Hatchie, the Guardian Slave; or, The Heiress of Bellevue.
by Warren T. Ashton.
INTRODUCTION.
In the summer of 1848 the author of the following tale was a pa.s.senger on board a steamboat from New Orleans to Cincinnati. During the pa.s.sage--one of the most prolonged and uncomfortable in the annals of western river navigation--the plot of this story was arranged. Many of its incidents, and all its descriptions of steamboat life, will be recognized by the voyager of the Mississippi.
The tale was written before the appearance of "Uncle Tom"s Cabin,"--before negro literature had become a mania in the community. It was not designed to ill.u.s.trate the evils or the blessings of slavery. It is, as its t.i.tle-page imports, a _tale_; and the author has not stepped out of his path to moralize upon Southern inst.i.tutions, or any other extraneous topic. But, as its _locale_ is the South, and its princ.i.p.al character a slave, the story incidentally portrays some features of slavery.
With these explanations, the author submits the tale to the public, hoping the reader will derive some portion of the pleasure from its perusal which he experienced in its preparation.
BOSTON, November 18, 1852.
HATCHIE:
THE GUARDIAN SLAVE.
CHAPTER I.
"_Antony_. You grow presumptuous.
_Ventidius_. I take the privilege of plain love to speak.
_Antony_. Plain love!--Plain arrogance! plain insolence!"
DRYDEN.
On the second floor of a lofty building in ---- street, New Orleans, was situated the office of Anthony Maxwell, Esq., Attorney and Counsellor at Law, Commissioner for Georgia, Alabama, and a dozen other states. His office had not the usual dusty, business-like aspect of such places, but presented more the appearance of a gentleman"s drawing-room; and, but for the ponderous cases of books bound in law-sheep, and a table covered with tin boxes and bundles of papers secured with red tape, the visitor would easily have mistaken it for such. The s.p.a.ce on the walls not occupied by book-cases was hung with rich paintings, whose artistic beauty and elevated themes betokened a refined taste. The floor of the room was covered by a magnificent tapestry carpet. The chairs, lounges and tables, were of the most costly and elegant description. The windows were hung with graceful and brilliant draperies. Every arrangement of the office betokened luxury and indolence, rather than the severe toil and privation to which the aspirant for legal honors must so often submit. The costly appurtenances of the apartment seemed to indicate that the young lawyer"s path to fame was over a velvet lawn, bedecked with beautiful flowers, rather than the rough road, steep and crooked, over which the greatest statesmen and most eminent jurists have trodden.
The occupant of this chamber was stretched at full length upon one of the luxurious lounges, puffing, with an abstracted air, a fragrant regalia. He was a young man, not more than five-and-twenty years of age, and what ladies of taste would have styled decidedly handsome. His face was pale, with a certain haggard appearance, which indicates the earlier stages of dissipation. His complexion was of a delicate white, unbrowned by the southern sun, and the skin was so transparent that the roots of his black beard were visible beneath its surface. His jet-black hair hung in rich, wavy curls, which seemed to be the especial care of some renowned tonsorial artist, so gracefully and accurately were they arranged. His black eye was sharp and expressive when his mind was excited in manly thought; but now it was a little unsteady,--disposed to droop, and wander, as though ashamed to express the emotions which agitated his soul. Altogether, his features were cla.s.sic; but there was something about them which the moralist would not like--a sort of lascivious softness mingling with the n.o.bler intellectual expression, that warned him to beware of the Siren, while he admired the Apollo.
The marks of vice were visible in his countenance. They had not yet become canker-spots on the surface, but they rankled and festered beneath that fair field of physical and intellectual grandeur.
The young attorney was dressed in the extreme of fashion, yet in good taste. Though he wore all the fashion demanded, he did not court ridicule by overstepping its flickering lines. He was not the over-dressed dandy, but the full-dressed gentleman of refined taste, in his external appearance.
Anthony Maxwell had been educated at a northern inst.i.tution. A year before his introduction to the reader, he had entered his father"s office in the capacity of a partner, where, by an a.s.sumed devotion to business, he had effectually deceived his father and his clients into the belief that he was a steady, industrious young man. His talents were of a very respectable order, which, superadded to a native eloquence and an engaging demeanor, had enabled him to acquit himself with much credit in the cases intrusted to his management. A few months after his professional _debut_, his father"s decease had placed him in possession of a very lucrative practice and a moderate fortune, thus enabling him in some degree to follow the bent of his own inclinations. To those whose habits and desires were similar to his own, he was not long in unfolding his true character, though not to a sufficient extent to destroy at once his professional prospects. The irresponsible life of the man of leisure had more charms to him than an honorable distinction in his profession. To labor in any form he had an intolerable repugnance. His fortune was not sufficient to allow an entire neglect of business; therefore he determined to practise law in an easy manner, until a rich wife, or the "tricks" of his craft, would permit an entire devotion to the pleasures of affluence.
In accordance with this idea, his first step, after the death of his father, had been to locate himself in the magnificent apartments we have described. He gave up the house in which his father had dwelt, and, fitting up a sleeping-room in the rear of the office with oriental splendor, his life and habits were free from the scrutinizing gaze of friend and foe, and he found himself situated as nearly to his mind as his income would permit. These indications of a dissolute life were viewed with distrust by the more respectable of his clients. His subsequent actions were not calculated to increase their confidence; yet, for the respect they bore to the father"s memory, they were slow in casting off the son.
Mr. Maxwell smoked his cigar, and occasionally uttered an impatient exclamation, as though some scheme he was turning in his mind refused to accommodate itself to his means. He was evidently engaged in the consideration of some complicated affair; and the more he thought, the more impatient he grew. He finished his cigar, and lit another; still the knotty point was not conquered. His haggard countenance at one moment was lighted up, as though success had dawned upon his mental contest; but at the next moment it darkened into disappointment, which he vented in an audible oath.
While thus laboring in his perplexity, the door communicating with the ante-chamber was opened, and the boy in attendance very formally announced "Miss Dumont."
This announcement seemed to dissipate the vexatious clouds which had environed the attorney, and a light and cheerful smile came, as if by magic, upon his care-worn features, as he apologized to the lady for the smoky atmosphere of the room.
"I trust your honored father is well," said he, after disposing of the usual commonplace introductions of conversation.
"I regret to say that his failing health is the occasion of this visit,"
replied the lady, in a cold and even serious tone. "I have called to request your immediate attendance at Bellevue. My father has some business matters upon which he requires your professional advice."
"Col. Dumout, I trust, is not seriously ill," returned Maxwell, with an appearance of sympathy.
"He is confined to his room, but not entirely to his bed. When shall I say you will come?" said the lady.
"I will be there within an hour after your own arrival, if you go direct."
"Very well, sir;" and she turned to depart.
This intention on the part of the lady did not seem to meet the approbation of the attorney.
"Stay a moment, Miss Dumont," said he, in an embarra.s.sed manner; "pray, honor me with a moment"s conversation."
"Nay, sir. I know too well your object in this request, and cannot accede to it," replied the lady, in a firm and dignified manner, while a rich crimson shade suffused her beautiful countenance.
"Be not so unkind,--a moment is all I ask," said Maxwell, with pleading earnestness.
"No, sir; not a moment. Your unopened letter, which I yesterday returned, should be enough to convince you that my mind is not changed,"
replied she, moving to the door.
The lawyer was vexed. The letter alluded to by the lady he had received, and it had troubled him exceedingly. He had a great purpose in view,--a purpose which, accomplished, would enable him to realize the cherished object of his life,--would enable him to revel in the ease and affluence he so much coveted. Something must be done. Here was an opportunity afforded by the providential visit of Miss Dumont which might never occur again, and he resolved to improve it. Determined to detain her, he adopted the first expedient which presented itself.
"Pardon me," said he, "I have not received the letter, and was not aware that you intended to return it."
"Indeed!" replied the lady, with evident astonishment, as she relinquished her hold of the door-handle, and returned to the table by the side of which the attorney stood.
"I regret that I did not, as it would have saved you from further annoyance, and me from a few of the hours of anguish with which I have awaited your reply," returned the lawyer, in accents of humility, which were too well feigned to permit the lady to suspect them. "The bitterness of a blighted hope were better than the agony of suspense."
A smile of pity and contempt rested upon the fair face of the lady, as she turned her glance from him to the papers on the table. There lay Maxwell"s letter, with the envelope in which she had returned it! She only pointed to it, and looked into his face to read the shame and confusion her discovery must create.
Maxwell"s pallid cheek reddened, as he perceived that his deceit was exposed; but he instantly recovered his self-possession, and said,
"Pardon this little subterfuge. I permitted myself to descend to it, that I might gain a moment"s time to plead with you for the heart which is wasting away beneath your coldness. You do not, you cannot, know the misery I have endured in possessing the love upon which you so cruelly frown."
The pa.s.sionate eloquence of Maxwell might have melted a heart less firm than that of Emily Dumont. As it was, the cold expression of contempt left her features, and, if not disposed to listen with favor to his suit, she was softened into pity for his a.s.sumed misery. Under any other circ.u.mstances, the lie he had a moment before uttered would have forever condemned him in her sight. But her charitable disposition compelled her to believe that it was the last resort of a mind on the verge of despair.
"Mr. Maxwell," said she, "I am deeply grieved that you should have suffered any unhappiness on my account."
"I will bless you for even those words," returned Maxwell, hastily, feeling that he had gained the first point.
"But I do not intend to encourage your suit," promptly returned the lady.
"Be not again unkind! Veil not that heavenly sympathy in the coldness of indifference again!"
"I wish not to be harsh, or unkind. You have before given me an index of your sentiments, and I have endeavored, by all courteous means, to discountenance them."