by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER VII
A STORMY INTERVIEW ON THE BRIDGE
Probably Noah Lyon had never felt anything like the emotion of anger inhis being against his brother until they met that day on the bridge. Asone and another had said several times, no two men of the same blood andlineage could have been more differently constituted. Noah had been adiligent student as a boy, and a constant reader in his maturity; whileTitus had been the black sheep of the family, had neglected his studiesin his youth, and did not even read a newspaper in his manhood, unlessfor a special purpose.
Titus could read and write, and knew enough of arithmetic to enable himto keep the accounts of his business. Whatever he learned after he leftschool he gathered from the speech of people; and as his associates werenot of the intelligent class in his native town any more than they werein his new home, his education was very limited and his moral aims, ifhe could be said to have any, were not elevated enough to keep him veryfar within the limits of the law, which were his principal tests betweenright and wrong.
Before he was twenty-one he obtained a position to drive a stage on atwenty-mile route, so that he spent every other night at a tavern; andthis did not improve his manners or his morals. As a boy he had becomedisgusted with farming, and had learned the trade of a mason, working atit three years. Like his elder brother, he was a horse fancier, and wasa skilful driver. An accident to the old stage-driver placed him on thebox, and when the place became permanent he was only twenty years old.
With so little intellectual and moral foundation as he had laid for hisfuture character, it was a misfortune for him that he was then a"good-looking fellow." He boarded at the tavern, and paid only twodollars a week in consideration of his position, for it was believedthat he had some influence with his passengers. He was well suppliedwith money for one of his age in the country, and he spent all he had.
He was an agile dancer, which, with his good looks, made him popular inthe town, especially with the girls. Amelia Lenox was a pretty girl. Shehad a fancy for the handsome stage-driver; and, in spite of the earnestobjections of her father and mother, she accepted him as her husband,and they were married. Titus took a cottage near the tavern, and for ayear, with the help of his and her father, they got along very well.
All of a sudden a railroad shot through the town, and the business ofthe place was gone in the twinkling of an eye. The wages of Titusstopped, and he had a wife and child to support. He went to his fatherfor advice. The mason, who had done a good business in the town and itsvicinity, had grown old. Hopestill Lyon, the grandfather of the boys,was his best friend, and bought out his business for Titus.
For several years he worked well, made some money, and paid hisgrandfather for the investment made on his behalf. But he did not likethe business. Unlike his brothers, he seemed to believe that fate,destiny, circumstances, or some other indefinable power that regulatesthe worldly condition of mortals, had misused and abused him; for heought to have been "born with a silver spoon in his mouth," with wealthat his command, so that he could live in luxury without work.
When he built chimneys, plastered rooms, or jobbed in filthy drains andsmutty fireplaces, he labored with an active protest against hisoccupation in his soul, which extended down to his hands and feet,shutting out ambition, and making him lazy. He was always on the lookoutfor some other occupation, or for some change which would put more moneyin his pocket. He did a vast deal of grumbling and growling at his lot,occasionally taking home with him a gallon jug of New England rum, whichdid not improve his condition. He was not a drunkard, but he wasunconsciously falling into a bad habit.
His wife was an intelligent woman, and was a good helpmate; but it didnot require a prophetic vision to read the future, near or distant, ofTitus Lyon. It was said by some of the old people in the town that he"took after" his grandmother, who had been a stylish woman in heryounger days, though the solid character of Hopestill Lyon hadcontrolled her inclinations so that she made him a good wife.
Mrs. Lyon reasoned kindly with Titus; but before she left her Northernhome she had lost whatever influence she had ever exercised over him. Hewas eager to settle in Kentucky when the colonel's letter announcing anopening for him came, and she was utterly opposed to the plan. It was atleast a change, and he was determined to make it, in spite of the factthat his brother could not advise him to do so; and the result provedthe solidity of the colonel's judgment.
For seven years Titus fawned upon his wealthy brother. He was asobsequious in his presence as one of the field-hands of Riverlawn; butthe colonel did not believe in him as he did in Noah, especially afterhis long visit to the latter. When the health of the planter began to beslightly impaired a couple of years before his death, Titus was sordidenough to think of what would become of his plantation, which seemedlike a mine of wealth to him, at the decease of the owner.
He had talked planting, hemp, and horses to the colonel, and did all hecould to impress him with the belief that he was competent to manage theplantation. It was his nature to believe in what he desired, and he wassatisfied that Riverlawn would be bequeathed to him, as it ought to be.The reading of the will was a shock to him. The giving of ten thousanddollars more than his fair share to Noah, who lived far away, and hadnever even seen the plantation, in consideration for bringing up the twoorphans of his brother, excited his wrath.
He regarded this gift as an absolute wrong to him, while he wascompelled in pay the note out of his own share. He went home fromRiverlawn that day choking down his anger; but he was furious in thepresence of his wife, though she did all she could to console him. Shepointed out the fact that he now owned his place clear of any debt, andhad twenty thousand dollars in cash, stocks, and bonds; but he was notsatisfied. He wanted Riverlawn, where he could live in style, with anabundant income without work.
