The girl caught her breath in surprise:
"What a wonderful picture--it"s perfectly divine! I feel like kneeling before it."
"It is an altar," the boy said reverently. "I"ve seen my father sit in that big chair brooding for hours while he looked at it. And ever since he put those two old gold candlesticks in front of it I can"t get it out of my head that he slips in here, kneels in the twilight and prays before it."
"He must have loved your mother very tenderly," she said softly.
"I think he worships her still," the boy answered simply.
"Oh, I could die for a man like that!" she cried with sudden pa.s.sion.
Tom pointed to his grandfather"s portrait:
"And there you see my distinguished features and my pug nose----"
Cleo appeared in the door smiling:
"I"ve been waiting for you to come to lunch, Mr. Boy, for nearly an hour."
"Well, for heaven"s sake, why didn"t you let us know?"
"I told you it was ready when you came."
"Forgot all about it."
He was so serenely unconscious of anything unusual in his actions that he failed to notice the smile that continuously played about Cleo"s mouth or to notice Andy"s evident enjoyment of the little drama as he bowed and sc.r.a.ped and waited on the table with unusual ceremony.
Aunt Minerva, hearing Andy"s report of the sudden affair that had developed in the major"s absence, left the kitchen and stood in the door a moment, her huge figure completely filling the s.p.a.ce while she watched the unconscious boy and girl devouring each other with sparkling eyes.
She waved her fat hand over their heads to Andy, laughed softly and left without their noticing her presence.
The luncheon was the longest one that had been known within the memory of anyone present. Minerva again wandered back to the door, fascinated by the picture they made, and whispered to Andy as he pa.s.sed:
"Well, fer de Lawd"s sake, is dey gwine ter set dar all day?"
"n.o.b.u.m--"bout er nodder hour, an" he"ll go back ter de office."
Tom suddenly looked at his watch:
"Heavens! I"m late. I"ll run down to the office and cut the work out for the day in honor of your coming."
Helen rose blushing:
"Oh, I"m afraid I"ll make trouble for you."
"No trouble at all! I"ll be back in ten minutes."
"I"ll be on the lawn in that wilderness of roses. The odor is maddening--it"s so sweet."
"All right--and then I"ll show you the old rose garden the other side of the house."
"It"s awfully good of you, but I"m afraid I"m taking your time from work."
"It"s all right! I"ll make the other fellows do it to-day."
She blushed again and waved her bare arm high over her dark brown hair from the porch as he swung through the gate and disappeared.
In a few minutes he had returned. Through the long hours of a beautiful summer afternoon they walked through the enchanted paths of the old garden on velvet feet, the boy pouring out his dreams and high ambitions, the girl"s lonely heart for the first time in life basking in the joyous light of a perfect day.
Andy made an excuse to go in the garden and putter about some flowers just to watch them, laugh and chuckle over the exhibition. He was just in time as he softly approached behind a trellis of climbing roses to hear Tom say:
"Please give me that bud you"re wearing?"
"Why?" she asked demurely.
"Just because I"ve taken a fancy to it."
She blushed scarlet, took the rosebud from her bosom and pinned it on his coat:
"All right--there!"
Andy suppressed a burst of laughter and hurried back to report to Minerva.
For four enchanted weeks the old comedy of life was thus played by the boy and girl in sweet and utter unconsciousness of its meaning. He worked only in the mornings and rushed home for lunch unusually early. The afternoon usually found them seated side by side slowly driving over the quiet country roads. Two battlefields of the civil war, where his father had led a regiment of troops in the last desperate engagement with Sherman"s army two weeks after Lee had surrendered at Appomattox, kept them busy each afternoon for a week.
At night they sat on the moonlit porch behind the big pillars and he talked to her of the great things of life with simple boyish enthusiasm. Sometimes they walked side by side through the rose-scented lawn and paused to hear the love song of a mocking-bird whose mate was busy each morning teaching her babies to fly.
The world had become a vast rose garden of light and beauty, filled with the odors of flowers and spices and dreamy strains of ravishing music.
And behind it all, nearer crept the swift shadow whose tread was softer than the foot of a summer"s cloud.
CHAPTER VII
TRAPPED
Norton"s campaign during its first months was a continuous triumph. The opposition had been so completely stunned by the epoch-making declaration of principles on which he had chosen to conduct the fight that they had as yet been unable to rally their forces. Even the rival newspaper, founded to combat the ideas for which the _Eagle and Phoenix_ stood, was compelled to support Norton"s ticket to save itself from ruin. The young editor found a source of endless amus.e.m.e.nt in taunting the professor on this painful fact.
The leader had chosen to begin his tour of the state in the farthest mountain counties that had always been comparatively free from negro influence. These counties were counted as safe for the opposition before the startling program of the editor"s party had been announced. Yet from the first day"s ma.s.s meeting which he had addressed an enthusiasm had been developed under the spell of Norton"s eloquence that had swept the crowds of mountaineers off their feet. They had never been slave owners, and they had no use for a negro as servant, laborer, voter, citizen, or in any other capacity. The idea of freeing the state forever from their baleful influence threw the entire white race into solid ranks supporting his ticket.
The enthusiasm kindled in the mountains swept the foothills, gaining resistless force as it reached the more inflammable feelings of the people of the plains who were living in daily touch with the negro.
Yet amid all the scenes of cheering and enthusiasm through which he was pa.s.sing daily the heart of the leader was heavy with dread. His mind was brooding over the last scene with Cleo and its possible outcome.
He began to worry with increasing anguish over the certainty that when she struck the blow would be a deadly one. The higher the tide of his triumph rose, the greater became the tension of his nerves. Each day had its appointment to speak. Some days were crowded with three or four engagements. These dates were made two weeks ahead and great expense had been incurred in each case to advertise them and secure record crowds. It was a point of honor with him to make good these dates even to the smallest appointment at a country crossroads.