"Of course you want a change," he said, "but I hope you will write to +me." + +"I'll write you a little note every day," she said with sudden +contrition. "I know I'll feel--and look ever so much better in a few +days." + +"There!" she thought with a sigh, "I've made this wretched sacrifice +for nothing, and I'll never forget how I'm looking at the present +moment, to my dying day. I know I'll wear my most distracting gown the +next time he comes. Well, what difference? I've got to marry him, +anyhow." + +She shook hands cordially with him when he rose to go, an hour later, +but she did not leave her mother's side. He did not attempt to smile, +but shook hands silently with both and left the room as rapidly as +dignity would permit. + +Mrs. Madison put her handkerchief to her eyes and burst into tears. + +"Poor dear man!" she exclaimed. "I felt exactly as if we were having +our last dinner together before he went off to the war to get killed. I +never spent such a dismal evening in my life. And what on earth made +you put on that horrid gown? You look a fright--you almost look older +than he does." + +"Don't turn the knife round, please. I'm rather sorry, to tell the +truth, but I didn't want him to be too overjoyed. I couldn't have stood +it." + +"Are you sorry that you have engaged yourself to him?" + +"No, I am glad--very glad." But she said it without enthusiasm. When +she went up to her room, she presented the black gown to Leontine and +sent her to bed. Then she put on a peignoir of pink silk and lace and +examined herself in the mirror. She looked fifteen years younger and +wholly charming; there was no doubt of it. + + + + +XVII + + + +The next day, before starting for New York, she wrote a note to Senator +North:-- + +I am going to marry Robert Burleigh. On Tuesday morning I almost went +to your house--to bring you back with me here. I came to my senses in +time; but I might not again. I want you to understand. + +I wish he were not on the winning side. But he is the only man I can +even think of marrying. + +I do not think this much is disloyal to him. But I will not say other +things. B. M. + +Burleigh came to the train to see her off, and Betty looked so charming +in her rich brown travelling frock and little turban, and smiled so +gayly upon him, that his heavy spirit lifted its wings and he begged to +be allowed to go to New York on Saturday. But to this she would not +listen, and he was forced to content himself with making elaborate +preparations for her comfort in the little drawing-room, and buying a +copy of every paper and magazine the newsboy had on sale. + +"I am sure he will make an ideal husband," said Mrs. Madison, as she +waved her hand to him from the window. "He certainly is very much of a +man," admitted Betty, "but what on earth are we to do with all these +papers? I haven't room to turn round." + +The excitement in Washington, great as it was, had been mostly within +doors; in New York it appeared to be entirely in the streets, if one +excepted the corridors of the hotels. The population, still pale and +nervously talkative, surged up and down the sidewalks. On the morrow +the city put forth her hundred thousand flags. The very air seemed to +turn to stars and stripes. + +The Madisons went to the Waldorf-Astoria, and in its refreshing +solitudes felt for the first time in months that they must go in search +of excitement if they wanted it; none would reach them here. + +"Now that the war is declared, I am sorry;" admitted Mrs. Madison, "for +so many Americans will be killed." + +"Instead of Cubans. I've done with the war. I won't even regret." + +For three days Betty shopped furiously, or held long consultations with +her dressmaker. On Sunday, after church, she read to her mother, but +refused to discuss her engagement, and on Monday she resumed her +shopping. She wrote to Burleigh immediately after breakfast every +morning, then dismissed him from her mind for twenty-four hours. + +The beautiful spring fabrics were in the shops, and she bought so many +things she did not want, even for a trousseau, that she wondered if +Mrs. Mudd would accept a trunk full of "things." She envied Mrs. Mudd, +and would find a contradictory pleasure in making her happy. Miss +Trumbull never had manifested any false pride, and matrimony had +altered her little in other ways. + +At night she slept very well, and if she did not think of Burleigh, +neither would she think of Senator North. + +She did not open a newspaper. What the country did now had no interest +for her; it was marching to its drums, and nothing could stop it. And +she would have her fill of politics for the rest of her natural life. +As Mrs. Madison always was content with a novel, she made no complaint +at the absence of newspapers, particularly as the fighting had not +begun. Moreover, Betty took her to the theatre every evening, a +dissipation which her invalidism endured without a protest. + +It was on Wednesday afternoon that Betty, returning to her rooms, met +Sally Carter in a corridor of the hotel. The two girls kissed as if no +war had come between them, and Miss Carter announced that she was going +to Cuba to nurse the American soldier. + +"I almost feel conscience-stricken," she remarked, "now that we +actually are in for it. I don't think I believed it ever really could +happen. It was more like a great drama that was about to take place +somewhere on the horizon. But if the American boys have to be shot, I'm +going to be there to do what I can." + +They entered the parlor of Mrs. Madison's suite, and that good lady, +who had read until her eyes ached, welcomed Sally with effusion and +demanded news of Washington. + +"We haven't seen a paper or a soul," she said. "We have our meals up +here, and I feel as if I were a Catholic in retreat. It's been a relief +in a way, especially after the _salon_, but I should like to know if +Washington has burned down, or anything." + +"Washington is still there and still excited," said Miss Carter, +dropping into a chair and taking off her hat, which she ran the pin +through and flung on the floor. "How it keeps it up is beyond the +comprehension of one poor set of nerves. I am now dead to all emotion +and longing for work. I'm even sorry I painted my best French +handkerchiefs red, white, and blue. If you haven't seen the papers I +suppose you don't know that Mrs. North is dead. She died suddenly of +paralysis on the twenty-second. The strength she got in the Adirondacks +soon began to leave her by degrees; the doctor--who is mine, you +know--told me the other day that it meant nothing but a temporary +improvement at any time; but he had hoped that she would live for +several years yet. Betty, what on earth do you find so interesting in +Fifth Avenue? I hate it, with its sixty different architectures." + +"But it looks so beautiful with all the flags," said Betty, "and the +one opposite is really magnificent." + +It was a half-hour before Sally ceased from chattering and went in +search of her father. Betty had managed to control both her face and +her knees, and listened as politely as a person may who longs to +strangle the intruder and achieve solitude. The moment Sally had gone +Betty went straight to her room, avoiding her mother's eyes, which +turned themselves intently upon her. + +She did not reappear for dinner, as her mother was made cheerful by the +society of the Carters; but as Sally passed her room on her way to bed, +she called her in, and the two girls had a few moments' conversation. + + + + +XVIII + + + +"Molly," said Betty, the next morning, "I should like to go up to the +Adirondacks alone for a few weeks. Would you mind staying here with the +Colonel and Sally for another ten days and then returning with them? +Sally says she will move into my room and that she and the Colonel will +take you to the theatre and do everything they can to make you happy. +You know the Colonel delights to be with you." + +"I understand, of course, that you are going," said Mrs. Madison. "I +shall not be bored, if that is what you mean. I hope you will telegraph +at once, so that the house will be warmed at least a day before you +arrive. I suppose you have got to a point in your affairs where you +must have solitude, but I wish you had not, and I wish you would go +where it is warmer." + +"Oh, I shall be comfortable enough." She added in a moment, "Don't +think I do not appreciate your consideration, for I do." + +Then she sat down at the desk and wrote a note to Burleigh. It was a +brief epistle, but she was a long while writing it. Her previous notes +had been dashed off in ten minutes, and usually related to the play of +the previous evening. His replies had been a curious mingling of +half-offended pride and a passion which was only restrained by the fear +that the lady was not yet ready for it. + +Finally Betty concocted the missive to the satisfaction of her mind's +diplomatic condition. She had not yet brought herself to begin any of +her notes to him formally. "Dear Robert" was as yet unnatural, and +"Dear Mr. Burleigh" absurd; so she ignored the convention. + +"I suddenly have made up my mind to go to the Adirondacks for a month, +_quite alone,_" she wrote. "When one is going to take a tremendous +step, one needs solitude that one may do a great deal of hard thinking. +I don't wonder that some Catholic women go into retreat. At all events, +Washington, 'the world,' even my mother, even you, who always are so +kind and considerate, seem impossible to me at present; and if I am to +live with some one else for the rest of my life, I must have one +uninterrupted month of solitary myself. Doubtless that will do me till +the end of my time! So would you mind if I asked you not even to write +to me? I have enjoyed your notes so much, but I want to feel absolutely +alone. Don't think this is petty egoism. It goes far deeper than that! +If we ever are to understand each other I am sure I need not explain +myself further. + B. M." + +"It has a rather heartless ring," she thought with a sigh, "but it will +intrigue him, and--who knows? As heaven is my witness, I do not. But I +do know this, that unless I get away from them all and fairly inside of +myself, whatever I do will seem the wrong thing and I might end by +making a dramatic fool of myself." + + + + +XIX + + + +The ice was on the lake this time, although it was melting rapidly, but +the sun shone all day. She had to wear her furs in the woods, but the +greens had never looked so vivid and fresh, and save for an occasional +woodchopper and her own servants, there was not a soul to be met in +that high solitude. The hotel across the lake would not open for a +month. Even the birds still lingered in the South. + +After she had been alone for two days she wondered why, when in trouble +before, she had not turned instinctively to solitude in the forest. It +is only the shallow mind that dislikes and fears the lonely places of +Nature: the intellect, no matter what vapours may be sent up from the +heart, finds not only solace in retirement, but another form of that +companionship of the ego which the deeply religious find in retreat. +The intellectual may lack the supreme self-satisfaction of the +religious, but they find a keen pleasure in being able to make the very +most of the results of years of consistent effort. + +Betty, whether alone by a roaring fire of pine cones in the +living-room, or wandering along the edge of the lake in the cold +brilliant sunshine, or in the more mysterious depths of the forest, +listening to the silence or watching the drops of light fall through +the matted treetops, felt more at peace with the world than she had +done since her fatal embarkation on the political sea. She put the +memory of Harriet Walker, insistent at first, impatiently aside, and in +a day or two that shadow crept back to its grave. + +For a few days her mind, in its grateful repose, hesitated to grapple +with the question which had sent her to the mountains; and on one of +them, while thinking idly on the great political questions which had +magnetized so much of her thought during the past year, the inspiration +for which she had so often longed shot up from the concentrated results +of thinking and experience, and revealed in what manner she could be of +service to her country. This was, whatever her personal life, to gather +about her, once a week, as many bright boys of her own condition as she +could find, and interest and educate them in the principles of +patriotic statesmanship. With her own burning interest in the subject +and her personal fascination, she could accomplish far more than any +weary professor could do. + +She had come up to these fastnesses to decide the future happiness of +one or two of three people, and she felt sober enough; but for almost a +week she wished that she could live here alone for the rest of her +life: she believed that in time she would be serenely content. She had +the largest capacity for human happiness, but she guessed that the +imagination could be so trained that when far from worldly conditions +it could create a world of its own, and would shrink more and more from +the practical realities. For Imagination has the instinct of a nun in +its depths and loves the cloister of a picturesque solitude. It is a +Fool's Paradise, but not inferior to the one which mortals are at +liberty to enter and ruin. + +But Betty could not live here alone, she could not ignore her +responsibilities in any such primitive fashion; and so long as her +heart was alive it would make battle for real and tangible happiness. + +She had a question to decide which involved not only the heart but the +mind: if she made a mistake now, she would be at odds with her higher +faculties for the rest of her life. She dreaded the sophistry which sat +on either side of the subject; and it was a question whether the very +strength of her impulse toward the man she had loved for a year was not +the strongest argument in its favour. + +But she had given her word to another man, and she had the high and +almost fanatical sense of honour of the Southern race. On the other +hand, she had a practical modern brain, and during the last year she +had been living in close contact with much hard common-sense. She had +imagination, and she knew that she already had made Burleigh suffer +deeply, and had it in her power to raise that suffering to acuteness; +and if that buoyant nature were soured, a useful career might be +seriously impaired. On the other hand, she had made a greater man more +miserable still, and while he was finding life black enough she had +rushed into the camp of the enemy; and his capacity for suffering was +far deeper and more enduring than that of the younger man. + +She tried to put herself as much aside from the question as possible, +but she had her rights and they made themselves heard. She knew, had +known at once, that she had outraged all she held most dear, in +engaging herself to one man when she loved another, and she had begun +to wonder--in irresistible flashes--before the news had come which sent +her to the mountains, if she should falter at the last moment. But +breeding has carried many a woman over the ploughshares of life, and +her mind was probably strong enough to go on to the inevitable without +theatric climax. At the same time the idea of marriage with one man +when she loved another was abhorrent; that it was particularly so since +marriage with the other had become possible, she understood perfectly. +And although she continued to reason and to argue, she had a lurking +suspicion that while she might be strong enough to conquer a desire she +might not be able to conquer a physical revolt, and that it would rout +her standards and decide the issue. + +She had made up her mind that she would hesitate for a month and no +longer, and she also had determined that she would decide the question +for herself and throw none of the responsibility on Senator North; she +felt the impulse to write to him impersonally more than once. (Perhaps +her sense of humour also restrained her.) She wondered if it were one +year or twenty years since she had gone to him for advice; and she knew +that whichever way she decided, the desire for his good opinion would +have something to do with it. + +There are only a certain number of arguments in any brain, and after +they have been reiterated a sufficient number of times they pall. From +argument Betty lapsed naturally into meditation, and the subject of +these meditations, tender, regretful, and impassioned, was one man +only; and Burleigh had no place in them. Occasionally she forced him +into her mind, but he seemed as anxious to get out as she was to drive +him; and after the ice melted and she was able to spend hours on the +lake, and rest under spreading oaks, where she had only to shut her +eyes to imagine herself companioned, she felt herself unfaithful if she +cast a solitary thought to Burleigh. + +At the end of the month she was not tired of solitude, but she was +tired of her intellectual attitude. She was human first and mental +afterward; and she wanted nothing on earth but to be the wife of the +man whom she had loved for a lifetime in a year. The moment she +formulated this wish, hesitation fled and she could not wind up her +engagement with Burleigh rapidly enough. Her letter, however, was very +sweet and apologetic, and it was also very honest. She knew that unless +she told him she loved another man and intended to marry him, he would +take the next train for the Adirondacks and plead his cause in person. +His reply was characteristic. + +"Very well," it ran. "I do not pretend to say I was not prepared after +your last letter from New York. And although I could not guess your +motive in accepting me, I knew that you did not love me. But if I am +not overwhelmed with surprise, the pain is no easier on that account, +and will not be until the grass has had time to grow over it a little. +And at least it is a relief to know the worst. Of course I forgive you. +I doubt if any man could feel bitterly toward you. You compel too much +love for that. + +"Don't worry about me. I have work enough to do--a State to talk sense +into and a nation to which to devote my poor energies. My brain such as +it is will be constantly occupied, which is the next best good a man +can have." + ROBERT BURLEIGH. + +Betty wrote him four pages of enthusiastic friendliness in reply, and +paid him the compliment of postponing her letter to Senator North until +the following day. + +But on that day she rose with the feeling that the sun never would set. + +She was as brief as possible, for she knew that he hated long letters. +Nevertheless, she conveyed an exact impression of her weeks of +deliberation and analysis. + +"I want you to understand," she went on, "that my only wish when I came +here for solitary thought was to do the right thing, irrespective of my +own wishes in the matter. But it seems to me there is exactly as much +to be said on one side as on the other, and it all comes to this: right +or wrong, I have decided for you because I love you; and if you no +longer can admire me, if you think that I have violated my sense of +honour, then at least I shall marry no one else. B. M." + +And as her imagination was strong she did allow herself to be tortured +by doubts during the three days that elapsed before she heard from him. +She had hoped he would telegraph, but he did not, and her imagination +and her common-sense had a long and indecisive argument which +threatened ultimate depression. On the third night, however, a +messenger from the hotel opposite brought her a note from Senator North. + +"I don't know that your mental exercise has done you any harm," he had +written, "but it certainly was thrown away. You have too much +common-sense and too thorough a capacity for loving to do anything so +foolish or so outrageous as to marry the wrong man. If you had followed +a romantic impulse--induced by nervous excitement--and married him the +day you learned that your word might be put to too severe a test, you +would have been miserable, and so would Burleigh. A mistaken sense of +duty has been the cause of quite one fourth of the unhappiness of +mankind, and few have been so bigoted as not to acknowledge this when +too late. And a broken engagement is a small injustice to a man +compared to a lifetime with an unloving wife. Burleigh is unhappy now, +but it is no lack of admiration which prompts me to say that if he had +married you he would have been unhappier still. You could do nothing by +halves. + +"Formalities with us would be an affectation unworthy of either, and I +have come to you at once. I knew that you would send for me, but I +preferred to wait until you wrote that your engagement was broken. What +I felt when I received your note announcing it, I leave to your +imagination, and I forgot it as quickly as possible. I understood +perfectly, but you exaggerated the dangers; for my love for you is so +great and so absorbing, so complete in all its parts, that nothing but +marriage would satisfy me. I should have preferred a memory to a +failure. + +"If your mother were with you, I should go over to-night. But I shall +wait for you at five to-morrow morning where you were in the habit of +letting me board your boat. And the day will not be long enough! R. N." + +Betty slept little that night, but felt no lack of freshness the next +morning when she rose shortly after four. A broken night meant little +to her now, and happiness would have stimulated every faculty if she +had not slept for a week. + +She rowed swiftly across the lake. It was almost June now, and the +warmth of summer was in the air, the paler greens among the grim old +trees of the forest. The birds had come from the South and were singing +to the accompaniment of the pines, the roar of distant cataracts; and +yet the world seemed still. The stars were white and faint; the moon +was tangled in a treetop on the highest peak. + +He might have been the only man awake as he stood with the forest +behind him, and she recalled her fancy that although her horizon was +thick with flying mist his figure stood there, immovable, always. He +looked as if he had not moved since he stood there last, but the mist +was gone. + +As he stepped into the boat, she moved back that he might take the oars. + +"I have on a white frock, and a blue ribbon in my hair," she said +nervously, but smiling, "else I could not have forgotten that a year +has come and gone." + +He too was smiling. "I think it is the only year we ever shall want to +forget," he said. And he rowed up the lake. + +THE END. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Senator North, by Gertrude Atherton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SENATOR NORTH *** + +***** This file should be named 6091.txt or 6091.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/9/6091/ + +Produced by Cedric Vonck, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +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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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Senator North + +Author: Gertrude Atherton + +Release Date: July, 2004 [EBook #6091] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on November 4, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, SENATOR NORTH *** + + + + +Cedric Vonck, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the Online + + + +SENATOR NORTH + +BY GERTRUDE ATHERTON + + + + +_"When, Mr. President, a man, however eminent in other pursuits and +whatever claims he may have to public confidence, becomes a member of +this body, he has much to learn and much to endure. Little does he +know of what he will have to encounter. He may be well read in public +affairs, but he is unaware of the difficulties which must attend and +embarrass every effort to render what he may know available and +useful. He may be upright in purpose and strong in the belief of his +own integrity, but he cannot even dream of the ordeal to which he +cannot fail to be exposed; of how much courage he must possess to +resist the temptations which must daily beset him; of that sensitive +shrinking from undeserved censure which he must learn to control; of +the ever recurring contest between a natural desire for public +approbation and a sense of public duty; of the load of injustice he +must be content to bear even from those who should be his friends; the +imputations on his motives; the sneers and sarcasms of ignorance and +malice; all the manifold injuries which partisan or private malignity, +disappointed of its object, may shower upon his unprotected head. All +this, if he would retain his integrity, he must learn to ear unmoved +and walk steadily onward in the path of public duty, sustained only by +the reflection that time may do him justice; or if not, that his +individual hopes and aspirations and even his name among men should be +of little account to him when weighed in the balance of a people of +whose destiny he is a constituted guardian and defender."_ + --WILLIAM PITT FESSENDEN + +_In memorial address before the Senate, 1866._ +_Miss Betty Madison embarks on the Political Sea. Her Discoveries, +Surprises, and Triumphs._ + + + + + +SENATOR NORTH + + + + +I + + + +"If we receive this Lady Mary Montgomery, we shall also have to +receive her dreadful husband." + +"He is said to be quite charming." + +"He is a Representative!" + +"Of course they are all wild animals to you, but one or two have been +pointed out to me that looked quite like ordinary gentlemen--really." + +"Possibly. But no person in official life has ever entered my house. I +do not feel inclined to break the rule merely because the wife of one +of the most objectionable class is an Englishwoman with a title. I +think it very inconsiderate of Lady Barnstaple to have given her a +letter to us." + +"Lee, never having lived in Washington, doubtless fancies, like the +rest of the benighted world, that its officials are its aristocracy. +The Senate of the United States is regarded abroad as a sort of House +of Peers. One has to come and live in Washington to hear of the 'Old +Washingtonians,' the 'cave-dwellers,' as Sally calls us; I expected to +see a coat of blue mould on each of them when I returned." + +"Really, Betty, I do not understand you this morning." Mrs. Madison +moved uneasily and took out her handkerchief. When her daughter's rich +Southern voice hardened itself to sarcasm, and her brilliant hazel +eyes expressed the brain in a state of cold analysis, Mrs. Madison +braced herself for a contest in which she inevitably must surrender +with what slow dignity she could command. Betty had called her Molly +since she was fourteen months old, and, sweet and gracious in small +matters, invariably pursued her own way when sufficiently roused by +the strength of a desire. Mrs. Madison, however, kept up the fiction +of an authority which she thought was due to herself and her +ancestors. She continued impatiently,-- + +"You have been standing before that fireplace for ten minutes with +your shoulders thrown back as if you were going to make a speech. It +is not a nice attitude for a girl at all, and I wish you would sit +down. I hope you don't think that because Sally Carter crosses her +knees and cultivates a brutal frankness of expression you must do the +same now that you have dropped all your friends of your own age and +become intimate with her. I suppose she is old enough to do as she +chooses, and she always was eccentric." + +"She is only eight years older than I. You forget that I shall be +twenty-seven in three months." + +"Well, that is no reason why you should stand before the fireplace +like a man. Do sit down." + +"I'd rather stand here till I've said what is necessary--if you don't +mind. I am sorry to be obliged to say it, and I can assure you that I +have not made up my mind in a moment." + +"What is it, for heaven's sake?" + +Mrs. Madison drew a short breath and readjusted her cushions. In spite +of her wealth and exalted position she had known much trouble and +grief. Her first six children had died in their early youth. Her +husband, brilliant and charming, had possessed a set of affections too +restless and ardent to confine themselves within the domestic limits. +His wife had buried him with sorrow, but with a deep sigh of relief +that for the future she could mourn him without torment. He had +belonged to a collateral branch of a family of which her father had +been the heir; consequently the old Madison house in Washington was +hers, as well as a large fortune. Harold Madison had been free to +spend his own inheritance as he listed, and he had left but a +fragment. Mrs. Madison's nerves, never strong, had long since given +way to trouble and ill-health, and when her active strong-willed +daughter entered her twentieth year, she gladly permitted her to +become the mistress of the household and to think for both. Betty had +been educated by private tutors, then taken abroad for two years, to +France, Germany, and Italy, in order, as she subsequently observed, to +make the foreign attache. Feel more at ease when he proposed. Her +winters thereafter until the last two had been spent in Washington, +where she had been a belle and ranked as a beauty. In the fashionable +set it was believed that every attache, in the city had proposed to +her, as well as a large proportion of the old beaux and of the youths +who pursue the business of Society. Her summers she spent at her place +in the Adirondacks, at Northern watering-places, or in Europe; and the +last two years had been passed, with brief intervals of Paris and +Vienna, in England, where she had been presented with distinction and +seen much of country life. She had returned with her mother to +Washington but a month ago, and since then had spent most of her +time in her room or on horseback, breaking all her engagements after +the first ten days. Mrs. Madison had awaited the explanation with deep +uneasiness. Did her daughter, despite the health manifest in her +splendid young figure, feel the first chill of some mortal disease? +She had not been her gay self for months, and although her complexion +was of that magnolia tint which never harbours colour, it seemed to +the anxious maternal eye, looking back to six young graves, a shade +whiter than it should. Or had she fallen in love with an Englishman, +and hesitated to speak, knowing her mother's love for Washington and +bare tolerance of the British Isles? She looked askance at Betty, who +stood tapping the front of her habit with her crop and evidently +waiting for her mother to express some interest. Mrs. Madison closed +her eyes. Betty therefore continued,-- + +"I see you are afraid I am going to marry an Oriental minister or +something. I hear that one is looking for an American with a million. +Well, I am going to do something you will think even worse. I am going +in for politics." + +"You are going to do what?" Mrs. Madison's voice was nearly inaudible +between relief and horrified surprise, but her eyes flew open. "Do you +mean that you are going to vote?--or run for Congress?--but women +don't sit in Congress, do they?" + +"Of course not. Do you know I think it quite shocking that we have +lived here in the very brain of the United States all our lives and +know less of politics than if we were Indians in Alaska? I was ashamed +of myself, I can assure you, when Lord Barnstaple asked me so many +questions the first time I visited Maundrell Abbey. He took for +granted, as I lived in Washington, I must be thoroughly well up in +politics, and I was obliged to tell him that although I had +occasionally been in the room with one or two Senators and Cabinet +Ministers, who happened to be in Society first and politics afterward, +I didn't know the others by name, had never put my foot in the White +House or the Capitol, and that no one I knew ever thought of talking +politics. He asked me what I had done with myself during all the +winters I had spent in Washington, and I told him that I had had the +usual girls'-good-time,--teas, theatre, Germans, dinners, luncheons, +calls, calls, calls! I was glad to add that I belonged to several +charities and had read a great deal; but that did not seem to interest +him. Well, I met a good many men like Lord Barnstaple, men who were in +public life. Some of them were dull enough, judged by the feminine +standard, but even they occasionally said something to remember, and +others were delightful. This is the whole point--I can't and won't go +back to what I left here two years ago. My day for platitudes and +pouring tea for men, who are contemptible enough to make Society their +profession, is over. I am going to know the real men of my country. It +is incredible that there are not men in that Senate as well worth +talking to as any I met in England. The other day I picked up a bound +copy of the Congressional Record in a book-shop. It was frantically +interesting." + +"It must have been! But, my dear--of course I understand, darling, +your desire for a new intellectual occupation; you always were so +clever--but you can't, you really can't know these men. They are--they +are--politicians. We never have known politicians. They are dreadful +people, who have come from low origins and would probably call me +'marm.'" + +"You are all wrong, Molly. I bought a copy of the Congressional +Directory a day or two ago, and have read the biography of every +Senator. Nine-tenths of them are educated men; if only a few attended +the big Universities, the rest went to the colleges of their State. +That is enough for an American of brains. And most of them are +lawyers; others served in the war, and several have distinguished +records. They cannot be boors, whether they have blue blood in them or +not. I'm sick of blue blood, anyway. Vienna was the deadliest place I +ever visited. What makes London interesting is its red streak of +plebeianism;--well, I repeat, I think it really dreadful that we +should not know even by name the men who make our laws, who are making +history, who may be called upon at any moment to decide our fate among +nations. I feel a silly little fool." + +"I suppose you mean that I am one too. But it always has been my +boast, Betty, that I never have had a politician in my house. Your +father knew some, but he never brought them here; he knew the +fastidious manner in which I had been brought up; and although I am +afraid he kept late hours with a good many of them at Chamberlin's and +other dreadful places, he always spared me. I suppose this is heredity +working out in you." + +"Possibly. But you will admit, will you not, that I am old enough to +choose my own life?" + +"You always have done every single thing you wanted, so I don't see +why you talk like that. But if you are going to bring a lot of men to +this house who will spit on my carpets and use toothpicks, I beg you +will not ask me to receive with you." "Of course you will receive with +me, Molly dear--when I know anybody worth receiving. Unfortunately I +am not the wife of the President and cannot send out a royal summons. +I am hoping that Lady Mary Montgomery will help me. But my first step +shall be to pay a daily visit to the Senate Gallery." + +"What!" Mrs. Madison's weary voice flew to its upper register. "I +_do_ know something about politics--I remember now--the only women who +go to the Capitol are lobbyists--dreadful creatures who--who--do all +sorts of things. You can't go there; you'll be taken for one." + +"We none of us are taken very long for what we are not. I shall take +Leontine with me, and those interested enough to notice me will soon +learn what I go for." + +Mrs. Madison burst into tears. "You are your father all over again! +I've seen it developing for at least three years. At first you were +just a hard student, and then the loveliest young girl, only caring to +have a good time, and coquetting more bewitchingly than any girl I +ever saw. I don't see why you had to change." + +"Time develops all of us, one way or another. I suppose you would like +me to be a charming girl flirting bewitchingly when I am forty-five. I +am finished with the meaningless things of life. I want to live now, +and I intend to." + +"It will be wildly exciting--the Senate Gallery every day, and knowing +a lot of lank raw-boned Yankees with political beards." "I am not +expecting to fall in love with any of them. I merely discovered some +time since that I had a brain, and they happen to be the impulse that +possesses it. You always have prided yourself that I am intellectual, +and so I am in the flabby 'well-read' fashion. I feel as if my brain +had been a mausoleum for skeletons and mummies; it felt alive for the +first time when I began to read the newspapers in England. I want no +more memoirs and letters and biographies, nor even of the history that +is shut up in calf-skin. I want the life of to-day. I want to feel in +the midst of current history. All these men here in Washington must be +alive to their finger-tips. Sally Carter admires Senator North and +Senator Maxwell immensely." + +"What does she say about politicians in general?" Mrs. Madison looked +almost distraught. "Of course the Norths and the Maxwells come of good +New England families--I never did look down on the North as much as +some of us did; after all, nearly three hundred years are very +respectable indeed--and if these two men had not been in politics I +should have been delighted to receive them. I met Senator North once-- +at Bar Harbor, while you were with the Carters at Homburg--and thought +him charming; and I had some most interesting chats with his wife, +who is much the same sort of invalid that I am. But when I establish a +standard I am consistent enough to want to keep to it. I asked you +what Sally Carter says of the others." + +"Oh, she admits that there may be others as _convenable_ as Senator +North and Senator Maxwell, and that there is no doubt about there +being many bright men in the Senate; but she 'does not care to know +any more people.' Being a good cave-dweller, she is true to her +traditions." + +"People will say you are _passee,_" exclaimed Mrs. Madison, hopefully. +"They will be sure to." + +Her daughter laughed, showing teeth as brilliant as her eyes. Then she +snatched off her riding-hat and shook down her mane of warm brown +hair. Her black brows and lashes, like her eyes and mouth, were vivid, +but her hair and complexion were soft, without lustre, but very warm. +She looked like a flower set on so strongly sapped a stem that her +fullness would outlast many women's decline. She had inherited the +beauty of her father's branch of the family. Mrs. Madison was very +small and thin; but she carried herself erectly and her delicately cut +face was little wrinkled. Her eyes were blue, and her hair, which was +always carefully rolled, was as white as sea foam. Betty would not +permit her to wear black, but dressed her in delicate colours, and she +looked somewhat like an animated miniature. She dabbed impatiently at +her tears. + +"Everybody will cut you--if you go into that dreadful political set." + +"I am on the verge of cutting everybody myself, so it doesn't matter. +Positively--I shall not accept an invitation of the old sort this +winter. The sooner they drop me the better." + +Mrs. Madison wept bitterly. "You will become a notorious woman," she +sobbed. "People will talk terribly about you. They will say--all sorts +of things I have heard come back to me--these politicians make love to +every pretty woman they meet. They are so tired of their old frumps +from Oshkosh and Kalamazoo." "They do not all come from Oshkosh and +Kalamazoo. There are six New England States whose three centuries you +have just admitted lift them into the mists of antiquity. There are +fourteen Southern States, and I need make no defence--" + +"Their gentlemen don't go into politics any more." + +"You have admitted that Senator North and Senator Maxwell are +gentlemen. There is no reason why there should not be many more." + +"Count de Bellairs told me that there was a spittoon at every desk in +the Senate and that he counted eight toothpicks in one hour." + +"Well, I'll reform them. That will be my holy mission. As for +spittoons and toothpicks, they are conspicuous in every hotel in the +United States. They should be on our coat-of-arms, and the Great +American Novel will be called 'The Great American Toothpick.' +Statesmen have cut their teeth on it, and it has been their solace in +the great crises of the nation's history. As for spittoons, they +were invented for our own Southern aristocrats who loved tobacco then +as now. They decorate our Capitol as a mere matter of form. I don't +pretend to hope that ninety representative Americans are Beau +Brummels, but there must be a respectable minority of gentlemen-- +whether self-made or not I don't care. I am going to make a deliberate +attempt to know that minority, and shall call on Lady Mary Montgomery +this afternoon as the first step. So you are resigned, are you not, +Molly dear?" + +"No, I am not! But what can I do? I have spoiled you, and you would be +just the same if I hadn't. You are more like the men of the family +than the women--they always would have their own way. Are they all +married?" she added anxiously. + +"Do you mean the ninety Senators and the three hundred and fifty-six +Representatives? I am sure I do not know. Don't let that worry you. It +is my mind that is on the _qui vive_, not my heart." + +"You'll hear some old fool make a Websterian speech full of periods +and rhetoric, and you'll straight-way imagine yourself in love with +him. Your head will be your worst enemy when you do fall in love." + +"Webster is the greatest master of style this country has produced. I +should hate a man who used either 'periods' or rhetoric. I am the +concentrated essence of modernism and have no use for 'oratory' or +'eloquence.' Some of the little speeches in the Record are +masterpieces of brevity and pure English, particularly Senator +North's." + +"You _are_ modern. If we had a Clay, I could understand you--I am +too exhausted to discuss the matter further; you _must_ drop it +for the present. What will Jack Emory say?" + +"I have never given him the least right to say anything." + +"I almost wish you were safely married to him. He has not made a great +success of his life, but he is your equal and his manners are perfect. +I shall live in constant fear now of your marrying a horror with a +twang and a toothpick." + +"I promise you I won't do that--and that I never will marry Jack +Emory." + + + + +II + + + +Betty Madison had exercised a great deal of self-control in resisting +the natural impulse to cultivate a fad and grapple with a problem. +Only her keen sense of humour saved her. On the Sunday following her +return, while sauntering home after a long restless tramp about the +city, she passed a church which many coloured people were entering. +Her newly awakened curiosity in all things pertaining to the political +life of her country prompted her to follow them and sit through the +service. The clergyman was light in colour, and prayed and preached in +simpler and better English than she had heard in more pretentious +pulpits, but there was nothing noteworthy, in his remarks beyond a +supplication to the Almighty to deliver the negro from the oppression +of the "Southern tyrant," followed by an admonition to the negro to +improve himself in mind and character if he would hope to compete with +the Whites; bitter words and violence but weakened his cause. + +This was sound commonsense, but the reverse of the sensational +entertainment Betty had half expected, and her eyes wandered from the +preacher to his congregation. There were all shades of Afro-American +colour and all degrees of prosperity represented. Coal-black women +were there, attired in deep and expensive mourning. "Yellow girls" +wore smart little tailor costumes. Three young girls, evidently of the +lower middle class of coloured society, for they were cheaply dressed, +had all the little airs and graces and mannerisms of the typical +American girl. In one corner a sleek mulatto with a Semitic profile +sat in the recognized attitude of the banker in church; filling his +corner comfortably and setting a worthy example to the less favoured +of Mammon. + +But Betty's attention suddenly was arrested and held by two men who +sat on the opposite side of the aisle, although not together, and +apparently were unrelated. There were no others quite like them in the +church, but the conviction slowly forced itself into her mind, +magnetic for new impressions, that there were many elsewhere. They +were men who were descending the fifties, tall, with straight gray +hair. One was very slender, and all but distinguished of carriage; the +other was heavier, and would have been imposing but for the listless +droop of his shoulders. The features of both were finely cut, and +their complexions far removed from the reproach of "yellow." They +looked like sun-burned gentlemen. + +For nearly ten minutes Betty stared, fascinated, while her mind +grappled with the deep significance of all those two sad and patient +men expressed. They inherited the shell and the intellect, the +aspirations and the possibilities of the gay young planters whose +tragic folly had called into being a race of outcasts with all their +own capacity for shame and suffering. + +Betty went home and for twenty-four hours fought with the desire to +champion the cause of the negro and make him her life-work. But not +only did she abominate women with missions; she looked at the subject +upon each of its many sides and asked a number of indirect questions +of her cousin, Jack Emory. Sincere reflection brought with it the +conclusion that her energies in behalf of the negro would be +superfluous. The careless planters were dead; she could not harangue +their dust. The Southerners of the present generation despised and +feared the coloured race in its enfranchised state too actively to +have more to do with it than they could help; if it was a legal +offence for Whites and Blacks to marry, there was an equally stringent +social law which protected the coloured girl from the lust of the +white man. Therefore, as she could not undo the harm already done, and +as a crusade in behalf of the next generation would be meaningless, +not to say indelicate, she dismissed the "problem" from her mind. But +the image of those two sad and stately reflections of the old school +sank indelibly into her memory, and rose to their part in one of the +most momentous decisions of her life. + + + + +III + + + +The Montgomerys had come to Washington for the first time at the +beginning of the previous winter, while the Madisons were in England. +Lady Mary had left her note of introduction the day before Betty's +declaration of independence. + +Betty was anxious to meet the young Englishwoman, not only because she +possessed the charmed key to political society, but her history as +related by certain gossips of authority commanded interest. + +Randolph Montgomery, a young Californian millionaire, had followed his +mother's former ward, Lady Maundrell, to England, nursing an old and +hopeless passion. What passed between him and the beautiful young +countess the gossips did not attempt to state, but he left England two +days after the tragedy which shelved Cecil Maundrell into the House of +Lords, and returned to California accompanied by his mother and Lady +Barnstaple's friend, Lady Mary Montgomery. Bets were exchanged freely +as to the result of this bold move on the part of a girl too +fastidious to marry any of the English parvenus that addressed her, +too poor to marry in her own class. The wedding took place a few +months later, immediately after Mrs. Montgomery's death; an event +which left Lady Mary the guest in a foreign country of a young +bachelor. + +From all accounts, the marriage, although a wide deflection from the +highest canons of romance, was a successful one, and the Montgomerys +were living in splendid state in Washington. Lady Mary was approved by +even the "Old Washingtonians"--a thoughtful Californian of lineage had +given her a letter to Miss Carter, who in turn had given her a tea-- +and as her husband was brilliant, accomplished, and of the best blood +of Louisiana, the little set, tenaciously clinging to its traditional +exclusiveness amidst the whirling ever-changing particles of the +political maelstrom, found no fault in him beyond his calling. And as +he was a man of tact and never mentioned politics in its presence, and +as his wife was not at home to the public on the first Tuesday of the +month, reserving that day for such of her friends as shunned political +petticoats, the young couple were taken straight into the bosom of +that inner set which the ordinary outsider might search for a very +glimpse of in vain. + +How Lady Mary stood with the large and heterogeneous political set +Betty had no means of knowing, and she was curious to ascertain; she +could think of no position more trying for an Englishwoman of Mary +Gifford's class. + +As she drove toward the house several hours after announcing her plan +of campaign to her mother, she found Massachusetts Avenue blocked with +carriages and recalled suddenly that Tuesday was "Representatives' +day." She gave a little laugh as she imagined Mrs. Madison's plaintive +distaste. And then she felt the tremor and flutter, the pleasurable +desire to run away, which had assailed her on the night of her first +ball. That was eight years ago, and she had not experienced a moment +of nervous trepidation since. + +"Am I about to be re-born?" she thought. "Or merely rejuvenated? I +certainly do feel young again." + +She looked about critically as she entered the house. Her own home, +which was older than the White House, was large and plain, with lofty +rooms severely trimmed in the colonial style. There were no portieres, +no modern devices of decoration. Everything was solid and comfortable, +worn, and of a long and honourable descent. The dining-room and large +square hall were striking because of the blackness of their oak walls, +the many family portraits, and certain old trophies of the chase, as +vague in their high dark corners as fading daguerreotypes. + +So imbued was Betty with the idea that anything more elaborate was the +sign manifest of too recent fortune, that she had indulged in caustic +criticism of the modern palaces of certain New York friends. But +although the immediate impression of the Montgomery house was of soft +luxurious richness, and it was indubitably the home of wealthy people +determined to enjoy life, Miss Madison's dainty nose did not lift +itself. + +"At all events, the money is not laid on with a trowel," she thought. +And then she became aware of a curious sensuous longing as she looked +again at the dim rich beauty about her, the smothered windows, the +suggested power of withdrawal from every vulgar or annoying contact +beyond those stately walls. + +"I should like--I should like--" thought Betty, striving to put her +vague emotion into words, "to live in this sort of house when I +marry." And then her humour flashed up: it was a sense that sat at the +heels of every serious thought. "What a combination with the twang and +the toothpick! Can they really be my fate? Of course I might reform +both, and cut off his Uncle Sam beard while he slept." + +She had taken the wrong direction and entered a room in which there +was not even a stray guest. A loud buzz of voices rose and fell at the +end of a long hall, and she slowly made her way to the drawing-room, +pausing once to watch a footman who was busily sorting visiting-cards +into separate packs at a table. She handed him her card, and he +slipped it into a pack marked "I Street." + +The drawing-room was thronged with people, and as many of them +surrounded the hostess, while constant new-comers pressed forward to +shake a patient hand, Betty decided to stand apart for a few moments +and look at the crowd. She was in a new world, and as eager and +curious as if she had been shot from Earth to Mars. + +Lady Mary was quite as handsome as her portraits: a cold blue and +white and ashen beauty whose carriage and manifest of race were in +curious contrast, Lee had told Betty, to a nervous manner and the loud +voice of one who conceived that social laws had been invented for the +middle class. But there was little vivacity in her manner to-day, and +her voice was not audible across the large room. She looked tired. It +was half-past five o'clock, and doubtless she had been on her feet +since three. But she was smiling graciously upon her visitors, and +gave each a warmth of welcome which betrayed the wife of the ambitious +politician. + +"Her mouth is not so selfish as in her photographs," observed the +astute Betty. "I suppose in the depths of her soul she hates this, but +she does it; and if she loves the man, she must think it well worth +while." + +She turned her attention to the visitors. There were many women +superbly dressed, in taste as perfect as her own. She never had seen +any of them before, but they had the air of women of importance. The +majority looked frigid and bored, a few dignified and easy of manner. +The younger women of the same class were more animated, but no less +irreproachable in style. + +There were others, middle-aged and young, with all the native style of +the second-class, and still others who were clad in coarse serges, +cashmeres, or cheap silks, shapelessly made with the heavy hand of +many burdens. These did not detain the hostess in conversation, but +gathered in groups, or walked about the room gazing at the many +beautiful pictures and ornaments. There were only three or four really +vulgar-looking women present, and they were clothed in conspicuous +raiment. One, and all but her waist was huge, wore a bodice of +transparent gauze; another, also of middle years, had crowned her hard +over-coloured face with a large gentian-blue hat turned up in front +with a brass buckle. Another was in pink silk and heavily powdered. +But although these women were offensively loud, they did not suggest +any lack of that virtue whose exact proportions so often elude the +most earnest seeker after truth. + +Betty turned impulsively to an old woman clad in shabby black who +stood besides her gazing earnestly at the crowd. Her large bony face +was crossed by the lines and wrinkles of long years of care, and her +eyes were dim; but her mouth was smiling. + +"Tell me," exclaimed Betty, "please--are all these people in politics? +I--I--am a stranger, and I should like to know who they are." + +"Well, I can tell you pretty near everything you want to know, I +guess," replied the old lady. She had the drawl and twang and accent +of rural New England. "I guess you've come here, like myself, jest to +see the folks. A few here, like you and me, ar'n't in official life, +but the most are, I guess. Nearly all the Cabinet ladies are here to- +day and a good many Senators' wives and darters. That there lady in +heliotrope and fur is the wife of the Secretary of War, and the one in +green velvet and chinchilla is Mis' Senator Maxwell. That real stylish +handsome girl just behind is her darter, and I guess she has a good +many beaux. They're real elegant, ar'n't they? I guess we have good +cause to be proud of our ladies." + +She paused that Betty might express her approval, and upon being +assured that Paris was responsible for many of the gowns present, +continued in her monotonous but kindly drawl, + +"And some of them began life doin' their own work. The President ain't +no aristocrat, and most of his friends ain't neither; but I tell you +when their wives begin to entertain they do it jest as if they was +born to it. I presume if my husband--he was a physician--had gone into +politics and had luck, I'd have been jest like those ladies; but as he +didn't, I'm still doin' most of my own work and look it. But the Lord +knows what he's about, I guess. Senator Maxwell's a swell; they've +always been rich, the Maxwells, and he married a New York girl, so she +didn't have much to learn, I guess. Mis' Senator Shattuc--she's the +one in wine colour--was the darter of a big railroad man out West, so +I guess she had all the schoolin' and Yurrup she wanted. Now that real +pretty little woman jest speakin' to Lady Montgomery is Mis' Senator +Freeman. They do say as how she was the darter of a baker in Chicago +and used to run barefoot around the streets, but she looks as well as +any of 'em now and she dines at every Embassy in Washington. Her +dresses are always described in the _Post_: she wears pink and blue +mostly. You kin tell by her face that she's got a lot of determination +and that she'd git where she had a mind to. I guess she'd dine with +Queen Victoria if she had a mind to." + +"I feel exactly as if I were at a pantomime," cried Betty, +delightedly. "Even you--" She caught herself up. "I mean I always +thought the New England playwrights invented all their characters. Who +are these plainly dressed women and--and--half-way ones?" "Oh, they're +Representatives' wives mostly," drawled the old lady, who looked +puzzled. "They take a day off and call on each other. One or two is +Senators' wives. Some of the Senators is rich, but some ar'n't. Mis' +Montgomery's jest as nice to them as to the swells, and she told me to +be sure and go into the next room and have a cup of tea. I don't care +much about tea excep' for lunch, and she don't have a collation--I +presume she can't; too many people'd come, and I guess she has about +enough. Now, those ladies that don't look exactly as if they was +ladies," indicating the large birds of tawdry plumage and striking +complexions, "they don't live here. Washington ladies don't dress like +that. I guess they're the wives of men out West that have made their +pile lately and come here to see the sights. First they look at all +the public buildin's, and I guess they about walk all over the +Capitol, and hear a speech or two in the Ladies' Gallery--from their +Senators, if they can--and after that they go about in Society a bit. +You see, Washington is a mighty nice place fur people who haven't much +show at home--those that live in small towns, fur instance. There is +so many public receptions they can go to--The White House, the +Wednesdays of the Cabinet ladies, the Thursdays of the Senator's +wives, and six or seven Representatives--mebbe more--who have real +elegant houses; and then there is several Legations that give public +receptions. You can always see in the _Post_ who's goin' to receive; +and those women can go home and talk fur the rest of their lives about +the fine time they had in Washington society. Amurricans heighst +themselves whenever they git a chance. I don't care to do that. My +sister--she's a heap younger 'n I am and awful spry--and I come down +from the north of New Hampshire every winter and keep a boardin'-house +in Washington so that we can see the world. We don't go home with ten +dollars over railroad fare in our pockets, but we don't mind, because +the farm keeps us and we've had a real good time. I often sit down up +in New Hampshire and think of the beautiful houses and dresses and +pictures I've seen, and I can always remember that I've shaken hands +with the President and his wife and the ladies of the Cabinet. They're +just as nice as they can be." + +Betty, whose sympathies were quick and keen, winked away a tear. "I'm +so glad you enjoy it so much," she exclaimed, "and that there is so +much for you here to enjoy. I never thought of it in that way. I'm +awfully interested in it all, myself, and I feel deeply indebted to +you." + +"Well, you needn't mind that. My sister says I always talk when I can +git anybody to listen to me, and I guess I do. Where air you from? New +York, I guess." + +"Oh, I am a Washingtonian. My name is Madison." + +"So? I don't remember seeing it in the society columns." + +"We are never mentioned in society columns," exclaimed Betty, with her +first thrill of pride since entering the new world. "But I seldom have +passed a winter out of Washington, although--I am sorry to say--I +never have met any of these people." + +"You don't say. I ain't curious, but you don't look as if you had to +stay to home and do the work. But Amurrican girls are so smart they +can about look anything they have a mind to." "Oh--I am really sorry, +but everybody seems to be going, and I haven't spoken to Lady Mary +yet. I'm _so_ much obliged to you." + +"Now, you needn't be, for you're a real nice young lady, and I've +enjoyed talkin' to you. Likely we'll meet again, but I'd be happy to +have you call. Here's my card. Our house is right near here--in the +real fashionable part; and we've several ladies livin' with us that +you might like to meet." + +"Oh, thanks! thanks!" Betty put the card carefully into her case, +shook her new friend warmly by the hand, and went forward. Lady Mary's +tired white face had set into an almost mechanical smile, but as her +eyes met Betty's they illumined with sudden interest and her hard- +worked muscles relaxed. + +"You are Betty Madison!" she exclaimed. And as the two girls shook +hands they conceived one of those sudden and violent friendships which +are so full of interest while they last. + +"How awfully good of you to call so soon!" continued Lady Mary, after +Betty had expatiated upon her long-cherished desire for this meeting. +"I hoped you would, although Miss Carter rather frightened me with her +account of your mother's aversion to political people. But they have +all been so good to me--all your delightful set." She lowered her +voice, which had rung out for a moment in something of its old style, +albeit platitudes had worn upon its edges. "I _couldn't_ stand just +this--although I must add that many of the official women are charming +and have the most stunning manners; but many are the reverse, and +unfortunately I can't pick and choose. It seems that when one gets +into politics in this country that is the end of nine-tenths of one's +personal life; and Washington is certainly the headquarters of +democracy. Here every American really does feel that he is as good as +every other American; I wish to heaven he didn't." + +"Washington is a democracy with a kernel of the most exclusive +aristocracy," said Betty, with a laugh. "Some one has said that it is +the drawing-room of the Republic. It is the hotel drawing-room with a +Holy of Holies opening upon the area. I'm sick of the Holy of Holies, +and I Ve never enjoyed a half-hour so much as while I've been looking +on here--waiting for you to be disengaged." + +"Oh, this is nothing. You must let me take you to a large evening +reception. That is really interesting, for you see so many famous +people. Can't you dine with me to-morrow? We've a big political dinner +on. About fifteen members of a Senate and a House Committee that are +deliberating a very important bill are coming. Senator North--he is +well worth meeting--is Chairman of the Senate Committee, and my +husband, although a new member, stands very high with the Chairman of +his Committee, most of whom are old members of the House. Senator +Ward also will be here. Do come, if you have nothing more important on +hand. I can easily get another member of the House Committee." + +"Come! I'd break twenty engagements to come." Betty's eyes sparkled +and she lifted her head with a motion peculiar to her when reminded +that she was the favoured of the gods. "I suppose there is a good deal +of fag about this sort of life to you, but it has all the charm of the +undiscovered country for me." + +"Oh, I am deeply interested," said Lady Mary. The two women were alone +now, and the hostess, released after three hours of stereotyped +amenities, surrendered herself to the charm of natural intercourse +with one of her own sort, and rang for tea. "I always liked politics, +and I feel quite sure that my husband will achieve his high ambitions. +It interests me greatly to help him." + +"Of course he'll be President!" cried Betty, enthusiastic in the +warmth of her new friendship and its possibilities. She was surprised +by a tilt of the nose and an emphatic shake of the head. + +"No, indeed!" exclaimed Lady Mary, "Presidents are politicians only. +My husband aspires higher than that. To be a Senator of the first rank +requires very different qualities." + +"Ah! I shall quote that to Mol--my mother. She is not predisposed in +their favour." + +"Of course there are Senators and Senators," said Lady Mary, hastily. +"You can't get ninety men of equal ability together, anywhere. There +are the six who are admittedly the first,--North, Maxwell, Ward, +March, Howard, and Eustis,--and about ten who are close behind them. +Then there is the venerable group to which Senator Maxwell also +belongs; and the younger men of forty-five or so who are not quite +broken in yet, and whose enthusiasm is apt to take the wrong +direction; and the fire-eaters, Populists usually; and the hard- +working second-rate men, many of them millionaires (Western, as a +rule) who are accused of having bought their legislatures to get in, +but who do good work on Committee, whether or not they came under the +delusion that they had bought an honour with nothing beneath it: a man +who presumed on his wealth in the Senate would fare as badly as a boy +at Eton who presumed on his title. Beyond all, are the nonentities +that are in every body. So, you see, it is worth while to aim for +the first place and to keep it." + +"There are certainly all sorts to choose from! I'll never mistrust my +instincts again. I am glad I shall meet Senator North to-morrow. I +suppose he is a courtly person of the old school with a Websterian +intellect." + +"I don't know anything about Webster; I can't read your history and +live in it, too; but certainly there is nothing of the old school +about Senator North. He is very modern and has a truly Republican--or +shall I say aristocratic?