CHAPTER XVI
Ashley, in common with a number of Baynell's friends, did not recognizea fair spirit in the inception of the investigation. The militaryauthorities in Roanoke City seemed rancorously keen to prove that naughtwithin the scope of their own duty could have averted the disasters ofthe battle of the redoubt. The moral gymnastic of shunting the blame wasactively in progress. The proof of treachery within the lines,individual failure of duty, would explain to the Department far more tothe justification of the commander of the garrison of the town thelosses both of life and material, and the jeopardy of the wholeposition, than admission of the fact that the military of the post hadbeen outwitted, and that the enemy was entitled to salvos of applausefor a very gallant exploit. Indeed, only specific details from onefamiliar with the interior of the works, to which, of course, citizenswere not admitted, could have informed Julius Roscoe of the location ofthe powder magazine and enabled him to utilize in this connection hisown early familiarity with the surroundings. Thus the theory that JuliusRoscoe could not have accomplished its destruction had he not beenharbored, even helped, by the connivance of a personal friend in thelines, and that friend, a Federal officer, was far more popular amongthe military authorities than the simple fact that a Rebel had beendetected visiting his father's house by a Federal officer, a guesttherein, promptly arrested, and in the altercation the one had been hurtand the other had escaped. Had the capture of the redoubt never occurredlater as a sequence, this transient encounter of Baynell's would hardlyhave elicited a momentary notice.
The aspect of the court-martial was far from reassuring even to men ofworldly experience on broad lines. The impassive, serious, beardedfaces, the military figures in full-dress uniform, the brilliantinsignia of high rank being specially pronounced, for of course noofficer of lower degree than that of the prisoner was permitted to sit,were ranged on each side of a long table on a low rostrum in a largeroom, formerly a fraternity hall, in a commercial building now devotedto military purposes. The spectacle might well have made the heartquail. It seemed so expressive of the arbitrary decrees of absoluteforce, oblivious of justice, untempered by mercy!
A jury as an engine of the law must needs be considered essentiallyimperfect, and subject to many deteriorating influences, only availableas the best device for eliciting fact and appraising crises that theslow development of human morals has yet presented. But to a peacefulcivilian a jury of ignorant, shock-headed rustics might seem a safe andreasonable repository of the dearest values of life and reputation incomparison with this warlike phalanx, combining the functions of bothjudge and jury, the very atmosphere of destruction sucked in with everyrespiration.
The president, a brevet brigadier-general, at the head of the table, wasof a peculiarly fierce physiognomy, that yet was stony cruel. Thejudge-advocate at the foot had the look of laying down the law by mainforce. He had a keenly aggressive manner. He was a captain of cavalry,brusque, alert; he had dark side whiskers and a glancing dark eye, andwas the only man on the rostrum attired in an undress uniform. Hismultifarious functions as the official prosecutor for the government,and also adviser to the court, and yet attorney for the prisoner to adegree,--by a theory similar to the ancient fiction of English law thatthe judge is counsel for the accused,--would seem, in civilianestimation, to render him "like Cerberus, three gentlemen at once," asMrs. Malaprop would say, or a military presentment of Pooh-Bah. Thenominal military accuser, acting in concert with the judge-advocate,seated at a little distance, was conscious of sustaining an unpopular_role_, and it had tinged his manner with disadvantage. The prisonerappeared without any restraint, of course, but wearing no sword. Thespecial values of his presence, his handsome face, his blond hair andbeard that had a glitter not unlike the gold lace of his full-dressuniform, his fine figure and highbred, reserved manner, were very markedin his conspicuous position, occupying a chair at a small table on theright of the judge-advocate. Baynell had a calm dignity and a look ofsteady, immovable courage incongruous with his plight, arraigned on sobase a charge, and yet a sort of blighted, wounded dismay, asunmistakable as a burn, was on his face, that might have moved even onewho had cared naught for him to resentment, to protest for his sake.
The light of the unshaded windows, broad, of ample height, and eight orten in number on one side of the room, brought out in fine detail everyfeature of the scene within. Beneath no sign of the town appeared, asthe murmur of traffic rose softly, for the building was one of the fewthree-story structures, and the opposite roofs were low. The aspect ofthe far-away mountains, framed in each of the apertures, with theintense clarity of the light and the richness of tint of the approachingsummer solstice, was like a sublimated gallery of pictures, painted witha full brush and of kindred types. Here were the repetitious longranges, with the mouldings of the foot-hills at the base, and again asingle great dome, amongst its mysterious shimmering clouds, filled thecanvas. Now in the background were crowded all the varying mountainforms, while a glittering vacant reach of the Tennessee River stretchedout into the distance. And again a bridge crossed the currents, lightand airy in effect, seeming to spring elastically from its piers, in thestrong curves of the suspended arches, while a sail-boat, with its headtucked down shyly as the breeze essayed to chuck it under the chin,passed through and out of sight. Another window showed the wind in abluffer mood, wrestling with the storm clouds; showed, too, that rainwas falling in a different county, and the splendors of the iris hungover far green valleys that gleamed prismatically with a secondaryreflection.
The room was crowded with spectators, both military and civilian,finding seats on the benches which were formerly used in the fraternitygatherings and which were still in place. The case had attracted muchpublic attention. There were few denizens of the town who had not hadindividual experiences of interest pending the storming of the fort, andthis fact invested additional details with peculiar zest and whetted theedge of curiosity as to the inception of the plan and the means by whichJulius Roscoe's exploit had become practicable. The effect of theimposing character of the court was manifested in the perfect decorumobserved by the general public. There was scarcely a stir during theopening of the proceedings. The order convening the court was read tothe accused, and he was offered his right to challenge any member ofthe court-martial for bias or other incompetency. Baynell declined toavail himself of this privilege. There ensued a moment of silence. Then,with a metallic clangor, for every member wore his sword, the courtrose, and, all standing, a glittering array, the oath was administeredto each of the thirteen by the judge-advocate. Afterward the presidentof the court, of course the ranking officer present, himselfadministered the oath to the judge-advocate, and the prosecution opened.
