On it were, here and there in places, white mats woven of bleached palmetto-leaf. Such were the room"s appointments; there was but one thing more, a singular bit of fantastic carving,--a small table of dark mahogany supported on the upward-writhing images of three scaly serpents.
Aurora sat down beside this table. A dwarf Congo woman, as black as soot, had ushered her in, and, having barred the door, had disappeared, and now the mistress of the house entered.
February though it was, she was dressed--and looked comfortable--in white. That barbaric beauty which had begun to bud twenty years before was now in perfect bloom. The united grace and pride of her movement was inspiring but--what shall we say?--feline? It was a femininity without humanity,--something that made her, with all her superbness, a creature that one would want to find chained. It was the woman who had received the gold from Frowenfeld--Palmyre Philosophe.
The moment her eyes fell upon Aurora her whole appearance changed. A girlish smile lighted up her face, and as Aurora rose up reflecting it back, they simultaneously clapped hands, laughed and advanced joyously toward each other, talking rapidly without regard to each other"s words.
"Sit down," said Palmyre, in the plantation French of their childhood, as they shook hands.
They took chairs and drew up face to face as close as they could come, then sighed and smiled a moment, and then looked grave and were silent.
For in the nature of things, and notwithstanding the amusing familiarity common between Creole ladies and the menial cla.s.s, the unprotected little widow should have had a very serious errand to bring her to the voudou"s house.
"Palmyre," began the lady, in a sad tone.
"Momselle Aurore."
"I want you to help me." The former mistress not only cast her hands into her lap, lifted her eyes supplicatingly and dropped them again, but actually locked her fingers to keep them from trembling.
"Momselle Aurore--" began Palmyre, solemnly.
"Now, I know what you are going to say--but it is of no use to say it; do this much for me this one time and then I will let voudou alone as much as you wish--forever!"
"You have not lost your purse _again?_"
"Ah! foolishness, no."
Both laughed a little, the philosophe feebly, and Aurora with an excited tremor.
"Well?" demanded the quadroon, looking grave again.
Aurora did not answer.
"Do you wish me to work a spell for you?"
The widow nodded, with her eyes cast down.
Both sat quite still for some time; then the philosophe gently drew the landlord"s letter from between Aurora"s hands.
"What is this?" She could not read in any language.
"I must pay my rent within nineteen days."
"Have you not paid it?"
The delinquent shook her head.
"Where is the gold that came into your purse? All gone?"
"For rice and potatoes," said Aurora, and for the first time she uttered a genuine laugh, under that condition of mind which Latins usually subst.i.tute for fort.i.tude. Palmyre laughed too, very properly.
Another silence followed. The lady could not return the quadroon"s searching gaze.
"Momselle Aurore," suddenly said Palmyre, "you want me to work a spell for something else."
Aurora started, looked up for an instant in a frightened way, and then dropped her eyes and let her head droop, murmuring:
"No, I do not."
Palmyre fixed a long look upon her former mistress. She saw that though Aurora might be distressed about the rent, there was something else,--a deeper feeling,--impelling her upon a course the very thought of which drove the color from her lips and made her tremble.
"You are wearing red," said the philosophe.
Aurora"s hand went nervously to the red ribbon about her neck.
"It is an accident; I had nothing else convenient."
"Miche Agoussou loves red," persisted Palmyre. (Monsieur Agoussou is the demon upon whom the voudous call in matters of love.)
The color that came into Aurora"s cheek ought to have suited Monsieur precisely.
"It is an accident," she feebly insisted.
"Well," presently said Palmyre, with a pretence of abandoning her impression, "then you want me to work you a spell for money, do you?"
Aurora nodded, while she still avoided the quadroon"s glance.
"I know better," thought the philosophe. "You shall have the sort you want."
The widow stole an upward glance.
"Oh!" said Palmyre, with the manner of one making a decided digression, "I have been wanting to ask you something. That evening at the pharmacy--was there a tall, handsome gentleman standing by the counter?"
"He was standing on the other side."
"Did you see his face?"
"No; his back was turned."
"Momselle Aurore," said Palmyre, dropping her elbows upon her knees and taking the lady"s hand as if the better to secure the truth, "was that the gentleman you met at the ball?"
"My faith!" said Aurora, stretching her eyebrows upward. "I did not think to look. Who was it?"
But Palmyre Philosophe was not going to give more than she got, even to her old-time Momselle; she merely straightened back into her chair with an amiable face.
"Who do you think he is?" persisted Aurora, after a pause, smiling downward and toying with her rings.
The quadroon shrugged.
They both sat in reverie for a moment--a long moment for such sprightly natures--and Palmyre"s mien took on a professional gravity. She presently pushed the landlord"s letter under the lady"s hands as they lay clasped in her lap, and a moment after drew Aurora"s glance with her large, strong eyes and asked: