Around the lower story, palisades and curvatures project here and there between the divisions, forming bowers shaded by vines and sweet-scented blossoms. These are diffusing their fragrance through the s.p.a.cious halls and corridors beneath. The stately old pile wears a romantic appearance; but it has grown brown with decay, and stands in dumb testimony of that taste and feeling which prevailed among its British founders. The garden in which it stands, once rich with the choicest flowers of every clime, now presents an area overgrown with rank weeds, decaying hedges, dilapidated walks, and sickly shrubbery. The hand that once nurtured this pretty scene of buds and blossoms with so much care has pa.s.sed away. Dull inertness now hangs its lifeless festoons over the whole, from the vaulted hall to the iron railing enclosing the whole.
The day for consummating the nuptial ceremony has arrived; many years have pa.s.sed since the old mansion witnessed such a scene. The gay, wealthy, and intelligent of the little fashionable world will be here. The spell of loneliness in which the old walls have so long slept will be broken. Sparkling jewels, bland smiles, the rich decorations of former years, are to again enhance the scene.
Exhausted nature is to shake off its monotony, to be enlivened with the happiness of a seemingly happy a.s.semblage. A lovely bride is to be showered with smiles, congratulations, tokens of love. Southern gallantry will doff its cares, put on its smiling face. Whatever may smoulder beneath, pleasure and gaiety will adorn the surface.
Franconia sits in her s.p.a.cious chamber. She is arrayed in flowing nglig; a pensive smile invades her countenance; she supports her head on her left hand, the jewels on her tiny fingers sparkling though her hair. Everything round her bears evidence of comfort and luxury; the gentle breeze, as it sweeps through the window to fan her blushing cheek, is impregnated with sweetest odours. She contemplates the meeting of him who is to be the partner of her life; can she reconcile it? Nay, there is something forcing itself against her will. Her bridesmaids,--young, gay, and accomplished,--gather around her. The fierce conflict raging in her bosom discloses itself; the attempt to cheer her up, under the impression that it arises from want of vigour to buoy up her sensitive system, fails. Again she seems labouring under excitement.
"Franconia!" exclaims one, taking her by the hand, "is not the time approaching?"
"Time always approaches," she speaks: her mind has been wandering, picturing the gloomy spectacle that presents itself in Clotilda"s cell. She moves her right hand slowly across her brow, casts an enquiring glance around the room, then at those beside her, and changes her position in the chair. "The time to have your toilet prepared-the servants await you," is the reply. Franconia gathers strength, sits erect in her chair, seems to have just resolved upon something. A servant hastens into her presence bearing a delicately-enveloped note. She breaks the seal, reads it and re-reads it, holds it carelessly in her hand for a minute, then puts it in her bosom. There is something important in the contents, something she must keep secret. It is from Maxwell. Her friend evinced some surprise, while waiting a reply as she read the letter.
"No! not yet," she says, rising from her chair and sallying across the room. "That which is forced upon me-ah! I cannot love him. To me there is no loving wealth. Money may shelter; but it never moves hearts to love truly. How I have struggled against it!" Again she resumes her chair, weeps. Her tears gush from the parent fountain-woman"s heart. "My n.o.ble uncle in trouble, my dear brother gone; yes! to where, and for what, I dare not think; and yet it has preyed upon me through the struggle of pride against love. My father may soon follow; but I am to be consigned to the arms of one whom it would be folly to say I respect."
Her friend, Miss Alice Latel, reminds her that it were well not to let such melancholy wanderings trouble her. She suggests that the colonel, being rich, will fill the place of father as well as husband; that she will be surrounded by the pleasures which wealth only can bring, and in this world what more can be desired?
