The Homesteader: A Novel
Page 7
CHAPTER IV
SHE COULD NEVER BE ANYTHING TO HIM
Jean Baptiste slept soundly all the night through, snoring loudly attimes, turning frequently, but never awakening. And while he slept,unconscious of how near he had come to freezing to death upon theprairie, but for the strange coincidence of Agnes Stewart's havinggotten lost and finding him, she sat near, listening to the dull roar ofthe storm outside at times; at other times casting furtive, anxious andapprehensive glances toward the bed, half in fear. More because theposition she realized herself to be in was awkward, not to sayembarrassing.
Her eyes became heavy as the night wore on, and she arose and walkedabout over the dirt floor in an attempt to shake off the inertia. And inthe meantime, the man she had saved slept on, apparently disturbed bynothing. Presently she approached him shyly, and, taking the coat he hadworn and which lay near, she spread it carefully over him, then tiptoedaway and regarded him curiously. Her life had never afforded characterstudy in a broad sense; but for some reason, which she could not accountfor, she strangely trusted the sleeping man. And because she did, shewas not in fear lest he awaken and take advantage of the compromisingcircumstances. But in her life she had met and known no colored people,and knew directly little about the Negro race beyond what she had read.Therefore to find herself lost on the wide plains, in a house alonewith one, a bachelor Homesteader, with a terrific storm without, gaveher a peculiar sensation.
When the hand of the little clock upon the table pointed to two o'clocka.m., she put coal on the fire, became seated in a crude rocking chairthat proved notwithstanding, to be comfortable, and before she was awareof it, had fallen asleep. Worn out by the night's vigil, and the unusualcircumstances in which she found herself, she slept soundly and allsense of flying time was lost upon her. The storm subsided with theapproach of morn, and the sun was peeping out of a clear sky in the eastwhen she awakened with a start. She jumped to her feet. Quickly her eyessought the bed. It was empty. The man had arisen. She looked out throughthe little window. The blizzard had left the country gray and streaked.Buttoning her coat collar about her throat, she adjusted her cap bypulling it well down over her head, and ventured outside.
Never had she looked upon such a scene as met her eyes! Everywhere, asfar as she could see, was a mantle of snow and ice. Here the snow hadbeen swept into huge drifts or long ridges; while there it sparkled inthe sun, one endless, unbroken sheet of white frost and ice. Here andthere over the wide expanse a lonesome claim shack reposed as if lost;while to the northwest, she could see the little town to which she hadgone the afternoon before, rising heroically out of the snow. Uponhearing a sound, she turned to find The Homesteader leading her horse,saddled and bridled from the barn. She turned her eyes away to hide theconfusion with which she was suddenly overcome, and at the same time totry to find words with which to greet him.
"Good morning," she heard from his lips, and turned her face to see himtouch the cap he wore.
"Good morning, sir," she returned, smiling with ease, notwithstandingher confusion of a moment before.
"I judge that you must have become lost, the why you happened along,"said he pleasantly, courteously.
"I did," she acknowledged, marveled at finding herself so much at easein his presence, and him conscious. In the same instance she took quicknote of his speech and manner, and was strangely pleased.
"I see," she heard him mutter. She had cast her eyes away as if tothink, but now turned again toward him to find him regarding herintently. She saw him give a quick start, and catch his breath as if insurprise, whereupon she turned her eyes away. But she did not understandthe cause of his start; she did not understand that while he hadrecognized her as his dream girl, that only then had he realized thatshe was white, while he had naturally supposed his dream girl would beof his own blood, Ethiopian.
