"No," replied Mr. King. "I saw George Falkner in Washington, a fortnight ago, when I went to seek the body of our young friend; but I did not then think of coming here. If you doubt me, you can write to William Lloyd Garrison or Wendell Phillips, and inquire of them whether Alfred R. King is capable of deceiving."
"I like thy countenance, Friend Alfred, and I think thou art honest,"
rejoined the Quaker; "but where colored people are concerned, I have known very polite and fair-spoken men to tell falsehoods."
Mr. King smiled as he answered: "I commend your caution, Friend Joseph. I see how it is. You suspect we may be slaveholders in disguise. But slaveholders are just now too busy seeking to destroy this Republic to have any time to hunt fugitives; and when they have more leisure, my opinion is they will find that occupation gone."
"I should have more hope of that," replied the farmer, "if there was not so much pro-slavery here at the North. And thee knows that the generals of the United States are continually sending back fugitive slaves to bleed under the lash of their taskmasters."
"I honor your scruples, Friend Joseph," responded Mr. King; "and that they may be completely removed, we will wait at the Metropolitan in New York until you have received letters from Mr. Garrison and Mr.
Phillips. And lest you should think I may have a.s.sumed the name of another, I will give you these to enclose in your letter." He opened his pocket-book and took out two photographs.
"I shall ask to have them sent back to me," replied the farmer; "for I should like to keep a likeness of thee and thy Rosa. They will be pleasant to look upon. As soon as I receive an answer, Friend Alfred, I will call upon thee at the Metropolitan."
"We shall be pleased to see you, Friend Joseph," said Rosa, with one of her sweetest smiles, which penetrated the Quaker"s soul, as sunshine does the receptive earth. Yet, when the carriage had rolled away, he harnessed his sleek horses to the wagon, and conveyed Henriet and her babe to the house of a Friend at White Plains, till he ascertained whether these stylish-looking strangers were what they professed to be.
A few days afterward, Friend Joseph called at the Metropolitan. When he inquired for the wealthy Bostonian, the waiter stared at his plain dress, and said, "Your card, sir."
"I have no card," replied the farmer. "Tell him Friend Joseph wishes to see him."
The waiter returned, saying, "Walk this way, sir," and showed him into the elegant reception-room.
As he sat there, another servant, pa.s.sing through, looked at him, and said, "All gentlemen take off their hats in this room, sir."
"That may be," quietly replied the Quaker; "but all _men_ do not, for thee sees I keep mine on."
The entrance of Mr. King, and his cordial salutation, made an impression on the waiters" minds; and when Friend Joseph departed, they opened the door very obsequiously.
The result of the conference was that Mr. and Mrs. King returned to Boston with Henriet and her little one.
Tulee had proved in many ways that her discretion might be trusted; and it was deemed wisest to tell her the whole story of the babe, who had been carried to the calaboose with her when Mr. Bruteman"s agent seized her. This confidence secured her as a firm friend and ally of Henriet, while her devoted attachment to Mrs. King rendered her secrecy certain. When black Chloe saw the newcomer learning to play on the piano, she was somewhat jealous because the same privilege had not been offered to her children. "I didn"t know Missy Rosy tought thar war sech a mighty difference "tween black an" brown," said she. "I don"t see nothin" so drefful pooty in dat ar mola.s.ses color."
"Now ye shut up," rejoined Tulee. "Missy Rosy knows what she"s "bout.
Ye see Mr. Fitzgerald was in love with Missy Eulaly; an" Henret"s husban" took care o" him when he was dying. Mr. King is going to send him "cross the water on some gran" business, to pay him for "t; and Missy Rosy wants his wife to be "spectable out there "mong strangers."
Henriet proved good-natured and una.s.suming, and, with occasional patronage from Tulee, she was generally able to keep her little boat in smooth water.
When she had been there a few months Mr. King enclosed to Mrs.
Fitzgerald the letters Gerald had written about George; and a few days afterward he called to explain fully what he had done, and what he intended to do. That lady"s dislike for her rival was much diminished since there was no Gerald to excite her jealousy of divided affection.
There was some perturbation in her manner, but she received her visitor with great politeness; and when he had finished his statement she said: "I have great respect for your motives and your conduct; and I am satisfied to leave everything to your good judgment and kind feelings. I have but one request to make. It is that this young man may never know he is my son."
"Your wishes shall be respected," replied Mr. King. "But he so strongly resembles Gerald, that, if you should ever visit Europe again, you might perhaps like to see him, if you only recognized him as a relative of your husband."
The lady"s face flushed as she answered promptly: "No, sir. I shall never recognize any person as a relative who has a colored wife. Much as I loved Gerald, I would never have seen him again if he had formed such an alliance; not even if his wife were the most beautiful and accomplished creature that ever walked the earth."
