"Well, my son," said Col. Barksdale, "I"ll give him one chance to explain at any rate. I"ll write to him immediately."
Accordingly the old gentleman went to his library and was engaged for some time in writing. After awhile there came a knock at his door, and Miss Sudie entered.
"Come in, daughter," said he, tenderly. "I want to talk with you."
"I thought you would," said the sad-eyed little maiden, "and that"s why I came. I wanted our talk to be private."
"You"re a good girl, my child." Then, after a pause, "This is bad news about Robert."
"Yes; and from a bad source," said Sudie.
"I do not understand you, daughter."
"We have the best of authority, Uncle Carter, for saying that "men do not gather grapes of thorns!""
"But, my child, I suppose there can be no doubt of the facts in this case, so far as we have them. We know the circ.u.mstances of Robert"s indebtedness to Edwin, and whatever her motives may have been, Sarah Ann would hardly venture to say that he has neither paid nor written in explanation of his failure to do so, if he had done either."
"Perhaps not."
"Robert ought to have paid at any cost to himself if it were possible; and if it were not, then he should have written in a frank, manly way, explaining his inability to fulfill his promise. Appearances are so strongly against him that I have written with very little hope of eliciting any satisfactory reply."
"Will you mind letting me see what you have written, Uncle Carter?"
"No; you may read the letter. Here it is."
Miss Sudie read it. It ran thus:
"I have just now learned that you have wholly failed to fulfill your solemn and deliberate promise, made on the eve of your departure from Shirley, to the effect that you would, without fail, take up your protested draft for three hundred dollars ($300), held by your Cousin Major Edwin Pagebrook, on or before the fifteenth (15th), day of this current month. It is now the thirtieth (30th), and hence your promise is fifteen (15) days over due. I learn also that you have failed to write in explanation of your delinquency or in any way to account or apologise for it. Permit me to say that as your conduct presents itself to me at this time, it is unworthy the gentleman which you profess to be, and I now demand of you either that you shall give me immediately a satisfactory explanation of the matter--and that, I must confess, sir, seems hardly possible--or that you shall at once write to my niece and adopted daughter, releasing her from her engagement with you."
Having finished reading the letter Sudie handed it back to her uncle without a word of comment. Not that she was in this or in any other case afraid to express her opinion. Her uncle knew very well when he gave her the letter that she would say absolutely nothing about it until he should ask her, and he knew equally well that upon asking her he would get a perfectly honest expression of her thought, whatever it might happen to be. But Colonel Barksdale was, for the time, afraid to ask her opinion. He was a brave man and an honest one. He was known throughout the state as a lawyer of great ability and as a gentleman of the most undoubted sort. And yet at this moment he found himself afraid of a young girl, who stood in the relation of daughter to him--a girl who was never violent in word or act, a girl who honored him as a father and loved him with all her heart. He knew she would unhesitatingly speak the truth, and it was the truth of which he was afraid. He had not been aware, when he wrote, of any disposition to do Robert injustice, else, being a just man, he would have spurned the thought from him; but now that he felt bound to ask Miss Sudie for her opinion of his course, he became uncomfortably conscious that there had been other impulses than just ones governing him in his choice of language. At last he asked the dreaded question.
"What do you think, daughter?"
"I think you have not done yourself justice, Uncle Carter, in writing such a letter as that. The letter is not like you, at all."
"Well?"
"Do you mean why and wherefore?"
"Yes. Why and wherefore, Sudie?"
"Because it is not like you to do an act of injustice, and when you are betrayed into one you misrepresent yourself."
"But wherein is my letter an act of injustice, my child?"
"It a.s.sumes unproved guilt; and I believe even criminals are ent.i.tled to a more favorable starting-point than that in their efforts to clear themselves."
"But, Sudie, I have not a.s.sumed that Robert is guilty. I have asked him to explain."
"Yes; and in the very act of asking him to explain to you, his judge, you have a.s.sured him from the bench that the court believes an explanation impossible."
"Have I? Let me see."
After looking at the letter again he resumed:
"I believe you are right about that; I will rewrite the letter, omitting the objectionable clause. Is that all Sudie?"
"Perhaps when you come to rewrite the letter you will see that its tone is as unjust as any words could possibly be. It seems so to me."
"Let me try my hand again, daughter. Keep your seat please while I write a new letter instead of rewriting the old one."
"There. How will that do?" he asked, as he handed the young woman this hastily-written note.
"MY DEAR ROBERT: We have just been hearing some news of you, which I trust you will be able to contradict or explain. It is that you have failed to keep your promise in the matter of your indebtedness to Major Pagebrook, and that you have not even offered a word by way of apology or explanation. The peculiar relations in which you now stand to my family justify me, I think, in asking you to explain a matter which, unexplained, must reflect upon your character as an honorable man. Please write to me by return mail."
