The Homesteader: A Novel

  CHAPTER IX

  GOSSIP

  "I've been over to the McCarthys today," cried Mildred Merrill, greetingher mother, as she returned home the Sunday following the filing of thesuit. "And, oh, mama, they are certainly excited over there!"

  "Mm! Guess they'll understand that Jean Baptiste better now. Because hehad wished to settle their difficulties--if there were any--like a man,they thought he was afraid of the Reverend."

  "That was it--positively!"

  "What was the conversation?"

  "Of course it was Ethel who was making the most of the noise."

  "Naturally."

  "And she _made some_ noise!"

  "I'd wager."

  "To begin with, they didn't know Jean had sued the Reverend until theyread it in the paper."

  "Is that so!"

  "Yes! You see, it was like this. Orlean sold her farm."

  "Gave it away."

  "Quite likely."

  "It was so. Why I understand that Baptiste had paid over thirty-fivehundred dollars into it, and that the place was supposed to be worthabout forty dollars an acre, with one hundred sixty acres bringing thesum of sixty-four hundred dollars. That insurance companies would lendtwo thousand five hundred dollars on the place if she had proved up onthe same as other people were doing and had done, and secured a patent."

  "Isn't that a shame!"

  "Nigga's!"

  "Negroes proper!"

  "Well, what did they say?"

  "Oh, yes! Orlean sold her farm some time ago."

  "For three hundred dollars."

  "Is that all she received?"

  "Every cent."

  "Well, what do you think of that!"

  "It was the Reverend's work, of course."

  "That dirty old rascal."

  "Ignorant into the bargain."

  "If I were Baptiste I'd kill him."

  "That would do no good."

  "No, I guess not."

  "Would make him appear a martyr, also."

  "Well, ever since Orlean sold her place, you see, they have beenuneasy."

  "I guess so."

  "So they had been sort of looking to hear from him."

  "And they have."

  Mildred laughed.

  "And they'll hear from him some more!"

  Both laughed.

  "Now, Orlean heard that Jean was in town before the rest of the familydid, and told me so."

  "She's waited a long time to tell other people things she hasn't toldthe folks first...."

  "Yes," thoughtfully. "Anyhow, Glavis met Baptiste on the streetsdowntown, and, of course, Glavis, not knowing Baptiste's mission,thought he was here after Orlean again."

  "Just like him."

  "The truth."

  "He was by here awhile ago."

  "He was?"

  "Yes; but I'll tell you about that later. Go on."

  "When he met Jean on the street--rather, after, he goes around to whereOrlean worked to warn her."

  "Sneak!"

  "But Orlean was out."

  "Yes?"

  "So when she returned, and was told that a colored man had called andinquired for her, she--"

  "Thought it had been Baptiste."

  "Yes."

  "I'll try to quit interrupting you."

  "Well, Orlean told me that she was provoked. She wished that Jean wouldnot be calling at where she worked to bother her."

  "She got fooled--excuse me!"

  "But she didn't say anything to the folks about it, and they knewnothing of his presence in town--Glavis didn't tell it seems,either--until Sunday morning."

  "Indeed!"

  "No, none of them had gone out Saturday night, so they hadn't heard anyof the talk that was going the rounds."

  "Well, Glavis went outside Sunday morning and found the _Defender_ inthe mail box."

  "So?"

  "You see, they do not subscribe for it, but the people next door getit--"

  "And knowing they were not subscribers, they take the paper and place itwhere they could get it."

  Mildred laughed.

  "So," resumed Mildred, "when they saw the paper, all was excitement."

  "Goody!"

  "So Glavis (he is the Reverend's faithful lieutenant, you know), wentout to look up Baptiste and have a talk with him."

  "Ump!"

  "He didn't find him."

  "That was how he happened by here."

  "But the funny part about it is, that they don't know what Baptiste isup to. They don't know that if he secures a judgment, he can remand theElder to jail for six months."

  "Now won't there be some excitement when they learn!"

  Mildred laughed again, her mother joined her.

  "But getting back to Ethel."

  "Tell me about her."

  "Oh, she was on the war path. 'You see,' she cried, standing overOrlean. 'You see what you've done by your hard-headedness. I told youall the time not to marry that man!'"

