Author: Marah Ellis Ryan
Category: Western
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CHAPTER XIII.
Despite his natural irritability, to which no one appeared to pay muchattention, Mr. Loring grew almost cordial under the geniality andhopefulness emanating from Judge Clarkson, whom he was really veryglad to see, and of whom he had numberless queries to ask regardingthe hostilities of the past few months.
The enforced absence abroad had kept him in a highly nervouscondition, doing much to counteract the utmost care given him by themost learned specialists of Europe. Half his fortune had been lost bythose opening guns at Sumter. His warehouses, piled with great cottonbales for shipment to England, had been fired--burned to the ground.The capture of Beaufort, near which was another plantation of his, hadmade further wreck for him, financially, and whatever the foreigndoctors might to with his body, his mind was back in Carolina, eager,questioning, combative. He was burning himself up with a fever ofanxiety.
"It is all of no use, Mademoiselle," said the most distinguishedspecialist whom she had consulted, "Monsieur, your uncle will live formany years if but the mind is composed--no shocks, no heavy loads tocarry. But the mind, you perceive--it is impossible for him to allowhimself to be composed away from his country. We have done all thatcan be done here. To return to his own land under the care of acompetent physician, of course, would be now the best arrangement Icould suggest. He may live there for many years; here, he will mostcertainly die."
At Loring's request Dr. Delaven was the physician who had beenapproached with the proposal to accompany him to Carolina. Why, itwould be hard to guess, for they were totally unlike in every way--hadnot, apparently, a single taste in common. But the physician in chargeof the hospital approved his judgment.
"It is a most wise one, Monsieur Loring. Dr. Delaven has shown as hisspecialty cases similar to your own, and has proven most successful.Withal, he is adventurous. He will enjoy the new country, and he is ofyour own language. All I could do for you he can do, perhaps more; forI am old, while he is young and alive with enthusiasms with which tosupplement his technical knowledge."
Gertrude only delayed their departure long enough to write Col.McVeigh, who was in London. He secured for them transportation toNassau under the guardianship of an official who would take mostextreme care that the party be conveyed from there by some blockaderunner to be depended upon. And that the Federal blockade often failedof its purpose was evidenced by the fact that they were quietly landedone night in a little inlet south of Charleston, which they reached bycarriage, and rested there a few days before attempting the journeyoverland.
The doctors were correct as to the beneficial results of the homecoming of Loring. It acted like a tonic and the thought of outwittingthe Yankees of that blockade pleased him immensely. He never gave athought to the girl who watched with pale face and sleepless eyesthrough that dash for the shore. Delaven mentally called him a selfishbrute.
The visit of Judge Clarkson was partially an affair of business, butafter a private interview with Delaven he decided to dismiss all ideaof business settlements until later. Nothing of an annoying orirritating nature must be broached to the convalescent just yet.
The Judge confessed that it was an affair over which Mr. Loring hadbeen deeply chagrined--a clear loss of a large sum of money, andperhaps it would be safer, under the circumstances, to await Col.McVeigh's return. Col. McVeigh was equally interested, and neither henor the Judge would consent to risk an attack similar to thatexperienced by Mr. Loring during the bombardment of Port Royalentrance. He was at that time on his Beaufort plantation, where theblue coats overran his place after they landed, and it was known tohave been nothing else than a fit of rage at their victory, and rageat the planters who fled on all sides of him, which finally ended inthe prostration for which the local physicians could find no remedy.Then it was that Gertrude took him abroad, with the result described.It was understood the prostration had taught him one useful lesson--heno longer cultivated the rages for which he had been locally famous.As he was unable to stamp and roar, he compromised on sneers andcaustic retorts, from which he appeared to derive an amount ofsatisfaction tonical in its effects.
The Judge was giving Delaven the details of the Beaufort affair whenBen wheeled his master into the room. There was an awkward pause, aslight embarrassment, but he had caught the words "Port Royalentrance," and comprehended.
"Huh! Talking over that disaster, Judge?" he remarked. "I tell youwhat it is, you can't convey to a foreigner anything of the feeling ofthe South over those misfortunes; to have Sherman's tramps gorough-shod over your lawns and rest themselves with braggadocio atyour tables--the most infernal riff-raff--"
"One moment," interposed the Judge, blandly, with a view to check theunpleasant reminiscences. "Did I not hear you actually praise one ofthose Yankees?--in fact, assert that he was a very fine fellow?"
