CHAPTER XXI
DR. CARY MEETS AN OLD COLLEGE MATE AND LEARNS THAT THE ATHENIANS ALSOPRACTISE HOSPITALITY
The Ku Klux raid, as it was called, created a great commotion, not onlyin our county but in other quarters as well. There had been in othersections growlings and threatenings, altercations, collisions, andoutbreaks of more or less magnitude, but no outbreak so systematic, soextensive, and so threatening as this had hitherto occurred, and itcaused a sensation. It was talked about as “a new rebellion,” callingfor the suspension of the writs of privilege and the exercise of thestrongest powers of the Government.
When therefore Leech and Still appeared at the national capital, assuitors appealing for aid to maintain the laws and even to secure theirlives, they found open ears and ready sympathizers. They were met byMr. Bolter, who mainly had taken the bonds of their new railway, whichwas not yet built, and who was known as a wealthy capitalist. Thus theyappeared as men of substance and standing, well introduced, and as theyspoke with doubtful endorsement of the Governor they were even regardedas more than commonly conservative, and their tale was given unboundedcredit.
When they returned home it was with the conviction that their missionhad been completely successful; they had not only secured the immediateobject of their visit, and obtained the promise of the strongestbacking that could be given against their enemies, but they had gainedeven a more important victory. They had instilled doubts as to boththe sincerity and the wisdom of the Governor; had, as Still said,“loosed a lynch-pin for him,” and had established themselves as thetrue and proper persons to be consulted and supported. Thus they hadsecured, as they hoped, the future control of the State. They were inan ecstasy, and when a little later the new judge was appointed, andproved to be Hurlbut Bail, the man Bolter had recommended against onethe Governor had backed, they felt themselves to be masters of thesituation.
When the mission of Leech and Still became known in the old county itcreated grave concern. A meeting was held and Dr. Cary and GeneralLegaie, with one or two others of the highest standing, were appointeda committee to go on and lay their side of the case before theauthorities and see what they could do to counteract the effect of thework of Leech and his associates.
It was the first time Dr. Cary and General Legaie had been to thenational capital or, indeed, out of the State, since the war, and theywere astonished to see what progress had been made in that brief period.
They found themselves, on merely crossing a river, suddenly landed ina city as wholly different from anything they had seen since the waras if it had been a foreign capital. The handsome streets and busythoroughfares filled with well-dressed throngs; gay with flashingequipages, and all the insignia of wealth, appeared all the morebrilliant from the sudden contrast. As the party walked through thecity they appeared to themselves to be almost the poorest persons theysaw, at least among the whites. The city was full of negroes at thistime. These seemed to represent mainly the two extremes of prosperityand poverty. The gentlemen could not walk on the street without beingapplied to by some old man or woman who was in want, and who, as longas the visitors had anything to give, needed only to ask to be assisted.
“We are like lost souls on the banks of the Styx,” said Dr. Cary. “Ifeel as much a stranger as if I were on another planet. And to thinkthat our grandfathers helped to make this nation!”
“To think that we ever surrendered!” exclaimed General Legaie, with aflash in his eye.
They took lodgings at a little boarding-house, and called next day ina body on the Head of the Nation, but were unable to see him; thenthey waited on one after another of several high officers of theGovernment whom they believed to be dominant in the national councils.Some they failed to get access to; others heard them civilly, but withundisguised coldness. At one place they were treated rudely by a negrodoor-keeper, whose manner was so insolent that the General turned onhim sharply with a word and a gesture that sent him bouncing insidethe door. After this interview, as Dr. Cary was making his way backto his boarding-house, he met one of his old servants. The negro wasundisguisedly glad to see him. He wrung his hand again and again.
“You’s de fust frien’, master, I’s seen since I been heah!” he said.
“You are the first friend, John, I have seen,” said the Doctor,smiling. He put his hand in his pocket and gave the old man a bank-note.
As the Doctor was engaged in this colloquy he was observed with kindlyinterest or amusement by many passers-by—among them, by an elderly andhandsomely dressed couple, accompanied by a very pretty girl, who werestrolling along, and loitered for a moment within earshot to observethe two strangers.
“What a picturesque figure!” said the lady as they passed on.
“Which one?”