The military accuser was the first witness sworn and interrogated, butthe prosecution had much other testimony tending to show that theprisoner had been living in great amity with persons notoriously ofsentiments antagonistic to the Union cause, as exemplified by his longstay in Judge Roscoe's house; that he was in correspondence and even inintimate association with a Rebel in hiding under the same roof; thateither with treacherous intent, or for personal reasons, he hadleniently permitted this enemy in arms to lie _perdu_ within the linesand subsequently to escape with such information as had resulted ingreat loss of men, materials, and money to the Federal government; thathe had been apprised, by the sentinel at the door, of the approach of abody of troops the night before the attack on the redoubt took place,and that he nefariously or negligently declined to investigate theincident. Most of this evidence, however, was circumstantial.
The defence met it strenuously at every point. The intimacy betweenJudge Roscoe and the Baynell family was shown to be of a far earlierdate, and the friendship utterly devoid of any connection with politicalinterests; in this relation the accused had in every instancesubordinated his personal feeling to his military duty, even going sofar as to cause the property of his host's niece to be seized formilitary service,--the impressment of the horse, which Colonel As
hleytestified he had at that time considered an unwarrantable bit ofofficial tyranny, some individuals being allowed to retain their horsesthrough the interposition of army officers among their friends.
Colonel Ashley testified further that the prisoner was such a stickleron trifles, as to seek to check him, a person of responsibility anddiscretion, an experienced officer, in expressing some casualspeculations in the presence of Judge Roscoe concerning troops on anincoming train.
The accused admitted that he had not investigated the sound of marchingtroops in the thrice-guarded lines of the encampment, but urged it wasno part of his duty and impracticable. Small detachments were coming andgoing at all hours of the night. If an officer of the guard, going outwith the relief or a patrol, had seen fit to march across Judge Roscoe'sgrove, it was no concern of his nor of the sentinel's. He had nodivination of the proximity of the enemy.
Perhaps the ardor of the witnesses, called in Captain Baynell's behalf,when the prosecution had rested at length, made an impressionunfavorable to the idea of impartiality. More than one oncross-examination was constrained to acknowledge that he was swayed bythe sense of the prisoner's hitherto unimpugnable record, and his highstanding as a soldier. No such admission could be wrung from JudgeRoscoe, skilled in all the details of the effect of testimony. His plainasseverations that his son had come to his house, not knowing that aFederal officer was a temporary inmate, the account of the simplemeasures taken to defeat the guest's observation or detection of theyoung Rebel's propinquity, the reasonableness of his quietly awaiting anopportunity to run the pickets when a chance meeting resulted indiscovery and a collision--all went far to establish the fact that thepresence of Julius Roscoe was but one of those stolen visits home inwhich the adventurous Southern soldiers delighted and of which CaptainBaynell had no sort of knowledge till the moment of their encounter,when Julius rushed forth to the gaze of all the camp.
This was the point of difficulty with the prosecution, the point ofdanger with the defence,--the adequacy of the proof as to the prisoner'sknowledge of the presence of the Rebel in hiding, harbored in the house.For this the prosecution had the apparition of the Confederate officer,covered with blood and later identified as Julius Roscoe, and thecondition of Baynell's wound, which the surgeon swore was a "facer,"delivered by an expert boxer. Evidently this came from an altercation,in which both had forborne the use of weapons, thus suggesting somecollision of interests, as between personal associates or former friendsrather than a hand-to-hand conflict of armed enemies.
On this vital point, to form the conclusions of military men, Baynellcould command no testimony save that of the Roscoe household,--the mostimportant witness of course being the judge himself, who had devised andcontrolled all the methods to keep the Federal officer unsuspicious andtranquil, and to maintain the lurking Rebel in security. The anxiety ofthe authorities to fix the responsibility for the disclosure of themilitary information concerning the interior of the works, which onlyone familiar with the location of the magazine could have given, hadinduced them to ignore Judge Roscoe's shelter of their enemy, thusavoiding the entanglement of a slighter matter with the paramountconsideration under investigation. While the fact that his feelings as afather must needs have coerced Judge Roscoe into harboring andprotecting his son and requiring his servant to minister to his wants,still the recital of the concealment of his presence affronted thesentiment of the court-martial, even though Judge Roscoe's part wasobviously restricted to the sojourn of the Confederate officer in hishouse, for he had no knowledge of the details of the escape andsubsequent adventures.
The course of the proceedings of such a body was not competent to affordany very marked relaxations in the line of comedy relief. But certainlyold Ephraim, when summoned to the stand, must have been in any otherpresence a mark of irresistible derision, not unkind, to be sure, anddevoid of bitterness.
Keenly conscious that he had been discovered in details which to "MarseSoldier" were a stumbling-block and an offence, and that his ownprestige for political loyalty was shattered,--for he doubted if it werepossible to so present the contradiction of his conviction of hisinterest and yet his adherence to old custom and fidelity in such aguise that the brevet brigadier would do aught but snort at it,--hecame, bowing repeatedly, cringing almost to the earth, his hat in hishand, his worn face seamed in a thousand new wrinkles, and lookingnearly eighty years of age. The formidable embodiment of militaryjustice fixed him with a stern comprehensive gaze, and the brigadier,who had no realization of the martial terrors of his own appearance,sought to reassure him by saying in his deep bluff voice, "Come forward,Uncle Ephraim, come forward." The old negro started violently, thenbowed once more in humble deprecation. Suddenly he perceived Baynell.In his relief to recognize the face of a friend he forgot the purport ofthe assemblage, and broke out with a high senile chirp.
"_You_ here, Cap'n! Well, sah! I is p'intedly s'prised." Thenrecollecting the situation, he was covered with confusion, especially asBaynell remained immovable and unresponsive, and once more old Ephraimbowed to the earth.
Not a little doubt had been felt by the court when deliberating upon theadmissibility of the testimony of the old negro. It was contrary to thecivil law of the state and contravened also the theory of the unboundedinfluence over the slave which the master exerts. In view of the pendingabolition of slavery, both considerations might be considered abrogated,and since this testimony was of great importance to the prosecution aswell as to the defence, bearing directly on the main point at issue,--asa freedman he was duly sworn. The members of the court-martial had ampleopportunity to test the degree of patience with which they had beenseverally endowed as the old darkey was engineered through thepreliminary statements; inducted into the witness-chair on the left handof the judge-advocate, his hat inverted at his feet, with his redbandanna handkerchief filling its crown; induced to give over hisacquiescent iteration, "Yes, sah! Yes, sah! jes' ez _you_ say!"regardless of the significance of the question; and at last fairlylaunched on the rendering of his testimony. The prosecution, however,soon thought he was no such fool as he seemed, for the details of theearlier sojourn of Julius had a simplicity that was coercive ofcredence. The old servant stated, as if it were a matter of primeimportance, that he had to feed him in the salad-bowl. He "das'ent fetchMarse Julius a plate 'kase de widder 'oman, dat's Miss Leonora, moughtmiss it. But _he_ didn't keer, little Julius didn't,"--then to explainthe familiarity of the address he stated that "Julius de youngest obMarster's chillen--de Baby-chile." Old Ephraim repeated this expressionoften, thinking it mitigated the fall from political grace which hehimself had suffered, because of the leniency which must be shown to a"Baby-chile." And now and then, at first, the court-martial, though farfrom lacking in brainy endowment and keen perception, were at sea tounderstand that the "Baby-chile" would have been allowed to smoke a_see_gar,--he being "plumb desperate" for tobacco,--except so anxiouswas Judge Roscoe to avoid attracting the suspicion of Captain Baynell,who would "have tuk little Julius in quick as a dog snappin' at a fly!Yes--sah--yes--Cap'n," with a deprecatory side glance at Baynell. "DeBaby-chile couldn't even dare to smoke, fur fear de Cap'n mought smellit from out de garret. De Baby-chile wanted a _see_gar so bad he sonthis Pa forty messages a day. But his Pa didn't allow him ter lightone--not one; he jes' gnawed the e-end."
It required, too, some mental readjustment to recognize the "Baby-chile"in the young Samson, who had almost carried off the gates of the townitself, the key of the whole department, on his stalwart back. Thisphrase was even more frequently repeated as Uncle Ephraim entered uponthe details of Julius's escape and his attack on Baynell--it seemed tomitigate the intensity with which he played at the game of war to speakof it as the freaks of a "Baby-chile."
The witness could produce no replies to the question, and indeed he hadno recollection, as to how Julius Roscoe became possessed of the factsconcerning the works, for old Ephraim did not realize that he himselfhad afforded this information--acquired in aimlessly tagging aft
er thedetail sent for ammunition, the negroes coming and going with scantrestriction in the camps of their liberators. But very careful was he tolet fall no word of the citizen's dress he had conveyed to the"Baby-chile" in the grotto, under cover of night.
"Bress Gawd!" he said to himself, "it's de Cap'n on trial--_not me_!"
He detailed with great candor the lies he had told Captain Baynell,when, emerging from his long insensibility, he had asked about the Rebelofficer. "It was a dream," the witness had told "Cap'n." In CaptainBaynell's earlier illness he had often been delirious, and it had amusedhim when he recovered to hear the quaint things he had said; sometimes"Cap'n" himself described to Judge Roscoe or to the surgeon the queersights he had seen, the results of the morphine administered. So in thisinstance he had hardly seemed surprised, but had let it pass like therest.
Uncle Ephraim did not vary these statements in any degree, not evenunder the ordeal of cross-examination. Indeed, he stood this remarkablywell and left the impression he had made unimpaired. But when he wastold that he might stand aside, and it entered into his comprehensionthat the phrase meant that he might leave the room, he fairly chirpedwith glee and obvious relief.
"Thankee, Marse Gen'al!" he said to the youngest member of the court, acaptain, to whom he had persisted in addressing most of his replies, andhad continuously promoted to the rank of general, as if this highstation obviously best accorded with the young officer's deserts.
Old Ephraim scuttled off to the door, stumbling and hirpling in hishaste and agitation, and it had not closed on him, when his "Bress deLawd! he done delivered me f'om dem dat would have devoured me!"resounded through the room.
There was a laugh outside--somebody in the corridor opined that thecourt-martial wanted no such tough old morsel, but not a smile touchedthe serious faces on each side of the table, and the next witness wassummoned.
This was Mrs. Gwynn. She produced an effect of sober elegance in herdress of gray barege, wearing a simple hat of lacelike straw of the sametint, with velvet knots of a darker gray, on her beautiful golden-brownhair. The court-martial, guaranteed to have no heart, had, as far asperceptible impression was concerned, no eyes. They looked stolidly ather as, with a swift and adaptive intelligence, she complied with theformalities, and her testimony was under way.
