CHAPTER VI. ELIPHALET PLAYS HIS TRUMPS
Summer was come again. Through interminable days, the sun beat down uponthe city; and at night the tortured bricks flung back angrily the heatwith which he had filled them. Great battles had been fought, and vastarmies were drawing breath for greater ones to come.
"Jinny," said the Colonel one day, "as we don't seem to be much use intown, I reckon we may as well go to Glencoe."
Virginia, threw her arms around her father's neck. For many monthsshe had seen what the Colonel himself was slow to comprehend--that hisusefulness was gone. The days melted into weeks, and Sterling Price andhis army of liberation failed to come. The vigilant Union general andhis aides had long since closed all avenues to the South. For, one finemorning toward the end of the previous summer, when the Colonel wascontemplating a journey, he had read that none might leave the citywithout a pass, whereupon he went hurriedly to the office of the ProvostMarshal. There he had found a number of gentlemen in the same plight,each waving a pass made out by the Provost Marshal's clerks, and waitingfor that officer's signature. The Colonel also procured one of these,and fell into line. The Marshal gazed at the crowd, pulled off his coat,and readily put his name to the passes of several gentlemen going east.Next came Mr. Bub Ballington, whom the Colonel knew, but pretended notto.
"Going to Springfield?" asked the Marshal, genially.
"Yes," said Bub.
"Not very profitable to be a minute-man, eh?" in the same tone.
The Marshal signs his name, Mr. Ballington trying not to look indignantas he makes for the door. A small silver bell rings on the Marshal'sdesk, the one word: "Spot!" breaks the intense silence, which is one wayof saying that Mr. Ballington is detained, and will probably be lodgedthat night at Government expense.
"Well, Colonel Carvel, what can I do for you this morning?" asked theMarshal, genially.
The Colonel pushed back his hat and wiped his brow. "I reckon I'll waittill next week, Captain," said Mr. Carvel. "It's pretty hot to traveljust now."
The Provost Marshal smiled sweetly. There were many in the office whowould have liked to laugh, but it did not pay to laugh at some people.Colonel Carvel was one of them.
In the proclamation of martial law was much to make life less endurablethan ever. All who were convicted by a court-martial of being rebelswere to have property confiscated, and slaves set free. Then there wasa certain oath to be taken by all citizens who did not wish to haveguardians appointed over their actions. There were many who swallowedthis oath and never felt any ill effects. Mr. Jacob Cluyme was one, andcame away feeling very virtuous. It was not unusual for Mr. Cluyme tofeel virtuous. Mr. Hopper did not have indigestion after taking it, butColonel Carvel would sooner have eaten, gooseberry pie, which he hadnever tasted but once.
That summer had worn away, like a monster which turns and gives hotgasps when you think it has expired. It took the Arkansan just a month,under Virginia's care, to become well enough to be sent to a Northernprison He was not precisely a Southern gentleman, and he went to sleepover the "Idylls of the King." But he was admiring, and grateful, andwept when he went off to the boat with the provost's guard, destinedfor a Northern prison. Virginia wept too. He had taken her away fromher aunt (who would have nothing to do with him), and had given heroccupation. She nor her father never tired of hearing his rough tales ofPrice's rough army.
His departure was about the time when suspicions were growing set. Thefavor had caused comment and trouble, hence there was no hope of givinganother sufferer the same comfort. The cordon was drawn tighter. One ofthe mysterious gentlemen who had been seen in the vicinity of ColonelCarvel's house was arrested on the ferry, but he had contrived to be ridof the carpet-sack in which certain precious letters were carried.
Throughout the winter, Mr. Hopper's visits to Locust Street hadcontinued at intervals of painful regularity. It is not necessary todwell upon his brilliant powers of conversation, nor to repeat theplatitudes which he repeated, for there was no significance in Mr.Hopper's tales, not a particle. The Colonel had found that out, and wasthankful. His manners were better; his English decidedly better.
