CHAPTER XXVI.
_In which Miss Sudie Adopts the Socratic Method._
When Miss Sudie left him Col. Barksdale again sent for his son and told him of that young woman"s unreasonable determination.
"I expected that, father, and am not at all surprised," said the young man.
"Why, my son? Had you talked the matter over with her?"
"No. But I know Sudie too well to expect her to give up her faith in Bob while he is under a cloud and in trouble too. She has a mighty good head on her shoulders; but what"s a woman"s head worth when her heart pulls the other way? She overrides her own reason as coolly as if it were worth just nothing at all, and puts everybody else"s out of the way with the utmost indifference. I know her of old. She used to take my part that way whenever I got into a boyish sc.r.a.pe, and before she had done with it she always convinced me, along with everybody else, that I had done nothing to be ashamed of. The fact is, father, I like that in Sudie. She"s the truest little woman I ever saw, and she sticks to her friends like mutton gravy to the roof of your mouth," said Billy, unable, even at such a time as this, to restrain his pa.s.sion for strange metaphors.
"The trait is a n.o.ble one, certainly," said the old gentleman; "but for that very reason, if for no other, we must do what we can to keep her from sacrificing herself to a n.o.ble faith in an unworthy man. Don"t you think so?"
"Without doubt. But what can we do? You say you do not feel free to control her."
"We can at least do our duty. I have talked with her, and now I want you to do the same. She will not shun the conversation, I think, for she is a brave girl."
"I will see what I can do, father," said the young man. "Possibly I may persuade her to let the matter rest where it is, for the present at least, and even that will be something gained."
Col. Barksdale was right in thinking that Miss Sudie would not seek to avoid a conversation with Billy. On the contrary she wished especially to say something to this young gentleman, and for that very purpose she sought him in the office. He and she had been brought up as brother and sister, and there was no feeling of restraint between them now that they were grown man and woman.
"Cousin Billy," she said, sitting down near him, "I want to talk with you about Robert. I want to remind you, if you will let me, of your duty to him."
"What do you conceive my duty to be in the case, Sudie?" asked Billy.
"To defend him," said Miss Sudie.
"But how can I do that, Sudie, in face of the facts?"
"You believe then that Robert Pagebrook, whom you know thoroughly, has done the dishonorable things laid to his charge?"
"Well," said Billy, feeling himself hardly prepared for this kind of attack, "I confess I should never have thought him capable of doing such things."
"Why would you never have thought him capable of doing them, Cousin Billy?"
"O well, because he always seemed to be such an honorable fellow," said Billy.
"You did believe him honorable, then?" asked this young female Socrates.
"Certainly; you know that Sudie."
"On what did you base that belief, Cousin Billy?"
"Why, on his way of doing things, on my knowledge of him, of course;"
replied Billy.
"Well, then, is that knowledge of him of no value now?" asked Sudie.
"How do you mean?"
"I mean does your knowledge of Robert weigh nothing now? Are you ready to believe on imperfect evidence, that Robert Pagebrook, who you know was an honorable man, is not now an honorable man? Doesn"t his character weigh anything with you? Do you believe his character has changed, or do you think it possible that he simulated that character and did it so perfectly as to deceive us all? Doesn"t it seem more probable that there is some mistake about this business? In short, how can you believe Robert guilty of a thing which you know very well he wouldn"t do for his head? If you "wouldn"t have believed it," why do you believe it?"
Mr. Billy was stunned. He had been prepared for tears. He had expected to find in Sudie an unreasoning faith. He had looked for an obstinate determination on her part to adhere to her purpose. But for this kind of illogical logic he had made no preparation whatever. It had never entered his head that Miss Sudie would seriously undertake to argue the matter. The evidence against Robert he had accepted as unquestionable, and he had not expected Miss Sudie to question it in this way.
"But, Cousin Sudie, you overlook the fact that Robert has confessed the very thing which you say is unlikely."
"No; he has not confessed anything of the sort. Indeed he seems to have carefully avoided doing so. In his letter to Uncle Carter he merely says, "I can offer neither denial nor explanation of the facts alleged against me." To me he only says, "a stain is upon my name." He nowhere says, "I am guilty.""
"But, Sudie," said Billy, "if he a"n"t guilty, why can"t he offer either "denial or explanation"?"
"That I do not know; but I don"t find it half as hard to believe that there may be good reasons for that, as to believe that an honorable man--a man whom we both know to be an honorable one--has done a dishonorable thing."
"But, Sudie, why didn"t Bob borrow the money of father or of me, if he honestly couldn"t pay? He knew we would gladly lend it to him."
"I"m glad you mentioned that. If Robert had wanted to swindle anybody, how much easier it would have been for him to write to you or Uncle Carter, saying he couldn"t pay and asking you to take up his protested draft for him. He knew you would have done it, and he could then have accomplished his purpose without any exposure. Almost any excuse would have satisfied you or Uncle Carter, and so the thing would have gone on for years. Wouldn"t he have done exactly that, Cousin Billy, if he had wanted to swindle anybody? Men don"t often covet a bad name for its own sake."
"Clearly, Sudie, I am getting the worst of this argument. You are a better sophist than I ever gave you credit for being. But it"s hard to believe that black is white. I"ll tell you what I"ll do, though, Sudie.
I"ll do my very best to believe that there is some sort of faint possibility that facts a"n"t facts, and hold myself, as nearly as I can, in readiness to believe that something may turn up in Bob"s favor. If anything were to turn up I"d be as glad of it as anybody."
"But I"m not satisfied with that, Cousin Billy."
"What more do you ask, Sudie?"
"That you shall hold yourself in readiness to help turn something up whenever an opportunity offers. Keep a sharp lookout for things which may possibly have a bearing upon this matter, and follow up any clue you may get. Won"t you do that for my sake, Cousin Billy?"
"I"d do anything for your sake, Sudie, and I"d give a hundred dollars for your faith."
And so ended the conversation. Mr. Billy, it must be confessed, had done little toward the accomplishment of the task he had set himself.
But as he himself put it: "What on earth was a fellow to do with a faith which made incontestable truths out of impossibilities, and scattered facts before it like a flock of partridges?" Mr. Billy fully appreciated the unreasonableness of Miss Sudie"s logic, and yet, in spite of all, he could not help entertaining a sort of half hope that something would occur to vindicate Robert--a hope born of nothing more substantial than Miss Sudie"s enthusiastic belief in her lover.
CHAPTER XXVII.
_Mr. Pagebrook Accepts an Invitation to Lunch and another Invitation._
On the morning after Robert"s incarceration, his attorney came at the appointed hour for the purpose of preparing the papers on which application was to be made for his discharge.
"I have the affidavits all ready, I believe, Mr. Pagebrook, and we have only to make a complete list of your property."
"That will be easily done, sir," said Robert, with a feeling of grim amus.e.m.e.nt; "as I have literally nothing except my trunk and its contents."