"Such fathers seldom make affectionate husbands; nor do I want the father without the husband; his wealth would not make me respect him." Franconia becomes excited, giving rapid utterance to her language. "Can I suppress my melancholy-can I enjoy such pleasure, and my dear Clotilda in a prison, looking through those galling gratings? Can I be happy when the anguish of despair pierces deep into her heart? No! oh, no! Never, while I think of her, can I summon resolution to put on a bridal robe. Nay! I will not put them on without her. I will not dissemble joy while she sinks in her prison solitude!"
"Can you mean that-at this hour?" enquires Miss Alice, looking upon her with anxiety pictured in her face. One gives the other a look of surprise. Miss Alice must needs call older counsel.
"Yes!" replies Franconia, more calm; "even at this hour! It is never too late to serve our sisters. Could I smile-could I seem happy, and so many things to contemplate? We cannot disguise them now; we cannot smother scandal with a silken mantle. Clotilda must be with me. Negro as she is by law, she is no less dear to me. Nor can I yield to those feelings so prominent in southern b.r.e.a.s.t.s,--I cannot disclaim her rights, leave her the mere chattel subject of brute force, and then ask forgiveness of heaven!" This declaration, made in a positive tone, at once disclosed her resolution. We need not tell the reader with what surprise it took the household; nor, when she as suddenly went into a violent paroxysm of hysterics, the alarm it spread.
The quiet of the mansion has changed for uproar and confusion.
Servants are running here and there, getting in each other"s way, blocking the pa.s.sages, and making the confusion more intense.
Colonel M"Carstrow is sent for, reaches the mansion in great consternation, expects to find Franconia a corpse, for the negro messenger told him such a crooked story, and seemed so frightened, that he can"t make anything straight of it-except that there is something very alarming.
She has been carried to one of the ante-chambers, reclines on a couch of softest tapestry, a physician at one side, and Alice, bathing her temples with aromatic liquid, on the other. She presents a ravishing picture of delicacy, modesty, and simplicity,--of all that is calmly beautiful in woman. "I can scarcely account for it; but, she"s coming to," says the man of medicine, looking on mechanically. Her white bosom swells gently, like a newly-waked zephyr playing among virgin leaves; while her eyes, like melancholy stars, glimmer with the l.u.s.tre of her soul. "Ah me!" she sighs, raising her hand over her head and resting it upon the cushion, as her auburn hair floats, calm and beautiful, down her pearly shoulder.
The colonel touches her hand; and, as if it had been too rudely, she draws it to her side, then places it upon her bosom. Again raising her eyes till they meet his, she blushes. It is the blush of innocence, that brightens beneath the spirit of calm resolution. She extends her hand again, slowly, and accepts his. "You will gratify me-will you not?" she mutters, attempting to gain a rec.u.mbent position. They raise her as she intimates a desire; she seems herself again.
"Whatever your wish may be, you have but to intimate it," replies the colonel, kissing her hand.
"Then, I want Clotilda. Go, bring her to me; she only can wait on me; and I am fond of her. With her I shall be well soon; she will dress me. Uncle will be happy, and we shall all be happy."
"But," the colonel interrupts, suddenly, "where is she to be found?"
"In the prison. You"ll find her there!" There is little time to lose,--a carriage is ordered, the colonel drives to the prison, and there finds the object of Franconia"s trouble. She, the two children at her side, sits in a cell seven by five feet; the strong grasp of slave power fears itself, its tyranny glares forth in the emaciated appearance of its female victim. The cell is lighted through a small aperture in the door, which hangs with heavy bolts and bars, as if torturing the innocent served the power of injustice. The prison-keeper led the way through a narrow pa.s.sage between stone walls. His tap on the door startles her; she moves from her position, where she had been seated on a coa.r.s.e blanket. It is all they (the hospitable southern world, with its generous laws) can afford her; she makes it a bed for three. A people less boastful of hospitality may give her more. She holds a prayer-book in her hand, and motions to the children as they crouch at her feet.
"Come, girl! somebody"s here to see you," says the keeper, looking in at the aperture, as the sickly stench escapes from the dark cavern-like place.