--simplicity--although no one could dress +better--combined with a cold manner to most men and a warm manner to +most women." + +"Tell me all about him!" exclaimed Betty, sipping her tea. "I never +was so happy and excited in my life. I feel as if I was Theodosia +Burr, or Nelly Custis, or Dolly Madison come to life. And now I'm +going to know an American statesman before his coat has turned to +calf-skin. Quick! How old is he?" + +"Just sixty, and looks much younger, as most of the Senators do. He is +a hard worker--he is Chairman of one Committee and a member of five +others; a brilliant debater, the most accomplished legislator in the +Senate, unyielding in his convictions, and absolutely independent. He +is not popular, as it has never occurred to him to conciliate anybody. +He is very kind and attentive to his invalid wife and proud of his +sons, and he adored a daughter who died four years ago. Rumor has it +that more than one charming woman has consoled him for domestic +afflictions and political trials, but I do not pay much attention to +rumours of that sort. How odd that I, an alien, should be instructing +a Washingtonian in politics and the personalities of her Senators; but +I quite understand. I do hope Mrs. Madison will not object to your +coming to-morrow night." + +"I shall come. And go now. I feel a brute to have let you talk so +much, but I never have been so interested!" + +The two women kissed and parted; and Lady Mary's dreams that night +were undisturbed by any vision of herself in the ranks of the Fates. + + + + +IV + + + +Betty returned home much elated with the success of her visit. She +heard the voice of her cousin Jack Emory in the parlor and went at +once to her room to dress. The voice sounded solemn, and so did her +mother's; they doubtless were sitting in conference upon her. She +selected her evening gown with some care; her cousin was an old story, +but he was a very attractive man, and coquetry would hold its own in +her, become she never so intellectual. + +Jack Emory had been her undeclared lover since his middle teens. +Somewhere in the same immature interval, just after her first return +from Europe, she had imagined herself passionately in love with him. +But she had a large fortune left her by her maternal grandfather, +besides a hundred thousand her father had died too soon to spend, and +Jack was the son of a Virginian who had been a Rebel to his death, +haughtily refusing to have his disabilities removed, and threatening +to shoot any negro in his employ who dared to go to the ballot box. He +had left his son but a few thousands out of his large inheritance, and +adjured him on his death bed to hold no office under the Federal +government and to shoot a Yankee rather than shake his hand. Jack +inherited his father's prejudices without his violent temper. He had a +contemptuous dislike for the North, a loathing for politics, and +adistaste for everybody outside his own diminishing class. Love for +Betty Madison had driven him West in the hope of retrieving his +fortunes, but he was essentially a gentleman and a scholar; the +hustling quality was not in him, and he returned South after two years +of unpleasant endeavour and started a small produce farm adjoining an +old house on the outskirts of Washington, left him by his mother. Here +he lived with his books, and made enough money to support himself +decently. He never had asked Betty to marry him, although he knew that +his aunt would champion his cause. During the period of Betty's maiden +passion his pride had caused her as much suffering as her youth and +buoyant nature would permit; but as the years slipped by she felt +inclined to personify that pride and burn a candle beneath it. Even +before her mind had awakened, the energy and strength of her character +had cured her of love for a man as supine as Jack Emory. He was +charming and well read, all that she could desire in a brother, but as +a husband he would be intolerable. As his love cooled she liked him +better still, particularly as his loyalty would not permit him to +acknowledge even to himself that he could change; but its passing left +him with fewer clouds on a rather melancholy spirit, a readier tongue, +and a complete recovery from the habits of sighing and of leaving the +house abruptly. + +Betty's maid dressed her in a bright blue taffeta, softened with much +white lace, and she went slowly down to the hall, rustling her skirts +that Emory might hear and come out for a word before dinner if he +liked. It was a relief to be able to coquet with him without fearing +that he would go home and shoot himself; and it helped him to sustain +the pleasant fiction that he still was in love with her. + +He came out at once and raised her hand to his lips, murmuring a +compliment as his grandfather might have done. He was only thirty-two, +but his face was sallow and lined from trouble and fever. Otherwise he +was very handsome, with his golden head and intellectual blue eyes, +his haughty profile and tall figure, listlessly carried as it was. In +spite of the fact that he took pride in dressing well, he always +looked a little old-fashioned. When with Betty, invariably as smart as +Paris and New York could make her, he almost appeared as if wearing +his father's old clothes. His Southern accent and intonation were +nearly as broad as a negro's. Betty had almost lost hers; she retained +just enough to enrich and individualize without a touch of +provincialism. She belonged to that small class of Americans whose +ear-mark is the absence of all Americanisms. + +Mr. Emory looked perturbed. + +"There is something I should like to say," he remarked hesitatingly. +"There is yet a quarter of an hour before dinner. I think this old +hall with its portraits of your grandmothers is a good place to say it +in--" + +"Molly has pressed you into service, I see. Let us have it out, by all +means. Please straighten your necktie before you begin. You cannot +possibly be impressive while it looks as if it were standing on one +leg." + +"Please be serious, Betty dear. I am indeed most disturbed. It surely +cannot be that you meant what you told your mother this morning,--that +you intended to change the whole current of your life in such an +unprecedented manner." + +"Great heavens! One would think I was about to go on the stage or +enter a convent." + +"I would rather you did either than soil your mind with the politics +of this country. I say nothing about there being no statesmen;--there +is not an honest man in politics the length and breadth of the Union. +The country is a sink of corruption, as far as politics are concerned. +Every Congressman buys his seat or is put in as the agent of some +disgraceful trust or syndicate or railroad corporation." + +Betty drew her eyelids together in a fashion that robbed her eyes of +their coquetry and fire and made them look unpleasantly judicial. + +"Exactly how much do you know about American politics?" she asked +coldly. "I have known you all my life and I never heard you mention +them before--" + +"I never have considered them a fit subject for you to listen to--" + +"I have been in your library a great many times and I do not recall a +copy of the Congressional Record. You have said often that you despise +the newspapers and only read the telegrams; that the only paper you +read through is the London _Times_. So, I repeat, what do you know +about the American politics of to-day?" + +"What I have told you." + +"Where did you learn it? Do you ever go to the Senate or the House?" + +"God forbid! But I am a man, and those things are in the atmosphere; a +man's brain accumulates naturally all widely diffused impressions. +I've been a great deal in the smoking-cars of railroad-trains, and +spent two years in a Western State where a man who had taken a fortune +out of a mine made no bones of buying a seat in the Senate from the +Legislature, nor the Legislature about selling it. It was the most +abominable transaction I ever came close to, and had as much to +do with my leaving the place as anything else." + +"And you mean to say that you judge all the old States of the country +by a newly settled community of adventurers out West?" + +"New York and Pennsylvania are notorious." + +"There are bad boys in every school. What I want to know is--can you +assert on your knowledge that all the Southern and New England States +are corrupt and send only small politicians to Washington? This is a +more serious charge than Molly's assertion that they all use +toothpicks." + +"I repeat that I do not believe there is an honest man in that +Capitol." + +"Do you know this? Have you investigated the life of every man in the +Senate and the House?" "What a good district attorney you would make!" + +"You are talking a lot of copybook platitudes with which you have +allowed your mind to stagnate. But you must convince me, for if what +you say is true I shall have nothing to do with politics. Let us begin +with Senator North. How and when did he buy his seat, and what Trust +does he represent?" + +"Oh, I never have heard anything against North. He is too big a gun in +Washington--" + +"You will admit then that _he_ is not corrupt--" + +"I don't doubt he has his own methods--" + + +"I don't care three cents about your suppositions. I want facts. How +about Senator Maxwell?" + +"He has been in Congress since before I was born. One never hears him +discussed." + +"And his Puritanical State has heaped every honour on him that it can +think of. Tell me the biography of Senator Ward--all that is too awful +to be printed in the Congressional Directory--" + +"He is from one of those dreadful North-western States and bound to be +corrupt," cried Emory, triumphantly. He wished desperately that he had +waited and got up his case. He spoke from sincere conviction. "There +may be a rag of decency left in the older States, but the West is +positively fetid. I give you my word I am speaking the truth, Betty +dear, and in your own interest. If I have no more details to give you, +it is because I promised my father on his death-bed that I would have +nothing to do with politics, and I have kept my word to the extent of +reading as little about them as possible. But I can assure you that I +know as much about them as anybody not in the accursed business. It is +in the air--" "There are so many things in the air that they get mixed +up. Your whole argument is based on air. Now, _mon ami_, you turn to +to-morrow and study up the record of every man in that Senate, as well +as the legislative methods of his State. When you know all about it, I +shall be delighted to be instructed. But I don't want any more air. +Now come in to dinner, and if you allude to the subject before Molly, +I'll leave the table." + +He bowed over her hand again with his old-fashioned courtesy. "When +you issue a command I am bound to obey," he said, "and although you +have set me an unpleasant, an obnoxious task, I certainly shall +accomplish that also to the best of my ability. You belong to this old +house, Betty, to this old set; I love to think of you as the last rose +on the old Southern tree, and you shall not be blighted if I can help +it." + +Betty tapped him lightly with her fan. + +"I belong to the whole country, my dear boy; I am no old cabbage rose +on a half-dead bush, but the same vegetable under a new name,--the +American Beauty Rose. Do you see the parable? And I've a great many +thorns on my long stem. Remember that also." + + + + +V + + + +Betty, in accordance with a time-honoured habit, was the last to +arrive at the dinner-party on the following evening. She had arranged +her heavy large-waved hair low on her neck, and the pale green velvet +of her gown lifted its dull mahogany hue and the deep Southern +whiteness of her skin. She did not take a beautiful picture, for her +features had the national irregularity, but she seldom entered a room +that several men did not turn and stare at her. She carried herself +with the air of one used to commanding the homage of men, her lovely +colouring was always enhanced by dress, and she radiated magnetism. It +was such an alive, warm, buoyant personality that men turned to her as +naturally as children do to the maternal woman; even when they did not +love her they liked to be near her, for she recalled some vague ideal. +She knew her power perfectly, and after one or two memorable lessons +had put from her the temptation to give it active exercise. It should +be the instrument of unqualified happiness when her hour came; +meanwhile she cultivated an impersonal attitude which baffled men +unable to propose and tempered the wind to those that could. + +During the few moments in the drawing-room she could gather only a +collective impression of the men who stared at her to-night. There was +a general suggestion of weight, in the sculptor's sense, and repose +combined with alertness, and they stood very squarely on their feet. +Betty had only had time to single out one long beard dependent from a +visage otherwise shorn, and to observe further that some of the women +were charmingly dressed, while others wore light silk afternoon +frocks, when dinner was announced. + +Her partner was evidently one of the younger Senators, one of those +juvenile enthusiasts of forty-five who beat their breasts for some +years upon the Senate's impassive front. He was extremely good- +looking, with a fair strong impatient face, trimmed with a moustache +only, and a well-built figure full of nervous energy. He had less +repose than most of the men about him, but he suggested the same +solidity. He might fail or go wrong, but not because there was any +room in his mind for shams. His name was Burleigh, but what his +section was, Betty, as they exchanged amenities and admired the lavish +display of flowers, could not determine; he had no accent whatever, +and although his voice was deep and sonorous, it had not the peculiar +richness of the South. His gray eyes smiled as they met hers, and his +manners were charming; but Betty, accustomed to grasp the salient +points of character in a first interview, fancied that he could be +overbearing and truculent. + +"Are they going to talk politics to-night?" she asked, when the +platitudes had run their course. + +"I hope not. I've had enough of politics, all day." + +"Oh, I hoped you would," said Betty, in a deeply disappointed tone. + +He looked amused. + +"Why?" he asked. + +"Oh, I am so interested. That sounds very vague, but I am. When Lady +Mary told me she was dining members of the two Committees, I thought +it was to talk politics, and--and--settle it amicably or something." +Betty could look infantile when she chose, and was always ready to +cover real ignorance with an exaggerated assumption which inspired +doubt. + +"We have the excessive pleasure of discussing the bill in Senator +North's comfortable Committee room for several hours every few days, +and we usually are amiable. We are merely dining out to-night in each +other's good company. Still, I guess your desire will be more or less +gratified. Second nature is strong, and one or two will probably get +down to it about the middle of dinner." + +"You are from New England," exclaimed Betty, triumphantly. "I have +been waiting for you to say 'I reckon' or 'I guess.'" + +"I was born and educated in Maine, but I went west to practise law as +soon as I knew enough, and I am Senator from one of the Middle Western +States." + +"Ah!" Betty gave him a swift side glance. He looked anything but +"corrupt," and that truculent note in his voice did not indicate +subservience to party bosses. She determined to write to Jack Emory in +the morning and command him to look up Senator Burleigh's record at +once. + +"I suppose all the Senators here to-night are the--big ones?" + +"Oh, no; North and Ward are the only two on this Committee belonging +to the very first rank. The other four here are in that group that is +pressing close upon their heels; and myself, who am a new member: I've +been here four years only. Would you mind telling me who you are? Of +course American women don't take much interest in politics, but--do +you know as little as you pretend?" + +"I wish I knew more; but I've been abroad for the last two years, and +my mother prefers rattlesnakes to politics. Which is Senator North?" + +"He is at the head of the table with Lady Mary, but that rosebush is +in the way; you cannot see him." + +"And which is Senator Ward?" "Over there by Mrs. Shattuc,--the woman +in ivory-white and heliotrope." + +Betty flashed him a glance of renewed interest. "You like women," she +exclaimed. "And you must be married, or have sisters." + +"I like women and I am not married, nor have I any sisters. I +particularly like woman's dress. If you'll pardon me, that combination +of pale green and white lace and soft stuff is the most stunning thing +I've seen for a long while." + +"Law, politics, and woman's dress! How hard you must have worked!" + +"Our strong natural inclinations help us so much!" He gave her an +amused glance, and his manner was a trifle patronizing, as of a +prominent man used to the admiration of pretty girls. It was evident +that he knew nothing of her and her long line of conquests. + +"Senator Ward looks half asleep," she remarked abruptly. + +"He usually does until dinner is two-thirds over. He is Chairman of +one Committee and serving on two others; and all have important bills +before them at present. So he is tired." + +"He doesn't look corrupt." + +"Corrupt? Who? Ward? Who on earth ever said he was corrupt?" + +"Well, I heard his State was." + +"'Corruption' is the father of more platitudes than any word in the +American language. There are corrupt men in his State, no doubt, and +one of the Trusts with which we are ridden at present tried to buy its +Legislature and put their man in. But Ward won his fight without the +expenditure of a dollar beyond paying for the band and a few +courtesies of that sort. His State is proud of him both as a statesman +and a scholar, and he is likely to stay in the Senate until he drops +in his tracks." + +"Then he comes here with the intention of remaining for life? I think +you should all do that." + +"You are quite right. When a man achieves the honour of being elected +honestly to the United States Senate,--it is the highest honour in the +Republic,--he should feel that he is dedicating himself to the service +of the country, and should have so arranged his affairs that he can +stay there for life." + +Betty's eyes kindled with approval. "Oh, I am glad," she said, "I am +glad." + +"Glad of what, may I ask?" + +"Oh--" And then she impulsively told him something of her history, of +her determination to take up politics as her ruling interest, and of +the opposition of her mother and cousin. Senator Burleigh listened +with deep attention, and if he was amused he was too gallant to betray +the fact, now that she had honoured him with her confidence. + +"Well," he said, "that is very interesting, very. And you are quite +right. You'll do yourself good and us good. Mind you stand to your +guns. Would you mind telling me your name? Lady Mary never thinks a +mere name worth mentioning." + +"Madison--Elizabeth Madison. I had almost forgotten the Elizabeth. I +have always been called Betty." + +"Ah!" he said, "ah!" He turned and regarded her with a deeper +interest. + +"Have you heard of me?" she asked irresistibly. "Who has not?" he said +gallantly. "And although you are a great deal younger than I,--I am +forty-four,--my father, who was in Congress before me, was a great +friend of your father's. He wears a watch to this day that Mr. Madison +gave him. He always expressed regret that he never met your mother, +but she seemed to have an unconquerable aversion to politics." + +"And they met at Chamberlin's!" exclaimed Betty, with a delighted +laugh. "It will be the last straw--my having gone into dinner with the +son of one of papa's hated boon companions. My mother is a lovely +intelligent woman," she added hastily, "but she is intensely Southern +and conservative. Her great pride is that she never changes a standard +once established." + +"Oh, that's a very safe quality in a woman. But of course you have a +right to establish your own, and I am glad it points in our direction. +And anything you want to know I'll be glad to tell you. Can't I take +you up to the Senate to-morrow and put you in our private gallery? +There ought to be some good debating, for North is going to attack an +important bill that is on the calendar." + +"I will go; but let me meet you there. I must ask you to call in due +form first, as my poor mother must not have too many shocks. Will you +come a week from Sunday?--I am going to New York for a few days." + +"I will, indeed. If I were unselfish, I should let you listen for a +few minutes, for they are all talking politics; not bills, however, +but the possibility of war with Spain. I don't think I shall, though. +Tell me what you want to know and I will begin our lessons right +here." "Why should we go to war with Spain?" + +"Oh dear! Oh dear! Where have you been? There is a small island off +the coast of Florida called Cuba. It has many natives, and they are +oppressed, tormented, tortured by Spain." + +"I visited Cuba once. They are nothing but a lot of negroes and +frightfully dirty. Why should we go to war about them?" + +"Only about one-third are negroes and there is a large brilliantly +educated and travelled upper class. And I see you need instruction in +more things than politics,--humanity, for instance. Forget that you +are a Southerner, divorce yourself from traditions, and try to imagine +several hundred thousand people--women and children, principally-- +starving, hopeless, homeless, unspeakably wretched. Cannot you feel +for them?" + +"Oh, yes! Yes!" Betty's quick sympathy sent the tears to her eyes, and +he looked at her with deepening admiration,--a fact the tears did not +prevent her from grasping. "And are we going to war in order to +release them?" + +"Ah! I do not know. There is a war feeling growing in the country; +there is no doubt of that. But how high it will grow no one can tell. +The leading men in Congress are indifferent, and won't even listen to +recognizing the Cubans as belligerents. North will not discuss the +subject, and I doubt not is talking over the latest play with Lady +Mary at the present moment." + +"And you? Do you want war?" + +"I do!" His manner gave sudden rein to its inherent nervousness, and +his voice rang out for a moment as if he were angrily haranguing the +Senate. "Of course I want it. Every human instinct I have compels me +to want it, and I cannot understand the apathy and conservatism which +prevents our being at war at the present moment. We have posed as the +champions of liberty long enough; it is time we did something." + + +"Ah, this is the youthful enthusiasm of the Senate," thought Betty. +"And I have been accustomed to think of forty-five as quite elderly. I +feel a mere infant and shall not call myself an old maid till I'm +fifty." She smiled approvingly into the Senator's illuminated face, +and he plunged at once into details, including the entire history of +Spanish colonial misrule. The history was told in head-lines, so to +speak, but it was graphic and convincing. Betty nodded encouragingly +and asked an occasional intelligent question. She knew the history +of Spain as thoroughly as he did, but she would not have told him so +for the world. It is only the woman with a certain masculine fibre in +her brain who ever really understands men, and when these women have +coquetry also, they convince the sex born to admire that they are even +more feminine than their weaker sisters. When Senator Burleigh +finished, Betty thanked him so graciously and earnestly, with such +lively pleasure in her limpid hazel eyes, that he raised his glass +impulsively and touched it to hers. + +"You must have a _salon_" he exclaimed. "We need one in Washington, +and it would do us incalculable good. Only you could accomplish it: +you not only have beauty and brains--and tact?--but you are so apart +that you can pick and choose without fear of giving offence. And you +are not _blas?_ of the subject like Congressmen's wives, nor has the +wild rush and wear and tear of official society chopped up your +individuality into a hundred little bits. It would be brutal to +mention politics to a woman in political life, and consequently we +feel as if no one takes any interest in us unless she has an axe to +grind. But you are what we all have been waiting for I feel sure of +that! Let it be understood that no mere politician, no man who bought +his legislature or is under suspicion in regard to any Trust, can +enter your doors. Of course you will have to study the whole question +thoroughly; and mind, I am to be your instructor-in-chief." + +Betty laughed and thanked him, wondering how well he understood her. +He looked like a man who would waste no time on the study of woman's +subtleties: he knew what he wanted, and recognized the desired +qualities at once, but by a strong masculine instinct, not by +analysis. + +A few moments later the women went into the drawing-room, and the +conversation for the next half-hour was a languid babble of politics, +dress, New York, the lady of the White House, and the play. Betty +thought the women very nice, but less interesting than the men, +possibly because they were women. They certainly looked more +intelligent than the average one sat with during the trying half- +hour after dinner; but their conversation was fragmentary, and they +oddly suggested having left their personality at home and taken their +shell out to dinner. Betty also was interested to observe that their +composite expression was a curious mingling of fatigue, unselfishness, +and peremptoriness. "What does it mean?" she asked of Lady Mary, with +whom she stood apart for a moment. + +"Oh, they are worked to death,--paying calls, entertaining, receiving +people on all sorts of business, and helping their husbands in various +ways. They have no time to be selfish,--rich or poor,--and they have +acquired the art of disposing of bores and detrimentals in short +order. Even their own sort they pass on much in the fashion of +royalty. How do you like Senator Burleigh?" + +"I never learned so much in two hours in my life. My head feels like a +beehive." + +"I never saw him quite so devoted." + +"I thought you were occupied with Senator North." + +"I was, but my eyes and ears understand each other. He wants to meet +you after dinner. He knows all about you." + +"He has been pointed out to me, but in those days when I was only +interested in possible partners for the German. I do not recall him." + +"That is he, the second one." + +The men were entering the drawing-room. Betty was relieved that the +political beard was not on Senator North. He wore only a very short +moustache on his ugly powerful face. + +He stood for a few moments talking to his host, and Betty, to whom the +political beard was immediately presented, gave him an occasional +glance of exploration while her companion was assuring her, with +neither a twang nor an accent, that he had long looked forward to the +pleasure of meeting the famous Miss Betty Madison. Senator Shattuc was +in his late fifties, but it was evident that the cares of Congress had +not smothered his appreciation of a pretty woman. He had a strong face +and an infantile complexion, and his beard sparkled with care. Senator +Ward, who was presented a few moments later, told her that he had +envied Burleigh throughout the long dinner. Betty decided that the +senatorial manner certainly was agreeable. + +The two men fell into conversation with one another, and Betty turned +her attention to Senator North. He was standing alone for the moment, +glancing about the room. His attitude was one of absolute repose; he +did not look as if he ever had hurried or wasted his energies or lost +his self-control in his life. His face was impenetrable; his eyes, +black and piercing, were wholly without that limpidity which reveals +depths and changes of expression; his mouth was somewhat contemptuous, +and betrayed neither tenderness nor humour. If possible, he stood +even more squarely on his feet than the other men. He had the powerful +thick-set figure which invariably harbours strong passions. + +"I don't know whether I like him or not," thought Betty. "I think I +don't--but perhaps I do. He might be made of New England rock, and he +looks as if the earth could swallow him before he'd yield an inch. But +I can feel his magnetism over here. Why have all these men so much +magnetism? Is that, too, senatorial?" + +Senator North caught her eye at the moment, and turned at once to Lady +Mary. A moment later he had been presented to Betty and they stood +alone. + +"I once mended your hoop for you, when you were a little girl, just in +front of your house; but I am afraid you have forgotten it." "Oh,--I +think I do remember it. Yes--I do." She evoked the incident out of the +mists of childish memories. "Was it you? I am afraid I was looking +harder at the hoop than at its mender. But--I recall--I thought how +kind you were." + +And then he inquired for her mother, and spoke pleasantly of his own +and his wife's acquaintance with Mrs. Madison at Bar Harbor. Betty +wondered afterward why she had thought his face repellent. His eyes +defied investigation, but his mouth relaxed into a smile that was very +kind, and his voice had almost a caress in it. But at the moment she +was too eager to hear him express himself to receive a strong personal +impression, and while she was casting about in her mind for a leader, +she was obliged to give him her hand. + +"Good-night," she said with a little pout, "I am so sorry." + +"So am I," he said, smiling, and shaking her hand. "Good-night. I +shall look forward to meeting you again soon." + +"Miss Madison, may I see you to your carriage?" asked Senator +Burleigh. "I have tried to get near you ever since dinner," he said +discontentedly, as they walked down the hall, "and now you are going. +But you will come to the Senate to-morrow? Come right up to the door +of the Senators' Gallery at precisely three o'clock and I will meet +you there." + +A few moments later, Betty paused on her way to her own room and +opened her mother's door softly. + +"Molly," she whispered. + +"Well?" asked a severe voice. + +"I went in to dinner with the son of one of papa's old Chamberlin +companions, and he was simply charming. So were all the others, and I +never met a man who could shake hands as well as Senator North. I had +a heavenly time." + +Mrs. Madison groaned and turned her face to the wall. + +"And there wasn't a toothpick, and I didn't hear a twang." + +"Kindly allow me to go to sleep." + + + + +VI + + + +As soon as Betty awoke the next morning, she turned her mind to the +events of the night before. Unlike most occasions eagerly anticipated, +it had contained no disappointment; she had, indeed, been pleasurably +surprised, for despite her strong common-sense the dark picture of +corruption and objectionable toilet accessories had made its +impression upon her. She foresaw much amusement in witnessing the +unwilling surrender of her mother to even Senator Shattuc, him of +the political beard. As for Senator Burleigh, she would yield to his +magnetism and power of compelling interest in himself, while +pronouncing his manners too abrupt and his personality too "Western." +And if he admired intelligently the old lace which she always wore at +her throat and wrists and on her pretty head, she would confess that +there might be exceptions even to political rules. + +But somewhat to Betty's surprise it was not of Senator Burleigh that +she thought most, although she had talked with him for two hours and +pronounced him charming. She had talked with Senator North for exactly +six minutes, but she saw his face more distinctly than Burleigh's and +retained his voice in her ear. He had not paid her a compliment, but +his manner had expressed that she interested him and that he thought +her worth meeting. For the first time in her life Betty felt flattered +by the admiration of a man; and she had held her own with more than +one of distinction on the other side. Even royalty had not fluttered +her, but she conceived an eager desire to make this man think well of +her. It irritated her to remember that she could have made no mental +impression on him whatever. She became uncheerful, and reflected that +the subtle flattery in his manner was probably a mere habit; Lady Mary +had intimated that he liked women and had loved several. Well, she +cared nothing about that; he was thirty years older than herself and +married; but she admired him and wished for his good opinion and to +hear him talk. Doubtless they soon would meet again, and if they were +left in conversation for a decent length of time she would ask him to +call. She cast about in her mind for a subterfuge which would justify +a note, but she could think of none, and was too worldly-wise to evoke +a smile from the depths of a man's conceit. + +Her mother refused to bid her good-by when, accompanied by her maid, +she started for the Capitol at twenty minutes to three. A few moments +later she found herself admiring for the first time the big stately +building on the hill at the end of Pennsylvania Avenue. She always had +thought Washington a beautiful city, with its wide quiet avenues set +thick with trees, its graceful parks, each with a statue of some man +gratefully remembered by the Republic, but she had given little heed +to its public buildings and their significance. As she approached +the great white Capitol, she experienced a sudden thrill of that +historical sense which, after its awakening, dominates so actively the +large intelligence. The Capitol symbolized the greatness of the young +nation; all the famous American statesmen after the first group had +moved and made their reputations within its walls. All laws affecting +the nation came out of it, and the Judges of the Supreme Court sat +there. And of its kind there was none other in the civilized world, +had been but one other since the world began. + +The historic building shed an added lustre upon Senator Burleigh; but +it was of Senator North that she thought most as she half rose in the +Victoria and scanned the long sweep. The cleverest of women cannot +class with anything like precision the man who has stamped himself +into her imagination. Betty knew that there were six men in the Senate +who ranked as equals; their quiet epoch gave them little chance to +discover latent genius other than for constructive legislation; +nevertheless she arbitrarily conceived the Capitol to-day as the great +setting for one man only; and the building and the man became one in +her imagination henceforth. The truth was that Betty, being greatly +endowed for loving and finding that all men fell short of her high +standard, was forced to seek companionship in an ideal. She had had +several loves in history, but had come to the conclusion some years +since that dead men were unsatisfactory. Since then she had fancied +mightily one or two public men on the other side, whom she had never +met; but in time they had bored or disappointed her. But here was a +conspicuous figure in her own country, appealing to her through the +powerful medium of patriotic pride; a man so much alive that he might +at any moment hold the destinies of the United States in his hands, +and who, owing to his years and impenetrable dignity, was not to be +considered from the ordinary view-point of woman. She would coquet +with Senator Burleigh; it was on the cards that she would love him, +for he was brilliant, ambitious, and honourable; but Senator North was +exalted to the vacant pedestal reserved for ideals, and Betty settled +herself comfortably to his worship; not guessing that he would be +under her memory's dust-heap in ten days if Senator Burleigh captured +her heart. + +The coachman was directed by a policeman to the covered portico of the +Senate wing. Betty had a bare glimpse of corridors apparently +interminable, before another policeman put her into the elevator and +told her to get off when the boy said "Gallery." + +Senator Burleigh was waiting for her, and she thought him even manlier +and more imposing in his gray tweed than in evening dress. He shook +her hand heartily, and assured her in his abrupt dictatorial way that +it gave him the greatest pleasure to meet her again. + +"I'm sorry I haven't time to take you all over the building," he +said," but I have two Committee meetings this afternoon. You must come +down some morning." + +His manner was very businesslike, and he seemed a trifle absent as he +paused a moment and called her attention to the daub illustrating the +Electoral Commission; but this, Betty assumed, was the senatorial +manner by day. In a moment he led her to one of the doors in the wall +that encloses the Senate Gallery. + +"You see this lady," he said peremptorily to the doorkeeper, who rose +hastily from his chair. "She is always to be admitted to this gallery. +Take a good look at her." + +"Yes, sir; member of your family, I presume?" + +"You can assume that she is my sister. Only see that you admit her." + +"The rules are very strict in regard to this gallery," he added, as he +closed the door behind them. "It is only for the families of the +Senators, but you will like it better than the reserved gallery. Send +for me if there should be trouble at any time about admittance." + +"I usually get where I wish! I sha'n't trouble you." + +"Don't you ever think twice about troubling me," he said. "Let us go +down to the front row." + +The galleries surrounding the great Chamber were almost dark under the +flat roof, but the space below was full of light. It looked very +sumptuous with its ninety desks and easy-chairs, and a big fire beyond +an open door; and very legislative with its president elevated above +the Senators and the row of clerks beneath him. There were perhaps +thirty Senators in the room, and they were talking in groups or +couples, reading newspapers, or writing letters. One Senator was +making a speech. + +"I don't think they are very polite," said Betty. "Why don't they +listen? He seems to be in earnest and speaks very nicely." "Oh, he is +talking to his constituents, not to the Senate--although he would be +quite pleased if it would listen to him. He does not amount to much. +We listen to each other when it is worth while; but this is a Club, +Miss Madison, the most delightful Club in the United States. Just +beyond are the cloakrooms, where we can lounge before the fire and +smoke, or lie down and go to sleep. The hard work is in the Committee +rooms, and it is hard enough to justify all the pleasure we can get +out of the other side of the life. Now, I'll tell you who these are +and something about them." + +He pointed out one after the other in his quick businesslike way, +rattling off biographical details; but Betty, feeling that she was +getting but a mass of impressions with many heads, interrupted him. + +"I don't see Senator North," she said. "I thought he was going to +speak." + +"He will, later. He is in his Committee room now, but he'll go down as +soon as a page takes him word that the clerk is about to read the bill +whose Committee amendments he is sure to object to. Now I must go. I +shall give myself the pleasure of calling a week from Sunday. You must +come often, and always come here. And let me give you two pieces of +advice: never bow to any Senator from up here, and never go to the +Marble Room and send in a card. Then you can come every day without +attracting attention. Good-bye." + +Betty thanked him, and he departed. For the next hour she found the +proceedings very dull. The unregarded Senator finished his speech and +retired behind a newspaper. Other members clapped their hands, and the +pages scampered down the gangways and carried back documents to the +clerk below the Vice-President's chair, while their senders made a few +remarks meaningless to Betty. Two or three delivered brief speeches +which were equally unintelligible to one not acquainted with current +legislation. During one of them a man of imposing appearance entered +and was apparently congratulated by almost every one in the room, the +Senators leaving their seats and coming to the middle aisle, where he +stood, to shake him by the hand. Betty felt sorry for Leontine, who +was on the verge of tears, but determined to remain until Senator +North appeared if she did not leave until it should be time to dress +for dinner. + +He entered finally and went straight to his desk. He looked +preoccupied, and began writing at once. In a few moments the clerk +commenced to read from a document, and Senator North laid aside his +pen and listened attentively. So did several other Senators. It was a +very long document, and Betty, who could not understand one word in +ten as delivered by the clerk's rumbling monotonous voice, was +desperately bored, and was glad her Senators had the solace of the +cloak-rooms. Several did in fact retire to them, but when the clerk +sat down and Senator North rose, they returned; and Betty felt a +personal pride in the fact that they were about to listen to the +Senator whom herself had elected to honour. + +She had to lean forward and strain her ears to hear him. It was +evident that he did not recognize the existence of the gallery, for he +did not raise his voice from beginning to end; and yet it was of that +strong rich quality that might have carried far. But it neither "rang +out like a clarion," nor "thundered imprecation." Neither did he utter +an impassioned phrase nor waste a word, but he denounced the bill as a +party measure, exposed its weak points, riddled it with sarcasm, and +piled up damaging evidence of partisan zeal. "This is an honourable +body," he concluded, "and few measures go out of it that are open to +serious criticism by the self-constituted guardians of legislative +virtue, but if this bill goes through the Senate we shall invite from +the thinking people of the country the same sort of criticism which we +now receive from the ignorant. If the high standard of this body is to +be maintained, it must be by sound and conservative legislation, not +by grovelling to future legislatures." + +Having administered this final slap, he sat down and began writing +again, apparently paying no attention to the Chairman of the bill, who +defended his measure with eloquence and vigour. It was a good speech, +but it contained more words than the one that had provoked it and +fewer points. Senator North replied briefly that the only chance for +the bill was for its father to refrain from calling attention to its +weak points, then went into the Republican cloak-room, presumably to +smoke a cigar. Betty, whose head ached, went home. + + + + +VII + + + +That evening, as Betty was rummaging through a cupboard in the library +looking for a seal, she came upon a box of Cuban cigars. They could +have been her father's only and of his special importation: he had +smoked the choicest tobacco that Havana had been able to furnish. + +She knew that many men would prize that box of cigars, carefully +packed in lead and ripened by time, and she suddenly determined to +send it to Senator North. She felt that it would be an acute pleasure +to give him something, and as for the cigars they were too good for +any one else. She took the box to her room and wrapped it up carefully +and badly; but when she came to the note which must accompany it, she +paused before the difficulties which mechanically presented +themselves. Senator North might naturally feel surprise to receive a +present from a young woman with whom he had talked exactly six +minutes. If she wrote playfully, offering a small tribute at the +shrine of statesmanship, he might wonder if she worked slippers for +handsome young clergymen and burned candles before the photograph of a +popular tenor. She might send them anonymously, but that would not +give her the least satisfaction. Finally, she reluctantly decided +to wait until she met him again and could lead the conversation up to +cigars. "Perhaps he will see me in the gallery to-morrow," she +thought. + +But although he sat in his comfortable revolving-chair for two hours +the next afternoon, he never lifted his eyes to the gallery. She heard +several brief and excellent speeches, but went home dissatisfied. On +the day after her return from New York, whither she went to perform +the duty of bridesmaid; she had a similar experience, twice varied. +Senator Burleigh made a short speech in a voice that was truly +magnificent, and following up Senator North's attack on the bill +unpopular on the Republican side of the Chamber. He was answered by +"Blunderbuss" Pepper, the new Senator who had turned every aristocrat +out of office in his aristocratic Southern State and filled the +vacancies with men of his own humble origin. He was a burly untidy- +looking man, and frequently as uncouth in speech, a demagogue and +excitable. But the Senate, now that three years in that body had toned +him down, conceded his ability and took his abuse with the utmost +good-nature. Betty recalled his biography as sketched by Senator +Burleigh, and noted that almost every Senator wheeled about with an +expression of lively interest, as his reiterated "Mr. President, Mr. +President," secured him the floor. They were not disappointed, nor was +Betty. In a few moments he was roaring like a mad bull and hurling +invective upon the entire Republican Party, which "would deprive the +South of legitimate representation if it could." He was witty and +scored many points, provoking more than one laugh from both sides of +the Chamber; and when he finished with a parting yell of imprecation, +his audience returned to their correspondence and conversation with an +indulgent smile. Betty wondered what he had been like before the +Senate had "toned him down." + +That night she addressed the cigars to Jack Emory and sent them off at +once. "I do believe I came very close to making a fool of myself," she +thought. "What on earth made me want to give those cigars to Senator +North?--to give him anything? What a little ninny he would have +thought me!" She puzzled long over this deflection from her usual +imperious course with men, but concluding that women having so many +silly twists in their brains, it was useless to try to understand +them all, dismissed the matter from her mind. + + + + +VIII + + + +"How many politicians are coming this afternoon?" asked Mrs. Madison, +at the Sunday midday dinner. Her voice indicated that all protest had +not gone out of her. + + +"Senator Burleigh and Mr. Montgomery--and Lady Mary. Not a formidable +array." + +"They are exactly two too many. I have written and asked Sally Carter +to come over and chaperon you in case I do not feel equal to the +ordeal at the last moment. I am surprised that she takes your course +so quietly, but on the whole am relieved; you need some one +respectable to keep you in countenance." + +"This house reeks with respectability; no one would ever notice the +absence of a chaperon. Sally is not only quiescent, but sympathetic. +She knows that I have got to the end of teas and charities, and she +believes in people choosing their own lives. She says she would join a +travelling circus if her proclivities happened to point that way." + +Mrs. Madison shuddered. "I do not pretend to understand the present +generation, and the more I hear of it the less I wish to. As for Sally +I love her, but I should detest her if I didn't, for she is the worst +form of snob: she is so rich and so well born that she thinks she can +dress like a servant-girl and affect the manners of a barmaid." +"Molly! So you were haunting 'pubs' when I supposed you were yawning +at home? I hope you did not tell the barmaids your real name." + +"Well, I suppose I should not criticise people that I know nothing +about," said Mrs. Madison, colouring and serious. She changed the +subject hastily. "Jack, I hope you will stay this afternoon. It would +be the greatest comfort to have you in the house." + +"I will stay, certainly," said Emory. He had taken his Sunday dinner +at the old house in I Street for almost a quarter of a century. To-day +he had been unusually silent, and had contracted his brows nervously +every time Betty looked at him. She understood perfectly, and amused +herself by turning round upon him several times with abrupt +significance. However, she spared him until they had taken Mrs. +Madison to the parlor and gone to the library, where he might smoke +his after-dinner cigar. He sat down in front of a window, and the +sunlight poured over him, glistening his handsome head and +illuminating his skin. Betty supposed that some women might fall quite +desperately in love with him; and in addition to his beauty he was a +noble and high-minded gentleman, whose narrowness was due to the +secluded life he chose to lead. + +"Now!" she exclaimed, "come out with it! You've had eleven days, and +one can learn a good deal in that time." + +He bit sharply at the end of his cigar, but answered without +hesitation. + +"It is almost impossible to learn anything in Washington to the +detriment of the Senate. There seems to be a sort of _esprit de corps_ +in the entire city. They look politely horrified if you suggest that a +Senator of the United States, honouring Washington with the society of +his wives and daughters, is anything that he should not be. I was +obliged to go to New York and Boston to get the information I wanted, +and even now it is far from complete. I don't believe it is possible +to arrive at anything like accurate knowledge on the subject." + +"Well, what did you get? Washington is a well-ordered community with a +high moral tone--it is said to have fewer scandals than any city in +the country--and there is no sordid commercial atmosphere to lower it. +It is the great city of leisure in everything but legislation and +paying calls; so it seems to me that it would be the last place to +fondle in its bosom ninety distinguished scoundrels. But go on. What +did you learn in Boston and New York?" + +"That a little of everything is represented in the Senate,--that is +about what it amounts to. There are unquestionably men there who +bought their seats from legislatures, and there are men who are agents +for trusts, syndicates, and railroad corporations, as well as three +party bosses--" + +"Ninety Senators leave a large margin for a number of loose fish. What +I want to know is, how do the big men stand--North, Maxwell, Ward, +March--and fifteen or twenty others, all the men who are the Chairmen +of the big Committees? The New England men seem to have charge of +everything of importance in the House and of a good deal in the +Senate." + +"Some of the Southern and North-western and most of the New England +States seem to have honest enough legislatures," said Emory, +unwillingly. "But that leaves plenty of others. Only a few of the +Western States are above suspicion, and as for New York, Pennsylvania, +and Delaware, they would not waste time defending themselves; and as +no Senators are better than the people that elect them--" + +"Oh, yes, they are sometimes--look at the Senator from Delaware. I too +have been asking questions for eleven days. It all comes to this: +there are millionaireism and corrupting influences in the Senate, but +that element is in the minority, and the greater number of leading, or +able Senators are above suspicion. And they seem to have things pretty +much all their own way. They could not if the majority in the Senate +were scoundrels. No corrupt body was ever led by its irreproachable +exceptions--" + +"In another ten years there will be no exceptions. All that are making +a desperate stand for honesty to-day will be overwhelmed by the +unprincipled element--" + +"Or have forced it to reform. The good in human nature predominates; +we are a healthy infant, and do not know the meaning of the word +'decadent;' and we are extraordinarily clever. Senator Burleigh says +that you can always bank on the American people going right in the +end. They may not bother for a long time, but when they do wake up +they make things hum." + +"Senator Burleigh evidently has all the easy-going optimism of this +country. But, Betty, I am no more reconciled than I was before to your +having anything to do with these people. Politics have a bad name, +whatever the truth of the matter. I think myself our sensational press +is largely to blame--" "There is nothing so interesting as the pursuit +of truth," said Betty, lightly. "Reconcile yourself to the sight of me +in pursuit of it--" + +"Ah, here you are!" exclaimed a staccato voice. Sally Carter entered +the room, kissed Betty, shook hands heartily with Emory, and threw +herself into a chair. Her fortune equalled Betty's, but it was her +pleasure to wear frocks so old and so dowdy that her friends wondered +where they had come from originally. She had been a handsome girl, and +her blue eyes were still full of fire, her fair hair abundant, but her +face was sallow and lined from many attacks of malarial fever. Her +manner was breezy and full of energy, and she was not only popular but +a very important person indeed. She lived alone with her father in the +old house in K Street and entertained rarely, but she had strawberry +leaves on her coronet, and it was currently reported that when she +arrived in England, clad in a rusty black serge and battered turban,-- +which she certainly slept in at intervals during the day,--she was met +in state by the entire ducal family--including a prolific connection-- +whose ancestor had founded the great house of Carter in the British +colonies of North America. What their private opinion was of this +representative of the American dukedom was never quite clear to the +Washington mind, but to know Sally Carter in her own city meant +complete social recognition, and not to know her an indifferent +success. + +"Senator North tells me that he met you the other day and would like +to meet you again," she said to Betty, who lifted her head with +attention. "I dropped in on my way here for a little call on Mrs. +North, poor dear! There's a real invalid for you--something the matter +with her spine--is liable to paralysis any minute. It must be so +cheerful to sit round and anticipate that. Why on earth do women +let their nerves run away with them, in the first place? Nerves in +this country are a mixture of climate, selfishness, and stupidity. I +could be as nervous as a witch, but I won't. I walk miles every day +and don't think about myself. Well! I told Mr. North all about the +bold course of the young lady weary of frivolities, and he seemed much +interested, paid you some compliment or other, I've forgotten what. He +said he would look out for you in the Senate gallery and go up and +speak to you--" + +Emory rose with an exclamation of disgust. "I hope you told him to do +nothing of the kind." + +"On the contrary, I told him not to forget, for as Betty would sail +her little yacht on the political sea, I wanted her to be recognized +by the men-of-war, not by the trading-ships and pirates." + +Emory threw away his cigar. "I think I will go in and see my aunt," he +said. "All this is most distasteful to me." + +He left the room, followed by Betty's mocking laugh. But Miss Carter +said with a sigh,-- + +"He can't expect us all to live up to his ideals. It is better not to +have any, like my practical self. But I'm afraid he sits out there in +his damp old library and dreams of a world in which all the men are +Sir Galahads and all the women Madame Rolands. He is an ideal himself, +if he only knew it; I've always been half in love with him. Well, +Betty, how do you like your new toy? After all, what is even a Senate +but a toy for a pretty woman? That is really your attitude, only you +don't know it. Life is serious only for women with babies and bills. +As for charities, they were specially invented to give old maids like +myself an occupation in life. What--what--should I have done without +charities when Society palled?" + +"Why did you never marry, Sally?" asked Betty, abruptly. The question +never had occurred to her before, but as she asked it her eyes +involuntarily moved to the empty chair before the window. + +"What on earth should I do with a husband?" asked Miss Carter, +lightly. "I only love men when they are in bronze in the public parks. +Poor dear old General Lathom proposed to me four times, and the only +time I felt like accepting him was when I saw his statue unveiled. I +couldn't put a man on a pedestal to save my life, but when my grateful +country does it I'm all humble adoration. Could you idealize a live +thing in striped trousers and a frock coat?" + +"Woolen is hopeless," said Betty, with an attempt at playfulness. "We +must do the best we can with the inner man." + +"How on earth do you know what a man is like on the inside? Idealize +is the right word, though. Women make a god out of what they cannot +understand in a man. If he has a bad temper, they think of him as a +'dominant personality.' If he is unfaithful to his wife, he is +romantic in the eyes of a woman who has given no man a chance to be +unfaithful to her. If he comes to your dinner with an attack of +dyspepsia, you compare him sentimentally with the brutes that eat. +_You_ haven't married yet, I notice, and you are on the corner of +twenty-seven." + +"American men don't give you a chance to idealize them," said Betty, +plaintively. "They tell you all about themselves at once. And although +Englishmen have more mystery and provoke your curiosity, they don't +understand women and don't want to; the women can do the adapting. I +never could stand that; and as I can't endure foreigners I'm afraid I +shall die an old maid. That's the reason I've gone into politics--" + +The butler announced that Senator Burleigh was in the parlor. + +"What of his inner man?" asked Sally. + +"I never have given it two thoughts. But his outer is all that could +be desired." + +"He would look well in bronze. I understand that his State thinks a +lot of him: as you know, I read the _Post_ and _Star_ through every +day to papa. I _have_ to know something of politics." + +They found Senator Burleigh talking to Mrs. Madison, apparently +oblivious of her frigid attempt at tolerance and of Emory's sullen +silence. Sally Carter's eyes flashed with amusement, and she shook the +Senator warmly by the hand. + +"Such a very great pleasure!" she announced in her staccato tones. +"Now the only time I really allow myself pride is when I meet the +statesmen of my country. I am sure that is the way you feel, dear +Cousin Molly--is it not? We are such oysters, the few of us who always +have lived here, that a whiff from the political world puts new life +into us." + +Emory left the room. Burleigh looked surprised but gratified, and +assured her that it was the greatest possible pleasure as well as an +honour to meet Miss Carter. He appeared to have left his businesslike +manner on Capitol Hill, and he was even less abrupt than on the night +of the dinner. Only his exuberant vitality seemed out of place in that +dark old room, and it was an effort for him to keep his sonorous voice +in check. + +"Mrs. Madison says she takes no interest in politics," he added, "and +fears to be a wet blanket on the conversation. I have been assuring +her that on one day of the week politics are non-existent so far as I +am concerned." + +Mrs. Madison, who had been staring at Sally Carter, replied with an +evident attempt to be agreeable, "Of course I always find it +interesting to hear people talk about what they understand best." +"Politics are what I should like to understand least. Since I have +come to the Senate I have endeavoured to forget all I ever knew about +them. I rely upon my friends to keep me in office while I am making a +desperate attempt to become a fair-minded legislator." + +He spoke lightly. Betty could not determine whether he was posing or +telling the simple truth to people who would be glad to take him at +his word. There was a twinkle of amusement in his eye; but he looked +too impatient for even the milder sort of hypocrisy. + +Mrs. Madison thawed visibly. "You younger men should try to restore +the old ideals," she said. + +"Ah, madam," he replied, "if you only knew what the censors said about +the old ideals when they were alive! If Time will be as kind to us, we +can swallow our own dose with a reasonable amount of philosophy. John +Quincy Adams arraigned the politics of his day in the bitterest +phrases he could create; but to-day we are asked to remember the +glorious past and hide our heads." + +The Montgomery's entered the room. Randolph, who was as tall as +Senator Burleigh and very slender, looked so distinguished that Mrs. +Madison immediately decided to remember only that his family was as +old as her own. He had lost none of the repose he had found during his +three years' residence in Europe, but the effort to keep it in the +House had made his handsome face thin and touched his mouth with +cynicism. His hair was still black, and there were no lines about his +cool gray eyes. + +"Blessed day of rest!" exclaimed his wife. "I got up just one hour +ago. Do you know, Miss Madison, I paid twenty-six calls on Thursday, +eighteen on Friday and twelve on Saturday? Never marry into political +life." + +Senator Burleigh, who had been talking to Miss Carter, turned round +quickly. "Some women are so manifestly made for it," he said, "that it +would be folly for them to attempt to escape their fate." + + + + +IX + + + +A month passed. Betty received with Lady Mary on Tuesdays, and under +that popular young matron's wing called on a number of women prominent +in the official life of the dying Administration, whom she received on +Fridays. They were very polite, and returned her calls promptly; but +they did not always remember her name, and her personality and +position impressed but a few of these women, overwhelmed with social +duties, visiting constituents, and people-with-letters. Most of them +paid from fifteen to twenty calls on six days out of seven, and had +filled their engagement books for the season during its first +fortnight. Betty was chagrined at first, then amused. Moreover, her +incomplete success raised the political world somewhat in Mrs. +Madison's estimation; she had expected that her house would be +besieged by these temporary beings, eager for a sniff at Old +Washington air. Betty realized that she must be content to go slowly +this winter, and begin to entertain as soon as the next season opened. +Lady Mary took her to four large receptions, and she was invited to +two or three dinners of a semi-official character; for several women +not only fancied her, but appreciated the fact that the official were +not the highest social honours in the land, and were glad to further +her plans. + +Senator Burleigh called several times. One day he arrived with a large +package of books: Bryce's "American Commonwealth," a volume containing +the Constitution and Washington's Farewell Address, and several of the +"American Statesmen" monographs. + +"Read all these," he said dictatorially. ("He certainly takes me very +seriously," thought Betty. "Doubtless he'll stand me in a corner with +my face to the wall if I don't get my lessons properly.") "I want you +to acquire the national sense. I don't believe a woman in this country +knows the meaning of the phrase. Study and think over the characters +of the men who created this country: Washington and Hamilton, +particularly. You'll know what I mean when you've read these little +volumes; and then I'll bring you some thirty volumes containing the +letters and despatches and communications to Congress of these two +greatest of all Americans. I don't know which I admire most. Hamilton +was the most creative genius of his century, but the very fact that he +was a genius of the highest order makes him hopeless as a standard. +But all men in public life who desire to attain the highest and most +unassailable position analyze the character of Washington and ponder +over it deeply. There never was a man so free from taint, there never +was such complete mental poise, there never was such cold, rarified, +unerring judgment. The man seems to us--who live in a turbulent day +when the effort to be and to remain high-minded makes the brain ache-- +to have been nothing less than inspired. And his political wisdom is +as sound for to-day as for when he uttered it; although, for the life +of me, I cannot help disregarding his admonition to keep hands out of +foreign pie, this time. I want the country to go to the rescue of +Cuba, and I'll turn over every stone I can to that end." + +Betty had listened to him with much interest. "Would Washington have +gone?" she asked. "Would he advise it now, supposing he could?" + +"No, I don't believe he would. Washington had a brain of ice, and his +ideal of American prosperity was frozen within it. He would fear some +possible harm or loss to this country, and the other could be left to +the care of an all-merciful Providence. I love my country with as +sound a patriotism as a man may, and I revere the memory of +Washington, but I have not a brain of ice, and I think a country, like +a man, should think of others besides itself. And the United States +has got to that point where almost nothing could hurt it. A few +months' patriotic enthusiasm, for that matter, would do it no end of +good. If you care to listen, I'll read the Farewell Address to you." + +He read it in his sonorous rolling voice, that must have done as much +to make him a popular idol in his State as his more distinguished +gifts for public life. Betty decided that the more senatorial he was +the better she liked him. She knew that he was a favourite with men, +and had a vague idea that men, when in the exclusive society of their +own sex, always told witty anecdotes, but she could not imagine +herself making small talk with Senator Burleigh. Her day for small +talk, however, she fervently hoped was over. + +She had seen Senator North again but once. Lady Mary Montgomery gave a +great evening reception, as magnificent an affair of the sort as Betty +was likely to see in Washington. It was given in honour of a +distinguished Englishman, who, rumour whispered, had come over in the +interests of the General Arbitration Treaty between the United States +and Great Britain, now at the mercy of the Committee on Foreign +Relations. There was another impression, equally alive in Washington +that Lady Mary aspired to be the historic link between the two +countries. Certain it was that the Secretary of State, the British +Ambassador, and the Committee on Foreign Relations dined and called +constantly at her house. The Distinguished Guest had called on her +every day since his arrival. + +Betty knew what others divined; for the friends were inseparable, and +Mary Montgomery was very frank with her few intimates. "Of course I +want the treaty to go through," she had said to Betty, only the day +before her reception; "and I am quite wild to know what the Committee +are doing with it. But of course they will say nothing. Senator Ward +kisses my hand and talks Shakespeare and Socrates to me, and when I +use all my eloquence in behalf of a closer relationship between the +two greatest nations on earth--for I want an alliance to follow this +treaty--he says: _'Ma belle dame sans merci,_ the American language +shall yet be spoken in the British Isles; I promise you that.' He is +one of the few Americans I cannot understand. He has eyes so heavy +that he never looks quite awake, and he is as quick as an Italian's +blade in retort. He has a large and scholarly intellect, and it is +almost impossible to make him serious. You never see him in his chair +on the floor of the Senate, although he sometimes drifts across the +room with a cigar in the hollow of his hand, and he is admittedly +one of its leading spirits, and the idol of a Western State--of all +things! Senator North is the reverse of transparent, but sometimes he +goes to the point in a manner which leaves nothing to be desired. He +is not on the Committee of Foreign Relations, so I asked him point +blank the other day if he thought the treaty would go through and if +he did not mean to vote for it. He is usually as polite as all men who +are successful in politics and like women, but he gave a short and +brutal laugh. 'Lady Mary,' he said, 'when some of my colleagues were +cultivating their muscles on the tail of your lion in the winter of +1895, I told them what I thought of them in language which only +senatorial courtesy held within bounds. If the Committee on Foreign +Relations--for whose members I have the highest respect: they are +picked men--should do anything so foolish and so unpatriotic as to +report back that treaty in a form to arouse the enthusiasm of +the British press, I fear I should disregard senatorial courtesy. But +the United States Senate does not happen to be composed of idiots, and +the President may amuse himself writing treaties, but he does not make +them.' + +"Then I asked him if he had no sentiment, if he did not think the +spirit of the thing fine: the union of the great English-speaking +races; and he replied that he saw no necessity for anything of the +sort: we did very well on our separate sides of the water; and as for +sentiment, we were like certain people,--much better friends while +coquetting than when married. He added that the divorce would be so +extremely painful. I asked him what was to prevent another lover's +quarrel, if there were no ring and no blessing, and he replied: 'Ah +that is another question. To keep out of useless wars with the old +country and to tie our hands fast to her quarrels are two things, and +the one we will do and the other we won't do.' + +"That is all he would say, but fortunately there is a less +conservative element in the Senate than his, although I believe they +all become saturated with that Constitution in time. I can see it +growing in Senator Burleigh." + +All elements had come to her reception to-night. Ambassadors and +Envoys Extraordinary were there in the full splendour of their +uniforms. So were Generals and Admirals; and the women of the Eastern +Legations had come in their native costumes. The portly ladies of the +Cabinet were as resplendent as their position demanded, and the +aristocracy of the Senate and the women of fashion were equally fine. +Other women were there, wives of men important but poor, who walked +unabashed in high-neck home-made frocks; and their pretty daughters, +were as simple as themselves. One wore a cheese-cloth frock, and +another a blue merino. The dames of the Plutocracy were there, blazing +with converted capital,--Westerners for the most part, with hogsheads +of money, who had come to the City of Open Doors to spend it. It was +seldom they were in the same room with the Old Washingtonians, and +when they were they sighed; then reminded themselves of recent dinners +to people whose names were half the stock in trade of the daily press. +Sally Carter, who regarded them through her lorgnette with much the +same impersonal interest as she would accord to actors on the boards, +wore a gown of azure satin trimmed with lace whose like was not to be +found in the markets of the world. Her hair was elaborately dressed, +and her thin neck sufficiently covered by a curious old collar of +pearls set with tiny miniatures. Careless as she was by day, it often +suited her to be very smart indeed by night. She looked brilliant; and +Jack Emory, who had been commanded by Betty to accept Lady Mary's +invitation, did not leave her side. And she snubbed her more worldly- +minded followers and devoted herself to his amusement. + +All the men wore evening clothes. It seemed to be an unwritten law +that the politician should have his dress-suit did his wife wear serge +for ever. Consequently they presented a more uniformly fine appearance +than their women, and most of them held themselves with a certain look +of power. Their faces were almost invariably keen and strong. Few of +the younger members of the House were here to-night, only those who +had been in it so many years that they were high in political +importance. Among them the big round form and smooth round head of +their present and perhaps most famous Speaker were conspicuous: the +United States was moving swiftly to the parting of the ways, and there +are times when a Speaker is a greater man than a President. + +What few authors Washington boasts were there, as well as Judges of +the Supreme Court, scholars, architects, scientists, and journalists. +And they moved amid great splendour. Lady Mary had thrown open her +ball-room, and the walls looked like a lattice-work of American Beauty +roses and thorns. Great bunches of the same expensive ornament swung +from the ceiling, and the piano was covered with a quilt of them +deftly woven together. The pale green drawing-room was as lavishly +decorated with pink and white orchids and lilies of the valley. Lady +Mary felt that she could vie in extravagance with the most ambitious +in her husband's ambitious land. + +Betty was entertaining four Senators, the Distinguished Guest, and the +Speaker of the House when she caught a glimpse of Senator North. She +immediately became a trifle absent, and permitted Senator Shattuc, who +liked to tell anecdotes of famous politicians, to take charge of the +conversation. While he was thinking her the one woman in Washington +charming enough to establish a _salon_, she was congratulating +herself that she should meet Senator North again when she looked her +best. She wore a wonderful new gown of mignonette green and ivory +white, and many pearls in her warm hair and on her beautiful neck. She +looked both regal and girlish, an effect she well knew how to produce. +Her head was thrown back and her eyes were sparkling with triumph as +they met Senator North's. He moved toward her at once. + +"I should be stupid to inquire after your health," he said as he shook +her hand. "You are positively radiant. I shall ask instead if you +still find time to come up and see us occasionally, and if we improve +on acquaintance?" + +"I go very often indeed, but I have seen you only three times." + +"I have been North for a week, and in my Committee Room a good deal +since my return." + +Betty was determined not to let slip this opportunity. She resented +the platitudes that are kept in stock by even the greatest minds, and +wished that he would hold out a peremptory arm and lead her to some +quiet corner and talk to her for an hour. But he evidently had a just +man's appreciation of the rights of others, for he betrayed no +intention to do anything of the kind. His eyes dwelt on her with frank +admiration, but Washington is the national headquarters of pretty +women, and he doubtless contented himself with a passing glimpse of +many. And this time Betty felt the full force of the man's magnetism. +She would have liked to put up a detaining hand and hold him there for +the rest of the evening. Even were there no chance for conversation, +she would have liked to be close beside him. She forgot, that he was +an ideal on a pedestal and shot him a challenging glance. "I have +hoped that you would come up to the gallery and call on me," she said +pointedly. + +He moved a step closer, then drew back. His face did not change. + +"I certainly shall when I am so fortunate as to see you up there," he +said. "But the fourth of March is not far off, and the pressure +accumulates. I am obliged to be in my Committee Room, as well as in +other Committee Rooms, for the better part of every day. But if I can +do anything for you, if there is any one you would care to meet, do +not fail to let me know. Send word to my room, and if possible I will +go to you." + + +Betty looked at him helplessly. She wanted to ask him to call at her +house on Sunday, but felt a sudden diffidence. After all, why should +he care to call on her? He had more important things to think of; and +doubtless he spent his few leisure hours with some woman far more +brilliant than herself. Her head came down a trifle and she turned it +away. He stood there a moment longer, then said,-- + +"Good-night," and, after a few seconds' hesitation, and with +unmistakable emphasis: "Remember that it would give me the greatest +possible pleasure to do anything for you I could." Immediately after, +he left the room. + +When she was alone an hour later, she anathematized herself for a +fool. Diffidence had no permanent part in her mental constitution. She +was sure that if she could talk with him for thirty consecutive +minutes she could interest him and attach him to her train. Her pride, +she felt, was now involved. She should estimate herself a failure +unless she compelled Senator North to forget the more experienced +women of the political world and spend his leisure hours with her. +She had been a brilliant success in other spheres, she would not fail +in this. + +But two more weeks passed and she did not see him. He came neither to +the floor of the Senate within her experience of it, nor to the +gallery. Nor did he appear to care for Society. Few of the Senators +did, for that matter. They did not mind dining out, as they had to +dine somewhere, and an agreeable and possibly handsome partner would +give zest to any meal; but they were dragged to receptions and escaped +as soon as they could. + + + + +X + + + +Betty rose suddenly from the breakfast-table and went into the +library, carrying a half-read letter. She had felt her face flush and +her hand tremble, and escaped from the servants into a room where she +could think alone for hours, if she wished. + +The letter ran as follows:-- + +THE PARSONAGE, ST. ANDREW, VIRGINIA. +To MISS ELIZABETH MADISON: + +DEAR MADAM,--I have a communication of a somewhat trying nature to +make, and believe me; I would not make it were not my end very near. +Your father, dear madam, the late Harold Carter Madison, left an +illegitimate daughter by a woman whom he loved for many years, an +octaroon named Cassandra Lee. Before his death he gave poor Cassie a +certain sum of money, and made her promise to leave Washington and +never return. She came here and devoted the few remaining years +of her life to the care of her child. I and my wife were the only +persons who knew her story, and when she was dying we willingly +promised to take the little one. For the last ten years Harriet has +lived here in the parsonage and has been the only child I have ever +known,--a dearly beloved child. She has been carefully educated and is +a lady in every sense of the word. I had until the last two years a +little school, and she was my chief assistant. But the public school +proved more attractive--and doubtless is more thorough--and this +passed from me. Last year my wife died. Now I am going, and very +rapidly. I have only just learned the nature of my illness, and I may +be dead before you receive this letter. I write to beg you to receive +your sister. There is no argument I can use, dear lady, which your own +conscience will not dictate. You will not be ashamed of her. She shows +not a trace of the taint in her blood. The money your father gave +Cassie has gone long since, but Harriet asks no alms of you, only +that you will help her to go somewhere far from those who know that +she is not as white as she looks, and to give her a chance to earn her +living. She is well fitted to be a governess or companion, and no +doubt you could easily place her. But she is lonely and frightened and +miserable. Be merciful and receive her into your home for a time. + +"I dare not write this to your mother. She has no cause to feel warmly +to Harriet. But you are young, and wealthy in your own right. Her +future rests with you. Here in this village she can do absolutely +nothing, and after I am buried she will not have enough to keep her +for a month. Answer to her--she bears my name." + +I am, dear lady, + Your humble and obd't servant, + ABRAHAM WALKER. + +P. S. Harriet is twenty-three. She has letters in her possession which +prove her parentage. + +Betty's first impulse was to take the next train for St. Andrew. Her +heart went out to the lonely girl, deprived of her only protector, +wretched under the triple load of poverty, friendlessness, and the +curse of race. She remembered vividly those two men in the church +whose bearing expressed more forcibly than any words the canker that +had blighted their manhood. And this girl bore no visible mark of the +wrong that had been done her, and only needed the opportunity to be +happy and respected. Could duty be more plain? And was she a chosen +instrument to right one at least of the great wrongs perpetrated by +the brilliant, warm-hearted, reckless men of her race? + +But in a moment she shuddered and dropped the letter, a wave of horror +and disgust