It was for her father's sake, of course, that Virginia bore withhim. Such is the appointed lot of women. She tried to be just, and itoccurred to her that she had never before been just. Again and again sherepeated to herself that Eliphalet's devotion to the Colonel at thislow ebb of his fortunes had something in it of which she did not suspecthim. She had a class contempt for Mr. Hopper as an uneducated Yankeeand a person of commercial ideals. But now he was showing virtues,--ifvirtues they were,--and she tried to give him the benefit of the doubt.With his great shrewdness and business ability, why did he not takeadvantage of the many opportunities the war gave to make a fortune?For Virginia had of late been going to the store with the Colonel,--whospent his mornings turning over piles of dusty papers, and Mr. Hopperhad always been at his desk.
After this, Virginia even strove to be kind to him, but it was uphillwork. The front door never closed after one of his visits that suspicionwas not left behind. Antipathy would assert itself. Could it be thatthere was a motive under all this plotting? He struck her inevitably asthe kind who would be content to mine underground to attain an end. Theworst she could think of him was that he wished to ingratiate himselfnow, in the hope that, when the war was ended, he might become a partnerin Mr. Carvel's business. She had put even this away as unworthy of her.
Once she had felt compelled to speak to her father on the subject.
"I believe I did him an injustice, Pa," she said. "Not that I like himany better now. I must be honest about that. I simply can't like him.But I do think that if he had been as unscrupulous as I thought, hewould have deserted you long ago for something more profitable. He wouldnot be sitting in the office day after day making plans for the businesswhen the war is over."
She remembered how sadly he had smiled at her over the top of his paper.
"You are a good girl, Jinny," he said.
Toward the end of July of that second summer riots broke out in thecity, and simultaneously a bright spot appeared on Virginia's horizon.This took the form, for Northerners, of a guerilla scare, and an orderwas promptly issued for the enrollment of all the able-bodied men in theten wards as militia, subject to service in the state, to exterminatethe roving bands. Whereupon her Britannic Majesty became extremelypopular,--even with some who claimed for a birthplace the Emerald Isle.Hundreds who heretofore had valued but lightly their British citizenshipmade haste to renew their allegiance; and many sought the office of theEnglish Consul whose claims on her Majesty's protection were vague, tosay the least. Broken heads and scandal followed. For the first time,when Virginia walked to the store with her father, Eliphalet was notthere. It was strange indeed that Virginia defended him.
"I don't blame him for not wanting to fight for the Yankees," she said.
The Colonel could not resist a retort.
"Then why doesn't he fight for the South he asked"
"Fight for the South!" cried the young lady, scornfully. "Mr. Hopperfight? I reckon the South wouldn't have him."
"I reckon not, too," said the Colonel, dryly.
For the following week curiosity prompted Virginia to take that walkwith the Colonel. Mr. Hopper being still absent, she helped him to sortthe papers--those grimy reminders of a more prosperous time goneby. Often Mr. Carvel would run across one which seemed to bring someincident to his mind; for he would drop it absently on his desk, hishand seeking his chin, and remain for half an hour lost in thought.Virginia would not disturb him.
Meanwhile there had been inquiries for Mr. Hopper. The Colonel answeredthem all truthfully--generally with that dangerous suavity for which hewas noted. Twice a seedy man with a gnawed yellow mustache had come into ask Eliphalet's whereabouts. On the second occasion this individualbecame importunate.
"You don't know nothin' about him, you say?" he demanded.
"No," said the Colonel.
The man took a
shuffle forward.
"My name's Ford," he said. "I 'low I kin 'lighten you a little."
"Good day, sir," said the Colonel.
"I guess you'll like to hear what I've got to say."
"Ephum," said Mr. Carvel in his natural voice, "show this man out."
Mr. Ford slunk out without Ephum's assistance. But he half turned at thedoor, and shot back a look that frightened Virginia.
