CHAPTER XV.
"Do tell me every blessed thing about her--a real Marquise--I lovetitles;" and Evilena clasped her hands rapturously.
"Do you, now? Faith, then I'm glad I secured mine before I came over,"and the laughing Irish eyes met hers quizzically.
"Oh, I never meant titles people earn themselves, Mr. Doctor, for--"
"Then that puts the Judge and Col. Kenneth and myself on the outsideof your fence, does it? Arrah now! I'll be looking up my pedigree inhopes of unearthing a king--every true Irishman has a traditionalchance of being the descendant of rulers who ran barefoot, and carrieda club to teach the court etiquette."
She made a mutinous little grimace and refused to discuss his probableancestors.
"Does not the presence of a French Marquise show how Europe sides withus?" she demanded, triumphantly. "Quantities of noblemen have been theguests of the South lately, and isn't General Wolseley, the mostbrilliant officer of the British Army, with our General Lee now? Ireckon all _that_ shows how we are estimated. And now the ladies oftitle are coming over. Oh, tell me all about her; is she very grand,very pretty?"
"Grand enough for a queen over your new monarchy," replied Delaven,who derived considerable enjoyment from teasing the girl about affairspolitical--"and pretty? No, she's not that; she's just Beauty's self,entirely."
"And you knew her well in Paris?" asked Evilena, with a hesitatingsuspicion as to why he had not announced such a wonderful acquaintancebefore--this woman who was Beauty's self, and a widow. She wondered ifshe had appeared crude compared with those grand dames he had knownand forgotten to mention.
"Oh, yes, I knew her while the old Marquise was living, that was whenyour mother and Col. Kenneth met her, but afterwards she took totravel for a change, and has evidently taken your South on her way. Itwill be happiness to see her again."
"And brother Ken knew her, too?" asked the girl, with wide-open eyes;"and _he_ never mentioned her, either--well!"
"The rascal!--to deprive you of an account of all the lovely ladies hemet! But you were at school when they returned, were you not?--and Kenstarted off hot foot for the West and Indian fighting, so you seethere were excuses."
"And Kenneth does not know you are here still, and will not know thebeautiful Marquise is here. Won't he be surprised to see you all?"
"I doubt if I cause him such a shock," decided Delaven; "when he getssight of Judithe, Marquise de Caron, he will naturally forget at oncewhether I am in America or Ireland."
"Indeed, then, I never knew Kenneth to slight a friend," said thegirl, indignantly.
"But maybe you never saw him face to face with such a temptation tomake a man forget the universe."
"Sh--h!" she whispered, softly. Gertrude had come out on the verandalooking for the Judge. Seeing him down at the landing she walkedleisurely in that direction.
"You do say such wild, extravagant things," continued Evilena, "that Ijust had to stop you until Gertrude was out of hearing. I suppose youknow she and Kenneth are paired off for matrimony."
"Are they, now? Well, he's a lucky fellow; when are we to dance at thewedding?"
"Oh, they never tell me anything about serious things like that,"complained Evilena. "There's Aunt Sajane; she can tell us, if any onecan; everybody confides love affairs to her."
"Do they, now? Might I ask how you know?"
"Yes, sir; you may _ask_!" Then she dropped that subject and returnedto the first one. "Aunt Sajane, when do you reckon we can dance atKenneth's wedding--his and Gertrude's? Doctor Delaven and I want todance."
"Evilena--honey!" murmured Aunt Sajane, chidingly, the more so asMatthew Loring had just crept slowly out with the help of his cane,and a negro boy. His alert expression betrayed that he had overheardthe question.
"You know," she continued, "folks have lots to think of these dayswithout wedding dances, and it isn't fair to Gertrude to discuss it,for _I_ don't know that there really has been any settled engagement;only it would seem like a perfect match and both families seem tofavor it." She glanced inquiringly at Loring, who nodded his headdecidedly.
"Of course, of course, a very sensible arrangement. They've alwaysbeen friends and it's been as good as settled ever since they werechildren."
"Settled by the families?" asked Delaven.
"Exactly--a good old custom that is ignored too often these days,"said Mr. Loring, promptly. "Who is so fit to decide such things forchildren as their parents and guardians? That boy's father and metalked over this affair before the children ever knew each other. Ofcourse he laughed over the question at the time, but when he died andsuggested me as the boy's guardian, I knew he thought well of it anddepended on me, and it will come off right as soon as this war isover--all right."
"A very good method for this country of the old French cavaliers,"remarked Delaven, in a low tone, to the girl, "but the lads andlassies of Ireland have to my mind found a better."
Evilena looked up inquiringly.
"Well, don't you mean to tell me what it is?" she asked, as heappeared to have dropped the subject. He laughed at the aggrieved toneshe assumed.
"Whist! There are mystical rites due to the telling, and it goes fornothing when told in a crowd."
"You have got clear away from Kenneth," she reminded him, hastily."Did you mean that he was--well, in love with this magnificentMarquise?"
Low as she tried to speak, the words reached Loring, who listened, andDelaven, glancing across, perceived that he listened.
"In love with the Marquise? Bless your heart, we were all of course."
"But my brother?" insisted Evilena.
"Well, now he might have been the one exception--in fact he always didget out of the merely social affairs when he could, over there."