rising within her. This girl was her half-sister, and was, +light or dark, a negress. Betty had seen too much of the world in her +twenty-seven years to weep at the discovery of her father's weakness, +or to shrink from a woman so unhappy as to be born out of wedlock; but +she was Southern to her finger-tips: the blacks were a despised, an +unspeakably inferior race, and they had been slaves for hundreds of +years to the white man. To be sure, she loved the old family servants, +and rarely said a harsh word to them, and it was a matter of +indifference to her that they had been freed, as she had plenty of +money to pay their wages. But that the negro should vote had always +seemed to her incredible and monstrous, and she laughed to herself +when she met on the streets the smartly dressed coloured folk out for +a walk. They seemed farcically unreal, travesties on the people to +whom a discriminating Almighty had given the world. To her the entire +race were first slaves, then servants, entitled to all kindness so +long as they kept their place, but to be stepped on the moment they +presumed. She recoiled in growing disgust from this girl with the +hidden drop of black in her body. + +But her reasoning faculty was accustomed to work independently of her +brain's inherited impressions. She stamped her foot and anathematized +herself for a narrow-minded creature whose will was weaker than her +prejudices. The girl was blameless, helpless. She might have a mind as +good as her own, be as well fitted to enjoy the higher pleasures of +life. And she might have a beauty and a temperament which would be her +ruin did her natural protectors tell her that she was a pariah, an +outcast, that they could have none of her. Betty conjured her up, a +charming and pathetic vision; but in vain. The repulsion was physical, +inherited from generations of proud and intolerant women, and she +could not control it. + +She longed desperately for a confidant and adviser. Her mother she +could not speak to until she had made up her mind. Emory and Sally +Carter would tell her to give the creature an allowance and think no +more about her; and the matter went deeper than that. The girl had +heart and an educated mind; her demands were subtle and complex. +Senator Burleigh? He would laugh impatiently at her prejudices, and +tell her that she ought to go out and live in the free fresh air +of the West. They probably would quarrel irremediably. Mary Montgomery +would only stare. Betty could hear her exclaim: "But why? What? And +you say she is quite white? I do not think that negroes are as nice as +white people, of course; but I cannot understand your really tragic +aversion." + +There was only one person to whom it would be a luxury to talk, +Senator North. She knew that he would not only understand but +sympathize with her, and she was sure he would give her wise counsel. +She regretted bitterly that she had not been able to make a friend of +him, as she had of several of his colleagues. She would have sent for +him without hesitation. + +She glanced at the clock; it pointed to ten minutes past ten. He was +doubtless at that moment in his Committee Room looking over his +correspondence. She knew that Senators received letters at the rate of +a hundred a day, and were early risers in consequence. If only she +dared to go to him, if only he were not so desperately busy. But he +had intimated that he had leisure moments, had taken the trouble to +say that it would give him pleasure to serve her. Why should he not? +What if he were a Senator? Was she not a Woman? Why should she of all +women hesitate to demand a half-hour's time of any man? She needed +advice, must have it: a decision should be reached in the next twenty- +four hours. Not for a second did she admit that she was building up an +excuse for the long-desired interview with Senator North. She was a +woman confronted with a solemn problem. Her coupe was at the door; she +had planned a morning's shopping. She ran upstairs and dressed herself +for the street, wondering what order she would give the footman. She +changed her mind hurriedly twenty times, but was careful to select the +most becoming street-frock she possessed, a gentian blue cloth trimmed +with sable. There were three hats to match it, and she tried on each, +to the surprise of her maid, who usually found her easy to please. She +finally decided upon a small toque which was made to set well back +from her face into the heavy waves of her hair. She was too wise to +wear a veil, for her complexion was flawless, her forehead low and +full, and her hair arranged loosely about it; she wore no fringe. + +As the footman closed the door of the coupe and she said curtly, "The +Capitol," she knew that her mind had made itself up in the moment that +it had conceived the possibility of a call upon Senator North. + +That point settled, she was calm until she reached the familiar +entrance to the Senate wing, and rehearsed the coming interview. + +But her cheeks were hot and her knees were trembling as she left the +elevator and hurried down the corridor to the Committee Room which +Burleigh, when showing her over the building one morning, had pointed +out as Senator North's. She never had felt so nervous. She wondered if +women felt this sudden terror of the outraged proprieties when +hastening to a tryst of which the world must know nothing. And she was +overwhelmed with the vivid consciousness that she was actually about +to demand the time and attention of one of the busiest and most +eminent men in the country. If it had not been for a stubborn and +long-tried will, she would have turned and run. + +A mulatto was sitting before the door. When she asked, with a +successful attempt at composure, for Senator North, he demanded her +card. She happened to have one in her purse, and he went into the room +and closed the door, leaving her to be stared at by the strolling +sight-seers. + +The mulatto reopened the door and invited her to enter a large room +with a long table, a bookcase, and a number of leather chairs. Before +he had led her far, Senator North appeared within the doorway of an +inner room. + +"I am glad to see you," he said. "I know that you are in trouble or +you would not have done me this honour. It is an honour, and as I told +you before I shall feel it a privilege to serve you in any way. Sit +here, by the fire." + +Betty felt so grateful for his effort to put her at her ease, so +delighted that he was all her imagination had pictured, and had not +snubbed her in what she conceived to be the superior senatorial +manner, that she flung herself into the easy-chair and burst into +tears. + +Senator North knew women as well as a man can. He let the storm pass, +poked the already glowing fire, and lowered two of the window-shades. + +"I feel so stupid," said Betty, calming herself abruptly. "I have no +right to take up your time, and I shall say what I have to say and +go." + +"I have practically nothing to do for the next hour. Please consider +it yours." + +Betty stole a glance at him. He was leaning back in his chair +regarding her intently. It was impossible to say whether his eyes had +softened or not, but he looked kind and interested. + +"I never have told you that your father was a great friend of mine," +he said. "You really have a claim on me." In spite of the fact that +the Congressional Directory gave him sixty years, he looked anything +but fatherly. Although there never was the slightest affectation of +youth in his dress or manner, he suggested threescore years as little. +So strong was his individuality that Betty could not imagine him +having been at any time other than he was now. He was Senator North, +that was the rounded fact; years had nothing to do with him. + +"Well, I'm glad you knew papa; it will help you to understand. I--But +perhaps you had better read this." + +She took the clergyman's letter from her muff, and Senator North put +on a pair of steel-rimmed eyeglasses and read it. When he had finished +he put the eyeglasses in his pocket, folded the letter, and handed it +to her. He had read the contents with equal deliberation. It seemed +impossible that he would act otherwise in any circumstance. + +"Well?" he said, looking keenly at her. "What are you going to do +about it?" + +"I am ashamed to tell you how I have felt. But we Southerners feel so +strongly on--on--that subject--it is difficult to explain!" + +"We Northerners know exactly how you feel," he said dryly. "We should +be singularly obtuse if we did not. However, do not for a moment +imagine that I am unsympathetic. We all have our prejudices, and the +strongest one is a part of us. And for the matter of that, the average +American is no more anxious to marry a woman with negro blood in her +than the Southerner is, and looks down upon the Black from almost as +lofty a height. Only our prejudice is passive, for he is not the +constant source of annoyance and anxiety with us that he is with you." + +"Then you understand how repulsive it is to me to have a sister who is +white by accident only, and how torn I am between pity for her and a +physical antipathy that I cannot overcome?" + +"I understand perfectly." + +"That is why I have come to you--to ask you what I _must_ do. This is +the first time I have been confronted by a real problem; my life has +been so smooth and my trials so petty. It is too great a problem for +me to solve by myself, and I could not think of anybody's advice but +yours that--that I would take," she finished, with her first flash of +humour. + +"I fully expect you to take the advice I am going to give you. Your +duty is plain; you must do all you can for this girl. But by no means +receive her into your house until you have made her acquaintance. Take +the ten o'clock B. & O. to-morrow morning and go to St. Andrew; it is +about four hours' journey and on the line of the railroad. Spend +several hours with the girl, and, if she is worth the trouble, bring +her back with you and do all you can for her: it would be cruel and +heartless to refuse her consolation if she is all this old man +describes--and you are not cruel and heartless. And if this drop of +black blood is abhorrent to you, think what it must be to her. It is +enough to torment a high-strung woman into insanity or suicide. On the +other hand, if she is common, or looks as if she had a violent temper, +or is conceited and self-sufficient like so many of that hybrid race, +settle an income on her and send her to Europe: in placing her above +temptation you will have done your duty." + +"But that is the whole point--to be sure that _you_ do the right +thing." + +"I almost hope she will be impossible, so that I can wipe her off the +slate at once. Otherwise it will be a terrible problem." + +"It is no problem at all. There is no problem in plain duty. Problems +exist principally in works of fiction and in the minds of unoccupied +women. If you meet each development of every question in the most +natural and reasonable manner,--presupposing that you possess that +highest attribute of civilization, common-sense,--no question will +ever resolve itself into a problem. And difficulties usually disappear +as the range of vision contracts. If your house takes fire, you save +what you can, not what you have elaborately planned to save in case of +fire. Train your common-sense and let the windy analysis pertaining +to problems alone." + +"But how can I ever get over the horror of the thing, Mr. North?" + +"You will forget all about it when she has been your daily companion +for a few weeks. If she lacked a nose, you would as soon cease to +remember it. If this girl is worth liking, you will like her, and soon +cease to feel tragic. Leave that to her!" + +"I know that you are right, and of course I shall take your advice. I +did not come here to trouble you for nothing. But if I liked her at +first and not afterward--" + +"Pack her off to Europe. Europe will console an American woman for +every ill in life. If you take the right attitude in the beginning, it +all rests with her after that. You will have but one duty further. If +she wishes to marry, you must tell the man the truth, if she will not. +Don't hesitate on that point a moment. Her children are liable to be +coal-black. That African blood seems to have a curse on it, and the +curse is usually visited on the unoffending." + +"I will, I will," said Betty. She rose, and he rose also and took her +hand in both of his. She felt an almost irresistible desire to put her +head on his shoulder, for she was tired and depressed. + +"Your attitude in the matter is the important thing to me," he said. +"That is why I have spoken so emphatically. You are a child yet, in +spite of your twenty-seven years and your admirable intelligence. This +is practically your first trial, the first time you have been called +upon to make a decision which, either way, is bound to have a strong +effect on your character, and to affect still greater decisions you +may be called upon to make in the future. You have only one defect; +you are not quite serious enough--yet." + +"I feel very serious just now," said Betty, with a sigh; and in truth +she did, and her new-found sister was not the only thing that +perplexed her. + +"One of these days you will be a singularly perfect woman," he added, +and then he dropped her hand and walked to the door. As he was about +to open it, she touched his arm timidly. + +"Will you come and see me on Sunday?" she asked. "I shall have been +through a good deal between now and then, and I shall want--I shall +want to talk to you." + +"I will come," he said. + +"Not before half-past four. My mother will be asleep then, and my +cousin, Jack Emory, have gone home--there will be so many things I +shall want to talk to you about." + +"I shall be there at half-past four," he said. "Good-bye. Good-bye." + + + + +XI + + + +Betty went home to her room and cried steadily for an hour. She would +not analyze the complex source of her emotions, but addressed a bitter +reproach to her father's shade; and she reassured herself by frankly +admitting that it would give her pleasure to win the approval of +Senator North. + +She bathed her eyes and went to her mother's room. The sooner that +ordeal was over, she reflected, the better. Mrs. Madison was reading +an amusing novel and looked up with a smile, then pushed the book +aside. + +"Have you been crying, darling?" she asked. "What can be the matter?" + +Betty told her story without preamble. Her mother's nerves could stand +a shock, but not three minutes of uncertainty. Mrs. Madison listened +with more equanimity than Betty anticipated. + +"I suppose I may consider myself fortunate that I have not had one of +his brats thrust on me before," she remarked philosophically. "What +are we to do about this creature?" + +"There is only one human thing to do. It is not her fault, and she is +very wretched at present. And now that I know the truth I suppose I am +as responsible as my father would be if he were alive. I shall go to +see her to-morrow, and if she is presentable and seems good I shall +bring her to Washington. Of course I shall not bring her here without +your permission--it is your house. Let me read you his letter." + +"Do you feel very strongly on the subject?" Mrs. Madison asked when +Betty had finished. + +"Oh, I do! I do! I will promise not to bring her to Washington at all +if she is impossible, but if she is all I feel sure she must be, let +me bring her here for a few weeks, until we have decided what to do +for her. I know it is a great deal to ask--her presence cannot fail to +be hateful to you--" + +"My dear, I have outlived any feeling of that sort, and I have not put +everything on your shoulders all these years to thwart you now, when +you feel so deeply. Moreover, an old memory came to me while you were +reading that letter. When I was a little girl, about eight or ten, I +spent an entire summer with Aunt Mary Eager at her home in Virginia. +She had a house full, and there were five other little girls beside +myself. A brook ran across the foot of the plantation, and we were +very fond of playing there. Directly across was the hut of a freed +slave who had a little girl about our own age. The child was a +beautiful octaroon. I can see her plainly, with her honey-coloured +skin, her immense black eyes, her long straight black hair, and her +stiff little white frock tucked to the waist. Her mother took the +greatest pride in her, and was always changing her clothes. + +"Every day she used to come to the edge of her side of the brook and +watch us. We never noticed her, for although we often played with the +little black piccaninnies, the yellow child of a freed slave was +another matter. One day--I think she had watched us for about a week-- +she came half-way across the bridge. We stared at each other, but took +no notice of her. The next day she walked straight across and up to +us, and asked us very nicely if she might play with us. We turned upon +her six scarlet scandalized faces, and what we said, in what brutal +child language, I do not care to repeat. The child stared at us for a +moment as if she were looking into the Inferno itself, and I expect +she was, poor little soul! Then she gave a cry, and tore across the +bridge and up the 'pike as hard as she could run. As long as we could +see her she was running, and as I never saw her again--we avoided the +brook after that--it seemed to me for years as if she must be running +still. And for years those flying feet haunted me, and I used to long +as I grew older to do penance in some way. I befriended many a poor +yellow girl, hoping she might be that child. Then life grew too sad +for me to remember the sins of my childhood. But I like the idea of +making penance at this late day and receiving this girl for a few +weeks into my house: it will be a penance, for I do not fancy sitting +at the table with a woman with negro blood in her veins, I can assure +you. But I shall do it. I believe if I did not I should be haunted +again by those little flying feet. There is no chance of this being +her daughter, for she would have been too old to attract your father's +fancy. But that is not the point. I make one condition. No one must +know the truth, not even Sally or Jack. She must pass for a distant +relative, left suddenly destitute." "She would probably be the last to +wish the truth known. But you have taken a weight off my mind, Molly +dear, and I am deeply grateful to you." + + + + +XII + + + +The next day Betty left the train a few minutes after two o'clock and +walked up the winding street of a small village to the parsonage. She +passed a number of cottages picturesquely dilapidated, a store in +which a half-dozen men were smoking, and about thirty lounging +negroes. On rising ground was a large house, but the village looked +forlorn, neglected, almost lifeless. + +The men in the store came out and stared at her; so did the women from +the cottages. And the negroes stood still. Doubtless they thought her +a wealthy vision; the day was cold, and she wore a brown cloth dress +and a sable jacket and toque. + +"What a life for an intelligent woman!" she thought, glancing about +her with deep distaste. "It would be enough to induce melancholia +without the 'taint.'" + +She had made a desperate effort in the last twenty-four hours to +overcome her repugnance, but had only succeeded in making sure that +she could conceal it. She had recalled her interview with Senator +North again and again. His indubitable interest gave her courage, and +a desire to use the best that was in her. And she had turned her mind +more often still to those men in the church and the sentiments they +had inspired. The shutters of the parsonage were closed, there was +crape on the door. Betty turned the knob and entered. A number of +people were in a room on the right of the hall. At the head of the +room, barely out-lined in the heavy shadows, was a coffin on its +trestle. + +The house smelt musty and damp. Betty pushed back the door and let in +the bright winter sunlight. Some one rose from the group beside the +coffin and came slowly forward. Betty waited, clinching her hands in +her muff, her breath coming shorter. The dark figure in the dark room +looked like the shadow of death itself. But it was not superstition +that made Betty brace herself. In a moment the figure had stepped into +the sunlight beside her. + +Betty had imagined the girl handsome; she was not prepared for +splendid beauty. Harriet Walker was far above the ordinary height of +woman, and very slender and graceful. Her hair and eyes were black, +her skin smooth and white, her features aquiline. Hauteur should have +been her natural expression, but her eyes were dreamy and melancholy, +her mouth discontented. Betty, in that first rapid survey, detected +but two flaws in her beauty: her chin was weak and her hands were +coarse. + +"You are Miss Madison," she said, with the monotonous inflection of +grief. "Thank you for coming." + +"I am your half-sister," said Betty, putting out her hand. And then +the desire to use the best that was in her overcame the repugnance +that made her very knees shake, and she put her arms about the girl +and kissed her. + +"You are mighty kind," said the other. "Will you come into my room?" +Betty followed her into a small room, simpler than any in her own +servants' quarter. But it was neat, and there was an attempt at +smartness in the bright calico curtains and bedspread. The furniture +looked home-made, and there was no carpet on the floor. + +"Poor girl! poor girl!" exclaimed Betty, impulsively. "Have you ever +been happy--here?" + +"Well, I don't reckon I've been very happy, ever; but I've given some +happiness and I've been loved and sheltered. That is something to be +thankful for in this world." + +"I am going to take you away," said Betty, abruptly. "Mr. Walker wrote +me that you'd be willing to come." + +"Oh, yes, I'll go, I reckon. I told him I would. I want to hold up my +head. Here I never have, for everybody knows. The white men all round +here insulted me until they got tired of trying to make me notice +them. One of the young men up on the plantation fell in love with me, +and they sent him away and he was drowned at sea. He never knew that I +had the black in my blood, and he had asked me to marry him. They did +not tell him the truth, for they feared he would then wish to make me +his mistress." + +She spoke without passion, with a deep and settled melancholy, as if +her intelligence had forbidden her to combat the inevitable. Betty +burst into tears. + +"Don't cry," said the other. "I never do--any more. I used to. And if +you'll kindly take me away, I know I'll feel as if I were born over. +If there is anything in this world to enjoy, be right sure I shall +enjoy it. I'm young yet, and I reckon nobody was made to be sad for +ever." + +"You shall be happy," exclaimed Betty. "I will see to that. I pledge +myself to it. I will make you forget--everything." + +Harriet shook her head. "Not everything. Somewhere in my body, hidden +away, but there, is a black vein, the blood of slaves. I might get to +be happy with lots of books and kind people and no one to despise me +for what I can't help, but every night I'd remember _that_, and then I +reckon I'd feel mighty bad." + +"You think so now," said Betty, soothingly, and longing for +consolation herself. "But when you are surrounded by friends who love +you for what you are, by all that goes to make life comfortable and-- +and--gay; it seems terribly soon to speak of it, but I shall take you +to all the theatres and buy you beautiful clothes, and I shall settle +on you what your father left me: it is only right you should have it +and feel independent. You will travel and see all the beautiful things +in Europe. Oh, I know that in time you will forget. When you are away +from all that reminds, you cannot fail to forget." + +Harriet, who had followed Betty's words with an eager lifting of her +heavy eyelids and almost a smile on her mouth, brought her lips +together as Betty ceased speaking, and held out her hand. + +"Do you see nothing?" she asked. + +Betty took the hand in hers. "What do you mean?" she demanded. "All +that--the roughness--will wear off. It will be gone in a month." + +"There is something there that will never wear off. Look right hard at +the finger-nails." + +Betty lifted the hand to her face, vaguely recalling observations of +her mother when discussing suspicious looking brunettes seen in the +North. There was a faint bluish stain at the base of the nails; and +she remembered. It was the outward and indelible print of the hidden +vein within. The nails are the last stronghold of negro blood. She +dropped the hand with an uncontrollable shudder and covered her face +with her muff. + +"I feel so horribly sorry for you," she said hastily. "It seemed to me +for the moment as if your trouble were my own." + +If the girl understood, she made no sign; hers had been a life of +self-control, and she had been despised from her birth. + +"Tell me what you wish me to do now," said Betty, lifting her head. +"When can you leave here? Do you wish me to stay with you? Is it +impossible for you to go to-day?" + +"I cannot leave him until he is buried. And you couldn't stay here. +This is Tuesday. I'll go Thursday." + +Betty thrust a roll of bills into a drawer. "They are yours by right," +she said hurriedly. "Go first to Richmond and get a handsome black +frock; you will be sure to find what you want ready made, and it will +be better--on account of the servants--for you to look well when you +arrive. Spend it all. There is plenty more. Buy all sorts of nice +things. I will go now. There is a train soon. Telegraph when you start +for Washington and I will meet you. Good by, and please be sure that I +shall make you happy." + +Harriet walked out to the gate, and Betty saw that there were fine +lines on her brow and about her mouth. But she was very beautiful, +sombre and blighted as she was. She clung to Betty for a moment at +parting, then went rapidly into the house. + +When Betty reached the street, she restrained an impulse to run, but +she walked faster than she had ever walked in her life, persuading +herself that she feared to miss her train. She waited three quarters +of an hour for it, and there were four dreary hours more before she +saw the dome of the Capitol. She arrived at home with a splitting +headache and an animal craving to lock herself in her room and get +into bed. For the time being no mortal interested her, she was +exhausted and emotionless. She described the interview briefly to her +mother, then sought the solitude she craved. And as she was young and +healthy, she soon fell asleep. + + + + +XIII + + + +When she awoke next morning she arose and dressed herself at once: in +bed the will loses its control over thought, and she wished to think +as little as possible. But her mind reverted to the day before, in +spite of her will, and she laughed suddenly and went to her desk and +wrote on a slip of paper,-- + +"Every woman writes with one eye on the page and one eye on some man, +except the Countess Hahn-Hahn, who has only one eye."--HEINE. + +"Some day when I know him better I will give him this," she thought, +and put the slip into a drawer by itself. + +The load of care had lifted itself and gone. She had done the right +thing, the momentous question was settled for the present, and Betty +Madison had merely to shake her shoulders and enjoy life again. She +threw open the window and let in the sun. There had been a rain-storm +in the night and then a severe frost. The ice glistened on the naked +trees, encasing and jewelling them. A park near by looked as if the +crystal age of the world had come. The bronze equestrian statue +within that little wood of radiant trees alone defied the ice-storm, +as if the dignity of the death it represented rebuked the lavish hand +of Nature. + +Betty felt happy and elated, and blew a kiss to the beauty about her. +She always had had a large fund of the purely animal joy in being +alive, but to-day she was fully conscious that the tremulous quality +of her gladness was due to the knowledge that she should see Senator +North within five more days and the light of approval in his eyes. +Exactly what her feeling for him was she made no attempt to define. +She did not care. It was enough that the prospect of seeing him made +her happier than she ever had felt before. That might go on +indefinitely and she would ask for nothing more. Her recent contact +with the serious-practical side of life--as distinct from the serious- +intellectual which she had cultivated more than once--had terrified +her; she wanted the pleasant, thrilling, unformulated part. For the +first time one of her ideals had come forth from the mists of fancy +and filled her vision as a man; and he was become the strongest +influence in her life. As yet he was unaware of this honour, and +she doubtless occupied a very small corner of his thought; but he was +interested at last, and he was coming to see her. And then he would +come again and again, and she would always feel this same glad quiver +in her soul. She felt no regret that she could not marry him; the +question of marriage but brushed her mind and was dismissed in haste. +That was a serious subject, glum indeed, and dark. She was glad that +circumstance limited her imagination to the happy present. She felt +sixteen, and as if the world were but as old. Love and the intellect +have little in common. They can jog along side by side and not +exchange a comment. + +"Come down and take a walk," cried a staccato voice. Sally Carter was +standing on the sidewalk, her head thrown back. Betty nodded, put on +her things and ran downstairs. Miss Carter was wrapped in an old cape, +and her turban was on one side, but she looked rosier than usual. + +"I've been half-way out to Chevy Chase," she said, "and I was just +thinking of paying poor old General Lathom a visit. He does look so +well in bronze, poor old dear, and all that ice round him will make +him seem like an ogre in fairy-land. He wasn't a bit of an ogre, he +was downright afraid of me." + +"I suppose a man really feels as great a fool as he looks when he is +proposing to a woman he is not sure of. I wonder why they ever do. +After I gave up coquetting, came to the conclusion that it wasn't +honest, they proposed just the same." + +"Some women unconsciously establish a habit of being proposed to. I've +had very few proposals, and I know several really beautiful women who +have had practically none. As I said, it's a habit, and you can't +account for it." + +"I went yesterday to Virginia to call on a relative who has just lost +her last adopted parent," said Betty, abruptly, "and she looked so +forlorn that I asked her to visit us for a while. I hope you'll like +her." + +"Ah? She must be some relation of mine, too. You and I are third +cousins." + +"Don't ask me to straighten it out. The ramifications of Southern +kinships are beyond me. She is a beauty--very dark and tragic." + +"That is kind of you--to run the risk of Senator Burleigh going off at +a tangent," said Miss Carter, sharply. "By the way, you cannot deny +that you have given him encouragement; you have neither eyes nor ears +for any one else when he is round." + +"He is usually the most interesting person 'round;' and I have a +concentrative mind. But I never intend to marry, and Senator Burleigh +has never even looked as if he wanted to propose. By the way, Molly +has actually asked him to come to the Adirondacks for a few days. +Can't you and your father come for a month or two? Jack has promised +to stay with us the whole summer, and we'll be quite a family party." + +"Yes, I will," said Miss Carter, promptly. "I haven't been in the +Adirondacks for six years and I should love it." + +"Harriet Walker--that's our new cousin--will be with us too, most +likely. She looks delicate, and I shall try to persuade her that she +needs the pines." + +"Ah! Look out for the Senator--in the dark pine forests on the +mountain." + +"I don't know why you should be so concerned for me. I usually have +kept an admirer as long as I wanted him." + +"Oh, no offence, dear. The dark and tragic lady merely filled my eye +at the moment. By the way, Mrs. North thinks of going to the Lake +Hotel this summer. Isn't that close by your place?" + +"It is just across the lake. There is your old General. He does look +like an ogre, and he's got a patch of green mould on his nose. You +ought to take better care of him." + +"He looks so much better than he did in life that I have no fault to +find. The doctor has told Mrs. North that the pine forests may do her +all the good in the world, prolong her life, and Mr. North has written +to see if he can get an entire wing for her. I hope he can go too, but +he always seems to have so much to do at home in summer. I do like +him. He's the only man I know who, I feel positive, never could make a +fool of himself." + +"I am half starved. Come home and have your breakfast with me." + +"I should like to. Senator North--" + +"There is Mr. Burleigh on horseback--with Mr. Montgomery. He _will_ +look well in bronze--but they only put Generals on horseback, don't +they? There--he sees me. I am going to ask them to come in to +breakfast." + +"I believe you like him better than you think, my dear. Your eyes +shine like two suns, and I never saw you look so happy." + + +"The morning is so beautiful and I am so glad that I am alive. I know +exactly how much I like Mr. Burleigh." + + + + +XIV + + + +"Do all Southerners make such delicious coffee?" asked Senator +Burleigh, as the four sat about the attractive table in the breakfast- +room. + +"The Southerners are the only cooks in the United States," announced +Miss Carter. "The real difference between the South and the North is +that one enjoys itself getting dyspepsia and the other does not." + +"There are just six kinds of hot bread on this table," said Burleigh, +meditatively. + +"And no pie and no doughnuts. Mr. Montgomery, you are really a +Southerner--ar'n't you glad to get back to darky cooks?" + +"I was until we began on this tariff bill, and now there is not an +object you can mention, edible or otherwise, that I don't loathe." + +"The details of such a bill must be maddening," said Betty, +sympathetically, "but, after all, it is an honour to be on the Ways +and Means Committee. There is compensation in everything." + +"I don't know. When a man lobbyist tries to find out your weak spot +and play on it, you can kick him out of the house, but when they set a +woman at you, all you can do is to bow and say: 'My dear madam, it is +with the greatest regret I am obliged to inform you that I have sat up +every night until three o'clock studying this subject, and that I have +made up my mind.' Whereupon she talks straight ahead and hints at +trouble with certain constituents next year who want free coal and an +exorbitant duty on Zante currants, raisins, wine, and wool. The whole +army of lobbyists have camped on my doorstep ever since we began to +draw up this bill. How they find time to camp on any one's else would +make an interesting study in ubiquity." + +"I am afraid some of your ideals have been shattered, and I am afraid +you are shattering some of Miss Madison's," said Burleigh, smiling +into Betty's disgusted face. + +"I hate the dirty work of politics," said Montgomery, gloomily. "Of +course it doesn't demoralize you so long as you keep your own hands +clean, but it is sickening to suspect that you are sitting cheek by +jowl in the Committee Room with a man whose pocket is stuffed with +some Trust Company's shares." + +"I used to hate it, but I don't see any remedy until we have an +educated generation of high-class politicians, and I think that +millennium is not far off. As matters stand, there is bound to be a +certain percentage of scoundrels and of men too weak to resist a bribe +in a great and shifting body like the House. Any scoundrel feels that +he can slink among the rest unseen. The old members who have been +returned term after term since they began to grow stubby beards on +their cast-iron chins are an argument against rotation; they have had +a chance to acquire the confidence of the public, they are experienced +legislators, and they are incorruptible." + +Betty drew a long sigh of relief. "You have cleared up the atmosphere +a little," she said. "I thought I was going to learn that the House, +at least, was one hideous mass of corruption, praying for burial." + +"That is what they think of us outside," said Montgomery. "We might as +well all be gangrene, for we get the credit of it." + +"I don't like your similes," said Miss Carter; "I haven't finished my +breakfast. Mr. Burleigh, you've put on your senatorial manner and I +like you better without it. I thought you were going to say, 'Don't +interrupt, please,' or 'Would you kindly be quiet until I finish?' at +least twice." + +"I beg pardon humbly. I am flattered to know that you have thought it +worth while to listen to any remarks I may have been forced to make in +the Senate." + +"I have been twice to the gallery with Betty, and both times you were +talking like a steam-engine and warning people off the track." + +It was so apt a description of Burleigh's style when on his feet that +even he laughed. + +"I don't like to be interrupted or contradicted," he said, "I frankly +admit it." + +"Better not marry an American girl." + +"Some Englishwomen have wills of their own," remarked Mr. Montgomery. + +"Some men are tyrants in public life and slaves at home--to a +beautiful woman," remarked Senator Burleigh. + +"Some men are so clever," said Miss Carter. "Give me another waffle, +please." + + + + +XV + + + +Betty went to the Senate Gallery that afternoon for the first time in +several days. It was hard work to keep up with the calling frenzy of +Washington and cultivate one's intellect at the same time. There was +no one in the private gallery but an old man with a hayseed beard and +horny hands. He sat on the first chair in the front row, but rose +politely to let Betty pass; and she took off her veil and jacket and +gloves and settled herself for a comfortable afternoon. She felt +almost as much at home in this family section of the Senate Gallery as +in her own room with a copy of the Congressional Record in her hand. +Sometimes save for herself it would be empty, when every other +gallery, but the Diplomats', of that fine amphitheatre would be nearly +full. It was crowded, however, when it was unofficially known that a +favourite Senator would speak, or an important bill on the calendar +provoke a debate. Leontine no longer accompanied her mistress; she had +threatened to leave unless exempted from political duty. + +To-day a distinguished Senator on the other side of the Chamber was +attacking with caustic emphasis a Republican measure. He was the only +man in the Senate with a real Uncle Sam beard. Senator Shattuc's waved +like a golden fan from his powerful jaw; but the Democratic appendage +opposite was long and narrow, and whisked over the Senator's shoulder +like the tail of a comet, when he became heated in controversy. It was +flying about at a great rate to-day, and Betty was watching it with +much interest, when a proud voice remarked in her ear,-- + +"That's my Senator, marm. He's powerful eloquent, ain't he?" + +Betty nodded. "He's quite a leader." + +"I allow he is. He's been leadin' in our State fur twenty years. I +allus wanted to hear him speak in Congress, and when I called on him +last Monday--when I come to Washington--he told me to come up here to- +day and hear him, and he would set me in the Senators' Gallery. And he +did." + +His voice became a distant humming in Betty's ears. Senator North had +entered and taken his seat. He apparently settled himself to listen to +the speech, and he looked as calm and unhurried as usual. + +"That's North," whispered the old man. "There wuz a lady in here a +spell since who pinted a lot of 'em out to me. He looks a little too +hard and stern to suit me. I like the kind that slaps you on the back +and says 'Howdy.' Now Senator North, he never would: I know plenty +that knows him. He's aristocratic; and I don't like his politics, +neither. I allus suspicion that politicians ain't all right when +they're aristocratic." + +"He does not happen to be a politician." + +"Hey?" + +"Don't you want to listen to your Senator? He is very eloquent." + +"He's been speakin' fur an hour steady," said the visitor to +Washington, philosophically. "I kinder thought I'd like to talk to you +a spell. Hev you seen the new library?" "Oh, yes; I live here." + +"Do ye? Well, you're lucky. For this city's so grand it's jest a +pleasure to walk around. And that Library's the most beautiful +buildin' I ever saw in all my seventy-two years. I've been twice a day +to look at it, and it makes me feel proud to be an Amurrican. If +Paradise is any more beautiful than that there buildin', I do want to +go there." + +Betty smiled with the swift sympathy she always felt for genuine +simplicity, and the old man's pride in his country's latest +achievement was certainly touching. She refrained from telling him +that she thought the red and yellow ceilings hideous, and delighted +him with the assurance that it was the finest modern building in the +world. + +"What's happened to ye?" he asked sharply, a moment later. "You've +straightened up and thrown back your head as if ye owned the hull +Senate." + +Senator North had wheeled about slowly and glanced up at the private +gallery. Then he had risen abruptly and gone into the cloak-room. + +"Perhaps I do," said Betty. + +She spoke thickly. It seemed incredible that he was coming up to the +gallery at last. She had another humble moment and felt it to be a +great honour. But she smiled so brilliantly at the old man that he +grinned with delight. + +"I presume you're the darter of one of these here Senators," he said; +"one of the rich ones. You look as if ye hed it all your own way in +life, and seein' as you're young and pretty, meanin' no offence, I'm +glad you hev. Is your pa one of the leadin' six?" + +"My father is dead." She heard the door open and turned her head +quickly. It was Senator Shattuc who had entered. He walked rapidly +down the aisle, took a seat in the second row of chairs, and gave her +a hearty grip of the hand. + +"How are you?" he asked. "I was glad to see you were up here. You +always look so pleased with the world that it does me good to get a +glimpse of you." + +Betty liked Senator Shattuc, and held him in high esteem, but at that +moment she would willingly have set fire to his political beard. She +was used to self-control, however, and she chatted pleasantly with him +for ten minutes, while her heart seemed to descend to a lower rib, and +her brain reiterated that eternal question of woman which must +reverberate in the very ears of Time himself. + +He came at last, and Senator Shattuc amiably got up and let him pass +in, then took the chair behind the old man and asked him a few good- +natured questions before turning to Betty again. + +"I started to come some time ago," said Senator North, "but I was +detained in one of the corridors. It is hard to escape being +buttonholed. This time it was by a young woman from my State who wants +a position in the Pension Office. If it had been a man I should have +ordered him about his business, but of course one of your charming sex +in distress is another matter. However, I got rid of her, and here I +am." + +"I knew you were coming. I should have waited for you." Now that he +was there she subdued her exuberance of spirit; but she permitted her +voice to soften and her eyes to express something more than +hospitality. He was looking directly into them, and his hard powerful +face was bright with pleasure. + +"It suddenly occurred to me that you might be up here," he said; "and +I lost no time finding out." He lowered his voice. "Did you go? Has it +turned out all right?" + +"Yes, I went! I'll tell you all about it on Sunday. I never had such a +painful experience." + +"Well, I'm glad you had it. You would have felt a great deal worse if +you had shirked it. However--Yes?" + +Senator Shattuc was asking him if he thought the Democratic Senator +was in his usual form. + +"No," he said, "I don't. What is he wasting his wind for, anyway? +We'll pass the bill, and he's all right with his constituents. They +know there's no more rabid watch-dog of the Treasury in America." + +"I suspect it does him good to bark at us," said Senator Shattuc. + +The old man looked uneasy. "Ain't that a great speech?" he asked. + +The two Senators laughed. "Well, it's better than some," said Shattuc. +"And few can make a better when he's got a subject worthy of him," he +added kindly. + +"That's perlite, seein' as you're a Republican. I allow as I'll go. +Good-day, marm. I'll never forgit as how you told me you'd bin all +over Yurrup and that there ain't no modern buildin' so fine as our new +Library. Good-day to ye, sirs." + +Senator Shattuc shook him warmly by the hand. Senator North nodded, +and Betty gave him a smile which she meant to be cordial but was a +trifle absent. She wished that Senator Shattuc would follow him, but +he sat down again at once. He, too, felt at home in that gallery, and +it had never occurred to him that one Senator might be more welcome +there than another. Senator North's face hardened, and Betty, fearing +that he would go, said hurriedly,-- + +"Ar'n't you ever going to speak again? I have heard you only once." + +"I rarely make set speeches, although I not infrequently engage in +debate--when some measure comes up that needs airing." + +"You ought to speak oftener, North," said Senator Shattuc. "You always +wake us up." + +"You have no business to go to sleep. If I talked when I had nothing +to say, you'd soon cease to be waked up. Our friend over there has put +three of our esteemed colleagues to sleep. He'll clear the galleries +in a moment and interfere with Norris's record.--I suppose you have +never seen that memorable sight," he said to Betty: "an entire gallery +audience get up and walk out when a certain Senator takes the floor?" + +"How very rude!" + +"The great American public loves a show, and when the show is not to +its taste it has no hesitation in making its displeasure known." + +"Why do you despise the great American public? You never raise your +voice so that any one in the second row up here can hear you." + +"I have no love for the gallery. Nor do I talk to constituents. When +it is necessary to talk to my colleagues, I do so, and it matters +little to me whether the reporters and the public hear me or not. When +my constituents are particularly anxious to know what stand I have +taken on a certain question, I have the speech printed and send it to +them; but as a rule they take my course for granted and let me alone." + +"But tell me, Mr. North," said Betty, squaring about and putting her +questions so pointedly that he, perforce, must answer them, "would you +really not like to make a speech down there that would thrill the +nation, as the speeches of Clay and Webster used to? And you could +make a speech like that. _Why_ don't you?" + +"My dear Miss Madison, if I attempted to thrill the American people by +lofty emotions and an impassioned appeal to their higher selves, I +should only bring down a storm of ridicule from seven-eighths of the +American press. I could survive that, for I should not read it, but my +effort would be thrown away. The people to whom it was directed would +feel ashamed of what thrill was left in it after it had reached them +through the only possible medium. This is the age--in this country--of +hard practical sense without any frills, or thrills. It is true that +there is a certain amount of sham oratory surviving in the Senate, but +the very fact that it is sham protects it from the press. The real +thing would irritate and alarm the spirits of mediocrity and +sensationalism which dominate the press to-day. A sensational speech, +one in which a man makes a fool of himself, it delights in, and it +encourages him by half a column of head-lines. A speech by a great +man, granted that we had one, carried away by lofty patriotism +and striving to raise his country, if only for a moment, to his own +pure altitude, would make the press feel uneasy and resentful, and it +would neutralize every word he uttered by the surest of all acids, +ridicule. An American statesman of to-day must be content to legislate +quietly, to use his intellect and his patriotism in the Committee +Room, and to keep a sharp eye on the bills brought forward by other +Committees. As for speeches, those look best in the Record which make +no appeal to the gallery. There, you cannot say I have not made you a +speech!" "Well, make me another, and tell me why you even consider the +power of the press. I mean, how you bring yourself even to think +about it. You have defied public opinion more than once. You have +stood up and told your own State that it was wrong and that you would +not legislate as it demanded. I am sure you would defy the whole +country, if you felt like it." + +"Ah, that is another matter. The hard-headed American respects honest +convictions, especially when they are maintained in defiance of self- +interest. I never shall lose my State by an unwavering policy, however +much I may irritate it for the moment. I could a heterogeneous Western +State, of course, but not a New England one. We are a conservative, +strong-willed race, and we despise the waverer. We are hard because it +always has been a hard struggle for survival with us. Therefore we +know what we want, and we have no desire to change when we get it. +There goes the bell for Executive Session. You and I must go our +different ways." + + + + +XVI + + + +"Do you dislike her?" asked Betty anxiously of her mother on the night +of Harriet's arrival. "I do not, and yet I feel that I never can love +her--could not even if it were not for _that_." + +"It is that. You never will love her. I cannot say that she has made +any impression on me whatever, so far. She seems positively congealed. +I suppose she is frightened and worn out, poor thing! She may improve +when she is rested and happier." + +And the next day, as Betty drove her about the city and showed her the +classic public buildings, the parks, white and glittering under a +light fall of snow, the wide avenues in which no one seemed to hurry, +and the stately private dwellings, Harriet's eyes were wide open with +pleasure, and she sat up straight and alert. + +"And I am really to live in this wonderful city?" she exclaimed. "How +long will it be before I shall have seen all the beautiful things +inside those buildings? Do you mean that I can go through all of them? +Why, I never even dreamed that I'd really see the world one day. All I +prayed for was books, more books. And now I'm living in a house with a +right smart library, and you will let me read them all. I don't know +which makes me feel most happy." + +"I will ask my cousin, Mr. Emory, to take you to all the galleries, +and you must go to the White House and shake hands with the +President." + +"Oh, I should like to!" she exclaimed. "I should like to! I should +indeed feel proud." She flushed suddenly and turned away her head. +Betty called her attention hastily to a shop window: they had turned +into F Street. She was determined that the obnoxious subject should +never be mentioned between them if she could help it. + +"I'll take you to New York and show you the shops there," she +continued. "New York was invented that woman might appreciate her +superiority over man." + +"I'd love a yellow satin dress trimmed with red and blue beads," said +Harriet, thoughtfully. + +Betty shuddered. For the moment F Street seemed flaunting with old +Aunty Dinah's bandannas. She replied hurriedly,-- + +"You will have all sorts of new ideas by the time you go out of +mourning. I suppose you will wear black for a year." + +"That makes me think. While I'm in black I can't see your fine +friends. I'd like to study. Could I afford a teacher?" + +"You can have a dozen. I've told you that I intend to turn over to you +the money father left me. Mr. Emory will attend to it. You will have +about five hundred dollars a month to do what you like with." + +The girl gasped, then shook her head. "I can't realize that sum," she +said. "But I know it's riches, and I wish--I wish _he_ were alive." + +"If he were you would not have it, for I should not know of you. You +will enjoy having a French teacher and a Professor of Belles Lettres. +Have you any talent for music?" + +"I can play the banjo--" + +"I mean for the piano." + +"I never saw one till yesterday, so I can't say. But I reckon I could +play anything." + +Her Southern brogue was hardly more marked than Jack Emory's, but she +mispronounced many of her words and dropped the final letters of +others: she said "hyah" for "here" and "do'" for "door," and once she +had said "done died." Betty determined to give special instructions to +the Professor. + +Senator Burleigh and Emory dined at the house that evening, and +although Harriet was shy, and blushed when either of the men spoke to +her the deep and tragic novelty of their respectful admiration finally +set her somewhat at her ease, and she talked under her breath to Emory +of the pleasurable impression Washington had made on her rural mind. +After dinner she went with him to the library, where he showed her his +favourite books, and advised her to read them. + +"Will you have a cigarette?" he asked. "Betty accuses me of being old- +fashioned, but I am modern enough to think that a woman and a +cigarette make a charming combination: she looks so companionable." + +"I've smoked a pipe," said Harriet, doubtfully; "but I've never tried +a cigarette. I reckon I could, though." + +He handed her a cigarette, and she smoked with the natural grace which +pervaded all her movements. She sank back in the deep chair she had +chosen, and puffed out the smoke indolently. + +"I am so happy," she said. "I reckoned down there that the world was +beautiful somewhere, but I never expected to see it. And it is, it is. +Poor old uncle used to say that nothing amounted to much when you got +it, but he didn't know, he didn't know. This room is so big, and the +light is so soft, and this chair is so lazy, and the fire is so +warm--" She looked at Emory with the first impulse of coquetry she had +ever experienced; and her eyes were magnificent. + +"Are you, too, happy?" she asked softly. + +He stood up suddenly and gave a little nervous laugh, darting an +embarrasing glance over his shoulder. + +"I feel uncommonly better than usual," he admitted. + + + + +XVII + + + +Betty awoke the next morning with the impression that she was +somewhere on the border of a negro camp-meeting. She had passed more +than one when driving in the country, and been impressed with the +religious frenzy for which the human voice seemed the best possible +medium. As she achieved full consciousness, she understood that it was +not a chorus of voices that filled her ear, but one,--rich, sonorous, +impassioned. It was singing one of the popular Methodist hymns with a +fervour which not even its typical African drawl and wail could +temper. It was some moments before Betty realized that the singer was +Harriet Walker, and then she sprang out of bed and flung on her +wrapper. + +"Great heaven!" she thought. "How shall we ever be able to keep her +secret? A bandanna gown and a voice like a cornfield darky's! I +suppose all the servants are listening in the hall." + +They were,--even the upper servants, who were English,--but they +scuttled away as their mistress appeared. She crossed the hall to +Harriet's room, rapped loudly, and entered. Her new sister, still in +her nightgown, was enjoying the deep motion of a rocking-chair, hymn- +book in hand. She brought her song to a halt as Betty appeared, but it +was some seconds before the inspired expression in her eyes gave place +to human greeting. Her face happened to be in shadow, and for the +moment Betty saw her black. Her finely cut features were indistinct, +and the ignorant fanaticism of a not remote grandmother looked from +her eyes. "Harriet!" exclaimed Betty. "I don't want to be unkind, but +you must not do that again. If you want to keep your secret, never +sing a hymn again as long as you live." + +"Ah!" Harriet gave a gasp, then a half-sob. "Ah! But I love to sing +them, honey. I have sung them every Sunday all my life, and _he_ loved +them. He said I could sing with anybody, he wouldn't except angels. I +'most felt he was listening." + +"You have a magnificent voice, and you must have it cultivated. But +never sing another hymn." + +"When I go to church I know I'll just shout--without knowing what I'm +doing." + +"Then don't go to church," said Betty, desperately. + +"I must! I must! What'll the Lode say to me? Oh, my po' old uncle!" + +She was weeping like a passionate child. Betty sat down beside her and +took her hand. + +"Come," she said, "listen to me. The first time I saw you the deepest +impression I received of you was one of fine self-control. Doubtless +you wept and stormed a good deal before you acquired it--at all the +different stages of what was both renunciation and acquisition. The +last few days have unsettled you a little because you have found +yourself in a new world, minus all your old responsibilities and +trials, and the experience has made you feel younger, robbed you of +some of your hold on yourself. But that habit of self-control is +in your brain,--it is the last to leave us,--and all you have to do is +to sit down and think hard and adjust yourself. It is even more +important that you make no mistakes now than it was before. Fate +seldom gives any one two chances to begin life over again. Think hard +and keep a tight rein on yourself." + +Betty had more than negro hymns in her mind, but she did not care to +be explicit. The generalities of the subject were disagreeable enough. + +Harriet had ceased her sobbing and was listening intently. She dried +her eyes as Betty finished speaking. + +"You are right, honey," she said. "And I reckon you haven't spoken any +too soon, for I was likely to get my head turned. I'll go to church +and I _won't_ sing. First I'll tie a string round my neck to remember, +and after that it'll be easy. I'm afraid I'm just naturally lazy, and +if I didn't watch myself I'd soon forget all the hard lessons I've +learned and get to be like some fat ornary old nigger who's got an +easy job." + +Betty shuddered. "The white race is not devoid of laziness. If you +want a reason for yours, just remember that the Southern sun has +prevented many a man from becoming great. Keep your mind as far away +from the other thing as possible." + +"Oh, I think I'll forget it. I felt that way yesterday. But perhaps +I'd better not," she added anxiously, as her glance fell on the hymn- +book. "No cross, no crown." + +"You will find crosses enough as you go through life," said Betty, +dryly. She rose to go, and Harriet rose also and drew herself up to +her full height. For the moment she looked again the tragic figure of +the first day of their acquaintance. + +"You must have seen by this time how ignorant I am," she said +mournfully. "Poor old uncle gave me all the schooling he had himself, +but I knew even then it wasn't what they have nowadays. And I've had +so few books to read. Once I found a five-dollar bill, and as he +wouldn't take it--the most I could do--I tramped all the way to the +nearest town and back, twenty miles, and bought a big basket full of +cheap reprints of English standard novels. Those and the few old Latin +books and the Bible and the Pilgrim's Progress are about all I've ever +read. I felt like writing you that when I read his letter, and also +telling you that I was afraid you wouldn't find me a lady in your +sense of the word--" + +"You are my sister," interrupted Betty; "of course you are a lady. +Dismiss any other idea from your mind. And in a year you will know so +much that I shall be afraid of you. I have neglected my books for +several years." + +"You are mighty good, and I'll humbly take all the advice you'll give +me." + +Betty went back to her room and sought the warm nest she had left. +"She makes me feel old," she thought. "Am I to be responsible for the +development of her character? I can't send her off to Europe yet. +There's nothing to do but keep her for at least a year, until she +knows something of the world and feels at home in it. Meanwhile I +suppose I must be her guide and philosopher! I believe that my +acquaintance with Senator North has made me feel like a child. He is +so much wiser in a minute than I could be in a lifetime; and as I have +made him the pivot on which the world revolves, no wonder I feel small +by contrast. + +"But after all, I am twenty-seven, and what is more, I have seen a +good deal of men," she added abruptly. And in a moment she admitted +that she had allowed her heart, full of the youth of unrealities and +dreams, to act independently of her more mature intelligence. + +"And that is the reason I have been so happy," she mused. "There is a +facer for the intelligence. As long as I have exercised it I have +never felt as if I were walking on air and song." + +But still her imagination did not wander beyond today's meeting and +many like it. He was married, and, independent as she was, she had +received that sound training in the conventions from which the mind +never wholly recovers. She registered a vow then and there that she +would become his friend of friends, the woman to whom he came for all +his pleasant hours, in time his confidante. She would devote her +thought to the making of herself into the companion he most needed and +desired; and she would conceal her love lest he conceive it his duty +to avoid her. She wondered if she had betrayed herself, and concluded +that she had not. Even he could not guess how much of her admiration +emanated from frankness and how much from coquetry. She would be +careful in the future. + +"That point settled," she thought, curling down deeper into her bed +and preparing for a nap, "I'll anticipate his coming and think about +him with all the youthful exuberance I please." + + + + +XVIII + + + +Betty had invited Senator Burleigh to dinner on Saturday, that he +might feel free to call elsewhere on Sunday. At four o'clock, when +Mrs. Madison had retired for her nap, she commanded Jack Emory to take +Harriet for a long walk and a long ride on the cable cars, and to stop +for Sally Carter. No one else was likely to call, and she retired to +her boudoir, a three-cornered room in an angle between the parlor and +library, to await Senator North. + +The boudoir was a room that any man might look forward to after a hard +day on Capitol Hill. Its easychairs were very soft and deep, its rugs +were rosy and delicate, and the walls and windows and doors were hung +with one of those old French silk stuffs with a design of royal +conventionality and uniformly old rose in colour. All of Betty's own +books were there, her piano, several handsome pieces of carved oak, +and a unique collection of ivory. Betty had banished the former +girlish simplicity of this room a few days after her introduction to +the Montgomery house. She had imagined herself greeting Senator North +in it many times, and had received no other man within its now sacred +walls. + +She wore a white cloth gown today and a blue ribbon in her hair. There +was also a touch of blue at the neck, to make her throat look the +whiter. Otherwise, the long closely fitting gown was without ornament +as far down as the hem, which was lightly embroidered in white. She +looked tall and lithe, but her figure was round, and did not sway like +a reed that a strong wind would beat to the ground, as Harriet's did. +Although that possible descendant of African kings possessed the black +splendour of eyes and hair and a marble regularity of feature, Betty +was the more beautiful woman of the two; for her colour filled and +warmed the eye, she seemed typical of womanhood in its highest +development, and she was a chosen receptacle of enchantment. Moreover, +she was more modern and original, and as healthy as had been the +fashion for the past generation, Harriet looked like an old Roman coin +come to life, with a blight on her soul and little blood in her thin +body. It was not in Betty's nature to fear any woman, much less to +experience petty jealousy, but it was not without satisfaction she +reflected that she and Harriet would hardly attract the same sort of +man. Jack was doing his duty nobly, and he liked vivacious women who +amused him, poor soul! As for Senator Burleigh, he had said politely +that she was handsome but looked delicate, and then unquestionably +dismissed her from his mind. He and Betty had talked politics on the +previous evening until Mrs. Madison had slipped off to bed an hour +earlier than usual. + +Betty dismissed them all from her mind and glanced at the clock. It +was half-past four. She thrust the poker between the glowing logs, and +the flames leaped and sent a quivering glow through the charming room. +Betty leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, almost holding her +breath that she might hear the advancing step of the butler the +sooner. In what seemed to her exactly thirty minutes she looked at the +clock again. It was twenty-five minutes to five. She nestled down, +assuring herself that nobody could be expected to come on the moment, +but this time she did not close her eyes; she watched the clock. + +And the joy imperceptibly died out of her; the hands travelled +inexorably round to ten minutes to five; she remembered that she had +not seen Senator North since Wednesday, and that in four days a busy +legislator might easily forget the existence of every woman he knew, +except perhaps of the woman he loved. Within her seemed to rise a tide +of bitter memories, the memories of all those women who had sat and +waited through dreary hours for man's uncertain coming. She shivered +and drew close to the fire and covered her face with her hands. Her +heart ached for the helpless misery of her sex. + +But she sprang suddenly to her feet. The butler was coming down the +hall. A moment later he had ushered in Senator North, and Betty forgot +the misery of the world, forgot it so completely that there was no +violent reaction; she was merely what she had been at half-past four, +full of pleasurable excitement held down and watched over by the +instinct of caution. + +"I must apologize humbly for being late," he said, "but on Sunday I +always sit with my wife until she falls asleep, and to-day she was +nearly an hour later than usual. What a room to come into out of a +biting wind! Thank heaven I was able to get here." + +Betty thought of the sister and cousin she had turned out into the +cruel afternoon, and then looked at Senator North deep in the chair +where she had so often imagined him, and forgot their existence. This +was her hour--her first, at least--and visions of pneumonia and +possible consumption should not mar it. She sat opposite him in a +straight dark high-backed chair, and she was quite aware that she made +a delightful picture. + +"Well?" he asked. "What of your visit and its consequences?" + +Betty told the story; and her description of the dilapidated parsonage +at the head of the miserable village, the group of silent women about +the coffin in the dark room, and her interview with her melancholy +relative was as dramatic as she had felt at the time. + +"I thought I was running from a nightmare when I left the house," she +concluded, smiling at him as if to demonstrate that it had left no +shadow in her brain; "but now we both feel better. She wants a gown of +many colours, and this morning she roused the house at five o'clock +singing camp-meeting hymns. But I think she is quick and observant, +and will soon cease to be in any danger of betraying herself. But she +is a great responsibility, and I really felt old this morning." + +Senator North laughed. "I hope she won't give you any real trouble. If +she does, I shall feel more than half responsible. But otherwise she +will be an interesting study for you. She is nearly all white; how +much of racial lying, and slothfulness, barbarism, and general +incapacity that black vein of hers contains will give you food for +thought, for she certainly will reveal herself in the course of a +year." + +"You must admit that a nature like that is a great responsibility." + +"Yes, but she alone can work through all the contradictions to the +light, and she will do it naturally, under pressure of new +experiences, within and without. Don't suggest even the word 'problem' +to her, and don't look upon her as one, yourself. You have put her in +the right conditions. Leave her alone and Time will do the rest. His +work is indubious; never forget that. Are you going to marry +Burleigh?" he added abruptly. + +She answered vehemently, "No! No!" "I thought not. I know you very +little, so far, but I was willing to deny the report." + +"I often wonder why I don't fall in love with him. He really has every +quality I admire. But much as I like him I should not mind if I knew I +never should see him again. I have thought a good deal about it and I +should like to understand it." + +She looked at him coaxingly, and he smiled, for he understood women +very well; but he gave her the explanation she desired. + +"The reason is simple enough. The admired qualities, even when they +are the component parts of a personality of one who more or less +resembles a cherished ideal, never yet inspired love. Love is the +result of two responsive sparks coming within each other's range of +action. Their owners may be in certain ways unfitted for one another, +but the responsive sparks, rising Nature only knows out of what +combination of elements, fly straight, and Reason sulks. To put it +in another way: Love is merely the intuitive faculty recognizing in +another being the power to give its own lord happiness. It is a +faculty that is very active in some people," he added with a laugh, +"and when it is overworked it often goes wrong, like any other +machinery. That is the reason why men who have loved many women make a +mistake in marrying; the intuitive faculty is both dulled and +coarsened by that time. They are still susceptible to charm, and that +is about all." + +"Have you loved many women?" asked Betty, without preamble. + +He stood up and turned his back to the fire. Betty noted again how +squarely he planted himself on his feet. "A few," he said bluntly. +"Not many. I have not overworked my intuitive faculty, if that is what +you mean. I was not thinking of myself when I spoke." + +He stared down at her for a few moments, during which it seemed to +Betty that the air vibrated between them. Her breath began to shorten, +and she dropped her eyes, lest their depths reveal the spark which was +active enough in her. + +"Will you play for me?" he asked. "I lost a little girl a few years +ago who played well, although she was only sixteen. I have disliked +the piano ever since, but I should like to hear you play." + +She played to him for an hour, with tenderness, passion, and +brilliancy. A gift had been cultivated by the best masters and hours +of patient study. + +When he thanked her and rose to go and she put her hand in his, her +face expressed all the bright earnestness of genuine friendship; there +was not a sparkle of coquetry in her eyes. + +"Will you come in often on your way home when you are tired and would +like to forget bills and things, and let me play to you? I won't talk +--you must get so tired of voices!