"Yes, yes; I had forgotten him. A Yankee captain; ordered theblue-coats to the right-about when he found there was only a sick manand a girl there; and more than that, so long as those scavengers wereashore and parading around Beaufort he kept men stationed at my gatesfor safeguard duty. A fine fellow, for a Yankee. I can only accountfor it by the fact that he was a West Point graduate, and was thusthrown, to a certain extent, into the society and under the influencesof our own men. Kenneth, Col. McVeigh, had known Monroe there--hisname was Monroe--Captain John Monroe--at Beaufort his own men calledhim Captain Jack."
"Just as she was stepping on ship board: 'Your name I'd like to know?' And with a smile she answered him, 'My name is Jack Monroe!'"
sang a fresh voice outside the window, and then the curtain was pushedaside and Evilena's brown head appeared.
"I really could not help that, Mr. Loring," she said, laughingly. "Thetemptation was too great. Did you never whistle 'Jack Monroe' when youwere a boy?"
"No, I can't say I ever did," he replied, testily.
"It's intensely interesting," she continued, seating herself on thewindow sill and regarding him with smiling interest, made bold by thepresence of her champion, the Judge. "Aunt Sajane taught it to me, anold, old sailor song. It's all about her sweetheart, Jack, not AuntSajane's sweetheart, but the girl's. Her wealthy relatives separatethem by banishing him to the wars somewhere, and she dressed up inboy's clothes to follow him.
"'She went unto a tailor And dressed in men's array, And thence unto a sailor And paid her fare away.'"
recited Evilena, with uplifted finger punctuating the sentences."Wasn't she brave? Well, she found him, and they were married. Thereare seven verses of it."
"I--I should think that quite enough," he remarked, dropping his headforward and looking at her from under the overhanging brows. "Do youmean to sing them all to me?"
"Perhaps, some day," she promised, showing all her teeth and droppingthe curtain.
"So now this couple's married, Despite their bitter foe, And she's back again in England With her darling, Jack Monroe."
The two visitors laughed outright as this information was wafted tothem from the veranda, the old song growing more faint as the singercircled the house in search of Gertrude.
"A true daughter of the South, Dr. Delaven," said the Judge, with atender cadence betraying how close to his heart was his pride in allSouthern excellence--"child and woman in one, sir--a charmingcombination."
"Right you are, Judge, in that; may their numbers never be less."
Evilena had found Gertrude and at once confessed her daring.
"Don't know how I ever did have courage to pop my head in there. AuntSajane--but he talked of Jack Monroe just as I passed the window, andI pretended I thought he meant the old song (I do wonder if heever--ever sang or whistled?) Then I told him what it was all about,and promised to sing it to him some day, and I know by the sort ofsmile he had that he wanted to order me out of the room as he used towhen I was little."
"Oh, you are an angel, Gertrude; so you never have temptations to dothings for pure mischief. But I wish you'd tell me who this JackMonroe is."
"A Federal officer who was of service to us when Beaufort was taken."
"A _Yankee_!"--and her horror was absolute. "Well, I should not thinkyou'd accept service from such a person."
"Honey!" said Aunt Sajane, in mild chiding.
"We had no choice," said Gertrude, quietly; "afterwards we learned heand Kenneth had been friends at West Point; so he was really agentleman."
"And in the _Yankee Army_?" queried the irrepressible. "Good-bye, JackMonroe, I shan't sing you again."
"You might be faithful to one verse for Gertrude's sake," venturedAunt Sajane.
"Gertrude's sake?"
"Why, yes; he protected them from the intrusion of the Yankees."
"Oh--h! Aunt Sajane, I really thought you were going to ferret out aromance--a Romeo and Juliet affair--their families at war, andthemselves--"
"Evilena!"
"When Gertrude says 'Evilena' in _that_ tone I know it is time tostop," said the girl, letting go the kitten she was patting, andputting her arm around Gertrude. "You dear, sensible Gertrude, don'tmind one word I say; of course I did not mean it. Just as if we didnot have enough Romeos in our own army to go around."
The significant glance accompanying her words made Gertrude lookslightly conscious.
"You are a wildly romantic child," she said, smoothing the chestnuttinted waves of the girl's hair, "and pray, tell us how many of ourmilitary Romeos are singing 'Sweet Evilena,' and wearing yourcolors?"
Dr. Delaven passed along the hall in time to hear this banteringquery, and came opposite the door when this true daughter of the Southwas counting all the fingers of one pretty hand.
"Just make it a half dozen," he suggested, "for I'm wearing yet thesunflower you gave me," and he pointed to the large daisy in hisbuttonhole.
"No, I'm always honest with Gertrude, and she must have the truenumber. We are talking of military men, and all others are barredout."
