Part 22 (1/2)

”I knew it! I knew it! I knew that some poor heart would find its long-lost treasure here. I have felt it--I have dreamed it! Oh, I am so glad you have found your brother!”

”Oh, but I should have known his picture,” said Helen.

”But, my dear child,” said Miss Tewksbury, in a matter-of-fact way, ”there is every reason why you should not have known it. This picture was taken in Was.h.i.+ngton, and he never sent a copy of it home. If he did, your father put it away among his papers. You were not more than twelve years old when Wendell went away.”

”Perhaps if Hallie will get the fragment of letter,” said General Garwood to Miss Tewksbury, ”it will confirm your impression.”

”Oh, it is no impression,” replied Miss Tewksbury. ”I could not possibly be mistaken.”

The fragment of letter, when produced, proved to be in the handwriting of Charles...o...b..rne Eustis; and there was one sentence in it that was peculiarly characteristic. ”Remember, dear Wendell,” it said, ”that the war is not urged against men; it is against an inst.i.tution which the whole country, both North and South, will be glad to rid itself of.”

It would be difficult, under all the circ.u.mstances, to describe Helen's thoughts. She was gratified--she was more than gratified--at the unexpected discovery, and she was grateful to those who had cared for her brother's grave with such scrupulous care. She felt more at home than ever. The last barrier of sectional reserve (if it may be so termed) was broken down, so far as she was concerned; and during the remainder of her stay, her true character--her womanliness, her tenderness, her humor--revealed itself to these watchful and sensitive Southerners. Even Miss Tewksbury, who had the excuse of age and long habit for her prejudices, showed the qualities that made her friends love her. In the language of the little rector, who made a sermon out of the matter, ”all things became h.o.m.ogeneous through the medium of sympathy and the knowledge of mutual suffering.”

In fact, everything was so agreeable during the visit of Helen and her aunt to Waverly--a visit that was prolonged many days beyond the limit they had set--that Uncle Prince remarked on it one night to his wife.

”I'm a n.i.g.g.e.r man, 'Mandy Jane,” said he, ”but I got two eyes, en dey er good ones. W'at I sees I knows, en I tell you right now, Ma.r.s.e Peyton is done got strucken.”

”Done got strucken 'bout what?” inquired 'Mandy Jane.

”'Bout dat young lady w'at stayin' yer. Oh, you neenter holler,” said Uncle Prince in response to a contemptuous laugh from 'Mandy Jane. ”I ain't nothin' but a n.i.g.g.e.r man, but I knows w'at I sees.”

”Yes, you is a n.i.g.g.e.r man,” said 'Mandy Jane triumphantly. ”Ef you wuz a n.i.g.g.e.r 'oman you'd have lots mo' sense dan w'at you got. W'y, dat lady up dar ain't our folks. She mighty nice, I speck, but she ain't our folks. She ain't talk like our folks yit.”

”No matter 'bout dat,” said Uncle Prince. ”I ain't seed no nicer 'oman dan w'at she is, en I boun' you she kin talk mighty sweet w'en she take a notion. W'en my two eyes tell me de news I knows it, en Ma.r.s.e Peyton done got strucken long wid dat white 'oman.”

”En now you gwine tell me,” said 'Mandy Jane with a fine a.s.sumption of scorn, ”dat Ma.r.s.e Peyton gwine marry wid dat w'ite 'oman en trapse off dar ter der Norf? _Shoo!_ n.i.g.g.e.r man, you go ter bed 'fo' you run yo'se'f 'stracted.”

”I dunno whar Ma.r.s.e Peyton gwine, 'Mandy Jane, but I done see 'im talkin' 'long wid dat white lady, en lookin' at her wid he's eyes. Huh!

don' tell me! En dat ain't all, 'Mandy Jane,” Uncle Prince went on: ”dat Bud Stucky, he's f'rever'n etarnally sneakin' 'roun' de house up dar.

One day he want sumpin' ter eat, en nex' day he want Miss Hallie fer ter play en de peanner, but all de time I see 'im a-watchin' dat ar white lady fum de Norf.”

”Hus.h.!.+” exclaimed 'Mandy Jane.

”Des like I tell you!” said Uncle Prince.

”Well, de nasty, stinkin', oudacious villyun!” commented 'Mandy Jane. ”I lay ef I go up dar en set de dogs on 'im, he'll stop sneakin' 'roun' dis place.”

”Let 'im 'lone, 'Mandy Jane, let 'im 'lone,” said Uncle Prince solemnly.

”Dat ar Bud Stucky, he got a mammy, en my min' tell me dat he's mammy kin run de kyards en trick you. Now you watch out, 'Mandy Jane. You go on en do de was.h.i.+n', like you bin doin', en den ole Miss Stucky won't git atter you wid de kyards en cunjur you. Dat ole 'oman got er mighty bad eye, mon.”

VIII

UNCLE PRINCE, it appears, was a keen observer, especially where General Garwood was concerned. He had discovered a fact in regard to ”Ma.r.s.e Peyton,” as he called him, that had only barely suggested itself to that gentleman's own mind--the fact that his interest in Miss Eustis had a.s.sumed a phase altogether new and unexpected. Its manifestations were p.r.o.nounced enough to pester Miss Tewksbury, but, strange to say, neither General Garwood nor Miss Eustis appeared to be troubled by them. As a matter of fact, these two were merely new characters in a very old story, the details of which need not be described or dwelt on in this hasty chronicle. It was not by any means a case of love at first sight.

It was better than that: it was a case of love based on a firmer foundation than whim, or pa.s.sion, or sentimentality. At any rate, Helen and her stalwart lover were as happy, apparently, as if they had just begun to enjoy life and the delights thereof. There was no love-making, so far as Miss Tewksbury could see; but there was no attempt on the part of either to conceal the fact that they heartily enjoyed each other's companions.h.i.+p.

Bud Stucky continued his daily visits for several weeks; but one day he failed to make his appearance, and after a while news came that he was ill of a fever. The ladies at Waverly sent his mother a plentiful supply of provisions, together with such delicacies as seemed to them necessary; but Bud Stucky continued to waste away. One day Helen, in spite of the protests of her aunt, set out to visit the sick man, carrying a small basket in which Hallie had placed some broiled chicken and a small bottle of homemade wine. Approaching the Stucky cabin, she was alarmed at the silence that reigned within. She knocked, but there was no response; whereupon she pushed the door open and entered. The sight that met her eyes, and the scene that followed, are still fresh in her memory.