--and the practice will do me good." + +"Of course I will come. The pleasantest thing in life is a charming +woman's face at the close of a busy day. Good-bye." + +When he had gone, Betty got into the depths of a chair and covered her +eyes with her hand. For the first time she knew out of her own +experience that love means a greater want than the satisfaction of the +eye and mind. She would have given anything but her inherited ideals +of right and wrong if he had come back and taken her in his arms and +kissed her; and she loved him with adoration that he did not, that in +all probability he never would, that although he had the great +passions which stimulate all great brains, the inflexible honour which +his State had rewarded and never questioned for thirty-five years must +make short work of struggles with the ordinary temptations of man. + +As soon as a man awakens a woman's passions she begins to idealize him +and there is no limit to the virtues he will be made to carry. But let +a man be endowed by Nature with every noble and elevated attribute she +has in her power to bestow, if he lacks sensuality a woman will see +him in the clear cold light of reason. Betty Madison, having something +of the intuitive faculty, in addition to that knowledge of man which +any girl of twenty-seven who has had much love offered her must +possess, made fewer mistakes even in the thick of a throbbing brain +than most women make; the great danger she did not foresee until time +had accustomed her somewhat to the wonder of being able to love at +last, and Reason had resumed her place in a singularly clear and +logical mind. + + + + +XIX + + + +When Betty awoke next morning, she made up her mind that she would not +suffer so long as she could see him. Beyond the present she absolutely +refused to look. She had found more on the political sea than she had +gone in search of, but if she could have foreseen this tumult that +would have overwhelmed a weaker woman, she would not have clung to the +shore. For although the ultimate of love was forbidden her, she had +come into her kingdom, and was immeasurably happier than the millions +of women whose love had run its course and turned cold, or been cast +back at them. After all, there were so few people who were really +happy, why should she complain because her love could not come to rice +and old shoes, instead of being a beautiful secret thing, the more +perfect, perhaps, because Commonplace, that ogre whose girth increases +from year to year, and who sits remorseless in the dwellings of the +united, could not breathe upon it? + +Harriet had returned without a cold, and the next morning Emory came +in and took her to the Congressional Library, where they had luncheon. +He also engaged her masters, and before the week was over she had +settled down to steady work. + +"She has a wonderful mind, I am positive of that," he said to Betty. +"She has made so much out of so few advantages. I shall take the +greatest interest in watching a mind like that unfold. What relation +is she to us, anyway? I can't make out, for the life of me. There was +Cousin Amelia--" + +"For heaven's sake, don't ask me to write up the genealogical tree. +Didn't I refuse to join the Colonial Dames because it meant raking +over the bones of all my ancestors--whom may the Saints rest! Most +Southern relationships amount to no relationship at all, and Harriet's +is too insignificant to mention." + +"Well, I must say it is angelic in you to take her in and shower +blessings on her in this way--" "Her father had a great claim on us, +but that is a family secret, even from you. Mind you take her tomorrow +to see the 'Declaration of Independence' and the portrait of +Hamilton." + +The days passed very quickly to the end of the session. It was the +short term; Congress would adjourn on the fourth of March. Although +the great official receptions were over, dinners and luncheons crowded +each other as closely as before, for Washington pays little attention +to Lent beyond releasing its weary hostesses from weekly reception +days, and their callers from an absurd and antiquated custom. Betty +went frequently to the gallery on Capitol Hill, and although she +sometimes was bored by "business," she seldom heard a dull speech, +for the intellectual average of the Senate is very high, and its +aptitude and the variety of its information unexcelled. Harriet +accompanied her two or three times, but her mind turned naturally to +the past and concerned itself little with the present. She found the +history of the Roman Empire vastly more entertaining than debates on +the Arbitration Treaty. + +Betty had recently met a Mrs. Fonda, a handsome widow in the vague +thirties, who had that fascination of manner and that brilliant talent +for politics which went to make up Miss Madison's ideal of the women +with whom tired statesmen spent their leisure hours. She was the +daughter of a former distinguished member of the House and the widow +of a naval officer, and her life may be said to have been passed in +Washington with intervals of Europe. Although the Old Washingtonians +knew her not, her position in the kaleidoscope of official society was +always brilliant. She professed to have no party politics, but to be +profoundly interested in all great questions affecting the nation. +During the early winter she had visited Cuba and had announced upon +her return that no other subject would command her attention until the +United States had exterminated Spanish rule in that unhappy island. +She occupied one of the smaller houses in Massachusetts Avenue, and +her dining-room seated only ten people with comfort. Betty had heard +that as many as nine of her country's chosen men had sat about that +board at the same time and decided upon matters of state; and she +envied her deeply. As Mrs. Fonda lived with no less than two +elderly aunts who wore caps, and was a devout member of St. John's +Church, Mrs. Madison, with a sigh, concluded that there was no reason +why Betty should not go to her house. + +"I suppose she is no worse than the rest," she added. "I prefer people +with husbands, but the more you see of this new life the sooner you +may get tired of it." + +Mrs. Fonda paid Betty marked attention whenever they happened to meet, +and upon the last occasion had offered playfully to tell her "all she +knew" about politics. "They are engrossing," she added with a sigh, +"so engrossing that they have taken the best of my years. A woman +should be married and happy, I think, but I have become quite +depersonalized. And I really think I have done a little good. You will +marry, of course; you are young and so beautiful; but let politics be +your second great interest. You will, indeed, never give them up if +you let them absorb you for one year, and I am more glad than I can +say that you already have gone so far." She then invited Betty to a +dinner she was giving, and even made an appointment for an hour's +"talk" beforehand; but this appointment Betty was unable to keep, as +her mother fell ill for a day or two, and Mrs. Fonda's hour occurred +while Mrs. Madison desired to have her hand held. + +Betty went to the dinner, however, and expected brilliant and unusual +things. Mrs. Fonda, who was tall and dark and distinguished looking, +and too wise in her unprotected position to annul the attentions of +Time with those artifices which are rather a pity but quite condonable +in the married woman, was handsomely dressed in black net embroidered +with gold, and received with an aunt on either side of her. Her manner +was very fine, and, without any relaxation of the dignity which was an +integer of her personality, she made each comer feel the guest of the +evening. To Betty she was almost affectionate, and surrounded her +with the aunts, who looked at her with such kindly and cordial, albeit +sadly patient eyes, that Betty almost loved them. + +The dining-room accommodated twelve tonight, and two were not the +aunts. Betty wondered if they were picking up crumbs in the pantry. +She suspected that Mrs. Fonda was more worldly than she would admit, +and that ambition and love of admiration had somewhat to do with her +patriotism. + +There were four members of the Senate present, two wives of members +who had been unable to come, and three eminent Representatives. It was +seldom that Mrs. Fonda's invitations were declined, for no man went to +her house with the miserable conviction that he was about to eat his +twenty-seventh dinner by the same cook. Mrs. Fonda had picked up a +woman in Belgium who was a genius. + +Betty went in with Senator Burleigh, and they examined the menu +together. + +"By Jove," he said, "it's even more gorgeous than usual. And did you +ever see so many flowers outside of a conservatory?" + +The room was a bower of violets and lilies of the valley. The +mantelpiece was obliterated, the table looked like a garden, and great +bunches of the flowers swung from the ceiling. As what could be seen +of the room was green and gold, the effect was very beautiful. The +lights were pink, and in this room Mrs. Fonda defied Time and looked +so wholly attractive that it was not difficult to fancy her the cause +of another war, albeit not its Helen. + +But much to Betty's disappointment the conversation, which was always +general when that radiant hostess presided, soon wandered from the +suffering Cuban and fixed itself interminably about a certain measure +which had been agitating Congress for the last four years. It was a +measure which demanded an immense appropriation, and so far Senator +North had kept it from passing the upper chamber; it was generally +understood that it would fare still worse at the hands of the Speaker, +did it ever reach the House. These two intractable gentlemen had +evidently not been bidden to the feast; but three of the Senators, +Betty suddenly observed, were members of the Select Committee for the +measure under discussion. + +Five courses had come and gone, and still the conversation raged along +a tiresome bill that happened to be Betty's pet abomination, the only +subject discussed in the Senate that bored her. Mrs. Fonda, in the +brightest, most impersonal way, defended the unpopular measure, +pointing out the immense advantage the country at large must derive +from the success of the bill, and, while appealing to the statesmen +gathered at her board to set her right when she made mistakes,--she +couldn't be expected to keep up with every bill while her head was +full of Cuba,--assailed the weak points in those statesmen's +arguments. + +"I'm bored to death," muttered Betty, finally. "I wish I hadn't come. +You won't talk to me and I can't eat any more." + +Burleigh turned to her at once. "I've merely been watching her game," +he whispered. "Now, I'm nearly sure." + +"What?" asked Betty, interested at once. + +"She has given a dinner a week this winter, and there is a rumour that +she is spending the money of the syndicate interested in this much +desired appropriation. Heretofore, when I have been here, at least, +although she has always graciously permitted the subject to come up +and has delivered herself of a few trenchant and memorable remarks, +this is the first time she has deliberately made it run through an +entire dinner; every attempt to turn the conversation has been a sham. +She's in the ring for votes, there's no further doubt in my mind on +that subject; and she's getting desperate, as it is so near the end of +the session." + +"Then she is a lobbyist," said Betty, in a tone of deep disgust, and +pushing away her plate. + +"'Sh! She is too clever to have got herself called that. She has very +successfully made the world believe that the great game alone +interests her; there never has been a more subtle woman in Washington. +During the last two years there has been one of those vague rumours +going about that she has lost heavily through certain investments; but +one hasn't much time for gossip in Washington, and it is only lately +that this other rumour has been in the wind. How long she has been +doing this sort of thing, of course no one knows." + +"But do you mean to say these other men don't see through her?" + +"More than one does, no doubt. If he is against the bill he will be +amused, as I am, and probably decline her invitations in the future. +If he is for it--and there is a good deal to be said in favour of the +bill, only we cannot afford the appropriation at present--he will make +her think, as a reward for her excellent dinner, that she has secured +his vote. Others may be influenced by having it thrashed out in these +luxurious surroundings, so different from the chill simplicity of +legislative halls. Those that she may be able to get in love with her, +of course will believe nothing that is said of her, and when she +travels from the Committees to the more or less indifferent members of +both chambers, and gets to work on the nonentities whose convictions +can always be readjusted by a clever and pretty woman,--and whose vote +is as good as North's or Ward's,--you see just how much she can +accomplish." + +"And if I have my _salon_, shall I come under suspicion of being a +high-class lobbyist?" + +"There is not the slightest danger if you are careful to have only +first-rate men, and avoid the temptation to make a pet of any bill. +Besides, as I have told you, your position peculiarly fits you for +having a _salon_. No one could question your motive in the beginning, +and your tact would protect you always. Don't give up the idea, for +its success would mean not only the best political society in the +country, but a famous _salon_ would tend to draw art and literature to +Washington. And you are just the one woman who could make it famous; +and we'd all help you. North would be sure to, his ambition for +Washington is so great. He won't put his foot in this house. I never +heard him discuss her, but I am convinced that he has seen through her +for a long while." + +The next day Betty left a card on Mrs. Fonda and struck her from her +list; but she carefully secluded her discovery from Mrs. Madison. + + + + +XX + + + +Senator North, until the last six days of the session, came twice a +week to see her. She played for him, and they talked on many subjects, +in which they discovered a common interest, usually avoiding politics, +of which he might reasonably be supposed to have enough on Capitol +Hill. He told her a good deal about himself, of his early +determination to go into public life, the interest that several +distinguished men in his State had taken in him, and of the influence +they had had on his mind. + +"They were almost demi-gods to my youthful enthusiasm," he said, "and +doubtless I exaggerated their virtues, estimable as is the record they +have left. But the ideals this conception of them set up in my mind I +have clung to as closely as I could, and whatever the trials of public +life--I will tell you more about them some day--the rewards are great +enough if no one can question your sense of public duty, if no +accusation of private interest or ignoble motive has ever been able to +stand on its feet after the usual nine days' babble." + +"Would you sacrifice yourself absolutely to your country?" asked +Betty, who kept him to the subject of himself as long as she could. + +He laughed. "That is not a fair question to ask any man, for an +affirmative makes a prig of him and a negative a mere politician. I +will therefore generalize freely and tell you that a man who believes +himself to be a statesman considers the nation first, as a matter of +course. Howard, for instance, nearly killed himself at the end of last +session over a measure which was of great national importance. He +should have been in his bed, and he worked day and night. But although +it was touch and go with him afterward, it was no more than he should +have done, for almost everything depends on the Chairman of a +Committee; and as Howard is a man of enormous personal influence and +knows more about the subject than any man in Congress, he dared not +resign in favour of any one. And yet he is accused of being hand-in- +glove with one of the greatest moneyed interests in the country." + +"Is he?" asked Betty, pointedly. + +"Those are accusations that it is almost impossible to prove. Howard +is a rich man, and his wealth is derived from the principal industry +of his State, which is unquestionably monopolized by a Trust. It would +be his duty to look after it in Congress in any case, as it is his +State's great source of wealth; so it is hard to tell. It does not +interfere with his being one of the ablest legislators and hardest +workers in the Senate--and over matters from which he can derive no +possible gain. But the suspicion will lower his position in the +history of the Senate." + +"Does any one know the truth about the Senate? Even Bryce says it is +impossible to get at it, the country is so prone to exaggeration; but +estimates that one-fifth of the Senate is corrupt." + +"No one knows. The whole point is this: the Senate is the worst place +in the world for a weak man, and there are weak men in it. A +Senatorship is the highest honour to-day in the gift of the Republic; +therefore ambitious men strive for it. A man no sooner achieves this +ambition than he finds himself beset by many temptations. He is +tormented by lobbyists who will never let him alone until he has +proved himself to be a man of incorruptible character and iron will; +and that takes time. He also finds that the Senate is a sort of +aristocracy, the more so as many of its members are rich men and live +well. If he never wanted money before, he wants it then, and if he +does not, his wife and daughters do. Then, if he is weak, he finds his +way into the pocket of some Trust Company or Railroad Corporation, and +his desire for re-election--to retain his brilliant position-- +multiplies his shackles; for if he proves himself useful, the Trust +will buy his Legislature--if it happens to be venal--and keep him in +his place. But these instances I know must be rare, for I know the +personal character of every man in the Senate. One Senator who is +nearing the end of his first term told me the other day that he should +not return, for his experience in the Senate had given him such a keen +desire to be a rich man that he should go into Wall Street and try to +make a fortune. He is honest, but his patriotism is a poor affair. But +if the Senate makes a weak man weaker, it makes a strong man stronger, +owing to the very temptations he must resist from the day he enters, +the compromises he is forced to make, and the danger to his +convictions from the subtler brains of older men. And the Senate is +full of strong men. But they don't make picturesque 'copy' for the +enterprising press; the weak and the corrupt do, and so much space is +given them, as well as so much attention by the comic weeklies,--which +are regarded as a sort of current history,--that the average man, who +does not do his own thinking, accepts the minority as the type." + +He talked to her sometimes about his family life. His wife had been a +beautiful and accomplished girl, the daughter of a Governor of his +State, and he had married her when he was twenty-four. She had been a +great help to him, both at home and in Washington, during those years +when he needed help. She had not broken down until after the birth of +his daughter, but that was twenty years ago, and she had been an +invalid ever since. He spoke of this long period of imperfect +happiness in a matter-of-fact way, and Betty assumed that by this time +he was used to it. He alluded to his wife once as "a very dear old +friend," but Betty guessed that she was nearly obliterated from his +life. Of his sons he expected great things, but the larger measure of +his affections had been given to his daughter, or it seemed so, now +that he had lost her. + +During the last week of the Session she saw him from the Senate +Gallery only, but she consoled herself by admiring the cool +deliberation with which he worked his bills through, with Populists +thundering on either side of him. + + + +XXI + + + +On Thursday she not only witnessed the last moments of the last +session of the Fifty-fourth Congress, but the initial ceremonies of +the inauguration of a President of the United States. She had seen the +galleries crowded before, but never as they were to-day. Even the +Diplomatists' Gallery, usually empty, was full of women and attaches, +and the very steps of the other galleries were set thick with people. +Thousands had stood patiently in the corridors since early morning, +and thousands stood there still, or wandered about looking at the +statues and painted walls. The Senators were all in their seats; most +of them would gladly have been in bed, for they had been up all night; +and the Ambassadors and Envoys were brilliant and glittering curves of +colour: the effect greatly enhanced by the Republican simplicity of +the men to whose country they were accredited. The Judges of the +Supreme Court, in their flowing silk gowns, alone reminded the +spectator that the United States had not sprung full-fledged from +nothing, without traditions and without precedent. + +What little is left of form in the Republic was observed. Two Senators +and one Representative, the Committee appointed to call on the +retiring President, who had just signed his last bill in his room +close by, entered and announced that Mr. Cleveland had no further +messages for the Senate, and extended his congratulations to both +Houses of Congress upon the termination of their labours. The United +States had been without a ruler for twenty minutes when the assistant +doorkeeper announced the Vice-President, two pages drew back the +doors, and Mr. Hobart entered on the arm of a Senator and took the +seat on the dais beside his predecessor, who still occupied the chair +of the presiding officer of the Senate. Then there was another long +wait, during which the people in the galleries gossiped loudly and the +Senators yawned. Finally the President elect and the ex-President, +after being formally announced, entered arm in arm. Both looked very +Republican indeed, especially poor Mr. Cleveland, who toiled along +with the gout, leaning what he could of his massive figure upon an +umbrella. The women stood up, and with one accord pronounced their +President-elect as good-looking as he undoubtedly was strong and +amiable and firm and calm and pious. Mr. Hobart took the oath of +office, and after the necessary speeches and the proclamation for an +Extra Session, the new Senators were sworn in by the new Vice- +President, and Betty wondered how any man would dare to break so +solemn an oath. + +As soon as the move began toward the platform outside, Betty escaped +through the crowd and went home. As she drove down the Avenue, she +heard the stupendous shout of joy, some fifty thousand strong, with +which the American public ever greets its new President and the +consequent show. Be he Republican or Democrat, it is all one for the +day; he is an excuse to gather, to yell, and to gaze. + +Betty turned her head and caught a glimpse of a bareheaded man on his +feet, bowing and bowing and bowing, and of a heavy figure with its hat +on seated beside him. She speculated upon the sardonic reflections +active inside of that hat. + +She did not expect to see Senator North for at least twenty-four +hours, but his card was brought to her while she was still at +luncheon. She went rapidly to her boudoir, and found him standing with +his overcoat on and his hat in his hand. + +Although he had been up all the night before and had not had his full +measure of rest for a week, he looked as calm as usual, and there was +not a hint of fatigue in his face nor of disorder in his dress. + +"You deserted us last night," he said, smiling. "I thought perhaps you +would sit up and see us through." + +"I was up there at nine this morning and saw the Senate floor littered +with papers. It had a very allnight look. Have you had luncheon? Won't +you come in?" + +"I should be glad to, but I haven't time. I find I must go North to- +night, and am on my way home to get a few hours' rest. I wanted to +thank you for many pleasant hours--in this room." His eyes moved about +slowly and softened somewhat. It is not improbable that he would have +liked to throw himself among the cushions of the divan and go to +sleep. + +"Well! You might postpone that until we part for life," said Betty, +lightly. "You forget that Congress will convene in Extra Session on +the fifteenth." + +"Yes, but there is no necessity for me to be here until some time in +May at earliest. The principal object of the Session is the revision +of the Tariff, and the new bill originates with the Ways and Means +Committee. After it has been thrashed out in the House and returned to +the Committee for amendments, it will be referred to the Finance +Committee of the Senate. All that takes time. I am not a member of the +Finance Committee this term, and I shall not return until the debate +opens in the Senate. As to the Arbitration business, Ward will look +after that. I would not stir if there were a chance of the Treaty +coming back to the Senate in its original form, but there is not. When +Ward telegraphs me I shall come down and cast my vote." + +His long speech had given Betty time to recover from his first +announcement, and her eyes were full of the frank earnestness which +had established the desired relation between herself and Senator +North. + +"I am glad you are going to have a rest," she said; "that is, if you +are." + +"Oh, it is work that sits very lightly on me, and is very congenial: I +am going to do all I can to allay this war fever in my own State. It +is not too late to appeal to their reason; but it might be at any +moment." + +"Well, at all events, you go to the bracing climate of the North. But +I am sorry you go so soon. Mother cannot stay in Washington after the +third week in May. I am afraid we shall not meet again until you come +to the Adirondacks." + +"Ah, the Adirondacks!" he said. "Yes, I shall see you there. Good- +bye." + +He did not smile. There were times when he seemed to turn a key and +lock up his features. This was one of them. Betty felt as if she were +looking at a mask contrived with unusual skill. + +He shook her warmly by the hand, however. "I forgot to say that I +shall be in Washington off and on--for a day or so. My wife remains +here. It is still too cold for her in the North. Good-bye again." + +He left her, and she did not return to her luncheon. + + + + +XXII + + + +Betty, after several long and restless nights, decided that she was +not equal to the ordeal of sitting down patiently in Washington +awaiting the rare and flying visits of Senator North. If she could +place herself quite beyond the possibility of seeing him before the +first of June, she could get through the intervening months with a +respectable amount of endurance, but not otherwise. Hers was not the +nature of the patient watcher, the humble applicant for crumbs. She +might put up with slices where she could not get the whole loaf, but +her head lifted itself at the notion of crumbs. Her heart had not yet +begun to ache. She determined that it should not until it was in far +more desperate straits than now. When Lady Mary Montgomery, who was +tired and wanted a long rest before December, invited her to go to +California, she accepted at once; and, a week after the adjournment of +Congress, went through the formality of obtaining her mother's +consent. "Well," said Mrs. Madison, philosophically, "I have lost you +for three months at a time before, and I suppose I can stand it again. +I think you need a change. You've been nervous lately, and you're +thinner than you were. As long as you don't marry I can resign myself +quite gracefully to these little partings." + +"You're a dear, Mollyanthus. I only wish you were going with me, but +I'll keep a journal for you and post it every night. I am glad you do +not dislike Harriet. Of course if you did I should not go, for it is +too soon to turn her adrift." + +"She is inoffensive enough, poor soul, and so deep in her books that I +should not know she was in the house if she didn't come to the table." + +"Make Jack take her to the theatre once a week. She has promised me +that she will go for a walk every day with Sally." + +"Sally says she is convinced Harriet is a Roman empress reborn, and +may astonish Washington at any moment," said Mrs. Madison, anxiously. +"Do you believe in reincarnation?" + +"I don't believe or disbelieve anything I don't understand. We none of +us can even guess what is latent in Harriet--for the matter of that I +don't know what is latent in myself. I can only suspect. I don't think +Harriet will ever go very deep into herself; she has not imagination +enough. If circumstances are not too unfavourable, she may slip +through life happy and respected, in spite of her tragic appearance: +she is so slothful by nature, so much more susceptible to good +influences than to bad. All of us possess every good and bad instinct +in the whole book of human nature, but few of us have imagination +enough to find it out. And the less we know of ourselves the better." + +"Betty, you certainly do need a change. You looked tragic yourself as +you said that; and if you became tragic it would mean something. I'm +afraid your conscience is tormenting you about Mr. Burleigh, and +perhaps I did not do right in asking him to come to the Adirondacks; +but probably he would have come to the hotel, anyhow; and if I did +have to lose you--" + +"You'll never get rid of me." And she went to her room to consult with +Leontine. + +The night before she left Harriet came into her room and said +timidly,-- + +"Betty, I sometimes wonder if you have told Mr. Emory the truth about +myself--" + +"Certainly not. Why should I tell Mr. Emory--or anyone else?" + +"Well, he is so kind to me and we have become such friends, I thought +perhaps you would think he ought to know." + +"That is pure nonsense. Do you suppose I tell my friends everything I +know? No friend is so close as to demand to know more than you choose +to tell him." + +"All right, honey; but I am always afraid he will see my finger-nails +when he is helping me with my lessons--" + +"He is very near-sighted; and I doubt if anyone would notice those +faint blue marks unless they were looking for them." + +"Of course they seem the most conspicuous things I've got, to me." + +"Are you happy here, Harriet?" asked Betty, gently. Harriet nodded and +looked at her benefactor with glowing eyes. "Oh, yes," she said. "Yes +--yes. It is like heaven, in spite of the hard work they make me do. +I'm right down afraid of that old Frenchman, and when Professor Morrow +shuts his eyes and groans, 'Door--d-o-o-r, Miss Walker, _not_ d-o-u-g- +h,' I could cry. But I'm happy all the same, and I forgot _that_ for a +whole week." + +"Well, forget it altogether. And remember to have a thin travelling +dress and a lot of summer things made. And of all people do not +confide in Jack Emory or Sally Carter--or any other Southerner." + + + + + +_Part II_ + + + + +_Senator North, Miss Betty Madison, and several other Characters in +this History go in search of a Mountain Lake and find an Ocean._ + + + + +I + + + +Betty never denied that she enjoyed her visit to California, despite +the several thousand miles between the Atlantic and the Pacific +coasts, and Senator North's rooted aversion to writing letters. She +received exactly three brief epistles from him in almost as many +months, but in one he said that he missed her even in the North, in +another that Washington was not Washington without her, and in the +third that he looked forward with pleasure to the cool Adirondacks and +herself. And a woman can live on less than that. Betty read and re- +read these simple and possibly perfunctory statements until they were +weighted with love. + +And although she visited all the wonders of the most wonderful State +in the Union, and was deeply grateful to them, they never pushed the +man from the forefront of her mind for a moment. The egoism of love +reduces scenery to a setting and the splendours of sunset to a +background. Betty thought of him by day and by night, in company and +in solitude, but even the agony of longing to which her imagination +sometimes rose contained no heartbreak. For the future was all over +there, on the far side of the continent; its grave-clothes were deep +under lavender and rosemary. To think of him was a luxury and a +delight, and would remain so until Imagination had been pushed aside +by the contradictory details of Reality. Sometimes she wept +pleasurably, but she smiled oftener. And still, although she laid no +reins on her imagination, she refused to look beyond the summer among +the Adirondack pines, the frequent and more frequent hours at the +close of busy days. If pressed, she would doubtless have answered that +she must bow to Circumstance, but that in Thought he was wholly hers. + + + + +II + + + +Betty reached her part of the Adirondacks late at night. There were +two miles between the station and the house, and Jack Emory and Sally +Carter came to meet her. They told her the recent news of the family +as the horses toiled up the steep road cut through the dark and +fragrant forest. + +"Aunt is unusually well and seems to enjoy interminable talks with +Major Carter," said Emory. "Harriet is very much improved; she holds +herself regally and sometimes has a colour. She studied until the last +minute, and even here is always at her books. I don't say she hasn't +intervals of laziness," he added with a laugh, "but she always pulls +up; and it is very creditable of her, for she is full of Southern +indolence. She would like to lie in the sun all day and sleep, I am +sure; although she won't admit it." + +"Does she seem any happier? She had suffered too much privation to +have become really happy before I left." + +"I am sure she is--" Jack began, but Sally interrupted him. + +"I think she is one of those people who hardly know whether they are +happy or not. She seems to me to be in a sort of transition state. One +moment she will be gay with the natural gayety of a girl, and the next +she will look puzzled, and occasionally tragic. I think there must be +a big love affair somewhere in her past." + +"I am sure there is nothing of the sort. Have the Norths come?" + +"Mrs. North is here, and the Senator brought her, but he had to go +back; for that disgraceful Tariff bill still hangs on. I believe we +are to pay for the very air we breathe: a Trust company has bought it +up. Oh, by the way, you have a new housekeeper;" and both she and +Emory laughed. "Do you mean that old Mrs. Sawyer has left? She was +invaluable." + +"Her son wanted her to keep house for him, and she secured the +services of a female from a neighboring village. Miss Trumbull is +forty-odd and unmarried. She has a large bony face, the nondescript +colouring of the average American, and a colossal vanity. We amuse +ourselves watching her smirk as she passes a looking-glass. But she is +an excellent housekeeper, and her vanity would be of no consequence if +she would keep her place. The day we arrived she hinted broadly that +she wanted to sit at table with us, and one night when John was ill +and she had to help wait, she joined in the conversation. She's a +good-natured fool, but an objectionable specimen of that 'I'm-as-good- +as-you-are' American. I've been waiting for you to come and extinguish +her." + +"I certainly shall extinguish her." + +"She victimizes poor Harriet, whom she seems to think more on her +level," said Miss Carter, not without unction. + +Betty could feel her face flush. "The sooner she puts that idea out of +her head the better," she said coldly. "I am surprised that Harriet +permits a liberty of that sort." + +"Harriet lacks pride, my dear, in spite of her ambition and what +Nature has done for her outside. She is curiously contradictory. But +that lack is one which persons of Miss Trumbull's sort are quick to +detect and turn to their own account. Your housekeeper's variety of +pride is common and blatant, and demands to be fed, one way or +another." + +Mrs. Madison had not retired and was awaiting her daughter in the +living-room. Betty found the household an apparently happy one. The +Major was a courtly gentleman who told stories of the war. Harriet in +her soft black mull with a deep colour in her cheeks looked superb, +and Betty kissed and congratulated her warmly; as Senator North had +predicted, the physical repulsion had worn away long since. The big +room with its matting and cane divans and chairs, heaped with bright +cushions, and the pungent fire in the deep chimney--for the evenings +were still cold--looked cosey and inviting; no wonder everybody was +content. Even Jack looked less careworn than usual; doubtless the +pines, as ever, had routed his malaria. Only Sally's gayety seemed a +little forced, and there was an occasional snap in her eye and +dilation of her nostril. + +When Betty had put her mother to bed and talked her to sleep, she went +to her own room and opened the window. She could hear the lake +murmuring at the foot of the terrace, the everlasting sighing of the +pines; but it was very dark: she could hardly see the grim mountains +across the water. Just below them was a triple row of lights. He +should have been behind those lights and he was not. For the moment +she hated politics. + +She closed the window and wrote the following letter:-- + +DEAR MR. NORTH,--I am home, you see. Don't reply and tell me that the +Tariff Bill surrounds you like a fortress wall. I am going for a walk +at five o'clock on Saturday morning, and I expect to meet you +somewhere in the forest above the north end of the lake. You can reach +it by the path on your side. I shall row there. Do not labour over an +excuse, my friend. I know how you hate to write letters, and you know +that I am a tyrant whose orders are always obeyed. + + BETTY MADISON. + +"That should not worry him," she thought, "and it should bring him." + + + + +III + + + +As soon as she awoke next morning, she dressed and went downstairs. A +woman stood in the lower hall, and from Sally's description Betty +recognized Miss Trumbull. The woman's large mouth expanded in a smile, +which, though correct enough, betrayed the self-satisfaction which +pervaded her being. She was youngish-looking, and not as ugly as Miss +Carter's bald description had implied. + +"Good-mornin'," She drawled. "I had a mind to set up for you last +night, but I was tired. You like to get up early, don't you? It's just +six. Miss Walker and Miss Carter don't git up till eight, Mr. Emory +till nine fifteen, and your ma till eleven. The Major's uncertain. But +I'm real glad you like gittin' up early--" + +"Will you kindly send me a boy?" interrupted Betty. "I wish a letter +taken to the post-office." + +The woman came forward and extended her hand. "I'll give it to him," +she said. + +"Send the boy to me. I have other orders to give him." + +As the woman turned away, Betty thought she detected a shade of +disappointment on her face. "Has she that most detestable vulgarity of +her class, curiosity?" she thought. "She seems to have observed the +family very closely." + +The boy came, accompanied by Miss Trumbull, who made a slight but +perceptible effort to see the address of the letter as Betty handed it +to him. + +"Take this at once and bring me back a dollar's worth of stamps; and +go also to the village store and bring me some samples of worsted." + +She thought of several other things she did not want, reflecting that +she must in the future herself take to the post-office such letters as +she did not wish Miss Trumbull to inspect and possibly read. The boy +went his way, and Betty turned to the housekeeper and regarded her +sharply. + +"I'm afraid you will find this a lonely situation," she said. "We are +only here for a few months in the summer." + +"Well, of course I like the society of nice people, but I guess I can +stand it. Poor folks can't pick and choose, and I suppose you wouldn't +mind my havin' a friend with me in the winter, would you?" + +"Certainly not," said Betty, softening a little. But she did not like +the woman, who was not frankly plebeian, but had buttered herself over +with a coat of third-rate pretentiousness. And her voice and method of +speech were irritating. She had a fat inflection and the longest drawl +Betty had ever heard. Upon every fourth or fifth word she prolonged +the drawl, and accomplished the effect of smoothing down her voice +with her tongue. Capable as she might be, Betty wondered if she could +stand Miss Trumbull through the summer. But the position was a very +difficult one to fill. Even an old couple found it lonely, and a +woman with a daughter never had been permitted to remain for two +consecutive years. If the woman could be kept in the background, it +might be worth while to give her a trial. + +Betty went out of doors and down to the lake. It lay in the cup of a +peak, and about it towered higher peaks, black with pine forests, only +a path here and there cutting their primeval gloom. Betty stepped into +a boat and rowed beyond sight of her house and the hotel. Then she lay +down, pushed a cushion under her head, and drifted. It had been a +favourite pastime of hers since childhood, but this morning her mind +for the first time opened to the danger of a wild and brooding +solitude, still palpitating with the passions which had given it +birth, for those whose own were awake. + +"Civilization does wonders for us," she said aloud; she could have +raised her voice and been unheard, and she revelled in her solitude. +"It makes us really believe that conventions are the only comfortable +conditions in the world, certainly indispensable. Up here--" + +"If he and I were here alone for one week," she continued +uncompromisingly and aloud to the mountains, "the world would cease to +exist as far as we both were concerned. And I wish he were here and +the Adirondacks adrift in space!" + +She sat up suddenly after this wish; but although it had flushed her +face, she had said the words deliberately and made no haste to unsay +them. She looked ahead to the north end of the lake and the dark quiet +aisles above. And when she met him there on Saturday morning, she must +hold down her passion as she would hold down a mad dog. She must look +with bright friendly eyes at the man to whose arms her imagination had +given her unnumbered times. It seemed to her that she was an +independent intellect caught and tangled in a fish-net of traditions. +To violate the greatest of social laws was abhorrent to every +inherited instinct. Her intellect argued that man was born for +happiness and was a fool to put it from him. The social laws were +arbitrary and had their roots in expediency alone; man and his needs +were made before the community. But the laws had been made long before +her time, and they were bone of her bone. + +She knew that he would not be the one to break down the barrier, that +he would leave her if she manifested uncontrollable weakness,--not +from the highest motives only, but because he had long since ceased to +court ruin by folly; his self-control was many years older than +herself. Doubtless he would never betray himself to her, no matter how +much he might love her, unless she so tempted him that passion leaped +above reason. And she knew that this was possible. There was no +mistaking the temperament of the man. He was virile and sensual, but +he had ordered that his passions should be the subjects of his brain; +and so no doubt they were. + +Betty had no intention of forcing any such crisis, often as she might +toy with the idea in her mind. But for the first time she compelled +herself to look beyond the present, beyond the time when she could no +longer sit in her boudoir and play to him, and shake him lightly by +the hand as he left her. Perhaps she could not even get through this +summer without betraying the flood that shook her nerves. If the +barriers went down she must look into what? She gave her insight its +liberty, and turned white. It seemed to her that the lake and the +forest disappeared and a blank wall surrounded her. She lay down in +the boat and pressed the corner of the cushion against her eyes. A +thousand voices in her soul, for generations dumb and forgotten, +seemed to awake and describe the agony of women, an agony which +survived the mortal part that gave it expression, to live again and +again in unwary hearts. + +She sat up suddenly and took hold of the oars. "That will do for this +morning," she said. "It is so true that none of us can stand more than +just so much intensity that I suppose if this dear dream of mine went +to pieces I should have intervals when life would seem brilliant by +contrast with my misery. I might even find mental rest in pouring tea +again for attaches. And there is always the pleasure of assuaging +hunger. I am ravenous." + + + + +IV + + + +After breakfast--an almost hilarious meal, for Emory and Sally Carter +were in the highest spirits and sparred with much vigour--Betty and +Harriet went for a walk. There was a long level path about the lake +for a mile or more before they turned into the forest, and Betty noted +that Harriet, although her gait still betrayed indolence, held herself +with an air of unmistakable pride. She had improved in other respects; +her arrangement of dress and hair no longer looked rural, she not only +had ceased to bite her nails, but had put them in vivid order, and the +pronunciation of her words was wholly white. + +"She will be a social success one of these days," thought Betty, "or +with that voice and beauty she could doubtless win fame and wealth, +and have a brilliant and enjoyable life. The tug will come when she +wants to marry; but perhaps she won't want to for a long while--or +will fall in love with a foreigner who won't mind." + +She longed to ask Harriet if she were happy, if she had forgotten; but +she dreaded reviving a distasteful subject. She would be glad never to +hear it alluded to again. + +Harriet did not allude to it. She talked of her studies, of the many +pleasures she had found in Washington, of the kindness of Mr. Emory +and Sally Carter, and of her delight to see Betty again. As she +talked, Betty decided that the change in her went below the surface. +She had regained all the self-control that her sudden change of +circumstances had threatened, and something more. It was not hardness, +nor was it exactly coldness. It was rather a studied aloofness. "Has +she decided to shut herself up within herself?" thought Betty. "Does +she think that will make life easier for her?" + +Aloud she said,--"Would not you like to go to Europe for a year or +so? I could easily find a chaperon, and you would enjoy it." + +"Oh, yes, I shall enjoy it. I feel as if I held the world in the +hollow of my hand, now that I have got used to gratifying every wish;" +and she threw back her head and dilated her nostril. + +"What _have_ I launched upon the world?" thought Betty. "She certainly +will even with Fate in some way." But she said, "I am glad you and +Sally get on well. She has her peculiarities." + +"I reckon I could get on with any one; but she doesn't like me, all +the same." + +"Are you sure? Why shouldn't she?" + +"I don't know," replied Miss Walker, dryly. "Women don't always +understand each other." + +Sally's name suggested the housekeeper to Betty. + +"I don't want you to be offended with me, Harriet," she said +hesitatingly, "if I ask you not to be familiar with Miss Trumbull. You +have not had the experience with that type that I have had. You cannot +give them an inch. If you treat them consistently as upper servants +when they are in your employ, and ignore them if they are not, they +will keep their place and give you no annoyance; but treat them with +something more than common decency and they leap at once for +equality." + +"Well--you must remember that I was not always so fine as I am now, +and Miss Trumbull does not seem so much of an inferior to me as she +does to you. To tell you the truth, it does me good to come down off +my high horse occasionally. I reckon I'll get over that; sometimes I +want to so hard I could step on everybody that is common and second- +class. I don't deny I'm as ambitious as I reckon I've got a right to +be, but old habits are strong, and I'm lazy, and it's lonesome up +here. Your mother and Major Carter talk from morning till night about +the South before the War. Mr. Emory and Sally are always together, and +talk so much about things I don't understand that I feel in the way. +Miss Trumbull knows the private affairs of most every one in her +village, and amuses me with her gossip; that is all." + +Betty pricked up her ears at one of Harriet's revelation, and let the +painful fact of her hospitality for vulgar gossip pass unnoticed. + +"Do you mean," she asked, "do you think that Mr. Emory is beginning to +care for Sally?" + +"One can never be sure. I am certain he likes and admires her." + +"Oh, yes, he always has done that. But I wish he would fall in love +with her. I am nearly sure that she more than likes him." + +"I am quite sure," said Harriet, dryly. "She would marry him about as +quickly as he asked her. I knew that the first time I saw them +together." + +"And she certainly would make him happy," said Betty, thinking aloud. +"She is so bright and amusing and cheerful. She is the only person I +know who can always make him laugh, and the more he laughs the better +it is for him, poor old chap! And I think he is too old now for the +nonsense of ruining his happiness because a woman has more money-- +Harriet!" + +Harriet had one of those mouths that look small in repose, but widen +surprisingly with laughter. Betty, who had only seen her smile +slightly at rare intervals, happened to glance up. Harriet's mouth had +stretched itself into a grin revealing nearly every tooth in her head. +And it was the fatuous grin of the negro, and again Betty saw her +black. She gasped and covered her face with her hands. + +"Oh, never do that again," she said sharply. "Never laugh again as +long as you live. Oh, poor girl! Poor girl!" + +"I won't ask you what you mean," said Harriet, hurriedly. "I reckon I +can guess. Thank you for one more kindness." + +And the horror of that grin remained so long with Betty that it was +some time before she thought to wonder what had caused it. + + + + +V + + + +Betty amused herself for the next day or two observing Jack Emory and +Sally Carter. They unquestionably enjoyed each other's society, and +Sally at times looked almost pretty again. But at the end of the +second day Miss Madison shook her head. + +"He is not in love," she thought. "It does not affect him in that +way." And she felt more satisfaction in her discovery than she would +have anticipated. A woman would have a man go through life with only a +skull cap where his surrendered scalp had been. To grow another is an +insult to her power and pains her vanity. + +It occurred to Betty that she was not the only observant person in the +house. She seemed always stumbling over Miss Trumbull, who did not +appear to listen at doors but was usually as closely within ear-shot +as she could get. It was idle to suppose that the woman had any +malignant motive in that well-conducted household, and she seemed to +be good-natured and even kindly. Interest in other people's affairs +was evidently, save vanity, her strongest passion. It was the natural +result of an empty life and a common mind. But simple or not, it was +objectionable. + +Her vanity, her mistress had cause to discover, was more so. On +Wednesday morning Betty returned home from a long tramp, earlier than +was her habit, and went to her room. Miss Trumbull was standing before +the mirror trying on one of her hats. + +"That's real becomin' to me," she drawled, as Miss Madison entered the +room. "I always could wear a hat turned up on one side, and most of +your colours would suit me." + +Betty controlled her temper, but the effort hurt her. She would have +liked to pour her scorn all over the creature. + +"You may have the hat," she said. "Only do me the favour not to enter +my room again unless I send for you. The maid is very neat, and it +needs no inspection." + +The woman's face turned a dark red. "I'm sorry you're mad," she said, +"but there's no harm, as I can see, in tryin' on a hat." + +"It is a matter of personal taste, not of right or wrong. I +particularly dislike having my things touched." + +"Oh, of course I won't, then; but I like nice things, and I haven't +seen too many of them." + +Again Betty relented. "I will leave you a good many at the end of the +summer," she said. And the woman thanked her very nicely and went +away. + +"I am glad I was not brutal to her," thought Betty. "Democracy is a +great institution in spite of its nuisances. Still, I admire Hamilton +more than Jefferson." + +When, that night, Mrs. Madison had a painful seizure, and Miss +Trumbull was sympathetic and efficient, sacrificing every hour of her +night's rest, Betty was doubly thankful that she had not been brutal. +In the morning she gave her a wrap that matched the hat. Miss Trumbull +tried it on at once, and revolved three times before the mirror, then +strutted off with such evident delight in her stylish appearance that +Betty's smile was almost sympathetic. But she dared not be more +gracious, and Miss Trumbull only approached her when it was necessary. + +On Thursday afternoon Betty and Sally were rowing on the lake when the +latter said abruptly,-- + +"Have you noticed anything between Jack and Harriet?" + +Betty nearly dropped her oars. "What--Jack and Harriet?" + +Sally nodded. Her mouth was set. There was an angry sparkle in her +eyes. "Yes, yes. They pretend to avoid each other, but they are in +love or I never saw two people in love. I suspected it in Washington, +but I have become sure of it up here. What is the matter? I don't +think she is his equal, if she is our thirty-first cousin, for I would +bet my last dollar there was a misalliance somewhere--but you look +almost horror-struck." + +"I was, but I can't tell you why. I don't believe it's true, though. +She is not Jack's style. She hasn't a grain of humour in her." + +"When a man's imagination is captured by a beauty as perfect as that, +he doesn't discover that it is without humour till he has married it. +Besides, any man can fall in love with any woman; I'm convinced of +that. You might as well try to turn this lake upside down as to mate +types." + +"I don't think she would deceive me," exclaimed Betty, hopefully. "I +cannot tell you all, but I am nearly sure she would never do that." + +"Any woman who has a secret constantly on her mind is bound to become +secretive, not to say deceitful in other ways. What is her secret?" +she asked abruptly. "Has she negro blood in her veins?" + +"Oh, Sally!" This time Betty did drop the oars, and her face was +scarlet as she lunged after them. She was furious at having betrayed +Harriet's secret, but Sally Carter had a fashion of going straight for +the truth and getting it. + +"I thought so," said Miss Carter, dryly. "Don't take the trouble to +deny it. And don't think for a moment, Betty dear, that I am going to +embarrass you with further questions. I could never imagine you +actuated by any but the highest motives. I should consider the whole +thing none of my business if it were not for Jack. Faugh! how he would +hate her if he knew!" + +"I am afraid he would. I don't believe he is man enough to love her +better for her miserable inheritance." + +"He is a Southern gentleman; I should hope he would not. I am by no +means without sympathy for her. I pity her deeply, and have ever since +I discovered that she loved him. For he must be told." + +"Shall you tell him?" + +Sally did not answer for a moment, and her face flushed deeply. Then +she said unsteadily: "No; for I could not be sure of my motive. Here +is my secret. I have loved Jack Emory ever since I can remember. It is +impossible for me to assure myself that I would consider interference +in their affairs warrantable if I cared nothing for him. I cannot +afford to despise myself for tattling out of petty jealousy. But you +are responsible for her. You should tell him." + +"I will speak to her as soon as we go back. If it is true that they +are engaged, and if she refuses to tell him, I shall. But I'd almost +rather come out here and drown myself." + +"So should I." + +"You're a brick, Sally, and I wish to heaven you were going to marry +Jack to-morrow. That would be a really happy marriage." + +"So I have thought for years! When he got over his attack of you, I +began to hope, although I'd got wrinkles crying about him. I never +thought of any other woman in the case." She laughed, with a defiant +attempt to recover her old spirits. "And I cannot have the happiness +of seeing him one day in bronze, and feeling that he is all mine! For +he hasn't even that spark of luck which so often passes for +infinitesimal greatness, poor dear!" + +"How did you guess that she had the taint in her?" asked Betty, as +they were about to land. "She has not a suggestion of it in her face." + +"I _felt_ it. So vaguely that I scarcely put it in words to myself +until lately. And I never saw such an amount of pink on finger-nails +in my life." + + + + +VI + + + +Betty went in search of Harriet, and found her in a summer-house +reading an innocuous French romance which her professor had selected. +There was no place near by where Miss Trumbull might lie concealed, +and Betty went to the point at once. + +"Harriet," she said, "I am obliged to say something horribly painful-- +if you want to marry any man you must tell him the truth. It would be +a crime not to. The prejudices of--of--Southerners are deep and +bitter; and--and--Oh, it is a terrible thing to have to say--but I +must--if you had children they might be black." + +For a moment Betty thought that Harriet was dead, she turned so gray +and her gaze was so fixed. But she spoke in a moment. + +"Why do you say this to me--now?" + +"Because I fear you and Jack--Oh, I hope it is not true. The person +who thinks you love each other may have been mistaken. But I could not +wait to warn you. I should have told you in the beginning that when +the time came either you must tell the man or I should; but it was a +hateful subject. God knows it is hard to speak now." + +Harriet seemed to have recovered herself. The colour returned slowly +to her face, her heavy lids descended. She rose and drew herself up to +her full height with the air of complete melancholy which recalled one +or two other memorable occasions. But there was a subtle change. The +attitude did not seem so natural to her as formerly. + +"Your informant was only half right," she said sadly. "I love him, but +he cares nothing for me. He is the best, the kindest of friends. It is +no wonder that I love him. I suppose I was bound to love the first man +who treated me with affectionate respect. I reckon I'd have fallen in +love with Uncle if he'd been younger. Perhaps--in Europe--I may get +over it. But he does not love me." + +Betty rose and looked at her steadily. _What_ was in the brain behind +those sad reproachful eyes? She laid her hand on the girl's shoulder. + +"Harriet," she said solemnly, "give me your word of honour that you +will not marry him without telling him the truth. It may be that he +does not love you, but he might--and if you were without hope you +would be unhappy. Promise me." + +Down in the depths of those melancholy eyes there was a flash, then +Harriet lifted her head and spoke with the solemnity of one taking an +oath. + +"I promise," she said. "I will marry no man without telling him the +truth." + +This time her tone carried conviction, and Betty, relieved, sought +Sally Carter. + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed Miss Carter, when Betty had related the +interview. "He is in love with her, although for some reason or other +he is making an elaborate effort to conceal it." + +"She spoke very convincingly," said Betty, who would not admit doubt. + +"Anything with a drop of negro blood in it will lie. It can't help it. +I wish the race were exterminated." + +"I wish the English had left it in Africa. They certainly saddled us +with an everlasting curse." + +She was tempted to wish that Mr. Walker had never discovered her +address; but although she did not love Harriet, she was grateful still +for the opportunity to rescue her from the usual fate of her breed. +But assuredly she did not wish her old friend to be sacrificed. + +Again she observed him closely, and came to the conclusion that +Harriet had spoken the truth. He was gayer than of old, but his health +was better and he was in cheerful company, not living his days and +nights in his lonely damp old house on the Potomac River. He appeared +to enjoy talking to Harriet, but there was nothing lover-like in his +attitude, and he was almost her guardian. True, he was occasionally +moody and absent, but a man must retain a few of his old spots; and +if he avoided somewhat the cousin whom he had once loved to +melancholy, it was doubtless because she found him as uninteresting as +she found all men but one, and was not at sufficient pains to conceal +her indifference. And then she admitted with a laugh that in the back +of her mind she had never acknowledged the possibility of his loving +another woman. + +She but half admitted that she wished to believe no storm was +gathering under her roof. She had no desire to handle a tragedy. + + + + +VII + + + +It was Saturday morning. Betty arose at four, brewed herself a cup of +coffee over a spirit lamp, and ate several biscuit with it. She hoped +Senator North would take the same precaution. Healthy animals when +hungry cannot take much interest in each other. + +She dressed herself in airy white with a blue ribbon in her hair. +There was no necessity for a hat at that hour in the morning, but she +took a white organdie one down to the boat and put it under a seat, +lest she be late in returning and the sun freckling. + +It was faintly dawn as she pulled out into the middle of the lake and +rowed toward its northern end. Even the trailing thickets on the +water's edge looked black, and the dark forest rising on every side +seemed to whisper of old deeds of war and heroism, the bravery and the +treachery of Indian tribes, the mortal jealousies of French and +English. Every inch of ground about her was historical. These forests +had resounded for years with the ugly sounds of battle, and more +than once with the shrieks of women and children. To-day the +woodpecker tapped, the bluejay cried in those depths unaffrighted; the +singing of a mountain stream, the roar of a distant waterfall alone +lifted a louder voice to the eternal whisper of the pines. The forest +looked calmly down upon this flower of a civilization which no man in +its first experience of man would have ventured to forecast, skimming +the water to keep tryst with one whose ancestors had hewn a rougher +wilderness than this down to a market-place that their inheritor might +win the higher honours of the great Republic to come. + +But Betty was not thinking of the honours he had won. She was +wondering if by so much as a glance he would betray that he cared a +little for her. Or did he care? In her thought he had been as full of +love as herself. But reality was waiting for her there in the forest, +--reality after three months of uninterrupted imaginings. Perhaps he +merely found her agreeable and amusing. But the idea did not start a +tear. The uncertainty of his affections and the certainty that she +was about to see him again were alike thrilling and gladdening. +Pleasurable excitement possessed her, and her hands would have +trembled but for their tight grip on the oars. + +He stood watching her as she rowed toward him, and she was sure that +she made a charming picture out on that great dark lake below the +pines. The forest rose almost straight behind him, but she knew the +winding paths which made ascent easy, and many a dry leafy platform +where one might sit. A hundred times she had imagined herself in that +forest with him; its dim vast solitude had become almost his permanent +setting in her fancy. But as the boat grazed the shore, she said +hurriedly,-- + +"Get in and let us float about. I am sure it is cold in there. I am so +glad to see you again." As her hands were occupied, he took the seat +in the stern at once, and she pulled out a few yards, then crossed her +oars. + +"You see, I have obeyed orders," he said, smiling. "Fortunately, I am +an early riser, particularly in the country." + +"I thought the change would do you good. It must be hot in +Washington." + +"It is frightful." + +He looked as well as usual, however, and his thin grey clothes became +his spare though thickset figure. He was smiling humorously into +Betty's eyes, but his own were impenetrable. They might harbour the +delight of a lover at a precious opportunity, or the amusement of a +man of the world. But there was no doubt that he was glad to see her +and that he appreciated the picture she made. + +"I hope I never may see you in anything but white again," he said. +"You are a gracious vision to conjure up on stifling afternoons in the +Senate." + +Betty did not want to talk about herself. "Tell me the news," she +said. "How is that Tariff Bill going?" + +"A story has just leaked out that a stormy scene occurred in the Ways +and Means Committee Room between our friend Montgomery and two members +of the Committee whose names I won't mention. He openly accused them +of accepting bribes from certain Trusts. It even is reported that they +came to blows, but that is probably an exaggeration. We have had our +sensation also. One of our fire-eaters accused--- at the top of his +voice--the entire Senate of bribery and corruption. He is new and will +think better of us in time. Meanwhile he would amuse us if such things +did not affect the dignity of the Senate with the outside world. +Unfortunately we are obliged to accept whomsoever the people select to +represent them, and can only possess our souls in patience till time +and the Senate tone the raw ones down." + +"Is he representative, that man? And those hysterical members of the +House, whose speeches make me wonder if humour is really a national +quality?" + +"They are only too representative, unfortunately, but they are more +hysterical than the average because they have the opportunity their +constituents lack, of shouting in public. The House is America let +loose. When a former private citizen belonging to the party out of +power gets on his feet in it, he develops a species of hysteria for +which there is no parallel in history. He seems to think that the +louder he shouts and the more bad rhetoric he uses, the less will +his party feel the stings of defeat. Some of them tone down and become +conscientious and admirable legislators, but these are the few of +natural largeness of mind. Party spirit, a magnificent thing at its +best, warps and withers the little brain in the party out of power. +But politics are out of place in this wilderness. There should be +redskins and bows and arrows on all sides of us. I used to revel in +Cooper's yarns, but I suppose you never have read them." + +Betty shook her head. "When can you come up here to stay?" + +"Probably not for a month yet. There will be a good deal more +wrangling before the bill goes through. I don't like it in its present +shape and don't expect to in its ultimate; neither do a good many of +us. But I shall vote for it, because the country needs a high tariff, +and anything will be better than nothing for the present. Later, the +whole matter will be reopened and war waged on the Trusts." + +"Sally says they have bought up the atmosphere." + +"They may be said to have bought up several climates. I have spent a +great many hours puzzling over that question, for they have put an end +to the old days when young men could go into business with the hope of +a progressive future. Now they are swallowed up at once, +depersonalized, and the whole matter is one of the great questions +affecting the future development of the Republic." + +He was not looking at Betty; he was staring out on the lake. His eyes +and mouth were hard again; he looked like a mere intellect, nothing +more. + +As Betty watched him, she experienced a sudden desire to put him back +on the pedestal he had occupied in the first days of their +acquaintance, and to worship him as an ideal and forget him as a man. +That had been a period of intellectual days and quiet nights. And as +he looked now, he seemed to ask no more of any woman. + +But in a moment he had turned to her again with the smile and the +peculiar concentration of gaze which made women forget he was a +statesman. + +"Not another word of politics," he said. "I did not get up at four in +the morning to meet the most charming woman in America and talk +politics. Do you know that it is over three months since I saw you +last?" + +"You left Washington, so, naturally, I left it too." + +"I wonder, how much you mean? If I were to judge you by myself--Your +few notes were very interesting. Did you enjoy California?" + +"California was made to enjoy, but I felt very much alone in it." + +"Of course you did. Nature is a wicked old matchmaker. You have felt +quite as lonely up here since your return." + +"Yes, I have! But I have had a good deal to occupy my mind. Sally +terrified me by asserting that Harriet and my cousin Jack Emory were +in love with each other." + +"Who is Harriet?" + +"Oh, you have forgotten! And you made me take her into the bosom of my +family." + +"Oh--yes; I had forgotten her name. I hope she is not making trouble +for you." + +"She admitted that she loves him, but insists that he does not love +her, and I don't think he does." + +"Probably not. I should as soon think of falling in love with a +weeping figure on a tombstone." + +"What kind of women do you fall in love with?" asked Betty, +irresistibly. She was sure of herself now. The passions of women are +often calmed by the presence of their lover. Passion is so largely +mental in them that it reaches heights in the imagination that reality +seldom justifies and mere propinquity quells. For this reason they +often are recklessly unfair to men, who are made on simpler lines. + +They had floated under the spreading arms of a thicket on the water's +edge, and she was a brilliant white figure in the gloom. + +"I have no recipe," he said, smiling. "Certainly not with the women +that weep, poor things!" Betty wondered what his personal attitude was +to the tears of twenty years. She knew from Sally that Mrs. North had +long attacks of depression. But his mind had been occupied; that meant +almost everything. And his heart? + +"Do you love anybody now?" she broke out. "Is there a woman in your +life? Some one who makes you happy?" + +The smile left his lips. It was too much to say that it had been in +his eyes, but they changed also. + +"There is no woman in my life, as you put it. Why do you ask?" + +"Because I want to know." + +They regarded each other squarely. In a moment he said deliberately: +"The greatest happiness that I have had in the past few months has +been my friendship with you. If I were free, I should make love to +you. If you will have the truth, I can conceive of no happiness so +great as to be your husband. I have caught myself dreaming of it--and +over and over again. But as it is I am not going to make love to you. +When the strain becomes too great, I shall leave you. Until then--Ah, +don't!" + +Betty, who had dropped her head when he began to speak, had raised it +slowly, and her face concealed nothing. + +"I, too, love you," she said in a moment. "I love you, love you, love +you. If you knew what a relief it is to say it. That is the reason I +would not go up into the forest with you just now. I was afraid. I +have been with you there too often!" + +For the first time she saw the muscles of his face relax, and she +covered her face with her hands. "I shouldn't have told you," she +whispered, "I shouldn't have told you. I have made it harder. You will +go away at once." + +He did not speak for some minutes. Then he said,-- + +"Can you do without what we have?" + +"Oh, no!" she said passionately. "Oh, no! No!" + +"Nor can I--without the hope and the prospect of an occasional hour +with you, of the sympathy and understanding which has grown up between +us. I have conquered myself many times, relinquished many hopes, and I +think and believe that my self-control is as great as a man's can be. +I shall not let myself go with you unless you tempt me beyond +endurance; for as I said before, if I find that I am not strong +enough, I shall leave you. You are a beautiful and seductive woman, +and your power if you chose to exert it would madden any man. Will you +forget it? Will you help me?" + +She dropped her hands. "Yes," she said, "I'd rather suffer anything; +I'd rather make myself over than do without you. And I couldn't! I +couldn't! Every least thing that happens, I want to go straight to you +about it. I know that trouble is ahead, although I haven't admitted it +before. I want you in every way! in every way! And I can't even have +you in that. I never will speak like this again, but I'd like you to +know. If you love me, you must know how terrible it is. I am not a +child. I am twenty-seven years old." + +"I know," he replied; and for a few moments he said no more, but +looked down into the water. "I am not a believer in people parting +because they can't have everything," he continued finally. "It is only +the very young who do that. They take the thing tragically; passion +and disappointment trample down common-sense. If love is the very best +thing in life, it is not the only thing. Every time I have seen you I +have wanted to take you in my arms, and yet I have enjoyed every +moment spent in your presence. The thought of giving you up is +intolerable. We both are old enough to control ourselves. And I +believe that any habit can be acquired." + +"And will you never take me in your arms? Have I got to go through +life without that? I must say everything to-day--I will row out into +the middle of the lake if you like, but I must know that." + +"You can stay here. There are certain things that no man can say, +Betty, even to the most loved and trusted of women. The only answer +that I can make to your question is, that if I find I must leave you, +I certainly shall take you in my arms once." + +"Are you sorry I told you I loved you? Would it be easier if I had +not?" + +"Probably. But I am not sorry! Love can give happiness even when one +is denied the expression of it." + +"I never intended to tell you. I was afraid if I did you would leave +me at once." + +"So I should if you were not--you. But I should think myself a fool if +I did not make an attempt to achieve the second best. I may fail, but +I shall try. And life is made up of compromises." + +"You are more certain of smashing the Trusts," she said with the +humour which never bore repression for long. "In dealing with +methodical