"So you informed me the first day of our acquaintance," he assented,arranging the daisy more to his liking.
"And I've never forgiven you for that first day," she retorted,nodding her head in a way suggestive of some dire punishment waitingfor him in the future. "It was dreadful, the way he led me on to saythings, Aunt Sajane, for how was I to guess he was the doctor? I wasexpecting a man like--well, like Dr. Allison, only more so; verylearned, very severe, with eye glasses through which he would examineus as though we were new specimens discovered in the wilds of America.I certainly did not expect to find a frivolous person who woredaisies, and--oh!" as she caught a glimpse of some one coming up thepath from the landing--"there comes Nelse. Gertrude, _can't_ I havehim in here?"
"May I ask if Nelse is one of the five distinguished by your colors?"asked Delaven.
"Nelse is distinguished by his own colors, which is a fine mahogany,and he is the most interesting old reprobate in Carolina--a wizard, ifyou please--a sure enough voodoo doctor, and the black historian ofthe Salkahatchie. May I call him?"
"I really do not think uncle likes to have him around," said Gertrude,dubiously; "still--oh, yes, call him if you like. Don't let him tireyou with his stories; and keep him out of uncle's way. He would besure to tell him about those late runaways."
"I promise to stand guard in that case myself, Miss Loring; for I havea prejudice against allowing witch-doctors access to my patients."
Mrs. Nesbitt arose as if to follow Gertrude from the room, hesitated,and resumed her chair.
"When I was a girl we young folks were all half afraid of Nelse--notthat he ever harmed any one," she confessed. "The colored folks saidhe was a wizard, but I never did give credit to that."
"Aunt Chloe, she says he is!"
"Oh, yes; and Aunt Chloe sees ghosts, and talks with goblins, to hearher tell the story; but that old humbug is just as much afraid of amouse as--as I am."
"Nelse is a free nigger," explained Evilena, turning from the windowafter having motioned him to enter. "He was made free by his oldmaster, Marmaduke Loring, and the old rascal--I mean Nelse, boughthimself a wife, paid for her out of his jockey earnings, and when sheproved a disappointment what do you think he did?"
Delaven could not get beyond a guess, as the subject of her discoursehad just then appeared in the door.
He was a small, black man, quite old, but with a curious attempt atjauntiness, as he made his three bows with his one hand on his breast,the other holding his cane and a jockey cap of ancient fashion. Itcontrasted oddly with the swallow-tailed coat he wore, which hadevidently been made for a much larger man; the sleeves came to hisfinger tips, and the tails touched his heels. The cloth of which itwas made was very fine dark blue, with buttons of brass. His waistcoatof maroon brocade came half way to his knees. Warm as the day was hewore a broad tie of plaid silk arranged in a bow, above which a whitemuslin collar rose to his ears. He was evidently an ancient beau ofthe plantations in court dress.
"Yo' servant, Miss Sajane, Miss Lena; yo' servant, Mahstah," he saidwith a bow to each. "I done come pay my respects to the family whatgot back. I'm powerful glad to heah they got safe ovah that ocean."
"Oh, yes; you're very thankful when you wait two whole weeks beforeyou come around to say 'howdy.' Have you moved so far into the swampyou can't even hear when the family comes home? Sit down, you'retired likely. Tell us all the news from your alligator pasture."
"My king! Miss Lena, you jest the same tant'lizin' little lady. Yo'growen' up don't make you outgrow nothen' but yo' clothes. My 'gatahpasture? I show yo' my little patch some o' these days--show yo' whatkind 'gatahs pasture theah; why, why, I got 'nigh as many hogs as MahsMatt has niggahs these days."
"Yes, and he hasn't so many as he did have," remarked Mrs. Nesbitt,significantly. "You know anything about where Scip and Aleck aregone?"
"Who--me? Miss Sajane? You think I keep time on all the runaway boysthese days? They too many for me. It sutenly do beat all how theyscatter. Yo' all hear tell how one o' Cynthy's boys done run away,too? Suah as I tell you--that second boy, Steve! Ole Mahs Mastersongot him dogs out fo' him--tain't no use; nevah touched the track once.He'll nevah stop runnen' till he reach the Nawth an' freeze to death.I alles tole Cynthy that Steve boy a bawn fool."
"Do you mean your son Steve, or your grandson?" queried Mrs. Nesbitt.
"No'm, 'taint little Steve; his mammy got too much sense to let himgo; but that gal, Cynthy--humph!" and his disdain of her perceptivepowers was very apparent.