As he brooded over his fancied wrong, it came to his mind that thecolonel's _ante-mortem_ inventory had not included the value of thenegroes on the plantation. He hastened over to see Colonel Cosgrove, theexecutor. He exhibited a copy of the will, and Titus studied over it forhalf a day. Nothing was said about the slaves. Then he went to anotherlawyer with whom he had had some political dealings; but this gentlemanassured him that he had no remedy; the colonel had an undoubted right todispose of his property as he pleased, even if he had given the whole ofit to Noah. He had bequeathed the plantation, the mansion, with all thatwas in or on them, or appertaining to them; and this included thenegroes.
For nearly two years Titus had nursed his wrath, and was earnest in hisbelief that Noah ought to right the wrong the colonel had done him. Yethe had never had the courage to make this claim upon his brother, oreven to mention to him the five thousand dollars which he insistedbelonged to him. The law could do nothing for him, his own lawyer toldhim. Noah was his brother, now his only brother; and it was his duty,according to every principle of right and justice, to pay over to himhalf of the legacy of ten thousand dollars, and of the twenty-fivethousand dollars which was a low valuation of the negro property.
The quantity of Kentucky whiskey which Titus consumed magnified hiswrongs and made him more unreasonable than his natural discontent wouldhave made him. When he learned from his younger son what his wife hadtold Mrs. Noah, he was more furious than he had ever been known to bebefore, and he descended to the brutality of striking her. He had takenmore than his habitual potion of whiskey, and it made him ugly. His wifewept bitterly over the abuse she had been subjected to, both the wordsand the blow, and she had fled to her bedroom.
She was a high-spirited woman, and it seemed to her that the end of allthings had come, at least so far as her domestic happiness wasconcerned. Her father was a well-to-do farmer; and neither he nor herbrothers would permit her to be abused by any one, not even by herhusband. A sudden and violent resolution came to her to return to herfather's house. While she was thinking of this remedy and of the partingwith her children, Titus rushed into the room. She must undo themischief she had done, and he would drive her to Riverlaw
n for thatpurpose. He told her what to say, and she promised to say it; for shefelt that she had been indiscreet in what she had said.
During the drive her husband had continued to abuse her with his unrulytongue, and she had wept all the way. They found Noah and Deck on thebridge, and Titus decided to pour out his grievances to his brother; forhis drams had brought his courage up to the point where he felt likedoing it. He was not intoxicated, but he had drunk enough to make himugly. He descended from the vehicle, and Mrs. Titus drove over to themansion.
Dexter was sent away as before related, and the father was somewhatmoved by the rudeness with which the boy had been treated. He was amild-spoken man; and though he was quiet in his manner, he had more realgrit in his composition than Titus.
"You seem to be excited, Titus," said Noah, as he seated himself on thebench from which he had just risen.
"I have good reason to be excited," growled the angry man. "My wife hasacted like a fool and a traitor to me!"
"I am sorry for that, Brother Titus; but I hope you don't hold meresponsible for her conduct," said Noah in gentle and conciliatorytones.
"Not exactly; but you are responsible for enough without that, and Ihave made up my mind that it is time for you and me to have a reckoning,for you don't do by me as a brother should; and if father was livingto-day he would be ashamed of you," returned the mason, with all theemphasis of a bad cause.
"I was not aware that I had been wanting in anything one brother oughtto do for another. But we had better consider a subject of suchimportance when you are cooler than you seem to be just now, Titus. Yourpresent complaint appears to be against Amelia, and not against me. Whathas she done? I have always looked upon her as a very good woman andgood wife."
"You don't know her as well as I do. I don't know what bad advice Ruthhas given her, or what influence she has over Meely, but she made hertell a ridiculous story about some arms and ammunition," said Titus in amilder manner; for he seemed to be intent upon counteracting the effectof her action. "I s'pose Ruth repeated to you the story Meely told."
"She said you had given five thousand dollars for the purchase of arms,ammunition, and uniforms for a company of Home Guards, of which you wereto be the captain."
"I'll bet that wa'n't all she told you," added Titus.
"That was the substance of it."
"I suppose most folks in Barcreek know all that."
"I never knew it till to-day."
"You don't go about among folks in this county as I do."
"I don't associate much with Secessionists and Home Guards."
"I do! But that is my business, and I have a good right to give my moneywhere it will do the most good; and I shall do so whether you like it ornot," fumed Titus.
"I don't dispute your right; though I am surprised that a man brought upin the State of New Hampshire should become a Secessionist when morethan half the people of Kentucky are in favor of the Union," added Noah.
"'Tain't so! I never was a Black Republican, as you were, and I don'tbegin on't now. If you want to steal the niggers, I don't help you doit! But Meely told your wife something more;" and Titus looked anxiouslyinto the face of his brother, as if to read the extent of the mischiefwhich had been done.
"I believe Ruth did tell me that the arms and munitions had already beenpurchased, and were hidden somewhere on the river," added Noah. "But Idid not pay much attention to this part of the story. The material partof it was that you had given so much money to assist in making war inthe State."
"I give the money to keep the war out of Kentucky, and maintain theneutrality of the State," argued Titus.
"We had better not talk politics, brother, and I will not give my viewsof neutrality."
"The story my wife told about the arms was all a lie!" exclaimed thevisitor with an oath which shocked the owner of the plantation. "No armsare hid on the river, or anywhere else. Meely understood what I saidwith her elbows; and she has come down now to take it all back."
"Very well; I don't care anything about the arms, though I should besorry to have them go into the hands of the Secessionists or the HomeGuards, for they are all in the same boat."
At this moment Levi Bedford rode over the bridge on the colt, and Tituswas silent.