"Oh, Pa," she cried, in alarm, "what did he mean?"
"I couldn't tell you, Jinny," he answered. But she noticed that he wasvery thoughtful as they walked home. The next morning Eliphalet had notreturned, but a corporal and guard were waiting to search the store forhim. The Colonel read the order, and invited them in with hospitality.He even showed them the way upstairs, and presently Virginia heard themall tramping overhead among the bales. Her eye fell upon the paper theyhad brought, which lay unfolded on her father's desk. It was signedStephen A. Brice, Enrolling Officer.
That very afternoon they moved to Glencoe, and Ephum was left in solecharge of the store. At Glencoe, far from the hot city and the cruelwar, began a routine of peace. Virginia was a child again, rompingin the woods and fields beside her father. The color came back to hercheeks once more, and the laughter into her voice. The two of them, andNed and Mammy, spent a rollicking hour in the pasture the freedomof which Dick had known so long, before the old horse was caught andbrought back into bondage. After that Virginia took long drives with herfather, and coming home, they would sit in the summer house high abovethe Merimec, listening to the crickets' chirp, and watching the day fadeupon the water. The Colonel, who had always detested pipes, learned tosmoke a corncob. He would sit by the hour, with his feet on the rail ofthe porch and his hat tilted back, while Virginia read to him. Poeand Wordsworth and Scott he liked, but Tennyson was his favorite. Suchhappiness could not last.
One afternoon when Virginia was sitting in the summer house alone, herthoughts wandering back, as they sometimes did, to another afternoonshe had spent there,--it seemed so long ago,--when she saw Mammy Eastercoming toward her.
"Honey, dey's comp'ny up to de house. Mister Hopper's done arrived. He'son de porch, talkin' to your Pa. Lawsey, look wha he come!"
In truth, the solid figure of Eliphalet himself was on the path sometwenty yards behind her. His hat was in his hand; his hair was plastereddown more neatly than ever, and his coat was a faultless and sobercreation of a Franklin Avenue tailor. He carried a cane, which wasunheard of. Virginia sat upright, and patted her skirts with a gestureof annoyance--what she felt was anger, resentment. Suddenly she rose,swept past Mammy, and met him ten paces from the summer house.
"How-dy-do, Miss Virginia," he cried pleasantly. "Your father had anotion you might be here." He said fayther.
Virginia gave him her hand limply. Her greeting would have frozen a manof ardent temperament. But it was not precisely ardor that Eliphaletshowed. The girl paused and examined him swiftly. There was something inthe man's air to-day.
"So you were not caught?" she said.
Her words seemed to relieve some tension in him. He laughed noiselessly.
"I just guess I wahn't."
"How did you escape?" she asked, looking at him curiously.
"Well, I did, first of all. You're considerable smart, Miss Jinny, butI'll bet you can't tell me where I was, now."
"I do not care to know. The place might save you again."
He showed his disappointment. "I cal'lated it might interest you to knowhow I dodged the Sovereign State of Missouri. General Halleck made anorder that released a man from enrolling on payment of ten dollars.I paid. Then I was drafted into the Abe Lincoln Volunteers; I paid asubstitute. And so here I be, exercising life, and liberty, and thepursuit of happiness."
"So you bought yourself free?" said Virginia. "If your substitute getskilled, I suppose you will have cause for congratulation."
Eliphalet laughed, and pulled down his cuffs. "That's his lookout,I cal'late," said he. He glanced at the girl in a way that made hervaguely uneasy. She turned from him, back toward the summer house.Eliphalet's eyes smouldered as they rested upon her figure. He took astep forward.
"Miss Jinny?" he said.
"Yes?"
"I've heard considerable about the beauties of this place. Would youmind showing me 'round a bit?" Virginia started. It was his tone now.Not since that first evening in Locust Street had it taken on suchassurance, And yet she could not be impolite to a guest.
