Coming to endow her with a treasure selfishly coveted above rubies and diamonds, above princ.i.p.alities and thrones; coming to plight his troth at G.o.d"s altar, that in sickness and in health they would cling to one another till death doth part them.
How would Alice appear in her funereal robes before him, before the altar? Perhaps Clarissa can rea.s.sure her in this dilemma.
"Miss Alice," she exclaimed as she clapped her hands approvingly, "If yer is as butiful when the jedge c.u.ms as yer is now, dat er po man is ergwine stracted wid hissef. I clare fore my blessed Marster up yander if I had er node how butiful yer is agwine ter look in dat black mourning, I wuld er swaded yer to dun und dun it fore ole marsa died."
And what is going to become of Clarissa and Ned? The mildew of age is upon them both. For years past their old heads have been whitening with the h.o.a.r frost. "Now ole marsa is dun und gon, de fambly is ergwine to break up und de grate house is agwine to be the home of de owls, und de swallers und de bull-bats." So thought Clarissa as in the quiet gloaming she stood in the verandah, and listened to the melancholy winds and the more melancholy bleating of the cattle. Ned had been doing little ch.o.r.es about the house all the day, and after he had eaten his supper, he and Clarissa had by permission a.s.sembled in the dining-room where they found their young mistress engaged in some light needle work. She of course welcomed the negroes heartily. They were her friends and had been through many sore trials.
Clarissa was the first to break the silence, as she enquired of her young mistress the day of the month.
"It is the 27th day of September replied Alice."
"Ugh! Ugh! I tole yer so Ned. Aint nex mont October?" she asked again.
"Yes, why do you ask?" replied Alice.
"Kase Ned sed the jedge warnt agwine to c.u.m no mo twell juvember. Ned is fl.u.s.trated monstrus, Miss Alice. So skeered de jedge is ergwine to tak yer away frum me und him."
"And if he does, I am sure you will both be very glad," Alice replied.
"Dat mout be so, yung mistress ef me und Clarsy wus peerter und cud fend fur deyselves. But bofe uv us is mity cranksided now er days, und de Lord in Heaben only nose whar we"se agwine to git ary moufful ob wittles when yu is dun und gon to de tother eend ov de yearth. Me und Clarsy slaved fur ole marsa fore de bellyun fell, und we aint got no ole marsa to look bak to now, und we puts our pendence in yu yung mistress."
"If I go away, Uncle Ned," replied Alice, "you and Clarissa shall never suffer as long as I live."
"Ugh! Ugh! now yer got de wurd," exclaimed Clarissa in tears.
"I haint er mistrusting yu Miss Alice," Ned answered, quite dejectedly, as he raised his old coat sleeve to his face, "but when yer is dun und gon clean away how is yer eber agwine to git to us, ef me er Clarissy mout need ye? Dar is de pint right dar, misses. Ef I hes er bad miserry in my head, und calls fur Miss Alice she c.u.ms lak er b.u.t.terfly und lays her soft hands on my po head und de missery stops rite short; und ef I hankers arter er chiken it is de same fing. Ef yer duz go erway, misses, old Ned will follow yer with his shaky jints twill yer gits clean, clar outen site, und pray ebery day de Lord sens, dat yer mout be ez happy as de angels."
It was Alice"s turn as a matter of conceit to ask the old negro what he thought of Judge Livingstone?
"Dat is a pinted questun," Ned answered hesitatingly.
"You mout ax me ef he was er suple man und dat wudn"t be a pinted questun, but yung missis I"m bleeged to mistrust dese furreners dat c.u.ms down here und spreads deyselves all ober de lan, und fetches freedum und de horg colery, und plays ruination wid our white fokses, und den runs clean clar away wid our white gals, upsotting de whole creashun wid dey flamborgasted fixments. You mout be happy way off yander to de tuther eend ob de yearth, den agin you mouten. Yer can"t tell misses how fur de bull-frog is ergwine ter jump by lookin at his mouf."
To the foregoing argument Clarissa was a.s.senting by repeated nods of the head, e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.n.g. occasionally "Ugh! Ugh! dats de gospel trufe."
"But Uncle Ned," enquired Alice, "would you have me as your friend, a poor lonely girl to remain at Ingleside without protection? Why don"t you know I would be miserable?"
"Yer mout be miserabler dan yer is, misses. Heep er times our white gals finks dey is er upsotting de yearth by gittin jined to de furreners when dey is er flinging de fat in de fire. Look at dat white gal ober de medder. She run away wid wun ob dese carpet-sackers, und she wus dat proud dat she wud hold her nose ef de po white trash breshed up agin her cote skeerts. Und where is she now?"