Nervously, the poor victim approaches, lays her trembling hand on the grating, gives a doubting glance at the stranger, seems surprised, anxious to know the purport of his mission.
"Am I wanted?" she enquires eagerly, as if fearing some rude dealer has come-perhaps to examine her person, that he may be the better able to judge of her market value.
Notwithstanding the coldness of M"Carstrow"s nature, his feelings are moved by the womanly appearance of the wench, as he calls her, when addressing the warden. There is something in the means by which so fair a creature is reduced to merchandise he cannot altogether reconcile. Were it not for what habit and education can do, it would be repulsive to nature in its crudest state. But it is according to law, that inhuman law which is tolerated in a free country.
"I want you to go with me, and you will see your young missis," says M"Carstrow, shrugging his shoulders. He is half inclined to let his better feelings give way to sympathy. But custom and commerce forbid it; they carry off the spoil, just as the sagacious pumpkin philosopher of England admits slavery a great evil, while delivering an essay for the purpose of ridiculing emanc.i.p.ation.
M"Carstrow soon changes his feelings,--addresses himself to business.
"Are you in here for sale?" he enquires, attempting to whistle an air, and preserve an unaffected appearance.
The question touches a tender chord of her feelings; her bosom swells with emotions of grief; he has wounded that sensitive chord upon which the knowledge of her degradation hangs. She draws a handkerchief from her pocket, wipes the tear that glistens in her eye, clasps Annette in her arms-while Nicholas, frightened, hangs by the skirts of her dress,--buries her face in her bosom, retires a few steps, and again seats herself on the blanket.
"The question is pending. If I"m right about it-and I believe I"m generally so on such cases-it comes on before the next session, fall term," says the gaoler, turning to M"Carstrow with a look of wonderful importance. The gaoler, who, with his keys, lets loose the anxieties of men, continues his learned remarks. "Notice has been served how she"s free. But that kind o" twisting things to make slave property free never amounts to much, especially when a man gets where they say Marston is! Anthony Romescos has been quizzing about, and it don"t take much to make such things property when he"s round." The man of keys again looks very wise, runs his hand deep into the pocket of his coat, and says something about this being a great country.
"How much do you reckon her worth, my friend?" enquires M"Carstrow, exchanging a significant glance.
"Well, now you"ve got me. It"s a point of judgment, you see. The article"s rather questionable-been spoiled. There"s a doubt about such property when you put it up, except a gentleman wants it; and then, I reckon, it"ll bring a smart price. There"s this to be considered, I reckon, though they haven"t set a price on her yet, she"s excellent good looking; and the young un"s a perfect cherry.
It"ll bring a big heap one of these days."
"We won"t mind that, just now, gaoler," M"Carstrow says, very complacently; "you"ll let me have her tonight, and I"ll return her safe in the morning."
"No, no," interposes Clotilda, mistaking M"Carstrow"s object. She crouches down on the blanket, as if shrinking from a deadly a.s.sault: "let me remain, even in my cell." She draws the children to her side.
"Don"t mistake me, my girl: I am a friend. I want you for Franconia Rovero. She is fond of you, you know."
"Franconia!" she exclaims with joy, starting to her feet at the sound of the name. "I do know her, dear Franconia! I know her, I love her, she loves me-I wish she was my mother. But she is to be the angel of my freedom-" Here she suddenly stopped, as if she had betrayed something.
"We must lose no time," M"Carstrow says, informing her that Franconia is that night to be his bride, and cannot be happy without seeing her.
"Bride! and cannot prepare without me," mutters the woman, seeming to doubt the reality of his statement. A thought flashes in her mind: "Franconia has not forgotten me; I will go and be Franconia"s friend." And with a child-like simplicity she takes Annette by the hand, as if they were inseparable. "Can"t Nicholas go, too?" she inquires.
"You must leave the child," is the cool reply. M"Carstrow attempts to draw the heavy bolt that fastens the door.