  "Wouldn't that disgust you!"

  "'But you _would_ go ahead and marry him! You _would_ go ahead and marryhim, after all papa and _I_ tried to persuade you not to! And now! Youare going to _kill_ your father; going to _kill your poor old father_.'Orlean just hung her head like a silly and took it. 'Yes,' went onEthel, turning her little slender body around and twisting her jaws asif to grind it out. 'You got him all mixed up with that nigga', andhere he comes in here and sues him. Think of it! _Sues him!_ And now allthe nigga's in Chicago have the laugh on us--we daren't show our facesin the street!

  "'And what has he done it for?' 'But, Ethel,' Orlean protested, 'Papaisn't worth anything. He _can't_ do anything with papa if he gets ajudgment.' 'What do you know about judgments,' Ethel flew up. 'Well,'said Orlean, 'I recall hearing Jean say that if a man was worth nothing,then a judgment was of little or no good.' 'You heard _Jean_ say it!'screamed Ethel, looking at Orlean severely. And then she turned to me.'Do you know, Mildred,' she rang out, '_This_ fool woman loves that manyet. Yes. Y-e-s! _Loves_ him yet and would go back to him tomorrow if itwasn't for us!'"

  "Doesn't it beat anything you ever saw!"

  Mildred laughed again as she paused for breath.

  "Well, Ethel went on: 'And don't you think that nigga' is a fool. No,no! _Never!_ That's a scheming nigga'. He's the schemingest nigga' inthe world! _He_ knows what he's about. Believe me! He knows papa isn'tworth anything. And, besides, he isn't _after_ money, he's after papa.He don't _want_ no money. A scheming nigga' like him can make all themoney he wants. Oh, yes! He's up to _something_ else.'"

  "Seems they are willing to admit very readily now that which they werenot as long as he tried to deal with them like a man."

  "I should think so," returned Mildred. "Well, Ethel was so excited thatshe walked up and down the floor in a rage. Every little while she wouldstop before me, and glare into my face: 'But what can he do, what can hedo!' 'I have nothing to do with it, Ethel,' I replied. 'Yes, you have,yes, _you_ have! You know! I know you and I know Jean Baptiste! He nevercomes to Chicago without coming to see you all. He's told you what he's_up_ to, and I know it! _Oh, that nigga'!_'

  "I looked at Orlean, and she sat by looking like the man who hasmurdered his wife and regrets it. When she met my eyes she sighed, andthen said: 'Do you think he can hurt papa, Mildred? I'm worried. Yousee, I know Jean some. He's shrewd, Jean is very shrewd.' I confess thatI was rather uncomfortable, knowing what I did. So hoping to find someway to get out of it, I suggested that they walk out. 'No,' exclaimedEthel. 'I'm afraid I'll run into that nigga'.'"

  "When do they look for the Reverend in?"

  "In the morning. They are afraid to go out until he comes."

  "I'd like to be around there when they found out what Jean is up to."

  Mildred laughed again, and then cried: "And oh, yes, I forgot to tellyou that Orlean asked me whether Jean came direct from the farm here."

  "What did you tell her?"

  "Why, I said I thought he was visiting down in Kansas before cominghere."


  "Hump."

  "She said: 'I guess he was calling on Miss Irene Grey.'"

  Her mother giggled.

  "I said I thought he remarked something about having visited there,whereupon Orlean said: 'He ought to have married her.'"

  "Jealousy."

  "Yes, that was it."

  "Look! There is Glavis," cried Mildred's mother, pointing to his figurecrossing the street.

  "Now for some fun," said Mildred, whereupon, both feigned sleepiness,and prepared for some good interesting gossip.

  "Oh, Mr. Glavis," exclaimed Mildred, answering the rap on the door andadmitting him.

  "And how is everybody?" asked Glavis, coming in with his head bared, andsmiling in his usual way.

  "Fine, Mr. Glavis," replied Mildred's mother, arising to greet him forthe second time that day.

  "And where is my friend, Baptiste?" said Glavis. "I've just come fromthe Keystone, and while he stops there, I can never catch him in."

  "He has not been here today, Glavis," replied Mildred.