"You are treading rather closely upon _me_, Mrs. Fitzgerald," rejoined Mr. King, smiling.
The lady seemed embarra.s.sed, and said she had forgotten Mrs. King"s origin.
"Your son"s wife is not so far removed from a colored ancestry as mine is," rejoined Mr. King; "but I think you would soon forget her origin, also, if you were in a country where others did not think of it. I believe our American prejudice against color is one of what Carlyle calls "the phantom dynasties.""
"It may be so," she replied coldly; "but I do not wish to be convinced of it."
And Mr. King bowed good morning.
A week or two after this interview, Mrs. Fitzgerald called upon Mrs.
King; for, after all, she felt a certain sort of attraction in the secret history that existed between them; and she was unwilling to have the world suppose her acquaintance had been dropped by so distinguished a lady. By inadvertence of the servant at the door, she was shown into the parlor while Henriet was there, with her child on the floor, receiving directions concerning some muslin flounces she was embroidering. Upon the entrance of a visitor, she turned to take up her infant and depart. But Mrs. King said, "Leave little Hetty here, Mrs. Falkner, till you bring my basket for me to select the floss you need."
Hetty, being thus left alone, scrambled up, and toddled toward Mrs.
King, as if accustomed to an affectionate reception. The black curls that cl.u.s.tered round her yellow face shook, as her uncertain steps hastened to a place of refuge; and when she leaned against her friend"s lap, a pretty smile quivered on her coral lips, and lighted up her large dark eyes.
Mrs. Fitzgerald looked at her with a strange mixture of feelings.
"Don"t you think she"s a pretty little creature?" asked Mrs. King.
"She might be pretty if the yellow could be washed off," replied Mrs.
Fitzgerald.
"Her cheeks are nearly the color of your hair," rejoined Mrs. King; "and I always thought that beautiful."
Mrs. Fitzgerald glanced at the mirror, and sighed as she said: "Ah, yes. My hair used to be thought very pretty when I was young; but I can see that it begins to fade."
When Henriet returned and took the child, she looked at her very curiously. She was thinking to herself, "What _would_ my father say?" But she asked no questions, and made no remark.
She had joined a circle of ladies who were sewing and knitting for the soldiers; and after some talk about the difficulty she had found in learning to knit socks, and how fashionable it was for everybody to knit now, she rose to take leave.
CHAPTER x.x.xVIII.
The months pa.s.sed on, and brought ever-recurring demands for more soldiers. Mr. King watched the progress of the struggle with the deepest anxiety.
One day, when he had seen a new regiment depart for the South, he returned home in a still more serious mood than was now habitual to him. After supper, he opened the Evening Transcript, and read for a while. Then turning to his wife, who sat near him knitting for the army, he said, "Dear Rosabella, during all the happy years that I have been your husband, you have never failed to encourage me in every good impulse, and I trust you will strengthen me now."
With a trembling dread of what was coming, she asked, "What is it, dear Alfred."
"Rosa, this Republic _must_ be saved," replied he, with solemn emphasis. "It is the day-star of hope to the toiling ma.s.ses of the world, and it _must_ not go out in darkness. It is not enough for me to help with money. I ought to go and sustain our soldiers by cheering words and a brave example. It fills me with shame and indignation when I think that all this peril has been brought upon us by that foul system which came so near making a wreck of _you_, my precious one, as it has wrecked thousands of pure and gentle souls. I foresee that this war is destined, by mere force of circ.u.mstances, to rid the Republic of that deadly incubus. Rosa, are you not willing to give me up for the safety of the country, and the freedom of your mother"s race?"
She tried to speak, but utterance failed her. After a struggle with herself, she said: "Do you realize how hard is a soldier"s life? You will break down under it, dear Alfred; for you have been educated in ease and luxury."
"My education is not finished," replied he, smiling, as he looked round on the elegant and luxurious apartment. "What are all these comforts and splendors compared with the rescue of my country, and the redemption of an oppressed race? What is my life, compared with the life of this Republic? Say, dearest, that you will give me willingly to this righteous cause."
"Far rather would I give my own life," she said. "But I will never seek to trammel your conscience, Alfred."
They spoke together tenderly of the past, and hopefully of the future; and then they knelt and prayed together.
Some time was necessarily spent in making arrangements for the comfort and safety of the family during his absence; and when those were completed, he also went forth to rescue Liberty from the jaws of the devouring dragon. When he bade farewell to Flora"s family, he said: "Look after my precious ones, Blumenthal; and if I never return, see to it that Percival carries out all my plans with regard to George Falkner."