"But, Uncle Nelse, just remember Aunt Cynthy must be upwards ofseventy. Steve is fifty if he is a day. How do you suppose she couldcontrol him, even if she knew of his intention, which is doubtful."
"She nevah would trounce that rascal, even in his youngest days,"asserted Nelse, earnestly; "and as the 'bush is bent the tree'sdeclined.' I use to kote that scripper to her many's the day, but howmuch good it do to plant cotton seed on stony groun' or sow rice onthe high lan'? Jes' that much good scripper words done Cynthy, an' nomore."
His tone betrayed a sorrowful but impersonal regret over therefractory Cynthia, and their joint offspring. Evilena laughed.
"Where did you get so well acquainted with the scripture, Nelse?" sheasked. "I know you never did learn it from your beloved old Mahs DukeLoring. I want you to tell this gentleman all about the old racingdays. This is Dr. Delaven (Nelse made a profound bow). He has seengreat races abroad and hunted foxes in Ireland. I want you to tell himof the bear hunts, and the horses you used to ride, and how you rodefor freedom. The race was so important, Dr. Delaven, that MarmadukeLoring promised Nelse his freedom if he won it, and he had beenoffered three thousand, five hundred dollars for Nelse, more thanonce."
"Nevah was worth as much to myself as I was to Mahs Duke," said Nelse,shaking his head. "I tell yo' true, freedom was a sure
enough hoodoo,far as I was concerned; nevah seemed to get so much out o' the horsesafter I was my own man; nevah seemed to see so much money as I ownedbefo', an' every plum thing I 'vested in was a failure from the start;there was that gal o' Mahs Masterson's--that there Cynthy--"
The old man's garrulity was checked by the noiseless entrance ofMargeret. He gave a distinct start as he saw her.
"I--I s'lute yo', Miss Retta," he said, sweeping his cap along thefloor and bowing from where he sat. She glanced at him, bent her headslightly in acknowledgment, but did not address him.
"Miss Loring asks to see you in the dining room, Mistress Nesbitt,"she said softly; then drawing a blind where the sun was too glaring,and opening another that the breeze might be more apparent, she passedsilently out.
The old man never spoke until she disappeared.
"My king!--she get mo' ghost-like every yeah, that Retta," he said,while Evilena gathered up the ball of stocking yard and wound it forMrs. Nesbitt; "only the eyes o' that woman would tell a body who sheis, these days; seems like the very shape o' her face been changedsence she--"
"Nelse," said Mrs. Nesbitt, a trifle sharply, "whatever you do you arenot to let Mr. Loring know about those runaways; maybe you better keepout of his sight altogether this visit, for he's sure to ask questionsabout everything, and the doctor's orders are that he is not to seefolks or have any business talks--you understand? and nothing everdoes excite him so much as a runaway."
"Oh, yes, Miss Sajane, I un'stan'; I'll keep out. Hearen' how thingswas I jes' come down to see if Miss Gertrude needs any mo' helplooken' after them field niggahs. They nevah run away from _me_."
"Well"--and she halted doubtfully at the door--"I'll tell her. And ifyou want Dr. Delaven to hear about the old racing days, honey, hadn'tyou better take him into the library where the portraits are? I'm atrifle uneasy lest Mr. Loring should take a notion to come in here.Since he's commenced to walk a little he is likely to appear anywherebut in the library. He never does seem to like the library corner."
Delaven glanced at the library walls as the three advanced thereto--wallspaneled in natural cedar, and hung with large gilt frames here andthere between the cases of books. "I should think any man would like aroom like this," he remarked, "especially when it holds one's own familyportraits. There is a picture most attractive--a fine make of a man."
"That Mahs Tom Loring, Miss Gertrude's father," explained Nelse. "Jestas fine as he looks theah, Mahs Tom was, and ride!--king in heaven!but he could ride. 'Taint but a little while back since he was killed,twenty yeahs maybe--no, eighteen yeahs come Christmas. He wasfollowen' the houn's, close on, when his horse went down an' Mahs Tompicked up dead, his naik broke. His wife, Miss Leo Masterson, she was,she died some yeahs befo', when Miss Gertrude jest a little missy. Sothey carried him home from Larue plantation--that wheah he getkilled--an' bury him back yonder beside her," and he pointed to agroup of pines across the field to the north; "so, after that--"
"Oh, Nelse, tell about live things--not dead ones," suggested Evilena,"tell about the races and your Mahs Duke, how he used to go horsebackall the way to Virginia, to the races, and even to Philadelphia, andhow all the planters gathered for hundreds of miles, some of the oldones wearing small clothes and buckled shoes, and how--"
"Seems like you done mind them things so well 'taint no use tryen' torake up the buried reck'lections o' the pas' times," said the old man,rebukingly, and with a certain pomposity. "I reckon now you 'memberall the high quality gentlemen. The New Market Jockey Club, an' howthey use to meet reg'lar as clock-work the second Tuesday in May andOctober; an' how my Mahs Duke, with all the fine ruffles down hisshirt front, an' his proud walk, an' his voice soft as music, an' hisgrip hard as steel, was the kingpin o' all the sports--the grandestgentleman out o' Calliny, an' carried his head high as a king ovah allJerusalem--I reckon you done mind all that theah, Miss Lena."
