"Governor Bill picked the cherry from the catalogue for us day before yesterday, but I think the amethyst has got it beat," answered my Buzz as he started towards his own car. "Jump into your choice and lead me on down to hear you refuse it to old Forty-Two Centimeter."
Then without further remark, I followed him down the steps and got into that car which was the color of the heart of the cherry and I raced that Mr. b.u.mble Bee through the city of Hayesville in a manner which put to flight a large population thereof. I had not had my hands on the wheel of a racing car for the many months since my father in his had left the small Pierre and Nannette and me weeping on the terrace of the Chateau de Grez when he went to the battlefield of the Marne, and I drove with all of that acc.u.mulated fury within me. And I could see that my Buzz enjoyed it as much as did I, though in his face was a great fear as several very large policemen waved their hands at us and then savagely transcribed the numbers of his car in books from their pockets when we whirled on with refusal to stop and listen to their remarks.
And this is what my Uncle, the General Robert, answered to me as I told him of my unworthiness of his gift of the most beautiful cherry car:
"That is a just return for your consideration for me in being born a boy, and I hope you"ll break the necks of about two dozen young females in this town before the week"s out. Begin on that baggage, Susan, right away." And as he spoke, my Uncle, the General Robert, came down the steps of the great Club of Old Hickory with the Gouverneur Faulkner and stood beside my Cherry with me.
"He"s no better man than I, General, and I"ve been trying it all year," answered my Buzz with one of those delectable grinnings upon his face.
"Indeed, my much loved Uncle Robert, it is impossible that I accept your gift in grat.i.tude that I am not a woman, because for the good reason--" and my honor was about to rise up in arms and betray the daredevil and her schemes within me when that good and most beloved Gouverneur Faulkner interrupted me by stepping into the Cherry beside me with a laugh.
"Thank you, General; this is just what I need in all of my business with Robert. We"ll be back in time to dine with you at seven here at the Club. Go out to the West End, Robert." And with his hand on the spark he started the Cherry, and I was forced to sweep away from my Buzz and my Uncle, the General Robert, into the traffic and away from the Club of Old Hickory, which is named for a very great general of America and is a club of much fashion and some bad behavior, my Buzz has said to me.
"I really didn"t mean to kidnap you and the car, youngster, but I"ve had a pain under my left pocket all day, and I have got to operate on it. A sudden impulse told me that it would be easier if I took you with me to--to sort of stand by," said my beautiful Gouverneur Faulkner in a grave tone of voice as I whirled him out the broad avenue that led to the west end of the city.
"Oh, my Gouverneur Faulkner, is it that you are ill, perhaps to die by a knife?" I exclaimed and for a second I let that wild Cherry run in a very dangerous manner almost upon another large car in the act of turning into the street.
"No, not that, Robert," he answered me quickly and he laid his hand on my arm beside him for an instant as if to give a steadiness to me. "I want you to take me out to the State Prison. I want to talk face to face with a man who killed his own brother, in cold blood, it is said.
A pretty powerful influence is at me day and night for a reprieve and I--I don"t know what to do about it. It is a difficult case. If I went in my official capacity to see the man it might give his friends undue hopes; and suddenly I felt that I could run away from the whole bunch at this hour of the day and see the man himself without anybody"s knowing it save the superintendent of the prison and myself. You don"t count, because in this case you are myself."
"Always I would be yourself to you, my reverenced Gouverneur Faulkner," I made reply to him as I raised my eyes to his deep ones that smiled down into them.
"I wonder if that is as good as it sounds, boy," asked my Gouverneur Faulkner gently, as he looked down at me with both a laugh and a sadness influencing the smile of his mouth. "Sometimes I badly need two of myself. They are at me from waking to sleeping and I often feel cut into little bits and I can"t even say so. In fact, youngster, I"m squealing to you more than I"ve let myself do since I became the chief executive of this State of Harpeth. Now, turn off into this road and go straight ahead. The prison is about a mile back there at the foot of that hill."
"I--like those squeals," I answered to his smile as I put my Cherry against the spring wind and raced down that long road at a great speed that prevented any more conversation at that moment. My pride bade me show to that Gouverneur of Harpeth what good driving in a fine car I was able to accomplish.
Therefore it was not many minutes before we stood within the doors of that very grim and terrible home of the human beings who have sinned with a great crime. I know that I am never to forget that hour and am to carry forever the wound that it inflicted upon my heart as I walked through the dimness and grayness and stillness of that dark house.
At last, with many unlockings of heavy doors by the director of that prison, we stood in a room that was as a cage in which to keep the human animal that crouched down upon a hard bed in one of its corners and leaned a head shaved bare of any hair upon a very thin and white hand.
"Leave me, Superintendent, for a few minutes. The young man will stay by the door to let you know when I want you," said that Gouverneur Faulkner to the superintendent, who nodded and left the room as I took a position over beside the heavy iron bars that swung together after him.
"My man," said the Gouverneur Faulkner in a voice that was so gentle as that which a mother uses to a child in severe illness, "I want you to let me sit down on your cot beside you and talk to you about your trouble."