"That is more like you, Uncle Carter. But I am sorry to find that you are convinced, in advance, of Robert"s guilt. You propose to sit in judgment upon his case, and a court should not only appear but be free from bias."
"Why, my daughter, I can hardly see how there can be any possible excuse in a case like this. You cannot deny that both facts and appearances are against him."
"I doubt whether we have the facts yet, Uncle Carter. Aside from my knowledge of Cous--of Sarah Ann Pagebrook"s general character, I saw her do a dishonorable thing once. I saw her open and read a letter which was not addressed to her, and I have no faith whatever in her, or in any statement which comes from her or through her."
Colonel Barksdale was probably not sorry that the conversation was interrupted at this point by the entrance of a servant announcing a client. He felt that it would be idle to argue with Sudie in a matter in which her feelings were strongly enlisted, and he felt that in calling Robert to an account he was doing a simple duty. He was, therefore, rather pleased than otherwise to have an accident terminate a conversation which did not promise to terminate itself agreeably.
Miss Sudie went to her room and wrote to Robert on her own account. I am not at liberty to print her letter here, as I should greatly like to do, but the reader will readily guess its general nature. She told Robert in detail everything that had been said concerning him that day. She told him of her uncle"s anger, and of the probability that everybody would believe him guilty if he failed to establish his innocence; but she a.s.sured him that she, at least, had no idea of doubting him for a moment.
"For your sake," she wrote, "I hope you will be able to offer a convincing explanation; but whether you can do that or not, Robert, _I know_ that you are true and manly, and not even facts shall ever make me doubt your truth. I may never be able to see how your action has been right, but I shall know, nevertheless, that it has been so. My woman love is truer, to me at least, than logic--truer than fact--truer than truth itself."
All this was very illogical--very unreasonable, but very natural. It was "just like a woman" to set her emotions up in a holy place and compel her reason to do homage to them as to a G.o.d. And that is the very best thing there is about women, too. You and I, sir, would fare badly if in naming a woman wife we could not feel a.s.sured that her love will ever override her reason in matters concerning us.
CHAPTER XXII.
_Mr. Sharp Does His Duty._
The law firm of Steel, Flint & Sharp was a thoroughly well const.i.tuted one. Its organization was an admirable example of means perfectly adapted to the accomplishment of ends. It was not an eminent firm but it was an eminently successful one, particularly in the lines of business to which it gave special attention, and the leading one of these was collecting doubtful debts, as Cousin Sarah Ann had learned from one of the firm"s cards which had fallen in her way. Indeed it was the accidental possession of this card which enabled her to put the matter of Robert"s indebtedness into the hands of New York attorneys, and I suspect that she would never have thought of doing so at all but for the enticing words, fairly printed upon the card--"particular attention given to the collection of doubtful debts, due to non-residents of New York."
A prophet, we know, is not without honor save in his own country, and so it is not strange that the people who familiarly knew the countenances of the gentlemen composing the firm of Steel, Flint & Sharp, esteemed these gentlemen less highly than did those other people, resident outside of New York, who could know these counselors at law only through their profusely distributed cards and circulars. Such was the fact; and as a result it happened that the clients of the firm were chiefly people who, living in other parts of the country, were compelled to intrust their business in New York to the hands of whatever attorneys they believed were the leading ones in the metropolis. And it was to let people know who were the leading lawyers of the city, that Messrs.
Steel, Flint & Sharp industriously scattered their cards and circulars throughout the country.
Who Mr. Steel was I do not know, and I am strongly inclined to suspect that the rest of the world, including his partners, were in a state of equal ignorance. He was never seen about the firm"s offices, and never represented anybody in court, but he was frequently referred to by his partners, especially when clients were disposed to complain of apparently exorbitant charges.
"Mr. Steel can not give his attention to a case, sir, for nothing. His reputation is at stake, sir, in all we undertake. I really do not feel at liberty to ask Mr. Steel to authorize any reduction in this case, sir. He gave his personal attention to the papers--his personal attention, sir."
And this would commonly send clients away suppressed, if not satisfied.
Mr. Flint was well enough known. He managed the business of the firm. It was he who always knew precisely what Mr. Steel"s opinion was. He alone, of all the world, was able to speak positively of matters concerning Mr. Steel. Mr. Sharp was his junior in the firm, though considerably his senior in years. For Mr. Sharp Mr. Flint entertained not one particle of respect, because that gentleman was not always what his name implied. Mr. Sharp left to himself would have been hopelessly honest and straightforward. He would have gone to the dogs, speedily, Mr. Flint said, but for his a.s.sociation with himself.