  "That's funny. I'd certainly like to see him."

  "Why would _you_ want to see him?" inquired Mildred's mother.

  "Oh, I want to see him, of course, about all this scandal that's in theair."

  "Hump! This appears to be the first time that you have wanted to see himsince your father-in-law brought Orlean home."

  "Well, of course," said Glavis, a little embarrassed. "It has alwaysbeen a bad affair. A bad affair, and I certainly have wished Orleanwould have kept us out of all the mess."

  "Why not say you _wished the Reverend_ had kept you out of all themess," ventured Mildred's mother, who was out of patience with theirconduct.

  "Well, it's rather awkward. Baptiste is a little in fault himself."

  "How's that?"

  "Oh, he sorter had it in for father before he even married Orlean. Hedidn't come into the family like _I_ did."

  Mildred and her mother regarded each other as Glavis went onthoughtfully.

  "Yes, Baptiste is a good fellow, and I have always rather liked him. Buthe has always had it in for father; has never treated him as I have....If he would have, I'm sure we would not be the bone of this scandal."

  "It seems that this enmity between your 'father' and Baptiste, begun wayback in the southern part of this state, when Baptiste was a smallboy...."

  "I've heard something concerning that, but of course he oughtn't holdsuch things against a man when he has grown up."

  "You seem to hold Baptiste in fault for everything, when it's commonknowledge, from what I can hear, Glavis," argued Mildred's mother, "thatthe Elder went up there and just broke Orlean and Baptiste up; made hersign his name to a check for a big sum of money--and a whole lot ofother things. How do you account for or explain that?"

  "Well, Baptiste could have settled this without all that. If he'd comeand seen me before starting this suit," Glavis was evasive, "I wouldhave had him and Orlean meet and reason their differences out together."

  "Why have _you_ waited so long to take such action, Glavis? You hadyears almost to have gotten them together--to have been at least fair toBaptiste. As it is, you have treated--all of you--Baptiste like a dog,like a dog. And because he tried to settle an affair like it ought tohave been settled, you just ground him--pride and all--right into theditch."

  Glavis winced under the fusillade with which the elder lady of the housebombarded him.

  "And now after you do him all the injury you can, you cry about himmaking a scandal! Just because he didn't come around again a whininglike the dog you have tried to make him, you profess to be shocked athis conduct. Moreover, you had Orlean to give away the farm he gave her,and from what I can hear, to the man that tried every way known to lawto beat her out of it and failed. And at Baptiste's expense!"

  Glavis was very uncomfortable. He shifted uneasily, while hishandkerchief was kept busy mopping the perspiration from his brow.

  "I heard that the Reverend just scored the man about trying to beat poorOrlean out of her place: Preached a great sermon on the evil andintriguing of the white race, and just gave that man, a banker, thedevil. Then upon top of that he comes down here to Chicago and sendsyour 'father' the money to come here from Cairo to sell him the placethat Baptiste was man enough to trust her with for nothing. I can'tfigure out where any of you have any cry coming."

  "Well," said Glavis, rising, "I want to see Baptiste anyhow. If you seehim, tell him to come over to the house."

  "No, Glavis, I have nothing to do with it, and I oughtn't to begossiping as I have been; but I have known Baptiste since he was alittle boy, and I just can't help protesting--as I have alwaysheretofore protested, about the way you people have treated him."

  "Well, I guess Baptiste hates all of us enough to make up."

  "Baptiste has nothing against any one in that house over there but your'father.' But there would be no use in my telling him to call overthere. No use at all, for let me tell you," she said, following him tothe door; "The day of Baptiste beholding unto you for his wife is past.I don't think he wants Orlean any more, and don't blame him after whatshe has allowed to happen to him through her lack of womanhood.Nawsiree, Baptiste didn't come into Chicago this time crying, he camehere like _a man_, and it's the _man_ in him with which you'll have tofight now."

  "Oh, well, I don't know," said Glavis, taking a little courage, "I don'tthink he is so wise after all. Any man that will sue a man like fatherfor ten thousand dollars, wouldn't seem so wise."

  "Well," returned the elder lady, "Perhaps you had _better_ wait untilyou see a lawyer."