scoundrels you know at least where you are. A man and woman +never can be too certain of what five minutes will bring forth. That +ends it. We never will discuss the question again until it comes up +for the last time--if it does. I do not mean that I shall not tell you +again that I love you, for I shall. I have no desire that you shall +forget it. I mean that we will not discuss possibilities again, nor +give expression to the passionate regret we both must feel. Is it a +compact?" + +"I will keep my part in it. I promise to be good. I have prided myself +on my intelligence. I am not going to disgrace it by ruining the only +happiness I ever shall have. I love you, and I will prove it by making +your part as easy as I can, and by giving you all the happiness I am +permitted to give you." + +He leaned toward her for the first time, but he did not touch her. + +"And I promise you this, my darling," he said softly: "if you ever +should be in great trouble and should send for me--as of course you +would do--I will take you in my arms then and forget myself. Now, +change seats with me and I will row you part of the way home; I shall +get out a half-mile from the hotel. There really was no reason why you +should have made me walk nearly the entire length of the lake." + +"I had fancied you in this particular part of the forest, and I wanted +to find you here." + +"That is so like a woman," he said humorously. "But all of us make an +occasional attempt to realize a dream, I suppose." + + + + +VIII + + + +He came over to dinner that night, and Betty, who had walked about in +a vague dreamy state all day, dressed herself again in white. She woke +up suddenly as she came into his presence, and was the life of the +dinner. Harriet seemed absent of mind and nervous, but Emory's spirits +were normal, and he was more attentive to Sally Carter than she to +him. But Betty's interest in her friends' affairs had dropped to a +very low ebb. She was in a new mental world, stranger than that +entered by most women, for her hands were empty, but she was happy. +She had reflected again--in so far as she had been capable of +reflection--that most marriages were prosaic, and that her own high +romance, her inestimable happiness in loving and being loved by a man +in whom her pride was so great, was a lot to be envied of all women. +It was not all the destiny she herself would have chosen, but it +compassed a great deal. She would have made him wholly happy, been his +whole happiness; marriage between them never would have been prosaic, +and she would not have cared if it were; she would have made him +forget the deep trials and sorrows of his past and the worries and +annoyances of the present. But this was not to be, and there was much +she could do for him and would. + +They talked politics through dinner, and Mrs. Madison noted with a +sigh that Betty's interest in the undesirable institution was +unabated. She admired Senator North, however, and felt pride in his +appreciation of her brilliant daughter. She expressed her regret +amiably at not being able to meet again Mrs. North, who would see none +but old friends in these days, and Senator North assured her of his +wife's agreeable remembrance of her brief acquaintance with Mrs. +Madison. + +"How wonderfully well people behave whose common secret would set +their world by the ears," thought Betty. "Our worst enemies could +detect nothing; and on what there is heaven knows a huge scandal could +be built." + +After dinner she played to him for an hour, while the others, with the +exception of Mrs. Madison, who went to sleep, became absorbed in +whist. But she did not see him for a moment alone, and Jack rowed him +across the lake. + +She went to her bed, but not to sleep. She hardly cared if she never +slept again. Night in a measure gave him to her, and to sleep was to +forget the wonder that he loved her. + +It was shortly after midnight that she heard a faint but unmistakable +creaking on the tin roof of the veranda. She sat up. Some one was +about to pass her window. She sprang out of bed, crossed the room +softly, and lifted the edge of the curtain. A figure was almost +crawling past. It was a woman's figure; the stars gave enough light to +define its outlines at close range. She had a shawl over her head, but +her angular body was unmistakable. She was Miss Trumbull. + +Betty dropped the curtain and stared into the darkness. "Whom is she +watching?" she thought. "Whom is she watching?" + +She went back to bed and listened intently. In half an hour she heard +the same sound again. + +"She is going back to her room," thought Betty. "What has she seen?" + +The next morning she sent for Miss Trumbull to come to her room. She +had no intention of asking her to sit down, but the woman did not wait +to be invited. She took a chair and fanned herself with a palm leaf +that she picked from the table. + +"Lawsy, but it's hot," she said. "I had a long argument with Miss +Walker yesterday about New York State bein' hotter 'n down South, and +she wouldn't believe it. But I usually know what I'm talkin' about, +and hotter it is. I near lost my temper, for I guess I know when it's +hot--" + +"What were you doing on the roof of the veranda last night?" asked +Betty, abruptly. + +Miss Trumbull turned the dark ugly red of her embarrassed condition. + +"I--" she stammered. + +"I saw you. Whom were you watching?" + +"I warn't watchin' anybody. I was takin' a walk. I couldn't sleep." + +"You know perfectly well that the roof of a veranda is not intended to +be walked on. Your curiosity is insufferable. I suppose it has become +professional. Or are you hoping for blackmail? If so, the hotel is the +place for you." + +This time Miss Trumbull turned purple. + +"I like money as well as anybody, I guess," she stuttered; 'but I'd +never sell a secret to get it. I ain't low down and despicable if I am +poor." "Then you admit it is mere curiosity? I would rather you +stole." + +"Well, I don't steal, thank heaven. And I don't see any harm in tryin' +to know what's goin' on in the world." + +"Read the newspapers and let your neighbours alone, at all events the +people in this house. I have twice seen you reading over the addresses +of the letters of the outgoing mail. Don't you ever do it again. You +are a good housekeeper, but if I find you attending to anything but +your own business, once more, you go on the moment. That is all I have +to say." + +The woman left the room hurriedly. An hour or two later Betty met +Harriet on the terrace. + +"I am sorry to appear to be always admonishing you," she said, "but I +must ask you to have nothing more to do with Miss Trumbull." + +"I don't want to have anything more to do with her, honey. She has +taken to arguing with me in that long self-satisfied drawl, and I have +'most got to hate her. I wouldn't mind so much if she was ever right, +but she is a downright fool, and I reckon all fools are pretty much +alike. And I have a horrible idea that she suspects something. I have +seen her staring at my finger-nails two or three times. And I am 'most +sure some one has gone through the little trunk I keep my letters in. +Of course the key is always in my purse, but she may have had one that +fits, and the things are not like I left them, I am 'most sure." + +"She probably envies your finger-nails, and the trunk, doubtless, was +upset in travelling. Besides, I don't think she's malignant. Like most +underbred persons, she is curious, and she has cultivated the trait +until it has become a disease." + +"But there's no knowing what she might do if she took a dislike to me. +She's not bad-hearted at all, but she could be spiteful, and I can't +and won't stand her any longer. I reckon I'd like to go to Europe, +anyhow. I feel as if every one was guessing my secret. Over there you +say they don't mind those things, and I'd enjoy being in that kind of +a place." + +"Go, by all means. I'll write at once and inquire about a chaperon--" + +"Oh, I don't want to go just yet. September will do. I reckon these +mountains are about as cool at this time of the year as anywhere, and +they make me feel strong." She added abruptly: "Does Sally suspect?" + +Betty nodded. "Yes, she surprised the truth out of me. I am more +sorry--" + +Harriet had gripped her arm with both hands. Her face was ghastly. +"She knows? She knows?" she gasped. "Then she will tell him. Oh! Why +was I ever born?" + +Betty made her sit down and took her head in her arms. Harriet was +weeping with more passion than she ever had seen her display. + +"You believe me always, don't you?" she said. "For Miss Trumbull I +cannot answer, but for Sally I can--positively. She never would do a +mean and ignoble thing." + +"She loves him!" + +That is the more reason for not telling him. Cannot you understand +high-mindedness?" + +"Oh, yes. You are high-minded, and _he_--that is the reason I should +die if he found out; for he hates, he loathes deceit. Oh, I've grown +to hate this country. I love you, but I'd like to forget that it was +ever on the map. I wish I was coal black and had been born in Africa." + +"Why don't you go there and live, set up a sort of court?" asked +Betty, seized with an inspiration. + +"And live among niggers? I despise and abhor niggers! If one put his +dirty black paw on me, I'd 'most kill him!" + +Betty turned away her head to conceal a smile; but Harriet, who was +wholly without humour, continued: + +"Betty, honey, I want you to promise me that if I ever do anything to +disappoint you, you'll forgive me. I love you so I couldn't bear to +have you despise me." + +"What have you been doing?" asked Betty, anxiously. + +"Nothing, honey," replied Harriet, promptly. "I mean if I did." + +"Don't do anything that requires forgiveness. It makes life so much +simpler not to. And remember the promise you made me." + +"Oh, I don't reckon I'll ever forget that." + + + + +IX + + + +Senator North started for Washington that afternoon. Betty did not see +him again. He did not write, but she hardly expected that he would. He +had remarked once that two-thirds of all the trouble in the world came +out of letters, and Betty, with Miss Trumbull in mind, was inclined to +agree with him. He would not return for a fortnight. + +On Friday, very late, Senator Burleigh arrived. He was on the Finance +Committee, but had written that he should break his chains for this +brief holiday if he never had another. He had sent her two boxes of +flowers since her return, and had written her a large number of brief, +emphatic, but impersonal letters during her sojourn in California. + +He looked big and breezy and triumphant as he entered the living-room, +and he sprinkled magnetism like a huge watering-pot. Betty knew by +this time that all men successful in American politics had this +qualification, and had come in contact with it so often since her +introduction to the Senate that it had ceased to have any effect on +her except when emanating from one man. + +"Are you not frightfully tired?" she asked. "What a journey!" + +"Anything, even a fourteen hours' train journey, is heaven after +Washington in hot weather. The asphalt pavements are reeking, and your +heels go in when you forget to walk on your toes--and stick. But it is +enchanting up here." + +His eyes dwelt with frank delight on her fresh blue organdie. "Oh, +Washington does not exist," he exclaimed. "I thought constantly of you +when we were struggling over that Tariff Bill in Committee, and I +wanted to put all the fabrics you like on the free list, as a special +compliment to you." + +"The unwritten history of a Committee Room! Law does not seem like law +at all when one knows the makers of it. But you must be starved. If +you will follow me blindly down the hall, I promise that you will +really be glad you came." + +Miss Trumbull had attended personally to the supper, and he did it +justice, although he continued to talk to Betty and to let his eyes +express a more fervent admiration than had been their previous habit. + +"There's no hope for me," thought Betty, when Emory had taken him to +his room. "He has made up his mind to propose during this visit. If I +can only stave it off till the last minute!" + +As she went up the stair, she met Miss Trumbull, who was coming down. + +"Your supper was very good," she said kindly. "Thank you for sitting +up." + +That was enough for the housekeeper, who appeared to have conceived a +worship of the hand that had smitten her. It had seemed to Betty in +the last few days that she met her admiring eyes whichever way she +turned. Miss Trumbull put out her hand and fumbled at the lace on Miss +Madison's gown. + +"Tell me," she drawled wheedlingly, "that's your beau, ain't it? I +guessed he was when those flowers come, and the minute I set eyes on +him, I said to myself, 'That's the gentleman for Miss Madison. My! but +you'll make a handsome couple." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Betty. "Oh!" Then she laughed. The woman was too +ridiculous for further anger. "Good-night," she said, and went on to +her room. + + + + +X + + + +Betty had organized a picnic for the following day, inviting several +acquaintances from the hotel; and they all drove to a favourite spot +in the forest. Mrs. Madison's maid had charge of many cushions, and +disposed her tiny mistress--who looked like a wood fairy in lilac +mull--comfortably on a bed of pine needles. Major Carter felt young +once more as he grilled steaks at a camp-fire, and Harriet enchanted +him with her rapt attention while his memory rioted in deeds of war. + +Senator Burleigh had never appeared so well, Betty thought. There was +an out-of-door atmosphere about him at any time; no doubt he had been +a mighty wind in the Senate more than once during the stormy passage +of the Tariff Bill; but with all out-doors around him he looked +nothing less than a mountain king. His large well-knit frame, full of +strength and energy, was at its triumphant best in outing tweeds and +Scotch stockings; his fair handsome face was boyish, despite its +almost fierce determination, as he pranced about, intoxicated with the +mountain air. + +"If you ever had spent one summer in Washington, you would +understand," he said to Betty. "This is where I'd like to spend the +rest of my life. I'd like to think I'd never see a city or the inside +of a house again." + +"Then you'd probably hew down the forest, which would be a loss to the +State: you would have to do something with your superfluous energy. +And what would you do with your brain? Mere reading, when your arm +ached from chopping, never would content you." + +"No, that is the worst of civilization. It either produces +discontented savages like myself or goes too far and turns the whole +body into brain. I have managed to get a sort of steam-engine into my +head which gives me little rest and would wear out my body if I didn't +happen to have the constitution of a buffalo. But I doubt if I shall +be what North is, sixteen years hence. That man is the best example of +equilibrium I have ever seen. His mental activity is enormous, but +his control over himself is so absolute that he never wastes an ounce +of force. I've seen him look as fresh at the end of a long day of +debate as he was when he got on his feet. He never lets go of himself +for a moment." + +That was the only time Betty heard Senator North's name mentioned +during Burleigh's visit, for the younger man was much more interested +in himself and the object of his holiday. + +"I think if it hadn't been for this Extra Session I should have +followed you to California," he said abruptly. "I didn't know how much +I depended for my entire happiness upon my frequent visits to your +house until I came back after the short vacation and found you gone." + +"It would have been jolly to have had you in California. But you must +feel that your time has not been thrown away. Are you satisfied with +the Tariff Bill?" + +"I liked it fairly well as we re-wrote it, but I don't expect to care +much about it after it comes out of conference. But there are no +politics in the Adirondacks, and when a weary Senator is looking at a +woman in a pale green muslin--" + +"You look anything but weary. I expect you will tramp over half the +Adirondacks before you go back. And I am sure you will eat one of +those beefsteaks. Come, they are ready." + +But although she managed to seat him between Sally Carter and an +extremely pretty girl, he was at her side again the moment the gay +party began to split into couples. + +"Will you come for a walk?" he asked. "I do want to roam about on the +old trails the Indians made, and to get away from these hideous +emblems of modern civilization--sailor hats. Thank heaven you don't +wear a sailor hat." + +Betty shot a peremptory glance at Sally Carter, who nodded and started +to follow with a small dark attache who had pursued herself and her +million for five determined years. He was titled if not noble, a +clever operator of a small brain, and a high-priest of teas. He knew +the personnel of Washington Society so thoroughly that he never had +been known to waste a solitary moment on a portion-less girl, and he +had successfully cultivated every art that could commend him to the +imperious favourites of fortune. Betty Madison had disposed of him in +short order, but Miss Carter, although she refused him periodically, +allowed him to hang on, for he amused her and read her favourite +authors. They had not walked far when he seized the picturesque +opportunity to press his suit, and Miss Carter, while scolding him +soundly, forgot the rapid walkers in front. + +Betty, as she tramped along beside the large swinging presence the +forest seemed to embrace as its own, wondered why she did not love +him, wondered if she should, had she never met the other man. +Doubtless, for he possessed all the attributes of the conquering hero, +and she would have excavated the ideals of her romantic girlhood, +brushed and re-cut their garments, and then deliberately set fire to +her imagination. If the responsive spark had held sullenly aloof, +awaiting its time, she, knowing nothing of its existence, would soon +have ceased to remember the half-conscious labours of the initial +stage of her affections, and doubtless would have married this fine +specimen of American manhood, and been happy enough. But the +responsive spark had struck, and illumined the deepest recesses of her +heart in time to burn contempt into any effort of her brain, now or +hereafter. The question did assail her--as Burleigh talked of his +summer outings among the stupendous mountains of his chosen State-- +could she turn to him in time were she suddenly and permanently +separated from the other? She shook her head in resentment at the +treasonable thought; but her brain had received every advantage of the +higher civilization for twenty-seven years, and worked by itself. She +was young and she had much to give; in consequence, much to receive. +She could find the highest with one man only, for with him alone +would her imagination do its final work. But Nature is inexorable. She +commands union; and as the years went by and one memory grew dimmer-- +who knew? But the thought gave her a moment of sadness so profound +that she ceased to hear the voice of the man beside her. She had had +moments of deep insight before, and again she stared down into the +depths where so many women's agonized memories lie buried. She +suddenly felt a warm clasp round her hand, and for a second responded +to it gratefully, for hers had turned cold. Then she realized that she +was in the present, and withdrew her hand hurriedly. + +"Forgive me," he said. "I simply couldn't help it. I could in +Washington, and I felt that I must wait. But up here--I want to marry +you. You know that, do you not?" + +Betty glanced over her shoulder. There was to be no interruption. She +was mistress of herself at once. + +"I cannot marry you," she said. "I almost wish I could, but I cannot." + +He swung into the middle of the path and stood still, looking down +upon her squarely. There was nothing of the suppliant in his attitude. +He looked unconquerable. + +"I did not expect to win you in a moment," he said. "I should not have +expected it if I had waited another year. I knew from the beginning +that it would be hard work, for if a woman does not love at once it +takes a long time to teach her what love is. I have tried to make you +like me, and I think I have succeeded. That is all I can hope for now. +You have been surfeited and satiated with admiration, and you regard +all men as having been born to burn incense before you. I love you for +that too. I should hate a woman who even had it in her to love a man +out of gratitude. You have your world at your feet, and I want mine +at my feet. You have won yours without effort, for you were born with +the crown and sceptre of fascination, I have to fight for mine. But +the same instinct is in us both, the same possibilities on different +lines. I am not making you the broken passionate appeal of the usual +lover, because so long as I know you do not love me I could not place +myself at the mercy of emotion--I have no thought of making a fool of +myself. But when I do win you--then--ah! that will be another matter." + +She shook her head, but smiling, for she never had liked and admired +him more. She knew of what passion he was capable, and how absurd he +would have looked if lashed by it while her cool eyes looked on. His +self-control made him magnificent. + +"I never shall marry," she said, and then laughed, in spite of +herself, at the world-old formula. Burleigh laughed also. + +"There isn't time enough left before chaos comes again to argue with a +woman a question which means absolutely nothing. I am going to marry +you. I have accomplished everything big I have ever strived for. I +never have wanted to marry any other woman, and I want to marry you +more than I wanted to become a Senator of the United States. Nothing +could discourage me unless I thought you loved another man, but so far +as I can see there is no other suitor in the field. You appear to have +refused every proposing man in Washington. Is there any one on the +other side?" he asked anxiously. + +"No one. I have no suitor beside yourself; but--" + +"I don't understand that word, any more than I understand the word +'fail,'" he said in his rapid truculent tones. Then he added more +gently: "I am afraid you think I should be a tyrant, but no one would +tyrannize over you, for you are any man's equal, and he never would +forget it. I could not love a fool. I want a mate. And I should love +you so much that I never should cease atoning for my fractious and +other unpleasant qualities--" + +"You have none! I cannot do less than tell you I think you are one of +the finest men this country has produced, and that I am as proud of +you as she will be--" + +"Let me interrupt you before you say 'but.' That I have won so high an +opinion from you gives me the deepest possible gratification. But I +want much more than that. Let us go on with our walk. I'll say no more +at present." + + + + +XI + + + +He did not allude to the subject again by so much as a tender glance, +and Betty, who knew the power of man to exasperate, appreciated his +consideration. She wondered how deep his actual knowledge of women +went, how much of his success with them he owed to the strong manly +instincts springing from a subsoil of sound common-sense which had +carried him safely past so many of the pitfalls of life. + +Nor did his high spirits wane. He stayed out of doors, in the forest +or on the lake, until midnight, and was up again at five in the +morning. Betty was fond of fresh air and exercise, but she had so much +of both during the two days of his visit that she went to bed on the +night of his departure with a sense of being drugged with ozone and +battered with energy. The next day she did not rise until ten, and was +still enjoying the dim seclusion of her room when Sally tapped and +entered. Miss Carter looked nervous, and her usually sallow cheeks +were flushed. + +"I've come to say something I'm almost ashamed to say, but I can't +help it," she began abruptly. "I'm going away. I can't, I _can't _sit +down at the table any longer with _her,_ and treat her as an equal. I +writhe every time she calls me 'Sally.' I know it's a silly senseless +prejudice--no, it isn't. Black blood is loathsome, horrible!--and the +less there is of it the worse it is. I don't mind the out-and-out +negroes. I love the dear old darkies in the country; and even the +prosperous coloured people are tolerable so long as they don't +presume; but there is something so hideously unnatural, so repulsive, +so accursed, in an apparently white person with that hidden evidence +in him of slavery and lechery. Paugh! it is sickening. They are +walking shameless proclamations of lust and crime. I'm sorry for them. +If by any surgical process the taint could be extracted, I'd turn +philanthropic and devote half my fortune to it; but it can't be, and +I'm either not strong-minded enough, or have inherited too many +generations of fastidiousness and refinement to bring myself to +receive these outcasts as equals. I feel particularly sorry for +Harriet. She shows her cursed inheritance in more ways than one, but +without it, think what she would be,--a high-bred, intellectual, +charming woman. She just escapes being that now, but she does escape +it. The taint is all through her. And she knows it. In spite of all +you've done for her, of all you've made possible for her, she'll be +unhappy as long as she lives." "She certainly will be if everybody +discovers her secret and is as unjust as you are." Betty, like the +rest of the world, had no toleration for the weaknesses herself had +conquered. "We cannot undo great wrongs, but it is our duty to make +life a little less tragic for the victims, if we can." + +"I can't. I've tried, I've struggled with myself as I've never +struggled before, ever since I learned the truth. It sickens me. It +makes me feel the weak, contemptible, common clay of which we all are +made, and our only chance of happiness is to forget that. But I've +said all I've got to say about myself. I'm going, and that is the end +of it. I'll wear a mask till the last minute, for I wouldn't hurt the +poor thing's feelings for the world. And I'd die sixteen deaths before +I'd betray her. But, Betty, get rid of her. She wants to go to +Europe. Let her go. Keep her there. For as sure as fate her secret +will leak out in time. She _breathes_ it. If I felt it, others will, +and certainty soon follows suspicion. Jack would have felt it long +since if he were not blinded and intoxicated by her beauty; but you +can't count on men. He'll soon forget her if you send her away in +time, and for your own sake as well as his get rid of her. You don't +want people avoiding your house!" + +"She is going. She has no desire to stay, poor thing! Of course, I +know how you feel. I felt that way myself at first, but I conquered +it. Others won't, I suppose, and it is best that she should go where +such prejudices don't exist. I spoke to her again a day or two ago +about it--for your idea that Jack loves her has made me nervous, +although I can see no evidence of it--and I suggested that she should +go at once; but she seems to have made up her mind to September, and +I cannot insist without wounding her feelings. I wish Jack would go +away, but he always is so much better up here than anywhere else that +I can't suggest that, either." + +"Well, I'm going now to tell papa he must prepare his mind for Bar +Harbor. Say that you forgive me, Betty, for I love you." + +"Oh, yes, I forgive you," said Betty, with a half laugh, "for a wise +man I know once said that our strongest prejudice is a part of us." + + + + +XII + + + +After Major Carter and Sally left, Betty had less freedom, for her +mother was lonely; moreover, she dared not leave Emory and Harriet too +much together. The danger still might be averted if she did her duty +and stood guard. She never had seen Jack look so well as he looked +this summer. The very gold of his hair seemed brighter, and his blue +eyes were often radiant. His beauty was conventional, but Betty could +imagine its potent effect on a girl of Harriet Walker's temperament +and limited experience. But he had appeared to prefer Sally's society +to Harriet's, and his spirits dropped after her departure. + +It was only when Harriet offered to read to Mrs. Madison and settled +down to three hours' steady work a day, that Betty allowed herself +liberty after the early morning. From five till eight in the evening +and for an hour or two before breakfast she roamed the forest or +pulled indolently about the lake. The hours suited her, for the hotel +people were little given to early rising; and although they boated +industriously by day, they preferred the lower and more fashionable +lake, and dined at half-past six. + +Life with her no longer was a smooth sailing on a summer lake. There +was a roar below, as if the lake rested lightly on a subterranean +ocean; and the very pines seemed to have developed a warning note. + +Harriet looked like a walking Fate, nothing less. Since Sally's abrupt +departure she had not smiled, and Betty knew that instinct divined and +explained the sudden aversion of a girl who did so much to add to the +cheerfulness of her friends. Emory also looked more like his +melancholy self, and wandered about with a volume of Pindar and an +expression of discontent. Did he love Harriet? and were her spirits +affecting his? Since Harriet's promise Betty felt that she had no +right to speak. He had weathered one love affair, he could weather +another. When Harriet was safe in Europe, she would turn matchmaker +and marry him to Sally Carter. Betty thought lightly of the +disappointments of men, having been the cause of many. So long as Jack +did not dishonour himself and his house by marriage with a proscribed +race, nothing less really mattered. But she played his favourite music +and strove to amuse him. + +She rallied him one day about the change in his spirits since the +departure of Sally Carter, and he admitted that he missed her, that he +always felt his best when with her. + +"Not that I love her more than I do you," he added, fearing that he +had been impolite. "But she strikes just that chord. She always makes +me laugh. She is a sort of sun and warms one up--" + +"The truth of the matter is that she strikes more chords than you will +admit. She's just the one woman you ought to marry. If you'd make up +your mind to love her, you'd soon find it surprisingly easy, and +wonder why it never had occurred to you before." Betty thought she +might as well begin at once. + +He shook his head, and his handsome face flushed. It was not a frank +face; he had lived too solitary and introspective a life for +frankness; but he met Betty's eyes unflinchingly. + +"She is not in the least the woman for me. She lacks beauty, and I +could not stand a woman who was gay--and--and staccato all the time. +It is delightful to meet, but would be insufferable to live with." + +"What is your ideal type?" + +He rose and raised her hand to his lips with all his old elaborate +gallantry. "Oh, Betty Madison! Betty Madison!" he exclaimed. "That you +should live to ask me such a question as that?" + +"I'd like to box his ears if he did not mean that," thought Betty. "I +particularly should dislike his attempting to blind me in that way." + +And herself? She asked this question more than once as she rowed +toward the northern end of the lake in the dawn, or in the heavier +shadows at the close of the day. Could it last? And how long? And did +he believe that it could last? Or was he, with the practical instinct +of a man of the world, merely determined to quaff that fragrant mildly +intoxicating wine of mental love-making, until the gods began to grin? + +She had many moods, but when a woman is sure that her love is returned +and is not denied the man's occasional presence, she cannot be unhappy +for long, perhaps never wholly so. For while there is love there is +hope, and while there is hope tears do not scald. Betty dared not let +her thought turn for a moment to Mrs. North. Her will was strong +enough to keep her mind on the high plane necessary to her self- +respect. She would not even ask herself if he knew how low the sands +had dropped in that unhappy life. The horizon of the future was thick +with flying mist. Only his figure stood there, immovable, always. + +"And it is remarkable how things do go on and on and on," she thought +once. "They become a habit, then a commonplace. It is because they are +so mixed up with the other details of life. Nothing stands out long by +itself. The equilibrium is soon restored, and unless one deliberately +starts it into prominence again, it stays in its proper place and +swings with the rest." + +She knew her greatest danger. She had it in her to be one of the most +intoxicating women alive. Was this man she loved so passionately to go +on to the end of his life only guessing what the Fates forbade him? +The years of the impersonal attitude to men which she had thought it +right to assume had made her anticipate the more keenly the freedom +which one man would bring her. She frankly admitted the strength of +her nature, she almost had admitted it to him; should she always be +able to control the strong womanly vanity which would give him +something more than a passing glimpse of the woman, making him forget +the girl? If she did anything so reprehensible, it would be the last +glimpse he would take of her, she reflected with a sigh, She wondered +that passion and the spiritual part of love should be so hopelessly +entangled. She was ready to live a life of celibacy for his sake; she +delighted in his mind, and knew that had it been commonplace she could +not have loved him did he have every other gift in the workshop of the +gods; she worshipped his strength of character, his independence, his +lofty yet practical devotion to an ideal; she loved him for his +attitude to his wife, the manly and uncomplaining manner with which he +accepted his broken and shadowed home life, when his temperament +demanded the very full of domestic happiness, and the heavy labours of +his days made its lack more bitter; and she sympathized keenly in his +love for and pride in his sons. There was nothing fine about him that +she did not appreciate and love him the more exaltedly for; and yet +she knew that had he been without strong passions she would have loved +him for none of these things. For of such is love between man and +woman when they are of the highest types that Nature has produced. +Betty hated the thought of sin as she hated vulgarity, and did not +contemplate it for a moment, but if she had roused but the calm +affection of this man she would have been as miserable as for the +hour, at least, she was happy. + + + + +XIII + + + +Betty was determined that Saturday and Sunday should be her own, free +of care. She sent Emory to New York to talk over an investment with +her man of business, and she provided her mother with eight new +novels. As Harriet loved the novel only less than she loved the +studies which furnished her ambitious mind, Betty knew that she would +read aloud all day without complaint. Miss Trumbull, of whom she had +seen little of late, and who had looked sullen and haughty since +Harriet with untactful abruptness had placed her at arm's length, she +requested to superintend in person the cleaning of the lower rooms. + +Her mind being at rest, she arose at four on the morning of Saturday. +She rowed across the lake this time and picked up Senator North about +a half-mile from the hotel. His hands were full of fishing-tackle. + +"Will you take me fishing?" he said. "Can you give me the whole +morning? I hear there is better fishing in the lake above, and a +farmhouse where we can get breakfast. Do you know the way?" + +She nodded, and he took the oars from her and rowed up the lake. + +"My wife always sleeps until noon," he said. "We can have seven hours +if you will give them to me." + +"Of course I'll give them to you. I may as well admit that I intended +to have them. I made an elaborate disposition of my household to that +end." + +They were smiling at each other, and both looked happy and free of +desire for anything but seven long hours of pleasant companionship. +The morning, bright and full of sound, mated itself with the +superficial moods of man, and was not cast for love-making. + +"Well, what have you been doing?" he asked. "I have had you in a +permanent and most refreshing vision, floating up and down this lake, +or flitting through the forest, in that white frock. I know that +Burleigh was here--" + +"I did not wear white for him." + +"Ah! He has looked very vague, not to say mooning, since his return. I +am thankful he is not seeing you exactly as I do. How is the lady of +the shadows?" + +"Sally's Southern gorge rose so high, after she discovered the taint, +that she left precipitately. She couldn't sit at the table with even a +hidden drop of negro blood." + +"You Southerners will solve the negro problem by inspiring the entire +race with an irresistible desire to cut its throat. If a tidal wave +would wash Ireland out of existence and the blacks in this country +would dispose of themselves, how happy we all should be! What else +have you been doing?" + +"I have read the Congressional Record every day, and the _Federalist_ +and State papers of Hamilton; to say nothing of the monographs in the +American Statesmen Series. Mr. Burleigh insisted that I must acquire +the national sense, and I have acquired it to such an extent that half +the time I don't know whether I am living in history or out of it. +Even the Record makes me feel impersonal, and as 'national' as Mr. +Burleigh could wish." + +"Burleigh intends that his State shall be proud of you." + +Betty flushed. "Don't prophesy, even in fun. I believe I am +superstitious. His idea is that politics are to become a sort of +second nature with me before I start my _salon_--Why do you smile +cynically? Don't you think I can have a _salon?_" "You might build up +one in the course of ten years if you devoted your whole mind to it +and made no mistakes; nothing is impossible. But for a long while you +merely will find yourself entertaining a lot of men who want to talk +on any subject but politics after they have turned their backs on +Capitol Hill. They will be extremely grateful if you will provide +them with some lively music, a reasonable amount of punch, and an +unlimited number of pretty and entertaining women. But don't expect +them to invite you down the winding ways of their brains to the +cupboards where they have hung up their great thoughts for the night. +I do not even see them standing in groups of three, their right hands +thrust under their coat fronts, gravely muttering at each other. I see +them invariably doing their poor best to make some pretty woman forget +they could be bores if they were not vigilant." + +"The pretty women I shall ask will not think them bores. The thing to +do at first, of course, is to get them there." + +"Oh, there will be no difficulty about that. Why do you want a +_salon_? Are you ambitious?" + +Betty nodded. "Yes, I think I am. At first I only wanted a new +experience. Now that I have met so many men with careers, I want one +too. If I succeed, I shall be the most famous woman in America." + +"You certainly would be. Very well, I will do all I can to help you. +It is possible, as I said. And you have many qualifications--" + +"Ah!" Betty's face lit up. "If there is war with Spain, they will talk +of nothing else--Don't frown so at me. I'm sure I don't want a war if +you don't. Those are my politics. Here is the water lane between the +two lakes. I almost had forgotten it. I hope it isn't overgrown." + +She spoke lightly, but more truly than she was wholly willing to +admit. Women see political questions, as they see all life, through +the eyes of some man. If he is not their lover, he is a public +character for whom they have a pleasing sentiment. + +Senator North pulled into the long winding lane of water in a cleft of +the mountains. It was dark and chill here they were in the heart of +the forest; they had but to turn their heads to look straight into the +long vistas, heavy with silence and shadows. + +He rowed for some moments without speaking. He felt their profound and +picturesque isolation, and had no desire to break the spell of it. She +recalled her wish that the Adirondacks would swing off into space, but +smiled: she was too happy in the mere presence of the man to wish for +anything more. He let his eyes meet hers and linger in their depths, +and when he smiled at the end of that long communion it was with +tenderness. But when he spoke he addressed himself to her mind alone. + +"No, you must not wish for war with Spain. If we ever are placed in a +position where patriotism commands war, I shall be the last to oppose +it. If England had not behaved with her calm good sense at the time of +the Venezuela difficulty, but had taken our jingoes seriously and +returned their insults, we should have had no alternative but war,-- +the serious and conservative of the country would have had to suffer +from the errors of its fools, as is often the case. But for this war +there would be no possible excuse. Spain at one time owned nearly two- +thirds of the earth's surface. She has lost every inch of it, except +the Peninsula and a few islands, by her cruelty and stupidity. Her +manifest destiny is to lose these islands in the same manner and for +the same reasons. And brutal and stupid as she is, we have no more +right to interfere in her domestic affairs than had Europe to +interfere in ours when we were torn by a struggle that had a far +greater effect on the progress of civilization than the trouble +between dissatisfied colonists and decadent Spaniards in this petty +island. God only knows how many intellects went out on those +battlefields in the four years of the Civil War, which, had they +persisted and developed, would have added to the legislative wisdom of +this country. We knew what we were losing, knew that the longer the +struggle lasted the longer would our growth as a nation be retarded, +and the horrors of our battlefields were quite as ghastly as anything +set forth in the reports from Cuba. And yet every thinking man among +us, young and old, turned cold with apprehension when we were +threatened with a European interference which would have dishonoured +us. That Spain is behaving with wanton brutality would not be to the +point, even if the reports were not exaggerated, which they are,--for +the matter of that, the Cubans are equally brutal when they find the +opportunity. The point is that it is none of our business. The Cubans +have rebelled. They must take the consequences, sustained by the +certainty of success in the end. Moreover, we not only are on friendly +terms with Spain, we not only have no personal grievance as a nation +against her, but we are a great nation, she is a weak one. We have no +moral right, we a lusty young country, to humiliate a proud and +ancient kingdom, expose the weaknesses and diseases of her old age to +the unpitying eyes of the world. It would be a despicable and a +cowardly act, and it horrifies me to think that the United States +could be capable of it. For Spain I care nothing. The sooner she dies +of her own rottenness the better; but let her die a natural death. My +concern is for my own country. I don't want her to violate those +fundamental principles to whose adherence alone she can hope to reach +the highest pitch of development." + +Betty smiled. "Mr. Burleigh says that Washington had a brain of ice, +and that his ideal of American prosperity was frozen within it. I +suppose he would say the same of you." + +"I have not a brain of ice. I know that the only hope for this +Republic is to anchor itself to conservatism. The splits in the +Democratic party have generated enough policies to run several virile +young nations on the rocks. The Populist is so eager to help the +farmer that he is indifferent to national dishonour. The riff-raff in +the House is discouraging. The House ought to be a training-school +for the Senate. It is a forum for excitable amateurs. The New England +Senators are almost the only ones with a long--or any--record in the +House." + +"They are bright, most of those Representatives--even the woolly ones; +as quick as lightning." + +"Oh, yes, they are bright," he said contemptuously. "The average +American is bright. If one prefixes no stronger adjective than that to +his name, he accomplishes very little in life. Don't think me a +pessimist," he added, smiling. "All over the country the Schools and +colleges are instilling the principles of conservatism and practical +politics on the old lines, and therein lies hope. I feel sure I shall +live to see the Republic safely past the dangers that threaten it now. +The war with Spain is the worst of these. No war finishes without far- +reaching results, and the conscience of a country, like the conscience +of a man, may be too severely tried. If we whip Spain--the 'if,' of +course, is a euphemism--we not only shall be tempted to do things that +are unconstitutional, but we are more than liable to make a laughing- +stock of the Monroe doctrine. For reasons I am not going into this +beautiful summer morning, with fish waiting to be caught, we are +liable to be landed in foreign waters with all Europe as our enemy and +our second-rate statesmen at home pleading for a new Constitution-- +which would mean a new United States and unimaginable and interminable +difficulties. Have I said enough to make you understand why I think +we owe a higher duty to a country that should and could be greater +than it is, than even to two hundred thousand Cubans whom we should +but starve the faster if we hemmed them in? Very well, if you will +kindly bait that hook I will see what I can get. The rest of the world +may sink, for all I care this morning." + +They had entered another lake, smaller and even wilder in its +surroundings, for there was no sign of habitation. + +"Few people know of this lake, I am told," said Senator North, +contentedly; "and we are unlikely to see a living soul for hours, +except while we are discovering that farmhouse. Are you hungry?" + +"Yes, but catch a lot of fish before we go to the farmhouse--I know +where it is--for I detest bread and milk and eggs." + +The fish were abundant, and he had filled his basket at the end of an +hour. Then they tied up their boat and went in search of the +farmhouse. It was a poor affair, but a good-natured woman fried their +fish and contributed potatoes they could eat. Betty was rattling on in +her gayest spirits, when her glance happened to light on a photograph +in a straw frame. She half rose to her feet, then sank back in her +chair with a frown of annoyance. + +"What is it?" he asked anxiously. + +"A photograph of my housekeeper, a woman who is all curiosity where +her brain ought to be." + +"Well, it is only her photograph, not herself, and this woman does not +know my name. You are not to bother about anything this morning." + +They went back to the lake. He caught another basket of fish, and then +they floated about idly, sometimes silent, sometimes talking in a +desultory way about many things that interested them both. Betty +wondered where he had found time to read and think so much on subjects +that belong to the literary wing of the brain and have nothing to do +with the vast subjects of politics and statesmanship, of which he was +so complete a master. She recalled what her mother had said about +her brain being her worst enemy when she fell in love. It certainly +made her love this man more profoundly and passionately, for her own +was of that high quality which demanded a greater to worship. And if +she loved the man it was because his whole virile magnetic being was +the outward and visible expression of the mind that informed it. It +was almost noon when they parted, pleased with themselves and with +life. They agreed to meet again on the following morning. + + + + +XIV + + + +As Betty ascended the terrace, she was amazed to see Jack Emory +sitting on the veranda. He threw aside his cigarette and came to meet +her. + +"Anderson had gone to the other end of Long Island--Sag Harbor," he +said; "and as I did not like to follow him into his home on a matter +of business, I came back. New York is one vast oven; I could not make +up my mind to wait there. I'd rather take the trip again." + +Betty concealed her vexation, and replied that she was sorry he had +had a disagreeable journey for nothing, while wondering if her +conscience would permit her to absent herself for seven hours on the +morrow. + +But Harriet had read one novel through and begun another. It was +evident that she had not left Mrs. Madison's side, and Jack had been +home for two hours. Betty lightly forbade her to tire herself further +that day, and after luncheon they all went for a drive. When Mrs. +Madison retired for her nap at four o'clock, Betty, who longed for the +seclusion of her room and the delight of re-living the morning hours, +established herself in the middle of the veranda, with Harriet beside +her and Jack swinging in a hammock at the corner. "Thank heaven she +wants to go to Europe in September," she thought. "If I had to be +duenna for six months, I should become a cross old-maid. I'll never +forgive Sally for deserting me." + +She could have filled the house with company, but that would have +meant late hours and the sacrifice of such solitude as she now could +command. She had always disliked the burden of entertaining in summer, +never more so than during this, when her loneliest hours were, with +the exception of just fifteen others and twenty-one minutes, the +happiest she ever had known. + +Jack and Harriet manifested not the slightest desire to be together, +and Betty went to bed at nine o'clock, wondering if she were not +boring herself unnecessarily. + +She was deep in her first sleep when her consciousness struggled +toward an unaccustomed sound. She awoke suddenly at the last, and +became aware of a low, continuous, but peremptory knocking. She lit a +candle at once and opened the door. Miss Trumbull stood there, her +large bony face surrounded by curl-papers that stood out like horns, +and an extremely disagreeable expression on her mouth. She wore a grey +flannel wrapper and had a stocking tied round her throat. Betty +reflected that she never had seen a more unattractive figure, but +asked her if she were ill--if her throat were ailing-- + +Miss Trumbull entered and closed the door behind her. + +"I'm a Christian woman," she announced, "and an unmarried one, and I +ain't goin' to stay in a house where there's sech goin's on." "What +do you mean?" asked Betty coldly, although she felt her lips turn +white. + +"I mean what I say. I'm a Christian--" + +"I do not care in the least about your religious convictions. I want +to know what you wish to tell me. There is no necessity to lead up to +it." + +"Well--I can't say it. So there! I warn't brought up to talk about +sech things. Just you come with me and find out for yourself." + +"You have been prying in the servants' wing, I suppose. Do I +understand that that is the sort of thing you expect me to do?" + +"It ain't the servants' wing--where I've been listenin' and watchin' +till I've made sure--out of dooty to myself." She lowered her voice +and spoke with a hoarse wheeze. "It's the room at the end of the +second turning." + +Betty allowed the woman to help her into a wrapper, for her hands were +trembling. She followed Miss Trumbull down the hall, hardly believing +she was awake, praying that it might be a bad dream. They turned the +second corner, and the housekeeper waved her arm dramatically at +Harriet's door. + +"Very well," said Betty. "Go to your room. I prefer to be alone." + +Miss Trumbull retired with evident reluctance. Betty heard a door +close ostentatiously, and inferred that her housekeeper was returning +to a point of vantage. But she did not care. She felt steeped in +horror and disgust. She wished that she never had felt a throb of +love. All love seemed vulgar and abominable, a thing to be shunned for +ever by any woman who cared to retain her distinction of mind. She +would not meet Senator North to-morrow. She did not care if she never +saw him again. She would like to go into a convent and not see any man +again. + +She never ceased to be grateful that she was spared hours of musing +that might have burnt permanently into her memory. She had not walked +up and down the hall for fifteen minutes before the door at the end of +the side corridor opened and Emory came out. + +Betty did not hesitate. She advanced at once toward him. He did not +recoil, he stood rigid for a moment. Then he said distinctly,-- + +"We have been married three months. Will you come downstairs for a few +moments?" + +She followed him down the stair, trembling so violently that she could +not clutch the banisters, and fearing she should fall forward upon +him. But before she had reached the living-room she had made a +desperate effort to control herself. She realized the danger of +betraying Harriet's secret before she had made up her mind what course +was best, but she was not capable of grappling with any question until +the shock was over. Her brain felt stunned. + +Emory lit one of the lamps, and Betty turned her back to it. He was +very white, and she conceived a sudden and violent dislike to him. She +never before had appreciated fully the weakness in that beautiful +high-bred intellectual face. It was old-fashioned and dreamy. It had +not a suggestion of modern grip and keenness and determination. + +"I have deceived you, Betty," he began mournfully; but she interrupted +him. + +"I am neither your mother nor your sister," she said cuttingly. "I am +only your cousin. You were under no obligation to confide in me. I +object to being made use of, that is all." + +"I am coming to that," he replied humbly. "Let me tell you the story +as best I can. We did not discover that we loved each other until +after you left. It had taken me some time to realize it--for--for--I +did not think I ever could change. I was almost horrified; but soon I +made up my mind it was for the best. I had been lonely and miserable +long enough, and I had it in my power to take the loneliness and +misery from another. I was almost insanely happy. I wanted to marry at +once, but for a few days Harriet would not consent. She wanted to be +an accomplished woman when she became my wife. Then she suggested that +we should be married secretly, and the next day we went over into +Virginia and were married--in a small village. She begged me not to +tell you till you came back. When you returned, her courage failed +her, for after all you were her benefactor and she had deceived you. +She protested that she could not, that she dared not tell you. It has +been an extremely disagreeable position to me, for I have felt almost +a cad in this house, but I understood her feeling, for you had every +reason to be angry and scornful. So we agreed to go to Europe in +September and write to you from there. She wanted to go at once--soon +after you returned; but I must wait till certain money comes in. I +cannot live on what you so generously gave her. She would not go +without me, and in spite of everything, I am almost ashamed to say, I +have been very happy here--" + +"Is that all? I will go to my room now. Goodnight." She hurried +upstairs, wishing she had a sleeping powder. As she closed the door of +her room, the tall sombre figure of Harriet rose from a chair and +confronted her. Betty hastily lit two lamps. She could not endure +Harriet in a half light,--not while she wore black, at all events. + +"He has told me," she said briefly, answering the agonized inquiry in +those haggard eyes. "I told him nothing." + +Harriet drew a long breath and swayed slightly. "Ah!" she said. Ah! +Thank the Lord for that. I hope you will never have to go through what +I have in this last half-hour." She seemed to recover herself rapidly, +for after she had walked the length of the room twice, she confronted +Betty with a tightening of the muscles of her face that gave it the +expression of resolution which her features always had seemed to +demand. + +"This is wholly my affair now," she said. "It is all between him and +me. It would be criminal for you to interfere. When I realised I loved +him, I made up my mind to marry him at once. I knew that you would not +permit it, and although I hated to deceive you, I made up my mind that +I would have my happiness. I intended to tell you when you got back, +but after what you said to me that day I was scared you'd tell him. If +you do--if you do--I swear before the Lord that I'll drown myself in +that lake--" + +"I have no intention of telling him. As you say, it is now your own +affair." + +"It is; it is. And although I may have to pay the price one day, I'll +hope and hope till the last minute. I shall not let him return to +America, and perhaps he will never guess. Somehow it seems as if +everything must be right different over there, as if all life would +look different." + +"You will find your point of view quite the same when you get there, +for you take yourself with you. I'd like to go to bed now, Harriet, if +you don't mind. I'm terribly tired." + +"I'll go. There is only one other thing I want to say. I shall have no +children. I vowed long ago that the curse I had been forced to inherit +should not poison another generation. Your cousin's line will die, +undishonoured, with him. The crimes of many men will die in me. No +further harm will be done if Jack never knows. And I hope and believe +he never will. Good-night." + + + + +XV + + + +Betty slept fitfully, her dreams haunted by Miss Trumbull's expression +of outraged virtue surrounded by curl-papers. She rose at four, almost +mechanically, rather glad than otherwise that she had some one with +whom to talk over the events of the night. But although she admired +Senator North the more for his distinguished contrast to Jack Emory, +she felt as if all romance and love had gone out of her. Harriet's +case was romantic enough in all conscience, and it was hideous. + +She met Miss Trumbull in the lower hall. Outraged virtue had given way +to an expression of self-satisfied importance. "Well, I'm real glad +they're married," she drawled. "It warn't in human nature not to +listen, and I did--I ain't goin' to deny it, but I couldn't have slept +a wink if I hadn't. Ain't you glad I told you?" + +"I certainly am not glad that you told me, and I wish I had dismissed +you three weeks ago. When I return I shall give you a month's wages +and you can go to-day." + +She hurried down to the lake and unmoored her boat. Her conscience was +abnormally active this morning, and she reflected that she too was +going to a tryst of which the world must know nothing. True, it was +kept on the open lake and was as full of daylight as it was of +impeccability, but it was not for the world to discover, for all that. +She made no attempt to smile as Senator North stepped into the boat, +and he took the oars without a word and pulled rapidly up the lake. +When they were beyond all signs of human habitation, he brought the +boat under the spreading limbs of an oak and crossed his oars. + +"Now," he said, "what is it? Something very serious indeed has +happened." + +"Jack Emory and Harriet have been married three months." She filled in +the statement listlessly and added no comment. + +"And your conscience is oppressed and miserable because you feel as if +you were the author of the catastrophe," he replied. "What have you +made up your mind to do?" It was evident that her attitude alone +interested him, but he understood her mood perfectly. His voice was +friendly and matter-of-fact; there was not a hint of the sympathizing +lover about him. + +"It seems to me that as I did not act at the right time I only should +make things worse by interfering now. As she said, it is a matter +between her and him." + +"You are quite right. Any other course would be futile and cruel. And +remember that you have acted wisely and well from the beginning. You +have nothing to reproach yourself for. You brought the girl to your +house for a period, because justice and humanity demanded it. The same +principles demanded that you should keep her secret--for the matter of +that your mother made secrecy one of the conditions of her consent. I +had hoped that you would get rid of her before she obeyed the baser +instincts of her nature. For she was bound to deceive some man, and +her victim is your cousin by chance only. Have you noticed in +Washington--or anywhere in the South--that a negro is always seen with +a girl at least one shade whiter than himself? The same instinct to +rise, to get closer to the standard of the white man, whom they +slavishly admire, is in the women as well as in the men. They are the +weaker sex and must submit to Circumstance, but they would sacrifice +the whole race for marriage with a white man. If you had left this +girl to her fate, she would have gone to the devil, for a woman as +white as that would have starved rather than marry a negro. If you had +given her money and told her to go her way, she would have established +herself at once in some first-class hotel where she would be sure to +meet men of the upper class. And she would have married the first that +asked her and told him nothing. I am sorry that your cousin happens to +be the victim, because he is your cousin. But if you will reflect a +moment you will see that he is no better, no more honourable or worthy +than many other men, one of whom was bound to be victimized. I don't +think she would have been attracted to a fool or a cad; I am positive +she would have married a gentleman. These women have a morbid craving +for the caste they are so close upon belonging to." + +"I hate men," said Betty, viciously. + +"I am sure you do, and I shall not waste time on their defence. I am +concerned only in setting you right with yourself." + +"I always feel that what you say is true--must be true. I suppose it +will take possession of my mind and I shall feel better after a +while." + +"You will feel better after several hours' sleep. I am going to take +you home now. Go to bed and sleep until noon." + +"My conscience hurts me. I have spoiled your visit." + +"I can live on the memory of yesterday for some time, and I shall +return in a fortnight." + +"Well, I am glad you were here when it happened. I don't know what I +should have done if I couldn't have talked to you about it. I feel a +little better--but cross and disagreeable, all the same." + +"You are a woman of contrasts," he said, smiling. "A machine is not my +ideal." + +He rowed her back to the point where he had boarded the boat, and +shook her warmly by the hand. + +"Good-bye," he said. "Be sensible and take the only practical view of +it. If you care to write to me about anything, I need not say that I +shall answer at once." When she reached home, she took his advice and +went to bed; and whether or not her mind obeyed his in small matters +as in great, she slept soundly for five hours. When she awoke, she +felt young and buoyant and untarnished again. She went at once to her +mother's room and told the story. Mrs. Madison listened with horror +and consternation. + +"It cannot be!" she exclaimed. "It cannot be! Jack Emory? It never +could have been permitted. The very Fates would interfere. His father +will rise from his grave. Why, it's monstrous. The woman ought to be +hanged. And I thought her buried in her books! I never heard of such +deceit." + +"It was the instinct of self-defence, I suppose." + +"He too! It never occurred to me to watch him or to warn him; for that +such a thing could ever threaten a member of my family never entered +my head. What on earth is to be done?" + +It took Betty an hour to persuade her mother that Jack must be left to +find out the truth for himself; that they had no right, after placing +Harriet in the way of temptation, to make her more wretched than she +was when they had rescued her. But she succeeded, as she always did; +and Mrs. Madison said finally, with her long sigh of surrender,-- + +"Well, perhaps he is paying for some of the sins of his fathers. But I +wish he did not happen to be a member of our family. As the thing is +done, I suppose I may as well be philosophical about it. It is so much +easier to be philosophical now that I have let go my hold on most of +the responsibilities of life. As long as nothing happens to you, I can +accept everything else with equanimity. What story of her birth and +family do you suppose she told him? He must have asked her a good many +questions." + +"Heaven knows. She is capable of concocting anything; and you must +remember that we had accepted her as a cousin. She could put him off +easily, for he had no suspicion to start with. I must now go and have +a final delightful interview with Miss Trumbull." + +She met her in the hall, and experienced a sudden sense of +helplessness in the face of that mighty curiosity. She almost +respected it. + +"I just want to say," drawled Miss Trumbull, tossing her head, "that I +know more'n you think I do. There just ain't nothin' I don't know, +I'll tell you, as you've turned me out as if I was a common servant. I +know who you meet up the lake and take breakfast in farmhouses with, +and I know why Miss Harriet was so dreadful scared you'd find out--" + +Betty understood then why some people murdered others. Her eyes blazed +so that the woman quailed. + +"Oh, I ain't so bad as you think," she stammered. "I'd never think any +harm of you, and I'd never be so despisable as to take away any +woman's character. I'm a Christian and I don't want to hurt any one. +likewise, I'd never tell him _that_. Bad as she's treated me--I who am +as good and better'n she is any day--I wouldn't do any woman sech a +bad turn as that. Only I'm just glad I do know it. When I'm settin' in +my poor little parlor waitin' for another position to turn up--six +months, mebbe--it'll be a big satisfaction to me to think that I could +ruin her if I had a mind to--a big satisfaction." + +Betty went to her room, wrote a cheque for three months' wages and +returned with it. "Take this and go," she said. "And be kind enough +not to look upon the amount as a bribe. The position of housekeeper is +not an easy one to find, and I do not wish to think of any one in +distress." + + + + +XVI + + + +Miss Trumbull left that afternoon, and although Betty half expected +the woman, who had possessed some of the attributes of the villain in +the play, to reappear at intervals in the interest of her role, the +grave might have closed over her for all the sign she gave. But Miss +Trumbull had done enough, and the Fates do not always linger to +complete their work. The housekeeper, with all her self-satisfaction, +never would have thought of calling herself a Fate; but motives are +not always commensurate with results. She was only a common fool, and +there were thousands like her, but her capacity for harm-doing was as +far-reaching as had she had the brain of a genius and the soul of a +devil. + +As Emory positively refused to go to Europe until money of his own +came in, although Betty offered to lend him what he needed, and as he +was really well only when in the Adirondacks, and an abrupt move to +one of the hotels would have animated the gossips, it was decided +finally that he and his wife should remain where they were until it +was time to sail. Harriet offered to take charge of the servants until +another housekeeper could be found; and as she seemed anxious to do +all she could to make amends for deceiving her benefactress, Betty let +her assume what would have been to herself an onerous responsibility. +After a day or two of constraint and awkwardness, the little household +settled down to its altered conditions; and in a week everybody looked +and acted much as usual, so soon does novelty wear off and do mortals +readjust themselves. Jack and Harriet seemed happy; but the former, at +least, was too fastidious to vaunt his affections in even the little +public of his lifelong friends. He spent hours swinging in a hammock, +reading philosophy and smoking; occasionally he read aloud to his aunt +and Harriet, and in the afternoon he usually took his wife for a walk. + +Harriet at this period was a curious mixture of humility and pride. +She could not demonstrate sufficiently her gratitude to Betty, but the +very dilation of her nostril indicated gratified ambition. She had +held her head high ever since her marriage; since her acknowledgment +by the world as a wife, her carriage had been regal. Betty gave a +luncheon one day to some acquaintances at the hotel, and when she +introduced Harriet as Mrs. Emory, she saw her quiver like a blooded +horse who has won a doubtful race. + +As for Mrs. Madison, she finished by regarding the whole affair in the +light of a novel, and argued with Betty the possible and probable +results. Her interest in the plot became so lively that she took to +discussing it with Harriet; and although the heroine was grateful at +first for her interest, there came a time when she looked apprehensive +and careworn. Finally she begged Mrs. Madison, tearfully, not to +allude to the subject again, and Mrs. Madison, who was the kindest of +women, looked surprised and hurt, but replied that of course she would +avoid the subject if Harriet wished. + +"It's just this," said Mrs. Emory, bluntly; "the subject is so much on +your mind that I'm in constant terror you'll begin talking of it +before Jack." + +"My dear girl, I never would tell him; for his sake as well as your +own, you can rely on me." + +"I know you would never do it intentionally, ma'am, but I'm scared +you'll do it without thinking; you talk of it so much, more than +anything. The other night when you began to talk of the crime of +miscegenation, I thought I should die." + +"That was very inconsiderate of me. Poor girl, I'll be more careful." +But in her secluded impersonal life few romantic interests entered, +and although she was too courteous to harp upon a painful subject, it +was evident that she avoided it with an effort, and that it dwelt in +the forefront of her mind. One evening after Betty had been playing +some of the old Southern melodies, she caught Jack's hand in hers, and +assured him brokenly that no people on earth were bound together as +Southerners were, and that he must think of her always as his mother +and come to her in the dark and dreadful hours of his life. He pressed +her hand, and continued smoking his cigarette; he never had doubted +that his aunt loved him as a mother. Harriet rose abruptly and left +the room. She returned before long, however, and after that night she +never left her husband alone with Mrs. Madison for a moment. + + + + +XVII + + + +Betty herself was happy again. She hated the dark places of life, and +got away from them and out into the sunshine as quickly as possible. +Although she was too well disciplined to shirk her duty, she did it as +quickly as possible and pushed it to the back of her mind. Jack and +Harriet were married; that was the end of it for the present. Let life +go on as before. She gave several hours of the day to her mother, the +rest to the forest and the lake. When Senator North came up again, she +was her old gay self, the more attractive perhaps for the faint +impression which contact with deep seriousness is bound to leave. If +Jack and Harriet had been safely out of the country, she would have +felt like a Pagan, especially after the Tariff Bill passed and Senator +North came up to stay. + +"I shouldn't have a care in the world," she said to him one morning, +"if I did not know, little as I will permit myself to think of it, +that exposure may come any day. There is only a chance that somebody +at St. Andrew will hear of the marriage and denounce her, but it might +happen. If only they were in Europe! She told me the other night that +she knows she can keep him there, her influence is so great. I hope +that is true, but she cannot make him go till he has his own money to +go with." + +"What she means is that he won't leave her. He has her here now and is +in no hurry to move. He should be able to rent his farm. It is a very +good one." "He has rented it for a year--from September. He gets +nothing till then. If pride were not a disease with him, he would let +me advance the money, but he is not as sure as he might be of the man +who has rented the farm and he will not take any risks, I am sorry for +Harriet. She has the idea on her mind now that Molly will blurt it +out, and she has the sort of mind that broods and exaggerates. I +sincerely wish they had got off to Europe undiscovered and sent the +news back by the pilot. I had to speak to Molly once or twice myself; +I never knew her so garrulous about anything." + +Senator North laughed. "You have a great deal of trouble with your +parent," he said. "I fear you have not been firm enough with her in +the past. Will you come into the next lake? I like the fish better +there. You are not to worry about anything, my dear, while we have the +Adirondacks to imagine ourselves happy in." + +"Ar'n't you really happy?" she asked him quickly. + +"Not wholly so," he