Part 17 (2/2)

”One doesn't know about that, I fancy,” said Cecil; ”for a long time--”

”I mean to know soon,” said Jim.

Josie was looking intently at the carving on one of the chairs, and paid no heed, though the remark seemed to be addressed to her.

”What I mean, you know,” said Cecil, ”is that, no matter how well the house may be built and furnished, it's the a.s.sociations, the history of the place, the things that are in the air, that makes 'Ome!”

There was in the manner of his capitalizing the word as he uttered it, and in the unwonted elision of the H, that tribute to his dear island which the exiled Briton (even when soothed by the consolation offered by street-car systems to superintend, and rose-pink blondes to serve), always pays when he speaks of Home.

”a.s.sociations,” said Jim, ”may be historical or prophetic. In the former case, we have to take them on trust; but as to those of the future, we are sure of them.”

”Yahs,” said Cecil, using the locution which he always adopted when something subtle was said to him, ”I dare say! I dare say!”

”Well, then,” Jim went on, ”I have this matter of the atmosphere or a.s.sociations under my own control.”

”Just so,” said Cecil. ”Clever conceit, Miss Trescott, isn't it, now?”

But Miss Trescott had apparently heard nothing of Jim's speech, and begged pardon; and wouldn't they go and show her the bronzes in the library?

”This mansion, General,” said the Captain, ”takes one back, suh, to the halcyon days of American history. I refeh, suh, to those times when the plantahs of the black prairie belt of Alabama lived like princes, in the heart of an enchanted empire!”

”A very interesting period, Captain,” said the General. ”It is a pity that the industrial basis was one which could not endure!”

”In the midst of fo'ests, suh,” went on the Captain, ”we had ouah mansions, not inferio' to this--each a little kingdom with its complete wo'ld of amus.e.m.e.nts, its cote, and its happy populace, goin' singin' to the wo'k which supported the estate!”

”Yes,” said the General, ”I thought, when we were striking down that state of things, that we were doing a great thing for that populace. But I now see that I was only helping the black into a new slavery, the fruits of which we see here, around us, to-night.”

”I hahdly get youah meaning, suh--”

”Well,” said the General, looking about at the little audience. (It was in the smoking-room, and those present were smokers only.) ”Well, now, take my case. I have some pretty valuable grounds down there where I live. When I got them, they were worthless. I could build as good a mansion as this or any of your ante-bellum Alabama houses for what I can get out of that little tract. What is that value? Merely the expression in terms of money of the power of excluding the rest of mankind from that little piece of ground. I make people give me the fruits of their labor, myself doing nothing. That's what builds this house and all these great houses, and breeds the luxury we are beginning to see around us; and the consciousness that this slavery exists, and is increasing, and bids fair to grow greatly, is what is making men crazy over these little spots of ground out here in the West! It is this slavery--”

”Suh,” exclaimed the Captain, rising and grasping the General's hand, ”you have done me the favo' of making me wisah! I nevah saw so cleahly the divine decree which has fo'eo'dained us to this opulence. Nothing so satisfactory, suh, as a basis and reason foh investment, has been advanced in my hearing since I have been in the real-estate business!

Let us wo'k this out a little mo' in detail, if you please, suh--”

”Let us escape while there is yet time!” said Cornish; and we fled.

After supper there was a cotillion. The s.p.a.cious ballroom, with its roof so high that the lights up there were as stars, was a sight which could scarcely be reconciled with the village community which he had found and changed. The palms, and flowers, and lights which decorated the room; the orchestra's river of dance-music; the men, all in the black livery which--on the surface--marks the final conquest of civilization over barbarism; the beautiful gowns, the sparkling jewels, and the white shoulders and arms of the ladies--all these made me wonder if I had not been transported to some Mayfair or Newport, so pictorial, so decorative, so charged with art, it seemed to be. The young people, carrying on their courts.h.i.+ps in these unfamiliar halls, their disappearances into the more remote and tenebrous outskirts of the a.s.sembly--all seemed to me to be taking place on the stage, or in some romance.

I told Alice about this as we walked home--it was only across the street--to our own new house.

”Don't tell any one about this feeling of yours,” said she. ”It betrays your provincialism, my dear. You should feel, for the first time in your life, perfectly at home. 'Armor, rusting on his walls, On the blood of Clifford calls,' you know.”

”Mine didn't hear the call,” said I; ”I'm probably the first of my race to wear this--But I enjoyed it.”

”Well, I am too full of something that took place to discuss the matter,” said she, as we sat down at home. ”I am perplexed. You know about Mr. Cornish and Josie, don't you?”

She startled me, for I had never told her a word.

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