"I will, next time," laughed the girl, "go on, Nelse, we would ratherhear what you remember."
"I don't reckon the names o' the ole time sportin' gentlemen, an'old time jockeys, an' old time stock, would count much with agentleman from foreign lan's," said the old man, with a deprecatingbow to Delaven. "But my Mahs Duke Loring nevah had less than sixhorses in trainen' at once. I was stable-boy, an' jes' trained upwith the colts till Mahs Duke saw I could ride. I sartainly hadluck with racin' stock, seein' which he gave me clean charge o' thewhole racin' stable; 'sides which, keepen' my weight down to eightypounds let me in for the jockey work--them was days. I was sent ovahinto Kaintucky, an' up Nawth far as Long Island, to ride races fo'otha gentlemen--friends o' Mahs Duke's, an' every big race I run putnigh onto a hundred dollar plump into my own pocket. Money?--myking! I couldn't see cleah how I evah could spend all the money I gotthem days, cause I didn't have to spend a cent fo' clothes or feed,an' I had mo' presents give to me by the quality folks what Itrained horses fer than I could count or reck'lect.
"The ride Miss Lena done tole yo' of--that happen the yeah Mahs Dukeimported Lawd Chester, half brother to Bonnie Bell, that won thesweepstakes at Petersburg, an' sire o' Glenalven out o' Lady Clare,who was owned by Mahs Hampton ovah in Kaintucky. Well, sah, the yeahhe imported Chester was the yeah he an' Mr. Enos Jackson had theset-to 'bout their two-yeah-olds--leastwise the colts _seemed_ to bethe cause; but I don't mind tellen', now, that I nevah did take stockin that notion, my own self. Women folks get mixed up even in racefights an' I mind one o' the han'some high steppers o' Philadelphiaway down theah that time, an' Mistah Jackson he got a notion hischances mighty good, till long come Mahs Duke an' glance out cornerof his eye, make some fine speeches, an'--farwell, Mistah Jackson!Mistah Jackson wa'nt jes' what you'd call the highest quality, thoughhe did own powerful stretches o' lan'--three plantations in NawthCalliny, 'sides lots o' other property. He had a colt called Darker he'lowed nothen' could keep in sight of, an' he _was_ good stuff--thatcolt. Mistah Jackson would a had easy riden' fo' the stakes if me an'Mahs Duke hadn't fetch Betty Pride up to show 'em what we could do.Well, the upshot of it was that part on account o' that Nawthenflirtatious young pusson what liked Mahs Duke the best, an' part onaccount o' Betty Pride, Mistah Jackson act mighty mischievous-like,an' twenty minutes afo' time was called I 'scovered that boy, JimPeters, what was to ride Betty Pride, had been drugged--jest a trifle,not enough to leave him stupid--but too much to leave him ride, brightas he need be that day. He said Mistah Jackson's stable boss had givehim a swallow o' apple jack, an' king heaven!--but Mahs Duke turnwhite mad when I tole him. He say to Jim's brother Mose--Mose was hisbody servant--'Moses, fetch me my pistols,' jest quiet like that;'Moses, fetch me my pistols.' Whew!--but I was scared, an' I says,'No, sah,' I says, 'Mahs Duke, fo' heaven's sake, don't stop the race,an' I'll win it fo' you yet. Mistah Jackson betten nigh bout all heown on Darker; get yo' frien's to take all bets fo' you, an' egg himon. Betty Pride ain't been tampered with!--take my word fo' it, she'llwin even with my extra weight--now, Mahs Duke, fo' God's sake,' saysI, 'go out theah an' fool them rascals; don't let on you know 'bouttheir trick; take all theah bets, an' trust me. I trained that colt,an' we'll _win_, Mahs Duke--if we don't--well, sah, you can jest usethem pistols on _me_.' I mos' got down on my knees a' beggen' him,an' his blue eyes, like steel, measuren' me an' weighen' my words,then he said: 'I'll risk it, Nelse, but--heaven help yo' if yo' failme!'
