The Beguiled

by Thomas Cullinan

  “Martha, I’d like to tell you about last night.”

  “You’ve told us enough, dear. There’s no need to tell us any more. We’ll never speak of it again, and neither will McBurney.”

  Well she started into sobbin again and after a while Miss Martha say if she’s gonna keep it up she’s gotta go upstairs. Then long about that time Miss Marie come back down the stairs and into the library. She was carryin them mushrooms wrapped in a handkerchief and she dumped them on the library table.

  “What are those for?” Miss Martha ask her.

  “They’re for Johnny’s birthday dinner,” Miss Marie say. “Remember I told you today is Johnny’s birthday?”

  “And where did you get these?” Miss Martha ask, poking them mushrooms around a little.

  “From Amelia. She just picked them in the woods.”

  “Mushrooms of that sort are dangerous to eat,” Miss Harriet said, wipin her eyes. “The dangerous ones are very like the good ones in that species.”

  “I’m sure Amelia knows that,” Miss Marie say. “She knows everything there is to know about those matters. We really didn’t discuss it though, because right now she’s upset about something else.”

  “What is she upset about?” Miss Martha ask.

  “McBurney,” say Miss Marie. “I believe my roommate has come over to your side. From the way she looked at him a few moments ago, I’d say she’s begun to hate Johnny McBurney more than anyone else here.”

  “Then why would she want us to have a birthday party for him?” ask Miss Alice. “And why would she gather mushrooms for him to eat?”

  “Go ask her,” say Miss Marie, “although I suppose when she gathered them she still liked Johnny.”

  “But now she doesn’t like him any more?” ask Miss Emily.

  “That’s right,” say Miss Marie.

  “But she still wants to have a party for him and serve these mushrooms?” say Miss Harriet.

  “That’s correct,” say Miss Marie.

  “Well, she knows how fond he is of mushrooms,” say Miss Edwina. “Maybe she just doesn’t want to see them go to waste.”

  “Maybe so,” say Miss Marie.

  Miss Martha poked the mushrooms some more with her finger. “Well, young ladies,” she say after a minute, “what do you think? Should we have a birthday party for Mister McBurney?”

  “Of course,” say Miss Marie.

  “Why not,” say Miss Alice.

  “I’m in favor of it,” say Miss Emily.

  “It might be interesting,” say Miss Edwina.

  “It’s been a long time since we’ve had a party here,” say Miss Harriet, “an awfully long time.”

  “But do you think he’ll come to it?” say Miss Alice.

  “Yes, he’ll come,” say Miss Marie. “I’ll ask him and I know he’ll come. Now could we also have a cake?”

  “Yes, I suppose so,” say Miss Martha. “Can you manage it, Mattie, on this short notice?”

  “I can manage it,” I say, “if you want to spare the flour.”

  “And beaten biscuits? Can we have them?” ask Miss Alice.

  “I don’t see why not,” say Miss Harriet. “We should have them at a birthday party.”

  “And meat?” say Miss Emily. “Would it be possible to have meat?”

  “Yes, I think we might use the ham from the cellar,” say Miss Martha.

  That was the ham she tricked Mister Potter out of in the spring, the time she went into his store, and caught him tryin to hide three or four of em away and he gave her one in order to keep her quiet about the rest of them.

  Well that announcement caused a lot of excitement among the young ladies. “Ham, ham, wonderful ham,” they all started in to shoutin.

  “Johnny will surely come to the party now,” say Miss Marie. “No matter how annoyed he is with some of us, he’ll certainly come now.”

  “Very well then,” say Miss Martha. “Mattie, we’ll plan to dine about seven. You get started on everything, and cook these mushrooms too.”

  “You want me to see if they all good mushrooms?” I ask. Truly to the Good Lord, I did ask that then.

  “I don’t think you need to bother, Mattie,” say Miss Martha. “They look all right to me.”

  “And me,” say Miss Emily.

  “Me also,” say Miss Alice.

  Miss Edwina studied them for a minute while she chewed on her knuckles. Then she say, “Yes, they seem perfectly all right.”