So youthful, so girlish and fair of face, so sylphlike in form was she,that her appearance was of far more significance in their estimationthan their apparent lack of appreciation might betoken. More than onewho had begun to incline to the views of the prosecution thought that hebeheld here the influence which had fostered treason and brought a fineofficer to a forgetfulness of his oath, a disregard of his duty, and thedestruction of every value of life and every consolation of death.
Her manner, however, was not that of a siren. All the incongruities ofher aspect were specially pronounced as she sat in the clear light ofthe window and looked steadfastly at each querist in turn, so soberly,so earnestly, with so little consciousness of her beauty, that it seemedin something to lack, as if a more definite aplomb and intention ofdisplay could enhance the fact.
Apparently it was a conclusive testimony that she was giving, for it waspresently developed that she did not know that Julius Roscoe was in thehouse; that she herself had suggested to Captain Baynell to go in searchof a book up the stairs to his hiding-place, from which there was noother mode of egress; that in less than two minutes she heard CaptainBaynell's loud exclamations of surprise, and the words in his voice,very quick and decisive--"You are my prisoner!" twice repeated. She hadrushed to the door of the hall to hear a crash as of a fall, and she sawthe balustrade of the staircase, which was the same structure throughoutthe three stories, shaking, as Julius Roscoe, covered with blood, dashedby her and out into the balcony. She knew that Baynell was delirioussubsequently, and that he was kept in ignorance as to what hadoccasioned his fall.
There was a degree of discomfiture on the part of the prosecution. Itwas not that the judge-advocate was specially bloody-minded orvindictive. He had a part to play, and it behooved him to play it well.It would seem that if the prosecution broke down on so obvious andsimple a case, which had been the nucleus of so much disaster, blamemight attach to him, by the mere accident of his position. Thesereflections rendered him ingenious, and with the license ofcross-examination he began with personalities.
"You have stated that you are a widow?"
"Yes. I am the widow of Rufus Allerton Gwynn."
"You do not wear widow's weeds?"
"No. I have laid them aside."
"In contemplation of matrimony?"
"No."
"Is not the accused your accepted suitor?"
"No."
Baynell was looking down at a paper in his hand. His eyelids flickered,then he looked up steadily, with a face of quiet attention.
A member of the court preferred the demand:--
"Was he ever a suitor for your hand?"
"Yes." Her face had flushed, but she kept her eyes steadily fixed on thequestioner.
The president of the court cleared his throat as if minded to speak.Then obviously with the view of avoiding misunderstandings as to dateshe formulated the query: "Was this recent? May I ask _when_ you declinedhis proposal?"
"I am not certain of the date," she replied. "It was--let me think--itwas the evening of a day when the neighborhood sewing-circle met at myuncle's house. I remember, now--it was the sixth of May."
"Did Captain Baynell attend the meeting of the sewing-circle?"--thejudge-advocate permitted himself an edge of satire.
"He was present, and Colonel Ashley, and Lieutenant Seymour."
"Oh!" said the judge-advocate, at a loss.
At a loss and doubtful, but encouraged. To his mind she offered the keyto the situation. Keenly susceptible to feminine influence himself, hefancied he could divine its effect on another man. He proceeded warily,reducing his question to writing, while on various faces ranged aboutthe table appeared a shade of doubt and even reprobation of the tone hewas taking.
"You have laid aside the insignia of mourning--yet you do notcontemplate matrimony. You are very young."
"I am twenty-three--as I have already stated."
"You may live a long time. You may live to grow old. You propose to livealone the remainder of your days. Did you tell Captain Baynell that?"
"In effect, yes."
Her face had grown crimson, then paled, then the color came again inpatches. But her voice did not falter, and she looked at herinterlocutor with an admirable steadiness. The president again clearedhis throat as if about to speak. The shade of disapprobation deepened onthe listening faces.
The judge-advocate leaned forward, wrote swiftly, then read in atantalizing tone, as of one who has a clincher in reserve:--
"Now was not that a mere feminine subterfuge? You know you could hardlybe _sure_ that you will never marry again--at your age."
Once more the president cleared his throat, but he spoke this time.
"Do you desire to push this line of investigation farther?" he said,objection eloquent in his deep, full voice.
"One moment, sir." The judge-advocate had been feeling his way verycautiously, but he was flustered by the interruption, and he wasconscious that he put his next question less adroitly than he hadintended.
"Why are you so sure, if I may ask?"
There was a tense silence. She said to herself that this was no time orplace for finical delicacy. A man's life, his honor, all he held dear,were in jeopardy, and it had fallen to her to say words that must needsaffect the result. She answered steadily. "My reply to Captain Baynellwas not actuated by any objections to him. I know nothing of him butwhat is greatly to his credit." She hesitated for a moment. She hadgrown very white, and her eyes glittered, but her voice was still firmas she went on:----
"There is no reason why I should not speak freely under thesecircumstances, for every one knows--every one who is cognizant of ourfamily affairs--that my married life was extremely wretche
d. I was veryunhappy, and I told Captain Baynell that I would never marry again."
Dead silence reigned for a moment. They had all heard the story of herhard fate. The discussion as to whether a chair had been merely brokenover her head, or she had been dragged about her home one woful midnightby the masses of her beautiful hair, was insistently suggested as thesunlight lay athwart it now, and the breeze moved its tendrilscaressingly. The eyes of the court-martial looked at the judge-advocatewith fiery reproach, and the heart of the court-martial beat for her forthe moment with chivalric partisanship.
For the first time Baynell seemed to lose his composure. His face wasscarlet, his hands trembled. He was biting his under lip violently in aneffort at self-control; he was experiencing an agony of sympathy andregret that this should be forced upon her, of helpless fury that hecould be of no avail.
Still once more the president cleared his throat, this timeperemptorily. The judge-advocate, considerably out of countenance,hastily forestalled him, that he might justify his course by bringingout the point he desired to elicit, reading his question aloud for itssubmission to the court, though her last reply had rendered his clincherof little force.
"Did you say to Captain Baynell that you have no intention of marryingagain merely as a subterfuge--to soften the blow, because you expect tomarry Lieutenant Roscoe as soon as the war is over?"
His suspicion that Baynell had been accessory to the concealment ofyoung Roscoe so long as he did not fear him as a rival was evident.Baynell turned suddenly and stared with startled eyes in which an amazeddismay contended with futile anger that this,--such a motive--such acourse of action, could be attributed to him.
She replied only to the obvious question, evidently not realizing theimplication. The tension was over; her color had returned; her voice wascasual.
"No. I have no thought of marrying Lieutenant Roscoe."
"Has he asked you to marry him?"
"Long ago,--when he was a mere boy."
"And again since your widowhood?"
"No."
"You have seen him since?"
"Only that morning when he rushed past me in the hall," she replied, notapprehending the trend of his questions.
"Captain Baynell must have had some reason to think you would marry him,or he would not have asked you. You rejected him one evening. The nextmorning he arrested Lieutenant Roscoe, who had been in hiding in thehouse,--was there some understanding between you and CaptainBaynell,--had he earlier forborne this arrest in the expectation of yourconsent, and was the arrest made in revenge on a rival whom he fancied asuccessful suitor?"
She looked at the judge-advocate with a horrified amazement eloquent onher face.
"No! No! Oh," she cried in a poignant voice, "if you knew CaptainBaynell, you could not, you would not, advance such implications againsthim,--who is the very soul of honor."
The judge-advocate was again for an instant out of countenance.
"You thought so little of him yourself as to reject his addresses," hesaid by way of recovering himself.
She was absorbed in the importance of the crisis. She did not realizethe effect of her words until after she had uttered them.
"I did not appreciate his character then," she said simply.
Once more there was an interval of tense and significant silence.Baynell, suddenly pale to the lips, lifted startled eyes as if he soughtto assure himself that he had heard aright. Then he bent his gaze on thepaper in his hand.
Mrs. Gwynn, tremulous with excitement, appreciated a moment later theinadvertent and personal admission, and a burning flush sprang into hercheeks. The judge-advocate took instant advantage of her loss of poise.
"I don't know what you mean by that--that you would not reject himagain? Will you explain?" he read his question with a twinkling eye thatnettled and harassed her.
A member of the court-martial objected to the interrogation as"frivolous and unnecessary," and therefore it was not addressed to thewitness. A pause ensued.
The brevet brigadier cleared his throat.
"Have you concluded this line of investigation?" he said to thejudge-advocate, for the prosecution was obviously breaking down.
"I believe we are about through," said the judge-advocate, vacuously,looking at a list in his hand, "that is"--to the accused--"if you haveno questions to put in reexamination." And as Mrs. Gwynn was permittedto depart from the room, he still busied himself with his list. "Threenames, yet. These are the children, sir."
Every member of the household of Judge Roscoe was summoned as a witnessfor the defence, to seek to establish Baynell's innocence in thesedifficult circumstances, even the little girls, and indeed otherwise theprosecution would have subpoenaed them on the theory that if there wereany treachery, the children had not the artifice to conceal it. So farthis testimony was unequivocal. Judge Roscoe had sworn to the simplefacts and the measures taken to avoid the notice of the Federal officer.Uncle Ephraim's testimony, save for the withheld episode of the grotto,the exact truth, was corroborative, but suffered somewhat from hisreputation for wearing two faces, his sobriquet of "Janus" being adducedby the prosecution. Mrs. Gwynn had affirmed that she herself did notknow or suspect the presence of Julius in the house, so completely washe held _perdu_. The agitated little twins, each examined as to herknowledge of the obligations of an oath and sworn, separately testifiedin curiously clipped, suppressed voices that they knew nothing, heardnothing, saw nothing of Julius Roscoe in the house.
In the face of this unanimity it seemed impossible to prove aught savethat in one of those hazardous visits home, so dear to the rash youngSouthern soldiers, the father had taken successful precautions to defeatsuspicion; and the Confederate officer had shown great adroitness incarrying out the plan of his campaign which his observations inside thelines had suggested.
On the last day of the trial Captain Baynell was beginning to breathemore freely, all the testimony having been taken except the necessarilyformal questioning of the dumb child. As she was sworn and interrogated,one of the other children, sworn anew for the purpose, acted as herinterpreter, being more accustomed than the elders to the use of themanual alphabet. The court-room was interested in the quaint situation.The aspect of the two little children, in their white summer attire, inthis incongruous environment, with their tiny hands lifted in signallingto each other, their eyes shining with excitement, touched thespectators to smiles and a stir of pleasant sympathy. Now and thenGeraldine's silvery treble faltered while repeating the question, todemonstrate her comprehension of it, and she desisted from her task togaze in blue-eyed wonder over her shoulder at the crowd. The deaf-mutewas passed over cursorily by the defence, only summoned in fact that noone of the household might be omitted or seem feared. Suddenly one ofthe members of the court asked a question in cross-examination. In civillife this officer, a colonel of volunteers, had been an aurist of somenote and the physician in attendance in a deaf-and-dumb asylum. He was aportly, robust man, whose prematurely gray hair and mustache were atvariance with his florid complexion and his bright, still youthful, darkeyes. He had a manner peculiarly composed, bland, yet commanding. Heleaned forward abruptly on the table; with an intent, questioning gazehe caught the child's eyes as she stood lounging against the tallwitness-chair. Then as he lifted his hands it was obvious that he wasfar more expert in the manual alphabet than Geraldine. In three minutesit was evident to the assembled members of the court-martial on eachside of the long table, the president at its head, the judge-advocate atits foot, that the line of communication was as perfect as if bothspoke. Delighted to meet a stranger who could converse fluently withher, the child's blue eyes glittered, her cheek flushed; she wascontinually laughing and tossing back the curls of her rich chestnuthair, as if she wished to be free of its weight while she gave everycapacity to this matter. And yet in her youth, her innocence, herinexperience, she knew naught of the ultimate significance of thedetail.
