"Thank you, John," she looked forgivingly across at him. "If Jane would like, we may go now. The cherries are at their primest state. I shall stop a moment," she turned and took Jane"s arm, "to see how our preserving goes, my dear. Can we be home for luncheon? And will you remain to have it with us?"
Even before they had quite disappeared, Brent rescued the still palatable juleps, and he and the Colonel were testing them.
"She"s a good soul," the old gentleman murmured. "I"m glad for her sake that Zack remained discreet the other day."
"I"m glad for all our sakes," Brent gravely nodded. "Though I suppose he wouldn"t have done it under any circ.u.mstances."
"He"s a perspicacious n.i.g.g.e.r," the Colonel chuckled. In a moment he spoke more soberly: "I"ve been in town every day, and have heard no single word about Potter. Do you suppose he"s dead somewhere in the hills?"
"Oh, no," Brent evasively answered. "He"s all right. A shot at him would scare him away for a month. He has too much on his conscience."
"Well, I shall persist," the old gentleman sighed.
They were leaning back--just as two contented idlers in the shade; but each with a weight upon his heart to rob it of that needed peace which makes for perfect days. Yet, Brent could hardly now be called an idler.
He had worked late the night before plotting his field notes, and the afternoon would be devoted to this same pursuit. Finally he said:
"Suppose I had killed Tusk! Would you stand by me?"
"Yes, sir," the old gentleman opened his eyes, "I would stand by you with a shot gun until I had the satisfaction of seeing you safely locked up in jail."
A longer pause.
"a.s.suming that I"d acted in self defense, would there be much of a stir about it?"
"Hm," came the noncommital response, but this time with closed eyes, for the Master of Arden had pa.s.sed the point of active interest.
It was a morning to invite sleep. No leaf stirred, but the shaded air was fresh and comforting. Great c.u.mulus clouds lazily, ponderously, glided across the sky, prototypes of nomadic wandering. Somewhere back by the stables a mellow farm bell proclaimed across the smiling fields the hour of noon; then negroes straightened up from the rows of young tobacco, stretched their tired backs, and in groups wandered toward a cool spring where their dinner buckets had been left. Yet it was some little while before the Colonel"s midday meal.
Again Brent asked (or perhaps he only thought, for thoughts have a knack of seeming loud to those at the threshold of Nod):
"I wonder how it would feel to stop drinking and buckle all the way down?"
No answer.
"If she could only care for me--after I"ve wiped the bad spots out!"
No answer.
"But I"m such a pup--and what a devilishly sweet miracle she is!"
Still no answer, so he may have been only thinking, after all. At any rate, the Colonel remained steeped in tranquil apathy.
The messengers to the convent, returning somewhat late, caught sight of the men beneath the trees and went that way in order to bring them in for luncheon. But as they approached, Jane stopped. She saw the immaculately white pleated bosom of the Colonel"s shirt bulging out to support his chin, which rested firmly and comfortably in it. Then her eyes went to Brent, occupying three chairs for himself and his legs, while one arm hung inertly to the ground and his head lolled back in childish abandon. She smiled. But this was not what had stopped her. By the hand of each of these sleeping men, in glaring, accusing sight, stood a julep goblet.
Miss Liz, now wondering at her hesitation, was making ready to raise the terrifying lorgnette, and this would have spelled disaster. Those penetrating lenses would never have missed the dazzling light reflected from that traitorous silver. Smiling again, though with a dull heart ache as her gaze still lingered on the sprawling Brent, she took Miss Liz"s wrist in the nick of time, saying:
"They"re asleep. Let"s go in first and brush off." She knew the invariable appeal which "brushing off" had for prim Miss Liz.
Soon the dainty chimes, manipulated in the front hall to the enduring joy of Uncle Zack, fell upon the sleeping ears in vain, and the old servant came across the lawn to call them. He also stopped, in dumb amazement, then hastened forward to gather the telltale evidence beneath his jacket. This aroused the Colonel and, after him, Brent, who looked up blinking.
