“What, my dear, don’t you know that I am your husband’s young master? Come, come!” he said, following her, and endeavoring to take hold of her arm.
“Please let me alone!” said Lisette, coloring, and in a pettish, vexed tone.
“Let you alone? No, that I sha’n’t, not while you ask it in such a pretty way as that!” And again the hand was laid upon her shoulder.
It must be understood that Harry had witnessed so far, in pantomime, this scene. He had stood with compressed lips, and eyes slowly dilating, looking at it. Nina, who was standing with her back to the window, wondered at the expression of his countenance.
“Look there, Miss Nina!” he said. “Do you see my wife and your brother?”
Nina turned, and in an instant the color mounted to her cheeks; her little form seemed to dilate, and her eyes flashed fire; and before Harry could see what she was doing, she was down in the gravel walk, and had taken Lisette’s hand.
“Tom Gordon,” she said, “I’m ashamed of you! Hush! hush!” she continued, fixing her eyes on him, and stamping her foot. “Dare to come to my place, and take such liberties here! You shall not be allowed to while I am mistress; and I am mistress! Dare to lay a finger on this girl while she is here under my protection! Come, Lisette!” And she seized the trembling girl by the hand, and drew her along towards the house.
Tom Gordon was so utterly confused at this sudden burst of passion in his sister that he let them go off without opposition. In a few moments he looked after her, and gave a long, low whistle.
“Ah! Pretty well up for her! But she’ll find it’s easier said than done, I fancy!” And he sauntered up to the veranda, where Harry stood with his arms folded, and the veins in his forehead swelling with repressed emotion.
“Go in, Lisette,” said Nina; “take the things into my room, and I’ll come to you.”
“‘Pon my word, Harry,” said Tom, coming up, and addressing Harry in the most insulting tone, “we are all under the greatest obligations to you for bringing such a pretty little fancy article here!”
“My wife does not belong to this place,” said Harry, forcing himself to speak calmly. “She belongs to a Mrs. Le Clere, who has come into Belleville plantation.”
“Ah! thank you for the information! I may take a fancy to buy her, and I’d like to know who she belongs to. I’ve been wanting a pretty little concern of that sort. She’s a good housekeeper, isn’t she, Harry? Does up shirts well? What do you suppose she could be got for? I must go and see her mistress.”
During this cruel harangue Harry’s hands twitched and quivered, and he started every now and then, looking first at Nina, and then at his tormentor. He turned deadly pale; even his lips were of ashy whiteness; and with his arms still folded, and making no reply, he fixed his large blue eyes upon Tom; and, as it sometimes happened in moments of excitement and elevation, there appeared on the rigid lines of his face, at that moment, so strong a resemblance to Colonel Gordon, that Nina noticed and was startled by it. Tom Gordon noticed it also. It added fuel to the bitterness of his wrath; and there glared from his eyes a malignancy of hatred that was perfectly appalling. The two brothers seemed like thunder-clouds opposing each other, and ready to dart lightning. Nina hastened to interfere.
“Hurry, hurry, Harry! I want that message carried. Do, pray, go directly!”
“Let me see,” said Tom, “I must call Jim, and have my horse. Which is the way to that Belleville plantation? I think I’ll ride over.” And he turned and walked indolently down the steps.
“For shame, Tom! you won’t! you can’t! How can you want to trouble me so?” said Nina.
He turned and looked upon her with an evil smile, turned again, and was gone.
“Harry, Harry, go quick! Don’t you worry; there’s no danger!” she added in a lower voice. “Mme. Le Clere never would consent.”
“There’s no knowing!” said Harry, “never any knowing! People act about money as they do about nothing else.”
“Then — then I’ll send and buy her myself!” said Nina.
“You don’t know how our affairs stand, Miss Nina,” said Harry hurriedly. “The money couldn’t be raised now for it, especially if I have to go off this week. It will make a great difference, my being here or not being here; and very likely Master Tom may have a thousand dollars to pay down on the spot. I never knew him to want money when his will was up. Great God! haven’t I borne this yoke long enough?”