It was an evidence of the degree to which she was isolated by herinfirmit
y, how slight was her participation in the subtler interests ofthe life about her, that she had no remote conception of the intents andresults of the investigation. Even her curiosity was manacled--itstretched no grasp for the fact. She did not question. She did not dreamthat it concerned Captain Baynell. She had no idea that trouble hadfallen upon him. Tears to her expressed woe, or a visage of sadness, orthe environment of poverty or physical hurt--but this bright room, withits crowd of intent spectators; this splendid array of uniformed men ofan august aspect; her own friend, Captain Baynell, present, himself infull regimentals, calm, composed, quiet, as was his wont, looking over apaper in his hand--how was the restricted creature to imagine that thiswas the arena of a life-and-death conflict.
"Yes!" the little waxen-white fingers flashed forth. "Yes, indeed, shehad known that Soldier-Boy was in the house. That was Julius!"
She gave the military salute with her accustomed grace and spirit,lifting her hand to the brim of her hat, and looked laughing along theline of stern, bearded faces and military figures on either side of thelong table.
The other "ladies" did not know that Soldier-Boy was there, though theysaw him, and she saw him, too! It was in the library, and it was justabout dusk. They were surprised, and came and told the family that theyhad seen a ghost. They knew no better! They were young and they werelittle. They were only six, the twins, and she was eight; a great girlindeed!
Once more she tossed back her hair, and, with her eyes intent from underthe wide Leghorn brim of her hat, bedecked with bows of a broad whiteribbon with fluffy fringed edges, she watched his white militarygauntlets, uplifted as he asked the next question on his slow fingers.
How her own swiftly flickered!
Yes, indeed, she had told the family better. It was no ghost, but onlySoldier-Boy! She had told Captain Baynell. She wanted him to seeSoldier-Boy. He was beautiful--the most beautiful member of the family!
Oh, yes, Baynell knew he was in the house. She had told him by her sign.When she had first shown him Soldier-Boy's fine portrait, they had toldhim what she meant.
No! Captain Baynell had not forgotten! For when she said it was noghost, but Soldier-Boy, Cousin Leonora cried out, "Oh, she means Julius;that is her sign for him!" Cousin Leonora did not use the manualalphabet; she read the motion of her lips. None of them used thealphabet except a little bit; Soldier-Boy the best of all.
Throughout there was a continual ripple of excitement among the membersand several heads were dubiously shaken. More than once Baynell'scounsel sought to interpose an objection,--mindful of the preposterousrestrictions of his position, swiftly writing his views, transmitted, asif he himself were dumb, through the prisoner to the judge-advocate andby him to the court. The testimony of the witness could not be legallytaken this way, he insisted, merely by the repetition of what she hadsaid, by a member of the court-martial for the benefit of the rest.
The peculiar petulance of those who lack a sense was manifested in theacrimony which shone in the child's eyes as she perceived that he soughtto restrict and repress her statement of her views. When he venturedhimself to ask her a question, having some knowledge of the manualalphabet, she merely gazed at his awkward gesticulations with anexpression of polite tolerance, making no attempt to answer, then castup her eyes, as who should say, "Saw ever anybody the like of that!" andcatching the intent gaze of the brigadier, she burst into a slycoquettish ripple of laughter that had all the effect of a roguishaside. Then, turning to the ex-surgeon, her fingers flickered forth thehope that he would come and see her and talk. When the war was over, shewas going back to school where she had learned the manualalphabet,--there, although dumb, they talked much.
The mention of the word "school" suggested an idea which obviated thedifficulty as to how this extraordinary testimony could be put into suchshape as to render it available, impervious to cavil, strictly inaccordance with precedent in the case of witnesses who are "mute by thevisitation of God." The cross-examiner asked her if she could write. Howshe tossed her head in pride and scorn of the question! Write--of courseshe could write. Cousin Leonora had taught her.
When she was placed in a chair, and mounted on a great book beside thejudge-advocate--looking like a learned mushroom under her big white hat,her white flounced skirts fluttering out, her long white hose andslippered feet dangling--he wrote the questions and accommodated herwith a blotting-pad and pen, and it may be doubted if ever hitherto asmall bunch of fabric and millinery contained so much vainglory. Intruth the triumph atoned for many a soundless day--to note the surpriseon his solemn visage, between his Burnside whiskers, as she glancedcovertly up into his face, watching the effect of her first answer, fiveor six lines of clear, round handwriting, sensibly expressed, andperfectly spelled. She wrote much the more legibly of the two, and oncethere occurred a break when one of the members of the court asked aquestion in writing, and she was constrained to put one hand before herface to laugh gleefully, for one of his capital letters was so bad--shewas great on capitals--that she must needs ask what was meant by it.
Baynell, in reexamination, himself wrote to ask what he had said when hewas told that the ghost in the library was Julius Roscoe.
"Nothing," she wrote in answer, all unaware how she was destroying him."Nothing at all. You just looked at me and then looked at Cousin Leonora.But Grandpa said, 'Oh, fie! oh, fie!' all the time."
