"No, I"ve the funniest yellow dog that comes here at night to pick up the sc.r.a.ps and things. He isn"t my dog--just a little personal friend of mine--but I like him very much, and always give him something. He"s very cute. I think he"s a n.i.g.g.e.r dog."
"A n.i.g.g.e.r dog? What"s that?"
"He belongs to some coloured people, who don"t give turn enough to eat. I love him because he"s so faithful to his own folks. He comes to see me at night and pretends to love me, but as soon as I feed him he trots back home. When he first came, I laughed till I cried at his antics over a carpet--we had a carpet then. He never saw one before, and barked at the colours and the figures in the pattern. Then he"d lie down and rub his back on it and growl. You won"t let anybody hurt him?"
"No. Are there any others?"
"Yes, I "most forgot. If Sam Ross comes--Sam"s an idiot who lives at the poorhouse--if he comes, he"ll expect a dinner--my, my, I"m afraid he"ll cry when he finds we"re not here! But you can send him to the hotel to me.
Don"t let Aunt Cindy speak rough to him. Aunt Cindy"s awfully good to me, but she can"t bear Sam. She thinks he brings bad luck."
"How on earth did you meet him?"
"His father was rich. He was a good friend of my Papa"s. We came near losing our farm once, because a bank failed. Mr. Ross sent Papa a signed check on his own bank, and told him to write the amount he needed on it, and pay him when he was able. Papa cried over it, and wouldn"t use it, and wrote a poem on the back of the check--one of the sweetest of all, I think. In the war Mr. Ross lost his two younger sons, both killed at Gettysburg. His wife died heartbroken, and he only lived a year afterward.
He sold his farm for Confederate money and everything was lost. Sam was sent to the poorhouse. He found out somehow that we loved him and comes to see us. He"s as harmless as a kitten, and works in the garden beautifully."
"I"ll remember," Elsie promised.
"And one thing more," she said hesitatingly. "Mamma asked me to speak to you of this--that"s why she slipped away. There one little room we have locked. It was Papa"s study just as he left it, with his papers scattered on the desk, the books and pictures that he loved--you won"t mind?"
Elsie slipped her arm about Marion, looked into the blue eyes, dim with tears, drew her close and said:
"It shall be sacred, my child. You must come every day if possible, and help me."
"I will. I"ve so many beautiful places to show you in the woods--places he loved, and taught us to see and love. They won"t let me go in the woods any more alone. But you have a big brother. That must be very sweet."
Mrs. Lenoir hurried to Elsie.
"Come, Marion, we must be going now."
"I am very sorry to see you leave the home you love so dearly, Mrs.
Lenoir," said the Northern girl, taking her extended hand. "I hope you can soon find a way to have it back."
"Thank you," replied the mother cheerily. "The longer you stay, the better for us. You don"t know how happy I am over your coming. It has lifted a load from our hearts. In the liberal rent you pay us you are our benefactors. We are very grateful and happy."
Elsie watched them walk across the lawn to the street, the daughter leaning on the mother"s arm. She followed slowly and stopped behind one of the arbor-vitae bushes beside the gate. The full moon had risen as the twilight fell and flooded the scene with soft white light. A whippoorwill struck his first plaintive note, his weird song seeming to come from all directions and yet to be under her feet. She heard the rustle of dresses returning along the walk, and Marion and her mother stood at the gate.
They looked long and tenderly at the house. Mrs. Lenoir uttered a broken sob, Marion slipped an arm around her, brushed the short curling hair back from her forehead, and softly said:
"Mamma, dear, you know it"s best. I don"t mind. Everybody in town loves us. Every boy and girl in Piedmont worships you. We will be just as happy at the hotel."
In the pauses between the strange bird"s cry, Elsie caught the sound of another sob, and then a soothing murmur as of a mother bending over a cradle, and they were gone.
CHAPTER II
THE EYES OF THE JUNGLE
Elsie stood dreaming for a moment in the shadow of the arbor-vitae, breathing the sensuous perfumed air and listening to the distant music of the falls, her heart quivering in pity for the anguish of which she had been a witness. Again the spectral cry of the whippoorwill rang near-by, and she noted for the first time the curious cluck with which the bird punctuated each call. A sense of dim foreboding oppressed her.
She wondered if the chatter of Marion about the girl in Nashville were only a child"s guess or more. She laughed softly at the absurdity of the idea. Never since she had first looked into Ben Cameron"s face did she feel surer of the honesty and earnestness of his love than to-day in this quiet home of his native village. It must be the queer call of the bird which appealed to superst.i.tions she did not know were hidden within her being.
Still dreaming under its spell, she was startled at the tread of two men approaching the gate.
The taller, more powerful-looking man put his hand on the latch and paused.
"Allow no white man to order you around. Remember you are a freeman and as good as any pale-face who walks this earth."
She recognized the voice of Silas Lynch.
"Ben Cameron dare me to come about de house," said the other voice.
"What did he say?"
"He say, wid his eyes batten" des like lightnen", "Ef I ketch you hangin"
"roun" dis place agin", Gus, I"ll jump on you en stomp de life outen ye.""
"Well, you tell him that your name is Augustus, not "Gus," and that the United States troops quartered in this town will be with him soon after the stomping begins. You wear its uniform. Give the white trash in this town to understand that they are not even citizens of the nation. As a sovereign voter, you, once their slave, are not only their equal--you are their master."
"Dat I will!" was the firm answer.
The negro to whom Lynch spoke disappeared in the direction taken by Marion and her mother, and the figure of the handsome mulatto pa.s.sed rapidly up the walk, ascended the steps and knocked at the door.
Elsie followed him.
"My father is too much fatigued with his journey to be seen now; you must call to-morrow," she said.
The negro lifted his hat and bowed:
"Ah, we are delighted to welcome you, Miss Stoneman, to our land! Your father asked me to call immediately on his arrival. I have but obeyed his orders."
Elsie shrank from the familiarity of his manner and the tones of authority and patronage with which he spoke.
"He cannot be seen at this hour," she answered shortly.
"Perhaps you will present my card, then--say that I am at his service, and let him appoint the time at which I shall return?"
She did not invite him in, but with easy a.s.surance he took his seat on the joggle-board beside the door and awaited her return.
Against her urgent protest, Stoneman ordered Lynch to be shown at once to his bedroom.
When the door was closed, the old Commoner, without turning to greet his visitor or moving his position in bed, asked:
"Are you following my instructions?"
"To the letter, sir."