replied. "But that is a question we are not to +discuss." + + + + +XVIII + + + +Senator North had been formally invited by Mrs. Madison for dinner +that evening, and Betty, who had parted from him just seven hours +before, restrained an impulse to run down the terrace as his boat made +the landing. Emory and Harriet were on the veranda, however, and she +managed to look stately and more or less indifferent at the head of +the steps. There were pillars and vines on either side of her, and +bunches of purple wistaria hung above her head. It was a picturesque +frame for a picturesque figure in white, and a kindly consideration +for Senator North's highly trained and exacting eye kept her immovable +for nearly five minutes. As he reached the steps, however, self- +consciousness suddenly possessed her and she started precipitately to +meet him. She wore slippers with high Louis Quinze heels. One caught +in a loosened strand of the mat. Her other foot went too far. She made +a desperate effort to reach the next step, and fell down the whole +flight with one unsupported ankle twisted under her. + +For a moment the pain was so intense she hardly was aware that Senator +North had his arm about her shoulders while Emory was straightening +her out. Harriet was screaming frantically. She gave a sharp scream +herself as Emory touched her ankle, but repressed a second as she +heard her mother's voice. + +Mrs. Madison stood in the doorway with more amazement than alarm on +her face. + +"Betty?" she cried. "Nothing can have happened to Betty! Why, she has +not even had a doctor since she was six years old." + +"It's nothing but a sprained ankle," said Emory. "For heaven's sake, +keep quiet, Harriet," he added impatiently, "and go and get some hot +water. Let's get her into the house." + +Betty by this time was laughing hysterically. Her ankle felt like a +hot pincushion, and the unaccustomed experience of pain, combined with +Harriet's shrieks, delivered with a strong darky accent, and her +mother's attitude of disapproval, assaulted her nerves. + +When they had carried her in and put her foot into a bucket of hot +water, she forgot them completely, and while her mother fanned her and +Senator North forced her to swallow brandy, she felt that all the +intensity of life's emotions was circumferenced by a wooden bucket. +But when they had carefully extended her on the sofas and Emory, who +had a farmer's experience with broken bones, announced his intention +of examining her ankle at once, Betty with remarkable presence of +mind asked Senator North to hold her hand. This he did with a firmness +which fortified her during the painful ordeal, and Mrs. Madison was +not terrified by so much as a moan. + +"You have pluck!" exclaimed Senator North when Emory, after much +prodding, had announced that it was only a sprain. "You have splendid +courage." + +Emory assured her that she was magnificent, and Betty felt so proud of +herself that she had no desire to undo the accident. + +In the days that followed, although she suffered considerable pain, +she enjoyed herself thoroughly. It was her first experience of being +"fussed over," as she expressed it. She never had had so much as a +headache, no one within her memory had asked her how she felt, and she +had regarded her mother as the centre of the medical universe. Now a +clever and sympathetic doctor came over every day from the hotel and +felt her pulse, and intimated that she was his most important patient. +Mrs. Madison insisted upon bathing her head, Emory and Harriet treated +her like a sovereign whose every wish must be anticipated, even the +servants managed to pass the door of her sitting-room a dozen times a +day. Senator North came over every morning and sat by her couch of +many rose-coloured pillows; and not only looked tender and anxious, +but suggested that the statesman within him was dead. + +"It is hard on you, though," she murmured one day, when they happened +to be alone for a few moments. "Two invalids are more than one man's +portion. And no one ever enjoyed the outdoor life as you do." + +"This room is full of sunshine and fresh air, and I came up here to be +with you. I don't know but what I am heartless enough to enjoy seeing +such an imperious and insolently healthy person helpless for a time, +and to be able to wait on her." + +"I feel as if the entire order of the universe had been reversed." + +"It will do you good. I hope you will have every variety of pleasure +at least once in your life." + +"You are laughing at me--but as I am a truthful person I will confide +to you that I almost hate the idea of being well again." + +"Of course you do. And as for the real invalids they enjoy themselves +thoroughly. The great compensation law is blessed or cursed, whichever +way you choose to look at it." + +"I wonder if you had happened to be unmarried, what price we would +have had to pay." + +"God knows. The compensation law is the most immutable of all the +fates." + +"I have most of the gifts of life,--good looks, wealth, position, +brains, and the power of making people like me. So I am not permitted +to have the best of all. If I could, I wonder which of the others I'd +lose. Probably we'd have an accident on our wedding journey, which +would reduce my nerves to such a state that I'd be irritable for the +rest of my life and lose my good looks and power to make you happy. +It's a queer world." + +He made no reply. + +"What are you thinking of?" she asked, meeting his eyes. + +"That you are not to become anything so commonplace as a pessimist. +Get everything out of the present that is offered you and give no +thought to the future. What is it?" he added tenderly, as the blood +came into her cheeks and she knit her brows. + +"I moved my ankle and it hurt me so!" She moved her hand at the same +time, and he took it, and held it until her brows relaxed, which was +not for some time. + +The best of women are frauds. Betty made that ankle the pivot of her +circle for the rest of the summer. When she wanted to see Senator +North look tender and worried, she puckered her brows and sighed. When +she felt the promptings of her newly acquired desire to be "fussed +over," she dropped suddenly upon a couch and demanded a cushion for +her foot, or asked to be assisted to a hammock. She often laughed at +herself; but the new experience was very sweet, and she wondered over +Life's odd and unexpected sources of pleasure. + + + + +XIX + + + +Senator Burleigh came up for a few days to the hotel before going +West, and Betty, who had anticipated his visit, invited two of the +prettiest girls she knew to assist her to entertain him. They had been +at one of the hotels on the lower lake, and came to her for a few days +before joining their parents. She showed Burleigh every possible +attention, permitting him to eat nothing but breakfast at his hotel; +but he did not see her alone for a moment. When he left, he felt that +he had had three cheerful days among warm and admiring friends, but +his satisfaction was far from complete. + +"Betty," said Senator North, one morning a fortnight later, "how much +do you like Burleigh? If you had not met me, do you think you could +have loved him?" + +"I think I could have persuaded myself that I liked him better than I +ever could have liked anybody; but it would not have been love." + +"Are you sure?" + +"Oh, yes, I am sure! You know that I am sure. It may be possible to +mistake liking for love, but it is not possible to mistake love for +anything else. And you cannot even pretend to believe that I do not +know what love is." + +"Oh, yes," he said softly, "I think you know." He resumed in a moment: +"You are so young--I would leave you in a moment if I thought that you +did not really love me, that you were deluding yourself and wasting +your life. But I believe that you do; and you are happier than you +would be with a man who could give you only the half that you demand. +Marriage is not everything. I love you well enough to make any +sacrifice for you but a foolish one. And I know that there is +much less in the average marriage than in the incomplete relation we +have established. And there is another marriage that is incomparably +worse. I shall never let you go--so long as I can hold you--unless I +am satisfied that it is for your good." + +"If you leave me for any Quixotic idea, I'll marry the first man that +proposes to me," said Betty, lightly. "I am too happy to even consider +such a possibility. There are no to-morrows when to-day is flawless-- +Hark! What is that?" + +They were on the upper lake. Over the mountains came the sonorous yet +wailing, swinging yet rapt, intonation of the negro at his hymns. + +"There is a darky camp-meeting somewhere," said Senator North, +indifferently. "I hope they don't fish." + +The fervent incantation rose higher. It seemed to fill the forest, so +wide was its volume, so splendid its energy. The echoes took it up, +the very mountains responded. Five hundred voices must have joined in +the chorus, and even Senator North threw back his head as the columns +of the forest seemed to be the pipes of some stupendous organ. As for +Betty, when the great sound died away in a wail that was hardly +separable from the sighing of the pines, she trembled from head +to foot and burst into tears. + +He took hold of the oars, and rowed out of the lake and down to the +spot where he was in the habit of landing. She had quite recovered +herself by that time, and nodded brightly to him as he handed her the +oars and stepped on shore. + +At the breakfast-table she mentioned casually that there was a negro +camp-meeting in the neighborhood, and that she never had heard such +magnificent singing. She saw an eager hungry flash leap into Harriet's +eyes, but they were lowered immediately. Harriet had lost much of her +satisfied mien in the last few weeks, and of late had looked almost +haggard. But she had fallen back into her old habit of reticence, a +condition Betty always was careful not to disturb. That afternoon, +however, she asked Betty if she could speak alone with her, and +they went out to the summer-house. + +"I want to go to that camp-meeting," she began abruptly. "Betty, I am +nearly mad." She began to weep violently, and Betty put her arms about +her. + +"Is there any new trouble?" she asked. "Tell me and I will do all I +can to help you. Why do you wish to go to this camp-meeting?" + +"So that I can shout and scream and pray so loud perhaps the Lord'll +hear me. Betty, I don't have one peaceful minute, dreading your mother +will tell him, and that if she doesn't that dreadful Miss Trumbull +will. She hated me, and she laughed that dry conceited laugh of hers +when she said good-bye to me. What's to prevent her writing to Jack +any minute? I lost her a good place, and we both insulted her common +morbid vanity. What's to prevent her taking her revenge? Ever since +that thought entered my head it has nearly driven me mad." + +The same thought had occurred to Betty more than once, but she assured +Harriet as earnestly as she could that there was no possible danger, +that the woman was conscientious in her way, and prided herself on +being better than her neighbors. + +"You must put these ideas out of your head," she continued. "Any fixed +idea soon grows to huge proportions, and dwarfs all the other and more +reasonable possibilities. You sail now in a few weeks. Keep up your +courage till then--" + +"That's why I want to go to the camp-meeting. I used to go to them +regularly every year with Uncle, and they always did me good. I'm +right down pious by nature, and I loved to shout and go on and feel as +if the Lord was right there: I could 'most see him. Of course I gave +up the idea of going to camp-meetings after you made a high-toned lady +of me, and I've never sung since you objected that morning; but it's +hurt me not to--_it's all there;_ and if it could come out in camp- +meeting along with all the rest that's torturing me, I think I'd feel +better. You've always been fine and happy, you don't know the relief +it is to holler." + +Betty drew a long breath. "But, Harriet, I thought you did not like +negroes. I don't think any white people are at this camp." + +"I despise them except when they're full of religion, and then we're +all equal. Betty, I must go. Can you think of an excuse to make to +Jack? Couldn't I pretend to stay at the hotel all day?" + +"There is no reason to lie about it. Nothing would induce him to go to +a camp-meeting. But he knows that you are a Methodist, and that you +were raised in the thick of that religion. I will row you to the next +lake to-morrow morning before he is up, and tell him that I am to +return for you. I don't approve of it at all. I think it is a horrid +thing for you to do, if you want to know the truth, and there are +certain tastes you ought to get rid of, not indulge. But if you must +go, you must, I suppose." + + + + +XX + + + +She sent a note over to Senator North that evening, explaining why she +could not meet him in the morning; but as she rowed Harriet up the +lake, she saw him standing on the accustomed spot. He beckoned +peremptorily, and she pulled over to the shore, wondering if he had +not received her note. + +"Will you take me with you?" he asked. "I cannot get a boat, and I +should like to row for you, if you will let me." + +He boarded the boat, and Betty meekly surrendered the oars. She sat +opposite him, Harriet in the bow, and he smiled into her puzzled and +disapproving eyes. But he talked of impersonal matters until they had +entered the upper lake, and explained to Harriet the whereabouts of +the farmhouse whence she might be directed to the camp. Harriet had +not parted her lips since she left home. She sprang on shore the +moment Senator North beached the boat, and almost ran up the path. + + +"Well!" he exclaimed. "Did you suppose that I should allow you to row +through that lane alone? There is no lonelier spot in America; and +with the forest full of negroes--were you mad to think of such a +thing?" + +"I never thought about it," said Betty, humbly. "I am not very timid." + +"I never doubted that you would be heroic in any conditions, but that +is not the question. You must not take such risks. I shall return with +you tonight--" + +"And Harriet!" exclaimed Betty, in sudden alarm. "Perhaps we should +not leave her." + +"She will be with the crowd. Besides, it is her husband's place to +look after her. I am concerned about you only. And I certainly shall +not permit you to go to a camp-meeting, nor shall I leave you to take +care of her. So put her out of your mind for the present." + + +And Betty Madison, who had been pleased to regard the world as her +football, surrendered herself to the new delight of the heavy hand. He +re-entered the long water lane in the cleft of the mountain, and she +did not speak for some moments, but his eyes held hers and he knew of +what she was thinking. + +"I wonder if you always will do what I tell you," he said at length. +She recovered herself as soon as he spoke. + +"Too much power is not good for any man! Nothing would induce me to +assure you that you held my destiny in your hands, even did you!" + +His face did not fall. "You are the most spirited woman in America, +and nothing becomes you so much as obedience." + +"Nevertheless--" + +"Nevertheless, you always will do exactly what I tell you." + +"Even if you told me to marry another man?" + +"Ah! I never shall tell you to do that. On your head be that +responsibility." He did not attempt to speak lightly. His face +hardened, and his eyes, which could change in spite of their +impenetrable quality, let go their fires for a moment. + +"Of course, if you wanted to go, I should make no protest. But so long +as you love me I shall hold you--should, if we ceased to meet. And +whatever you do, don't marry some man suddenly in self-defence. No man +ever loved a woman more than I love you, but you can trust me." + +"Ah!" she said with her first moment of bitterness, "you _are_ strong. +And you believe that if you held out your arms to me now, in the +depths of this forest, I would spring to them. I might not stay. I +believe, I hope I never should see you alone again; but-" + +"You are deliberately missing the point," he said gravely. "I am not +willing to pay the price of a moment's incomplete happiness. I have +lived too long for that. And I should not have ventured even so far on +dangerous ground," he added more lightly, "if it were not quite +probable that five hundred people are ranging the forest this minute. +We are later than we were yesterday, and they are not at their hymns. +This evening when we return I shall discuss with you the possible age +of the Adirondacks, or tell you one of Cooper's yarns." She leaned +toward him, her breath coming so short for a moment that she could +not speak. Finally, with what voice she could command she said,-- + +"Then, as we are safe here and you have broken down the reserve for a +moment, let me ask you this: Do you know how much I love you? Do you +guess? Or do you think it merely a girl's romantic fancy--" + +"No!" he exclaimed. "No! No!" This time she did not cower before the +passion in his face. She looked at him steadily, although her eyes +were heavy. "Ah!" she said at last. "I am glad you know. It seemed to +me a wicked waste of myself that you should not. And if you do--the +rest does not matter so much. For the matter of that, life is always +making sport of its ultimates. The most perfect dream is the dream +that never comes true." + +He did not answer for a moment, but when he did he had recovered +himself completely. + +"That is true enough," he said. "We who have lived and thought know +that. But there never was a man so strong as to choose the dream when +Reality cast off her shackles and beckoned. Imagination we regard as a +compensation, not as the supreme gift. The wise never hate it, +however, as the failures so often do. For what it gives let us be as +thankful as the poet in his garret. If we awake in the morning to find +rain when we vividly had anticipated sunshine, it is only the common +mind who would regret the compensation of the dream." + + + + +XXI + + + +Jack had almost finished his breakfast when Betty entered the dining- +room. He looked beyond her with the surprised and sulky frown of the +neglected husband. + +"Where on earth is Harriet?" he asked. "Her natural inclination is to +lie in bed all day. What induced her--" + +"She wanted to go to the camp-meeting," said Betty, not without +apprehension. "You know she always went with her adopted father, who +was a Methodist clergyman--" + +"Great heaven!" Her apprehension was justified. His face was convulsed +with disgust. "My wife at a camp-meeting! And you let her go?" + +"Harriet is not sixteen. And when a person has been brought up to a +thing, you cannot expect her to change completely in a few months. +Poor Harriet lived in a forsaken village where she had no sort of +society; I suppose the camp-meeting was her only excitement. And you +know how emotionally religious the--the Methodists are--You glare at +me so I scalded my throat." + +"I am sorry, and I am afraid I have been rude. But you must--you must +know how distasteful it is for me to think of my wife at a camp- +meeting. Great heaven!" + +"It is even worse than my going over to politics, isn't it? Don't take +it so tragically, my dear. The truth is, I suspect, Harriet worries +about having deceived Molly and me, and the camp-meeting is probably +to the Methodist what the confessional is to the Catholic. Both must +ease one's mind a lot." + +"Harriet will have to ease her mind in some other way in the future. +And it will be some time before I can forget this." "Thank heaven I am +not married. Are you going after her? Shall you march her home by the +ear?" + +"I certainly shall not go after her--that is, if she is in no danger. +Where is this camp-meeting?" + +"Oh, there are five hundred or so of them, and it is near a +farmhouse." It was evident that he had forgotten the colour of the +camp. "Seriously, I would let her alone for to-day. That form of +hysteria has to wear itself out. I did not like the idea of her going, +and told her so, but I saw what it meant to her, and took her. When +you get her over to Europe, settle in some old town with a beautiful +cathedral and a dozen churches, where the choir boys are ducky little +things in scarlet habits and white lace capes, and there are mediaeval +religious processions with gorgeous costumes and solemn chants, and +the bells ring all day long, and there is a service every five minutes +with music, and a blessed relic to kiss in every church. She will be a +Catholic in less than no time, and look back upon the camp-meeting +with a shudder of aristocratic disgust." + +"I hope so. If you will excuse me I will go out and smoke a +cigarette." + +She said to Senator North as they approached the head of the lake that +evening, "A tempest is brewing in our matrimonial teapot. He looked +ready to divorce her when I told him where she had gone." + +"I hope he won't divorce her when she gets home. Keep them apart if +you can. She has developed more than one characteristic of the race to +which she is as surely forged as if her fetters were visible. If she +has all its religious fanaticism in her, she is quite likely to work +up to that point of hysteria where she will proclaim the truth to the +world." + +"Ah!" cried Betty, sharply. "Why did I not think of that? What a poor +guardian I am! If I had warned her, she never would have gone--but +probably she won't, as we have thought of it. The expected so seldom +happens." + +"Don't count too much on that when great crises threaten," he said +grimly. "The law of cause and effect does not hide in the realm of the +unexpected when intelligent beings go looking for it. To tell you the +truth, I have been apprehensive ever since I saw her face this +morning. All the intelligence had gone out of it. With her race, +religion means the periodical necessity to relapse into barbarism, to +act like shouting savages after the year of civilized restraints. I +will venture to guess that Harriet has forgotten to-day everything +she has learned since she entered your family. Within that sad, calm, +high-bred envelope is--I am afraid--a mind which has the taint of the +blood that feeds it." + +"I have thought that for a long while. Poor thing, why was she ever +born?" + +"Because sin has a habit of persisting, and is remorseless in its +choice of vehicles. I do not see anything of her." + +They waited almost an hour before she came hurrying down the path. She +barely recognized them, but dropped on her seat in the bow and +crouched there, sobbing and groaning. + +It was a cheerless journey through the forest and down the lake, and +the element of the grotesque did nothing to relieve it. Betty, +distracted at first, soon realized that upon her lay the +responsibility of averting a tragedy, and she ordered her brain to +action. She leaned forward finally and whispered to Senator North: + +"Row me to my boat-house and I will ask Jack to row you home. He is +too courteous to suggest sending a servant if I make a point of his +taking you." + +He nodded. She saw the confidence in his eyes, and even in that hour +of supreme anxiety her mind leapt forward to the winning of his +approval as the ultimate of her struggle to save the happiness of two +human beings who were almost at her mercy. + +Jack was walking on the terrace. Betty called to him, and he consented +with no marked grace to be boatman. He had taken the oars before he +noticed that his wife, whom he was not yet ready to forgive, was being +hurried off by his cousin. + +"Mrs. Emory is very tired and her head aches," said Senator North. +"Miss Madison is anxious to get her into bed. Can't you dine with me +to-night? It would give me great pleasure, and men are superfluous, I +have observed, when women have headaches." + +And Jack, who was not sorry to punish his wife, accepted the +invitation and did not return home till midnight. + + + + +XXII + + + +Betty took Harriet to her own room and put her to bed. She had dinner +for both sent upstairs, but Harriet would not eat; neither would she +speak. She lay in the bed, half on her face, as limp as the newly +dead. Occasionally she sighed or groaned. Betty tried several times to +rouse her, but she would not respond. Finally she shook her. + +"You shall listen," she said sternly. "As you seem to have left your +common-sense up there with those negroes, you are not to leave this +room until you have recovered it--until I give you permission. Do you +understand?" She had calculated upon striking the slavish chord in the +demoralized creature, and her intelligence had acted unerringly. +Harriet bent her head humbly, and muttered that she would do what she +was told. + +When Betty heard Jack return, she went out to meet him, locking the +door behind her. + +"Harriet is with me for to-night," she said. "She needs constant care, +for she is both excited and worn out; and as you still are angry with +her--" + +"Oh, I am sorry if she is really ill, and I will do anything I can--" + +"Then leave her with me for to-night. You know nothing about taking +care of women." + +Jack, who was sleepy and still sulky, thanked her and went off to his +room. She returned to Harriet, who finally appeared to sleep. + +Betty took the key from the door and put it in her pocket, then lay +down on the sofa to sleep while she could: she anticipated a long and +difficult day with Harriet. She was awakened suddenly by the noise of +a door violently slammed. Immediately, she heard the sound of running +feet. + +She looked at the bed. Harriet was not there. A draught of cold air +struck her, and she saw a curtain flutter. She ran to the window. It +was open. She stepped out upon the roof of the veranda, and went +rapidly round the corner to Emory's room. One of the windows was open. +Betty looked up at the dark forest behind the lonely house and caught +her breath. What should she see? But she went on. A candle burned in +the room. Harriet sat on a chair in her nightgown, her black hair +hanging about her. + +"I told him," she said, in a hollow but even voice. "I was drunk with +religion, and I told him. I didn't come to my senses till I looked up +--I was on the floor--and saw his face. He has gone away." + +"What did he say?" + +"Nothing. Not a word." + +She drew a long sigh. "I'm so tired," she said. "I reckon I'll go to +bed." + + + + +XXIII + + + +For four days they had no word from Jack Emory. Harriet slept late on +the first day. When she awoke she was an intelligent being again, and +strove for the controlled demeanor which she always had seemed to feel +was necessary to her self-respect. But more than once she let Betty +see how nervous and terrified she was. + +"I am sure he will come back," she said, with the emphasis of +unadmitted doubt. "Sure! He adores me. Of course he would not have +married me if he had known, but that is done and cannot be undone. +When he realizes that, he will come back, for he loves me. We are +bound together and he will return in time." + +Betty, who scarcely left her, gave her what encouragement she could. +Men were contradictory beings. Jack had the fanatical pride and +prejudices of his race, but he was in love. It was possible that after +a few months of loneliness in his old house he would give way to an +uncontrollable longing and send for his wife. She had made inquiries +at the railroad station, and ascertained that he had taken a ticket +for New York. Undoubtedly he had gone on to Washington. + +She reproached herself bitterly for having slept and allowed Harriet +to escape; but Harriet, to whom she did not hesitate to express +herself, shook her head. + +"You could not have stayed awake for twenty-four hours, and I should +have found a chance sooner or later. The idea came to me up there +while I was shouting and nearly crazy with excitement and the +excitement of all those half-mad negroes in that wild forest,--the +idea came to me that I must tell him, and I believed that it came +straight from the Lord. It seemed to me that He was there and told me +that was my only hope,--to tell him myself before he found it out from +your mother or Miss Trumbull. The idea never left me for a minute; it +possessed me. I was so afraid you wouldn't have waited when I found +out I was late,--that they would tell him before I got home. But I +wanted to tell him alone. When you ordered me not to leave the room, I +felt like I wanted to do anything you told me, but when I found you'd +gone to sleep, I felt like I couldn't wait another minute. I crawled +out of the window and went to him. And perhaps I did right. I can't +think it wasn't an inspiration to confess and be forgiven before he +found out for himself." + +Betty was in the living-room with Senator North when a letter from +Jack Emory was brought to her. With it, also bearing the Washington +postmark, was another, directed in an unfamiliar and illiterate hand. +Betty, cold with apprehension, tore open Emory's letter. It read:-- + +Dear Betty,--You know, of course, that my wife confessed to me the +terrible fact that she has negro blood in her veins. My one impulse +when she told me was to get back to my home like a beaten dog to its +kennel. I did little thinking on the train; whether I talked to people +or whether I was too stupefied to think, I cannot tell you. But here I +have done thinking enough. At first I hated, I loathed, I abhorred +her. I resolved merely never to see her again, to ask you to send her +to Europe as quickly as possible, to threaten her with exposure and +arrest if she ever returned. But, Betty, although I have not yet +forgiven her, although the thought of her awful hidden birthmark still +fills me with horror and disgust, I know the weakness of man. The +marriage is void according to the laws of Virginia, and I know that if +I returned to her she would insist upon remarriage in a Northern +State--and I might succumb. And rather than do that, rather than +dishonour my blood, rather than do that monstrous wrong, not only to +my family but to the South that has my heart's allegiance--as +passionate an allegiance as if I had fought and bled on her +battlefields--I am going to kill myself. + +Do not for a moment imagine, Betty, that I hold you to account. I can +guess why you did not warn me in the beginning, why you did not tell +me when it was too late. Would that I had gone on to the end faithful +to my ideal of you! My lonely years in this old house were brightened +and made endurable with the mere thought of you. But man was not made +to live on shadows, and I loved again, so deeply that I dare not trust +myself to live. + +I send her only one message--she must drop my name. She has no legal +title to it according to the laws of Virginia; the marriage would be +declared void were it known that she had black blood in her. I would +spare her shame and exposure, but she shall not bear my name, and it +is my dying request that you use any means to make her drop it. Good- +bye. + JACK EMORY. + +Betty thrust the letter into Senator North's hand. "Read it!" she +said. "Read it! Oh, do you suppose he has--" + +Her glance fell on the other letter and she opened it with heavy +fingers. It read:-- + +Mis Betty,--Marse Jack done shot himself. He tole me not to telegraf. +Yours truly, + JIM. + +Betty stood staring at Senator North as he read Jack's letter. When he +had finished it, she handed him the other. He read it, then took her +cold hands in his. + +"You must tell her," he said. "It is a terrible trial for you, but you +must do it." + +"Ah!" she cried sharply. "I believe you are thinking of me only, not +of that poor girl." + +"My dear," he said, "that poor creature was doomed the moment she +entered the world. No amount of sympathy, no amount of help that you +or I could give her would alter her fate one jot. For all the women of +that accursed cross of black and white there is absolutely no hope--so +long as they live in this country, at all events. They almost +invariably have intelligence. If they marry negroes, they are +humiliated. If they pin their faith to the white man, they become +outcasts among the respectable Blacks by their own act, as the act of +others has made them outcasts among the Whites, Their one compensation +is the inordinate conceit which most of them possess. Do not think I +am heartless. I have thought long and deeply on the subject. But no +legislation can reach them, and the American character will have to be +born again before there is any change in the social law. It is one of +those terrible facts of life that rise isolated above the so-called +problems. If Harriet lives through this, she will fall upon other +miseries incidental to her breed, as sure as there is life about us, +for she has the seeds of many crops within her. So it is true that all +my concern is for you. In a way I helped to bring this on you; but you +did what was right, and I have no regrets. And you must think of me as +always beside you, not only ready to help you, but thinking of you +constantly." + +She forgot Harriet for the moment. "Oh, I do," she said, "I do! I +wonder what strength I would have had through this if you had not been +behind me." + +"You are capable of a great deal, but no woman is strong enough to +stand alone long. Send for Harriet to come here. I don't wish you to +be alone with her when she hears this news." + +Betty rang the bell, and sent a servant for Harriet. She put Emory's +letter in her pocket. + +"I shall not give her that terrible message of his until she quite has +got over the shock of his death," she said. "Let her be his widow for +a little while. Then she can go to Europe and resume her own name. She +soon will be forgotten here." + +Harriet came in a few moments. She barely had sat down since she had +risen after a restless night. But she had refused to talk even to +Betty. As she entered the room and was greeted by one of those +silences with which the mind tells its worst news, she fell back +against the door, her hands clutching at her gown. Betty handed her +the servant's letter. + +She took it with twitching fingers, and read it as if it had been a +letter of many pages. Then she extended her rigid arms until she +looked like a cross. + +"Oh!" she articulated. "Oh! Oh!" + +But in a moment she laughed. "I don't feel surprised, somehow," she +said sullenly. "I suppose I knew all along he'd do it. Every day that +I live I'll curse your unjust and murderous race while other people +are saying their prayers. May the black race overrun the world and +taint every vein of blood upon it. For me, I accept my destiny. I'm a +pariah, an outcast. I'll live to do evil, to square accounts with the +race that has made me what I am. I'll go back to that camp, and leave +it with whatever negro will have me, and when I'm so degraded I don't +care for anything, I'll go out and ruin every white man I can. I'll +keep the money you gave me, so that I'll be able to do more harm--" + +"You can go," said Betty, "but not yet. You shall go with me first and +bury your husband. If you attempt to escape until I give you +permission, I shall have you locked up. I shall take two menservants +with us. Now come upstairs with me and pack your portmanteau." + +She slipped her hand into Senator North's. "Good-bye," she said +hurriedly. "I shall return Friday night. Please come over Saturday +morning." + +Harriet preceded Betty upstairs, and obeyed her orders sullenly. Betty +locked her in her room, and went to break the news to her mother. Mrs. +Madison received it without excitement, remarking among her tears that +it was one of the denouements she had imagined, and that on the whole +it was the best thing he could have done. She consented to go with her +maid to the hotel till Friday, and the party left for Washington that +evening. + + + + +XXIV + + + +They returned late on Friday night. As Betty had anticipated, +Harriet's exhausted body had not harboured a violent spirit for long. +When they arrived in New York, she bought herself a crape veil +reaching to her toes, and when she entered the dilapidated old house +where her husband lay dead, she began to weep heavily. Her tears +scarcely ceased to flow until she had started on her way to the +mountains again, and, hot as it was, she never raised her veil during +the nine hours' train journey from New York to the lake, except to eat +the food that Betty forced upon her. + +Mrs. Madison had returned, and Betty, after telling her those details +of the funeral which elderly people always wish to know, went to her +room, for she was tired and longed for sleep. But Harriet entered +almost immediately and sat down. She barely had spoken since Monday; +but it was evident that she was ready to talk at last, and Betty +stifled a yawn and sat upon the edge of her bed. Harriet was a +delicate subject and must be treated with vigilant consideration, +except at those times where an almost brutal firmness was necessary. +She looked sad and haggard, but very beautiful, and Betty reflected +that with her voice she might begin life over again, and in a public +career forget her brief attempt at happiness. If she failed, it would +be because there was so little grip in her; Nature had been lavish +only with the more brilliant endowments. + +"Betty," she began, "I want to tell you that I'm sorry I said those +dreadful words when I learned he was dead. But suspense and the doubt +that had begun to work had nearly driven me crazy. I don't mind +saying, though, that I wish I had kept on meaning them, that I could +do what I said I'd do, for I meant them then--I reckon I did! But I +haven't any backbone, my will is a poor miserable weak thing that +takes a spurt and then fizzles out. And I'd rather be good than bad. +I reckon that has something to do with it. I'd have gone to the bad, I +suppose, if you hadn't taken hold of me; I'd have just drifted that +way, although I liked teaching Sunday-school, and I liked to feel I +was good and respectable and could look down on people that were no +better than they should be. And now that I've been living with such +respectable and high-toned people as you all are, I don't think I +could stand niggers and poor white trash again--" + +"I am sure you will be good," interrupted Betty, encouragingly. "And +you owe him respect. Don't forget that, and make allowances for him." + +"Ah, yes!" "Her face convulsed, but she calmed herself and went on. +"You will never know how I loved him. I was proud enough of the name, +but I worshipped him; and he killed himself to get rid of me! Oh, yes, +I'll make allowances, for I killed him as surely as if I had pulled +that trigger--" "Put the heavier blame on those that went before you," +said Betty, with intent to soothe. "You did wrong in deceiving him, +but helpless women should be forgiven much that they do, in their +desperate battle with Circumstance. Think of it as a warning, but not +as a crime." Don't let _anything_ make you morbid. Life is full of +pleasure. Go and look for it, and put the past behind you." + +Harriet shook her head. "I am not you," she said. "I am _I_. And I +feel as if there was a heavy hand on my neck pressing me down. If I +should live to be a toothless old woman, I should never feel that I +had any right to be happy again. Heaven knows what I might be tempted +to do, but I should laugh at myself for a fool, all the same." + +The colour rushed over her face, but she continued steadily: "There's +something else I must tell you before I can sleep to-night. I've read +his letter to you. I knew he'd written it, and down there while you +were asleep I took it out of your pocket and read it. It was I who +suggested going over to Virginia, for I was afraid some newspaper +would get hold of it if we were married in Washington, where he was so +well known. I didn't know there was such a law in Virginia. So, +you see, the Lord was on his side a little. I don't bear his name. I'm +as much of an outcast as the vengeance of a wronged man could wish--" + +"I am sure he thought of you kindly at the last, and I never shall +think of you in that--that other way. You must go to Europe and begin +life over again." + +Harriet rose and kissed Betty affectionately. "Good-night," she said. +"You are just worn out, and I have kept you up. But I felt I wanted to +tell you--and that no matter how ungrateful I sometimes appear I +always love you; and I'd rather be you than any one in the world, +because you're so unlike myself." + +Betty went with her to the door. "Go to sleep," she said. "Don't lie +awake and think." + +"Oh, I will sleep," she said. "Don't worry about that." + + + + +XXV + + + +Betty slept late on the following morning, but arose as soon as she +awoke and dressed herself hurriedly. Senator North was an early +visitor. Doubtless he was waiting for her on the veranda. + +She ran downstairs, feeling that she could hum a tune. The morning was +radiant, and for the last five days it had seemed to her that the +atmosphere was as black as Harriet's veil. She wanted the fresh air +and the sunshine, the lake and the forest again. She wanted to talk +for long hours with the one man who she was sure could never do a weak +or cowardly act. She wanted to feel that her heavy responsibilities +were pushed out of sight, and that she could live her own life for a +little. + +She almost had reached the front door when a man sprang up the steps +and through it, closing it behind him. It was John, the butler, and +his face was white. + +"What is it?" she managed to ask him. "What on earth has happened +now?" "It's Miss Walker, Miss. They found her three hours ago--on the +lake. The coroner's been here. They're bringing her in. I told them to +take her in the side door. I hoped we'd get her to her room before you +come down. I'll attend to everything, Miss." + +Betty heard the slow tramp of feet on the side veranda. It was the +most horrid sound she ever had heard, and she wondered if she should +cease to hear it as long as she lived. She went into the living-room +and covered her face with her hands. She had not cried for Jack Emory, +but she cried passionately now. She felt utterly miserable, and +crushed with a sense of failure; as if all the wretchedness and +tragedy of the past fortnight were her own making. Two lives had +almost been given into her keeping, and in spite of her daring and +will the unseen forces had conquered. And then she wondered if the +water had been very cold, and shivered and drew herself together. And +it must have been horribly dark. Harriet was afraid of the dark, and +always had burned a taper at night. + +She heard Senator North come up the front steps and knock. As no one +responded, he opened the door and came into the living-room. + +"I have just heard that she has drowned herself," he said; and if +there was a note of relief in his voice, Betty did not hear it. She +ran to him and threw herself into his arms and clung to him. + +"You said you would," she sobbed. "And I never shall be in greater +grief than this. I feel as if it were my entire fault, as if I were a +terrible failure, as if I had let two lives slip through my hands. Oh, +poor poor Harriet! Why are some women ever born? What terrible purpose +was she made to live twenty-four wretched years for? You wanted me to +become serious. I feel as if I never could smile again." + +He held her closely, and in that strong warm embrace she was comforted +long before she would admit; but he soothed her as if she were a +child, and he did not kiss her. + + + + + +_Part III_ + +_The Political Sea Turns Red_ + + + + +I + + + +Betty Madison arrived in Washington two days before Christmas, with +the sensation of having lived through several life-times since Lady +Mary's car had left the Pennsylvania station on the fourteenth of +March; she half expected to see several new public buildings, and she +found herself wondering if her old friends were much changed. + +People capable of the deepest and most enduring impressions often +receive these impressions upon apparently shallow waters. They feel +the blow, but it skims the surface at the moment, to choose its place +and sink slowly, surely, into the thinking brain. + +Betty's immediate attitude toward the tragic fact of Harriet's death +was almost spectacular. She felt herself the central figure in a +thrilling and awful drama, its horror stifling for a moment the hope +that the man whose footsteps followed closely upon that tramping of +heavy feet would fulfil his promise and take her in his arms. And when +he did her sense of personal responsibility left her, as well as her +clearer comprehension of what had happened to bring about this climax +so long and so ardently desired. + +But she had not seen Senator North since the day following the +funeral. Mrs. Madison had announced with emphasis that she had had as +much as she could stand and would not remain another day in the +Adirondacks; she wanted Narragansett and the light and agreeable +society of many Southern friends who did not have frequent tragedies +in their families. Betty telegraphed for rooms at one of the +large hotels at the Pier, and thereafter had the satisfaction of +seeing her mother gossip contentedly for hours with other ladies of +lineage and ante-bellum reminiscences, or sit with even deeper +contentment for intermediate hours upon the veranda of the Casino. +When she herself was bored beyond endurance, she crossed the bay and +lunched or dined in Newport, where she had many friends; and she spent +much time on horseback. When the season was over, they paid a round of +visits to country houses, and finished with the few weeks in New York +necessary for the replenishment of Miss Madison's wardrobe. She had +hoped to reach Washington for the opening of Congress, but her mother +had been ill, prolonging the last visit a fortnight, and gowns must be +consulted upon, fitted and altered did the world itself stand still. +And this was the one period of mental rest that Betty had experienced +since her parting from Senator North. + +She had been much with people during these five months, seeking and +finding little solitude, and few had found any change in her beyond a +deeper shade of indifference and more infrequent flashes of humour. +She permitted men to amuse her if she did not amuse them, to all out- +door sports she was faithful, and she read the new books and talked +intelligently of the fashions. When the conversation swung with the +precision of a pendulum from clothes and love to war with Spain, her +mind leapt at once to action, and she argued every advocate of war +into a state of fury. She had responded heavily to the President's +appeal in behalf of the reconcentrados, but her mind was no longer +divided. The failure of the belligerency resolutions to reach the +attention of the House during the Extra Session of Congress had +rekindled the war fever in the country; and the constant chatter about +the suffering Cuban and the duty of the United States, the black +iniquity of the Speaker and the timidity of the President, were +wearying to the more evenly balanced members of the community. "You +say that we need a war," said Betty contemptuously one day, "that it +will shake us up and do us good. If we had fallen as low as that, no +war could lift us, certainly not the act of bullying a small country, +of rushing into a war with the absolute certainty of success. But we +need no war. American manhood is where it always has been and always +will be until we reach that pitch of universal luxury and sloth and +vice which extinguished Rome. Those commercial and financial pursuits +should make a man less a man is the very acme of absurdity. If our men +were drawn into a righteous war to-morrow or a hundred years hence, +they would fight to the glory of their country and their own honour. +But if they swagger out to whip a decrepit and wheezy old man, when +the excitement is over they will wish that the whole episode could be +buried in oblivion. And I would be willing to wager anything you like +that if this war does come off, so false is its sentiment that it will +not inspire one great patriotic poem, nor even one of merit, and that +the only thing you will accomplish will be to drag Cuba from the +relaxing clutches of one tyrant and fling her to a horde of +politicians and greedy capitalists." + +But, except when politics possessed it, her brain seldom ceased, no +matter how crowded her environment, from pondering on the events of +the summer, and pondering, it sobered and grew older. She had engaged +in a conflict with the Unseen Forces of life and been conquered. She +had been obliged to stand by and see these forces work their will upon +a helpless being, who carried in solution the vices of civilizations +and men persisting to their logical climax, almost demanding aloud the +sacrifice of the victim to death that this portion of themselves might +be buried with her. Despite her intelligence, nothing else could have +given her so clear a realization of the eternal persistence of all +acts, of the sequential symmetrical links they forge in the great +chain of Circumstance. It was this that made her hope more eager that +the United States would be guided by its statesmen and not by +hysteria, and it was this that made her think deeply and constantly +upon her future relation with Senator North. + +The danger was as great as ever. Her brain had sobered, but her heart +had not. Separation and the absence of all communication--they had +agreed not to correspond--had strengthened and intensified a love that +had been half quiescent so long as its superficial wants were +gratified. Troubled times were coming when he would need her, would +seek her whenever he could, and yet when their meetings must be short +and unsatisfactory. When hours are no longer possible, minutes become +precious, and the more precious the more dangerous. If she were older, +if tragedy and thought had sobered and matured her character, if she +were deprived of the protection of the lighter moods of her mind, +would not the danger be greater still? The childish remnant upon which +she had instinctively relied had gone out of her, she had a deeper and +grimmer knowledge of what life would be without the man who had +conquered her through her highest ideals and most imperious needs; and +of what it would be with him. + +She had no intention of making a problem out of the matter, constantly +as her mind dwelt upon the future. Senator North had told her once +that problems fled when the time for action began. She supposed that +one of two things would happen after her return to Washington: great +events would absorb his mind and leave him with neither the desire nor +the time for more than an occasional friendly hour with her; or after +a conscientious attempt to take up their relationship on the old lines +and give each other the companionship both needed, all intercourse +would abruptly cease. + + + + +II + + + +"I am going to have my _salon,_ or at all events the beginning of it, +at once," said Betty to Sally Carter on the afternoon of her arrival, +"and I want you to help me." + +"I am ready for any change," said Miss Carter. Her appearance was +unaltered, and she had spoken of Emory's death without emotion. +Whether she had put the past behind her with the philosophy of her +nature, or whether his marriage with a woman for whose breed she had a +bitter and fastidious contempt had killed her love before his death, +Betty could only guess. She made no attempt to learn the truth. +Sally's inner life was her own; that her outer was unchanged was +enough for her friends. + +"I am going to give a dinner to thirty people on the sixth of January. +Here is the list. You will see that every man is in official life. +There are eight Senators, five members of the House, the British +Ambassador, and the Librarian of Congress. Some of them know my desire +for a _salon_ and are ready to help me. I shall talk about it quite +freely. In these days you must come out plainly and say what you want. +If you wait to be too subtle, the world runs by you. I am determined +to have a _salon,_ and a famous one at that. This is an ambitious +list, but half-way methods don't appeal to me." + +"Nobody ever accused you of an affinity for the second best, my dear; +but you may thank your three stars of luck for providing you with the +fortune and position to achieve your ambitions: beauty and brains +alone wouldn't do it. Senator North," she continued from the list in +her hand: "Mrs. North is wonderfully improved, by the way; has not +been so well in twenty years. Senator Burleigh: he is out flat-footed +against free silver since the failure of the bi-metallic envoys, and +his State is furious. Senator Shattuc is for it, so they probably +don't speak. Senator Ward might be induced to fall in love with Lady +Mary and turn his eloquence on the Senate in behalf of a marriage +between Uncle Sam and Britannia. There is no knowing what your +_salon_ may accomplish, and that would be a sight for the gods. +Senator Maxwell will inveigh in twelve languages against recognizing +the belligerency of the Cubans. Senator French will supply the +distinguished literary element. Senator March represents the +conservative Democrat who is too good for the present depraved +condition of his State. If you want to immortalize yourself, invent a +political broom. Senator Eustis: he thinks the only fault with the +Senate is that it is too good-natured and does not say No often +enough. Who are the Representatives? The only Speaker, the immortal +Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means--don't place me near +him, for I've just paid a hideous bill at the Custom House and I'd +scratch his eyes out. Mr. Montgomery: he and Lady Mary are getting +almost devoted. Trust a clever woman to pinch the memory of any other +woman to death. The redoubtable Mr. Legrand, also of Maine, upon whom +the shafts of an embittered minority seem to fall so harmlessly; and +Mr. Armstrong--who is he? I thought I knew as much about politics as +you, by this time, but I don't recall his name." + +"I met him at Narragansett, and had several talks with him. He is a +Bryanite, but very gentlemanly, and his convictions were so strong and +so unquestionably genuine that he interested me. I want the best of +all parties. We can't sit up and agree with each other." + +"Don't let that worry you, darling. Mr. North has been contradicting +everybody in the Senate for twenty years. Your devoted Burleigh +quarrels with everybody but yourself. Mr. Maxwell snubs everybody who +presumes to disagree with him, and French is so superior that I long +for some naughty little boys to give him a coat of pink paint. Your +_salon_ will probably fight like cats. If the war cloud gets any +bigger, your mother will go to bed early on _salon_ nights and send +for a policeman. I look forward to it with an almost painful joy. +I want to go in to dinner with Mr. March, by the way. He is the +noblest-looking man in Congress--looks like what the statues of the +founders of the Republic would look like if they were decently done. +I'll paint the menu cards for you, and I'll wear a new gown I've just +paid ninety-three dollars duty on--I certainly shall tear out the eyes +of 'the honourable gentleman from Maine.'" + + + + +III + + + +When Sally had gone, after an hour of consultation on the various +phases of the dinner, Betty sat for some moments striving to call up +something from the depths of her brain, something that had smitten it +disagreeably as it fell, but sunk too quickly, under a torrent of +words, to be analyzed at the moment. It had made an extremely +unpleasant impression;--painful perhaps would be a better word. + +In the course of ten minutes she found the sentence which had made the +impression: "Mrs. North is wonderfully improved, by the way; has not +been so well in twenty years." + +The words seemed to hang themselves up in a row in her mind; they +turned scarlet and rattled loudly. Betty made no attempt to veil her +mental vision; she stared hard at the words and at the impression they +had produced. Mrs. North was out of danger, and the fact was a bitter +disappointment to her. In spite of the resolute expulsion of the very +shadow of Mrs. North from her thought, her sub-consciousness had +conceived and brought forth and nurtured hope. What had made her +content to drift, what had made her look with an almost philosophical +eye on the future, was the unadmitted certainty that in the natural +course of events a woman with a shattered constitution must go her way +and leave her husband free. Had he thought of this? He must have, she +concluded. She was beginning to look facts squarely in the face; it +was an old habit with him, older than herself. There never was a more +practical brain. + +For the first time in her life she almost hated herself. She had done +and felt many things which she sincerely regretted, but this seemed +incomparably the worst. And despite her protest, her bitter self- +contempt, the sting of disappointment remained; she could not extract +it. + +She went out and walked several miles, as she always did when nervous +and troubled. She came to the conclusion that she was glad to have +heard this news to-day. She and Senator North were to meet in the +evening for the first time in five months. She had looked forward to +this meeting with such a mingling of delight and terror that several +times she had been on the point of sending him word not to come. But +the impression Sally's information had made had hardened her. She was +so disappointed in herself, so humiliated to find that a mortal may +fancy himself treading the upper altitudes, only to discover that the +baser forces in the brain are working independently of the will, that +she felt in anything but a melting mood. She knew that this mood would +pass; she had watched the workings of the brain, its abrupt +transitions and its reactions, too long to hope that she suddenly had +acquired great and enduring strength. The future had not expelled one +jot of its dangers, perhaps had supplemented them, but for the hour +she not only was safe from herself, but the necessity to turn him from +her door had receded one step. + +She had intended to receive him in the large and formal environment of +the parlor, but in her present mood the boudoir was safe, and she was +glad not to disappoint him; she knew that he loved the room. And if +her brain had sobered, her femininity would endure unaltered for ever. +She wore a charming new gown of white crepe de chine flowing over a +blue petticoat, and a twist of blue in her hair. She had written to +him from New York when to call, and he had sent a large box of lilies +of the valley to greet her. She had arranged them in a bowl, and +wore only a spray at her throat. Women with beautiful figures seldom +care for the erratic lines and curves of the floral decoration. She +heard him coming down the corridor and caught her breath, but that was +all. She did not tremble nor change colour. + +When he came in, he took both her hands and looked at her steadily for +a moment. They made no attempt at formal greeting, and there was no +need of subterfuge of any sort between them. No two mortals ever +understood each other better. + +"I see the change in you," he said. "I expected it. You have given me +a great deal, and your last survival of childhood was not the least. +The serious element has developed itself, and you look the embodiment +of an Ideal." He dropped her hands and walked to the end of the room. +When he returned and threw himself into a chair, she knew that his +face had changed, then been ordered under control. + +"What shall I talk to you about?" he asked with an almost nervous +laugh. "Politics? Comparatively little happened in the Senate before +the holidays. The President's message was of peculiar interest to me, +inasmuch as it indicated that he is approaching Spain in the right way +and will succeed in both relieving the Cubans and averting war if the +fire-eaters will let him alone. The Cubans probably will not listen to +the offer of autonomy, for it comes several years too late and their +confidence in Spain has gone forever; but I am hoping that while this +country is waiting to see the result, it will come to its senses. The +pressure upon us has been intolerable. Both Houses have been flooded +with petitions and memorials by the thousands: from Legislatures, +Chambers of Commerce, Societies, Churches, from associations of every +sort, and from perhaps a million citizens. The Capitol looks like a +paper factory. If autonomy fails soon enough, or if some new chapter +of horrors can be concocted by the Yellow Press, or if the unforeseen +happens, war will come. The average Congressman and even Senator does +not resist the determined pressure of his constituents, and to do them +justice they have talked themselves into believing that they are as +excited as the idle minds at home who are feeling dramatic and calling +it sympathy. And the average mind hates to be on the unpopular side. + +"Forgive me if I am bitter," he said, standing up suddenly and looking +down on her with a smile, "but a good many of us are, just now. We +can't help it. A great and just war would be met unflinchingly and +with all pride; but the prospect of this hysterical row between a bull +pup and a senile terrier fills us with impatience and disgust. The +President must feel that he is expiating all the sins of the human +race. The only man in the United States to be envied, so far, is the +Speaker of the House; it is almost a satisfaction to think that he +looks like the monument he is; and for the time being his importance +overshadows the President's. If the President can hold on, however, he +will negotiate Spain out of this hemisphere in less than a year." + +"I knew you were worried about it," she said softly. "I felt that so +keenly that I never lost an opportunity to war against the war. I made +enemies right and left, and acquired a reputation for heartlessness." + +"Our minds are much alike," he said, staring down at her and dropping +his voice for a moment. "You may have done it for me, but you are as +sincere as I am. I have stimulated your mind, that is all. How much +you can do here in Washington--among the men who legislate--I cannot +say. A woman who takes a high and definite stand is always an +influence for good; but the women who influence men's votes are not of +your type. They are women who sacrifice anything to gain their ends, +or those who have educated themselves to play upon the vanity and +other petty qualities of men; every peg in their brain is hung with a +political trick. The only men who attract you are too strong to vote +under the influence of any woman, even if they loved her. If Shattuc +were not as obstinate as a mule," he added more lightly, "I should ask +you to convert him to the principles of sound currency. That is +another ugly cloud ahead: there is going to be an attempt made to pass +through both Houses a concurrent resolution advocating the free and +unlimited coinage of silver and to pay the public debt with it. As far +as our honour goes, the passing of such a resolution would affect us +as deeply as if it were to become a law. We should stand before the +world as willing and ready to violate the national honour, ignore our +pledges and recklessly impair our credit. I don't think the resolution +will pass the House, the Republican majority is too strong there, but +I am afraid it will pass the Senate; although we are in the majority, +a good many Republicans are Western men and Silverites. A certain +number on both sides of the Chamber are voting merely to please their +constituents, feeling reasonably sure that the resolution will fail in +the House. They appear to care little for the honour of the Senate; +they certainly have not the backbone to defy their constituents if +they do care for it. To the outside world the Senate is a unit; every +resolution that passes it might come out of one gigantic skull at +peace with itself. This one will be passed by a small majority who +have not imagination enough to read the works of future historians, +nor even to grasp public opinion as unexpressed by their constituents. + +"There is one fact that the second-rate politician never grasps," he +said, walking impatiently up and down; Betty had never seen him so +restless. "That is, that the true American respects convictions; no +matter how many fads he may conceive nor how loud he may clamour for +their indulgence, when his mind begins to balance methodically again, +he respects the man who told him he was wrong and imperilled his own +re-election rather than vote against his convictions. Many a Senator +has lost re-election through yielding to pressure, for elections do +not always occur at the height of a popular agitation; and when men +have had time to cool off and think, they despise and distrust the +waverer. If you will read the biographies in the Congressional +Directory, you will see that with a very few exceptions the New +Englanders are the only men who come back here--to both Houses--term +after term. They practically are here for life; and the reason is +that they belong to the same hard-headed, clear-thinking, unyielding, +and puritanically upright race as the men who elect them to office. +They have their faults, but they represent the iron backbone of this +country, and in spite of fads and aberrations, and gales in general on +the political sea, they will remain the prevailing influence. If I +speak seldom in the Senate, I certainly make a good many speeches to +you. But I want you to understand all I can teach you and to do what +you can." + +"Yes," she said, rising abruptly, "I want an object in life, a vital +interest. I need it! A year ago I took up politics out of curiosity +and ennui; to-day they represent a safeguard as well as a necessity. I +cannot write books nor paint pictures; charities bore me and I never +shall marry. My heart must go to the wall, and my brain is very +active. The more one studies and observes politics the more absorbing +they become. But that is only a part of it. I want to be of some use +to the country, to accomplish something for the public good; and it +will be a form of happiness to think that I am working with you--for I +certainly agree with you in all things, whatever the cause. When the +time comes that we meet in public only, I can have that much happiness +at least; and I always shall know where I can help you--" + +"The mere fact that you are alive is help enough--and torment enough. +I shall go now. We have gotten through this first meeting better than +I had hoped." + +They both laughed a little as they shook hands, for politics had +cleared the air. + + + + +IV + + + +He came in again on Sunday, but Burleigh and other men were there; and +as the Senate had adjourned until the fifth, there was no excuse for +him to call at the late hour when she was sure to be alone; so he +dropped in twice to luncheon, and they went for a long walk in Rock +Creek Park afterward. On one of these occasions Sally Carter joined +them; and on the other, although but for the occasional passer-by they +were alone for two hours in the wild beauty of rocky gorges and winter +woods, they talked of war and Spain. He left her at the door. + +On Thursday night she was to have her dinner, and in spite of her +stormy inner life she felt a pleasurable nervousness as the hour +approached; for on its results depended the colour of her future. With +love or without it she had to live on, and if she could see the way to +serve her country, to preserve some of its higher ideals as well as to +win a distinguished position, she had no doubt that in time she should +find resignation. + +All her invitations but one had been accepted: the British Ambassador +was attending a diplomatic dinner, but would come in later. Betty was +not altogether regretful, for the question of precedence, with all her +personages, was sufficiently complicated. The Speaker ranked the +Senators, but there were eight Senators to be disposed of with tact; +they might overlook a mistake, but their wives or daughters would not. + +She had spared no pains to honour her guests. She still scorned the +plutocratic multiplication of flowers until they seemed to rattle like +the dollars they stood for, but the table looked very beautiful, and +the silver and china and crystal had endured through several +generations. Some of it had been used in the White House in the days +when it was an honour to have a President in one's family. Her +father's wine-cellar had been celebrated, and she had employed +connoisseurs in its replenishment ever since the duties of +entertaining had devolved upon her. She also had her own _chef,_ and +knew with what satisfaction he filled the culinary brain-cells of the +patient diner out in Washington. All the lower house was softly lit +with candles; except her boudoir, which was dark and locked. + +She wore a gown of apple-green satin which looked simple and was not. +Mrs. Madison was like an exquisite miniature, in satin of a pinkish +gray hue, trimmed with much Alencon, a collar of diamonds, and a pink +spray in her soft white hair. Her blue eyes were very bright, and +there was a pink colour in her cheeks, but she looked better than she +felt. She was, indeed, hot and cold by turns, and she held herself +with a majesty of mien which only a tiny woman can accomplish. + +Sally Carter was the first to arrive, and looked remarkably well in +her black velvet of Custom House indignities. The Montgomerys +followed, and Lady Mary wore the azure and white in which she appeared +harmless and undiplomatic. No one was more than ten minutes late, and +at eight o'clock the party was seated about the great round table in +the dining-room. + +Senator North sat on Betty's right, Senator Ward on her left. Next to +that astute diplomatist was the lady in azure and white, whom he +admired profoundly and understood thoroughly. She never knew the +latter half of his attitude, however. He was a gallant American, and +delighted to indulge a pretty woman in her fads and ambitions. Mrs. +Madison achieved resignation between the Speaker of the House and +Senator Maxwell, and Sally Carter was paired with Senator March. + +Betty had meditated several hours over the placing of her guests, and +had invited as many pretty and charming women as the matrimonial +entanglements of her statesmen would permit. Fortunately it was early +in the year, and a number of wives had tarried behind their husbands. +The family portraits on the dark old walls had not looked down upon so +brilliant a gathering for half a century, and Betty's eyes sparkled +and she lifted her head, her nostrils dilating. The light in her inner +life burned low, and her brain was luminous with the excitement of +the hour. And as he was beside her, there really was no cause for +repining. + +At once the talk was all of war. Washington, like the rest of the +country, did not rise to its highest pitch of excitement until after +the destruction of the _Maine_, but no other subject could hold its +interest for long. In ordinary conditions politics are barely +mentioned when the most political city in the world is in evening +dress, but war is a microbe. + +"I am for it," announced Lady Mary, "if only to give you a chance to +find out whom your friends are." + +"There is nothing in the history of human nature or of nations to +disprove that our friends of to-day may be our enemies of to-morrow," +observed Senator North. + +"I believe you hate England." + +"On the contrary, I am probably the best friend she has in the Senate. +My mission is to forestall the hate which leads so many ardent but +ill-mated couples into the divorce courts." + +"Well, you will see," said Lady Mary, mysteriously. + +"I do not doubt it," said Senator North, smiling. "And we shall be +grateful. If the circumstances ever are reversed, we shall do as much +for her." + +"How much?" + +"That will depend upon the quality of statesmanship in both Houses." + +"I wish you would explain what you mean by that." Lady Mary's wide +voice was too well trained to sharpen. Her cold blue eyes wore the +dreamy expression of their most active moments. + +"I wish I knew whether the statesmen of the future were to be +Populists or Republicans." + +"Well, whatever you mean you have no sentiment." + +"I have no sentimentalism." + +Lady Mary shrugged her shoulders and turned to Senator Ward. She knew +better than to talk politics to him before dinner was two thirds over, +but she bent her pretty head to him, and gave him her distinguished +attentions while he re-invigorated his weary brain. He smiled +encouragingly. + +"The statesmen of the future will be Populists, Senator," announced +Betty's last recruit, a man with a keen sharply cut face and a +slightly nasal though not displeasing voice. He was forty and looked +thirty. + +"The Populist will have called himself so many things by that time +that 'statesman' will do as well as any other," growled the Speaker. +"'The Statesmen's Party' would sound well, and would be worthy of the +noble pretensions of your leader." + +"Well, they are noble," said Armstrong tartly, but glad of the +opportunity to talk back to the personage who treated him in the House +as a Czar treats a minion. "We are the only party that is ready to +cling to the Constitution as if it were the rock of ages." + +"Well, you've clung so