Thus the extraordinary testimony was taken. The paper, with her answersin her round childish characters and flourishing capitals, all as plainas print and exhibiting a thorough comprehension of what she was asked,was handed to each of the members of the court-martial, here and thereeliciting a murmur of surprise at her proficiency. The prosecution, thathad practically broken down, now had the point of the sword at thethroat of the defence.
There was naught further necessary but to confront the earlier witnesseswith this episode. Mrs. Gwynn, recalled, stared in amazement for amoment as a question was put as to the significant event of thediscovery of a ghost in the library, one afternoon. Then as thereminiscence grew clear to her mind, she rehearsed the circumstance,stating in great confusion that she had disregarded it at the time, andhad forgotten it since.
So unimportant, was it?
She had thought it merely some folly of the children's; they were alwaystaking silly little frights. She did remember that she had told CaptainBaynell once before that the military salute was the child's sign forJulius Roscoe, and that she had repeated this information then.No--Captain Baynell made no search in the library where the supposedghost was seen,--no,--nor elsewhere.
When Mrs. Gwynn, under the stress of these revelations, broke down andburst into tears, the eyes of the members of the court-martial intentlyregarding her were unsympathetic eyes, despite her beauty andcharm,--the more unsympathetic because Judge Roscoe had also rememberedthese circumstances, stating, however, that they had not alarmed him,for Captain Baynell evidently did not understand.
"Is his knowledge of English, then, so limited?" he was ironicallyasked.
Old Ephraim, too, was able to recollect the fact of the child'sdisclosure of the presence of Julius Roscoe in the house to CaptainBaynell,--declaring, though, that he himself had hindered itscomprehension by upsetting the coffee urn full of scalding coffee, whichhe had just brought to the table where the group were sitting, thuseffecting a diversion of interest.
All the witnesses were dismissed at last, and the final formal defencewas presented in writing. The room was cleared and the judge-advocateread aloud to the members of the court the proceedings from thebeginning. Laboriously, earnestly, impartially, they bent their minds toweigh all the details, and then for a time they sat in secludeddeliberation--a long time, despite the fact that the conclusions of themajority admitted of no doubt. Several of the members revolted againstthe inevitable result, argued with vehemence, recapitulated all inBaynell's favor with the fervor of eager partisans, and at lastprotested with a passion of despair against the decision, for thefinding was adverse and the unanimity
of two-thirds of the votesrendered the penalty death.
The sentence was of course kept secret until it should be approved andformally promulgated by authority. But the public had readily divinedthe result and anticipated naught from the revision of the proceedings.
Suspense is itself a species of calamity. It has all the poignantacuteness of hope without the buoyancy of a sustained expectation, andall the anguish of despair without its sense of conclusiveness and thesurcease of striving. Pending the review of the action of thecourt-martial Baynell discovered the wondrous scope of human sufferingdisassociated from physical pain. He had seriously thought he might dieof his wounded pride, thus touched in honor, in patriotism, in lifeitself, and therefore he was amazed by the degree of solace heexperienced in the sight of a woman's tears shed for his sake. For toLeonora Gwynn he seemed a persecuted martyr, with all a soldier's valorand a saint's impeccability. No one could know better than she thefalsity of the charges against him, and in her resentment against theunhappy chances and the military law that had overwhelmed him, and herabsolute despair for his fate, he enlisted all her heart. Those high andnoble qualities which he possessed and which she revered were elicitedin the extremity of his mortal peril. His exacting conscientiousness;his steadfast courage on the brink of despair; his absolute truth; hisconstancy in adversity; his strict sense of justice which would notsuffer him to blame his friends whose concealments had wrought his ruin,nor his enemies who seemed indeed rancorously zealous in aspersing himthat they might exculpate themselves at his risk; his lofty sense ofhonor which he valued more than life itself,--all showed in genuineproportions in the bleak unidealizing light which an actual vital crisisbrings to bear on the incidents of personal character.
She had even a more tender sympathy for his simpler traits, the filialfriendship which he still manifested for Judge Roscoe, his affectionateremembrance of the little children of the household, the blended prideand delicacy with which he restrained all expression of the feeling heentertained toward her, that might seem to seek to utilize and magnifyher unguarded admissions on the witness-stand,--influenced, as hefeared, by her anxiety lest her rejection of his suit should militate tohis disadvantage in the estimation of the court. In truth, however,there was scant need of his reserve on this point, for she made nodisguise of her sentiment toward him. It became obvious, not only tohim, but to all with whom she spoke. Indeed, she would have married himthen, that she might be near him, that she might share his calamities,even while his disgrace, his everlasting contumely, seemed alreadyaccomplished, and he had scarcely a chance for life itself. And yet,hardly less than he, she valued those finer vibrations of chivalricethics to which his every fibre thrilled. "I know that you are the verysoul of honor," she said to him, "and that this certain assurance oughtto be sufficient to nullify the stings of calumny,--but I had ratherthat you had died long ago, that I had never seen you, that I were deadmyself, than that your record as a soldier, your probity as a man, thetruth, the eternal truth, should even be questioned."
Judge Roscoe, too, was infinitely dismayed by this strange blunder ofcircumstance, and flinched under the sense of responsibility, of abreach of hospitality, albeit unintentional, that his guest should incurso desperate a disaster by reason of a sojourn under his roof. Baynellwas constrained to comfort them both, but in the hope to which hemagnanimously affected to appeal he had scant confidence indeed.