"Showed his good sense," decided Loring, emphatically. "I don'tapprove of young people running about Europe, learning theirpernicious habits and customs; I've had my fill of foreign places andforeign people."
Mrs. Nesbitt opened her lips with a shocked expression of protest, andas promptly closed them, realizing the uselessness of it. Evilenalaughed outright and directed an eloquent glance towards the onlyforeigner.
"Me, is it?" he asked, doubtingly. "Oh, don't you believe it. I'vebeen here so long I'm near a Southerner myself."
"How near?" she asked, teasingly.
"Well, I must acknowledge you hold me at arms length in spite of myallegiance," he returned, and in the laugh of the others, Mr. Loring'stirade against foreigners was passed over.
It was only a few hours since Pluto arrived with the letter fromMobile telling of the early arrival of Mrs. McVeigh and her guest.Noting that the letter had been delayed and that the ladies might evennow be in Savannah, Judge Clarkson proposed starting at once to meetthem, but was persuaded to wait until morning.
Pluto was also told to wait over--an invitation gladly accepted, asvisits to Loringwood were just now especially prized by theneighboring darkies, for the two runaways were yet subjects of gossipand speculation, and Uncle Nelse scattered opinions in the quarters onthe absolute foolishness in taking such risks for freedom, and direprophesies of the repentance to follow.
That his own personal feeling did not carry conviction to hislisteners was evidenced by the sullen silence of many who did notthink it wise to contradict him. Pluto was the only person to arguewith him. But this proved to be the one subject on which Pluto couldnot be his natural good-natured self. His big black eyes heldthreatening gleams, rebellious blood throbbed through every vein ofhis dark body. He championed the cause of the runaways; he knew ofnone who had left a good master; old man Masterson was unreasonable asMatthew Loring; he did not blame them for leaving such men.
"I got good a mistress--good a master as is in all Carolina," hestated, bluntly, "but you think I stay here to work for any of them ifit wan't for my boy?--my Rose's baby? No, I wouldn't! I'd go North,too! I'd never stop till I reached the men who fight against slavestates. You all know what keeps me here. I'd never see my boy again. Idone paid eigh
teen dollars towards Rose's freedom when she died. ThenI ask Mr. Jean Larue if he wouldn't let that go on the baby. He saidyes, right off, an' told me I could get him for hundred fifty dollars;_that_ why I work 'long like I do, an' let the other men fight fo'freedom But I ain't contented so long as any man can sell me an' mychild."
None of the other blacks made any verbal comment on his feelings oropinions, but old Nelse easily saw that Pluto's ideas outweighed hisown with them.
"I un'stan' you to say Mahs Jean Larue promise he keep yo' boy tillsuch time as the money is raised?" he asked, cautiously.
"That's the way it was," assented Pluto. "I ain't been to seehim--little Zekal--for nigh on two months now. I'm goen', sure, soonas Mrs. McVeigh come home an' get settled. It's quite a jaunt from ourplace to Mahs Larue's--thirty good mile."
Aunt Chloe poured him out some more rye and corn-meal coffee andinsisted on him having more sweet potato pie. She swept an admonishingglance towards the others as she did so. "I did heah some time ago oneo' the Larue's gwine way down to the Mexico country," she remarked,carelessly. "I don't reckon though it is this special Larue. I mindthey did have such a monstrous flock o' them Larue boys long timeback; some got killed in this heah war what's maken' trouble allroun'. How much you got paid on yo' little boy, Pluto?"
"Most thirty dollars by time I make next trip over. Takes mighty longtime to save money these days, quarters scarcer than dollars use tobe."
His entertainers agreed with him; then the little maid Raquel enteredto say Pluto was wanted by Miss Sajane soon as his lunch was over.
And as he walked across the grounds Evilena pointed him out toDelaven.
"That is our Pluto," she said, with a certain note of pride in hertone; "three generations of his family belonged to us. Mama can alwaysgo away feeling the whole plantation is safe so long as Pluto is incharge. We never do have trouble with the folks at the quarters as Mr.Loring does. He is so hard on them I wonder they don't all run away;it would be hard on Gertrude, though--lose her a lot of money. Did youknow Loringwood is actually offered for sale? Isn't it a shame? Theonly silver lining to the cloud is that then Gertrude will have tomove to The Pines--I don't mean to the woods"--as he turned aquestioning glance on her. "I mean to Gertrude's plantation joiningours. It is a lovely place; used to belong to the Masterson tracts,and was part of the wedding dowery of that Miss Leo Masterson UncleNelse told of--Gertrude's mother, you know. It is not grand orimposing like Loringwood, but I heard the Judge say that place alonewas enough to make Gertrude a wealthy woman, and the loveliest thingabout it is that it joins our plantation--lovely for Gertrude andKenneth, I mean. Look here, Doctor Delaven, you roused my curiositywonderfully with that little remark you made about the beautifulMarquise; tell me true--were they--did Ken, even for a little while,fall in love with her?"
She looked so roguishly coaxing, so sure she had stumbled on somefragment of an adventure, and so alluringly confident that Delavenmust tell her the rest, that there is no telling how much he mighthave enlightened her if Miss Loring had not entered the room at thatmoment through a door nearest the window where they stood.
Her face was serene and self possessed as ever. She smiled andaddressed some careless remark to them as she passed through, butDelaven had an uncomfortable feeling that she had overheard thatquestion, and Evilena was too frightened to repeat it.