The Homesteader: A Novel
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CHAPTER VI
MORE OF THE PREACHER'S WORK
Jean Baptiste was thoughtful for a long time after the other had lefthim. He had heard before he married Orlean that the Reverend was thefather of two illegitimate children, but from Speed's story he had metthe whole of it. Not only was he the father of two illegitimatechildren, but he had taken another man's wife to become so--and all thiswhile he was one of the most influential men in the church!
This fact, however, did not cause Baptiste any wonderment. It wassomething he had become accustomed to. It seemed that the churchcontained so many of the same kind--from reports,--until it was a commonexpectation that a preacher was permitted to do the very worstthings--things that nobody else would have the conscience to do. Hearose presently and going to the bar, ordered another bottle of beer. Helooked around the large room while he drank at the usual class whofrequented the place. He knew that here and there among them werecrooks, thieves, "con" men, gunmen, and gamblers. Many of these men hadperhaps even committed murder--and that for money. Yet there was not onehe was positive, that would deliberately separate a man and his wife forspite. And that was the crime this preacher father-in-law of his hadcommitted.
Always in the mind of this man of the prairie this played. It followedhim everywhere; it slept with him, arose with him, and retired with him.And all through long sleepless nights it flitted about in his dreamslike an eternal spectre, it gave him no peace. Gradually it had broughthim to a feeling that the only justifiable action would be to follow thebeast to his lair and kill him upon sight. Often this occurred to him,and at such times he allowed his mind to recall murder cases of variousphases, and wondered if such a feeling as he was experiencing, was thekind men had before committing murder. Then if so, what a relief it mustbe to the mind to kill. He had a vision of this arch hypocrite writhingat his feet, with death in his sinful eyes, and his tongue protrudingfrom his mouth.
He drank the beer and then ordered liquor. Somehow he wanted to stillthat mania that was growing within him. He had struggled for happinessin the world, for success and contentment, and he did not wish his mindto dwell on the subject of murder. But he was glad that this man hadleft the city. A man might be able to accept a great deal of rebuke, andendure much; but sometimes the sight of one who has wronged him mightcause him for a moment to forget all his good intentions and manlyresolutions. Yes, he was glad that Reverend McCarthy had left the city,and he shuddered a little when he recalled with a grimace that he hadtraveled these many miles to see and reckon with his wife.
"Well, you are here," he heard then, and turned to greet Glavis.
"Oh, hello, Glavis," he returned with a tired expression about his eyesfrom the effect of the strain under which he had been laboring. "Have adrink."
"An old-time cocktail," Glavis said to the bartender. He then turned toBaptiste.
"Well, how's everything over home?" said Baptiste, coming directly tothe point.
"Your wife's sick," said Glavis a little awkwardly.
"And I, her husband, cannot call and see her. I'm compelled to hear itfrom others and say nothing." He paused and the expression on his facewas unpleasant to behold. Glavis saw it and looked away. He could notmake any answer, and then he heard the other again.
"This is certainly the limit. I married that girl in good faith, andI'll bet that she has not told you or anybody else that I mistreatedher. But here we are, compelled to be apart, and by whom?" His face wasstill unpleasant, and Glavis only mumbled.
"That damn preacher!"
"Oh, Baptiste," cried Glavis, frowningly.
"Yes, I know--I understand your situation, Glavis. But you mustappreciate what it is to be thrown into a mess like this. To have yourhome and happiness sacrificed to somebody's vanity. I'm compelled tostand for all this for the simple crime of not lauding the old man. Allbecause I didn't tickle his vanity and become the hypocrite he is, forshould I have said what he wanted me to say, then I would have surelylied. And I hate a liar!"
"But come, Baptiste," argued Glavis, "we want to figure out some waythat you and your wife can get together without all this. Now let's haveanother drink and sit down."
"Well, alright," said the other disconsolately, "I feel as if it woulddo me good to get drunk tonight and kill somebody,--no, no, Glavis," headded quickly, "I'm not going to kill anybody. So you needn't think I amplanning anything like that. I'm too busy to go to jail."
"Now, I'm willing to help you in any way I can, Baptiste," began Glavis,"as long as I can keep my wife out of it. I've got the darndest womanyou ever saw. But she's my wife, and you know a man must try to livewith the one he's married to, and that's why I am willing to help you."
They discussed plans at some length, and finally decided to settlematters on the morrow.
But when the morrow came, Ethel blocked all the plans. She refused to besent away across town and let Baptiste come into the house and see hiswife. She knew what that would mean, so she stood intrenched like therock of Gibraltar. Other plans were resorted to, but with the sameresult. The days passed and Baptiste became obsessed with worry. He knewhe should be back in the West and to his work; he began to lose patiencewith his wife for being so weak. If he could only see her he was certainthat they would come to some agreement. Sunday came and went, and stillhe saw her not. Ethel took confidence; she smiled at the success withwhich she had blocked all efforts of communication. Baptiste wrote hiswife notes, but these she intercepted and learned his plans. Sheconvinced her sister that she was sick and should be under the care of aphysician. This reached Baptiste, and he secured one, a brilliant youngman who was making a reputation. He had known him while the other wasattending the Northwestern Medical College, and admired him; but thistoo was blocked. For when he knocked at the door with the doctor at hisside, they were forbade admittance. Thereupon Baptiste was embarrassedand greatly humiliated at the same time.
Ethel had a good laugh over it when they had left and cried: "He had hisnerve, anyhow. Walking up here with a nigger doctor, the idea! I wishpapa had been home, he'd have fixed him proper! Papa has never had oneof those in his house, indeed not. No nigger doctor has ever attendedany of us, and never will as long as papa has anything to do with it!"
Glavis finally succeeded in getting a hearing. By pleading and begging,he finally secured Ethel's consent to allow him to bring Baptiste to thehouse and sit near his wife for just thirty minutes--but no more. He didnot apprise Baptiste of this fact nor of the time limit, but caught himby the arm and led him to the house as though he were a privilegedcharacter. He took notice of the clock when he entered, because he knewthat Ethel, who was upstairs had done so. And he was very careful duringthe time to keep his eyes upon the clock. He knew that Ethel wouldappear at the expiration of thirty minutes and start herdisagreeableness, so at the end of that time he quietly led Baptisteaway after he had been allowed only to look at his wife, who was like aSphinx from the careful dressing down she had had before and preparatoryto his coming.
So, having carried out what he considered a bit of diplomacy, Glavis wasrelieved. Baptiste could expect no more of him, and so it ended.
Ethel wrote her father a cheerful letter and stated that that"hardheaded rascal" had been there from the West; but that Orlean haddeclined to see him but once, and had refused to go back at all,whereupon her father smiled satisfactorily.
Jean Baptiste returned to the West, defeated and downcast. He had forthe first time in his life, failed in an undertaking. He had never knownsuch before, he could not understand. But he was defeated, that wassure. Perhaps it was because he was not trained to engage in thatparticular kind of combat. He had been accustomed to dealing with men inthe open, and was not prepared to counter the cunning and finesse of hisnewly acquired adversaries.
Over him it cast a gloom; it cast great, dark shadows, and in the daysthat followed the real Jean Baptiste died and another came to live inhis place. And that one was a hollow-cheeked, unhappy, nervous,apprehensive creature. He regarded life and al
l that went with itdubiously; he looked into the elements above him, and said that theworld had reached a time whence it would change. The air would change,the earth would become hot, and rain would not fall and that droughtwould cover all the land, and the settlers would suffer. And so feeling,it did so become, and in the following chapter our story will deal withthe elements, and with how the world did change, and how drought came,and what followed.