  “I wouldn’t know one mushroom from another,” say Miss Marie, “so I’ll just have to take everyone else’s word for it.”

  Miss Harriet looked at them for a long time while too before she nodded. She didn’t say anything, just nodded and then started into sobbin again against Miss Martha’s orders. So Miss Martha and I took her upstairs to her room and Miss Martha tell her to stay there and not come out until dinner time.

  Then I come back downstairs and got the mushrooms and went out to the kitchen and started into fixin the birthday dinner. I cooked some nice greens and some peas and I made a sweet potato pie and then I took that old smoked ham and I baked it so nice with apple slices and a sugar crust on it. I used the last of the sugar for the ham and the cake, but I thought, if Miss Martha don’t care, I sure don’t care.

  Now the cake wasn’t the kind I woulda made a few years ago, naturally, but it was the best I could do with what I had. I used a little of the sugar and I took what little milk I had and I churned that nice and made some butter and then I mixed it all with the last of the flour and it turned out to be a pretty fair tastin batter. Then I baked it real careful on a slow fire and I put a sugar frostin on it and when I was through I had me a pretty nice lookin cake.

  Well the dinner was ready by seven like Miss Martha wanted. The table was all set with the two dinin room lamps lighted when Miss Martha and Miss Harriet and the young ladies come in. I tell you they all looked so smart and pretty it made me forget for a minute what was goin on. They was all dressed up in their nicest party dresses and they was all so clean and neat with their hands and faces washed and their hair combed and pinned so nice I most forgot where I was.

  Miss Marie was wearin her little short white silk dress with the ruffled pantalets and she had a blue ribbon on her curls. Miss Alice was wearin that nice red velvet dress that belongs to Miss Edwina and which Miss Edwina had evidently loaned her. It was a mite long for Miss Alice, but it fitted her pretty good on the top. In fact she had pinned a handkerchief to the front of it so’s it didn’t look too trashy. Miss Harriet had on her apple-green watered silk gown and the last time she wore that, as far as I can remember, was that last Christmas before her Daddy died, while Master Robert was still to home.

  Miss Martha was wearin her nice black taffeta and for ornament that locket that I found all smashed and bent in the cellar. The glass on the picture of Master Robert was broken when I found it and the little piece of his hair was gone, but Miss Martha had evidently spent some time in bendin the gold back into place and it didn’t look too bad. Course she never did find that little piece of hair in the cellar. I heard her rummagin around down there again, lookin for it just a few nights ago.

  Well, Miss Edwina was dressed up nice too, in her blue velvet ball gown and her pearl choker that she says her Daddy gave her. She just looked so sweet and pretty that you’d’ve hardly known it was Miss Edwina and you’d’ve taken her right into the finest affair at the Spottswood Hotel in Richmond without thinkin twice about it. Miss Edwina even had a shawl around her so’s nobody could complain about her bare shoulders.

  And Miss Emily looked sweet too, in her brown muslin, and so did Miss Amelia in the little pink silk, which I think belonged to Miss Marie. What few nice things Miss Amelia brought with her she’s either torn on brambles or given away to other girls. Also, she ripped up three or four of her dresses to use for the Yan
kee’s bandages before Miss Harriet caught her at it and made her stop.

  Now, I tell you, it had been a long time since I’d seen them all so nice and I think part of the reason for that was the way they must’ve all helped each other get ready for the party. It seemed like they must’ve all got together and figgered out just how each one of them could look the nicest and then all the others just pitched right in and helped to fix her that way.

  Well, the Yankee was the only one still missin when they sat down to table.

  “Is he coming?” Miss Martha asked.

  “Oh yes,” say Miss Marie. “He’s takin an extra moment to tidy himself. He was polishin the buttons on his uniform when I came by the parlor.”

  For a while there he’d taken to wearin some old clothes of Master Robert’s which Miss Martha had given him cause his uniform was so torn and dirty. Anyway I had cleaned and patched it a little a day or two before that, and he finally came to the dining room wearin it.