“Well, both. I almost thought of them as one. I wish, Alice, you couldhave got a sketch of them as they stood.”
“He is a Southerner—from his voice,” said her husband, who was JudgeRockfield, one of the ablest and most noted men at that time in publiclife; one of the wisest in council, and who, though his conservatismin that period of fierce passion kept him from being as prominent assome who were more violent and more radical, yet was esteemed one ofthe ablest and soundest men in the country. He was a Senator from hisState, and the owner of one of the leading and most powerful journalsin the country.
Dr. Cary, having given the old negro his address, took a street-car totry to overhaul his friends. It was quite full, and the Doctor securedthe last vacant seat. A few blocks farther on, several persons boardedthe car, among them the elderly gentleman and his wife and daughter,already mentioned, and another lady. The Doctor rose instantly.
“Will you take my seat, madam?” he said to the nearest lady, with abow. The other ladies were still left standing, though there were manymen seated; but the next second a young fellow farther down the carrose, and gave up his seat. As he took his stand the Doctor caught hiseye.
“‘The Athenians praise hospitality, the Lacedemonians practise it,’” hesaid in a distinct voice that went through the car, and with a bow tothe young fellow which brought a blush of pride to his pleasant face.
The next moment the gentleman who had entered with his wife touched theDoctor on his arm.
“I beg your pardon: is your name Cary?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Can this be John Cary of Birdwood?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Don’t you remember Anson Rockfield?”
“Why, Rockfield, my old college-mate!” exclaimed the Doctor. The twomen grasped each other’s hands with a warmth which drew to them theattention and interest of the whole car. “Rockfield, you see I am stillquoting Plutarch,” said the Doctor.
“And still practising his principles,” said the Senator, smiling, as hepresented him to his wife.
“My dear, this is the man to whom you are indebted for whatever is goodin me. But for him I should have gone to the d—l years before you knewme.”
“He gives me far too much credit, madam, and himself far too little,”said the Doctor. “I am sure that ever to have been able to win theprizes he has won he must have been always worthy, as worthy as a mancan be of a woman.” He bowed low to Mrs. Rockfield.
Senator Rockfield urged the Doctor to come at once to his house andbe his guest while in the city, an invitation which his wife promptlyseconded with much graciousness.
“Let us show you that some of the Athenians practise as well as praisehospitality,” she said, smiling.
Thanking them, the Doctor excused himself from accepting theinvitation, but said that with Mrs. Rockfield’s permission he wouldcall and pay his respects, and he did so that evening.
As a result of this meeting an audience was arranged for him andhis friends next day with the President, who heard them with greatcivility, though he gave them no assurance that he would accept theirviews, and furnished no clew to lead them to think they had made anyimpression at all. They came away, therefore, somewhat downcast.
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p; Before the Southerners left for home, Senator Rockfield called onDr. Cary and, taking him aside, had a long talk with him, explainingsomewhat the situation and the part he had felt himself compelled totake. He wound up, however, with an appeal that Dr. Cary would notpermit political differences to divide them and would allow him torender him personally any assistance that his situation might call for.
“I am rich now, Cary,” he said; “while you have suffered reverses andmay have found your means impaired and yourself at times even cramped.(The Doctor thought how little he knew of the real facts.) “It is thefortune of war, and I want you to allow me to help you. I suppose youmust have lost a good deal?” he said, interrogatively.
A change passed over the old Doctor’s face. Reminiscence, pain,resolution were all at work, and the pleasant light which had beenthere did not return, but in its place was rather the shade of deepenedfortitude.
“No,” he said, quietly. “‘War cannot plunder Virtue.’ I have learnedthat a quiet mind is richer than a crown.”
“Still, I know that the war must have injured you some,” urged theSenator. “We were chums in old times and I want it to be so now. I havenever forgotten what you were to me, and what I told my wife of yourinfluence on me was less than the fact. Why, Cary, I even learnt mypolitics from you,” he said, with a twinkle in his eye.
Dr. Cary thanked him, but was firm. He could think of nothing he coulddo for him.
“Except this: think of us as men. Come down and see for yourself.”