"I knew good enough I'd need _some_ powerful help if I come in second,fo' he had a monstrous temper, but kindest man you evah met whenthings went his way. Well, jest as I was jumpen' into my clothes, an'Mahs Duke had started to the ring, I called out, half joken: 'Oh, MahsDuke, I'm a dead niggah if I come in second, but what yo' gwine togive me if I come in first?'
"He turned at that an' said, sharp an' quick an' decided--'Yo'freedom, Nelse.' My king!--that made me shaky, I could scarce get intomy clothes. I knew he been offered big money fo' me, many's the time,an' now I was gwine to get it all my own self.
"Mahs Duke done jes' like I begged him--kep' steady an' cool an' takeup all
Mistah Jackson's bets, and _he_ was jest betten wild till hesaw who was on Betty Pride, an' I heah tell he come a nigh fainten'when he got sight o' me; but Mahs Duke's look at 'im must a jes'propped him up an' sort o' fo'ced him to brave it out till we comearoun'. It was a sweepstakes an' repeat, an' Betty Pride come ineighteen inches ahead, an' that Nawthen lady what conjure MistahJackson so, she fastened roses in Betty Pride's bridle, an' gave me awhole bouquet--with one eye on Mahs Duke all the time, of course, butLordy!--he wan't thinken' much about ladies jes' that minute. He wonovah thousand dollars in money, 'sides two plantations off MistahJackson, who nevah dared enter the jockey club aftah that day. An'Mahs Duke was good as his word 'bout the freedom--he give it to meright theah; that's my Mahs Duke."
"And a fine sort of a man he was, then," commented Delaven, lookingmore closely at the strong, fine pictured face, and the bushy,leonine shock of tawny hair and the eyes that smiled down with atwinkle of humor in their blue depths. There was a slight likeness toMatthew Loring in the heavy brows and square chin, but the smile ofthe father was genial--that of the son, sardonic.
"Yes, sah," agreed Nelse, when comment was made upon the likeness,"Mahs Matt favor him a mite, but none to speak of. Mahs Tom more likehim in natur'. Mahs Matt he done take mo' likeness to his gran'ma'sfolks, who was French, from L'weesiana. A mighty sharp eye she got,an' all my Mahs Duke's niggahs walk straight, I tell yo', when shecome a visiten' to we all. I heard tell how _her_ mother was some sorto' great lady from French court, packed off to L'weesiana 'cause o'some politics like they have ovah theah; an' in her own country shewas a princess or some high mightiness, an' most o' her family waskilled in some rebeloution--woman, too! All saved her was getten toOrleans, an' _her_ daughter, she married ole Matthew Loring, the daddyo' them all, so far back as I know."
The old man had warmed to his task, as floods of reminiscences camesweeping through his memory. He grew more important, and let fall theborrowed cloak of servility; his head was perched a little higher anda trifle askew as he surveyed them. The reflected grandeur of pastdays was on him, and in comparison modernity seemed common-place. Allthese brilliant, dashing, elegant men and women of his youth weregone. He was the only human echo left of their greatness, and hisdiminutive person grew more erect as he realized his importance as alandmark of the past.
"There!" said Evilena, triumphantly, "isn't that as interesting asyour Irish romances? Where would you find a landlord of England orIreland who would make a free gift of three thousand dollars to aservant? They simply could not conceive of such generosity unless itwere the gift of a king or a prince, and then it would be put down intheir histories for all men to remember."
"True for you," assented Delaven, with the brogue he was fond of usingat times when with those elected to comradeship; "true for you, mylady, but you folks who are kings and queens in your own right shouldbe a bit easy on the unfortunates who can be only subjects."
"They don't need to be subjects," she insisted; "they could asserttheir independence just as we did."
"Oh, sometimes it isn't so bad--this being a subject. I've found liferather pleasant down here in the South, where you are all in trainingfor the monarchy you mean to establish. I don't mind being a subjectat all, at all, if it's to the right queen."
"But we didn't come in here to talk politics," she said, hastily."Uncle Nelse, do tell Dr. Delaven about your freedom days, and all. Heis a stranger here and wants to learn all about the country andcustoms. You've traveled, Nelse, so you can tell him a lot."