"Ugh! Ugh!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Clarissa. "Wid de furrener in de penitenshur, und she ergwine to de ole kommissary fur her rashuns. Don"t yer see?"
exclaimed Clarissa.
"Now misses I aint er sensing yer wid nun ob dis bad luck, und I aint er putting de jedge on er ekality wid de furrener in de penitenshur, but yer don"t know misses what is ergwine to happen when de rope is er roun yer neck, und de furrener has got hold ob de tuther eend."
"Dat yer don"t," exclaimed Clarissa, rocking to and fro.
"Und yer don"t know missis whar me und Clarissa is ergwine when dat ar jedge gits to be de boss ob dis heer plantashun."
"Oh my Lord," shouted Clarissa as she burst into tears. "Dats maks me ses wat I dos, yung missis, dat yu axes me a pinted questun. Dats de truf. It sho is."
Old Ned groaned as the gravity of the argument seemed to affect him and brushed a tear from his eye with the sleeve of his coat. The matter was of momentous consequence to these old landmarks of a decayed civilization, and they felt it acutely. Old Master as long as he lived had held out the lighted candle to light up the dreary, tortuous paths into which reconstruction was driving the old negroes; but the flame had died down into cold ashes, and the hand that held it aloft was nerveless and dead. There came as it were to their old hearts a sad, sad refrain--"Breaking up! breaking up!" It came from the winds that moaned in and out of broken window shutters. It came from the feathered songsters, Prima Donnas of the air, who were sending forth their advance agents to secure homes in Southern climes. "Breaking up! breaking up!"
Between such as these and their former masters were there not higher and holier feelings and relations than those of master and servant? Without them the South would have been the mere appurtenance of the commercial North, dragging after it the weary chain of colonial dependence. What a wilderness of wealth they brought to our firesides, what a teeming aggregation of populous and powerful states! Let us at least give these old slaves one look of kindness in the desolate twilight of their lingering days.
The old negroes bade their young mistress a hearty good night. "May de angels shelter yer dis nite und all tuther nites wid dere whings, missis," exclaimed Ned as he followed Clarissa out of the door. It was the saddest of all antic.i.p.ations. They loved Alice as if she were the apple of the eye--the heart"s core. Their sufferings and privations, their joys and happiness in common, had touched as it were the two extremes of the varied horizon of life. And now they were advancing toward the parting of the ways. Ned and Clarissa, with unsteady, faltering footsteps toward the sunset, the gloaming, the end of life; the young mistress toward the sunrise, never so resplendent as now.
Judge Livingstone, with his clerical friend from the North, arrived at the appointed time at Ingleside; he a bachelor of thirty-five, to wed this beautiful heiress, the exquisite flower that had budded and bloomed like a rose for twenty-six seasons. Arrived to lacerate the old slavish hearts, that clung so helplessly to the young mistress, like morning glories around the fair flower. Arrived to s.n.a.t.c.h from Ingleside so rudely its life, its hope, its promise--the all in all to poor Clarissa and old Ned. "Eben ole Jube knows dat sumfing solemkolly is ergwine to happin," observed Clarissa to her young mistress, as she a.s.sisted the bride in her adornments for the nuptial hour. "Jess look at dat ole fafeful dorg a lyin dare jess a strugglin wid his moshuns, lak he was a humans sho nuff."
The minister stood at the little altar in the parlor. The ring that Alice had given to "Arthur" was slipped upon her finger, and in the presence of the angels, Judge Livingstone and Alice were made man and wife. As Ned and Clarissa pa.s.sed out of the little verandah, Ned observed with streaming eyes, "Now Clarsy, dere is no mo music fur us but de crickets upon de hath. Miss Alice has dun und sung her las hime und we kaint foller Miss Alice whar she is ergwine no mo. Ef we uns is tuk sick we kaint holler fur Miss Alice no mo. I feels lak I haint got no frend now. Miss Alice dun jined hersef to dat furriner."
"Dat is Gords truf Ned," exclaimed Clarissa as she drew her old checked ap.r.o.n across her eyes, "Hit pears lak dere is nuffin in dis wurrel epseps tribulashun of sperits. But bress her dear heart," the old negro continued, "I hope she may be jes es happy es de larks down in de medder, und dat when she arrivs way ober yander whar she is er gwine she will send her membrunces to me und yu fortwid."
It was necessary that Ingleside should be placed in first cla.s.s order.
Above all things else it was necessary that ample provision should be made for Clarissa and Ned. These arrangements in minutest detail were satisfactorily made, as the Judge observed to his bride one morning after the wedding, "Do you not grieve to part from your old friends, my dear?"
Tears came into the sweet girl"s eyes as she replied so tenderly, "Yes, yes, they cling so helplessly to me, but dear Arthur, you will not forget them, will you?"
[THE END.]