“Still practising Plutarch,” said the Senator. “Well, the time maycome, even if it has not come yet, and I want you to promise me thatwhen it does, you will call on me—either for yourself or any friendof yours. It will be a favor to me, Cary,” he added, with a new tonein his voice, seeing the look on the Doctor’s face. “Somehow, you haveturned back the dial, and taken me back to the time when we were youngand fresh, and full of high hopes and—yes—aspirations, and I had notfound out how d—d mean and sordid the world is. It will be a favor tome.”
“All right, I will,” said the Doctor, “if my friends need it.” And thetwo friends shook hands.
So the Commission from the old county returned home.
Captain Allen of late spent more and more of his time at Dr. Cary’s.His attitude toward Blair was one of gallantry mingled with protectionand homage; but that was his attitude toward every girl; so Blair wasunder no delusion about it, and between them was always waged a warfarethat was half pleasantry. To Mammy Krenda, however, the young man’srelation to her mistress meant much more. No one ever looked at Blairthat the old mammy did not instantly interpret it as a confessionand a declaration, and having done this she instantly formed herjudgment, and took her stand. She had divined the ambition of Dr.Still long before that aspiring young man dispatched to Miss Blairthat tinted note which was the real if not the immediate cause of theCarys’ removal from Birdwood to the Bellows cottage. And during thosepreliminary visits which the young physician had made to the old one,the old woman had with her sharp eyes penetrated his assumed disguiseand made him shiver. Dr. Still knew that though Dr. Cary was taking himat his word and believed he really came so often to talk of medicineand seek advice, yet the old mammy discerned his real object, anddespised him.
In Captain Allen’s case it was different. Though the old woman andhe were ostensibly always at war and never were together without histeasing her and her firing a shot in return at him, yet, at heart, sheadored him. His distinguished appearance and his leading position,taken with his cordial and real friendliness toward herself, made hima favorite with her—and the speech he had made to Middleton on heraccount and his hostility to Leech made her his slave.
Her manner to him was always capricious and fault-finding, as becamethe jealous guardian of Miss Blair; but “old Argos,” as CaptainAllen called her, was his warm ally and he knew it. She took toomany occasions to promote his and Blair’s wishes, as she understoodthem, for him to doubt it, and, possibly, it was as much due to hermisapprehension as to anything else, that Steve was drawn on to dowhat, but for Blair’s good sense, might have imperilled both hishappiness and hers.
Since the stir created by the Ku Klux raid, Captain Allen had exercisedmore precaution than he was accustomed to do. All sorts of rumorswere afloat as to what the Government had promised on the instigationof Leech and Still. Captain Allen’s name was mentioned in all ofthem. Steve, in consequence, had of late been at the court-house lesscontinuously than usual. And from equally natural causes, he had beenmuch more at Dr. Cary’s. To Mammy Krenda’s innuendoes, he laughinglyreplied that it was healthier near the mountains—to which the oldwoman retorted that she knew what mountains he was trying to climb.
One afternoon he rode up to Dr. Cary’s a little earlier than usual,and, finding the family absent, turned his horse out in the yard andlounged on the porch, awaiting their arrival. He had not been therelong when Mammy Krenda appeared. Steve watched her for a moment withamusement. He knew she had come out to talk to him.
“What are you prowling about here for, you old Ku Klux witch, you?” heasked, with a twinkle in his eye.
Mammy Krenda gave a sniff.
“Ku Klux! Ku Klux!! If prowlin’ mecks Ku Klux, I wonder what you wuzdoin’ last night? An’ what you doin’ now?”
“Jerry’s been around, the drunken rascal!” thought Steve to himself. Heknew Jerry was courting a granddaughter of old Krenda’s.
“How’s Jerry coming on with his courting?” he asked, irrelevantly.
“N’em mind about Jerry,” said the old mammy. “Jerry know mo’ ’boutco’tin’ than some other folks.”
This was interesting, and Steve, seeing that she had something onher mind, gave her a lead. He learned that the old woman thought her“chile” was not well—that she was “pesterin’ herself mightily” aboutsomething, and, what was more astonishing, that Mammy Krenda held thathe himself was in a measure responsible for it.
A little deft handling and a delicate cross-examination soon satisfiedSteve that Jacquelin stood no chance. He hinted as to Middleton. MammyKrenda threw up her head. “She ain’ gwine marry no Yankee come pokin’in folks’ kitchen.”