“Well, Harry,” said Nina, “I’ll sell everything I’ve got — my jewels — everything. I’ll mortgage the plantation, before Tom Gordon shall do this thing! I’m not quite so selfish as I’ve always seemed to be. I know you’ve made the sacrifice of body and soul to my interest; and I’ve always taken it because I loved my ease, and was a spoiled child. But, after all, I know I’ve as much energy as Tom has, when I am roused, and I’ll go over this very morning and make an offer for her. Only you be off. You can’t stand such provocation as you get here; and if you yield, as any man will do, at last, then everything and everybody will go against you, and I can’t protect you. Trust to me. I’m not so much of a child as I have seemed to be! You’ll find I can act for myself, and you, too! There comes Mr. Clayton through the shrubbery — that’s right! Order two horses round to the door immediately, and we’ll go over there this morning.”
Nina gave her orders with a dignity as if she had been a princess, and in all his agitation Harry could not help marveling at the sudden air of womanliness which had come over her.
“I could serve you,” he said in a low voice, “to the last drop of my blood! But,” he added in a tone which made Nina tremble, “I hate everybody else! I hate your country! I hate your laws!”
“Harry,” said Nina, “you do wrong — you forget yourself!”
“Oh, I do wrong, do I? We are the people that are never to do wrong! People may stick pins in us, and stick knives in us, wipe their shoes on us, spit in our face —— we must be amiable! we must be models of Christian patience! I tell you, your father should rather have put me into quarters and made me work like a field-negro, than to have given me the education he did, and leave me under the foot of every white man that dares tread on me!” — .
Nina remembered to have seen her father in transports of passion, and was again shocked and startled to see the resemblance between his face and the convulsed face before her.
“Harry,” she said in a pitying, half-admonitory tone, “do think what you are saying! If you love me, be quiet!”
“Love you? You have always held my heart in your hand. That has been the clasp upon my chain. If it hadn’t been for you, I should have fought my way to the North before now, or I would have found a grave on the road!”
“Well, Harry,” said Nina, after a moment’s thought, “my love shall not be a clasp upon any chain; for as there is a God in heaven, I will set you free! I’ll have a bill introduced at the very next legislature, and I know what friend will see to it. So go, now, Harry, go!”
Harry stood a moment, then suddenly raised the hand of his little mistress to his lips, turned, and was gone.
Clayton, who had been passing through the shrubbery, and who had remarked that Nina was engaged in a very exciting conversation, had drawn off, and stood waiting for her at the foot of the veranda steps. As soon as Nina saw him, she reached out her hand frankly, saying, “Oh, there, Mr. Clayton, you are just the person! Wouldn’t you like to take a ride with me?”
“Of course I should,” said he.
“Wait here a moment,” said she, “till I get ready. The horses will be here immediately.” And running up the steps, she passed quickly by him, and went into the house.
Clayton had felt himself in circumstances of considerable embarrassment ever since the arrival of Tom Gordon, the evening before. He had perceived that the young man had conceived an instinctive dislike of himself, which he was at no particular pains to conceal; and he had found it difficult to preserve the appearance of one who does not notice.
He did not wish to intrude upon Nina any embarrassing recognition of her situation, even under the guise of sympathy and assistance; and waited, therefore, till some word from her should authorize him to speak. He held himself, therefore, ready to meet any confidence which she might feel disposed to place in him; not doubting, from the frankness of her nature, that she would soon find it impossible not to speak of what was so deeply interesting to her.
Nina soon reappeared, and mounting their horses, they found themselves riding through the same forest road that led to the cottage of Tiff, from which a divergent path went to the Belleville plantation.