"Certainly not," she replied, but without looking up. Eliphalet ledthe way. He came to the summer house, glanced around it with apparentsatisfaction, and put his foot on the moss-grown step. Virginia did asurprising thing. She leaped quickly into the doorway before him, andstood facing him, framed in the climbing roses.
"Oh, Mr. Hopper!" she cried. "Please, not in here." He drew back,staring in astonishment at the crimson in her face.
"Why not?" he asked suspiciously--almost brutally. She had been gropingwildly for excuses, and found none.
"Because," she said, "because I ask you not to." With dignity: "Thatshould be sufficient."
"Well," replied Eliphalet, with an abortive laugh, "that's funny, now.Womenkind get queer notions, which I cal'late we've got to respect andput up with all our lives--eh?"
Her anger flared at his leer and at his broad way of gratifying herwhim. And she was more incensed than ever at his air of being athome--it was nothing less.
The man's whole manner was an insult. She strove still to hide herresentment.
"There is a walk along the bluff," she said, coldly, "where the view isjust as good."
But she purposely drew him into the right-hand path, which led, aftera little, back to the house. Despite her pace he pressed forward to herside.
"Miss Jinny," said he, precipitately, "did I ever strike you as amarrying man?"
Virginia stopped, and put her handkerchief to her face, the impulsestrong upon her to laugh. Eliphalet was suddenly transformed again intothe common commercial Yankee. He was in love, and had come to ask heradvice. She might have known it.
"I never thought of you as of the marrying kind, Mr. Hopper," sheanswered, her voice quivering.
Indeed, he was irresistibly funny as he stood hot and ill at ease. TheSunday coat bore witness to his increasing portliness by creasing acrossfrom the buttons; his face, fleshy and perspiring, showed purple veins,and the little eyes receded comically, like a pig's.
"Well, I've been thinking serious of late about getting married," hecontinued, slashing the rose bushes with his stick. "I don't cal'lateto be a sentimental critter. I'm not much on high-sounding phrases, andsuch things, but I'd give you my word I'd make a good husband."
"Please be careful of those roses, Mr. Hopper."
"Beg pardon," said Eliphalet. He began to lose track of his tenses--thatwas the only sign he gave of perturbation. "When I come to St. Louiswithout a cent, Miss Jinny, I made up my mind I'd be a rich man beforeI left it. If I was to die now, I'd have kept that promise. I'm notthirty-four, and I cal'late I've got as much money in a safe place as agood many men you call rich. I'm not saying what I've got, mind you. Allin proper time.
"I'm a pretty steady kind. I've stopped chewing--there was a time when Idone that. And I don't drink nor smoke."
"That is all very commendable, Mr. Hopper," Virginia said, stifling arebellious titter. "But,--but why did you give up chewing?"
"I am informed that the ladies are against it," said Eliphalet,--"deadagainst it. You wouldn't like it in a husband, now, would you?"
This time the laugh was not to be put down. "I confess I shouldn't," shesaid.
"Thought so," he replied, as one versed. His tones took on a nasaltwang. "Well, as I was saying, I've about got ready to settle down, andI've had my eye on the lady this seven years."
"Marvel of constancy!" said Virginia. "And the lady?"
"The lady," said Eliphalet, bluntly, "is you." He glanced at herbewildered face and went on rapidly: "You pleased me the first day I set
eyes on you in the store I said to myself, 'Hopper, there's the one foryou to marry.' I'm plain, but my folks was good people. I set to workright then to make a fortune for you, Miss Jinny. You've just what Ineed. I'm a plain business man with no frills. You'll do the frills.You're the kind that was raised in the lap of luxury. You'll need a manwith a fortune, and a big one; you're the sort to show it off. I've gotthe foundations of that fortune, and the proof of it right here. And Itell you,"--his jaw was set,--"I tell you that some day Eliphalet Hopperwill be one of the richest men in the West."