Even amidst the turmoil of his emotions and the crisis of his personaljeopardy he did not forget that the hand that hurled the bolts of doomhad been innocent of cruel intent. "Never let her know," he warned JudgeRoscoe, again and again. For although the testimony of the deaf-mutemust needs have been elicited, she would be grieved to learn that shehad wrought all these woes. Though literally the truth, it had thedeceptive functions of a lie. It traduced him. It convicted him, thefaithful soldier, of treachery. It hurled him down from his honorableesteem, and he seemed the basest of the base, traitor to his comrades,false to his oath, renegade to his cause, recreant to every sanctionthat can control a gentleman, and stained with blood-guiltiness forevery life that was sacrificed in the skirmish by reason of his secretcolloguing with the enemy.
Nevertheless, he tenderly considered how frightful a shock she wouldexperience should she realize that it was she who had set this hideousmonster of falsehood grimly a-stalk as fact. "But never let her know!"he insisted with an unselfish thoughtfulness that endeared him the moreto those who already loved him. In that silent life of hers, so muchapart, he would fain that not even a vague echo of reproach shouldsound. In those mute thoughts, which none might divine, he would notevoke a suggestion of regret. One could hardly forecast the effect, heurged. A sorrow like this might prove beyond the reach of reason, ofremonstrance, of consolation. She loved him, the silent, little thing!and he loved her. Never, never, let her know.
And thus, although in the storm centre all else was changed, swept withsudden gusts of tempestuous grief, now and again reverberating withstrange echoes of tumults beyond, all a-tremor with terror and frightfulpresage, calm still prevailed in her restricted little life. But tomaintain this placidity was not without its special difficulties. Morethan once her grandfather's deep depression caught her intelligentattention, and she would pause to gaze wistfully, helplessly, sadly,upon him. Upon discovering Leonora in tears one day she flung herself onher knees beside her cousin, and kissing her hands wept and sobbedbitterly in sympathy with she knew not what. Sometimes she was moved toask the dreary little twins if aught were amiss, and when they shooktheir heads in negation, she promptly signed that she did not believethem. Once she came perilously near the solution of the mystery thatbaffled her. Missing the visits of Baynell, who of course was still inarrest, she asked the twins if he were ill, and when they hystericallyprotested that he was well, a shadow of aghast apprehension hoveredover her face, and she solemnly queried if he were dead.
The phrase, "Never let her know," was like a dying wish, as sacred, asimperative, and Judge Roscoe hastily interfered to assure her thatBaynell was indeed alive and well, and affected to rebuke the twins,saying that they were getting so dull and slow in the manual alphabetthat they could scarcely answer a simple question of their sister's, andset them to spelling on their fingers under Lucille's instruction thefirst stanza of "The boy stood on the burning deck."
Thus the continued calm of her life was akin to the quiet languors ofthe sweet summer evening so mutely reddening in the west, so softlychanging to the azure and silver of twilight, so splendid in the vastdiffusive radiance of the soundless moon. All the growths were asspeechless. The rose was full of the voiceless dew. What need of wordswhen the magnolia buds burst into bloom without a rustle. With a placidheart she watched the echoless march of the constellations. The dailybrightening of the sumptuous season, the vivid presentment of the greatpageant of the distant mountains glowed noiselessly. Amidst thisencompassing hush, in suave content she thought out her inconceivable,unexpressed thoughts, with a smile in her eyes and the seal of eternalsilence on her lips. For his behest was a sacred charge,--and she didnot know,--she never knew!
The evidence on which Baynell had been convicted and which had seemed soconclusive to the general court-martial, present during the testimony ofthe deaf-mute and its subsequent unwilling confirmation by the otherwitnesses for the defence, was not so decisive on a calm revision of thepapers. The doubt remained as to how much he could be presumed tounderstand from the peculiar methods of the dumb child's disclosure andthe scattered haphazard comments of the household. The circumstanceswere deemed by the reviewing authorities extra hazardous, difficult, andpeculiar. The matter hung for a time in abeyance, but at last the courtwas ordered to reconvene for the rectification of certain irregularitiesin its proceedings, and for the reconsideration of its action in thiscase.
The interval of time which had elapsed, with its proclivity to annul theeffects of surprise and the first convincing force of a definite andirrefutable testimony, had served to foster doubt, not of the fac
titself, but as to Baynell's comprehension of it. Perhaps the incredulityobviously entertained in high quarters rendered certain members of thecourt-martial less sure of the justifiability of their own conclusions.The maturer deliberation of the body accomplished the amendment of thosepoints in the record which had challenged criticism, and the ripenedjudgment exercised in the reconsideration was manifested in suchmodifications of the view of the evidence adduced that, although severalmembers still adhered to the earlier findings, the strength of theopposing opinion was so recruited that a majority of the numberconcurred in it, and the vote resulted in an acquittal.
Hence Captain Baynell had again the stern pleasure of leading hisbattery into action. His pride never fully recovered its elasticityafter the days of his humiliation, but his martyrdom was not altogetherwithout guerdon. His marriage to Leonora, which was a true union ofhearts and hands, took place almost immediately. Compassion, faith, theadmiration of strength and courage in adversity, proved more potentelements with Leonora Gwynn than her appreciation of the prowess thatstormed the fort.
Beyond his promotion and a captain's shoulder straps, Julius Roscoegained naught by his signal victory. Although he seemed to meet hisdisappointment in love jauntily enough, he went abroad almostimmediately after the cessation of hostilities in America, and stilllater attained distinction as a soldier of fortune especially in theFranco-Prussian war. Now and again echoes from those foreign drum-beatspenetrated the tranquillities of the storm centre, and Lucille, lookingover the shoulders of the other two "ladies," officiously opening theevening paper to discern some item perchance of the absent, wouldglance up elated at the elders of the group, lifting her hand to herforehead with that spirited military salute, so expressive ofSoldier-Boy.
THE END