"For de Lawd sake," the old darky frowned on them with all the severity of his five-feet-one, "don" you-all know Miss Liz is done got back!--an"
heah you is sleepin" wid dese globuts a-settin" out in plain sight! I never seed sich reckerless doin"s since I"se bawned--an" Ma.r.s.e Brent ain"t no moh"n smelt his"n, at dat! Luncheon is sarved, Ma.r.s.e John," he added, with his usual formality.
"By Jove, Colonel," Brent laughed, "they might have caught us nicely!"
"It"s G.o.d"s truth, sir," the old gentleman chuckled, taking his arm and starting toward the house.
CHAPTER XXVI
"WHAT EYES HAVE YOU?"
The late azure twilights and early salmon dawns of June merged into July with no more ado than a changed date line on the Colonel"s morning paper. Days were of little concern at Arden, other than being days--as the library calendar now gave accusing evidence by pointing at the previous May. Miss Liz, to be sure, was invariably aware when Sundays came; being told by that unnamable pressure of peace which to most women would proclaim the Sabbath even in places of utter solitude. Otherwise, the weeks might be composed of Mondays or Fridays, since school had been out.
Jane, this particular morning playing with Bip and Mac somewhat apart from the Colonel and Brent who were engrossed in a game of chess, had been critically alive to the Sunday habits of these two families which had come to mean so much to her; especially in relation to the little boy. Miss Liz not only supported her, but freely expressed her indignation at the child"s parental indifference, and that good lady"s tone was one of deepest injury whenever the subject was mentioned. For she had indeed tried to awaken Bip"s spiritual mind two days after he was born, by sending him an embroidered bib with a baby blue motto: "I thank the Lord for what I eat--Soup and mush and bread and meat!" If he grew into an ungrateful man, she, at least, had done her duty! Bob paid small attention to matters of church, and Ann had easily acquired the negative enthusiasm of her father who frankly admitted he could not keep from going to sleep, even during the best of sermons. Yet, although he lived by this benighted declaration, he was known as a Christian gentleman--of the kind whose hands were never so tightly clasped in prayer that they could not reach his pocket.
Jane now looked up as, with a delighted laugh, the Colonel leaned back; while Brent, in pretended irritation, mussed the chess men in disorder over the board.
"Fifteen moves, sir!" the old gentleman cried. "That"s a beat you"ll not forget!"
"It"s the worst I ever had," Brent admitted. "You can"t do it again!"
"I"ll bet you I can, sir," the old gentleman declared, then whispering, "after a julep!"
"Whew!" Brent gave a long, clear, incredulous whistle, and called over to Jane: "Did you hear this boaster?"
But the whistle had a more subtle intention than emphasis, and within doors Uncle Zack, dozing in a kitchen chair, became at once active. This newly inaugurated signal immeasurably pleased the Colonel, who could not himself whistle.
"Do either of you know it"s Sunday?" she asked.
"By Jove, now, it isn"t, is it?" Brent looked at her in concern.
"And I"m going to church," she continued. "Would you like to go, Colonel?"
The old gentleman cleared his throat and began searching closely over the table for his gla.s.ses, which weren"t there.
"I should say he"s just about crazy to go," Brent watched him. "Don"t speak for a minute, or he"ll die of joy. How ingenious you are in planning his amus.e.m.e.nts!"
"More amus.e.m.e.nt is coming, I should judge, from the dulcetness of your whistle," she drily observed.
The men exchanged sheepish glances. Brent laughed.
"Admitted," he said. "But it was not you we were trying to deceive. If you tell us how you knew, I"ll tie the Colonel on a horse and let you lead him to the altar. She must be a witch, sir!"
"She is, indeed. A charming one, who bewitched me the very first moment I laid eyes on her--and there"s been no change in my condition since, madam," the old gentleman bowed to her with courtly grace.