He had stopped, facing her in the middle of the way, his voice strong,his confidence supreme. At first she had stared at him in dumb wonder.Then, as she began to grasp the meaning of his harangue, astonishmentwas still dominant,--sheer astonishment. She scarcely listened. But,as he finished, the thatch of the summer house caught her eye. A visionarose of a man beside whom Eliphalet was not worthy to crawl. Shethought of Stephen as he had stood that evening in the sunset, and thisproposal seemed a degradation. This brute dared to tempt her with money.Scalding words rose to her lips. But she caught the look on Eliphalet'sface, and she knew that he would not understand. This was one whorose and fell, who lived and loved and hated and died and was buriedby--money.
For a second she looked into his face as one who escapes a pit gazesover the precipice, and shuddered. As for Eliphalet, let it not bethought that he had no passion. This was the moment for which he hadlived since the day he had first seen her and been scorned in the store.That type of face, that air,--these were the priceless things he wouldbuy with his money. Crazed with the very violence of his long-pentdesire, he seized her hand. She wrung it free again.
"How--how dare you!" she cried.
He staggered back, and stood for a moment motionless, as though stunned.Then, slowly, a light crept into his little eyes which haunted her formany a day.
"You--won't--marry me?" he said.
"Oh, how dare you ask me!" exclaimed Virginia, her face burning withthe shame of it. She was standing with her hands behind her, her backagainst a great walnut trunk, the crusted branches of which hung overthe bluff. Even as he looked at her, Eliphalet lost his head, andindiscretion entered his soul.
"You must!" he said hoarsely. "You must! You've got no notion of mymoney, I say."
"Oh!" she cried, "can't you understand? If you owned the whole ofCalifornia, I would not marry you." Suddenly he became very cool. Heslipped his hand into a pocket, as one used to such a motion, and drewout some papers.
"I cal'late you ain't got much idea of the situation, Miss Carvel," hesaid; "the wheels have been a-turning lately. You're poor, but I guessyou don't know how poor you are,--eh? The Colonel's a man of honor,ain't he?"
For her life she could not have answered,--nor did she even know why shestayed to listen.
"Well," he said, "after all, there ain't much use in your lookin' overthem papers. A woman wouldn't know. I'll tell you what they say: theysay that if I choose, I am Carvel & Company."
The little eyes receded, and he waited a moment, seemingly to prolong aphysical delight in the excitement and suffering of a splendid creature.The girl was breathing fast and deep.
"I cal'late you despise me, don't you?" he went on, as if that, too,gave him pleasure. "But I tell you the Colonel's a beggar but for me.Go and ask him if I'm lying. All you've got to do is to say you'll be mywife, and I tear these notes in two. They go over the bluff." (Hemade the motion with his hands.) "Carvel & Company's an old firm,--arespected firm. You wouldn't care to see it go out of the family, Ical'late."
He paused again, triumphant. But she did none of the things he expected.She said, simply:--"Will you please follow me, Mr. Hopper."
And he followed her,--his shrewdness gone, for once.
Save for the rise and fall of her shoulders she seemed calm. The pathwound through a jungle of waving sunflowers and led into the shade infront of the house. There was the Colonel sitting on the porch. Hispipe lay with its scattered ashes on the boards, and his head was bentforward, as though listening. When he saw the two, he rose expectantly,and went forward to meet them. Virginia stopped before him.
"Pa," she said, "is it true that you have borrowed money from this man?"
Eliphalet had seen Mr. Carvel angry once, and his soul had quivered.Terror, abject terror, seized him now, so that his knees smote together.As well stare into the sun as into the Colonel's face. In one stridehe had a hand in the collar of Eliphalet's new coat, the other pointingdown the path.