  He wasn’t too easy at first, I’ll tell you that. He was shaved and combed and neat enough, but he was actin pretty suspicious too, as he stood there in the doorway.

  “Come in and sit down, Mister McBurney,” Miss Martha say.

  “What’s the game?” he say.

  “We decided to have a little party for you,” Miss Harriet say. “Please come in, Mister McBurney.”

  “You ain’t been in the habit of holdin parties for me,” he say.

  “But this is your birthday, Johnny,” say Marie. “That makes it different.”

  “We’ve all made up our minds not to quarrel with you for this one evening, Johnny,” Miss Alice say.

  “It’s a sort of truce, Johnny,” say Miss Emily. “Look at it that way.”

  “All right, I will,” he say then, smilin, “and I thank you for it, ladies.” He came in and took the seat Miss Martha had left for him at the head of the table.

  Then I brought the ham in and all the young ladies did a lot of hootin and hollerin when they saw that. It had been a mighty long time since those little girls had seen a ham like that and Miss Martha just sat there smilin and lettin them make all the noise they pleased for a while. Course it wasn’t too long a time before they couldn’t do any shoutin cause they was too busy eatin. And the Yankee too, he set right in to eatin just as hearty as the others.

  “Where are the mushrooms?” Miss Martha ask me then.

  I hadn’t brought them in with the rest of the dinner. I don’t know why but I waited. Maybe it was because I thought they might change their minds about it, or maybe it was just because I wanted her to order me directly to bring them in. And so she did, and I brought them.

  “Miss Amelia picked these few mushrooms today,” say Miss Martha. “Who would like some? Mister McBurney?”

  “Yes, ma’am I’m fond of them,” he say. “But what about the young ladies?”

  “None for me, thank you,” say Miss Marie.

  “Nor me,” say Alice.

  “I never eat them,” say Miss Emily.

  “Mushrooms don’t agree with me at all,” say Miss Harriet.

  “What about you, Miss Edwina?” the Yankee ask.

  Miss Edwina shook her head and Miss Martha did likewise. Then the Yankee was about to take all the mushrooms on his own plate when Miss Amelia spoke up.

  “You didn’t ask me,” she say.

  “Well, I didn’t think you cared for them either, Amelia,” he say. “I thought you told me one time you only ate them sometimes raw and never when they were cooked.”

  “Well, I can change my mind, can’t I?” Miss Amelia say.

  “If you are going to be impudent, Miss Amelia,” say Miss Martha, “you’ll find yourself sent away from the table.”

  “I don’t think her request is too unreasonable,” say Miss Edwina. “In fact I believe I’ll change my mind and have some too.”

  Well while this talk was goin on the Yankee had started to eat the mushrooms. He laugh now and say, “They’re only doin it for spite. They don’t want these mushrooms, neither one of them. They’re tryin to spite me, that’s all. Amelia’s doin it because I accidentally hurt her turtle and Edwina’s mad because of another matter. Well I’m gonna get Amelia another better turtle and I’m gonna make it all up to Edwina too. All right, come on now, the two of you. Take some of these mushrooms before I eat them all.”

  “On second thought,” Miss Amelia say, “I guess I don’t want any.”

  “Nor I,” say Miss Edwina.

  “Suit yourselves,” say the Yankee, and he did what he say he’s gonna do. He went ahead and ate them all.

  Well everybody kinda slowed down in their eatin then, ’cept o’ course the Yankee. When he finished the mushrooms, he went back to the ham and the greens and the sweet potato pie and all the rest of it, and pretty soon all the young ladies got their appetites back and they went to it again until the table was almost cleaned, and then a while after that Miss Martha told me to bring the cake in.

  So I did. I lit a tallow candle from the kitchen lamp and I stuck that candle in the center of the cake and then I brought the whole thing in on a platter and that started up the ooin and the aaahin and the hootin and the hollerin again and it wasn’t long before it seemed that everybody had forgot about the mushrooms.

  The Yankee blew out the candle and cut his cake and then he got up and made a little speech.