"Got nothing to say, parson. I done it and I want to swing as quick as the law sends me," answered the poor human from behind his hands without even raising his bowed head.
"I am not a minister, and I"ve come to talk to you because some of your neighbors and friends think that there may be a reason why you should not be hanged for the death of your brother. It is my duty to help them keep you from the penalty of the law, which you may not deserve even if you desire it. Can you tell me your story as man to man, with the hope that it will help you to a reprieve?" And as he spoke I observed a tone of command come into the voice of my Gouverneur Faulkner, that was as clear and beautiful as the call of the bugle to men for a battle.
"I done what I had to and I"m ready to die for it. I"ve got nothing to say," answered the man with still more of the determination of misery in his voice. "My neighbors don"t know nothing about it and I don"t want "em to. Just let them keep quiet and let it all die when the State swings me."
"So there is some secret about the matter that you are willing to die to keep, is there?" asked the Gouverneur Faulkner with a quickness of command in his voice. "What had your brother done to Mary Brown that you killed him for doing?"
"d.a.m.n you, what"s that to you?" snarled the man as he sprang up from beside the Gouverneur and leaned, crouched and panting, against the bars of the cage in which the three of us were inclosed. "Who are you anyway? My State has said I was to swing for killing him and there"s no more to question about it."
"I am the Governor of your State," answered that Gouverneur Faulkner as he rose and stood tall and commanding before the poor human being who was cowering as a dog that had felt the lash of a whip. "You are my son because you are a son of the State of Harpeth, and as a representative of that State I am going to exercise my guardianship and if possible prevent the State from the crime of taking your life if you do not deserve punishment."
"I"m condemned by the laws of the State. You can"t go back on that, Governor or no Governor," made answer the man, with a panting of misery in his voice.
"As you know, there are certain unwritten laws which have more influence in some cases as to the guilt of a murderer than any on the statute books," said the Gouverneur Faulkner with a very great slowness, so that the poor human dog might comprehend him. "If you killed your brother to save--save Mary Brown from worse than death, then you have not the right to demand execution from your State to shelter her from publicity when she is no longer in danger of anything worse. Did you get to her in time to save her or--" "Yes, good G.o.d, I did and I had--d.a.m.n you, now I"ll have to kill you for getting words out of me that all the lawyers have tried to make me say all this time," and with the oath and a snarl the man made a lunge at my Gouverneur Faulkner with something keen and shining that he had drawn from the top of his coa.r.s.e boot. But that poor human being of the prison was not of enough quickness to do the killing of his desire in the face of Roberta, Marquise of Grez and Bye, who had twice with her foil p.r.i.c.ked the red cloth heart of the young Count de Couertoir, the best swordsman of France, in gay combat in the great hall of the old Chateau de Grez. With my walking cane of a young gentleman of American fashion, which I had taken with me to call upon the beautiful Madam Whitworth before my Cherry had befallen me as a gift, and which I had without thought brought into that prison with me, I parried the blow of the knife at my beloved Gouverneur Faulkner, but not in such a manner as to prevent a glancing of that knife, which inflicted a scratch of considerable depth upon my forearm under its sleeve of brown cheviot.
"My G.o.d, boy!" exclaimed that Gouverneur Faulkner as he caught the knife from the floor where it had fallen from the hand of the poor man who had sunk down on the cot, trembling and panting. "Two inches to the left and a little more force and the knife would have stuck in your heart."
"Is it not better my heart than yours, my great Gouverneur Faulkner?
And behold it is the heart of neither and only a small scratch upon my humble arm, which will not even prevent the driving of that new Cherry car," I answered him as I put that arm behind me and pressed it close in its sleeve of brown cheviot so that there would be no drippings of blood.
"I didn"t go to hurt the young gentleman nor you either, Governor,"
said the man from the cot as he sobbed and buried his head in his arms. "I was always a good man and now I--"
"Don"t say another word, Timms," interrupted my Gouverneur Faulkner in a voice that was as gentle as that father of State which he had said himself to be to Timms. "n.o.body will know of this, for your sake. I was--was baiting you. I know what I want to know now and you"ll not hang on the sixteenth. The State will try you again. Call the superintendent, Robert."
"Don"t say nothing to hurt Mary, Governor. Jest let me hang and I won"t never care what--" the poor human began to plead.
"I"ll look after Mary--and you too, Timms. I"ll see to it that--" my Gouverneur Faulkner was answering the trembling plea for his mercy when the superintendent came in and unlocked the cage.
"Don"t let him know of the--accident, youngster," whispered the Gouverneur Faulkner to me, and in a very few minutes we were out of that prison into the Cherry car, and whirling with great rapidity down the country road with its tall trees upon both sides.