"Not so fast, if you please," the warden speaks. "I cannot permit her to leave without an order from the sheriff." He puts his hand against the door.
"She will surely be returned in the morning; I"m good for a hundred such pieces of property."
"Can"t help that," interrupts the gaoler, coolly.
"But, there"s my honour!"
"An article gaolers better not deal in. It may be very good commodity in some kinds of business-don"t pay in ours; and then, when this kind of property is in question, it won"t do to show a favour beyond the rule."
M"Carstrow is in a sad dilemma. He must relieve himself through a problem of law, which, at this late hour, brings matters to a singular point. He believes Franconia suffers from a nervous affection, as the doctors call it, and has fixed her mind upon the only object of relief. He had made no preparation for such a critical event; but there is no postponing the ceremony,--no depriving her of the indulgence. Not a moment is to be lost: he sets off, post-haste, for the sheriff"s office. That functionary is well known for his crude method of executing business; to ask a favour of him would be like asking the sea to give up its dead. He is cold, methodical, unmoveable; very much opposed to anything having the appearance of an innovation upon his square rules of business.
M"Carstrow finds him in just the mood to interpose all the frigid peculiarities of his incomprehensible nature. The colonel has known him by reputation; he knows him now through a different medium.
After listening to M"Carstrow"s request, and comporting himself with all imaginable dignity, he runs his fingers through his hair, looks at M"Carstrow vacantly, and well nigh rouses his temper. M"Carstrow feels, as southern gentlemen are wont to feel, that his position and t.i.tle are enough to ensure courtesy and a quick response. The man of writs and summonses feels quite sure that the pomp of his office is sufficient to offset all other distinctions.
"Whar" d"ye say the gal was,--in my gaol?" the sheriff inquires, with solemn earnestness, and drawling his words measuredly, as if the whole affair was quite within his line of business. The sheriff has the opportunity of making a nice little thing of it; the object to be released will serve the profits of the profession. "Gittin" that gal out yander ain"t an easy thing now, "taint! It"ll cost ye "bout twenty dollars, sartin," he adds, turning over the leaves of his big book, and running his finger down a scale of names.
"I don"t care if it costs a hundred! Give me an order for her release!" M"Carstrow begins to understand Mr. Sheriff"s composition, and putting his hand into his pocket, draws forth a dwenty-dollar gold piece, throws it upon the table. The effect is electric: it smooths down the surface of Mr. Sheriff"s nature,--brings out the disposition to accommodate. The Sheriff"s politeness now taxes M"Carstrow"s power to reciprocate.
"Now, ye see, my friend," says Mr. Sheriff, in a quaint tone, "there"s three fi fas on that critter. Hold a minute!" He must needs take a better glance; he runs his fingers over the page again, mutters to himself, and then breaks out into a half-musical, half-undefinable humming. "It"s a snarled-up affair, the whole on"t.
T"ll take a plaguy cunnin" lawyer to take the shine out." The sheriff pushes the piece of coin nearer the inkstand, into the centre of the table. "I feel all over like accommodatin" ye," he deigns to say; "but then t"ll be so pestky crooked gettin" the thing straight." He hesitates before the wonderful difficulty,--he can"t see his way straight through it. "Three fi fas! I believe I"m correct; there"s one princ.i.p.al one, however."
"I pledge my honour for her return in the morning; and she shall be all shined up with a new dress. Her presence is imperatively necessary to-night," M"Carstrow remarks, becoming impatient.
"Two fi fas!-well, the first look looked like three. But, the princ.i.p.al one out of the way,--no matter." Mr. Sheriff becomes more and more enlightened on the unenlightened difficulties of the law.
He remarks, touching M"Carstrow on the arm, with great seriousness of countenance, "I sees how the knot"s tied. Ye know, my functions are turned t" most everything; and it makes a body see through a thing just as straight as--. Pest on"t! Ye see, it"s mighty likely property,--don"t strike such every day. That gal "ll bring a big tick in the market-"