hard you've turned it upside down, and the new +inventions and patent improvements you've stuccoed it with will do for +the 'Statesmen's Party,' but not for the United States--Madam?" + +Mrs. Madison had touched his arm timidly, and asked him if he liked +terrapin. Her colour was deeper, but she exerted herself to keep the +attention of this huge personality whom a poor worm might be tempted +to assassinate. + +Senator Burleigh's voice rose above the chatter. "Who would be a +Western Senator?" he said plaintively. "My colleague and I received a +document today, signed by two thousand of our constituents, the entire +population of an obscure but determined town, in which we were ordered +to acknowledge the belligerency of the Cubans at once or expect to be +tarred and feathered upon our return. The climate of my State is +excellent for consumption, but bad for nerves. Doubtless most of these +men come of good New England stock, whose relatives 'back East' would +never think of doing such a thing; but the intoxicating climate they +have been inhaling for half a generation, to say nothing of the raw +conditions, makes them want to fight creation." + +Senator Maxwell, who had more of the restlessness of youth than the +repose of age, threw back his silver head and gave his little +irritated laugh. "That is it," he said. "It is the lust of blood that +possesses the United States. They don't know it. They call it +sympathy; but their blood is aching for a fight, so that they can read +the exciting horrors of it in the newspapers. You might as well reason +with mad dogs." + +"I shall not attempt to reason with my kennel," said Burleigh. "In the +present congested state of the mails this particular memorial has gone +astray." + +"The trials of a Senator!" cried Sally Carter. "Petitions and +lobbyists, election clouds, fractious and dishonest legislatures, +unprincipled bosses and the country gone mad!" + +"I can give you a list as long as my arm," said Senator March, grimly; +"and you may believe it or not, but it is all I can do to walk in my +Committee-room and I haven't a chair to sit on. I live under a snow- +storm of petitions, memorials, and resolutions. I expect to see them +come flying through the window, and I dream of nothing else." + +Betty had taken part in the general conversation until the last few +moments, but as it concentrated on the subject of Cuban autonomy and +her guests ceased to appeal to her, she fell into conversation with +Senator North, who she knew would be willing to dispense with politics +for a few moments. + +"You have no idea how I miss Jack Emory," she said. "He half lived +with us, you know, and I am always expecting to meet him in the hall. +When I was writing my invitations I caught myself beginning a note, +'Dear Jack.' It is uncanny." + +"It is the only revenge the dead have; and doubtless it is this vivid +after life of theirs in memory that is at the root of the belief in +ghosts. You say that you are going to open your _salon_ every year +with a dinner to the original members. It will be interesting to watch +the two faces in some of the seats--if you attempt to fill the vacant +chairs." + +Betty pressed her handkerchief against her lips, for she knew they had +turned white. She was but twenty-eight, and if her _salon_ was the +success it promised to be she would sit at the head of this table +for twenty-eight years to come, and then have compassed fewer years +than the man beside her. She had refused resolutely to permit her +thought to dwell on the tragic difference in their ages, a difference +that had no meaning now, but would symbolize death and desolation +hereafter; but her mind had moments of abrupt insight that no Will +could conquer, and not long since she had gasped and covered her face +with her hands. + +"That was brutal of me," he said hurriedly. "Your dinner is the +brilliant success that it deserves to be, and you should be permitted +to be entirely happy. There is not a bored face, and if they are all +jabbering about the everlasting subject, so much the better for you. +It gives your _salon_ its political character at once; you would have +had a hard time getting them to begin on bimetallism and the census-- +perish the thought! Ward is now making Lady Mary think that she is a +greater diplomatist than himself. Maxwell and the Speaker are +wrangling across your mother, who looks alarmed; Burleigh is flirting +desperately with Miss Alice Maxwell, who is purring upon his +senatorial vanity; your Populist is breaking out into the turgid +rhetoric of Mr. Bryan; French has persuaded that charming English girl +that he is the most literary man in America, and Miss Carter is +condoling with March about an ungrateful State. So be happy, my +darling, be happy." + +His voice had dropped suddenly. She made an involuntary movement +toward him. + +"I am," she said below her breath. "I am." She added in a moment, +"Will you always come to my Thursday evenings, no matter what +happens?" + +"Always." + +He had turned slightly, and one hand was on his knee. She slipped hers +into it recklessly; they were safe in the crowd, and her hand ached +for his. It ached from the grasp it received, for he was a man whose +self-control was absolute or non-existent. But she clung to him as +long as she dared, and when she withdrew her hand she sought for +distraction in her company. + +It looked as gay and happy as if war had been invented to animate +conversation and make a bored people feel dramatic. Death was close +upon the heels of two of the distinguished men present; but even +though the eyes of the soul be raised everlastingly to the world +above, they are blind to the portal. The busy member who had incurred +Miss Carter's disapproval and the brilliant Librarian of Congress were +among the liveliest at the feast. + +It was Senator Ward at one end of the table and Burleigh at the other, +who finally started the topic of Miss Madison's intended _salon_, not +only that those unacquainted with her ambition might be enlightened, +but that the great intention should receive a concrete form without +further delay. A half-hour later, when the women left the table, Betty +had the satisfaction of knowing that whatever the final result of her +venture, her stand was as fully recognized as if she had written a +book and found a publisher and critics to advertise her. + + + + +V + + + +Betty went to the Senate Gallery on the following day at the request +of Armstrong, and heard an exposition of the Populist religion by the +benevolent-looking bore from Nebraska. He was followed by an +arraignment of the "gold standard Administration" and the Republican +Party, from the leading advocate of bimetallism with-or-without-the- +concurrence-of-Europe. The utterances of both gentlemen were delivered +with the repose and dignity peculiar to their body, and Patriotism and +the Constitution would appear to be their watchword and fetish. +Burleigh came up to the gallery as the Silver Senator sat down, and +smiled wearily at Betty's puzzled comments. + +"Of course they sound well," he replied. "In the first place there is +always much to be said on both sides of any question, and a clever +speaker can make his side dwarf the other. And of course no party +could exist five minutes unless it had some good in it. There are +several admirable principles in the Populist creed; there are enough +windy theories to upset the Constitution of which they prate; and, by +the way, the more wrong-headed a would-be statesman is the more +hysterically does he plead for the Constitution. As to the other +Senator--I sympathize as deeply with the farmer as any man, and I +hoped against hope for the success of the bimetallic envoys; but the +farmer is of considerably less importance than the national honour; +and if a man is not statesman enough to take the national view when he +comes to the Senate, he had better stay at home and become a party +boss." + +"Are you in trouble at home? I saw that you made a speech just before +you left." + +"They are furious, and elections are imminent; but I never have +believed that it paid in the end to be a politician, and I propose to +hold to that view. If I am not re-elected this time, I will venture to +say that I shall be six years later--" + +"Oh, I should be sorry! I should be sorry! Your heart is in the +Senate. How could you settle down contentedly to practise law in a +Western city for six years?" + +"I certainly should have very little to offer a woman," he said +bitterly. His frank handsome face had lost the expression of gayety +which had sat so gracefully upon the determination of its contours; he +looked harassed and a trifle cynical. "There is only one thing I hate +more than leaving the United States Senate--and God knows I love it +and its traditions: what that is I feel I now have no right--" + +"Oh, yes, you have; for if I loved you I would live at the North Pole +with you, and I hate cold weather. I don't want you to put me in that +sort of position, both for the sake of your own pride and for our +friendship." + +"That is like you, and I shall take you at your word. Perhaps you can +imagine what it cost me to come out and declare myself in a State +howling for Silver, when I knew that to leave Washington meant losing +my chance with you. For if I am not re-elected I must go out there and +stay. I could afford to live here, of course--I hope you know that I +have plenty of money--but my political future is there. Even if you +made it a condition, I should not pull up stakes, for a man who +despised himself for abandoning his ambitions and his power for +usefulness could not be happy with any woman." + +"I should not make such a condition. As I said, I willingly would go +West with you if I loved you." + +"Would to God you did! What I meant was that in going I lose my +chance." + +Betty looked at him and shook her head slowly. + +"Yes!" he said. "Yes! Yes! I believe, I know that I could win you with +time. And now that the future looks dark I want you more than ever." + +"Ah, I wish I could love you," she exclaimed fervently. "I have enough +of feminine insight to know that a woman is really happy only when she +is making a man happy, and that she is almost ready to bless the +troubles which give her the opportunity to console him." + +She was looking straight down at Senator North as she spoke. Her voice +was impassioned as she finished, and she forgot the man at her side. +But he never had suspected that she loved another man. His face +flushed and he lowered his head eagerly. + +"Betty!" he said, "Betty! Come to me and I swear to make you happy. +You don't know what love is. You need to be taught. Any man can make a +woman of feeling love him if he loves her enough and she has no +antipathy to him. And there is no reason under heaven why we should +not be happy together." + +There was only one. Betty was convinced of that; and for the moment +the dull ache in her heart prompted her to wish that she never had +seen the man down there listening impassively to remarks on the +Immigration bill. She wanted to be happy, she was made to be happy, +and it was easy to imagine the most exacting woman deeply attached to +Robert Burleigh. What was love that it defied the Will? Why could not +she shake up her brain as one shakes up a misused sofa-cushion and +beat it into proper shape? What was love that persisted in spite of +the Will and the judgment, that came whence no mortal could discover, +but an abnormal condition of the brain, a convolution that no human +treatment could reach? But she only shook her head at Burleigh, +although she knew that it would be wisdom to give him her hand in full +view of the stragglers in the gallery. + +"I must go now," she said. "I have calls to pay. Come and dine with us +to-night. If there is even a chance of our losing you, my mother and I +must have all of you that we can, meanwhile." + + + + +VI + + + +"It is just a year ago to-day, Betty, that you nearly killed me by +announcing your determination to go into politics--or whatever you +choose to call it. I put down the date. A great deal has happened +since then--poor dear Jack! And I often think of that unfortunate +creature, too. But you and I are here in this same room, and I wonder +if you are glad or sorry that you entered upon this eccentric course." + +"I have no regrets," said Betty, smiling. "And I don't think you have. +You like every man that comes here, and while they are talking to you +forget that you ever had an ache. As for me--no, I have no regrets, +not one. I am glad." + +"Well, I will admit that they are much better than I thought. I must +say I never saw a finer set of men than those at your dinner, and I +felt proud of my country, although I was nervous once or twice. I +almost love Mr. Burleigh; so I refrain from further criticism. But, +Betty, there is one thing I feel I must say--" + +She hesitated and readjusted her cushions nervously. Betty looked at +her inquiringly, and experienced a slight chill. She stood up suddenly +and put her foot on the fender. + +"It is this," continued Mrs. Madison, hurriedly. "I think you are too +much with Senator North. He was here constantly before you left +Washington, and of course I know you boated with him a great deal last +summer. Since your return he has been here several times, and you +treat him with twice the attention with which you treat any other man. +Of course I can understand the attraction which a man with a brain +like that must have for you, but there is something more important +to be considered. You have been the most noticeable girl in Washington +for years--in our set--and now that you have branched out in this +extraordinary manner and are even going to have a _salon_, you'll +quickly be the most conspicuous in the other set. Mr. North is easily +the most conspicuous figure in the Senate--a half dozen of your new +friends, including that Speaker, have told me so--and if this +friendship keeps on people will talk, as sure as fate. There is no +harm done yet--I sounded Sally Carter--but there will be. That sort of +gossip grows gradually and surely; it is not like a great scandal that +blazes up and out and that people get tired of; they will get into the +habit of believing all sorts of dreadful things, and they never will +acquire the habit of disbelieving them." + +Betty made no reply. She stood staring into the fire. + +"It would have been more difficult for me to say such a thing to you a +year ago; but you seem a good deal older, somehow. I suppose it is +being so much with men old enough to be your father, and talking +constantly about things that give me the nightmare to think of. And of +course you have had two terrible shocks. But you are so buoyant I hope +you will get over all that in time. Wouldn't you like to go to the +Riviera, and then to London for the season?" + +"And desert my _salon?_" asked Betty, lightly. "You forget this is the +long term. I am praying that summer will come late, so that you can +stay on. It never had occurred to me that any one would notice my +friendship with Mr. North. I hope they will do nothing so silly as to +comment on it." + +"Well, they will, if you are not very careful. And there is no +position in the world so unenviable as that of a girl who gets herself +talked about with a married man. Men lose interest in her and raise +their eyebrows at the clubs when her name is mentioned, and women +gradually drop her. Money and position will cover up a good many +indiscretions in a married woman or a widow, but the world always has +demanded that a girl shall be immaculate; and if she permits Society +to think she is not, it punishes her for violating one of its pet +standards. Mr. North can be nothing to you. The day is sure to come +when you will want to marry. No woman is really satisfied in any other +state." + +Betty turned and looked squarely at her mother, who had lost even the +semblance of nervousness in her deep maternal anxiety. + +"Do you believe that I love Mr. North?" + +"Yes, I do. And I know that he loves you. There is no mistaking the +way a man turns to a woman every time she begins to speak. But on that +score I have no fears. I know that you not only must have the high +principles of the women of your race, but that you are too much a +woman-of-the-world to enter upon a _liaison_, which would mean +constant lying, fear, blackmail by servants, and general wretchedness. +And I have perfect faith in him. Even a scoundrel will hesitate a long +while before he makes himself responsible for the future of a girl in +your position, and Mr. North is not a scoundrel but an honourable +gentleman. Moreover he knows that a scandal would ruin him in his +Puritanical State; and he adores his sons, who are prouder of him than +if he were ten Presidents. But the world can talk and continue to +talk, and to act as viciously about an imprudent friendship as about a +_liaison_, for it has no means of proving anything and likes to +believe the worst. Now, I shan't say any more. You are capable of +doing your own thinking. Only do think--please." Betty nodded to +her mother, and went to her boudoir and sat there for hours. Nothing +could have put the ugly practical side of her romance so precisely +before her as her mother's black and white statement, full of the +little colloquial phrases with which an un-ambitious world expresses +itself. Even for him, Betty reflected, she could not endure vulgar +gossip, and wondered how any high-bred woman could for any man. + +"For what else does civilization mean," she thought, "if those of us +that have its highest advantages are not wiser and more fastidious +than the mob? And unless a woman is ready to go and live in a cave, +she cannot be happy in the loss of the world's regard, for it can make +her uncomfortable in quite a thousand little ways. Expediency is the +root of all morality. It is stupid to be unmoral, and that is the long +and the short of it. I would marry him to-morrow if I had to cook for +him, if he were dishonoured by his country, if he were smitten +suddenly with ill-health and never could walk again. I am willing to +go through life alone for his sake, even without seeing him, and after +he is dead and gone. I love him absolutely, and if there is another +world I must meet him there. But I am not willing to become a social +pariah on his account." + +She never had permitted her mind to linger on the practical aspect of +a different relationship, to admit that such a chapter was possible +outside of her imagination, but she did so now, deliberately. She knew +that what her mother had intimated was true, that the happiness to be +got out of it would amount to very little, and that the day would come +when she would say that it was not worth the price. There were many +times when she was not capable of reasoning coldly on this question, +but she had been listening for two hours to Senator French on the +restriction of immigration, and felt all intellect. + +Her mind turned to Harriet. There was a creature foredoomed to +destruction by the forces within her, struggling in vain, assisted and +guarded in vain. Should she, with her inheritance of kindly forces +within and without, deliberately readjust her manifest lines into a +likeness of Harriet Walker's? And she knew that even if she hoodwinked +the world, the miserable deception of it all, the nervous terrors, not +only would wear love down, but shatter her ideals of herself and him. +She would be infinitely more miserable than now. + +It relieved her to have thought that phase out, and she put it aside. +But the other? Must she give him up? What pleasure could she find in +sitting here with him if her mother's apprehensive mind did not leave +the room for a moment? What pleasure if a vulgar world were +whispering? She reflected with some bitterness that one danger was +receding. He had not entered this room since the day of her return. +Although he had called several times, he had come in the evening, when +she always sat with her mother, or in the morning, when Mrs. Madison +again was sure to be present. She knew that he dared not come here, +and that it was more than likely he never would call at the old hour +again. + +She realized these two facts suddenly and vividly; her mind worked +with a brutal frankness at times. She began to cry heavily, the tears +raining on her intellectual mood and obliterating it. If she were not +to see him alone again, she might as well ask him to come to the house +on Thursday evenings only, and to show her no attention in public; if +she could not have the old hours again, she wanted nothing less. And +she wanted them passionately; those hours came back to her with a +poignancy of happiness in memory that the present had not revealed, +and the thought that they had gone for ever filled her with a +suffocating anguish that was as complete as it was sudden. She +implored him under her breath to come to her, then prayed that he +would not.... + +She became conscious that she was in a mood to take any step, were he +here, rather than lose him; and the mood terrified her. Would the time +come when this intolerable pain would kill every inheritance in her +brain, its empire the more absolute because it made passion itself +insignificant in the more terrible want of the heart? If it did, she +would marry Burleigh. She made up her mind instantly. She would fight +as long as she could, for she passionately desired to live her life +alone with the idea of this man; but if she were not strong enough, +she would marry and bury herself in the West. Nothing but an +irrevocable step would affect a permanent mental attitude, and +Burleigh would give her little time for thought. + + + + +VII + + + +Betty went very often to the Senate Gallery in these days, for it was +the only place where one might have relief from the eternal subject of +Cuba. Although the House broke loose under cover of the Diplomatic and +Consular Appropriation Bill when it was in the Committee of the Whole +and free of the Speaker's iron hand, and raged for two days with the +vehemence of long-repressed passion, the Senate permitted only an +occasional spurt from its warlike members, and pursued its even way +with the important bills before it. But at teas, dinners, luncheons, +and receptions people chattered with amiability or in suavity about +the hostile demonstrations at Havana against Americans, the Spanish +Minister's letter, Spain's demand for the recall of Consul-General +Lee, the dying reconcentrados, the exploits of the insurgents, and the +general possibilities of war. The old Madison house, which had ignored +politics for half a century, vibrated with polite excitement on +Thursday evenings. About a hundred people came to these receptions, +which finished with a supper, and it was understood that the free +expression of opinion should be the rule; consequently several +repressed members of both Houses delivered impromptu speeches, in the +guise of toasts, before that select audience; much to the amusement of +Senator North and the Speaker of the House. Burleigh's was really +impassioned and brilliant; and Armstrong's, if woolly in its phrasing +and Populistic in its length, was sufficiently entertaining. + +As for Mrs. Madison, she became imbued with the fear that war would be +declared in her house. Two Cabinet ministers had been added to the +_salon_, and what they in conjunction with the colossal Speaker and +Senators North and Ward might accomplish if they cared to try, was +appalling to contemplate. She begged Betty to adjourn the _salon_ till +peace had come again. + +But to this Betty would not hearken. It was the sun of her week, +through whose heavy clouds flickered the pale stars of distractions +for which she was beginning to care little. One of life's +compensations is that there is always something ahead, some trifling +event of interest or pleasure upon which one may fix one's eye and +endeavour to forget the dreary tissue of monotony and commonplace +between. Betty found herself acquiring the habit of casting her eye +over the day as soon as she awoke in the morning, and if nothing +distracting presented itself, she planned for something as well as she +could. + +She endeavoured to introduce the pleasant English custom of asking a +few congenial spirits to come for a cup of afternoon tea. These little +informal reunions are among the most delightful episodes of London +life, and if established as a custom in Washington would be like the +greenest of oases in the whirling breathless sandstorms of that social +Sahara. But even Betty Madison, strong as she was both in position and +personality, met with but a moderate success. When women have from six +to twenty-five calls to pay every afternoon of the season, with at +least one tea a day besides, they have little time or inclination for +pleasant informalities. Doubtless Miss Madison's friends felt that +they should be relieved of the additional tax. Even the women of the +fashionable set, which includes some of the Old Washingtonians and +many newer comers of equally high degree, and which ignores the +official set, preserve the same ridiculous fashion of calling in +person six days in the week instead of merely leaving cards as in +older and more civilized communities. In London, society has learned +to combine the maximum of pleasure with the minimum of work. +Washington society is its antithesis; and although many of the most +brilliant men in America are in its official set, and the brightest +and most charming women in its fashionable as well as political set, +they are, through the exigencies of the old social structure, of +little use to each other. Betty occasionally managed to capture three +or four people who talked delightfully when they felt they had time to +indulge in consecutive sentences, but as a rule people came on her +reception day only, and many of them walked in at one door of her +drawing-room and out at the other. + +The debate in the Senate on the payment of bonds interested her +deeply, for she knew that it meant days of uneasiness for Senator +North, who rarely was absent from his seat. His brief speech on the +subject was the finest she had heard him make, and although it was +bitter and sarcastic while he was arraigning the adherents of the +resolution to pay the government debt in silver, he became impersonal +and almost impassioned as he argued in behalf of national honesty. + +Betty never had seen him so close to excitement, and she wondered if +he found it a relief to speak out on any subject. But if he ever +thought of her down there he made no sign, for he neither raised his +eyes to the gallery nor did he pay her a second visit in her select +but conspicuous precinct. + +The resolution passed the Senate, and on that evening Senator North +called at the Madison house. It was two weeks since he had called +before, and although he had come to her evenings and they had met at +several dinners, they had not attempted conversation. + +The Montgomery's and Carters had dined at the house, and all were in +the parlour when he arrived. After a few minutes he was able to talk +apart with Betty. They moved gradually toward the end of the room and +sat down on a small sofa. + +"I am glad you came to-night," she said. "It was my impulse to go to +you when I heard how the vote had gone." + +"I knew it," he replied, "and if I could have come straight up here to +the old room, I should have hung up the vote with my overcoat in the +hall." + +He looked harassed, and his eyes, while they had lost nothing of their +magnetic power, were less calmly penetrating than usual. They looked +as if their fires had been unloosed more than once of late and were +under indifferent control. + +"You will not come to that room again!" + +"No. And I soon shall cease to come here at all except on Thursdays." + +"You almost have done that now. I think I get more satisfaction +watching you from the gallery than anything else. You look very calm +and senatorial, and you always are standing some one in a corner who +is trying to make a speech." + +"I am relieved to know that I do not inspire the amazement of my +colleagues. It is a long while since I have felt calm and senatorial, +however. But these are days for alertness of mind, and even the most +distracting of women must be shut up in her cupboard and forgotten for +a few hours every day." + +"I think I rather like that." + +"Of course you do. A woman always likes a strong lover. And you have +plenty of revenge, if you did but know." + +"I know," she said; and as she raised her eyes and looked at him +steadily, he believed her. + +"Tell me at least that you miss coming to that room--I want to hear +you say it." + +"Good God!" + +Betty caught her breath. But when women feel fire between their +fingers and are reckless before the swift approach of a greater +wretchedness than that possessing them, they are merciless to +themselves and the man. + +"Can you stay away?" she whispered. "Can you?" + +"It is the one thing I can do." + +"Do you realize what you are saying?--that you have put me aside for +ever? Are you willing to admit that it is all over? How am I to live +on and on and on? Can you fancy me alone next summer in the +Adirondacks--" + + +"Hush! Hush! Do you wish me to come? Answer me honestly, without any +feminine subterfuge." + +"No, I do not." +"And I should not come if you did, for I know the price we both should +pay better than you do, and only complete happiness could justify such +a step. You and I could find happiness in marriage only--we both +demand too much! But I also know that the higher faculties of the mind +do not always prevail, and I shall not see you alone again." + +She pushed him further. "You take this philosophically because you +have loved before and recovered. You feel sure that no love lasts." + +"When a man loves as I love you, he has no past. There are no +experiences alive in his memory to help him to philosophy. With the +entire world the last love is the only love. As for myself, I shall +not love again and I shall not recover." + +"I wore white because I knew you would come tonight," she said softly. + +"Yes, and you would torment me if I went down on my knees and begged +for mercy." + +"Senator," said Montgomery, approaching them. "I suppose it is some +satisfaction to you to know that that resolution cannot pass the +House." + +"I hope you will make a speech on the subject that will look well in +the Record," said North, with some sarcasm. + +Montgomery laughed. "That is a good suggestion. I wonder if some of +our orators ever read themselves over in cold blood. The back numbers +of the Record ought to be a solemn warning." + +"Unfortunately most people don't know when they have made fools of +themselves; that is one reason the world grows wise so slowly. I don't +doubt your speech will look well. You've been remarkably sane for a +young man of enthusiasms. Reserve some of your logic, however, for the +greater conflict that is coming. The pressure on the President is +becoming very severe, and the worst of it is that a great part of it +comes from Congressmen of his own party." + +"One of our Populists has christened these 'kickers' 'the +reconcentrados;' which is not bad, as there is said to be a kickers' +caucus in process of organization. But if the pressure on the +President is severe, it is equally so on us, and I suppose the +'kickers' are those who have one knob too few in their backbones. +Some, however, have got the war bee inside their skulls instead of in +their hats, and will be fit subjects for a lunatic asylum if the thing +doesn't end soon, one way or another. And they reiterate and reiterate +that they don't want war, when they know that any determined step we +can take is bound to lead to it. I have no patience with them. They +either are fools or are trying to keep on both sides of the fence at +once." + +"Politics are very complicated," said Senator North, dryly. + +"How do you and Mary manage to live in the same house?" asked Betty. +"She is all for war." + +"Oh, I think she rather likes the opportunity to argue. And she is so +divided between the desire for me to be a good American and the desire +that England shall have an excuse to hug us that she could not get +into a temper over it if she tried. She has made no attempt to +influence my course. Heaven knows how much money I've been made to +disburse in behalf of the reconcentrados, but I like women to be +tender-hearted and would not harden them for the sake of a few +dollars, even were they dumped in Havana Harbor--By the way, I wonder +if the _Maine_ is all right down there? She has the city under her +guns, and they know it--" + +"Oh, for heaven's sake, don't suggest any new horrors," said Senator +North, rising. "Besides, the Spaniards are not in the final stages of +idiocy. It would be like the New York _Journal_ to blow up the +_Maine_, as it seems to have reached that stage of hysteria which +betokens desperation; but the ship is safe as far as the Spaniards are +concerned." + +Lady Mary rose to go; and Betty, who was informal with her friends, +went out into the hall with her instead of ringing for a servant. +Senator North remained in the parlor for a few moments to say good- +night to Mrs. Madison and the Carters, and Betty, although the +Montgomerys did not linger, waited for him to come out. There was +nothing to reflect the light in the dark walls of the large square +hall, and it always was shadowy, and provocative to lovers at any +time. + +When he entered it, he looked at her for a moment without speaking, +and did not approach her. + +"You might be the ghost of another Betty Madison--in that white gown," +he said. "Was there not a famous one in the days of 1812, and did she +not love a British officer--or something of that sort?" + +"They parted here in this hall--and she lived on and died of old age. +Such is life. I sleep in her bed, where, I suppose, she suffered much +as I do." + +She came forward and pushed her hand into his. "I am not a ghost," she +said. + +He too believed it to be their last meeting alone, and he raised her +hand to his lips and held it there. + +"I wish we could have stayed on and on in the Adirondacks," she said +unsteadily. "Everything seemed to go well with us there." + +"People in mid-ocean usually are happy and irresponsible. They would +not be if it were anything but an intermediate state. But it is enough +to know that on land our troubles are waiting for us." + +She shivered and drew closer to him. The dangerous fire in her eyes +faded. + +"Mine are becoming very great," she said. "All I can do is to distract +my mind, to fill up my time." + +"And I can do nothing to help you! That is the tragedy of a love like +ours: the more a man loves a woman he cannot marry the more he must +make her suffer--either way; it is simply a choice of methods, and if +he really loves her he chooses the least complicated." + +"It is bad enough." + +Her eyes filled for the first time in his presence since the morning +of Harriet's death, but her mental temper was very different, and she +looked at him steadily through her tears. + +"_I_ cannot help _you_," she said. "That is the hardest part. You are +harassed in many ways, and you are dreading the bitterness of a +greater defeat than today. I could be so much to you--so much. And I +can be nothing. By that time you will have ceased to come here. I know +that you mean not to come again after to-night, except when the house +is full of company." + +He began to answer, but stopped. She felt his heart against her arm, +and his lips burnt her hand, his eyes her own. + +"Listen," she said rapidly, "if war should be declared I shall be in +the gallery to hear it. I will come straight home and shut myself up +in my boudoir--for hours--to be with you in a way--Shall I? Will-- +would it mean anything to you?" + +"Of course it would!" + +His face was fully unmasked, and she moved abruptly to it as to a +magnet. In another moment they were in the more certain seclusion of +the vestibule, and she was in his arms. They clung together with a +passion which despair with ironic compensation made perfect, and their +first kiss which was to be their last expressed for a moment the +longing of the year of their love and of the years that were to come. +That such a moment ever could end was so incredible that when Betty +suddenly found herself alone she looked about in every direction for +him, and then the blood rushed through her in a tide of impotent fury. + +It was this blind rage that enabled her to go back to the parlor and +keep up until the Carters went home a few moments later, and her +mother had gone to bed. Then she went to her boudoir and locked +herself in. + +How she got through that night without sending him an imperious +summons she never knew, unless it were that she found some measure of +relief in a letter she wrote to him. If she could not see him, he was +still her lover, her only intimate friend, and her confessor. She +promised not to write again, but she demanded what help he could give +her. + +She sent the letter in the morning, and he replied at once:-- + +I know. Do you think it was necessary to tell me? Do you suppose my +mind left you for a moment last night, and that I know and love you so +little that I failed to imagine and understand in a single particular? +If I were less of a man and more of a god, I should go to you and give +you the help you need, but I am only strong enough to keep away from +you. Not in thought, however,--if that is any help. + +We shall meet in public and speak together. I have no desire to forget +you nor that you should forget me. We neither of us shall forget, but +we shall live and endure, as the strongest of us always do. You tell +me that you are tormented by the thought that you have added to my +trials. Remember that all other trials sink into insignificance beside +this, and yet that this greatest that has come to me in a long life is +glorified by the fact of its existence. And if it is almost a relief +to know that I shall not see you alone again, it is a satisfaction and +a joy to remember that I have kissed you. R.N. + + + + +VIII + + + +For a few days Betty was almost happy again. She had come so close to +the nucleus of love that it had warmed her veins and intoxicated her +brain. Imagination for a brief moment had given place to reality, and +if she felt wiser and older still than after her five months of +meditation on the events of the summer, she felt less sober. One great +desire of the past year had been fulfilled, and its memory sparkled in +her brain, and her heart was lighter. It had been hours before she had +ceased to feel the pressure of his arms. + +She wondered how she could have been so weak as to think of marrying +Burleigh in self-defence, and she punished him by an indifference of +manner which approached frigidity; until one of the evening journals +copied a bitter attack upon him from the leading newspaper of his +State, when she relented and permitted him to console himself in her +presence. And although, as the weeks passed and she saw Senator North +from the gallery of the Senate only, or for a few impersonal moments +in the crowd, and the elixir in her veins lost its strength, still she +felt that life was sufferable once more. She had endeavoured to put +Mrs. North from her mind, but more than once she caught herself +wishing that some one would mention her name. Nobody did in those +excited days, and Betty had no means of learning whether her sudden +good health had been final or temporary. Sally Carter did not allude +to her again. When she and Betty met, it was to wrangle on the Cuban +question, for Miss Carter was all for war. + +And then one day the newsboys shrieked in the streets that the +_Maine_ had been blown up in Havana Harbor. + +For a few days Congress held its peace, and the country showed a +praiseworthy attempt to believe in the theory of accident or to wait +for full proof of Spanish treachery. The _Maine_ was blown up on +Tuesday, and on Thursday night at the Madisons' the subject almost was +avoided; it was the most peaceful _salon_ Betty had held. + +But it was merely the calm before the storm. The fever was still in +the country's blood, which began to flow freely to the brain again as +soon as the shock was over. The press could not let pass the most +glorious opportunity in its history for head-lines; there were more +mass meetings than even the press could grapple with, and all the +latent oratorical ability in the country burst into flower. It seemed +to Betty when she rose in the night and leaned out of her window that +she could hear the roar of the great national storm. + +And it rose and swelled and left the old landmarks behind it. The +memory of the gales of the past year, with the intervals of doubt and +rest, was insignificant beside this volume of fury pouring out of +every State, to concentrate at last, fierce, unreasoning, and +irresistible, about the White House and Capitol Hill. It was not long +before the great quiet village on the Potomac seemed to epitomize the +terrible mood of the country it represented, and the country had +made up its mind long before the report of the Maine Court of Inquiry +came in. The cry no longer was for the suffering Cuban, but for +revenge. The Senate held down its "kickers" with an iron hand, but one +or two of the inferior men managed to shout across the Chamber to +their constituents. Senator North scarcely left his seat. Burleigh +told Betty that he should not allude to the subject in the Senate +until after the Court of Inquiry's report, but then, whatever the +result, he should speak and ask for war. Betty argued with him by the +hour, and although he discussed the matter from every side, it was +evident that he did it merely for the pleasure of talking to her and +that she could not shake his resolution for a moment. It was time for +the United States to put an end to the barbarous state of affairs a +few miles from her shores, and that was the end of it. He admitted the +patriotism of Senator North's attitude, but contended that the +United States would be more dishonoured if she disregarded this +terrible appeal to her humanity. When Betty accused him of short- +sightedness, he replied that a foretold result required a straight +line of succession, and that when great events thickened the line of +succession was anything but straight; therefore ultimates could not be +foretold. He admitted that Senator North had proved himself possessed +of the faculty of what Herbert Spencer calls representativeness more +than once, but men as wise and calm in their judgment had been +mistaken before. But he and others of his standing were preserving the +dignity of the Senate, and that was something. + + + + +IX + + + +"If you have this war," said Lady Mary Montgomery to Betty, who had +come to receive with her on one of her Tuesdays, "it will be strictly +constitutional if you look at it in the right way. This is a +government of the people, by the people, and for the people, and as +the people are practically a unit in their howl for war, they have a +right to it, and the responsibility is on their shoulders, not on your +few statesmen." + +"That is a real gem of feminine logic, but not only is one wise man of +more account than ten thousand fools, but a unit is a unit and has no +comparative state. The serious men from one end of the country to the +other are doing all they can to quell the excitement; so are the few +decent newspapers that we possess. But they are dealing with a mob; an +excited mob is always mad, and in this case the keepers are not +numerous enough for the lunatics. But no one will question that the +intelligent keepers are right and the mob wrong. The average +intelligence is always shallow, and in electric climates very +excitable. We are dealing to-day no less with a huge mob, even if it +is not massed and marching, than were the few sane men of the French +Revolution. An exciting idea is like a venomous microbe; it bites into +the brain, and if circumstances do not occur to expel it, it produces +a form of mania. That is the only way I can account for Burleigh's +attitude; he is one of the few exceptions. There are thousands of men +in the United States whose brains could stand any strain, but there +are hundreds of thousands who were born to swell a mob. As for +'government by the people,' that phrase should be translated to-day +into 'tyranny of the people.' England under a constitutional monarchy +is far freer than we are." + +"Well, I am suppressed and will say no more. I suppose I shall have a +mob to-day. If anything, people are paying more calls than ever, for +they can't stay indoors for twenty-five minutes with no one to talk +to. It is getting monotonous. I wish that the President and the Senate +would begin to play, but they look as impassive as the statues in the +parks." + +The rooms filled quickly. By five o'clock the usual crowd was there, +and if it had its dowdy battalion as ever, there was no evidence that +the more fortunate had lost their interest in dress, despite the +warlike state of their nerves. Not that all were for war, by any +means. Many were clinging to a forlorn hope, but they could talk of +nothing else. + +Betty had just listened to the twenty-eighth theory of the cause of +the Maine's destruction when she turned in response to a familiar +drawl. + +"Why, howdy, Miss Madison, I'm real glad to run across you at last." + +Betty was so taken aback that she mechanically surrendered her hand to +the limp pressure of her former housekeeper. But she was not long +recovering herself. + +"Miss Trumbull, is it not? I was not aware that you were an +acquaintance of Lady Mary Montgomery's." + +"Well, I can't say as I know her real intimate yet, but I guess I +shall in time, as we're both wives of Congressmen." + +"Ah? You are married?" Betty experienced a fleeting desire to see the +man who had been captivated by Miss Trumbull. + +"Ye--as. I went out West to visit my sister after I left you and was +married before I knew it--to Mr. George Washington Mudd. He's real +nice, and smart--My! I expect to be in the White House before I die." + +"It is among the possibilities, of course. I hope you are happy, and +that meanwhile he is able to take care of you comfortably." Mrs. Mudd +glistened with black silk and jet, but the cut of her gown was of the +Middle West. + +"Well, I guess! He's a lawyer and can make two hundred dollars a month +any day. Of course I can't set up a house in Washington, but I live at +the Ellsmere, and three or four of us Congressional ladies receive +together and share carriages. I'll be happy to have you call--the +first and third Tuesdays; but we always put it in the Post." + +"I have little time for calling. I am very busy in many ways." + +"Well, I'm sorry. You don't look as well as you did up in the +mountains; you look real tired, come to examine you. But your dresses +are always so swell one sees those first. I always did think you had +just the prettiest dresses I ever saw." + +Betty did not turn her back upon the woman; it was a relief to talk on +any subject that stood aloof from war. Mrs. Mudd rambled on. + +"I suppose you're engaged to Senator Burleigh by this time? He's our +Senator, you know, but I don't know as he's likely to be, long. We +want silver, and I guess we've got to have it." + +"I suppose you take quite an interest in politics now," said Betty, +looking at the woman's large self-satisfied face. So far, matrimony +had not been a chastening influence. Mrs. Mudd looked more conceited +than ever. + +"Well, I guess I always knew as much about them as anybody; and now +I'm in politics, I guess the President couldn't give me many points. +If he don't declare war soon, I'll go up to the White House and tell +him what I think of him." + +"Suppose you make a speech from the House Gallery. It is Congress that +declares war, not the President." + +Mrs. Mudd's face turned the dull red which Betty well remembered. "I +guess I know what I'm talking' about. It's the President--" + +But Betty's back was upon her, and Betty was listening to the agitated +comments of one of the year's debutantes upon the destruction of the +Maine. + +"Was night ever so welcome before?" thought Betty, as she settled +herself between the four posts of her great-aunt's bed, a few hours +later. "Here, at least, not an echo of war can penetrate, and if I +think of other things that scald my pillow, it is almost a relief." + + + + +X + + + +On the following evening she went with the Montgomerys to the Army and +Navy reception at the White House. Lady Mary had but to express a wish +for a card to any function in Washington; and her popularity had much +to do with her love for her adopted country. + +It was the first time Betty ever had entered the historic mansion, and +as she waited for twenty minutes in the crush of people on the front +porch, she reflected that probably it was the last. + +But when she was in the great East Room, which was hung with flags and +glittered with uniforms, and was filled with the strains of martial +music, she thrilled again with the historical sense, and almost wished +there was a prospect of a war which would compel her to patriotic +excitement. + +They remained in the East Room for some time before going to shake +hands with the President, that the long queue of people patiently +crawling to the Blue Room might have time to wear itself down to a +point. As Betty stood there eagerly watching the scene, and talking to +first one and then another of the Army men who came up to speak to +her, she became deeply impressed with the fact that this was the +calmest function she had attended in Washington during the winter. +There was no excitement on the faces of these men in uniform, and they +said little and hardly mentioned the subject of war. They looked stern +and thoughtful; and Betty felt proud of them, and wished they were +doing themselves honour in a better cause. + +She went down the long central corridor after a time, past the crowd +wedged before the central door, gaping at the receiving party, to a +room where she and the Montgomerys joined the diminished queue +extending from a side entrance to the Blue Room. She was not surprised +to see Mrs. Mudd in front of her, for although the Representative's +wife should have received a card for another evening, she was quite +capable of forcing her way in without one; as doubtless a good many +others had done to-night. She wore her black silk gown and her bonnet, +and although most of the women present were in brilliant evening +dress, Mrs. Mudd had several to keep her in countenance. She glanced +wearily over her shoulder during the slow progress of the queue, and +caught sight of Betty. Her place was precious, but she left it at once +and came down the line. + +"I'll go in along with you," she said. "George couldn't come and I've +felt kinder lonesome ever sense I got here. And we've been three +quarters of an hour getting this far. It's terrible tiresome, but as +I've found you I guess I can stand the rest of it." + +Betty detected the flicker of malice in her former housekeeper's +voice. They were on equal ground for once, and Miss Madison and Mrs. +Mudd would shake hands with their President within consecutive +moments. She smiled with some cynicism, but was too good-natured to +snub the native ambition where it could do no harm. + +"I saw Senator North to-day," observed Mrs. Mudd, "and he looked +crosser 'n two sticks. He's mad because they'll have war in spite of +him. I call him right down unpatriotic, and so do lots of others." + +"That disturbs him a great deal. He is much more concerned about the +country making a fool of itself." + +"This country's all right, and we couldn't go wrong if we tried. Them +that sets themselves up to be so terrible superior are just bad +Americans, that's the long and the short of it, and they'll find it +out at the next elections. If Senator North should take a trip out +West just now, they'd tar and feather him, and I'd like to be there to +see it done. They can't say what they think of his setting on +patriotic Senators loud enough. And as for the President--" + +"Well, don't criticise the President while you are under his roof. It +is bad manners. Here we are. Will you go in first?" + +"Well, I don't see why I shouldn't. I'll hurry on so they can see your +dress; it's just too lovely for anything." + +Betty wore a white embroidered chiffon over green; she shook out the +train, which had been over her arm ever since she entered the house. +Her name was announced in a loud tone, and she entered the pretty +flowery Blue Room with its charmingly dressed receiving party standing +before a large group of favoured and critical friends, and facing the +inquisitive eyes in the central doorway. The President grasped her +hand and said, "How do you do, Miss Madison?" in so pleased and so +cordial a tone that Betty for a fleeting moment wondered where she +could have met him before. Then she smiled, made a comprehensive bow +to his wife and the women of the Cabinet, and passed on. Mrs. Mudd, +who had shaken hands relentlessly with every weary member of the +receiving party, reached the door of exit after her and clutched her +by the arm. + +"Say!" she exclaimed with excitement, although her drawl was but half +conquered. "Where _do_ you s'pose I could have met the President +before? I know by the way he said 'Mrs. Mudd,' he remembered me, but I +just can't think, to save my life. My! ain't he fascinating?" + +Betty had laughed aloud. "I am sorry to hurt your vanity," she +replied, "but the President is said to have the best manners of any +man who has occupied the White House within living memory." + +"What d'you mean?" cried Mrs. Mudd, sharply. "D' you mean he didn't +know me? I just know he did, so there! And he can pack his clothes in +my trunk as soon as he likes." + +"Good heaven!" +"Oh, that's slang. I forgot you were so terrible superior. But you've +got good cause to know I'm virtuous. Lands sakes! I guess nobody ever +said I warn't." + +"I don't fancy anybody ever did." + +They were in the East Room again, with the stars and stripes, the +moving glitter of gold, the loud hum mingled with the distant strains +of martial music. + +"It's really inspiring," said Lady Mary. "I wish I could write a war +poem." + +"I hope there is nothing coming to inspire war doggerel; the prospect +of a new crop of war stories and war plays is too painful. We were all +brought up on the Civil War and are resigned to its literature. But +life is too short to get used to a new variety." + +"Betty dear, ennui has embittered you, and I must confess that I am a +trifle weary of the war before it has begun, myself. Randolph, I think +I prefer you should vote for peace." + +"I'm afraid we'll have no peace till we've had war first," said Mr. +Montgomery, grimly. + +"Oh, we're goin' to have war," drawled Mrs. Mudd. "Just don't you +worry about that. Now don't blush," she said in Betty's ear. "Senator +North's makin' straight for you. I suspicion you like him better 'n +Burleigh--" + +Betty had turned upon her at last, and the woman tittered nervously +and fell back in the crowd. + +Senator North and Miss Madison shook hands with that absence of +emotion which is one of the conditions of a crowded environment, and +Lady Mary suggested they should all go to the conservatory, where it +was cooler. + +Betty told Senator North of the impression the Army and Navy men had +made on her, and he laughed. + +"Of course they are not excited and say little," he said. "They will +do the acting and leave the talking to the private citizens. The only +argument in favour of the war and the large standing army which might +be its consequence is that several hundred thousand more men would +have disciplined brains inside their skulls." + +"That dreadful housekeeper I had in the Adirondacks is here, married +to a Representative named George Washington Mudd." + +"I never heard of him, but I am sorry she has come here to remind you +of what I should like to have you forget for a time. I do believe a +specimen of every queer fish in the country comes to this pond." + +They passed one of the bands, and conversation was impossible until +they entered the great conservatory with its wide cool walks among the +green. It was not crowded, and although there was no seclusion in it +at any time, its lights were few and it had a sequestered atmosphere. + +Betty and Senator North involuntarily drew closer together. + +"In a way I am happy now," she said. "It is something to be with you +and close to you. I will not think of how much this may lack until I +am alone again and there is no limit to my wants." + +"I feel the reverse of depressed," he said, smiling. "Are you quite +well? You look a little tired." + +"I am tired with much thinking; but that is inevitable. One cannot +love hopelessly and look one's best. I always despised the heroines of +romance who went into a decline, but Nature demands some tribute in +spite of the strongest will." + +He held her arm more closely, but he set his lips and did not answer. +She spoke again after a moment. + +"Since that night I have not been nearly so unhappy, however. I even +feel gay sometimes, and my sense of humour has come back. It would be +quite dreadful to go through life without that, but I thought I had +lost it." + +He had turned his eyes and was regarding her intently; but much as she +loved them she felt as helpless as ever before their depths. They +could pierce and burn, but they never were limpid for a moment. + +"You do not misunderstand that?" she asked hurriedly. "It does not +mean that I love you less, but more, if anything. And I am not +resigned! Only, I feel as if in some way I had received a little help, +as if--I cannot express it." + +"I understand you perfectly. We are a little closer than we were, and +life is not quite so grey." + +"That is it. And I would supplement your bare statement of the fact, +if I dared." + +"If you do, I certainly shall kiss you right here in the crowd," he +said, and they smiled into each other's eyes. There was little need of +explanations between them. + +"That would form a brief diversion for Washington. And as for Mrs. +Mudd--By the way, I hope I am not going off. You are the second person +who has told me that I am not looking well." + +"You are improved as far as I am concerned. And if you ever faded, +happiness would restore you at once. If happiness never came, perhaps +you would not care--would you?" + +She shrugged her beautiful shoulders and smiled quizzically. + +"I don't know. _Je suis femme_. I think I might always find some +measure of consolation in the mirror if it behaved properly." + +"Your sincerity is one of your charms. So walk and eat and live in the +world, and think as little as you can." + +"This conservatory is fearfully draughty," remarked Lady Mary, close +to Betty's shoulder. "I don't want to stay all night, do you?" + +"I am ready," said Betty; but she sighed, for she had been almost +happy for the hour. + + + + +XI + + + +If the reception at the White House had been calm, Betty's _salon_ on +the following evening was not. On Tuesday the House, after duly +relieving its feelings by an hour and a half of war talk, flaming with +every variety of patriotism, passed the bill appropriating $50,000,000 +for the national defence. On Wednesday the bill passed the Senate +without a word beyond the "ayes" of its members. On the morrow the War +Department would begin the mobilization of the army; and although the +_Maine_ Court of Inquiry had not completed its labours, the New York +World, in the interest of curious humanity, had instituted a submarine +inquiry of its own and given the result to the country. Even Senator +North regarded war as almost inevitable, although the controvertible +proof of explosion from without only involved the Spanish by +inference. + +The women who were privileged to attend the now famous _salon_ wore +their freshest and most becoming gowns, and most of the Senators would +have been glad to have frivoled away the evening in compliments, so +refreshing was the sight of an attractive face after a long and +anxious day. But the eyes of the women sparkled with patriotic fire +only. One burst into tears and others threatened hysterics, but got +through the evening comfortably. Mrs. Madison sat on a sofa and fanned +herself nervously; Senator Maxwell and Senator North at her request +kept close to her side. + +"They were not so excited during the Civil War," she exclaimed, as a +shrill voice smote her ear. "I suppose we have developed more nerves +or something." + +"The mind was possessed by the Grim Fact during the Civil War," said +Senator Maxwell. "This is a second-rate thing that appeals to the +nerves and not to the soul." + +Betty, who understood the patient longing of her statesmen for +variety, had imported for the evening several members of the troupe +singing at the Metropolitan Opera House. Conversation consequently was +interrupted six or seven times, but it burst forth with increased +vigour at the end of every song; and when the Polish tenor with +mistaken affability sang "The Star Spangled Banner," the women and +some of the younger men took it up with such vehemence that Mrs. +Madison put her fingers to her ears. When one girl jumped on a chair +and waved her handkerchief, which she had painted red, white, and +blue, the unwilling hostess asked Senator North if he thought Betty +would be able to keep her head till the end of the evening, or would +be excited to some extraordinary antic. + +"There is not the least danger," he replied soothingly. "Miss Madison +could manage to look impassive if a cyclone were raging within her. It +is a long while since the Americans have had a chance to be excited. +You must make allowances." + +Betty for some time had suppressed her Populist with difficulty. He +was one of those Americans to whom a keen thin face and a fair +education give the superficial appearance of refinement. In a country +as democratic as the United States and where schooling and +intelligence are so widespread, it is possible for many half-bred men +to create a good impression when in an equable frame of mind. But +excitement tears their thin coat of gentility in twain, and Betty +already regretted having invited Armstrong to her salon. He had not +missed a Thursday evening, for he not only appreciated the social +advantage of a footing in such a house, but his clever mind enjoyed +the conversation there, and the frankly expressed opinions of well- +bred people who argued without acerbity and never called each other +names. With his slender well-dressed figure and bright fair sharply +cut face, he by no means looked an alien, and if he could have +corrected the habit of contradicting people up and down--to say +nothing of his occasional indulgence in the Congressional snort--his +manners would have passed muster in any gathering. He was a good +specimen of the ambitious American of obscure birth and clever but +shallow brain, quick to seize every opportunity for advancement. But +politics were his strongest instinct, and exciting crises stifled +every other. + +He was very much excited to-night, for he had, during the afternoon, +tried three times to bring in a war resolution, and thrice been +extinguished by the Speaker. When the tenor started "The Star-Spangled +Banner," he braced himself against the wall and sang at the top of his +lungs; and the performance seemed to lash his temper rather than +relieve it. He twice raised his voice to unburden his mind, and was +distracted by Betty, who kept him close beside her. Finally she +attempted to change the subject by chatting of personal matters. + +"I went to the White House last night," she said, "and was delighted +to find that the President had the most charming manners--" + +"What's a manner?" interrupted Armstrong, roughly. "You women are all +alike. I suppose you'd turn up your nose at William J. Bryan because +he ain't what you call a gentleman. But if he were in the White House +instead of that milk-and-water puppet of Wall Street, we'd be shooting +those murderers down in Cuba as we ought to be. The President and the +whole Republican party," he shouted, "are a lot of hogs who've chawed +so much gold their digestion won't work and their brains are torpid; +and there's nothing to do but to kick them into this war--the whole +greedy, white-livered, Trust-owned, thieving lot of them, including +that great immaculate Joss up at the White House with his manners. +Damn his manners! They come too high--" + +"Armstrong," said Burleigh soothingly, but with a glint in his eye, "I +have an important communication to make to you. Will you come out into +the hall a moment?" He passed his arm through the Populist's, and led +him unresistingly away. + +Betty glanced at her mother. Mrs. Madison was fanning herself with an +air of profound satisfaction. As she met her daughter's eyes, she +raised her brows, and her whole being breathed the content of the +successful prophetess. Senator North looked grimly amused. Betty +turned away hastily. She felt much like laughing, herself. + +Burleigh returned alone. "I took the liberty of telling him to go and +not to come again," he said. "That sort of man never apologizes, so +you are rid of him." + +Betty smiled and thanked him; then she frowned a little, for she saw +several people glance significantly at each other. She knew that +Washington took it for granted she would marry Burleigh. + +They went in to supper a few moments later, and in that admirable meal +the weary statesmen found the solace that woman denied him. And the +flowers were fragrant; the candlelight was grateful to tired eyes, and +the champagne unrivalled. Until the toasts--which in this agitated +time had become a necessary feature of the _salon_--the conversation, +under the tactful management of Betty and several of her friends, and +the diverting influence of the great singers, was but a subdued hum +about nothing in particular. When at the end of an hour Burleigh rose +impulsively and proposed the health of the President, even the +Democrats responded with as much warmth as courtesy. + +"You manage your belligerents very well," said Senator North, when he +shook her hand awhile later. "Yours has probably been the only amiable +supper-room in Washington to-night." + + + + +XII + + + +"Now!" exclaimed Sally Carter, who was sobbing hysterically, "I hope +they will impeach the President if he delays any longer with the +_Maine_ report and if he doesn't send a warlike message on top of +it. After that speech I don't see why Congress should wait for him at +all." + +It was the seventeenth of March, and she and Betty were driving home +from the Capitol after listening to the Senator from Vermont on the +situation in Cuba,--to that cold, bare, sober statement of the result +of personal investigation, which produced a far deeper and more +historical impression than all the impassioned rhetoric which had rent +the air since the agitation began. He appeared to have no feeling on +the matter, no personal bias; he told what he had seen, and he had +seen misery, starvation, and wholesale death. He blamed the Spaniards +no more than the insurgents, but two hundred thousand people were the +victims of both; and the bold yet careful etching he made of the Cuban +drama burnt itself into the brains of the forty-six Senators present +and of the eight hundred people in the galleries. + +"I cannot bring myself to think that death is the worst of all evils," +said Betty, "and I do not think that we have any right to go to war +with Spain, no matter what she chooses to do with her own. Besides, +she is thoroughly frightened now, and I believe would rectify her +mistakes in an even greater measure than she has already tried to do, +if the President were given time to handle her with tact and +diplomacy. If the country would give him a chance to save her pride, +war could be averted." + +"You are heartless! Don't argue with me. I hate argument when my +emotions feel as if they had dynamite in them. I could sit down on the +floor of the Senate and scream until war was declared. I hate Senator +North. He never moved a muscle of his face during that entire terrible +recital. He hardly looked interested. He is a heartless brute." + +"He is not heartless. He fears everlasting complications if we go to +war with Spain, the expenditure of hundreds of millions, as one result +of those complications, and danger to the Constitution. The statesman +thinks of his own country first--" + +"I won't listen! I won't! I won't! Oh, I never thought I could get so +excited about anything. I believe I'm going to have nervous +prostration and I sha'n't see you again till war is declared. So +there!" + +The carriage stopped at her house, and she jumped out and ran up the +steps. She kept her word, and it was weeks before Betty saw her to +speak to again. + +"If intelligent people get into that condition," thought Betty, "what +can be expected of the fools? And the fools are more dangerous in the +United States than elsewhere, because they are just bright enough to +think that they know more than the Almighty ever knew in His best +days." + +A few days later she was crossing Statuary Hall on her way back from +the House Gallery; whither she had gone during an Executive Session of +the Senate, when she met Senator North. His face illuminated as he saw +her, and they both turned spontaneously and went to a bench behind the +immortal ones of the Republic, who in dust and marble were happier +than their inheritors to-day. + +"I am thinking of coming down here to live, renting a Committee Room," +said Betty. "It is the only place where I do not have my opinion asked +and where I do not quarrel with my friends. Molly is sure I shall be +taken for a lobbyist, and if people were not too absorbed to notice +me, I think I should engage a companion; but as it is, I believe I am +safe enough. I have had this simple brown serge made, on purpose." + +"There is not the least danger of your motives being misconstrued, and +the Capitol is swarming with women, all the time. They seem to regard +it as a sort of National Theatre, where the most exciting denouement +may take place any minute. I fancy they have come from all over the +country for the satisfaction of being able to say, for the rest of +their lives, that they were in at the death. The poor Capitol has +become a sort of asylum for wandering lunatics." + +Betty laughed. "I feel calmer here than anywhere else, especially now +that Molly has gone over to the Cubans since the publication of that +speech. I suspect it has made a good many other converts. I didn't +think the tide of excitement in the country could rise any higher, but +it appears to have needed that last straw. Have you any hope left?" + +"None whatever. The politicians in both parties are rushing the +President off his feet and inflaming the country at the same time. +Sincere sympathizers with Cuba, like Burleigh, are holding their peace +until the President shall have declared himself, but there is very +little patriotism amongst politicians desirous of re-election. If +Spain was a quick-thinking nation and was not stultified by a mulish +obstinacy for which the word 'pride' is a euphemism, or if the +President could hypnotize the country for six months, all would be +well, but I do not look for a miracle. I have done all I can. I have +persuaded my own State to keep quiet, and that has lessened the +pressure a little; and I have persuaded no less than eight of our +bellicose members to say nothing on the floor of the Senate until the +President has sent in his message,--that delay is necessary if we are +to meet war with any sort of preparation. That is all I can do, for I +don't care to speak on the subject again, to bring it up in the Senate +until it no longer can be held down. But I have said a good deal in +the lobby." + +"I suspect you have! Do you mind all the talk about your being +unpatriotic, and that sort of thing? I cried for an hour the other day +over an article in a New York paper, headed 'A Traitor,' and saying +the most hideous things about you." + +"I didn't read it. And don't spoil your eyes over anything sensational +American newspapers may say of anybody; let them alone and read the +few decent ones. For a public man to worry over such assaults would be +a stupid waste of his mental energy; for if he is in the right he +consoles himself with the reflection that the traitor of to-day is the +patriot of to-morrow. But let politics go to the winds for a little. +Tell me something about yourself. I have started no less than four +times to go to see you--at half-past six in the afternoon--and turned +back." + +"I go there and sit almost every afternoon. This excitement has been a +godsend. If the world had been pursuing its even way during the last +two months, I don't know what would have happened to me. What am I to +do when it is over?" she broke out, for they were almost secluded. +"The more I think of the future the more hopeless it seems. If there +is war, I'll go as a nurse--" + +"You will do nothing of the sort. Promise me that--instantly. There +will be trained nurses without end, and you would run the risk of +fever for nothing. Promise me." + +"But I _must_ do something. I have hours that you cannot imagine. +Ordinarily I keep up very well, for I have character enough to make +the best of life, whatever happens; but one can control one's heart +with one's will just so