“I’m glad to see you alone this morning, for many reasons,” said Nina; “for I think I never needed a friend’s help more. I’m mortified that you should have seen what you did last night; but since you have, I may as well speak of it. The fact is, that my brother, though he is the only one I have, never did treat me as if he loved me. I can’t tell what the reason is: whether he was jealous of my poor father’s love for me, or whether it was because I was a willful, spoiled girl, and so gave him reason to be set against me, or whatever the reason might be, — he never has been kind to me long at a time. Perhaps he would be, if I would always do exactly as he says; but I am made as positive and willful as he is. I never have been controlled, and I can’t recognize the right which he seems to assume to control me, and to dictate as to my own private affairs. He was not left my guardian; and though I do love him, I sha’n’t certainly take him as one. Now, you see, he has a bitter hatred, and a most unreasonable one, towards my Harry; and I had no idea, when I came home, in how many ways he had the power to annoy me. It does seem as if an evil spirit possessed them both when they get together; they seem as full of electricity as they can be, and I am every instant afraid of an explosion. Unfortunately for Harry, he has had a much superior education to the generality of his class and station, and the situation of trust in which he has been placed has given him more the feelings of a free man and a gentleman than is usual; for, except Tom, there isn’t one of our family circle that hasn’t always treated him with kindness, and even with deference; and I think this very thing angers Tom the more, and makes him take every possible occasion of provoking and vexing. I believe it is his intention to push Harry up to some desperate action; and when I see how frightfully they look at each other, I tremble for the consequences. Harry has lately married a very pretty wife, with whom he lives in a little cottage on the extremity of the Belleville estate; and this morning Tom happened to spy her, and it seemed to inspire him with a most ingenious plan to trouble Harry. He threatened to come over and buy her of Mme. Le Clere; and so, to quiet Harry, I promised to come over here before him, and make an offer for her.”
“Why,” said Clayton, “do you think her mistress would sell her?”
“I can’t say,” said Nina. “She is a person I am acquainted with only by report. She is a New Orleans creole who has lately bought the place. Lisette, I believe, hired her time of her. Lisette is an ingenious, active creature, and contrives, by many little arts and accomplishments, to pay a handsome sum, monthly, to her mistress. Whether the offer of a large sum at once would tempt her to sell her is more than I know until it’s tried. I should like to have Lisette, for Harry’s sake.”
“And do you suppose your brother was really serious?”
“I shouldn’t be at all surprised if he were. But, serious or not serious, I intend to make the matter sure.”
“If it be necessary to make an immediate payment,” said Clayton, “I have a sum of money which is lying idle in the bank, and it’s but drawing a check which will be honored at sight. I mention this, because the ability to make an immediate payment may make the negotiation easier. You ought to allow me the pleasure of joining you in a good work.”
“Thank you,” said Nina frankly. “It may not be necessary; but if it should be, I will take it in the same spirit in which it is offered.”
After a ride of about an hour they arrived in the boundaries of Belleville plantation. In former days, Nina had known this as the residence of an ancient rich family, with whom her father was on visiting terms. She was therefore uncomfortably struck with the air of poverty, waste, and decay, everywhere conspicuous through the grounds.
Nothing is more depressing and disheartening than the sight of a gradual decay of what has been arranged and constructed with great care; and when Nina saw the dilapidated gateway, the crushed and broken shrubbery, the gaps in the fine avenue where the trees had been improvidently cut down for fire-wood, she could not help a feeling of depression.
“How different this place used to be when I came here as a child!” said she. “This madam, whatever her name is, can’t be much of a manager.”
As she said this their horses came to the front of the house, in which the same marks of slovenly neglect were apparent. Blinds were hanging by one hinge; the door had sunk down into the rotten sill; the wooden pillars that supported it were decayed at the bottom; and the twining roses which once climbed upon them laid trailing, dishonored, upon the ground. The veranda was littered with all kinds of rubbish, — rough boxes, saddles, bridles, overcoats; and various nondescript articles formed convenient hiding-places and retreats, in which a troop of negro children and three or four dogs were playing at hide-and-go-seek with great relish and noise. On the alighting of Nina and Clayton at the door they all left their sports, and arranged themselves in a grinning row, to see the newcomers descend. Nothing seemed to be further from the minds of the little troop than affording the slightest assistance in the way of holding horses or answering questions. All they did was alternately to look at each other and the travelers, and grin.