  “I’m twenty-one today,” he say, “and I feel not only like a man but like a new man. That’s what your forgiveness has done for me, ladies. I want you to know this is the nicest birthday party I ever had. In fact, come to think on it, it’s the only one.”

  Then he sniffled a little and wiped his eyes and sat down. Some of the other people there had to wipe their eyes, too, I noticed. Fact is most everybody did, even me.

  “Well, Mister McBurney, will you serve your cake?” say Miss Martha.

  And so he did and they all say it was the best cake they ever had. The Yankee say that too. Course it was a long time since any of them had any cake at all and they was bound to be happy with most any kind of cake you make for them. On the other hand, I did try a mite of it myself, and I got to say it was pretty good. Then I brought in the acorn coffee and while they was drinkin that they started in to talkin about old times at the school. I don’t know who started it, maybe it was the Yankee, but pretty soon practically all of them was laughin and carryin on like there was never anything wrong in the house.

  They talked about how it was on the day the Yankee first came here, how sick he was and how they all took care of him. Then they talked about the good times they had when he started to get well, the stories he’d told them and the jokes they’d played on each other. Finally they talked about how sick he was the second time, after his leg had been cut off, and how they’d all worked so hard nursin him and tryin to make him well again.

  “I know it, I know it,” the Yankee told them. “I know how much care you all gave me and I want you to know how much I appreciate it, now that I’ve come to my senses and can look at it in the proper light.”

  Course two of the young ladies didn’t take much part in the conversation and one of them didn’t even eat much of her dinner. That was Miss Edwina who just sat there most of the evenin, takin a bite of somethin or other now and then but mostly lookin as though she was way off somewhere in another world.

  The second young lady was Miss Amelia and she didn’t talk at all with the Yankee but she did eat her share of the dinner. I didn’t even see her look once at him. She just kept her eyes and her mind on her own plate, eatin very slowly until she had cleaned it off, which was around the time Miss Martha say the young ladies ought to get ready to adjourn.

  “Aren’t we goin to say grace tonight?” ask Miss Marie. “It seems to me we forgot to say grace before our meal so we ought to say it after.”

  “Who will lead it then?” a
sk Miss Martha.

  “How about Johnny, since it’s his birthday?” say Miss Alice.

  “All right,” say the Yankee, “that’s fair enough,” and he folded his hands and bowed his head and say, “Thank you for this nice food we’ve eaten, O Lord, and bless these kind ladies for offerin it to a stranger. Bless them for bein kind to him and for grantin him their pardon, which he really didn’t deserve. Amen.”

  “Amen,” say everybody, bowin their heads.

  “Could you say one more prayer, Johnny?” ask Miss Marie. “Just to give the party a Catholic touch, why don’t you say an Act of Contrition?”

  And he obliged her by sayin the prayer she wanted. She had to correct him a couple of times before he got it straight but finally she was satisfied with it. I thought maybe Miss Martha would tell her to stop that foolishness, but she didn’t. She let Miss Marie go on helpin the Yankee say the prayer until he finished it.

  “Now I suggest we have some good old songs,” say Miss Alice. “Let’s go into the parlor and have a good old songfest, just like the one we had that night, a while ago, just after Johnny came.”

  “I think not tonight,” say Miss Martha.

  “Not even in honor of Johnny’s birthday?” say Miss Marie.

  “Let’s leave it up to Mister McBurney,” say Miss Harriet. “If he wants it, I’m sure Miss Martha will agree to it, since this is his birthday.”

  “I’ll tell you,” say the Yankee. “I’ve eaten so much of this grand food, and especially that magnificent cake—for which you have my undyin gratitude, Matilda—and I’ve talked and laughed so much, that I don’t think I could sing one note to save myself. I’ll bet you all feel the same way, so with Miss Martha’s permission, I say let’s save the evenin of song for tomorrow night.”

  “Very well,” say Miss Martha. “If Mister McBurney still feels the same way about it tomorrow night, we will have the evening of song. Now I think we have all had a very pleasant party with Mister McBurney.”