"Yes, reckon I could. Yes, sah, I done travelled considerable; theonliest advantage I could conjure up in freedom was goen' wherever thefit took me to go--jes' runnen' roun' loose. My king! I got good an'tiahed runnen, I tell yo'. Went cleah out to the Mississippi river, Idid--spent all my money, an' started back barefoot, deed I did, an' meworth three thousan' five hundred dollars! Nevah did know how littlesense I got till I was free to get myself in trouble if I liked, an'didn't have no Mahs Duke to get me out again. More'n that, seem like Idone lost my luck some way--lost races I had no right to lose, tillseem like owners they got scary 'bout me, an' when I git far away frommy own stamping groun', seem like I wasn't no sort o' use at all. Byeand bye I fell in with Judge Warner, who was a great friend o' MahsDukes, and I jes' up an' tells him I done been conjured along o' thatfreedom Mahs Duke done give me. My king!--how he did laugh. He offeredme a good berth down on his place, but I say, 'no, sah; all I want isMahs Duke an' old Calliny'; so he helps me to some races an' seemslike the very notion o' goen' home done fetch me good luck right off,'cause I made good winnen' on his bay filly, Creole, an' soon as I gotsome money I bid far'well to wanderen' an' made fo' home.
"I alles spishuned Mahs Duke know mo' 'bout my travels than he let on,fo' he jes' laughed when he see me an' say: 'All right, Nelse, I beenlooken' fo' you some time. Now if yo' done got yo' fill o' seen' theworld, 'spose yo' go down an' look at the new colt I got, an' take yo'ole place in the stable. Yo' jes' got back in time to spruce up thecarriage team fo' my wedden'.
"Well, sah, yo' could a' knocked me down with a feathah. Mahs Duke wasthirty-five, an' ovah, an' had kep' his own bachelor place fo' tenyeah, loose an' free. Then all at once a new family come down heahfrom Marylan'. They was the Mastersons, an' a Miss Bar'bra Vaughn cometo visit them, an' it was all ovah with Mahs Duke. She jest won in awalk--that little lady.
"An' he done took her all the way to Orleans fo' wedden' trip. Ididn't go 'long. I was done tired out with travel an' 'sides that, I'dbeen riden' ovah an' back to the Masterson plantation fo' Mahs Duketill I took up with a likely brown gal they fetched with them from upNawth, an' of all niggahs, Nawthen niggahs is the off-scourins o' theyeath--copy aftah theh masters, I reckon, fo' all the real,double-distilled quality folks I met up with in all my travels weregentlemen o' the South, sah. Yes, sah, they may breed good qualitysomewheahs up theah, but all o' them sent down heah as samples ain'tnowhars with the home-bred article, sah.
"But I didn't know all that them days, an' that Cynthy o' MistahMasterson's look mighty peart an' talk mighty knowen', an' seem likeas we both hed travelled considerable we both hed a heap of talk'bout; an' the upshot of it was I felt boun' an' sot to buy that gal,if so be they'd give me a fair chance an' plenty o' time. Well, sah, Italk it ovah with Mahs Duke, an' he fix it so I can have Cynthy fo'three hundred dollars.
"Seem like it's a mighty small price to ask fo' a likely young gallike her, but I so conjured with the notion o' buyen' her I nevahstopped to study into the reasons why o' things, special as I had parto' the money right by me to pay; a pocket full o' money gets a maninto mo' trouble mostly than an empty one.
"Well, sah, I hadn't owned her no time, till I was mo' sot in my mindthan evah as how freedom was a hoodoo. If I hadn't been free I'd nevahtook the notion to have a free wife o' my own, an' I'd a been saved alot o' torment, _I_ tell yo'.
"She jest no good no how--that Cynthy. How they got work out o' herovah on the Masterson plantation I don't know, fo' _I_ couldn't. Thinkshe'd even cook vittels fo' her own self if she could help it? No,sah! She too plum lazy. She jes' had a notion that bein' free meantdoen' nothen' 'tall fo' no body. It needed a whole meeten' house fullo' religion to get along with that gal, 'thout cussen' at her, an' asI'd done trained in the race course an' not in a pulpit, seem like Inoways fit for the 'casion. But I devilled along with her for threeyeahs, and she had two boys by that time--didn't make no sort o'difference. She got worse 'stead o' better o' her worthlessness, butI tried to put up with it till she jest put the cap sheaf on the hullbusiness by getten' religion up thah in the gum tree settlement, an' Idrew the line at that, _I_ tell yo.' Thah she was, howlen' happy everynight in the week 'long-side o' Brother Peter Mosely. Brother Mosely'swife didn't seem to favah their religion no more'n I did; so, seen' asI couldn't follow roun' aftah her with a hickory switch, an' couldn'tkeep her home or at work no othah way, I just got myself a divorce,an' settled down alone on a patch o' lan' I bought o' Mahs Duke, an' Ikep' on looken' aftah his s
tables long as he kept any. He died justafore young Mahs Tom married Miss Leo Masterson."