A tattered servant-man, with half a straw hat on his head, was at length raised by a call of Clayton, who took their horses — having first distributed a salutation of kicks and cuffs among the children, asking where their manners were that they didn’t show the gentleman and lady in. And Nina and Clayton were now marshaled by the whole seven of them into an apartment on the right of the great hall. Everything in the room appeared in an unfinished state. The curtains were half put up at the windows, and part lying in a confused heap on the chairs. The damp, mouldy paper, which hung loosely from the wall, had been torn away in some places, as if to prepare for repapering; and certain half-opened rolls of costly wall-paper lay on the table, on which appeared the fragment of some ancient luncheon; to wit, plates, and pieces of bread and cheese, dirty tumblers, and an empty bottle. It was difficult to find a chair sufficiently free from dust to sit down on. Nina sent up her card by one of the small fry, who, having got halfway up the staircase, was suddenly taken with the desire to slide down the banisters with it in his hand. Of course he dropped the card in the operation; and the whole group precipitated themselves briskly on to it, all in a heap, and fought, tooth and nail, for the honor of carrying it upstairs. They were aroused, however, by the entrance of the man with half a hat; who, on Nina’s earnest suggestion, plunged into the troop, which ran, chattering and screaming like so many crows, to different parts of the hall, while he picked up the card, and with infinite good will beaming on his shining black face, went up with it, leaving Nina and Clayton waiting below. In a few moments he returned.
“Missis will see de young lady upstairs.”
Nina tripped promptly after him, and left Clayton the sole tenant of the parlor for an hour. At length she returned, skipping down the stairs, and opening the door with great animation.
“The thing is done!” she said. “The bill of sale will be signed as soon as we can send it over.”
“I had better bring it over myself,” said Clayton, “and make the arrangement.”
“So be it!” said Nina. “But pray let us be delivered from this place! Did you ever see such a desolate-looking house? I remember when I’ve seen it a perfect paradise —— full of the most agreeable people.”
“And pray what sort of a person did you find?” said Clayton, as they were riding homeward.
> “Well,” said Nina, “she’s one of the tow-string order of women. Very slack-twisted, too, I fancy — tall, snuffy, and sallow. Clothes looked rough-dry, as if they had been pulled out of a bag. She had a bright-colored Madras handkerchief tied round her head, and spoke French a little more through her nose than French people usually do. Flourished a yellow silk pocket-handkerchief. Poor soul! She said she had been sick for a week with toothache, and kept awake all night! So, one mustn’t be critical! One comfort about these French people is, that they are always ravis de vous voir, let what will turn up. The good soul was really polite, and insisted on clearing all the things off from a dusty old chair for me to sit down in. The room was as much at sixes and sevens as the rest of the house. She apologized for the whole state of things by saying that they could not get workmen out there to do anything for her; and so everything is left in the second future tense; and the darkeys, I imagine, have a general glorification in the chaos. She is one of the indulgent sort, and I suspect she’ll be eaten up by them like the locusts. Poor thing! she is shockingly homesick, and longing for Louisiana again. For notwithstanding her snuffy appearance, and yellow pocket-handkerchief, she really has a genuine taste for beauty; and spoke most feelingly of the oleanders, crape myrtles, and cape jessamines, of her native state.”
“Well, how did you introduce your business?” said Clayton, laughing at this description.
“Me? — Why, I flourished out the little French I have at command, and she flourished her little English; and I think I rather prepossessed the good soul, to begin with. Then I made a sentimental story about Lisette and Harry’s amours; because I know French people always have a taste for the sentimental. The old thing was really quite affected, wiped her little black eyes, pulled her hooked nose as a tribute to my eloquence, called Lisette her enfant mignon, and gave me a little lecture on the tender passion, which I am going to lay up for future use.”
“Indeed!” said Clayton. “I should be charmed to have you repeat it. Can’t you give us a synopsis?”
Complete Works of Harriet Beecher Stowe Page 79