That disposed of it so far as Middleton was concerned.
“How about McRaffle? He’s always hanging around?” laughed Steve.
Krenda gave a sniff and started on.
“Dat man what been in a coffin! Jes’ soon marry a lizard! You know sheain’ go’ marry dat man! She wouldn’ look at him!”
“Well, who is it?” demanded Steve.
The old woman turned and faced him; gave him a penetrating glance, and,with a toss of her turbaned-head, walked into the house.
Steve sat on the porch for some time in deep reflection, and thenrising, walked across the grass, saddled his horse and rode quietlyaway. All the past came before him and all the present too. Could itbe possible that he had been the cause of Middleton’s repulse andof Jacquelin’s failure? It had never occurred to him. Yet, this wasundoubtedly the old mammy’s theory. She had as good as told him thathe was the cause of Blair’s disquietude, and in the light of herrevelation it all seemed reasonable enough. This was the secret of herattitude toward Jacquelin. If she cared for him, it was his duty tomarry her. And where could he ever find her superior? Who was so goodand fine? Such were his reflections.
So one evening when he was with Blair, he suddenly began to speak toher as he had never done before. Blair was not looking at him, and sheanswered lightly. But Steve did not respond so. He had grown serious.Blair looked at him quickly; her smile died out, and the color flushedher face. Could Steve be in earnest? She gazed at him curiously; butunhesitatingly; only a look almost of sorrow came into her eyes. Stevewent on and said all he had planned. When he had finished, Blairsuddenly sat down by him and put her hand over his. She was perfectlycomposed and her eyes looked frankly into his.
“No, Steve—you are mistaken,” she said, quietly. “You havemisunderstood your feelings. You do not love me—at
least, you are notin love with me. You love me I believe, devotedly, and I thank God forit every day of my life; as I love you as a sister—but you are notin love with me. You would help me, relieve me, spare me trouble andanxiety, save me from Captain—M—Middleton—and you see no reason whywe should not marry. But there is one reason. You are not in love withme and I am not in love with you.” She was speaking so gravely and hereyes were looking into his so frankly and with such true friendlinessthat Steve, though feeling somewhat flat at his repulse, could not denywhat she said.
“I know the difference,” she went on, quietly. She paused and reflectedand, to Steve’s surprise, suddenly changed and choked up. “I have hadmen in love with me—and—” Her voice faltered. She looked down, puther hand to her eyes and with a cry of, “Oh! Steve!” buried her faceagainst his shoulder; “I seem to curse everyone that loves me.”
In an instant Steve’s strong arm was around her and he was comfortingher like an older brother. His sympathy opened the girl’s heart,and drew out the secret of her unhappiness as nothing else couldhave done. Blair had revealed her feelings to him as she had hardlybefore revealed them even to herself. It was the old story ofmisunderstanding, and high spirit; stung pride, hot words, and vainregret—regret not for herself; but only for others. Her unhappinesswas that she had brought sorrow to others. It was because of her thatJacquelin had left home, and that his mother was dying of a brokenheart. Steve tried to comfort her. She was all wrong, he assuredher—she took a wholly erroneous view of the matter. But it was nota success. Jacquelin, she knew, had incurred Leech’s personal hatredon her account, and that was the primary cause of his exile. All theother trouble had flowed from it; his mother’s decline was owing toher repining for Jacquelin and her anxiety about Rupert, who, cut offfrom his mother’s care and influence, was beginning to show symptoms ofwildness. All these Blair traced back to her folly.
Steve, having failed in his effort to comfort her by argument, tookanother method and boldly assailed her whole idea as unreasonable andmorbid. He threatened to write to Jacquelin and fetch him home, and hewould have Rupert back at once, and keep him straight too, and if Leechmolested him, he would have him to settle with.
The effect of this was just what Steve had anticipated. Blair suddenlytook the opposite tack; but in the battle that ensued she showed thatshe had recovered at least a part of her spirit.
Steve that evening sent Jacquelin a letter intended to meet him on thearrival of his vessel, telling him of his mother’s declining healthand urging him to hasten home. He also wrote to the head of the schoolwhere Rupert was.
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