"But what of the divorce? Did it improve her religion or cure herlaziness?" asked Delaven, who found more of novelty in the black man'saffairs than the master's.
"Who--Cinthy? I just sold her right back to Mistah John Masterson fo'twenty-five dollar less than I paid, an' the youngsters they went intothe bargain; fo' I tell yo', sah, them Nawthen niggahs is bad stock tomanage--if they's big or little; see what happened that Steve o' hern;done run off, he has, an' him ole enough to know bettah. Oh, yes, sah,I up an' I sold the whole batch; that how come I get my money back fo'her, an' stock my little patch o' groun'. Yes, sah, she got scared an'settle down when I done sold her back again. Mahs Masterson he got mo'work out o' her than I could; he knew mo' 'bout managen' them Nawthenniggahs."
"Wouldn't he be a find for those abolitionists?" asked Evilena,laughing. "Nelse, you've been very entertaining, and if your MissGertrude needs you to stay about the place we'll steal hours to hearabout old times."
"Thanky, Miss Lena; yo' servant, sah; it sartainly does do me good toget in heah an' see all these heah faces again--mighty fine they are.I mind when some o' them was painted. Mahs Duke's was done in Orleans;so was Miss Bar'bra, it's in the parlah. But Mahs Tom--he had anartis' painter come down from Wash'nton to do Miss Gertrude's, oncewhen she just got ovah sick spell--he scared lest she die an' nevahhave no likeness; her ma, she died sudden that-a-way. We all use tothink it bad luck to get likenesses; I nevah had none; Mahs Matt nevahhad none; an' we're a liven' yet. All the rest had 'em took an' wheahare they?"
"Now, Uncle Nelse, you don't mean to say it shortens people's lives tohave their picture taken?"
"Don't like to say, Miss Lena, but curious things do happen in thisworld. That artist man, his name, Mistah Madden, he made Mahs Tom'slikeness, an' Mahs Tom got killed! An' all time Mahs Tom's likenesswas bein' done, an' all time Miss Gertrude's was a doin', that MistahMadden he just go 'stracted to paint one o' Retta to take 'way withhim. All the niggahs jest begged her not to let him, but she onlylaughed--she laughed most o' the time them days; an' Mahs Tom he sidedwith Mistah Madden, so she give consent, an' he painted two--onemonstrous big one to take 'way with him, an' then a teeny one fo' abreastpin; he give it to Retta 'cause she set still an' let him makethe big one. An' now what happened? Within a yeah Mahs Tom, he waskilled, an' Retta Caris, she about died o' some crazy brain fever, an'it was yeahs afore she knew her own name again; yes, went 'wilderedlike--she did; an' that's what two likenesses done to my sutainknowledge."
"Then I've hoodooed Dr. Delaven, for I made a pencil picture of himonly this morning."
"And if I should fall down stairs, or into the Salkahatchie, you willknow the primal reason for it."
Old Nelse shook his head at such frivolity.
"Jes' 'cause you all ain't afraid don't take yo' no further offdanger," he said, soberly. Then he followed Evilena to the kitchen,where his entrance was greeted with considerable respect. When Nelseappeared at Loringwood in his finest it was a sort of state affair inthe cook house. He was an honored guest with the grown folks, becausethe grandeurs he had witnessed and could tell of, and he was a causeof dread to the pickaninnies who were often threatened with banishmentto the Unc. Nelse glade, and they firmly believed he immediately soldall the little darkies who put foot in his domain.
"Isn't he delightfully quaint?" asked the girl, rejoining Delaven."Gertrude never does seem to find him interesting; but I do. She hasbeen used to him always, of course, and I haven't, and she thinks itwas awful for him to sell Cynthia, just because she got religion andwould not behave. Now, I think it's funny; don't you?"
"Your historian has given me so many side-lights on slavery that I'mdazzled with the brilliancy of them; whether serious or amusing, it isastonishing."
"Only to strangers," said the girl; "to us they are never puzzling;they are only grown-up children--even the wisest--and need to bemanaged like children. Those crazy abolitionists should hear Nelse onthe 'hoodoo' of freedom; I fancy he would astonish them."
"Not the slightest doubt of it," agreed Delaven, who usually did agreewith Evilena--except when argument would prolong a tete-a-tete.