He lowered his eyes as this fact played in his mind, and as hehesitated, she again turned her eyes upon him and regarded himwonderingly. And in that moment the instance of the night before when hehad awakened and looked up into her eyes for the first time when shestood over him, and had uttered the words she would never as long as shelived, forget, came back. "_It is you, Agnes. You have come and, oh, Iam glad, for I have waited for you so long._" "How did he know my nameand come to say what he did?" was the question she now again, as she hadbeen doing all the night through, asked herself. She prayed that shemight find a way to ask him--how deeply her curiosity to know wasaroused. And then, while she was so deeply engrossed, abruptly he raisedhis head, and his eyes fell searchingly again upon her. He saw andwondered at the curious intentness he saw there, and as he did so, hecaught that something in her eyes; he saw what she had seen beforeleaving Indiana; and as she had been when she had seen it, he too, wasstrangely moved and could not understand. Apparently he forgot all elseas the changing color of her eyes held him, and while so, unconsciouslyhe advanced a step nearer her. She did not move away, but stood as if ina thraldom, with a feeling stealing over her that somewhere she had seenand known him once.... But where--_where, where!_ She had never known an_Ethiopian_, she full well recalled; but she was positive that she hadseen this man somewhere before. Then _where--where, where!_
As for the man, Jean Baptiste, he seemed to relax after a time, andlooked away. He had seen her at last; she had been his dream girl; hadcome in a dream and as she stood before him she was all his wondrousvision had portrayed. Her face was flushed by the cold air, and redroses in full bloom were in her cheeks; while her beautiful hair, spreadover her shoulders, and fanned by a light breeze, made her in his eyes apicture of enchantment. When he observed her again and saw that her eyeswere blue and then again were brown, he was still mystified; but whatwas come over Jean Baptiste now was the fact, the Great fact: _The factthat between him and his dream girl was a chasm so deep socially thatbridging was impossible._ Because she was white while he was black,according to _the custom of the country and its law_, she could never beanything to him....
Her back was to the rising sun, and neither had observed that it wasmounting higher in the eastern skies. She suppressed the question thatwas on her lips to ask him, the eternal question, and in that instant hecame out of his trance. He turned to her, and said:
"It was sure fortunate for me that you lost your way," and so sayinghis eyes went toward the place she had found him, and she understood.She could not repress a happy smile that overspread her face. He saw itand was pleased.
"It was rather providential; but I would forget it. To think that youmight have frozen to death out there makes me shudder when I recall it."
"I cannot seem to understand what came over me--that I was in the act offreezing while I walked."
"It was a terrible night," she commented. "I, too, might have frozen,but for the good fortune of my horse finding your house."
"Isn't it strange," he muttered abstractedly.
"I hadn't the least idea where I was," said she, musingly.
"Such a coincidence."
"Indeed it was----, but please, shall we forget it," and she shudderedslightly.
"Yes," he replied readily. "Where do you live?"
She pointed to where the smoke curled from the chimney of their home, amile and a half away.
"The Watson place? I see. You are perhaps, then, newcomers here?"
"We are," and she smiled easily. He did also. He handed her the bridlereins then, and said:
"I trust you will pardon my forgetfulness. Indeed I was so absorbed inthe fact that I had been saved, that I forgot to--to be courteous."
"Oh, no, sir!" she cried quickly. "You did not. You--" and then shebroke off in her speech. It occurred to her that she was saying toomuch. But strangely she wanted to go on, strangely she wanted to knowmore of him: from where he had come; of his life, for already she couldsee that he was a gentleman; an unusual person--but he was speakingagain.
"You have become chilled standing there--it is severely cold. Step backinto the house and warm yourself before you start. I wil
l hold yourhorse while you do so." And he reached for the bridle reins.
She looked up into his face, and again trusted him; again sheexperienced a peculiar gratitude, and turning she obeyed him. As shestood inside over the little monkey stove a moment later, she could seehim, and appreciated how thoughtful he was.
She returned after a few minutes, stood beside the animal he had broughtand was ready to go. Suddenly she vaulted into the saddle. She regardedhim again intently, while he returned the same a bit abstractedly. Shestarted to urge the mare forward, and then she drew her to a stop beforeshe had gotten fully started. Impulsively she leaned forward andstretched her hand toward him. Mechanically he took it. Sheunconsciously gripped his, as she said:
"I'm glad it happened.... That I became lost and--and--you were saved."His dark face colored with gratitude, and he had an effort to keep fromchoking when he tried to reply. In the meantime, she bestowed upon him ahappy smile, and the next moment her horse had found the trail and wasdashing along it toward the place she lived.
And as she went homeward over the hill, the man in whose life she waslater to play such a strange and intimate part, stood looking after herlong and silently.