"Stop, Robert," commanded His Excellency as we came under a large group of very old trees which made a thick shelter of their green leaves as they leaned together over the stone wall that bordered the side of the road. "Now let me see just what did happen to that arm which came between poor Timms" sharpened case knife and my life. We are out of sight of the prison now. It would have all been up with Timms if that attack upon me had been discovered. Your pluck will have saved Timms, if he"s saved, as well as your Governor. Here, turn towards me and let me see that arm." And as he spoke, my Gouverneur Faulkner put his arm across my shoulder and turned me towards him so that he could put his right hand on the sleeve of that cheviot bag in which was a long slash from the knife and which was now wet with my blood.
"I very much fear my beloved brown cheviot, which I have worn only a few times, is now dead; and how will I find another for my need!" I exclaimed with a great alarm when I saw that that knife had thus devastated my good clothing of which I had not many and for the procuring of which I was many thousand miles from my good friend and tailor in New York. If I sought another suit in the city of Hayesville might there not be dangers of discoveries in the adjustment thereof?
"Is it not a vexation?" I asked as the Gouverneur Faulkner attempted to push back that murdered sleeve from my forearm.
"In the language of my friend Buzz, you are one sport, Robert. Sh.e.l.l out of that coat immediately. I want to see just how much of a scratch that is and I can"t get the sleeve up high enough," commanded my Gouverneur Faulkner. The tone of his voice was the same he had used to me in commanding that I take his mail to his nice lady stenographer, but his face was very white and his hand that he laid upon the collar of my coat for a.s.sisting me to lay it aside trembled with a great degree of violence.
"Indeed, my Gouverneur Faulkner, it is but a scratch and--"
"Get out of that coat!"
"But--"
"Off with that coat, Robert!" he commanded me, and before I could make resistance, my coat was almost completely off of me by his aid and I was obliged to let it slip into his hands. He laid it on the back of the seat behind him, and with hands that were as gentle as those of old Nannette when dealing with one of my injuries of a great number in childhood, he rolled up the sleeve of my nice white shirt with the brown strip of coloring in accord with that beloved and regretted cheviot, and bared my forearm, which was very strong and white but which also appeared to me to be dangerously rounded for his gaze. I was glad that that arm was covered with a nice gore which had come from the long slit but which had now well-nigh ceased to run from me, so that he could not observe that it was of such a feminine mould.
"Yes, just a deep scratch that I can fix all right myself in my own bathroom when we get back to the Mansion in time for dinner with the General by seven-thirty, I hope," said my beloved Gouverneur as he helped me again to a.s.sume the ruined garment of cheviot. "I was born in the mountains of the State of Harpeth, boy, where when one man sheds his blood for the life of another, that other is said to be under bond to his rescuer and that means a tie closer than the ordinary one of brother by birth. I acknowledge the bond to you for all time, little brother. Now drive on quickly to the Mansion before we are in danger of being late for dinner with the General. It will take me some few minutes to get you out of that shirt and into your dinner coat. I"ll send for it and you can dress with me."
"Oh, no, my beloved Gouverneur Faulkner; I must go immediately to home and there make myself presentable for a dinner of some very wonderful pie that my Buzz demanded of that very lovely Madam Taylor in my honor. That nice black lady, Kizzie, will with joy attend on this scratch upon my arm, a.s.sisted by my good Bonbon," I exclaimed with great alarm for fear that that very strong mind of my Gouverneur would command me to make my toilet in his company in the Mansion. "Please do not command me that I shall not so do."
"Of course, youngster, go to your frolic with the rest of the babes and sucklings, only remember that I always like to have you with me, but--never command you when it is not your pleasure," answered that Gouverneur Faulkner to me with gentleness.
"It is always my pleasure to be with you, my Gouverneur, and I do like that you command me," I said to him in answer to that gentleness that had something of a sad longing in it--for that custard pie of Madam Taylor, I suppose, of which he had probably heard famous mention, but which I would have believed to have been a longing for Roberta, Marquise of Grez and Bye, if I had heard it so spoken, with an English or Russian or French accent, to me in a robe of tulle or sheer linen.
"And may I not return immediately after that supper to that Club of Old Hickory for conversation with you and my Uncle, the General Robert?" I asked with eagerness.
"Boy, by the time you have eaten that fatted pie at the Taylors" and danced at least a portion of it off of your system I"ll be--be burning the midnight oil going over the papers in the case of Timms. I want to weigh all the testimony carefully in the case given in Court about his own and his brother"s relations with the woman Mary Brown. As long as I am the Governor of the State of Harpeth, no honest man is going to swing for protecting a good woman from the outrages of a brute. And yet Timms confessed the crime and denied the motive. Cross-examining failed to get the statement from the woman that would justify my reprieving or pardoning him. I cannot even seem to dishonor the proceedings of the courts of the State and, boy, I"m just plain--up--against--it. Here we are at my own side door. Good night, and make a lightning toilet if you want to get to that pie on time.
Good night, again!" And with those words, which explained his very deep trouble to me, my Gouverneur Faulkner descended from the seat beside me in the Cherry to the pavement beside his Mansion and bade me hurry from him.
CHAPTER XIV
TO BEAR MEN AND TO SAVE THEM