"It takes just a minute to walk to that fence, sir," he said sternly."If you are any longer about it, I reckon you'll never get past it.You're a cowardly hound, sir!" Mr. Hopper's gait down the flagstones wasan invention of his own. It was neither a walk, nor a trot, nor a run,but a sort of sliding amble, such as is executed in nightmares. Singingin his head was the famous example of the eviction of Babcock from thestore,--the only time that the Colonel's bullet had gone wide. And downin the small of his back Eliphalet listened for the crack of a pistol,and feared that a clean hole might be bored there any minute. Onceoutside, he took to the white road, leaving a trail of dust behind himthat a wagon might have raised. Fear lent him wings, but neglected tolift his feet.
The Colonel passed his arm around his daughter, and pulled his goateethoughtfully. And Virginia, glancing shyly upward, saw a smile in thecreases about his mouth: She smiled, too, and then the tears hid himfrom her.
Strange that the face which in anger withered cowards and made men lookgrave, was capable of such infinite tenderness,--tenderness and sorrow.The Colonel took Virginia in his arms, and she sobbed against hisshoulder, as of old.
"Jinny, did he--?"
"Yes--"
"Lige was right, and--and you, Jinny--I should never have trusted him.The sneak!"
Virginia raised her head. The sun was slanting in yellow bars throughthe branches of the great trees, and a robin's note rose above the basschorus of the frogs. In the pauses, as she listened, it seemed as if shecould hear the silver sound of the river over the pebbles far below.
"Honey," said the Colonel,--"I reckon we're just as poor as whitetrash."
Virginia smiled through her tears.
"Honey," he said again, after a pause, "I must keep my word and let himhave the business."
She did not reproach him.
"There is a little left, a very little," he continued slowly, painfully."I thank God that it is yours. It was left you by Becky--by your mother.It is in a railroad company in New York, and safe, Jinny."
"Oh, Pa, you know that I do not care," she cried. "It shall be yours andmine together. And we shall live out here and be happy."
But she glanced anxiously at him nevertheless. He was in his familiarposture of thought, his legs slightly apart, his felt hat pushed back,stroking his goatee. But his clear gray eyes were troubled as theysought hers, and she put her hand to her breast.
"Virginia," he said, "I fought for my country once, and I reckon I'msome use yet awhile. It isn't right that I should idle here, whilethe South needs me, Your Uncle Daniel is fifty-eight, and Colonel of aPennsylvania regiment.--Jinny, I have to go."
Virginia said nothing. It was in her blood as well as his. The Colonelhad left his young wife, to fight in Mexico; he had come home to layflowers on her grave. She knew that he thought of this; and, too, thathis heart was rent at leaving her. She put her hands on his shoulders,and he stooped to kiss her trembling lips.
They walked out together to the summer-house, and stood watching theglory of the light on the western hills. "Jinn," said the Colonel, "Ireckon you will have to go to your Aunt Lillian. It--it will be hard.But I know that my girl can take care of herself. In case--in case I donot come back, or occasion should arise, find Lige. Let him take you toyour Uncle Daniel. He is fond of you, and will be all alone in CalvertHouse when the war is over. And I reckon that is all I have to say. Iwon't pry into your heart, honey. If you love Clarence, marry him. Ilike the boy, and I believe he will quiet down into a good man."
Virginia did not answer, but reached out for her father's hand and heldits fingers locked tight in her own. From the kitchen the sound of Ned'svoice rose in the still evening air.
"Sposin' I was to go to N' Orleans an' take sick and die, Laik a bird into de country ma spirit would fly."
And after a while down the path the red and yellow of Mammy Easter'sbandanna was seen.
"Supper, Miss Jinny. Laws, if I ain't ramshacked de premises fo' youbof. De co'n bread's gittin' cold."
That evening the Colonel and Virginia thrust a few things into herlittle leather bag they had chosen together in London. Virginia hadfound a cigar, which she hid until they went down to the porch, andthere she gave it to him; when he lighted the match she saw that hishand shook.
Half an hour later he held her in his arms at the gate, and she heardhis firm tread die in the dust of the road. The South had claimed him atlast.
Volume 7.
The Crisis — Complete Page 42