Part 49 (1/2)
”Stupid! Perhaps she loves some one else?”
”No, I don't think so. She is as true a friend as a woman can be to a man, but there it ends.”
”With her.”
”Certainly, with her only. She knows that I would do all that a man can to win her.”
”You are frank.”
”Why should I not be with one I trust so absolutely? You think us Northmen cold, underhanded. I do not intend virtually to take my life back from your hands, and at the same time to keep that life aloof from you as if you had nothing to do with it. If I survive the war, whichever way it turns, I shall always cherish your memory as one of my ideals, and shall feel honored indeed if I can retain your friends.h.i.+p. To make and keep such friends is to enrich one's life. Should I see Miss Vosburgh again I shall tell her about you, just as I have told you about her.”
”You were born on the wrong side of the line, Captain Lane. You are a Southerner at heart.”
”Oh, nonsense! Wait till you visit us at the North. You will find people to your mind on both sides of the line. When my mother and sisters have learned how you have treated me and my men they will welcome you with open arms.”
She looked at him earnestly a moment, and then said: ”You make me feel as if the North and South did not understand each other.” Then she added, sadly: ”The war is not over. Alas! how much may happen before it is. My gray-haired father and gallant brothers are marching with Lee, and while I pray for them night and morning, and often through the day, I fear--I FEAR inexpressibly,--all the more, now that I have seen Northern soldiers fight. G.o.d only knows what is in store for us all. Do not think that because I seem light-hearted I am not conscious of living on the eve of a tragedy all the time.
Tears and laughter are near together in my nature. I can't help it; I was so made.”
”Heaven keep you and yours in safety,” said Lane, earnestly; and she saw that his eyes were moist with feeling.
”This won't answer,” she again declared, hastily. ”We must have no more such exciting talks. Shall I read to you a little while, or go at once?”
”Read to me, by all means, if I am not selfishly keeping you too long. Your talk has done me good rather than harm, for you are so vital yourself that you seem to give me a part of your life and strength. I believe I should have died under the old dull monotony.”
”I usually read the Bible to your men,” she said, half humorously, half questioningly.
”Read it to me. I like to think we have the same faith. That book is the pledge that all differences will pa.s.s away from the sincere.”
He looked at her wonderingly as she read, in her sweet, girlish voice, the sacred words familiar since his childhood; and when she rose and said, ”This must do for to-day,” his face was eloquent with his grat.i.tude. He again reached out his hand, and said, gently, ”Miss Suwanee, Heaven keep you and yours from all harm.”
”Don't talk to me that way,” she said, brusquely. ”After all, we are enemies, you know.”
”If you can so bless your enemies, what must be the experience of your friends, one of whom I intend to be?”
”Roberta must read to you, in order to teach you that the South cannot be taken by storm.”
”I should welcome Miss Roberta cordially. We also shall be good friends some day.”
”We must get you well and pack you off North, or there's no telling what may happen,” she said, with a little tragic gesture. ”Good-by.”
This was the beginning of many talks, though no other was of so personal a nature. They felt that they understood each other, that there was no concealment to create distrust. She artlessly and unconsciously revealed to him her life and its inspirations, and soon proved that her mind was as active as her hands. She discovered that Lane had mines of information at command, and she plied him with questions about the North, Europe, and such parts of the East as he had visited. Her father's library was well stored with standard works, and she made him describe the scenes suggested by her favorite poets. Life was acquiring for her a zest which it had never possessed before, and one day she said to him, abruptly, ”How you have broadened my horizon!”
He also improved visibly in her vivacious society, and at last was able to come down to his meals and sit on the piazza. Mrs.
Barkdale's and Roberta's reserve thawed before his genial courtesy, and all the more readily since a letter had been received from Colonel Barkdale containing thanks to Lane for the consideration that had been shown to his family, and a.s.suring his wife that the Barkdale mansion must not fail in hospitality either to loyal friends or to worthy foes.
Roberta was won over more completely than she had believed to be possible. Her proud, high spirit was pleased with the fact that, while Lane abated not one jot of his well-defined loyalty to the North and its aims, he also treated her with respect and evident admiration in her fearless a.s.sertion of her views. She also recognized his admirable tact in preventing their talk from verging towards a too-earnest discussion of their differences. Suwanee was delighted as she saw him disarm her relatives, and was the life of their social hours. She never wearied in delicately chaffing and bewildering the good-natured but rather matter-of-fact Surgeon McAllister, and it often cost Lane much effort to keep from exploding in laughter as he saw the perplexed and worried expression of his friend. But before the meal was over she would always rea.s.sure her slow-witted guest by some unexpected burst of suns.h.i.+ne, and he afterwards would remark, in confidence: ”I say, Lane, that little 'Missy S'wanee'
out-generals a fellow every time. She attacks rear, flank, and front, all at once, and then she takes your sword in such a winsome way that you are rather glad to surrender.”