long and no longer. When the world is quiet +and I am alone at night, if I don't go to sleep at once--it is +terrible! Do you think I should be afraid of death? If I have got to +go through life with this terrible ache in my heart, in my whole body +--for when I cry my very fingers cramp--I'd a thousand times rather go +to Cuba and have done with it." + +For a moment he only stared at her. Then he parted his lips as if to +speak, but closed them again so firmly that Betty wondered what he was +holding back. But his eyes, although they had flashed for a moment and +burned still, told her nothing. He did not speak for fully a minute. +Then he said,-- + +"Death can be met with fortitude by any strong brain, but not a +lifetime of miserable invalidism. If you contracted fever down there, +you might get rid of it in several years and you might not. +Meanwhile," he added, smiling, "you would become yellow and wrinkled. +So promise me at once that you will not go." + +"I swear it!" she said with an attempt at gayety. "Not even for you +will I get yellow and wrinkled--and I adore you! Tell me," she went on +rapidly and with little further attempt at self-control; "what shall I +do next? Shall I go abroad? There is no distraction in castles and +cathedrals and crooked streets; they must be enjoyed when one is idle +and tranquil. I'm tired of pictures. I suppose I've seen about twenty +miles of them in my life. As for the old masters they give me +nightmares. There is nothing left but society, and I don't like +foreigners and should find little novelty in England--and many +reminders! The future appalls me. I cannot face it. Am I inconsiderate +to talk like this when you are so worried? Sometimes I feel that I +have no right to be even sensible of my individuality when a whole +nation is convulsed; it seems almost absurd that there are hundreds of +thousands of tragedies within the great one--but there are! There are! +And the war will bring oblivion to only those to whom it brings +death." + +She stopped, panting, after the torrent of words. His hand had closed +about her arm, and he was bending close above her. His face had +flushed deeply, and once more he opened his lips as if to speak, but +did not. Betty shook suddenly. Was the word he would not utter "Wait"? +There could be no doubt that a word struggled for utterance, and that +he held it back. If he did not, Betty felt that her love would turn +cold. For a great love may be killed by a sudden blow, and there is +always some one thing that will kill the greatest. But she wished +that his brain would flash its message to hers. + +The silence between them became so intense and the strain on her eyes +so intolerable that she dropped her head and fumbled with her muff. +She dared not speak, dared not divert his mind. He was too much the +master of his own fate. + +"Don't ever hesitate to speak out through consideration for me, my +dear," he said. "The only relief we both have is to speak our thoughts +occasionally. And you can tell me nothing of yourself that I do not +know already. I never forget that you are tormented. But Time will +help you. The future which looms with a few dull and insupportable +Facts is crowded with small details which consume both time and +thought, and it is full of little unexpected pleasures. War is very +diverting. One's attitude to a war after the first few shocks is as to +a great military drama. If by a miracle ours should be averted, then +go to England, where you will have men at least to talk to. When plans +for the future are futile, live in the present and be careful to make +no mistake. It is the only philosophy for those who are not in the +favour of Circumstance. I am going now. Bend your ear closer. I have +had so little opportunity to be tender with you, and I have thought of +that as much as of anything else." + +Betty inclined her head eagerly, and he whispered to her for a moment, +then left her. + +For a few moments she did not move. The buoyancy of her nature was +still considerable, and his last words had thrilled her and made her +almost as happy as if he would return in an hour. She rose finally and +walked across the hall, her inclination divided between the Senate +Gallery where she might look at him, and her boudoir where she might +fling herself on her divan and think of him. As she was moving along +slowly, seeing no one, her arm was caught by a bony hand, and a +familiar drawl smote her ear. + +"Laws, Miss Madison, have you gone blind all of a sudden? But you look +as if you had two stars in your eyes." + +"How do you do, Mrs. Mudd? These are times to make anybody absent- +minded." + +"Well, I guess! We're gettin' there and no mistake. Now look quick, +Miss Madison--there's my husband, the one that's just got up off that +bench. He's been talkin' to a constituent." + +Betty glanced across the Hall with some interest: she occasionally had +doubted the reality of George Washington Mudd. A tall stout man in a +loose black overcoat, a black slouch hat, and a big cotton umbrella +under his arm, was stalking across the Hall with his head in the air, +as if to sniff at the marble effigies of the great. Betty felt young +again and gave a delighted laugh. + +"Why, I didn't know there really was anything like that!" she cried. +"I thought--" + +"Well, I guess I'd like to know what you mean," exclaimed an infuriate +voice; and Betty, turning to Mrs. Mudd's dark red face, recovered +herself instantly. + +"I mean that your husband belongs to a type that our dramatists have +thought worthy of preservation and of exercising their finest art +upon. I often give writers credit for more creative ability than they +possess, for I always am seeing some one in real life whose entire +type I had supposed had come straight out of their genius. Take +yourself, for instance. If I had not met you outside of a book, I +should have thought you a triumph of imagination." + +"Well--thanks," drawled Mrs. Mudd, mollified though doubtful. "I don't +claim that George is handsome, but he's the smartest man in our +district and he'll make the House sit up yet." She giggled and rolled +her eyes. "He was downright jealous because I came home from the +reception and raved over the President," she announced. "Oh, my!" + +"Perhaps he's a Populist," suggested Betty. + +"Not much he ain't. He's a good Democrat with Silver principles." + +"Well, I'm glad you're happy. Good-afternoon." + +"I love the greatest man in America and she loves George Washington +Mudd," thought Betty, as she walked down the corridor. "Mortals die, +but love is imperishable. A half-century hence and where will the love +that dwells in every fibre of me now, have gone? Will it be dust with +my dust, or vigorous with eternal youth in some poor girl who never +heard my name?" + +And then she went home to her boudoir. + + + + +XIII + + + +Betty, who had come justly to the conclusion that she knew something +of politics after a year's application to the science and several +object lessons, made in the following weeks her first acquaintance +with the intricacies which sometimes may involve political motives. +The President was not given time to exhaust diplomacy with Spain, +although in his War Message he was obliged to state that he had done +so. To deal successfully with a proud and mediaeval country required +months, not days, and as Spain had grudgingly but surely yielded all +along the line to the demands of the United States, it is safe to +assume that she would have withdrawn peacefully her forces from Cuba +if her pride could have been saved. Sagasta was working in the +interests of peace; but a bigoted old country, too indolent to read +history, and puzzled at a youthful nation's industry in the cause of +humanity, would move so fast and no faster. + +The President was rushed off his feet and his hand was forced. An +honest but delirious country was threatening impeachment and +clamouring for war. Its representatives were hammering on the doors of +the White House and shrieking in Congress. A dishonest press was +inflaming it and injuring it in the eyes of the world by assaulting +the integrity of the Executive and of the leading men in both Houses; +and unscrupulous politicians were extracting every possible party +advantage, until it looked as if the Democratic party, rent asunder by +Mr. Bryan and his doctrines, would be unified once more. The House, +after the President's calm and impersonal message on the _Maine_ +report, acted like a mutinous school of bad boys who had not been +taught the first principles of breeding and dignity; the few gentlemen +in it hardly tried to make themselves heard, and even the Speaker was +powerless to quell a couple of hundred tempers all rampant at once. +Every conceivable insult was heaped upon the head of the President as +he delayed his War Message from day to day, hoping against hope, and +gaining what time he could to strengthen the Navy. + +It became necessary therefore for the high-class men in the Senate, +particularly the Republicans, to present an unbroken front. Whatever +the conclusions of the President, they must stand by him. It was their +duty as Americans first and Republicans after; for they had elected +him to the high and representative office he filled, they were +responsible for him, he had done nothing to forfeit their confidence, +and everything, by his wise and conservative course, to win their +approval. And it was their duty to their party to uphold him, for +internal dissensions in this great crisis would weaken their forces +and play them into the hands of the Democrats. Therefore, Senator +North and others, who had strenuously and consistently opposed war +from any cause, until it became evident that the President had been +elbowed into the position of a puppet by his people instead of being +permitted to guide them, withdrew their opposition, and when his +Message finally was forced from his hand, let it be known that they +should support it against the powerful faction in the Senate which +demanded the recognition of Cuba as a Republic. The Message meant war, +but a war that no longer could be averted, and there was nothing left +for any high-minded statesman and loyal party man to do but to defend +the President from those who would usurp his authority and tie his +hands, to demonstrate to the world their belief in a statesmanship +which was being attacked at every point by those whom his Message had +disappointed, and to provide against one future embarrassment the +more. + +When Betty had trodden the maze this far, she realized the unenviable +position of the conservative faction in the Senate. North's position +was particularly unpleasant. He had stood to the country as the +embodiment of its conservative spirit, the spirit which was opposed +uncompromisingly to this war. Several days before the speech of the +Senator from Vermont exploded the inflamed nervous system of the +country, he had made an address which had been copied in every +State in the Union and been hopefully commented on abroad. In this +speech, which was a passionless, impersonal, and judicial argument +against interference in the domestic affairs of a friendly nation +seeking to put down an insurgent population whose record for butchery +and crime equalled her own, as well as a brilliant forecast of the +evils, foreign and domestic, which must follow such a war, he +demonstrated that if war was declared at this period it would be +unjustifiable because it would be the direct result of the accident to +the _Maine_, which, as the explosion could not be traced to the +Spanish officials, was not a _casus belli_. Prior to that accident no +important or considerable number of the American people had clamoured +for war, only for according belligerent rights to the Cubans, which +measure they were not wise enough to see would lead to war. Therefore, +had the _Maine_ incident not occurred, the President would have been +given the necessary time for successful diplomacy, despite the frantic +efforts of the press and the loud-voiced minority; and it could not be +claimed that the present clamour, dating from the fifteenth of +February, was honestly in behalf of the suffering Cuban. It was for +revenge, and it was an utterly unreasonable demand for revenge, as no +sane man believed that Spain had seized the first opportunity to cut +her throat; and until it could be proved that she had done so, it was +a case for indemnity, not for war. Therefore, if war came at the +present juncture it was because the people of the United States had +made up their minds they wanted a fight, they would have a fight, they +didn't care whether they had an excuse or not. + +The speech made a profound impression even in the agitated state of +the public mind, for bitterly as North might be denounced he always +was listened to. The press lashed itself into a fury and wrote head- +lines which would have ridden its editors into prison had the country +possessed libel laws adequate to protect a noble provision of the +Constitution. The temperate men in the country had been with North +from the beginning, but the excited millions excoriated him the more +loudly. He was denounced at public banquets and accused by excited +citizens all over the Union, except in his own State, of every +depravity, from holding an unimaginable number of Spanish bonds to +taking a ferocious pleasure in the sufferings of the reconcentrados. + +And in the face of this he must cast his vote for war. + +A weaker man would have held stubbornly to his position, made +notorious by his personality, and a less patriotic have chosen the +satisfaction of being consistent to the bitter end and winning some +measure of approval from the unthinking. + +But North was a statesman, and although Betty did not see him to speak +to for many weeks after the Message went to Congress, she doubted if +he had hesitated a moment in choosing his course. He was a man who +made a problem of nothing, who thought and acted promptly on all +questions great and small. It was his manifest duty to support his +President, who was also the head of his party, and to do what he could +to win the sympathy of Europe for his country by making its course +appear the right and inevitable one. + +North's position was the logical result of the deliberations and +decisions of the year 1787. Hamilton, the greatest creative and +constructive genius of his century, never so signally proved his far- +sighted statesmanship as when he pleaded for an aristocratic republic +with a strong centralized government. As he was capable of anything, +he doubtless foresaw the tyranny of the people into which ill- +considered liberty would degenerate, just as he foresaw the many +strong, wise, and even great men who would be born to rule the country +wisely if given the necessary power. If the educated men of the +country knew that its destinies were wholly in their hands, and that +they alone could achieve the highest honours, there is not one of them +who would not train himself in the science of government. Such men, +ruling a country in which liberty did not mean a heterogeneous +monarchy, would make the lot of the masses far easier than it is +to-day. The fifteen million Irish plebeians with which the country is +cursed would be harmlessly raising pigs in the country. Hamilton, in +one of his letters, speaks of democracy as a poison. Some twenty years +ago an eminent Englishman bottled and labelled the poison in its +infinite variety, as a warning to the extreme liberals in his own +country. We attempted one ideal, and we almost have forgotten what the +ideal was. Hamilton's could not have fared worse, and there is good +reason to believe that educated and thinking men, unhampered by those +who talk bad grammar and think not, would have raised our standards +far higher than they are, even with men like North patiently and +dauntlessly striving to counteract the poison below. At all events, +there would be no question of a President's hand being forced. Nor +would such a class of rulers put a man in the White House whose hand +could be forced. + +Although Betty knew North would disregard the sneers of the press and +of ambitious orators who would declaim while cannon thundered, she +also knew that his impassive exterior hid a sense of humiliating +defeat, and that the moment in which he was obliged to utter his aye +for war would be the bitterest of his life. She fancied that he forgot +her in these days, but she was willing to have it so. The intense +breathless excitement of that time, when scarcely a Senator left his +seat from ten in the morning till some late hour of the night, except +to snatch a meal; the psychological effect of the silent excited +crowds in the galleries and corridors of the Capitol and on its lawns +and the immensity of its steps; the solemnity and incalculable +significance of the approaching crisis, and the complete gravity of +the man who possessed her mind, carried her out of herself and merged +her personality for a brief while into the great personality of the +nation. + + + + +XIV + + + +It was half-past one o'clock in the morning of the nineteenth of +April. A thousand people, weary and breathless but intensely silent, +were crowded together in the galleries of the Senate. They had been +there all night, some of them since early afternoon, a few since +twelve o'clock. Outside, the corridors were so packed with humanity +that it was a wonder the six acres of building did not sway. For the +first time in hours they were silent and motionless, although they +could hear nothing. + +On the floor of the Senate almost every chair was occupied, and every +Senator was singularly erect; no one was lounging, or whispering, or +writing to-night. All faced the Vice-President, alone on his dais, +much as an army faces its general. Every foot of the wide semicircle +between the last curve of chairs and the wall was occupied by members +of the House of Representatives, who stood in a dignified silence with +which they had been little acquainted of late. + +The Senate no longer looked like a Club. It recalled the description +of Bryce: "The place seems consecrated to great affairs." + +The Secretary was about to call the roll for the vote which would +decide the fate of Cuba and alter for ever the position of the United +States in the family of nations. + +Betty had been in the gallery all night and a part of the preceding +day. When the Senate took a recess at half-past six in the evening, +she and Mary Montgomery, while Mrs. Shattuc guarded their seats, had +forced their way down to the restaurant, but had been obliged to +content themselves with a few sandwiches bought at the counter. But +Betty was conscious of neither hunger nor fatigue, although the strain +during the last eight hours had been almost insupportable: the brief +sharp debates, the prosing of bores, interrupted by angry cries of +"Vote! Vote!" the reiterated announcement of the Chairman of the +Committee on Foreign Relations that the conferees could not agree, the +perpetual nagging of two Democrats and one Populist, the long trying +intervals of debate on matters irrelevant to the great question +torturing every mind, during which there was much confusion on the +floor: the Senators talked constantly in groups except when the +Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations brought in his amended +bill;--all this had made up a day trying to the stoutest nerves, and +more than one person had fainted and been carried from the galleries. + +The blood throbbed in Betty Madison's head from repressed excitement +and the long strain on her nerves. But the solemnity of the scene +affected her so powerfully that her ego seemed dead, she only was +conscious of looking down upon history. It seemed to her that for the +first time she fully realized the tremendous issues involved in the +calling of that roll of names. The attitude of the American people +which she had deprecated and scorned was dignified by the attitude of +that historical body below her. Even Senator North did not interest +her. The Senate for the time was a unit. + +It seemed to her an interminable interval between the last echo of the +rumbling voice of the Clerk who had read the resolution amended by the +report of the conferees, and the first raucous exasperated note of the +Secretary's clerk, after a brief colloquy between Senators. This clerk +calls the roll of the Senate at all times as if he hated every member +of it, and to-night he was nervous. + +Betty felt the blood throb in her ears as she counted the sharp +decisive "ayes" and "nos," although Burleigh, whom she had seen during +the recess, had told her there was no doubt of the issue. As the clerk +entered the M's, she came to herself with a shock, and simultaneously +was possessed by a desire to get out of the gallery before Senator +North's time came to say "aye." She had heard the roll called many +times, she knew there were fourteen M's, and that she would have time +to get out of the gallery if she were quick about it. She made so +violent an effort to control the excitement raging within her that her +brain ached as if a wedge had been driven through it. She whispered +hurriedly to Mary Montgomery, who was leaning breathlessly over the +rail and did not hear her, then made her way up to the door as rapidly +as she could; even the steps were set thick with people. + +As she was passed out of the gallery by the doorkeeper, and found +herself precipitated upon that pale trembling hollow-eyed crowd wedged +together like atoms in a rock, her knees trembled and her courage +almost failed her. Several caught her by the arms, and asked her how +the vote was going; but she only shrugged her shoulders with the +instinct of self-defence and pushed her way toward a big policeman. He +knew her and put out his hand, thrusting one or two people aside. + +"This has been too much for you, miss, I reckon," he said. "I'll get +you downstairs. Keep close behind me." + +He forced a way through the crowd to the elevator. To attempt to part +the compact mass on the staircase would invite disaster. The elevator +boy had deserted his post that he might hear the news the sooner, but +the policeman pushed Betty into the car, and manipulated the ropes +himself. On the lower floor was another dense crowd; but he got her to +the East door after rescuing her twice, called her carriage and +returned to his post, well pleased with his bill. + +For many moments Betty, bruised from elbows, breathless from her +passage through that crush in the stagnant air, could not think +connectedly. She vaguely recalled Mrs. Mudd's large face and black +silk dress in the Diplomats' Gallery, which even a Cabinet minister +might not enter without a permit from a member of the Corps. Doubtless +the doorkeepers had been flung to and fro more than once to-night, +like little skiffs in an angry sea. She wondered how she had had +sufficient presence of mind to fee the policeman, and hoped she had +not given him silver instead of the large bill which had seemed to +spring to her fingers at the end of that frightful journey. + +She leaned out of the open window, wishing it were winter, that the +blood might be driven from her head; but there was only the slight +chill of a delicious April morning in the air, and the young leaves +fluttered gently in the trees. In the afternoon hundreds of boys had +sold violets in the streets, and the perfume lingered, floating above +the heavier scent of the magnolias in the parks. Betty's weary mind +pictured Washington as it would be a few weeks hence, a great forest +of brilliant living green amidst which one had almost to look for the +houses and the heroes in the squares. Every street was an avenue whose +tall trees seemed to cut the sky into blue banners--the word started +the rearrangement of her scattered senses; in a few weeks the dust +would be flying up to the green from thousands of marching feet. + +She burst into tears, and they gave her some relief. The carriage +stopped at the house a moment later, and she went directly to her +boudoir. She took off her hat and pulled down her hair, rubbing her +fingers against her burning head. Senator North took possession of her +mind at once. The Senate was no longer a unit to her excited +imagination; it seemed to dissolve away and leave one figure standing +there beaten and alone. + +She forgot the passionate efforts of other Senators in behalf of +peace; to her the fine conservative strength of the Senate was +personified in one man. And if there were others as pure and unselfish +in their ideals, his at least was the master intellect. + +She wondered if he remembered in this hour of bitter defeat that she +had promised to come to this room and give him what she could of +herself. That was weeks and weeks ago, and she had not repeated her +intention, as she should have done. But he loved her, and was not +likely to forget anything she said to him. Or would he care if he did +remember? Must not personal matters seem of small account to-night? Or +was he too weary to care for anything but sleep? Perhaps he had flung +himself down on a sofa in the cloak-room, or in his Committee Room, +and forgotten the national disaster while she watched. + +She had been walking rapidly up and down the room. Her thoughts were +not yet coherent, and instinct prompted her to get the blood out of +her head if she could. A vague sense of danger possessed her, but she +was not capable of defining it. Suddenly she stopped and held her +breath. She had become aware of a recurring footstep on the sidewalk. +Her window abutted some thirty feet away. She craned her head forward, +listening so intently that the blood pounded in her ears. She expected +to hear the gate open, the footsteps to grow softer on the path. But +they continued to pace the stone flags of the sidewalk. + +She opened her door, ran down the hall and into the parlor. Without an +instant's hesitation she flung open a window and leaned out. The light +from the street lamp fell full upon her. He could not fail to see her +were he there. But he was not. The man pacing up and down before the +house was the night watchman. + +Betty closed the window hurriedly and stumbled back into the dark +room. The disappointment and reaction were intolerable. She felt the +same blind rage with Circumstance which had attacked her the night he +had kissed and left her. In such crises conventions are non-existent; +she might have been primeval woman for all she recalled in that hour +of the teachings of the centuries. Had he been there, she would have +called him in. He was hers, whatever stood between them, and she alone +had the right to console him. + +Her mind turned suddenly to his house. He was there, of course; it was +absurd to imagine that his cool deliberation would ever forsake him. +The moment the Senate adjourned he would have put on his hat, walked +down to the East door, called a cab and gone home. And he was in his +library. Why she felt so positive that he was there and not in bed she +could not have told, but she saw the light in the long wing. She put +her hands to her face suddenly, and moved to the door. She stumbled +over a chair, and then noticed the intense darkness of the room. But +beyond she saw distinctly the big red brick house of Senator North, +with the light burning in the wing. Was she going to him? She wondered +vaguely, for her will seemed to be at the bottom of a pile of +struggling thoughts and to have nothing to say in the matter. Surely +she must. He was a man who stood alone and scorned sympathy or help, +but he would be glad of hers because it was hers; there was no +possible doubt of that. And in spite of his record he must for the +hour feel a bitter and absolute failure. + +A pebble would bring him to the window. He would come out, and come +back here with her. She opened her arms suddenly. The room was so dark +she almost could fancy him beside her. Would that he were! + +She had no adequate conception of a morrow. The future was drab and +formless. His trouble drew her like a magnet. She trembled at the mere +thought of being able to make him forget. + +And he? If he came out and saw her standing there, he would be more +than a man if he resisted the impulse to return with her here and take +her in his arms. And he too must be in a state of mind in which to-day +dwarfed and blotted out to-morrow. + +For the moment she stood motionless, almost breathless, realizing so +vividly the procession of bitter and apprehensive thoughts in the mind +which for so long had possessed and controlled hers that she forgot +her intention, even her desire to go to him. It was this moment of +insight and abstraction from self that saved her. Her own mind seemed +to awake suddenly. + +It was as if her thinking faculty had descended to her heart during +the last hours and been made dizzy and dull by the wild hot whirl of +emotions there. It climbed suddenly to where it belonged, and set the +rested machinery of her brain to work. + +Doubtless his impulse had been to come to her, to the room where he +knew she was alone and would receive him if he demanded admittance. He +had put the temptation aside, as he had put aside many others; and it +had been in her mind, was in her mind still, to make the temptation +irresistible. And if he felt a failure to-night, she had it in her +power to wreck his life utterly. + +It was more than possible that in the remaining years of his vigour +dwelt his tardy opportunities for historical fame. The great Republic +had sailed out of her summer sea into foreign waters, stormy, +unfriendly, bristling with unimaginable dangers. Once more she would +need great statesmen, not merely able legislators, and there could be +no doubt in the mind of any student of the Senate that she would +discover them swiftly. North was the greatest of these; and the record +of his future, brilliant, glorious perhaps, seemed to unroll itself +suddenly in the dark room. + +Betty drew a long hard breath. Her cheeks were cool at last, and she +wondered if her heart were dead, it felt so cold. What mad impulse +nearly had driven her to him to-night, independently of her will; +which had slept, worn out, like other faculties, by a day of hunger, +excitement, fatigue, and physical pain? The impulse had risen +unhindered and uncriticised from her heart, and if it had risen once +it could rise again. The days to come would be full of excitement. +She fancied that she already heard the roar of cannon, the beating of +drums, the sobs of women. And below the racket and its sad +accompaniment was always the low indignant mutter of a triumphant +people at those who had dared to set themselves above the popular +clamour and ask for sanity. The intolerable longing that had become +her constant companion would be fed by every device of unpropitious +Circumstance. Again and again she would experience this impulse to go +to him, and some night the blood would not recede from her brain in +time. + +She groped her way out of the dark parlor and down the hall, grateful +for an excuse to walk slowly. Her boudoir was brilliant, and the +struggle of the last few moments seemed the more terrible and +significant by contrast with the dainty luxurious room. She wondered +if she ever should dare to enter the parlor again, and if it always +would not look dark to her. + +She sat down at her desk and wrote a letter. It ran:-- +Dear Mr. Burleigh,--I will marry you if you still wish it. Will you +dine with us to-night? + +Betty Madison. + +She was too tired for emotion, but she knew what would come later. +Nevertheless, she went to the front door and asked the watchman to +post the letter. Then she went to bed. + + + + +XV + + + +The Senate adjourned a few moments after Betty left the gallery. There +was little conversation in the cloak-room. The Senators were very +tired, and it surely was a brain of bubbles that could indulge in +comment upon the climax of the great finished chapter of the old +Republic. + +North put on his hat and overcoat at once and left the Capitol. After +the close confinement in heated and vitiated air for sixteen hours, +the thought of a cab was intolerable: he shook his head at the old +darky who owned him and whom he never had been able to dodge during +his twenty years' service in Washington, plunged his hands into his +overcoat pockets, and strode off with an air of aggressive +determination which amused him as a fitting anti-climax. The darky +grinned and drove home without looking for another fare. His Senator +not only had paid him by the month for several years, but had +supported his family for the last ten. + +North inhaled the pure cool air, the delicious perfume of violet and +magnolia, as Betty had done. Once he paused and looked up at the +wooded heights surrounding the city, then down at the Potomac and the +great expanse of roofs and leaves. The Washington Monument, the +purest, coldest, most impersonal monument on earth, looked as gray as +the sky, but its outlines were as sharp as at noonday. North often +watched it from the window of his Committee Room; he had seen it rosy +with the mists of sunset, as dark as granite under stormy skies, as +waxen as death. Normally, it was white and pure and inspiring, never +companionable, but helpful in its cold and lofty beauty. + +"It _is_ a monument," he thought, to-night, "and to more than +Washington." + +He turned into Massachusetts Avenue and strolled along, in no hurry to +find himself between walls again. He was not conscious of physical +fatigue, and experienced no longing for bed, but his brain was tired +and he enjoyed the absence of enforced companionship and continued +alertness, the cool air, the quiet morning in her last sleep. + +Betty, like all brilliant women who love passionately, had over- +imagined, in her solitude and excitement. It is true that North had +felt the bitterness of defeat, that his mind had dwelt upon the +miserable and blasting thought that after years of unquestioned +statesmanship and leadership, of hard work and unremitting devotion, +his will had had no weight against hysteria and delirium. But both +bitterness and the sense of failure had been dismissed in the moment +when he had, once for all, accepted the situation; and that had been +several days before. Since then, he had shoved aside the past, and had +given his undivided thought to the present and the future. He had +uttered his "aye" almost indifferently; it had been given to the +President days since. + +Nevertheless, his brain, tired as it was, did not wander from the +great climax in his country's history. To that country at large this +climax meant simply a brief and arrogant chastisement of a cruel +little nation; the generals would have been quite justified in sending +their dress clothes and golf sticks on to Havana; but North knew that +this officious "police duty" was the noisy prologue to a new United +States, possibly to the birth of a new Constitution. + +"Is this the grand finale of the people's rule?" he thought. "They +have screamed for the moon as they never screamed before, and this +time they have got it fairly between their teeth. Well, it is a dead +old planet; will its decay vitiate their own blood and leave them the +half-willing prey of a Circumstance they do not dream of now? Dewey +will take the Philippines, of course. He would be an inefficient fool +if he did not, and he is the reverse. The Spanish in Cuba will crumble +almost before the world realizes that the war has begun. The United +States will find itself sitting open-mouthed with two huge prizes in +its lap. It may, in a fit of virtue which would convulse history, give +them back, present them, with much good advice and more rhetoric, to +their rightful owners. And it may not. These prizes are crusted with +gold; and the stars and stripes will look so well in the breeze above +that the pride of patriotism may decide they must remain there. And if +it does--if it does... The extremists in the Senate will grow twenty +years in one... With the bit between their teeth and the arrogance +of triumph in their blood--" + +He found himself in front of his own house. He turned slowly and +looked intently for a moment toward I Street. His face softened, then +he jerked out his latchkey, let himself in and went directly to the +library. He still had no desire for bed, and threw himself into an +easy-chair before the andirons. But it was the first time in several +days that he had sat in a luxurious chair, and the room was full of +soft warmth. He fell asleep, and although he seemed to awaken +immediately, he could only conclude, when the experience which +followed was over, that he had been dreaming. + +He suddenly became aware that a chair beside him was occupied, and he +wheeled about sharply. His sense of companionship was justified; a man +sat there. North stared at him, more puzzled than surprised, +endeavouring to fit the familiar face to some name on his long list of +acquaintances, and wondering who in Washington could have given a +fancy-dress ball that night. His visitor wore his hair in a queue and +powdered, a stock of soft lawn, and a dress-coat of plum-coloured +cloth cut as in the days of the founders of the Republic. + +Although it was some moments before North recognized his visitor, his +resentment at this unseasonable intrusion passed quickly; the +personality in the chair was so charming, so magnetic, so genial. He +was a young man, between thirty and forty, with a long nose, a mobile +mouth, dark gray-blue eyes full of fire and humour, and a massive +head. It was a face of extraordinary power and intellect, but lit up +by a spirit so audacious and impulsive and triumphant that it was +like a leaping flame of dazzling brilliancy in some forbidding +fortress. He was smiling with a delighted expression of good +fellowship; but North experienced a profound conviction that the man +was weighing and analyzing him, that he would weigh and analyze +everybody with whom he came in contact, and make few mistakes. + +"Who the deuce can he be?" he thought, "and why doesn't he speak?" And +then it occurred to him that he had not spoken, himself. He was about +to inquire with somewhat perfunctory courtesy in what manner he could +serve his visitor, when his glance fell on the man's hands. He sat +erect with a slight exclamation and experienced a stiffening at the +roots of his hair. The hands under the lace ruffles were the most +beautiful that ever had been given to a man, even to as small a man as +this. They were white and strong and delicate, with pointed fingers +wide apart, and filbert nails. North knew them well, for they were the +hands of the man whom he admired above all men in the history of his +country. But until to-night he had seen them on canvas only, in the +Treasury Department of the United States. His feeling of terror +passed, and he sat forward eagerly. + +"The little lion," he said caressingly, for the man before him might +have been his son, although he had been in his tomb with a bullet in +his heart for nearly a century. But he looked so young, so restless, +so indomitable, that the years slipped out of the century, and +Hamilton once more was the most brilliant ornament of a country which +had never ceased to need him. + +"Yes," he said brightly, "here I am, sir, and you see me at last. This +is that one moment in the lifetime of the few when the spirit burns +through the flesh and recognizes another spirit who has lost that dear +and necessary medium. I have been with you a great deal in your life, +but you never have been able to see me until to-night." He gave his +head an impatient toss. "How I have wished I were alive during the +last three or four months!" he exclaimed. "Not that I could have +accomplished what you could not, sir, but it would have been such a +satisfaction to have been able to make the effort, and then, when I +failed, to tell democracy what I thought of it." + +North smiled. All sense of the supernatural had left him. His soul and +Hamilton's were face to face; that was the one glorified fact. "I have +been tempted several times lately to wish that we had your +aristocratic republic," he said, "and that I were the head and centre +of it. I have felt a strong desire to wring the neck of that many- +headed nuisance called 'the people,' and proceed as if it were where +the God of nations intended those incapable of governing should +be and remain without protest." + +"Oh, yes, you are an aristocrat. That is the reason I have enjoyed the +society of your mind all these years. You were so like me in many ways +when you were my age, and since then I seem to have grown older with +you. I died so young. But in you, in the last twenty years, I seem to +have lived on. You have built an iron wall all round those terrible +fires of your youth, and roofed it over. It is only now and then that +a panel melts and the flame leaps out; and the panel is so quickly +replaced! I too should have conquered myself like that and made fewer +and fewer mistakes." + +"God knows what I might not have been able to do for my country. I +have been mad to leap into the arena often enough." + +"You are not dead. No man is, whose inspiration lives on. More than +one of us would be of shorter stature and shorter gait if we never had +had your accomplishment to ponder over. And as to what the nation +would have been without you--" + +"Yes!" cried Hamilton. "Yes! How can any man of ability submit to +death without protest, shrug his shoulders cynically, and say that no +man's disappearance causes more than a whirl of bubbles on the +surface, that the world goes on its old gait undisturbed, and does as +well with the new as the old? Look at Great Britain. She hasn't a +single great man in all her eleven million square miles to lead her. +That is answer enough to a theory which some men are sincere enough in +believing. This country always has needed great leaders, and sometimes +she has had them and sometimes not. The time is coming when she will +need them as she has not done since the days when three or four of us +set her on her feet." + +North stood up suddenly and looked down on Hamilton. "What are we +coming to?" he asked abruptly. "Monarchy?" + +The guest tapped the toe of his little slipper with the tips of his +beautiful fingers. He laughed gayly. "I can see only a little farther +ahead than your own far-penetrating brain, sir. What do you think?" + +"As I walked home tonight, the situation possessed my mind, which by +some process of its own seemed to develop link after link in coming +events. It seemed to me that I saw a thoroughly disorganized people, +unthinkingly but ruthlessly thrusting aside all ideals, and-- +consequently--in time--ready for anything." + +Hamilton nodded, "If they had begun with my ideal, they would have +remained there. Now they will leap far behind that--when there is a +strong enough man down there in the White House. Certain radical +changes, departures from their traditions and those of their fathers, +will school them for greater changes still. In some great critical +moment when a dictator seems necessary they will shrug their shoulders +and say, 'Why not?'" + +"I believe you are right, but I doubt if it comes in my time." + +Hamilton shook his head. "Every state in Europe has its upper lip +curled back above its teeth, and who knows, when the leashes snap, +what our fate will be, now that we have practically abandoned our +policy of non-interference in the affairs of the Eastern Hemisphere? +If all Europe is at somebody's throat in the next five years, we shall +not escape; be sure of that. Then will be the great man's opportunity. +You always have despised the office of President. Work for it from +this day. The reaction from this madness will help you. Democrats as +well as Republicans will turn to you as the one man worthy of the +confidence of the entire country." + +"Not if they guessed that I meditated treason, sir. Nor should I. I +agree with you that your ideal was the best, but there is nothing for +me to do but to make the best of the one I've inherited. If I am +aristocratic in my preferences, I am also a pretty thoroughgoing +American." + +"Yes, yes, I know, sir. You never will meditate what, if premeditated, +would be treason. But when the great moment comes, when your +patriotism and your statesmanship force you to admit that if the +country is to be saved it must be rescued from the people, and that +you alone can rescue it, then you will tear the Constitution down its +middle. This country is past amendments. It must begin over again. And +the whole great change must come from one man. The people never could +be got to vote for an aristocratic republic. They must be stunned into +accepting a monarchy. After the monarchy, then the real, the great +Republic." + +The two men looked long into each other's eyes. Then North said,-- + +"I repeat that I never should work nor scheme for the position that +such a change might bring me. Nevertheless, believing, as I do, that +we are on the threshold of a new and entirely different era in this +country, if the time should come when I felt that I, as its most +highly trained servant, could best serve the United States by taking +her destinies entirely into my own hands, I should do so without an +instant's hesitation. I have done all I could to preserve the old +order for them, and they have called me traitor and gone their own +way. Now let them take the consequences." + +Hamilton set his mobile lips in a hard line. His eyes looked like +steel. "Yes," he said harshly, "let them take the consequences. They +had their day, they have gone mad with democracy, let them now die of +their own poison. The greatest Republic the world ever will have known +is only in the ante-room of its real history." He stood up suddenly +and held out his hand. "Good-bye, sir," he said. "We may or may not +meet again before you too are forced to abandon your work. But I often +shall be close to you, and I believe, I firmly believe, that you will +do exactly as I should do if I stood on solid ground to-day." + +North took the exquisite hand that had written the greatest state +papers of the century, and looked wonderingly at its white beauty. It +suddenly gave him the grip of an iron vise. North returned the +pressure. Then the strong hand melted from his, and he stood alone. + +Exactly in what the transition from sleep to waking consisted, North +was not able to define. There was a brief sense of change, including a +lifting of heavy eyelids. Technically he awoke. But he was standing on +the hearthrug. And his right hand ached. + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"What difference does it make whether he appeared to my waking eyes or +passed through my sleeping brain and sat down with my soul?" + +He plunged his hands into his pockets and stood thinking for many +minutes. He said, half aloud, finally,-- + +"Not in my time, perhaps. But it will come, it will come." + + + + +XVI + + + +When Betty awoke at four o'clock in the afternoon, she discovered with +some surprise that she had slept soundly for eleven hours. Her head +was a trifle heavy, but after her bath she felt so fresh again that +the previous day and night seemed like a very long and very ugly +dream. She reflected that if she had not written to Burleigh before +she went to bed she certainly should do so now. He still seemed the +one safeguard for the future; she had convinced herself that with her +capacity for violent emotion and nervous exaltation, her head was not +to be trusted. + +She felt calm enough this afternoon, and she opened with no enthusiasm +the note which had arrived from Burleigh. She might have drawn some +from its superabundant amount, but she frowned and threw it in the +fire. Then she went to her mother's room and announced her engagement. + +"My dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Madison. "Well!--I am delighted." + +Then she looked keenly at Betty and withheld her congratulations. But +she asked no questions, although the edge suddenly left her pleasure +and she began to wonder if Burleigh were to be congratulated. + +"He is coming to dinner," Betty continued, "and I want you to promise +me that you will not leave us alone for a moment, and that you will go +with me to New York to-morrow." + +"I will do anything you like, of course, and I always enjoy New York." + +"I want to get away from Washington, and I want to shop more than +anything in life. I hate the thought of everything serious,--the +country, the war, everybody and everything, and I feel that if I could +spend two weeks with shops and dressmakers I'd be quite happy--almost +my old self again." + +"I wish you were," said Mrs. Madison, with a sigh. "I wish this +country never had had any politics." + +The instinct of coquetry was deeply rooted in Betty Madison, but that +evening she selected her most unbecoming gown. She was one of those +women who never look well in black, and look their worst in it when +their complexion shows the tear of secret trouble and broken rest. She +had a demi-toilette of black chiffon trimmed with jet and relieved +about the neck with pink roses. She cut off the roses; and when +arrayed had the satisfaction of seeing herself look thirty-five. +For a moment she wavered, and Leontine, with tears, begged to be +allowed to remove the gown; but Betty set her teeth and went +downstairs. + +She had the further satisfaction of seeing a brief flash of surprise +and disappointment in Burleigh's eyes as he came forward to greet her; +and, indeed, the gown seemed to depress the company for the entire +evening. Betty tried to rattle on gayly, but the painful certainty +that she looked thirty-five (perhaps more), and that Burleigh saw it, +and her mother (who was visibly depressed) saw it, and the butler and +the footman (both of whom, she knew through Leontine, admired her +extravagantly) saw it, dashed her spirits to zero, and she fell into +an unreasoning rage with Senator North. + +"I am going to New York to-morrow, and you are not to follow me," she +said with a final effort at playfulness. "I have been at such a +nervous strain over this wretched war that I must be frivolous and +feminine for two whole weeks--and what so serious as being engaged?" + +Burleigh sighed. His spirits were unaccountably low. He had forgotten +his country for an entire day, and rushed up to the house ten minutes +before the appointed hour, his spirits as high as a boy's on his way +to the cricket field. But his apple had turned to ashes in a funereal +gown, and there seemed no colour about it anywhere. + +"Of course you want a change," he said, "but I hope you will write to +me." + +"I'll write you a little note every day," she said with sudden +contrition. "I know I'll feel--and look ever so much better in a few +days." + +"There!" she thought with a sigh, "I've made this wretched sacrifice +for nothing, and I'll never forget how I'm looking at the present +moment, to my dying day. I know I'll wear my most distracting gown the +next time he comes. Well, what difference? I've got to marry him, +anyhow." + +She shook hands cordially with him when he rose to go, an hour later, +but she did not leave her mother's side. He did not attempt to smile, +but shook hands silently with both and left the room as rapidly as +dignity would permit. + +Mrs. Madison put her handkerchief to her eyes and burst into tears. + +"Poor dear man!" she exclaimed. "I felt exactly as if we were having +our last dinner together before he went off to the war to get killed. +I never spent such a dismal evening in my life. And what on earth made +you put on that horrid gown? You look a fright--you almost look older +than he does." + +"Don't turn the knife round, please. I'm rather sorry, to tell the +truth, but I didn't want him to be too overjoyed. I couldn't have +stood it." + +"Are you sorry that you have engaged yourself to him?" + +"No, I am glad--very glad." But she said it without enthusiasm. When +she went up to her room, she presented the black gown to Leontine and +sent her to bed. Then she put on a peignoir of pink silk and lace and +examined herself in the mirror. She looked fifteen years younger and +wholly charming; there was no doubt of it. + + + + +XVII + + + +The next day, before starting for New York, she wrote a note to +Senator North:-- + +I am going to marry Robert Burleigh. On Tuesday morning I almost went +to your house--to bring you back with me here. I came to my senses in +time; but I might not again. I want you to understand. + +I wish he were not on the winning side. But he is the only man I can +even think of marrying. + +I do not think this much is disloyal to him. But I will not say other +things. B. M. + +Burleigh came to the train to see her off, and Betty looked so +charming in her rich brown travelling frock and little turban, and +smiled so gayly upon him, that his heavy spirit lifted its wings and +he begged to be allowed to go to New York on Saturday. But to this she +would not listen, and he was forced to content himself with making +elaborate preparations for her comfort in the little drawing-room, and +buying a copy of every paper and magazine the newsboy had on sale. + +"I am sure he will make an ideal husband," said Mrs. Madison, as she +waved her hand to him from the window. "He certainly is very much of a +man," admitted Betty, "but what on earth are we to do with all these +papers? I haven't room to turn round." + +The excitement in Washington, great as it was, had been mostly within +doors; in New York it appeared to be entirely in the streets, if one +excepted the corridors of the hotels. The population, still pale and +nervously talkative, surged up and down the sidewalks. On the morrow +the city put forth her hundred thousand flags. The very air seemed to +turn to stars and stripes. + +The Madisons went to the Waldorf-Astoria, and in its refreshing +solitudes felt for the first time in months that they must go in +search of excitement if they wanted it; none would reach them here. + +"Now that the war is declared, I am sorry;" admitted Mrs. Madison, +"for so many Americans will be killed." + +"Instead of Cubans. I've done with the war. I won't even regret." + +For three days Betty shopped furiously, or held long consultations +with her dressmaker. On Sunday, after church, she read to her mother, +but refused to discuss her engagement, and on Monday she resumed her +shopping. She wrote to Burleigh immediately after breakfast every +morning, then dismissed him from her mind for twenty-four hours. + +The beautiful spring fabrics were in the shops, and she bought so many +things she did not want, even for a trousseau, that she wondered if +Mrs. Mudd would accept a trunk full of "things." She envied Mrs. Mudd, +and would find a contradictory pleasure in making her happy. Miss +Trumbull never had manifested any false pride, and matrimony had +altered her little in other ways. + +At night she slept very well, and if she did not think of Burleigh, +neither would she think of Senator North. + +She did not open a newspaper. What the country did now had no interest +for her; it was marching to its drums, and nothing could stop it. And +she would have her fill of politics for the rest of her natural life. +As Mrs. Madison always was content with a novel, she made no complaint +at the absence of newspapers, particularly as the fighting had not +begun. Moreover, Betty took her to the theatre every evening, a +dissipation which her invalidism endured without a protest. + +It was on Wednesday afternoon that Betty, returning to her rooms, met +Sally Carter in a corridor of the hotel. The two girls kissed as if no +war had come between them, and Miss Carter announced that she was +going to Cuba to nurse the American soldier. + +"I almost feel conscience-stricken," she remarked, "now that we +actually are in for it. I don't think I believed it ever really could +happen. It was more like a great drama that was about to take place +somewhere on the horizon. But if the American boys have to be shot, +I'm going to be there to do what I can." + +They entered the parlor of Mrs. Madison's suite, and that good lady, +who had read until her eyes ached, welcomed Sally with effusion and +demanded news of Washington. + +"We haven't seen a paper or a soul," she said. "We have our meals up +here, and I feel as if I were a Catholic in retreat. It's been a +relief in a way, especially after the _salon_, but I should like to +know if Washington has burned down, or anything." + +"Washington is still there and still excited," said Miss Carter, +dropping into a chair and taking off her hat, which she ran the pin +through and flung on the floor. "How it keeps it up is beyond the +comprehension of one poor set of nerves. I am now dead to all emotion +and longing for work. I'm even sorry I painted my best French +handkerchiefs red, white, and blue. If you haven't seen the papers I +suppose you don't know that Mrs. North is dead. She died suddenly +of paralysis on the twenty-second. The strength she got in the +Adirondacks soon began to leave her by degrees; the doctor--who is +mine, you know--told me the other day that it meant nothing but a +temporary improvement at any time; but he had hoped that she would +live for several years yet. Betty, what on earth do you find so +interesting in Fifth Avenue? I hate it, with its sixty different +architectures." + +"But it looks so beautiful with all the flags," said Betty, "and the +one opposite is really magnificent." + +It was a half-hour before Sally ceased from chattering and went in +search of her father. Betty had managed to control both her face and +her knees, and listened as politely as a person may who longs to +strangle the intruder and achieve solitude. The moment Sally had gone +Betty went straight to her room, avoiding her mother's eyes, which +turned themselves intently upon her. + +She did not reappear for dinner, as her mother was made cheerful by +the society of the Carters; but as Sally passed her room on her way to +bed, she called her in, and the two girls had a few moments' +conversation. + + + + +XVIII + + + +"Molly," said Betty, the next morning, "I should like to go up to the +Adirondacks alone for a few weeks. Would you mind staying here with +the Colonel and Sally for another ten days and then returning with +them? Sally says she will move into my room and that she and the +Colonel will take you to the theatre and do everything they can to +make you happy. You know the Colonel delights to be with you." + +"I understand, of course, that you are going," said Mrs. Madison. "I +shall not be bored, if that is what you mean. I hope you will +telegraph at once, so that the house will be warmed at least a day +before you arrive. I suppose you have got to a point in your affairs +where you must have solitude, but I wish you had not, and I wish you +would go where it is warmer." + +"Oh, I shall be comfortable enough." She added in a moment, "Don't +think I do not appreciate your consideration, for I do." + +Then she sat down at the desk and wrote a note to Burleigh. It was a +brief epistle, but she was a long while writing it. Her previous notes +had been dashed off in ten minutes, and usually related to the play of +the previous evening. His replies had been a curious mingling of half- +offended pride and a passion which was only restrained by the fear +that the lady was not yet ready for it. + +Finally Betty concocted the missive to the satisfaction of her mind's +diplomatic condition. She had not yet brought herself to begin any of +her notes to him formally. "Dear Robert" was as yet unnatural, and +"Dear Mr. Burleigh" absurd; so she ignored the convention. + +"I suddenly have made up my mind to go to the Adirondacks for a month, +_quite alone,_" she wrote. "When one is going to take a tremendous +step, one needs solitude that one may do a great deal of hard +thinking. I don't wonder that some Catholic women go into retreat. At +all events, Washington, 'the world,' even my mother, even you, who +always are so kind and considerate, seem impossible to me at present; +and if I am to live with some one else for the rest of my life, I must +have one uninterrupted month of solitary myself. Doubtless that will +do me till the end of my time! So would you mind if I asked you not +even to write to me? I have enjoyed your notes so much, but I want to +feel absolutely alone. Don't think this is petty egoism. It goes far +deeper than that! If we ever are to understand each other I am sure I +need not explain myself further. + B. M." + +"It has a rather heartless ring," she thought with a sigh, "but it +will intrigue him, and--who knows? As heaven is my witness, I do not. +But I do know this, that unless I get away from them all and fairly +inside of myself, whatever I do will seem the wrong thing and I might +end by making a dramatic fool of myself." + + + + +XIX + + + +The ice was on the lake this time, although it was melting rapidly, +but the sun shone all day. She had to wear her furs in the woods, but +the greens had never looked so vivid and fresh, and save for an +occasional woodchopper and her own servants, there was not a soul to +be met in that high solitude. The hotel across the lake would not open +for a month. Even the birds still lingered in the South. + +After she had been alone for two days she wondered why, when in +trouble before, she had not turned instinctively to solitude in the +forest. It is only the shallow mind that dislikes and fears the lonely +places of Nature: the intellect, no matter what vapours may be sent up +from the heart, finds not only solace in retirement, but another form +of that companionship of the ego which the deeply religious find in +retreat. The intellectual may lack the supreme self-satisfaction of +the religious, but they find a keen pleasure in being able to make the +very most of the results of years of consistent effort. + +Betty, whether alone by a roaring fire of pine cones in the living- +room, or wandering along the edge of the lake in the cold brilliant +sunshine, or in the more mysterious depths of the forest, listening to +the silence or watching the drops of light fall through the matted +treetops, felt more at peace with the world than she had done since +her fatal embarkation on the political sea. She put the memory of +Harriet Walker, insistent at first, impatiently aside, and in a day or +two that shadow crept back to its grave. + +For a few days her mind, in its grateful repose, hesitated to grapple +with the question which had sent her to the mountains; and on one of +them, while thinking idly on the great political questions which had +magnetized so much of her thought during the past year, the +inspiration for which she had so often longed shot up from the +concentrated results of thinking and experience, and revealed in what +manner she could be of service to her country. This was, whatever her +personal life, to gather about her, once a week, as many bright boys +of her own condition as she could find, and interest and educate them +in the principles of patriotic statesmanship. With her own burning +interest in the subject and her personal fascination, she could +accomplish far more than any weary professor could do. + +She had come up to these fastnesses to decide the future happiness of +one or two of three people, and she felt sober enough; but for almost +a week she wished that she could live here alone for the rest of her +life: she believed that in time she would be serenely content. She had +the largest capacity for human happiness, but she guessed that the +imagination could be so trained that when far from worldly conditions +it could create a world of its own, and would shrink more and more +from the practical realities. For Imagination has the instinct of +a nun in its depths and loves the cloister of a picturesque solitude. +It is a Fool's Paradise, but not inferior to the one which mortals are +at liberty to enter and ruin. + +But Betty could not live here alone, she could not ignore her +responsibilities in any such primitive fashion; and so long as her +heart was alive it would make battle for real and tangible happiness. + +She had a question to decide which involved not only the heart but the +mind: if she made a mistake now, she would be at odds with her higher +faculties for the rest of her life. She dreaded the sophistry which +sat on either side of the subject; and it was a question whether the +very strength of her impulse toward the man she had loved for a year +was not the strongest argument in its favour. + +But she had given her word to another man, and she had the high and +almost fanatical sense of honour of the Southern race. On the other +hand, she had a practical modern brain, and during the last year she +had been living in close contact with much hard common-sense. She had +imagination, and she knew that she already had made Burleigh suffer +deeply, and had it in her power to raise that suffering to acuteness; +and if that buoyant nature were soured, a useful career might be +seriously impaired. On the other hand, she had made a greater man more +miserable still, and while he was finding life black enough she had +rushed into the camp of the enemy; and his capacity for suffering was +far deeper and more enduring than that of the younger man. + +She tried to put herself as much aside from the question as possible, +but she had her rights and they made themselves heard. She knew, had +known at once, that she had outraged all she held most dear, in +engaging herself to one man when she loved another, and she had begun +to wonder--in irresistible flashes--before the news had come which +sent her to the mountains, if she should falter at the last moment. +But breeding has carried many a woman over the ploughshares of life, +and her mind was probably strong enough to go on to the inevitable +without theatric climax. At the same time the idea of marriage with +one man when she loved another was abhorrent; that it was particularly +so since marriage with the other had become possible, she understood +perfectly. And although she continued to reason and to argue, she had +a lurking suspicion that while she might be strong enough to conquer a +desire she might not be able to conquer a physical revolt, and that it +would rout her standards and decide the issue. + +She had made up her mind that she would hesitate for a month and no +longer, and she also had determined that she would decide the question +for herself and throw none of the responsibility on Senator North; she +felt the impulse to write to him impersonally more than once. (Perhaps +her sense of humour also restrained her.) She wondered if it were one +year or twenty years since she had gone to him for advice; and she +knew that whichever way she decided, the desire for his good opinion +would have something to do with it. + +There are only a certain number of arguments in any brain, and after +they have been reiterated a sufficient number of times they pall. From +argument Betty lapsed naturally into meditation, and the subject of +these meditations, tender, regretful, and impassioned, was one man +only; and Burleigh had no place in them. Occasionally she forced him +into her mind, but he seemed as anxious to get out as she was to drive +him; and after the ice melted and she was able to spend hours on the +lake, and rest under spreading oaks, where she had only to shut her +eyes to imagine herself companioned, she felt herself unfaithful if +she cast a solitary thought to Burleigh. + +At the end of the month she was not tired of solitude, but she was +tired of her intellectual attitude. She was human first and mental +afterward; and she wanted nothing on earth but to be the wife of the +man whom she had loved for a lifetime in a year. The moment she +formulated this wish, hesitation fled and she could not wind up her +engagement with Burleigh rapidly enough. Her letter, however, was very +sweet and apologetic, and it was also very honest. She knew that +unless she told him she loved another man and intended to marry him, +he would take the next train for the Adirondacks and plead his cause +in person. His reply was characteristic. + +"Very well," it ran. "I do not pretend to say I was not prepared after +your last letter from New York. And although I could not guess your +motive in accepting me, I knew that you did not love me. But if I am +not overwhelmed with surprise, the pain is no easier on that account, +and will not be until the grass has had time to grow over it a little. +And at least it is a relief to know the worst. Of course I forgive +you. I doubt if any man could feel bitterly toward you. You compel too +much love for that. + +"Don't worry about me. I have work enough to do--a State to talk sense +into and a nation to which to devote my poor energies. My brain such +as it is will be constantly occupied, which is the next best good a +man can have." + ROBERT BURLEIGH. + +Betty wrote him four pages of enthusiastic friendliness in reply, and +paid him the compliment of postponing her letter to Senator North +until the following day. + +But on that day she rose with the feeling that the sun never would +set. + +She was as brief as possible, for she knew that he hated long letters. +Nevertheless, she conveyed an exact impression of her weeks of +deliberation and analysis. + +"I want you to understand," she went on, "that my only wish when I +came here for solitary thought was to do the right thing, irrespective +of my own wishes in the matter. But it seems to me there is exactly as +much to be said on one side as on the other, and it all comes to this: +right or wrong, I have decided for you because I love you; and if you +no longer can admire me, if you think that I have violated my sense of +honour, then at least I shall marry no one else. B. M." + +And as her imagination was strong she did allow herself to be tortured +by doubts during the three days that elapsed before she heard from +him. She had hoped he would telegraph, but he did not, and her +imagination and her common-sense had a long and indecisive argument +which threatened ultimate depression. On the third night, however, a +messenger from the hotel opposite brought her a note from Senator +North. + +"I don't know that your mental exercise has done you any harm," he had +written, "but it certainly was thrown away. You have too much common- +sense and too thorough a capacity for loving to do anything so foolish +or so outrageous as to marry the wrong man. If you had followed a +romantic impulse--induced by nervous excitement--and married him the +day you learned that your word might be put to too severe a test, you +would have been miserable, and so would Burleigh. A mistaken sense of +duty has been the cause of quite one fourth of the unhappiness of +mankind, and few have been so bigoted as not to acknowledge this when +too late. And a broken engagement is a small injustice to a man +compared to a lifetime with an unloving wife. Burleigh is unhappy now, +but it is no lack of admiration which prompts me to say that if he had +married you he would have been unhappier still. You could do nothing +by halves. + +"Formalities with us would be an affectation unworthy of either, and I +have come to you at once. I knew that you would send for me, but I +preferred to wait until you wrote that your engagement was broken. +What I felt when I received your note announcing it, I leave to your +imagination, and I forgot it as quickly as possible. I understood +perfectly, but you exaggerated the dangers; for my love for you is so +great and so absorbing, so complete in all its parts, that nothing +but marriage would satisfy me. I should have preferred a memory to a +failure. + +"If your mother were with you, I should go over to-night. But I shall +wait for you at five to-morrow morning where you were in the habit of +letting me board your boat. And the day will not be long enough! +R. N." + +Betty slept little that night, but felt no lack of freshness the next +morning when she rose shortly after four. A broken night meant little +to her now, and happiness would have stimulated every faculty if she +had not slept for a week. + +She rowed swiftly across the lake. It was almost June now, and the +warmth of summer was in the air, the paler greens among the grim old +trees of the forest. The birds had come from the South and were +singing to the accompaniment of the pines, the roar of distant +cataracts; and yet the world seemed still. The stars were white and +faint; the moon was tangled in a treetop on the highest peak. + +He might have been the only man awake as he stood with the forest +behind him, and she recalled her fancy that although her horizon was +thick with flying mist his figure stood there, immovable, always. He +looked as if he had not moved since he stood there last, but the mist +was gone. + +As he stepped into the boat, she moved back that he might take the +oars. + +"I have on a white frock, and a blue ribbon in my hair," she said +nervously, but smiling, "else I could not have forgotten that a year +has come and gone." + +He too was smiling. "I think it is the only year we ever shall want to +forget," he said. And he rowed up the lake. + +THE END. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, SENATOR NORTH *** + +This file should be named sntrn10.txt or sntrn10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, sntrn11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, sntrn10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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